Dear My Faithful Student,
If what your letter said is true, we have a serious problem. Mere moments before I received your letter, A strange pony with a cheese cutie mark that introduced himself as 'Swiss Cheese' walked over to Discord's statue while I was looking at it. As soon as I had finished reading your letter, he disappeared into Discord's statue. I can only assume this means he has something planned for releasing Discord once more... We must be prepared for the worst. I'd like you to bring the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony with you to Canterlot immediately. Bring Ra'zaan and Nadene as well; they could be able to give more information on what we are dealing with. I had a bad feeling about the pony in question when I met him, but I brushed it off. It looks like I may have made a terrible mistake... Please hurry, Twilight.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
Twilight had been reading the letter aloud to the group. All eight that had been mentioned in the letter had already assembled in the library, along with the four persistent scamps. All the ponies in the room had worried looks on their faces, as did Nadene. The only one seemingly unfazed by the news was the Khajiit leaning against a bookcase in a corner.
"Ra'zaan, how can you be so calm about all of this? This could be a serious problem! I thought you'd be at least a little worried..." Twilight said, staring at the nonchalant ex-warrior.
This made Ra'zaan show a small smile. "I'm not worried at all! I'm excited! This could be a great opportunity to do some more adventuring, or at least travel a little bit. I'm happy here, don't get me wrong, but I'd like to go somewhere every once and a while." He finished his sentence with a wave of his hand towards the door. "Shall we be going? If what the Princess says is correct, we should be leaving soon." With that, Ra'zaan walked merrily out the door, leaving everypony else bewildered by his strange new attitude.
"Um... anypony else think Ra'zaan's acting a little odd?" Nadene asked with an unsure tone.
"Ah don't know what ta think, but he was right 'bout one thing. We'd better get ta the Princess a might quick before anythin' else happens... Let's catch up with 'im before he leaves without us..." Applejack said, leading the group out the door to follow the Khajiit. Together, the ponies, Dark Elf, Khajiit, and scamps made their way to the train station.
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"What IS this place? It reminds me of that vacation I spend in a hole in the ground... No, even darker than that! Best vacation ever by the way!" (Sarcasm Detected)
Sheogorath found himself, still in his pony form, wandering in an empty abyss that seemed devoid of any life at all. Nothing stirred. No sounds other than Sheogorath's breathing could be heard.
"Well, come on out then! I don't have all of eternity, you know! Well, actually, I do. Little immortal joke for you there." Sheogorath joked to no one in particular.
Just then, a loud cackle was heard from what seemed like everywhere at once. A booming voice sounded in the same way.
"Well well well! What is this? A pony lost it's way and is now stuck here with me?" A figure materialized in front of Sheogorath a second later.
The figure seemed to be the same one the statue was based on: One being made out of several different creatures.
"You must be the poor sod trapped in here. Nice place you have here, real...roomy. You would be...?"
The figure spun around Sheogorath and grinned right in his face. "I should ask you the same thing! What brings you to my humble prison, little pony? Who are you?"
With the question asked, Sheogorath let out a long, boisterous laugh. As he finished said laugh, his ponified body began glowing and he slowly rose into the air. The dim glow turned into a blinding flash of white, and when the darkness returned to the empty nothingness, Sheogorath's true form stood smirking.
"You can call me Ann Marie. But only if you're partial to being flayed alive and having an angry immortal skip rope with your entrails. If not... Then call me Sheogorath, Daedric Prince of Madness. Charmed." The Prince of Madness took a few steps toward the strange new creature and held his hand out to shake. "...And you, my strange, funny-looking friend?"
The figure took a big step back for a second before recovering his composure and looking the now human-like Sheogorath up and down. "I'm the funny-looking one? Says the... thing in the purple suit! Bwahahahaha! The name's Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony! Nice to meet another fan of chaos for a change!" Discord bellowed, taking Sheogorath's hand in his talon and shaking vigorously.
"Well, Discord, now that we know each other, how about you tell me how you ended up in this statue? I'm sure it will be a riveting tale... Afterwards, we'll see if we can't get out of this Daedra-forsaken place!" Sheogorath said with a grin.
"Haha! Well, it's a fairly long story, but it isn't like I'm in a hurry! It started one thousand years ago..." Discord was cut off.
"Only a thousand years, huh? I remember meeting myself and handing over the family title a mere two hundred and fifty years ago... Such nostalgia... I hand over the family title from me to myself once ever couple of thousand years, you know... Hmm? Did I interrupt? Well, go on then! Let's hear it!" Sheogorath said, making a cheese wheel appear from out of no where and eating some.
The Spirit of Disharmony only smiled in response before continuing. "Anyway... I was the ruler of the land, causing chaos wherever and however I pleased. Then these two alicorn princesses appeared..."
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The group arrived at Canterlot Station at around seven in the afternoon and quickly climbed off of the train. Led by Twilight and Ra'zaan, they quickly made their way towards Canterlot Castle. As they walked through the streets, several ponies pointed and stared at the scamps following the group. Some murmured and some even ran away. Ra'zaan watched this play out as he walked and grinned to himself. "This is probably how they would have reacted to me if I hadn't been 'escorted' by guards the first time I was here..." With that thought, he turned to look ahead of the group again. The gate to the castle was coming into view not far ahead. Ra'zaan smirked one last time at the thought he'd just had before shaking it off. If he'd looked behind him, he'd have seen Nadene with the same goofy smile that he had on her face.
"Halt! No visitors are allowed to see the Princess today! "A guard commanded, standing in the group's path." The Princess has a very important meeting, and she is turning away any and all visitors until the meeting is over!"
"But we ARE..." Twilight began, but was interrupted by a voice behind the first guard.
The familiar stallion walked up from behind the first guard and faced him. "That will be all, soldier. These would be the guests that the Princess is meeting with, after all."
The stallion stood still as a statue for a moment before speaking. "Y-Yes, Captain Pride! Sorry for the inconvenience! You all may go right in!"
"Thank you." Twilight said to the first guard. She then turned to the Captain and smiled. "It's been a while, Iron Pride!" She exclaimed happily.
"Heh, it has, hasn't it? Keep quiet on the whole informality thing until we're in private if you would though, please. Have to keep up a level of professionalism, you know?"
The Captain then turned and led the group up the castle's steps and down the hall to the throne room. It only took a few minutes before to whole group had filed into the room, scamps included. The Princess gave the entire group a warm but forced smile before addressing them.
"Hello, my little ponies. It seems we could have a very large issue soon. I have guards stationed around Discord's statue at this very moment. The stallion named 'Swiss' that disappeared into it has still not returned. We believe that he has somehow gone into the seal holding Discord in place." The Princess began. "If this stallion truly is the 'Sheogorath' character you mentioned, we will need much more information on him. This is the reason I asked for Ra'zaan and Nadene to come along as well. If one of you two would like to fill us in?"
Nadene stepped forward and looked up at the Princess, giving a small smile. "Thank you, Princess. We don't know very much about Sheogorath, and what we do know is all based on legend, but we'll do what we can. Right, Ra'zaan?"
"Of course. It is our fault he found this world, after all." Ra'zaan stated dryly.
"What do you mean, Ra'zaan? You didn't go back to Tamriel. I did..." Nadene started, but Ra'zaan cut her off.
"Nadene, please. He's from our world. Therefore, he is our responsibility. If he gets out of hand... err... hoof... we'll make sure he is dealt with. Now, for what we know. Sheogorath is the Daedric Prince of Madness. In other words, he is basically a god. Immortal and everything." The Khajiit said calmly, but with a very serious tone to his voice. This seemed to put the rest of the room on edge, as the ex-warrior hadn't been this formal since they'd first met him.
Even Nadene was taken aback by the Khajiit's new attitude. She'd never seen him like this. "...R-right... Another thing. He really enjoys pranks and hates order. If I remember right from one of the history books, he reenacted the K'Sharra Prophecy* of a small town of very strict, very superstitious people with the help of... I believe it was the man that helped defend the Imperial City from Mehrunes Dagon... just before said man vanished... He did so just to get a good laugh and to add a bit of chaos to the boring town's lives. The prophecy stated that the town would be infested with rodents... then the livestock would mysteriously die..."
"...and then the sky would rain flaming dogs. Funny prophecy, hmm? Well, according to actual witnesses that had been questioned, the Prophecy actually occurred, spreading widespread panic. No one was hurt in the town, but nothing like it has happened since. Several books have been written about the event." Ra'zaan continued from where the Dark Elf had left off. "That's not all. He is responsible for several dangerous, if wacky, artifacts as well. The Staff of the Everscamp, for example, which summoned these little pests..." The Khajiit pointed at the scamps as he said that. "...was one of his creations. Another, this one much more well known, is the Wabbajack**. This strange, intricately-designed staff was said to have the ability to turn almost anything into something else, make something explode in any type of magic, or simply do nothing. The staff's effects were supposedly random."
Celestia sat calmly as she listened to the two humanoids in front of her. As Ra'zaan stopped, she spoke up. "...And what do either of those stories have to do with what we're up against?"
"These are examples of what he's done in the past. It gives a feel for what we could be up against." Nadene retorted calmly. "Neither of us are sure exactly what he's going to do here; he's very unpredictable."
Twilight sighed. "Sounds exactly like Discord. How are we going to deal with this 'Sheogorath' person?"
"We can't handle Sheogorath like we did Golam Faram. Nothing we do will hurt him. Based on the story you told me about how you sealed Discord, it seems that these 'Elements of Harmony' are going to be our best bet. The problem with those being that it is entirely possible that they will have little or no effect on a creature from our world. If they don't work... I don't know... maybe he'll be in a good mood? That would make the whole situation a hell of a lot easier..." Ra'zaan answered.
"So, what you are saying is, we have almost no idea how to deal with him, and if the Elements fail we should just pray something else turns up?" Celestia said with a frown.
"Basically." Ra'zaan answered back with no emotion to his voice.
Nadene looked like she was deep in thought for a moment. "Wait. Celestia, you and your sister are basically gods yourselves, aren't you?"
"Not exactly, although we are very old and have very strong magic." The Princess commented.
Ra'zaan caught on to what Nadene was thinking. "Is it possible for the two of you to neutralize Sheogorath and Discord's magic with your own? If all else fails, we may be able to defeat them a different way..."
Celestia put a hoof to her chin and though for a moment. "If it comes to that, then I'm sure we will be willing to try. That is enough for now. Come. I'll bring you to the statue to show you what is going on."
With that, the Princess led the group back out the door and towards the gardens. As they walked, Fluttershy noticed something. That's odd... Where are all the birds and little animals? Did something scare them off...?"
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"...And then that rotten lavender unicorn gathered up her friends again and used the Elements of Harmony on me... AGAIN!" Discord said, finishing his story.
"You seem to get all the girls, my friend. Too bad they're all the 'get out and leave my boring life alone' types. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sheogorath laughed happily. "Well, that certainly took a while, didn't it? How about I get you out of this place and we go and have some real fun!" Sheogorath said with glee in his voice.
Discord looked confused. "How would you say we go about that, Sheo? I've tried almost everything to get out of here, and the only thing that got me out was those fillies fighting in front of my statue... wait a minute..."
The Daedric Prince finished the sentence. "Exactly. You want out? All I have to do is cause some chaos near your statue... or rather, a lot of chaos! Ooooh, I've been waiting for this!"
"But how are YOU getting out of here?" The Spirit of Chaos asked. "Aren't you stuck too?"
"The magic that is holding you it here is meant only for you. I can duck in and out as I please because I figured out how the spell works for outside forces. I'll be back. It's time I made my appearance in this world anyway!" Sheogorath said, opening a rift to the outside of the statue that Discord could not see or pass through.
Discord gave a toothy smile. "Well, good luck then! With luck, chaos will reign once again soon enough!"
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The Princess, along with the groups of ponies, humanoids and scamps, reached the statue not long after they had left the castle for the gardens. The statue had a total of ten guards spread out in equal distances around it so no other pony could get near it. As the Princess approached, part of the circle moved out of the way to make room so she and the others could pass.
"This is Discord. The Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony." The Princess said casually. "A very old foe of mine."
"We all know that, Princess! We sealed him away last ti---hgrghm!" Pinkie started, but was cut off by an orange hoof.
Applejack sighed. "Pinkie, Ah think the Princess is talkin' ta Nadene an' Ra'zaan..."
Pinkie nodded and Applejack removed her hoof from the pink mare's mouth. The group just sat for a minute in silence, watching as Celestia stared at the statue, deep in thought. It didn't take long, however, before a certain rainbow mare got impatient.
Rainbow Dash gave an obnoxious yawn. "So, how long before they come out of there?"
"Shhhh, Darling! Can't you see that the Princess is in the middle of something?" Rarity retorted, glaring at the cyan mare.
"Alright, alright! Sheesh, grouchy much?" Dash mumbled under her breath.
Fluttershy walked up next to Celestia while all of that was going on and looked up at the Princess's face. "Um... Princess? Is everything alright?"
It took the princess a minute before she responded. "I-I... Yes... E-everything is fine..." Celestia said, but regret laid heavy on her voice. "Anyway... When either of them come out, we need to be ready. Alright, everypony?"
A collective 'YEAH' and 'Let's do this!' echoed across the gardens from everypony except the scamps. Celestia seemed to only then take notice of the scamps.
"By the way, Ra'zaan... what about those creatures? Don't they belong to this 'Sheogorath' person? Might they get in the way?" The Princess asked, worry apparent on her face.
Ra'zaan and Nadene both smiled, and Nadene answered the question. "Even if Sheogorath tries to use these scamps against us, they won't cause any trouble. They're nearly harmless."
Ra'zaan then had something else to say. "Anyway, I remember seeing this statue the day you showed me MY statue, Princess. I still think the same thing I did back then about it. I thought 'Heh, that sure looks like something Sheogorath would cook up.' The creature depicted sure does remind me of something Sheogorath would do..."
Just as Ra'zaan finished his sentence, a flash of light shined from Discord's statue, temporarily stunning and blinding everything around it. Above the sound of murmuring and confusion, a voice could be heard.
"One of my creations? No way! My creations are much nicer looking then the fella here, Khajiit!" Sheogorath's voice sounded over all of the confusion. "Anyways... Hello there, everyone! Sheogorath, Daedric Prince of Madness, at your service! What can I do for you today?"
As everypony and everyone got their eyesight back, they noticed Sheogorath standing on top of the head of Discord's statue. He had on a purple suit, had a grey beard and grey hair, and had white, glazed-over eyes. It was what was in each of his hands, however, that worried the group.
He held two intricately designed staffs; one in his left hand and one in his right. Ra'zaan and Nadene recognized them both immediately.
"The Staff of the Everscamp and the Wabbajack... things just keep getting worse..." Ra'zaan said under his breath.
TO BE CONTINUED
K'Sharra Prophecy* - Mission in TES 4: Oblivion where you had to help Sheogorath fulfill a town's fears by reenacting a prophecy. Most of it is explained in the story above. For completing said mission, you receive the Wabbajack. See below.
Wabbajack** - A weapon created by Sheogorath that cause any number of random things to occur (covered in story). This weapon can be received from Sheogorath in TES 3,4 and 5.
A/N: I really am sorry this took so long to update, everyone. I'm trying, but I keep getting distracted. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, as I'm finally getting somewhere between the group and Sheogorath. I also tried to make Sheogorath a bit crazier, and will be trying to make him increasingly so throughout the coming chapters. Well, thanks for reading, everyone!