//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 - Beast Mode ON // Story: The Dragonborn Chronicles: Part 1 - Ponies in Skyrim // by Barix123 //------------------------------// Chapter 17 – Beast Mode ON         Barix lunges toward Vingalmo but is quickly swatted away. The new vampire lord starts his transformation into the ugly terror that puts humanity in shaking boots. The dragonborn sees this and begins to transform into his own beast form. The mighty werewolf. Twilight and Rarity’s group were done with finishing off their vampires just in time to see Fluttershy, the newly changed Flutterbat, fly up and out the chamber window. “Fluttershy’s getting away.” Rainbow proceeded to fly after her. “Rainbow wait!” Twilight scream to no avail. “I suggest we get out of here. Barix won’t be able to fight off the vampire if he has to watch over us.” Tullius yells out to everyone. “We have to go after Rainbow and Fluttershy anyway. Let’s go AJ.” “Ahm on it.”         Applejack lead the way, somewhat slowly, to the outside. Tullius and his men stayed inside to help with the fight as Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Rarity somewhat ran out the castle where Rainbow was in a mid-air fight with Fluttershy. The battier of the two on the winning side. “Rainbow, don’t let her bite you! I think that’s how it started!” Twilight used her enhanced voice to shout up high. In the process giving her carrier an instant ear ache. “Gee, ya think?” Which was followed by a failed bite to the neck then a successful hoof to the face. “We have to do something. Our two pegasi are already up there and Twilight’s hurt. What are we going to do?” Rarity wished she had her couch with her right now. “Pinkie, can you make one of your flying machines fast enough to get up there?” “What kinda question is that? Of course I can silly.” “Excellent. Get started on that. Rarity, I’m going to give you those wings from before. You’re the only one that can use wings effectively.” “I shall do what I can. Cast the spell Twilight.”         In a short time the two mares were up in the skies trying and failing to help Fluttershy in any way they could. She only fought back against her friends. Instinct overtook the weak mare completely. It must have only been a few minutes before part of the wall came bursting outward. Two beasts proceeded to get to their feet, the vampire lord and Barix as a werewolf.         The two proceed to battle each other in a primal clash of titans. As the vampire attempts to vaporize the dragonborn with its many spells, Barix only dodges them using his superior speed. Every time he tries to get in close for a lethal strike he is either repelled by a force spell or smacked away by a claw. Ending this battle fast was going to require more tactic then he’s used to as a werewolf. Barix gave some distance between him and the enemy for a strategy. At the moment there was only one that stood out, and with little time to work with he had to go with it. Giving a great howl he summons two ice wolves by his side. They waste no time attacking the vampire lord.         Before the dragonborn could attack he was assaulted by something that fell from the sky. Whatever it was it clung to his face for dear life. Not even shaking his head vigorously would loosen the thing. It was finally removed when Barix clawed at his own face and threw it away. He ignored the new gashes he created to stare at the vampiric pony that was currently hissing at him. “Barix,” Twilight yelled out, “don’t kill her. That thing is still Fluttershy.” “Not for long.”         Barix lunged for the four legged monster. All he needed to do was bite her as the venom would take care of the rest for him. It was lucky for him the vampire scrunched up into a scared little ball. The bite, the blood, and lastly the crash to the ground. Releasing the unconscious mare near Twilight he was raring to continue the fight. “What’s the deal!?!” Twi yells at Barix. “You might have killed her!” “Shut up and trust what I’m doing. Take care of her. I’m going to finish this.”         Sacrifices had to be made in order to finish the fight at all. No choice but to go all in. Full concentration was funneled toward the vampire lord and the two recently deceased ice wolves. Running straight for the blood-thirsty monster it began attacking with spells. Barix had to maneuver around them which cut his own speed slightly every time he did so. Just before striking distance he angled himself to the left, kicking up dirt to his enemies face as he sped off.         Coming back around he was open for a swift attack. Slamming into the vampire he chomped his jaws into its neck and then breaking the spine when it hit the side of the castle. Rarity and Pinkie ran up to their hero. As they waited for some kind of response all that they could hear was his heavy breathing. The two ponies looked to each other in concern and Rarity was the first to speak up. “Barix…are you alright, dear?” “(low growling)” “Ooooo. That’s not so good.” “Pinkie you understood th-On second thought never mind that. What did he say?” “That bitey guy stabbed Barix in the tummy and shoulder. Now if he moves it might kill him from blood loss.” “Oh dear. Ummm…Twilight! We may need you up here!” Good thing Rarity knew how to handle a panic attack. “One minute. I just gotta help Flut-,” A loud howl interrupted Twilight making everyone look out toward the horizon, “What was that?” “Sounds like Barix.” Rainbow added. “That can’t be he’s right there,” Twilight tries almost too quickly to come up with something, “a friend of his perhaps?” “AAAAHHHH!!!”                  Pinkie screams in fright as a statue directly above Barix falls from the top of the castle. Rarity, having no choice, pulls him away from the incoming ruble in time to crush only the newly redead vampire. Before he hits the ground however, Barix disappears from sight. “Barix? Barix! Twilight, he’s gone!” “What do you mean gone?”         As that sentence was finished a werewolf makes itself known in front of the unconscious Flutterbat. Fear grips the ponies as they see the blood on its teeth and possibly dead and hairy dragonborn on its back. The new wolf picks up the canary mare slowly all the while making sure to keep eye contact on the ponies. “Who are you?” Twilight asks with no avail. The werewolf disappears just as fast as it appeared. “Just like that,” Rainbow then fell to her haunches, “I let that thing take Fluttershy without a fight. Some element of loyalty I am.” Which is then followed by a hoof to the face, sending her to the ground. “What was that for!?!” “For you bein too stupid for yer own good! Do ah always got ta be the stronger of us?” “The buck are you going on about now?” “Think about it Rainbow,” Yeah this is what RD needed, another speech from Princess Egghead, “if this new werewolf intended to harm us then why didn’t it do so. It could have easily killed us with its speed since we’re in a weak state ourselves. The only thing it took was our injured.” “To eat maybe.” “I’ll stick with the ladder of the two on this one, Rainbow.” “What do we do now?” Rarity spoke up as the two groups joined up. “Pinkie, do you have any insight about Barix and Fluttershy?” “I really wish I could say yes, but nah-uh. I got nothin.” “Then we’ll have to hope everything works out.” ------------------------------------------------------------         Splitting headache…check. Wait. Uncheck. Body completely killing…check. Taste of blood…check. Cold…check. Yep, Barix was definitely a werewolf before passing out. But with a realization that he was unchained they must be friendly or…that smell. It was the smell of the wilderness one gains from being a huntress mixed with a slight tinge of blood. “Of course it was you.” Barix struggles to sit up. “You didn’t get my hint, did you?” “You mean the one where you abandoned the Companions. No. I don’t think that one stuck.” “I had no choice. What was I supposed to do? After Kodlak died I had to leave. The silver hand wouldn’t have known about Jorrvaskr if I never came into the picture.” “There’s something we never told you, mostly because you never neturned. None of us blame you for what happened. It was you who returned all the pieces of Wuuthrad and single handedly killed off Kodlak’s werewolf spirit. People die and you can’t do anything about it.” “Thanks for the pep talk Aela...I guess. Anyway, are you going to tell me what happened or are going to make me guess?” “Ysgramor’s Tomb. One less witch head lining the wall.” “What?” The dragonborn scans the room to find Fluttershy unconscious and mostly intact of bruises. “You saved her?” “I had to, you had passed out after all. I assumed that’s why you bit her. Your other friends seemed to imply that as well. And no, I didn’t have time to chat with them.” “Thanks for that too. I should be fine here. You can go now.” “Just like that? Look Barix, I know you’re tough but you still took a beating in that fight.” “These ruins have been sealed off for about three ages. I should be fine down here until I’m ready to move out.” “Here,” the huntress leaves behind a bow with some arrows, “In case you need protection.” She left the dragonborn behind with better graces than when he left the Companions. All that’s left to do is wait for Fluttershy to wake. With the wolf blood taking over and Aela killing her wolf spirit, everything was back to normal. Fluttershy was starting to wake up. “Good, you’re getting up.” “Uh...huh?” “Things got a little complicated but we need to move.” “What? Um...O-ok.”         Time to walk back and what a walk it would be. The tomb was halfway across Skyrim. It was anything but a boring walk however. Barix starts out by explaining everything to the canary mare. Shocked was only one word to to describe what she felt although the long walk was long enough to allow her to accept what happened. About a week later they came to the front of Lakeview Manor. “Hey! Anyone here?” “Barix?” Rainbow pokes her head out of the second floor. ------------------------------------------------------------         The group was sitting at the table. Six ponies sat listening while the dragonborn told his part of the story and performed minor spells on himself. “So here’s the deal. From now on you six must find the rest of the dragon claws and daedric artifacts by yourself.” “But you said you would help us. Ever since we save you, you said you would do anything that it took to get us back home. Is it because of the vampire incident?” Twilight brought up a valid point. “No. It’s true that I said I would help, I can’t help you if my resources are gone. My house, connections and income are all part of that. And I can’t maintain any of it without money. As it stands I’m running out so I’ll need to work overtime.” “What is it that you do anyway?” Rainbow asked. “I’m a bounty hunter. I also collect money through bandits, selling goods I find on the road, and loot dungeons. Now just because I’m not going with you, doesn’t mean you can do what you want. To the world you aren’t average citizens. You’ll need some kind of documentation that says otherwise, including ones that will give you access to my various recourses in Skyrim.” “All this just so we can travel? This world is simply to complicated for me to understand.” Rarity was being her dramatic self again. “Maybe more than that, I’ll have to see later on. By the way, the vampires were supposed to be collecting dragon claws. Did you find any?” “Yes!” Twilight levitates six dragon claws to the table from their room. “We now have all the dragon claws we need, plus the one in Riverwood of course. It was hard to get them away from the general, but we were able to win him over in the end.” “Sound like him alright.” Barix was done with his healing when the exhaustion caught up to him. “I think I’ll continue this in the morning I need to get some rest.” “Oh-um...ok. We’ll talk later then.” “Are you ok Twilight? You sound like there’s something on your mind.” “It can wait until you’ve had some sleep.” “If you say so.” With that Barix is off to bed. The ponies continue their usual routine. Twilight on the other hand couldn’t seem to focus on her studies.