The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 37: Unicornica

Chapter XXXVII: Unicornica
“Being a city pony is hard work. I’m so hungry, I could eat a-”

After the Imperial Dignity shattered apart, we were all thrown into the freezing waters of the Sea of Phantoms. Tossed back and forth among the splintered remains of the ship, we eventually washed up on a rocky shore. Steadfast, Mephalda, and Mystic all emerged from the storm to join me, along with a good deal of the crew.

Everypony was battered and bruised, but major injuries were rare, with only a few broken bones. I passed around the supply of healing potions I had in my saddlebags as we huddled together against the cold. Unfortunately, quite a few ponies didn’t join us, among them the captain.

“Where are we?” somepony yelled over the storm.

“We were rounding the Ear of Unicornica last I knew!” the first mate called out, “Best guess is we’ve landed somewhere on it!”

“What are we going to do?” somepony else asked.

“Well, we can’t stay here!” I said as the icy whinny of a windigo cut through the blizzard, “I say we try to follow the shore until we find some sign of settlement!”

“She’s right!” the first mate agreed with me, “We have to get out of this blizzard!”

Somehow I ended up in front, leading our group through the storm. It was slow going, snow constantly blowing into our faces and making us more miserable than we already were. To make matters worse, windigos swooped out of the storm from time to time to attack us.

Following the coast, eventually we found a sign of civilization. A rickety dock with a small boat bobbing up and down in the icy water was built upon the shore, a worn hoofpath leading inland. All we had to do to find somepony would be to follow the path. Unfortunately, the windigos had other plans.

As we turned to head inland, a swarm of them came flying out of the snow. No time to draw a weapon, I fried the first one that came toward me with my magic. Mystic and a few of the unicorn crewmembers did the same, but the earth pony crewmembers didn’t stand a chance. Three of them died, freezing solid, before the rest of the crew ran to help the non-magical members.

Forming a circle of protection around those who couldn’t defend against the windigos, we slowly made our way down the hoofpath. Of course, we couldn’t stop every windigo that struck, and our numbers slowly dwindled as the winter spirits picked us off. Eventually, a building came into sight in the distance.

“We’re almost there!” I called back, only to see that the windigos were staging a much larger attack than they had before.

Constantly striking, the ice creatures were cutting through the center of our group, separating those in the back from the leaders. I couldn’t risk shooting fire into the windigos, as my flames were more likely to harm a pony than one of them. But ponies were being coated in ice left and right. I couldn’t just do nothing.

<YOL!> I Shouted at the windigos swirling above the group.

With a shriek, many of them flew away, burning up as they did so. The fire spread through the swarm, taking out enough of the nearby windigos that we were able to connect the groups. Drawing the Axe of Whitetrot, I charged toward the remaining windigos.

Swinging my blade around, I managed to chop through the neck of one, melting it. A blast of fire knocked one off the back of a pony whose teeth were beginning to chatter with cold. Lending her a hoof, I helped herd the survivors toward the building, struggling to keep it in sight through the storm.

A windigo swooped down toward us, and I shot fire into the air. It swerved, missing my blast, but I was able to clip its foreleg with my axe, setting it afire. A blast of ice hit me in the face as it wheeled around toward me. Through the cold, I struggled to light my horn, but finally I was able to project fire from it, melting the windigo.

We were finally close enough to the building that I could get a good look at it. It appeared to be a farmhouse, with enough timber cleared around it for a barn to be built nearby. Mephalda knocked on the door as the rest of the survivors made their way to the house, Mystic and me bringing up the back, keeping the windigos at bay with our magic.

“Please, let us in!” Mephalda called as she banged on the door.

At last the door swung open, revealing a stocky yellow unicorn with a pure white mane. A thick scarf whipped around behind his head as the wind blew snow through his doorway.

“What are you doing out in a storm like this?” he asked.

“Our ship crashed! We need shelter!” the first mate of the Dignity explained.

“We’re under attack by windigos!” I added, blasting yet another as it tried to pick off the shivering pony standing beside me.

“Windigos!” the stallion exclaimed, his bushy eyebrows flying up, “Get in here now!”

Happily we complied, filing through the door of the farmhouse. When we’d all passed through, the burly stallion slammed the door shut. There wasn’t much room, and it was a bit cramped, but at least it was warm, a fire roaring in a stone fireplace. Our host rushed to supply blankets for those with more severe chills, and set a pot of soup over the fire before sitting down with us.

“What do you know about the windigos?” the first mate asked suspiciously.

“First things first,” the stallion laughed, “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Golden Oak. Welcome to my humble homestead.”

“What do you do up here?” Steadfast asked, “Doesn’t seem like there’s much around.”

“Admittedly there’s not,” Golden Oak answered, “But I run a home for dairy cattle, and I sell their milk in Stablehall in exchange. It’s not a life that requires a whole lot of company.”

“Did you say Stablehall?” I asked.

“Yes, the town’s not too far south of here, only an hour or two’s trot down the road.”

The wheels were spinning in my head. We would never make it to Leyawhinny, but if we could get to Stablehall, it wasn’t too much farther to the Imperial City. Only problem was, we’d have to brave the windigo-infested storm to reach it.

“However, I wouldn’t even think of going out in that storm unless you have to,” Golden Oak said, seemingly reading my thoughts, “Those windigos will tear you apart.”

“I’ve never seen so many in one place,” Mephalda said, “Where do they come from?”

“That’s the thing,” our host replied, “More and more lately, we’ve been having strange weather up here. Storms spring up without the pegasi stepping in and blizzards filled with windigos sweep across the land. If you ask me, I think this is the start of something much worse. It used to be rare to see a windigo in Unicornica, but now there are whole swarms of them flying around. I tell you, something is feeding them.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Golden Oak admitted sadly, “But if things get much worse, I’m going to have to leave my homestead and move south.”

A particularly strong gust of wind shook the house, silencing our conversation. We continued to listen to the icy gale for a minute or more before our host spoke again.

“Well, it’s late and there’s no sense even considering leaving until this storm dies away. Best get some shut-eye.”

◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊

That night we slept around Golden Oak’s fire, and for the first part of the next day focused on recuperating, since the storm still hadn’t died down. At last, the blizzard outside ceased and windigos retreated. Golden Oak pointed the way to Stablehall, even giving me a map of Unicornica with his home marked on it.

Not long after we left his homestead, we came upon a long thin lake, the very same one that Stablehall was built on the bank of further south. Finally Unicornica’s northmost town came into sight. Now that we were clear of the blizzard, it was clear we were no longer in Horizon anymore. Royal banners in typical unicorn style fluttered down from perfectly smooth walls of stone, hinting at the opulence of the city.

Within the overly thick walls were perfectly straight paved roads leading past the various shops Stablehall had to offer to the keep. A few roads crisscrossed the town, connecting to the housing and temple district on its far end. I’d read somewhere that Stablehall had once had sizeable gardens within its walls. That was not the case anymore, as nearly every bit of land was occupied by buildings of various functions.

I knew it would be best just to pass Stablehall by and continue on to the Imperial City before sunset, but I had no idea what we might encounter along the way and we were running low on potion and food supplies after the Dignity had crashed. Also, my armor, amazing as it was, was beginning to look a little worse for wear, and I intended to repair it best I could once I found a blacksmith.

My plan was to enter Stablehall, get the supplies we needed, and get out with enough time to make it to the Imperial City before dark. Steadfast, Mephalda, Mystic, and I even split up the things we all needed to make things go faster. Of course, things rarely went according to plan for me, and this day seemed to be no exception.

“Stop the Menace!” a pony called as I exited the apothecary’s shop after I finished buying potions for myself and herbs for Mephalda, “Tell Count Blazing Amethyst to do something about this threat before your own foals are taken from you!”

I paused in my walking and regrettably turned around, letting my curiosity get the better of me. Most of the ponies walking by seemed to be ignoring the mare waving a poster in the air with her magic, but a few stood around her, seemingly supporting whatever she was talking about. I could see that the poster she held was also pinned up around the town, featuring sketches of seven different ponies with the words “Who’s Next?” printed beneath.

“Seven of our own, seven have been taken from us in the past few months!” the mare began to speak louder as she saw that she’d caught my attention, “Are you next? One night will you suddenly disappear, only for your bones to be found in the woods weeks later, picked clean? Or will you do something? Will you tell Count Blazing Amethyst to send our guards out immediately to fight this threat?”

“What’s going on?” Mephalda asked, landing next to me.

“Looks like there’s been a string of murders around here,” I said, still listening to the mare with the poster rant on about how the Count was being irresponsible.

“That’s terrible,” Mephalda said, “Somepony really should do something about it.”

“Are you saying it should be us?” I asked, turning to look at her.

“Well, I’m not saying that – you see – all I meant was that . . .” she stammered, hiding behind her hair.

“Because I agree,” I said, lifting her spirits, “Let’s go speak to the Count.”

◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊

“No,” the fiery orange unicorn answered.

“But Count Blazing Amethyst,” I pleaded, “If there’s a murderer on the loose, they must be apprehended.”

“You think I don’t know that?” the stallion said, stepping down from his throne and whipping his ornate cape around, “I know the implications, but I can’t spare my guards to go gallivanting around searching for a needle in a haystack.”

“Surely it can’t be that hard to find whoever’s doing this,” I said.

“My county is a sprawling forest, parts of which no pony eyes have likely seen,” he replied coldly, “You think it’s easy to find a single pony within? I invite you to try it for yourself.”

“Well, all right then,” I said.

“I beg your pardon?”

“We could look into the matter for you, and you could keep your guards where they are.”

“Hmm, yes,” the Count considered my proposal, “I suppose that could work out.”

“So it’s fine with you if we look into this?”

“Yes, go on and search out this murderer that plagues my hold. You have my blessing.”

◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊

Though it was important we get to the Imperial City and find Dragonrend, I couldn’t just abandon Stablehall to a mass murderer. Hopefully things would work out for us and we’d find “The Menace” in no time. My first idea was to speak to the ponies who’d alerted me to the plight the town was in, in the first place.

However, the mare who’d been swinging the poster didn’t have anything helpful to offer. Her son had disappeared one night, and wasn’t found until days later, his skeleton thrown in a pile in the woods. The other ponies with her all had similar stories to tell, but none of them seemed very useful. Eventually I was forced to admit we needed to look elsewhere for clues.

We questioned everypony we could get to speak to us, but by the end of the day we still had no idea how to catch the killer. I’d compiled a list of places the missing ponies had last been seen and decided to visit them before turning in for the night. Many of the murders had happened some time ago, however, and any clues that may have been left were gone by the time we arrived.

We were trotting through an alley formed by the backside of some of the shops and the city wall on our way to an inn when a cloaked figure suddenly jumped out in front of us. The cloak completely concealed whoever the pony was, but a long thin knife floated in front of them, held in a shimmering purple magic like I’d never seen before.

The clatter of hooves on cobblestones came from behind us as well, and two more of the cloaked figures emerged, also holding long thin knives. I drew the Blade of Hoofingar as the pony in front of us swung at me. The two blades met, sparks traveling along the blades before pulling away.

Behind me, Steadfast and Mephalda pushed against the two cloaked ponies and Mystic pulled up a ward against another that had emerged from a side alley. When I turned back to look at my attacker, I was forced to bring my sword up quickly to keep from being decapitated.

My attacker pulled their knife away, allowing me to attempt a strike. Unfortunately, my opponent was too quick, and blocked my sword. Flipping the blade away, the cloaked pony went for my throat. My sword deflected the blade just in time, knocking it down to the cobblestones.

Before my attacker could bring their blade back up, I swung my sword around at their face. They managed to jump back, but not quick enough, and my blade nicked the pony’s cheek and cut through a bit of their hood. Bringing a hoof up to their face and bringing it away bloody, the pony began to back away from me.

Giving a whistle, my attacker suddenly turned tail and ran. Behind me, the other cloaked attackers also scampered away. I chased after mine for a bit, but I didn’t know Stablehall very well, and I soon lost them. Trotting back to where we’d been jumped, I saw that my friends had also been unsuccessful at apprehending their attackers.

“What was that all about?” Mystic asked.

“I don’t know. I think somepony doesn’t want us to catch the Menace,” I said, “Hopefully things will be much clearer after a good night’s sleep.”

◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊

In the morning things weren’t any better. In fact, things had gotten worse. The night before, another pony had disappeared, just a block away from where we’d been jumped. In response the town’s gates were kept shut while Stablehall’s guards looked into it. It looked like we had let Count Blazing Amethyst down and he’d decided to take matters into his own hooves.

Still, I wasn’t going to give up on catching the Menace. Strangely, we were unable to find the pony who’d reported the disappearance, so we moved on to the crime scene. Scouring the block for any trace of evidence we found nothing. We were about to call the search hopeless when a group of guards approached us.

“Are these the ponies you saw last night?” the lead guard asked a townspony they were escorting around.

“Yes, that’s them!” the stallion exclaimed, “I saw them creeping through the alley behind my shop shortly before Providence disappeared!”

“You’re under arrest,” the guard announced, and his fellow guards surrounded us, “On suspicion of murder.”

Though we protested, the guards wouldn’t take no for an answer. Relieved of our weapons, we were marched to Stablehall’s keep and thrown in the dungeon beneath it. The four of us were thrown in a large cell and left there until the Count declared a sentence for the crime we were suspected of.

We all knew, of course, that the only punishment we could possibly receive was death. And with us being new to the town, nopony would fight to have the execution stopped. We had to get out of the prison somehow, but it had to be done at the right time. Thankfully, I’d been able to conceal a few lockpicks in my tail before we’d been sent down here, but I was waiting for the ideal time to use them.

As the day neared its end, the guard began to slack off. Most either headed off to the barracks or to their homes if they had one. At last, only one guard remained to watch over the prisoners through the night. The captain entered the room to bid him a good night before leaving.

“Keep an eye on these prisoners over here,” he said, gesturing to us, “And stay awake this time.”

He levitated the keys to the cells over to the young guard, who clumsily caught them. The guard’s fumbled catch wasn’t what interested me though, it was the captain’s magic. As he floated the keys over, I realized it was the exact same color of the magic my attacker last night had used.

As he turned to walk past our cell, I saw that he also had a fresh cut along his cheek where I had cut my attacker. There was no doubt in my mind that the guard captain was one of the ponies who had jumped us last night. But to find out why, we’d need to follow him, something that was impossible while we were still trapped in this cell.

Lucky for us, no sooner had the captain left the dungeon than the guard on duty pulled his table over to the cell next to us and set up a game of checkers. While the guard was distracted, I pulled out my lockpicks and levitated them through the bars. After breaking a few, I finally got the lock to pop open.

Swinging the door as fast as I could, I caught the guard unaware, knocking him unconscious. Retrieving our gear from the evidence chest, we hurried up out of the dungeon in hopes of catching up to the guard captain.

He was just leaving the outer keep by the time we made it outside, allowing us to tail him as he trotted through the city. Curiously, instead of heading to a house, he made his way through the city gates and headed out into the forest outside Stablehall. We followed as quietly as we could, passing among the thick trees and keeping sight of him.

Once or twice it seemed he heard us, as he began to look around, and we were forced to hide behind trees and in the undergrowth. The path he took was far from straight, looping through the forest in a very illogical way, but eventually he reached what appeared to be his destination.

Torch light came from an area where no trees stood, and we held back a minute as he exited the forest, entering the light. When we were sure we were safe, we quietly snuck forward to take a peek at where the captain had gone.

The glade was filled with quite a few ponies, most of them from Stablehall, including Count Blazing Amethyst himself. They were clustered around a long wooden table placed in the center of the glade. The table was set for a feast, but it was the main course that was troubling.

Tied up in the center of the table was a live pony, his eyes darting around frantically at the assembled ponies. At the far end of the table a stone shrine rose up, but it was definitely not devoted to any Equine. The creature carved out of stone was long and lithe, a Draconequus riddled with holes so that it seemed to be rotting away.

“Festerus,” Mephalda whispered breathlessly, “The Draconequus of Decay.”

“Flawless Karat,” the Count spoke to the guard captain, “I expected so much more out of you. You couldn’t kill those visitors like I’d asked you to, and you even got your fellow brothers injured in the attack.”

“You should never have allowed them to look into our dealings,” Karat replied, “If you had just told them to leave things be, we never would have gotten in this mess.”

“They would have looked into it one way or the other, I could tell,” the Count said, “Better that I make them believe I’m on their side so they suspect less. You’re just lucky it worked out so well that we could pin this on them.”

“Speaking of which, when do we eat? I’m starved.”

If I had trouble believing they’d really eat Providence, I had no difficulty now. There was no “Menace” plaguing Stablehall, just these cannibals, and the missing ponies hadn’t just been murdered, they’d been eaten! There was no excuse, no reason to stay my blade. These ponies deserved to die in the worst possible way!

Before I even knew what I was doing, I drew Calcion’s Cleaver out and stepped into the torchlight. The Cannibals of Festerus ceased their discussion as the rest of my friends joined me.

“Well, this is certainly an unfortunate turn of events,” the Count said, staring me down.

The cannibals drew their blades, filet knives I could see now, and rushed the four of us. I saw red and swung Calcion’s Cleaver around, knocking a pony’s sword away and carving into his chest as I did so. I galloped forward, slicing at anything that moved, shooting lightning indiscriminately as I did so.

<<<FUS~RO~DAH!!!>>> I Shouted as a group of the cannibals climbed onto the table and made for Providence.

They went flying off and soon tasted my cold steel as I launched myself over the table at them. My blade cut through each and every one of them, singing with joy as it went. As a few of the cannibals began to run off into the forest, I shot ice spikes through their heads, killing them instantly.

Turning, I found my blade clang against Count Burning Amethyst’s. Pulling my sword back, I swung at him again and again. Eventually I managed to knock his sword from his grasp, snatching it up for myself. Fear in his eyes, he began to retreat.

I followed, smashing his wards as fast as he could put them up. They grew weaker over time as his magic faded, and eventually the sword I’d snatched from him broke through without effort. The blade continued on, slamming against his horn. Bone and keratin cracked as the sword sliced through his magical organ. Raw magic blasted out from the wound, destroying the sword in the process and throwing him back.

“You wouldn’t kill me,” he said, cowering into the ground and sliding back, “You’re no monster.”

“You’re right, I’m not,” I said, and a smile cracked across his face, “But you are.”

The smile faded, though the Count appeared confused.

“And I’ve got something far worse in mind than killing you.”

◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊

I wouldn’t be staying for the execution, of course, even though the townsponies wanted me to. Bringing the Count back to Stablehall, he’d woken the whole town with his raving. Though it was the middle of the night, an emergency town meeting was called, where Providence told of everything that had happened. The Count was condemned to death, and the four of us were pardoned for the crime he’d tried to pin on us.

In the morning, the town gave us a heroes’ farewell, loading us down with much more gold and jewels than was strictly necessary. Though they wished we’d stay longer so they could give us a proper thanks, we were behind as it was to reach the Imperial City. Still, leaving as heroes felt pretty good, and we all carried ourselves a little higher as we set out for the capital of the Unicorn Empire.

Level Up
Health: 230 Stamina: 230 Magicka: 210
New Perk: You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry [Light Weapons] -- When enraged, your strikes deal double damage, and you are more likely to get a critical hit.
Map added: Unicornica -- You now know the location of every major and minor town in the province of Unicornica, as well as the roads connecting them.
New Quest: Arcane Knowledge -- Travel to the Imperial City and enter the Arcane University.

Comments

[AtTheCrimsonFckr]

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

[Constellation]

5071132
Yup, so what?

[Wolf Wytch]

You know, Sapphire and the Vigilantes of Steedarr have a lot in common.