//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Rivers of Avalon // by Snowy89 //------------------------------// “So what’s this place called again?” Twilight frowned and shot Rainbow an irritated glance. “Cherry Point – weren’t you listening?” She was being unreasonably snippish – she knew that – but the constant buzzing of flies and gnats had long since gotten on her nerves. “Obviously not,” Rainbow snapped right back at her. “Let’s just hurry up and get there then, slowpoke.” Twilight grumbled, but otherwise kept her peace. Together the two of them made their sullen way down the shrub-strewn rocky slope, taking care not to walk too close to the uneven, crumbling edge close by on their right; below flowed – if such a graceful word could be given to the swamps of the Eastern Loop – the river Sul and the watery mess they’d been trying to cross for the better part of a week. Or more specifically, cross and make it back to the lofty peaks of Hurricanum. The town ahead – sitting on the shore of one of the scant few fast-flowing sections of the meandering river – would hopefully provide them the solution; even if it didn’t it’d still be the first welcome bit of civilization they’d seen since they’d had to leave their ship behind. The sun beat down relentlessly as they neared the base of the slope. “I am sooo itchy right now,” Rainbow whined. Twilight glanced back over her withers to see her flexing and ruffling her wings in agitation. “We’ll be there soon,” Twilight said, now all the more aware of the rivers of sweat under her own jacket and panniers. “They’ll have showers at the inn. Surely.” “There’s always the river...” Rainbow trailed off as she thought over just what she was suggesting. “Ya know, nevermind.” Twilight chuckled. “It’s supposed to be quite beautiful farther downstream once it joins up with the other tributaries.” “I’ll take your word for it.” “Oh come on! Just because you could practically walk on it in its current state doesn’t mean it can’t be wonderful further on.” “Uh huh.” Twilight stumbled on the loose rock, cursing under her breath as she caught herself. “Stupid stones,” she mumbled. “We wouldn’t even be in this mess if anybody in this blasted place could work citrine for the life of them.” “You good?” Rainbow asked as she hurried up to her side. “Yeah,” Twilight said, keeping a tighter reign on her temper this time. “Reeeal eager to get out of this place.” “No kidding.” The town itself was... barebones, Rainbow decided as she flew low circles above. They’d been able to spy a few settlements either side of them over the last several days, but with their supplies as good as they were they figured they’d make straight for whichever one seemed nearest a ford. A short ways below she could easily make out Twilight just entering the outskirts; there were a few ponies and deer milling about near her, but she seemed okay from here. Still though... she took one last look around the town before moving to land – just in case. Twilight had just entered the dusty riverside square when Rainbow landed lightly beside her, making her start. “Dash! There you are – find anything useful?” “Not really,” Rainbow shook her head, scuffing at the worn cobblestone. “Bit of a dock by the water, though I don’t know why they bothered – it’s all marshy up ahead too. Only buildings big enough for an inn are right around here,” she finished with a jerk of her head to the rough semicircle of wood-and-stone structures they’d trod into. Twilight glanced around before nodding abruptly. “Right, well, shower first – then we’ll check out this dock,” she said as she led the way to the nearest of the buildings. Upon reaching it they crossed the wooden veranda, chipped and faded varnish crunching underhoof, and pushed open the dusty glass door. “Well, at least we know where to buy some food,” Rainbow said, taking a peek around the high-ceilinged store; a hooffull of people were shopping down aisles of surprisingly fresh-looking fruits and vegetables. “Waaay better stuff than I’d’ve thought too,” she added, having gone in for a closer look. “Well, this is a particularly fertile river basin we’re in,” Twilight said, looking around for things they could need later. “It would make sense that the food’s good here, even if everything else is a mess.” Rainbow nodded along distractedly as she turned back to the door. “Not the inn though.” “Yep,” Twilight followed. “Shelter, then supplies.” Trying to plan out their next move without even a tent to sleep in had quickly proven itself a fool’s errand, but doing so after a good night’s rest in a comfy bed? Foal’s play. “Bet this is it,” Rainbow said as they came up to one of the tidier-looking buildings, one of only three that had a third floor. Flowering vines hung from the walls and roof adding a pop of pink and purple to the front; a bark of muffled laughter could be heard inside. The door squeaked on its hinges as they entered into what was undoubtably the main floor of the place: several tables – some occupied – sat between a bar and open kitchen on one side, with stairs by a large fireplace on the other. “We still got enough money for this place?” “Mmhmm – when I said I took the ledgers off the ship, I meant all of them. Not enough notes to buy a house or anything, but a night here? Easy.” “I kinda meant if you were willing to actually spend it,” Rainbow said with a wry smile. “‘Cause if I remember rightly you wanted to deliver those things untouched.” Twilight frowned, flicking her tail irritably. “Yes, well, that was before spending four days sleeping under itchy bushes and trees, covered in sweat and dust. We’ll just say they must’ve fallen out a porthole when the ship went down.” Rainbow chuckled, sharing her sentiment. “Sounds fine to me!” They carried on crossing over to the bar, figuring the lone deer tending some pots there could help them. “Hey Twilight?” “Yeah?” “This vacation sucks.” “Yeah.” “I can’t believe they’ve got a turnover array here!” Twilight gushed from where she was sitting in the shower basin, cool water pouring down on her. “In this little backwater!” “Uh huh,” Rainbow said as she lazed damply on the bed. “At least, I think it’s an array. Unlimited water though! So good!” She rolled over limply on her side, the water pooling on the stone floor around her. Rainbow rolled her eyes at the display before going back to staring idly at the vaulted ceiling. They’d gotten a top floor room, with a window wide and sturdy enough to fly in and out of – something she was looking forward to shortly. Given the thick shrub-cover they’d been going through for the past few days she hadn’t been able to risk flying too far away from Twilight to scout, but with an actual easy-to-find inn she could take a proper look around and figure out just how the heck they were going to get out of this. The river could, maybe, be crossed here – there’d be no reason to have a dock otherwise. Unless, of course, it was an old, useless thing from back when the water flowed faster. Although come to think of it... “Hey Twi?” she called out. “Mmhmm?” “Where are we, anyways? I mean, like, even if we crossed the river here, where’d we even be exactly? ‘Cause it isn’t much good to us if we cross just to end up stuck back in the middle of nowhere.” There was a sloshing, splashing noise right before Twilight stepped into the room, leaving a great trail of water behind her. “With this heat it’ll dry in no time,” Twilight said as she rustled through her panniers stowed at the foot of the bed. “So the innkeeper confirmed we’re in Cherry Point, right?” she said more to herself than Rainbow. “Thaaat’s here.” Rainbow flopped over onto her belly to stare down at the map; one of the larger chips in Twilight’s hoof was currently pointing out a small dot on the eastern portion of the extensive basin they were in. “Uh huh. Sooo we need to go there” – Rainbow indicated a distant fork in the Whither river, where it split north and south around a mountain range southeast of them – “right? Pretty sure that’s where the castle was.” Twilight nodded, her horn aglow as she took a moment to swipe away the water that had dripped onto the canvas. “Yup – Autumn Beech, and it was a fortress, not a castle.” “Whole lotta nothing between here and there,” Rainbow said, choosing to ignore the correction. “Yeah... plus, once we get there we still need to follow the South Whither here,” Twilight continued, her hoof tracing a squiggly line down through the mountain passes and towards Chestnut lake further south, “until we get back to Hurricanum. There’ll be plenty of towns and villages bordering it that the map’s not showing, surely, that can help with keeping us supplied.” In a pinch they could always graze, but if those river banks were as sparse as the ones around here they’d have to spend so much time doing so that they’d barely have any time left to make progress. “We’d need a boat.” “We’ll work something out.” “Good enough for me,” Rainbow said as she suddenly jerked herself upright. “Right then! I’m going for a fly.” “Ah – we’ll need a way to the river, umm... oh, it’s still called the Sul,” Twilight said after a quick look back at the map. “If we can cross the tributaries here at all then there’ll have to be a route for us down to the Whither – at least at this distance the slopes over there looked too steep for me.” “I’ll check, I’ll check,” Rainbow waved her off as she hopped on over to the window sill. “I’ll be back in an hour or so.” “Alright; I’ll keep planning things out in the meantime,” Twilight said distractedly, already back to rooting through her panniers. Leaping nimbly from the sill, Rainbow gave her wings a few deft pumps as she took off into the sky, circling smoothly as she gained height. Another quick look around the village revealed nothing of note – still just as small and dull as when they’d arrived. The river too, for that matter, looked just as treacherous. Angling to fly low over the reedy muck, she set about a zigzag pattern crossing from bank to bank hoping to find something solid enough to be trod upon. Unfortunately she didn’t even need to land and test things to know she was probably wasting her time – the ‘ground’ below may’ve been covered in mosses and yellowing grass, but the sheer number of puddles and pools here and there made it clear the river was flowing just underneath. This wouldn’t be such a dratted nuisance if I could just carry Twi across, Rainbow grumbled to herself as she picked up altitude. Maybe there’s a gryphon around here we could hire? She snorted, dismissing the idea – she hadn’t seen a single gryph’ since they’d left Equus weeks ago, to say nothing of trusting her friend to a stranger. Once again getting some proper height under her, she took a good look at the areas around Cherry Point, scanning for anything that looked like it could work. Upstream was a bust: the same tall cliffs they’d spent the last day walking on likewise prevented them from hoofing it down to the water – more the pity seeing as the river looked to be actually flowing up there. And south downstream? The river widened out into a great bog as it slowed and settled before branching east and south again; from here she could make out several rocky islands and pillars, but there still didn’t seem to be any clear way across, and with the sun already sinking in the sky there wasn’t light enough to go there and back again for a proper check. Giving up on finding a route across today, she took another long look at the valley they were effectively trapped in – its countless tea terraces, fields of oats and leafy fruit trees interspersed with clumps of wood-and-stone homes and workshops – before heading slowly back down to the inn. In short order she’d landed back down in the town’s square, a little cloud of dust erupting around her. There were still a few ponies and deer wandering about, but with the shops all closed up there was little reason to linger. The inn, on the other hoof, was right busy, but however fun a chill night out drinking with friends could be, she had no interest whatsoever in getting to know anybody here. Nudging open their room’s door she found Twilight more-or-less where she’d left her, surrounded by scatterings of papers and plotting tools on the bed. “You didn’t get the bed all damp, did you?” Rainbow asked as she kicked the door closed behind her. “‘Cause I really don’t want to have to sleep on the floor.” “Hmm? Nah,” Twilight said with barely a glance up at her. “It’s fine. How’d the scouting go?” “Meh. Cliffs’re too tall upriver, it’s all a bog right here, and it’s even boggier downstream.” She hopped up onto the bed herself, taking care not to disturb any of the sheets as she nestled down next to the pillows. “Didn’t have time to scout all the way there and back again though.” Twilight nibbled her lip, nodding. “I’d figured as much. I think what we should do in the morning is see about getting a guide, or at least some advice from the locals – perhaps they’ll know of some way across.” “I guess we could ask around in the tavern tonight?” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Yes, because surely we’ll get a coherent answer from a bunch of drunken farmers.” Rainbow snorted. “Yeah, nevermind. Hey, what about dinner? I’m kinda sick of oatbars and grazing.” Twilight looked out the window at the rapidly approaching night before briskly jumping off the bed. “It’s not too late – let’s take a look around for something to eat.” “Alriiight! Let’s see if the food’s any different here than back at the city, eh?” The night air was cool with just the barest hint of a breeze as they wandered around the few lit streets in the area. They’d been searching for some twenty minutes now and had yet to find a thing; it was some consolation that a town like this would be unlikely to have more than one or two restaurants in it, but they were starting to tire out. Rainbow paused as they passed under a softly-buzzing zephyric lamp, staring up with a sigh at the moths fluttering about its warm glow. Twilight sidled quietly up next to her as the two of them stood together, enjoying the night air. “We could always just get something back at the inn,” Twilight said eventually, breaking the companionable silence they’d fallen into. “At this point if it’s hot, it’s good enough for me.” Rainbow’s tail swished back and forth in contemplation. “Yeah, may as well I guess – it’s getting too dark for this anyways.” “It’ll be alright,” Twilight said as they turned back the way they came. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty of, umm, ‘rustic fare’ at the inn.” “I was kinda hoping to try the street food first, but I guess there’s always tomorrow.” By and large Rainbow didn’t much care for Avalon, or any of the other major islands around Equus for that matter, but on the rare occasion she found herself travelling to another country she always aimed herself straight at the local cuisine – however bizarre the places she was in might be, the food at least was usually good. “I don’t think it’ll really be much different than back in Hurricanum,” Twilight said as they reentered the riverside square – since they’d mostly wandered in circles they hadn’t actually gone that far from it. “And I know you pigged out on just about every type of thing they had there.” “Of course I did! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a decent donair back home, even in Cloudsdale? Practically the only good thing about this diplomatic thingy is the food.” Twilight quirked a brow at her. “Thisstrictly voluntarytrip you mean? Assuming this mess even counts anymore?” “Well, alright,” Rainbow dithered, “I guess the adventure’s good too; plus I get to hang out with you some more.” Twilight smiled, gently flicking her with her tail as she pushed open the inn’s door. “Well, I’m glad you’re here whatever your motivation,” she said earnestly. “Now let’s grab dinner – early or not, I’m beat.” “Yeah,” Rainbow agreed, rolling her wings and arching her back – days sleeping on parched grass and dirt had made no friend of her spine. “No kidding.” This trip they were on was hardly turning out the way she’d expected; the diplomatic meetings they’d been observing had been considerably more boring than she’d anticipated, the locals were all weird – it felt like she couldn’t say or do anything without everyone looking at her like she’d just sneezed on somebody! She’d hoped that this sightseeing trip Twilight had managed to snag a small airship for was going to be where things finally picked up, but they hadn’t even gotten to their first stop before the damn thing’s lift failed. Hopefully a good, hot meal would help cheer her up, because so far, she was more than a little upset.