A swamp differed from a marsh in a few ways. At least Rainbow Dash thought it had to, otherwise why would they be called two different things? Well the first thing she really noticed was that it smelled different. Worse. There was a mulchiness, a staleness to the air, putrid, almost rotting. Fungusy. That was a swamp. The twisted trees coming out of the water were another dead give away, as was the fact that she had stopped seeing even muddy ground and now there was only a murky green and brown water everywhere. Lilypads, reeds, vines, and dead trees fallen over into the water were the abundant types of vegetation.
Moss too. Lots and lots of moss everywhere.
It was also dark now as well—early in the evening—and fog rolled through much of the swamp to give it a spooky appearance. Currently the greatest source of light for Rainbow Dash wasn’t the moon or the stars, but instead the hundreds of fireflies that flew around the insides of the swamp. Some buzzed right past her while others flew off in the distance between the trees.
None of the twisted trees were particularly tall compared to some larger pines or redwoods, but their branches all stretched out wide overhead and they constantly snarled around with the branches and leaves of other trees to make a decently thick canopy. She could see patches of the dark sky pretty consistently but even in the middle of the day this would be a mostly dark and shadowy place.
Of course beyond the trees, beyond the water, beyond the smells, beyond everything else about the swamp, there was one thing that stood out the most.
The croaking.
Endless croaking from an innumerable amount of frogs inside the swamp. Their croaking drowned out everything else completely and it never abated. It was driving her crazy, it just didn’t stop and she couldn’t even really see any of the frogs making the noise, it just came from everywhere.
“Celestia’s flank, could you quit it for five seconds?!” Rainbow Dash yelled into the dark swamp.
They didn’t.
She groaned as she flew deeper into the dark swamp—the croaking even drowning out the crickets she knew were also making a ton of noise. If she found a frog it was going to take a lot of inner strength to not chuck it somewhere. Fluttershy would be mad if she did that too…
“How does anypony sleep in a place like this?” Rainbow Dash shook her head.
And speaking of sleep, it was getting darker and darker as early evening shifted to late evening. Soon she’d want to get some rest herself and she’d preferably like to do it someplace dry. Her eyes searched through the dark swamp on the lookout for any sort of cabin or bungalow or other dwelling, even just a tied up boat or something that said ponies would be around, but so far she hadn’t found any. If it came down to it she could probably sleep in a tree but that would be dirty and uncomfortable too.
Frustrated enough at her lack of progress and the constant croaking, Rainbow Dash decided to briefly touch down on a half-sunk log and give her wings a little rest. She could try working her brain now to come up with an idea of what to do next. It was difficult though with all the croaking. Even after closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to try and shut it out it still invaded her ears.
“Stupid frogs…” Rainbow Dash muttered.
Realizing in about three seconds that thinking wasn’t her strong suit, Rainbow Dash opened her eyes back up and shook her head.
“Okay, whatever, I know for a fact there are ponies living in here and I’ve gotta come across them sooner or later. If I just keep heading south I’ll probably stumble into something. That’s happened every other time so far on my journey,” she shrugged. The fireflies in the distance were still telling her where the trees and where the open space in the swamp was.
“This would be easier if I could fly above the trees and still see down past them to find any houses,” she blew a breath of disgruntled air from her nose. “Whatever.”
Rainbow Dash was getting ready to leave when she noticed some of the water by her log had started to bubble and ripple.
“Hm?” She leaned down to get a better look at it-
-when a wide open pair of jaws with lots of sharp teeth shot out from the water at her.
Rainbow’s eyes went wide and she immediately jumped back, flapping her wings and flying up from the log. It was just in time too as the alligator’s jaws snapped shut on empty air—barely missing her hooves. Angrily, the reptile turned around and dove back under the surface, leaving only ripples behind.
“...that was a little close,” Rainbow said after a moment of catching her breath. The water had returned to being totally placid and impenetrable to her eyes, there was no telling if the alligator or any others were still close by, watching and waiting for her. “Gonna need to be careful when it comes to landing anywhere here.”
Sleeping in a tree was sounding better by the minute.
A huge swamp like this was probably home to thousands of alligators. Not to mention what other sort of predators might live in here. They probably outnumbered the ponies. How many ponies could really live comfortably in a swamp after all? What did they farm or grow? Or maybe they just fished too like the southern Vissidians. Rainbow Dash hoped not.
Since it still wasn’t exactly late night or anything, Rainbow decided she still wanted to fly a little further until she gave up and stuck herself in a tree for the night.
“Can alligators climb trees?” She idly wondered as she flew over the water.
Some of them were tilted enough that it looked like they probably could easily get up the trunks.
Well, she’d find a safer looking one if she had to.
Thirty more minutes of flying and following the lights of the fireflies as if they were lanterns showing the way down a street, and Rainbow Dash may have finally found something. A larger light than any simple firefly reached out to her from the darkness ahead. Rainbow Dash flew to it like it was a shiny lure reeling her in.
When she got a little closer she realized it was a light pouring out from a window, and the building around it became more clear to her. A small shack built up against a few trees in the swamp and standing on stilts to keep the bottom from touching the water. A few stairs led down to a small dock where a single canoe was tied up. The shack itself was made of a bunch of wooden planks of all shapes and sizes, nailed together to make a few haphazard walls and a rather uneven roof with a small metal chimney also popping out of the roof. But it obviously still worked well enough as a place to live since it was clearly occupied.
Rainbow Dash sighed in relief and dropped down onto the porch right in front of the front door before knocking a few times.
“Hm? Who’s that?” She heard the voice of a stallion from inside and shortly after the front door was opened with a squeaky creak.
A middle-aged stallion was standing there, a light green earth pony with stubble on his chin and a grey mane and tail. He held a corncob pipe in his mouth and wore a straw hat on his head. Behind him, Rainbow Dash saw two mares who looked about as old as he was. One pink earth pony with a purple mane who had it wrapped in a long braid and another blue earth pony with a white mane who had it in a tight bun behind her head.
“Uh, hi,” Rainbow Dash smiled and waved to them.
The stallion nodded. “Well hello there, miss. What brings you to our home at this time of night?”
“I’m traveling through the swamp and I was looking for a place to spend the night… er, if it isn’t too much to ask, do you mind if I stay here?” Rainbow asked.
“You from Vissidia?” He raised an eyebrow at her.
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No, but I just traveled through there too, I’m heading south and, well, your swamp was the next stop.”
“Figured,” he nodded. “You didn’t seem like a Vissidian.” He smiled at her. “And you don’t have to worry none. While we may not go crazy about hospitality like those fellows living up north, anyone worth anything living in this swamp would never turn away a pony in need. Come on in.”
Rainbow Dash grinned and wiped a little sweat from her brow as she walked in. “That’s great to hear. I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping in a tree. Name’s Rainbow Dash by the way, nice to meet you three.”
“Well met, Rainbow Dash,” the stallion said. “I’m Giacomo, and this is my wife Peggy Sue-” he gestured to the pink mare. “And this is my other wife, Mary Anne.” He gestured to the blue mare.
Rainbow Dash blinked. “Can… can you repeat that?”
“Oh right,” Giacomo got a contemplative look on his face. “Vissidians I meet always say that it’s uncommon for ponies to have more than one wife or husband outside the swamp. So they say at least, never been anywhere else myself.”
“You’re not put off by that, are you?” Peggy Sue asked Rainbow Dash, speaking for the first time.
“Uh, no… it’s just a bit unusual. I was just surprised,” Rainbow awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.
“It’s just a local custom. Lots of families in the swamp are made of multiple spouses all married together,” Mary Anne said. “I have been up to Vissidia many times in my life and they always seem to think it’s a little weird too.”
“But it works for us,” Peggy Sue said and both she and Mary Anne hugged Giacomo.
Rainbow shrugged. “Well hey, more power to ya I guess."
Giacomo then coughed and sat down at a table inside the shack, like everything else it was pretty shoddily made. Aside from the table there was a stove over by the fireplace and chimney, and a few chairs, a sink, and a door that must lead to their bedroom. Their bedroom. A couple of cabinets, boxes, and barrels lay about the floor of the shack, and a trio of fishing poles sat up against one of the walls.
“Now uh, Miss Rainbow Dash? There’s something you said that has me a might bit concerned,” Giacomo started.
“What’s that?” Rainbow asked.
“You said you were heading south through the swamp now? Well I don’t think you should do that, we’ve got a problem here,” Giacomo told her.
“That’s right, she wouldn’t know...” Peggy Sue said with a worried face.
Mary Anne shuddered. “It still hasn’t been caught yet, has it?”
Rainbow Dash looked back and forth between the three of them. “I take it you’re about to say there’s something dangerous going on deeper in the swamp. Cause that’s been pretty par for the course when it comes to my journey so far.”
“To put it simply—there’s a monster in the swamp,” Giacomo said.
“A monster? What kind of monster?” Rainbow furrowed her brow.
“A gigantic alligator,” Peggy Sue said. “At least that’s what they say.”
“Who’s they?” Rainbow asked.
“The ponies who live further south in the deeper parts of the swamp. They say their fishers and trawlers have been attacked by it and it even swallows up boats and has attacked some of the smaller settlements and crannogs. From what they’ve told us it’s not a normal alligator at all, it’s just some huge ravenous monster with blood red eyes that has been terrorizing the swamp,” Mary Anne said.
“That’s right,” Giacomo said. “If you want to head south, I’d recommend you just fly above the swamp the whole way since you’re a pegasus and all. Otherwise you’d end up going right through that monster’s territory.”
“I see...” Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin.
It seemed like fun—and more than that, the opportunity to help ponies in need—wasn’t far away.
She didn’t need to bother these ponies about that though, no reason to stress them out. And from the sound of it there would be others for her to meet first just a little further into the swamp.
“Er, I got another question,” Rainbow asked as her eyes looked over at the fishing poles. “You mentioned fishing down there… what do ponies do for food in the swamp?”
“Oh we got stuff like cranberries, water chestnuts, rice, and catfish and crawdads of course,” Giacomo replied.
Rainbow Dash got a little green. “That’s… that’s what I thought. Do you have any cranberries? I’m not really a fish pony...”
“Sure we do, wouldn’t be right to not give you a nice meal,” Peggy Sue said.
“If you don’t like fish we’ve got some gator skewers too though. I bet you’d love em,” Mary Anne said.
Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her mouth as she felt her stomach almost come up. “N-No thanks. And one more question but… does the croaking here ever stop?”
“No, no it does not,” Giacomo chuckled.