The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 41: Stripes

After leaving Saddlegrad, I led our party through the Spine Mountains toward Anvil. None of my friends asked why I had chosen this route, but I suspected they all guessed the reason. I wasn’t ready to return to Kvatch yet, not even for a moment. My whole life up until a few months earlier had been lived there, and the memories were too painful. I was a blank flank, an outcast, and that was all the ponies there would ever see me as. In Horizon, and now Unicornica I was a hero, but in Kvatch I was nothing.

Because of the events in Saddlegrad, it was already mid-afternoon by the time we made it to the port-city of Anvil. In both Stablehall and Bridle, we’d been forced to stay longer than we’d planned after supplying ourselves. Time was slipping by rapidly, and we couldn’t afford any more distractions. Whatever supplies we had would have to last us until we returned to Horizon.

We raced through the town, never stopping to look at any of the shops, as we made our way to the docks. Winter was coming in earnest now, and several of the ships in Anvil’s harbor appeared to be docked permanently until spring came. Thankfully, a few still seemed ready to set sail at a moment’s notice. Anvil was a large port so, rather than run from ship to ship asking for passage to Horizon, we approached the harbor master.

“Hello, do you have any ships leaving soon for any port in Horizon?” I asked the wizened old unicorn sitting in the harbor master’s office.

“Horizon?” he replied, “That’s a good one! There’s not a captain here willing to brave those pegasi waters to reach Horizon. Too many ships’ve gone down around those isles.”

“There must be somepony that could take us to Horizon,” I pleaded, “Even just as far as Windhorn.”

“Well, there’s only one captain who’d even consider making a journey like that,” the harbor master said, scratching his chin, “But he’s in Anvil’s dungeons right now, screaming like a madman that the Skooma found on his ship’d been planted there.”

“Which way to the dungeons?” I asked, an idea forming in my head.

“You want to go where?” the pony on the other side of the bars asked.

“Horizon,” I repeated myself, “Any port will do, so long as you get us there in one piece.”

“Ain’t often I get ponies asking to go to Horizon. Most of the time when I make my runs there, it’s either to pick up refugees beggin’ t’ get out, or to carry weapons t’ the Legion on an ‘mperial supply run.”

“But will you do it?” Mystic asked urgently.

“Course I’d be willing to,” Captain Winter’s Breath said, “But as you can see, I’m in a bit of a predic’ment here.”

“I thought about that,” I said, bringing my plan into action, “If we clear your name, find out who put that Skooma on your ship, would you give us passage to Horizon in return?”

“Hmm,” he replied, thinking it over, “Yes, I s’pose I could do that. But Horizon’s ports start to close up with ice around this time of year. If you want passage, you’re goin’ to have t’ clear my name right quick.”

I wanted to be out of Anvil by that night or the next morning at the latest, so we’d have to solve this case fast. I decided speaking to the guard captain would be a good place to start. Anvil’s guard captain was a cherry red dappled pegasus who preferred to be out on the town’s streets instead of cooped up in the dungeons. We found him patrolling the city square, keeping an eye on a group of shady-looking ponies who could’ve passed for bandits.

“Fireglider!” I called, getting his attention, “Could we speak with you a minute?”

“I don’t see why not,” the dappled pegasus said, turning his attention away from the potential bandits as they left through the city’s gates, “What do you want to talk about?”

“Captain Winter’s Breath.”

“Ah, yes. I can’t believe him of all ponies was smuggling Skooma.”

“That’s what we’re here to talk about. We don’t think he did it. Can you help us prove who did?”

“Well, all I know is that the Skooma was found in his hold when we did a search before he left port. As for who put it there, it could’ve been anypony.”

“That . . . doesn’t really help,” Steadfast stated bluntly.

“If I knew who did it, I’d have brought them in myself,” the guard captain replied, “But, I do suspect the zebras in that caravan outside the gates. The moon-sugar Skooma is made from is grown in their homeland, after all. And the zebra caravans are notorious for spreading and distributing Skooma.”

“So why haven’t you taken them in?” Mephalda asked.

“I don’t have any proof,” Fireglider said, “And they’re outside the city limits, so I can’t investigate without the Count’s permission. He’s not convinced they’re to blame. But, if you can find proof and bring it to me, then I’ll be able to take action.”

“We’ll look into it,” I told Fireglider.

“How do you plan to get proof?” Mystic asked as I began to trot toward the city’s gates.

“I don’t know,” I said, “I thought I’d just start with talking to the zebras.”

“You think that’s wise?” Steadfast asked.

“It can’t hurt,” I said, “Maybe they’ll let something slip, or we’ll find some way to get evidence.”

Like with Whitetrot, the zebra caravan was camped outside of the city’s walls. However, unlike in Horizon, here it was by choice. There were no laws keeping zebras outside of town in Unicornica, but the caravans still preferred to pitch their tents and keep their own company.

The caravan was pitched not just outside Anvil’s gates, but a bit down the path. Tents covered in zebra runes and woven mats formed a rough circle around the caravan’s cookfire. Four zebras were sitting around it when we approached.

“Greetings traveler, I am Sar’kei,” a zebra wearing exquisite furs introduced himself, rising from his spot at the fire, “As head of this caravan, may I help you today?”

Inwardly, I groaned. I’d forgotten that zebras tended to speak in rhyme. Not wasting any time, I went right to the point.

“Do you have any Skooma for sale?” I asked conspiratorially, hoping I could convince Sar’kei that I legitimately wanted to buy Skooma from him.

“We do not have what it is you ask for,” Sar’kei said, narrowing his eyes, “The choice to do so would be most poor. Moon-sugar only will you find, but not for you to addle your mind. For ponies to partake in the Darkpass thyme, we will not be responsible for such a crime.”

“You won’t sell Skooma?” Steadfast asked.

“The drug of Darkpass is a plague I despise; giving it out would be most unwise.”

“That’s great to hear,” I said, earning a puzzled look from Sar’kei, “We’re looking for whoever is distributing Skooma around here to stop them. Do you know of anypony selling Skooma?”

“Sar’kei has no knowledge of such things; they are not his concern. An addict to the drug you need, for to the source they will return.”

“Thanks anyway, Sar’kei,” I told the zebra before we departed.

Our only lead had dried up. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time something like this had happened to us. We just had to push on. Sar’kei had said to follow an addict to the Skooma’s source. At least, that’s what I’d gotten out of his rhymes.

Finding a Skooma addict could prove to be difficult, however. It wasn’t like ponies walked about in the street announcing they used an illegal drug. Perhaps there was one in the Anvil dungeons, in which case there was only one pony to speak to. We found Fireglider in a tavern on the west side of town, sitting at the bar, but with his attention focused more on the room around him than on the drink sitting before him.

“Fireglider, we’ve got an idea to draw out the Skooma dealers,” I told him as we sat down next to him.

“Whatever you’ve got, let me hear it,” he said, giving us the go-ahead.

“If you’ve got any Skooma addicts in the Anvil dungeons, let them out,” Mephalda explained, “Then follow them. They’re bound to return to the dealers eventually.”

“That’s a good plan,” Fireglider said, “I like that plan. There’s only one problem.”

“What?” I asked.

“I’m already a step ahead of you. The priests at the Temple were keeping a Skooma addict locked up until he got over it. I ‘convinced’ them to part with him so I could follow him to wherever the Skooma’s coming from. I followed him to this tavern, but he’s starting to look a little jittery, and I predict he’ll head off to wherever he gets his Skooma soon enough.”

“Perfect,” I said, and we joined him in waiting.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before one of the ponies got up from where he’d been sitting alone and headed out the tavern’s door. At a motion from Fireglider, we all rose and followed him out. We were forced to stick to the shadows and alleyways to avoid being seen, as the pony we were following seemed extremely paranoid and kept looking over his shoulder every few seconds.

After walking around Anvil a few times to assure himself that he wasn’t being followed, the stallion headed for the city’s gates. I prayed he wasn’t going where I feared he was. We followed him out of Anvil as he trotted down the path toward the zebra caravan. I groaned as he stopped and spoke to the zebras. Sar’kei passed over a vial to him after a bit.

“Nobody move!” Fireglider demanded, rushing in.

The Skooma addict disobeyed, galloping into the woods to escape the captain of the guard. The zebras, however, stood stunned and confused as Fireglider trotted up to them. Reading them their rights, he bound their hooves and led them away to Anvil’s dungeons. Sar’kei’s expression broke my heart as he passed me.

“I’m sorry,” I mouthed to him as he and the rest of the zebra caravan was led away to prison.

I stayed around for a bit near the zebra camp as Fireglider took them away. I couldn’t believe that Sar’kei really had been the one selling Skooma. When he’d spoken to us, he’d seemed so impassioned about preventing the spread of the drug. Could he really have been lying through it all?

Before I turned back to Anvil, where my friends had returned and were waiting for me, I noticed the bottle Sar’kei had given the Skooma addict was lying discarded on the side of the path. I trotted over and picked it up, turning it over in my magic. Uncorking the top, I took a whiff of the substance inside.

The smell that greeted my nostrils was not the decadently saccharine scent of Skooma, but rather a woodsy herbal scent that reminded me almost of tea. Curious, I allowed a drop to fall onto my tongue. I was pleased to find that it wasn’t Skooma at all, but rather some sort of herbal soup.

I nearly leapt for joy when I discovered that Sar’kei hadn’t been trading Skooma at all. Of course, my leap stopped when I remembered that the zebra, and all his companions, were now being kept in Anvil’s prison. I had to clear his name.

With renewed vigor, I rushed into Anvil, meeting my friends and explaining on the way. They too were unsure about the zebras’ guilt and were happy to accompany me back to Anvil’s dungeons.

Once inside, I explained everything to Fireglider, from Sar’kei’s impassioned speech earlier, to the vial that was clearly not Skooma. However, Anvil’s captain of the guard wouldn’t have it.

“Whether they gave him Skooma this time or not, his first choice for obtaining Skooma was to go to the zebras. That makes them as good as guilty in my book.”

“You assumed the zebras were trading Skooma, maybe he did too, and sought out a quick fix before he returned to his regular dealer.”

“I find that hard to believe without any hard evidence. Now, we’ve got a Skooma addict on the loose and the people that made him that way in prison. That’s something I can understand and believe in. Until you bring me something that proves otherwise, you’re wasting my time.”

After trying to convince Fireglider he had the wrong culprits, and failing miserably, we left Anvil’s dungeons and stalked the town’s streets. It was on these streets that we ran into the newly freed Captain Winter’s Breath, who promised us that his ship, the Ice Skater, would be ready to leave first thing in the morning for Dawnstar.

I was glad that we would finally be returning to Horizon, but my joy was tainted by our defeat here. It didn’t feel right to leave Sar’kei and the rest of his caravan in the dungeons, falsely accused, as we skipped town. If only there was some way we could clear their names like we’d cleared Winter’s Breath’s, though without implicating some other innocent pony.

I was about to give up and find an inn for the night, when Mephalda caught a glimpse of a pony scampering through the shadows across the town square. A closer inspection revealed it to be the Skooma addict Fireglider had been using to root out the drug dealers. What was he doing back in town?

Silently, we followed him through Anvil until he stopped at an abandoned shack near the edge of town. After knocking on the door in a complex pattern, it opened, revealing two shadowy figures standing inside, one a Griffin, and the other a unicorn. As the Skooma addict trotted inside, we snuck around to the side of the building where we’d have the ability to overhear their conversation.

“Are you sure you weren’t followed?” a gruff voice asked, muffled by the wood, “We can’t have another slip up like that incident with the Ice Skater.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” a second voice, most likely the Skooma addict’s, said, “The guards think they’ve caught the culprit for that already. After I led them to the zebra caravan they stopped following me.”

“Fire-breath, I thought you were being ‘reformed’ by our local priesthood?” a third voice said, most likely the Griffin’s, joined the conversation, “What are you doing out and about?”

“They let me go,” Fire-breath said, “They said I had convinced them I was clean, but I think Fireglider just wanted to use me as bait.”

“How can you be sure he’s not still having you followed?” the first voice questioned.

“I already told you. I led him to the zebras, and he jumped on that as fast as he could. The caravan’s in the dungeons now, awaiting execution. So can I get my Skooma now?”

“I suppose so,” the Griffin spoke, “If you have the gold for it.”

“Excellent,” the Griffin replied to the sound of coins spilling across the floor, “Now, the zebras may have been taken in our place, but you still need to lay low until Fireglider drops his guard again. Stay out of sight.”

“Of course,” Fire-breath said, leaving the shack.

The other two characters left through the back, the Griffin on wing and the unicorn on hoof.

“Mephalda, would you follow the Griffin?” I asked, since she was the only air-worthy member of our group.

“On it,” she said, flapping up into the night.

“I’ll take care of this creep,” Steadfast said, taking off in the direction Fire-breath had headed.

“I guess you and I will follow the unicorn,” Mystic said to me.

I nodded my agreement, and we took off after the stallion. Keeping to bushes and alleyways, we followed him until he left Anvil and headed north. Keeping out of sight, we trekked through the forest as the unicorn ahead of us followed a zigzagging path. At last, he came to a stop at a cave opening overgrown with moss, where he looked around suspiciously before heading inside.

Mystic and I approached the cave ourselves after making sure there were no sentries hiding in the woods nearby. On a sign near the entrance was printed “Paradise Rock: Beware of Manticores.” I had to hope that the warning was just a way to keep ponies out as we too trotted into Paradise Rock.

Water dripped down the walls as we made our way down the narrow entry tunnel. Moss and mushrooms covered every surface, surrounding us with life. Mystic and I stayed prepared as we traveled deeper into the cave, her keeping a spell charged and ready, and me holding Calcion’s Cleaver at the ready.

As we passed the first side passage in the tunnel, Mystic suddenly gave a cry from behind me. An earth pony with a mace had come flying out of the side passage and had knocked her down. She quickly put up a ward before her attacker could bring down the mace on her head. Supercharging her ward, she threw the mare off of her and back down the passage she had come from. Standing, Mystic shot flames down the tunnel, frying her attacker.

Following my friend’s flame blast, I headed down the side passage, searching for any other ponies in hiding. Around the corner, a unicorn with a pike was waiting. Dodging the end of his weapon, I knocked the shaft aside. Calcion’s Cleaver sank into his neck, lightning spreading from the wound and seizing up his muscles.

An arrow whizzed past me, slicing a thin wound in the side of my neck. Down the passage, I saw a bat-pony wielding a bow. As she fired another shaft at me, I dodged, very nearly losing an eye in the process. A blast of lightning came flying down the passage from behind me, Mystic’s magic knocking the archer against the tunnel wall.

I bandaged up my neck swiftly before moving on to where the tunnel turned again. The cavern it led into had been converted into a living area, beds arranged in a mismatched fashion against the walls. Within the room were two ponies, an earth pony wielding a staff that hissed menacingly, and a unicorn with a greatsword. As Mystic headed for the mage, I tackled the sword-pony.

My first strike with Calcion’s Cleaver he blocked, forcing my blade aside. As he brought his sword around toward my neck, I shot ice spikes at him, forcing him to back away. As he swung at me again, I drew the Blade of Hoofingar to help in my block. Both swords held up to the strike, though just barely.

Pulling his sword back, the unicorn swung toward my legs. With both my swords I blocked, forcing his blade into the ground. Again he swung at me, and again I blocked. Pulling back, the stallion held his blade in front of him and charged me. I tried to knock the greatsword aside using my own, but I made no difference, and the blade continued to sail toward my chest.

<<<FUS~RO~DAH!!!>>>

The unicorn went flying back from the force of my Shout, and his blade left his magical grip. Unfortunately, it continued on its course, impaling me. I doubled over as the greatsword sank between my ribs, thankfully missing my heart. Still, I was in no condition to continue the fight.

As my vision began to blur, I saw the stallion pick himself up from where he’d fallen and come toward me, picking up a battleaxe from a rack as he did so. I was painfully aware of the greatsword that was stuck in me, and how I was unable to do anything as he raised his weapon over my neck for a killing blow.

Suddenly, he was thrown to the side, hit full on by a blast of Mystic’s magic. As he began to pick himself up, he was hit again, burning to ash in the process. Mystic rushed over to me, a grim look on her face as she examined the wound.

Painfully, she began to extract the sword, casting a healing spell as she did so. Gradually, my insides began to knit themselves back together as the blade was pulled out. With a final pull bringing tears to my eyes, the sword came out. Mystic was sweating with exertion by the time my flesh finally knit itself back together perfectly.

“You saved my life,” I said as I examined my fully restored flesh, “Thank you.”

“From what I’ve seen, I’m sure you’ll return the favor someday,” Mystic replied as she regained her strength.

Once we were both ready to continue, we headed back up the tunnel to the main path. Just as we were about to enter it, I quickly pulled Mystic back around the corner. Through the main tunnel stalked the Griffin we’d seen back in Anvil. After she’d walked out of sight, we headed on to the tunnel, nearly bumping into Mephalda in the process.

Reunited, we continued on through the tunnels of Paradise Rock until we made it to the main cavern. It was even damper here, with a subterranean river running through the center of it. Wooden bridges and platforms filled the cavern, where ponies stood at alchemy labs, converting crates of moon sugar into phials of Skooma.

Advancing onto the wooden bridges, we began the attack. Arrows from Mephalda’s bow and ice spikes from Mystic and me scattered the ponies below creating Skooma. Climbing down the stairs, I drew Calcion’s Cleaver and the Axe of Whitetrot. An earth pony came at me with a war axe clutched in her teeth, and I struck her down with a strike from my sword before she could even attempt a swing at me.

I shot a blast of lightning at another pony as she attempted to set fire to the alchemy labs, destroying the evidence. The torch fell from her grasp at my energy blast, extinguishing itself in the water. Leaping over the table, I took off the head of the next torch-bearer using my sword.

A ball of feathers crashed into me before I could attack the next pony I saw. As I rolled across the wooden planks, I saw that the Griffin from Anvil had attacked me. Swinging Calcion’s Cleaver at her beak, I forced her to back off. However, she still had me pinned with her hindlegs, keeping me from moving from the vulnerable position I was in.

I turned my head and gritted my teeth as her claws scratched across the side of my helmet. I tried to hold her off with my sword, but she still managed to get swings in at my chest and head. Any other armor would most likely have given out to the razor-sharp claws by that point, but the sturdy Griffin design kept me relatively safe from her attacks. But it couldn’t last long.

<YOL!>

As flames flew from my mouth, the Griffin was forced to back off of me to avoid being badly burned. I was still pinned, but I was able to get my hindlegs free just long enough that I could wedge them under the Griffin’s chest. Giving a kick, I managed to force her off of me enough that I was able to stand.

As she swung a claw at me, I managed to hook my war axe around it. Twisting it around, I snapped the wrist, earning an enraged squawk from the Griffin. Using her wings, she sent me tumbling off the platform we’d been fighting on and into the shallow stream. She landed nearby as I forced myself to my hooves.

As I swung my war axe at her, she knocked it aside, using her broken claw and causing her to shriek in pain. As she advanced on me, I backed up until I was standing on moss-covered stone. Hoping my plan wouldn’t backfire, I thrust Calcion’s Cleaver into the stream.

Lightning jumped through the water, electrocuting the Griffin. I stepped back as a few arcs jumped over the damp stone, but none came close to me. When the lightning finally stopped, I stepped forward and retrieved my weapons.

The Skooma den was mostly empty after I’d finished up with the Griffin, with only a few ponies running around at the edges of the cavern. The unicorn we’d followed here was standing nearby, a mace floating in his magical embrace. He dropped it and backed away as I moved toward him.

“Don’t hurt me!” he pleaded, “I surrender; I’ll come quietly.”

Anger boiled up inside of me as I approached him. I wanted him dead, I wanted him to hurt.

“What are you doing?” the frightened stallion asked as he backed up against the wall, “I’m surrendering, don’t you see? Take me to the dungeons, don’t kill me!”

I was deaf to his screams as I pulled back Calcion’s Cleaver and prepared for the end.

“What’s going on?” Mephalda asked as the tip of my sword stopped abruptly just before his chest.

As if my head had been cleared, I looked around at what I was doing. Shakily, I allowed Calcion’s Cleaver to pull away from the drug dealer.

“He wants to be brought back to Anvil,” I explained, “We’ll have to bind him, and take some of the Skooma as proof.”

“Are you all right, Sapphire?” Mystic asked as Mephalda bound our prisoner.

“I’m fine,” I said as I fumbled to sheath Calcion’s Cleaver.

The truth was, I wasn’t fine. What had just come over me, had possessed me to attempt to kill a pony begging for mercy? This stress of constantly fighting these battles day in and day out with no rest must’ve really been getting to me. When this business with Alduin was over, I would need a long rest period.

“All right,” Mystic said, though I could tell she believed me about as much as I believed myself, “We’d better get back to Anvil before our ship leaves.”

After bringing in the ringleader and the Skooma we’d captured, Fireglider had no choice but to admit that imprisoning the zebras was wrong. The pony we’d captured went willingly to jail, and was even willing to rat out his co-conspirators in a bid to save his own neck. Sar’kei and his friends were set free, none the worse for wear but for a blow to their honor.

“You ponies have our gratitude, for correcting this grievance that was so rude,” Sar’kei said to us as we accompanied them out of Anvil’s dungeons.

“Well, we couldn’t just let you rot in prison when we knew you were innocent,” Mephalda told him.

“To free us was a risky game, how did you know we weren’t to blame?”

“Well, we talked to you,” I said, “We knew you wanted nothing to do with Skooma.”

“Oh, and we found this,” I said, drawing the phial Sar’kei had given the Skooma addict out of my saddlebags, “What is it?”

“He came searching for the drug; instead I gave a cure,” Sar’kei said, laughing, “A drink of this on every hour will make a dark mind pure.”

As he finished his explanation, we exited Anvil’s castle. At the docks below was the Ice Skater, ready to take us back to Horizon. It was time for the zebras and us to part ways.

“We need to go, or we’ll miss our boat to Horizon,” I told him.

“I wish you safe passage through the sea, my new equine friend. If in your travels you meet Sar’van, tell her her brother has not met his end.”