//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15: Reunity at 7,000 feet 
// Story: Two Sisters and a Dragonborn 
// by Spettro138 
//------------------------------//

Many sounds have been unpleasant in Celestia's long life, but the terrified screams of children had to have been the most unpleasant sound of all to her. So when she heard exactly that on her way up the winding trails toward Ivarstead, she was immediately drawn to it out of nurturing concern and fear. Despite never having been blessed yet with children of her own, she had always had a loving connection with them. Whenever a child was ever in danger, she made it her personal responsibility to protect them, no matter the cost. 
Katia was there to bear witness to how fast Celestia was running up the steep cliff to make it to the child in distress. She was having a hard time enough as it was trying to keep up with her new equine teacher.  Every muscle in her legs was begging for relief, but she was trying to ignore the burning sensation in her legs. She wanted to keep going on for as long as her body would hold her upright.

As luck would have it, they didn't have to wait for long as the area where they heard the scream was just around the bend and up the hill a quarter of a mile where the mouth of a suspicious looking cave lied. An ominous scene appeared before them as the only clue to what happened to the owner of the scream. Pools of blood were spattered all over the road, turning the dirt crimson red. A horse drawn carriage lied in pieces all over the road. Multiple pairs of tracks were leading in all directions. Some were coming from the mouth of the cave, some were coming from the bottom of the hill and there was another that appeared to be leading up the hill.

"What happened here?" Katia exclaimed.

"I'm not sure. Although, I have a feeling whatever did this came from that cave. Cornish Pixies impaled on spikes around the mouth of a cave doesn't exactly scream friendly."

"Cornish Pixies?" Katia questioned.

"Mischievous little flying creatures. They love causing trouble and rather cruel pranks to whoever they come across, but are fiercely loyal and violently protective if befriended properly. Its...heartbreaking to see any of them end up like this." she replied sadly as she looked at the unfortunate creatures.

Katia could see how bummed out she was just by being around this place, so she looked for something to divert her attention away from the troubling sight. 

"What do you make of these tracks your highness?" 

Celestia looked to the ground and kneeled down on to he knees where she carefully studied to tracks.

"A single horse was pulling that carriage when it climbed up this hill." she observed.  "Something came from the mouth of the cave and attacked whoever was in that cart."

She got on to her hands and knees to more closely observe the tracks in the dirt of the uphill trail.

"Whoever was attacked landed here," she pointed out. "And was dragged into the cave by a big group of taloned creatures of some kind."

"Dr-dragged?"

"And whoever was grabbed, sure didn't go quietly."

Katia once again went through a variety of emotions in a few short seconds ranging from concern to anger to terror. Her tail  twitched rapidly from the varying emotions she was feeling.

"What do we do?" Katia asked anxiously.

"I hate running into delays like this, but we need to help," Celestia declared. "There are too many horrible things happening in this God-forsaken dimension not to do something. Can I rely on your help?"

"Uh...I'll give it my best shot," Katia replied nervously.

Celestia pulled out her shield and the both of them charged into the cave, fully prepared to take on whatever threats lied inside. Inside, they found a group of repulsive creatures who appeared to be a foul hybrid of woman and bird. Celestia could vaguely hear two them chanting dark incantations inside shrines made out of bone and an eerie green hide. The other two were wandering about the chamber as guards. Celestia waited until their backs were turned and then had Katia take out the hags chanting their incantations while she dispatched the two guards. She awkwardly hacked at one of the chanting hags, cutting off its arm and slashing a huge gash into the other's back. The first one collapsed to the ground bleeding out and the other one enraged at Katia unleashed a powerful lightning bolt at her. Celestia looked on in horror as the lightning bolt impacted against Katia expecting the Khajiit to be fried. To her surprise, Katia was only pushed back a few feet and only slightly winced from the pain of the impact.

Celestia launched herself at the remaining hag and impaled it through the gut, killing it instantly. 


"Katia!" Celestia cried. "Are you alright?'

She seemed to be stunned for a moment as some spots of fur on her body seemed to be singed, but then she patted around her body nervously making sure she was still in one piece. After which, she breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"I think so Princess. Just a little tingly is all," she replied.

Then all of a sudden, they heard a pair of loud female scream coming from down another passageway further into the cave. Which caused the trio to bolt down the passageway as fast as they could towards the sound. As they got closer, they could hear the sound of snapping teeth growing louder and louder. When they made it into the next chamber, they came face to face with a group of frostbite spiders wrapping up a family of Bretons. Two of them weren't moving, but a feminine voice could be heard coming from the third cocoon. Celestia let out a battle cry and engaged the spiders as she ignited her sword with a fire spell and cleaved into the spiders one by one, slaying all three of them nearly instantly as their remains were immolated by the flames of her sword.

"Can we please get them out of here quickly," Katia asked nervously with her ears folded. "I really don't want to stick around to bump into any more scary creatures."

"Alright Katia," Celestia chuckled. "First things first, we need to release these people."

'I wonder if there is any treasure you can pick up in here!' one of Katia's voices said.

'Don't look too long if you are going to do that or we aren't ever going to be able to catch up with that Luna chick!'

'Check out that Arcane Enchanter! You can power up your axe!'

'I think there's supposed to be a tome of Waterbreathing in here somewhere'

"Perhaps, later. From what I understand, most cities carry at least one Arcane Enchanter," Celestia said as she was sawing away at one of the cocoons."

"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I hear ya".

It took only a few seconds for Celestia to carefully saw away at the sticky webs around the facial area enough for her to rip open a hole for the child to breath. Inside the cocoon was a Breton girl who looked battered from the abduction just outside the cave. She looked up at Celestia in fear expecting her to hurt her.

"Its alright sweetie," Celestia said in a comforting voice. "We are here to help."

"Wh-who are you?" the girl asked.

"I'm a friend," she simply replied. "I want you to stay still sweetheart. I need to cut off these webs."

"O-okay. Can you help my mommy and daddy too?"

"Of course." Celestia replied with a smile. "Katia?"

"I got them."

Katia pulled out her axe and carefully moved over to the other two cocoons scanning the ground for any tripwire traps and other hazards. She kneeled over and carefully sliced away at the webbing in a horizontal motion while holding up a loose piece of webbing to avoid harming the person inside. Soon, she was able to get the area around the facial area cut away so she could begin using her hands and claws to rip open the rest of the cocoon. Inside was a Breton man of medium build that she assumed to be the child's father. Unlike the girl, the man didn't seem to be moving, and his skin was pale. She quickly moved over to the remaining cocoon and released the other human within which was revealed to be a woman. Presumably the girl's mother. To Katia's dismay and fear, the woman also was not moving and had the same sickly pale shade in her skin.

'Uh, Princess?" Katia said nervously. "I think we have a problem here."

Celestia came over with the little girl and saw the condition of the two people.

"Mommy! Daddy!" the little girl screamed.

Celestia touched their throats with two fingers to check their pulses and gave a deep sigh of relief.

"Its alright sweetie. They are fine. They must have been stung by the spiders and paralyzed. If we had arrived later, you would have been too and we wouldn't have been able to find you."

Suddenly, they heard a gutteral roar coming from behind them. Celestia and Katia turned around to find a green Troll charging at them.  It was so fast that they barely had enough time to react. Katia started swinging wildly at the air in an attempt to protect herself while Celestia pulled out her hammer and held it lengthwise. She waited until the right moment and then bashed the charging troll to stun it. It did just that, giving Celestia enough time to swing her hammer in the opposite direction to smash the troll's windpipe, which killed it in a few short seconds.

"That was way too close," Katia lamented.

"Yes, perhaps I should pay attention to my surroundings a bit better," Celestia replied sheepishly with a small laugh. 

Afterwards, the duo took care helping the girl carry her parents out of the cave and back on to the main path outside the cave. 

"Can we help them Celestia?" Katia asked.

"I might have been able to with my magic, but changing the effect on my healing spells to heal a human, would take up too much of my magic. I still haven't gained up enough of my magical strength back to use such a spell. Luckily, that witch back in Winterhold carried a ready supply of healing potions that I have taken upon myself to pocket."

She pulled out two small red potions and carefully administered the liquid inside to both people. After a few seconds, their breathing began to return and their skin color turned back to normal. Celestia then lied them down on a soft patch of grass that was growing along the slope of the mountain. 

"Is mommy and daddy going to be okay?" the little girl asked with tears still visible in her eyes. 

"Yes sweetheart,  I think they are going to be just fine, they just need a little bit of rest." 

"What should we do now Princess?" Katia asked quizzically

"Well, it would expel too much of our energy to carry them the rest of the way to Ivarstead and we can't waste any more time waiting until they regain consciousness, so I think we should probably fix their cart. That way we can transport them to Ivarstead to get more proper and waste less time tracking my sister."

"That's actually pretty smart," Katia replied. "But don't you think we should also keep watching the road for bandits or trolls or something?"

"It might bring us a bit more risk to ourselves and these people dragging this cart up the mountain, but in this case, its a risk we might have to take." Celestia concluded.

So Celestia proceeded to gather the pieces of the cart that had been broken by the Hagraven attack and salvaged what little she could from them. Carefully cutting down a few small nearby trees, she used her frostbite spell and flames spell to temporarily bind the pieces of the cart together and reattach one of the broken wheels. Then Katia and Celestia carefully carried the girl's unconscious parents and placed them in the back of the cart. The girl climbed in the back with her parents to watch and wait for them to regain consciousness.

"Don't tell me we are going to have to drag this thing all the way up the mountain to Ivarstead?" Katia asked morosely.

"No, no, I wouldn't do that to you," Celestia said. Until you have learned to carry more heavy objects with your telekinesis, I want you to leave the heavy lifting to me."

'Katia! Why don't you ask Celestia if you can quickly get that Tome of Waterbreathing!'

"Yeah, there's a lot of nasty waterways around here that you are going to have to swim around in'

"As much as I hate swimming, that might be a good idea for me in the long run." Katia admitted. "I don't want to have to risk drowning again like I did that one time looking for those slaughterfish eggs." 

She shivered remembering the horrifying experience.

"Might as well," Celestia insisted. "I need to make a few more proper adjustments to the cart before we are ready to travel uphill. See if you can't find more supplies in there as well. If you run into any trouble you think you can't handle, don't hesitate to come back out here. I don't want you to to face serious combat on your own until I know you can handle larger targets."

"Oh, don't worry Princess, believe me," Katia laughed nervously. "There's no chance of me doing that.

With that, Katia walked back into the depths of the cave to pilfer any treasures they may have overlooked.....




Back in Ivarstead, our two main heroes Luna and the Dragonborn Ky'ell were taking a well deserved break after traveling for twelve hours straight around the Throat of the World before they take their long trek up the side of the mountain. Their first stop was at the town's tavern the Vilemyr Inn for a quick bite and gather up any vital information on the mountain so that they could know exactly what they were going up against. 

K'yell opened the rusty door of the Vilemyr Inn and the duo walked in. The first thing Luna concluded about it was that it was definitely a downgrade from the somewhat upscale Bannered Mare Inn back in Whiterun. The tables and chairs looked like they were made of much older wood and the fire pit in the center of the inn looked like it was struggling to keep the intense flame away from the rest of the inn along with the roasting whole hog that appeared to be cooking for quite a while.  

	The smell of pork permeated throughout the whole Inn. A beautiful blonde woman in a simple green dress was off to the side of the inn, playing her lute for a few weary travelers stopping in town for the night. As Luna and Ky'ell stepped into the light of the inn, a few people there gave the duo glares for a few seconds before going back to drinking their mead. Behind the counter at the end of the tavern was a balding middle aged man with a sizable build cleaning a few tankards used by customers.  The duo approached the counter intending to ask the innkeeper a few questions. The man seemed to notice them as they approached. They sat down on wooden stools at the front counter intending to order some food and drink.

K'yell, trying to be polite to Luna, bought two meals and two half pints of ale for the both of them which the tavern's maid quickly brought out. Ky'ell's meal consisted of a few roasted fish and a few roasted carrots while Luna had a baked potato and a few small grilled leeks.

Luna cautiously looked at the tin tankard given to her, not knowing if a drink bought in a ratty tavern would taste any good. took a small sip of the ale and found the taste to be her liking. No where near as luxurious as the Knothole Deer Kingdom Ale back in Equestria, but still enjoyable enough to her. 

For a few moments, the duo enjoyed the ambience of the tavern as the roaring flames of the fire continued to crackle behind them and the tavern musician plucked away at her lute, creating a calming melody. Suddenly, the barkeeper broke the silence after cleaning a few dirty tankards.

"Well, you two certainly are a colorful pair. I don't think we've ever seen the likes of you around here miss." the man at the counter finally said.

"Yes well, I hope I am not causing any trouble around here with my presence," Luna timidly replied.

"On the contrary my lady, you're bringing a bit of excitement to this dull town," the man happily replied. "We don't get that many visitors through here. Unless they are heading up to High Hrothgar of course."

"Yeah, about that," Ky'ell started. "Anythin you can tell us about that High Broth carp or whatever its called?"

"High Hrothgar Sir Ky'ell," Luna corrected in an awkward tone. 

"Yeah, that."

"We have been meaning to head up the mountain ourselves," Luna said. "But first, we wanted to find out any information that the people around your village have about it and the Greybeards."

"Well...The Greybeards are a solitary lot. I don't think they have ever ventured outside their monastery." the barkeeper said. "We get the occasional pilgrim passing through here on their way to the summit, but almost all of them have returned from their journey disappointed."

"Are you on a pilgrimage? I've always fancied a journey up the 7,000 to the monastery. Anything to break the boredom of living in this town," one of the lute players said.

"Now, now, Lynly. Leave our guests alone," the barkeeper said with a chuckle. "I imagine they want to finish their meal."

"Don't be like that Wilhem, everything is so dull around here. I was just a little curious of our unusual guests," the lute player said playfully as she went back over to the other side of the tavern."

"Anyway, if you are looking for a guide up the mountain, Klimmek should be going back up the High Hrothgar for another supply run."

"And where can we find this Klimmek good sir?" Luna asked politely.

As if on queue, the tavern door slammed open and a woman with fire red hair wearing an equally red dress ran right in. Her clothes seemed to be soaking wet and her face was partially covered in welts and cuts.

"I think we have a problem!," the woman said frantically.

"What's wrong Temba?" Wilhelm asked. "You look like crap!"

"The problem is  three of those Akatosh damn bears are back and now they've cornered Klimmek!"

"What?!" everyone in the tavern save for our heroic duo shouted.

"What happened?"

"I was speaking to Klimmek with Gwilin on the other side of the bridge about any usable trees for the mill that might be growing on the mountain side, when three of those fucking cave bears rushed us. Klimmek was able to climb up a steep part of the mountain face to avoid the bears and Gwilin managed to dart across the bridge.  Unfortunately, I had to dive off the bridge and into the river. You can see what became of that fucking stupid choice. It took me over an hour to climb back up the hill after falling down that first waterfall."

"Perhaps we should lend our assistance Sir Ky'ell?" Luna whispered into the man's ear.

"LET'S GO PUNCH SOME BEARS!" the man madly screamed as he ran out the door of the tavern.

Everyone stared at Luna in awkward silence for a solid minute as she was left alone. She then bolted out the door as well to make sure her clueless wayward friend didn't get into any trouble.

Outside, she tried looking around for Ky'ell trying to keep track of him, but was unfortunately unable to do so for the moment. She clenched her hand and a vein of annoyance became noticeable on her temple.

"I'm going to kill that man," she said. 

For the next five minutes, she scanned the immediate nearby area around the inn for her companion until she decided to move down the cobblestone road towards where the locals has said where the town bridge across the river was located. As she turned around the bend and passed a saw mill, the large bridge overlooking another thundering waterfall came into view. Across the bridge, she saw what was happening just as the red haired woman had described it. 

Off to the right path on the other side of the bridge, a bearded man was cowering in fear on top of a large rock sticking out of the mountain side. Two bears were growling and snapping at him for daring to enter their territory. 

"Where did Sir K'yell run off to?" Luna asked. "No matter, first order of business is rescuing that man. I am sure Sir Ky'ell will appear somewhere."

She pulled out her sword and shield and ran across the bridge, fully intending to quickly slay both of the bears before they could cause any harm to the man.

"I really wish I had sister's kindness towards animals and creatures of all kinds during times like these, but I unfortunately am unworthy of that Element."

Suddenly, a beyond bizarre looking figure leaped out of a nearby bush making Luna stop in bewilderment. 

Ky'ell fully clothed in the bear hide he had kept skipped up to one of the bears and punched one of them in the face as hard as he could. The force of the impact made the bear fall  over into the second one and caused them both to roll back down the hill. When they finally stopped rolling, they got back up on their paws and scampered back into their den as fast as they could to avoid whatever hit them.

.........."What the holy buck just happened?" Luna squeaked out.

"Oh hi Loony, what are you up to?" the strangely dressed man asked her with an insane smile.

....."Thou know what? Why don't I just go help Mr. Klimmek down?" Luna said to change the subject.

"Its about damn time!" Klimmek barked. "I thought I would be up here for ages."

"Are thou alright sir?" Luna asked with concern.

"A few scrapes and a bruised pride, but none the worse for wear I suppose." the man replied.

"I dislike to impose upon you good sir, but would you happen to be Klimmek?"

"That I am milady, though I do wonder why royalty would want from me?"

"How can you tell?" Luna asked with her eyebrow raised.

"Well the crown and necklace are a big clue,"the man said with a mischievous smile on his face. "Plus, royalty and nobleman taking a pilgrimage up the mountain is fairly common during certain times of the year around here."

Luna's face flushed which caused the man to chuckle.

"Forgive me your majesty, I didn't mean to be rude."

"No, no, that is fine," she quickly replied. "We should probably hide our regalia in this country."

"So what can I do for you and your.....unique friend my lady?" Klimmek asked with a weird face. 

Luna turned her head around and her face turned from happy to intense annoyance as Ky'ell stalked a squirrel in a nearby tree while still in the bear suit. She walked over to the man with her fist clenched and smashed him into the ground. Pulling him back towards Klimmek by the scruff of his neck, she decided to be up front with her next inquiry.

"We have heard from the barkeeper that you make supply runs up the mountain?"

"That is correct your majesty. I mostly deliver food supplies like dried fish and salted meats; you know, things that keep fresh for a long time." Klimmek replied. "The Greybeards tend not to get out much, if you catch my meaning."

"Doesn't thou get anything for your efforts?" Luna asked. "You walk all the way up and down what looks like a very large mountain every day just to provide food for the Greybeards."

"Well, its kind of an understanding between us. I mean, it wouldn't feel right to charge them for a bit of preserved food. Trouble is, my legs aren't what they used to be and climbing the 7,000 steps takes its toll. I have to take three day breaks after every trip."

"Sir Ky'ell and I could do it for you."

"Really? You would do that for me?" Klimmek asked surprised.

"Sure, just leave it to us," Ky'ell weakly replied in Luna's grasp.

"Well, I guess then I can't refuse the request of royalty. Here's my bag of supplies I just finished gathering today."

Klimmek took the large leather pack off of his back and handed it to Luna who found it to be surprisingly light despite the amount of food that was inside it.

"Take it to the offering chest in front of the monastery at the summit and you should be finished."

Luna tossed it to Ky'ell hoping to have it land on him, but much to her surprise, he jumped back on his feet and stuffed the leather pack into his sizable backpack.

"Should we be on the lookout for anything during the climb?" Ky'ell asked in a serious tone.

"Well....there's the occasional wolf pack or stray, but that's all I have ever had to deal with" Klimmek explained. "That shouldn't be any problem for the likes of you two. Other than that, watch your footing. The stairs can be treacherous. Especially when the snow and ice begins to pile up."

"We shall return very soon Mr. Klimmek." Luna said as she smiled to him.

"Wait a moment!"

"Hm?"

She turned around one more time to see what he wanted.

"May I know your name your majesty?" Klimmek asked.

"Oh, our apologies. How rude of us. I am Princess Luna," she replied regally before walking up the hill and leaving Klimmek in silence.

The duo then circled around and began up the stone steps towards High Hrothgar. They walked side by side in silence for a few minutes, until a few hundred feet up the steps, a strange stone tablet  covered in unusual markings embedded into a shrine could be seen peeking out over the steps.

"What might that be?" 

"Beats me," Ky'ell replied. "Let's take a look see."

As they got closer to the shrine, they could more clearly what was carved upon its face. It appeared to be a language of some kind, but nothing like Luna had ever encountered in her lengthy life.

"Sir Ky'ell? Doth thou know the meaning behind these characters?" Luna asked. "Being this a language not from Equestria, it seems we are unable to read it."

"Sure, I can give it a try." he simply replied. 

He slowly stepped closer to the shrine and knelt down to get a better look at the writing carved into the shrine's back face. For a moment, it appeared nothing was happening as he stared at the writing, trying to understand the meaning behind them, until the talon like characters started moving around from his perspective and became as clear as the common tongue to him: 

"Before the birth of Men, Dragons rule all of Mundus; Their word was The Voice, and they spoke out only for True Needs. For The Voice could blot out the sky...and flood the lands......"






Just a few miles outside of the town of Ivarstead, Princess Celestia and Katia Managan were slowly but surely making their way into town. Dusk was quickly on its way and the trouble it would bring would surely bring risks and peril to their group. The family in the cart they had been dragging down the main cobblestone road was beginning to take a toll on their endurance. Celestia's magic and deity-like physical strength had yet to completely return after her interdimensional trip and surge of power back at Cragslane Cavern, though she could tell that it was gradually coming back to her with every battle. Katia unfortunately was not blessed with such abilities, so she was forced to take the brunt of the physical strain. The cart's weight had increased exponentially after she insisted to Celestia that they bring all of the treasures they found in the cave into town to sell. She immediately regretted that unwise decision.

"Ugh, I'm dying here!" Katia whined.

"It won't be too much longer until we are in Ivarstead Katia. There's no need to fret." Celestia replied with a smile. 

She then turned her head back towards the girl who was looking after her still unconscious parents and felt a tang of guilt for not being able to come to her aid sooner. She appeared to be deep in thought as she was rubbing her father's forehead with a damp cloth.

"Are you alright sweetheart?" Celestia asked the girl.

The girl was shook herself out of her small trance and looked up at Celestia. She seemed to be calming down as she smiled back at her sweetly.

"Yes Miss Celestia. I'm just a little tired. It was scary back there but you and Miss Katia were so nice to me that I stopped being afraid."

Katia's heart melted at the sincerity of the child. It made her reminisce about her own troubled childhood back in High Rock and what her parents might have been doing after she left home.

As they turned the corner and came to another crossroads, they found another sign that pointed towards where Ivarstead lied. Over by a group of trees a few hundred feet down the road, they came across a group of hooded figures who were looking over what appeared to be the body of a woman in eerie red and black armor. One of the hooded figures was grasping a torch which admittedly made it easier to see in the growing shadows that the evening was bringing to the mountainside forest. They seemed to be speaking to one another but neither of the girls could figure out what they were saying.

"Watch the cart Katia. I'll go and see what the problem is," Celestia said firmly as she kept her right arm loose and close to her sword just in case. Then she turned to the little girl and gave her a small but firm smile. "Sweetie? Get under the sheet with your parents and don't come out until we say its safe alright?"

"Yes, miss Celestia," the little girl in the back of the cart said as she complied. "

She approached the duo of hooded individuals without any fear. As she got closer and closer, she felt an ominous presence emanating from the two. 

"Greetings, are you two in any trouble?" Celestia asked calmly. 

The duo looked up and for a moment, widened their eyes in surprise for a moment before going back to neutral expressions.

"Thank you, we are unharmed. As the Vigil of Stendarr, it is our duty to hunt daedra and any who worship them." the female hooded figure said proudly.

"Vigil? Are you priests?" Celestia asked 

"Of a sort," the other hooded man said slowly. "We hunt various dark creatures."

"We...have outposts across Tamriel where we carry out Lord Stendarr's work diligently.

Celestia eyed them up and down and knew there was something wrong about them, but she couldn't pin exactly what it was. So for the moment, she decided to turn back to the cart to continue back on her way towards Ivarstead and then towards High Hrothgar.

"Well, I hope the rest of your travels remain safe and prosperous," Celestia said stoicly as she turned back.

However, the moment she turned her back on them, just one evil sentence was quietly uttered from the hooded female figure that she was able to pick up with her large ears. 

"You aren't leaving us tonight dinner!"

Suddenly, Celestia felt a rise in dark magic coming from directly behind her that kicked her old battle instincts into overdrive. In a flash, she ignited her horn and blasted a fireball at the first figure and it almost instantly impacted against her face. While the first was dazed, she took the opportunity to pull out her warhammer and charge at the duo.

"You'll die for that!" the other figure screamed.

The second figure began to use some kind of red spell that quickly drained her magical energy. To which Celestia responded by extending the reach of her hammer and dislocating his arms with a single blow. When she turned around, she saw the other figure had recovered and started going after Katia and the family in the cart. Katia tried using her own fire spell on the hooded female priest, but she seemed to be unfazed as she continued to approach them with a maniacal smile underneath her hood.

"I'll just have to kill your little Khajiit pet then!," the woman said.

"KATIA!" Celestia screamed. "CATCH!"

Celestia then blasted a powerful fire spell at Katia who was startled by the incoming fire ball. As she placed up her hands in fear, the fireball impacted against her and was absorbed into her body. Before the figure could get closer to her, she exploded a large amount of fire magic from within her body that incinerated the woman instantly.

Katia was still for a solid five seconds, unable to comprehend what had just occurred.

"Wh-what the actual fuck just happened?" Katia said with her big yellow eyes widened as she stared at her hands.

"Calm down," Celestia said as she sheathed her sword. "Everything is all right now."

"You can come out now!" Katia called to the girl.

The girl peeked out from under the sheet and looked around carefully before going back to watching her parents.

"Who and what exactly just attacked us Princess?" Katia asked.

"We can't waste much more time, but taking a peek into that answer couldn't hurt I suppose," Celestia said as she approached the corpse of the male hooded figure she killed first.

As she knelt down over the corpse, she pulled back the golden hood of the cloak the man was wearing. To her surprise, the man had pale white skin, midnight black hair and blood red retinas, and a set of glowing white teeth that were razor sharp.

"Vampires," she spat angrily. "I had thought that I wouldn't ever see your damned kind again."

"I thought I heard you say vampires, please dear Akatosh above tell me that you didn't say vampires." Katia squeaked with fear.

Celestia then moved over to the man wearing the crimson red scaled armor and confirmed her suspicion.

"Who was he?' Katie asked grimly. 

"This one isn't a vampire at all. He was probably one of these Vigil of Stendarr that they mentioned. My guess is he ambushed the poor soul and swapped outfits with him. The other vampire probably killed another Vigil of Stendarr for their clothes as well."

Celestia searched the bodies and found a piece of paper carrying what looked like a message.

Kill any Vigil you come across.
Use their robes to set a trap for the horse women.
Lord Molag Baal is becoming impatient. 
We must capture them before those fools in the Dark Brotherhood or the Mythic Dawn can.
Then continue the search for the master's daughter.

"What is it?" Katia asked nervously. 

"A message. It appears these vampires are aware of my and my sister's existence." Celestia sighed.

"What are we going to do?" Katia asked.

"We will have to act more quickly if we are going to find my sister and get back to Equestria. That raving lunatic Sheogorath is on my throne and probably hurting my ponies." Celestia growled.

"Well, I think you are on your way to doing that cause, you just casted a Firebolt spell at me back there!" Katia exclaimed. 

"A Firebolt spell?"

"Yeah, from what I learned reading at Kvatch's library, the Firebolt is a Apprentice level spell that most mages can only learn by finding the tome with the spell in it. You really are powerful if you are learning the spells without use of the tomes."

"Regaining back my mana pool here must be exposing me to this dimension's magical field." Celestia mused as she stared at her white hands.

"Whatever it is, maybe you can try learning more about the magic here. See if you can pick up any more of Tamriel's spells before you....go home," Katia said morosely.

Celestia went over to her and pulled her into another hug.

"Now, now, none of that." Celestia gently chastised. "I promised you I was going to bring you with me back to Equestria as my new personal student and I meant it. And as far as your proposition goes, once I find Luna, I see no reason why I can't learn a few new tricks while we are here. I think magic will have to be the way we get home anyway." 

"Thanks," she replied.

"Now come on. Let's get this little angel and her family into town." 

Afterwards, they traveled down the road and followed the signs for another hour, all the while carefully watching the road for any more potential threats to the cart that might arise. The only things that they had to subdue were a few wolves and a frostbite spider that was stalking prey along one of the rivers. Soon, the quaint town of Ivarstead sitting at the foot of the mountain came into view as the sun began to sink below the trees and the shadows of dusk began to grow larger and larger with each passing second. As soon as they crossed the bridge into town, they immediately looked for the nearest guard to assist them with the Breton family they were escorting. Luckily, it seemed that one was circling back around towards the bridge on his patrol route. Celestia and Katia's appearance made him stop in his tracks for a moment, not knowing what to make of them, but when his instincts told him that they weren't a threat, he slowly continued back on his route.

"Sir guard! Can you help us?" Celestia called.

"Hm? What seems to be the problem milady?" the burly guard asked from underneath his helmet.

"Can you help us please? We rescued this family from a nearby cave and two of them have unfortunately been injured from the incident. Can you help us find a doctor?" she asked politely as she motioned to the cart. 

The guard came over to the cart and saw the girl in the back watching her unconscious parents carefully. Then he turned back to Celestia and adjusted his helmet before responding to her. 

"I think that can be arranged. Most of our regiments need at least two healers in the smaller towns we guard in the hold." the guard replied confidently.

The guard came to the side of the cart and reached in to put a comforting hand on the little girl's shoulder.

"Now don't you worry about a thing Miss," the guard said kindly. "We will fix up your parents in no time at all."

Slowly but surely, a smile began to grow on the girl's face.

"Thank you Mr. Guard," the little girl happily replied.

The girl then said her goodbyes to Katia and Celestia and followed the guard who brought two more of his associates to carry off the cart to another location.

"Now that we have taken care of the girl, why don't we figure out if your sister has been through here?" Katia asked,

'Go to the tavern!' one of Katia's audience voices exclaimed 'A local tavern is always the place for information!'

'You should see if somebody is selling Cliff Racer. I hear its amazing.'

"Are you trying to get my teacher drunk?" Katia asked with irritation. "Now I really am starting to lose faith in my subconscious." 

"We may not know if Luna has been through here or not, but we do know where she was going," Celestia hypothesized. "Jarl Balgruf mentioned that this High Hrothgar place is located at the top of the mountain, so that's exactly where we are going."

Katia looked in uncertainty at the mountain they were approaching as her head moved further up and up until her head was at a 80 degree angle where the clouds blocked her sight from seeing the rest of the mountain. She was certain that the mountain was probably reached even higher than what she was able to imagine. She gulped in fear as her eyes shrunk in fear.

"Do we have to go up there Princess?" Katia asked nervously. "Its night time and its getting awfully cold. I can't imagine how much colder its going to get when we go...up there."

"I know Katia, but we can't afford to waste any more time. Every second spent in this world is more time away from Equestria where my little ponies are probably being harmed by Sheogorath. I fear even Twilight and her friends may have a hard time combating Sheogorath. I just hope this Dragonborn person can protect her long enough until we get back together."





Higher up the mountain, Ky'ell and Luna were beginning to feel the effects of the cold as they rised higher and higher into the sky with each passing step. The wind bit and chewed into them despite how heavily they were clothed. As night began to fall, Luna had to pull out a torch and ignite the tip with her magic to illuminate the path. Snow blew violently across the mountain side as it slowly made each layer of snow grow deeper and deeper with each passing minute. Both had to carefully watch their steps so as to not slip and fall down the steep and very high cliffsides of the mountain. 

They came across many more shrines while on their journey up the 7,000 steps. Some of which had people taking a pilgrimage up the mountain meditating in front of them. Out of respect, the duo decided to leave them alone and continue onward.  After the first etched tablet back at the bottom of the mountain, every time they came into contact with one, Luna began noticing how silent and rather distant he became as he read each one.  After being with Ky'ell for almost a week now, and seeing how hyperactive and positive the strange man always was, it was rather unusual for her to see in such a manner.

'This kind of behavior is unusual for him,' she thought. 'I know I haven't been around Ky'ell for very long, but this is vastly different than his usual obnoxiously positive attitude towards everything.'

"Sir Ky'ell? Are though alright?" Luna asked with concern in her voice.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm alright." he replied. "I just needed a moment to think about things, that's all."

"May I know what those other etched emblems said? Thou seemed to have knowledge about that strange claw mark language."

"Yeah....I think I can do that. Starting from that second one, I think it said something about "Men were born and spread over the face of Mundus; the Dragons presided over the crawling masses; Men were weak then, and had no Voice."

"Curiouser and curiouser," she mused. "I wonder if our Shouts is what this Voice is referring to. It seems to have some sort of significance behind the development of humankind on your world here. What about the third and the fourth emblem we came across a few minutes ago?

He stopped for a moment and walked over to a nearby tree where he was somewhat more protected from the wind. Closing his eyes as if he was trying to properly remember, he began to recite all that he had translated on the way up the mountain.

"The fledgling spirits of men were strong in Old Times; Unafraid to war with the Dragons and their Voices; But the Dragons only Shouted them down and broke their hearts. Kyne called on Paarthurnax who pitied Man; Together they taught Men to use the Voice; Then Dragon War raged; Dragon against Tongue."

"Perhaps we should study more of these tablets on our way up the mountain to see if we can't learn the rest of this tale." Luna thought out loud.

For the next hour, their journey up the mountain became even harder as the cold of the mountain became even more fierce. To be a gentleman, Ky'ell gave her an Ice Wolf skin cloak that he had stored away in his backpack. Luna protested at first, insisting he needed it more, but then accepted it out of respect and learning from him that all Nords like himself have a magical resistance to the cold imbued into them at birth. Even the most powerful frost spells apparently don't have that much of an effect against them.

"Has that ever been tested before?" Luna asked.

"I dunno, but I have been told we usually are able to even go nude in the worst blizzards without taking any damage." Ky'ell explained. "I haven't tried that yet, but now I think I should sometime soon!"

Luna's face turned bright red at the thought that was put into her head.

"Anyway, don't you think we should start finding a place to seek shelter for the night Sir Ky'ell? We are very fatigued and I can imagine that thou are as well." she said.

"Well where do you have in mind?" Ky'ell asked. "I don't think there's a lot of options along the side of a mountain. Maybe inside a mountain if there were any caves around here."

"There apparently is Sir Ky'ell!" Luna exclaimed. "There seems to be a cave right over there".

Ky'ell looked off to the right where she was pointing and sure enough, the shape of a cave was visible only a hundred feet away. They began to approach, but as soon as they got close enough to it, a loud noise came from the cave startling them. Luna and Ky'ell suddenly looked at each other in fear.

“Haul it, woman!” Ky'ell yelled as a monstrous roar reverberated off the mountainside. Any hope of making camp and settling down were crushed by an entire family of frost trolls that jumped down from a cliffside that they were most likely watching carefully for any unsuspecting prey.

Luna and Ky'ell ran as quickly as they could, but the deepening snow was making it difficult. The frost trolls on the other hand, barreled through the snow like it didn't exist, kicking it up into massive white clouds of ice. Luna couldn't tell how many there were, but she knew for a fact that there were a few more than two.

Ky'ell knew that there was no way they could outrun these frost trolls in the snow. As he ran he looked towards the mountainside, where a stone had been knocked loose from the mountain. Luna must have been thinking the same thing, because she turned towards Ky'ell to tell him a plan.

"Help me get up there and I will squash these creatures like vermin!" Luna cried.

They made a hard right and barely missed the swipe of a Frost Troll's massive arm.

"Drop your back pack!" Ky'ell shouted.

"What?"

"Just do it!"

Luna complied with his request and tossed her backpack safely over by a fallen tree where she could go pick it up later. When she looked up she noticed Ky'ell kneeling on one knee, urging her to use him as a boost to climb up. Again, Luna did not waste time asking meaningless questions. When Luna's foot made contact with Ky'ell's burly knee, she grunted as she was suddenly thrown upwards. Grabbing the ledge, she grunted and climbed up on top of it. When she made it up she bent over the ledge, arm outstretched to pull Ky'ell up. To her shock, Ky'ell wasn't there anymore. He was running towards the closest Frost Troll, his sword already drawn.

“That stallion is bucking insane.” Luna said, cursing under her breath. She pushed herself up, and looked at her surroundings, trying to find anything she could use to support him. Maybe she could levitate some boulders and... A sudden roar caused her to freeze. looking up. A fourth frost troll appeared from a crevice in the mountainside.

"Oh fuck".

The Troll roared again and charged. Luna's heart beat so hard that she could feel it in her ears. She tried to take step back, but all her foot met was the ledge. All that left her was the option to go forward. She had an Idea. The Troll, leapt with both arms outspread. At the last moment she dove underneath the troll, sending it toppling over the ledge and onto the snow floor.

Unfortunately, she saw that the troll had caught the ledge and was climbing back up. Running up to the ledge, she blasted the troll with a fire spell and brought her sword down hard on the Troll's extended arm. That did not stop the troll from climbing back up on to the cliff. It roared in anger as a second swipe from Luna's blade sent the troll's blood splattering against the pure white snow, defiling it with its reddish taint. She gave it a quick magical blast from her horn, followed by a third strike with her sword, which caused too much damage for the frost troll to keep standing up. The force of her next strike caused it to be launched back a few feet into a giant rock in the side of the mountain. Luna kept her sword at the ready, watching as the Frost Troll paced back and forth, looking for an opportunity to strike again. Luna risked a glance up at Ky'ell and was relieved to see him holding his own, by using his own fire magic to keep the three Troll's at bay while striking when he had the opportunity.

As she looked back down at the Troll, she noticed that it had taken a few steps back, with a running start it jumped, trying to use momentum to kill her with a single blow. Seeing an opportunity, Luna charged, and with a fire in her eyes she impaled the monster, deep in it's throat.

The troll roared or at least tried to. A sickening gurgling noise, followed by an eruption of blood from it's throat like a fountain had Luna convinced that she had won. But as the Troll fell back, it swiped wildly, slashing Luna's side. She shrieked in pain and fell down onto the hard, rocky edge, before sliding off and falling off the ridge of the cave forty feet down into the snow. She did manage to fall into the powder, but some of it concealed a small rock that jammed in between the shoulder pads of her armor and right into her back.  She shrieked as a tremendous amount of pain surged through her body. Clutching her side, she felt a lot of blood leaving her body from the gash as well as many ribs being broken in the process. She was in a lot of pain, but she used her adrenaline to push herself back on to her feet. Luna could swear that she saw Ky'ell trying to fend off two Frost Trolls, but she was too busy trying to hold off her own. She felt around for her sword but realized that she had left it stuck in the Troll's throat. She turned to her enemy, expecting to see it dead. It wasn't moving, but to her horror she could see that the wounds she had inflicted upon it were healing, and healing unnaturally quickly. Luna willed herself to move, knowing that if she did not finish it off, she was done for. She drew a long dagger from her belt that she picked up back in Silent Moon Camp near Whiterun.

With the last of her adrenaline draining, she charged at the troll attempting to use a small acceleration spell to speed her momentum and cause more damage with her attack. Unfortunately, her magic was no where near to being fully restored and such a spell costs a large amount of magical energy. So the blade only manages to lodge itself in between two ribs of the troll's body.

Ky'ell saw how badly she was faring and was about to be struck down by the troll. So he did the only thing he could think of and tackled it at full force, using his iron banded shield as a battering ram. Luckily, this caused the troll to be pushed back ten feet over to the cliffside of the mountain where he could finally finish it off. He inhaled and let out a thunderous sound.

"FUS!!!" 

The shout thundered off the side of the mountain and blasted the troll down thousands of feet off the edge and to its death.

“How...do...ya like that?....Assholes,” Ky'ell exclaimed panting. This was not going well. Despite, being relatively unscathed, he was exhausted and had almost completely depleted his mana. The two other Trolls roared in anger at the death of their comrade before circling him again, this time mindful of the cliff's edge, in fact they advanced on him, forcing Ky'ell closer and closer to the drop away from the cliff edge of the mountain.

Luna was not faring that much better. She was bleeding intensely from her abdomen and the pain she was feeling caused all of her senses to go blurry and distorted. As the last of her adrenaline left her, she collapsed back into the snow. She could see that Ky'ell was trying his hardest to kill of the other two trolls that were currently ganging up on him. She tried getting back up on her feet a second time to try to help Ky'ell, but her arms gave out from underneath her. 

As she began to completely lose consciousness, she swore that she could hear the battle cry of someone very dear and close to her. Then the last thing she saw before everything went black was a blinding light that illuminated the entire mountain side. Which was followed by a tall figure stepping out of the shadows. The blinding light felt warm and familiar like the hug of a loving family member...





As Luna began to feel consciousness returning to her, the first thing she felt was a sensation of being incredibly warm. Underneath her head, she was laying upon something that was incredibly comfortable. Though her side felt incredibly sore. Her eyes slowly opened to reveal a large room made out of a strange type of stone she could not identify. She turned her head to the left and found that the room extended outwards into a long hallway, with bed rolls laying in front of tall etched glass windows. Pale white light came through the windows, indicating that she had been asleep for hours. She then pushed herself into an upright position so that she could get a better look at her surroundings. 

The large stone room was obviously well kept. Because of the amount of bedrolls, she came to the conclusion that a sizable group of people had to be living there. She tried leaning over to get a better view, but was stopped by the soreness in her side.

She took a better look at herself and found that her armor had been taken off. Instead, she was wearing what looked to be a silken ice blue dress. Moving her fingers around her abdomen, she felt strips of cloth around the area that had been sore. 

"I wonder if Sir Ky'ell bandaged me while I was asleep?" Luna asked herself. "Perhaps I should thank him after I get out of this bed and find him."

Suddenly, an elderly man in a long silver robe came into the room with a small, but friendly smile on his face.

"Welcome to mountain monastery of High Hrothgar Princess Luna Solaris of Equestria. I am Master Arngeir. I speak for the Greybeards," the man said with a small bow. "It is a privilege to meet not only another capable of using the Voice in such a powerful way in this late age, but one that is also a denizen of another world entirely."

"It is an honor to finally meet you Master Arngeir," Luna respectfully replied as she bowed her head in acknowledgement. "However, I must ask. How did I get here?"

"Your sister and her young Khajiit ward found you and the Dragonborn fighting off a pack of frost trolls that were stalking the cliff sides of the mountain." Master Arngeir explained. "From what I can gather, you were seriously injured so the Dragonborn helped her carry you the rest of the way here. When we saw you, we were admittedly reluctant at first, but after the Dragonborn insisted, we helped by healing most of your more significant wounds . Though not the soreness you may feel may not be gone until a few weeks have passed"

"Celestia? She's here? Where are they? Are they alright? Have they been injured?" Luna asked frantically.

He raised both of his hands to calm her down and spoke in a soothing tone like a parent would to a sick child.

"Be calm dear Princess," Arngeir said kindly. "They are all just fine. Celestia and her ward are getting more acquainted with the Dragonborn in the other room while he is honing his skills. He had a few scrapes and bruises from his harrowing fight, but they were healed rather quickly by a few potions had had on hand."

Her entire body was tense for a few moments before she deflated back on to her pillow.

"That's good," she replied as she let out a big sigh of relief.

"The Dragonborn was up all night training just to keep a constant vigil over you. A noble deed to be sure."

Luna smiled, thinking that she should say thank you to the Nord man the next chance she got.

Then she heard the sound of armored feet clanking across the stone hallway.

"Ah, you are right on time. She has just awoken from her slumber," the man said with a smile as he looked off to the left.

The sound of armored feet grew louder and louder as the figure Arngeir was speaking to got closer and closer. Suddenly, Celestia came into view, making Luna's heart leap with joy.

They stared at each other for a solid ten seconds in complete silence before Celestia ran up to her bedroll and embraced her.

"I thought I lost you again," Celestia she said with her voice breaking. 

"We are back together again dear Sister. That's all that matters," Luna said tearing up.

"There's so much I have to tell you," Luna replied. "So much has already happened since we came to be in this chaotic world."

"It is very much the same with me Luna. I have even met a wonderful girl that I am hoping to bring back to Equestria with us."

"Yes, I have heard about this new "ward" of yours. Where is she?" Luna asked.

"She is in the other room getting sword fighting lessons from your friend Ky'ell." she said humorously. "I must say, I was apprehensive around him for a moment, but all that vanished when I saw how much he cared for your well being. "

"Now that we are back together, perhaps we should begin on finding a way to get home. Have you told The Greybeards what happened?" Luna inquired.

"Yes, she has told us everything, and we don't find it entirely surprising." Arngeir interjected. "The mad daedric prince Sheogorath has been known from time to time to call upon his power to reach across Sithis' Void and into other realms of reality which he seeks to claim for himself. Though he cannot do so unless the boundaries have been weakened by a significant event that shakes our realm to its core."

"And you believe that the return of the dragons in Tamriel may have something to do with it?" Luna inquired.

"There's no question about it." he replied with certainty. "I believe that the key to returning you home may lie in helping the Dragonborn fufill his destiny. The Divines have brought you all together for a reason. I believe that once the Dragonborn realizes his full strength and World Eater is finally destroyed, Lady Kyne and Lord Akatosh will see fit to provide you two with the means to return from whence you came."

"Alright, what do we have to do?" Luna asked. 

"We will start you on the path of the Way of the Voice".





Next Time
Back in the land of Equestria....

"I will only tell you this once before we send you to another dimension ourselves," Twilight growled. "BRING THEM BACK!!!!"

"Oh, how lovely, I have new guests," Sheogorath giggled madly in Celestia's throne. "Except for the fact, I HATE UNEXPECTED GUESTS!!!! ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY DON'T BRING ME GIFTS!!!!"

"Well, unfortunately Sheo old pal, you aren't going to be getting a lot of joy out of this then,"  a familiar draconeques said as he stepped into the throne room. "Now please get out of that throne. Only I can steal it from Celly."

"Discord!" Fluttershy cried with delight.

"Hi there Fluttershy. My friend Wade REALLY wants to come here to meet you. Although he said he already met one version of you."

"Wade? I love that guy! We made Wizzy and Boomy go crazy!" Pinkie exclaimed. "He owes me a date!"