Chapter 2
The group of six ponies burst into the throne room, where the Princess was waiting. The group rushed towards Celestia, with Applejack being the first to speak.
“Princess! What happened?! You said Appleloosa was attacked, is my Cousin Braeburn safe?” she asked in a panicked tone as the six gathered around, waiting for the Princess’s answer.
“Your cousin is fine Applejack. The nearby buffalo tribe helped him and most of the other citizens flee the town safely.” the Princess said reassuringly. The six sighed in relief. “However,” she continued “Not everyone made it out. The dragon killed at least fourteen ponies in the attack, and injured many more. The town itself was practically destroyed in the attack, its orchard burnt to the ground and many of its buildings razed.” she said, her voice full of sorrow. The group stood there in shock, eyes wide open and mouths agape. They couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Fourteen ponies? The death of even a single pony was rare, even in frontier towns like Appleloosa or towns close to dangerous areas like Ponyville. But fourteen ponies dead? That was completely unheard of. Nothing like that had happened in years. None of them could even recall ever hearing about even half that many ponies dieing.
“Fourteen ponies? That’s...” Twilight began, but she couldn’t finish her sentence, the shock being too much. She couldn’t imagine how this must of effected the Princess, each death must of been like a punch straight to her heart. And she couldn’t help but think ’If I didn’t kill that dragon, would it have done the same to Ponyville? Would it have killed my friends?’
Celestia continued. “After I found out about the attack, my sister took a team of her personal Night Guard and went after the dragon, while I stayed here in case another dragon attacked someplace else. She managed to bring down the beast with no causalities and only minor injuries to some of the guardponies.” This information brought some relief to the six ponies, knowing that the dragon was dead, but Rarity couldn’t help but wonder about something.
“Princess, beg your pardon, but if the dragon is already taken care of, then why are we here?” The white unicorn asked. She was quickly answered, but not by who she was expecting.
“We may have felled the beast, but it did not stay dead for very long.”
The six turned to see Princess Luna walking into the throne room, accompanied by one of her ‘Night Guard’, a pegasus. Twilight recognized the the appearance of the guard from when Luna visited Ponyville on Nightmare Night a month ago, although some changes were made to the illusion maintained on the armor since she last saw it. Gone were the bat-wings and slitted reptilian eyes, instead replaced with normal eyes and black feathered wings that somehow looked sharper then a normal pegasus’s. The purple armor itself was also a bit different, covering more of the body in overlapping plates that appeared to offer more protection then the old armor, while still not appearing to be that encumbering. Twilight hypothesized that it the armor was either an attempt to appear less scary to the populace, or it was actually designed for combat while the other was for ceremonial purposes.
“Wait, the dragon came back to life? Like a zombie?” Twilight asked, a bit confused. Her words seemed to frighten her pink friend.
“Z-Z-Z-Zombie Dragons?” stuttered Pinkie Pie.
“Thou may be correct, however it’s doubtful.” replied the Princess of the Night, before turning to the guard next to her. “This is Nightwing, he was on patrol of the area around the town to ensure that no more dragons attacked. Tell them what thou told I earlier.”
Nightwing coughed into his hoof a bit before beginning to speak. “As the Princess said, I was patrolling the area around Appleloosa, on the lookout for more dragons. It was nearing night by the time I first saw it...”
o-0-O-0-o
Nightwing flew through the cool evening sky, his keen pegasus eyes searching the skies for any signs of dragons. As he flew, he spotted something large and black flying above the cloud cover that had gathered from the lack of pegasi maintenance. Suddenly, bursting out of the clouds, was a massive black dragon, bigger than either the ones the guard or Celestia’s student fought, although still not as large as the average Equestrian Dragon. The dragon hadn’t spotted him yet, and knowing that he was no match for a dragon by himself, he took cover in a nearby cloud and watched the dragon from a distance. The dragon descended down towards the corpse of the dragon that was slayed earlier and landed in front of it. It seemed to observed the corpse for a moment, before speaking in a tongue that Nightwing did not recognize.
“Struntoordrog, ziil gro dovah ulse!” It began. “Slen Tiid Vo!” As it said that last word, a wave of energy flew out of its mouth and struck the dead dragon. The cuts and gouges in the dragon’s flesh seemed to glow and reform, before the dragon itself stirred and rose, life given back to it.
“Alduin? Tol ken?” Said the resurrected dragon, presumably in the same language as the other.
“Geh, Struntoordrog.” Replied the larger of the two, looking down at the other.
“Voy ah key krif norok” Said the smaller dragon, looking away as if in shame.
“Geh, mi miin. Fin key tol filok krii. Felfoviing fen grah voth ken. Vok, Faal Zuh Dovahkiin fen meyz. Rek los suleyk, orin ruz zan Dovahkiin, nuz los kiir. Nid kendov, fen ni krii.” Said the larger as the other turned back towards him. His words seemed to give some vigor back to the smaller dragon.
“Rek fen krii! Nust fen krii!” Roared the smaller dragon.
The larger black dragon nodded its head, satisfied that his task was complete, and flew off into the night. The resurrected dragon soon followed suit, flying in the opposite direction. After a few minutes of waiting for the coast to be clear, Nightwing left his cloud and flew off as fast as he could towards Canterlot, the Princesses must be told.
o-0-O-0-o
“After they both flew away, I came to Canterlot as fast as my wings would let me and reported to The Princesses.” finished Nightwing. Luna gave a nod of approval.
“Thank you Nightwing, thou may leave us.” said the Princess of the Night. The guard bowed his head and briskly trotted out of the throne room.
Twilight meanwhile silently contemplated the guard’s story, holding a hoof to her chin as she considered the implications. “So, this larger dragon somehow resurrected the dragon that you and your guards brought down...but why didn’t do the same to the one I....killed?” She questioned. Celestia and Luna glanced at each other before the latter began speaking.
“I believe I may have an answer. When my guards and I struck the final blow against the dragon, the phenomenon that my sister said you experienced did not occur. The dragon did not begin to disintegrate, it remained whole until Nightwing saw its resurrection.” the Night Princess said. “Considering that this larger dragon would of had ample time to resurrect the dragon you slayed, as from what I’ve heard it’s skeleton has yet to even be buried, there’s only one conclusion.”
Twilight’s eyes widened as her mind reached the same conclusion that Luna was alluding to. “I....I’m the only one....that can k....kill them...” She stuttered out as she turned towards her mentor, hoping that she would show some sign that she was wrong. The Princess of the Sun simply nodded her head, eyes closed with a grimace on her face.
“I’m afraid so, Twilight.” She said sympathetically.
The unicorn fell backwards onto the ground, landing on her rear, as her mind fully processed the implications of this. ’I...I’m going to have to kill...more of them...’ She thought in horror. Every fiber of her being was screaming that this was wrong, killing was wrong. They had always been able to solve problems with relatively peaceful solutions in the past. The dragon that was choking Equestrian skies with smoke a year back, the Hydra at the bog, the Manticore in the Everfree Forest, the other dragon in the Everfree, the Parasprites, the Cockatrice, the Ursa Minor, Nightmare Moon, Discord, they were able to take care of all of those problems without resorting to killing. Even when the worst came to past they never considered killing, until now. How could anypony even consider killing as a viable option? ’I..I can’t do this!’
But...those problems weren’t as bad as this. Yes, some ponies got injured when the Ursa attacked Ponyville, and Discord caused some mental trauma, but nopony was ever killed by them or any of the other monsters she and her friends fought. But these new dragons, they’ve already killed 14 ponies, and would of killed more if it wasn’t for the timely intervention of the Buffalo. Ponyville was lucky to escape with just some burned down houses and major injuries, it could have been a lot worse. ’If I don’t do it...who will? If Luna’s right, I may be the only one that can permanently...kill them...And if more ponies died because I couldn’t bring myself to kill a rampaging dragon...I’d never forgive myself...’ The unicorn felt a hoof touching her shoulder and looked up to see Celestia standing in front of her, the hoof being hers. The Princess’s eyes were full of sympathy as Twilight wiped away the tears she noticed were collecting on her face.
"Twilight, I'm sorry that I have to ask you to do this..." began Celestia. "I wouldn't ask if there was any other way, but there isn’t.”
"I...I know Princess..." Twilight paused for a moment, closing her eyes, before taking a deep breath. "I'll do it."
o-0-O-0-o
The group arrived with a flash as the dark aura of Luna's teleportation spell dissipated. The group consisted of eleven ponies, Luna herself, Twilight and her friends, three of Luna's Guardponies; Nightwing, another pegasus, and a unicorn mare with bow on her back along with a quiver of arrows, and one of Celestia’s guards, a bulky earth pony clad in thick plates of heavy, gold armor.
Shaking off the aftereffects of the spell, Twilight turned towards her friends. "You know, you girls didn't have to come. I would of understood if you wanted to stay behind..." she started, but was cut-off by Applejack.
"Hold it Sugarcube, you know we wouldn't let you tackle a big mean dragon all by your lonesome."
"Yeah! Plus, I gotta make up for that dragon that took me out!" added Rainbow Dash.
"Silly Twilight, we couldn't let you do this all by yourself!"
"Really darling, you know we wouldn’t just sit on the sidelines hoping that you managed to beat the dragon and not get injured yourself."
"Um, what they said."
"...But I knew you'd come regardless." Finished Twilight, a warm smile on her face as she saw how much her friends believed in her. ‘I really do have the best friends in Equestria.' She turned her attention to the Princess, who was gazing at the sky while Twilight was talking to her friends. "Princess Luna, where are we exactly?" The Princess of the Night turned to her sister's pupil.
"We are near the camp the Appleloosians have taken refuge in. My sister said that your friend would most likely wish to see her cousin before helping you fight the dragon." She replied to the unicorn, before pointing a hoof towards the camp visible a little ways away.
"Braeburn's over there?" asked Applejack before she went galloping off towards the camp. Twilight's other friends shortly followed. Twilight herself started to follow, before she noticed that Luna wasn't moving.
"I'm afraid I have to return to Canterlot Twilight Sparkle, there are matters that I need to attend to." said the Princess. "My guards and Celestia’s Titan Guard Ironhooves however will remain with you and help you carry out your task, they are skilled and will be an asset when fighting the dragon." Twilight glanced at the four guards, before turning back towards the Princess and bowing her head slightly.
"Thank you Princess Luna."
Luna nodded her head, before her horn started to give off a dark purple aura. "Farewell, Twilight Sparkle, and good luck." She disappeared in a burst of darkness.
o-0-O-0-o
Twilight entered the camp with Luna’s four guards in tow, looking around the hastily constructed encampment. All around ponies were huddled by makeshift tents, mothers comforting their foals that were still shivering in fear, and older ponies walking around trying to make themselves useful, although the way they carried themselves and the expressions on their faces made it clear they were still in shock from the attack. As Twilight tried to find her friends, she glanced into a tent that she passed by and saw several ponies inside lined up and laying on the ground, completely covered in white sheets. She stopped and stared quizzically at the ponies, before her brain put two and two together and the stark realization hit her. They were the ponies the dragon killed. Squeezing her eyes shut and looking away, she started walking a bit faster than before, away from the tent, trying to drive the image of all those ponies out of her mind. She felt nauseous.
After walking a bit further she saw her finally saw her friends. They were talking to Applejack’s cousin Braeburn, who was sitting on a nearby log, shoulders slumped and head lowered. His eyes were clenched shut and tears could be seen streaming down his face.
“...It’s all my fault AJ. He’s dead because of me.” Twilight heard the Earth Pony say as she approached. “If I didn’t freeze up he wouldn’t of pushed me out of that lizard’s way and got hit himself.” He sobbed. His cousin in response wordlessly pulled him into a hug.
“There, there, Braeburn.” Applejack said as her cousin cried into her shoulder. “You have ta stop blaming yourself, anypony would of panicked in a situation like that.”
“But he’s dead AJ! The Sheriff’s dead and it’s all my fault!” he cried.
“Hush now Braeburn.” said Applejack, silencing him, before she pulled away and held Braeburn by his shoulders, looking him in the face. “We’re going to finish that varmint that killed Silverstar, and all those other ponies, and make sure that he doesn’t touch a hair on a pony ever again.” she said resolutely. “Now I need you to pull yourself together while we’re gone, ok Braeburn? What would The Sheriff say if he saw you like this?” Braeburn sniffed, but he seemed to have calmed down a bit. He waved a hoof in no particular direction.
“Go, take down that...that monster that killed all these ponies.” he growled with barely contained rage, taking a deep breath to calm himself. “Make sure he doesn’t get away this time.”
Applejack nodded and turned to her friends, who were silently watching the scene with concern. She straightened her hat and started walking towards the perimeter of the encampment. “Come on, we have a dragon to help Twilight kill.” she said darkly.
o-0-O-0-o
The group stopped at the ruins of Appleloosa, where the resurrected dragon was last seen flying around. Celestia was right, the town was a ruin. Buildings were smashed and burnt, some completely collapsed. Blood marred the ground in a few places, and the orchard was nothing but a field of blackened stumps, shredded trees, and ash. Lots of ash. The ponies couldn’t help but gape at this wreck that had once been a town that hard working ponies had put so much effort into building, all destroyed just like that. They pushed those feelings to the side though, focusing on the task ahead.
The group stopped at the center of the town, Twilight turning to the others. “Alright girls, and stallions,” she added, referring to the two male guards in the group, “Do we remember the plan?” The others nodded in affirmative. “Alright, le-” She was cut off by a roar in the distance. The ten ponies turned towards the skies and saw a black dragon rapidly descending from the clouds. It roared again as it landed hard on one of the more stable structures near the group, which nonetheless gave a groan and cracked a bit under the strain, but remained standing as the dragon stared them down.
“Right..” Twilight said with a gulp. “This is it, get r-” She was cut off yet again by another roar, although this one didn’t come from the dragon. She turned around and saw to her horror another dragon flying towards the group, this one with a hide of light grey and a back adorned with dozens of black spikes. It landed on a building opposite the black dragon, this one also groaning and creaking in protest but remaining standing. The girl’s eyes widened as they looked between the two dragons on either side of the them, not planning for this at all. The two opened their maws and streams of fire and ice flew towards the group, threatening to end them all right there.
Awesome fic
Well written, entertaining and, well, it's Skyrim!
She's got herself quite a few words right off the bat!
Still, I'm going to watch this one, a bit more Skyrim into MLP than Wind Thief's Skyrim with MLP cast.
Oh my god, Twilight is a dovahkiin. FUCK YES.
Please CONTINUE.
Cheers
~iraqlobtsah
FUS RO DAH! Lovin' this story! Keep it up!
Evil cliffhanger ending! Need more!
Haha! Very good story, i really enjoyed it! Keep up the good work! Oh, and i know this is kinda Skyrim, but, ya know, if this is going to continiue this way, there will be no pony in equestria!
Ha ha!
The dragons have been DOUBLED!
...Wait.
That's bad.
It gonna be ok they have an archer...:3
Just so you know, there is a reason Twilight is learning these words seemingly on her own, and without slaying more dragons or fighting pasts hordes of Draugr. However, that explanation won't be revealed for about...three or four more chapters. Stayed tuned...
Very interesting concept I am now tracking this story. Update soon.
I did love the accidental Fus Ro DAH!!!ing of Celestia (and Spike) out the door.
MUSTARD JAR
She's the lord! Fuckin' cool! Oh my god! Me gusta! Our feather, Our GOHOHOHOHOD!
oooh yeah.
Sheesh, no offense man, but I would have picked Fluttershy, considering her raging shout.
Oh well, on to reading.
Oh man Liirian, another fic that is taking more precious time away from me actually playing Skyrim.
Good job and look forward to seeing where this goes.
Wait... Did Nightwing recite every single one of those dragon words - out of memory? Or was it just a flashback?
It was flashback, since I decided that it'd be more interesting then just listening to Nightwing's recount of the tale.
160085
That's what I thought
Those would have been some nice words for twilight to have learned though, well at least "krii"
i like how it's skyrim entering equestria rather then just dumping characters into skyrim
Thought that I have previous to reading:
Wonder if this fic will pass Equestria Daily pre-readers? At the moment only two Skyrim crossovers have managed to pass which titles are: "My little Dovah" and "The Wind Thief".
I also have a question: How do you think this fic compares to those two?
Well let´s get reading
Sadly you won't see this on Equestria Daily. I previously submitted this to them a month ago, but it got rejected, since at the time it needed a lot of editing.
Well, I got all that done, resubmitted it it, and it turns out that they aren't accepting Skyrim fics anymore due to too many coming in and already posted. I pointed out that this was previously submitted before they implemented said unspoken ban, but I never got a reply back, so unless they decided to send it to the pre-readers anyway without telling me, I don't think you're going to see it on there any time soon.
I was a bit miffed at the time, but I've gotten over it by now.
To answer your question, no idea. Never got around to reading them.
Dovakhiin Twilight ftw, beasty story, can't wait till next chapter.
160231
Meh, Equestria Daily can go choke on it. We don't need some ridiculous elitist group judging fanfics or something. There's enough now that a site like FIMfiction is the better option at this point in my mind.
This is a wonderful story, and I'm really liking it so far. I look forward to more of it, and I also look forward to the explanation of Twilight discovering more dragon-tongue words without killing more dragons. Will the Elements of Harmony play much role by the way? I've always sort of wondered why Twilight at least didn't wield her Major Artifact power-amplifying jewelry into battle in more fanfic, considering it endows her and her friends with the ability to seal away literal Gods.
160385
I do plan for the elements to play a bigger role later on, yes. As to why they aren't being used now...well, would you want to use a weapon that requires you and five others to stand perfectly still for several seconds? Against a dragon that's actively trying to murder you? A dragon that's very good at murdering things?
They will be used later on, but against actively moving, attacking dragons the Element's primary attack isn't terribly effective.
Thank you! I've been waiting for a Pony/Skyrim crossover like this since the game came out. You have pretty much nailed what I was hoping for, dragons attacking Equestria and Dovahkiin Sparkle. All the others I've seen seem to be ponies in skyrim with an OC dragonborn.
Oh my GOD this is epic
The Wind Thief is a fairly epic one. Sure it's ponies injected into sky rim, but it works. I'm not sure if the dragon born in that one is an OC or if it's Trixie. I expect it's the latter. Both are really good, if the come at the concept from different directions.
I really, really hope that this fic doesn't turn out to be another CC style of Skyrim fiction.
CC Style? Can you elaborate?
16041
So ya gotta use it as a finishing move!
The idea with the dragon's death is that he panicked after the realization hit him that Twilight was a Dovahkiin. He basically tried to kill Twilight as quickly as possible, to avoid getting his soul destroyed and all. This let Twilight get a lucky hit in with a boulder going at roughly cannonball speeds. Now, I know we haven't seen dragons is Skyrim go up against this stuff, but I think it's reasonable to assume that one getting hit in the neck by something going that fast wouldn't survive. Future dragons won't go down so easily. (Just wait until Twilight and the gang meet an Ancient Dragon....also this site really needs an evil grin smiley)
On your second point, as I said, there is a reason that she's learning shouts out of the blue, and it does actually tie in to one of the things you just mentioned. I won't go into any more detail, but it will be revealed in four chapters or so.
And yes, Key is dragonic for horse. The TES Wiki actually has an entire page with dragonic translations, which helped with the conversation in Chapter 2 (Somewhat, I still needed to make up a few words to fill in holes in the translation, but the guy who helped edit this said he didn't even notice even after I pointed it out).
160608 I guess at the velocities you mentioned a boulder would do the job. After all I saw an employee of Skyrim Air Lines and his savage attack mammoths own Sahloknir.
...mother BUCKING CLIFF HANGERS!
I've been wondering, is Twilight going to meet the "Dark Brotherhooves", Theives Guild, Companions, etc?
Otherwise, you have my stars and a new tracker.
160681
Again, I understand your concern, but there is a reason she's seemingly learning these all at once. I can say this much without giving it all away, but it took much longer then a day for her to 'learn' these five words (Five, as she 'unlocked' the second word of Fire Breath with the Blood Dragon's soul). The only reason she appears to be learning them all at once is because recent events made her aware of the words. And these six words are the only ones she knows at this point.
To address her knowing the actual language, it just came with the knowledge of the words. Remember how in-game if you go to the shout menu each individual word of a shout has the word in the original dragonic script and the literal translation? Along with the direct translation from dragonic to something pronounceable (Like Fus Ro Dah)? Basically, she got the entire package when she got the knowledge.
And yes, magic was involved with Fluttershy. And the reason the burns weren't mentioned again is that somepony from a race that's very resistant to cold getting a very severe case of hypothermia was more significant then said somepony getting a few burns.
And yes, I like that scene too. It should be noted though, that the only reason that happened was because as far as Celly was concerned, that came completely out of left field, and she pretty much wasn't prepared for it.
160726
We aren't in Skyrim anymore, so no.
Why would Equestria have any of those anyway?
Wait so from a maximum of 2 dead dragons the princesses deduce that only Twilight can kill the dragons?
Ok. Wait. I'm rather confused now. What matter is there that's so important that Luna has to get back to that she leaves the only pony they know that can kill the dragons permanently with only her friends and four guards. Matters like Discord and NMM are different. As you mentioned they never caused anyone any lasting harm. Those just required the Mane 6 to use the Elements of Harmony on them. This time there are dead ponies and the closest thng Equestria has to a Night Goddess has pressing matters in the capital? If I was Twilight I'd be pissed. I'm surprised she not yelling, "No, your sister has things under control in Canterlot! You. Are. Immortal! So get your sparkly flank in front of us and tank! Try not to lose aggro."
Also don't be afraid to kill off ponies. It's kinda hard to feel bad for someone when the only deaths are listed in casualty reports. I mean the Mane 6 too.
Omnomnom!! Grilled pony
160828 You MONSTER! I will admit I laughed though. Dovahkin Twi FOR THE FUCKING WIN!
ok you have my attention, and with that i say MOAR NOW!!!!!
Ok, I say grim-light thusfar but this may be the best mane-6 is dovakiin story I have read yet. keep calm and FUS RO DAH
Also your tougne of the dov ad-lib is good enough to be cannon
Time to get back to playing Skyrim.
Oh, and WRITE FASTER. :muahahaha:
And promise me you'll never stop writing. If you do, I'll throw a book at your face.
Minor grammatical nitpick: "would have" or "would've," not "would of."
There, now I can go back to enjoying this story!
YOU SAID THERE WILL BE MORE CHAPTERS
kill dragons just by shouting!You can even have a beard!
DOVAHKSHY
Finally, a Skyrim-MLP cross that isn't a ponified Skyrim, and TES in general. Will definitely be keeping an eye on this.
Will we be seeing the Grey Beards show up or any other elements from TES?
160561
cc == carbon copy, basically a "fanfic" written according to this process:
1: take a piece of popular fiction, preferably a story.
2: replace the names used with names that fit whatever universe you want it to take place in.
3: story is done, post and hope for 5-star-ratings/faves/fame for something you just copied.
Still, so far your work fails at step 2, since you actually make an effort to combine two existing stories into a new one, rather than copypasting stuff.
I wonder two things (that will probably be revealed in due time):
1: how did Alduin end up in Equestria, and
2: what else traveled with him...?
great story so far, keep up the good work!
<- i think this should be fus ro dah
This is actually making me want to leave work 2 hours early to go play more skyrim, modded so every horse is rainbow dash and the dragons are mutant fluttershy.
Fus... Ro yay...
god damn cliffhanger
this is great but...cliffhanger... u better make next chapter soon.
noooos nooos ouy era gniog ot teg eht txen retpahc noos