Legends of Equestria: Hesturland

by The Blue EM2

Hayseed Swamp Hot Step

It was now another day entirely, as it often was around here. The world was quiet and the sky was still a curious shade of orange, made more so by the reflective qualities of some of the plants and bushes around this part of the world. As the sun awoke more, the sky turning more and more orange and gradually closer to red, the mighty giant himself began to awaken.

"The water is wide, I caenna fine go o'er," he sang tunelessly to himself. Rockhoof would normally have a fine singing voice, but he was somewhat drowsy and I daresay still rather asleep, which somewhat affected his tuning. As he rolled towards the right position to land on the floor, he suddenly rolled onto the floor with a crash.

This woke him up. He looked about himself, startled, and then dusted himself off and got back up. "It's a good thing these floors are sturdy!" he said. "Otherwise we'd be in a right mess right now!"

Rockhoof made his way towards the door, the floor creaking as he made his way across old and somewhat elderly floor boards, before reaching the door and opening it with his mouth. "Doorknobs that can't be opened with a hoof," he grumbled. "Who in Faust's name thought that was a good idea?"

He emerged onto the corridor, only then realising he was staying inside a great big tree in the middle of a swamp. As he glanced up and down the corridor, he then saw Stygian emerge from another room with a book levitated in his magic. The quill in his control was scribbling something down.

"What are you writing there?" Rockhoof asked.

"Oh!" Stygian lowered the book and looked up. "Good morning Rockhoof. I am just penning a narrative poem telling the story of how you defeated that dragon. It's not an easy one, I must say."

Rockhoof then noticed that Stygian had not gotten his cloak yet, and this made him look even smaller than he already was. "Can I hear it?"

"I've not written much, and to be honest it's not very good," Stygian said quietly. "But you can listen to what I've written, certainly." He then cleared his throat and began to read.

"In upswelled valleys, in fields of reth-
The dragon bowed his fiery breath-
But Rockhoof was not one to yield-
He smirked at foe; he laughed at death."

Stygian sighed as he finished reading. "I know, it's not very good," he noted. "The last word of the first line is only there because otherwise I would have no other world rhyming with breath, and to use the same rhyme twice in a single stanza is believed to bring bad luck."

"I thought it was pretty good!" Rockhoof said. "How about instead of 'reth', why not try the word 'mead'? They make a lot of alcohol around here, and that now rhymes with yield... sort of."

Stygian ran over that in his head. "That does work!" He made the alterations in his journal. "Thank you, Rockhoof! Now I must got and put this book down so I can get breakfast, then a shower."

"They have running water here?" Rockhoof asked. "That's a step above my old village!"

Stygian smirked. "They say it's 'hot and cold' running water, but they've had issues with the pipes being clogged by the swampy water, which means it's either hot or cold, sometimes changing between the two without warning. I'll see you downstairs."

Stygian went to put his book away, and then went to the stairs. The staircase in the tree was built into the trunk, and went down and round and round and down, all the way to the bottom of the tree and bringing him out onto the bottom floor. Hollowing the tree out must have been quite the job, and as he went down the stairs he noted how well cut they were. "Aye, a master craftsman cut these," he smiled. Unfortunately, he hadn't realised the floor had been polished, and slipped on a step as the world when sailing. He flew down the stairs and landed with a crash at the bottom.

"Ouch," he commented, as he stood up. Looking over, he could see a familiar face already working at her cauldron. Her mask was over her face, presumably to protect her from noxious fumes. "Good morning, Meadowbrook!"

She waved a hoof at him, presumably signalling for silence. After a few minutes of work, she was done, and poured the finished result into a dizzying arraying of measuring tubes and vials, ready for distribution. These were placed on the side where she could get them, and then she removed her mask, putting it on a hook so she could easily pick it up.

"Good mornin'," she said to him. "Ah know Ah look a right mess at the moment, but this needed workin' on. A healer does need to be on call most days, especially with mother not back from New Orleans yet."

"I must admit, I've never seen you with your mane down," Rockhoof replied. "I think it looks good on you."

"Really? Thank ya dear, although the mane does rather get in mah eyes. Ya wouldn't mind helpin' me get it into its usual shape?"

"No problem," Rockhoof replied, and standing behind and managing the mane as she instructed got it into the right shape, complete with her levitating the band into place that held the topknot up. "How's that?"

"Great, thanks," she replied. "Now Ah need ta wash and get dressed. We've got a lot of work ta do today. We have research ta do on what's goin' on around here, why there are so many dragons about, and finally who this 'benefactor' fellow is has been causin' us so much trouble these last few weeks." She trotted off upstaris, whilst Rockhoof laid out some books and texts, ready to start reading. When Meadowbrook and Stygian emerged, they were ready to go. Time for the reading to commence!

Comments

[JimmyHook19]

"Good mornin'," she said to him. "Ah know Ah look a right mess at the moment, but this needed workin' on. A healer does need to be on call most days, especially with mother not back from New Orleans yet."

"I must admit, I've never seen you with your mane down," Rockhoof replied. "I think it looks good on you."

Heh.... I assume that's a reference to of South Swamp Rag's 5th chapter in which that happened? X3

[The Blue EM2]

10701340
It wasn't intended as one, but that works.

[JimmyHook19]

10701971
Well there wasn't any author's note for the recent chapter this time around btw.

[The Blue EM2]

10702904
I didn't feel there was the need for one.

[JimmyHook19]

10702927
True. True. :P

[The Blue EM2]

10702936
It hardly suits to fill it with random nonsense.