From Nirn to Equus

by NoMoreNormalcy

8. Dreams

Spike’s stunning progress stunned me. Even Spike’s normal fire breath improved due to his training, increasing considerably in size. He alternated between practicing the flame and speaking with me.

“Really, I could probably take on a manticore now!” He puffed out a brief emerald fireball the size of a troll’s head.

“Now take care not to burn anything around you. Dragon fires are a bit more dangerous than normal flame.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Twilight’s been telling me, only, my whole life.” Another fireball.

Chuckling, I hobbled myself alongside him as he tested his flames. Then my ears perked up as I heard something odd from the forest. I swiveled them trying to pinpoint the sound.

Thump-thump, thump, thump.

It repeated steadily and reminded me of my wounded self. Was this pony walking on the injured leg? “Spike, hold.”

“So, then I- What?”

“Wait here,” I said sternly. I charged my horn with a fire spell and slowly made my way to the sound. It increased in noise steadily. Whatever it is was indeed headed this way. Parting some brush, I entered the forest we were near. I need not go much farther, as only twenty paces away was indeed a wounded pony.

So injured, they should have stayed in their grave.

I heard a gasp beside me. I turned and noticed Spike with his jaw slack and eyes wide. I rolled my own and cleared my throat. He jumped a little. “I thought I told you to stay.”

“You told me to hold. There’s nothing to hold over there.”

I resisted the urge to facepalm -no, it was a facehoof, now- as I turned back to the undead pony. It was either barely mindful of its surroundings, or there was good magic piloting it, as it had noticed our presence and had opened its muzzle in a groaning moan. It shambled even faster. My spell had winked out being distracted by Spike’s appearance reignited on my horn before I lobbed it at the zombie. It was joined by a fair-sized emerald fireball as both crashed into the creature, burning a hole into the core of the zombie, forcing it to fall apart. I then heard retching. Poor Spike must have never seen nor heard of such a being. At least he didn’t regurgitate lava.

“Oh man, what the heck was that!?”

“That, Spike, was a zombie. Typically created when there’s a necromancer: a wizard or other spell caster that dabbles in the magic of undeath and the control of it.”

“What?! How’s that possible? There’s never been any record of necromancers! Just stories!” Spike was aghast. Truly, were there no necromancers to be heard of around?

“Then you are both lucky and unlucky. It means you haven’t dealt with the potential depravity of someone desecrating any family graves as well as the fear of fighting undead hordes.”

“We have to tell Twilight! But how is she going to believe us?” In response, my horn lit up in its golden glow, the same tell-tale magic surrounding the fallen corpse. “Oh. Oh no. Oh no, no. Twilight’s not gonna like this.”

~(☼~

“What the hay!”

The Princess’s cry of outrage rang throughout the castle as I dropped the invisibility spell on the corpse I was holding in my telekinesis. Which was hard work, considering the magicka it takes to hold anything magically aloft. Losing energy, I lowered the remnants of the fallen pony to the crystal floor. “I doubt you would believe me if I told you this was animated a few minutes ago.”

Her brow furrowed and she looked over to the stairs before returning her gaze to the corpse. Luckily, Fluttershy was already seen leaving and didn’t have to deal with it. Twilight seized the body in her own aura and headed upstairs, saying to us, “Stay down there for now and if Starlight comes back after shopping, don’t let her come up to the first library. I need to figure out where this came from.” Spike and I watched her retreat upstairs before a door was heard opening and closing. I looked back at Spike. The poor young drake spoke nary a word since our hauling of the zombie.

“Okay, I’m going to my room and read comics to get that whole image out of my head. You stay here and watch for Starlight,” Spike suddenly announced, snapping out of his trance. He then marched stiffly up the stairs, picking up pace past the library and dipping out of sight.

“Well then, I guess I’m Guard for the Night.” Right as I said that, the front doors opened revealing a light violet mare with wavy mane and tail a lighter purple than Princess Twilight’s mane and with a teal strip instead of pink. Her mark was that of a five-pointed star-topped wand with teal magicka trailing. Her eyes reflected the self-same color. She walked in relaxed as though her home. Must be the third occupant and perhaps this Starlight I’ve been hearing about.

The mare trotted up with confusion on her face, “Hey, so, you wouldn’t happen to be the stallion that Twilight and Fluttershy found, would you?”

“I am indeed. I am Shade. Is it safe to presume you are Starlight?”

She nodded, “I am. Starlight Glimmer, Princess Twilight’s student.” Starlight then held out a hoof in greeting, which I shook. “I’m learning about the magic of friendship since I’ve mastered just about every other thing there is in magic.”

“So, magic here can take on power dependent on a feeling or concept for a boost, or is it attached to certain spells?”

“Oh, well, it’s pretty much its own kind of magic. Like how two different species can get along, or how absolute opposites can be friends or even get someone like me to be a friend to anypony.” She trailed off.

“I won’t divulge if you aren’t willing to speak with someone you just met about it yet,” Starlight appeared grateful, “However I must warn you that the first library is occupied, and I don’t recommend entry until Princess Twilight has expressed otherwise.”

“Are you a guard from Canterlot?” Her question seemed sudden to me and took me aback.

“No, I’ve never done any sort of guard duty. Why do you ask?”

“Sorry, it’s just the way you were talking reminded me of some of those stuffy stallions. Well, more like stiff, but I think you get the point.”

“Well, I have been a member of a branch of my empire’s military, and my age may have something to do with me being old-fashioned,” I paused, “though there’s still the matter of the library. There is something that is being examined and I was requested to keep visitors or residents out until either approved by Her Highness or the subject of study has been removed.”

“That bad, huh? Well, I guess I’ll knock before anything else because I need to get in there for a certain book that’s on one of the shelves.”

“Of course, though do brace yourself if you are given entry. I’ve seen many like it before, though I doubt you have seen even one in person,” I warned.

She smiles wryly, “Uh huh, sure.”

We both walked up the stairs though Starlight stopped at the first library door and I headed towards my room for some rest to heal. A brief knock and light argument sounded muffled as I put distance between myself and the library. The door opened and I heard a “THE FAUST IS THAT!?” from Starlight.

I did warn her.

Luckily the rest of the evening was uneventful.

~(☼~

My hooves raced across the ground, pounding the packed and hardened earth beneath me as I fled. Sweat scattered upon my brow, wicked away by my mane. A howling echoed through the air. In the forest around me, green eyes and growls followed my every movement. Some of the pairs winked out or moved around, as though anticipating my erratic movements as I wove around the trees. As I turned, I noticed three pairs of eyes, two green, one yellow.

The yellow pair much higher up than the green.

“These hounds may not be mine, but soon you shall be.”

I backpedaled and ran back whence I came, only for more green eyes behind me. I had to remind myself that these were only timberwolves, hounds made of wood and trees. As I calmed, however, the eyes began to shift in color, slowly changing from green to yellow. The growls deepening as though the owners increased in bulk. One hound stepped out as a werewolf. Then another. And another.

Then behind me, I heard footsteps from the speaker I assumed, as they spoke, only closer. “No one escapes the Wild Hunt.” The moon turned a blood red at His declaration, his hounds circling closer.

“Get back, back!” I cried in vain as they closed in. I then threw spell after spell at them. They took the hit and rubbed their faces in the dirt to extinguish flames, lower raised fur, or brush off icicles, but others simply walked around those and filled the gap. More and more and more. They were then in their arm’s length of me. “Get away!” My voice caught. Too many fangs, too many claws. My fate to be hunted forever.

“Begone, foul nightmares! Plague this dream no more!” A voice I have not heard before cried out and a lance of magicka pierced the werewolf closest to me, forcing it to cry out and fall into dust. More lances of magic shot out and the same result was found for nearly every werewolf. I turned and saw Him. Hircine. Humanoid with a deer’s skull for a mask. Multiple shots hit him. Twice in each shoulder and once in the forehead. I felt myself relax and regain my senses. I then charged my strongest lightning spell. The bolt hit one hound and then jumped from wolf to wolf. I repeated, brimming with renewed determination until the hounds were gone.

“Finally, they are gone. Truly, such fearsome beasts the minds of ponies can conjure these days. Art thou all right?”

My speaker was not just an alicorn princess, rather the alicorn princess of the night. The guardian of dreams. I looked around and noticed a lack of viscera. “So, I am certainly dreaming. Unless your spell vaporizes dreams rather than actual harm due to the lack of blood.” I quickly sniffed the air and smelled burning flesh from the hounds I slew. “Or perhaps this is a very vivid dream, I pray.”

“This is very much a dream, my little pony,” the midnight mare assured me, “though we are also very much here. We have not met you before, stallion. We are Princess Luna, diarch of the night, sister to Princess Celestia.”

I bowed before her, “Pleasure, Princess. I am Shade. I have many titles, though I prefer none.”

“None? Interesting. Perhaps you shall tell us thy story as to why someday. For now, we have other ponies we need to assist, most less in a less direct manner than yours.”

“Why assist me so boldly, then, Your Highness?” I inquired. “Surely you may have had other methods.”

She smirk was a wry one, “Thoust think that we would turn down an opportunity to fight against such strange creatures? Also, this was a serious one. Some of the more serious nightmares require direct assistance.” She looked around. “Though we notice that thy dream seems to shift on its own.”

I also looked around and noticed this dream was like one I had shortly after waking up in this world. Only the rapid images were just slightly slower. I recognized a part of Ponyville park and some of the Everfree forest, though there were other places that I did not recognize. A ruined castle, a hut in the woods, then the looming, shrouded face over the town of Ponyville and the ringing of a cattle bell. Upon closer inspection, the head resembled a ram. Confusion swept through me as I looked upon what I was seeing, I asked the Princess, “Your Highness, do you know what I am looking at?”

She shook her head, “Regretfully, we do not, we though thyself did?”

I shook my own head in return, “No, your Highness. There are times where I receive visions in my dreams from my patron, Azura. She watches over me as I worship her by granting me dreams of that which I must solve, but act upon once I know the riddle. The ending is a warning that someone is coming, and we must prepare.”

“Quite,” she responded sharply. “Normally we would prepare quickly, though without knowing the threat, we cannot prepare properly.”

I bowed, “I thank you for your aid. Perhaps with this knowledge, I can sort out what is occurring.” A thought then occurred to me. “Also, you should know that a zombie was found just outside Ponyville. Twilight was examining it last I saw and hopefully, she’ll have some answers to this puzzle.”

“A zombie? We have heard tales of zomponies before, but they were that: tales.”

“I’m afraid you have a necromancer in Equestria, then, your Highness. The best I can do is prepare Twilight and her friends for the inevitability that once this necromancer has gathered enough corpses, they may mount an attack if my dream is anything to go by.”

Her face was then fierce and determined, “Indeed. We know what to prepare for and We shall alert our sister. She will know when to notify the populous and of what. Fare thee well, Shade.” With that, she spread her wings and vanished as her mane swirled around her and she disappeared into the nebulous stars within.

I then awoke.

Author's Note:

Doggo barks and demands attention from me. Gotta throw the toy or she throws a fit.

Comments

[DDDDDDDDD23]

spike can not learn the shouts because he is not a DRAGON.
Dragons in equestria are fire breathing reptiles while in Tamriel they are children of akatosh.

[NoMoreNormalcy]

9605543
I am running off of my headcanon and assumption that Spike is a dragon (because dragon) and Equus dragons are like a distant cousin to Nirn dragons. Also, anything can learn to shout, just learning the meditation for shouting can center you for various shouts. Also, if he can breathe fire, why not shout it? Because he is a dragon means that he has the potential for shouting. He didn't actually shout yet, so hold your horses, man! Or woman! Or Non-Binary person! Or, uh, mortal being? I'm spitballing here.

[Alfaridwan Setiabudi]

More please

[Nightsclaw]

Interesting so far. Looking forward to seeing what happens next.