Amethyst Star Isn't Prepared For This

by MagicS

Swamped III

The one upside right now was that at least the water wasn’t too cold. Everything else was the downside. Amethyst Star was still in a very foul mood after leaving the Foxtail Clan and it was even worse since she still didn’t have a canoe and had to keep swimming. Getting all those accusations thrown at her didn’t help either. This whole trip through the swamp was turning into an even bigger mess than she could’ve thought. Maybe it would’ve been better to take the extra day and just travel around it, doing that would’ve at least saved her from those stressful jerks back there. She saw a cool looking village but that really wasn’t worth all the other trouble so far and nothing else seemed inclined to give her the adventure and excitement she wanted out here. It was just a big dumb swamp with some big dumb ponies in it. Now it was even getting darker thanks to all her time wasted back with the Foxtail Clan and within a couple hours she’d probably have trouble seeing. Hopefully the swamp ended sooner than it looked or she could find someplace to rest for the night that wasn’t wet. Maybe climbing a tree and sleeping in the branches would work? No, she’d be worried about falling out on accident in the middle of the night.

“I hate this place.”

It was exhausting carrying her bag like she was too, for not the first time she was grateful that it wasn’t too heavy but it was still beginning to drain on her magic. Amethyst Star stood up on the roots of a nearby tree to give herself a little rest and shut her eyes, leaning against the tree still halfway submerged in water and trying to calm herself down. At the least the croaking of frogs and the buzzing of mosquitoes were so constant it was basically just background noise. With the swamp so far devoid of any dangerous creatures the stillness of the water made it fairly peaceful and it was a nice reprieve from her angry thoughts.

Everything in the Undiscovered West seemed to be coming together to frustrate her. Those thoughts.

Amethyst Star sighed and left the tree, swimming back into the water and going for her next checkpoint. “I guess it could be worse though. Maybe if I find that Flytrap Clan or whatever they’d be willing to lend me a canoe?” She didn’t expect it but she could hope.

As much as she didn’t like this place thanks to how the Foxtail’s had treated her she was happy that it wasn’t as personally humiliating or physically difficult to get through for her. She wasn’t plagued by self-doubt over her lacking skills or told she shouldn’t be out here and that was a plus. Not struggling up a hill or being insulted and not taken seriously by ponies who didn’t even know her for once was really good for her mental state.

Of course it would be better if she wasn’t disrespected here for completely different reasons but there was nothing she could do about that except for move on and try to find a better place.

She paddled through the water and the slime, pushing lily pads out of the way or swimming around logs and reeds that clogged up the water. Nothing more than routine now for her. Looking over her shoulder she saw the last remnants of the Foxtail Clan’s domain disappearing between the rest of the vegetation of the swamp. She was making good progress so far as she kept her way west. And now was midway between wanting and not wanting to come across the Flytrap Clan at all. Possibility of a canoe? Good. Possibility of being stalled, accosted, and jerked around? Bad.

“Might be better to just hope “west” is big enough and I won’t stumble onto wherever they live,” she thought.

It was another hour of swimming and avoiding obstacles for her after that. She wasn’t going very fast but just how big was this swamp anyways? It must’ve been the size of the Everfree Forest or something. But she eventually came across a large patch of land that rose out of the water, it was muddy and covered in tall grass and bushes but it still gave her a reprieve from swimming and let her hang her bag at her side so she could relax her horn too. The soft and mushy ground beneath her hooves wasn’t very inviting but a log from a tree half-buried in the ground made an alright place to sit.

“Bleh,” Amethyst Star stuck out her tongue as she sat on the wet moss. Not pleasant.

And as she sat there and looked around at the familiar scenery she realized she was kind of bored. It had been a large and wide open plain she had traveled through right before this swamp and that had far less to do or look at in it, but now things were so stale to her in here she really wanted to hurry up and get out. The gnarled trees and green water covered in lily pads and the ever present croaking of the frogs was too repetitive. If there wasn’t adventure to be found here she needed to get someplace new anyways just for a change of scenery on her little journey.

She lived in Ponyville her entire life but at least there she always had her friends to talk to or engage in some kind of event the town was putting on. Ponyville was never the problem or the reason she came here, it was her place in it that was getting to her. Amethyst Star frowned, it was an adventure she wanted and it wasn’t what she was getting. If she wanted a nature walk she could’ve just gone anywhere in Equestria. What was this swamp compared to Froggy Bottom Bogg or Hayseed Swamp? She wanted something different that nobody else in Equestria knew about.

Amethyst Star clicked her tongue and stood up. Time to keep moving and find something that could actually fulfill her adventurous ideas. What could she prove hanging out in a boring swamp no different than any other?

Back to swimming.

She quickened her pace this time though after leaving that mud island, a determined frown etched on her face. No more of this, time to hurry up. She did come to a decision on something else though. She wanted to find the Flytrap Clan. That might at least lead to something. Regardless of what that something was.

Amethyst Star swam harder through the swamp with renewed vigor in her veins. She never considered herself the most aquatic of ponies but she bet she could even make Sea Swirl proud with how well she was doing. Once she walked up a big tree that had fallen over in the swamp and walked down its trunk, it was mossy and wet and she almost slipped but she kept her balance, she had done a good job of keeping her head dry and she had no intention of dunking her face in gross swamp water anytime soon.

And ahead of her her eyes again caught sight of something out of place.

She couldn’t tell for sure at first since the colors all blended together so well with the rest of the swamp but as she got closer she was certain. A big wooden wall rose sheer out of the water. The boards that made it up were a camouflage like mess of green, brown, gray, and black and they had moss and other plants growing all over them. But they still created a seamless barrier that separated the western part of the swamp from the east.

“Oh great, how big is this thing?” Amethyst Star wondered as she made her way to it.

She climbed up onto a small dock made at the bottom of it for people to stand on, looking down the lengths of the wall she noticed there was nothing else like that around. Was there an entrance here and she just couldn’t see it? Or something else? Amethyst Star looked up at the wall to check it out, it seemed to go up a dozen feet or so above the surface of the water. When she looked to her left and right it seemed to stretch for ages, did it cut through the whole swamp? It didn’t look like it curved at all.

“Can I get past this somehow or do I have to go around?” Amethyst Star tapped on the wall a few times. If there wasn’t an entrance or hole she wished she just would’ve gone around the entire swamp in the first place, since it looks like she might be forced to do that anyways.

“Hey! Who goes there?” She heard from above her.

Amethyst Star looked up to see a pony peeking over the top of the wall, there must’ve been a platform or stairs or something for him to stand on that she couldn’t see. He was a blue unicorn with a wavy white mane and he had a wooden helmet on his head with a clasp under his chin. Much like Quargyle or the Chief of the Foxtail Clan he regarded her with a frown and clear suspicion.

“My name’s Amethyst Star, I’m just traveling through the swamp. Is there a way to get past this wall?” She said to him.

“Just traveling through?” He raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “No pony just travels through here. Were you sent by the Foxtail Clan?”

“Oh no, no, no, no...” Amethyst Star held a hoof to her face. She could see where this was going.

“Aha! You’re a spy aren’t you, your silence only incriminates you further!” The sentry accused.

Amethyst Star groaned, she closed her eyes and let her face drop to the ground, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Why? Why are you all like this?”

“What did you come here for? You should know we don’t just let any Foxtail’s in here. Get lost!” He tried shooing her away.

“I’m not from the Foxtail Clan! They thought I was a spy sent by you guys and they made me leave too, okay?” She tried to tell him.

“Hah! You think a dumb story like that will be enough to get our trust? Whatever mission they’ve sent you on you can just forget about it, nobody gets in our walls,” he laughed at her.

“What you’re saying doesn’t make any sense! Can’t you see how stupid this all sounds?! I’m clearly not from the Foxtail Clan and if I was on a mission to sabotage you or whatever then why would things turn out like this?”

Unlike with Quargyle and the Chief this pony seemed to actually consider her words. He stared her down as he rubbed a hoof under his chin. “Hmm, that isn’t totally insane I guess. But that still doesn’t mean I trust you! And regardless of who you are we don’t open our doors so easily anyways. We’re mortal enemies of the Foxtail Clan and we don’t take any chances.”

“Ugh, look-” Amethyst Star groaned. “I just want to get through this swamp. If you let me in you can have someone escort me the whole way through your territory until I’m out.”

“And why should we listen to you? Perhaps that’s just what you want us to do!”

“Of course it’s what I want you to do because I want to get out out of here! Literally how could I even turn this around or do anything if you’re watching over me the whole time?!”

“That’s a good question. I may not know the answer but I’m not gonna take any chances!”

“Aggghhhh!” Amethyst Star screamed to the sky. “What did I do to deserve this?!”

“Your own fault for colluding with our enemies and trying to pull one over on us,” the sentry yawned from up on the wall. “Now hurry up and get out of here, I’ve got other things to do.”

“Can you at least let me have a canoe or something so I can leave faster?” Amethyst Star asked, totally exasperated. She was just tired and wanted to give up.

“No. We don’t give canoes to those who associate with the Foxtail’s.”

“I’m not-” Amethyst Star started but stopped. She knew it was pointless. These two crazy Clans were at each other’s throats for some reason and they apparently instantly thought any pony they didn’t know was an agent of the other Clan. Whatever happened with the two of them to get them like this she had no idea, but these swamp ponies were just plain nuts. Maybe if she was like Princess Twilight she could figure out why they’re like this and get them to make peace but-

Hey wait.

Amethyst Star’s eyes grew wide and a giddy smile appeared on her face, the change so sudden that it greatly confused and kind of creeped out the sentry watching her.

“This is perfect! This is just the kind of friendship problem Twilight and her friends are always solving! I’ll do it too, I’ll fix the Flytrap and Foxtail Clans and make them friends!” She jumped up and down in ecstasy.

“What are you talking about?” The confused sentry asked from on high, privy to her loud ramblings.

She looked up at him with a big smile on her face that showed no evidence of their prior arguing. “Can you tell me how the Flytrap and Foxtail Clans first came here and started fighting with each other?”

“Huh?” He tilted his head at her.

Amethyst Star had heard the Foxtail side of things but she wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if the Flytrap’s had a different version of how things went. “Please? I want to learn about you and help!”

He shrugged. “Uh, okay I guess. Still not letting you in here though just cause you got a smile on your face but if you want to know about the Flytrap Clan I ain’t gonna refuse. Our ancestors learned about this swamp at the same time as the Foxtail’s ancestors did. But they picked up and moved in a little faster than us. And then when we finally got our things together and were ready to live here they tried to keep us from setting up at all and acted like they owned the place! Not like the swamp wasn’t big enough for the both of us, they got all high and mighty and treated us like garbage and tried to keep us tucked away over here. Any time we try to offer peace to them they come back with outrageous demands or laugh in our faces. Not to mention that they’re always doing something to sabotage our village or steal our stuff, that’s why we made this wall in the first place. Those jerks can sit over there and rot for all I care!”

“Great!” Amethyst Star was happy to hear all that. “Can you go tell your leader now or whoever that I want to help your Clans reconcile?”

The sentry looked at her like she had grown a second head. This crazy mare was asking to leave the swamp, getting increasingly angry, and now she’s done a 180 and wants to help them for some reason? “Why would I do that?”

Amethyst Star for once was not put off by his reservations. “Because wouldn’t it be great if you stopped fighting with each other? I’m an impartial outsider and I can totally be just the liaison you all need to talk to each other, I’ve got no side and no investment in anything! I’m just a pony who wants to help and complete a cool quest! And surely you can see the benefits of your two Clans getting along, right?”

He mulled that over for a bit. “Well you’ve got a point there too. Not sure I totally believe you about all this so called “impartiality” but I guess there’s no harm in talking to the Head. You can wait here and I’ll see what he says, don’t try and get past the wall or anything, okay?”

“I won’t,” Amethyst Star saluted and watched as the sentry ducked down and went somewhere else beyond the wall that blocked off the domain of the Flytrap Clan. When more than a minute had passed and she was sure he would be well out of earshot, Amethyst Star jumped up and yelled. “I’m gonna solve a friendship problem!”

All the annoyance she felt towards the swamp and the two Clans evaporated. There was a reason she came here, she understood that now. Fate or destiny or whatever had conspired to bring her to this swamp to make everything good between these ponies, she just knew it! It was so obviously just like all the missions that Cutie Map thingamajig called other ponies on all the time. This was the kind of thing that would show how special she was, cause only special ponies got to do something like this. It was a real adventure! It was something that the amazing ponies of Ponyville she envied did! She was so excited she couldn’t even contain herself. She knew coming in here instead of just going around the swamp was a good idea.

She practiced what she would say and do when she got back to the Foxtail Clan, it was likely they’d be pretty upset to see her but she’d just have to do her best to convince them of her good intentions. She couldn’t let their jerkiness get to her, even Twilight Sparkle was sure to get annoyed and discouraged once or twice but she never gave up, that’s part of what made her special, and Amethyst Star wouldn’t do that either! The fact she was ready to ditch all of this earlier was irrelevant, these ponies needed help and it would be a really good thing to make them all friends.

“I hope he comes back soon, I can’t wait to do something that really feels like an adventure on this trip for the first time,” Amethyst Star tittered about on her hooves.

As was obvious, despite generally good intentions, they were clearly not entirely selfless. Amethyst Star didn’t exactly realize this herself but it was a big difference to do something noble instead of just knowing that what you were doing was good in the academic sense. That was one of the things that separated heroes from regular ponies. If any of her friends pointed this out to her she probably would’ve gotten very upset.

Amethyst Star was still in a very happy place though and a few minutes later the same sentry came back to the wall to tell her what had been decided.

“Hey down there,” he called out to her.

“Yeah? Did your head boss guy or whatever agree?” She couldn’t keep the excitement out of your voice.

The sentry nodded. “Surprisingly yes. I’ll be upfront and tell you that I don’t think he believed a word of what you said either but he figured there was no harm in letting this play out.” The pony reached down beside him and pulled up a brown paper wrapped package the size of a large envelope but much thicker. “This is our letter to the Chief of the Foxtail Clan asking about the possibility for renewed peace talks, if you can deliver it to him I guess that’s the first step. Might have to tell him all about your crazy plan to officiate things as an outsider or whatever.” He tossed the package down to her.

“I will!” She caught it and hugged the thing close to her chest like it was some kind of treasure. The unicorn then turned around and made sure the bag and new package were carefully balanced on her back before swimming into the swamp water, this time heading back in the direction of the Foxtail Clan.

“Crazy pony...” the sentry muttered, shaking his head as he jumped down from his post one more time.

This is gonna be so great! Amethyst Star thought to herself as she paddled along. She swam with confidence and any fatigue that might have been building within her over the day had disappeared. Here was her big chance and she wasn’t going to take it easy until she got back to the Foxtail’s. It was a bit darker and the water had gotten colder but even that wasn’t enough to dampen her spirits. She was far too used to the gross swamp by now.

She saw that big tree that had fallen over that she walked on before, it would make her return trip even faster. Not as fast as if she had a canoe but what are you gonna do? With a fresh smile on her face she hopped up on the rotting trunk of the tree and began to trot down it, faster than she could go if she was swimming.

“Amethyst Star can handle adventure just as well as any pony in Equestria!” She confidently stated.

Her hoof then slipped on some of the moss on the tree. She caught herself and her bag just as she did before, but something new that she was carrying this time wasn’t as fortunate. Perhaps she was so used to just the bag resting on her back that it didn’t register fully that she was also carrying something else, or perhaps her magic just wasn’t fine tuned enough to save it.

But either way the package she had just been given fell into the swamp, disappearing instantly.

“Oops,” Amethyst Star was dumbstruck as she looked down at the rippling water.

The formerly ecstatic unicorn blankly stared down at the water for several minutes. Had what just happened fully registered in her brain? Her opportunity to not only help solve a big friendship problem but also show just what she can do had gone right down the drain. The goodwill she managed to get from the leader of the Flytrap’s was soaked to oblivion and likely impossible to find. Her feelings of inadequacy were beginning to crawl back into her. That self-doubt and the little voice in her head telling her she shouldn’t even be here in the first place were getting louder…

So she knew she could go back and ask for another package, as embarrassing and confusing as that would be. Or she could keep going to the Foxtail’s and convince them of what had happened, as embarrassing and difficult as that would be. And she could lie about there never being a letter in the first place when she got there, but that might cause problems down the road. Either way things would be humiliating and Amethyst Star didn’t want to be disgraced anymore. Sooo…

“I’m going to pretend that absolutely none of this ever happened,” she said to herself with a nod and hopped off the tree, swimming south.

Amethyst Star headed for the southern edge of the swamp, there she could simply travel around the whole thing like she definitely absolutely should’ve done in the first place. Yes, that was the correct course of action. She was sure things would be fine here. I mean it couldn’t be a big deal if the map never brought anyone here before in the first place, right? And did these ponies really deserve her good will after they had treated her so horribly. Really they should be thanking her for even trying. They can just go back to being jerks to each other. It’s not like what she had done could possibly make things worse. This place didn’t count as a real adventure to her, and she totally didn’t fail a quest. There were definitely still plenty of real adventures out there waiting for her.

She continued to repeatedly tell herself all that with a blank expression on her face and an empty thousand-yard stare in her eyes as she swam out of the swamp to drown out all of the negative thoughts in her head.

Comments

[Dashie04]

I don’t see this going well.

[MagicS]

10009569
That'll be the driving feeling for the whole fic. I already envisioned this story as a parody of typical adventures and it's sort of a sister/foil to my other adventure stories, especially Trixie's. Trixie lucked into victory on every occasion even when she was biting off more than she could chew. Amethyst Star is doing the same thing but doesn't have her luck and isn't a main character loved by the world. So she fails a lot.

[Alondro]

Something eat her. Please. She's just too dumb to keep living.

[redmar]

The situations does seem a lot like like the Hooffields and McColts which I'm sure was intentional.

[Wandering Twilight]

I love your characterization for Amethyst

[RoboRed]

If I could, I'd give her headpats for her good intentions. But I forsee this and other coming events as just being a comedy of errors and blunders. Oh well.