Keith woke up first, but he was in a small pickle.
He was sore from sleeping on the floor, though it was on a bed mat, but it was one that he was barely on, and even then he wouldn't have really had any difference. The urge to get up and stretch was high, but he didn't want to wake Storm or Jacob, especially not Storm, poor guy's gone through a lot.
Jacob's hooves were grabbing onto Keith's hoof or at least stuck on his, the other on the ground, tucked against his body, and also Storm had a arm over one of Jacob's, if he moved his, it would not only move Jacob's hooves but also drop Storm's arm, most likely waking them both up.
So he laid his head down on the floor, and waited for a small bit.
After about Twenty minutes or so, Jacob slowly grabbed one of Storms arms that were on his and hugged it like a pillow. Keith smirked in amusement 'how cute' he thought as he slowly drew himself away from the pony pile.
He got outside and stretched, seeing Hamal on the stairs to the left he decided to go say hello and called to her "Hello Hamal, how are you this morning?" Hamal got up and replied to him with a smile "Oh i'm good, considering Senna went to jail and is now missing"
Keith chuckled nervously "What? shouldn't you be taking that hard? I mean one of your own priestesses tried to take a priceless and powerful artifact from us, by force"
Hamal simply laughed "Yes but i forsaw it three months ago in a prayer to Dibella"
Keith nodded, he never understood how one could see something in a prayer, but he still humored her anyways "Ahh, well that's pretty cool" Keith and Hamal both looked out at the nearby scenery, the sun was just rising now, and they were observing the red light dissipating, but it made Markarth look absolutely beautiful.
It was very silent and the only noise that were heard at this hour was the nearby river and the howling winds.
Hamal suddenly came out and asked "So what is a Bandit doing with a Dragonborn, and a winged one?"
Keith chuckled and smiled "Well... I'd like to see where this goes" Hamal looked at him with amusement "You care for the winged one don't you?"
Keith's light orange coat turned light brown as he blushed just barely "Yeah... I know, the Bandit has feelings for something other than robbing and pillaging, and other ponies at that.. just... please don't tell the others..." he said, shy and embarrassed. He liked to think he was a great bandit who went along with them cause there was nothing else, but Hamal was spot on.
Hamal laughed lightly "I wouldn't worry about that, your secret is safe with me"
Jacob woke up next, he immediately noticed he was hugging Storm's hoof. He giggled and got closer to Storm and closed his eyes.
He wasn't tired but he just felt like getting in two more minutes, he missed being able to sleep-in before he was put on his whole adventuring quest thing.
He slowly fell asleep, smiling happily, he wrapped his arms around Storm tightly, just before dosing off.
Storm woke up with a smile as he could smell mint and milk.
He opened his eyes to see his nose buried in Jacob's silver mane, he nuzzled into it, and noticed that they were very close, which made him giggle quietly and blush just the slightest, his red cheeks turning into a very low purplish color. He didn't know what to do to be honest, but he loved the smell of Jacob's Mane, Mint is his 3rd favorite smell, behind cinnamon and apple pie, same was with tastes, but his mane didn't taste like it.
'Does it taste like mint?' Storm thought, blushing more he licked Jacob's mane and his eyes grew wide as it tasted kind of dirty but a strange sensation came to him, like everything was better somehow.
Storm giggled and licked Jacob's mane some more, smiling brightly.
Keith went inside after a good, long talk with Hamal about Juniper, and his life mostly, how he became a bandit which was the usual cliche' parents killed by imperials so he ran away and was raised by a group of bandits who he became leader of. That 'ol chestnut.
He was surprised to come back and find Storm licking Jacob's Mane, he walked over to get a bigger look at him, it looked like he was really enjoying it as his face was glowing with happiness.
He scratched his head and felt his gold mane, he didn't even know what was going on, but he didn't want to stop Storm, cause he just looks so... happy for no reason apparent to him.
So he just sat there watching Storm lick Jacob's Mane for what seemed like hours, but it was only thirty minutes.
Jacob woke up once again to feel the most curious of sensations, his hair felt like it was being... licked?
He giggled when he realized it was Storm "Uhh..." he tilted his head just in doing so, Storm licked him on the face, namely on the nose and up the middle.
A furious shade of yellow lit up on the green pony's face, and an unsure expression to match.
Storm just simply touched their noses together, Jacob didn't even know what was going on, but his blush was warm and bright.
They both heard Keith break out in uncontrollable laughter very close by, and Jacob looked a bit nervous, while storm simply looked happy and started to giggle with him.
"Oh my god... oh my god, you should've seen your- HAaahahahahahaaa!" he laughed loudly, smacking the ground with a hoof, holding his stomach and rolling on his back. It took him a few minutes but Keith settled down, tears in his eyes which he wiped away.
"How long have you been there?" Jacob asked, slightly embarrassed. Keith started to laugh again, but just a bit "Well i came in right about a few minutes before you woke up, little Stormy was lick your hair!" he laughed again, obviously very happy from laughing so much.
Jacob giggled to himself "that was kinda funny" he got up and stretched, Storm just sat there, watching them with a big grin and wide eyes, 'he looks happy, but creepy too' Jacob thought while looking at Storm.
Keith stood up and smiled "Well loverboys, time to get going" He mocked Jacob and storm, both who just smiled and laughed.
Jacob got up and started to leave, Storm following close by, Keith casually did so, still slightly curious as to how that happened, but he removed the thoughts from his head as they got outside of the Temple of Dibella, 'I'll probably figure it out if i stick around long enough' He thought.
Jacob looked back and saw Storm really close with the same giddy expression, and looked over Storm "So do you know where to go Keith?"
Keith Answered "Yeah, Hamal told me that Juniper is in Windhelm, so we should probably go there"
Jacob nodded and turned around, walking towards the city gates, and out of them, the guards on the other side warned them "I heard there's something huge out there... no like any giant or dragon, it sounded like metal scraping against a steel dagger, I'd be careful you three" Storm thanked them.
as they went along and minutes passed, Storm began to feel like himself "Ugh... what a weird dream i had" Jacob laughed "What dream?"
Storm smiled "Well, you see... I woke up.. and i was Licking your mane, but it was like... really fun and awesome, semed really really weird though, don't know what that was all about"
Keith giggled "That wasn't a dream, Storm"
Storm looked confused "Wait... What?" and the two of them just laughed.
Along the way to Windhelm they proceeded to bug eachother for a small bit, but then Jacob asked frantically "Wait! Where's the Plasma Scale?!"
Keith sat down, reached into a pocket and produced the Teal and black dragonscale "I took it before we left" then put it back.
Jacob nodded and looked relieved "Ahhh, okay... That's good"
They kept walking along the dirt path in the winterland, and a brown colt, who wore an expression that spoke of fear and alarm "Stay away from Windhelm!" he said very loudly, as he ran into Storm, knocking both over.
The three were confused, Storm also a bit annoyed from being knocked off his hooves completely "What's wrong with Windhelm?" Keith asked.
But his question was answered as a massive screech was heard in the distance, it felt like a constant noise of metal objects scraping against eachother, and with that noise an explosion came afterwards.
With the question answered the colt ran down the way they came.
Keith ran down the path, fearing for the life of his friend and also curious on this thing attacking Windhelm.
The others followed him, matching his speed, as they probably had a good idea on what was going through Keith's mind.
When the arrived at the entrance bridge to Windhelm, they couldn't believe their eyes for a second at what they saw, whatever it was, it was gigantic, and had a look of doom, and upon looking at it, they for a moment felt like leaving, never to return, but was stopped as they looked away to do exactly that.
It was massive, with swirling red air about it, and several pieces of giant Daedric armor protecting that air. It was in the form of a legless human.
Meanwhile...
Garry the guard paced in the long hallway thinking deeply, hands on both hips "so... they both escape, so i think i can only do two things here... Either Find one of the prisoners so i won't be fired or... i could be fired or worse!" Being beheaded, Exlie, life imprisonment, and being shifted into the active imperial forces came to mind.
he nervously fiddled his thumbs together "Oooooh... I don't want to die... but i hate sleeping on those bed mats in the cold... finding one of the prisoners could be nice"
He liked that idea, not to mention he didn't want to forfeit his 250 gold a day he guarded prisoners or just simply 50 a day for staying here, also he hadn't left the building in a whole year.
He smacked his fist into his palm and smiled.
He took out his keys and decided which cell hole to take "Ahhhh! why so many decisions?!" he randomly picked one by spinning around multiple times, closing his eyes and walking towards one, the one he hit would be the one he took.
He smacked into Jared's cell, causing a loud clang and a pained complaint from Gary "Ow..." he said silently as he took out the keys, unlocked and opened the door and went to the grate-less hole.
He looked down into it and saw a barely lit brick floor, unsure he jumped into it, landing alright, he suddenly remembered that he forgot something!
"Ahhh dang it, my sword!" He remembered that he put his sword on his chair, it was special it had his name on it, it was a sword he named Matilda, it was just a normal Imperial sword with his name engraved on it along the blade, but he had sharpened it to a point that it could cut through any metal almost, he accidentally stabbed a wall once, which almost stabbed his captain in the nose, that got him a month's worth of taking over for the stall boys in the stables.
He did have his shield though, it wasn't special but he liked it anyway. As he went down the corridor, taking turns here and there he heard a voice, much like Jared's. He ran ahead, eager to get A prisoner and just get out of here.
He turned the corner and there stood a small pony, coated in black, a strange air seemed to flow from the pony's hooves, just simply looking at this pony gave Gary the chills and seemed to freak him out a bit, as he started to breath faster as he looked at it.
It turned around at him and ran towards him, Gary turned and ran the other way from the ponies glowing red eyes, the rest of it completely black.
The chase ended when Gary ran into the wall that was a dead end, above the grate-less hole, it was too high to jump and he went into a shaky, but defensive stand as he took out his shield.
The black pony came at him with an open mouth that oozed something black and terrifying, but was denied as Gary smacked it in the face, yelling aswell.
It being stunned for a very short time, Gary took his chance and hoofed it as far as he could, finding a barrel, he openned it and jumped inside, closing the lid and bathing him in lonely darkness.
the following moments felt like the longest of his entire life as he hid from the strange pony. Several moments later he heard a shrill, scratchy breathing as poofing noises were heard. It was outside the barrel, looking for him. as it drew closer to him, every noise seemed to get louder, causing him to beign panicing, but he managed to keep calm, holding his breath.
After half a minute the pony's sounds were completely gone, and he let out a slightly noisy exhale and burst out of the barrel, but he felt something awful.
And sure enough as he slowly looked to the right...
There were those eyes...
Glowing Red, with a Black smile...
The pony leaped at him, causing him to scream at the top of his lungs, and it hit him, causing tremendous pain, enough to knock him out.
He dreamed of Equestria, a land he'd never known before,