Under The Northern Lights

by CoastalSarv


Twentyfour

Mustikka followed the Hestaland sorcerer through the thinning crowd of shoppers. They were approaching the harbor now, and the distance from King's Street reduced the number of reindeer and others to scattered cover for his own movement. If the unicorn made any big attempt at hiding himself it wasn't visible, so he must be trusting foolishly in his magic. Many of the reindeer he passed reacted, but only fawns did so visibly. Mustikka still couldn't understand how his quarry could miss them. This irritated him immensely. How could anyone be that careless?

He hadn't understood the limited reactions himself at first. However, later questioning of the palace servants who obviously had seen the unicorn offered an explanation on why they hid reactions to the diplomat's failed invisibility. Since Lord Eminence was a foreigner and a noble, he had two excuses for doing odd things, so they had averted their gazes so as to not be impolite. It was not until a couple of guards had seen him enter a building they themselves weren't allowed to enter anydeer had reported it. Mustikka also suspected that the servants hadn't wanted to attract either the ire of a noble or the curses of a unicorn, even if they hadn't said anything about that.

Mustikka still kept his distance to the unicorn. He wanted to have complete control over his situation, as was his habit, he must not fail his friend and King. He trusted his tracking skills, even in the city, to let him follow Lord Eminence even if he didn't keep him directly in his sight all the time. Hence, he stepped into an alleyway and peered down into it as if he had lost his way, should anyone else look in his direction. Further uptown such places would have beggars – they were kept off the main streets – but here there were none. The alleyway was empty of all but slush, still with a bit of white snow cover since it wasn't as trampled as in the rest of the city. For a second he contemplated zipping through the alleyway and circling Lord Eminence, but decided against the shortcut - he could loose his quarry.

As he returned to the main street he saw the unicorn enter a large house, an outfitter's shop, down the end of the street. He increased his step and trotted up to the shop. He tried to look through the dirty display windows, but could only see a gray shape he suspected was his quarry, and that for a short while only. He retreated to the side of the house, where a short alleyway led down to the quays. Kelp fishers had hung their full nets and were busy picking their catch out of them. He watched the door carefully.

The minutes passed and Mustikka grew restless. He kept careful watch on the ornate pocketwatch that he alone among the King's Companions still carry – Ukko had given them all beautiful silver pocket watches as a gift, but the others weren't big on schedules and timekeeping. Thirteen minutes. What could he buy in thirteen minutes? The shop sold gear for boats and ships, that was clear. There seemed to be a big warehouse part, probably for keeping ropes and cordage. Could he buy a boat there? The place was big enough to serve as the outlet for a boatwright. Thirteen minutes and 47 seconds. Fourteen minutes. Mustikka snapped his watch shut, slipped it down his pouch and went into the store.

A store clerk lifted his head and greeted him. Mustikka ignored him as his eyes swept across the store. It apparently sold gear for the overland explorer as well, seeing as how the place had ackjas and other sleighs placed along the walls together with skis, tents and the like.

“Was there a foreigner – a pony – a unicorn here a moment ago?” he said sharply, ignoring the friendly greeting.

“Uh – well – yes,” said the confused clerk.

“Where did he go?” asked Mustikka.

“He went out the back entrance,” said the clerk and pointed to the interior of the warehouse, only half visible, where ropes and cables of all kinds and thicknesses hung from the roof like draperies, hints of sunlight shown between them.

“What did he want?” asked Mustikka.

“He bought a spear-staff,” said the clerk. “You know, for skiing.”

“A spear-staff?!” said Mustikka and moved far too quickly for a reindeer of his advanced age and got face to face with the clerk.

“Y-yes,” the clerk stammered, “but not a real one, a souvenir one.” He pointed to a shabby birch bark stand which held several spear-staffs, points in sheaths.

“I figured, a foreigner, he wanted a souvenir, that's why he asked,” he continued to babble while Mustikka pulled out one of the spear-staffs and looked at it. It was rather gaudy, with an overdecorated shaft and a tip of the faux-heirloom kind, far too wide at the base for good skiing, far too blunt for fighting, the kind a fancy city deer has made to show off. On the shaft was written in big letters MEMORY FROM SARVVIK – in Equestrian, of course, the language of tourism. Mustikka replaced the thing carefully, despite the sudden sense of urgency he felt, since he didn't like to throw things around. Even on the hunt, he couldn't abide disorder. Then he galloped through the rope storage and out into the sunlight beyond, leaving the clerk bewildered.

Mustikka was bewildered himself for a moment as he came out into the sunlight. His gaze swept over the quay, the boats and the frames hung with kelp-nets, trying to see Lord Eminence. He failed, and was going to resort to either looking for tracks or questioning the fisher-deer when his eye caught something else – a completely different unicorn from the gray one he was following – a purple mare.


“You!” he said as he walked up to Lady Twilight Sparkle, Hoofmaiden of Princess Luna of Equestria, who was standing between two lines of kelp-filled nets, peering just like he was.

“I believe you have the advantage of me, sir” she said in Poatsi with a heavy, exotic Equestrian accent.

“What?” said Mustikka, stopped and glared suspiciously at the unicorn. She was wearing some kind of dress in almost black purple with blood red trimmings and some vague pattern, worn with age, and a little hat made of bird feathers. The dress had several slits which suspiciously left bare those parts a stallion's eyes might linger on, if stallions worked like bucks, that is.

“Well, you know who I am, but I don't know who you are, sir,” she said and gave a false smile. Mustikka hesitated.

“I'm Mustikka. I'm a companion of the King,” he said.

“Your name is 'Mustikka'? Ohohohohoho!” she laughed in a horrible annoying way, and saw fit to pretend to hide it between a bone white fan.

“What?” he said with irritation.

“I am sorry, but 'Blueberry', that is just like a pony name!” she said, half behind her fan to hide her mocking grin. “I am not used to reindeer having pony names.”

“Oh,” he said. “I thought you would say it was... erh, a vaja name. But that's neither here nor there! What are you doing here? Is this a place for a lady of the court?”

“Oh,” it was her turn to say, and he could see she was looking for a lie. “I am just... sampling the local specialties.” She turned to the fisher-deer, a young vaja, that Mustikka now realized had been watching them as she was picking kelp from the nets.

“Miss, I'll buy this one,” Lady Sparkle said as she magicked one of the boxes of freshly picked kelp over to her feet. “Please, tell me the price.”

The vaja just stared, then stammered an improvised price, and was rewarded with a casual rain of coin.
“But my lady,” the fisher-doe said as she picked up her pay, “do you really want the fish?”

When fishing for kelp with nets, you invariably snared a fair amount of small fish, inedible to reindeer and all other civilized beings. Some fisher-deer sold it as dog food or fertilizer; most fed it to the seagulls. It was always cleaned out before anyone bought kelp.

The unicorn looked at the few fishes poking out from the kelp, some of them still flopping.
“Oh yes!” she said. “I love fish!” She turned and smiled first at the fisher-doe, then at Mustikka.

“You eat fish?” said Mustikka incredulously.

“Of course!” said Lady Sparkle brightly and levitated one to her mouth. She then stopped and looked at it with what Mustikka immediately assumed was hungry glee, before plopping it into her mouth. She masticated noisily and grotesquely, obviously just to freak Mustikka out, because lots of the fish fell out of her mouth.

“Mmm!” she said and dabbed at her mouth with a fine silk handkerchief. “Yummy yummy nam nam!”
Mustikka stared in disbelief, disgust and a small bit of fear.

“You... eat fish often?” he asked cautiously.

“Ohohohoho!” she laughed again behind her fan, which Mustikka now could see was not only bone white but clearly actually made out of bone, with a rather unsettling pattern involving skulls and snakes and spiders.

“Only... when I... Can't. Get. Juicy. Bloody. Red. Meat!” she said, and with each full stop she took one full step until she was face to face with Mustikka, only her bone fan between them. “Care to... join me for dinner sometime, Sir Mustikka?” Her exotic accent could have been used to tar boats.

“Well – uh – I...” Mustikka said as he backed off and hence stepped into a kelp-net. Her face this close, he noticed her makeup, which made a horrid impression of equal parts witch and libertine. Her cheeks were rouged a deeper purple than her natural coat, and a thin line of similarly-colored lipstick marked her mouth. Her eyes were heavily shadowed and were painted far outside her eyelids and up to her brows, and he could see they made out two stylized bat wings. Her eyes shone purple in the middle of this darkness, accentuated by her almost fluorescent bright red mascara, turning her long eyelashes into thin curtains of fire. Her horn – which shimmered as well, with the magic that held her fan aloft, had also been painted – a thin line of green paint following the spiral horn, making up the body of a venomous adder, it's head on the horn's tip.

Mustikka shook his head to clear it when he was hit on the nose by the fan.
“Gah!” he said and put his hoof to it.

She looked at him with was clearly fake surprise, as if she hadn't meant that!
“Oh, I am so sorry!” she cried in mock concern, but Mustikka was sure he saw satisfaction on her face over his humiliation.

“Look, I have no time for this...” he began. She made an exaggerated pout.

“Too bad!” she said and fluttered those curtains of fire. “I love blueberries! Ohohohoho!” More fan fluttering as she turned away from him.

Mustikka fumed but couldn't help but remembering the outrageous rumors about the “appetites” of Skinfaxi's Shadow. One second later he remembered the even more outrageous rumors about her literal appetites, and grew rather cold inside, hardened veteran that he was. Was that lust or hunger in her mesmerizing eyes? Or maybe... both?

“I have no time for this!” he said again.

“Of course!” she said and turned back to him. “You are chasing Lord Eminence, a minor functionary of the Equestrian delegation.”

“What...” Mustikka said.

“Where, you mean, “ she admonished him. “Where did he go?”
Mustikka nodded.

“He took a boat,” she said. “He gave one of the fishing boats some silver to take him to the southern quay. They left a minute or two before you came storming out from the outfitter's.”

“The southern quay!” Mustikka started to visibly make calculations in his head.

“You can't run there in time, but you can probably take another boat,” Lady Sparkle said with a false smile.

Mustikka swore, referencing a long row of disgusting sexual and lavatory practices, and dashed off to get a boat. Twilight Sparkle smiled again at the flabbergasted fisher-doe, levitated the box of kelp (and fish) with her and disappeared in a blink.


As she appeared in Luna's suite, Twilight dumped the kelp and rushed into the bathroom to throw up and wash her mouth before she would report to Luna.

“Fish! Fish blood! Fish... guts!” she babbled. “I will never be clean again! And he must have seen through me! I couldn't even handle the fan, I hit his nose! Those cheesy lines, he cannot have believed they were real! The clothes I borrowed from you, Princess, must look ridiculous on me! And this silly makeup I got Saga to do, I must look like a little kid!”

“Calm down, Lady Sparkle,” said Luna. “I am sure it went well. Do you have the time, Spike?”

“Yep, she arrived at exactly ten forty-one!” said Spike.

“Good! Then you have at least ten minutes to relax and prepare for the next... 'scene',” Luna said. “And cheer up! Lord Eminence has to hurry more than you.”
It looked like this didn't cheer Twilight up much.


Mustikka alternately cursed the rowers or showed them his purse filled with more silver than they had ever seen at once, but you can only row so fast, at least without opposable thumbs. When he finally reached the southern quay, he tossed the rowers their pay and jumped ashore. A thorough scan revealed no gray unicorn, neither by sight nor scent, so he let his gaze shift downwards and started looking for tracks. Despite the hard cobblestones, his long experience as a pathfinder, enhanced by his own peculiar Sight, let him find a set of odd-toed hoofmarks trotting into the city. He didn't have to follow them far to spot a commotion ahead. A small gaggle of reindeer and a few donkeys surrounded a Russ shopkeeper, who was talking and gesturing excitedly. Next to him stood a familiar purple unicorn, a few paces away from the upset citizens, who gave her furtive glances. Mustikka walked up to them.

"What's going on here?" he barked. Everyone turned to look at him.

"I have been robbed!" said the Russ. "Where's the guard!?"

"We have called for them," said one of the donkeys, a longshoremane by the look of it. "We sent a fawn to get them here."

"What was stolen?" said Mustikka and looked at Lady Twilight Sparkle, who fanned herself and curtseyed.

"A two-gallon jar of vermillion oil! That thing is very valuable!" fretted the shopkeeper.

"It is also very dangerous," said Lady Sparkle. "It burns very hot." She looked at Mustikka, who ignored her for now.

"When did you realize it had been stolen?" Mustikka said.

"Just now!" said the shopkeeper. "This... lady here wanted to buy some, and when I went to get it, I saw a whole, unopened jar was missing." Mustikka turned to Lady Sparkle.

"What do you want with vermillion oil?" he said accusingly. The unicorn Jezebel fanned herself and smirked.

"Dearest Sir Mustikka, I do have a dragon familiar, as you know," she said as if talking to a child. "It is very good for their digestion, and the poor dear has been eating all kinds of strange things here in Tarandroland."

"So it wasn't because you think I wouldn't have noticed this theft by myself?" he said, which caused the surrounding people to look at him with confusion.

"Ohohohoho" Lady Sparkle laughed mockingly. "Me? I am just a hoofmaiden, I don't know what you are talking about. I'm just a silly little filly who has no idea what is going on in a foreign city like this! I am immensely innocent and naive when it comes to ghastly things like crime!" She gave him an insincere smile with half-open mouth and fluttered her curtains of fire.

Mustikka swore in a way that caused the tough harbor workers around him to blush.
"Has a gray unicorn entered your store?" he asked the shopkeeper.

"No... I have never even seen a gray unicorn in my whole life!" said the Russ. "Just the usual customers... this is really a paint shop, I just carry some chemicals as well... ship's officials, carpenters... all reindeer."

Mustikka facehoofed.
"Of course! Ponies are freezing Sightless!" he moaned. "He could walk right past you! Show me where you kept the oil!"

"Excuse me, but who are you?" said the Russ.

"I'm Mustikka the Tracker, a Companion of the King!" said Mustikka. "Now answer my questions, and we can find the thief!"

It slowly dawned on the gathered citizens who he was, and some of them made a quick bow.
"You are not known by face, I take it, Sir Mustikka?" the unicorn witch said.

"I hate the press" said Mustikka. "Freezing nuisance."

"You sound like the Crown Prince," said Lady Sparkle.

"You know Vigg like that?" he said with suspicion.

She stopped to fan herself unnecessarily again.

"His Highness seems fond of my dragon," she said.

"You stay away from the kid, you hear?" he said and glared at her.

"Are you keeping watch over him?" she said.

He stopped.
"Should I?" he said.

"When was the last time you spent some time with the heir to realm?" she asked, surprisingly serious.

"Well, he used to hang around his grampa and us all the time, and then... but..." Mustikka trailed off. "Ukko... hasn't been himself."

He noticed the crowd looking at him.
"Never mind this babbling!" he shouted. "Show me your storeroom!"

After being taken there, he could find some faint tracks on the wooden floor - uncloven hoofs.
"This doesn't prove it was him, but I'll cut off my tail and make it a brush if it wasn't," he mumbled.

"I saw a guy like that, sir," said one reindeer. "A bit away, not long ago, down by the harbor, sir."

"Figures," said Mustikka. "If I can just get the others to be a bit efficient for once, and get around to grab him, finally!"

"What?" said the Russ.

"Look, I suspect the thief is a known felon. I'll talk to the guards and I will inform you later. If nothing else happens the King himself will reimburse you for the loss," Mustikka said to him.

"If you say so, sir," said the confused Russ.

"Can I still buy some oil from this gentlecolt, Sir Mustikka?" said Lady Sparkle. "Since he seems to have more than one jar?"
Mustikka hesitated, and noticed that the minx had a look that said "I dare you!"'

"Why not?" he said. She smiled and paid the shopkeeper, while Mustikka had a long talk with the lately arrived city guards.


"I poured the oil down a drain, and then I smashed the jar and threw it in the shop's rubbish bin" said a very tired Lord Eminence. "Which was full of glass already. Then I poured the ocher over me, put on a hood to hide my horn... and didn't use invisibility, so while reindeer saw a red earthpony walk through town openly without any load, they didn't see a gray unicorn trying to be invisible carrying a big jar."

"Good enough," said Luna. "Reindeer clairvoyance normally doesn't work if you aren't even looking mundanely in the first place. And you got your oil, Lady Sparkle?"

Twilight nodded.
“I just feel sorry for the shopkeeper – I hope he doesn't get in trouble because of this,” she said. “At least I tipped him so much it paid for the other jar as well.”

"Nonsense!" Luna said. "He had his merchandise stolen by a criminal, he has done nothing wrong. And Mustikka won't suspect someone who openly asks to get something right in front of him, if the oil becomes an issue."

"Wow, I never thought I'd get to drink a whole bottle," said Spike and licked his mouth.

"It is more a sacrifice than a treat, Master Spike," said Luna. "I suspect you will get somewhat of a belly ache. We need just a little of the oil, but we better use all of it."

"I guess hiding evidence is easy when you have someone eating it," Lord Eminence mumbled.

"Well, it isn't really evidence," said Twilight. "And I'm still wary of this whole business. I can't believe that Sir Mustikka didn't see through my charade."

"It might help," said Lord Eminence, "that our files say Sir Mustikka is excellent at handling information - and, incidentally, logistics - but apparently is rather bad at handling people. He was a herdless wanderer before he joined up with Ukko and his cronies."

"He was herdless – I should have known from the way his ears were cut,” Twilight mumbled.

"You did very well, Lady Sparkle," said Luna. "Your lies will succeed because they will be comfortable lies, that support people's prejudices."

"If you say so, Your Highness," Twilight sighed. "I'm going to remove this horrible makeup before I go down to some alchemical work."

"Don't be like that," said Luna, "I found it very charming!"

"Saga isn't here, who will put it on tomorrow?" Spike asked.

Twilight shrugged.
"I have enough actual hoofmaiden experience to duplicate her designs," she said. "Where is she anyway?"

Spike looked a bit warily at Lord Eminence.

"She... is on a field trip" he said cautiously. "She should be back tomorrow, or maybe the day after tomorrow."

"Oh," Twilight said. "Well, I wish more kids were as interested in studying." And she left for the bathroom.

“How did she get the fawn to help her anyway?” said Lord Eminence. “She won't suspect anything?”

“The kid hero-worships Lady Sparkle and literally worships me,” said Luna. “I told her that it would be advantageous to my cause if certain reindeer at court took the rumors around Lady Sparkle seriously, and requested some fashion advice. That is not even a lie, mind you.” Spike changed warily to uncomfortably.

Lord Eminence shrugged.
"Your Highness, may I be allowed some rest?" he said. "I am getting killed tomorrow, and that is a stressful situation."

"Not until you have written enough incriminating documents," Luna said.

"Do they have to be in code, Your Highness?" he said.

"No one will believe you would leave such things in plain writing, Lord Eminence," Luna said. "But make the code easily crackable. That will ensure they can actually read the documents, and will make the cracker think he is intelligent and you are not. That is one of those comfortable lies I was talking about."

"I'll get to work, Your Highness," said Lord Eminence and sighed.

"You sure they won't have seen anything through that scrying thingamajig?" said Spike.

"Well, I have strengthened Twilight's design for this room," said Luna. "It doesn't hide anything, it disturbs your mind, so Sight cannot penetrate it alone. I'm afraid it wouldn't work like Lord Eminence's spell, because a moving living being has too many parameters, and it won't stop someone who is really dedicated to observe you. However, first of all the King's companions are concentrating on Lord Eminence. Second, Master Galderhorn apparently dislikes scrying, so he will minimize his work. Third, the King drags away his Companions each night for his incessant drinking. One or two can get away each night, but the rest are always hungover. Reindeer sight is dependent on your body and mind being in full condition, and if Galderhorn doesn't want to open his eyes because they hurt, he won't scry either."

"You seem awfully sure," Spike said.

"After tomorrow evening, I am sure they will turn all attention to us - or rather, to Twilight," Luna said. "But for now, they should have a hard time realizing what is up."

"After tomorrow evening, yeah," said Spike.


In this chapter, as in the last, LadyMoondancer helped me with proofreading. I'm eternally grateful!