The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 51: Wars Old and New

We stayed at Serendipity’s that night, and I caught her up on everything that had happened since we’d last met. The dragon had caused some significant damage to the roof of her house, and it seemed more like sleeping outside than inside that night. With winter coming in earnest to Horizon, and no time to repair the roof, Serendipity decided to move in to Whitetrot for the season and head back out and repair her home when things warmed up again. After grabbing all the things she’d need, the five of us headed back to the hold’s capital.

Faniar was overjoyed to hear that his friend would be staying in Whitetrot for the winter. In fact, shortly after giving us the location of another ancient earth pony ruin, he took off to see her, leaving his study in the disarray it always seemed to be in.

Mystic, Steadfast, Mephalda, and I all took off for a ruin in the southern reaches of Hjaaltrot, Marethal’s hold. Faniar didn’t have a whole lot of information on Foalgunthur, other than that it was a large ruin that had been ruled by an ancient earth pony warlord. It didn’t seem likely to me that this “warlord” would turn out to be a dragon priest, but we hadn’t known there was one in Volsteed either, so we went along anyway.

The entrance to Foalgunthur was most like the entrance to Hoovestengrav, a raised circle of stone on the ground rather than a grand entryway. In fact, we very nearly missed it as we searched through Hjaaltrot’s twisted forests growing just south of where the swamps started. Only the stone markers around it gave it away, standing as sentinels to a tomb time had forgotten.

Mystic probed the barrow with her magic until she found the stone that would lead into the ruin. With a quick swing of his warhammer, Steadfast knocked it in, revealing stairs leading down. The glow from Mystic’s and my horn provided enough illumination that we were able to find the plain wooden door leading into the tomb.

Within the ruin, seeing was no problem, as the mysterious braziers I’d seen in every Draugr ruin burned here. The entry hallway was surprisingly bare, hardly befitting the realm of a dragon priest, but we pressed on anyway. Soon, the hall let out onto a larger room, lined with tombs and statues on either side.

An arrow from Mephalda’s bow flew swiftly as one of the tombs opened. The Draugr collapsed to the ground as it fell from the alcove it’d been buried in, Mephalda’s arrow sticking through its head. More Draugr than just the one were emerging, however, and we soon had our hooves full.

I drew Calcion’s Cleaver and my Changeling war axe and got to work. I blocked with my sword as a Draugr with an ancient earth pony sword swung at me. While it tried to push through my block, I hooked my war axe over its blade and yanked the weapon from its grasp. My otherworldly war axe sliced through its neck the next moment.

Mystic’s magic fried one of two Draugr coming at me, leaving me to face a zombie with a greatsword. With Calcion’s Cleaver, I knocked it aside before the blade could reach me. I swung my war axe around at the Draugr’s neck, but it managed to get its weapon up in time to block me.

As I swung Calcion’s Cleaver around toward its forelegs, it struck out, hitting me with its hooves. I stumbled backwards from the blow, raising my sword to block as the zombie’s greatsword came down at me.

<<ZUN~JOT!!>> I Shouted, and the greatsword flew from the Draugr’s mouth, allowing me to get a strike in on its neck.

It collapsed to the ground with a growl, but I had no chance to relax as a Draugr with a bow began shooting at me now that there wasn’t a fleshy shield between us. I narrowly dodged the first arrow, and shot a blast of fire at the archer as I rolled across the floor.

The zombie dodged out of the way, and my shot missed. Ducking behind a pillar, I conjured up a flame atronach nearby. The Draugr archer focused its attention on my summoned creature, but the arrows did little harm to it, burning up as soon as they reached its fiery body. It charged forward, breathing fire, and roasted the archer to a crisp.

The Draugr Steadfast was battling soon met the same fate as the atronach galloped around, seeking out zombies to kill. Once the room was empty, it took off into the passageway at the far end, scorching the walls around it. We followed, stepping over the burnt corpses of Draugr as we did.

Suddenly, a great hiss of steam came from up ahead, signifying that my atronach had been defeated. As I stuck my head around the corner, I was forced to draw it back suddenly. A blast of ice went flying past where my head had been, freezing the far wall. Mystic rolled out to face the Draugr wizard, her ward providing her with protection from the ice storm.

It was a narrow passage, and I could do little but watch as she advanced toward the staff-wielding pony. Ice began to build over her ward, flaking away in places to leave coats of it on the floor. As it became thickest, she reached the wizard, her ward touching the end of the staff. Suddenly, it became unstable and exploded, sending bits of wood and metal flying everywhere in the magical blast.

Mystic was thrown back into us, ward collapsing at the sheer power of the magical discharge. The Draugr was also thrown back, but was able to recover remarkably fast, leaping to its hooves and drawing an ancient earth pony sword. I helped Mystic up as it galloped toward us.

<YOL!>

The Draugr lit on fire and immediately turned tail. I pursued the burning zombie until it exited the tunnel and suddenly went flying over a cliff, falling to its death far below. I marveled at the sight before me as my friends caught up.

I was standing on a narrow ledge that spiraled down a roughly circular cavern in the rock. Crystals on the ceiling and walls glowed, lightning up the place. Far below was a collection of Draugr buildings. It wasn’t a city, like in Volsteed, but rather a small town. Maybe Faniar had been onto something with this ruin after all.

I shrunk back away from the ledge a moment when I noticed figures moving about below before moving back to get a better look. The creatures moving below weren’t Draugr; in fact they weren’t equine at all. The large canines moved about on two paws, weapons clutched in their remaining appendages.

“Diamond Dogs,” I whispered back, hoping the hounds couldn’t hear us from this far away even with their super-acute hearing.

Looking back over the ledge, I could see another door in the distance, across the town. It wasn’t terribly far through the cavern. If we were silent enough, we might even be able to cross without the Diamond Dogs even knowing we were there.

After removing my heavy armor and slipping into my Thieves Guild attire, I led the way. The spiraling ledge that led down to the town ended about where we had started, if a little bit closer to the exit. That suited me just fine. The less ground we had to sneak over, the better.

A Diamond Dog wearing the helm of an ancient earth pony patrolled near the end of the ramp. Before we passed him, I looked down the main street of the Draugr town. It seemed that the Diamond Dogs had moved in and taken the Draugr’s place. There was a whole Diamond Dog community living down here in the homes the ancient earth ponies had made.

Carefully, we snuck past the first sentry and headed around to the edge of the cavern. My plan was to skirt the town entirely, reducing our chances of being caught. This turned out to be surprisingly hard to do, however, as the Diamond Dogs didn’t seem to want to stay constrained to the town. More than once we were forced to stop and wait anxiously as one of the large canines passed us, using our chosen path to get to another part of the town.

At last we neared the far door, and that was the moment we slipped up. I can’t be sure exactly which one of us gave us away, but the ears of a nearby Diamond Dog suddenly swiveled toward us without warning. She gave a howl before grabbing a spear and charging toward us.

Calcion’s Cleaver made a shriek louder than I’d have liked as I drew it from its sheath. As the Diamond Dog approached, I swung the blade at her head. Instead, she brought up her paw, and I sliced a few of the digits off. Her spear went up into my ribcage, piercing my leather armor easily.

A blast of lightning from Mystic forced the Diamond Dog to back off, removing her spear from my body. I quickly cast a spell to seal the wound before I lost too much blood, and brought my sword around toward the hound, striking her in the snout. As she leapt toward me, Steadfast knocked her away with his warhammer. Before she could get up, I drove my ancient earth pony sword through her chest, piercing her heart.

“I think we’d better run,” Steadfast remarked as the barking and howling of more Diamond Dogs approached us.

“I agree,” I said, sheathing my sword and galloping toward the exit.

The dogs were in hot pursuit, closing the distance with us quickly. Mephalda shot arrows at them as we ran, but it didn’t seem to slow them down much. As we neared the door, I spun around.

<<FO~KRAH!!>>

The ground behind us suddenly froze over, covered in a film of ice. As the Diamond Dogs reached it, they began to slip and slide, unable to control their motion. Even their sharp claws couldn’t stop them from spinning out. Confident I’d bought us at least a little time, I turned and ran for the doorway.

Already inside, Mystic and Mephalda were shooting at the approaching dogs, picking them off before they could reach us. As I darted between them, they too retreated, swinging the heavy iron doors shut. Grabbing urns, tables, and whatever else we could find lying around, we barricaded the door. The dogs attempted to break through for a few minutes, but eventually gave up, leaving us be.

Free from the hounds, we forged ahead, passing into another room filled with tombs. At the far end of the room was a set of stairs leading up. I didn’t know how deep we were, but we were going to need a long flight of stairs to reach the surface. I certainly hoped there was a back exit, because I didn’t intend to go back through the Diamond Dog town.

The tombs burst open as we trotted deeper into the room, surrounding us with Draugr. With a blast of flame from my horn, I lit the first zombie to approach me on fire. It was unable to resist as I snapped its back with a strike from Calcion’s Cleaver.

As a Draugr with a battleaxe came toward me, I shot lightning at it. The zombie froze up, but was somehow still able to block the swing of my sword. I swung at it again, but it was still able to block me. As it tried to kick me with its forelegs, I brought my ancient earth pony sword down and chopped them off. Off balance, the Draugr fell to the ground, and I took off its head with another swing of my sword.

A weight suddenly fell onto my back as a Draugr jumped onto me. Craning my neck, I looked over my shoulder and reacted just in time to block a sword coming for my neck. Pulling out my Changeling war axe, I hooked the sword and threw it away, leaving the Draugr weaponless.

It refused to let go, however, and bit at my shoulder. Thankfully, my Thieves Guild armor was thick enough to stop the rotten teeth from piercing my flesh, and I chopped the Draugr’s head off with a swing of Calcion’s Cleaver. Still, I had to remove the head from my shoulder myself as the teeth continued to bite after the Draugr was dead.

The one that’d been on my back was the last in the room, so we moved on, heading up the stairs. We climbed for quite a ways until the steps finally came to a stop at the entrance to a large room. The far wall was dominated by a carving in Draconic, but there was a sarcophagus between it and us.

I pulled on my Griffin armor just in case, and we carefully tried to sneak around the stone coffin in the center of the room. It was no use, as the sarcophagus burst open anyway, triggered by who knew what. Steadfast aimed his warhammer at the Draugr before it even emerged, crushing the side of its skull.

<<FUS~RO!!>> suddenly came from the sarcophagus, sending Steadfast flying back.

The Draugr crawled out, drawing a war axe with lightning arcing down its length. The side of its face had been crushed to a pulp by Steadfast’s swing, but the fire in its one good eye made up for it. The Draugr jumped from its coffin toward where Mephalda was flying, swinging its war axe at her. She managed to flap out of the way of the deadly blade, but a bit of her tail was shaved off as it missed her.

Mystic and I both shot lightning at the Draugr as it fell to the ground, rolling before jumping to its hooves. It pointed its war axe at Mystic first, sending a blast of lightning back at her that skittered over her ward. While it was preoccupied with Mystic, I charged in, Calcion’s Cleaver at the ready.

The Draugr turned faster than I thought was possible and hooked its war axe around my sword. With a sudden twist I was unable to counter, it threw Calcion’s Cleaver across the ground. I jumped back as the Draugr swung its axe toward my neck. I was forced to back up until my hindquarters hit a pillar and I could retreat no longer. The war axe suddenly swung down, the blade driving under my armor and into my shoulder.

I screamed as the blade cut through my flesh, and I rolled to the side, pulling the weapon from the Draugr’s grip, but not from my shoulder. Steadfast got another hit in on the Draugr before it could react, further crushing its face. Painfully, I pulled the war axe out, and drank down a healing potion to fix up the wound.

Steadfast continued to crush the Draugr’s face as I rose and trotted over to the Word Wall. There was no Element of Harmony around the zombie’s neck, but this trip didn’t have to be a total waste. I eagerly drank in the knowledge as the wall taught me everything I could want to know about how things froze. The transfer of knowledge was over in seconds, revealing a new word for freeze.

~DIIN~

After a short search, we were able to find a back exit to Foalgunthur, letting us out in the southern end of Hjaaltrot. Now all that was left to do was follow the path to Whitetrot through Rearikstead. I hoped to be back before sunset and to get a good sleep in Breezehome before we set out to look into another ruin. There was nothing wrong with adventuring, but my home was practically unused, and I intended to change that.

What should’ve been an easy and uneventful walk home turned out to be far more, however. We’d passed Rearikstead and were already well on our way to Whitetrot when a dragon appeared out of the blue. Mephalda spotted it first, in the distance, but as it flapped toward us, it suddenly changed direction and landed a short distance away, along the path. Curious, we galloped forward to see what was going on.

Upon reaching the top of a hill, we were able to look down upon the dragon. At the moment, it was blasting fire in all directions, trying to keep the Imperial Legion soldiers away from it. Quite a few Legionnaires lay dead around the great beast already, and the number of survivors was dwindling by the second. I ran down to help them, Calcion’s Cleaver already out.

<STRUN!> I Shouted as I approached, and storm clouds began to build overhead.

By the time I reached the dragon, lightning was already shooting from the clouds to its scaly hide. It didn’t take the lizard long to figure out that I was the one who’d called down nature’s fury on it, and it threw aside Legionnaires to get at me.

As it blew fire at me, I ducked under the flames and crawled forward until I was under the dragon’s head. This proved to be a bad idea, as it soon realized where I was and tried to crush me. I rolled away, back and forth to avoid the dragon’s head that repeatedly came down at me.

Finally, I was able to get back on my hooves and run under the dragon. I pulled out Calcion’s Cleaver and thrust it through the dragon’s hide as I ran. Scales flaked away and flesh parted for a moment before the dragon heaved itself off my blade. Flapping its enormous wings, the great lizard began to take off into the air.

<<<JOOR~ZAH~FRUL!!!>>> I Shouted, knocking the dragon out of the sky.

I quickly realized my mistake as it came falling straight down toward where I was standing. I leapt for safety as the dragon’s bulk crashed to the ground. As I pulled myself to my hooves, I quickly found my world turned upside down as the dragon’s tail struck me. I went flying across the ground, rolling across rocks and through rough grass before finally coming to a stop.

The dragon snatched up another Legionnaire in its jaws before a strike from Steadfast’s hammer forced it to spit out the corpse. It then turned toward my earth pony friend, attempting to snatch him up in its jaws too. Instead, he twisted his warhammer upright, so that it propped the dragon’s mouth open, allowing him to jump out and escape. As he yanked his weapon out, the dragon’s jaws snapped shut just past his head.

Mystic was meanwhile working to keep the dragon landbound, shooting fire at its wings and burning through the membrane. The beast attempted to torch her once Steadfast was out of range, but her ward absorbed the brunt of it. Instead, the dragon swung what was left of its wing around, throwing Mystic across the landscape. She managed to catch herself with her magic before hitting a large rock and darted off to avoid the dragon’s flames.

Mephalda had sheathed her bow in favor of her Blackwing swords and was standing on the dragon’s back, slashing through the scales. As the dragon reached up to grab her, she flapped away, landing on its head and slashing through the flesh there. Giving a leap, she launched herself up and away from the great lizard, causing its jaws to snap at empty air as it tried to devour her.

By now I was back up and, after retrieving my ancient earth pony sword, I charged toward the dragon. Ahead of me, a Legionnaire rushed toward the dragon’s head, a pike clutched in her magic. As the dragon turned its head to look, the pike’s end stabbed into its eye. Giving a roar of pain, the beast sent fire gushing from its maw, reducing the Legionnaire to a pile of ash.

I ran to the side as the flames came toward me as well. The last of the Legion soldiers destroyed, the dragon turned its attention on me. It snapped at me as I ran past its face, but my sword nicked its nose instead. Fuming, the dragon opened its mouth to roast me.

<YOL!> I Shouted, scorching the inside of the dragon’s mouth.

It spat fire at me anyway, forcing me to run around until I was under it, out of reach of the flames. It tried to crush me again, heaving its bulk up, and then back down. I rolled to the side and positioned Calcion’s Cleaver so that the dragon would impale itself on it. My plan worked, and the dragon instantly heaved itself back up as my ancient earth pony blade cut through its flesh.

With a swing of its claw, the dragon sent me rolling across the ground and well away from it. I had managed to hold onto Calcion’s Cleaver this time, thank goodness, and began shooting lightning from the tip at the dragon. My blasts of energy sought out the wounds Mephalda had inflicted on its back, shocking the freshly wounded tissue beneath. The dragon roared and shot fire at me.

I dodged to the side and spared a glance to the sky to see that Mephalda was soaring above the clouds, her Blackwing blades still held in her hooves. I had a plan, and I hoped that it matched up with the one my pegasus friend had.

I ran around toward the front of the dragon and downed a potion of fire resistance before charging straight toward it. The flames billowed around me, but couldn’t break through the magical seal I’d created. I kept galloping until I was just close enough.

<KRII!> I Shouted, causing the dragon’s flames to cut off as it was racked by pain inside.

I looked up to see that I had been right in my expectations. Mephalda was now rocketing down, both her blades held tightly. As the dragon tried to lunge toward me, Steadfast knocked its nose into the ground with his warhammer. An instant later Mephalda reached the dragon, her blades flying apart at the last minute to slice through the dragon’s neck. With a wet thump, the dragon’s head fell to the ground, separated from its body.

It was quick to combust, feeding me all its memories, and melding them with the ones I already had. The practical knowledge of how one could freeze something using only one’s voice also entered my mind, building in urgency until I had to let the Shout out.

<<<FO~KRAH~DIIN!!!>>> I Shouted, freezing the dragon’s skull to the ground.

“What were Imperial soldiers doing here?” Steadfast asked, looking around at the fallen ponies scattered around us now that the battle was over.

“What do you mean?” Mephalda asked.

“We’re in Whitetrot Hold,” Steadfast said, “This is neutral territory. There shouldn’t be any soldiers here except for Whitetrot guards; not Imperials, and not Stormclouds. And there’s far too many here for this to just be a scouting mission passing through.”

I had to admit that Steadfast was right. There shouldn’t have been any Imperial soldiers here, so why was there? If I was Thane of Whitetrot, and Whitetrot was neutral, then it was my job to figure out what these ponies were doing here. We all started to look around, searching the bodies of the fallen Legionnaires until I found something, a note on a higher ranking pony that seemed to lay out their mission.

Proceed with caution to Whitetrot, avoiding Rearikstead and any populated area larger than a single farmstead. Once in Whitetrot, you will need to speak to Jarl Valor’s Blade, and convince him to join our cause. If he refuses, you are not to leave Dragonsreach until he agrees, or you receive further instructions. Remember that this land cannot stand divided for long. Jarl Valor’s Blade controls a large portion of Horizon’s land, and gaining it will give us a large tactical advantage in this war. Be firm, and do not take no for an answer. This mission is too important.

I passed it to my friends to let them read, knowing what I had to do next. Jarl Valor’s Blade needed to see this.

The Jarl sighed when I told him the news.

“So it’s come to this now,” he said dejectedly, “General Cuirass would have demanded I turn over Whitetrot to his cause.”

“It certainly seems so,” I said, taking the note back from him.

“I had hoped to stay out of this war,” he said, giving another sigh, “Hoped to stay neutral, and keep my subjects out of this conflict. But the great powers are getting restless and dissatisfied with my neutrality. Just the other day I received a similar message from Jarl Stormcloud, demanding I choose who to side with.”

“What did you tell him?” I asked.

“I told him that I would side with who I always have, with Whitetrot. The Imperials, the Stormclouds, I cannot see myself supporting either side.”

“It looks like you might not have a choice,” I pointed out.

“What would you have me do?” Jarl Valor’s Blade asked, “The Unicorn Empire is crumbling, and desperate to hold themselves together, taking the most drastic and unthinkable actions to do so. But the Stormclouds I also disagree with. It seems to me that they are little more than a cult to a Jarl devoted to wiping everypony from the Northlands who hasn’t been born of an earth pony mare. Still, I must do something.”

He appeared lost in thought for a few minutes, contemplating his next move before he spoke to me again.

“I will stay neutral for as long as I can,” he announced, “It’s the best move at this time. But I also cannot allow General Cuirass or Jarl Stormcloud to keep pushing me to enter this war. Sapphire, I need you to carry a message to the General in Seclusion announcing my intentions. I will personally carry a similar one to Windhorn.”

“Of course, my Jarl,” I told him.

“Whatever happens, we must stay out of this war,” he said, once again looking thoughtful.