//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Whitetrot // Story: The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM // by FireOfTheNorth //------------------------------// Chapter III: Whitetrot “And they said, ‘Show me the Power of Talhooves!!’” “Everything appears to be in order,” the guard at Whitetrot’s gate said as he reviewed my (falsified) summons. Thankfully, it was a different guard than the one who had questioned me the day before. At least, I thought it was a different guard. They all looked the same in their armor. This one didn’t seem suspicious of me, though. “Go on in,” he said, motioning to the gate, “I’ll spread the word to let you in and out of the city whenever you wish.” I pushed through the massive gates into the great fortress-city of Whitetrot. I was awed by the immensity of it all. I had never seen so many buildings in one place except for in the Imperial City. But in Horizon, I had certainly never seen anything like this. Ponies bustled about from one store to another. Foals galloped around, playing a game of tag and weaving between their elders’ legs. I could hear vendors in a market hocking their wares in the distance and the clanging of a forge nearby. It was all so much to take in. But, exploring would have to wait. Right now I had something more important to do. Climbing the stone stairs that led up the hill, I left the market district, and entered a new tier composed mainly of houses. I followed the path through the city to the city center. A large, dead tree was in the center of the district, surrounded by houses and a temple. Up another flight of stone stairs was an imposing looking structure decorated in traditional earth pony style. Past a statue of Talhooves was another, longer flight of stairs leading up to the Jarl’s palace. At least, I assumed it was his palace. I saw no other purpose the massive, multi-leveled structure at the height of the city could have. The amount of guards I passed increased as I neared the highest point in the city. Crossing a bridge over a pond, I made it to the massive gates of the palace. The guards didn’t seem inclined to stop me as I pushed open the doors, so I trotted right in. The interior of the palace was rustic, but cheery. A massive fire burned in a pit in the center of the room, filling the great hall with light. Past the fire and the meal tables, Jarl Valor’s Blade sat upon a throne carved from ancient wood. Near him a pony scribbled down orders on a piece of parchment. I assumed this was the steward, who I knew to be named Protocus. On the other side of the Jarl was a pegasus! What was a pegasus doing here? But, after I looked again, I noticed the dappled spots in her coat where the armor didn’t cover, and her smaller than average wings. She was a dappled pegasus from Morrowhinny. “Halt,” she ordered in a commanding tone, jumping down the steps leading up the Jarl with a little boost from her wings. “Why are you here?” she asked, eyeing me as a hawk might eye prey. “I’m here to speak to the Jarl,” I said. “And what business do you have with the Jarl?” I didn’t even think about pulling out my forged summons. The pony who had supposedly signed it was standing right here and would unmask me as a fraud if I did. It would just have to be the truth. “I’m here to warn him about dragon attacks,” I said, steeling myself for the pegasus’s mocking. “Do you think this is a joke?” she exploded, “Nopony gets near the Jarl unless I say so, and you’re not endearing yourself to me right now!” “What is it, Darkfeather?” the Jarl asked, his Horizon accent prominent. “Just a crazy pony who wants to speak to you,” she said over her shoulder, “I’ll get her out of here.” “No, let her forward,” the Jarl said as Darkfeather made to push me back. The pegasus gave me an annoyed look as I passed her on my way to the Jarl. “You’ve obviously come far,” he said, “Judging by what I heard of your voice, from Unicornica. Now, tell me what you came so far to say.” “There was a dragon attack on Hoofgen,” I said, “I was there. Eruthar in Riverwood told me to come here and warn you about it.” “See, my Jarl,” Darkfeather said, also approaching his throne, “Nonsense. There hasn’t been a dragon in the Northlands for thousands of years.” “You saw this dragon?” the Jarl asked. “With my own eyes. Hoofgen is no more.” “Don’t tell me you actually believe her,” Darkfeather said. “And why not?” the Jarl said to her, “She claims Eruthar sent her. She’s a steady individual. She wouldn’t send a warning unless she believed and thought it necessary. And dragons have come here before.” He pointed over his head. Craning my neck, I saw a massive skull mounted on the wall over his throne. It could only belong to one thing: a dragon. “If any dragon attacks my hold, it will meet the same fate as Razorak, the dragon my ancestor Oman One-Eye imprisoned in this very fortress. It’s called Dragonsreach for a reason. Send troops to Rearikstead and Riverwood. If that dragon rears its ugly head again, we’ll be ready for it.” “I’ll notify the soldiers,” Darkfeather said, preparing to run off. “But my Jarl,” Protocus objected, cutting into the conversation, “That could provoke Jarl Sibli and Jarl Glamus to open war!” “I don’t care,” the Jarl stated, putting his hoof down, “I’d rather go to war with two holds that see my people burn from inaction.” Protocus didn’t seem happy with the Jarl’s decision, but didn’t object any more. Darkfeather, though still appearing to believe I was crazy was nearly jumping up and down in anticipation of sending the troops out. With a nod from the Jarl, she bounded off half running, half flapping out of Dragonsreach. That just left me with no idea what to do next. I had come this far for Eruthar and Calciar. And now I had no plans. The entire province was open for me to explore. “You there,” the Jarl said, speaking to me, “I didn’t catch your name.” “Sapphire,” I said, turning my attention back to Valor’s Blade. “Thank you for the warning, Sapphire,” he said, “I’d like you to speak to my court wizard about this dragon attack. Tell him everything you can about it so he can find a way to counter it.” I said nothing, which I guess the Jarl took as acceptance of what he said, for he pointed off to a room attached to the great hall, where I would assumedly find the court wizard. He appeared to be in. A black unicorn with a violently red mane was wrapped in mage’s robes and standing behind a desk covered in books and crystals. He mumbled to himself as he magically sorted through a mess of papers covered in strange runes. “Hello?” I said hesitantly, not wanting to interrupt whatever it was he was doing. “Hm, what?” he said, looking up from his papers, “Oh, what do you want?” “The Jarl sent me,” I said, “I was at Hoofgen when a dragon attacked.” “A dragon attack?” he said, raising an eyebrow, “Not likely, but then again, possible. It’s right here in black and white after all.” I saw on his table he also had out a copy of the Book of the Dragonborn open to the page Calciar and Eruthar had read the prophecy from. As for the other pages he had, I had no clue what they said. “The Jarl said he wanted me to tell you about the attack so you could find some way to defeat a dragon,” I said when it appeared I was losing his focus. “Yes, yes,” he said, “But I’m terribly busy right now.” What did he expect me to do? Just stand around until he was finished with whatever it was he was doing? “If you want to make yourself useful,” he said, looking up, “I have a few things you can do.” “Yes,” I said, groaning inside. More favors. “Take these to Aromia at the alchemy shop,” he said, levitating a basket of what looked like roots, “And when you’re done with that, I have a book I loaned out you can retrieve.” “Where’s the book?” I asked as I took the roots. “I loaned it to a friend of mine, Serendipity. She lives on the east end of the hold. Right here,” he said, pointing out a spot on the map of Horizon displayed on his wall. “Could you mark it on my map?” I asked, floating out my map of Horizon with my quill and inkwell. “How ingenious,” he said as he marked the position, “More ponies should carry maps. It would make giving directions so much easier.” “What’s your name?” I asked as I stowed my map away. “Faniar Fire-stone,” he said, returning to his papers. “And why are you called that?” I asked. “My unicorn name was Firestone, because of my red mane,” he said, looking up in an annoyed manner, “But I later changed it to fit in better in Horizon. Why, what’s yours?” “Sapphire,” I said as he glared at me. “Well, Sapphire,” he said, “I’d get done and be ready to help you much quicker if you got out of my mane and delivered those ingredients and retrieved my book.” ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ “Welcome to Aromia’s Alchemical Amalgams,” the pale blue earth pony behind the counter of the alchemy shop said. “Alchemical Amalgams, huh?” I said. “Yes, in other words, potions. You see, an amalgam is-” “A mixture or combination of different elements,” I finished. “That’s right,” she said, blinking in astonishment. All that reading paid off. “Faniar wanted me to give these to you,” I said, holding out the basket. “Canis roots!” she said in delight, “Wherever did he find them?” I shrugged, and looked around the shop as she took the roots. Some strange things sat on the shelves, like small bowls of glowing powder, whole eyeballs, and plants of every shape, size, and color. “How does alchemy work?” I asked curiously. There had been an alchemist or two in Kvatch, but I had never taken the time to ask them how their art was supposed to work. “So glad you asked,” Aromia said, bounding over to my side, “First, you need an alchemy lab. Everything you’ll need is on the workbench. Ponies used to have to carry around the separate pieces, but somepony finally figured out this way was easier. But, back to alchemy.” “First, you’ll need to grind up your ingredients and combine them. Then add a little water and send them through these pipes. Bottle them up in a phial here and you’re done.” “How do I know what the potion will do?” “Try it out, you’ll know what it does.” Great, I had to subject my own body to mystery mixes just to find out their effects. I’d have to be careful not to make any poisons. Looks like even alchemy could be a dangerous venture. I left Aromia’s shop, but I wasn’t ready to head out and get Faniar’s book back yet. Instead, I wanted to take a look around Whitetrot. Exiting Aromia’s Alchemical Amalgams, I found myself in an outdoor market. Vendors called out for the ponies passing through to buy their wares. They were selling mostly food, and I still had some from raiding the house in Hoofgen, so I paid them no mind as I passed through. Making my way toward the gate, I stopped at the smithy. “Welcome to Warmare’s,” a brown mare out front said, setting aside the sword she was working on when she noticed I was admiring her forge, “Something I can help you with?” “Could you teach me how to smith?” I asked. There had been no blacksmiths in Kvatch, so I had never had a chance to try my hoof at making weapons and armor. But I had always been interested in trying, and here was my chance. “Sure,” she said, “It’s not hard. Let me show you how to work the forge.” ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ My lesson in smithing had been profitable. I was only moderately good at it, but I had still been able to make myself an iron helmet and an iron dagger. Why she had insisted I make a dagger and not a sword, I had no idea, but she had said making iron daggers was crucial to learning how to be a better smith. As soon as I’d finished at Warmare’s, I left Whitetrot and headed for Serendipity’s Farm. It really was on the far east of the hold, but I managed to make it before nightfall. The farm wasn’t much more than a small house with a field outside for growing alchemy ingredients and some food. Trying to be polite, I knocked on the door. When nopony answered, I knocked louder. There was still no response, so I pushed the (unlocked) door open. “Hello?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t inconveniencing Serendipity. The place was a mess. Chairs were tipped over, books were thrown off the shelves, and piles of clothes spilled from wardrobes. But the most shocking part was the message written on the wall in pony blood. We don’t need Unicorns We don’t need Magic Cut in the wood next to it was a crude drawing of a cloud with twin lightning bolts emerging from the base. A storm cloud if I ever saw one. Stormclouds had done this. I had no idea the earth pony rebel group was so hostile toward unicorns. Could I trust Bereloth? Could I trust Eruthar and Calciar? Were they just waiting to kill me in my sleep? No, I had to believe I could trust them. Bereloth had saved me in Hoofgen, after all. And then he had offered me a free place to sleep. But these ponies wouldn’t be so kind. They hadn’t killed Serendipity, not here at least. There was no body. But, a blood trail did lead across the floor and out the smashed back door. I took out my war axe and followed it. The blood was already dry and I probably couldn’t catch up to them before Serendipity died, but I would make them pay anyway. As I followed the trail over rocks and through trees my mind told me I was exiting Whitetrot Hold and had entered Easttrot, the realm of Jarl Stormcloud. I pushed the thought that he was behind this from my mind as I followed the drops of blood. Finally, I found the end of it. The splatters of Serendipity’s blood passed a cluster of buildings and into a cave with a sign naming it “Ditchwater Mine.” As I slowly entered the mine, I heard the rowdy voices of ponies coming from farther in. I crawled into the main cavern of the mine, where many torches flickered, and beheld the horrifying scene. Eight earth ponies stood around a single unicorn whose turquoise coat had been stained with her own blood. One of the earth ponies hit her across the face as I watched. Blood dripped into her eyes from a gash above her eyebrow. Her horn flickered and the wound closed up just enough that blood no longer poured from it. “We’ll see if your magic can fix this!” a pony with a knife said, gutting a gash along Serendipity’s ribs. She cried out as the flesh tore apart and the bleeding began in earnest. Her horn began to glow and the wound started to close up. She couldn’t finish her spell as another of the earth ponies hit her in the head, breaking her concentration. Far too much blood fell from her side before she managed to fully repair the wound. It was beginning to pool on the floor beneath her. “How about we do something to you your magic can’t fix?” a scarred buck said, walking around to behind her with a knife, “Aren’t short tails in style in the Imperial City?” Stomping on the end of her tail with his hoof, her jerked up with his knife and cut it off barely past her hindquarters. She screamed and tears mingled with the blood on her face. This had to end. I pulled out my bow and prayed to the Equines my shot would be true. My first arrow hit a skinny green buck in the back of the neck. He choked on the shaft and fell to the floor. None of the other ponies seemed to notice. My next shot was meant for the buck tormenting Serendipity and threatening to cut her ear off, but it went wide. A pink mare screamed as the shaft bore through her eye. The other six ponies turned to look at me. But I was hiding as best I could, and they didn’t find me until I foolishly shot another arrow that bounced off the wall. “Another unicorn!” a pitch black mare yelled, pulling a curved knife from the sheath at her side. Standing up, I pulled out both my war axe and my sword. The first two ponies fell with my weapons stabbed into their necks. The third one was smart enough to grab a shield, but I easily broke her block and sank my axe into her forehead. The next one blocked the swipe of my war axe, but not my sword, and I took his hooves out from under him before stabbing the blade into his bewildered face. The black mare with the knife managed to get a cut across the armor on my chest, but it made her vulnerable to a strike on the back of her neck that instantly killed her, her spine cracking under the blow. The scarred buck was last. He had traded his knife for a warhammer. The end of the heavy weapon smashed into the ground next to me. Placing my hoof on the shaft, I cracked his teeth as he tried to pick the warhammer back up. Spitting out the remains of his teeth, He jumped at me. The blade of my Imperial sword ran him through as he landed on it. Sliding him off, I cleaned my blades before tending to Serendipity. “Who are you?” she asked as I wrapped her multiple wounds in bandages. “Sapphire,” I said, pulling the last bandage tight. “How did you know to find me here?” “I didn’t. Faniar sent me to retrieve a book you borrowed from him. When I saw you’d been taken I came looking for you.” I looked around the cave. I sure hoped the Stormcloud banner didn’t mean what I thought. If these were Stormcloud soldiers, I was going to be sick. But, they weren’t dressed like Stormcloud soldiers, just poor miners. The mystery was soon solved. Littering the floor of the mine were phials, some empty, and some still partially filled with Skooma, the super-addictive drug made from the moonsugar grown in the zebra homeland. These weren’t Stormcloud soldiers, they were just Stormcloud supporters who got high on Skooma and made a terrible mistake. “I think his book’s over there,” Serendipity said, pointing to a stack near the fire, “They were going to burn all my magic related books.” I sifted through the pile before I realized I had no idea which one was Faniar’s. “Here,” she said, pulling a green one out of the stack and floating it over to me. “Magical Mystery Cures,” I read the title aloud, “Magical remedies that shouldn’t work, but do.” “What’s this,” I asked as she floated another book over to me. “A gift,” she said, “For saving my life.” The cover featured a flaming hoof and had a simple title: Sparks. I opened it and flipped to the first page. The letters suddenly began to glow and jump off the page at me. The pages began to flip by themselves, moving faster and faster until lightning began to jump across them. Eventually, the pages caught fire and the book was consumed, disappearing in a puff of smoke. In just a few seconds, I had learned everything there was to know about a spell: Sparks. “What was that?” I asked Serendipity. “A spell tome,” she said, “You’re just learned how to cast the Sparks spell without having to practice.” “Amazing,” I said quietly. “Well, how about you try it out.” I complied, and sent a bolt of lightning across the cavern, lighting a bucket on fire. I was going to like this. ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ When we emerged from Ditchwater Mine, twilight had fallen across Horizon. Serendipity was more than happy to let me sleep in her house after saving her life. I dozed off as she put the place back in order. When I awoke she had removed all traces of the miners’ desecration. A picture hung over the mark on the wall and the bloodstains had been washed away. Serendipity dozed in a chair near the fireplace. Not wanting to wake her, I quietly stole out of the house. Following the paths, I quickly made it back to Whitetrot. “What took you so long?” Faniar asked grumpily as I returned his book to him. “Well,” I said, not amused by his impatience, “When I got to Serendipity’s Farm, I found she’d been kidnapped.” Kidnapped?” Faniar said, showing genuine concern, “Is she all right?” “Yes, I went and rescued her. Sorry I took so long.” “I apologize for snapping at you,” he said, “But the Jarl’s been hounding me about this dragon threat. He thinks I’ll be able to find some ‘magical sword of dragon-slaying’ or something.” “And before you ask,” he said as I opened my mouth, “It doesn’t exist.” “Is there anything else you need?” I asked him. The Jarl had said to help him out with finding ways to combat dragons. Any way I could, I would help. “Actually, yes,” he said, “A ‘reliable contact’ of mine has found something that may help us combat the dragons. It’s called a dragonstone, and it was made by the ancient earth ponies for keeping the dragons’ records. She’s managed to track it to an ancient ruin.” “So, what do you want me to do?” “Enter the ruin, and retrieve the dragonstone.” “Doesn’t sound too hard,” I said, “Where is it?” “Have you ever heard of Blank Flanks Barrow?” Level Up Health: 120 Stamina: 110 Magicka: 100 New Perk: A Fighting Chance [Light Weapons] -- Attacks with Light Weapons are now 20% swifter and cost 20% less stamina. New Spell learned: Sparks -- You can now cast bolts of lightning with your unicorn magic that does damage to an opponent’s Health and Magicka. Friendship gained: Serendipity – A practicing mage and alchemist, Serendipity will always be happy to teach you a thing or two about how to use magic. New Quest: Ruins of the Past -- Enter Blank Flanks Barrow and retrieve the Dragonstone for Faniar.