//------------------------------// // Chapter 49: Shadowmere // Story: The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM // by FireOfTheNorth //------------------------------// Chapter XLIX: Shadowmere “So long as there is a Listener to hear the Nightmare’s voice, the Dark Brotherhoof will endure.” We left for Foalkreath immediately, intent on getting there as fast as possible. I explained the situation to my friends on the way, including the fact that they most likely wouldn’t be allowed in the Dark Brotherhoof Sanctuary. Instead, they would wait for me at the Dead Pony’s Drink in Foalkreath. From the tiny town I continued on, breathing in the brisk morning air of Horizon. The Dark Brotherhoof Sanctuary was only a short distance away from Foalkreath, and I was there in no time. Merrifeather was standing outside the door when I arrived. “Good, you got my message,” she said as I approached, and she stepped inside. “What’s this about?” I asked, following her into the sanctuary. “Shadowmere has heard the Nightmare’s voice, and she has asked for all the Dark Brothers to gather,” Merrifeather explained as we headed down to the main cavern. In it was gathered all the ponies I’d seen here the last time I’d visited, as well as a few more that evidently lived separate from the Brotherhoof, as I did. Shadowmere stood in the pool of water, looking over the assembled crowd. I joined them, standing near Prominence as the Listener began to speak. “My Dark Brothers and Sisters,” Shadowmere spoke in a monotone, “Early this morning the Nightmare revealed to me a job that will require the help of all. The target is different from the usual, but the Nightmare has full confidence that we will be able to pull it off. The town of Shor’s Stone has grown too corrupt. We must purge the town, killing all who live there.” Confused whinnies broke out across the chamber. “We’re supposed to kill off the entire town?” a dark brown pegasus asked incredulously. “That is what the Nightmare has commanded,” Shadowmere said, staring the complainer down. “It just doesn’t seem like something the Dark Brotherhoof would do,” Prominence said, “The whole town can’t deserve this kind of punishment.” “That is for the Nightmare to decide,” Shadowmere said tensely, his tone leaving no room for argument, “And she has decided our course. You can follow it, or you can turn your back on our mother.” “Not what I meant,” the werewolf protested, “I just thought it was a bit unusual.” “Well, maybe you should keep such thoughts to yourself,” Shadowmere said, stepping out of the pool, “Everypony get some rest. We leave at nightfall.” ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ I was trotting through a graveyard at night. Mist curled around the tombstones and billowed around me, confining my vision to only a few paces in any direction. In the distance, an owl hooted, adding to the creepiness of the experience. Exactly where I was I had no idea, only the drive to keep moving and get through as fast as possible. I paused a moment as I recognized the inscriptions on a few of the gravestones. The dirt in front of them began to shift, and soon Sage, Captain Faeros, Narius of Rearikstead, and Captain Allesandra of The Daring crawled out of the ground. They were all the ponies I had killed to get into the Dark Brotherhoof, and each of them had a bloody hoofprint upon them. Looking down, I could see that my hooves were coated in their blood. “Murderer~” they all spoke at once in a haunting tone. Pushing past them, I galloped away into the mist until they disappeared behind me. I slowed down at last and began to catch my breath, only to find I had arrived at another cluster of tombstones. From the ground rose many pegasi, all their wings dyed black. “You killed us all~” the corpses accused me, and I ran off again, getting lost in the mist. “You take no sides in Horizon’s war, do you?~” a voice came from the mist. “I don’t!” I shouted up, continuing to plow on ahead. “But you take plenty of lives on both sides~” myriad voices accused. All around me stood dead ponies in both Imperial and Stormcloud armor, the earth of their graves still clinging to them. Still more pushed out of the ground as I looked out at the field of tombstones raised in memorial to the ponies I’d killed. Once more I galloped off into the mist, trying to avoid the bloody corpses of my victims. As I looked down, I could see that their blood now stained my forelegs up to the knees. Plowing through the mist, I tripped on a branch and went rolling across the ground, coming to a stop before rough tomb markers made from sticks. Goats emerged from the graves stretching off into the distance. “Murderer!~” they all accused, and I couldn’t deny it, not with their blood soaking me crimson. “I didn’t want any of you to die!” I yelled, trying to defend myself, “I didn’t want to kill any of you!” “Liar!~” the chieftain from Broken Horn Redoubt exclaimed. My eyes locked on where my sword had cut through him. The goat moved aside as I began to relive the event. His wife and kid were standing there as well, in the middle of the mist-filled graveyard. “Sapphire the Butcher!~” the kid exclaimed, and the other corpses around me joined in. An army of dead bodies; goat, Imperial, Stormcloud, and Blackwing; all converged on me, and I was pushed to the ground, screaming the whole time. ~~ ~~ ~~ I bolted upright in my bed, my coat drenched in sweat. The rest of the ponies lying around me were still sleeping soundly and hadn’t been awoken by my night terrors. Careful not to disturb them, I climbed out of bed and crept through the sanctuary. Things were getting bad. The nightmares were coming more often and were much more vivid. What would they be like after tomorrow? The thought of killing off an entire town of ponies made me sick to my stomach. As I trotted through the caverns, I passed the room where Shadowmere was, standing before the iron coffin in which the Nightmare was kept. It seemed he didn’t want to be disturbed, so I passed on, looking for someplace I could hole up for the night and not disturb the other Dark Brothers if nightmares woke me again. I found one eventually, in a hole back in the bowels of the caverns. Laying out my bedroll, I attempted to fall asleep again. ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ I had a restful day’s sleep, but thankfully I didn’t have another of the awful dreams, and I didn’t wake up again. When I got up, however, something wasn’t quite right. There was nopony about, and the entire Dark Brotherhoof Sanctuary was deserted. I realized right away what must’ve happened. I’d overslept, and everypony had left without me. It looked like they hadn’t been gone for long; hopefully I could still catch up with them before they reached Shor’s Stone. As I hurried to pull on my Dark Brotherhoof Armor, I thought I heard a faint voice. “Sapphire,” it came a second time. “Hello,” I called, “Is somepony still here?” “Sapphire, come to me,” the voice said. “Where are you?” I asked, “I can’t hear you very well!” The mysterious voice gave me directions on how to reach it. I realized as I was trotting through the passages that the voice was coming from inside my head, not without. I kept my blade ready just in case a telepathic unicorn vampire was waiting to attack me. At last, the voice guided me into the room I’d seen Shadowmere in earlier in the day. “Sapphire, can you hear me?” the voice asked, much louder and clearer now. “Yes, who is this?” I asked, though I thought I had pinpointed the source of the voice. “I am the Nightmare.” “I was afraid of that.” “Do not be afraid. I need you to listen carefully.” “Okay,” I said, “I’m all ears.” “My Listener has abandoned me. Shadowmere no longer Listens to my commands. He has made a bargain with Mehruinous Dagon, to bring him into this world by causing massive destruction.” “Killing Shor’s Stone!” I exclaimed. “Yes, that was not my order he was relaying, but his new master’s. I could not speak to anypony else, only you. I sensed another Listener was here, but could not find you in the crowd. It was very fortunate that you stayed behind so I could warn you. Did you also sense the need to stay behind?” “Not exactly,” I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck, “I . . . uh . . . overslept.” “Nothing ever happens without a reason,” the voice of the Nightmare echoed in my head, “But now you must go and stop Shadowmere and his madness. They have not been gone long, but it will be a struggle to catch them. Are you up for the task?” “I’m on it,” I promised, taking off at once. If I had to choose between saving a town and destroying it, I’d choose to save it any day. I just hoped I wasn’t too late. ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ I galloped through the night as fast as I could, hoping to find the other Dark Brotherhoof members before they made it to Shor’s Stone. I stayed on the path as much as possible to maintain speed, but was forced to detour around Foalkreath and later Splitten to avoid being seen by any guards. It wasn’t that anything I was doing was illegal; it’s just that I didn’t think being caught in a Dark Brotherhoof uniform would help my chances of getting out of the death penalty. I finally spotted another pony wearing a Dark Brotherhoof uniform as I neared Shor’s Stone. I called to the light blue unicorn as I approached to let him know I was coming so he wouldn’t confuse me with an assassin trying to surprise him. “What are you doing?” he asked indignantly. “We’ve got to stop the attack,” I told him urgently, “Where is everypony else?” “Scattered, and why would we stop the attack?” “Because the Nightmare said to.” “What are you talking about?” the unicorn assassin asked, “The Nightmare speaks only to Shadowmere.” “She spoke to me,” I said, trying to project as much confidence into my voice as I could, “She told me Shadowmere no longer listens to her commands. He’s gone rogue and fallen in line with Mehruinous Dagon.” “How do I know this isn’t a trick?” he asked, though I could see he wanted to believe me. “Attacking an entire town? Shadowmere said it himself. It’s not something the Dark Brotherhoof usually does. Why start now?” “All right,” the stallion said, “You’d better be telling the truth, or you’ll pay for this when everything’s over. The Brotherhoof is scattered, and you may not have time to convince them like me. You’ll have to incapacitate them now and explain things later.” “Here, this should help,” he said, tossing me a spell tome with Paralyze printed on the cover. As I opened the book, the pages began to flip by on their own, raw magical energy crackling across them until the entire book was consumed. The knowledge of how to competently cast the Paralyze spell was now fixed in my mind. The unicorn assassin went one way, and I went another, looking for Dark Brotherhoof assassins as we circled the town. It wasn’t long before I saw one, a zebra with a bow contraption strapped to her. Focusing my magic, I sent a ball of energy flying. As it hit the zebra, her eyes rolled up into her head, and she fell to the ground. I checked to make sure she was still alive before moving on. Up ahead, a pegasus was perched in a tree. My magic knocked her unconscious, and I rushed forward to catch her before her body hit the hard ground. Gently setting her down in the undergrowth, I moved on, hitting another assassin nearly instantly. The moon’s glow shone brightly through the trees, helping me immensely in my search to find the assassins before it was too late. An earth pony in Dark Brotherhoof armor fell to my magic as I galloped through the woods. Another blast took out a bat-pony as I ran to the top of a ridge. Down below, a massive wolf stalked through the forest. Upon closer inspection, however, I could see that it walked much like a pony would. It was a werewolf, and hopefully a Dark Brotherhoof member. Otherwise, simply knocking it unconscious would be a bad idea. My spell hit it on its hairy back, sending sparks of magical energy shooting through the thick fur. It staggered, but didn’t fall, and turned toward me. As it did so, I shot the spell at it again, hitting it in the head. This time, the werewolf fell to the ground and began to morph into Prominence. Jumping over his body, I continued through the forest, searching for more Dark Brotherhoof assassins. I shot bolts of the paralysis spell all through the trees wherever I caught a glimpse of a pony in Dark Brotherhoof armor. I had to remind myself to look up into the trees as well, where pegasi and bat-ponies crouched. The only problem then was catching them when they fell from the branches. “The attack will be starting soon,” the unicorn I’d warned spoke to me when we met up on the far end of Shor’s Stone, “I’ll gather up the ponies we’ve gotten already; you head into town and stop any there.” Nodding that I understood, I took off toward Shor’s Stone. It was odd to think about, but Shor’s Stone was where I’d been when the Dark Brotherhoof had first found me. Now I was back here, trying to keep the Dark Brotherhoof out of it. An earth pony mare was attempting to sneak around the inn when I blasted her with my magic, knocking her to the ground. A pegasus on the roof was next, and I rushed up to catch him as he rolled down the sloped thatching. No sooner had I caught him in my forelegs than I was forced to drop him and shoot a blast of magic at a zebra creeping around one of the nearby homes. I made my way toward the center of the tiny town, incapacitating every assassin I glimpsed. Soon there were no more Dark Brotherhoof members left standing, none that I could see at least. I was beginning to drag the ponies away from the town, to wherever the other members were beginning to wake up, when I was suddenly knocked across the ground. As I tried to get up, I found myself forced back down again. Looking up, I could see that the hoof placed on my head belonged to Shadowmere. He looked down at me, his eyes burning bright with rage. “What are you doing?” he asked, his very voice sucking all life from the air. “The Nightmare told me the truth,” I said, “I stopped you.” “No,” he said, pressing down harder on my skull, “You delayed me.” “The Brotherhoof knows the truth.” “They know what you told them, and when you’re dead, nopony will believe your lies.” <<>> I Shouted, taking on my ethereal form. Shadowmere’s hoof slammed to the ground as I rolled out from under him. I rose to my hooves and put some distance between the assassin and myself before I regained physical form. “Why are you doing this?” I asked, “How could you betray the Brotherhoof?” “You’d never understand!” he snarled, leaping toward me. He was much faster than I anticipated, and I didn’t dodge in time. He managed to clip my side as he passed me, sending me rolling down an embankment outside of Shor’s Stone. As I rose to my hooves, he’d already recovered from the jump and was galloping toward me. <> The ground became ice beneath his hooves, and he slid past me as I jumped to the side. Tearing up the grass, Shadowmere came to a stop before turning and running toward me. “Why wouldn’t I understand?” I asked. This time I jumped to the side well before the pitch black earth pony would reach me. He’d anticipated it, however, and I was hit by him anyway. As we rolled across the ground, he refused to let go, keeping a grip on me at all times. “How could you betray the Dark Brotherhoof?” I asked, trying to get him to reason with me, “You’ve led them for centuries.” “Precisely, centuries!” he spat out as he pinned me to the ground, “I’ve lived longer than you can imagine. I’ve seen empires rise and fall, civilizations crumble. In my life the present has become history, history has become legend, legend has become myth, and myth has faded from pony minds. Everything – everypony – I know has turned to dust. I’m alone, and I’ve watched as everything around me faded beyond recognition.” “Do you know the cruelest thing that can be done to a pony? It’s not killing them. It’s making them watch as everypony around them dies. This gift of mine, eternal life? It’s a curse! I long for death, but never shall I taste the sweet relief of being able to leave this world behind. I am stuck here forever!” “So you ask why I would betray the Dark Brotherhoof,” he said, pressing me into the ground, “Well, here’s your answer. For a chance at death. Mehruinous Dagon has promised to do away with my deathlessness, to make me mortal, if I assist him in entering the Northlands. All I have to do is to cause a great amount of destruction, create a weakness, and I’ll be able finally die.” “When I was a colt, Horizon did not exist, and neither did Shor’s Stone. This tiny town is a small price to pay for the chance to live a normal life and die a normal death. It’s not like the town will last much longer anyway. Everything dies in time. Everything except me.” “What about the Dark Brotherhoof?” I croaked out as he pressed a hoof to my throat, “If you destroy this town, what will ponies think of you?” “It matters not! We have tried all manner of action in the Brotherhoof. We have killed only the rich, only the poor. We have killed anypony we were asked to, and we’ve killed only the deserving. But no matter what we’ve done, one thing has always been constant. Ponies hate us, and they always shall. What we do here will not change their opinions of us. This stain will wash away as all do, with time.” “What of the Nightmare?” I forced out, “Who will listen to her voice?” Shadowmere’s hoof let off on squeezing my throat, but only a bit. He looked deeply perplexed, as if wrestling with something in his mind. “No,” he said, though he didn’t reapply pressure to my throat, “The Brotherhoof will survive without me. It must learn to.” “They’ll be lost without you to listen to the Nightmare, you know that,” I said, “Can you abandon all of them for your own desires?” “I – I . . .” Shadowmere stammered. “Can you abandon your family?” I gasped for air as his hoof came off my throat completely. As I looked over at the master assassin, I could see that he had a shocked look on his face, and his head was hung low as he considered what I’d said. “By the Void!” he exclaimed at last, “What have I done?” “Nothing,” Merrifeather’s voice came from behind me, “You didn’t do it.” I turned around to see that she, along with many of the other assassins, was emerging from between the trees. She trotted over to where Shadowmere sat. “I would have done it,” the Listener said, “I was willing to sacrifice this town, and all of you, for my own desires.” “But you didn’t,” Merrifeather emphasized. “Thanks to her,” Shadowmere said, pointing to where I was sitting, nursing my bruises. “Sapphire, how can I ever repay you?” he asked, trotting up to me. “No need really,” I said, “I was just doing what the Nightmare told me.” “Think,” Shadowmere commanded, “There must be something you could use assistance with. I have been around a very long time; I doubt there is anything outside of my expertise.” “Well . . .” I said, “I am looking for the Elements of Harmony. Have you ever heard of them?” “Yes, I think Talhooves may have mentioned them a few times,” Shadowmere said emotionlessly. “You knew Talhooves?” I asked. “Only in passing, but I do recall he had a desire to collect the Elements of Harmony. I’ll look into the matter and get back to you when I find something.” Shadowmere trotted off, leaving the rest of us standing around in the woods outside of Shor’s Stone, which was still very much alive, thanks to me. Level Up Health: 270 Stamina: 260 Magicka: 250 New Perk: Frigid Force [Destruction] -- All ice-based spells can now be cast for half Magicka. New Spell learned: Paralyze -- You can now cast a spell with your unicorn magic that temporarily paralyzes a foe without harming them. New Quest: Divide and Conquer -- While Shadowmere searches for the Elements of Harmony on his own, continue to look for them in Draugr ruins throughout Horizon.