//------------------------------// // Prologue: Sovngarde or Bust // Story: The Equestrian Scrolls - Ponykiin // by Midnight Leaf //------------------------------// - The Equestrian Scrolls - Ponykiin Prologue: Sovngarde or Bust By Sergeantmolt Nomulus Thel, sole Dovahkiin of Skyrim, broke into a sprint as he pulled out his daedric sword and conjured up a Storm Atronach, running full-tilt at Nahkriin, the Dragon Priest guarding the entrance to Alduin's Portal. The young Dovahkiin was outfitted in a full set of Nightingale armor; it had a black-as-night color scheme, and light metal plating arranged in intricate designs across his entire body, both protecting him and giving an ominous appearance. His face was hidden by the armor's dark hood and mask; the only part of his body uncovered was his eyes. An engraved emblem in the shape of a raven was noticeable on his chest plating; it symbolized his status as a Nightingale, an elite member of the Thieves' Guild, and protector of the goddess Nocturnal's shrines. But today, Nomulus wasn't fighting for his Guild. He was fighting for the safety of Skyrim's people itself. He was fighting to save the Nords' homeland from Alduin World-Eater, the Nordic god of destruction and chaos. ((Quick A/N: I'm going to leave out any sort of detailed description of the main quest line here, due to how long it would take to describe it. Needless to say, if you don't know the complete story, I'd suggest you do a little research, or you'll probably be confused. Also, note that Nomulus is at Skuldafn Temple, at the portal on the top.)) Cape billowing out behind him, Nomulus managed to make his way up the stone steps to Nahkriin before the Priest could pull his curved, intricately carved staff out of the seal holding the portal open. Nomulus swung his sword once, aiming at Nahkriin's throat, only to have it skate across a magical barrier, the Priest unscathed. Before he could strike again, Nahkriin had yanked his staff out of the seal, and he was forced to retreat, channeling his magicka into a ward to protect himself from a sudden onslaught of lightning. Behind the Dragon Priest, he could see the portal's beams of energy and light fade, dispelling any promise of escape. Dammit, he's definitely not going to make this easy. the Dovahkiin thought as he rolled behind the only obstacle he could: the stairs leading up to the seal. The lightning forks poured into the stone for a few seconds before being cancelled, and Nomulus cancelled his ward, then quickly pulled an invisibility potion from his belt, downing it in a single gulp and turning transparent. Letting some of his magical energies recharge, Nomulus stood stock-still as the Priest rounded the corner, obviously looking to kill him as quickly as possible. The priest looked around, then turned and stared, his mask expressionless, right at Nomulus' hiding place. As Nahkriin raised his staff, all Nomulus could do was pray to the god of his choice. Before Nahkriin could fire another river of electricity, however, he was hit in the back by another being's lightning bolt, and turned around just in time to take another bolt to the chest. He had forgotten about Nomulus' storm atronach, which had just come close enough to start its own attack. Growling in an indecipherable curse, the Dragon Priest poured lightning towards Nomulus' conjured ally, intending to kill it quickly. Due to the fact that it was made of electricity, the storm atronach was able to absorb the staff's lighting attack, and flew straight at the Priest before he could realize that his lightning attack didn't affect it. As it closed in, the atronach swung a fist of stone and shattered several bones in Nahkriin's stomach, right where its lightning bolt had hit beforehand. However, before the conjured golem could get another hit in, Nahkriin realized his mistake, and changed the stream of lightning from his staff into a barrage of ice spikes from his palm, punching through the essence of the storm atronach and decimating Nomulus' conjured assistant with ease. The gaping hole in the Priest's chest didn't seem to even faze him. As the battle had gone on, Nomulus had managed to sneak up behind the Dragon Priest, and swung his sword as hard as he could, aiming at something different: the arm that had fired ice spikes at the storm atronach. He was rewarded with a shattering sound and the clatter of an undead arm on the floor, but then was forced to retreat again under another barrage of lightning. Nomulus tried his best to get behind some cover, but Nahkriin knew what the Dovahkiin had in mind, and intended to deny him the pleasure of surprising the Priest again. Instead of giving Nomulus a chance to recuperate, Nahkriin kept pressing his attack, staying close to his foe (though not within range of his sword) and not allowing a single moment of respite. When Nomulus tried to put a pillar in-between the two, Nahkriin circled around it. When the Dovahkiin rolled behind an obstacle, he swooped above it. If the Dragonborn tried to move closer, the Priest simply moved back. Nomulus began to panic as he felt his store of magical energy rapidly draining away as he kept his magical shield up. I'm going to die before I can even enter Sovngarde! He kept on backing up, unable to charge Nahkriin due to the careful distance the priest was keeping between the two, and the lightning that was pouring into the space. "Daar Faal Dovahkiin Tol Wah Krii Alduin? Ha! Nis Orin Krii Aar!" Knowing the Dragonborn was close to defeat, Nahkriin had begun to verbally assault Nomulus in the language of dragons. ((Fast A/N: I dare you to translate that ;).)) I've got no other choice; time to use my last resort. Just as his magicka was about to be depleted, Nomulus took a deep breath, and called forward his understanding of three Words of Power. All of a sudden, he felt a rush of energy embrace his entire body, flowing through him, a force more powerful than simple magic could ever be. Then, all at once, the energy rushed out of him as he channeled it into Thu'um: "YOL TOOR SHUL!" As soon as he Shouted those three words, the invisible energy that had been released into the air was transformed into a raging inferno, hot as the sun. All of this heat energy ended up being focused on the Priest, who had realized too late what the Dovakiin was doing. The inferno of Thu'um enveloped Nahkriin, barreling though a poorly-constructed, last-minute ward and burning the essence of the Dragon Priest to a crisp. Even the wards placed on the Priest's body couldn't hold up against the full power of a three-word Shout. However, this victory didn't come without a price. Nomulus, after channeling out his Thu'um, was knocked to the ground from the force of his Fire Breath, mentally drained from the use of a three-word Shout. About a minute after the cone of flames died out, he slowly got up, head swimming, sheathed his dropped sword, and searched the remains of Nahkriin. Sure enough, within the pile of ashes was the Priest's powerful enchanted mask, as well as his staff. He took the mask and placed it on his sword belt, then picked up the staff and trudged over to the seal that opened Alduin's Portal. Staggering up the steps, Nomulus placed the staff in a small slot located at the center of the seal, and watched as Alduin's previously dormant portal activated. After a few moments, he saw the first beam of light shoot out of the large stone circle, soon followed by many more. One by one, the beams of light connected into arcing yellow figures, and soon the entire circle was aglow with shifting arcs of golden energy, displaying majesty and beauty unmatched by anything Nomulus had ever seen. After a few minutes of staring at the sight and steeling his mind, Nomulus managed to slightly recover from the skull-splitting headache that the use of powerful Thu'um had caused, and walked to the center of the portal, feeling energy surround and embrace him, lifting him up to the heavens. For Nomulus, it would've been hard to explain what happened next. One moment he was floating up, embraced by threads of pure energy and knowing he was on the way to Sovngarde. Next thing he knew, there was a subtle shift in the embrace of energy, and all of a sudden he was plunged into a vat of excruciating pain as the energy turned on him and started to slice through his body instead of embracing it. The energy cut through his entire body, breaking every bone and boiling his blood inside of him. He tried to struggle, to escape the pain, but whenever he tried to move his muscles, he was met with even worse agony, which quickly convinced him to stay still. He tried to call upon his healing magic, but as he began to call upon his magicka, he felt his power vanish, and knowledge of his healing spell drain away. All he could do was scream in absolute suffering as he felt his soul torn out of his body by some unknown force. Soon, without a brain to host it, Nomulus Thel's consciousness shut down, and he effectively blacked out. =================================================================================== "Spike, do you have my copy of Comets: A Study on All Things Extraterrestrial?" Twilight called through the library as she levitated a carefully folded picnic blanket into her saddlebag. "Got it right here, Twi!" Spike replied as he ran down the steps to the second floor, short legs barely managing to keep himself upright due to the pace he was setting. It was the night of the annual meteor shower in Equestria. Once again, Twilight and her friends - Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie - were going to watch the sparkling comets streak across the sky, and this time, she was making sure that nothing went wrong. Twilight telekinetically picked up her checklist, and ran through it a third time: Punch - Check. Snacks - Check. Scrolls - Check. Quill and ink - Check. Extra quill and ink - Check. Extra extra quill and ink - Check. A copy of How to Stargaze: A Manual - Check. Backup copies of any and all books she might need - Check. Spike hasn't burnt any books - she quadruple-checked all of her manuals and guides, and then, satisfied that there wasn't a smidgen of ash on any of the books, checked it off her list. "Alright, everything's ready." Twilight said in a satisfied tone. "Spike, grab the punch and food please." "You got it, Twi!" Spike picked up the large stack of refreshments, carefully balancing the precarious pile of cookies, punch, and other snacks, then trotted over to the door, where the purple unicorn was waiting. "Ready to go!" "Come on, then. Everypony's waiting." -------------------------------------------------- After a few minutes of walking, Twilight and her assistant managed to reach the hill that they had used to watch the shower last year, approximately 5 minutes late, by Twilight's calculations. "Sorry for being so late, everypony. Have you seen anything yet?" As she spoke, the mare began levitating everything in careful order on the crest of the hill. She placed the punch and snacks on the upper-right corner, her scrolls and writing equipment on the opposite corner, and her books equally sorted between the remaining corners. Twilight also made sure that nothing was within 5 centimeters of the blanket's edge. "Not yet, sugarcube; the shower seems t'be pretty late this year." Applejack replied, face drawn into a half-frown of puzzlement. "Yeah! It's like they took a vacation or something!" Pinkie chimed in. She gasped loudly. "What if they got taken away by some evil comets, who were jealous of how everypony admired the meteors, and now the nice meteors are never ever never going to get to come back, and-" Rainbow Dash sighed, then stepped in and shoved her hoof into Pinkie's mouth, muffling the barrage of illogical theories that she was pouring out. "Pinkie... please be quiet." "Yes, Pinkie, do be a dear and cease your senseless blabbing." Rarity said, lady-like as ever. "Some ponies are trying to wait for the meteor shower in peace." "O-ay!" Pinkie said through Rainbow Dash's hoof. The light blue pegasus removed her hoof, and shook her head before grabbing a cookie and wolfing it down, sitting next to Applejack on the hill. Knowing it was useless to try educating Pinkie on the science behind meteor showers, and unlikeliness of "evil comets taking them away", Twilight just sighed as she picked up a scroll and quill, preparing to take notes on the streaking comet debris. "So, Applejack, Rarity," Twilight asked after a few moments of awkward waiting, "Where are Applebloom and Sweetie Bell?" "Oh, they wanted 'ta go watch the shower with Scootaloo someplace else." Applejack replied with a shrug. "I wanted them to stay with us, like last year, but they just wouldn't stop begging." Rarity added, slightly smirking at the memory. "And really, who can say no to those little faces?" "Besides, I've got Big Mac watching over 'em." "Well, I'm glad that they wanted to spend some time alone," Twilight said, "knowing those three, they're probably trying to get stargazing cutie marks." Now that's something I'd love to teach them. I've got so many manuals that could assist them- Rainbow Dash interrupted her train of thought, letting out a harsh laugh. "In your dreams, egghead! Scootaloo would never have a cutie mark for something as lame as stargazing!" Twilight gave her a dull, 'Twilight-is-not-amused' look in return. "It was just a suggestion, Rainbow." "Um, girls?" "And I'm just saying that nopony would have such a lame talent! I mean, who in Equestria would like to stargaze for a living?!" "Girls? If it's not too much trouble, there's something you need to-" "I like stargazing, Rainbow!" Twilight replied with a little heat, annoyed at the pegasus' outright blasphemy of one of her favorite subjects. "And if you weren't at least interested in the subject, why are you out here waiting for a meteor shower?!" "Because meteor showers are awesome! Who doesn't like to see comets shooting across the sky?" "They aren't comets Rainbow Dash, they're debris from the tails of-" Fluttershy suddenly stepped in-between the two arguing ponies, startling them out of their debate, and said (with a little force): "Girls!" Both ponies shrunk back in embarrassment, realizing that they were arguing over something totally trivial; I mean, they were arguing over stargazing, for Celestia's sake. "Oops....um....sorry Fluttershy; what's the matter?" Rainbow said in an apologetic tone. Fluttershy slowly pointed with her hoof at something in the distance. "Look." Her five friends turned to see a yellow streak crossing the sky; suddenly, everypony jumped with excitement and began to scramble into position, grabbing snacks and a cup of punch as fast as possible. "Yippee, it's starting!!" "Oh, this is just marvelous; I hope it's as grand as last year's!" "Where's my quill, where's my quill??" "This is going to be so awesome!" "Hoo, dogey, looks like this rodeo's about to start!" "I hope that it lasts longer than last year..." "Um, girls? Why is that meteor getting closer?" Spike asked, voice quivering with uncertainly. Everypony suddenly froze, turning and taking another look at the 'meteor'; it had drastically grown in size, and what had once been a speck was now a disk, as large as Town Hall. Pinkie Pie was the first to react, calmly walking in front of the group of ponies and clearly stating: "Alright, everypony, you know the drill." She then jumped up in the air, and exclaimed: "EVERYPONY RUN!!!!!" before darting down the hill Instantly, the group of friends fled from the scene: Twilight teleporting away with Spike, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying as fast as their wings could carry them, Rarity and Applejack darting down the hill. As the two grounded ponies reached the bottom of the hill, the giant sphere of energy flew straight into the hill, resulting in a large BOOM, a shockwave of lightning shooting out of the landing site, and a decimated picnic. ----------------------------------------- Twilight popped back to the scene, with Spike no longer on her back. Immediately, the unicorn began to search for her friends, as well as anypony else that could have gotten hurt. "Applejack! Rarity!" She shouted, eyes darting all among the piles of dirt thrown up by the crashing of the meteor, scanning for any signs of her friends. "Fluttershy! Rainbow Dash! Pinkie Pie! Anypony hurt?!" She heard some coughing from behind her, and turned around to see one of the piles of dirt crumble away, revealing a muddy, but overall okay Applejack. "Ah'm fine, sugarcube. Go look for th' others." Twilight nodded, then moved on to try and find the rest of her friends. Needless to say, it wasn't that hard. She found Rarity in the same condition as Applejack, covered in mud and dirt. "AH! THE DIRT! IT'S ALL OVER MEHEHEEEEE!!!" Rarity whined as she desperately looked for something to clean herself with. "I MUST LOOK ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS! WHERE IS MY BRUSH?! WHERE IS IT?!?!?!" Soon after finding Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew in, reporting that nopony had gotten hurt from the explosion, including them. However, Pinkie Pie was still nowhere to be found. The four gathered friends (Rarity was still off on her 'fashion tantrum') began to call out for her, looking for the pink earth pony. "Pinkie Pie?" "Hey Pinkie Pie! Where are you?" "Pinkie? Could you please, if it's no bother, of course, show us where you are?" "Pinkie? Come on sugarcube, where are ya?" "Pinkie? Where are you, silly filly? Oh, wait, I'm Pinkie!" a pink pony suddenly appeared amongst the group, giggling at her own joke. "PINKIE!" The group shouted as they turned to the filthy pony, who was currently in hysterics. "Where were you?!" Twilight scolded, "We were worried sick!" After finally recovering from her laughter, Pinkie bounced up and pointed a hoof at the remains of the picnic. "I was just over there, seeing if any cookies survived that meteor! I mean, did you see it?! It fell out of the sky, and it hit our picnic, and-" She was once again silenced by Rainbow's hoof. "We were there, Pinkie Pie." She said dully, and waited on Pinkie to stop talking before asking "Did you see that thing that hit our campsite?" "Well, duh, who wouldn't see it? I mean, who doesn't want to see a sleeping pony inside of a crater? It's so cool!" Twilight shook her head at Pinkie's response, before realizing what she had just said. "Wait, WHAT?!?! A PONY IN THE CRATER?!" "Well yeah, didn't you hear me before, silly filly?" But Twilight didn't give a response. She was already sprinting up the hill, headed for the crater apparently created by a crash-landed pony. ((A/N: I hope you enjoyed Chapter One of my new story. I know that my combat scene between Dovahkiin and Nahkriin wasn't that good, but that was my very first attempt at writing an action scene, so cut me some slack. I'm also currently looking for an editor/editors for my story. If you think you can help me out, please comment below/PM me. Finally, please tell me what you think of the story. I can't know what's awesome and what's just plain stupid without people's advice ;).))