The Rivers of Avalon

by Snowy89

Chapter 2

Twilight awoke to the dim grey-blue of the predawn sky outside their window; birdsong drifted in through the half-open window, mingling with the soft sound of Rainbow’s breathing beside her. Rolling over, Twilight squirmed a bit under the covers to find a more comfortable position as she ran over their plans for the day.

Restock supplies, find some better maps, see if we can find a guide, she thought sleepily to herself as she mused getting another hour’s rest. After a few minutes she decided that yes, a little more time in the first comfy bed she’d had in days was worth the late start.

When Twilight awoke again it was to the sound of chatter and sunlight. She sat up groggily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes before glancing out the window – judging by the light it was probably just after sunrise proper. Yawning, she nudged Rainbow a couple times to try and wake her before casting aside her half of the covers and heading to the bathroom to wash up.

Feeling a good deal more refreshed after splashing some water on her face, she reentered the main room just as Rainbow was crawling out of bed. “What time is it?” Rainbow asked with a yawn of her own as she walked over to the window. “Oh wow, it’s way later than we’ve been sleeping in lately, eh?”

“Mmhmm,” Twilight nodded as she set about gathering up her stuff. “Let’s find us some breakfast when you’re ready – if what we were told last night was right, we’ve a few leads to get going on with.” With any luck the idle chatter they’d gotten up to with some of the patrons over supper about how to go about crossing the river south would yield some fruit.

“Sure – gimme a sec,” Rainbow said as she crossed to the bathroom.

It was not many minutes later that saw the two of them leaving the inn, carrying their coats and satchels along with; while they weren’t certain they wouldn’t just be returning later that day, neither of them felt they could bear the risk of theft.

“Alright,” Twilight said as they reentered the square. “Supplies first – might as well top up now in case we want to leave on a whim.”

“We don’t need much, right? Just food I think.”

Twilight nodded. “Bars, yes. I don’t really like the idea of needing to boil riverwater on the go, but it’s far too impractical to do as we did on the way here.” When they abandoned their airship they took with them tens of litres of water, uncertain when they’d find their next fresh source – the shear burden of such would be wholely untenable on the next leg of their trip though, which was looking to be far more swampy and difficult to traverse.

“Yeah, no, lugging all that stuff sucked hard,” Rainbow snorted. “It’s all rivers from here though – just like your map said – so we’re good.”

“Mmhmm. Speaking of maps, I’m hoping we can find some more comprehensive ones for the area around here” – she paused, frowning at her surroundings before carrying on – “but considering how, umm, ‘quaint’ this place is, I somehow doubt we’ll find anything.”

“Worth a look,” Rainbow shrugged.

A quick check around the square to see just what shops were even in it found that there was a general store right next to the grocers from the day before. “How convenient,” Twilight said as they went to nudge open the door. “Now, let’s see what we can find in here.”

Surprisingly much, as it turned out. Twilight hummed happily to herself as she finished stowing away the last of the goods they’d picked up. “Extra rope: check,” she mumbled to herself as she worked. “Compass-that-isn’t-stuck-screwed-to-the-ship: check.”

“Not that we need it,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“Oh shush – we’re not all winged here.”

“As if I’d leave ya alone long enough to get lost.” Rainbow flicked her tail irritably, clearly wanting to carry on right away. “So can we go now?”

“After I’ve finished checking everything,” Twilight insisted.

“Why? You already did that in the shop.”

“Wellyou’re only being so snippy because that clerk was a condescending rube,” Twilight frowned at her friend. “There’s no need to take it out on me.” She was rather miffed at the pony herself: while true she tended to be overly fastidious in her habits – and had been quite picky about the quality of the items they’d bought – that was no call for him to have been so rude to her.

Unless she’d committed yet another faux pas – the lack of texts on Avalon’s culture back in Equus was criminal, and she’d already made a mountain of them back in the city as a result.

Rainbow flushed, glaring back at the shop. “Yeah, well... yeah,” she sighed, ruffling her wings. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, Dash,” Twilight said shortly as she reseated her panniers. “Now let’s go next door and grab some food; then it’s just seeing if this guide even exists before we head back on out of here.” Ultimately, there was little point in staying – most villages and towns in this region lacked any sort of burst-signal that could reach Hurricanum to call for aid; come what may, they were stuck hoofing it back. It certainly didn’t help that they’d gone down right at the start of their mini sightseeing-vacation either – they wouldn’t be expected back for days yet.

A quick in-and-out of the grocers later and they were well on their way to the southern part of the village – it was there that they’d been told they may be able to find their guide through the bog and across the river. Strictly speaking, a fair number of the locals knew of one path or another that would get across, but they were hoping to convince this one to take them all the way to Autumn Beech, which was far and again farther than a simple day’s journey.

The two of them soon ambled out from a narrow alleyway and into a weedy green of sorts, with a scattering of benches and nets around – for some local game, if Twilight remembered correctly. Aside from a few foals playing around together while their parents watched and chatted they were alone, except – “there,” Twilight nodded her head towards a small clump of trees. “I think I see who we’re looking for.” Earth pony, brown and white, they’d been told.

Rainbow just shrugged as they carried on, soon finding that the bushy trees hid another modest dock, this one with a few small dinghies floating in the shallow, reed-filled water. While a couple of ponies were spending their time optimistically fishing, the one they had their eyes set on appeared to be taking a nap in the late-morning light as she lay alone on the gently-bobbing planks. “I wish I could be doing that,” Rainbow muttered to herself.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “You were literally saying this morning that we slept in.”

“Nuh uh! I said we were sleeping in late compared to normal,” Rainbow bickered. “Not that we were sleeping late enough.”

Twilight huffed and stepped onto the floating pier, the platform sinking down slightly under her weight. “Let’s just find out if this is who we’re looking for.”

The mare was fairly nondescript, but her rough, hoary mane and bay dun fur matched the description they’d gotten. Despite how warm the midday sun was she wore a sturdy-looking greenish coat and a deep-blue touque.

“Who wears a touque in this weather?” Twilight muttered as she tried to figure out the best way to wake the mare.

“Maybe she’s crazy,” Rainbow said as she noisily walked up to the pony, squinting as she stared down at her. “Yep – definitely sleeping,” she said after a moment.

Twilight grumbled. “I doubt it’ll help our case any if we wake her, but there’s nothing left on our list to do in the meanwhile.”

Rainbow was about to reply when a flick of the mare’s hoary tail cut her off. “Not,” she began in a curiously lilting accent, “actually asleep.” The mare rolled over and up, her back arching as she stretched catlike. “And who,” she continued with a roll of her shoulders, “might you two be?”

“Ah,” Twilight said, momentarily flustered. “Well, umm, I’m Twilight and this is Rainbow” – she jerked her head towards her somewhat skeptical-looking friend – “and we were hoping to find a guide to take us south of here; someone at the inn suggested you could do it.”

The mare chuffed. “’Course they did.” She looked the two of them up and down before raising a brow. “And from the look of it I don’t doubt you need the help. How’d you even manage to make it out to here?”

A swift glance at Rainbow made it clear she hadn’t taken the condescending tone well at all. “Our ship went down,” Twilight shot out quick, hoping to forestall any argument. “A ways north of here. We’re looking to get back to Hurricanum as soon as we can. You are the mare we were advised about, right?” she asked with a hesitant frown.

“Squirrel,” the mare nodded. “And yes – it’s not a profession or anything, but I’ll need to cross the swamps again eventually anyways.”

Rainbow snorted. “Squirrel? That’s your name?”

Squirrel smirked at her in amusement. “Glass houses, filly.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!”

“Calm down Dash,” Twilight sighed. “Look, miss Squirrel, how far south could you take us?”

“Maybe I won’t take you at all,” she said as she continued staring at Rainbow. “She hardly seems a pleasant sort.”

“Like we need your help,” Rainbow muttered mutinously.

“That’s enough Rainbow!” Twilight scolded. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. Let’s start again, shall we?”

Squirrel finally dropped her gaze and gave Twilight another look. “Alright then,” she said shortly. “Let’s.”

“Right,” Twilight said, pacing in place as she tried to collect her thoughts. “Right. Rainbow and I were traveling around the Basin – sightseeing – when our ship’s citrine failed.”

“Failed?” Squirrel interrupted, sounding oddly interested. “Really? How? ‘Cause that stuff doesn’t just fail.”

Twilight shook her head. “Don’t know – wouldn’t hold a charge and we couldn’t troubleshoot it.”

“Hmm...” Squirrel trailed off, ears folded back in thought.

“In any event, that was some ways north of here and nearly a week back. We originally set sail from Hurricanum, so that’s where we’re headed back to. Or trying to, rather.”

Squirrel nodded along absentmindedly. “No easy fords around here, no. You confident we can’t salvage the ship?”

“Fairly. Sufficiently so that it’s not worth spending the time going back on hoof and hoping for the best.”

Squirrel sat down lightly, rubbing her chin in thought. Occasionally she’d glance between Twilight and Rainbow before staring back into the distance. “I don’t suppose – Rainbow was it? – would be willing to just fly ahead and spare us her company?” she finally asked.

“As if I’d leave Twi alone with you!” Rainbow barked at her.

“Rainbow and I are staying together,” Twilight said, feeling increasingly annoyed at the two mares.

Squirrel chuffed again and shrugged. “Alright, alright, fine – I’ll take you, but I’ll want to leave within the day, okay?”

“We can leave right away if you want,” Twilight said as she relaxed, relieved that the guide problem looked to be solved.

“Yeees, that’ll work fine,” Squirrel said as she gathered and resat her panniers. “Can you meet me at the southwest corner of the village in an hour? Near some boulders – I need to get some stuff first.”

“Yep!” Twilight agreed as, with a final nod, the mare hurried off into the village proper. “Well, I’m glad that’s settled,” she said as the mare disappeared from view.

“I don’t like her,” Rainbow said bluntly, still staring at the alley Squirrel had gone down.

“Rudeness does rather seem to be the leitmotif for this village, yes.”

Rainbow grumbled before turning abruptly and stalking along the riverbank. “I saw the boulders she’s talking about yesterday – this way.”

Twilight shook her head at her friend’s apparent hostility as she followed close behind, quickly becoming lost in her own thoughts. The mare seemed alright, all brusqueness aside. Admittedly, they’d neglected to work out just how far she’d take them... or the cost too, for that matter. As much as Twilight would like to think the other mare was helping them out of the goodness of her heart, the mere thought of that almost had her chuckling – generosity did not seem to be Avalon’s strong suit.

Well, she thought to herself, we’ll just have to deal with that next. How annoying.

“Dang Cadance,” she muttered, idly kicking a stone out of her path. “Could’ve been at home, working on something important, but nooo, I have to ‘expand my horizons’ and ‘experience new cultures.’”

“To be fair, you are kind of a shut-in, Twi,” Rainbow said as she fell back a few paces to walk in step with Twilight.

“And getting sent to a different continent was a reasonable solution?!” Twilight huffed, still, after all these weeks, upset about that. “And not just any one, but Avalon?! I feel like we’re two centuries in the past here!”

Rainbow actually laughed at that. “Ha! No kidding – I totally told you so too, didn’t I? I totally did. Betcha glad you got me here with you, eh?”

Twilight just continued grumbling under her breath, a trail of dust forming behind her as she stamped onwards. True – she was glad she had Rainbow here as a friendly face and a helping hoof – but she was still far too miffed about the whole thing to talk about it anymore; it also didn’t help that she thought she’d gotten over her irritation at getting cajoled into this back in Hurricanum.

Or in Thistle before that.

Or in Sunrise too, for that matter. She sighed, feeling deflated – it seemed she still hadn’t gotten over the indignity and bother of it all.

She stumbled slightly when Rainbow bumped her flank. “It’s still a vacation though, even if it’s kinda sucky; that’s something, right?”

“I suppose,” Twilight nodded glumly. “Though I figured you’d be griping right alongside me.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Harder to get really upset when you’re already upset, you know? Like” – she rubbed the back of her neck, her gaze casting about as she tried to find the right words – “like, I got to keep you from blowing this place up, so I can’t be angry too? I don’t know – something like that. I’ll be complaining later – don’t worry.”

Twilight smirked. “Ahh, so we have to take turns complaining about this place, then, hmm?”

Rainbow nodded. “Totally.”

The boulders ended up being pretty much just that – a scattering of massive stones calved off from a giant stone outcropping jutting out at Cherry Point’s southwestern edge. On one side ran the Sul southwards; on the other, a nameless tributary flowing west. Where they met lay a great, stagnant bog blocking any clear path southwards, either by hoof or by boat. Several stone pillars and mesas – great and small – pierced the swamp like little islands of solid ground in a sea of infirmity. The ceaseless rustling of countless insects was constant even from this far off.

“I really hope Squirrel knows her stuff,” Twilight mused as she idly swatted the umpteenth midge off of her. “’Cause this is... wow. Disheartening to say the least.”

Rainbow just grunted – she’d seen all this yesterday after all, and it wasn’t looking any friendlier in the morning sun. “How far does this thing go, anyways? The swamps, I mean.”

“At its longest?” Twilight thought back to what she could remember of her maps; unfortunately even the local ones weren’t that accurate. “About twenty kilometres.”

“Dear Celestia.”

“We’ll be fine once it starts flowing again,” Twilight added hurriedly. “So realistically it’s maybe only five or so.”

“Oh joy,” Rainbow drawled with a flex of her wings. “Only five kilometres. In a swamp. On hoof. With Squiiirrel.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well don’t let her hear you say that or she’ll try and insist you fly on ahead again.”

“And leave her alone with you?!” Rainbow scoffed as she found a warm patch of stone to lie down on. “She’d probably get lost and eat you without me around to scout.”

“We’d almost certainly die of exposure long before starvation set in,” Twilight said absentmindedly as she kept a weather eye out for Squirrel. “Or maybe disease, first.”

Rainbow’s ears shot up. “Wait – we got our shots, right? That’s gotta count for something, right?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, we’ll be fine against the major stuff.”

“Oh good,” Rainbow relaxed back down again. “Would hate to get all the back home just to die of black fur or something.”

“Definitely not a problem,” Twilight confirmed. “And not least of which because you’re not a gnoll.”

“Hey Twi?”

“Mmm?”

“You think we can trust her?”

Twilight sat up from her doze. “I trust her to stick to any agreements we settle on,” she said, after giving it a few moments’ thought. “I don’t see why she wouldn’t.”

Rainbow grumbled, but didn’t argue.

“You okay?” Twilight asked, walking up to sit down next to her friend.

“This sucks.”

Twilight snorted. “I’m pretty sure you’ve said that already.”

Rainbow continued looking downcast.

“I know all this is rough, Dash, but from the sounds of it we might actually have a real path back – not just optimistically wandering around like we’ve been doing these past few days.” It was, in fact, a massive relief to Twilight to have found both a town, and a guide. “This is considerable progress.”

Rainbow grumbled again, throwing out her wings in a great, billowy stretch. “I dunno... I guess it’s just that we’ve only just gotten into a town again,” she finally said. “I was looking forward to some real rest, I suppose. It’s not even noon and we’re already bustling out again with some snippy mare.”

“It is all rather a bit sudden, isn’t it?” Twilight was certain she’d have been far more reticent about leaving their first safe haven so quickly had she been back in Equus, but out here? After how desperate she had beginning to feel since the ship went down? “I guess I just want to keep moving. Moving is progress, and progress is good.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, cheering up a touch. “Yeah. Really hope this mare doesn’t try to screw us, though.”

“We’ll work something out if we need to Dash,” Twilight said, giving her a friendly nudge. “It’ll be fine.”

It was more than an hour later when Squirrel returned, clopping slowly and steadily up the outcropping to meet them, burdened as she was with a bundle of cloth... something or others draped over her back. Twilight poked Rainbow awake as she neared. While her friend was yawning and stretching, Twilight couldn’t help but wonder what exactly the mare had brought, and how much, exactly, it was going to cost them.

She didn’t need to wait long. “Hello again!” Twilight called out as Squirrel scrabbled to the top of the rock with them. “Something we’ll be needing, I suppose?” she asked, head cocked as she looked over the extra gear.

“Yep,” Squirrel affirmed, shucking the bundles to the ground. “You two are not kitted out properly for that mess down there; I mean seriously – a coat? A scarf? And that’s it?” She tutted dramatically.

“Yes, well, that’s why we’re hir – seeking your help,” Twilight replied tersely.

“Oh no you don’t,” Squirrel waggled a hoof at her. “I heard that! You were going to say ‘hiring,’ weren’t you?” She smirked at her before gesturing out at the bog beyond. “Because you should’ve been – ain’t no way you’re crossing that on someone’s goodwill alone.”

Twilight sighed, but was cut off before she could respond. “Heck no!” Rainbow shouted out, pointing a hoof accusingly at the clothes and gear on the ground. “We ain’t paying for that!”

“Oh really?” Squirrel frowned at her.

“You can’t just go buyin’ stuff and then tell us we gotta pay,” Rainbow insisted.

Squirrel just continued frowning at her, silently.

Perhaps I’d best head this off. “We should probably discuss renumeration before we go any further,” Twilight said, resisting the urge to pull over her panniers and recount their funds. “We split up too quickly earlier for it.”

“Bloody tourists,” Squirrel muttered with a shake of her head before speaking more loudly. “You obviously wouldn’t’ve gone to me – a guide – without expecting to pay; proper gear’s just part of that. Clearly.”

Rainbow looked like she wanted to bite back, but couldn’t seem to think of anything reasonable to say judging by the pink dusting her cheeks. “Look,” Twilight began, “let’s just – let’s just start again, okay?”

Squirrel quirked a brow at her. “You mean again, again?” She let out a gusty sigh. “Alright, fine – but let’s be quick about this – daylight’s wasting.”

Much better, Twilight thought to herself. Let’s keep this straight and orderly. “Right. First, how far can you take us?”

“Autumn Beech – I’m heading northeast after that, but I can give you directions down to Hurricanum, if you somehow still needed them.”

“’Follow the river,’ yes,” Twilight muttered, eyes closed as she visualized the map in her head. “That’s about halfway then – and the difficult half at that. And what, umm, what are you charging?”

“And we’re not made of money either!” Rainbow interjected, arms crossed and glaring.

The mare put on a decidedly unfriendly smile as she named a sum best described as ‘egregious.’

“What!” Rainbow squawked. “No! Not a chance. No.”

“Fine by me,” Squirrel shrugged, still wearing that predatory grin. “You two can just cross the swamps yourselves then. After all, it’s just hundreds of square miles of frigid waters, mud so thin it’ll swallow you whole, and not a single hard, dry bit of land to pitch your tent on for the night” – she looked Rainbow up and down scathingly – “not that you even have one.”

Rainbow lurched forwards, taking a pair of heavy steps towards Squirrel. “’K, one: the water ain’t even cold and two: it’s, like, a day’s walk across – we won’t even need to sleep out there.”

“It’s cold enough to freeze your legs off after you’ve been wading in it for several hours straight,” Squirrel countered, taking half a step back. “And it sure as anything’s going to take you more than a day to get across it if you spend the whole time bumbling around lost like an idiot.”

Twilight resisted the urge to facehoof. “What is with you two,” she muttered venomously. “We need to get across this Dash – we’ll pay it.”

“What?!”

“Hah!”

“How long to get to Autumn Beech, Squirrel?” she ground out whilst making a mental note to toss Cadance off a very high bridge when she got back home.

“On my own? I was planning for a leisurely three days by hoof and canoe, but with you two?” She paused, nibbling her lip as she tapped the ground contemplatively. “Maybe four or five days if we were moving fast.”

That sounded about right to Twilight – they may only be traveling some hundred-and-fifty kilometres as the pegasus flies, but it was a difficult hundred-and-fifty. “Right, then. Half the notes upfront and the other on arrival I take it?”

“Hmm... you got them stored somewhere waterproof?” Squirrel asked as she set about dividing up the new gear.

“Yep.”

“Then keep it – I don’t have anywhere good to put it that isn’t already stuffed full; plus, I somehow doubt you two’ll stiff me.” She nodded down to the ground. “Take it – it won’t cover all of you, but it’ll help.”

On the ground if front of them was a triplet of big, gauzy overcoats alongside what looked for all the world like little tin censers. Twilight’s horn glowed as she levitated up one of the coats – it was nearly thin enough to see through, with a hastily sewn-on hood that looked far too large for comfort. “For the bugs, I presume?”

“Yep,” Squirrel confirmed as she picked up one for herself. “I’ve got some string to tie the hood down loose around our necks. Our barrels will be exposed, but this is the best I could get put together around here on such short notice.”

There was a tinkling sound as Rainbow prodded the censers – little balls on chains, covered in holes. “Let me guess,” she said, picking one up for a closer look. “More bug stuff?”

“Clearly. Don’t know what the bugs are like where you’re from, but the more protection we’ve got against the teeming, buzzing masses the better.” Gathering up a censer for herself, she walked a few paces towards the swamps. “The main route I know of curves like a big ‘S’” – she gestured first to a seemingly random spot some ways east of them, then to one of the small mesas piercing the muck to the west, before pointing vaguely towards some point due south – “but if we go quick, and leave now, we can get out of this mess before sunset.”

“Is the path not marked?” Twilight asked as she walked up to stand beside her. Near as she could tell Squirrel had simply gestured to random places for all the landmarks she could see.

“Sticks, yeah – the flags rotted off them ages ago. Nobody’s bothered to replace them seeing as everyone just takes the longer route by cat or canoe.”

“Mmm,” Twilight nodded – she’d already checked out the safer path by map the night before, but it was considerably longer, using a narrow river that flowed west out of Cherry Point and into the colourfully-named Basin of Fangs before turning south and hooking up with the Whither; that much of it was upstream from here certainly didn’t help matters either.

“Alright then, if you two’re ready, let’s go.” With a sharp jerk of her head Squirrel started back down the outcropping, heading east.

“Right! Let’s go, Dash,” Twilight said, hurriedly picking up a censer, Rainbow huffing beside her as she followed suit.

“I still think we should’ve at least haggled or something,” Rainbow insisted as they sought to catch up to their guide. “’Cause for that much money she should be guiding us all the way back to Almond and preening us along the way.”

“I know,” Twilight admitted, sighing. “I just didn’t want to risk chasing her off, especially given how... bumpy our introduction was.”

To Rainbow’s credit she did look a bit sheepish at that. “She just rubs me the wrong way, is all. Practically everypony – or everyone, whatever – does here. I mean, remember when you got attacked back in Thistle?”

Twilight paused a moment as she tried to figure what she meant. Wait a second... “I hardly think getting jostled in a busy market crowd constitutes an ‘attack,’ Dash.”

“Well what about that time that sailor almost drowned you?” Rainbow ploughed on.

“He was literally pulling me back onto the boat.” She was still embarrassed about falling out of the dinghy in the first place.

Rainbow scoffed. “A likely story! And let’s not forget them giving us that faulty airship.”

“Pure incompetence on the engineer’s part, I suspect,” Twilight countered. “Or inadequate maintenance. I should think there are considerably more efficient means of assassinating us than junk citrine.”

“Yeah, well. Fine,” Rainbow sulked. She’d been like this ever since they’d left Sunrise back in Equus – at first Twilight thought that the extended travel at sea simply didn’t agree with her, but lately she was beginning to suspect Rainbow was convinced the locals were just looking for an opportunity to pounce on them.

Nonsense of course – most of the Avalonians she’d seen so far were charming, if in a strange kind of way. Hardly dangerous.

“Plus... sure it’s costing us a mint, but strictly speaking, it isn’t our mint anyways – it was the one that went down with the ship, remember?”

Rainbow stared at her bug-eyed. “You... oh wow, you’re not some secretly sort of changeling spy, are you?”

Twilight snorted, sliding a little on the scree. “I should think not. This is what the funds were for, anyways... well, sort of. That and I may still be just a teensy bit upset about the questionable ship-build standards here and the consequences thereof.” More than a little, really, and hey – needs must. “Priority’s on us getting back swiftly and safely.”

“And hey, if there’s a little left over, we could always keep it as bonus pay, right?”

“Now that would be a step too far, I think.”

“Aw, nuts.”