Chapter 1: The Marsh

Plenty of Equestria’s heroes
come from the most unlikely of places.

Us Thestrals live in the black Marsh. We live here because nopony else can. Although, several hundred years ago, the Zebras had been using as slaves. The explosion of Red Mountain sure in Oblivion changed that, but, still some of us Thestrals can’t help keeping the bitterness out of our voices when we speak of or speak to Zebras.

I may have heard stories of them enslaving us, but I didn’t care much. Whatever the Zebras did in the past didn’t much bother me now. But I didn’t write this to tell you how many bucks I gave to Zebras.

* * * *

Thestrals had adapted to the marsh; we no longer had coats of fur, but we had scaly skin. Back before Equestria had co-existed in harmony, the Thestrals had coats of fur. But life in the Black Marsh had given us scaly skin, to help fight off wild woodland creatures and also to protect us further from poison and disease that were all too present in the Marsh.

We no longer had manes, and our tails had become lizard-like. Our wings too became scaly, resembling those of a dragon’s, albeit a small dragon. Instead of a mane we had horns that all grew up in different patterns. It was all different, there was no two Thestrals that had the same style of horns on their head. But even if we no longer had coats, we still had Cutie Marks. Mine was of a White Wisp. I don’t even know what it means, much less how I got it in the first place.

But I can tell you how it appeared. It popped up after I saved this drowning mare from the marsh, and there were a few other Thestrals just standing there, watching her drown. I had been walking through the woods around my village. I remember asking why nopony was going to help her, and when nopony would go save her, I went ahead, and pulled her out of the Marsh’s unforgiving swamp, and saved her life.

Everypony gasped when I returned back to the small crowd of Thestrals who watched, letting her die. They all gasped, and one of them pointed to my flanks. I turned to see that I had my Cutie Mark. My Cutie Mark was the White Wisp, the one that starts the Elder Scroll’s damned prophecy.

Everypony acted as if I shouldn’t have been able to save that drowning mare. After the mare thanked me, albeit shakily, she returned to her cottage, and the Village council called me in. They told me that when I turned 19, In 11 year’s time, that I would be exiled.

I didn’t understand it then, and I barely understand it now. I lived alone, by myself in my cottage. My parents had left me when I had turned 10 years old, just 2 years after I had gotten my Cutie Mark.

I eventually accepted the fact that I would be exiled in 9 years, and then began sword training. I became very talented at using swords. I could beat most anypony in a duel, although it didn’t happen much. It became second nature to me, that whenever a new pony was in the village that I challenge them to a sword duel. Most of them declined, but a few had accepted, and I won those duels, although a few were narrow wins.

A lot of them had refused to fight a 13 year old colt in a duel, believing they would have a major advantage, because of my age. The ponies who were skeptical that I could even hold a sword and had accepted had been promptly surprised.

As a Thestral, I have an advantage in combat. We have wings, which can be used in a variety of ways, and Thestrals have natural armor because of our scales. That makes us a little tougher in a fight, and can sometimes make a difference between life and death.

I was almost 19 years old, and would be turning 19 in a few hours time. A fair portion of my 11 years before I turned 19 had been wondering where I would go, and what I would do when I turned 19.

Now my time was just spent preparing for my exile. Even if I was a skilled swordspony, I had never killed anypony, and the prospect of taking somepony’s life was daunting. But I was prepared, nonetheless to take a life should anypony try to take mine.

The Marsh was a harsh environment to live in, and even sometimes the Thestrals that had called it home didn’t make it through alive completely.

My saddlebags were almost fully packed, and they had been for almost a month now. I carried with me in my saddlebags unlit torches, a whetstone to sharpen my sword, some healing potions, a couple stamina potions, and a week’s worth of fruit and meat. I also carried with me several water pouches.

Water and food would be essential in the Marsh. Hopefully I’d be able to hunt some rabbits, or gather berries off in the Marsh, but it’s doubtful. Hopefully I’d be able to find food in other towns or something.

A hoof knocked softly on the door and I jumped, my ears perking up in alarm. I had been staring into the mirror in front of me, contemplating my appearance. My blue scales reflected the small amount of light in my cottage, my gray eyes glinting slightly.

The hoof knocked on my door again, and a voice called, saying “Terra Soul, it is time you leave.”

It was the village elder, Candle Light.

“I thought I could at least wait to get some sleep. I’ll set off in 8 hours after I’ve slept,” I said. In 8 hours was nightfall. Most Thestrals are nocturnal, and because of it we have excellent night-vision.

“I suppose that’s acceptable. I will leave you to your rest then,” Candle Light replied, and then he trotted off. I needed sleep and travelling in the day wouldn’t be too fun.

* * * *

I awoke suddenly. My ears perked up, and in the no longer silent air, I could hear ponies screaming, and more worryingly, the sound of fire crackling, and collapsing cottages. I jumped out of bed, and onto my hooves. I grabbed my saddlebags and pulled them over my flanks, and then pulled my sword out of its scabbard (Which was attached to my saddlebags.) and hurried over to my cottage’s door, rust-resistant steel sword in mouth, and tried to push the door open with one of my forehooves.

The door didn’t budge. I growled in frustration, and turned around, my dragon-esque wings spread to help me keep my balance while I tried to buck the door open with my hind legs.

I bucked once - Thump! I bucked twice - a small splintering noise. I bucked a third time, but still the door held. I retracted my wings and turned to face the door again. I figured since I wouldn’t be here after whatever in Oblivion was going had stopped, so I slashed at the door with my sword. In a flurry of sharp steel, I made an X in the door with my sword.

I turned around again and spread my wings again to help balance, and bucked at the door for a fourth time.

CRASH! The door flew apart, my sword having weakened it enough. A pony had died against my door, and he was no pixie. He had green scales, had a Cutie Mark of a Hist tree. One of his wings was partially ripped off and had shockingly crimson blood flowing from his wounds. He had been covered in wood splinters when I had bucked the door open. My stomach gave a lurch. I recognized this pony. He tended the Hist trees we had near our village.

Luna knows what my stomach might do if I recognized a pony by name. I steeled myself and swallowed back bile. My ears had flattened in fear, and the rest of me agreed with my ears. I had never seen something like this done to anypony in my life. I stepped closer, and upon further examination, the Thestral had one eye cut open and bleeding freely; he had an ear completely severed and his head was soaked in blood.

I managed to tell my stomach to obey, and then I spread my wings and flapped, which sent me upward slowly. I hovered about 3 feet above the ground, the well practiced muscles in my back telling my wings to keep me aloft.

Even if I could manage not to throw up by looking at the disfigured pony, the same might not hold true if Itouchedthe dead pony. I tilted my wings forwards slightly, and I began to move forward across the ground, my wings holding me aloft and sending me forwards at the same time.

* * * *

Outside my cottage was a hellish nightmare. The village was swathed in a green light, and my only home was being burned to the ground by some damned monster. I found the thing easily. It had the shape of an Earth pony, but that’s where any similarity to any inhabitants of Equestria stopped. It was about 8 feet tall - easily more tall than any of us or our cottages - and its body was constantly changing.

Beneath the shifting mass that was its body, I could see holes into the inside of it, where a green inferno was blazing. Its rocky “skin” was constantly moving around, giving the effect of a walking toxic volcano.

My wings had stopped working and an audible scream escaped my scaly muzzle. I dropped to the ground and onto my haunches. When I had screamed, I had dropped my sword. I regained control of my body, and I picked my sword up, filled with a sudden burning desire to take this bucker down.

I bent my hind and forelegs, and then sprang up, spreading my wings as I did so. At the apex of my jump I spread my wings and began flapping, and I flew upwards. The inferno rock monster was twice my height, but my wings could help even the odds out. I was also smaller and a lot more agile. Even if this monster was stronger, my agility would hard-press the thing to score a blow.

I rose up about 6 feet and sped off towards the inferno monster, my wings tilted as to keep me aloft with each beat, but angled enough to where I could speed forwards. The monster had no eyes, but instead had empty sockets that seemed to be leaking what was green lava, like some sick imitation of crying. I was approaching the monster quickly, my wings covering the distance that would take a land bound pony at least double my time.

I dived underneath the thing, my head tilting sideways and sword blade pointed up. I flew on, cutting what must have been a deep gash in the bottom of the monster. I flew out from underneath it and turned around to see what my sword had done. I was right about cutting a deep gash on the monster’s underbelly. The green lava that I had seen leaking from its eyes was now leaking out of the wound I had made.

That had certainly gotten its attention. The monster didn’t turn around to face me. Its entire body shifted and had reversed movement so abruptly and quickly that it made me a bit surprised and wary.

I flew back towards the monster, figuring it would expect another attack at its underbelly. Instead of attacking its underbelly, I soared upwards, and then dived towards its back, and jabbed my sword into what should’ve been its spinal cord. I pulled the sword along the things “spine,” using my wings to help me cut its back open.

I pulled it back out and flew upwards again to avoid its firebreath. It had nearly scorched me when I went to attack its back. I swerved in mid-air, now facing the monster instead of the night sky. I dived towards the ground, pulling my wings in, so as to give me as little wind resistance as possible. Just before I hit the ground, I spread my wings and I shot forward, sword aimed to my right. I slowed down just a moment, then sliced through monster's left foreleg, cutting it off. I pulled up and I was now back flying above the monster.

I dived one last time, sword now aimed for the monster’s skull. I tilted my head sideways, my right eye pointed so as to see where I was aiming, and my left eye closed. It wouldn’t do much good here. I drove my sword in its head up to the hilt. The monster shuddered, and collapsed completely, my sword still buried inside it.

I had let go of my sword temporarily; the force of me driving the sword into the monster’s skull had jarred mine. I floated there, temporarily dumbstruck in what I had done. I dropped to the ground and galloped over to where my sword was stuck in the monster. I grasped it with my teeth, and pulled it out.

The fight over, I flipped the sword in my mouth with expertise, and put it back in my scabbard. All around me, the town was in shambles. I had managed to stop the monster fromcompletely destroying the down, but it had still managed to cause some serious damage. The fires were still going, so I grabbed a nearby bucket in my mouth, and flew up, trying to find a nearby source of water to help put the fire out.

I spotted a nearby swamp, about 3 minutes trot from my village, and began flying towards it, my wings angled so as to propel me swiftly in the air. Because it wasn’t very far away, I was easily able to fly back and forth with water buckets. Eventually everypony had stopped panicking and began to help put out the fires like I was doing.

Luckily, the strange flame seemed to give way to water, and eventually the flames died out. After the fire had been put out, everypony had begun to gather around the monster that I had killed.

“Who killed it?” I heard somepony ask.
A brave colt escaped his mother’s firm grasp on him and touched the dead monster hesitantly.

“I think it died,” he said knowledgeably to the crowd. Then his mother wrapped one of her forelegs around his middle and then dragged him back into the crowd.

Candle Light, the village elder stepped forward, and asked, “Does anypony know who killed this Hellspawn?” So thats what they were called.

One stallion shakily raised a forehoof and said, “I think Terra Soul killed it.” My ears perked up.

“Terra Soul, please step forward,” Candle Light asked, though it was really more of a command. The crowd parted near me, and I nervously trotted forwards. When I had reached him, he said, “Terra Soul, you are endangering this village and its people. I’m sorry, but you are now officially an exile.”

My heart sank. Some part of me had hoped that because I killed the monster, that I would be able to stay, at least for a little longer. That hope was dashed when I was called forward.

“Alright,” I began, but then somepony said, “He was the only one that managed to actually kill the thing! I saw somepony else try but the damned monster incinerated him!”

“Are you forgetting that he started this goddess-dammed Scroll’s prophecy!” Candle Light shooting down his argument with apparent ease.

“And if he leaves, we won’t be attacked anymore!”

“I’M. LEAVING.” I had resigned to the worst, and expected leaving. I trotted out of the crowd of angry mares and stallions. After I escaped the crowd of angry mares and stallions, I sat down in a secluded corner of the village that hadn’t been completely destroyed yet. I started looking through my saddlebags. My food had escaped harm, but a few of my healing and stamina potions had smashed during the fight.

“Dammit,” I muttered. I might be able to brew a few more, but there wasn’t any alchemists that I knew nearby, and the ingredients would be sparse in the Marsh.

I trotted out of the town, my hooves clopping softly on the dirt road.

* * * *

I had been travelling for almost three hours, when I saw campfire. It was nearly midnight, and the moon almost hung over me. I had been travelling without light, because as a Thestral I could see excellently in the dark. The campfire was about 60 yards away. Figuring I would be killed if I just up and walked into the camp, I silently spread my wings.

Here is where we Thestrals differ from Pegasi: our wings are silent, like an owl’s. I floated upwards slowly, and quietly flapping my wings so as to not alert the group of ponies by the campfire, I rose slowly, until I was above the Marsh’s abundant trees. I slowly flew over the trees, my wings flapping silently, to near the clearing where the campfire was lit.

I floated down slowly, until I was using a branch to support my weight instead of my wings. Now silently perched, I peered over the leaves and branches, onto what looked over a camp of what appeared to be Earth Ponies. I could tell that these particular Earth Ponies were Nordic, by the way their body was built. Muscular, tall and lean. But what were the denizens of Skyrim doing all the down here in the Black Marsh?

They were roasting some fruit on a spit, which was a surefire way to attract animals of the Marsh, but none came. There were 3 ponies down in the camp. They were all wearing fur armor, and had Iron swords that would rust rather quickly in the Marsh.

“So, Iron Shield, remind me what we’re doing out here in the Marsh again?” one of the ponies asked. I was quite wondering what they were doing out here as well. I listened intently, my ears perked up so as to get as much sound as possible.

“I’ve told you this already,” replied the pony who must be Iron Shield. “We’re here to capture some goddess-damned Thestral that has the Cutie Mark of a White Wisp.”

My heart skipped a beat. They were here to capture me?

“And then we’re going to bring him to Elsweyr and let the Diamond Dogs deal with him,” Iron Shield finished. I wondered why in Oblivion anypony would want to me in Elsweyr. A small part of me wanted to fly ahead and ignore the group of Nordic Ponies, but a larger part of me wanted to stop them in their tracks and keep them from causing further harm to my village, which they would probably visit and torture everypony until they came out with an answer. I chose the latter. I jumped from the tree and dropped right into the middle of the camp.

Skills Increased:

Bladed Weapons increased from 28 to 31.

Flying increased from 25 to 27.

Sneak increased from 20 to 21.

Level Up:

New Perk: Bladed Weapons Expertise Level One: Your attacks with bladed weapons do 15% more damage.

Chapter 2: Lock Pick

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Chapter 2: Lock Pick

If you extend a hoof to help someone you’ve never met,
you might just find a life-long friend.

I landed right next to the fire. The Nordic ponies jumped back in fright.

“You’re looking for me, right? The Thestral with the Cutie Mark of a White Wisp? Well guess what: You found me.” And, with that, I spread my wings, and flapped with tremendous force, and the fire extinguished. My eyes instantly adjusted to the abrupt absence of light. I could see. And they couldn’t.

I spotted one of the ponies trying to light a torch, but I stopped his efforts by turning around and bucking him in the face. A solid THWACK! and he staggered back, hooves around his head, trying to soften whatever pain I had caused.

The pony I recognized as the one who asked Iron Shield what they were doing here was blindly swinging his sword around. I unsheathed my sword, and flipped it in my mouth so I had a better grip on it. I swung my sword to meet his flailing sword, and I disarmed him with a clash of metal on metal. Then I turned around to buck him, using my wings to help balance me. I bucked him right in the side, and he collapsed, writhing in pain. Disarming him must’ve broken a few teeth.

I turned around, and Iron Shield had managed to succeed in what the first pony had not - He had lit a torch, and could now see me. He had a shield attached to one of his forelegs. I had never fought an opponent with a shield before. At least, not a good one. However, this pony was Nordic, and probably a mercenary if he was looking for me.

Iron Shield drew his sword and charged me. I spread my wings quickly and flapped with all my might, and I shot into the air. He tried to slash me with his sword as I shot into the air, but missed one of my forelegs narrowly. I dropped down behind him and moved my head to attack him with my sword, but it slammed into his raised shield, and dug into it. I pulled it out and stepped backwards.

Iron Shield wasn’t fooling around. He meant to take me out, by killing me, or by knocking me out. I wasn’t keen on either. Luckily, the other two ponies were still writhing around in pain. I figured that once they got over their pain, they’d rush to help Iron Shield, and I’d be outmatched and outnumbered.

I jumped as Iron Shield tried to take a swipe at my legs, and then spread my wings to fly again. I bucked his head and sent him tumbling backwards in the torch light. I flipped the sword around in my teeth so I was holding the blade, and smacked one of the ponies in the head with the butt of my sword, and he fell unconscious. I flipped the sword back around in my mouth. Iron Shield had recovered from my little flight trick.

He eyed me with newfound respect.

“Say, fancy a trip with us to Elsweyr?” he asked through his sword, muffling and distorting his voice. “It’d make it easier on us both.”

“I’d prefer not to,” I said, speaking through my sword.

Fighting recommenced. The pony that I had bucked in the face was bleeding through his nose. I think I broke it, but he was still occupied, so I turned my attention back to Iron Shield. He was charging at me, his sword raised. My sword met his, and a there was a loud CLANG! I hadn’t managed to disarm him, and my mouth felt jarred. I noticed that his sword had a gash in it where mine had met his. He hadn’t noticed, but that told me that I should be able to win this fight.

He swung his sword at me again, and I ducked and slashed at the foreleg that didn’t have a shield. I had finally scored a hit. His fur armor was cut open and his left foreleg gave way. He was now partially kneeling. He raised his shield defensively. I bucked at it, and it cracked. Even if these Nordic ponies were mercenaries, they weren’t very well equipped.

Iron Shield was back on his hooves, though limping slightly. I turned my head, right eye facing Iron Shield. I turned my head with dizzying speed, and my sword hit his shield again. The shield exploded in a flurry of wood shards, and he fell back, onto his haunches. I turned around and bucked him in his head, and disarmed him as well as knocked him out. I turned to the other pony that had a bleeding nose. He had recovered, and was looking scared.

“When they awake again, tell them to get out of the Black Marsh. If you do, I might just spare your lives,” I said through my sword, which was still raised. I was bluffing. I had no intention of killing them, but he didn’t know that. After all, I had just taken out two people in about a minute and a half..

The pony nodded energetically, fearing for his life.

“Doesn’t look like you’re using that armor. I don’t think you’d mind if I take it?” I said. The pony nodded exuberantly again, and began taking his fur armor off. I fought this battle without any armor, but even fur armor would help me in my journey. He tossed me his fur armor, still looking terrified. I sheathed my sword, and put the armor in my saddlebags.

I spread my wings, and flapped downwards with force, extinguishing the torch, and flew up into the night, and left the camp in darkness. I rather think I made an impression on the poor pony. I flew off over the Marsh’s trees, until I was flying above the path, and I slowly began to descend.

I landed on the ground with a soft thump, and began trotting down the path again, not sure where it was leading me. My thoughts turned to what the pony had said about taking me to Elsweyr, but going there seemed like a stupid idea, especially if they were trying to bring me there.

My encounter with the mercenary ponies taught me one thing: Not everypony in Equestria is friendly. I’d have to keep that in mind if I wanted to live for any amount of time other than 3 seconds. I still hadn’t put the fur armor I’d gotten from the mercenary pony who managed to stay conscious, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. I may have acted tough back at the camp, but in reality I’d been scared. But the fact that I’d won the fight proved that I could handle myself out in the world.

The path that I was travelling on should lead me to Cyrodiil, where I could go to Leyawiin, and rest for a little while. Even if the fight had drained me, I could still certainly walk for a distance. If I had to, I could use my wings while I gave my hooves a break. Just so long as I didn’t fall asleep mid-flight.

* * * *

The sun had slowly been climbing in the sky, and I had to rest. Even if we didn’t like sunlight, sleeping during the daytime in the Marsh is a surefire way to get yourself killed. The path I’d been walking on was covered with dust, and grime. It looked like it hadn’t been used in a while, and I was probably right about that. I wasn’t even sure if this path even led to Leyawiin. I’d probably just end up going to Canterlot instead, even if it was a longer journey.

Whatever the case was, I was tired, and needed rest, but I couldn’t stop to sleep in the Marsh willy-nilly, that’d get me killed. If I was going to sleep, I’d need to find a place where nopony could find me, or locate an Inn, but I doubt there was any Inns nearby.

My hooves were sore from all this walking. I lifted one, while I continued trotting, which stopped the throbbing for a little, but then switched hooves. I was walking 3-legged down the path to give my hooves a break. Eventually part of me remembered I could fly, and I spread my wings and took to the sky, and all of my hooves felt a little better. I flew above the path for what felt like days.

It had only been a few hours when I saw more signs of life. Friendly or enemy, I couldn’t tell. My experience with the Nordic ponies came to mind, and I moved to fly close over the treetops. It was a group of Zebras. And they had Thestrals chained up like prisoners behind them.

* * * *

I figured this was a good time to use my fur armor. I landed in a tree that looked fairly stable, and was, thankfully; I undid the straps of my saddlebags, grabbed the fur armor, and pulled it on. I pulled my saddle bags back on, and redid the straps. I tried to spread my wings, but realized this armor was made for earth ponies or unicorns. I facehoofed, and used my sword to cut out the armor around my wings. Carefully. After a few minutes, I had managed to create openings for my wings. I spread my wings, and flew after the Zebras, who hadn’t been camped, but were travelling along the path.

Part of me wondered what in Oblivion were the Zebras doing with Thestral slaves? I figured that they were trying to restart the slave business again. I didn’t like that one bit. I took to the skies again, and flew over the Zebras, and dropped down in front of them. There were 5 ponies; 3 Thestrals, and 2 Zebras. The Zebras had iron armor. And I had fur armor. I guess it was a good idea to take the armor after all.

“What do you want, Thestral?” one of the Zebras asked.

“For you to let those slaves go,” I said with clenched teeth.

“No can do. We need these particular ponies,” the Zebra said. That stopped my reply, which left my mouth open. I closed it quickly, then asked, “What in Oblivion do you need these specific ponies for?” I asked, with anger, but more curiously than angry.

I mentally slapped myself, realizing I should be less curious, but still, part of me had to wonder.

“None of your business. Now get out of my way if you don’t want to join them.”

I pulled my sword out. I guess actions speak louder than words, because these Zebras both pulled out shortswords. One had a shield equipped, but the other raised a hoof and little flames appeared.

They had fire magic spells. Damn.

I pulled my sword out and flew up as the shield Zebra charged me, while the Zebra with the fire spell shot flames at me. I managed to escape the shield Zebra, but the one with the fire spell managed to set my left forehoof on fire. I panicked for about 3 seconds then regained my senses. I patted my forehoof against my chest and used my other forehoof to pat the fire out. Eventually I won, but not before the armor had burnt and weakened. It wasn’t a too bad spot, but still, my hoof felt hotter than the other three.

The fire spell Zebra was shooting flames at me from down below, while, the shield Zebra was circling around beneath me. The Thestral slaves were chained together, and had little mobility. I had to take out the fire spell Zebra out first, before I could stand a chance against the shield Zebra. I dived at the fire spell Zebra while his Magicka was regenerating. He scrambled out of the way, dropping his shortsword in the process. I stabbed his left flank, and he stumbled, his left backhoof giving way. I charged towards him, and, with hesitation, stabbed his middle. I pierced his Iron armor, and he fell sideways, bleeding heavily. Soon the dirt path was covered in blood.

Something slammed into me, and realized I had forgotten about the shield Zebra. He knocked me over, and put one of his forehooves against my neck, forcing me to drop my sword. He flipped the sword around in his mouth, and had it aimed to stab my face. I could see the anger in his eyes, like I had just mortally wounded his brother. Which I probably had, considering the circumstances.

I’m going to die. I was struggling, just well enough to throw the Zebra off me. Then something interesting happened. The Zebra’s head fell, the sword aimed at my face. I moved my head, and the sword dropped into the ground. I got a side view of his head, and realized there was a sword sticking out of the back of his head. It was now just dead weight on me.

I pushed the dead Zebra off me, and his armor clanged against the ground. I looked up to see my savior, and it was one of the Thestral slaves. She had unlocked her shackles, grabbed the sword from the other Zebra, who was still alive, but just barely, and had thrown the sword with deadly accuracy right into the Zebra’s head. I looked at the green Thestral, and she smiled slightly.

“...Thanks,” I said with slight wonderment.

“He was going to kill you! I had to do something. I mean, after all, you just saved us from building some Goddess damned portal,” She said.

“What portal?” I asked, getting to my hooves, and standing, trembling slightly from what just happened.

“The Zebras are building something over in Morrowind, it’s a giant portal or something.”

I stood there, thinking.

What in Oblivion were the Zebras doing building a portal? Is that where the Hellspawn are coming from?

I moved over to the other Thestral captives.

“How do we get them free?” I asked the Thestral who had freed herself from the iron shackles.

“You can either break them, or lockpick them. But something tells me you’ve never picked a lock before. Here, I’ll show you,” she said, and moved over to one of the captives, and pulled out a dagger, and a lockpick.

She held the dagger steady with her forehooves, while she maneuvered the lockpick around with her mouth. Soon the lock popped, and the shackles around the red mare captives’ forehooves fell off. Her cutie mark was of a campfire.

“You try!” she said with a small bit of enthusiasm. She was a nice Thestral, and was happy, even if she had been a captive on her way to Morrowind.

I moved forwards to the back shackles, and realized something.

“I don’t have any lockpicks.”

“Oh, here, you can borrow some of mine,” she said, and handed me some of her lockpicks, and a dagger.

“You can keep the dagger and the lockpicks, I have an extra dagger and plenty more lockpicks. Those Zebras were stupid. Didn’t even check me for lockpicks.

I stared temporarily, wondering how she could stay this upbeat. Then I went to the lock, and for the first time ever, attempted to pick a lock. Some part of me wondered whether or not this would be the last time. I lowered myself to the ground, so I could get a better grip on the dagger with my forehooves, and my back legs moved in underneath my body.

I stuck the dagger inside of the lock, and then bit down on a lockpick and moved my head to the lock. I moved my head forwards, the lockpick inside the lock. I tried turning the lock this way and that, and it broke.

“Dammit,” I muttered.

“Oh, don’t worry, you can pull the broken one out and grab another lockpick,” the happy green-colored Thestral said. Her cutie mark was of a lockpick. Go figure.

I pulled the broken lockpick out, and grabbed another in my teeth. I maneuvered the lockpick forwards, and turned it this way and that, and eventually I managed to open the lock.

I pulled the lockpick and the dagger out, and put them in my saddlebags.

“You can keep those lockpicks too!” the green mare said.

“Thanks,” I said, and lowered my head, and grabbed the lockpicks and put them into a little pocket where I could easily grab the lockpicks later.

“I never got your name,” I said.

“I’m Lock Pick!” she said happily.

...Lock Pick? Wow, that cutie mark was a dead giveaway for her name. A small part of me wondered how in Oblivion the parents even knew what to name their colts and fillies.

“Well, Lock Pick,” I was tempted to facehoof, but resisted the urge. “Can you help me get this last Thestral free?” I asked. She nodded, and moved to the remaining Thestral, a cyan colored stallion with a cutie mark of an anvil. I moved to his forehoof shackles, while Lock Pick moved to the cyan stallion’s back leg shackles.

I lowered myself down to the ground, my back legs supporting my forehooves. I pulled the dagger out of my saddlebags and pushed it into the lock with my mouth, then steadied it with my forehooves. I moved my head to the small pocket with the lockpicks in it, and pulled one out. I pushed it in the lock, and rotated my head this way and that, until the lockpick broke.

I pulled the broken one out, and grabbed another from my saddlebags. I had 7 lockpicks left now. I pushed the pick into the lock, and maneuvered it until I had picked the lock on the shackles. Lock Pick had picked the back leg lock in about 10 seconds, where I was still fumbling with this lock 30 seconds later. I pulled the dagger and the pick out of the lock, the dagger going into the much larger pocket I reserved for weapons and had strengthened so my weapons didn’t accidentally rip my saddlebags open. The lock pick went back to the small pocket with the other lockpicks.

The red mare and the cyan stallion both thanked us, and ran off down the path, back towards my village. Hopefully they wouldn’t come across Iron Shield and his group of mercenaries

“You going too?” I asked Lock Pick.

She shook her head, and said, “No, I don’t have anywhere to go, really. I was wandering the Marsh, just like you were, when these Zebras came out of nowhere and shackled me. I’ve been walking for about a day now.

“Did you pass through my village?” I asked.

“No, I don’t think so. We came on this path, but we didn’t go through any village. Plus, I don’t think anypony would let those nasty Zebras keep us as slaves.” She had a good point.

But that also reminded me of the near-dead Zebra. I moved over to him, pulled my sword out, and slit his throat, ending his suffering. Somehow, I didn’t feel guilt from killing him. It was a mercy killing. Eventually, I had to go and kill somepony other from mercy, but when that day came, I didn’t know.

“You should grab the other Zebra’s armor. You look like a stallion who could wear heavy armor,” Lock Pick said, inspecting the armor of the Zebra I had just killed.

“Uhm, okay,” I said, and moved over to the Zebra who had almost killed me.

“This armor doesn’t have any spots for my wings to spread,” I told Lock Pick.

“Oh, we can fix that, easy. There’s a town further down this road called Leyawiin. They have a blacksmith that we can visit. He should be able to modify your armor. Oh that reminds me, we’ll need bits to pay for it. I have 34 bits, which won’t be nearly enough to cover it, but, we should be able to find enough off of these Zebras!” she said really, really fast. I barely understood her, but I understood enough to realize we needed money.

“I have 51 bits,” I said. “Wait, hold on. You’re going to spend your own bits on me? Just to get my armor modified?”

“Yeah, sure, we’ll find plenty more out in the world.”

“...Alright then, if you’re sure.”

“I am!” Lock Pick said happily, and began searching the fire spell Zebra’s saddlebags for bits.

“Ohey, I found a potion! I don’t know what it does though.”

By Luna, she talks a lot. I didn’t mind, but still. I went back to pulling the iron armor off the Zebra. Eventually I managed to pull it off, and I put the armor in my saddlebags. Then I went to work searching through the shield Zebra’s saddlebags. Inside were three potions of something I didn’t know, 94 bits, and a fancy looking dagger.

I put the bits inside with my other bits, which also happened to be where I put my lockpicks. I stuck the potions inside with the armor, positioning them so they wouldn’t smash inside my saddlebags, and gave the fancy dagger to Lock Pick. She didn’t seem to have any weapons on her.

“Woah, thanks!” she said in delight, and bounced around for 5 seconds, and then calmed down enough to put the dagger in her weapon sheath.

“I found 77 bits on this Zebra. I have 111 bits now, and I don’t know how much you have.”

“I found 94 bits, 3 potions that do something I don’t know, and that fancy dagger you found.”

“How many bits do we have overall?” Lock Pick asked.

“You have 111, right?” She nodded. “Well, I found 94 on the other zebra, so we have 256 bits.”

“111 plus 94 is not 256, silly.”

“I know, I added my 51 bits to it.”

“Ohhhhh. Well, in that case, I think we have enough. We might need a bit more though.”

We began trotting down the path. The sun almost completed its arc around the sky. In about 2 hours it would begin to set.

“Think we can get to Leyawiin before sunset?” I asked Lock Pick.

“No, I don’t think so. We’ll probably have to setup camp. Do you have a bed roll?” she asked.

Dammit. I didn’t have a bed roll.

“No, I don’t have a bed roll.” How could I have been such an idiot! I didn’t even pack a bed roll.

“Oh, that’s fine, I have an extra.” Lock Pick said.

“What, really?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes. We’ll set camp when the sun starts to set then?” she asked.

“Okay.” I had no trouble stopping. I was almost dead on my feet. I was so tired.

* * * *

The sun had started to set. I was barely keeping my eyes open.

“Is here a good spot?” Lock Pick asked.

“Yeah, sure,” I said groggily, following Lock Pick into a small clearing in the Marsh.

“How are we not out of the Marsh yet?” Lock Pick asked.

“I have no idea. But I really need sleep,” I said tiredly.

“Okie dokie lokie! One sleeping camp, coming right up!” she said, and began moving so fast it hurt my eyes. 3 minutes later the camp was setup, and a small fire had been started.

I blinked.

“Did I fall asleep while you did that?” I asked, rubbing my eyes with my forehooves.

“Nope!”

My jaw dropped, and hit the Marsh floor with an audible thud. She had done all of that. Really quickly.

“Feel free to sleep anytime!” she said happily, and moved to her bed roll. She trotted softly into the tent she had made with some animal furs she had in her saddle bags.

“Your tent is over there,” she said, and pointed towards another fur tent she had made in about 10 seconds flat.

“Thanks!” I said happily, and I trudged over to my bed roll, needing sleep kind of a lot. I ducked my head and laid down on the sleeping roll. I pulled a particularly large animal fur. I think Lock Pick was also a hunter, because she had like eight different animal furs.

“Good night,” I said sleepily, and entered the black bliss that was sleep.

Skills Increased:

Bladed Weapons increased from 31 to 33.

Flying increased from 27 to 28.

Sneak increased from 21 to 23.

Lockpicking increased from 25 to 28.

Speech increased from 15 to 17.

Level Up:

New Perk: Novice Lock Picking: Novice Locks are much easier to pick now.

Chapter 3: Towards Canterlot

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Chapter 3: Towards Canterlot

Equestria wasn’t always a supercontinent,
but after the Hellgiant... Well, look at Equestria now.

I woke up, feeling rested, and a lot less tired than I was yesterday before I fell asleep. I pushed the blanket off me, and got to my hooves. Even if sleeping on the ground wasn’t too comfortable, it’s better than nothing. I’m glad I at least had a sleeping roll. Lock Pick was still sleeping. I moved carefully out of my tent, so as not to disturb Lock Pick.

My stomach rumbled. I blinked, and realized I hadn’t had anything to eat in a day, except for the food I had before the Hellspawn attacked. I decided breakfast was in order. I undid the straps of my saddlebags and put them in my makeshift tent, wanting to save the food I had brought for until a more urgent time. If I used up all my food, then what would I have if I couldn’t get anymore?

I moved into the marshy forest, and spotted a rabbit. I spread my wings, quietly, and then realized I forgot my sword back at the tent. I facehoofed silently, and then flew into the air, and pounced on the rabbit, and I wrung its neck. It died, and I had a rabbit to cook now. I moved back to the camp, and I found Lock Pick starting the fire.

“I found a rabbit,” I said, and showed her the dead rabbit.

“That’s a dead rabbit.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s breakfast.”

Lock Pick shook her head and continued with the fire.

“The fire should be ready to cook things in about 15 minutes.”

“Right. I’ll go and skin this rabbit.”

Lock Pick ignored me and continued with the fire. Maybe hunger affected her mood. I moved over to my saddlebags and fished the dagger out. I then found me a comfortable spot near the fire, and sat down on my haunches, and proceeded to skin the rabbit.

I held it still with my forehooves while I skinned the thing with the dagger in my mouth. Eventually I finished skinning the rabbit, and gave it to Lock Pick, who fashioned a spit out of an old branch, and stuck the rabbit on it. We sat in silence, waiting for it to cook..

“I’m going to find another rabbit or something,” I said, not able to stand just waiting for something to happen. I trotted off into the forest, my hooves clopping softly on the marshy ground. Eventually I spotted a fox. I spread my wings silently and flew upwards. I hovered silently above the fox, and then I dropped onto it.

I had kept the dagger because I realized it was stupid to go into the forest without a weapon. I slung the fox over my back, and began trotting back to the camp.

“The rabbit’s done!” Lock Pick announced when I entered the camp.

“I found a fox. I’ll get to skinning it,” I said, and took the rabbit Lock Pick offered me. I munched quietly on the rabbit, alternating between skinning the fox and eating the rabbit. After I finished skinning the fox, I gave the fur of the rabbit and the fox to Lock Pick, and then I put the fox on the spit. I started rotating the fox on the spit.

“Thanks for the furs!” Lock Pick said, and put them in her saddlebags. The fox finished cooking, and I pulled it off the spit. I cut out the bones with the dagger, and then split the fox between me and Lock Pick.

“Thanks for skinning the animals. I can’t stand to do it myself,” Lock Pick said, and began munching on the fox.

After we finished breakfast, Lock Pick did her thing and packed camp up in 3 minutes. She even put the fire out.

“How do you do that?” I asked.

“Do what?”

“You just packed up camp in 10 seconds. I blinked once and half of it was already packed up.”

“Oh that. I don’t really know. It only happens sometimes.” she said.

I facehoofed, and then asked, “Uh... let's go then?”

“Okie dokie lokie!” she said, and began trotting out of our clearing and onto the path. I galloped after her, trying to keep up.

* * * *

Eventually we came upon the town of Leyawiin, around noon. The journey had taken us 5 hours, and we were pretty tired.

“Let’s stop by the Inn first, before we go and see the blacksmith,” I told Lock Pick.

True to her character, she answered happily. “Okie dokie lokie!”

We entered an Inn, which was called the Black Claws Lodge. The Black Claws Lodge was full of occupants, ranging from Diamond Dogs to Earth Ponies. Even a few Thestrals were present. Then I realized that Leyawiin is rather close to Elsweyr’s border and that those mercenaries had wanted to take me to Elsweyr.

I was kind of interested to see what anypony would want with me in Elsweyr, but then realized, that was a stupid idea. I could travel to Morrowind and try to stop that giant portal from being built, but I probably wasn’t able to do it by myself.

Not that Lock Pick wasn’t helpful, it’s just she seems more of a pony who wasn’t much of a fighter. I clopped over to the counter of the Inn, and asked, “Any good rumors lately?”

“Not much these days; oh wait, hold on, I remember hearing one of a civil war going on in Hammerfell,” the Bartender replied, an Earth Pony with a mead flask as his cutie mark.

I nodded and returned to Lock Pick.

“I think we should head to Hammerfell after we modify my iron armor,” I told her.

“Awwww, but I wanted to see Canterlot!” she said with sadness.

“What’s in Canterlot that you want to see?” I asked, surprised.

“Lots of things!” Lock Pick replied, not really elaborating.

“Is there anything specific you want to see in Canterlot then?” I asked, internally facehoofing.

“I want to go and see the Empress!” Lock Pick announced. This attracted the attention of many of the ponies - and diamond dogs - inside the Inn. This time I actually facehoofed, not just internally. Eventually everypony went back to enjoying their drinks and conversing with one another.

“You want to go see the Empress?” I gasped. “What in Oblivion do you want to go see the Empress for?”

“I don’t know. I just really really really want to see the Empress!”

By Luna, she doesn’t stop at anything, does she, I thought. It occurred to me, that the Empress was Celestia, Luna’s sister. She’d been living for a long time, nearly 1 and a half thousand years or something. Eventually Cyrodiil would be passed down to one of Celestia’s heirs.

“Weren’t we going to see the blacksmith?” Lock Pick asked me, and I was reminded of what we were doing here in the first place.

“Oh, right,” I said, then I turned to the bartender and asked where the blacksmith was.

“We don’t have one here. Sorry buddy.”

Dammit. I’d have to travel to a different town if I wanted modified armor. Maybe going to Canterlot wasn’t such a bad idea after all. If we were going to Canterlot, I could possibly barter for new and better armor, or just find it along the way.

“Well Lock Pick, I guess we’re going to Canterlot after all,” I said.

“You mean we weren’t going there before?” she asked.

“Uhm. We were going to Canterlot, after the blacksmith modified my armor, but apparently Leyawiin doesn’t have a blacksmith.”

“Oh, okay. I thought you implied that we hadn’t been going to Canterlot at all.”

I sighed, and exited the Inn, Lock Pick practically bouncing with excitement next to me. I had no idea what she was so happy about.

A pony knocked into me, rushing out of the Inn, and he apologized absent mindedly while galloping off into the opposite direction we were heading.

“Hey!” I shouted at him, but then gave it up, realizing it was a pointless task anyways.

“That was weird. I saw him slip something into your saddlebags!” Lock Pick said.

“Wait what?” I asked, and turned my head to look at my saddlebags.

“What in Oblivion…?” I muttered, snapping my saddlebags shut.

“You going to find out what he put in there?” Lock Pick asked, her head tilted at me while we trotted along the road that would lead us out of town.

“Later, when we’re out of town,” I told her. Lock Pick shrugged, in a way that told me that she could wait to see what the note said.

* * * *

Lock Pick and I had been walking down the road for a few hours, when we noticed a bridge, and somepony standing next to the bridge, with leather armor that told me he was probably a bandit.

“He’s going to try and rob us, I think,” I whispered to Lock Pick as we trotted along the road.

“What, really?” Lock Pick asked.

“I’m pretty sure, he just looks like somepony who would try and rob us.”

“Halt!” the Earth pony by the bridge shouted at us. We both stopped trotting, and stood still. I shifted my body around so he couldn’t see my sword, though he had probably already spotted it.

“You need a toll to pass this bridge,” He said with authority.

“That’s horseapples, and you know it, buddy,” I said.

“Yeah? Well, right here it says you have to by order of the Empress!” the Earth pony told me, though I possibly detected some shakiness in his voice. I looked at the paper he had pulled out of his saddlebags, and looked at the signature. It looked very, very sloppy.

“Wow! Celestia has REALLY bad hoofwriting. It’s like she’s never even used a quill before!” Lock Pick said, surprising me. The bandit pony stared at Lock pick, and so did I.

“I’m pretty sure the Empress can write better than that,” I said, and pulled my sword out. Lock Pick jumped back, away from me and the bandit, and pulled a dagger out.

The earth pony spat out the forged document, and said, “Alright fine, you chose to lose your life,” he said, but he sounded nervous. Apparently I was intimidating this pony.

The earth pony charged me, but I stood my ground, and parried his attack. I pushed his mace back with my sword, and turned around and bucked one of his forelegs. I felt some of his bone shattering behind the force of my bucking.

He staggered back, almost dropping his mace. I charged forwards, and decapitated the pony with a well placed sword blow. I trotted backwards, staggering slightly.

I had just decapitated somepony. I felt sick, and quickly sheathed my sword. I sat down hard, my head spinning.

“Terra Soul! Are you okay?” Lock Pick asked urgently, and rushed forwards next to me.

“I don't know, maybe?” I asked, then fainted.

When I came to, I was in a small clearing, lying on some furs.

“Where are we…?” I asked, dazedly.

“We’re near the road,” Lock Pick said. “You were pretty hard to carry, so I dragged you into the forest.”

“Oh, okay…” I muttered stupidly.

“What happened?” I asked, regaining some of my senses.

“You decapitated somepony, staggered backwards, and fainted.”

My stomach lurched, and I remembered decapitating the pony. I had felt my sword slice through his neck bone, and it made me want to vomit.

“Oh Luna, I think I’m gonna be sick,” I said, then rolled over and vomited. I emptied my stomach, and found out that cooked rabbit and fox didn’t taste very good coming up as it did coming down.

“Are you alright?” Lock Pick fretted, after I had finished vomiting, and had stood up shakily.
“I think so,” I said weakly. I started trotting forwards, taking each step gingerly.

Luna have mercy on me, please don’t let me do something like that again, I thought. We reached the road, and I moved forwards to the dead pony. I stared at his neck, and blood was still seeping out of it. I almost vomited again, but I averted my gaze, and went to searching the pony for anything of use.

He had 400 bits, most of which probably weren’t his to begin with. He also carried a weak iron dagger, a couple of apples, and of course, his sword, which was inferior to mine.

“Let’s get going,” I said, realizing I had just swallowed down some bile. I looked up and away from the dead pony. Then I realized that nopony else should have to see what I saw. I gripped one of his back legs in my mouth, and began dragging him into the forest.

I wretched, dropping the pony’s foreleg in the process, and almost vomited again, but managed to keep whatever was left in my stomach, inside. I bit into his foreleg again, and found a spot where nopony else would find him unless they went deliberately searching for something in the woods. His head, however, had rolled off to someplace I didn’t know, and I had no intention of finding where it had gone.

I left the thought out of my mind and continued trotting along the path alongside Lock Pick. Somehow, I felt closer to her. She had seen me in a weakened state, and she had cared for me, and had not run away, like I would’ve expected anypony else to do. I was gratified by that.

“You sure you can keep going?” Lock Pick asked me, sounding concerned.

“No, I’m fine.” I said, starting to trot along the path, albeit with gingerness. I wanted my stomach to settle before I started moving faster, and because of it, I figured we would reach Canterlot by nightfall at least.

* * * *

My earlier prediction that we would reach Canterlot by nightfall proved false, but we had long passed the wooden bridge where I had… decapitated a pony. I still felt sick about it. My stomach may have settled, but my mind had not.

The sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows over the dirt path. I saw Canterlot in the distance, the mountain it was built upon looking massive and ominous. Canterlot and its surrounding cities and towns used to be a single continent, but after a massive world-shattering event, other continents surged together into the supercontinent some refer to as “New Equestria,” but most of its inhabitants still refer to it as Equestria.

This supercontinent formed after the hellspawn invaded the first time, with some form of portal which sent out a single Hellgiant, which stood around 200 feet tall, and pushed the continents together, forming our world as we now know it. It still boggled me that the Black Marsh used to be separated from the rest of the world, and that something was powerful enough to re-arrange continents, and force the inhabitants to claim their land again, remaking what were originally continents now provinces.

“Is that a fort in the distance?” Lock Pick asked, bring me out of my thoughts.

“Uh… Oh, I think it is, I’m not completely sure though,” I answered.

“It looks like it’s directly on the path to Canterlot. We might have to pass through it to get there.”

Oh. It was one of those forts.

“In that case, I believe it’s a bandit fort,” I said, with just a little bit of anxiety.

“Like the buck who tried to rob us back at the bridge?” Lock Pick asked.

“Yep. Like the buck who tried to rob us back at the bridge. Except there are at least 19 more of him in there.”

“Should we try to go around it?”

“No no, they’d know that we know that they’re bandits and would shoot at us. Let’s see if we can go through the fort.” I said, boldly stating my insane plan.

“Okie dokie lokie!” Lock Pick said, bouncing up and down along the path.

Even now, Lock Pick’s “I’m always happy! WOO HOO!” type of attitude still puzzled me. Though after the last two days, I’m not even sure how she could still keep this up.

As we approached the bandit’s (assumably bandits, I wasn't sure.) fort, one of the archer ponies called out to us.

“Halt! Remain where you are, and your hides will remain free of arrows.”

That was a relatively calm greeting, compared to the ones I had gotten from the Zebra slavers and Iron Shield. In the background, however, I saw a flash of magic, and saw an alicorn disappear from the tower.

I leaned over to Lock Pick and whispered, “They have an alicorn as their leader. It’s likely her magic will be more powerful than the magic the zebra slaver used.”

“I wonder if she’s telekinetic…” Lock Pick wondered.

She probably is, I thought to myself, awaiting the arrival of the bandit pony who would “greet” us.

“What are you doing here?” the lavender earth pony asked.

“We are travelling, heading to Canterlot,” I said. Lock Pick stood next to me, staying for the most part, quiet.

“We will escort you through our…” the lavender pony said, trailing off.

I turned my head around to see what had distracted her, and saw a pegasus flying towards the fort pretty quickly, and looking out of breath. He had probably been flying along the path for the last two hours or so. The yellow pegasus pony landed on the tower, and disappeared.

Uh-oh. He found the bandit I killed back at the bridge.

I guessed right. An arrow flew past the lavender earth pony who was escorting us to the fort’s gate, and it buried it into my fur armor. My right shoulder bubbled with pain, but the arrow hadn’t managed to bury itself too deep.

“RUN!” I shouted at Lock Pick, waving my hoof frantically for her to get away. Looks like I had to kill a fort’s worth of bandits. Oh boy. This was going to be fun.

I pulled the arrow out of my armor with my teeth, chucking it onto the ground, then pulled out my sword, crouching into a combat stance. The lavender pony who had been escorting me and Lock Pick was turning around to attack me, a small axe in her mouth, when I interrupted her movement, slashing my sword across her side, leaving deep cuts.

She fell to the ground, dropping the axe by her head. I jabbed my sword through her heart, killing the earth pony. Another arrow hit me, this time in my back. I was so very thankful for the fur armor I had acquired. If it wasn’t there, I would probably be paralyzed.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lock Pick flying up to the tower. I internally facehoofed, too busy to actually facehoof because of all the arrows flying past me She was insane!

I spread my wings, and took off, knowing the gate would hold against my attempts at opening it through force.

I shot through the air, aiming to attack one of the archers, this one a magenta earth pony. I scored a hit, creating a gash along the stallion’s side, causing blood flow out of his side.

I turned around to fight the other archer, this one a grey unicorn. I rushed towards her, but she dodged out of my sword’s length. I flipped around in mid-air, still travelling backwards, though now a bit slower than when I was actually facing the right direction.

I flapped my wings and landed on the fort’s wooden ramparts to engage the unicorn archer in closer and more accurate combat than hit-and-run flybys. I charged the grey mare who was shooting arrows at me, ignoring the few that managed to pierce my fur armor, spurred on by adrenaline.

After I was within striking distance, I swung my sword, managing to cut a very shallow wound across the unicorn’s left forehoof. She stepped back, limping a little, pulling an arrow out of the quiver attached to her back, the previous arrow shooting past me, impaling itself in the now dead magenta earth pony.

I flapped my wings, propelling me forward, and I drove my sword into the mare’s heart, causing her magic to fail, and drop the bow and the arrow she had been about to fire. The arrow shot out of the now unsupported bow, the originally aimed shot now going wild. If I had moved just a millisecond slower, the arrow would’ve gone through my skull.

I stood there for a second, eyes crossed. After regaining my composure, I shook my head and blinked rapidly, getting my eyes to face the proper direction again. All in all, I think I reacted pretty well to almost being shot through the head.

I saw a flash of green through one of the tower windows, and then a thump.

Lock Pick! I pushed off with my hindlegs, sending me into the air, while using my wings to send me upwards to the top of the tower, ignoring the other bandits who were just climbing onto the fort’s ramparts to attack me.

I landed on the tower, then located the stairs. I galloped down to help Lock Pick. Whatever the case was, I couldn’t leave my friend to die. I heard a BZZZAT! of electricity, and a scream of pain. I sped up, galloping down the stairs even faster.

I rounded a sharper corner that wasn’t the round shape of the tower’s fault, and I saw Lock Pick slumped up against a corner, twitching occasionally, some of the electricity still arcing through her.

“YOU BASTARD!” I yelled, charging the pale white alicorn who had killed my friend.

“Ah, I thought I saw another thestral attacking,” the alicorn said casually, spreading her wings in a majestic looking manner.

“You killed her!” slamming into the wall that the alicorn had moved away from, my head just a little bit dazed.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of doing that. I wanted to wait to see if you would come and save her first,”

Wait, what? Lock Pick was still alive? Having realized this, I jumped in front of Lock Pick to prevent any further damage to her.

“I’ll be killing two birds with one stone then,” the alicorn said in a ridiculously calm manner, a fireball forming at the tip of her horn.

In a desperate last attempt, I threw my sword at the alicorn. The alicorn’s eyes went wide, and stared down at her chest, which had my sword impaled inside of it. Her spell failed, the fireball dieing down, leaving a dead alicorn.

I turned over to Lock Pick, doing my best to fish out a healing potion to help her. After finding it, I opened her mouth, and emptied the potion, forcing her to drink. A few seconds later, Lock Pick spluttered, breathing heavily, her eyes fluttering rapidly.

“You’re okay now; I’ve killed the alicorn,” I said, pointing a hoof at the dead alicorn. I noticed my sword was still impaled in her chest. Lock Pick looked up at me thankfully, telling me with her eyes what words couldn’t express.

I helped her to her hooves, steadying her shaky body against mine. With a wing wrapped around her to help keep her steady, we trotted over to the dead alicorn so I could retrieve my sword.

I pulled it out, then sheathed it. It was at that point that I heard the rumble of hooves that told me that some bandits were charging up the stairs to us.

Well dammit. Lock Pick was too unsteady on her hooves for us to run out and fly off the tower, and I’m not sure how many bandit ponies there were.

“See if you can find a bow, I’m going to do my best to fight them off,” I said, waving one of my hooves vaguely around the room.

“Okay, I’ll see what I can find,” Lock Pick answered, with uncharacteristic weariness. I pulled my wing back, and she limped away to find a bow or something to help me fight off the bandits who had so easily trapped us.

All I could do was hope that there weren’t very many of them. If I was going to make a last stand, I at least was going to make it so Lock Pick could escape. I grabbed a shield I saw that was hanging on the wall, fashioning it around my left forehoof, then trotted out of the room, preparing for anything.

I stood at the top of the landing, waiting. The rumble of galloping hooves was getting louder, and around the corner I saw one, two, three, four, five bandit ponies.

Five wasn’t too bad, I thought to myself, before registering the pegasus that just turned around the corner, still looking out of breath from having flown all the way from the bridge to here.

…Dammit.

I readied myself into a combative stance. The first bandit tried slamming into me, but I pushed him back, using my sword to slice at his chest. He backed away quickly, but not before I managed to make a relatively deep cut across his chest.

Another swung a mace at my face, and I raised the shield I had found.

CLANG! The mace scraped across the shield, making a small trail of sparks. I lowered my shield and swung my sword at him, managing to score a gash across his face. He brought a forehoof to his face, wiping the blood out of his eyes, ignored the pain, and took a swing at me again.

Ow ow ow ow. Pain exploded across my right flank. I was too caught up in the fight against the pony with the mace that I forgot there were 5 more ponies attacking at me. I turned to face the pony who had hit my side, only to find that nopony was there.

Damn pegasi.

I turned back to face the pony with the mace, only to find a pony holding a sword stood in front of me, her sword arcing towards my neck. I ducked and pointed my sword upwards, managing to parry the blow. Her sword glanced off of mine and I took a swing at her. My sword sliced across her neck, and she went down, a pool of blood forming around the dark yellow mare.

I lurched sideways, almost falling over onto the dead mare. Bad news, I think I broke one of my ribs, and good news is that I found the pony with the mace.

I staggered, fighting to remain upright, using my wings to help me. After a second or so of precarious balancement, I managed not to fall over. The pony with the mace was charging me, when an arrow hit him in the side of the head, killing him, and he slid towards me, stopping about a foot in front of me.

I looked around in bewilderment, and saw Lock Pick fitting another arrow into the shortbow she had found. She grinned at me, and fired another arrow out of the room, aimed for the pegasi, but it hit the wall instead.

Oh, right, the pegasus. He divebombed towards me, a feat which I thought impossible in a staircase, but apparently he had practice divebombing people in enclosed staircases. That’s not a skill I ever want.

I raised my shield at the last second, and he flew right into my shield. I pulled my shield away, to leave a dazed looking pegasus in front of me, then jabbed my sword through him, and he plummeted the remaining two feet to the ground, dead.

I pulled my sword out of the dead pegasus, and saw the remaining three bandits gallop towards me, for some reason just sitting there, watching the fight happen. I would never understand bandit logic, and I don’t think even the bandits understand it.

I charged right back, slamming one of them with my shield, and slashing another with my sword. The pony I had shield bashed staggered backwards, forgetting about the stairs and he tumbled down. The other pony had a deep gash in his side, and I bucked him over.

Another arrow flew past me, and hit the third pony directly between the eyes. He faceplanted, the arrow shaft breaking, leaving the arrowhead buried inside his head. One bandit was left. I turned to face him, and he had murder in his eyes. He swung his axe at me, managing to bury it inside my side.

I screamed out in pain, flailing my hooves around, dropping my sword. I heard a galloping of hooves as my vision slowly filled with red.

* * * *

I came to, coughing up a little blood, the pain in my side and left flank still evident, but less so than it had been… How long had I been out?

I tried getting to my hooves, but my legs were too weak, and I collapsed against the stone floor.

“Oh, good you’re awake!” Lock Pick said happily. I blinked. I still had no idea where we were.

“W-w-where are we?” I asked, coughing up a little bit of blood.

“We’re still in the tower. I killed that last pony who tried to finish you off after you fainted. And there were 3 more, but I killed them all with the bow you told me to find.”

That explained why I had woken up here and not someplace else.

“Why are we still here then?” I asked, coughing more blood up. That shouldn’t be healthy.

“Also, I could use a healing potion,” I said, my face almost lying in my own blood.

“Oh, oh, sorry about that, let me get one,” Lock Pick said, and began scrounging around in her saddlebags. She gave it to me, and I drank it up greedily. The pain in my side and my left flank lessened to almost none, feeling my lungs heal themselves, also feeling one of the bones in my ribcage re-align itself.

Lock Pick began scrounging around the room, looking for extra healing potions.

I rolled away from the blood I had coughed up, and lay on my back, staring at the ceiling.

Already, Equestria changed me. I had killed 7 ponies, one of which I had decapitated. The little pony in my head squirmed, not sure what had changed me so that I could kill. It was just self-defense, I argued. But that doesn’t change the fact about the pony at the bridge! the pony in my head argued back.

Should I feel… guilty? I wasn’t sure what to feel. What I did know, was that I was rather tired.

Sleep was calling to me. But before sleep overtook me again, I wondered what this fort’s original purpose had been. I was pretty sure that it wasn’t to rob passing travellers of their bits and other various possessions.

I had no idea what to think. So I let sleep overtake me.

Skills Increased:

Bladed Weapons increased from 33 to 37.

Flying increased from 28 to 29.

Speech increased from 17 to 19.

Defense increased from 17 to 24.

Level Up:

New Perk: Shield Wall Novice: Your blocks are 15% harder to break through.

The Elder Scrolls: Equestria

by Talvox

Race Guide

Introduction

Prologue

Chapter 1: The Marsh

Chapter 2: Lock Pick

Chapter 3: Towards Canterlot