Traversing the exciting new environment of the swamp island turned out to entail a lot of pushing through wet bushes, hooves suddenly disappearing through the moss into the sucking, cloying mud underneath, jumping over streams only to have the far bank collapse into yet more mud, detours around smelly stagnant ponds and thickets of dense spiky plants, and the flyers repeatedly having to force their way through the branches overhead to pop up and get a bearing after three of said detours in a row.
All the while the explorers marinated in the scent of rotting vegetation and freshly turned mud, while the hissing croaking rustling sounds of the verdant swamp came from all around. Every few minutes there would be a sudden, loud 'oink!', each time causing Set Sail to flutter into the air and scan the trees for their pursuer, though they never spotted it. Reef's offer to 'put down that specimen if it's bothering you Captain, need a dissection anyway, to confirm its anatomical similarity to the swine back home...' only made her look like she was going to lose her lunch.
The explorers made it to the lake shore, only to find abandoned fishing rods and in one case a row of gutted and cleaned fish, which Reef Skimmer eyed hungrily but politely kept away from. It seemed the fish creatures had little trouble detecting the ponies' approach and chose to avoid the encounter, leaving only ripples on the surface of the lake in their passing. Declining Reef's offer to turn everyone into seaponies so they could follow underwater (which Set Sail seemed to think was a joke), Summer Scribe did her best to rally her troops, telling them that the village was 'right around the corner, and sure to be friendly!'
"Well great. And after all that, they're still scared of us," Set Sail groaned. Most of the discolouration from all those times she fell in the mud was hidden by the brown colour of her fur, but she was nursing a sore hoof. "I didn't even think bugs got that big," she grumbled, looking back with a baleful eye at the jungle they'd emerged from.
Huuuuffff! The unicorn mare pushed out of a clump of bushes and collapsed, muddy and panting. "Okay, I admit, that trip was a lot more pleasant in my head." Summer Scribe said, her tone exasperated. "I miss Blissful Pastures already." She gave herself a quick look over, decided that her coat was unpresentably dirty, and hazarded a dip in the lake to try and clean off at least a little. "Okay! Village right up ahead!" she said, enthusiasm returning as she shook the water out of her fur. "This is our first contact, so let's be on our friendliest behaviour!" With that Summer trotted ahead, refocused and determined to reach the cluster of buildings they'd spotted from the castle.
After an interminably long time trudging up and down the shores of inlets, and getting excited about stumbling onto a path only to find it twisting through the swamp and seemingly ended in the middle of nowhere, the tired, scratched and very muddy party finally reached said settlement. Perhaps a dozen shacks formed a loose circle, built on stilts to cut down on rising damp, walls of weathered planks and rooves of thatch or rusty mismatched metal sheeting. This time, the fish creatures decided to stand their ground.
Cloud Cutter looked a little irritated at the jungle, yet other than the momentary look of frustration, still followed with little more than a thoughtful look as she spotted the fish creatures. "I don't think they want to run this time..."
Summer Scribe took a deep breath and let it out again. 'Okay' she thought, 'perhaps they're a bit skittish, but they don't seem to be outright hostile. Let's make some new friends!' She raised a hoof, gently waving it. "Greetings! We are ponies from Equestria, here on an expedition of scientific discovery and exploration! We come in peace, and wish to build new friendships!"
Set Sail started to say something, but then blushed, glad that she had Summer to think of how to introduce themselves. The trip through the swamp had left her so flustered, she hadn't even thought to try approaching the village secretly and scoping it out first, instead just walking along with the others right up to it.
Six of them stood in the middle of the clearing, staring nervously at the approaching creatures. They did indeed look like bipedal fish, scaled in various shades of green and blue with great staring eyes and oversized paws ending in squishy looking 'fingers'. Fins poked out from various bits of their body, with the membranes tattered and decayed. They were wearing simple shirts of rough canvas and in one case a hat. Two of them were holding three-tined tridents while one was clutching what looked like an oversized butterfly net. All of them stared warily at Reef Skimmer as they approached, before Summer's words took them by surprise.
Summer Scribe paused, watching the biped's faces carefully, trying to gauge their reactions. She waited a moment for a response, before continuing, waving her hoof a bit: "Can you hear me? Can you understand me? Can you talk? Is there another way you'd prefer to communicate?" How did fish communicate anyway? Perhaps this was all in vain...
The gill-man with the hat took one step forward from the rest of the group before freezing, staring from Summer to Reef and back again. "Well I'll be, whadda we have here, can't say I ever saw no talking deer not with a griffon nor otherwise, cute little things you got here haven't you say are these your pets or, uh..." The rough male voice trailed off as the creature looked worriedly at Reef Skimmer's impassive visage.
Before the hippogriff could respond the biped bent down on one knee, beamed at Summer and continued. "You talk real good, little deer, uh, not making a whole lotta sense there but you got those words down pat, uh, darned cute if I do say so myself." He glanced nervously at Reef again. "Are you selling 'em? Or I don't suppose, just thinking out loud here, maybe you can train otters to talk instead? Cause my cousin would just love it if, uh, well..." he trailed off. Behind him the other fish-creatures seem to relax a little but haven't let go of their improvised weapons.
Summer Scribe pulled a face. "Uhh, they think we're Reef's pets?!" she scoffed, feeling suddenly humiliated by the interaction! She, hied behind Reef, nudging him a bit to continue the conversation, since it seemed he was the de facto Figure of Authority here. "Can you, uhh, tell them we're not for sale, please...?"
Set Sail's wary stance lasted long enough for her to stare dumbly at the gill-man just trotting up and giving Summer a big old eyeball. "W-we're not for sale!" she called out bravely from a few pony-lengths away, ready to take off at the first approach of any of those slavers, "And buying and selling pon— crea— people is bad!"
Cloud Cutter was still looking on with those empty eyes, but took a slight step back at the first speech from the gillmen. She was soon quietly mouthing the word "Deer?" These things thought they were deer now?
"Now see here," Reef began, huffing with annoyance, "these are ponies, not deer, completely different order, I mean look at their hooves..." Giving a kind of frustrated caw at the blank, glassy stares he tried again. "Look, that one is the Senior Researcher and this one is Captain Set Sail" he declared, gesturing from pony to pony, his larger size and wings spreading protectively over them not doing much to dispel the notion that they actually were his pets "...and you would do well to treat them with respect!"
Summer Scribe smiled, feeling bolstered by her friend's support... and now that the immediate annoyance has passed, worried that perhaps these gillfolk aren't as rational as she was hoping for. "Mhmm-mmm... yes! I'm my own pony and perfectly capable of holding my own conversations, here!"
The fish creature with the hat took a step back, seeking safety in his group. "Oh sure whatever you say mister griffon, you gotta re-search po-knee, a captain po-knee, uh, a purple... birdie... po-knee, you got all the po-knees!" He looked helplessly from one brightly coloured quadruped to another. "Uh... so... uh... what brings you cute little po-knees... and griffon! uh, yeah, what made ya wanna drop in on us folks down here in Rushreed Hollow?"
Summer Scribe let out a sigh of relief. Progress! She waved a hoof, pointing at the eastern sky, roughly to where Azure's scouting team had their first run-in with the drow. "We have a common threat: the drow. Since we began to explore, they've also raided us and attempted to capture and wound our people. And we know that you too live in fear of them: hence the forcefield dome. We were wondering if you'd be interested in a strategic alliance: to seek shelter against the Drow together and fight back!"
At the word 'drow' the whole group of fish creatures broke out in an agitated babble of "They know about..." "You don't suppose..." "It's a bad omen..." "Shoulda just..." "Wait wait..." that died away as Summer continues. All of them listened intently as she continues to speak, before looking back to their apparent leader.
"You don't capture and raid people too, do you?" Set Sail added warily, "Because we need to find p-people who don't do that! And wait-a-sec what do you mean fight back, Summer?? We're gonna fight the drow?!"
Summer Scribe blinked at Set Sail. "Well, we kind of don't have a choice: if they just attack us all the time, we're not getting anywhere. Plus, they have airships and we're inside the Storm Barrier, so we can't run or hide!" At this point she noticed that the gillmen were having quite the cautious reaction to her speech, so she improvised, directing her conclusion to the gillmen as well: "Our only choice is to teach them a lesson they won't forget!"
Cloud Cutter turned to Set Sail before nodding a little. "To be fair, Captain, hostilities are already underway. And I don't think the creatures back at the ship will take too kindly at being told to run from every fight."
"Yeah but... if these guys couldn't beat them," the acting captain whispered harshly to the cool purple pegasus, looking around at the gathered fishfolk all with weapons ready, "We're just a bunch of science ponies and sailors!"
"Now how did you get that idea, captain po-knee, we don't do no raiding nor slaving nor killing or stealing of any kind..." The gill-man's eyes shifted to Summer "...and you'd be a-feared too little deer, uh, po-knee, if you'd been about when those creatures 'o evil did come looking to steal away your fish, your tools, your, uh..." his voice choked up "...your daughter. The worst kinda bad news, those drow, we ain't in no position to fight 'em and if you think you're gonna do better..." He trailed off, confused by the po-knees seemingly arguing among themselves.
Summer Scribe picked up on that, trying to not shed a tear herself as she looked sad. Pony empathy powers go! "We don't want you to live in fear of an oppressor, either! We can stand together and fight against those bullies! Before they can do anything worse!" She thumped a hoof down and gave a resolute nod! "We're ponies! We don't stand down when folks are in need!"
Cloud Cutter turned away from Set Sail to listen to what she assumed was the gillmen's leader had said... before nodding slightly in response, then looking pleased with Summer Scribe's assertion, though she staying quiet for the time being.
"That's mighty touching of you, uh, 'search po-knee', spreading around your concern like that, but you see those drow, they got copters, they got cannon, they got a whole load o' archers and pikers and sneaky little buggers who descend on an unsuspecting village in the middle of the night like... uh... it's like... uh" The older gill-man stared into space, seemingly trapped in the recollection.
Set Sail looked ready to stridently object to Summer digging them even deeper, but instead her frustration broke, at the fish guy's words. She gave him (at least) a heartbroken look, saying, "Oh no! Your daughter?"
Behind him a younger, female voice piped up "Like the worst nightmare you ever did have, little po-knees! Now I'm thinking, not to be ungrateful here but I'm thinking, why would some strangers who never seen these parts before go sticking their necks out for us nobodies, and then I'm asking, yeah I'm asking how ya came to know about some 'force field' hereabouts. 'Cause I'm not saying you're spies for no drow, but..." The aquatic creature looked down. "...it's just mighty peculiar ya know?"
Summer Scribe pondered that, looking around the rest of the group as she huddled in. "Hmm, that's a good point... How can we prove that we're not Drow spies?" Not something that occurred to her earlier.
"My dear... fish lady..." Reef began.
"Sliptail, that's the name my mamma gave me, and you just done upset uncle Scalesbook there." she cut in.
Meanwhile Set Sail was whispering to Summer: "Do we need to prove we're not Drow spies? They can have their force field. We just need some friends around here, and help fixing our ship!"
Sweat was beading on Summer Scribe's brow, but she deferred to Set Sail's judgement. "You're right: we don't need full-blown sharing, everything-together-as-one relations, we just need to help each other out. Okay, I'll go down that road." She looks over to see if Reef is still talking, before butting in.
Cloud Cutter nodded again. "I'll side with the Captain as well on this one." She tossed in her two cents on the argument, even if it seemed over.
"...indeed. One does offer the most sincere apologies for that." Reef continued, ignoring the ponies whispering to each other in front of him. "In any case, please accept my assurance that we are explorers, conducting a survey of the Cloudbreaks, with particular attention to the biological and magical anomalies to be found here. And I must say that giant magical bubble over there, well it sticks out like a sore talon, so to speak. One would hardly have to be a spy to be drawn to such a sight."
"We're not looking for any trouble or anything. We're just really... really new to these lands, and we want to know if you... capture creatures and sell them," Set Sail offered, coming out of the impromptu huddle, ears down. "I-i-it's fine if you do I don't judge we'll just... go elsewhere nice and peacefully. We just don't know who's friendly around these parts."
"Yeah, umm, I do hear tell it's the grandest water nexus to be found in these parts, that's to be sure, but, ummm, you know about the pirates, and you know something about us, so someone done gone told you a whole lot, uh..." Slipscale tailed off, not sure what she's trying to say.
"I told you po-knee, we ain't no slaving stealing despicable little drow!" the older male cut in angrily, staring at Set Sail. "And I ain't too happy with anyone making the comparison!"
Summer Scribe bumped Set Sail, leaning in for a sharp whisper! "They're not slavers: drop it." Uncharacteristically angry for her! Then she settled herself in, and addressed Slipscale: "So, when it comes down to it... It's totally fair if you don't trust us yet. And that's fine! What we need the most is more transactional: we need help fixing our currently grounded airship. Are there any among your people who know their way around an airship, or even just good carpenters? I think once you see what we have, you'll agree it's unlike any Drow ship you've seen - and we'd be happy to show you around! And perhaps there's something we can do for you in return? We have capable fighters, magic..." She thought about offering supplies, but they were a little short on, uhh, everything really.
"I capture creatures and sell them!" another gill-man shouted unhelpfully from the back of the group. "I got me some gold-fish, red-fish, blue-fish, speckled-fish... uh... toads, coupla' snakes... all bottled up, ready ta take home... and good prices on each and every one, Burbleweed won't rip ya off, if ya got... gold for spending?" he pattered with a hopeful look. The rest of the fish creatures stared at him, rolling their eyes.
Reef Skimmer looked startled at this, then leaned his head down to Summer, stage-whispering "One doesn't suppose you brought those antique coins along? Live specimens already bottled up, did you hear?"
Summer Scribe blink-blinked, and opened her saddle bag, levitating out a few coins that jingled in front of her. "I mean, if any of this counts as 'gold'..." She looked sheepish.
Cloud Cutter finally decided to speak up, stepped forward with eyes showing no sign of emotion, but her voice made up for it. "We're not here to fight you... Summer is correct." Maybe she could stop this conversation from getting any worse. "The Drow have already caused us some problems, and some of us are very unhappy about what they've done... and most will be even less happy to hear what they've done to you." she concluded.
"Found yourselves on the wrong end of a dark elf pike, did ya now?" Scalesbrook said, taking a close look at Cloud Cutter for the first time. "Say, you got the way about you don't you, like you, uh, you... you been to the other side, and come back somehow." Eyes wide open, the fish man shivered, taking a step back from the pegasus.
Slipscale steps closer to her uncle and puts a clammy hand on his shoulder. "And that one done got some Magic in her." she said, pointing at Summer's glowing horn. "You suppose they all got elements on their side? Can't see no other way they'd get away, if the drow came a calling on their camp."
"Make no mistake, we defeated the drow on our encounter, my allies and I..." Cloud Cutter began, but as Scalesbrook continued... the pegasus took a step back as well. It was clear that the gillman had mentioned something she wasn't comfortable with. It took some time for her to even look back to the creature, though, and as Slipscale spoke... there was a sense of hope to the purple mare's words: "...I'm afraid I'm not quite understanding it myself. Could you help me there?"
"Unicorn ponies are uh, magic, yes," Set Sail clarified uncertainly, "We've still been trying to figure out what happened to Clashing Gale's team though, like Cloud Cutter here. If we did have these... element things on our side, we'd never use them to harm you, but we're kind of in the dark here, to be honest."
The older gillman looked perplexed. "Po-knee, now I can't say we had no spooky gillmen here no not in living memory but if I do recall they say those who've been to the other side, don't shed no light on the mysteries, now I always thought that was 'cause they just like being mysterious, but, uh..." He stared at Cloud Cutter again "...look we're just simple gillfolk here, fishing and cooking and a little of the farming and smithing on the side. We ain't got much in the way of elementals, mostly just the chief's line who got the way of the waters oww!"
Slipscale had elbowed her uncle in the ribs, glaring at him for revealing that to the strangers.
"You sent them drow packing?" Burbleweed said from behind. Turning to a fellow gillman he asked "You believe that? Those cute little things fought off a whole crew o' pirates? Unless..." he looked warily at Reef, still standing just behind the ponies with wings half-spread "...they got a whole lot more griffons back at their camp."
Cloud Cutter looked torn for a moment on how to respond, but then decided it would be better to seek a second opinion. She sidled over to Set Sail and whispered: "Should we tell them we captured their ship? Maybe then they'd believe we're on their side..."
Summer Scribe oohs. Their chief was all magical too? "...Don't suppose we could get a meeting with the chief? Friendly chat, exchange powers?" she said, with a smirk on her muzzle.
Harshly elbowing Summer, Set Sail said out loud, "We're not asking for miracles," with a sympathetic look to Slipscale. "We're just a group of explorers who got... a little waylaid, and we want to help however we can, so we can get a little... help in return. And mostly we just wanted to see if you were a friendly folk or not, since the only talking creatures we've run into so far are the Drow, and one creature who calls himself a 'troll'."
Summer Scribe oofs! But okay, that was fair. She rolled her leg a bit, nursing it. "Abby was pretty nice, though! Just a bit hermity." She perked a bit at Cloud Cutter and Set Sail's whispering, but missed the content.
"You wanna talk to the chieftess?" Slipscale said. "Yeah that'd be about right I guess, what with this talk of helping each other out, and she'll know, yeah she'll know if you're spies, or... umm, yeah, old Smoothfin 'll know if you folks are on the level. Friendly like. She looked around at her fellows. "Cause we're real friendly when you get to know us, right?" The gill-men all nodded, as if this was a point of pride.
"You won't go finding nowhere more welcoming than Witchway Marsh, not if you done hate those dark elf bastards nearly as much as we do!" Burbleweed said enthusiastically. "And we got the best selection of fresh, uh..." Seeing Set Sail's muzzle scrunch up he adjusted his pitch on the fly, "...pet! Yeah pet fish you'll find this side of Syklands!" he finished.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Set Sail replied, "We'd be happy to talk with her, if she's available! Where can she— I mean, if you could point us to where we might speak with her? We're not..." she eyed the giant floating islands and rivers all around them above, "...a very large group, but I think she might want to hear of us, and what good we can do together."
Summer Scribe nodded in agreement! It seemed like the conversation was heading in a productive direction. Hopefully the elder could be relied upon to be reasonable! Cloud Cutter also nodded and quieted down as she trotted back to her previous position. Perhaps now was not the best time to boast about how badly the drow had fared in their first encounter.
"Oh you'll be wanting to get up to the village then." Scalesbrook said, reaching up to adjust his broad-rimmed hat. "It's on the big island up there..." he waves at the sky "...just down the way from the source. Seeing as you're so polite and all I can offer ya all a ride on ma raft, ain't no better way to take in the sights downriver." He looked at the ponies for a moment. "'less you'd prefer to fly, I guess, say did you carry that little one all the way here?" he asked Reef Skimmer.
Summer Scribe looked up at the hippogriff. "Taking the raft does sound nice! But if we want to be expedient, Reef here can carry me, yes."
"Most of us are flyers, but a chance to see your magnificent river doesn't sound like such a bad idea," Set Sail sort of agreed, "We're not in a huge hurry, as long as it won't take days. Not like the ship'll burn down without us, right? H-how much... gold does it cost to ride?"
"Oh, one has gotten used to carting ponies around, so to speak." Reef said vaguely. "But one certainly wouldn't say no to a... raft..." he continued, "...assuming you have some magical means of propulsion? Wouldn't want to tire you good fellows out, pushing us all the way upriver!" He supposed he could transform and assist, would that startle them or reassure them, to see a fellow aquatic creature?
"Well you don't say, for the full tour it's just four gold ea- ow!" Burbleweed's pitch was cut off by another well-placed elbow from Sliptail.
"Can't be seeing to charge you folks what with offering to help us with the drow and all." Scalesbrook said. "Maybe you can even help us man the turret, if those sharks ever get it working! Uh." His niece was glaring at him again. "Uh. Never mind that. Yeah, so it's this way to the landing, if y'all will just follow me."
Summer Scribe nodded enthusiastically: "Lead the way, please!"
The older gillman lead the ponies through the cluster of huts and down a winding boardwalk into the swamp. It was just a couple of planks wide and creaked ominously under Reef's weight. "Uh, mind that one there, gotta replace that rotten plank some day, heh." he said. The hippogriff frowned and kept his wings open as much as possible, as another dunking in the smelly mud didn't appeal.
Slipscale followed at the rear of the group, wanting to keep an eye on her uncle, who seemed far to willing to spill the tribe's secrets to these strange creatures. The trip went much faster than the pony's journey from the castle, and soon enough the party was at the bank of a small river, flowing out from the central lake to the edge of the island.
Cloud Cutter didn't seem too keen on the idea of raft riding, but she didn't want to be that one creature that wouldn't join in with the group activity. Thankfully, the trip wasn't long... at least, not nearly as long as the flight there, or the trek through the jungle to the village...
Floating in a small cove was the raft, consisting of a rubber donut perhaps four metres in diameter, covered in patches sewn over many past punctures and topped with a platform of weathered, creaking brown planks. The cove itself had a nice sandy shore and clear water, contrasting with the muddy pools in the swamp behind them.
Fed up with the mud caking his feathers, Reef couldn't contain himself; with a quick flap he was in the air and over the water. Ribbons of golden light appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around his form; within a second they'd obscured it completely, and with a bright flash the hippogriff was gone, replaced by a seapony with grey scales and hot pink fins. Reef fell into the cove with an enormous splash, spraying droplets over the ponies and gillmen on the shore, and making the raft bob up and down vigorously. He swam around underwater for a few seconds before his head popped up above the surface.
Summer Scribe was approaching the raft to board it - hopefully this would be far more pleasant of a trip than our, uhh, unrecommendable one! She perked at the sight of Reef transmuting, and a big smile formed on her face. "Looking good!" she shouted, "How's the water here?"
"Much better, if I do say so!" Reef replied eagerly. "Now, erm, would you like me to help push? One wouldn't mind a good swim you know, not that flying isn't enjoyable. but one hasn't had many chances to get the fins out recently..." He trailed off, seeing everyone staring at him. "Ah, yes, I suppose it was just Nutmeg last time wasn't it."
Set Sail is having some second thoughts at the state of that raft, but she figured everyone else really wanted to go on a ride too, so who was she to object? She paused at the sight of Reef's transformation, smiling fondly at the magic there. She'll never get used to seeing hippogriffs doing that, but it sure will keep him safe from any raft related shenanigans.
Even Cloud Cutter can't help but stare at the doctor's transformation into a seapony. She'd rarely seen it herself, but it was quite different from the unicorn magic most ponies were familiar with. Nodding softly in understanding: at least there was one additional safety measure, if it came to that.
Still grinning, Summer Scribe continued the banter: "Well, if you want to get in the exercise, I'll hardly say no. Sounds like a plan!"
"Uh, you're... you're... you turned into... a fish..." Scalesbrook boggled, before Sliptail cut him off.
"I told you!" she said excitedly. "That one's got the power of Water in 'im. A griffon water elemental, now who woulda imagined that one? In the stories, all they was interested in was Air, like you'd think."
Reef Skimmer stared at the gill.. woman? wondering if it was worth trying to explain that the magic had come from his pearl amulet, much less the difference between griffons and hippogriffs. It didn't seem like this was the right audience for that lecture. "Quite, erm, yes. Water you say?"
"He's not a griffon actually, he's a hippogriff," Set Sail pointed out cluelessly for Scalesbrook, "They hail from a kingdom under the sea, or... half under the sea, so they live in both worlds." Looking down to Reef, she called over, "I think they call you a hippo...something else, when you're a fishy type creature?"
"Well I'll be, Mr Fish... Griffon... wait what'ya say your name was? That's a mighty fine trick you've got there, the chieftess'll wanna see for sure, but don't you worry now there's no pushing to be done, not with old Nessie here. You just, um... hop... back on there and sit back, and let ol' Scalesbook handle all the rafting."
"Hippocampus, yes, erm... well said, well said there Captain." Reef said, looking at Set Sail and... blushing? Maybe? It was hard to tell. Frowning, he thrashed his tail and stood up in the water, another flash of light returning him to hippogriff form so that he could flap up onto the raft, which settled noticeably in the water as he sat down. "Reef Skimmer, junior surgeon in Queen Novo's Royal Navy, erm... on secondment to the Equestrian Expedition to the Cloudbreaks. At your service." he informed the gillman formally, with a dipping bow of his head.
"Not that the navy is here!" Set Sail yelped nervously, "Strictly 100% civilian operation!"
Summer Scribe settled calmly in the centre of the raft, ready for 'Clueless Tourist' mode, enjoying the scenic trail and all the sights! The blissful smile was still plastered on her face... wait, 'Nessie'?
"Don't look like no hippo to me." Sliptail muttered, stepping onto the rear of the raft.
"Err, the etymology of the hippo- prefix is... you know, nevermind." Summer Scribe trailed off, still basking in the river trip and not feeling like an academic debate right then.
Set Sail fluttered down on the raft, testing the boards underhoof, then standing firm against them. She was set! ...and not at all as excited as a little schoolfilly!
Scalesbook was utterly bemused by all this. He stares at Reef's amulet; now that it was out of the water, the blue glow and humming was obvious, like a struck tuning fork, the sound and light slowly dying away. Thinking better of asking about it, lest he be confused by another upwelling of unfamiliar words and concepts, the old gill-man shook his head. "Yeah, well good for you, Mister Hippo-griffon, that all sounds great. Now all of you just grab onto the ropes there and hold tight, I gotta get us moving here."
He picked up a long pole and shoved it into the bank, grunting as he pushed the raft out into the river. Said ropes turned out to be some loops of rough, fraying hemp rope sitting on the platform, tied into the rickety structure of the raft. The raft was immediately caught by the current and carried downstream, heading towards the edge of the island. Scalesbrook works his pole, navigating the fragile vessel to the right as they come up on a fork in the river.
Set Sail winced at the state of the ropes, wrapping one around a foreleg, but mostly relying on her hoofing on the boards. Meanwhile Cloud Cutter, for once, wasn't buying the gillman's advice. Her wings were folded but held tense, and it was fairly clear to any creature on her squad that she would fly at the first sign of trouble...
A rushing roar of falling water became louder and louder as the raft continued downriver, picking up speed and jostling from side to side as the watercourse narrowed further. "Erm, not to criticise your navigation there, old fellow, but, erm... aren't we going the wrong way?" Reef Skimmer asked, speaking loudly over the rushing water.
"Now y'all just hold on tight there, maybe close those eyes if you're feeling squeemish, old Scalesbrook has done this a million times now, here about, and we'll be just fine, ya hear?" The raft surged forward and it became clear that it was heading directly for the head of the waterfall, where the river plunges off the edge of the island and disappears into the void below.
"It's fine, Reef. We don't know our way around the area," Set Sail remarked in amusement with a look back to the nervous hippogriff, "I'm sure he knows where he's going better than we do."
Summer Scribe nodded in agreement! "The rivers in this place go all over: could have missed something on our way in."
"But... we're going straight over that waterfall!" Reef said, gripping the raft tightly with his claws. His wings were already half open as he prepared to leap off and grab Summer... he wasn't sure if he could manage to grab one of the fish creatures as well, certainly not both of them...
"W-wait, Waterfall?!" Summer gawked! Her ears perked, trying to hear the rushing of water up ahead. The unicorn tensed in case she needed to jump off and swim, but the water was flowing fast and it seems like she'd need a rescue from Reef if it came to it!
"Oh yeah, we gonna go straight over the top, this is always the best bit!" Sliptail shouted from behind, startling Reef who gave a loud squawk. Cloud Cutter had already taken off and pulled away by this point: falling off a waterfall wasn't on her list of plans going into this voyage!
"Waterfall? What are you talking about?" Set Sail asked Reef with a look of complete puzzlement as the roar of water grows around them, "The only waterfall is the one right off the edge of the—"
"Bail!" Summer Scribe cried out, as she desperately made a jump for it, leaping off of the raft and immediately being carried away by the rushing current, far too strong for her to reach the bank before...
And with that the raft plunged over the edge of the island and fell into space, tipping forward as it plummeted down amidst the falling rain and spray of the dissolving waterfall. Everyone on board was soaked to the bone. Reef let out a loud screech as they fall, his claws still gripping the raft tightly, at least until they emerge from the spray and he can see who he needs to rescue.
Set Sail's wings snapped out as she turned forward, and the pegasus rose off the boards as they drop out from under her... before the rope she'd tied around her fetlock dragged her screaming into the abyss with the rest of them.
Cloud Cutter's wings were stretched wide as she flew out over the lip of the waterfall, staring down at the doomed raft with its screaming passengers falling into the void below. At least... until the raft, and a small equine body that had just separated from it, disappear in a brilliant flash of light, leaving a cloud of glowing, drifting motes that slowly wink out as the water itself vanishes, a hundred metres or so below the edge of the island. There was no trace of the raft, the ponies or the fish creatures.