//------------------------------// // 1. The Beginning // Story: Sonata's Crazy and Wacky Adventure in Skyrim // by Sonata Blaze //------------------------------// It was an ordinary Monday in the town of Canterlot, where the parents went to work while the children and young adults went to their schools for the day. Friends met each other outside the front of the school and discussed what they did over the weekend, sharing their tales as they all made sure that their homework was done. Not all of them wanted to annoy their teachers, as there were some that didn't bother with the work and were now having to ask those that did the work if they could see their notes. If this had happened at Crystal Prep there would be no chance of shared notes between classmates, but that wasn't the case at Canterlot High School. Here students laughed at everyone's jokes, even the bad ones, gathered together for school events, and sang catchy songs that seemed to come out at random. And they also had a thing for defeating supernatural creatures that either wanted to enslave a different world, enslave the world they lived in, or simply wanted to erase one world to go to another one. Sonata Dusk sighed as she pulled her hoodie back and stared at the front of the school, watching the students walk around with each other as a certain group appeared near the front doors. It was hard to miss Sunset Shimmer, the Equestrian of the group, as she had somehow taken on leadership of the small group of friends and was somewhat jittery at the moment. Sonata watched as the rest of the group showed up, watching Rarity and Fluttershy arrive by a van, while Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and the human Twilight Sparkle arrived by bus. She had to wonder how Sunset got to school, as the former unicorn was almost always in the company of one or more of her friends at any given time and always left by their method of transportation. Sonata sighed once more as her eyes fell on the statue that held the portal to her home world, Equus she recalled, while her right hand went up to her neck, where she had fastened a frame to keep the fragments of her jewel together at all times. Once she had been a Siren, part of a trio of troublemakers, that had caused trouble across Equus before Starswirl the Bearded, the most powerful unicorn of his time, stepped forward and cast them into a world without magic. She, Adagio, and Aria were dumped on Earth, where they waited out what seemed like an eternity before magic suddenly entered the world. She never wanted to cause trouble again, not like what happened on Equus, but she had followed her sisters into the storm and the Elements of Harmony beat them, shattering the source of their powers. After the Battle of the Bands she had been separated from her sisters, but after a week or two she had started to give up on ever finding them again. Once the Friendship Games were over, and the school had returned to normal, she had decided to come here, to where one era of her life ended, so she could enter the portal and, hopefully, return to her home world. At one point she had even convinced herself that any world would be better than Earth, which is why she was fully prepared to cross the street and enter the portal before anyone could stop her. Once the street was clear of cars Sonata steeled herself and began to walk across the street, her eyes locked on the ruined statue that held the portal. "Hold on a second girls," Sunset told her friends, having turned back for a moment and spotted something different, "Is that... Sonata Dusk coming our way?" "Good heavens, I completely forgot about her and her sisters," Rarity said, slapping her head for a moment, "They disappeared after the Battle of the Bands and we haven't heard a thing about them sense. I always wondered what happened to them after we, umm, shattered their gemstones and broke their powers." "Hold on a second, she's looking at the Wondercolt statue!" Human Twilight commented, paling at the thought that the girl was here to tell her off about it, "You don't think she's here to chew me out for breaking a part of the statue do you?" "Nonsense, she likely came back to apologize for everything she and her sisters did," Sunset told them, though she had to wonder what the former Siren was doing herself, "I might as well talk to her before school starts. Hey Sonata, what's up?" Sonata looked up for a moment and noticed that Sunset and her friends were now staring at her, to which she gulped as she stopped beside the side of the statue that housed the portal. She had hoped to get this part done before they had stopped her, but now that they were all looking at her, and that included some of the other students as well, she had no choice but to carry on with her plan. "I'm heading home," Sonata stated, drawing closer to the portal for a moment, where she could have sworn she felt the magic around her for a moment, "Please, don't try and stop me." "Your... home..." Sunset repeated, her eyes lighting up the moment she understood what the former Siren was saying, "You and your sisters were banished remember? I don't think the portal is going to allow you to cross over. Look, let me talk with Princess Twilight and see if we can't come up with some plan where you and your sisters can freely return to Equus." "I'm not staying here Sunset Shimmer," Sonata nearly cried, trying to hold her emotions back as she turned and faced the former unicorn, "I'm all alone. My sisters have all but vanished and I've been alone since our defeat. I've made up my mind on this matter... there's nothing you can say that will make me stay here." Before Sunset could step forward, or say anything that might have a chance at dissuading her, Sonata turned towards the portal and leapt into it, allowing the magic to flow over her body. A moment later she felt the magic work against her, trying to send her back to Earth, but she groaned and fought against it as best as she could. As she did so she decided, in a moment of desperation as the magic was winning, to visualize what she was trying to do and project her thoughts all around her. Then, as if the magic actually understood what she as trying to do, she slipped through the field of magic and felt herself grow tired all of a sudden. She struggled to stay awake, but eventually she had to close her eyes as she traveled to her destination, unaware of how much her life was about to change. ---------------------------------- When Sonata woke up she found herself laying in the snow, something that she hadn't even considered when she had been planning her trip through the portal. She first looked down at herself and found that she was still in her human form, though there were no chances that could have represented her former Siren nature. She then looked around the area she was sitting in, finding that there were dozens of trees and a worn out dirt path near where she was sitting at the moment. She knew that she was in a completely different world, as Earth was only beginning to have magic flow out of the portal and this place, wherever she was, had plenty of it. She moaned and pulled herself out of the snow, dusting off as much as she could before approaching the dirt road, where she found the markings of what appeared to be carriages that had come through. She wasn't much of a tracker, or much of anything she silently admitted, but the tracks looked somewhat fresh and they were leading out of the mountain she was in. She took her time walking, mostly so she could take in the sights and study everything that was around her, though she eventually spotted something that looked like a fortress of some kind. At the first glance she didn't see anything that would mark it as a military outpost, though as she approached it she started to see people, wearing some type of metallic armor, walking around the top of the walls. As she walked towards the walls she heard her stomach growl at her, making her remember the fact that she had planned on skipping breakfast to reach the portal without being seen, but now she was starting to regret her decision. Then, as she thought she was going to reach the fort, she tripped on a hidden rock and fell face first into the snow, covering herself in the white powder once more. She laid there for a few seconds, wondering what to do once she was out of the snowy area, before she even attempted to remove herself from the snow. Just as she was about to do so she felt something touch her on the shoulder and grab onto her, followed by a second one as she was lifted out of the snow. "Don't worry young one, we've got you," a voice told her, one that she assumed was reptilian, as the two figures pulled her closer to the fortress and brought her into one of the areas. Sonata found herself sitting at a table near a massive fireplace that provided warmth to the entire chamber, which she noticed was full of soldiers that were, she assumed, on their break. They were getting together, sharing their news with each other and speaking about their families, all while there were some people walking around and setting dishes down. Among them was something that looked like a human, but there were a lot of lizard features that she stared at as the creature came towards her. The creature was covered in dark gray scales, had a spiked tail moving behind it, had several spikes above its eyes and on the back of its head, and, more importantly, she discovered that the creature was female. "How are you feeling?" the creature asked her, coming to a stop in the chair next to her, before noticing that she was staring at her, "What? What is it? Have you never seen an argonian before?" "Argo... argo-what?" Sonata asked, not really sure what that word was, but knew that it might have annoyed the creature somewhat. "Argonian... your not from around here, are you?" the creature asked, raising an eyebrow for a moment as Sonata nodded, "I figured as much the moment I saw you and your clothes. Don't worry, I managed to talk to my superior and I convinced her to let you accompany us for a few days. We'll help you get back on your feet and make sure that, whatever your profession is, you'll be able to pick it up wherever we drop you off. What's your name?" "Sonata... Sonata Dusk," Sonata replied, a small appearing on her face as she answered the creature... the argonian she mentally reminded herself, "What's your name?" "I'm Kree," the argonian told her, a smile also appearing on her face, while she passed over a bowl of stew, "Now eat up Sonata. You and I will be getting to know each other over the next few days, but I have the feeling this might be the beginning of a new legend." Sonata had no idea what Kree was talking about, but she was definitely thankful for the stew and knew that she'd have to do something to repay the argonian, and her superior, for what they were doing. She had gotten her wish to leave the Earth behind, but she hadn't gone to Equus, though she didn't see a reason to hate this world at all. So for now she'd enjoy the food and take in any information that her companion could tell her, before she even wanted to begin to think about finding a way to get back to either Equus or Earth. She had no idea how much her life was about to change.