The Unicorn and her Boy

by ChudoJogurt

Chapter II - The People Who Lived In Hiding

The human was unlike anything I’d ever seen before — most of all he looked like a shaved baby minotaur. A biped with hands instead of hooves, long, dark mane and small brown eyes, tall and lanky, so high I barely reached up to his ribs with my head when he was standing. He had no coat, but on his tanned skin he did wear some rather complicated garments and armour, and in his hand, he clutched an ivory horn of incredible intricacy.

“Hi,” I said. What else can you say to a person you meet in the middle of the night in a strange forest after a shootout? Daring Do or Agent Drops would probably have some awesome one-liner to say, but I was quite new to adventuring, so “hi” was all I had.

“Hello.” I guess he was also new to the experience of meeting new sapient species in the woods after a fight. It’s always reassuring to know that you’re not the only amateur at the table.

“My name is Prince Caspian.” He was first to break the awkward silence, as he stood up. “The Tenth. Are you a Narnian? I thought you were all extinct”.

"No, I'm from Equestria," I answered, frowning when it prompted no reaction but a helpless shrug. "Celestia's land, straight south from the Frozen North?"

“I don’t think I’ve seen this country on any map that I know of,” he said carefully.

That was strange. Everypony in the world knew of Equestria, the place where Sun is raised and lowered.

"Have you heard of Griffinstone?” I tried and got nothing. “Freeport?” - no reaction. “Saddle Arabia? Dragon archipelago?..." I kept naming every known city and country with ever-increasing urgency, panic rising in me like the mercury in a boiling thermometer as none of them got even a glint of recognition from my new acquaintance.

And then it hit me full force. The strange words something has said to me through my friends in Canterlot. The summons to the Southern Wind that stayed unanswered, The cold, unfamiliar stars and a different moon in the sky. I was in another world.

My knees buckled, and I had to sit down.

“How?” I asked, my throat suddenly dry.

He grasped my meaning somehow. “It is said that once the horn is sounded” he unclasped the mentioned instrument, showing it to me “The help will come, no matter how far away. And I think you are it”.

“I am sorry. I did not know it would bring you. In all honesty, I expected someone else” He put his hand upon my shoulder - a gesture of comfort. His hand trailed along my barrel, and I hissed in pain.

“You’re wounded” he noted, surprising me. In the heat of the battle I barely felt the wound, but now that the adrenaline rush was wearing off, the dull ache of it was coming back.

“Let me help”. He ripped bits of his shirt off, tying it like a bandage around my barrel. I twisted my head, watching his hands with fascination - little fingers, so much more delicate than minotaur’s, moving with the dexterity of a unicorn’s magic - hardly any need to use his teeth or mouth. It was weird and amazing at the same time.

“We should be walking. They will come for me again soon”. He said, after tightening the last knot.

“Ouch! Careful there!” I hissed with pain. “And speaking of - who were those guys?”

***

As we made our way through the crude untended woods, struggling to push through brambles and bushes in the dark, he told me his story, and it was so horrid, I could barely fit it in my mind.

"So you are saying," I repeated, probably for the hundredth time, "That this land is called Narnia, and you've never even heard of Equestria?"

He did not answer, tired of my repetition, but he did not have to. That much I already knew...even if I struggled to accept it. The next bit was somewhat harder to swallow.

"And you me summoned here with this horn, because you are a Prince," I gave his scrawny figure a pointed look - an effort entirely failing to convey my doubts that this biped could possibly claim the same title as Celestia, "of a country of bald monkeys like yourself, and your own uncle tried to…” I hesitated for a second, reluctant to even say the word “...kill you to usurp the throne, and you are trying to find the aid of the creatures like minotaurs and griffons that your people have destroyed."

"Yes".

The simplicity, the casualness of his answer still chilled me to my core. There had not been a murder in Equestria for centuries. For hundreds of years, for as long as anypony save for maybe Celestia remembered, no sapient being has taken the life of another and to even consider such an act was unthinkable to me. Fillicyde and genocide, war and murder...

I set the thought aside, still unable to fit it in my mind, and pressed on with my questions:

"And those 'Narnians' they're going to help you why, again?"

He shrugged helplessly, mostly because he did not have much of an answer. "We have the horn and your magic. We can help them and they - us. There must be a way..."

"That's not exactly inspiring—"

“Quiet.” Caspian gripped his saber, listening into darkness.

“No, that’s an important—”

“Did you hear that?”

I shut up and looked frantically around, trying to figure out what he meant, adding more light to my horn to push the darkness of the night a little further away. In the unsteady silence of the forest, we listened intently, blood thumping in my ears like a drum.

A snap of the twig somewhere, like it, would break under a heavy iron-clad boot. I shivered and prepared a spell to cast, my ears twitching.

A flutter of wings - maybe a bird scared by the hunters. Caspian grip on the hilt tightened, as he adjusted his footing.

A movement somewhere in the corner of the eyes - a gust of wind, or an enemy sneaking to a better position? My nerves stretched to their thinnest I held my breath.

Something moved in the underbrush, rustling the tall grass and making hemlock flowers swing, before disappearing. Then again, closer to us.

“They are surrounding us,” Caspian said, drawing his weapon “Come out and face us, whoever you are!”

Another rustle and I lashed out, my magic fed by my fear turned to a gale, and under the cover of the green, grey backs of giant, two-feet-tall mice appeared before vanishing again into the grass, not ten feet from us.

“They’re rats!” I screamed, exploding with magic and fear. Trees split apart with my spells, grass burned and the earth turned inside-out as I flung spell after spell blindly in my utter revulsion, failing to hit the impossibly agile zig-zagging creatures, and only by miracle not hurting Caspian.

“Giant ra--” something sharp cut me across my leg and I fell on my knees, letting the mouse’s tiny paws grip my mane and climb up my back, stinging me fiercely with its weapons as it did.

“My name is Reepicheep, and I am no rat!” The mouse declared boldly, straddling my back.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH! IT'S ON ME! IT'S ON ME! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF MEEEEE!"

My reply was slightly less courteous and witty, as I screamed like a little filly, and bucked like a rodeo pony, trying to shake the giant mouse off me. He held fast, gripping my fur, and swiftly scuttled up along my barrel. And then something very small and very sharp was pressing insistently right into my jugular and I froze mid-step. Even though I could not see what exactly it was, I had absolutely no doubts that whatever spell I might try, I’d bleed out faster than I could finish it.

I stole a glimpse at Caspian, but he was in the same position as me, held at a swordpoint by another mouse standing on his chest.

“Choose your last words carefully, traitor!” The mouse had a very high-pitched voice, but in my predicament somehow that failed to be funny.

“Err… can I have few minutes to think?” All my snark abandoned me at this crucial moment. I tried to move my head a bit, to get a better glimpse at the attacker, and maybe move my undefended neck just an inch away from the sharp thing poking it...

“No.” the tiny paws pulled on my mane with surprising strength, and I could already feel the cold steel cutting through my skin.

“Stay your hand, noble mouse!”

“And why would I do that?” the mouse straddling me asked suspiciously, halting his sword nevertheless.

I exhaled very, very carefully, and hoped that Caspian knew what he was doing.

“My name is Prince Caspian” even as his voice wavered, he still tried to pretend to be calm “I came to these woods seeking help…” under the unrelenting gaze of a mouse holding him at a rapier-point he pulled the horn off his belt and showed it to them. “And to offer help in return”.

“The Queen’s Horn!” the mouse let go of my mane and jumped towards Caspian forgetting all caution. He grabbed at the horn, as if expecting it to disappear and ran his little paws all over it’s filigreed ivory “My father has told me about it, as his father told him, and his father before that.” his already high-pitched voice broke “Tell me you sounded it, oh son of Adam!”

“What is it with you ponies… mice… persons and this horn?” I muttered. Not that I minded not being held at swordpoint anymore, but the sudden lack of attention did make me feel underappreciated.

“It is said that this horn was given to The Gentle Queen of Old by Aslan himself” Reepicheep’s tail swished in excitement “And it is said that if a Son of Adam or a Daughter of Eve would sound the horn in Narnia’s hour of need, the High King would come!”

“I sounded the horn,” Caspian confirmed, gesturing towards me. “And she came to save my life.”

“Her?” she looked at me, incredulous “Her magics are impressive, but she’s it’s just a foal!”

“Hey!” I protested as Caspian shook his head.

“She has been sent to us, so that must be Aslan’s will.”

“But... the High King! And Kings and Queens of Old!” Reepicheep tried to protest, as I lifted both mice off Caspian gently with my magic.

“I’ll be sure to mention that to Aslan next time I meet Him, noble mouse,” Caspian said somewhat testily, as he stood up. “Meanwhile we must needs do with what we have, and trust me, what we have is plenty.”

Reepicheep bowed courteously, sheathing his sword. “If your Highness says so, I shall not doubt your word. We will gather the true Narnians come dawn in the meadow by the Beruna river, and they will listen to what you have to say, Prince of Telmarines. More than that I cannot promise you.”

He turned away, dropping back to all four, almost disappearing in the thick undergrowth of the forest, and waved his mice away with a commanding swish of his tail “Come, boys, it is time to rouse the Narnian forces! True war may be upon us!”

“Huh.” the fear of near-death releasing me at last, I could feel blood rush back to my limbs.

“So… why are they calling you a Son of Atom? You’re not radioactive, are you?”

***

The concept of radioactivity was as unfamiliar to Caspian, as were these woods, so by the time we got to the river we assumed to be Beruna and the meadow Reepicheep mentioned I was dead on my hooves and the night was almost ready to yield the sky to the first rays of dawn.

Others were already waiting for us. Under the alien skies, in the dark, wild woods so unlike the tame groves of Equestria, on a small meadow where mistletoes joined the trees together in a single canopy, and wild roses grew in every shade of yellow they gathered. Minotaurs and griffons, both similar and different from their Equestrian cousins. Wolves and large cats, their vertical eyes betraying an equine intelligence, unnatural to predatory beasts. Tiny humans, barely my size, who called themselves “dwarves”, and stranger still - the half-pony half-human hybrids, twice as big as even the tallest Arabian horse and thrice as tall.

“What is this, Reepicheep?”
“Why is a Telmarine here?”
“Who is he?”

Whispers and questions rolled around the crowd, as they looked at us with the same bewilderment as I looked at them.

I gulped and tried to hide my fear, pressing into my companion’s leg for comfort. Caspian had no such fear… or he was better at pretending than I was. He stepped forward, into the pale light of the moon.

“I am a Prince...” he said. And this time, I almost believed him. He was but a child - cold, wet, scared and tired. He was surrounded by creatures he only knew of from legends and horror stories. Yet even when trembling, his voice was somehow enough to silence the crowd.

“I’ve come seeking your help and to give you my help in return. Outside these woods, I am the rightful heir to the throne of Telmar.” His voice grew with every word he spoke, as he found his confidence, until it filled the air, calling the attention of everyone gathered. “With your help - all of you - I can get it back. We can forge the peace between our peoples, and return everyone gathered here”— and I knew it was for my sake when he said this — “to their rightful homes.”

“How would it be different this time?” somebody from the crowd asked, bitterly. “We’ve tried to resist them so many times. But they have the numbers and weapons, and the machines for murder. They will crush us again, and this time the Old Narnia shall be no more.”

“This time it will be different.”

How could he have sounded so sure, when I knew for a fact that he had his doubts?

“The Horn of the Queen has been sounded and answered. We have now magic on our sides the likes of which no Telmarine knows. You’ve taught them to fear the woods, and now they shall fear the earth, the flame and the water just as much!”

“‘Tis the truth,” Reepicheep added from his place “I’ve seen it with my very eyes, and it was unlike anything I’ve seen before.”

The larger of the ponymen stepped forth from the shades of the meadow.

“My name is Glenstorm of the centaurs, and my kind and I have long watched the stars, for they are ours to watch. This night, Tarva, the lord of victory and Alambil, the lady of peace, have come together in the high heavens - the sky itself tells of the truth of her words. The centaurs shall join the Red Witch and the Telmarine, and reclaim Narnia.”

A dwarf, clad in black and rust, spoke next.

"Why should we cast our lot with the unicorn? She doesn't care for us, or for Narnia. She comes with the human, the Telmarine at that." He spat the last word from behind his yellow crooked teeth. "The horn proves nothing but that those barbarians stole yet another thing from us.

“We have the Blood of Adam here, we can summon another Power. Power besides Aslan or sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. Older Power, that held Narnia spellbound for years and years. A sure Power that would wipe the ugly invaders off the face of our lands!”

“The Witch…”
“The White Witch…”

“Yes, the White Witch, the Lady of eternal winter, the ruler of Narnia before all those pesky humans came and took our lands!”

“Would you have this boy go against Aslan now?” a badger asked, shocked by the proposition.

“Aslan isn’t here, Trufflehunter…” the last of his words were drowned out in the angry shouting of the crowd, and frowning dwarf stepped back reluctantly, his black eyes watching me with a burning intent.

“We badgers remember well that Narnia was never right, except when Son of Adam was King,” Trufflehunter concluded. “We shall go with the Telmarine and the unicorn, and reclaim the Old Narnia.”

“The hearts and swords of the Mouse Guard are at your service, Your Highness,” Reepicheep threw in his lot with us.

After that, it’s been decided. All of them gave Caspian their loyalty and that is how I started my first war.

Comments

[Layton13]

most of all he looked like a shaved baby minotaur

Must be a rather buff human

Agent Drops

Cute

The help will come, no matter how far away.

Did you mean “That help will come,”? If no, this sounds a bit wired

My name is Reepicheep, and I am no rat!

Ok then, rodent of unusual size it is.

Hmh, interesting. I have no real knowledge of Narnia besides the one movie I saw, let’s see if I actually understand everything here. Until now: Usurpers, magical horns, strange magical beasts, humans and the beast don’t seem to get along and war. I’m interested in where this goes.

[PresentPerfect]

“My name is Glenstorm of the centaurs, and my kind and I have long watched the stars, for they are ours to watch. This night, Tarva, the lord of victory and Alambil, the lady of peace, have come together in the high heavens - the sky itself tells of the truth of her words. The centaurs shall join the Red Witch and the Telmarine, and reclaim Narnia.”

I have never been so lost @_@