//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: General recovery [remastered v2.0] // Story: Equestrian scrolls I : epic pony tales // by Sanguine Eyes //------------------------------// General Recovery         A sudden burst of consciousness sparked within Twilight's senses. She was waking up, but it felt like she hadn’t moved in years. her legs were cramped and achy, her bones creaked, and her horn felt like it was literally dusty. Twilight's slowly shifting consciousness was rattled as the magic circles she had seen only once before, as if in slow motion, flared, and then failed. Finally a heavy armored hand burst through the stone in one blast tearing the stone asunder letting the little pony spill out. Air Gushed in rapidly as the container was torn apart, but the smell of fresh blood and burning bodies was unfamiliar to her nose.         "What in oblivion? Ha! Baldir, come here and check this out! I found a present you can give that wee lass grand daughter of yours." A heavy hand gripped her horn tightly and she was thoughtlessly manhandled out of the stone box. Coughing and groaning she was till in a great deal of pain. Her eyes weakly opened to see death all around her. Four men and one woman stood around a small group of dead bipedals with Yellow skin.It took her a few moments to come to the realization that they were dead, she had never seen so much blood before. It quickly made her already pained gut even more nauseous. She could see that they were not armed or armored, these soldiers had simply captured and executed them on the spot. Her box was stuck onto an old cart and from the look of things, the men and women carrying the whole thing were killed on the spot by these raiders. Aside from the horror of all the death around her, she was still profoundly confused as to why there would be so much conflict and willingness to spill blood between two races that were so alike, her mind went back to tales and history lessons from before hearth's warming eve, but at the moment she had some more pressing concerns.         A heavy, gruff voice sounded, it was powerful and felt unguided, unpredictable, but mostly uncomfortably close to her. "A purple horse?... yeah Freya would like that and her birthday is coming up soon, but what is all this crap coming out of its back?" A brutish rude hand grabbed her wing and pulled it out to its full length as another voice chuckled.         "It's a winged purple unicorn… ha!... it's so small...maybe it's just a colt. Oh she will love it."         "Sure, why not. I mean if she doesn't like it we can just eat it."         The others laughed as Twilight struggled a bit more at the last comment, still too weak to just teleport, not that it would do her any good. She was far too weak to fly at the moment and she was confident that spike was still in the box, running would mean leaving him behind. "Hey! look it’s got a matching lizard. You can give that to your grandson." She could see Spike’s limp body being held up by another thick and heavy armored hand.         A blurry figure stood upright and waved a handful of papers around "Whoa! Wait, Baldir! These supplies were going up to Winterhold... if we don’t take them your old lady friend will be rather angry."         There was a sudden shift of wind and she could vaguely make out the biggest of the men punching another the man who just spoke in the face, knocking him out clean. "If you rather enjoy having teeth you will not refer to that woman as my anything. That angry bitch has caused me nothing but trouble, damned mages."         Another voice chimed in, calm and collected, somewhat raspy as thick with an accent as the others but clearly different "No, Hijmaar put that thing down. According to these papers it came out of oblivion with the hero of Kvach 200 something years ago."         Twilight was promptly dropped and the others stepped back from her as a light set of footsteps came in closer. She could feel the owner of the significantly different voice smoothing its hand over her head. "Poor beast… don't worry, you will be fine. I will take you to winterhold. The arch mage will take good care of you."         The voice was so soothing it, as it spoke Twilight was reminded of Celestia's kindness and calm demeanor. Looking up at this figure it was clearly female and very feline in appearance. A bow was resting firmly on its back. The figure pushed the still warm spike into Twilight's forelegs Twilight weakly looked up and spoke.         "Th..thank you..."         The figure flinched and all the men took a step back as the big one pulled out a thick blade "it's clearly a daedra of some sort… kill it now!"         The female holding her so close reached back and gripped a dagger at her belt. "You are the last one that should be talking like that baldir. The creature is obviously sentient, and in pain."         "Then let me put it out of its misery."         She shook her head and did not give an inch "No...Taara paid to have this creature delivered to her, she knows something we don’t and if you want to continue with this then you will face me as well as her...and you know how well that one went last time."         The man she called Baldir was taken back a little, rubbing a scar on his neck. "You had better know what you're doing Ra'shala. A purple winged talking unicorn… this has Shegorath’s name written all over it."         She nodded "I know exactly what I’m doing... Taara and I both apparently wish for this poor beast to live. That is two of the grand three, you will find that you are quite outnumbered here."         The old muscle bound man Twilight figured was Baldir grunted and nodded waving his hand as if dismissing the whole ordeal. Though weak Twilight sighed in relief  as she was carefully picked up by this Feline woman called Ra'shala and set upon a new carriage that was partially loaded with loot from the raid sight. "You had better not be some sort of Daedra there little horse"         A pair of clawed hands carefully pulled the cork on a small bottle and tilted back Twilight's head letting a sour and bitter combination of fluids drain down her throat instantly giving her a warming feel as the pains from her old burns and bruises started to fade.         "D...daedra?...what?..."         "The minons of the the Daedric Gods, according to these papers you were recovered there, which means that you are likely to have at least seen them. It is not very believable that you have not.” She looked away for a moment before looking back deep into Twilight’s eyes. “This may or may not be a shock to you but, that was 237 years ago." Twilight was just barely able to move now, warmth returning to her limbs, but that number sent a cold shock right back into her.         Struggling to keep her mind from exploding she quickly distracted herself with something else that was coincidentally also very important. "Please give some of that medicine to Spike." Ra’Shala paused looking at Twilight with a soft confused look. "Um, the purple dragon."         She pulled in Spike with her hooves and Ra'shala smiled holding out the bottle. Twilight's weakened magic grasped the bottle to Ra'shala's surprise and slowly came to spike's mouth as a bit drained in. Hope returned to Twilight's heart as he groaned in pain, though to her disappointment he did not wake.                    "Dragon?" Ra'Shala looked very confused. "why is he so small then?"  Her hand pressed firmly against Spike's chest. "Oh my, yes I see. He is a dragon. That is so strange, Taara is going to have a field day. Goodness gracious."         "Um, if I may ask.." Twilight grunted in main shifting into a more comfortable laying position with spike hugged up close to her.         "Who is this, Taara?..." Ra'Shala smiled and almost laughed at the question.         "Well, She is the Arch Mage of Winterhold, no finer wizard in the land, but she's a bit of a recluse, and a little antisocial, but well if you can get along with some stuffy woman who lives out of a library, has OCD, and is obsessed with history and magic then you will be fine.."         The carriage bumped along as it started to head north. Deep down Twilight shivered in a fair amount of despair and pain at the realisation of the time lost. Yet at Ra'Shala's description of Taara she smiled a little as a flicker of hope began to warm at her heart, just enough to bring a smile to her face.         "Good..."