Dovashy

by FriendlyTwo3

The Keep and Riverwood

Chapter Two:
The Keep and Riverwood

Applejack led Fluttershy to the lower levels of the keep. The heat and warmth of the dragon-fire was quickly expelled by the dampness and coldness of the dungeon. Fluttershy continued to look behind her shoulder in fear of something creeping up behind her. She always hated caves and she always hated the dark. Applejack, however, looked incredibly calm. She looked relaxed, yet vaguely troubled. That was probably obvious, though.

The sound of running water echoed throughout the dungeon. The ambience of mice and other rodents, coupled with echoes of faraway voices made a terrifying scene indeed. The sounds of the burning town and dying ponies could still be heard up above, adding to the wickedness of the dungeon. The smell of the place reeked of death. It was damp and just overall uncomfortable. It chilled both ponies to the bone, yet they knew the opposite direction would just prove worse.
Neither of them could see a foot in front of their faces. The only light was the small candle in the first room. Fluttershy, however, was used to seeing in the dark, for she had to learn to be able to spot dangers. She could see the stones in the cold dungeon. Nary a stone was in perfect condition. Moss covered almost each and every one of them. They looked worn down and used beyond repair. Various sized slits and cracks covered the stones, making for an incredibly unsafe
atmosphere. This made Fluttershy incredibly paranoid. She started to walk a little faster, unintentionally bumping into the Imperial. She started spewing out more soft, incessant apologies.

It was almost two complete minutes before either of them started to see a light. Applejack cringed. “Aw… Shoot, the torture room. I sure wish we didn’t need this…” Fluttershy went wide eyed yet again.

“Torture room?!” Applejack put her hoof over the teen’s mouth as a voice could be heard. She let go of the Pegasus and put a hoof over her own mouth, signaling her to be quiet. Fluttershy donned a look of fear and nodded. Applejack whispered in her ear to stay put, causing Fluttershy to quickly nod again and sit down. A quiet plop echoed throughout the dungeon at this action. Applejack gritted her teeth and turned around. She slowly pulled out her sword. More voices could be heard. Applejack quickly spun around and lurched forward, threatening to slice through someone’s neck. She backed the pony to the ground, only to realize that this was the torturer herself. The torturer had fur that was almost the same color as Fluttershy’s, though arguably lighter. She had water blue hair that was in a poorly kept fashion, though that was sort of hard to tell, considering it was under a hood.

“Raindrops… What’re you still doin’ here?” asked Applejack, sheathing her sword.

“I’m just doing my job,” said Raindrops, standing up with some help from Applejack. She brushed some dust off of her flank with scoff. “What happened to you?” she asked, examining Applejack’s dirty face. Applejack did look rather… damaged. Besides the ash, blood, dust, and wood chips she had on her face and neck, leaving no fur exposed, her armor was completely shredded. The outer leather portion was almost completely removed. The inner red cloth was also battered and bloody. Ash and dust covered the fabric. Her hair was almost no longer blonde. It was greasy and stringy, also covered in ash, dust, woodchips, and cobwebs.

“Y’all don’t know? A dragon is attackin’ Helgen!”

“A dragon? Don’t be ridiculous! Dragons are just myths,” said Raindrops turning toward a desk. She sat down and began writing something. After a moment or two, she looked back up at Applejack, who was still staring at her. “What?”

“Yer not gonna help us?” asked Applejack, raising an eyebrow. Raindrops sighed, pulling down her hood.

“If I wanted to help you, I would’ve already gone and… Who’s us?” Raindrops asked, looking behind the Imperial. Applejack turned around with a sigh and looked around the corner. Fluttershy was sitting in the corner in the dark. She had a cobweb in her hair, but she didn’t seem to notice. Applejack nodded to her friend. Fluttershy slowly stood up and shuffled around the corner, looking away when she saw the other Pegasus.

“Who’s this?” asked Raindrops. She stood up and walked toward the teen. Fluttershy backed up a little. A soft whimper could be heard from her as Raindrops neared closer. Raindrops stared into the teen’s eyes. She looked… bewildered by something. She turned around quickly and whispered something, something that was inaudible to the others’ ears. She picked up a small black book and stuffed it into her saddlebag. “Anyway,” she continued, “You two need to get out of here? The exit’s that way,” she said, nodding toward the mouth of a cave.

“Yer not comin’ with us?” asked Applejack, stopping Raindrops from walking away.

“I have… things to do,” said Raindrops, eyeing her book once again. Applejack tried to peek at it, but was blocked by one of Raindrops’ wings.

“Fine. Have it yer way. C’mon, Fluttershy,” said Applejack, walking toward the cave. Fluttershy slowly followed, sneaking peeks at Raindrops. Raindrops sat down at her desk and quickly opened the book. She looked up at the teen one last time and quickly back to her page.

“No,” she started, “It couldn’t be…” Fluttershy blinked once and continued to follow Applejack into the cave.

The cave was even worse than the dungeon. It smelled of not only death, but of troll. The scent of troll was all but familiar to the two ponies. Fluttershy had seen a troll maybe once, but that was only a troll cub separated from its mother. Applejack had seen a whole pack of trolls once, but that was a long time ago, when she had first joined the Imperial Legion. The smell of troll was like the foulest of foul smells. Trolls never bathe, not even for comfort. They had long hair and tough, gorilla-like bodies. They weren’t too small either, so they emitted even more of their stench. The smell was spread across the cave, causing Fluttershy to go a tad dizzy.

It was even damper and noisier in the cave as well. More echoes spread throughout the tunnel, causing a constant ear-splitting ambience that wouldn’t cease or let up in the slightest. It was colder in the cave as well. It caused even Applejack, in her layers and layers of hard leather and fabric, to shiver out of control. The sound of running water was ever-more present. Fluttershy didn’t know where the wetness in caves came from, but there was a lot of it here. It threatened to let Fluttershy slip to her flank and tumble down the slope a few times.

After a good five minutes of walking downwards, the two ponies finally came to a flat section of rock. The source of the sounds of running water was finally spotted. A small stream worked its way through the cave from a tiny hole high on the wall. Applejack ceased walking.

“Hold on,” she said, stopping Fluttershy. “Let’s wash some a’ this gunk off our faces, huh?” Fluttershy looked down at her chest and forelegs. They, as well as Applejack’s, were covered in ash, dust, and all else I already covered. They used to be soft, silky yellow, but were now a dusty charcoal gray. Streaks of red also ran down her neck, chest, and legs. She looked back at the Earth pony and nodded. She didn’t mean to take a complete shower, but wanted to at least partially wash herself down.

Applejack stepped over to the tiny waterfall and dipped her face in. Fluttershy copied the action and used one of her hooves to somewhat scrub her cheeks and forehead. The water was ice cold, but the relief of getting at least a little clean was too great for Fluttershy to care. She had been sweaty and dirty for too long. As she partially opened her eye, she could see globs of wet ash falling from her face. She brushed her hoof through her hair to try to get some of the gunk out. She quickly pulled out of the refreshing water when she heard a faint noise. She pulled out her sword with a bit of effort and scanned the area, ignoring the strands of wet hair in her eyes. She held her sword straight out. Her ear perked up as she realized what the noise was. She looked over to her friend as she realized it was simply Applejack humming a quiet tune. Fluttershy sheathed her sword (very clumsily I might add) and sighed. With a wild shake of her head, she dried her still dirty hair. After a few moments, Applejack shook her hair dry and blinked a few times.

“Well, now if that don’t feel much better!” she said cheerily, “C’mon. We still got a ways to go.” At this news Fluttershy fell short of breath. She wanted this to be over as soon as possible. She didn’t think she had it in herself to go any further. After she had nearly been killed by an executioner, killed by a dragon and forced into a scary cave with the news that she might have to kill somebody herself, she felt quite drained. With a few pops of her bones, she stood up and the two continued their trek.

The cave soon opened up into a much wider room. Cobwebs and giant sticky sacks hanging from the ceiling presented an ominous scene. In these sacks were the faint remnants of… skeletons. Fluttershy’s eyes widened as the unthinkable started to crawl out of a crack in the far wall. Applejack pulled out her sword and reared back as the beasts crawled closer. These monsters frightened both of them to no end. They had eight visible eyes. They were covered in a hard exoskeleton that was also covered in small sharp hairs. They were as big as a large dog at least. They had giant fangs that hung down from their tiny head. But the worst parts were the legs. Eight of them. All moving independently.

Fluttershy had been bitten by a Frostbite Spider before as a child, and had hoped never to see one again. Especially not one that was charging directly at her.
She quickly pulled out her sword, again, with a bit of effort, and dashed backward. Applejack began hacking at the beasts, which started to spew an odd green liquid. Applejack seemed to fend them off without effort, but there simply too many. Fluttershy could only watch in horror as Applejack was disarmed by a larger spider. The arthropod threw the sword across the cave and continued rushing at the Imperial.

Applejack pulled out her dagger and dug it straight into the largest of the foul monster’s eyes. The creature retreated, but two more took its place. Applejack stomped on one and crushed its small head, but the other caught her off guard and bit down on her back with its long black fang. Applejack let out a long scream as the venom entered her bloodstream. It felt as though someone had taken a match and lit it inside of her. Her very bones seemed to catch fire. Her heart failed to work properly and her lungs seemed to turn to stone.

She pushed the spider off of her and hazily stabbed it with her dagger. The wounded one from before caught her off guard as well and tackled her. Applejack found herself on her back with the giant spider over her. She gritted her teeth and kicked the spider as best she could, but could find no such strength. She could start to see spots before her eyes. The spider’s face seemed to float away into who knows where. The spider reared back and prepared its fangs for the final blow. Applejack gazed into the spiders open mouth. It had rows of tiny, sharp teeth that welcomed her flesh. She closed her eyes and waited for the end…

A loud yell was heard as the weight on her shoulders was suddenly lifted. She opened her eyes again to see that puny little Pegasus on top of the giant spider, stabbing its stomach and head repeatedly with her dented sword. The spider shrieked in pain and terror as the small Pegasus repeatedly dug her blade into it, spilling its blood onto her and the floor of the cave. Soon enough, the spider stopped moving altogether, but Fluttershy continued to stab it. She continued to stab the lifeless husk over and over, not a single hint of tiredness showing through. Just pure, unadulterated rage.
Applejack forced herself to her hooves and stumbled over to her friend. She collapsed just behind her though, but she was at least in arm’s length. She held Fluttershy’s shoulder. Fluttershy ceased her outburst and shook a bit. She dropped her sword and leaned forward, letting a tear flow out of her eye. She stared wide-eyed at the lifeless bug. Applejack kept her hoof on the poor mare’s shoulder. Fluttershy suddenly snapped out of her trance and looked at the bleeding Imperial. She quickly started spewing out soft apologies, to which Applejack calmly put her hoof on the girl’s lips.

“What’re… Nng… What’re you apologizin’ for? You… You saved… my life…” she said through long breaths.

“I… I didn’t mean to turn into a psycho like that! I just… We need to get you out of here…” She ripped off a piece of Applejack’s red inner shirt and apologized again. She turned the Earth pony over, much to Applejack’s displeasure. Fluttershy wrapped some of the fabric around the wound. “That should stop some of the bleeding,” she said, throwing the larger pony over her back. With a loud grunt, she slowly started to trudge forward.

“Not… Not much further,” said Applejack. She put her hoof on her mouth. When she pulled it away to examine it, she noticed a lot of blood, and a bit of white foam. It was as Applejack feared. She had in fact been poisoned by the spider. It had already entered her bloodstream and was causing her to foam and bleed at the mouth. She only had about a day left or she would be dead. Fluttershy trudged up a small incline. Snow started to cover the rock and a light could be seen in the distance. Fluttershy was relieved at the sight of trees in the light. The air suddenly began to get warmer. Fluttershy, now with a burst of confidence, walked a little faster. Suddenly, a gust of wind was felt. Applejack instructed Fluttershy to get down as soon as she exited the cave. The teen was confused, but followed the instructions. The second she ducked behind a rock, the black dragon vigorously flapped its wings overhead. Fluttershy gasped, but Applejack put a hoof over her mouth. The dragon let out a long, triumphant roar and continued to fly south into the distance.

“Looks like he’s gone for good this time,” whispered Fluttershy. With a considerable bit of force, she stood up and clumsily walked down the hill. The scene had changed immensely. The air was warmer, the atmosphere was nicer, and the all-around scenery was much more welcoming. Fluttershy inhaled a long breath of fresh air. “Where’s the nearest town? She asked the pony on her back.

“R… Riverwood… My… My brother’s the… blacksmith there… Guh… He… He’ll help us out… My sister’s… a mage… She’ll… get us fixed up… quick,” she struggled out quietly.

“Never mind me, Applejack. We need to help YOU. I’ve seen frostbite poisoning before… You only have about twelve hours left. That spider really got you too,” she whispered.

“Fine… Should be… a few… minutes to…”

“Just keep quiet… erm… please… If you relax, it’ll help. I’ll get us there in no time.”

“Flut…ter…shy…?”

“Yes?”

“Wrong… way…” Fluttershy looked at the Earth pony quickly and then to the path. She giggled nervously and turned around.

The path to Riverwood seemed to take hours. It would’ve taken forever in different circumstances, but now Fluttershy had to carry a wounded soldier on her back. Applejack, though not the biggest pony she’d ever seen, was pretty damned muscular for her probable age. Training must have been brutal in the legion. She had to have at least ten extra pounds in muscle alone. The poor Pegasus had sweat running down her forehead and cheek in no time. It took all of her little muscles to simply move forward.

After what seemed like an hour, a small stone arch was in sight. Fluttershy felt as if her legs were about to crumble. On the other side of the arch, she could see an even more buff red Earth pony tending to a smithy. Fluttershy could only assume that this was Applejack’s brother. She hoped it was her brother. With two steps into the village, one of her knees failed to lock and she fell onto her side, dropping Applejack. The blacksmith noticed this, and quickly ran over to them, hopping over the wooden railing. He picked up Applejack with care. Fluttershy panted and she noticed that Applejack had passed out. She ever so slowly and shakily stood up, sweat pouring off of her. There was already a puddle of sweat beneath her. The buff red pony brought Applejack into the open workshop and laid her down on a wooden table. Another, smaller Earth pony bolted out of the small house. She looked to be just a few years younger than Fluttershy, about fifteen or sixteen. She had deep red hair and a small bow on her head. Her coat was that of an extremely light yellow. Her eyes were a deep orange. She started talking to the other Earth pony. Fluttershy began to climb the three stairs that led to the workshop. Fluttershy could hear the worry in the younger Earth pony’s voice. The young Earth pony turned to Fluttershy.
“What’re you gawkin’ at?! We’re in the middle a somethin’ here!” The larger Earth pony said something into her ear. “Oh… Well, in that case, I’m Applebloom!” Fluttershy smiled a very nervous smile. “This is our brother Big Macintosh.”

“Um… Is there anything… I can do to help…?” Applebloom looked back at her limp sister.

“… I dunno. I was gonna try a healing spell.”

“Then come on,” said Big Macintosh. Applebloom lit up her hooves with a golden light. She trotted over to her sister and pressed her hooves to the wound. Big Macintosh stepped back a little. “You,” he said to Fluttershy, “You brought her here. Thank you.”

“I- It wasn’t all that important. I just…”

“If there’s anything you need, just ask,” he said, facing her completely.

“U- Um… I don’t wanna impose…” She blushed a bit and sat down. She bit her lip. Imposing was the VERY least thing she liked to do to ponies. If she could avoid asking for a favor, she would.

“You saved my sister’s life. Anything.”

“Could…” Fluttershy tried to get the words just right. “Could… I… have something to… eat…?”

“Eeyup,” said Big Macintosh, “My granny’s inside. Just ask ‘er and tell ‘er I said it was okay.” Fluttershy’s head sank into her shoulders. She forced a smile and slowly backed up. She opened the splintery door to the small house. The floorboards made a loud creak as she stepped inside.

“Eh?! Who’s there?!” shouted a voice. The voice sounded elderly. Fluttershy looked around the house, but found no one. The house looked… warm. There was a certain comfort to it. A few candles lit up the room and gave it a pleasant smell. Fluttershy sniffed around. The smell of bread and apples filled the house. It made Fluttershy’s gut roar to her. She took one more step in and shut the door. The entire house had a homely atmosphere to it. The colors were of warm oranges and browns.

“I… I’m a friend of… Applejack’s…” A green-coated elderly mare shuffled out of the hall and into the den.

“A friend of Applejack’s you say? Well, a friend of Applejack’s is a friend of ours! How is the little soldier mare doin’?” Fluttershy’s jaw hung open for a second as she thought of how to break this to the poor old mare.

“Um… She’s been better… There’s… There’s been an attack in Helgen…”

“Helgen? That lawmare town to the southwest? What happened? Tell me all about it.” Fluttershy proceeded to hesitantly tell the old mare about the dragon attack. She told her about the keep, the torturer, and the spiders. She began to trail off when she spoke of defeating the spiders.

Her eighteen year old mind was hard at work comprehending just what happened with that last one. She’d never held a sword in her life, yet she managed to kill the biggest spider of the bunch. Perhaps it was because Applejack had already weakened it. Maybe it was because she caught it off guard. Nevertheless, she managed to kill it, and was still covered in its dark green blood. She contemplated on why she blacked out during the whole deal. She saw Applejack fight them off, and she saw Applejack get bitten, but that was precisely where she couldn’t remember anything else. The next thing she knew, she was covered in blood on top of the spider. Some sort of primal rage kicked in when she saw Applejack get hurt. It took over her fear and lurched her forward. It was an unfamiliar instinct to protect her friend in her time of need. She had felt nothing of the like before. And it intrigued her. Not only did it frighten and catch her interest… but it entertained her.

Under all of the stress, fear, and confusion, she almost enjoyed that little burst of strength.

But that wasn’t important right now. Right now she had to get something to eat, or her stomach would implode in on itself. And she didn’t even have to ask, for the old mare pulled out a chair at the table.

“You must be exhausted, deary! Come, come! Come sit and have something to eat! You’ve well earned it.” Fluttershy smiled and nodded, her shoulders lowering in relief a bit. She kindly sat down as the old mare plopped a plate of apples and bread in front of her. The poor teen tried her very hardest to eat politely, but her body simply wouldn’t allow it. She couldn’t help but quickly scarf down the food. After a couple platefuls, she sat back and put a hoof on her stomach. She wiped her lips with a napkin politely, though at that point it was a little late for pleasantries.

“Thank you, ma’am,” she said, standing up, “It was delicious.”

“Please, you can call me Granny Smith. Everypony does here in Riverwood,” she said, washing off a plate. “You’ve done my family an incredible favor. But… There is another thing that I think you might be capable of…” Fluttershy’s eyes widened.

“L- Like what…?” she asked. She cringed at the thought of any more danger.

“If a dragon is on the loose, well then, we here in Riverwood are defenseless. If you could, d’you think you could make a quick trip to Whiterun and tell the Jarl of our situation? She could send troops. It won’t be much, but it’ll give us a little more sense of security,” she said, walking closer to Fluttershy. Fluttershy stuttered a bit.

“Wh- Where’s Wh- Whiterun…?”

“Oh, it’s just up the pathway a bit. Jarl Cadence shouldn’t be too hard to talk to. She’s just a little… paranoid is all,” said Granny Smith as she sat down in a rocking chair.

“U- Um… I- I…” Fluttershy saw the desperateness in the old mare’s eyes. “I… I’ll do it…” she said, hanging her head.

“Wonderful! Here, you don’t have to leave right away. Head out tomorrow morning. Stay here and relax for the night.”

“… Th- Thank you… Um… Do you have a shower anywhere…?”

“Of course, deary. It’s down the hall on the left in the back.” Fluttershy thanked her once again. She noticed through the window that the sun was beginning to set. She slowly walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

She was in for an adventure tomorrow for sure.

Author's Note:

Please don't ask how a pony can use a sword. Just... I don't know either.
Holy crap, you guys! Dovashy wasn't up for a week and its already got such a good response! Thank you all so much!

Comments

[Max Caulfield]

Good... Excellent...

[Isumo1489]

Heh, nice work. As for Swords with hooves, popular theory is that the ambient magic in ponies acts like a low-level magnetic field around their hooves, but it's more gravitational than anything. It allows for grip akin to a hand, but it's somewhat weaker unless the user works with it. Much like all magic, it gets stronger with practice, and is one of the many things ALL ponies can do, Zebra have even mastered it to the point they can do magic similar, if more subdued, to Unicorn magic. Mind you, this is mostly what I've observed in the series and a bit of head-cannon, but you've got Dragons and such in an Elder Scrolls crossover, I think you can get away with it. Also, as an aside, well done working with Fluttershy's problems with fighting, this encounter with the Spider should be the gateway to have her ready to face her destiny.

[VampDash]

Adventure is putting it lightly buddy she is in for a journey of legendary proportions. A journey in which every dark and evil beast will learn to fear her name.

[val]

Please don't ask how a pony can use a sword. Just... I don't know either.

mouth?

[Smoker]

I like how well you've characterized Fluttershy, though i sort of wish she'd made friends with the spiders instead of stabbing them. Ah well, can't have everything.

[ArreClonClipo]

Not bad. Not bad at all. I will keep on reading, though I hope that, by how the story is progressing, Fluttershy will join the Imperial Legion instead of the rebels. Be nice to break away from the mold.

[HB_DS2013]

Why is Cadence Jarl of Whiterun? Is she married or single?