Chapter 18 - Start of a New Journey
Chapter 18 - Start of a New Journey
“One more time. I didn’t get that.” Rainbow asks.
Barix was busy getting ready for a bounty lead on some bandits in his armory. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight sat near the door listening. The others too occupied with other activities to pay attention.
“I already told you.” She always got under the dragonborns skin.
“Yeah, using a lot of words and not a lot of sense.”
“(sign) Fine. We have seven dragon claws right now and five daedric artifacts.”
“The dragon claws are coral, sapphire, glass, ivory, emerald, iron, and golden. The golden we don’t have but can grab at any time.” Twilight lists off the claws.
“Fer artifacts we got two rings, two staffs, and a mallot.”
“Mace, but close enough AJ. So all you need is two more artifacts then you can go home. Simple enough Rainbow?”
“I guess.”
“Now, while I’m off collecting money you six need to find the other two artifacts. Think you can do that?”
“It would be easy if we had a lead to start us off.”
“Lydia’s taking care of that. Go see her for details. One more thing Twilight. This is for you.” Barix gives Twilight a book. Her eyes light up of course. Before she could ask what is about, Barix spoke again. “It's for your training when I'm not around. Now if you excuse me.” Just like that he departs for lands unknown.
The girls head outside to see the house carl splitting wood. The logs were already a decent size but she was making splinters at this point. Twilight was the first to speak up.
“Lydia, I think you may be overdoing it a little with the firewood.”
“On the contrary, wood splitting is an old form of developing ones strength and form during combat. The smaller you can make the logs, the better your precision and power will be with your weapon.”
“Ya don't say. Ah ought to try that some time.” AJ chimed in.
“I assume you're here for the lead on the artifact.” She stops chopping for now. “Head east to the city of Riften. There you'll look for a woman named Blackbriar. She'll give you want you need.”
“East towards Riften to find Blackbriar, got it.”
“Are you all going or is it just you three?”
“It's the four of us.” The group look up to see Pinkie in her armor ready to roll. “I can't wait to get back home. The sugar here is too sour and don't even get me started on the nightmares.”
“I know Flutters won't want to come, but what about Rarity?”
“Oh yeah she said she'll stay with Fluttershy for now. Something about taking it easy for a while.”
“Can't blame her. This world really takes it out of you.” Twilight sees the wagon ready to go with Arvak tied to the reins. “Come on girls, we have an artifact to collect.”
Getting on the the wagon it became clear that the dead horse wouldn't move.
“Uh, hello? Equestria to Arvak? We gotta go.” House noises followed. “Hey, don't give me that. Just move your flank!”
“Rainbow don't be so rude.” It was Twilight's turn. “What will it take to get you to take us to Riften?” More horse noises followed which was then followed up by a facehoof by Twilight and a deadpanned, “Really?”
“Just like an everyday, normal stallion. All he wants is some flank to drool over.”
“I got this one!” Pinkie pulled out two things; a fishing rod and a picture of Shadow Mares flank. She attached the picture to the hook and brought it in front of Arvak who then proceeded to move. “I love fishing.”
“You jus so happen ta have a picture of that mares rear end? You know what, never mind. Ah probably don't want the answer to that.”
--------------------------------------------
Kicking in the door made for quite the loud entrance, but Barix had the element of surprise on his side.
“Knock knock. Come out and face your fate with dignity and I promise to make it quick.”
Nothing. The place definitely looked inhabited but with no people around. Did they know he was coming. He certainly didn't take the shadow approach but he didn't hear them either. Before he could come up with any sort of plan, he was attacked. The bandits came from all sides. That didn't matter, Barix cut them down all the same. As the last one came into view he could tell it was the chief.
“FUS!”
A shield came up not only blocking his attack, but reflected the shout back at the dragonborn. With no time to react Barix was hit with his own Thuum'm knocking him into the wall. Dizziness, coughing, and pain were only some adjectives used to describe his current state.
“The dragonborn here at last.” Barix could hear the leader speak over the ringing in his ears. “Colt knew you be coming Colts way ever since you sent out those messages about the Daedric Artifacts. TRY AND TAKE IT FROM COLT NOW!”
Barix was knocked out before he knew what happened.
-------------------------------------------
Finally they made it to Riften. It took the different pictures of Shadow Mare but the four ponies found their way to the outer gates. Rainbow was muttering something about stallions thinking with a different brain when the front guard stopped them.
“Halt. This city is for is for taxpayers only. Pay the toll or leave.”
“He never said anything about a toll. Do you girls have any bits to spare?”
“Hang on Twi. Ah got this.” This was Applejacks chance to shine. “You can have the toll, but who do you want it from?”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Do you want it from, AJ pointed to each of her friends as she described them, the speedy stealth assassin, the arch mage who knows who knows the ancient dragon language, the one that do anything to anyone or me, the melee juggernaut? You choose.”
“I-I'll just open the gate.”
“Wow AJ. I didn't figure you for the threatening type. You got some brass ones alright.”
“Nah. Ya jus gotta know how to talk to people, that's all. A bit of that country pride was showing.”
Entering the city was no problem after that. Some people gave them stares while some ignored them. The city was huge, especially with its lower area.
“How are we going to find this Blackbriar in a place this big. It's almost as big as Canterlot.”
“I think Pinkie already has the right idea.”
On cue the pink mare came back from talking with someone else.
“Any good news?”
“Turns out Blackbriar isn't a person but a family and they pretty much run the city but that's OK people here seem friendly enough so I asked around to see if we can find them but everyone said to stay away until I finally found a guy that would talk, it was that guy right there you saw me, any way-”
“Pinkie!” The other three shout at once.
“It's this way.” An apologetic smile adorned her face.
Pinkie lead the way through the bustling city streets until they stopped in front of a large building. It was definitely the biggest in the city and might have house those people called Jarls. Walking up to the entrance they were stopped yet again by a guard.
“Halt. No is allowed inside, especially animals.” The group looks to Applejack.
“We're here looking for sometime called Blackbriar on behalf of the dragonborn.”
“What?” The guards were struck in awe at this revelation.
“No way he sent these creatures for something important like this. He’s more out of his mind than we thought.”
“What is this dragonborns name and what did he send you here for?”
“Barix the dragonborn sent us about the,” she glanced around to make sure no one was listening when the got the idea and bend down so she could whisper it, “about the Daedric Artifacts.”
“By the gods. Open the doors and let them in.” The other guard follows the order. “Follow me. I'll take you to her.”
They were let through the halls of the building until they were stopped by someone a rather large chair.
“Guard. What in the meaning of bringing these animals into my throne room?”
“My lord, these...ponies are here for in for the artifact. They past the two part question without fail.” The Jarl, as it seems, took a second to take that in.
“That will be all. I'll take it from here.”
“Yes my lord.” The guard retreated to his post.
“You four, this way.” The ponies followed suit. “It has been quite some time since the dragonborn has called in his favors.”
“Does his influence reach everywhere?” Twilight was getting curious.
I don't know much myself but I understand correctly then if the dragonborn were call for the help of all his allies, I believe he could unit all of Skyrim. You'll have to ask my grandmother those kind of questions if you want any detail on the subject. Here we are.” The Jarl stopped in front of a door to knock on it. “The call is answered.”
“Enter.” A wheezing answer came followed by a few hacking coughs. The ponies entered to see an old woman with two assistants. “Are you the ones he sent over?”
“Yes mama.”
“Leave us.” The assistants did so along with the Jarl. The four ponies gathered around the bed. It was then Twilight noticed how down Pinkie was. “It's been so long since I’ve had company from the outside world. Tell me, how does Skyrim fair?”
“We don't have time for this.” Rainbow shout whispered to Twilight.
“Stop it, Rainbow. Just wait.” Twilight turns to the elder. “We can't say. We've only been here a few months without getting into this world's politics.”
“Just the answer I was looking for. Enough about that. My time grows ever short and I'd like to repay my debt to the dragonborn before I go. Have you heard about a Redguard man named Colt?” A ‘no’ shake came from all ponies. “He is the most wanted criminal mastermind in The Rift and the third most wanted in all of Skyrim. I was in possession of a Daedric Artifact but had to give it to him as payment for...a dealing, lets leave it at that.”
“Where can we find this Colt?”
“You don't. He is wanted for many reasons, evading the law is one of many things he is guilty of, one that his is very good at doing.”
“It's no problem. All we need is Barix. He can handle anything.”
The elder woman starts laughing but quickly starts another coughing fit. Twilight levitates a glass of water over to her. Once the cough had died down she took a few sips to sooth her throat.
“Tell me, just how well do you know Barix?”
“He's the dragonborn. He's already saved our skins more times than ah can count and he's fairly wealth.”
“Don't forget about the Dark Brotherhood, the Companions, and the Legion. He been in all them before.”
“Did you ever wonder how he knows the number of people that he does.” Again she received shakes of the head as a no. “Back in my day I was known as Maven Blackbriar, leader of Riften even though I didn't yet hold the title of Jarl. I had everybody in my pocket. Then one day I met him and my life was forever transformed.”
“You met Barix when he was a kid?”
“You misunderstand. History tells of all kinds of dragonborn. Some rise to power and some die before their time. What no book will ever tell you is there has always been one from the very beginning. One dovahkiin hiding in the shadows where only a select few are allowed to see.” See points to a painting in front of her bed weakly. It depicts a man that looks very similar to Barix. “The date of that painting takes it back five hundred years ago.”
“I don't get it.”
“Rainbow, ah’ll leave this one to your imagination.”
“You must be mistaken.” Twilight looks back to the former Jarl. “That's just someone from his past bloodline.”
“I was just like you once, unable to see the truth. How else do you explain anything in his life. The number of people he knows, the money he has, the skills he possesses. The truth is Barix had lived for thousands of years.”
“Come on girls we're done here.” Twilight walks out the door with her friends.
“You know it to be true! Don't let your feeling for him cloud your judgement!” She descended into another coughing fit. The two assistants rush in to help. Everyone let's the group walk out.
----------------------------------------------
The group of ponies met back outside on the wagon to discuss what to do next.
“So let's address the elephant in the room. Barix is...quite old.”
“No he's not Applejack. He can't be.”
“Come on Twi, this isn't exactly new to us.”
“Yeah Princess Celestia is already super old and she looks young and everything.” Pinkie chimed in.
“But how? Nothing I've read or seen points to anything here becoming immortal. Nothing! There is no possible way for him to have existed for that long.”
“He's only helped us even going so far as to risk his life. Why are you so desperate to make him out as some sort of enemy?”
“I'm not it's just,” a small blush adorned her face, “look let's just back to finding the bandit. Where do you start?” The other three rolled their eyes on the change of subject.
“We don't know where ta start because he's been hidin all this time. If, and that's a big if, we find him we'll need a startin point.”
“Hey Twilight, why don't you use that clear spell to find him and make the search super short.” Pinkie suggests.
“You mean Clairvoyance? It's no good. The spell needs the caster to at least have a general idea of where to go from the beginning. It only acts to pinpoint the destination. We'll need some type of lead. Any ideas?” Twilight asks with AJ making the first suggestion.
“What if we just head back to the house, we can ask Barix for some ideas?”
“He left for the mission remember.” Dash added.
“Then let's use the that clarify spell to find him?”
“Good one Pinks.” Rainbow looks to Twilight. “I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.” She added a sarcastic grin to go with that little jab.
“I...let me see if it'll work.” A quick cast confirms it does. “Arvak, let’s get moving.” He doesn't move. “Uh...Pinkie, can I get a hoof?”
“I'm already on it.” Pinkie dangles another picture of Shadow Mares plot and the team was off.
Soon, hopefully, they'll find Barix and have an answer on how to begin looking for the bandit in question. Twilight was finding it really hard to study a new shout with the new developments floating in her head. Finding out Barix is much older than she was bothered her more than it should have, and she had no idea why.
Stats
Page generated in 0.017 seconds
Total duration
790 users online
802,345 hits today, 2,139,894 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
never did like Maven, she was supremely arrogant for too much of the game and i wanted so badly to kill the little bitch...
If I'm not mistaken, the blood of the wolf makes you immortal (at least to age)
Yeah! My skyrim OC is very rude!
So... Maven Blackbriar is old and the guy "taking" care of her is Sibbi? Also, I'm not surprised that Arvak wouldn't move unless he was imagining Shadowmere's flank. I honestly don't want to know how a skeletal stallion and a smoky mare can do you-know-what to each other.
6606355
Probably by boning Shadowmere.