Unicorns: Actualfax
(My contribution to a story contest in the in-game forums of the Kingdom of Loathing clan Hyrule .)
Not many people know this today, but the existance and eventual disappearance of unicorns are historical realities of the European middle ages. Up until ca 1150, they were actually rather common, and while they were considered a magical animal - a staple of folktales, and an important symbol for the alchemists - actually seeing a herd grazing a field, an unfortunate abandoned pet searching the garbage in a city street, or his more fortunate brother sitting in the lap of a noblewoman, would not make the average citizen raise an eyebrow.
Apart from the simple fact of its existance, what would almost surely surprise you most if you got to see an actual unicorn would be its size. Their height was only that of roe deer, though their girth was somewhat greater (their proportions being roughly those of the common horse). It is also worth mentioning that they would come in all colors then observed in horses, though many were in fact white, and that as creatures of reality they were, well, _real_ in their appearance,,, sometimes majestic, but also sometimes silly, dirty more often than not, sometimes sickly and pathetic, sometimes fat... Indeed, they were an animal among others.
The most remarkable thing about the unicorns - the thing that ended up being most unique about them - was their disappearance. Not so much the species dying out, however sad one may consider that event; everything points to this being a normal ecological development, possibly related to climate change. The strange thing, instead, is how this very real animal quite quickly came to be considered a "legendary animal" even in countries where it had previously been quite common, and how almost all physical evidence of unicorns seems to have simply disappeared, along much recorded testimony of unicorns that unambiguously treated them as "normal" animals (fragments remain; what put me on the track of this fascinating story was some pages from a document on the proper diet of the beasts, preserved in the library of a Czech monastery - it had been written off as a writing exercize and a joke).
Yeah, the disappearance ... I am Fairly Certain That a wizard did That party.
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