Soggalong Swamp The Liquid Land

[Ancre]

A little boat, barely more than a raft, was slowly making its way in the waters of the mangrove. Wearing a long-worn pointy hat, a ragged travel cloth, and smoking her long wooden pipe, River Spirits was moving a long stick left and right, plunging it deep into the waters of the marshland and pushing her boat forward.

The world around her was nothing but vegetation merging into water. Gigantic trees raised from the swamp, their roots arching themselves like sea snakes, their branches heavy with leaves and vines. Smaller bushes and reeds, of many shapes and sizes, crowded the banks or gathered together to form little isles in the middle of the river. Frail little flowers floated around the zebra mare. And the foliage reflected in the water, like a reverse world mirrored under the real one : there was no up nor down in the Soggalong swamps.

And the marsh was living, filled with activity and sounds. Clouds of flies, dragonflies, mosquitoes and many other bugs hummed in the air, birds flew low from branches to branches, elusives reptiles hid themselves in the bushes and blurred shapes of fishes flowed under the boat. The water lazily carried floating plants, dead logs, and the occasional alligator along the way. The zebra's boat moved along, barely disturbing the wildlife, as if it was itself a part of the swamp.

The sun was setting in the horizon, bathing the clouds in orange light, but the heat and the humidity was still barely tolerable, weighing heavily on anypony, or anything, foolish enough to be out in the open air at this time of the year. River Spirits wasn't spared, she felt like she was covered in sweat.

She didn't mind at all, though. This place was a paradise for her, full of flowers and exotic herbs and many other treasures, as it was for anyone who knew where to search. She already had a good harvest, stored in pots or bags in her little boat, alongside her sleepy snake, curled on itself.

This place could also be very dangerous for anyone who didn't knew its way. Treacherous waters, confusing paths, poisonous plants, dangerous creatures and fearsome monsters where but a few of the many dangers of the Soggalong Swamps. Ponies and griffins avoided the place with reason ; River Spirits had yet to meet another soul in this place. It was a good thing, she thought. Anypony lost here would surely need help, and help they were unlikely to find.

With her clothes and her snake, anypony meeting her would shriek in terror at the sight of the "wandering witch" anyways, the zebra mare chuckled. River Spirits stopped her train of thought and her little boat for an instant to light her little lantern ; the sun was fading, and soon she would have to find a place to sleep for the night.

[Pony_Sage]

As the sun set, shafts of light fought their way through the dense canopy that covered Soggalong Swamp, their amber rays alighting on small patches of moss and the occasional flower that would greedily sop up the offered energy. Roving bands of mosquitoes seemed to plague the land, trying desperately to suck the life out of anything that was warm blooded in that little swamp. Birds sang and frogs croaked their salutations to one another. There was a symphony to be heard somewhere in that swamp, if one had the ear for it. There was another layer to this chorus of animals as well, the insects. Crickets chirped the melody, and cicadas hummed the tune, it was indeed beautiful. At least to the ears of one brown pony that was wandering through it.

He was constantly amazed at the noises that the animals in his home swamp could produce, and how they all blended together to make a wonderful cacophony of nature. Trotting happily with his worn saddle bags at his side Mad-River was on a mission. Some glass jars clinked together with each step, only muffled by the dull sound of a leather bound tome. In one of Mad-River's many botany books he had come across a section, often neglected, about aquatic plants. This intrigued him to no end, being that he mainly worked with terrestrial and arboreal plants. There was a feeling of dread however, the fact was that he had read the book many times from cover to cover and never had come across the section on aquatic plants. This made Mad-River very uneasy, even though Mad-River kept his tomes locked away in an ice chest to prevent the DARKNESS from rewriting them, sometimes he forgot to put the tomes away. He was weary of this entry being a trap orchestrated by THEM and the DARKNESS to catch him off guard and change him. That was a risk he was willing to take if it meant learning about aquatic plants.

The jars clinked together yet again as Mad-River wiggled out of his saddlebags, he immediately turned about and rummaged through them to make sure nothing was broken. He triumphantly returned with a glass canning jar and a trowel. He slung the jar around his neck with twine and took the trowel in his mouth. The water of the stream lapped gently at the muddy bank. Despite the water's colour and, unique, smell and relative warmth Mad-River tromped happily into the water. He plunged into the middle of the stream and floated on his belly, blinking into the murky depths he tried to discern the plant shapes that he remembered from the book, occasional diving to get a better look. Thanks to a well placed broken reed, Mad-River could breathe marginally at best, but it still afforded him the ability to lay on his stomach and just float about for longer than average periods of time. To the untrained eye, he might have looked like a pony in desperate need of trouble, and he may have well been, but for other reasons than physical ones at the moment.

[Ancre]

Night was falling on the swamp, and soon the river's only remaining sources of light were the large ball of orange warmth that was the sun setting in the horizon, and the little ball of orange light that was the zebra's lantern. It was getting difficult to navigate : things were getting harder to see, and the obstacles in the mangrove waters, clearly visible logs and reefs and animals a few minutes ago, were slowly turning blurred shapes of brown lost in the falling darkness.

River Spirits was advancing with precautions now. She didn't wanted to bump into something this late at night, and wreck her little boat. The zebra was moving slowly, first checking the surroundings for a good place to stop, then checking the river with her long stick before going forward again. Get past that log, there, avoid the crocodile, avoid the patch of river flowers, there, be careful of the low hanging branches, good, avoid the other log, wait ... was that a pony ?

That last log was indeed a pony ! A motionless pony, drifting in the murky waters' currents, face into the river, drowning. Quick, she had to act quick. She hoped it wasn't too late for him already. River Spirits planted her stick in the water, brought her boat close to the poor pony, and grabbed him inside, straining under the effort ; the little raft rocked dangerously, but thankfully did not turn around in the water. Not wasting a moment, River Spirits leaned over the earth pony.

"Sir Pony, are you okay ?"

Crossroad the silver snake, roughly woken up by the rocking boat, hissed his discomfort, then moved towards the newcomer, leaning over him like his mistress, his head held high like a cobra. He was curious.

[Pony_Sage]

One moment Mad-River had been minding his own business just floating down the river trying to find some exotic aquatic plant, not a care in the world plaguing his mind. The next moment he was being hauled out of his aquatic wonderland and up into the air on something dry. He flailed for a moment trying to get away from the perceived danger then he decided that it would be prudent to stop moving all together and play possum. Hopefully the intruding force would let him get away with minor harassment. His mind however was not as quiet as his body became, it was racing a mile a minute trying to figure out if this was the 'THEM' from the 'DARKNESS' and if it was, did he have any way to combat 'THEM'. All of his plants were in his saddle bags on the shore and in the middle of a river there would be very few other plants to combat the 'DARKNESS'.

His mind was halted however when he was flipped on his back and the presence before him was not 'THEM', but rather a concerned looking stripy earth pony, from Mad-River's assessment. After all he had never seen a Zebra before, he did lead such a sheltered life. Come to think of it, the only other visitor he ever had was a cute, albeit mischievous, little peryton. This stripy earth pony seemed unique however, she had a tattered cloak and most importantly a pointy hat. Mad-River stayed as still as he possibly could as she leaned over him and asked if he was okay. On her breath was the syrupy sweet smell of some sort of smoke, as she spoke the smell brushed against his nostrils. Next however was the most frightening part of the entire ordeal. A rather large silvery snake leaned over his face, just as the pony was doing, and hissed at him. At this juncture Mad-River decided that it would be a good idea to try to get away. He had taken in a mouthful of water just before he was dragged on board the raft, he suddenly squirted it out of his mouth towards the snake and then flailed his hooves in an attempt to right himself and take his leave of the situation. Unfortunately he did not realize that he was on a boat and merely managed to shake the little raft and roll over onto his stomach. After which he promptly tucked his legs underneath his body and opened his eyes very widely at the mare and the snake. His bottom lip quivered and his pupils dilated to what seemed to be the size of diner plates.

"YOU are not THEM from the DARKNESS, have they sent YOU to find ME. Are THEY YOU? Did THEY change YOU from LIGHT to DARK." The words poured out of his mouth as an almost incoherent stream Upon the last sentence he motioned to the mare's stripes with a hoof but then quickly withdrew it. "The plants of the water, they have much to offer. The things with claws, the things the bite, it gave me quite a fright. Plants hold the LIGHT, and help with the DARKNESS if THEY changed YOU." He continued for a moment before abruptly stopping and continuing to intently stare at the mare, shivering slightly.