Dovahshy May Cry
Journey’s Start
Author: Draconis187
“It’s just a few more steps Fluttershy!” Baral shouted towards his yellow companion who was struggling against the infamous 7000 steps that led to High Hrothgar.
“We’ve been climbing for two hours and I don’t see the building yet! This blizzard isn't helping me either!” Fluttershy shouted back.
They had been on a journey to High Hrothgar ever since Jarl Balgruuf told them the reason why they all heard “Dovahkiin!” shouted across Skyrim but with no determinable source. He informed them that the Greybeards had summoned them and also told them that the journey would be harsh but meeting the reclusive monks was amongst the highest honours in Skyrim. As they turned to go to the inn for rest, Balgruuf called to them.
“Hold on! There is one more matter I wish to discuss with you. I have not yet truly thanked the both of you for ridding us of that dragon. As a reward I am bestowing the title of Thane, the highest position in my court. This means you may purchase property, have your own housecarl and the guards will be informed of your title so they won't treat you like a commoner. Proventus hasn't Breezehome recently gone for sale?”
Proventus nodded his head. “Pardon me my Jarl but you seem to have forgotten something.” Balgruuf looked puzzled for a second until it dawned on him.
“Yes, a weapon from my personal armoury. It will serve as your badge of office. Now go, you mustn’t keep the Greybeards waiting.” He gave Baral a two-handed axe while Fluttershy received an Ebony dagger.
That was a week ago. The duo had been journeying to High Hrothgar, passing the odd, small village or bandit camp on the way. They refused having a housecarl as their supplies were stretched thinly enough as it was. Fluttershy was becoming proficient with her bow. She was almost always on her hind legs as a result, with a surprising lack of discomfort. They came across some bandits trying to extort them for gold so they could pass as they went by a dilapidated tower. When the duo refused, they were subsequently attacked. Baral stabbed the one bandit while Fluttershy shot and killed a bandit before it could get any closer. She didn’t look away anymore but she did cringe as the arrow hit.
*** *** *** ***
Fluttershy was on a stretcher that was carried by Applejack and Dash as they rushed to Ponyville Hospital. The Canterlot Hospital was out of the question since the residents of Canterlot were all sealed in the caverns below, weak from the Changelings’ feeding. Luna stayed behind to free all the captives while Celestia – with the help of Twilight and Rarity – teleported to the Town Hall. Celestia fell onto her haunches from the exhaustion but she managed to get back up. As the group got Fluttershy to the Hospital, her breathing was becoming erratic.
After handing Fluttershy over to the doctors, Celestia left for Canterlot to assist her sister and repair the damage caused by Fluttershy’s fighting. Nurse Redheart took Fluttershy to the I.C.U. ward where nearly every doctor and nurse was waiting. Since Ponyville was the first town she freed, the doctors managed to get everypony back on their hooves since the Ponyville changelings used less straining feeding methods.
The five friends were pacing in the waiting room, worried about their friend. Two nurses came out a minute after Fluttershy was admitted, pushing a trolley carrying Fluttershy’s gear. Twilight examined the strange objects but one caught her eye: the Elder Scroll.
“What do you think happened to dear Fluttershy that could turn her into such a brute?” Rarity asked with concern. Twilight levitated the scroll towards her, lost in thought but she managed to hear her friend.
“Whatever happened to her, it’s all my fault.” She said softly as she began to cry.
*** *** *** ***
“Thank Celestia, we finally made it.” Fluttershy said with an exhausted sigh as the duo opened the large doors of High Hrothgar. An elderly man in grey robes came to meet them as they entered.
“And so a Dragonborn appears, at this moment in the turning of the age.”
As he spoke, three other Greybeards appeared. They all wore the same robes as the first.
“We are answering your summons Greybeard.” Baral said with his arms folded.
“We will see if you truly possess the gift. Show us Dragonborn; let us taste of your voice.” Baral nodded to Fluttershy who nodded back. The two looked at the Greybeard and Shouted.
“FUS!!” They cried in unison. Now a normal Unrelenting Force causes one to stagger, two simultaneous Shouts increase its effectiveness.
“Two Dragonborns? So it is true. Welcome to High Hrothgar. I am Master Arngeir. Now what brings you here?”
“You Shouted, we came. Simple as that.” Baral said with some impatience in his voice.
“We are honoured to welcome not one but two Dragonborns to High Hrothgar. We will teach you both how to use your gift in fulfilling your destinies.”
“Which is?” Baral said with a raised eyebrow.
“That is for you to decide.”
“We are ready.” Fluttershy said. Baral nodded in agreement.
*** *** *** ***
The Mane Six were finally let in to see Fluttershy as she slowly regained consciousness. She had her ribs bandaged, as well as her wings and her left foreleg. As the group entered the room, Pinkie Pie shot up to Fluttershy as fast as Rainbow Dash’s flying.
The sudden attack caused Fluttershy to react on impulse despite being half asleep. She hit Pinkie in the side of her face with the force of a professional cruiserweight boxer, knocking her off the bed and into the wall with a thud.
“Oof! That was fun! Do it again!” Cried Pinkie, seemingly unhurt or phased by the punch.
“Oh, I'm so sorry Pinkie. I d-didn’t mean to hurt you like that.”
“I’m fine Fluttershy, really. What about you? We were so worried when you collapsed like that. First you were like whoosh and bang when you fought Chrysalis and her meanie friends.”
Fluttershy chuckled a little. “I've really missed you Pinkie.”
Twilight came up to Fluttershy with a sad expression on her face. “I'm sorry Fluttershy. Ever since you vanished I blamed myself. Princess Celestia and I searched the Canterlot Archives, my library as well as her personal library for any clues as to find you. We only ended up with dead ends for our efforts.”
“It’s ok Twilight. I'm fine, really.” She flinched as her wing gave her a sharp pinch of pain.
“No, you're not. You’ve sustained multiple fractures in your ribs and a crack in one of your wing bones.” Nurse Redheart said. “The doctor has specifically ordered you to stay in bed.”
“Fluttershy, what you did there… with Chrysalis and those Changelings.” Rainbow Dash said, her voice solemn and monotonous.” Was… awesome! The way you dodged their attacks while hitting them with your own was incredible!”
Fluttershy gave a meek smile. “I thought you would all hate me when you saw me do those things. I’ve done so many things while I was away, some of which I never want to speak of again.”
Twilight placed her hoof on Fluttershy’s good shoulder. “Fluttershy, we’re your friends. We will always love you no matter what you did. The fact is you did what you had to in order to save us.” Everypony nodded their heads in agreement, grinning from ear to ear.
“So Fluttershy care to tell us more about what happened to you?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy nodded and opened her mouth to explain. Before she could saw anything beyond what happened in the Archives, Nurse Redheart came in with a sad look on her face.
“Sorry everypony but I'm afraid visiting hours are over. It’s time for her medication and it tends to make the patients fall sleepy as a side effect.” The group nodded their heads.
“I'm sorry.” Fluttershy mumbled.
“Don’t sweat it. We’ll be back tomorrow, kay?” Dash said with a grin on her face as she and the others walked out the room.
Fluttershy was left alone with Nurse Redheart who gave her the pills as well as a glass of water. She drank them and laid on her good side. After a few minutes the pills began to take effect, taking her into a deep sleep.
*** *** *** ***
“Well Fluttershy, what did you think of the Greybeards?” Baral asked Fluttershy, as they each had a mug of high quality tea prepared by Fluttershy. They bought the ingredients with the gold Klimmek gave them for depositing some supplies in a chest just outside High Hrothgar.
“They seemed nice. We learned so much from them like that second word ‘Ro’ and the first of Whirlwind Sprint: ‘Wuld’. I’m just not sure about this Horn they wanted us to find.”
“The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller. The tomb is called Ustengrav, which is in the Hjaalmarch Hold. The capital is… Morthal, according to this map. The trip is going to take a while but we can do some odd jobs for folks along the way, is that ok?”
Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement as she finished her tea. They have been helping many people on their way to High Hrothgar and were getting quite the reputation as ‘knights in shining armour’. Fluttershy tended to get offended when folks mistook her for his steed whenever they saw her on all fours. Whenever Baral heard this he would threaten to kill the offender for making such a remark about his friend. Whenever they entered a town Baral would head to the local smithy or to the markets for food and essentials. He always got a discount thanks to his experience he received from his time with the travelling merchants. Fluttershy would talk to the locals and see if there was anything that needed doing. Sometimes it was a simple errand around the town that the petitioner was too busy to do. Other times it was far different, bandits killing along supply routes or some animals were giving trouble.
If it were an issue with animals, Fluttershy disarmed that situation fairly easily. But if it was bandits, Baral and her usually infiltrated their encampment and kill every one of them. She cringed less frequently and was able to fly for longer periods of time while wearing her armour. Fluttershy was first apprehensive about killing the bandits until she found out she was doing a lot of good in Skyrim and she was getting a lot of praise for their deeds which caused her to blush every now and then. They were also accumulating some wealth between all the extra work.
They arrived in Morthal around midday two weeks later, stopping briefly for food and a decent place to sleep before they attempted to go into Ustengrav. They soon overheard one of the guards talking about a recent fire. Wanting to investigate further, the duo headed for the burnt house. Before they even entered through the open doorway, the devastation caused by the fire was paramount. There were very few and small places where the fire had not burnt. The house was missing almost everything. The walls were almost completely gone while the roof was missing. As they scanned the room, they came across the ghost of a little girl, Helgi.
“I’m so lonely. Wanna play with me?” The young ghost asked.
“Sure, will you tell us what happened here afterwards?” Fluttershy responded.
“Ok, let’s play hide and seek. Find me and I’ll tell you. We have to wait till night time though. The other one only comes and plays after dark.”
The duo spent the rest of the day browsing the merchants. Baral got Fluttershy two Ebony greatswords whilst improving their armour by the blacksmith. It took some getting used to but Fluttershy was able to wield one of the swords. Eventually when night came the duo went back to the house to find Helgi.
“She’s not here Baral.” Fluttershy said. She even flew up over the house for a better view.
“Maybe there she meant her body and not her ghost. Do you see any form of graves up there?!” Baral shouted. Fluttershy surveyed the area. Pegasi have very good eyesight but even that suffers at night. Fluttershy spotted a figure with a torch just outside town.
“I think I found something.” She said as she landed in front of Baral. She led him to the small cemetery and saw a woman exhuming a coffin.
“Hey! What are you doing?!” Baral shouted, startling both Fluttershy and the woman who then attacked them. Fluttershy shot an arrow into her right shoulder while Baral stabbed her through the chest. Baral decided to examine the body while Fluttershy went to the coffin the woman exhumed. As she got close to the dirt covered wooden box, Helgi’s ghost appeared.
“Yay, you found me! Laelette was trying to find me too but I’m glad you found me first. Laelette was told to burn mommy and me, she didn’t want to. She thought she could take me and keep me but she can’t. I'm all burned up. I'm tired, I'm gonna go and sleep.”
“I've heard of these creatures… vampires. Oh, this isn't normal practise for them as far as I know.” Baral said walking up to Fluttershy as Helgi’s ghost evaporated.
A clearly distraught man came running up the dirt path to the cemetery. He ran straight past the two and examined the deceased woman.
“She’s dead. She’s… she’s a vampire?! I thought she ran off to join the Stormcloaks.” He said.
“What is your name?” Asked Baral.
“Thonnir, my name is Thonnir.”
“I’m Baral and this is Fluttershy.” He responded. Fluttershy gave a small, ‘Hi’. “I think Alva may have something to do with all of this.”
“Uh, Baral? Do you think Alva might be a vampire as well?” asked Fluttershy.
“It is a possibility.” He responded.
“No! That can't be right! Laelette must have met her fate out in the marsh.” An aggravated Thonnir snapped. “I refuse to believe such nonsense! You could never prove it to the Jarl.”
The two looked at each other. “Ready for some house breaking?” asked Baral. Fluttershy nodded. “Since it is for a good cause, I don’t mind.”
Fluttershy flew up to the window and saw Hroggar sat on a chair, watching the door. Seeing no other form of entry she flew back to Baral who was waiting behind the house.
“See anything?” Fluttershy nervously dug her hoof into the snow.
“Well, Hroggar is just sitting there watching the door. I didn’t see Alva anywhere inside. Other than the front door and the windows, there is no other way to enter.” Baral stroked his chin, thinking.
“Okay then. We’ll wait till daytime to break in. Alva went to the tavern a couple of minutes ago. Vampires tend to sleep during the day and Hroggar works during that time so it would be a good time to strike then.” Agreeing on the plan, the duo went to the inn and rented two separate rooms for the night.
*** *** *** ***
Celestia’s sun broke through Fluttershy’s curtains, waking her up. She was still sore but she knew it was due to the fact she didn’t heal all that quickly.
“I wish I had some of that salve I made back in Skyrim. Too bad Equestria doesn’t have any Red Nimroot. Oh, hello Angel Bunny.” She said to the small white rabbit that was asleep on her bed.
Upon hearing Fluttershy’s voice Angel awoke with a jolt and smiled from ear to ear. He hopped up to her and gave her a big hug. After a few minutes they let each other go and Angel proceeded to show Fluttershy his frustrations and sorrow caused by her absence.
“I'm sorry Angel.” Angel still gave her some flak though. She knew Angel wasn’t going to let it slide unless he got a ‘proper’ apology. Fluttershy rolled her eyes. “Ok Angel, how about I make you a nice salad once I get out of the hospital?”
Angel shook his head vehemently. “Ok, what do you want then?” She asked. Angel just hugged her, nuzzling her body. He accidentally touched her wound which made her flinch a bit but she kept a poker face so he didn’t notice.
Angel hopped off her bed and went out the door. A few minutes later he came back but he brought her friends with him. Pinkie wheeled in a cake so tall it almost touched the top of the door frame. It was a myriad of yellow, blue, pink, purple icing with a small statuette of the Fluttershy in her red coat.
“What do think? Is it amazing or is it amazing?” Pinkie Pie said whilst bouncing up and down. Twilight rolled her eyes and stepped forward. Before she could say anything, there was a knock at the door. Redheart opened it and bowed low to the two Princesses who entered the room.
“Fluttershy, I told the Princesses you were about to tell us what happened. The repairs don’t need their supervision and the rescue efforts are still underway. So we all decided to hear your story together.” Twilight said with a small smile.
Fluttershy smiled back. “That’s okay. I wanted to tell you as well anyway since I thought you would’ve asked. It all started…”
As Fluttershy recited her journey through Skyrim, Rainbow had her head resting on her hooves, intrigued by how Fluttershy took to being in another world.
*** *** *** ***
Meanwhile, whilst Fluttershy was telling her story to her friends, a storm was brewing in Fillydelphia. A number of Changelings were gathering in the centre of the city where a large podium stood. A pitch black Elite carrying a ballista was kneeling before King Clavus. His black tattered mane brought out his blood red eyes. He wore tarnished steel-grey armour over his dark brown coat.
“You made the smart decision for evacuating your unit. I need a new general to lead the counter-attack against Canterlot since my wife is no longer able to fulfil the role. Step forward.” King Clavus said with a dark, commanding voice.
The Elite placed its ballista on the ground next to it and walked up to the King. As it knelt down, the King brought his golden greatsword down on the Elite’s head. The other Changelings were scared and a few stepped back.
“No! No retreat! You will fight to your last breath if need be! We will take back Canterlot, and then the rest of Equestria will be ours for the taking!” The King roared. The Changelings cheered, some thrusting their weapons in the air. King Clavus chuckled to himself.
“The fight for Equestria… has only just begun.” He said softly.