private The Seven Hearts

[Tom The Diamond 1,830]

OOC Topic

~♥♠♦♣~

Murky Bayou is a quiet and dangerous place. It's full of deadly animals, such as alligators, snakes, spiders, and many, much much worse creatures. While it doesn't contain any hydras like other swamps tend to, it does have odd turtle creatures known as Kappas, that hide in the water, and wait for an unfortunate soul to draw close to them, so they can drag them down, and drown the unlucky fellow, and then feast on their flesh. Also in the swamp are mysterious spirits called will-o'-the-wisps, supernatural beings simply manifested as blue, purple, or green flames that float in mid air, attracting their victim towards them. They then lure their victim towards a hungry predator like an alligator or kappa, and feed off of the dying creature's soul as the predator rips them to shreds.

Symbiosis really is a wonderful and fascinating, yet gruesome and disturbing part of wildlife.

The terrain really doesn't make things any safer, as there is almost no ground in the bayou. Just about every inch of it is covered in water and muck. The only way to traverse it on hoof is by jumping across the giant tree roots that stick out above the water. But that's a very risky thing to due. Not only do the giant tree's they belong to block out the sun, making it dark during the day, and completely pitch black at night, but the tree roots are low, and very close to the water, and very slippy due to it. One misguided jump, and a pony could slip, and fall into the murky waters below, with absolutely no chance of coming out.

And flying creatures don't get much of an advantage either, as the tree's branches reach out far and wide, making it difficult for even the most skilled of pegasi and griffins to fly throughout Murky Bayou. One false maneuver, and a pegasus could hit their wing on a branch, break it, and fall into the water, to meet the fate all others had. Yes, Murky Bayou is a place that was avoided by sentient beings, and for a good reason; it's dangerous.

And yet, even though she knew all the risk and dangers of the swamp, Top Hat still entered it anyway.

She smiled, as she steadied herself on one of the roots of a tree, holding an oil lamp in her mouth to provide some sort of light. Sure, she was risking her life entering a place that even a drunk pony would have enough sense not to enter, but if she could survive and make it to the center, she'd be rolling in bits! Top Hat was a mare who traveled all the time, buying something and selling it in the next town for three times it's worth, conning a pony out of 20 bits, her life wasn't as kind and wonderful and not-morally askew as she'd imagine her parent's would hope she had. But when she heard about the princess herself issuing a massive reward for some gems, she jumped on the chance, and began traveling at twice the pace she had been going before.

After a while, when she starting worrying if she would ever find it, she took a normal old ruby and tried to chisel it into a heart shape to see if they would think it was one of the heart's they were looking for. Unfortunately, they didn't buy it, and kicked her out of the Canterlot Archives. It was times like that that made Top Hat wish her special talent was chiseling and breaking rocks and stuff. She could imagine several times in her life when that talent would have been useful.

But, oh well, persuasion and speech and all is a pretty good cutie mark, Top Hat thought to herself, as she prepared to make a jump. Making sure she had a firm grip on the lantern, she leaped from one tree root to the next. She then steadied herself on the tree root, as she saw out in the distance an odd purple light...

Top Hat quickly blinked and looked away. She knew if you stared at a Will-o'-the-wisp too long, you would be put in an odd trance that would basically spell your doom. Though the creature did remind her of her goal in here. From what she gathered from a few books and ponies in Hoofington, the center of Murky Bayou was a will-o'-the-wisp hive. She had no idea what it looked like though, though it was probably surrounded by those little technicolor flames. Heh, maybe it's like one of those dance parties in Canterlot. She thought, remembering seeing all the fancy bright lights, and loud music out in one of the buildings in Canterlot. However, electronic equipment, such as multicolored lights and stereos were very expensive, and since very few places in Equestria even had electricity, and no one really cared to modernize, such luxuries were reserved for the rich and elite of Canterlot, Manehatten, and other wealthy cities.

Well, if this goes as planned, I'll be able to say good bye to my life on the road and live in class amongst the Canterlotians! ... Or is it Canterlotites? Oh well, the point is I'll be rich! Top Hat mentally said to herself, as out of the corner of her eye, saw an alligator floating on the water's surface. The alligator glared at Top Hat and her lamp, which she assumed had awoken the lizard with it's bright light in the middle of this very dark forest. However, the alligator seemed to have no real interest in having another meal, and swimmed away from the mare, most likely to someplace dark to get some more beauty sleep. Top Hat gave a quiet sigh of relief, as she prepared to make another jump. The last thing she wanted to do was to wait for too long in one spot, as some creatures might not be as nice as that alligator was.

Or as full.

Edited May 14, 2012 by Tom The Diamond

[NeverNeverland 1,940]

Murky Bayou... fantastic, if the animals or the lack of terrain wasn't gonna kill me, it'll be my own ignorance... Cricket thought as clung for his life to the tree that kept him from slipping off. He tracked back to why he was doing this - a whole new set of equipment and insurance bits for his job, in case something wrong were to happen. Wouldn't be too surprising if said wrong thing were to happen right before his eyes. He took a couple of deep breaths, closed his eyes and tried to relax himself as he went over what had happened during the past few days.

 

A wild party had broken out due to a record label signing, what was supposed to be, a hot new DJ on the electronic scene - Flash Drive. While he was generally uninterested, and to an extent disgusted, by these parties, it was an efficent way of drumming up business and grabbing potential clients, plus meeting a few friends wouldn't hurt after all, right? Wrong, especially when you find yourself to wildly loud music beyond what you thought was REALLY loud, drunken and hooked up ponies with no recognition of their actions, and the dreadful wake up from a nasty hangover at five in the morning with no recollection of the day before and finding your room and most of your work place a complete mess. Thinkin' about it, Flynn wasn't even sure if that note he saw when he woke was real, a figment of his imagination, or just a fatal practical joke played by some pony who was too hopped up on cider to even think about what he was doing. All he knew was that it was craz-

 

No... you can't think like that. Otherwise, the princess wouldn't have issued this search. Flynn thought, opening his eyes to quite a bit of darkness. He focused on his horn and the brown haze that surrounded it as it ever so carefully lit up the area he was around - even if the area wasn't so much a sight to be desired. He shook his head and continued on with jumping from root to root, going through cobweb after cobweb. After jumping Cricket stopped and shuddered - he knew that he couldn't keep on using his magic in such a manner. After all, he was just a silly music pony. Hearing a slight hiss captivate his senses, he turned to the bark of the tree to find a slithering green snake, stare at him with curiosity.

 

His heart jumped and immediately killed his magic light - letting the darkness return to the area. While it was pretty dark, the snake and Cricket could clearly see each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Thinking about all the things he could do to get out of this situation - use his magic to throw the snake away, jump to another root, blind the snake (you'd think all that time training with Olive would've helped) - all that the helpless pony could actually do was stare back at the snake and flash a silly grin. Eventually, the snake gave a look of "You bore me, imbecile." before hissing at it and slithering away, letting Flynn breath again as he clutched the root with his life.

 

After this, never again! he panicked, hoping he'd get to centre of the forest soon.

Edited May 14, 2012 by NeverNeverland

[Flow 1,629]

Murky Bayou, it's simply one of the last places anypony wouldn't want to find themselves in, including this blue pegasus, going by the name "Starry Sky". She stood by the entrance to the dark swamp, "Oh no, it really is the Murky Bayou, I knew I shouldn't be here, but the reward....I could use it for my studies, I need to do this for my future." She thought, then she reflected on what got her here.

 

It was a quiet morning, the birds where chirping, the sun was shining, it was the same mundane life that Starry experiences daily, but it all changes when she saw a crumpled piece of paper sitting near her bed after she woke up, she thought it was just wasted scratch paper of mathematical calculations, to be sure, she straighten out the paper, but it revealed a message, it told her about seven rare gems, and where they were located, it promised her that her dreams will come true, but it didn't explain where it's from, still she believed that if she succeeds, she will get the money to pay for her expensive tuition fees at Canterlot University.

 

The problem is, aside from the unknown sender, is that the gems as told by the letter, were in the center of Murky Bayou, known to many as a place of no return. it was located south of Hoffington, quite the distance from her home in Ponyville, Starry was reluctant about it at first, but her desire for the bits forced her to embark on the journey to Murky Bayou.

 

She carefully jumped from the exposed tree roots with the help of her wings and a battery powered lantern in her mouth, but even with it, she can barely see her surroundings, "I knew I shouldn't have came here," she thought, then she saw the eyes of an alligator, the alligator tried to bite her, she backed away from the carnivorous creature, now she was flying backwards, and after looking back, she hovered quickly after nearly hitting a tree branch, "This is dangerous, I knew I should've stayed in Ponyville!"

Edited May 14, 2012 by Narutardedscum!!

[SuperTheAwesome 199]

Murky Bayou, a place no sane pony would dare to go. A dangerous place with mysterious, deadly creatures. It only made sense for Lunar to be there. He fit in with that description perfectly. Plus, the crazy colt was being rewarded for his insanity! Nopony else would trust a mysterious letter, telling them to go to Murky Bayou. Heck, Lunar didn't even trust it!

 

You see, Lunar thought of this trip as more of a... vacation. Sure, it's deadly, but Lunar loved going on adventures! He loved laughing in the face of death. And, most importantly, he loved alligators! Seeing pictures of the cute little guys as a child always made him giggle. Lunar had millions of toy alligators as a kid. They're awesome!

 

"Alright, let's go find me some Hearts!" Lunar shouted happily into the Bayou. He started to carefully climb onto the first tree root.Though slipping a little, he managed to get on. After hopping around a few roots, Lunar decided to look around. He could see towering trees, and deep waters. There was a tickling feeling on his front leg...

 

"SPIDER!" Lunar shrieked, hopping to another root and knocking it off. It was crawling towards him again, and there was only one thing he could do. Lunar closed his eyes and concentrated.... There. Lunar had done it. He had used an invisibility spell! The big, hairy creature was now confused. Lunar used this time to sneak away quietly. He had to be more careful.

[Aureity 3,055]

Electra stared disbelievingly into the murky black mist that made up the bayou, wondering once more why in the hay she was here, of all places. She had harbored doubts ever since she had picked up that little slip of paper, but she had hidden them deeply inside her heart. After all...there was a massive reward out for those gems, and anyone who could bring them back to Canterlot would be richly rewarded. I'd have enough to buy an electric guitar, she thought, desperately trying to dispel the fears that crept into her mind. And I'd be able to take up DJ-ing. And move into a bigger house-I'm so cramped in mine. She spent a good few minutes listing all the music-related instruments she could afford with that sort of money, and how much she'd have left over to share with her friends. But they all require...she thought gloomily, lifting her head and focusing on the murky swamp that lay ahead of her. “Oh well,” she muttered aloud. “What's life without a little fun?”

 

She'd heard stories, of course. Of the deathly muck that would choke anypony unlucky enough to fall in, of the kappas lurking beneath the surface, ready to devour anyone who slipped, of the will-o-wisps, beautiful yet deadly, as well as some other things that she thought she had forgotten, but now resurfaced in her mind as soon as she had entered the bayou. Snakes, alligators, giant lizards...she blinked rapidly, trying to calm herself. “Get ahold of yourself Electra, I'm sure most of these are just...overly exaggerated.”

 

She had made it to the edge of the bayou now. Her prize would be waiting for deep inside-the center, she thought instinctively. Looking ahead of her, she saw a long, narrow tree trunk, rotten and covered with fungi, that stretched across the murky river that blocked her path. Gently trotting to one of the murky riverbanks, she quietly tossed in a rock. It immediately sank beneath the murky surface, a small air bubble rising out of the top as the only indicator that it had ever existed. “O-okay,” she said soothingly to herself. “It's no big deal,” she added, looking at the fallen tree trunk. “Just-just don't slip.” Easier said than done, her brain retorted as she carefully climbed onto one end of the fallen tree.