Elder Scrolls: Equestria

by DragonTech

The Way of the Voice

Chapter 5: The Way of the Voice
It was late Friday evening, and Ashlan started to close up the shop. Making sure there was no last minute buyers, he turned the sign to closed and headed upstairs. Going into his room, he got everything ready for the long night ahead of him. Next on the list of bounties was a character known simply as The Scale. He was a master of dracomancy, able to conjure up drakes and wyverns with little difficulty, and possessed magic well versed in fire and ice. He was followed by a small troupe of warriors, archers and mages. They were reported to number around twenty, but would pose little threat once Ashlan was in the zone. He was only worried about how to tackle Scale once he came face to face with him. By the time he reached him, he would already know of his presence, and would no doubt be summoning creatures to search him out.

Ashlan decided it would better not to dwell on the issue, and went downstairs once he had all of his gear ready. He grabbed some Potions of Healing from his private stash, and as an after thought added a potion to create a magic reflecting barrier. Throwing on his cloak, he went over to eat dinner. It was a quick meal of salmon meat, which only left Ashlan more time to worry about his foe. As skilled as his opponent was, Ashlan thought about his own skills to help soothe his nerves. He was a talented archer, a skilled short-swordsman, and had a high skill in Alteration, Illusion, and Restoration magic. He was stealthy, and quick on his feet. His knowledge of alchemy was unparalleled in the area, and he knew 13 different ways to kill a man while unarmed.

With all of this, he shouldn't have been nervous, but there was a feeling that something about tonight was going to be different. A feeling that this might be the last time he set out to-
No, Ashlan couldn’t afford to think like that. Doubt is the first step to failure, and to fail tonight would mean almost certain death. The sun had set, and no one was out in the streets. Pulling his cloak over himself, he set out to rid the world of one more criminal.
The hideout was far away from town. Ashlan would be gone for the better portion of the night just getting there. As he walked, he tried not to let his thoughts get the best of him. He’d almost been killed by a dracomancer before, and even then, Twilight had been his friend. Ashlan did his best not to think about what this one would do to him.
The hideout was just over the next hill now, and Ashlan crouched at the top to get a good view. His first impression was that it was not going to be as easy as he had thought.
Ashlan hadn’t been expecting a few flimsy tents around a campfire, but he certainly hadn’t been expecting a small fortress like the one in front of him. There were thick stone walls, not too tall, but tall enough that climbing them was out of the option. The only entrance that Ashlan could see was guarded by two warriors in heavy armor. Archers and mages roamed the top of the wall, and at each watchtower in the four corners of the base were crossbow-wielding snipers. Ashlan was going to have to think up a new way around the defenses, when he heard a noise from somewhere behind him.
Turning to face the potential threat, Ashlan saw no one. Listening closely, he could hear minute breathing in a bush off to his right. Not the breathing of an animal, but of a person…
...A person who had been following him…
...someone who knew he was going somewhere tonight…
...someone who wasn’t happy about it…
...someone whose name was-
“Twilight?”
To his relief and horror, Twilight stepped out of the bushes with Spike close behind. She gave him a What the cuss is going on look. Ashlan had been caught.
“Ashlan, what are you doing here? I thought you were hunting hydras.”
“First off, who in their right minds hunts hydras, second, what are you doing following me if you thought I was hunting hydras?”
“Well, I…” Twilight was at a loss for words. She found them again rather quickly. “I asked you first!”
“You want the truth? I’m out to collect a bounty on a criminal who is somewhere inside that fort. Now you answer my question.”
“I was worried about you. You know, because you were supposed to be hunting hydras?”
Ashlan groaned. He had been counting on the unexpected tonight, but certainly not this. If he went forward with it, Twilight would follow him, and both of their lives would be in great danger. If he didn’t he would be bored the rest of the night.
The pros and cons seemed to even out, making his choice even more difficult.
“Well, unless you can offer some kind of help, I’m going to have to ask you to stay out of this.”
Twilight looked furious. “You expect me to let you go in there alone!”
“Keep your voice down! They’ll know we’re here if you keep yelling like that!”
“I’m whispering!”
“You sound like you’re whispering through a bullhorn!”
“I am not!”
“Quiet!”
“We’re way over here, what’s the worst that could happen? They fire a few arrows at us?”
A loud roar suddenly filled the air, and a large shadow passed over the moon.
“Did I mention the criminal is a dracomancer?”
A large dragon landed in front of Ashlan and Twilight. It had green scales, and its claws were easily the size of Ashlan’s head. Its eyes were like a snake’s, and they were looking at both of them. Spike started growling, which was easily the cutest and most non-intimidating thing Ashlan had ever heard.
“Don’t move.” Twilight whispered.
“What?”
“A dragon’s vision is based on movement. If we don’t move, it won’t see us. It works on Spike all the time.”
“Spike also likes to humor you, in case you couldn’t tell. It can see us.”
“No it can’t.”
Ashlan was starting to get ticked off. “Listen, I’ve had a few run ins with dragons. That doesn’t work.”
“Wait, you’ve encountered dragons? Why didn’t you tell me? And if it doesn’t work, why isn’t it attacking us?”
“First off, you never asked, second, I don’t like to talk about what happens when I kill a dragon, third, I don’t know why it isn’t attacking us.”
The two of them turned to face the dragon, who was staring directly at them. Ashlan leaned a bit to the left, and the dragon’s gaze followed. After establishing that the dragon could in fact see them, Ashlan came back to a crouching position.
“Hello?”
The dragon let out a tremendous roar and lunged toward the two. Ashlan easily dodged out of the way, but Twilight had a bit more trouble. After seeing that Twilight was the easier meal, it turned to finish her off. Ashlan had other ideas.
“Hey, you over sized wyvern, over here!”
No response from the dragon. Ashlan pulled out a potion and tossed it underhand at the dragon. It landed right on the dragon’s head and shattered on impact. The dragon turned to face Ashlan.
“Wait, was that the calm or fury potion?”
The dragon lunged at Ashlan once again, but Ashlan was prepared. He skillfully front flipped onto the dragon’s head and planted his wakizashi into the back of the base of it’s skull. The dragon roared with pain, and took off to the sky, with Ashlan still on it.
Hanging on to the knife still in the dragon’s head, Ashlan was doing a fairly good job at not letting go. The dragon twisted and somersaulted through the air, but Ashlan didn’t fall off. Meanwhile, Twilight was watching from the ground in sheer terror-while taking notes of course.
Ashlan analyzed the situation. He didn’t have anything that could deliver a finishing blow to the dragon, and possessed no spell powerful enough to calm the creature at this point. However, he did have a deep knowledge of alteration and illusion magic, which he decided would be a good time to put to use.
Using an illusion spell, he made it so that the dragon wouldn’t be able to feel him on his back. It worked fairly well. The dragon whipped around to see if Ashlan had fallen off, which he hadn’t. But Ashlan was just getting started. The trickiest part was here: he pulled his knife out of the dragon’s skull. Luckily, the dragon was flying in place right now, trying to decipher where he had presumably fallen. Using his alteration magic, his small knife was engulfed by an aura image of itself, slightly bigger, just as sharp. Focusing his magic, he willed the aura blade to grow larger. Soon it was the size of a normal sword, but Ashlan didn’t stop there. It was now as big as a greatsword, and as light as the actual knife. Finally, the blade was big enough to be seen from the ground, which Ashlan made a point of showing off to everyone below.
Pulling back his now gigantic knife, he swung it in a wide arc, aiming at the point where the dragons neck met the base of its skull. The area erupted in a spurt of dragon blood as the dragon died instantly from having one of the few one-hit kill areas being slashed open. There weren’t many places you could use to instantly kill a dragon, but Ashlan had just hit one of them. The dragon’s corpse went into a freefall toward the fortress below.
A dragon’s corpse plummeting toward a structure, that when it landed would end the lives of anyone still alive from it’s rant...Ashlan had a distinct feeling he’d been in this situation before. Ashlan realized he was going to hit the ground just as hard as the dragon.
“Hey, Arkay and Stendarr?” Ashlan had never been religious, but he figured this was as good a time as any. “I know people don’t usually refer to you in the same sentence, but I think I deserve some mercy, and I really don’t want to die. If I have any more flying to do today, could you let me know?”
Everything was thrown into a swirl of disorientation as Ashlan hit the ground atop the dragons back. Rolling off of the side still dazed, he stood up and got a grip on his surroundings. There were two archers and a mage still aimed on him.
“So, was that a yes, or a no?”
Spike flew at the mage with blinding speed and knocked him to the ground. The two archers pointed their weapons at the baby dragon, when they were both sunken to the ground by Twilight’s Lightning spell. The poor mage hadn’t stood a chance against Spike, and Ashlan was surprised at how messy Spike could get.
“Amen.”
Twilight rushed over to check on Ashlan, but her and Spike quickly backed away when they saw what was happening to the dragon. Its skin was peeling away, and it was quickly being surrounded by a magic whirlwind. This whirlwind then found it’s way to Ashlan, who was caught up in it as well, until it suddenly stopped. Ashlan seemed invigorated with power, and all that remained of the dragon was its skeleton.
Ashlan had just absorbed a Dragon Soul.
Twilight and Spike were both freaking out. Twilight because one of her friends was apparently a Dragonborn, and Spike because he didn’t know whether or not he was next. Twilight ran up to Ashlan.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were a Dragonborn?!? This is huge!!!”
Ashlan looked away. “You don’t go around making a big deal that you can do that sort of thing. Just a general rule of Thu’um.”
Twilight was too busy squealing with joy to laugh at Ashlan’s pun. Ashlan turned back to face her.
“Besides, I’m not a dragonborn.” he added.
Twilight could’ve cared less. “Then what do you call that?” she asked.
Ashlan turned away again. “I don’t like to talk about it. I found out about it when I was seven. My father found out a few days later. Suddenly I wasn’t just another slave anymore. He tried to get me to do it in front of people for money, but I never did. People would look at me like a freak, not some kind of prophesied hero. That’s what I get for being half-dark elf and half-argonian. He would always yell at me like it was my fault no one thought I was special. One night he just wouldn’t stop about it, and I accidently...let loose a shout.”
Twilight was taken aback by the story, and remained silent to let Ashlan finish.
“Needless to say he died almost instantly. Morrowind was under severe quarantine at the time, so I took a boat to Solstheim, then to Skyrim. After that I traveled to Cyrodiil, and started over. At least I tried to. People still couldn’t get over how freaky I was.”
Twilight almost felt like crying for her friend. To have such an amazing talent, and have nobody to help you refine it, let alone to not have anyway to support yourself?
“Anyway, that’s enough about me for now. I wasn’t a slave when I came to Equestria, but for all people cared about me, I might as well have been. I don’t think anybody here survived that crash. Let’s head back to Ponyville. And Twilight-?”
Twilight looked at Ashlan with both respect and sympathy for what he had been through.
“-Not a word of this to anybody. If you can keep this a secret, I...might be able to show you a Dragon Shout. Maybe. But not a word of this to anybody, understand?”
Twilight didn’t say a word, she just nodded in a silent agreement. The two of them headed back to town. As they were walking back, Ashlan pulled the cloak over himself again to hide his identity once more. The walk home was silent, save for the occasional clearing of a throat from one of the two. When they reached Twilight’s library, they took a moment to look at themselves. Spike and Ashlan’s faces were covered in blood, and Twilight’s robe had seen better days. If the situation hadn’t been dampened by itself, the two might’ve laughed at each other’s appearance. The two just stood there silently for a moment, when Twilight spoke up.
“Well, I should probably get inside. Spike’s going to need another bath now.”
Ashlan grinned. “Probably. I’m going to need to wash this outfit when I get home.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Twilight said, “Rainbow Dash wanted to talk to you about something yesterday. It had something to do with your house.”
Ashlan shrugged. I’ll worry about it later. Right now, I’m just going to go home, take a shower, and head to bed. See you tomorrow, Twilight.”
With that, Ashlan started to walk home. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far from the Golden Oaks Library. On the way there, he thought about everything that had happened that night. Twilight now knew to of his biggest secrets, the bounty hunting and his Dragonborn powers. He didn’t consider himself some legendary hero waiting to happen. He was just someone who happened to have special powers. He only knew a few words of power, mostly from the things he’d done for money in Skyrim. Finding words of power was no easy task, especially when he was under constant pressure from everybody who’d found out to go train with the Greybeards on the Throat of the World. Luckily, even their voice’s range had limits, and they’d never found out somehow. As he walked into his house, he wondered how long it would be before people found out about the dragon. More importantly, after a stunt like that, how long it would be until Odician found out about him.
______________________________________________________________________________
Ashlan woke up the next morning to someone pounding on his door. Still exhausted from everything that happened the night before, he went downstairs to see who it was. Approaching the door from the staircase, he could hear Pinkie Pie calling his name over and over again while pounding on the door. Once he opened it, he saw Rainbow Dash and Rarity were standing there as well.
“What’s going on? Is there an emergency?” Ashlan asked.
Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Ashlan, something really weird happened outside of town last night! You have to come see it, right now!”
Ashlan had a good feeling he knew what they were talking about. He decided to answer it like a joke.
“What, is there a dragon or something?”
“Not anymore! Everyone’s freaking out about this, you have to come right now!” Rainbow Dash was obviously both very excited and very upset about it. Rarity was doing her best not to show her nervousness, but she wasn’t doing a very good job. Pinkie Pie was just freaking out.
“Alright, let’s go see what happened.” Ashlan went out the door, but the three of them rushed ahead at a breakneck pace, so Ashlan had to run to keep up. The sprint led them out of town and, just as Ashlan expected, to the site of the battle last night. A large crowd had already gathered outside the fort, and guardsmen both Imperial and Equestrian were doing their best to hold back the crowd from the scene. The four friends pushed ahead to the front, where they could see Twilight on the scene with Shining Armor and a figure Ashlan recognized very much.
“So Twilight, what exactly could do this to a dragon?” Shining Armor asked his younger sister. Twilight leaned down to touch the dragon skeleton, faking wondering what it was. Ashlan felt special that Twilight would lie to her brother to protect him.
“I’m not sure, but whatever it is, it-” Twilight started, but Captain Odician cut her off.
“Twilight, if you really do know who did this, then we need to know. They could be dangerous. More importantly, we need to know what a dragon was doing so close to Ponyville.”
Twilight looked up at the two Captains, then sighed a breath of defeat. “I was out here last night, following a friend of mine. I thought he was going to get into danger, so I wanted to make sure he was safe. This dragon showed up, and he killed it, and...it turns out he was a Dragonborn.”
There was an audible murmuring from the crowd. A Dragonborn was an incredibly rare thing, something that may never even happen once in your lifetime, and there was one in Ponyville? The captains of the guard were interested in this as well. A Dragonborn could very well be stronger than both of them combined, and may be just what they needed to catch Ashlan.
“Twilight, who is it? We need to talk with them about this.” Shining Armor asked. Twilight looked down nervously.
“Well, he doesn’t like people to know about it, so...he made me promise to keep it a secret. I’m sorry.”
Odician was disappointed, needless to say. Still, perhaps there was another way to get the identity of the Dragonborn to come forward. Perhaps a reward, or finding out from another friend of the Dragonborn…
“Mrs. Twilight, is he here now? In the crowd, perhaps?” Odician was insistent on finding out who it was. This person could be either a huge help or threat to the safety of the province. A Dragonborn could be a very bad thing, as evidenced by Ulfric Stormcloak in the history of Skyrim. If Twilight couldn’t tell him a name, perhaps she could describe his character. At least they would know if Equestria was in danger. “At the very least, could you tell us if he stands for the Empire?”
Twilight stood up from the skeleton. “I’m not sure, but I can tell you he’s definitely not an anarchist. I think he’s indifferent about who rules, as long as they’re a good ruler. So you two don’t have anything to worry about.”
Shining Armor and Odician let out a slight sigh of relief. That was a small load off of their shoulders. Still, it was important that they knew the identity of this Dragonborn in case there was an emergency and they needed his help.
Back in the crowd, Ashlan was slowly slipping backwards toward Ponyville. After some careful maneuvering, he managed to break free of the crowd and made a fast-walk toward the town. Once he was back at his shop, he took a slight breath of relief. The fact that Odician hadn’t caught him was a slight load off of his shoulders, but he still needed to be careful in case they decided to stay in town for a while. Which they probably would while trying to figure out who the Dragonborn was. Although he was upset at twilight, he technically hadn’t made her promise to keep the fact that there was a Dragonborn a secret: she had just promised to keep the identity secret, which she did. And Ashlan was grateful she had at least done that. Still, it couldn’t be avoided that they would be staying at least another day.
It wasn’t like Ashlan was a master at Dragon Shouting. He only knew three shouts as of that day, and even then he hadn’t used them in a while. Still, they had served him well in his days as an assassin, each being incredibly useful in its own way. The words of power still burned brightly in his mind, and Ashlan still remembered each of them as if he had learned them yesterday. Even more impressive than the fact that he was a Dragonborn was how he had discovered it: by killing a dragon at the age of seven.
For some reason, that made Ashlan wonder why he’d become an assassin in the first place. Was it because he’d killed a dragon, and wanted to see what else he could challenge? Was it because the killing of the dragon sparked some twisted spark in him that set his heart ablaze everytime he took out a target? Perhaps it was after he killed his father and it was the only thing left for him to do? Yet maybe it was because he wanted less people in the world like his father? Maybe he had been driven to it because he needed the money and an opportunity presented itself? Or may be it had been his destiny to go through that time in his life?
Maybe it was his destiny to be an assassin. That was a scary thought. To have your only purpose in life be to end others. Maybe that’s why Ashlan had never believed in a stone-set destiny. Because some part of him wanted to deny he’d be stuck as a killer forever. Whatever the case, Ashlan didn’t believe in soothsayers and prophecies. Because nothing was set in stone. Because tomorrow was guaranteed for no one. Because nothing is truly written in the stars. At least to Ashlan.
________________________________________________________________________
The next day, Ashlan set up shop as usual. Ashlan had caught word of Rainbow Dash’s birthday being this week, so he was expecting Pinkie Pie to come in any moment now. At about noon, she came bursting through the door.
“ASHLAN!”
“Yes Pinkie Pie? And use your inside voice.”
“When’s your birthday?”
The question caught Ashlan off guard. He had never really celebrated his birthday, since either his father refused to or he had been doing other things. So the short answer to the question was really going to be a surprise for Pinkie Pie.
“I don’t know, Pinkie.”
“WHAT!?! HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW WHEN YOUR BIRTHDAY IS?!?”
“Ashlan winced at the volume Pinkie Pie screamed. “I don’t know, Pinkie. I’ve never celebrated it before, so I kind of just...forgot, I guess.”
Pinkie Pie’s hair drooped. “You mean...you’ve never gotten a birthday party? Ever?”
Ashlan almost felt bad for giving an honest answer. He should’ve just given her a random date. It was too late to back out now, though.
“Nope. my father didn’t see me as a true son, so he never thought it was important, so-”
“What about your mom?”
That really caught Ashlan off guard. His mom had never really been in the equation as a kid, so he’d never really thought about her growing up. “I never knew my mom, Pinkie. it was just me and my dad growing up. That, and about a dozen other slaves.”
Pinkie Pie was really getting depressed now. She must’ve never heard Ashlan’s backstory he’d given everyone in town.
“Didn’t they throw you a party?”
“With what money? Besides, I was my dad’s son and his slave. He viewed me as below him, so he never threw me a party. The other slaves had a grudge against me because I slept in the house and not a shack like them. I slept in a broom closet in the house, but they didn’t know that. So they thought I was getting the special treatment, so they hated me more than my dad did. Like I said, my mom was never in the picture. I never had any friends off the plantation because I never got to leave the place. And when I did leave, no one wanted to be my friend because they were all afraid of me after what happened to my dad, so-”
“What happened to your dad?”
Ashlan cursed under his breath. “He died.”
“Did you kill him?”
Ashlan took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to lie to Pinkie Pie, but he was going to word this very carefully.
“Yes. There was an accident that was my fault, and he paid the price for it.”
Pinkie Pie was noticeably shaken. Ashlan shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place. Pinkie was almost crying. Pulling herself together, she looked up at Ashlan.
“Well, he sounded pretty mean anyway. If was an accident, then it doesn’t matter. As long as you learned from your mistake.”
“Right. So did you need anything else today? Maybe for an upcoming party of a friend, perhaps?”
“Oh, right! I need something for Rainbow Dash! What do you think she’d like?”
“Well, I don’t know Rainbow Dash that well, so your guess is probably better than mine.”
“Ok, I’ll go ask her! Bye Ashy!”
Before Ashlan could correct on the nickname, she sped out the door to presumably go find Rainbow Dash. Still a little unsettled, Ashlan went back to making sure the shop was in top running condition. He had been right about the alchemy table-it had saved him a lot of money, and it had been only a week. The efficiency of the table meant more could be made with less, and to a higher quality at that. He had decided to keep the smaller versions he sold before, only because sometimes an alchemy table wasn’t available, and he heard it had become a pastime of some adventurers. Either way, he would continue to sell the kits.
After a few hours, Ashlan decided he would close up shop early today. As he set about locking everything valuable up, he heard someone knocking on the door. Going over to check, he saw Rainbow Dash waiting for him. Ashlan presumed she had remembered what she wanted to talk to him about.
“Hey Ashlan, I have a question I wanted to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“Well, two things actually. First off, do you like your house?”
The second question of the day to catch Ashlan off guard. “Yes?” Ashlan said, rather confused at the question.
“Are you sure? What if you have a bigger one?” Rainbow Dash inquired.
Ashlan was quickly becoming annoyed. “Rainbow, get to the point.”
Rainbow Dash took a breath.“There’s a plot of land for sale outside Ponyville. It’s not too far from Ponyville, and you struck me as an outdoors guy.”
“Where exactly did you get that?” Ashlan asked.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because you spend so much time in the Everfree Forest? Anyway, you interested?”
Ashlan was wondering why Rainbow dash was offering him a random plot of land. So he decided to ask. “What would I even do with land like that anyway?”
Rainbow dash silently laughed. “Build on it, duh.”
Ashlan said, “Look Rainbow, I’m not an architect, I’m-”
“Applejack’s barn says otherwise.” Rainbow Dash interrupted.
Ashlan was getting fed up. “That’s because your friends were guiding me. I’m not an architect. I’m a ‘point me in a direction and get out of my way’ guy, ok?”
Rainbow Dash looked offended at that for some reason. “Huh, you don’t seem like that to me. You strike me as a, ‘shut up and get behind me’ guy. A leader, you know?”
Ashlan was doing his best to not lash out. This conversation was quickly becoming tiresome. Ashlan said, “Look, I’ve spent my whole life taking orders, Rainbow. In one way or another, that’s my life. I’ve never taken charge of anything myself. At best, I was co-leader, with someone else by my side to take charge with, ok? Now please leave me alone.”
Before Rainbow Dash could respond, Ashlan shut the door on her. He immediately felt bad for doing so afterwards. After debating with himself for a minute, he went back and opened the door. Rainbow Dash was there, but she didn’t look angry: if anything, she was sad.
Ashlan spoke up. “You said you have two questions for me?”
Rainbow dash turned away. “Sorry. I didn’t realize I was bothering you.”
Ashlan grabbed her by the shoulder and said, “Look, I’m sorry. It was just getting old fast. If you need something, I’m happy to help.”
Rainbow Dash turned around. “I was wondering if you knew anyone who needed work. You know, a quest maybe? Take down some bandits, recover a jewel, something exciting, you know?”
That was three for three on catching him off guard.
Ashlan thought for a moment. “Hey, you know about Dwemer Ruins?” Ashlan asked.
Rainbow dash scoffed. “I know I’ve heard of them before, but I don’t know what they are.”
Ashlan decided this would be a good time to explain the concept of raiding ruins to Rainbow Dash. “They’re these old ruins that are all over Tamriel. It’s possible there are some here in Equestria. They usually have valuable stuff in them. Swords, pottery, whatever you can carry, it’s yours.”
Rainbow Dash looked around. “Um, Ashlan, isn’t that stealing?”
Ashlan answered her, “Not since the Dwemer died out who knows how long ago. They’re just treasures waiting to be taken, if you're brave enough.”
Rainbow Dash got a gleam in her eye. “So it’s like what Daring Do does?”
Ashlan had no idea who that was, but he decided to go with it. “Sure.”
Rainbow Dash was excited now. “So what kind of traps are in there? Are there bandits?”
Ashlan shrugged. “Not a lot of traps, probably bandits, but what you really have to watch out for are the robots. Dwemer were really advanced, most of their automatons still work today. If you can handle that, you should be fine. You’ll probably need a weapon though.”
Rainbow Dash didn’t wait another second. She sped off to go prepare herself for the great adventure that lay ahead of her. Ashlan smiled. He remembered he had just closed the shop, and decided to go upstairs to take a nap, glad he had been able to help a friend.
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Ashlan was awoken by a very loud and frantic knocking at his door. After answering the door, he found Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Fluttershy, all with a very worried look on their faces. Ashlan noticed Rainbow Dash was missing from the usual six.
“Hey, where’s Rainbow Dash?” Ashlan asked.
“Your guess is as good as ours.” Twilight said. “She was frantic earlier today, talking about some kind of ruins she found in the Everfree forest, and how she was going to be like Daring Do, and then she just took off toward the forest.”
Ashlan groaned. “How long ago was this?”
“5 hours.” Rarity said. “Please, can you help find her, just see if she’s alright?”
Ashlan must’ve been more tired than he thought if he had been asleep for five hours. Now he felt bad for bringing it up. “Do you know where she headed?” Ashlan asked.
Fluttershy presented a map with a circle drawn around an area in the Everfree forest. “We managed to figure it out. Please, don’t let anything bad happen to her.” Fluttershy pleaded.
Ashlan looked up at the five. “I promise I’ll bring her back, for better or for worse, but Rainbow Dash will come back to Ponyville. Let me get a few things ready, and I’ll leave as soon as I can.”
The five looked grateful, but still had a worried look about them. Ashlan gave them a reassuring nod, then went inside to get ready. It wasn’t long, he just had to put on his bounty hunting equipment. Wyvern hide armor? Check. Cloak of Shadow Sight? Check. Wakizashi? Check. Bow and arrows? Check. Ashlan had everything ready in a matter of minutes. He brought along some healing potions in case, and went back outside. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were taken aback by his appearance. Ashlan remembered they had never seen this side of him. Pulling the hood of his cloak up, he rushed off to find his friend lost in the Everfree forest.
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After about 15 minutes of walking, Ashlan came to the spot where he would have to go off of the road. Taking a breath of courage, he went into the tangled mess of greenery. After leaving the path, it would take him about five minutes to get to the ruins they’d marked on the map. After about two, he heard something rustle in the brush. Turning to face the potential threat, Ashlan was taken aback by what he saw. It was an imperial soldier, one Ashlan had never seen before. His armor indicated he was a fairly high rank-at least, he had been.
He had a large slash in his left side, and the armor around it had been melted completely. This man had once been a soldier, but now, he was a mindless zombie. Whose attention was currently focused on killing Ashlan. Making a lunge, Ashlan was easily able to outmaneuver the zombie and end its suffering with a stab to the back of the head. The zombie collapsed instantly.
Necromancers. That was the only answer to why it was here. Necromancers, however, don’t hang around Dwemer ruins due to the lack of bodies. But they had never said these were Dwemer ruins...Ashlan really hoped he was wrong. Rushing silently to a clearing, his worst fears were confirmed. This was not a Dwemer ruin.
It was a Daedric ruin.
Ashlan instinctively checked to make sure his hood was up. It was a nervous habit. If Rainbow Dash had come here, then Ashlan had to assume the worse. Still, he had promised to bring her back, even if that meant carrying home a corpse to bury. Ashlan saw a mage walking the grounds by himself. He was looking for something. It had been too soon for them to notice his appearance, which meant someone from the outside was still alive. Ashlan hoped Rainbow dash had found a good place to hide, if she hadn’t gotten out already. Ashlan noticed there were a few other bodies scattered around the site. Presumably a few guards had gotten through, but not for long, as evidenced by the zombie he had encountered. Ashlan noticed a figure sneaking up on the mage. It was a guard: Ashlan assumed he was the only one left. With a single swift motion, he thrust his sword into the mage’s back, letting him slump to the ground afterward.
Ashlan noticed another figure sneaking up on the lone guard undetected. Ashlan pulled out his bow, pulled back an arrow, and let it fly into the would-be assassin’s heart. The guard turned to face Ashlan, who did a slight bow to show they were on the same side. The guard came over to Ashlan, and he immediately recognized the figure. Ashlan had just saved Captain Odician’s life. Luckily, the cloak Ashlan wore shrouded his face, even up close, thanks to the special enchantment. Captain Odician offered his hand. Ashlan assumed he wasn’t recognized yet.
“I assume you’re not one of those cultists?” Odician asked.
Ashlan returned the handshake with a gloved hand, then walked past the guard. Odician followed behind.
“You must be Wyvernhide, correct? The guards in Ponyville were talking about you. That is you isn’t it?” Odician asked.
Ashlan simply nodded as they approached the entrance to the inner ruins. Odician continued.
“A man of few words I see. Your actions speak loud enough I suppose. They say you’ve been turning in a great deal of criminals without uttering a single word. Strong and silent type I guess.” Odician said, seeming to be impressed by Ashlan’s false identity.
As the two walked in, Ashlan’s Shadow Sight enchantment immediately alerted him to danger. There were two warriors waiting to ambush them behind two of the six pillars that held up the interior. Ashlan silently pointed to the two of them, hoping to get the point across to his new and most definitely temporary ally. The captain seemed to get the point, as he circled around to the one on the front left. He took him out with a sweeping blow to the knees followed by a slash to the head. The other popped out with an arrow loaded into his bow: luckily, Ashlan was faster and landed another arrow through the heart, delivering another fatal blow. Odician turned to face Ashlan.
“You’re a good shot, and a quick one at that. I think I’ve only ever met one as skilled with a bow as you. Luckily, we’re on the same side, unlike him. Would you be interested in helping me track him down?”
Ashlan proceeded to the stairs at the far end of the corridor. They led deeper into the ruins, the next level underground. Before Ashlan went on, Odician grabbed him by the shoulder.
“You know, it’s considered rude to ignore someone like that. You know, you’ve stayed silent this whole time, and you’re starting to remind me of a criminal that escaped to this country… one that is still missing.”
Ashlan remembered the voice he had used on the ship when he first came to Equestria to freak out the guards. He had done it with the help of his illusion magic, and he decided now would be a very good time to bring it back.
“Do you quesssstion my motives? If sssssso, you would be very foolish in neglecting my asssssistance.” Ashlan said in a slithery voice. The trick was not to exaggerate every ‘s’ sound in the sentence.
It worked very well, as Odician took a step back. Regaining his composure, he pressed his question again. “Care to explain what exactly your motives are then?”
Ashlan decided to answer honestly-in the creepiest snake voice possible though. “I am here for the one they call Rainbow Dasssssssh. Her friends have requessssssted my assistance in her safe return.”
The two snuck down the stairs leading to the lower level. There was no one there, and Ashlan detected nothing, so he went forward a few steps. At that moment Ashlan audibly heard something in the shadows. He turned to face the direction, as did the captain. While doing so, he was leapt on from behind by something. he was able to turn himself over, and found himself looking straight into the beady eyes of a Dremora. Knocked to the ground, the creature roared in Ashlan’s face, giving Ashlan an opportunity to strike at it with a left hook, then a right. This only aggravated the creature, and it pulled back it’s massive arm to take a swipe at Ashlan. he decided this would be a very good time to put one of his dragon shouts to good use.
“Sil liiv rein!”
The dremora immediately slumped over dead from the shout, and Ashlan pushed its carcass off of him. When he looked over to Odician, he saw the knight dealing with another of the same creature. Pulling out his bow, Ashlan put an arrow through the reptilian creature’s skull, causing it to fall over like the one Ashlan had killed. Odician looked at Ashlan with a look of newfound respect and admiration. He obviously still didn’t recognize him.
“That was a dragon shout! You’re the dragonborn then?” Odician exclaimed.
“Yesss, that is me.” Ashlan answered, almost forgetting to use his accent.
Odician inquired further. “Just what exactly was that shout?”
Ashlan had nothing to hide. Besides, maybe the captain would think twice before messing with him should his identity be revealed.
“Sssssssoul Scream. ‘Sil’ means soul, ‘liiv’ means wither, and ‘rein’ means roar. It’s enough to kill a dremora, and dissssssable a grown dragon. It’s not an officcccccial shout, but with a deep knowledge of dragontongue, it may as well be.” Ashlan answered.
The captain approached Ashlan, then said, “Well, I’m also here for Rainbow Dash. One of her friends thought it would be wise to send the guard. When we didn’t return, they must’ve thought to send a Dragonborn. A wise move on their part. We underestimated their strength.”
Ashlan acknowledged the captain with a nod, then the two walked through the long underground hallway, being precautious for other creatures of Oblivion. When they reached the end, there was a half open doorway to yet another lower level, although this one seemed much less used than the others.
Odician let out a whistle. “This place sure goes deep. Deeper than most other Daedric Shrines.”
Ashlan simply nodded. As the two went down the stairwell, it made a turn around halfway. When Ashlan and Odician saw the other half, they realized how Rainbow Dash was misinformed.
“This entire temple is built on Dwemer ruins.” Odician realized outloud. “if Rainbow is still alive, she must be down here somewhere.”
The two proceeded to the Dwemer section of the ruins, as Odician called out for Rainbow Dash. Ashlan searched for her silently as well. Approaching one end of the room, his cloak of Shadow Sight alerted him to someone waiting behind a box to jump out at him. Coming up to the box carefully, Ashlan looked around the corner…
...and was almost stabbed in the face by a very frightened Rainbow Dash. Luckily, Ashlan was faster, and grabbed her hand before the dagger reached his face. Holding her by the shoulders, he removed his hood just enough for the cloaking effect to go away so that she could recognize him.
“Ashlan?” she said very quietly. Ashlan pulled the hood back on fully and shushed her with his finger, and nodded to let her know it was him.
Helping her up from behind the box, Ashlan signaled to Odician that he had found Rainbow Dash. Odician came over immediately.
“You must be Rainbow Dash, I presume? Your friends asked me to help find you. I’m Captain Odician of the Imperial Guard.” Odician said. Glancing down at the dagger in her hand, he continued. “Perhaps you should come a little more prepared the next time you explore ruins.”
Rainbow dash grinned. “Maybe,” she said, “Let’s just get out of here, ok?”
The three looked at each other, then started for the staircase. As they reached the top, Rainbow Dash talked about how she had almost gotten the treasure and how she had been forced to hide in the Dwemer part of the ruins. For someone who had had such a close encounter with death, she seemed ok.
Ashlan walked behind the two, listening in on the conversation. The duo in front reached the staircase with Ashlan a few steps behind them, when a dark cross-barred cage of magical energy separated Ashlan from the two. rainbow dash tried to get to Ashlan, but was literally shocked by the magical cage wall separating Ashlan from his friend. Odician helped her up, and the two were confused on how the cage had gotten there. Suddenly a voice broke through the dark room.
“Oh how I do love a good story, but it seems like every one of them has a part I don’t like. I suppose each writer has to do what he must.”
Ashlan turned around to see a man materializing like a shadow taking form. When he fully appeared, he was a Breton, a little taller than Ashlan. He wore a black suit with an intricate design of gems, giving the appearance of starlight. His hair was long and dark, and neatly combed to each side of his head straight down. He wore a pair of gloves with some kind of enchantment on them, which Ashlan could not discern. Ashlan could see a rapier sheathed on his belt. His appearance made Ashlan uneasy.
The man continued. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Crescent Moon. Everyone has a story, but there is one part of mine right now that I seek to change.”
Ashlan spoke up. “Oh yeah, what part is that?” Ashlan realized a second too late he had used his normal voice in front of Odician. He would worry about it later.
Crescent continued. “The part where you’re here, killing my men!” He eased his tense posture. “Now, I’m going to make it simple on you-drop your weapon, and I’ll make your end quick and easy. If you should refuse…”
Ashlan raised his bow with an arrow loaded. The man scoffed. “Please. The only lasting stories are written in stone. I saw this battle coming. You have no chance of defeating me.”
Ashlan decided to respond with his own story remark. “Well, the stories everyone likes are written on pen and paper. And my story is still being written. Nothing is guaranteed, especially not you if think you can defeat me. So excuse me while I take a metaphorical stick of dynamite to your story of stone.”
Ashlan let loose the arrow straight at Crescent’s chest. To everyone's surprise, he teleported quick enough to dodge the arrow-and reappeared right behind Ashlan.
Crescent grimaced. “We’ll see about that. We’ll bring your story to an end right here, before it becomes intertwined with ours.”
Before Ashlan could respond, Crescent moon teleported again. This time however, he reappeared only long enough to launch a smoking barrage of magical energy at Ashlan, disappeared, and repeated the process from a different spot in the room. Crescent was moving so fast that Ashlan couldn’t get a lock on him before he disappeared and launched his attack again. Admittedly, the barrage didn’t hurt too badly, but it was coming constantly from almost every direction at once, and the smoke from the attack was limiting his visibility. After about a minute Ashlan fell to the ground after he could no longer stand. The relentless attack continued despite his injury.
Ashlan quieted his breath and focused on trying a pattern in Crescent’s attack. After about thirty seconds, he had deciphered the pattern, and readied his arrow toward the ground, anticipating when he was going to appear. When he was ready, he let loose an arrow into empty air. Just as he had anticipated, Crescent teleported right into the path of the arrow. Although it didn’t hit him through the heart, it did knock him down, which was enough for Ashlan to regain his strength and stand up.
Crescent was furious someone had managed to stop his attack. “How did you manage to know exactly where I was going to teleport?”
Ashlan smiled at the shocked cultist. After drinking the healing potion he’d brought with him, he answered. “It wasn’t easy, with the constant attack, but there was a pattern in your attack. You were teleporting around a triangular fractal, which gave you fifteen points to attack from. After I realized that, it was just a matter of deciphering which ones you were teleporting to.”
Crescent pulled the arrow from his chest and stood up. “Fine. You win this fight, Ashlan of Morrowind, but this is your only warning: If you continue to interfere with our plans, your story is going to take a severe turn from a comedy to a tragedy. The queen will return as scheduled, and the night will last forever!”
With that, Crescent faded away into the shadow again, this time not returning to the room. Ashlan’s Cloak of Shadow Sight was in ruins, leaving his identity completely exposed to Odician and Rainbow Dash. With the disappearance of Crescent moon, the bar of energy between them faded. Ashlan approached the two.
“Come on Rainbow Dash, let’s let everyone know you’re ok. Odician, we’ll talk later.” Ashlan said.
Rainbow Dash looked between the two men. “Oh, do you two know each other?”
Odician looked surprisingly calm, although upset that he had been working with a notorious assassin the whole time. “I have the unfortunate pleasure.” He replied. “He’s right, let’s get you back to Ponyville.”
Rainbow Dash looked confused as to why Odician had used the term ‘unfortunate pleasure’ but decided not to question it. The three exited the ruins and made for Ponyville. Before they left, Rainbow simply had to point something out to Ashlan.
“Hey Ashlan?” she said.
Ashlan turned to face her. “What is it?”
Rainbow Dash tried to hold back a laugh. “When you were explaining to that guy how you figured out his attack pattern and all that…?” she said.
“Yes?” he asked.
Rainbow Dash smiled. “You sounded like a total egghead.”
Ashlan didn’t bother with a response.
______________________________________________________________________________
After seeing that the other Elements of Harmony were not at Ashlan’s shop, they decided to check the Golden Oak’s Library. The moon was at it’s highest now, signifying it was late into the night. Upon entering the library, Rainbow Dash was greeted by all of her friends with a warm embrace.
Twilight was the first to ask the inevitable question. “Are you alright?”
Rainbow Dash answered her friends. “Yeah, thanks to Ashlan and Captain Odician. Those two were a really good team.”
Ashlan immediately answered, “No we weren’t.”
Rarity said, “Oh, don’t be so modest you two. You did an excellent job at rescuing Rainbow Dash.”
Captain Odician spoke up. “He means we aren’t a team. And we never will be. Not where he’s going anyway. Ashlan, by the power invested in me by the emperor I place you under arrest.”
The six women were taken aback. Applejack spoke out. “Just what exactly for?!?”
Odician turned to Ashlan. “So you haven’t told them yet?”
The six friends turned to Ashlan. “Told us what?” Pinkie said in a sad voice.
Ashlan took a deep breath. “What I told you about my life before Equestria was a half-truth. Yes, I was a slave as a kid, but after my dad died, I really wasn’t a slave to anyone. The clothes I was wearing when I came here weren’t from a slave ship. I don’t even know if those exist. I was on a prison ship for Skyrim.”
There were mixed reactions from his friends. Twilight and Pinkie Pie looked disappointed, Rarity just held her head in her hands, Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked furious, and Fluttershy had an awfully good poker face.
Rarity managed to regain her composure long enough to ask, “Whatever for?”
Ashlan continued. “I was an assassin. Probably the best in all of Tamriel. And that’s not me being full of myself. I really was one of the best at what I did. When I was on the ship, it was attacked by a dragon and sank. Being argonian, I was the only one that survived. When I got to Equestria, though, I thought I could use it as a chance to start over. I didn’t want to do that anymore. Not to people who didn’t deserve it anyway. Guess that second chance is gone.”
The six looked at each other, then back to Ashlan and Odician. Applejack was the first to express her opinion. “Well, so what if ya’ made a few mistakes back in that other place. Yer’ still one of the best friends anybody ‘round here could ask for.”
Ashlan looked down. Odician spoke. “Be that as it may, it doesn’t change the fact that Ashlan is an escaped convict. Even if he has changed, he still needs to serve his sentence.”
The others looked down at the ground quietly, then Rainbow Dash lashed out. “Your face is an escaped convict! We’ll start a petition!”
Ashlan spoke up. “You can’t petition this kind of thing Rainbow Dash. Besides, I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t go around making a big deal out of it.”
Rainbow Dash stepped back. “But-”
Ashlan continued. “Just tell everybody I’m going away for a while, if you have to tell them anything. If I’m going away, I’d at least like to keep my reputation.”
Rainbow dash prepared to argue, but Twilight pulled her back. She spoke to Ashlan. “We’ll do that for you. It’s the least we can do. Right girls?”
The six friends nodded in agreement. Odician remembered the dream he had about Ashlan admitting who he was in front of everyone. It had been a lot less gratifying than he had thought. In fact he was disappointed. But he still had a job to do.
“Here’s how this is going to work: I’m going to take Ashlan to the train station, then to a harbor where a prison ship is waiting. I’ve sent word for them not to take off without him. After that, he’ll be sent off to serve his time in a prison in Skyrim, along with other criminals like him.”
The friends all looked at each other, then said their goodbyes to Ashlan. After it was all said and finished, Odician walked Ashlan down to the train station. A train was waiting for them. Ashlan noticed something was off.
“Hey, how come you're not putting me in bracers?” Ashlan asked.
Odician walked him onto the train and into a seat. He sat down across from him. “Because you saved my life. Twice. You may still be a convict, but I have a feeling I can trust you. At least until we get to the harbor. Then by law I have to put you in bracers. But until then, enjoy your last hours of freedom.”
Ashlan turned to the window as the train started to move. “Kind of hard to do that when you know they’re your last.”
Odician and Ashlan sat there for a moment of silence, then Odician talked. “Do you believe in destiny?”
Ashlan turned to face him. “I believe we have control over it. And I believe nothing’s ever written in stone. As for whether it was destiny that you caught me-which I know is what you're trying to ask-I just think it’s karma. I don’t believe in destiny, but I do believe that all the bad things you do will be accounted for, whether that’s in this life or the next.”
Odician nodded, and the two remained fairly quiet for the rest of the ride to Ashlan’s final destination.
End of Chapter 5

Author's Note:

Wow, I already have 5 chapters. Nice. I'm getting father on Skyrim, so as of chapter 5 I'll try to name every chapter after a quest in the game. Also nice. Sorry this chapter took so long, my editors weren't doing so well. I'd like to thank mangophd for single-handedly editing this chapter. (with a few corrections I spotted). rradt2001, the pressures on, man! Thanks for being my editors, and thank all of you for being loyal readers! Until Chapter 6, my friends, and try not to take an arrow to the knee!

Comments

[mangophd]

This is a great story, much better than most of the Elder Scrolls crossovers I've read.