The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 71: Plots Unmasked

At first light, the remaining Blades set out for the Blackwings’ fortress. With the Blackwing Embassy destroyed, and every city in Horizon now under Stormcloud control, the only place the Blackwings could retreat to was a fortress built on the northern edge of Hoofingar. Though the Horizon Civil War was over, and the Blackwings were outlawed throughout the land, we had no doubt that a good number of them still hid out in their last remaining fortress in Horizon.

Scarlet Shores led the way north back along the path we’d followed the day before. Eventually we neared Seclusion and looped around the northern edge of Horizon, crossing Seclusion’s frozen harbor and passing the Imperial ships still docked there. Soon our hooves were on solid land again, and we followed the coastline, keeping to the narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea.

As we rounded another mountain, the fortress came into sight, an imposing structure of stone built up the nearly-vertical side of the mountains. I had never seen anything quite like it in Horizon. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the fortress we were looking for. This fortress was built more like the Blackwing base Steadfast and I had encountered at Windrake Cavern than any of the rugged earth pony structures that dotted Horizon’s wilderness.

“There are sentries up there, watching,” Mephalda said, peeking over the line of rocks we were hiding behind, “But they’re farther apart than they should be.”

“They must be low on horsepower after that attack on Sky Sorcerer Temple,” Scarlet Shores pointed out.”

“Perhaps,” Mephalda admitted, dropping down to sit with the rest of us, “Or perhaps they have something else planned.”

“Like what?” Scarlet asked.

“I don’t know,” the pegasus answered, “But I don’t like the look of those clouds to the north.”

I gazed in the direction Mephalda was pointing with her hoof. Dark thunderheads were rolling in, black and ominous.

“Are we scheduled for a storm?” I asked.

“I haven’t had a chance to check the weather schedule in a while,” Mephalda said, “But the pegasi only made a deal to provide weather to the Empire. Now that Horizon isn’t part of the Empire, they might try something.”

“You think the Blackwings are off doing weather duty?” Steadfast asked, “Like at Windrake Cavern?”

“I doubt it,” Scarlet Shores said, “They wouldn’t conscript Blackwings from this fortress if it was underpowered, especially since it’s the last outpost they have in Horizon.”

“They could be planning an ambush,” Mystic said.

“The only way we’ll know for sure is by entering,” Scarlet said.

“There’s no way to sneak up on them,” Mystic said, shaking her head, “Even with as few sentries as they have, they’ll see us coming.”

“Not necessarily,” Scarlet said, “Sapphire, Mystic, do you know how to cast an invisibility spell?”

“I can,” Mystic said as I shook my head that I couldn’t.

Scarlet pulled a tome from her saddlebags and passed it to me. On the cover was printed Invisibility. I opened the tome and allowed the pages to flip by faster than my eyes could follow, allowing me to learn the spell in instants.

“Now you can,” Scarlet said when I finished learning how to make myself invisible, “Use it the whole way to the entrance. Steadfast, Mephalda, use these potions of invisibility.”

I cast the spell I’d just learned, causing my body to be completely invisible. The Blades and Mystic did the same thing, also disappearing. As Steadfast and Mephalda drank down their potions, they too disappeared.

“Let’s go,” I heard Scarlet’s voice say, and a shimmer briefly appeared in the air as she rapidly turned toward the Blackwing fortress.

I followed, being careful not to bump into anypony around me. The spell required complete focus to maintain, and I feared it would collapse if I touched anypony. We made it to the front of the fort without any of the sentries spotting us, and one of the Blades drew out a lockpicking kit, going to work on the door.

As the door popped open, we rushed inside, looking around for Blackwings as we did so. The entry hall appeared to entirely deserted, but the Blades fanned out, searching for any hiding pegasi. When they confirmed that no Blackwings were lurking in the shadows, we moved on.

The entire fortress had been carefully planned out to repel any attack. The architecture made it so that the Blackwings would see us coming before we saw them, and they would be able to defend themselves while we’d be at a disadvantage. Of course, it was probably built to defend against attack by an earth pony army, not a small group of highly trained Blade warriors.

Mephalda spotted the first Blackwing before we did, taking advantage of the clear lines of sight afforded from the air. As the Blackwing was hit by three separate paralysis spells, Mephalda’s arrow struck her in the neck. She was unable to even scream out as she choked on the staff and died. The Blades quickly pulled her out of the way, hiding her body before we moved on.

We hurried through the hallways, Blades breaking off to check the rooms off to the side, and made our way to the stairs. From outside we could see that the fortress was built in three tiers, with an entrance to the next tier on the roof of each of the lower tiers. That would cause a problem when we were forced onto the open roof, exposed to the sentries, but for now the important thing was reaching the roof.

Mephalda and a Blade archer teamed up, keeping a lookout for Blackwings and sniping them whenever they were spotted. Once or twice the Blackwing had to be finished off by a blade, but the two archers were very precise in their shots, leaving few survivors. At last we reached the top floor, but didn’t dare exit to the roof until we’d taken care of the sentries that we knew lurked here.

We split up, four Blades going with Mephalda and Steadfast and four going with Mystic and myself. We carefully navigated the hallways and approached the hallway lined with windows that faced out at the sea. I began to turn the final corner before pulling back.

There was a Blackwing standing just around the corner, thankfully patrolling in the opposite direction. I made myself invisible again before peeking back around the corner. The sentry had stopped in her pacing and approached the windows, staring out at the mounting storm to the north. I snuck around the corner, coming up behind her.

As I drew Dawnbreaker, I lost the concentration necessary to keep my invisibility up, and I became visible again. The Blackwing spotted me out of the corner of her eye and spun around, but not before I was able to stab Dawnbreaker into her side.

I drew Dawnbreaker back and used it to block as the Blackwing drew her own blades with her forelegs and brought them down at me. A lightning bolt struck her armor, shot from Mystic, and caused her to tense up, becoming as stiff as a rock. As she tried to scream for help, Scarlet Shores slapped a hoof over her mouth and slit her throat.

A cry came from down the hall, and we saw that another Blackwing could see us around the pillars. We chased after her as she began to gallop away. She pulled up short and rolled into a side passage as one of Mephalda’s arrows shot at her from farther down the passage.

We made the same turn the sentry had, and followed her down the hall, shooting spells at her the whole time and scorching the fortress’s walls. Arrows from Mephalda and the Blade archer followed her as well, one striking her in the wing as she tried to take off. She began to slow as an arrow struck her in the hindleg, and we soon caught up with her. A slash of Scarlet’s katana finished her off.

We returned to the staircase, and once more made ourselves unseen as we exited onto the roof of the first tier. The wind was truly howling now, freezing us with cold northern wind. The storm was also moving closer, the banks of cloud piling up as it approached. I turned away from watching the weather and galloped to the door to the second tier, which was unlocked. The Blackwings didn’t yet know they were under attack, and nopony could reach this door without coming through the first tier or flying anyway.

There was a single Blackwing within the entry hall of the first tier, going over an inventory list and checking the contents of several crates strewn around the room. He dropped his list as we entered the room and drew a bow, holding it in his hooves like Mephalda. We dove behind some of the crates, dodging his shots.

One of the Blades shot off a spell that muted him, keeping him from calling for help. Of course, that didn’t keep him from taking off and flying away. The fireballs the Blades launched at him, burning his wings off, did. He fell to the ground, where he was killed by a shot from Mephalda’s bow.

“What is all this?” Mystic asked as she examined the crates, prying a few open to look into them.

“Weapons, provisions, bandages; seem like typical Blackwing supplies,” Scarlet said.

“But why are there so many?” Mystic asked, “And why are they lying out in the open?”

“She’s right,” Mephalda said, “Most of these weapons are for common hoofsoldiers, and the Blackwings never leave anything lying out in the open unless there’s no room for it elsewhere.”

“We don’t have time for this right now,” Scarlet argued, “We can examine these supplies later. We have to move now, while we still have the element of surprise.”

Mephalda longingly gave the crates one last look before moving on. I had to admit it was odd the Blackwings would have so many fresh supplies, especially ones not meant for them, but I agreed with Scarlet that we needed to move before the Blackwings knew we were here. Still, I was curious about the situation, and it nagged at me while we snuck through the halls of the fortress.

A Blackwing waited near the staircase up ahead, and Mephalda missed for the second time that day, her arrow slicing through the mare’s ear and knocking against the wall instead. She brought her hoof up to her bloody ear a moment before turning to face us. By then it was already too late for her to defend herself. Blasts of lightning from the Blades threw her against the wall.

Shortly after her armor rattled upon impact, a pegasus stepped through a nearby door, groggy with sleep and struggling to pull on her Blackwing armor. Steadfast smashed the door down onto her with his warhammer, knocking her to the ground before caving her head in with a second strike.

He jumped away from the doorway as knives began to sail through it, thrown by the pegasi within. I got a good look inside for a minute, seeing some living quarters, before I was forced to dodge an arrow shot straight for my forehead. I conjured a flame atronach within the room and set it loose. As it burned the Blackwings, a few Blades stepped into the room and assisted, killing the wounded and ill-prepared pegasi.

The Blades spread out and checked the other rooms before we moved up, sweeping each floor before moving on. Even though there were less Blackwings here than there would have been before the attack on Sky Sorcerer Temple, there were still quite a few hiding within the complex. Luckily, the Blades were swift, and none of them were able to get off a cry for help before they were killed.

Once more we reached to top level and prepared to take out the sentries. This time we split into three groups, and I headed down the middle with Steadfast and two Blades. It was difficult to sneak up on the central sentry, as the passage stretched a long way to his post. As he paced back and forth, he would commonly look down the passage and we had to make ourselves scarce, ducking behind decorative columns or into rooms.

At last we reached the sentry. As he turned suddenly, hearing the death of one of his companion sentries, he threw a punch at the window and tried to fly through the hole for help. I blasted him with a paralysis spell before he could make it out, though he flopped halfway through, cutting his stomach on the broken glass. I ran to grab him before he fell out, and pulled him back inside, where one of the Blades finished him off.

The second tier clear, we headed up to the roof and prepared for the final tier. Invisible, we crept along and entered the final section of the fortress. Things went wrong right away as we opened the door on a Blackwing. She was knocked backwards, her head smacking into the wall and splitting it, but there were two others in the room.

“Intruders!” one yelled while the other took off and flew away, making sure the message reached the rest of the Blackwings in the fortress.

Mephalda and the Blade archer fired at the remaining Blackwing, having a bit more trouble hitting a moving target. They still managed to hit her, crippling her wing and forcing her to drop out of the sky. She drew a shield off a nearby rack and used it to block the arrows as she advanced toward us.

<<<WULD~NAH~KEST!!!>>> I Shouted, shooting forward and ending up behind her.

She was forced to drop her shield in order to turn toward me with a sword, blocking my swing with Dawnbreaker. However, as she did so, an ice spike and two arrows shot through her neck. I pulled my Draconequus sword away as she choked on her blood and sank to the ground.

Another Blackwing flapped through the doorway at the end of the room, and was hit by a lightning bolt from Scarlet Shores. He crashed into a pillar as he fell, and was smashed to the ground by Steadfast as he tried to recover. Leaping up, he threw blades from his wings at my earth pony friend, forcing him to back off. Magic strikes from Mystic and the Blades finished him off before he could strike out at Steadfast.

We galloped forward, hoping to be able to take the remaining Blackwings by surprise. We soon ran into the second Blackwing that had been in the entry hall as she tried to return. I slashed at her as she flew past me, landing a hit on her wing with Dawnbreaker and shearing off some of the feathers. She slid across the ground, but quickly recovered, using a war axe to hold off the Blades. A fireball cast by Mystic came from behind, engulfing her in flames. She screamed as the fire consumed her, and she went charging through the Blades, disappearing down the hall.

We continued to make our way toward where we hoped the stairs would be, and ran into three Blackwings as we reached the correct hall. One held a staff in his mouth and forced us to retreat back around the corner as he shot fire down the hall at us. Mystic focused her magic around the corner, and summoned up a storm atronach, an elemental creature composed of smog and lightning. The atronach charged the staff-wielding Blackwing, tearing him apart and scorching him.

His companions took down the atronach, but opened themselves up to attack as they did so. We charged around the corner, the Blades leading the way with their katanas raised. The Blackwings tried to block, but were soon overwhelmed by the Blades. Their unusual blades sliced through the Blackwings’ armor, killing them instantly as they tore the flesh beneath apart.

We galloped to the stairs and began to ascend, Mephalda and the Blades archer firing arrows up at the Blackwings that tried to flap down at us. We reached the second floor and spread out, searching for Blackwings. We could’ve simply continued up, but then there was the possibility we could end up surrounded, so we decided to round up any ponies on this level first.

One shot out of the air as we passed a side passage, tackling a Blade to the ground and running him through with a sword. I shot fire at the Blackwing before she could get away, catching her cloak on fire. She took off down a hallway, making a flaming target for Mephalda to fire at. After a few shots, she stopped running and dropped to the floor.

As I turned a corner, blades suddenly bounced off my armor. I pulled back to avoid by being hit by the Blackwing that had thrown then from her wings. As the Blackwing swung around the corner, I ducked down and she flew over me, swinging her sword down at a Blade. I tried to get a strike in at her as she fought the Blade, but she kept bucking at me, making it hard for me to get close.

<<KRII~LUN!!>>

The Blackwing suddenly doubled over as my Shout wounded her from within. The Blade swung his sword down into where her neck and shoulder met, wounding her but not killing her. His follow-up strike knocked her sword away before slicing through her neck and decapitating her.

We soon met up with the other groups on our floor, cornering the Blackwings and making our way back to the stairs. There weren’t many Blackwings lurking on the floor itself, but as we began to near the stairs more of them appeared, rushing to head us off before we could reach the higher levels.

<<<FUS~RO~DAH!!!>>> I Shouted as we approached the stairs, knocking many of the Blackwings out of the air.

One fell next to me, dropped by an arrow from Mephalda, as I charged the pegasi trying to pick themselves up off the ground. I swung Dawnbreaker toward the first one I reached, a bright red stallion. His sword was drawn before I even knew it, and blocked my own blade. I swung my sword away and back around toward his hooves, but he blocked that too.

I was put on the defensive as the Blackwing rose from the floor and swung his sword around toward my neck. I blocked with Dawnbreaker, the blades screeching as they met, and tried to slide down the blade. He spun his sword around, nearly knocking mine away. I had trouble blocking as he pushed me back, eventually knocking my sword to the ground and swinging in toward my neck.

<<<FEIM~ZII~GRON!!!>>> I Shouted, and his sword swung through my ghostly form.

I put some distance between us before I returned to my physical presence. A Blade was now engaging him, fighting in a flurry I couldn’t follow and pushing the Blackwing back. Mystic shocked the Blackwing with a blast of lightning, allowing the Blade to win the battle, striking him in the heart with his katana.

I galloped toward a Blackwing that was fighting another blade, swinging her battleaxe at him. Her blade knocked the Blade’s aside, and she cut up into his chest, throwing him off. I shot a blast of flame at the Blackwing before I reached her, Dawnbreaker swinging through the air.

As she tried to strike me with her battleaxe, I swung Dawnbreaker up and blocked. She pushed down at me, but I held her off, shooting magic at the wooden staff of her battleaxe as I did so. The wood had been enchanted to resist such a thing, but eventually the spell gave out and the wood began to char. At last the blade of the axe snapped off, and Dawnbreaker swung forward, slicing down the Blackwing’s side.

She spit the now-worthless stick from her mouth and flared her wings, extending the blades within and using them to strike at me instead. I drew out the Blade of Hoofingar as well and used both blades to block her strikes. Eventually I managed to get my ebony sword wedged in between the blades in such a way that I held her wing motionless. I gave it a tug, pulling her toward me before releasing and swinging my ebony sword into her neck.

A few arrows and spells finished up the last of the Blackwings, and we ascended to the next level. From this point on it seemed the fortress was even more deserted than before, with few Blackwings showing themselves. The large group that attacked us must have been among the last, unless a larger group waited at the very top of the fort, which I wouldn’t doubt.

Before we reached the most secure rooms at the top of the Blackwing fortress, we cast invisibility spells on ourselves. Careful to move slowly and silently, we entered the top floor and snuck around until we found a large study with a set of windows looking out on the sea and the dark storm rolling in.

We saw no Blackwings, so a few of us dropped our spells and looked around the room. Bookcases were lined with tomes, many of them dossiers on ponies the Blackwings were keeping an eye on. I noticed that there was a dossier with my name on it, and it had quite a few entries within. The rest of the books in the room were either on pegasus history or ancient earth pony ruins. Within a display case sat a dragon claw made from ivory, and I smashed the case open to retrieve it. I’d heard that the Blackwings were after dragon claws like this one, but this was the first time since Blank Flanks Barrow I’d actually seen proof.

“Why are the Blackwings looking for Dragon Claws?” I asked myself as I examined it.

The Ivory Claw fell from my magical grasp as Blackwings suddenly shot through the doorway and out of hidden doors in the walls near the ceiling. They began to attack the Blades, but were unaware that not all of them were visible and received a nasty surprise of their own as they found themselves attacked from behind. Among the Blackwing coming through the door, a jet black pegasus in full battle regalia strode in.

“You!?” Ambassador Stratus nearly hissed as her eyes locked on me from across the room.

She took off into the air, flying over the battle to reach me. I drew both Dawnbreaker and my Changeling war axe as she approached, preparing to defend myself.

<<<FUS~RO~DAH!!!>>> I Shouted while she was still in the air, but she dodged my Shout.

She crashed into me, nearly knocking me against the overlarge desk near the windows. I pushed back with my blades, but couldn’t make her move a bit. She spread my blades apart with her own, and began to crane her head in toward my neck. At first I thought she was going to bite me, but instead she clamped her teeth onto the strings holding the Elements of Harmony around my neck.

As she tried to tug them off, I felt a burst of energy enter me from the Elements themselves. With renewed strength, I pushed her swords away from me. I slammed my chestplate into her nose, forcing her to release the Elements or lose her teeth.

<<ZUN~JOT!!>> I Shouted, and her blades fell from her hooves.

She drew a greatsword at her side with her mouth, and also bared the blades on her wings, spinning them around at my neck. I jumped back, grabbing at the Elements with my magic and stuffing them back inside my armor. I struck her wing blades with my Changeling axe as they spun by, breaking a few of them off.

Stratus lunged out with her hooves, pushing me back against the desk so I couldn’t dodge as much. As her greatsword came down at my head I blocked with Dawnbreaker and held off her wing blades with my Changeling axe. As she pulled the sword back to strike again, I switched, hooking my axe around her greatsword and using Dawnbreaker to block the smaller blades.

I grabbed my Changeling axe in my mouth to get more leverage, and rolled backwards over the desk, pulling Stratus’s greatsword with me. The blade went flying over my head, smashing into the windows and knocking them out, allowing the cold wind to blow into the study.

Stratus jumped over the desk like an acrobat, swinging her wing blades around at me. It became difficult to block her effectively as she spun faster and faster, throwing papers off the desk at my face to disorient me. Strikes to my armor battered and bruised me, and a few of the blades managed to graze my exposed neck. I just couldn’t keep up with her.

<SU!> I Shouted, and my blades took off on their own.

I matched Stratus’s strikes with my blades, succeeding in pushing her back. A few of my hits managed to break off her wing blades, destroying the device that attached them to her flight appendages. My Draconequus sword moved with the speed of a whirlwind, removing her helmet and slicing her Blackwing armor to pieces until she was standing before me unarmed and unarmored.

As my strikes stopped, Stratus stared at me, a shocked expression on her face. Then she recovered and tried to strike me in the face with her hoof. I swung Dawnbreaker out, slicing the tendons and muscles of her foreleg. She drew it back and collapsed to the ground as the blood began to gush from it.

“What do you know about the Elements of Harmony?” I asked the cowering pegasus, holding the tip of my sword to her throat.

“Why should I tell you?” she spit back.

“I could kill you,” I replied.

“I suppose you’re right,” Stratus said, “Very well, it’s not like I have anything to lose. Unlike many of my colleagues, I realized the legends to be true. The page our ancestors recovered told of Talhooves’s secrets. We know where half the Elements are stored already, and all that is left is to recover them. The Pegasari Dominion can always use an all-powerful weapon, especially in the upcoming war.”

“War?” I asked, logging away the fact that Stratus had admitted to knowing where the remaining Elements were.

“Yes,” Stratus said, smirking at me, “The time of peace is over. The time has come for all our plans to come to fruition, and for the Northlands to bow to its rightful masters, the pegasi. Winterhorn will be the first to fall, and then the rest of Horizon and Unicornica.”

“You realize now that I can warn them what’s coming,” I stated.

“Not what’s coming,” Stratus asked, “What has come. At this very moment the Pegasari Air Fleet is moving in for the attack. Winterhorn’s defeat will be swift.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” I said, taking my sword away from her neck.

“What are you doing?” she asked as I trotted away toward where the Blades were bandaging their wounds and recovering from the battle, “Aren’t you going to kill me?”

“No,” I said, “I never was going to kill you. When I saved you from Jarl Stormcloud in Seclusion, it wasn’t a hollow gesture. Everypony deserves another chance, even you.”

She stood and looked at me with a puzzled expression before taking off through the broken window. I watched as she made her way up toward the rolling thunderclouds, where more pegasi lurked, waiting to attack Horizon. War was here.