> Fahdon
>  by Productive faffer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The man with no face
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Fahdon



Chapter One: The Man with no face


Blizzards. If there was one word to describe the northern corners of Skyrim, that one word would come to anyone's mind. And as the rider atop the shadow black stallion cantered quietly into Winterhold, he was inclined to agree.

The destitute little town was beyond saving, no matter what anyone did for it, but it struggled on anyway. The Jarl's longhouse, barely bigger than the Frozen Hearth inn, was all but powerless among the larger and richer Capitols, while the few money makers, the aforementioned inn and a small shop, did little to attract travelers. With a minuscule populous, ruins dotting the town, practically indistinguishable from the buildings in use, and the lack of a wall sending a veil of snow throughout the single main road that cut through the town, made for an unappealing home.

However, towering over the frigid town, silhouetted against the aurora borealis in the night sky, stood the college. Three might towers, an imposing arc marking the borders of college grounds and a crumbling, barely stable bridge would meet man or mer to look upon the mighty structure, and the grand College of Winterhold would stare endlessly down upon the tiny hold it was named for.

Dismounting his horse with a clattering of metal as the weapons sheathed on the horse's saddle rattled in the wind. A black cloak draped over his shoulders and a hood covered his head. He crossed the broken bridge without hesitation, seeming not to notice the abyss below, and set his eyes upon the imposing college as he drew near. Word had come to the striding man of an 'odd goings on' in the hall of the Elements and, as the Arch-Mage, it was his duty to investigate.

Technically, he could have let it be, but given the climate of how the locals felt about the use of magic, he felt it prudent to contain thing before he had another 'incident' on his hands.

The wind picked up as he walked, sending the cloak whipping in the winds, a flash of bone white and icy blue revealed to the world for the briefest of seconds. Boots thudded upon the stone bridge and gauntlets steadied the Arch-Mage as the wind tore at him. A wave of his fingers, layered in a plated, dull ivory, sent the gates to the college swinging open, and the wind ceased as he stepped past the boundaries of the college.

The courtyard was deserted, only the impressive statute of someone the Arch-Mage wasn't sure of the identity of kept him company. He felt it odd, but not unpredictable, given the missive. He glanced around as he walked, the blizzard raging just beyond the college grounds, but inside it was still. Tranquil. The Arch-Mage had always found it a little unsettling.

A pair of doors swung open at his silent behest, only to be greeted by a pair of mages.

"We should get rid of it. Gods only know what this could be, and I refuse to have to deal with another angry Jarl" exclaimed the high elf. The other, shorter and much older, held his hands up, palms out, in a placating gesture. 

"Yes, yes, Faralda, of course, but we should let the Arch-Mage examine it first. He has much great experience with such things" he replied firmly, like a grandfather explaining something; gentle, but with no room for argument.

"And what, exactly, will I be examining" the man in armor asked as he pushed through the door. The two mages turned to face him, one's face lighting up.

"Ah, Arch-Mage, it's good to see you" the elderly man greeted, taking his gauntlet in hand and shaking it gently. The taller man sighed.

"Must I remind you every time we meet Tolfdir? You needn't call me that" he explained as he shrugged his cloak off and tossed it onto a coat-rack that wasn't there, the hood hanging on an invisible peg. Tolfdir chuckled.

"And what would you prefer? Harbinger, Dragonborn perhaps" asked with a smile

"Or perhaps Listener or Guild Master" Faralda mumbled under her breath as she turned away. Lightning crackled between the taller man's fingers before he clenched his fist to dispel it.

"Maybe one of my other numerous titles" he grunted, hands on his hips as he shook his head "no, Remus will do just fine" he replied. 

"As you wish Remus, shall I show you why I summoned you here?" Tolfdir turned away as he spoke leading the Dragonborn into the main hall. Remus had to admit, he'd expected the Eye Of Magnus to reappear, or a gate to have torn from the ground.   

"Well...can't say I was expecting that" was all the most worldly and powerful mage in the college had to say on the matter.

It was...well, it was an arc.  Inside the curve of the arc, however, was a burning, swirling portal that leaked fire and spat sparks now and then. Granted, Remus had never actually seen an Oblivion portal before, but there were numerous tomes on the subject, an none were described like this.

Remus strode around the room, Tolfdir breaking off and trotting over to the students, all new faces, while the Arch_mage performed his examination. 

"What in the name of Sheogorath's balls am I looking at" he mumbled. A portal, yes, but to where? And why had it appeared? Where had it appeared from? Too many questions, and not his area of expertise; he'd been through a bunch of them but he'd never taken the time to study them. Portals were doors, and one rarely stopped to research a door.

Around the room, the other mages of the college were gathered. The spectral form of Arniel Gane studied the arc up close, the spell most of the college had cast to prolong his stay on Mundus sticking it seemed, while the senior mages were gathered in group off to the side, muttering and discussing between each other. Tolfdir was giving the students a quite lecture, ever a teacher first, while three old friends sat in a row on the steps.

Onmund, J'zargo and Brelyna had note books on their laps and quills in their hands, faces buried in the pages. His only friends from his days as a student here, with the rest of the apprentices bitter at or jealous of his success. Walking silently behind them, Remus peered over their shoulders to look at their notes.

J'zargo's deft paw was working away at a sketch of the portal, capturing the chipped marble, clumsy stone masonry and the ugliness of the craftsmanship. Remus hoped that this was not the best work of the blind man or fool who had carved this.

Onmund and Brelyna had taken notes, both jotting down their observations of the marble portal and their intuitive remarks on the subject.

Looking upon the portal, I feel an odd wave a magika emitting every minuet or so. According to my teachers, this phenomenon is similar to an effect the Eye of Magnus had on the more seasoned wizards on campus, master Tolfdir in specific. Here, however, even I can feel it.

Brelyna's note's intrigued the Dragonborn, and he looked up at the arc again. Focusing, lowering his magical defenses, he too could feel an odd, rhythmic pulsing now and then. With a frown, Remus cocked his head in thought. A portal that emanated pure magicka? He was sure that such a thing would be noted by scholars if they'd felt something similar with the Oblivion portals, but he'd read no such thing.

Running his gauntlet clad fingers down Brelyna's back, she gasped in shock as her spine straightened suddenly.

"So, what do we think" he asked quietly. The three younger wizards looked back to find him, the three of them deflating when they realized who it was. 

"Remus" they said at once, Brelyna a touch breathier than the others. He glanced left and right at the Nord and Khajiit, nodding to them, before returning his attention to the Dunmer. She glared at him, and the Dragonborn laughed quietly.

"I will turn you to dust, barbarian" she told him, trying to be angry. Remus only laughed again.

"Maybe, but then you'd have to hear Tolfdir's lecturing about the dangers of magic again" he reminded. The two men chuckled at Remus's remark while Brelyna turned back to her book. "Anything interesting" he asked, motioning at the woman's parchment, glancing at the guys.

""Fraid not. Never seen anything like it before" Onmund said with a shrug.

"This one has never enconutered such a thing either...but J'zargo feels his fur stand on end looking at it. I believe it to be dangerous" he warned it his thick accent. Remus grunted; if J'zargo was weary, then Alduin himself had cause for concern. 

"I can feel magic pouring from it but...I'm not sure what it means" Breylna admitted, tensing a side of her mouth in frustration "no tomes I've ever read speak on the subject of other worldly portals entering Tamriel at great length" she mused "and certainly none of this..." she looked back at the portal "design" she finished weakly, the horrendous craftsmanship taking the wind from her sails.

The Dragonborn merely hummed in thought, stroking his hand down the chin of his mask, where his beard would have been. The three students were looking back at him, questions in their eyes, but they dren't interrupt his thoughts; calm, wise and focused as he was, he had a knack for getting distracted and going on wild tangents at the worst of times, and they were loathe to get him started on what was going through his mind.

Breylna's eyes snapped between the Arch-Mage and the arc, and while she couldn't see his icy blue eyes behind the pitch black cloth he wore under the mask, she knew he was staring at it intently; he had a sense of curiosity that knew no bounds, after all.

"I suppose you've all been scouring the Library" he asked suddenly. The three students glanced between each other again.

"Well...this one made an attempt, but was quickly cast out by your brother" J'zargo replied uneasily. A sigh escaped Remus's hidden nose, his head dropping as he rubbed its concealed bridge with his gauntlet-clad fingers.

"He's here" he asked, voice low and annoyed. With a slight swallow from the Nord, all three nodded. "When did he get here?"

"A-a little before you did. Said he felt some kind of 'magical disturbance' in the area while fishing in Dawnstar" Onmund replied. Again, the Dragonborn sighed; one, because he'd have to have words with Tolfdir about keeping him informed of his brother's whereabouts, and two because he wished Onmund would realize his potential and proceed to grow a spine. 

"Guess I'd better check on him" Remus grumbled, standing straight, running a finger through Breylna's ebony hair as he did. Striding from the room and up into the Arcanaeum, when he pushed through the door Remus was met with but one thing: pandemonium.

Books lay littered across the floor, in far-too-tall stacks and floated around the room, orbiting the few figures in the room. Raised voices could be heard and the distinctive hum of the telekinesis spell filled the air. He walked forwards calmly, silently, and stood behind one of the three people in the room, the rest having likely been cowed by the argument. A small girl, sat curled up in a wooden arm chair, sweet roll being pulled apart by her small hands as she watched the roaring contest before her.

Leaning against the stone shelves with his arms crossed, Remus glanced down at the small girl absently.

"So...what're they arguing about?" The girl shirked, bolting up right, he hand latching to the dagger on her belt as she looked around, eventually behind her to find the towering monolith of dragon bone, Stalrim and ebony stood behind her, his very presence humming with Magicka, the goliath's face hidden behind an eerie mask of more dragon bone and ebony, Nordic and Akaviri patterns lined with more of the enchanted ice. Hollow, black eyes, trapped in an eternal slumber stared at her, tusks jutting from the 'maw', while the chin was covered in tentical-esqe patterns, giving the mask an otherworldly appearance, something alien and cruel.

"Uncle Remus" she beamed, twisting unto her knees as she made a valiant attempt to wrap he short arms around the colossal figure. Suddenly uncomfortable and awkward under the small girl's affection, Remus simply patted her back gently as he spoke, his tone rigid and his words obviously chosen.

"Well met Sofie, how are you cub?" She released him immediately, sitting back as she looked up at him eagerly.

"I'm great, I love coming to the college, and father never lets me come here. But he said it was an emergency today, but wouldn't tell me what was going on." She looked back at her warring father for a moment before motioning Remus to lean in. "I think it's about the pretty arch in the hall down stairs" she told him in a loud whisper. For several reasons, Remus was glad of his mask hiding his face, mostly however to hide his badly restrained glee at Sofie's description of the presumably hand-less sculpter's work downstairs. Saying nothing more as he tussled her hair (not as gently as he'd meant) he turned to the arguing duo.

One was an elderly Orc, muscles rippling under his robes despite his age in fury, as he stood near nose-to-nose with the other.

A Nord, like no other. Similar to Remus he was wore a mask, however, that's where their similarities ended. He wore a flowing, fluxing robe, sometimes green and sometimes purple, golden scales trailing from the shoulders to the gauntlets. he had an aura of magicka about him, intense and powerful, and when he looked to the last dragonborn, his mask betrayed a twisted visage, that of twisting, clasping tendrils obscuring his old face.

There was a short stand-off between the three men, one panting and enraged, the other silent and radiating malice and the last stood with his weight on his heels, arms crossed over his chest casually.

"Urag" he began, nodding at the Orc before he turned his gaze to the Nord. "Miraak" he continued, less easy. Again, the two shared a stand-off, both masks staring at each other without emotion, silently, intently.

"Zeymah" came Miraak's reply. Again, silence. 

Minus the quiet munching coming from Sofie.

"Arch-Mage" Urag began, his tone sharp, angry "I thought I'd made it clear, the Arcanaeum is my domain, and I don't care who you are" he turned to Miraak once more "disrupt my Arcanaeum-"

"And you'll have them ripped apart by angry Atronachs, yes, I've heard as such" Remus interrupted, hands on his hips as he shook his head. The Last Dragonborn turned to Miraak. "I thought you of all would have a deep respect for libraries" he mused, much to the first Dragonborn's aggravation. Miraak crossed his own arms, his right hand gripping his left bicep with enough pressure to crush the muscle as he glowered at Remus from behind his mask.

"Ag hin vum" Miraak grumbled, turning away. Remus simply laughed at the weak insult from his weary friend. He took a moment to look around himself; Urag was still stood, standoffish, while Miraak had simply gone back to his books, the situation apparently defused for now. With a gesture, the books that had been floating around the room and strewn across the floor snapped back to their places among the shelves, much to Urag's gruff gratitude. Remus looked to the old Orc, raising his hand in a placating gesture. "Perhaps we should share our finding in less..." the last watched as Urag stalked back to his counter, where he looked at the books that Miraak had taken from the glass case behind him, the more valuable books in the library, with an angry aura around him "agitated company" Remus finished, trying to further defuse the situation before the fires of hatred flared again.

"Very well" came the metallic echos of Miraak's voice "come Sofie" he called behind. A small 'yes father' was his reply, and a small twitch snapped at Remus's neck at the word leaving her mouth.

How the unorthodox bunch Remus called family had gained its two most...mismatched members was the likes of a tale that demanded a full tankard and a roaring fire to tell. Needless to say, Akatosh had been watching Miraak since his first days on Nirn, and looked for even the briefest of glimpses of him during the first Dragonborn's time in Apocrapha. Upon his defeat, not even the near-insurpassable might of the last Dragonborn could contain the sheer will and power of his soul.

As Remus climbed the stared to the stairs to his quarters within the college, watching Sofie trail after her father, he recounted with bitter fondness the days of death-like illness he'd spent in his bead, incapacitated by Miraak's efforts to free himself. And then, the morning when the sweating and pain stopped, and the first Dovakiin, of the mythic era, lay next to his bed.

With a relationship brokered on a tense respect and a broken pride, the two had been an odd pair for a long while, Miraak's devastation at his defeat and near vegetative state broken only by the unpredictable hand of Sofie. Remus had long suspected the Sheogorath had taken part in the odd chain of events that had brought Miraak out of his shell.

He had little time to ruminate on said thoughts, however, as he had reached his dimly lit chambers and found Miraak staring over the small garden that dominated the room.

He stood next to him, Miraak's stance of his hands clasped behind his back complemented by Remus placing his hands on his hips. One quite, one bold, they made quite the amusing pair for Sofie, who was sat on a chair, giggling at the two.

"Has your research born fruit" Remus asked, after another long silence. A sigh, and a man deflating was his answer, as Miraak shook his head.

"Nid" he answered, voice still ringing with metal tones "none of the Orc's book speak on the subject. I dare even say that the library of Apocrapha was bare of this knowledge" he remarked. Remus found it endlessly amusing, the gravitas of his voice and the true epicness of his tone, and yet he made no grandiose speeches or monologues. Instead he spoke as a scholar discussing his finding. Which Remus largely found him to be, at heart. A man who sought knowledge. He also knew that finding something unknown to him, while Remus saw a challenge, Miraak saw an insult. 

"There must be something" the last replied after a moment, stroking where his beard would have been "Tamriel has seen portals before, had instances such as this occur in the past" he mused, staring down vacantly at a mushroom he felt was misshapen.

"We knew what was on the other side of most of them" Miraak argued, stroking the tenticals on the chin of his mask. Remus nodded, glancing around himself in thought before he shrugged and turned away.

"Well, we have now studied, researched and theorized about this infernal portal, and we've gotten nowhere" Remus announced suddenly, turning away without warning "I can now only think of one thing to do" he exclaimed. Miraak turned to follow him, confused.

"Wait, what do you mean brother" he asked, trailing after him, Sofie following the two without prompting. Miraak continued to ask questions, to no avail, of Remus before they found themselves back in the Hall of the Elements, the staff and students all seeming to have grown bored with the seemingly inanimate portal. Tolfdir noticed him first, as well as the direction he was headed.

"Arch-mage, Miraak, what's going on. What's all the fuss" he asked, falling into step at Remus's side. They'd gathered the whole room's attention, all eyes on the two sets of robes and the Goliath covered in bone.

"No fuss" Remus assured, glancing back at Tolfdir "just conducting a small experiment" he explained. At the shocked shouts of everyone in the room, before Miraak could reach out to grab him, Remus stepped into the portal.



Blinding whiteness.

All around.

Everywhere.

"How unoriginal" the Dragonborn mused. Dovahzun, the Dragon's Blade, hung comfortably in Remus's hand, pulsating with crackling lightning, roaring fire and biting cold in a continuous rhythm. The blood-rending, element taming broad sword matched the armour's design, whites, blacks and blues forging its length.

However, in this stark...place, even the most pale of dragon bone stood out like an ogre in an orphanage.

Lightning crackled around Remus's left hand as he stepped in a circle, watching for foes, keeping an eye on the portal. It was...odd, the white void. Blinding but bearable, he could see feint black lines, as though he were in a room...or a box.

Thudding, coming from all around. He turned, turned again, and nothing met his sharp eyes. The ceaseless thudding did not relent, causing the Dragonborn to continue turning, casting a wall of lightning behind him and ready a ward in his off hand.

"An impressive trick" came a voice, from all around. It was feminine, gently and calm...but there was a edge to it, experience hidden in its weary tones.

"I'd be glad to teach it to you" Remus called in reply "show yourself!" There was a pause, long and tense, the last flexing his grip on his sword.

"Very well" came the reply. A swirling of wind, the flapping of wings, and...the trotting of hooves. As though stepping from a curtain, a veil, came...

Remus had seen much in his time, but even he had to admit, a horse wearing a tiara took the sweet roll. Never mind the wings and horn, the idea of administrative work been done my a mare made him want to double over in laughter. He held fast, however, and watched as the mare approached him. Assuming this was who had spoken, that is.

"Greeting" the made said, bowing her head gently, confirming Remus's suspicions as he bowed his head in turn.

"Well met" he replied, somewhat hesitantly. Was this a Daedra he was dealing with here? Had he just walked into a plane of Oblivion? No, it felt wrong. The mare was too welcoming, too pleasant. To simple to look at, given that if this was any Daedra, it was Sheogorath, and he wouldn't be so mundane.

"You shouldn't be here" she advised. That sent Remus's brow a-glaring.

"Is that so" he challenged "why is that, my esteemed steed" he remarked with a smirk, perhaps a bit too proud of his jibe.

"Because there is nothing here for you, and the portal through which you entered is closing soon" she replied without missing a beat, nodding behind him. Remus glanced back, weighing his options; his instinct was to stay, explore, but if this was Oblivion, this could be a trick. He hadn't left when 'invited' to, as such he'd stayed of his own accord. Granted, the idea of being trapped in Oblivion with only his whits (and some of the most finely crafted gear to ever grace Nirn, but still) to aid him sent a bolt of lightning through his gut, but something about this felt off somehow. He couldn't put his finger on it, and it made his teeth itch.

"Very well" he replied after a moment, the horse seeming to sigh in relief as he said so, passing through the sparking lightning as though it weren't there as he backed away, never taking his eyes from her. He paused suddenly. "Are you trapped here" he asked. That seemed to catch the mare off-guard, but before the emotion had fully washed across her face, she shook her head.

"No. I merely wish to see that you are not." Another glare, more a frown really, but Remus decided not to argue either way. The wolf's hackles were stood on end, the dragon in his soul sniffing at the air, the vampire afraid of the unforgiving light, but the man was calm, pushing down all other aspects and setting his mind straight as he retreated, deciding not to tempt fate this time.



His return was heralded with questions.

"Are you insane?"

"Are you alright?"

"Are you still Remus?"

"What was over there?"

"Do you remember us?"

"Do you remember yourself."

His hands up to stop the barrage of questions, the last Dragonborn shook his head free of the odd, muzzy feeling overcoming him.

"I'm fine, i'm fine" he assured, feeling strange all of a sudden, as though he'd been poisoned or been spiked with Skooma. He felt clouds and then fog fill his mind, and through a dull, distant muffle he heard voices, calling to him. 

Everything felt heavy, and regret stabbed his gut. He fell to one knee, his armor, usually a second skin, weighing him down like a mammoth on his back.

"What's wrong with him." Miraak demanded, kneeling next to his brother, a hand on his shoulder.

"I-I'm not sure. Colette, can you help him?"

The gaggle of mages was broken up by the Breton, pushing her way through, but it was all so much haze to Remus. He felt nothing but that hazy, obscuring fog. A wolf howled in the distance and bats chirped and squeaked in massive numbers, fluttering away, into the distance. He'd washed the blood of the wolf and vampire from his veins long ago, but for a moment it all came to the forefront.

He remembered the call of the wolf, the burning, aching thirst on his throat. A dragon roared. Several dragons roared, all atop some distant mountain, just barely loud enough for the Dragonborn's ears. Through it all, he heard four words, perfectly, crisp to his ears.

"Zeymah, los hi Pruzah?" Brother, are you well. 

Such a simple question, one he could barley bring himself to answer.

"Nid" With that simple word, the Dragonborn fell to his front, collapsing amidst the group of mages, all of the scattering back in shock. They went to his aid, but before they could take a step, a sound that set a boulder in Miraak's gut found their ears; wind whistled, with no breeze to be felt. 

Slowly, at first, as though a slight chill on a warm day, but the rush and intensity increased so quickly, many in the Hall of the Elements felt the blizzard might carry them into the night sky. The gale carried no wind however, and Miraak's eyes were locked onto his brother's unmoving back; golds, blues, oranges, reds, a twisting, spiraling vortex ripping from between the armor plates. And blinding, bright yellow flames licking at the air, struggling to escape the dragon bone plates.

Remus lay still, paralyzed but feeling everything, burn of Alduin's own flame, the cold of the Soulcairn, the ripping and tearing of a thousand bears, the piercing of a thousand swords, the pummeling of a thousand hammers, his blood drained by a hundred vampires and his spirit crushed by any number of defeats.

Throughout it all, he felt the pain of his losses; his closest friends, Silas, the Ebony Warrior, befriended instead of slain. Telydrn Sero, the finest of mercenaries coin by, and the finest of friends and man could ask for. Bryn, Farkas, Vilkas, Aela, Babette, Nazir, Tolfdir and countless other friends and allies, too many to remember in his final moments. 

Serana. The thought of her almost let him rise again, his hand beneath him, his love giving him strength. But the tails lied, and no gift was sent down from the gods for his pure thoughts, his truest of loves. It burned him, these final second, and in a final act of petty defiance, he managed one last act in the world. One last shout.

Fus, ro dah

The mages were blasted away, dust fell from the rafters, men and women scrambled to their feet, screams were head and spells miscast. Many could feel their eardrums throbbing in pain, the iron gates had been blasted off their hinges and the Dragonbron fell once again.

Miraak cursed in some distant land as Remus felt his vison blur, the dark setting in. Miraak rushed to him but it didn't matter. He didn't wonder where he'd go, because something else crossed his mind. Something Miraak had once asked him.

"Do you think it hurts, having your soul ripped out like that."

Yes, it did. 

By the gods it did.
> The traveler
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter two: The traveller


Celestia  looked on in horror at the scene before her, which had started moments  after she had left her side of the stone cutter's passage; an ancient  and powerful artifact that lived among hundreds, if not thousands, of  other ancient and powerful artifacts in the bowels of the Canterlot  palace. The stone cutter's passage was not, by any means, the most  dangerous of the artifacts down here, far from it, but it was one of the  more…unpredictable of them; it was made by an amateur marble sculptor  and appeared to be rough and amateurish to the untrained eye…mainly  because it was rough and amateurish, the first and last piece of work by  a unicorn named Marbles. Marbles made this 'arc' as a starting project,  something to work up from, a sensible notion in the eyes of many, but  as fate had it he fell ill shortly after he finished it. Not wanting his  life's work to go forgotten he had a curse placed on it by a less  honorable unicorn in his bitterness, a curse that turned his humble arc  into a doorway, a portal if you will, that could appear anywhere and  that rule was binding; the mind of Discord, or the vacuum of space, this  doorway way an invitation to disaster, as any number of things could go  wrong with a portal such as this. What was happening before the ruler  of Equestria was just the reason for this paranoia.

A skeleton  appeared before the princess of the day; it was formed from, what can  only be described as, pure magical energy; gold, blue, reds and orange  streaks of pure energy swirled with the distant sound of winds  accompanying it in its arrival, as the swirls began to form ribs, a  spine, four limbs and a skull. Next, like burnt parchment moving  backwards in time, skin tissue and muscle started to grow on the  skeleton; the body was toned and muscular, strong like an earth pony but  also light and nimble like a Pegasus, with the distinct presence of  magical power.

Celestia frowned; this was like no other power she  had felt before. With this realization, the Alicorn backed up, arching  her back in a stance that told anypony, or whatever else may be coming  through this portal, that she was ready to fight. Now the body's details  were starting to take shape, hair appeared on its head and body, the  whole length of it becoming covered in its warming layers. After another  few minutes of this, rather grotesque act of something being  re-birthed, Celestia could make out more details; it was lying on its  back, had a very strong physic and was a little rough around the edges.  The dictionary's representation of 'regal' took a look between its hind  limbs and blushed. He was male, VERY male. It suddenly struck her that  this being was not moving and was taking very shallow and strained  breaths, Celestia's eyes widened, he may need help, could be dying and  here she was checking him out.

She focused her magic on the limp  body, a golden glow surrounding the body, and he was levitated onto  Celestia's back, she strained and grunted under his weight; he was  heavier than he looked. Celestia was an Alicorn and had all physical and  magical attributes of all three races, the strength of an earth pony  being the one that was least regularly used but it didn't change the  fact that she was stronger than the average pony but this one, he was on  an altogether different type of heavy. Another golden glow emitted,  this one enveloping the one casting it and the one on her back, a flash  of light illuminating the room on the lowest level of the Canterlot  palace, and Celestia and her passenger were gone.

Not a second  later Celestia was in one the spare rooms of Canterlot castle,  admittedly even one of the nobles of the capital would kill for one of  these rooms but they paled in comparison to hers and Luna's so  technically they counted as spare so that was what they were called.  Celestia placed the ragged body onto the lush bed in the middle of the  room. She straightened up and looked over the one resting on the  mattress; she couldn't help but think he was a little handsome, even  like this. He also struck her as somewhat familiar; she didn't know how  he just… did somehow.

The princess of the sun turned and took her  leave, leaving whoever he was by himself. Trotting down the hall she  began to wonder just who he was and how he had come to…arrive in  Equestria, for there was no doubt about that; he was definitely of  another world, if his unorthodox means of arrival was anything to go by,  she felt the need to find out more about him but she had day court to  attend and other royal duties to perform and Luna was asleep, resting  for night court. An idea popped into her mind and her face lit up.

'Twilight.'

The  smile on her face would be recognized by any of the staff of the  castle; maid, guard or adviser would know the small and motherly smile  that marked that the princess had thought of an excuse to see her prize  student, without cause for alarm. She trotted merrily to her private  chambers, a spring in her step as she went, passing stallion and mare  alike, all of them recognizing the smile on her face, each giving a  small smile of their own at the prospect of seeing young Twilight again.  She stepped into her room and sat at the undeniably royal desk, a piece  of parchment ready to be wrote upon, and sat down with a phoenix  feather quill in magical grip, ready to wright.

Dear Twilight Sparkle

I  require your assistance in a most unusual of circumstances. A body  appeared in the storage levels of Canterlot palace; though I know how he  appeared, I do not know why, where he is from or even who he is. I need  your assistance in finding the answer to these questions, be it through  study or asking him when he awakes.

Hope to see you soon.

Princess Celestia.

The  princess straightened up and looked over the letter, watching as it  rolled up in her magical influence, before sending it on its way with a  spell she had learned only so she could stay in touch with her student.  Celestia watched the golden mist flow out of her window on its way to  Ponyville, her student's new home, and eagerly awaited the reply.





Twilight,  as per the usual, was reading. This time she had delved into some of  the older books of the library tomes of old magic that she could only  begin to comprehend, a bunch of old books on the ancient history of  Equestria and the one in particular that she was reading now, one that  had caught her eye rather easily and one that even Spike also showed  some interest in; it was a short book on the ponies limited knowledge on  the dragons, barely twenty-five pages long and most of it what she  already knew. What she didn't know however fascinated her greatly, the  last five or six page told of the few ponies who would fight them, slay  them and defend the land form them. She knew that during the war against  Discord, many of them had sided with him; Celestia herself had gone up  against more than one single-hoofed and defeated more than that  alongside her sister and guards. She devoured each and every word, the  book telling of a few powerful individuals that slayed dragons for a  living, pretty much all of them perishing at the hands of the so-called  'dragon king' the most powerful of all dragons. When she read this she  couldn't help but doubt the stories; she had met the equivalent of  teenage dragons and she had almost been turned into a snack, so she  could not comprehend how anypony, powerful or not, could take down a  fully grown dragon by themselves. By the third time she had read the  book she had waved it off as simple old-mare tails, stories and nothing  more.

"Hey Twilight, you done with that thing yet" her assistant,  Spike the dragon, the equivalent of a toddler dragon, asked from her  side. She looked over at him and smiled slightly, she had been reading  the book for nearly three hours non-stop, starting at eight in the  morning, and the child dragon was beginning to worry about her.

"Yeah,  guess I got a little carried away, I just find these stories a little  unbelievable" she admitted. The dragoon nodded his agreement.

"Yeah,  I don't think a lone pony could take on a fully sized-BUUURP!" He was  cut off by a green flash of fire and the parchment that followed it.  Twilight seized it with her purple aura as soon as it materialized and  began to read it. Spike watched her reaction as it turned from glee, to  confusion and finally to excitement as she read. "What is it" Spike  asked, unsure whether to be worried or not.

"It's a note from Celestia." Spike's face went flat.

"Duuh." Twilight shot him an annoyed look.

"It's  a note from Celestia saying that I should go to Canterlot, she says she  needs help with some kind of research project." Her face lit up as she  said the last two words. Spike hit his face with the palm of his hand.

"Oh brother…" he said at length as he ran his palm down his face.

"Spike, do you think you could watch over the library while I'm gone?" Spike nodded nonchalantly.

"Sure…wait, what. I'm not coming with you?" Twilight smiled sweetly, causing Spike to reluctantly agree with her.

"It'll  be fine Spike, I'll be a few days nothing too bad. Nothing my number  one assistant can't handle." Spike blushed slightly as his adopted  mother/sister ran her hoof through the spikes atop his head.

The  two then spent an hour packing Twilight's saddlebags and making sure she  was ready for the journey, once she was set with all necessary supplies  she made her way to the train station, luckily a train had just arrived  and she hopped right on it. The journey was long and not particularly  engaging; she occupied her mind with thinking about what she would say  to Celestia when she got to the palace. It would be nice to be able to  speak with her teacher when the fate of Equestria was not in the  balance, she noticed that she had not spent all that much time with  those she had spent it with in her foalhood; Celestia, Cadence and  Shining Armour, she had seen none of them as much as she would like to  in recent years. She looked over the book on dragons she had taken from  the library again as she rode the train, lost in thought she did not  notice the time pass and she soon found herself in Canterlot train  station.

Hopping off the train and trotting up to the castle she  took in all the sights and sounds of the big city; she had to admit it  though, after so long in Ponyville she had gotten used to the quietness  of the small town and though the Canterlot streets didn't exactly  overwhelm her, she found herself wanting the peace and quiet of  Ponyville.

She passed a few familiar faces on the way to the  castle, some nodded, others smiled and one or two said things like  'welcome back to the city' and 'hello again'. The trot through the  streets was, decidedly, uneventful besides the occasional greetings sent  her way, soon enough she found herself at the gates of the palace, two  royal guards standing to attention either side of the majestic entrance.

"Afternoon  boys" she called over. The guards spotted her, smiled and nodded her  way, opening the gates to permit her entry. Keeping her pace, she  trotted through the palace doorway and into the grand hallway that  served as the entrance hall. She saw Celestia almost as soon as she  entered, the princess of the day was moving from one room to another  with what could only be described as a look of confusion on her face.  She turned her head; Twilight could only guess she was trying to get her  bearings within the palace when she spotted her, Celestia's face  brightening up as soon as she saw her student.

"Twilight" she  exclaimed as she saw her student, galloping over to her, in a not too  regal manner, and scooping her up into a hug, again in a not too regal  manner, but she would be damned if she cared. "It's good to see you  again my…most faithful student." Not many in the room clocked the pause  in the princess's sentence, even if they had who would say anything  anyway she was the princess, but unbeknownst to everypony in the room  Celestia had almost said 'daughter'.

"It's good to see you to  princess" Twilight told her truthfully, she hadn't noticed just how much  she had missed her mentor but it certainly shone through now as she  hugged Celestia back in earnest. The two released each other and  proceeded to walk down a corridor that Twilight could have sworn the  princess had chosen at random.

"I trust you know why you are here" Celestia asked in her motherly voice. Twilight looked up at her and more or less shrugged.

"Well  you said that you needed help finding out who somepony is and that you  needed me to research where he might be from, just point me in the right  direction and I'll get right on it" she said dutifully, causing  Celestia to swell with pride.

"Well rather than show the way, why  don't I take you there?" Celestia then proceeded to teleport the two of  them outside, the 'newcomer's', as Celestia had taken to calling him,  room. "He's in there but I don't think he'll be awake just yet."  Twilight nodded but raised an eyebrow at her mentor. "He had a  very…unorthodox method of arrival and I think it took its toll on him"  she elaborated. Twilight nodded again, she moved towards the doorway and  opened it with her magic, taking a look at her 'subject'. She was taken  aback to say the least; he was like no other pony she had seen before.

He  lay atop the sheets giving her a good view of him; he had an unkempt  and windswept mane, reaching down to his back. It seemed to have been  washed about as many times as it had been combed keeping a greasy sheen  that likely would have caused Rarity to feint, the mane was a deep raven  black, the only attempt at order being a braid running down the left  side of his face. The braid also kept the mane away from his horn that  protruded from his fore-head.

Twilight raised an eye brow; she  had only just noticed the large body that the unicorn had, he was  muscular in the ways of one of the royal guards but had a certain  element of nimbleness to him, something that reminded her of  Rainbowdash, it struck Twilight that this stallion had the physical  attributes of an Alicorn, just without the wings.

His coat was  another oddity; it was pure, bright white, the colour reminded her of  virgin snow. The white fur reminded her of Celestia's coat, just without  the well-kept quality that the princess's always had, also, Celestia  did not have the ice blue patterns on her fur; she recognized some of  the more flowing lines as simple patterns of fire and the jagged lines  as ice. The stallion stirred and turned over on the bed, Twilight caught  sight of what had caused Celestia to blush earlier. Turning quickly  back to her mentor, eyes wide, she closed the door and looked up at her.

"Well…  he's certainly different" she commented. Celestia nodded he agreement, a  small smile on her face as she saw her students redness.

"I've  never seen those marks on his fur before; they could be nothing or they  could be important. That and his means of arrival certainly strikes me  as odd."

"Just how did he arrive?" Celestia looked at the door to  the newcomer's room, contemplating whether or not to tell her. Taking  another look at her pupil's curious eyes, she felt her resolve crumble  and told all; giving great detail about the way he had appeared in the  room that served as the vault of potentially dangerous relics. Once she  was finished Twilight's eyebrows had shot into her mane line.

"Wow…that certainly is…unorthodox" she said at length.

"Indeed,  but I think that would be a good place to start in your research."  Twilight nodded but hung her head; Celestia figured it was in  disappointment that she wouldn't be able to spend any time with her. The  princess of the sun felt the same way. "Tell you what" she said a  little mischievously "when you're done, what do you say we spend a bit  of time together." Twilight beamed in response.

"I'd love that"  she responded. The two parted ways soon after; Celestia for the day  court and twilight for the library, though only one of them was going to  get anything from it. For nearly six hours Twilight poured through  books, everything from the markings on his body that had her curious to  the peculiar way in which he had arrived, the only bit of useful  information she got from her reading being that the portal was not  restricted to dimensions so it was entirely plausible that he was from  another universe, though she doubted it considering that he was a pony.

All  theories aside, the purple mare was beginning to get frustrated with  the lack of information in the library, and had taken to slamming her  head into the book to try and relive some of the stress. From her left  somepony giggled, she looked up and saw Celestia standing with Luna.

"Celestia,  Luna" she called, overjoyed that she would be able to see Celestia's  little sister again. She trotted over to the princess's and smiled at  them.

"How did the research go my student" Celestia asked with a  small grim on her face at how she had found her student. The question  caused Twilight to drop her smile.

"A disaster, there's nothing  here whatsoever; nothing on the way you told me he arrived, nothing on  his patterns and there was very little on the stone cutter's passage and  even less on the possibility of it bringing somepony over. I did find  something on it appearing in different dimensions but I doubt that's the  case, considering that he's a pony." Celestia listened to the report,  somewhat disgruntled with the turnout of information but she had to  admit, she'd more or less seen it coming.

"I see, but enough of  that, we will get our answers when he awakes but for now, we have some  catching up to do" she smiled down at Twilight, who smiled back in  return. The only one who wasn't happy about the prospect of a sleepover  was Luna, silently cursing her duties in night court. Celestia noticed  her sister's expression; she felt for her, knowing that not many ponies  saw her as a pony, rather just a ruler and had been getting lonely as of  late. "Luna, why don't you take the night off, I'm fairly sure that I  took care of pretty much everything this morning, what with all the  ponies that came today and besides" she looked over at Twilight "it's  such a rare occasion that Twilight comes to Canterlot and it would be a  shame for you to miss it." It was all Luna could do to stop herself from  lunging at her sister and wrapping her in a bone crushing hug, all in  all she failed anyway, as she found herself embracing her big sister in a  not-quite-bone-crushing-but-airflow-stopping hug. "You're welcome  sister" Celestia choked out.

In Celestia's private quarters, after  Luna had raised the moon and declared that night court was cancelled  due to the arrival of somepony important, they sat on Celestia's bed and  talked into the night. Unbeknownst to them, a certain stallion was  stirring in his bed.

Remus's eyes fluttered open, he immediately  felt the change; he knew he was shorter, he held himself on the bed  differently and he could feel something brushing against the back of his  legs. He noticed he was in a pitch black room, though he made no effort  to make it easier to see, be it through mage light or his night eye  power that he had retained from his vampirism. He sat up; he could feel a  headache developing. No matter how used to this feeling he felt he got,  it did not change the fact that he had a rather bad pain building up  behind his eyes. He raised his hand and rubbed his temple, in an effort  to dispel the pulsing ache that was building up, though he did notice  something off about his hand. It seemed…harder somehow. He took a casual  look at his appendage and saw the hoof there.

"BY TALOS!" The  Thu'um in his words, shook the very foundations of the palace, throwing  staff off of their hooves and, much to the dismay of the cleaners of the  palace, shook the long forgotten dust from every rafter in the grand  castle. The words he roared also caught the attention of the three mares  in Celestia's bedroom, knocking them all off her rather sizable bed.  Remus took many shuddering breaths in an attempt to calm himself but it  was all in vein and resorted to blaring out curses left, right and center in an effort to be rid himself of his anger.

"BY  SHEOGORATH'S GREAT HAIRY BALLS AND SANGUINE'S RUINED DAMNED LIVER!" His  Thum'um once more carried his words through the castle, electing laughs  and confused and amused looks from those who walked its halls. Celestia,  Luna and Twilight however, had no looks of amusement on their faces as  they galloped to the newcomer's room. None of them dared enter as more  of the weird curses rumbled the castle. "Aalhenvo dinok dur rok wo drey daar!"  The three mares looked at each other in confusion; the last outburst  was rage fuelled and was in a language not recognized by any of them. It  further disheartened them and did nothing to encourage them entering  the newcomer's room. "The sea will run red in their blood once my voice  finds them" the Dragonborn growled.

Remus was not one for cursing  so much but he felt he was sort of entitled to it, given the situation.  He made his anger known to those who would hear it in the draconic  Paarthurnax had taught him during his time atop the throat of the world.  He wasn't sure where this rage came from but he suspected that it was  coming from the fact that he was now a gods damned horse and that he had  taken quite the hit to the pride. Another wave of rage overcame him,  this one much more violent than the last and he knew that some simple  curses would not suffice to let loose his anger. Turning to the door  took great effort; he was not used to this body but his warrior's  instinct flowed through him, pumping him full of adrenaline and attuning  his mind, if only temporarily, to his hew form. Spying his target, his  filled his lungs with air.

Fus, Ro Dah

The  blast of raw, unrelenting power that was the unrelenting force shout,  powered through the door, blasting it off its hinges and slamming it  into the wall opposite it. Outside the room Celestia, Luna and Twilight  looked on in horror; the door, that was by no means light, had just been  thrown off its supports by three words of immense power. The stallion  that had been laying on the bed trotted out, looking like he was either  drunk or had awful balance, and turned his head around, looking at the  three of them. Remus looked over the horses that surrounded him; one was  tall and white, one was short and purple, and the last was dark  coloured and around his height. He paid them no mind, looking for  someone, pony…whatever, that posed a challenge.

"Who are you" the  purple one asked quickly. Remus looked at the, what he assumed to be a  mare from the voice, that had spoken to him. The red mist had descended  and he did not register that a pony had just spoke to him. He didn't  even have time to respond as a group of gold clad horses rounded the  corner at a gallop. The Dragonborn recognised them as guards and  grinned; some blood would be spilled tonight. He let loose a deafening  war cry, the kind of battle cry the Nords were known for, his bellowing  roar putting fear into the hearts of those around him and putting them  out of the fight before they had even joined it. Celestia's eyes widened  as she watched the stallion send a cry to the ceiling, reverberating a  putting an unnatural fear in her. She used her magic to pull Twilight  and Luna closer to her, putting a cowering Luna under her wing and  holding Twilight in a mothers embrace, as she watched the snow white and  ice stallion move towards her day guards with a strange sense of  certainty in his step. And she knew why, she had felt his power for  herself.

Fo, Krah Diin

A powerful  wall of frost sped towards the guards and slammed into them, freezing  them to the bone and nearly freezing them to death. A few of them fell  to the ground, exhausted and weakened by the blizzard Thu'um. Out of the  seven that had first advanced, only three now continued with the  attack; two of them wore golden armour and one in gold and purple, this  one stood out and spoke out 'higher rank' to the Dovahkiin. The  two grunts that approached were now nervous, approaching Remus with  more caution now, the higher ranking stallion acting much the same way.  It suddenly struck the Dragonborn that he was fighting horses and he  gave a small smirk.

"What's so funny" the purple clad stallion demanded. Remus didn't answer, instead he attacked.

Holding  his left hoof out, an arc of lightning building in power as Remus  pumped his large reserves of magicka in to his spell. The violent  lightning sparked off of the concentration of magic in the Dragonborn's  hoof shattering the tiles that lined the walls and floors as the mage  lightning bounced off it, lashing out at other spots of wall and floor  as it gathered power, the smell of ozone emitting from the snow and ice  stallion. Thrusting his hoof forward the mage's thunder careered towards  the three remaining guards, striking out at the tiles as it made its  journey towards them. When it hit the stallions they were put down  immediately, the lightning flowing over them and electing a bark of pain  from one of them.

The lightning spread between them in spider  web like pattern that jumped from them and reached for the walls and  floors as the powerful spell struck down two of the guards, the grunts,  where the captain, as Remus presumed, blocked the spell with some kind  of purple barrier or ward. The grunts fell to the floor, skidding a  little as the momentum of the spell carried them, and didn't move  unconscious but not dead. A small portion of Remus's mind didn't want to  kill them with magic, he wanted the final blow to be up close and  personal.

The captain looked Remus dead in the eye an unspoken  challenge in his gaze, he drew a sword from the air, a long, double  edged blade with a purple shimmer around it, reminding Remus of a bound  weapon. The Dragonborn cursed mentally, wishing for a weapon of his own,  as the stallion advanced, he noticed that this pony seemed to be using  magic to use his weapon and that the magic seemed to be flowing from the  horn atop his head. When there was no more than fifteen feet between  them, the armoured stallion stopped and spoke up.

"I'll give you one chance to back down" the guard captain called over. Remus grunted.

"True Nords never back down" he growled. The two stallions charged each  other, the guard slashed horizontal with his weapon, Remus ducked and  countered; slamming his hoof into in to his opponent's chest, knocking  him back and knocking the wind out of him. Shining Armour was taken  aback by the pony's raw strength, more so that he had managed to throw  him off balance despite his champion's battle stance. During his shock  Remus took advantage of his distraction, pulling his head back and  slamming it into the guard's face, causing blood to pump from his muzzle  but he wasn't done there; a hoof in his temple, a chop to his neck and  an uppercut to his chin, all delivered faster than anypony could  properly register, sent the purple garbed stallion flying and the  Dragonborn thanking Vilkas for those lessons in hand-to-hand. He looked  down at himself. Hoof-to-hoof he guessed. Shining lay on the  ground, blood leaking from his snout and mouth, the magical blade  dispelled. Remus was about to deliver the finishing blow, he was pretty  sure that a snapped neck would do the job, but as he reached for the  horse's chin and horn he felt a distinct magical presence behind him; he  had begun to notice the strange tingling sensation in his head soon  after he had obtained the staff of Magnus and he knew to trust his  instinct when it came to this feeling. Turning around he saw he was wise  to have done so; the white, tall horse that he had found outside the  room he had slept in was charging what appeared to be a great ball of  fire, almost like a sun, and was aimed right at him. He snarled, knowing  he was not likely to survive a hit like that, and decided a vanishing  act was called for.

Gol

The shout,  the first word of 'bend will', erupted from his maw, striking not the  mare that charged the attack but the ground before her; the tiles  cracked and split, a small mountain emerging from the ground as the gold  and orange shout made contact, separating the Dragonborn from the  raging inferno that was threatening to turn him to ashes. Turning to the  nearest window he let loose another shout.

Fus, Ro

The  two worded Thu'um shattered the window with very little resistance, he  looked out and saw a perils drop awaiting him. With a grunt he turned  back as he heard a deep rumbling, the called for his attention; it  seemed that the white mare had smashed through his barrier with the  spell she had been charging and was now looking Remus dead in the eye.

"Princess  at your front, a lethal drop at your back, what do you do?" The  'princess' had an air of sureness about her. Remus merely grunted,  turned to the shattered glass and bounded towards it.

Feim, Zii Gron

The  shout lashed through the air and the words cast the ancient magic that  turned his body from that of a physical one, to an ethereal one, making  him immune to and incapable of inflicting damage, namely the hundred  foot drop that threatened his life before he had used this shout, one of  the shouts that Paarthurnax had guided him in meditation atop the  throat of the world; the whole process of thought and contemplation had  taken him a month in total, the entire time he barely moved, rarely ate  and rarer still slept, what he took from this was the understanding that  a Dovah's soul, their spirit, is much more powerful and much more malleable than that of a joor's, a mortal's. What he took from this understand was that, even as a ghost one of the Dov still  retained life-like qualities allowing them heal to themselves as a  spirit. The main downside to this shout was that its user would still  feel pain and Remus was going to feel the hundred foot drop and feel it  good. As he threw himself from the window the Dragonborn knew what fate  awaited him when he hit the ground; the pain of all his bones breaking  at once.

The air whistled past his ears as he went, nothing but a  flat look on his face served as his expression as he descended. Crashing  to the ground he knew that he would have to make a hasty exit, though  as a thief he had more than a little experience with this and as  Dragonborn he had more than a few tricks up his sleeve. His deadpan face  looked at his bare leg and hoof and he had to fight to stay calm and  not tear this world apart.

He looked around himself and realized  he was in a city of some sort, he also noticed that he had just rolled  down the side of a mountain when he had leapt from, he looked up, a  rather magnificent palace. He heard shouts and the sounds of alarm  coming from the streets and knew he would have a hard time getting out  of here in this form. He grinned at the prospect of using a new shout.

Ven, Mul Riik 

The  fog, the thick and damning fog that had once served as a soul's snare  in Sovngarde, quickly formed in the alleyways and streets of the town he  was in, obstructing his presence from any guards that may see him and  giving his escape a rather effective and thick cover. It did not go  unnoticed, however, that right after the palace had been breached, thick  and unexplainable smog gathered faster than any unicorn or Pegasus  could form it.

"What's all this" a disembodied voice called from the slate grey mist.

"The buck should I know" another answered. Remus grunted.

'Buck…must be their version of fuck. Huh, wonder what other words have been exchanged for horse related phrases…'

The  thought was fleeting as he made his way through the alleyways and side  streets of the city, he found it surprisingly easy to stay quiet on his  hooves, making careful but fast steps staying silent but not stopping,  utilizing skills he had honed since the first time he had sneaked past a  bear. He found his way out of the town within about ten minutes, it was  there he realized his problem; he had no idea where he was, even with  his peerless sense of direction it was the simple fact that he had  nothing go on, not a map, directions or anything. He looked around  himself, his eyes settling on…well he didn't really know what they were;  what appeared to be wooden boards with metal strips laying on top of  them, he recognized them from some of the mines he had been but not to  this scale before. With nothing else to go on he decided to follow them,  wondering just what he had got himself into.





Celestia  had been enraged by the escape stallion, the fact that he had escaped  and the hate-able sureness he had about himself, but it was quickly  replaced by the presence that clung to her chest; Twilight Sparkle was  still clinging to her, tears streaming down her face as the weird fear  that came with the roar he had gave still holding its effecting her. The  princess of the day sat against a wall, cradling the filly with a  mother's love.

"It's alright, he's gone now" she soothed to no  avail, instead Twilight just pulled in harder, a gesture that Celestia  returned. Celestia picked up the purple mare, her little sister and  Shining Armour, the latter two with her magic, intent to carry them to  her quarters so they may rest. She left the clean-up to guards that had  just arrived and just trotted, weary to her room. Laying her sister and  captain of the guard on her bed, she looked at the mare she had taken in  and tutored for most of her life. Twilight's eyes fluttered open and  they took a look at each other for a single second before they embraced  once again, in relief and affection. It was lost on neither of them that  it was much like a mother and daughter's embrace.

"Do not worry  Twilight, I'll be sure to deal with him." A spark of hate ignited in her  chest as she felt the mare sob a few times. It was in that moment that  she made a rather life changing decision for the both of them but she  couldn't deny the way she felt for Twilight. "I'll deal with him  personally." Her eyes narrowed at the thought of that stallion making  her adoptive daughter cry.
> The survivor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter three: The survivor


Canterlot,  and indeed all of Equestria, was in total lock down. Celestia had pulled  out all the stops to find this stallion; all her royal guards, the  solar guard, the night guard and the Crystal Empire's Crystal guards  were all on high alert, under strict orders to report even the faintest  of rumors of this stallion's location to their respective captains, all  scouts were on the lookout for a white stallion with ice blue markings  on his body and Celestia's own complex network of informants, spies and  information brokers were all keeping their ears to the ground for word  on this mystery stallion.

It had been three day's and despite all  the princesses' efforts, there was nothing; not a scrap of information,  not a whisper of a rumor and not even the shadow of passing gossip in  an idle conversation could be dug up. She'd even sent word to the  griffons, who'd thankfully recognized the direness of the situation and  promised to send word should they hear anything. She wasn't sure if she  trusted them or not but at the moment she had more pressing things on  her mind at the moment.

As Celestia sat in her throne, awaiting  reports that weren't arriving and probably didn't exist, she had to  admit it; this stallion brought more questions than answers with him,  the latest of which was 'how in Tartarus, could somepony drop off the  face of Equestria so completely?'

There were others of course;  the markings on his body for instance, they were completely unique in  all respects, they belonged on no pony or zebra of any race, culture or  breed; then there was the magic he used, lightning was a particularly  difficult strand of offensive magic but it normally came out as a  continuous arc, not the bolt he had produced, but then there was the way  he used it, he had formed the bolt in his hoof, not his horn.

It  was, technically, impossible to conduct magic through the hoof as only  Alicorn the material of which the unicorn horn, the bones of Pegasus  wings and the bones of an Alicorn were made from, that being what gave  them their unmatched magical power, could conduct magical energy and  yet, he had used magic via his hoof like it was nothing, almost like he  was used to it, which was impossible. Wasn't it?

Then there was  the other thing he had done: those strange words that hit her soul with  the force of a wrecking-ball and shook her bones, to speak nothing of  what they had actually done; he'd thrown the doors of the room off their  hinges and those doors were nothing to scoff at, they were designed by  some of the best artists in all Equestria and forged by the best smiths  the land had to offer; their purpose was to keep the nobles salivating  and any ponies Celestia didn't exactly trust under wraps, the walls of  the room were all magically reinforced and the doors were more secure  than any prison. At least, they were supposed to be.

The  questions continued to mount in her head; that blast of frost that had  hit her guards, they described it as their core temperatures being  lowered to minus one-fifty for a few seconds, completely draining them  and nearly killing them; and that shout he'd used when Celestia tried to  stop him, what was the word, Gol? Earth  bending troubled the princesses of the day, it was a simple fact of  magic that if you could control the core elements; earth, fire, water  and wind, you were considered to be on the higher end of the 'powerful  ponies' scale, and he'd done it with just a word? She shuddered at the  thought of such power. She sat back in her throne, drained.

And then there was the OTHER thing he'd done.

'Just how much can this stallion do, he seems to be as powerful as myself.'

Celestia  considered herself to be a powerful being; it came with the territory  when you were the immortal ruler of a country, but the way he had  crippled her, Twilight and Luna with nothing but a battle cry…It didn't  seem natural. Or maybe that kind of ability was no simple magic, there  were fear inducing spells in existence, yes, but none of them would work  on an Alicorn or a unicorn of Twilight's caliber, due to their  intelligence, but this stallion's… whatever he did, struck fear into her  very core. There was something off about him though; he trotted about  like a stallion who'd had a full keg of cider to himself but then he'd  gone on to beat the stuffing out of Shining Armour, who wasn't the  captain of the guard for nothing. The blue mane stallion was a certified  master at hoof-to-hoof combat, yet the ice and snow stallion had fed  him his teeth like it was nothing.

Then there was the way he  escaped; the guards had been quick to report the sudden smog that rolled  in as he left, it was too conveniently timed to be a coincident, which  could only mean he had conjured it himself. He could control the  weather. But no unicorn could control the weather, not to the degree of  the Pegasi anyway, that said, he was no normal unicorn.

Celestia  massaged her temples with her hoof, recent events notwithstanding, life  about the palace had been general torture anyway; the nobles were  getting on her back about her decisions in recent months: first it had  been Discord; they didn't seem to like the ancient god of chaos roaming  the palace pulling pranks on them or those types that thought they were  something special; it was those she hated most, the ones who didn't  treat Luna like a princess, who had insisted that she take Cadence as a  nice rather than a daughter, what had they said? It would cause a shift in the royal family that nopony is prepared for.

Celestia  knew what was behind those honeyed words, they were all waiting for  something to happen to cause Celestia to step down from the thrown and  her having a daughter would make the process of one of them gaining  power longer process. Sniveling wannabe-tyrants, the lot of them. Well,  most of them, Fancy Pants was the only noble she even vaguely liked.  With a sigh she pushed the thoughts from her head; she had enough to  worry about as it is.

She slipped down her seat until she slouched  rather un-regally in her throne; grateful nopony was around to see her  in a moment of weakness. What she wouldn't do for a tankard of cider  right now, something Twilight's friend Applejack brewed or maybe an  Appaloosa mugging.

At the end of the hall the doors flung open  and in came the four ponies she wanted to see most; Shining Armour,  captain of the royal guard, Princess Cadence, Alicorn princess of love,  Princess Luna, Celestia's beloved little sister and Twilight Sparkle,  Celestia's most prized student and newly declared daughter, although  Celestia hadn't actually mentioned that detail to her yet. Watching the  purple unicorn with a mother's loving eye, a single thought entered her  mind.

'Soon…'

Celestia had her guard captain stay  in Canterlot with his sister; he'd been here accessing the new recruits.  Technically, he needn't do that anymore, what with him now being a  prince now and all, but he claimed to enjoy breaking in new troops and  his wife seemed to relish the prospect of a vacation from the Crystal  Empire.

Twilight was also staying due to her mentor's orders, she  didn't want Twilight straying from her side with that stallion about  and Luna, who had been under Celestia's wing ever since the stallion had  used that…she still wasn't sure what it was, never letting her out of  her sight for more than a minute. Celestia got out of her throne,  meeting her friends halfway. She wrapped Twilight in a hug, bending down  slightly.

"Good morning Twilight, Cadence, Shining Armour" she disengaged from the hug "Lu-Lu" she said with a grin at her little sister.

"Morning"  they relied in unison, Luna cringing slightly at her sister's pet name  for her. It was after this the atmosphere darkened noticeably. "Capitan  Armour, anything to report?" The stallion looked down.

"Nothing  Princess, I'm sorry but he seems to have dropped off the face of  Equestria" he tells her, sounding ashamed. Celestia hummed her  understanding, nodding a few times.

"Understood. After the way things have been going, I'm not all too surprised."

"Auntie"  Cadence piped up, nuzzling Celestia "what Shining, told me…the way he  just…" she wrapped her adoptive aunt in a tight hug. Celestia had always  liked Cadence's hugs, that said; when you're the pony embodiment of  love, you're bound to be a great hugger. "I can't believe he would just  do that to you."

"We have to find him before he does anything  else. He's a threat to security and I won't have anypony else hurt by  this…newcomer" Celestia declares. Shining looked up at his boss.

"But  we've already got all the day and night guards, the royal armies and  even the Crystal guards combing all of Equestria, and we haven't found  hide nor hair of him." He looked around the gathered ponies. "I don't  think it'll be as easy as 'just finding' him." Everypony silently agreed  with him.

"What does Discord have to say" Twilight asked, speaking up for the first time.

"He  claims to know nothing about this stallion, even he appreciates just  how…unpredictable the Stone cutter's passage can be. He tells us he will  be on the lookout for this stallion" Luna answers.

"Isn't there anything we can do? Look for clues or something, I mean, nopony can just disappear like  that, nopony, I don't care who, nopony just vanishes." Luna wanted so  much to agree with Twilight, she had been feeling cooped up and useless  in the palace doing nothing, but she wouldn't know where to start.

"What  do want us to do Twily? We haven't a clue where he went or why he  attacked us like he did. For all we know he's trotting the plains of  Tartarus by now" Shining argues. Twilight looked at her hooves without  answer.

"We must start somewhere, none of our resources have any  information whatsoever, I say we take this into our own hooves" Celestia  decides. Twilight brightened up.

"Should we send for the Elements of Harmony" Cadence asks her Aunt. She shook her head.

"No, not yet, and I want to avoid involving them in this if possible." They all looked taken aback at that.

"Why" Twilight exclaimed "wouldn't it be easier than just trying to take him on?"

"I  understand where you're coming from Twilight, but this stallion; he  assaulted my sister, my guard captain and yourself. He's made this  personal." Twilight blinked, she had never seen Celestia like this  before.

"Princess, no matter what we say or do, it doesn't change  the fact that we have no clue where he is, or the full extent of his  abilities. I know for a fact he hasn't shown all he can do, he may have  fought me off with his hooves, but he flinched and looked annoyed when I  pulled my sword. I get the feeling he knows how to use one."

"But that doesn't make sense; if he knows how to use a sword why would he need to be so skilled in magic" Twilight argues.

"And  the way he escaped, he sneaked out of Canterlot like it was nothing and  the fog that rolled in was too thick to be Pegasus controlled. I don't  like the idea of somepony controlling the weather like that. How did he  even do it" Luna adds.

"I think it was something to those…um,  shouts I guess. I mean it stands to reason if he can 'shout' a door of  its hinges, he may be able to change the weather at will" Twilight  ventured. Shining rubbed his fore-head with his hoof, a smirk on his  face.

"You're not making me feel any better about going up against this guy Twily."

"PRINCESS  CELESTIA, PRINCESS! Err, Captain Armour, Miss Sparkle, Princess Luna  and Cadence." The grey Pegasus day guard, Stone Wing, had burst through  the door of the throne room, galloping up to the five of them.

"Yes" Celestia replied without missing a beat.

"I-I-I just outside, something big- It was!"

"Soldier,  calm down. Breath, gather your thoughts and take your time" Celestia  soothed. The Pegasus guard took a deep breath, swallowed and took  another breath before continuing.

"I just saw, outside Ponyville, it was a…a."

"Do you have something to report about the newcomer" Celestia prompted, leaning forwards slightly. The guard flinch.

"See,  that's the thing; nopony knows. We aren't sure whether this is  connected to the runaway stallion or not." The princess nodded  patiently.

"Just tell us what you saw; anything right now would be helpful."

"I saw" He swallows again "a dragon!" Twilight blinked.

"A DRAGON!" Her words shook the ponies around her.

"Y-yes Miss Sparkle but like none I've heard of before. It didn't…look right."

"How so" Luna asked, now curios.

"Well,  as we know, dragons stand as bipeds, right?" They all nodded. "Well,  from what I could see, this one had two legs, or claws really, and a  pair of wings on his back. It looked more like a lizard than a dragon we  know." The princess of the day nodded, holding her hoof to her chin.

"A  Wyrm" Celestia said at length, hoof to her chin as she thought. Luna  could tell Celestia was holding something back, though she chose not to  raise the subject yet.  She looks around the ponies surrounding her,  Twilight looking up at her mentor.

"It's the same as the fog; the  timing is too convenient to be a coincident. A dragon, a rare one at  that, doesn't just show up at the same time as somepony like that and  not be connected." Shining hummed in thought.

"Dragons aren't  known for working with ponies, in fact, from what I know about Wyrms  they'd rather bite you in half than help out."

"Shining" Cadence  exclaimed before she collected herself. "Surely you don't think this is  just a coincidence?" The guard captain frowned; he knew they had a point  but it didn't feel right.

"Guard, where was this dragon headed?  If he doesn't have anything to do with the newcomer, he might know  something" Celestia said in way of planning their next move. She didn't  like the way the guard flinched again.

"There's something else;  when I saw the dragon, I took to the ground and asked around, trying to  find anypony who might know anything. The only thing I got was from a  local weathermare, Rainbowdash I think" Twilight smiled at the thought  of her friend. "She said she saw something, or somepony, on the dragon's  back. Forgive me for assuming captain, but if a dragon, possibly with a  pony on its back, is a coincidence I don't know what isn't." The jaws  of Shining, Cadence, Luna, Twilight and even Celestia hit the floor.

"Y-you mean, that stallion was…riding that dragon?" the guard swallowed again, more nervous than before.

"I'm saying it's possible, Twilight."

"When was he spotted" Celestia asked.

"About  a day after he escaped Canterlot, I'm sorry, I got here as fast as I  could but with all with all the commotion going on after everypony heard  about what happened here I got held up a few times. I'm not sure if  he's still there or not."

"This changes things" Celestia declared  "if this dragon is an ally of the newcomer he could be anywhere in  Equestria by now. It throws a whole new spin on things. Guard where was  the dragon headed?" Stone Wing glanced at Twilight for a second.

"The Everfree forest." Twilight took a second to digest this information.

"Wait  a minute, if he's heading to the Everfree forest from Canterlot then  that means he'll fly right past-"Her eyes widened for a second before  she galloped for the doors without finishing. Celestia watched as she  went, confused as to her sudden outburst. Her eyes widened and put a  hoof to her mouth in shock as it clicked.

"Ponyville!"





The  clouds, the air and the sky. These three things, were all Remus-the  featureless lived for now. His first time riding a dragon, Odahviing,  had been heralded by true words.

"Be warned Dovahkiin, forwhen you have flow the skies of Keizaal as the dragons do, your envy of the dov, will only increase."

How  right he had been. After the events of Skuldafn and his first  experience with flight, he'd spent a lot of his time dreaming of soaring  in the clouds once more. Ever since he'd learnt the final word of the  shout 'bend will' he'd been meaning to thank Hermaeus Mora for teaching  him and returning the gift of flight to him. He relished the thought of  flight now; he put it down to the Dovasos  in his veins that  made him love the feeling of being so high in the air. One thing was for  sure though; it was definitely better than trying to walk with this  body.

He'd been running, galloping…whatever for about two hours  before he'd gotten tired of falling flat on his face every five steps.  His inability to move to any great degree was causing problems; after  having the skills of a master assassin and thief, he'd gotten accustomed  to the natural grace he'd been working on and mastered ever since the  first time he'd sneaked past that bear and to have his skills taken  along with his body was an insult.

Before long he'd gotten  frustrated and decided to spare himself any more humiliation, thus was  the road he set on to calling Durnehviir and riding him through the  skies of this place. Gods, that had been awkward, summoning the great  dragon guardian of the soul cairn as a horse; the dragon had looked at  him, blinked once and laughed until he got the message that Remus was  apocalyptically angry with his reaction.

After that Durnehviir  had remained remarkably stoic about the whole situation, almost like he  was completely unfazed by it; he probably could have fooled Remus into  thinking he didn't care had he not been the subject of the Dragonborn's  first experience of a laughing dragon.

As he rode his undead  dragon ally, he took time to examine his new…appendages; the 'hooves',  he guessed, were fascinating by design; they looked like simple stumps  but felt and acted like a claw of sorts, as if his fingers had been tied  together. Of course there was the lack of thumbs, which would be hard  to get used to, but he got the feeling that would grow to feel natural  over time. Fine motor movements weren't hard to grasp; it was,  thankfully, very similar to using his hands for his fore-hooves and his  ankles and feet for his hind-hooves. Remus examined his hooves as he  rotated his hoof, getting to know them.

"Qahnaarin, you  seem troubled by something" Durnehviir pipes up. Remus looked over at  the dragon that had turned his head back to the Dragonborn slightly.

"Wouldn't you, if you woke up to find yourself a horse?" The dragon grunts, shrugging his winged shoulders.

"I have lived a long time Qahnaarin, little fazes me." Remus grunted.

"Zu'u nid lingrah jul. I'm no longer man, you would be no longer a Dovah. I get the feeling you would have torn the place apart fahdon." Once more, Durnehviir shrugs.

"Kah los sahlo ol pogaas mulaag Dovhakiin.  Pride is weakness as much strength Dragonborn, you would do well to  curb it, or suffer the same fate as Alduin, hmm." Remus raised an  eyebrow.

"All that time alone give you a taste for philosophy?" Another shrug.

"When one is forced to roam a place as desolate as the soul cairn for all eternity, you find yourself with much tiid wah mindok. Time to think, fahdon."  Remus couldn't argue with the dragon; he'd let his pride get the better  of him when he'd awoke, tearing apart those who'd been outside his room  hadn't been very…nice of him.

He leaned back on Durnehviir's  spines, sighing as he did. Now that he thought about it, those horses  had likely given him a place to rest and treated him hospitably when  they didn't even know him. His guilty thoughts were interrupted when  Durnehviir loosed a roar to the heavens, signifying he'd spotted  something on the ground.

"Fahdon! I see a settlement below us, a village."

Looking  past the dragon's head, Remus saw what he spoke of; a village…or town?  It was by no means a city; most of the buildings were made from wood and  had thatch roofing, but the scale of it didn't permit it to be called a  'village'. It also didn't have any defensive measures; not a wall, no  watchtowers, he couldn't even see any guards. No threat.

"Leave it  be, there is no worthy prey down there." The dragon nods, another roar  and a particularly powerful beat of his wings following as they flew  over the village. Remus dared look over the side of his neck; even from  this height he could see the masses of horses down there, looking up and  pointing up at them, thanks to his enhanced senses.

Shaking the  thoughts from his head, Remus looked ahead and his eyes caught sight a  deep, foreboding, eerily quiet and downright evil forest.

"Durn,  head for that forest. It'll make a good place to hold up." The undead  dragon looked towards what his rider had pointed out and took a dive,  levelling out just above the treeline, gliding over the deep sea of  forest green. The dragon spotted a clearing, large enough to house him  and Remus. Beating his wings and dropping into the open area with a  large 'thud', the Dragonborn dismounted.

Remus looked around  himself; the clearing was on the path of a small stream, a thick wall of  trees on all sides. The sun could penetrate the canopy above, but did  little to illuminate the clearing.

"This will do" he decided. He  trotted forwards, having trouble keeping his balance, before he found a  patch of land he decided he liked.

'First things first; set up camp.'

Gol

A  shot of earth shot up, shaped like the walls of a triangle, until Remus  willed it to stop. A tent, a little rugged but it would keep the rain  off of him. Turning around he eyed some stones at the edge of the  stream, putting them in a small circle, before gathering some sticks and  putting them in the circle of stones before lighting them with a simple  flame spell.

His simple camp set up, Remus took a long breath.  The scene was familiar, a campsite such as this, but the stage was by no  means what he was used to.  A dull heavy, thudding came from behind,  signifying large, clumsy movements from behind him. Turning he found  Durnehviir resting on his front, the dragon version of relaxing. As  Remus watched him settle, a thought entered his mind and a frown  creasing his brow.


"Say, Durnehviir, shouldn't you have returned to the Soulcairn by now?" The dragon turned his full attention to Remus.

"I  have thought of this" he explains as Remus sets about setting up runes  to defend the small campsite. "I believe that with the differences  between this land and Taazokaan, Tamriel, my stay will be more  permanent than most others." With this revelation, Remus miss-cast his  ice rune, causing it to explode in his face.

"What" he demanded, pulling a shard of ice from his face nonchalantly.

"Tell me, Dovahkiin; you are a fellow Nahgahdinok, necromancer,  are you not?" Remus nods, his preferred schools of magic were  destruction, restoration and alteration but he knew plenty about  illusion and conjuration. "Pruzah, then the answer is simple. This land of keys and Taazokaan are not one in the same, tillah los ni fin med, their magics are not the same, thuri." Remus was unsure of the truth of his words, but nodded all the same.

"Perhaps" he mused "but it seems too simple" he grunted "and its never simple." Durn merely shrugged, as best a dragon could anyway.


"My day as a kro are long behind me, I delve little into the...scholarly arts naan lingrah. Perhaps I am correct, perhaps not. Nii los vomindok wah dii. It  is unknown to me." Remus nodded, settling down under his makeshift  tent. Night was falling fast, and the silver light of night was quickly  setting in.

"Perhaps" he echoed, lost in thought for a moment "do  you think anything may have changed with Lucien and Arvak?" The dragon  shrugged.

"Again, I do not know. The reactions of the key and krivaan may  be similar to my own or hold many differences." Remus looked at his  hoof as a thought came over him; concentrating on a spot between him and  Durnehviir, spoke a single word.

"Lachance" he called, the word snapping at the air, a  great whooshing of wind and the sound of an Oblivion portal opening as  Lucien Lachance stepped through. He was clad in the black robes of the  Black Hand of old, an array of steel weaponry at his ghostly hip.  Lucien's expression was that of confusion before he realised just what  had happened.

"My listener" he asked the darkness around him,  likely assuming his summoner was hidden in the shadows. He spoke in an  incredibly smooth and deep voice that sent chills down Remus's spine  whenever he spoke. Turning his head, he spotted the dragon resting  nearby. "Ahh, Durnehviir" he greeted with a polite bow. If there was one  thing Remus admired about the long dead assassin, it was his impeccable  manners. The two had met on one occasion when the Dragonborn was in  need of a distraction of peculiar tastes. "I trust Remus is is otherwise  occupied?" The dragon nodded in the direction of the tent.

"Over  here" the Dragonborn called out. Lucien was quick to spot the snow white  and ice blue stallion in the stone tent. With a frown he strode over to  him.

"Whatever happened to you" he asked with a small chuckle,  quickly ridding himself of the disrespectful laugh. He sat down next to  him, cross legged, and looked over Remus. "You have changed some my  Listener" he pointed out.

"You don't say" he deadpanned in response.

"What happened?"

"You  tell me. One minute I was in the college of Winterhold, having just  examined a portal of sorts, the next I wake up like…this. A horse of all  things." Lucien leaned back against the stone tent.

"Forgive me listener, but you may be wrong in that respect." Remus raised an eyebrow. "You are no horse, but a…"

"Spit  it out Lachance, I'm pretty sure I'll be fine with a little more bad  news." A small grin worked its way across Lucien's face.

"You, my  listener, are no horse but a pony." As the word left the assassin's  mouth, he could see Remus's expression become more and more murderous.

"Great" he said, in a remarkably calm voice. "I'm in a land of GODS DAMNED PONIES." His cry was punctuated by the thu'um in his voice, the seer power and rage behind the shout sending a crash of thunder through the sky.

"Be  calm listener, else you bring forth the wraith of the dread father  himself." His words were met by death ears; Remus had buried his face in  the ground, rocking it from side to side muttering some foul curses.

"Ponies…Ponies…Ponies…why…did…it…have…to  be… ponies?" His words were followed by him smacking his head on the  floor in frustration. "Are you sure?" Lucien shrugged his see-through  shoulders.

"Your build and size would suggest so, and your mane  and tail have been styled, which supports my claim. I may be wrong but  that is what my instincts tell me" the assassin admitted. Remus breathed  hard through his nose, or muzzle he guessed.

"Damn it" he muttered. "Either way, I'm pretty sure I've got bigger problems than my current form."

"What do you mean, listener?"

"I'm  pretty sure I've just spat I the faces of this place's monarch." Lucien  laughed his deep, creepy laugh that suited his spirit form.

"You have changed less than I first assumed" he joked.

"Yes,  well. Either way I've been on the run for the whole of the day. I need  rest." Lucien nodded his understanding, taking it as his cue to shut up,  Durnehviir following suit soon after. Resting his eyes on the  unfamiliar night skies and their stars, he felt himself drift to sleep  and Vaermina's clutches in strange and alien world, wondering just what  fate had charged him with.
> The lost man
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter four: The lost man


Twilight  darted down along the halls of Canterlot palace, moving at speeds  Rainbowdash would be impressed with; her hooves cast the sound of rapid  hoof-steps along the tiled halls, her standard 'clip-clop' of  calm trotting replaced by the sounds of a pony galloping way faster than  they were used to. It was no real surprise when thought about; she was  fuelled by the fear of her friends and home being burnt to the ground by  a dragon, or demolished by the newcomer. As she galloped, her adrenalin  and fear stricken mind cast images of a smoking crater instead of the  pleasant and peaceful hamlet that was Ponyville. She tried shaking her  head to free her mind of these distressing images, but almost ran into a  wall for her trouble.

Her blurred form rushed past guards and  staff, throwing their manes and tails in a gale of panicked wind, and  she took a corner too fast; she lost her hoofing and tumbled over her  back before she landed back on her hooves, skidding along the length of  the hall before she managed to stop herself. Twilight jutted to a halt  on her left hooves before her rights returned to the ground and she  started galloping again. The ponies she passed were looking at her now,  watching her go past with confused and worried looks on their faces as  she barrelled past in a flurry of purple and pink; Twilight had never  galloped so fast in her life, not even at the Running of the leaves had  she moved so quickly. If she hadn't been so panicked, she might be  impressed with herself.

Behind her, she heard the sounds of  pursuit; Celestia, Luna and Shining Armour were after her, and the three  much fitter ponies were gaining fast.

"Twilight" Celestia called  after her "wait!" The purple mare considered complying with her, but  with her friend's homes and possibly lives on the line, she wasn't going  to stop for anything. There was suddenly a flash in front of her, and  Celestia appeared from nowhere. Twilight's heart skipped a beat as she  tried to stop, leaning back and using all four hooves to stop herself,  to no avail, before she managed to clear her mind enough and teleport  herself behind her tutor. Celestia looked behind her to find Twilight  stumble back to her hooves and continue galloping for the palace  entrance. A worried Luna and Shining Armour passed her by as she watched  her student and soon to be adoptive daughter go. The princess of the  day pulled herself from her stupor and stood up on her hooves and  started after Twilight again.

Luna and Shining were neck and neck  in their chase of the filly; the main problem was that they were both  soldiers, so they were used to long distance galloping rather than such  speeds over a short distance. Shining Armour could only wonder how his  little sister had suddenly become a champion sprinter. Luna waited until  they were going down a moderately long straight hallway before she  closed her eyes and pictured herself next to Twilight; in a flash of  light and magic she found herself there. Twilight glanced back and saw  the princess of the night right behind her; her eyes widened as she  registered the dark mare so close to her.

"Twilight" Luna panted  "slow down" she begged between ragged breaths. Twilight shook her head  as best she could before she looked back down the hall.

"Can't"  she answered simply. The princess of the night growled slightly in  frustration before she tried to lung for Twilight; a good plan, had  Twilight not skidded around another corner. Luna landed on her front and  slid along the ground until her face became very well acquainted with  the wall. Twilight kept going, unawares as to Luna's predicament and  Armour kept after her as the staff and guards helped her up. Celestia  galloped past as well, sparing a glance at her poor sister before she  kept going, unwilling to let Twilight find the newcomer before she did.  Meanwhile, Twilight had almost made it to the doors; they were still  open, thanks to the hot weather today, and the unicorn was about to  barrel through. Celestia had caught up with Shining Armour and was  galloping next to him; she suddenly found herself wishing she hadn't  taken a fondness for cake in the last few years. She then remembered  they were in Canterlot palace, where most of her day guards tended to  hang around a lot.

"Guards" she shouted to the gold-clad ponies  either side of the door. They looked up and spotted Twilight galloping  from Celestia and Captain Armour. "Stop her" she finished. They looked  back to Twilight and moved into action; there were four guards in all,  two unicorns and two earth ponies, a unicorn and an earth pony each side  and they moved in a perfect group. The inner two covered the door,  while the flanking two moved forwards; the biggest earth stood his  ground, a big wall for her to try and get around. Twilight panicked,  tripped and slid on her front, right underneath the earth pony and  between his legs. As she slid beneath him, the bewildered guard followed  through with his head, his head ending up looking between his own legs.  Twilight stumbled back to her hooves, again, and kept going. The first  unicorn stepped up next, and tried stopping her with magic.

Even  though he was a well-trained soldier of Celestia's personal solar-guard,  it was a bad idea to use magic against Celestia's top and personal  student; a silver/grey aura appeared around her and she couldn't help  but slow, but Twilight's own appeared around her and pushed out against  the guard's as she dispelled it before she rushed past him. The last two  guards readied themselves as Twilight galloped towards them; the earth  cantered towards her in an attempt to tackle her, he lunged for her and  made a grab for her, his fore-legs swinging in and clutching at air. He  looked around and found himself hanging in the air, suspended by a light  magenta glow; he followed Twilight with an impressed glare as the filly  stuck her tongue out at him as she galloped for the door and the last  guard.

The other unicorn set into a stance as Twilight approached  and set himself to stop her with a spell; a dark blue wall of magic  appeared before him and the door, but just as Twilight was about to hit  it, she teleported again, reappearing outside the palace.

Celestia  and Shining continued their pursuit, wearing an annoyed grin and  impressed glare respectively, the gap between them and Twilight no  smaller. Celestia teleported again, outside the walls of the palace and  right in front of Twilight Sparkle. The purple mare screamed and tried  to stop herself, again to no avail, and couldn't muster enough magic to  teleport again quickly enough. She crashed right into the princess of  Equestria. Celestia grunted as the air was pushed from her and was  forced onto her back from Twilight's momentum; she rolled over again  with Twilight still in her grasp until she landed on her other three  hooves before she sat back on her plot again with Twilight wrapped in  her fore-hooves again. The purple mare struggled a bit before in  Celestia's hold.

"Lemme go, please! I've gotta get to my friends"  she exclaimed as she pushed her hooves against the white mare's chest.  Celestia continued to hold Twilight, right in front of the palace, where  many ponies could see them no less, as she tried to sooth her.

"Twilight"  she said softly, her words falling on deaf ears. "Twilight" she said  again, slightly louder as she tried to get through to the purple mare.  Twilight kept at her attempts to escape Celestia, all attempts in vain,  as she grunted, growled and cried out in attempts to free herself.  "Twilight" Celestia whispered, directly into Twilight's ear. This either  got through to the mare, or she just gave up as she relaxed against the  white mare.

"Celestia, princess, please" she begged "I've gotta  get back to Ponyville! My friends, Spike, the town could all be in  danger" she tried to explain. Celestia loosened her grip slightly so she  could look into Twilight's eyes properly.

"I know how you feel  Twilight. My concern for my friends is only rivalled by your own, but we  must all remain calm if we are to properly capture or, if need be,  defeat this newcomer" she soothed. She pulled Twilight into a hug as she  stroked the back of her mane. "I promise you, my dear student, I will  personally deal with him." She paused for a second. "And the dragon,  alone if I must" she assured. Twilight's panic and resolve suddenly  crumbled as Celestia's words met her ears; it suddenly occurred to her  what the princess of the sun was telling her: that she'd go after this  stallion alone if it meant protecting her friends. She suddenly felt bad  about rushing off the way she had, possibly jeopardising their efforts  to find the newcomer. She started to hug Celestia back, resting her head  against Celestia's chest.

"I'm sorry princess, it's just…" she trailed off, unsure where to take her sentence.

"Do  not worry, Twilight. I understand your reaction; you acted justly  considering your relationship with your friends." Celestia still hadn't  released Twilight, and she didn't really have much intention to do so  either, but when Shining, Luna and Cadence showed up, she thought it  only proper. They were quite a sight; Cadence was pristine and proper,  having not pursued Twilight; Shining was out of breath and looking down  right pissed off; while Luna came trotting behind, holding her sore  muzzle in her hoof.

"You done now, Twily" Shining asked her, his eyebrow raised. Twilight laughed sheepishly.

"Y-yeah, I guess I am. I just got a little…worried" she answered, scratching the back of her neck. Celestia had approached Luna.

"You alright Lu-Lu" she asked her sister, who was still rubbing her nose.

"I'm just fine Tia" she answered. Celestia moved her hoof away to take a look at her.

"I  could kiss it better, if you like" she offered. The princes of the  night blushed and shook her head. Celestia giggled at her sister's  reaction, laughing into her hoof, before she hugged her sister to try  and make her feel better. Cadence spoke up next.

"Well, if we're  done with this brief panic attack, shall we head back to the castle" she  asked them all. Celestia nodded and the rest of them followed suit,  trotting back to the palace, Twi, Shining, Luna and Cadence in tow  behind.

"So, what are we going to do sister? The only lead we have  is the information the guard gave us, and it's a rather flimsy lead at  that." Celestia turned her head to Luna, her expression requesting an  explanation. "Well, think about it; the Everfree forest is a big place,  and very little is charted, if at all, we actually know about even less  of the place than we have mapped out; secondly, Shining Armour made a  good point earlier, this Wyrm is about as likely to be working with the  newcomer as he is a coincidence in this whole matter, it just doesn't  add up with me; finally, he's got at least a three day head start on us,  and if that dragon is working with him he could be anywhere in  Equestria by now, anywhere in the world, and even if he isn't, Twilight  is right to be worried, he could be in Ponyville or, if we're lucky,  somewhere in the Everfree, and that brings us back to our first  problem." Celestia had stopped trotting and was looking at her sister  with a bit of a blank face.

"Luna" she started "that's…that's…that's a good few points actually" she admitted. Luna gave an apologetic smile.

"I'm  sorry to have poked any holes in your wishes to find this stallion  sister, but I'm simply trying to be realistic here." Celestia nodded her  head understandingly before she looked to everypony else for their  opinions on the matter; none of them said anything, but they all seemed  to be leaning towards Luna's reasoning, even Twilight.

"I see" she  mumbled. "Well, we'll talk more on the matter inside" she said. The all  nodded and trotted to the palace, arriving shortly. "Let's head to my  chambers" Celestia suggested "we'll have more privacy there" she added.  They all nodded silently and followed her lead upstairs.

"Make  sure we're not disturbed" Luna told the guard on duty. He nodded and  saluted as she passed him by. Celestia pushed through the door to her  bedroom with her hoof and trotted over to her bed and dumped herself on  it; she hadn't realised just how tired she was from all the galloping.  Twilight hopped onto the bed besides her.

"So, what are we going  to do" she asked, echoing Luna's question. Celestia blew a few strands  of her mane out of her face with a quick puff of breath.

'I haven't a clue.'

"Well,  first thing we should do is try and find him" she stated. Twilight  blinked and frowned at her tutor's…vague set of instructions

"Alright  but…what do we do when we do find him" she pressed. Cadence, Luna and  Shining Armour had gathered around by now, waiting for some kind of  direction to go with. Celestia had sat up, maybe so she would at least  seem to know what she was talking about.

"We try to talk to him,  and if he isn't willing to cooperate…well, we'll cross that bridge when  we come to it" she said, not exactly cryptically. Luna looked to the  side in thought, biting her lip as she did so. Celestia caught the  motion. "Something the matter sister?" Luna looked at her sister with  conflicted eyes.

"Tia…are you sure we can take him on? He beat us  when he appeared to be drunk; I mean, it's as Captain Armour says, we  haven't an idea about what he can really do." Celestia smiled slightly  at her sister's reasoning.

"Luna, last night he took us by  surprise and yes, he may have beaten us with just these…" she glanced at  Twilight "shouts, but now we know he can use such magic, if that's what  they are. Also, we won't be alone this time" she said with a grin on  her face. Twilight cocked her head slightly.

"But what would we do if we did beat him? Send him back through the portal?" Celestia shook her head.

"No, I'm afraid not; the stone cutter's passage is…Twilight, do you know its curse?" Twilight put a thoughtful hoof to her chin.

"Only  what I've read; I know that it can bring anything from anywhere  through, but that's about it" she admitted. Celestia nodded.

"Yes,  what you know is true, but it's not everything to know about the  passage" she revealed. Twilight raised an eyebrow. "The stone cutter's  passage is a one way door, anything that comes through isn't going back  through that way" she explained. Twilight gaped.

"What, then what are we going to do?" Celestia shook her head.

"I'm not sure Twilight."

"But…but  how does that even work? How can door only go one way, if he came  through the portal why can't he go back through the portal?" Celestia  took a deep breath, and Twilight knew to prepare for some kind of  lengthy explanation.

"Twilight, have you ever heard of a 'doorway  to nowhere'?" The magenta mare nodded, her eyebrow raised. "Well, the  stone cutter's passage is a doorway from nowhere; as you know,  the other side of the portal can appear anywhere it likes, anytime it  likes. In theory, that fact could be very useful for exploration of  other worlds and times, but preventing that is the fact that nothing can  use the portal from this direction" she explained.

"But surly if  he walked through the portal one way, it should be just as easy as going  through the other" Twilight argued. Celestia shook her head.

"Not  necessarily" Celestia countered "the stone cutter's passage is no  normal doorway" she told her student. Twilight looked to be waiting for  something. "Here's how it works; when somepony passes through the  portal, they find themselves in what is basically a space between all  worlds, think of it like a waiting room of sorts, before they cross into  Equestria. Anything to go through that side will have an opening behind  and before them, to Equestria and back to their homeland, but that  matters little; anything foolish enough to go through isn't going back  through the portal, and unless they can find another way back, they're  stuck here…or trapped here, depending on their opinion" she finished.  Twilight seemed to deflate a little.

"So…that's it then? The only  way we're getting rid of this guy, is either reasoning with him, or  killing him" she clarified. Celestia pulled her in with her fore-hoof.

"I'm  sorry Twilight, but I can't see any other way out" she admitted.  Shining Armour scratched the back of his neck, wondering what to do.

"With  respect princess, we don't have much of a plan; try to find him and  when, if, we do, we try and talk to him? And if that doesn't work we try  to fight him? I mean; how do we find him, what do we even talk to him  about? And if that doesn't work, how do you expect us to beat him?  You've already seen that he can beat me in open combat." Celestia looked  him right in the eye.

"Capitan Armour, I thought I'd already said that we won't be alone in this" she retorted. Luna raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that" Luna asked. Celestia let a small, devious smile stretch across her face.

"I mean what I say, Lu-Lu; we won't be alone in our endeavour this time" she answered cryptically.

"So who will be with us" Luna asked. The door to Celestia's room swung open.

"Why yours truly of course" said Discord as he meandered into the room, a dark smirk on his face.





Remus  didn't know much about this place, but what he did know just made him  question what he did know. When he reviewed his last trail of thought,  he decided he didn't like this place.

"Ahh, two day. Two days and I already hate it…that's gotta be a new record" he mumbled from beneath his stone tent. He frowned.

'Or is it three days?"


He'd lost track already, the days had melded together, the boredom working at his sanity.

The  more he thought about this place in fact, the more he realised just how  much he hated it here; he'd been turned into a pony, he'd been snatched  from his home and his only friends were an undead dragon and the ghost  of an assassin. His only friends were dead people; that said a lot about  his social life. It had been a full night since he, Durnehviir and  Lachance had made camp in the middle of what was no doubt a very  dangerous forest. Still, he'd be damned if he cared about the dangers of  a dark forest, at least he knew how to handle that; with a sharp point  and a few ancient words.

The last Dragonborn felt his stomach  grumble at him and decided to undertake an old hobby of his: hunting.  Yes, this could be considered a rather mundane pastime, considering  where he came from, but he felt a certain relaxation when stalking his  prey. Remus stood from beneath his stone tent and looked around; Durn  was still sleeping and Lucien was still mediating, his version of  sleeping. He stood up and went to the edge of the clearing. Dispelling  the rune he'd cast on the spot he walked over, or trotted over he  guessed, he stepped into the thick of the forest.

Almost  immediately, his vision was taken by the pitch black darkness cast by  the shade of the canopy of branches overhead. Trying to move through  this forest was nearly impossible, given that the trees were so compact  that they formed walls sometimes and their vines and other  inconveniences made just trying to take a step a risky venture. The more  he traversed this environment, the more he felt he liked it; that fact  that he was unfamiliar with it put him on edge, that there could be any  amount of creatures lurking in the darkness made him paranoid, that he  didn't have a weapon made his muscles clench and the distant roars of  fellow predators gave him an adrenalin rush.

He liked it in this  forest, simply because it was new to him. He traipsed all across Skyrim,  and knew it inch by inch, but this place was new, different and  possibly dangerous. This must have been how the Champion of Cyrodiil  felt when he'd gone to the Shivering Isles.

He moved through the  dense plant life like a shadow, his natural skills as a thief and  assassin shining through in his new form. He had to admit it; it wasn't  as bad as he first thought it'd be. Perhaps it was because he'd grown  into his new form, maybe because he was adapting into an animal's body  that worked much like human's. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad like this,  or at least until he got back to Skyrim.

He continued to trot and  before long he got tired of trying to see through this impenetrable  darkness; he closed his eye for a second, squeezing them shut, before he  opened them again, the spell filling his head with the sound of magicka  rushing through his body, and found the forest revealed to him in a  grey and silver glow. All in all, it was a rather useless venture,  seeing as the trees impeded his vision to such a degree that he couldn't  see further than ten feet in front of him. Or at least whatever a foot  here was, anyway.

The last Dragonborn leapt over a fallen log and  found himself in another clearing; it was smaller than the one he'd  made camp in, and the branches of the trees reached over and blocked any  light that would attempt to get in. He figured it to be a nest of some  kind, given that the scent of animal waste and slain prey clung in the  air, while twigs, leaves and dry grass was scattered along the ground.  Finding nothing else of interest around, Remus shrugged and went to turn  away, wondering what was nesting here, when a snapped branch and growl  caught his attention.

The last Dragonborn looked calmly to his  left, finding yet another wall of timber blocking his view. He peered  around the nest again, wondering if what had just growled at him was the  owner of the nest he'd just meandered into. His loitering must have  angered the creature further, as his question about what creature he'd  angered were soon answered as a creature he wasn't familiar with stalker  through the vegetation. Normally, Remus would have sunk back into the  shadows, but upon sight of…whatever it was, he couldn't help but remain  in place as his curiosity got the better of him. Remus cocked his head  and he took a step towards the creature.

It had the body of some  kind of lion, as well as its head, legs, paws and, most importantly,  claws; on its back was a pair of, what the Dovahkiin could only  guess, were dragon wings; at its rear end was the tail of a scorpion,  or at least he presumed it was from the stories he'd heard from those  Hammerfell mercs.

With a cocked head and a raised eyebrow, Remus  rounded the creature, taking it in from all angles; when he stepped on a  spot the creature apparently didn't like, it started growling again,  baring it's maw of many teeth and letting its drool run down its chin as  it did. The animal stepped forwards, closer to Remus and sniffed at him  a few times; it, for whatever reason, didn't seem to like the way he  smelt and its growls turned to snarls. The last gulped slightly as the  tip of its tail reached over its head, aimed at the snow and ice  stallion.

With a mental sigh, Remus narrowed his eyes. The simple  act caused the animal to roar its displeasure as it tensed for a second  before it lunged for him. Remus raised his hoof and waited for contact;  the creature landed on his hoof and a pulse of green ran through its  system as it was paralyzed. The lion/dragon/scorpion fell to the ground,  its out stretched paws and legs acting as a stand for its body, erect  wing and solid tail. Remus meandered over to it and pushed it onto its  back before he snapped his hoof to the side and conjured the bound  dagger.

He calmly stepped over to the creature and looked into  its confused and enraged eyes as he put the ethereal dagger to its neck  and drew it across, painting a blood red smile on its neck. He looked  down at the translucent weapon in his hoof, wondering why he hadn't used  the spell in the palace. He shrugged the thought away and dispelled the  weapon before he took the creature by the mane and dragged it along  behind him.

A few minutes of plodding back to the camp later, and  his hunt was completed. He dropped the creature by the remains of the  fire and looked up in sudden thought.

'That was boring' he  noticed, suddenly disappointed with his hunt. Not exactly the turnout  but the experience, it had just been dull. He looked around again. 'Yeah, I still hate it here.' He  looked back to the creature he'd killed sighed; how was it that  something like hunting was boring to him here? He loved hunting; the  arrow flying through the air, the snap of the neck, stalking the dear,  taking on wolves with nothing but a dagger. He leant against his kill, a  distant look on his face. 'Good times.' Before he'd fallen too  deep into the bottomless pit that was his memories, he stood up again  and took in his prey; big, muscled with some fatty spots and plenty of  meat, he was also fairly sure he could make some armour from the leather  he'd get from the hide. Re-conjuring his dagger, he set to work.

He'd  been skinning and filleting animals for years, ever since his days in  the Companions he'd been going out into the wilderness, maybe with Aela  or Vilkas, and just taking down a few critters. Or that one time it had  been a mammoth, that had been fun, if a little nerve racking. They'd  also taught him the finer points of skinning animals and turning an  animal into a set of fine leather armour or food. Half-way though the  proses of skinning his kill, Durnehviir woke up to a half skinless  monster.

"Drem yol lok, Qahnaarin" the dragon greets. Remus looks up from his work and nods at the Dovah. Durnehviir  raises himself and looks over the Dragonborn's work, finding half the  creature he was skinning bare of fur and skin and the other half in the  proses of losing it. "You have been busy, Dovahkiin? The nir, the hunt,was bountiful, was it not?" Remus shrugged at him and returned to running the bound dagger down the side of his kill.

"Depends on what angle you look at it from" he answered. Durnehviir cocker his head to the side.

"Something troubles you, Dragonborn?" Said stallion glanced at the dragon before he looked around the clearing.

"I'm not sure, this place, this land of keys, of horses…it troubles me" he looked at his hoof, rotating and gazing at it from every angle "it's changed me…"

"Ko zii ahrk ko kopraan, in  soul and in body" the dragon finished for him. "More that you  anticipated, hmm?" Remus had faulted on his next stroke, the blade going  into the meat instead of gliding along the fur.

"Damnit" he  grumbled as he pulled the spectral blade out as carefully as he could.  There was an out of place gash in the muscle; he glared at the mistake  in his work before he glanced at Durnehviir. The dragon was watching him  with a cocked head, awaiting his answer. He sighed deeply before he  spoke. "I suppose you're right, the soul will follow the body. I mean,  when I was hunting just now, I found it boring" he revealed. That  actually seemed to surprise the undead Dovah. 

"Words I never thought I'd hear from a fellow Dovah" he admitted. Remus grunted to himself, his eyes swivelling to Durnehviir. The dragon seemed to be in thought. "Faal hahdrim do faal Dovah los daal hahdrim do faal ah. The mind of the dragon is the mind of the hunter; Dovah or Dovahkiin, your mind is attuned to dominance, to the hunt. You kill, you hunt, you fight and you stand naturally stand above all other joors…  perhaps your…" he fished for an appropriate word "new form, has altered  your perception of life and the views of others and the way you see  yourself in their company." Remus had returned to his work, soon pulling  the skin off of the beast in a few good pieces of hide. He hung the  hide from a few branches sticking out from the trees before he returned  to his kill. Durnehviir had watched him the whole time his eyes  expecting an answer once again. Remus rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I can only suppose that you're correct, fahdon. I  haven't the chance to really go over it but…I don't know, when we were  flying yesterday I felt myself feeling guilty about attacking them; I've  done things like that, worse than that, before I haven't given the  faintest hint of a damn, I mean, I've fought and killed before, and it's  never left me feeling so conflicted." With a low hum of thought, he  cast it from his mind. "Maybe these ponies just aren't as violent as a  Nord or dragon." A spine tingling voice from behind them cut their  conversation short.

"I beg to differ, listener" Lucien posed.  Remus turned around to him and Durn looked over at the assassin; he was  leaning his back against the stone tent, his left leg along the ground  and his right propped up, his arm resting on the knee.

"How so, dark brother?" Lachance shrugged and stood.

"If  creatures such as this" he pointed at the beast Remus had slain "live  in a place such as this" he gestured around the forest "then I doubt  the…" he glanced at Remus "beings of this land are strangers to  violence. Did you not say yourself that you spat in the face of this  lands monarch? One can presume they were protected" he posed. Remus  grunted and nodded. "Guardsmen, hunters perhaps. War and combat are two  forces that will never be vacant, no matter where you go listener."  Remus smirked.

"We can only hope" he answered as he sliced a strip  of meat from the creature and carried it over to the fire pit before he  remembered he hadn't got anymore fire wood. "Damn" was his only word  before he tossed it in the direction of the dragon with a quick 'catch'.  The meat slapped against the undead Dovah and slowly slid down  his un-amused face until it plopped onto the floor. Although he hadn't  watched the act, Remus still had a smirk on his face as he gathered up a  few pieces of wood and kindling. He carried the wood back to the circle  of rocks and dumped them within its confines before he threw together a  makeshift split above the soon-to-be flames.

Another chunk of  meat found itself off of the body of the beast and being carried on the  last's back towards the fire pit. He lit the kindling in the same  fashion as last night before he stabbed the supporting stick through the  meant and set it over the flames, the scent of sizzling meat soon  filling the clearing. Remus left it to cook before he meandered over to  the side of the stream.

"Alright" he said after a while  "we'll-no-I'll eat then we'll get on the move again" he decided. Lucien  stood next to him and watched the water go by, his ghostly hands inside  the sleeves of the opposite hand.

"Move where, listener? Do you  plan to keep running from these horses? Confront them? Do we try to get  back to Tamriel?" Remus turned his gaze up to him, a clearly angered  look on his face.

"You have a better idea" he asked.

"The krivaan speaks wisdom, Qahnaarin. Running from your foes is not the way of the Dovah. Either stand and fight, or face them with reason but do not take the nivahriin, the cowardly, way out." Remus had stood and turned to Durnehviir.

"Pardon, Durnehviir" he demanded "you dare call me a coward." The dragon stood his ground.

"You cannot argue with the truth, Dovahkiin" he  shot back, rising from his stomach and standing over the stallion. The  snow and ice stallion wasn't intimidated by the dragon's superior size,  nor his Thu'um. He wasn't going to stand around and be accused of cowardice.

"Care to back you words with steel" he challenged. "I'll shout you back to the soul cairn you son of a-"

Liss

A  flow of ice shot from the dragon's maw, striking the Dragonborn and  freezing him solid mid-sentence. Remus's hooves were frozen to the  ground, keeping him upright as Durnehviir snaked his head forwards and  stared down into his eyes.

"A coward, is he who runs. I have not called you a coward, simply warned you against the path of faas, of  fear." Lucien stepped up beside him and raised his ghostly boot before  kicked Remus in the side, shattering the ice and throwing him to his  side. Remus got back up, ready to rip the two of them apart.

"Listener"  Lucien said pointedly, his hand on his short-sword "you have few allies  here, I suggest against trying to kill those you do." The last growled  like an animal for a second before he cursed savagely and slammed his  hoof into the ground in frustration before he pushed past them and  towards the fire pit again.

"Whatever" he growled. He sat down  next to the cooking meat, turning it slowly with his hoof. "Never  thought I'd feel so outnumbered against an undead dragon and a dead man"  he mumbled as he rotated the meat on the spit. He looked up at the  dragon and assassin. "Well what do you suggest we do then" he demanded.  Lucien shrugged and sat with his back against the tent.

"I suggest  we act as the assassin" he told them. Remus raised his eye at the ghost  as he sliced a piece of meat from the carcass.

"What" he asked as  he placed the meat in his mouth, enjoying the juices and feeling of  food in his mouth but not the tastelessness.

"Presumably, they  chase us. They are bound to find us eventually, so I suggest we wait for  them." Remus raised his eyebrow, once again. "We let them find us, and  then let them decide the cause of action; they attack" a grin Mehrunes  Dagon would cower under stretched across his face "we rip their eyes  out. They decide on more…peaceful measures, we talk with them. But know  this brother; should they attempt to draw blood, we will send them to  the void" he growled, prompting a grin from the last Dragonborn.

"Then let's hope they go for the first option then."





"Y'know  Celestia, the last time I saw you in that armour was our first date  together" Discord commented as said princess donned her gold/bronze  battle suit. Celestia took a sideways glance at him, a glare in her eye,  but couldn't supress the small grin.

"That wasn't a date,  Discord" she clarified for the god of chaos. She tightened the last  strap on her stomach with her golden magic before she covered the  buckles on her stomach with the metal plate there, tying that down with  another strap. She turned to him and trotted over to him, her eyes  half-lidded and a sultry grin on her face. "But, the fires of battle are  renowned for igniting the fires of lust" she whispered as she ran a  hoof down his chest. Discord's grin had gone from devious to curious. He  ran his paw through her mane, their faces getting steadily closer until  Discord felt a sharp pain in his gut. With a cold look on her face,  Celestia pulled the hoof she'd struck him with away from his abdominal  and watched him double over in pain, holding his gut. She grabbed him by  the antlers and hauled him to eye level. "The last time you saw me in  this armour, was one of the few times I found you on the battlefield"  she spat "and the next time you try something like this again, hope you  succeed" she pulled her combat dagger from its sheath and put it between  his legs "else you'll have no reason to try again in the future" she  told him. "Do I make myself clear" she asked him, way to calm to for the  situation.

"Crystal" he answered. Celestia let him go and returned to the armour stand.

"Good" she said simply. Holding his head and stomach, the god of chaos straightened up and watched Celestia don her armour.

"You  really are a two sided pony, you know that" he said as he started  flipping a coin he'd pulled from the ether. Celestia glanced back at  him.

"Coming from you" she retorted over her shoulder as she  pulled a thick, brown cloak over her shoulders and secured it to her  armour. Discord had laughed at her statement.

"Yes, coming from  me, of all draconequus's" he confirmed. Celestia turned back to the  mirror in the armoury, placed there to make sure no errant straps or  buckles were loose and found Discord as her reflection. "Me, the pure  embodiment of disharmony, is calling you out Celestia as a pony with  mental flaws." Celestia cocked her head to the side.

"I realise  that, and the only reason I'm not breaking you right now is because I  don't want seven years bad luck" she told him. Discord flew from the  mirror and merged with the wall, looking like some kind of moving  mosaic.

"Excuses, excuses" he replied before he stepped from the  wall. Celestia simply grunted in amusement as she pulled the last greave  up her leg.

"Are you going to do something about it, Discord?" Said draconequus perched himself on a table edge and crossed his arms.

"A little defensive today, Tia?" Celestia shrugged as she tied her mane back.

"You have a problem with that Discord? You're asking a lot of questions today" she observed. He shrugged.

"I  guess I am, but I promise to burden you with only one more, princess"  he assured. Celestia sighed deeply once before she turned to him.

"Yes,  Discord" a smile on her face so sweet it was sour. The look on his face  troubled her some; it was deeper, more inquisitive than she'd ever seen  before, a look of pure thought that looked very out of place upon his  face.

"You, and dear Twilight…" he trailed of, and Celestia knew  where this was going "you seem to be getting much more…physical with her  lately" his grin came back as he cocked his head "I mean, when I showed  up you were holding her like you'd hold a-" he stopped his sentence  when it all fell into place in his mind, a grin that stretched further  than his face should have allowed melting into his expression as it  clicked. He hopped off the table and paced back and forth. "Dear, oh  dear, Celestia, surly you know better than that" he scolded, that grin  still on his face.

"Oh, shut up Discord" she told him. The  draconequus of disharmony put a claw to the corner of his mouth and  dragged it along his mouth, rather literally 'zipping it'. Celestia  shook her head at his nonsense and put the finishing touches to her  armour; she brushed some stubborn soot from the equestrian symbol on her  chest, attached the black scabbard to her back, slipped the white-hot  bladed Dai-katana inside said sheath, threw her cloak over it and  rotated her body in the armour, making sure it was appropriately loose  and manoeuvrable. She turned to the side and checked that her cutie  mark, engraved into the flank of the armour, was in proper position. She  turned back to Discord. "There, how do I look" she asked. The god of  chaos leaned back and took her in.

"Honestly? Stood there in you  battle armour, armed to the teeth and, if I'm not mistaken, ready to  kill somepony?" He snapped his claws and in a flash he was stood on a  small wooden stage, a red-brick background to it, black hair tied back  in a ponytail and a grey suit jacket on his shoulders with a microphone  in his claw. "I'd say you look drop-dead gorgeous, what's up with that"  he said in a Manehatten accent. A sky blue octopus wearing a Rasta hat  did the 'ba dum,tiss'tune after he'd made his gag. Celestia smirked and shook her head again before she trotted past him.

"Thank you Discord" she said as she passed him by. Discord chuckled and hopped off the stage and followed her out.

"So tell me Tia; what made you want to take Twilight in all of a sudden?" Celestia glanced up at him, not turning her head.

"What  made you want to take over Equestria? I just…did, there's no real  reason. I mean, I've always felt we were close but I never knew just how  close until a few days ago" she admitted. Discord crossed his arms and  looked down at her.

"Have you even told her" he asked. She shook her head.

"No, not yet, I can't just pull her away from her family like that…not yet anyway."

"Ooo,  is there a little scheme at work in that pretty little head of yours"  he asked as he floated by, lounging in mid-air. Celestia halted, turned  to Discord and clamped her hoof over his mouth.

"Discord, if you  want to live to see your next birthday, you'll do well to be quiet." She  went to release him and turn away before she looked back. "Oh, and if  you say a word of this to Twilight, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armour or  anypony else" she paused and narrowed her eyes at him. "So help me" she  finished quietly. Discord's eyes were wide in a rare look of shock as  she let him go and straightened up. He watched he go before he spoke up.

"Celestia" he started. She groaned in frustration and turned back to him.

"What" she demanded. Discord cocked his head to the side.

"Why so serious?" She took a calming breath and looked at him properly.

"Because I love her like she's my own, but I don't know how to tell her" she admitted. The god of chaos grunted and smirked.

"Oh,  look at you; getting all emotional in you battle suit. Let's go throw  some rulers off their thrones, that normally cheers you up." Celestia  glared at him before turning away and trotting for the throne room. Once  there, she found Twilight, Shining, Luna and Cadence stood, talking to  each other in hushed tones. A room that was normally bustling with  nobles and peasants, here to gripe and request assistance in more  practical matters respectively, was filled with only five ponies and a  draconequus. Luna was outfitted with her own armour, more or less the  same as Celestia's except the black and midnight blue colour and that  her cutie mark was on the flank, while on her back a halberd was  sheathed. Shining Armour wore his standard Captain's armour, a  long-sword on his back.

"I still don't see why I can't go" Cadence was saying.

"Because  if anything goes wrong, Equestria will need you" Celestia answered from  the doorway. They all looked over and smiled slightly, Celestia  returning their silent greeting. "All of you" she finished. Shining  raised an eyebrow.

"All of us" he echoed "what do you mean by  that, princess?" Celestia stepped closer to the group, Discord lingering  at the doorway.

"What I mean, Captain, is that Equestria needs a  princess to lead her" she said, looking at Cadence. "She also needs  harmony, the elements" she added, looking at Twilight. "And her armies  aren't going to organise themselves" she finished, looking at Shining  Armour. The guard frowned.

"With respect ma'am, I'd gladly die for my country. I should go with you."

"Maybe  so, Captain, but would you leave your wife alone so gladly" she asked.  He looked to said alicorn as she nuzzled him, swiftly changing his song.

"I…no, I guess not" he submitted. Twilight spoke next.

"But  what about the elements of harmony? I'm still not sure why you won't  let me and my friends help you." Celestia smiled warmly and leaned her  head down to Twilight's level.

"Dear Twilight, the elements of  harmony may be Equestria's greatest means of defence, but those who  wield them are far from soldiers" she told her good-naturedly. The  element of magic looked at the floor, shuffling her hooves without an  answer. "Twilight, me and my sister can fight the newcomer if necessary,  but you cannot and I'd hate to see anything happen to you or your  friends" she told her.

"Okay" the purple mare answered.

"Thank  you Twilight" the white mare whispered before she straightened up. "The  three of you will stay in Canterlot until me, Luna and Discord return"  she told them. Luna and Celestia said their goodbyes.

"Be careful auntie" Cadence told Celestia as she embraced her, the princess of the day returning the hug.

"Don't worry Cadence, I will be" she assured. Luna and Twilight stood next to each other.

"Good luck out there Luna, I know Pipsqueak wants to see you next Nightmare night" she told her. Luna giggled slightly.

"And  I him. Don't worry Twilight, it may have been a while since I last  fought but I don't think I've lost my touch" she assured. Twilight  giggled back as they made a friendly embrace. Discord slid up to  Twilight when Luna went to Cadence.

"Listen, Twilight, should  anything happen to me, I'm sure nothing will of course, but if it  does…send my regards to Fluttershy, won't you?" Twilight grinned softly.

"Of course" she told him. Discord nodded appreciatively and noticed the rest of the gathered ponies staring at him.

"What"  he demanded before he turned into a cupcake and ate himself. When all  other farewells were done with, Celestia spoke quietly to Twilight.

"Goodbye Twilight" she said quietly as she wrapped her fore-leg around Twilight.

"See you princess" she replied. Celestia pulled back slightly.

"Come now Twilight, we're close enough to drop these formalities" she tried. Twilight smiled slightly.

"See  you, Celestia" she said. Warmth filled the princess's heart when she  heard that, pulling Twilight into another hug. It wasn't lost on  Twilight how long it was, but she didn't really care. Done with the  goodbyes, Luna, Celestia and Discord took to moving for the door.

"Is it really just the three of us" Luna asked quietly, as to not spoil the atmosphere.

"No"  answered Celestia "there will be a company of twenty-five solar guards  and twenty-five night guards" she answered. Luna nodded lightly.  Half-way to the door, Discord spoke up.

"What was with all the  dramatics anyway? You made it look like we're going on a decade long  campaign or something" he commented. Celestia narrowed her eyes  slightly.

"Because Discord, I fear that what we are about to go up  against, is no normal foe" she answered before she looked left and  right at the two of them. "Should we lose to the newcomer…I fear to  think of what might become of Equestria" she told them. Discord grinned,  Luna swallowed and Celestia's expression just turned grimmer, as they  marched away from safety, and into the clutches of the unknown and an  enemy that could spell the end of Equestria and its rulers.





Remus  held the pieces of stitched together leather up in his hooves; it was  ugly, rough and the leather stitching could be easily seen in the middle  of battle, but it was armour and it was his. The thick leather would go  over the chest, back and fore-legs and while it had been more or less  easy to design and cobble together, the hind-legs and his backside  remained unprotected, asides from the uncomfortable boots he'd  fashioned. It had taken him a good few hours to piece this thing  together, and when he'd completed it, he wasn't sure if he was happy  with it or not; he was used to dealing with the finest quality metals  and leather, working over the Skyforge, sometimes with dragon bone at  his side, but here he'd been forced to work with leather and hide he'd  taken from an animal he didn't even know the name of. That said, it was  damn good leather, thick, strong and heavy, but it was no mammoth hide.  The main good side to the situation was that he hadn't used all of the  fur or hide, so he'd been able to fashion himself a hood and cloak, in  case the weather decided take a turn for the worst. The only thing he  was lacking now was steel at his hip.

"What do you think" he asked his company. Lucien shrugged.

"I've seen worse" he told him.

"As fluent as a fellow Dovah" Durnehviir  mused, commenting on the assassin's wise choice of words. Remus grunted  and looked back to his impromptu garb; it consisted of the  aforementioned cuirass; a belt with which he hoped to sheath weapons  with; two pairs of boots sat by him, one pair for the fore-hooves and  one for the hind-hooves. That he'd had to throw away the gauntlets he'd  accidently made just annoyed him further. The fur cloak and leather hood  lay besides the boots. As he looked over the armour he'd assembled, he  couldn't help but think it was incomplete without a sword or dagger  lying on top. Durnehviir seemed to read his mind.

"Your voice is your weapon, as well as your power, Dovahkiin"  he commented. The last grunted and glanced at him with a slightly  annoyed look on his face but faltered when he caught him looking over  his head.

"What" he asked as he turned. When he did, he frowned;  Lucien seemed to be looking at his outstretched palm, which seemed to be  alight, smoking with a ghostly mist, more so than usual. The vapour  coming from his body made him look like he was in the process of  spontaneously combusting.

"That's concerning" Lucien commented absentmindedly.

"Here,  here" Remus agreed as he stood and trotted over to his dead friend  "Lachance, you alright" he asked. The long-dead speaker seemed to lose  his balance as he stumbled back a little.

"I'm not sure" he  murmured "but I feel the dread father calling me, Sithis and the void…"  he seemed to feel a sudden pain in his chest as he suddenly clutched at  it, grunting slightly. When he pulled his hand back Remus started to get  worried; there was a hole. Not a wound as such but an actual hole,  turning him from translucent to literally transparent.

"Holy…"  Remus trailed off, suddenly regretting his choice of words. Perhaps  instinctively, Lucien put his hand back to the gap in his chest,  checking for blood that wasn't going to leak; when he pulled it back his  hand had disappeared as well.

"What in the void" he demanded. It  struck, Remus how calm he sounded. He suddenly had a distant look on his  face. "Sithis" he whispered at length before he fell from existence.  Remus stared at where he'd been stood for a while before he spoke again.

"Well"  he started, pausing for a long while before he spoke again "shit."  Durnehviir seemed to agree. "Great" Remus started again "we're a man  down, and I haven't a clue why" he observed. He picked up a rock and  tossed it into the air.

Fus, Ro Dah

The  stone launched into the air and sailed towards the horizon before it  disappeared over the curvature of whatever the name of this planet was.  With a long, majorly pissed off growl he made his way to steam and  slumped down beside it before he glanced back at Durnehviir.

"Let  me know if you're planning on leaving too, will you." The dragon said  nothing back to him; instead he simply gave a low growl of thought. The  last ran a hoof over his face as he followed Durn's example, growling to  himself. "I. HATE. This place" he exclaimed "everything seems to be  going wrong here, I was turned into a horse, pulled from my home and now  one of my very few allies had gone for no good reason" he listed.

"Kos nahlot"  Durnehviir roared "cease with your complaining, be grateful for what  you have, and stop dwelling on what you don't." Remus turned back to  him.

"Just what is your problem" he demanded "I can't help but  notice that you've been getting pretty damn testy with me as of late" he  growled as he stood and pointed a hoof at him. Durn stood up and  stalker over, his heavy steps making loud 'thuds' as he stepped.

"Because you act like a vahdin, a housewife, you complain and go on and on-"

Fo, Krah Diin

The  burst of frost and ice shot across the distance between them, striking  the dragon square in the face and freezing his blood and bones.

"You  want to join the list of dragons to fall to my voice" he growled. He  seemed to have annoyed Durnehviir, who strode around the camp as the  dragon and stallion stared each other down, neither combatant's pride  allowing them to stand down; Durn stepped through the fire and stood on  the stone tent as he circled Remus, while said Dragonborn stepped  through the spot the Dovah had been sleeping on.

"Tell me, Dovahkiin, would you do this if the assassin were still here?" Remus snarled.

"I do what I please" he told him before he barked another shout.

Fus, Ro Dah

The  shockwave slammed into the dragon, causing him to growl and screech as  his head was thrown back. Durnehviir growled and roared at the dragon  slayer, the blast of air and bad breath throwing the snow and stallion's  mane and tail around him.

Diil, Qoth Zaam 

The  shout struck the ground and three skeletons rose from the ground,  brandishing weapons forged from bone and ebony. The three of them were  garbed in an ancient style of iron armour and held a claymore,  battle-axe and war hammer between them, clumsily advancing on the  Dragonborn. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Is that all you've got" he taunted.

Gaan, Lah Haas

The  purple wave of dark magic passed over the skeletal beings, ripping  their life from them and quickly killing them. Or at least dispatching  them. The shout didn't make it to the dragon, but instead it stopped  just before him.

"Alright Durn" Remus started "let's see what an  undead dragon can do" he roared before he charged forwards. The dragon  snaked his head forwards and snapped his jaws at the stallion, Remus  dodging out of the way before he leapt atop the Dovah's head,  grabbing one of his slime drooling horns and summoning a bound blade to  his hoof. "I've defeated you once before, Durnehviir, and I'll do it  again" he shouted down at him. He swung the weapon down at the dragon's  head, the translucent sword scrapping down his decaying scales and doing  little damage. The dragon gave a violent throw of his head and threw  the dragon slayer off his head. Remus picked himself up and suddenly had  to dodge out of the way of a dragon trying to eat him; Durn's head  dived down for him, his jaws and teeth crashing together as he tried for  a chunk of pony. Remus had rolled out of the way, the Dovah following  him and going for another mouthful, the Dragonborn leaping over his  head. Durn whipped his head up, cracking the back of his head into the  stallion. Remus was thrown over the clearing, landing on his back and  rolling onto his hooves. With a bloody face and snarling maw, he glared  at the dragon.

"Y'know what Durnehviir?" The dragon cocked his head to the side.

Durnehviir, Zii-Los D-

Remus  was cut off when a flash of black shot across his vision and he felt a  sharp connection of boot to muzzle, cutting off his Thu'um and  throwing him off his hooves, quite possibly breaking his jaw in the  process. He grunted as he rolled over his back and skidded along the  ground on his side, his fur getting coated in mud and dirt. He stood up  rubbing his jaw, and growled at who or whatever had struck him. He  looked around and spotted Durnehviir, stood remarkably still as a being  of pure darkness stood before him, holding a blade to his eye.

"Alright Durnehviir, we'll put our differences behind us and take on this guy before we kill each other, agreed?" Durn nodded.

"Geh, drem" he agreed. The two then heard a dark chuckling.

"And what do you plan to do" the voice asked. Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Wait…who are you?" The dark figure turned his gaze to Remus.

"I live…again" the flesh and blood Lucien Lachance told him.





"So  where do you think he'll be, Ponyville or the Everfree?" Celestia  looked to her sister, the one who had posed the question, and thought  about it. It was a good, simple question, but yet another she didn't  have the answer to.

"I'm not sure sister, but I don't think he has  remained in Ponyville, else we'd know about it" she answered. Luna  nodded her head, understanding the reasoning.

The three of them,  plus the company of guards, were now on the outskirts of Ponyville,  having gone by train so they could transport the princesses, Discord and  all the guards in one go. The alicorns and draconequus were stood in  the foremost first-class carriage; Discord was relaxing into one of the  long, red silk fluffy seats while Celestia and Luna were stood. The  princess of the day was staring out of the window, watching the scenery  go by with a grave look on her face that hadn't left her features since  they'd left the palace. There was an unnatural silence throughout the  room, not even their individual breathing audible over the steady 'chug-chug' of the engine.

"You  two should really lighten up, y'know" Discord told them from his  position. Luna glared at him before she returned her concerned gaze to  Tia. The god of chaos chuckled slightly before he got out of his seat.  "I'm just saying" he told them.

"Well don't 'just say' Discord.  Can't you see we're tense" Luna told him sternly. Her horn started  glowing and an apple gained a midnight blue glow as it raised to her  mouth. The princess of the night to a bite from it, but when she went to  take another she spotted Discord's face in the bite marks.

"Well  if you weren't so tense, and you'd probably be able to relax. Maybe even  get some rest before you find yourselves in a battle neither of you  have had to face for years" the apple told her. Luna gagged before she  tossed the apple out of the window. Disord sniggered before he floated  over to Celestia. "Maybe we just need to…get some things off our minds"  he said slyly. Celestia responded by slamming her fore-hoof into his  face without looking back. Discord blinked before he leaned back, a deep  , hoof shaped, indentation in his face.

"Well, if you're going to  be like that" his dented face muttered. Celestia went to the door at  the head of the carriage and opened it and flew around the coal carriage  and into the train cabin.

"What's our ETA" she asked of the train  driver, very officially. He train driver looked back at her from the  knobs, gears and pipes that were bolted to the wall before him.

"Maybe another five minutes princess, not long now" he answered. The white mare nodded.

"Good.  Thank you." She didn't linger long; instead she just went back to the  carriage and found herself a seat before slumping into it.

"You alright sister" Luna asked of her. Celestia gave her a small smile.

"I've been better Lu-Lu. I'm just…just a little nervous about this" she revealed. The princess of the night raised an eyebrow.

"Why's that, sister?" Tia shrugged and sat up.

"I  dare say it's because Discord's right" she answered, never thinking  she'd say those words. "We may be experienced warriors, but it has been a  very long time since the last time we fought such a foe." Luna stood a  little straighter.

"Tia, why are we acting like this?" Celestia  frowned. "We keep going on like this newcomer is a god of some kind, he  may have taken on Captain Armour and even made us scared, but that's it.  So he's got a few tricks up his sleeves, so what? So does Discord, and I  doubt he'll ever be able to take us on face to face." She put a hoof on  her sister's shoulders. "When he felt he was beaten, he ran. Like a  coward. He'd nothing but a rogue, not a fighter, not like us" she  reassured. Celestia smiled at her sister again, fuller and more sincere.  She surprised her sister when she pulled her into a hug.

"Thank  you Luna, I needed that" she told her. Luna smiled slightly as she  returned the embrace. The sounds of gagging from across the carriage  caught their attention, and they looked to find Discord gagging,  pointing a claw down his throat. Celestia picked up a pear in her hoof  and threw it at him, watching it impale on his antler.

"Score" Luna exclaimed, throwing her fore-hooves into the air. Discord looked less than impressed.

"Celestia, are you going to let her get away with that" he demanded, but Tia was already laughing into her hoof.

"N-no"  she said, stifling a laugh "b-bad LunHAHAHA!" She fell of her chair as  she burst into laughter, Luna falling to her flank and joining her.

"Well,  at least you've lightened up" he mumbled as he pulled the fruit from  his horn and tossed it into his mouth. By the time Luna and Celestia had  stopped laughing, they'd arrived in Ponyville. The princesses untangled  themselves from each other and stood up, trotting outside. The guards  were already there, looking well rested and alert. The pair of  princesses stood side by side, casting their gaze over the stallions and  mares before them.

"Alright ponies, let's move out" she called out.

After  a brief parade through Ponyville, prompting some gasps and estranged  looks, Celestia and her forces arrived at the edge of the Everfree  forest. The Everfree loomed over them, prompting some gulps and nervous  hoof shuffling from the guards. Celestia didn't blame them, pretty much  everypony knew the stories revolving around the Everfree forest, that it  was home to some of the greatest threats to Equestria, that the weather  was completely self-controlled and that few who had spent any prolonged  amount of time in there were rarely heard from again. With a calming  breath, Celestia turned to the company of troops.

"Well, it's not  like the Everfree is coming to us" she told them as she took a step in.  As she crossed the borderlines of the forest, Celestia couldn't help but  notice the change in atmosphere; cold air gathered around her, darkness  replaced her light, despite the fact that her sun was casting warmth  and light over the whole of Equestria. She couldn't help but shudder  slightly. Luna and Discord stepped in behind her as she continued  trotting, the guards behind them. They moved quietly through the trees  and vegetation, Celestia and Luna not making a sound as the moved  gracefully around and between them; Discord had his claw and paw clasped  behind him, looking like he was out for a stroll and moving unnaturally  quietly; while the soldiers with them weren't as quiet, feint clanks  and creaks sounding as they moved, some of them quieter than others.

"How  far in do you think he went" Luna asked quietly. Celestia glanced back  at her, her body hunched down and the brown cloak melting into the  shadows, while Luna's dark armour removed the need for one.

"I'm  not sure, but I doubt it'll be very far; the further into the Everfree  we go, the smaller and less abundant the clearings will be" she answered  before she spotted Discord. "Oh, come now Discord at least make it look  like you're trying" she implored. Discord sighed like a child.

"Fine"  he said at length, before he started snaking through the forest like a  rather suddenly intimidating predator. They sneaked on for a while  before Discord made his way to Celestia, clinging to one of the trees  like a lizard. "There should be a decently sized clearing not far from  here, that should be a good place to start" he suggested. Celestia  glanced at Discord, impressed with the fact with that his idea made  sense. She shrugged and nodded.

"Alright, may as well" she  mumbled. They stalked over to the clearing Discord had suggested, who  had a surprising apt knowledge of the place, and lingered at the  treeline. Celestia eyes shot into her mane-line; they'd found him.

"That was easy" Luna whispered. Celestia nodded without speaking. There were two of them, the stallion and the dragon.

'So he was working with him' she  thought as she did the easy math. She looked left and right; Discord  was looking ever so slightly smug while Luna had narrowed her eyes at  him. She made hoof motions to back up, the two of them following her  lead. She turned to the guards and spoke in a loud whisper.

"Earth  ponies and Unicorns will circle around and ambush him, Pegasi will take  to the air. While I, Luna and Discord will move in" she instructed. The  troops saluted and took positions while the winged ponies flew to the  higher branches and perched on them, waiting for their cue. "Let's move"  she said to the alicorn of night and draconequus of disharmony. They  nodded and moved in, stepping not-so-eagerly into the clearing. Celestia  trotted to the stallion and stood over him. "Wake up" she told his  sleeping form. He snored at her. Discord and Luna had gone to the Wyrm,  Discord simply watching him while Luna was pointing her halberd at him  with a fierce look on her face. "Wake up" she growled at him, much more  sternly. When he snored again, she snarled and went to nudge him, but  instead of pushing him, the hoof went right through him. Her face  dropped and became one of confusion and…well it was just confusion  really.

Phit

A see-through arrow of what appeared to be magic flew past her face and stabbed into the ground with a 'thunk' and vibrated in place. Celestia drew her weapon and crouched into a battle stance, casting her gaze around the clearing.

"Come out" she ordered. She felt Luna and Discord back up to her, and they all stood in a triangle. A metallic 'thunk' echoed  through the clearing and Celestia looked back to see Luna with an arrow  in her armour, though she didn't seem fazed by it. "Where are you" she  demanded. Another arrow shot from the trees, right in front of Celestia,  and she put her sword in front of it, deflecting it.

"Impressive"  a voice said. The three of them snapped their gaze up towards a tall  rock and saw a shadow atop of it. The shadow hopped down and landed in a  small cloud of dust. "I wondered how long it would take for you to find  me" the Newcomer said as he stood from his crouch.





Fifteen minutes ago





"Lucien  you're…" Remus couldn't think of what to say. A small grin had found  its way to his face, and he couldn't hold it down. He crossed the  clearing to Lachance and Durn until he was stood by the robe-clad  assassin.

"Nahlaas, alive" Durnehviir suggested. The Dragonborn nodded soundlessly. 

"So…care  to explain" Remus asked as he took hold of the assassin's robe; it was  thick, warm, black and, most importantly, it was real.

"The  dread father, Sithis, has fund a new purpose for me it seems" Lucien  answered, a smile on his face as he continued to examine his gloved  hand. "The Sithis, it seems, has taken interest in my apparition here.  He wishes me to extend the Dark Brotherhood into this world." Remus  cocked his head.

"Why's that, surly the chapter in Skyrim is doing its job. Why establish one here." Lucien hesitated.

"Simply  to increase the flow of souls he receives" he answered. The last  nodded; he knew Lucien knew more than he was letting on, but he dropped  it anyway, it probably wasn't important to the situation anyway.

"So  why bother bringing you back just for that" Remus asked, changing the  subject. Lucien seemed to have lost interest in his hand and finally  lowered it, instead he took to checking his weapons.

"According  to our father, my stay here was to be more permanent anyway" he  answered "Sithis simply made things less of a strain on the void, oh,  and he wanted me to give you this" he added as he reached into his robes  and pulled out a dagger Remus was very familiar with; it had a curved  blade with scale-like groves on the back; the handle was wrapped in red  leather, the pommel and guard reaching around to form an incomplete  knuckle-guard. The Blade of Woe. With a grin on his face, the last took  it in his hoof, the weight reassuring in his hoof.

"I appreciate it" Remus thanked "anyway, you were saying?" Lucien seemed to perk up.

"They're coming" Lucien whispered. The Dovahkiin frowned; he was dodging the point. But, what he said was important to the situation. He looked around.

"You can hear them? See them?" Lachance shook his head. 

"An assassin's instinct is never one to be questioned" he retorted. Remus shrugged.

"Fair  enough" he murmured as he took to donning his armour and slipping his  weapon between the belt and cuirass. "Alright" he started "I've got an  idea" he announced.

"Voth Onikaan Meyz Suleyk, with wisdom comes power. What is your plan, Dovahkiin?"  Remus turned back to them and ushered them to stand aside; when they  did, he judged the size of his space against the clearing and did a few  quick calculations.

Gol

A  shot of earth rose from the ground, and kept going until a small cliff  face had formed from nothing. Pleased with his work, Remus invited them  to follow him up. Upon arriving at the peak of the tower of stone, the  Dragonborn turned to the dragon doing a surprisingly good job of hiding  in the trees.

"Tell me, fahdon, you can use the spectral clone shout, correct?" Durnehviir nodded.

"Geh, Dovahkiin, why do you ask?" Remus grinned.

Fiik, Lo Sah

The  shout struck the spot he'd aimed it at, a random spot on the ground,  and a perfect replica of his equine form appeared. It was black in  expression, and didn't even breathe. The wind didn't even rustle its  mane. Remus remembered the first time he'd seen that shout; the  Greybeards had used it to form targets for him the first time he'd  visited High Hrothgar. An interesting Thu'um generally used by  the more tactical dragon; one word created the spectral clone, two a  clone that could only stand, and the third word allowed you to give it  basic commands, though the commands had to be in draconic.

"Praan."  Sleep. The clone obeyed and lay down where it stood, instantly going to  sleep. Remus looked to Durnehviir, who had been watching Remus, and  held his hoof out in invitation. Durn followed Remus's example, and  before long they had a perfectly good trap set up and waited to pounce.





Celestia watched as he circled them, the three of them did, and narrowed her eyes.

"As  princess of Equestria, I order you to stand down and place any weapons  your carrying and surrender." She didn't like the way he grinned.

"Princess  of Equestria" he repeated. Celestia suddenly recognised his voice.  "Where have I heard of you before" he muttered. He seemed to lose  interest in that trail of thought and shrugged it away. "Either way, I  severely doubt you expect me to just stand down, do you?" Celestia  narrowed her eyes.

"Not exactly" she muttered. "But I don't want to fight you" she called over. I lie if the Dragonborn had ever heard one.

"Neither  do I, which is why I've gone for this rather clever ruse" he answered.  Discord and Celestia suddenly noticed they were down one, and looked  around for Luna. Celestia looked directly behind them, and suddenly  wished she hadn't; there was a…biped, a man on two legs dressed all in  black holding her sister with his hand over her maw and a blade to her  throat.

"Luna" Celestia shouted, momentarily forgetting the  Newcomer. When she turned, an earth shattering crash erupted next to  her, sending rock and dirt into the air and dust into her face. When the  dust had settled, she saw Discord struggling in the maw of a dragon.  "Discord" she shouted again. She whipped her enraged gaze back to the  newcomer.

"So" Remus started "what shall we talk about?"
> The warrior
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter five: The warrior


There was a flash of white lightening, the clash of metal following soon after.

The  sound of metal meeting metal was like nothing heard before; comparing  it to thunder did the explosion of lightening too much honour. Trying to  put it on equal standing as a volcano erupting was like comparing the  'pop' of a bubble to the sound of thundering hooves. Saying it was the  roar of a dragon was the same as saying the scream of a banshee was the  same as a kitten's yawn. This was the hammer of time pounding on the  anvil of creation. This was a sound that would echo throughout time as  earthquakes and thunder storms, the kind of sound that created life and  death. The sound of Celestia's metal meeting Remus's was the sound of  death meeting life.

The sound of an immoveable object meeting an unstoppable force.

Celestia glared into the face of the newcomer, her face barely an inch from his as she whispered in a deadly tone.

"How  about your funeral" she seethed. Remus grinned. He turned his blade  under her own, slipping beneath her defence and opening her up to  offence.

Fus, Ro Dah

The second  shout Paarthurnax had guided him through. At the end of his meditation,  the shout had held greater power through the first and second word,  though it went further than that; his balance had been massively  improved by his knowledge, this ability extraordinarily useful through  his life, as both an assassin and thief. Using larger weapons had become  easier too, given that when he swung them he could regain his footing  after falling on his head with the grace of a dancer.

Celestia  shot out of the clearing, Remus soon following after her. The two left  Luna, Lachance, Discord and Durnehviir back in the clearing; Luna held  Lucien's arm in her fore-hooves, not sure if she was trying to pry him  away or hold herself up. She wasn't sure what had happened; one second  she'd been at Celestia's back, waiting for the moment to strike. Then  she'd felt the…thing now restraining her disarm her and wrap his  appendage around her throat. She could barely breath, couldn't move and  could feel the cool metal tickling her jugular. Who, and whatever, this  was knew what he was doing.

Lucien couldn't hold down the slightly  impressed grin. The white mare had moved with speeds he hadn't seen in  an age, not since when his old apprentice had killer the listener of his  era; she'd left nothing but a white blur in place of movement, nothing  but the deadly scrape of metal on leather that was the unsheathing of a  blade. He didn't know much, if anything, about these ponies but he was  at least glad to know that he'd been correct in his assumption that the  inhabitant of this land would be familiar with combat.

Durnehviir  was slightly uncomfortable; he wasn't used to taking hostages and he  didn't like the feeling of having prey between his jaws and being unable  to completely close them. It was almost like being teased, having his  snout tickled and being unable to stop it. It made him want to bite  something in half.

Discord was asleep.

There was a clash, a  small explosion and the sound of another shout being loosed from the  piece of forest Remus and Celestia had disappeared into. Lucien glanced  at Durn, who had glanced his way, and pondered assisting Remus or not.

"The  Dragonborn need not our assistants" the dragon said, his voice muffled  some by the creature in his mouth, reading the assassin's mind.

"Dragonborn" Luna asked in an attempt to glean information.

"That is not yours to know" Lucien retorted. Luna shuddered slightly. She did not want to have to hear that voice again.

"Then  who are you? What are you" she asked anyway. She felt that if she could  find something out about the…things threatening her and Discord, this  wouldn't be a total waste; admittedly, she wasn't so concerned about  what the dragon was, she already had a general idea, but she hadn't a  clue what was holding her now. Lachance decided he didn't like this  mare; she spoke too much. When the black clad biped didn't answer, Luna  spoke again. "Why are you here?"

"Will you stop talking" he growled.

"Then  answer my question" Luna implored. She wouldn't let herself be held  captive by this thing and not at least try and get information from him.  Lucien responded by growling again and digging the blade in a little.

"You  are in no place to make demands" he reminded her. The threat was all  Luna needed to decide that this thing didn't like being spoken to, at  least by its hostages. She needed to get the guard to advance, needed to  send a subtle message to them and have them attack; they were too well  disciplined to just attack to just take matters into their own hooves.  Or too simple minded. She cast her eyes slowly along the shrubbery the  troops were hidden in, trying to catch one of their eyes. Another crash  from the forest nearby made her filch, sending birds into the air; then  it struck her. Birds. She looked up to find the Pegasi,  loitering just behind the tips of the trees. She didn't know if they  were watching her or Celestia, but she had to try; she nodded her head  the smallest of amounts, her neck feeling the steel of the blade pressed  against her neck again. In response, the forest exploded around them.

Ice  whites, fire reds and lightening blues flared around them as the runes  Remus had cast on the grounds detonated as the guards stepped on them.  The unicorns and earth pony guards were quickly incapacitated the spells  placed by the arch-mage. The resulting explosion, however, was all Luna  needed to slip free from Lachance. The assassin was blinded slightly by  the runes, his instincts flaring as his arms rose to cover his eyes and  protect his head; Luna planted the knee of her left fore-leg into  Lachance's stomach, pushing the wind out of him and forcing him back as  her magic grabbed the halberd laying besides them, the weapon raising to  her assailant's body. The Pegasi took the blinding explosions as their  cue and cover to attack, the lot of them advancing on the dragon;  Durnehviir, as anyone would be, wasn't impressed by the insistent  beating upon his scaly head. It wasn't exactly painful, simply annoying.  He looked up at them to with plans to beat them away with his armoured  head, but a certain draconequus had other plans; Discord snapped his  claws and was suddenly mad of repulsive goo, the horrific taste  prompting Durnehviir to spit him out. The Pegasi above to their turns in  swooping in and beating their hind-legs against the back of his head;  now, however, Durn's mouth was empty.

Fo, Krah Diin

The blast of frost and ice flowed over the airborne ponies, more than half of them taking it dead in the face. Several dull 'thuds' signified  the fall of no small amount of the guards falling from the skies. Luna  and Lucien were staring each other down, but it was no lie; the tables  had just turned drastically. Now surrounded by Discord, the princess of  the night and another five guards, Durnehviir and Lucien stood back to  back, as best as they could, and cast their gaze over their adversaries.

"Well  then" Lucien murmured at the sudden change, his short sword hanging in  his hand as he coated it with poison. Luna took note of his actions, but  did nothing to stop him; it wasn't worth it just yet.

"Wah fin dinok, to the death" Durnehviir posed. Lucien just grinned.

"As always." That was all Luna and her company needed.





When  Remus stepped into the dark treeline, he quickly regretted it; the  shadows were cut by a flash of white that had a taste for the blood of a  certain Nord. He hopped to the side to avoid a face/ body splitting  attack. The flash of light followed him as he skipped back, slashing up  along his body, taking branches and leaves with it. Another whistled  went past his throat. The third almost cut off his braid. The fourth his  right fore-hoof.

Celestia swung her blade wildly, combat training  taking a back seat to killing her foe; each and every slice came close  to taking a limb or opening his throat; but close wasn't good enough.  Every effort she made to end this stallion came just a millimetre to far  away from his fur, from his skin and arteries. She growled and snarled  and snorted and spat, none of which helped her in her efforts to kill  the newcomer. She let the blade swing farther down and catching the  earth; she flicked it up and cast dust into his face. Taking advantage  of his temporary blindness, she brought it down on his skull; the clang  of metal on metal and the vibrations that ran through the sword told her  what had happened even before the dust settled. Celestia and Remus's  blades locked, the stallion holding his blade in an inverted grip  against his leg, Celestia putting both her fore-hooves against her own,  at the tip of the blade and at the handle, as she pushed against his  weapon; Remus's other leg went to the hoof holding his hoof, pushing  against his foe's weapon and offence with a strong defence.

'Njada, I'll never call you a bitch again.'

"Come  on" he snarled, his effort-strained face slowly morphing into a grin "I  know you want my blood" he hissed "just try and take it." Celestia  growled again. She reared and took her weapon by hoof and brought it  down on Remus execution style; the last slipped out of the way and  slashed his weapon across her chest, the armour casting sparks as they  met. Celestia, weapon back in her magical grip, swung her weapon at  Remus once more. The Dovahkiin, done with defending, took her strike on the arc of the Blade of Woe, parrying it past him and opening her defence again.

Ven, Gar Nos

The  sudden tornado tossed Celestia off her hooves, throwing her into the  air and through the branches of the trees around them. Leaves and twigs  fell with her as she came down, grasses and leaves flying up as the  cyclone passed by. Celestia growled as she looked up to the newcomer,  but found nothing but darkness in his place; the solar princess snarled  again as she stood up, her katana held beneath her head as the tip of  the blade reached above her head. She slowly turned her head, searching  for her foe.

"Come out" she called, panting slightly "you don't  seem the type to hide" she said. Remus, meanwhile, was stalking the  treeline around the small clearing that he and Celestia fought in. His  crouch kept him in the deep shadows of this forest easily, his head  peeping over the bushed and between the trees to keep an eye on the  white horse. Or pony, he guesses.

"I'm not" he called back, throwing his voice (the greybeards taught more than just the Thu'um) "it's called a 'tactical situation assessment'" he told her.

"Where'd you read that one" she goaded. Remus had to smirk.

"I'll  have you know, Kodlak Whitemane taught me that. Not a damn clue what it  means, but it sounds good" he told her. Celestia forced down the grin  with another glare. Her head whipped to the side when a bolt of  lightning shot from the treeline; faster than lightning, her sword  intercepted it and deflected it, her own bolt of magic cutting through  the forest like a knife through hot butter. The slight smoke blew away  to reveal nothing but more forest. She snarled a lip as she continued to  search for the newcomer. "Impressive" the newcomer's voice taunted from  all around Celestia "what other tricks can you do." The princess of the  day smiled.

"I have a good one" she answered. Before Remus could  answer, she swung her blade in a wide arc, the weapon seeming to grow in  length as she sliced the forest around her; when the weapon cut down  the trees, flames grew where the weapon had once been. She searched  through the forest fire, finding nothing yet again.

"I have to  admit" Remus called out, causing Celestia to growl in frustration once  again "most thugs and guards I know would have given up looking by now"  he told her. Remus crawled through dense overgrowth, the grass swaying  ever so slightly as he passed. He came to a pause in a spot to the side  of the mare, watching her continue to search for him. He absently  glanced to the side and found an orange flower growing; he picked it and  popped it into his maw, chewing it a few times before he swallowed it.

'That would make a great poison.' 

Done  with his brief alchemy experiment, he looked back up at his foe and got  an idea. He took the Blade of Woe by the blade and tossed it at a still  standing tree; the weapon hit it by the pommel and bounced back into  Celestia's bronze armour. Aela's archery training had been more than  just accuracy. The blade stabbed into and through the protective metals  covering Celestia, making a shallow wound in her side; Celestia grunted  and whipped towards the direction the weapon had come from. When she  did, Remus stepped from his cover.

Raan, Mir Tah

The  shout hit Celestia in the back, the force stumbling her a bit. She  turned back and glared into his soul, fire in her eyes. She pounced and  Remus gulped; this, wasn't the plan. She barrelled into him and  forced him through the fires and trees behind, pinning him to his back.  Her hoof shot down at his head, Remus moving his head out of the way;  the force of her attack cracked the hard mud beneath the last's head.  Remus frowned up at the mare; why didn't that shout affect her? She was  an animal, right? He quickly came to the conclusion that the shout  didn't go by race, but mental ability. No matter, he had just the shout  for that. Meanwhile, Celestia had put her weapon to the Dragonborn's  neck and had no intentions of keeping it clean.

"This, is what  happens to those who cross my family" she seethed. Remus wasn't  intimidated; he'd rested his head on the headsman's block and stood up  before. He gathered magic in his hoof, the abstract shape that was the  embodiment of alteration magic flared and a glow surrounded his body as  his skin became as hard as ebony. He put his hooves to the blade and  pushed, the well-tempered weapon cutting into his hooves a little as he  pushed; he slowly lifted the weapon away from his neck, Celestia  watching in disbelief before she put her own hooves to the blade and  pushed back. Celestia knew she was strong, stronger than her body  showed, but this stallion had the strength of an adrenalin pumped  berserker. Slowly, but surly, Remus lifted Celestia off his body, his  fore-legs trembling slightly with the strain; this was another  side-effect of meditating on Unrelenting Force.

"Push the world harder, than it pushes back."

When  he needed it most, he seemed able to call upon a…second wind of sorts,  his strength augmented by a powerful adrenalin-like burst. It had saved  his life more times than he'd like to count.

Remus slowly pushed  Celestia up off of him and rolled on his back slightly, putting his  hind-legs against her chest and pushed, keeping her away.

"This, is what happens to those who cross a Dovah."

Yol, Toor Shul

The  fire breath shout. This was the final shout that Paarthurnax had helped  him better by guiding him through mediation and igniting the fire  within him. The original shout had been nothing more than an intense  blast of fire, but now, with his deep understanding of the shout and the  primal power that it embodied, it came out as the shout of the dragons  were best known for; the infernal blast of flames that were known for  melting through steel and laying waste to towns in a single breath hit  Celestia square in the face, the fire tearing past her and face and  hood, licking her mane and turning her perfect face to cinders. She  screamed and inhaled flames, turning the air in her lungs to fire. She  reared and roared in pain, falling onto her back and beating the flames  out with her hooves; she whipped her cloak and hood off, tossing it  away. The flaming cloak landed next to the dry trees, setting them  ablaze along with the others around them. She growled as she planted her  face into the earth and put the flames out with no small amount of dirt  and moist mud, leaving her white fur less than clean as she withered  around in the mud, knocking the Blade of Woe from her side as she did.  As she did so, a flaming branch fell from the trees and landed next to  Remus, and it was then that Remus absentmindedly noticed that they were  battling in the middle of a blazing inferno as his telekinesis spell  dragged his weapon over to him. Meanwhile, Celestia had put out the fire  on her face and whipped her head furiously in the snow and ice white  stallion's direction. Her multi-coloured mane was singed and blackened  around the left side of her fore-head. Her eyes narrowed in hatred, her  head angled so she looked past her horn slightly.

"It. Is. On."  She lunged and swung her blade in a wide, angry arc, Remus taking the  clumsy haymaker on his weapon; the strength of the attack beat the Blade  of Woe from Remus's grip, the blade impaling into a tree as Celestia  swung the weapon around again and brought the blade down again; Remus  watched it happen in slow motion, he couldn't dodge in time, Ebony flesh  had already dissipated, he hadn't the time to summon a bound weapon or  cast another armour spell and the leather armour wouldn't block that  blade. He raised his fore-leg in instinctive defence and Celestia didn't  pause nor falter.

The weapon imbedded itself into his fore-leg.

And stayed there.

There was another metallic 'clang', this  one punctuated with the soft cutting of flesh, and the katana went no  further through Remus's fore-leg. Celestia frowned at the fact that her  weapon had been stopped, but even more so at the sound. Remus grunted  with pain, a thin trickle of blood dripping from the wound as he held  still. He recognised the confusion on Celestia's face and took advantage  of it; frosty mist appeared in his hoof as an icicle formed, though no  sooner had he thrust the cold weapon into Celestia's armour. By pure  luck, he hit a space between two armour plates, the icicle shaving down  until it was nought but a thin bladed dagger, and stabbed her in the  chest. Unfortunately for Remus, he hadn't hit anything important, but he  had slowed her down some. Celestia growled and staggered back, her hoof  going to the icicle in her chest; warm blood wept around the weapon,  tinting the ice blue a deep red. She took it by the hoof and yanked it  out, the blood trickling down her armour steadily. Meanwhile, the last  had retrieved his weapon and turned back to Celestia; he didn't find  her. He looked around the dark forest in the same way Celestia had,  thanking Brynjolf for his lessons in observational skills. He didn't  have too long to search before a white mare barrelled towards him and  rammed him in the gut, sending the both of them through the shrubbery.

His  eyes slowly opening, Remus found a rather grand battle in progress;  Lucien was in the middle of a duel with the dark mare he shot with his  bound bow, while Durnehviir was in the air, battling a bunch winged  ponies and the creature while his skeletons were offering support to him  and Lachance with their dragon bone bows and arrows. It was rather  useful, being capable of raising an army of dead men with a shout. Remus  didn't have much more time to admire his battle brothers, because he  soon felt himself lifted from his back by Celestia and quickly slammed  to the ground.

The solar princess beat his head into the mud three  times before he figured out what was happening; upon doing so, his hoof  caught alight and he thrust it into Celestia's chest. The armour that  protected Celestia was strong, but even the royal smiths couldn't forge  something to withstand heats that matched that of the Skyforge. The  symbol quickly melted, the marble turning to magma, while the protective  plates turned to a liquid resembling molten bronze as his hoof pushed  through; when hoof met fur, Celestia screamed in pain, hopping back in  shock. She put a hoof to her chest and looked down at it, finding the  scolding hot metal quickly cooling, now that there was no mage fire to  fuel it.

"Alright" she whispered "if that's the way you want to  play it…" Her horn flared to life with magic, the glow quickly  discharging as she fired the beam of magic at the newcomer. He dodged  out of the way of the first, the second burnt past his cheek and the  third was stopped by his ward. Celestia fired four more beams into her  opponent's shield before she conjured up another spell; the vines and  leaves around the clearing suddenly grew a mind of their own as they all  darted at Remus. The leaves were suddenly razor sharp and the vines  reminded the last of Hermaeus Mora's tentacles. They lashed at him like  bullwhips, racking along his leather clad back. The leaves slashed his  fur and skin, opening his veins and letting blood leak from him. The  Dragonborn grunted and growled as they continued to attack him, waving  his hoof as though to be rid himself of a fly as flames burst around  him; the small cyclone of fire quickly burned away the assaulting  shrubbery, but it seemed his efforts were for nought. Celestia had been  using the spell to distract him while her horn glowed a blinding, hot  white; she approached him slowly and the vegetation kept him distracted.  She dispelled the incantation and he looked up to find her stood over  him. He raised his hoof to strike her or cast a spell of his own, but  Celestia had already bowed her head and aimed her horn at him; she  thrust and the Dovahkiin felt the pain of being stabbed and  branded at once. His blood boiledslightly around the Alicorn's horn, the  fur burning away as the skin sizzled; the solar princess raised her  smirking head, the snow and ice stallion held up by the horn stabbing  through the right side of his chest. Remus could do nothing but groan in  pain.

Lachance's blade slipped between his body and the dark  mare's halberd, catching it against the base of the blade and flicking  it up and away from him. He stepped past her defence and beat her head  with the pommel of his blade and went on to angle to same weapon to stab  into the back of her skull. But he made the mistake of looking over at  Remus; the stoic and ice cold assassin, known for his brutality, cunning  and dark manner, couldn't stop the ever so slight widening of his eyes;  he was struck by sudden conflict. Help the listener, or kill his foe.  In the end, the decision was made for him, as he kicked the mare in the  back and drew a small dagger with his left hand and whipped it in the  direction of the white horse; the weapon embedded itself deep in her  side, the penetration helped by the hole in her armour already made by  Remus.

Celestia grunted in displeasure as she turned to the  assassin, finding him advancing on her with his short sword held beneath  his hand. The princess had met all kinds of would-be assassins over the  years, as such, she practically knew them by sent now. This biped was  an assassin, back in his world, and judging by her sister's condition,  he knew what he was doing. He closed the distance quickly, Celestia  letting the newcomer drop from her horn as her weapon gained a golden  glow as she held it in defence. His short-sword sung across the small  distance between them, his under-arm grip putting more force behind the  charging attack; Celestia's block held him in place as they glared into  each other's eyes before she pushed him back, Lucien flipping his weapon  to an over-hand grip before he retaliated. Sparks flew as their blades  met, singing and screaming as they flew and met. Their strikes bit into  metal and deep black fur, leather and cotton, but no flesh nor hide.  Lachance met Celestia's back swing with a fore swing, the blades  bouncing off each other and sending them both recoiling. She thrust her  weapon through his guard, his blade catching the curve of the katana and  pushing it away, though not before it tasted his flesh and blood. The  wound wasn't deep, but enough to give him pause for thought. He took a  step back and put his hand to the wound, the black glove clad hand  coming back bloody. He looked up and snarled at her grinning face.

"There  is no pain in the void" he growled as he brought his weapon up, over  his head and brought it down with all his strength; it broke through the  horse's defence, the assassin following it up by bringing up his spare  fist and introducing it to her muzzle. She staggered back and regained  her hoofing a second before he followed through with a graceful  rotation, bringing the sword around in a powerful roundhouse. Her own  weapon raised to meet it, though it did little good as he beat it out of  the way and brought the blade across her body. The flesh exposed by the  hole in her armour opened as his steel tasted blood. Celestia grunted  and stepped back again as he reared his weapon back in preparation to  thrust it forwards, though her chest and eventually her heart. His  attack was cut off when the dark mare barrelled his was and rammed him  off his feet, pinning him down with her halberd. The assassin and lunar  princess spat and snarled into each other's faces as Celestia controlled  her breathing and regained her hoofing. She looked back at where the  newcomer lay dead-

Her head whipped left and right. He was gone.  She searched for him almost frantically before she heard thunder strike  and an earthquake seemed to hit. Her head whipped up and she saw dark  clouds roll in faster than natural, the angry blacks and greys covering  her skies. She frowned, knowing that the Everfree dealt with its own  weather, but never before in this manner. Thunder boomed again and a  flash of lightening forked into the earth, dirt and mud exploding  besides Celestia. With a growl, as her vision cleared, she looked up to  see the newcomer. He was stood, a brutal and ugly looking scar where  she'd stabbed him, looking like it had been knitted together by powerful  healing magic, and had a fire in his eyes.

She glared back and  advanced, the princess of the sun raising her weapon to defend herself  and end this stallion. She stood before him, a few meters between them,  and cracked her neck to the right once. Her wings flared as she charged,  a battle cry roaring from her maw. The newcomer didn't move, instead he  drew a breath.

Mul, Qah Diiv 

Celestia  skidded to a halt as she watched the snow and ice stallion explode into  light, similar to the light she'd seen form this stallion when he'd  first arrived. The light formed a dragon-like mask/skull over his face,  scale-like armour on his chest and fore-legs and what appeared to be-she  took a double take. Wings on his back? Even his tail had gained armour  of sorts, formed by a dragon-like tail. He cracked his own neck and took  his weapon in hoof before he placed it in his maw; he pushed himself up  off his fore-hooves as the same hooves were doused in flame. Wobbling  slightly as he adjusted his centre of gravity, he went on to perform a  strange ritual of sorts, an ancient dance. As he continued, Celestia  watching in fascination, the flames about his fore-legs grew stronger as  he came to the climax of his dance; he gathered the power into one hoof  and slammed it to the ground. Celestia then recognised her mistake as  the air around her caught fire and exploded around her; Lachance, having  reengaged his duel with Luna, had seen his listener and lunged for the  dark mare, holding her as a meat-shield to take the brunt of the spell.  Celestia, Luna and Lachance were flung back due to the force of the  spell, the trees around the arch-mage being reduced quickly to ashes. He  looked up from the now smoky, blackened ground and found his foes lying  on their backs, thoroughly regretting their life decisions. Remus had  entered another state of mind; Celestia had drawn blood, and that was  something he no longer stood for. Anger had been replaced by a silent  rage, fuelled by cold hearted adrenalin. He approached Celestia slowly,  his foot, hoof…whatever, steps slow and deliberate. She looked up at him  and glared, taking her katana by the hoof and swinging it widely. His  hoof shot up and the blade was taken on the curved dagger, slipping  harmlessly off the curve. His hoof went to her chest as he pinned her  down, his dagger hanging over her eye. He closed the distance between  their faces.

"Dragons, are the apex predators. I. Hunt. Dragons."  Celestia wasn't deterred by his words, but the dagger hanging above her  head unnerved her slightly. He brought the dagger up and swung it down,  but, to his further enragement, his leg was stopped by something. He  looked up and found the creature Durnehviir had held in his maw holding  his fore-leg in one of his hand-like appendages, the paw-looking one.

"Ah,  ah, ah. I don't think so" he grinned. Remus held his gaze for a second  before he yanked his fore-leg sharply, pulling the creature off his foot  and hoof before he spun the dagger in his hoof and pushed back, the  creature falling onto the tip. His face went from bemusement to shock as  he felt the Blade of Woe push through his stomach, his blood dripping  from the wound. Remus got up off of Celestia and twisted the weapon,  bringing the creature to his knees.

"Zu'u dreh." He  pushed the creature off his weapon and let him flop to the ground. He  turned back to the mare on the ground and found her stunned face  watching the fallen creature.

"D-Discord" she said shakily,  momentarily forgetting the stallion atop of her. She tried to get up,  but was pinned down when the newcomer stabbed his dagger through her  mane, pinning her down.

"May Sovngarde take you" he whispered. His  hoof waved and a sword, the blade serrated and wide, appeared there. He  raised it above his head and thrust the tip down to her face. Instead  of drawing blood, there was a small 'clang' as she caught it between her  hooves. Remus growled in frustration, getting tired of these persistent  stalls, and put both hooves on the handle of the weapon; Celestia  growled back and pushed back, holding the weapon away from anything  vital, but the glowing around his fore-hooves seemed to have augmented  his strength. She knew she would lose this battle of strength. She  suddenly turned her hooves to the side and the soft, ethereal metal of  the weapon snapped at the tip; the flat edge stabbed into her cheek,  cutting into her but going no further. She put her fore-hooves to his  chest and pushed hard; he flew off like a ragdoll before he landed in a  heap. Celestia reached back and yanked the blade holding her hair down  out and tossed it aside. She leapt up and found that the stallion had  done the same; they lunged at each other, no weapons or magic between  them, just hooves, and fell to the ground, beating each other like  ponies who belonged in a mental ward. As hooves, blood, spittle and  sweat flew, Celestia put her hooves beneath his stomach and threw him  off, the stallion landing on his hooves again. Lightning blew up the  ground to Celestia's right and threw her to the side, Remus taking the  opportunity to advance again. Celestia had landed next to her sword; she  took it by her hoof and swung blindly. She felt slight resistance and  smelt blood in the air. She looked behind her to find the newcomer with a  gash in his chest, the ethereal armour incapable of stopping her  strike; the lower fur, leather armour and skin drooped slightly,  revealing the glistening red muscle beneath it. He growled and roared in  pain, but as he loosed his cry another fork of lightning struck the  ground, coming too close to Celestia for comfort. When she looked back,  she found a set of walking armour, the same ethereal armour the newcomer  was clad in, but what hit her was that this walking armour had the  posture and body of the assassin. What drew her attention though, was  the battle axe of the same light held in hands she couldn't see. The axe  swung for her neck; she ducked under it and went to retaliate with her  own weapon, but was interrupted when fire burst around her. She was  thrown to her flank by the force of the shout, only just managing to  raise her sword to stop the incoming axe. He followed it up by swinging  the pommel of the staff towards her face.

The dull wooden 'clunk' told whoever would listen that Celestia had just been hit in the face by a stranger's wood.

The  armour spun with the axe, a roundhouse style execution aimed at her  neck again; Celestia ducked and aimed her sword up, driving it at the  armour's ribs. The armour rotated his body, the blade slipping past him,  and watched as Celestia tried to regain her balance. He raised his axe  and swung it down, another execution, and it was all Celestia could do  to leap gracelessly to the side to avoid being decapitated; landing in  the dirt, Celestia picked herself up quickly as another axe blade came  down at her neck. The blade buried itself deep into the ground, the  armour's strength digging the axe at least four inches. Celestia took  advantage of the armour's predicament, charging forwards with her sword  aimed at his chest.

Fus, Ro Dah

The  solar princess was, once again, thrown off her hooves by a shockwave of  power that slammed into her side. She growled and grunted as she rolled  across the ground, digging a grove into the ground with her skidding  body. She looked up to find the newcomer, his chest healed as brutally  as when she'd the spot she'd stabbed him with her horn, trotting towards  her, and that the spectral armour had vanished. She stood and stared  down her opponent; lightning gathered in his hoof as he aimed at her,  but before he could fire Luna barrelled into him again, taking him off  his hooves. A ghastly, ghoul-like roar ripped from the black robed  biped's mouth as he followed after Celestia's sister, his blade catching  the sun as he swung at her. The solar princess found herself next to  the biped before long, her blade intercepting his as Luna and the  newcomer exchanged blows, scrapping on the ground besides them.

While  the Dragonborn, speaker, princess of the sun, and moon duked it out on  the ground, casting dust into the air until nothing could be seen but  flying hooves and errant curses were the only thing to be heard,  Durnehviir had finished off the last Pegasus guards by biting one in  half, casing another one in ice and watching him shatter on the ground,  ripping one limb-from-limb with his claws and finishing the last by  swallowing him whole. He didn't like the taste of horse, he'd always  been more impartial to sheep then equine during his life. Durn looked to  the battle below, finding it having devolved into little more than a  brawl the drunken mortals got into. He looked down at his alleged foe,  finding the creature that had consistently named himself 'Discord'  during their battle lying half-dead on the ground, a little ways away  from the main brawl. He descended until he landed next to the creature  known as Discord, his weight sending a large 'thud' through the  clearing, though the combatants seemed to care very little. The undead  guardian of the Soul Cairn gazed down at the now pitiful creature and  watched as he tried to regulate his breathing.

"Gahvon, ahrk hin dinok fen kos aaz. Yield, and your death will be merciful" the Dovah told Discord. The draconequus looked up at the dragon and smirked.

"Oh  please, you think this'll keep me down? Tis' but a scratch" he assured.  Durnehviir snaked his head down and glared at the aspect of disharmony.

"These claws have rent many foes on the field of battle, siigonis. Do not test me" he growled. Discord laughed.

"My,  oh my, you sound just like my old geography teacher" he mused. Durn  shook his head in sheer disgust at this thing's attitude on the battle  field and decided he'd had enough; he bared his teeth and went for a  chunk of Discord. As he got close, the goat-headed monster snapped his  claws and Durnehviir's teeth were turned to rubber. As the Dovah clamped  his jaws around the creature, Discord laughed like a madman as the  undead dragon's teeth bent around his body. "What, did you think it  would be that easy" he asked, his body in a longing position as  he tweaked the dragon's nose. Durnehviir roared in frustration and spat  the aspect of disharmony out.

Rii, Vaz Zol 

Discord  sidestepped the blast of purple energy, whipping his hand and beating  the dragon across the face with the back of his hand. Or at least, that  would have been the plan had Durnehviir not opened his maw and caught  the backhand in between his re-boned teeth. Discord grunted slightly as  he pulled back, his hand popping off as he did. He looked down at the  stump that used to be his hand with disapproval, he shook it a little,  the paw coming back again.

"Tut, tut, didn't your mother teach you  to never bite off somepony's hand. It's rude" he scolded. Durn spat the  hand out again and roared.

"Kos nahlot! Cease with your jests" he ordered.

"And talking with your mouth ful-"

Fo, Krah Diin

Discord  stepped out of the way of the initial blast of ice and frost, but  couldn't avoid the flow that followed; shards of ice cut through  Discord's skin and scales while sub-zero frosts froze his blood in his  veins. While he was stunned, Durn advanced on Discord and pinned him to  the side of a tree, the draconequus holding his maw back with his claw  and paw.

Meanwhile, Remus had claimed the upper hand,  hoof…whatever, on the dark-armoured mare he fought; his fore-head was  stained with blood after the amount of times he'd head-butted her and  her muzzle was weeping blood because of the same reasons. He picked  himself up and staggered away, their fight leaving him slightly  brain-dead. He shook his head and gathered magic in his hoof, a golden  glow sparking and flashing as he cast the healing spell, feeling the  dent and gash in his head close and re-form and his muscles drain of  lactic acid as his stamina returned to him. Cracking his neck, he took  in his surrounding; Durn had the creature he felt Sheogorath would like  to get to know against a tree and Celestia pushing her blade against  Lachance's. Remus looked around for the Blade of Woe, finding it stabbed  into a tree at the side of the clearing; he raised his hoof to pull it  over to him with telekinetics but found that the spell wouldn't work. He  grunted when he realised how low on magicka he was; he was too used to  the enchantments of his armour keeping his magicka pool full and quickly  re-filling. Not to mention that he had no potions on him.

He  rubbed his head a little, the pain of his wounds hitting him. Healing  magic closed wounds, it didn't get rid of the pain. He looked around  himself; thunder crashed through the sky, lightening forking to the  ground while the battles around him continued; Remus observed Celestia  as she disarmed Lucien and took him by the throat before she slammed him  into a tree. He didn't interfere; he knew that the black-robed man  wouldn't drop that for days.

Celestia turned back to him, the two  of them having already established themselves as enemies during this  fight, and stared him down. Each pony was already a fighter down, Lucien  having slumped against the tree, out cold; Luna was having the same  problems as the assassin; and Remus knew that the creature and  Durnehviir would keep each other busy for a while. This was between them  now, just the two of them; there was no respite now, nothing coming to  help them, nothing coming to their aid, no time to rest and nothing to  keep them from death. Nothing but their own skills. Remus's hoof flashed  and a rock rocketed at Celestia; it hit her dead in the face, drawing  blood from her lip. When she looked up, she found that the newcomer had  disappeared, watching the leaves and shrubs flow slightly as she  followed them. She saw the small flash of white as he vanished around a  tree, once again following after him.

"Quit running" she called after him.

"Tactical  withdrawal" he said from besides her; his ethereal dagger went for her  neck as she looked over at him. Celestia's eyes widened as she hopped  back, her wings spreading as she took to the air. Remus watched as she  took to the skies, the canopy of trees appearing to bend out of her path  as she did so. Remus didn't even blink, his experience with dragons  leaving him unfazed by it; though thanks to the same said experience,  his instincts kicked in as he drew breath.

Joor, Zah Frul

Even  before the shout had struck Celestia, he'd growled in frustration; he  knew that the shout wouldn't work against anything none-Dov, as such, he would never have expected the mare to scream and fall to the ground.

Celestia  watched as the shout charged towards her, her eyebrow raised as she  watched the newcomer; he seemed to growl in frustration, as though  annoyed with something. But when the sky blue glow struck her, something  tapped into her head, something struck her thoughts, something made her  mind victim to something she couldn't understand, couldn't fathom,  couldn't even begin to comprehend. It showed her mortality. The anguish  of having an end hit her like a brick, made her feel the uncertainty of  knowing that one day, a day she would never know, she would die. Her  existence would simply cease, and after that, what would there be? An  afterlife? Purgatory? Would she be sent to Tartarus and be kept there,  forever locked in torture and pain? Or would there be nothing, just an  end, just darkness, and she would cease to be? The scream that ripped  from her throat was not one of pain, not one of anguish nor sorrow, but  fear, the fear that came with a lack of knowledge of a dangerous  wonderment. Her concentration faltered her, her wings giving up trying  to keep her airborne, the Alicorn of day plummeting to the ground, her  screams of fear following her.

She lay on the ground, shuddering in fear and tears. Remus blinked a few times; that was not what  he was expected. Remus had no problems with killing, with stealing,  with mugging people, inspiring fear in his enemies or beating them  senseless, but there was something about this mare lying before him, who  not a second ago had been the image of a truly great battle-maiden,  quivering on the ground in total terror. It gave the drums of war  hammering in his chest a bad tune.

Remus approached her slowly,  his will to fight dissipating with the dragon aspect that surrounded  him. He stood over her, victorious, and spoke down to her.

"Leave  me, and my allies, be and I shall leave you and yours be" he told her.  He had no quarrel with these ponies now; they knew that he was not to be  trifled with, and he had no need to take the fight to them. Celestia  looked up at him, very small tears in her eyes. The shout had worn off,  but the questions lingered; how could he cope? Knowing that one day,  perhaps one day soon, his life would come to an end, and that would be  it. There was no coming back from death.

She swallowed once, her resolve having not crumbled, but having shattered with  the shout that lashed out at her, at her soul and at her very being.  She couldn't fight the newcomer in this condition, didn't want to, and  simply nodded her head. She stood up, her head hung in defeated shame,  and trotted past him.

Back in the clearing, all was calm; the  dragon had Discord held down by his tail and back, the Wyrm's teeth  threatening his neck, and Luna was still unconscious. The Pegasus guards  were dead, ripped asunder by the same dragon that was holding Discord  down, and she wasn't looking forward to writing out the letters of  condolence. She could only hope the other guards were at least in one  piece. Tia looked down at her sister, finding her distressed, yet  peaceful face, likely having bad dreams about the battle she'd just been  in. She picked her up and lay her on her back. Meanwhile, the newcomer  had followed her out, keeping a cautious and respectable distance, and  motioned for the dragon to move, letting the creature up. Discord picked  himself up and brushed himself off, holding his jaw. Remus shadowed  Celestia from a distance, a limp developing in his left hind-leg. He  hobbled to Lucien and shook him awake, the speaker grumbling to himself  and looking up in time to find the white and dark mares and the creature  back away into the forest.

He picked himself up and followed  after his Listener, standing by his side as Remus stood by Durn's.  Celestia glanced back at Remus, a sorrow in her eye the Dragonborn  didn't understand, before she turned away and into the forest to limp  away, lick her wound and nurse her fallen pride.





Trotting  slowly through the clearing, Celestia found where her troops had been  holding out; she was glad to find that the earth pony and unicorn guards  had set up a small camp at the side of the clearing to lick their own  wounds, mainly because they hadn't had to fight and they'd avoided  further casualties. The white mare looked over them; some of them had  bare hooves, their boots having been melted while their bellies were  covered by only leather, the plating having suffered the same fate.  Others had drawn close to a large fire they'd made, shivering violently,  covered by blankets too thin to help. Others sat by themselves, and  with good reason; every now and then, the ponies would twitch and  judder, their electrical impulses interrupted by the mage-lightening.

Taking  a brief headcount, Celestia found that she'd be writing a few more  letters. She didn't blame them for not attacking; they'd been exposed to  magic they weren't familiar with, not to mention, the ones that were  shivering seemed very tired. They all looked up at their ruler, and  quickly figured out that they'd lost. With slight shame, they stood as  best as they could, most holding wounds, all with their heads hung. Even  Discord seemed to have lost his humour. One of the older earths piped  up.

"Where are the Pegasi?" Celestia looked over at him; he showed  signs of age and experience, his navy-blue fur rigged with wrinkles and  a few scars. Celestia knew he'd come close to death more than once, and  she both pitied and envied him; he would one day die, but he'd cheated  death. When she registered the question though, her head dipped again,  and it was all the soldier needed. He sighed once. "Orders, ma'am?"

"Back to Ponyville. We need to rest and tend to the wounded." They nodded but didn't salute; they didn't have the energy.

The  trip back to Ponyville was marred by failure and shame; Celestia had  been beaten before in both war and combat, but never in mind. Never once  before had she been so broken down by a foe, not even Discord or Sombra  had gotten so far into her mind, or done such damage. Spurred by slight  fear of the newcomer coming up from behind them, and the trip masked by  thought, Celestia and her company quickly found their way back to the  small town; they weren't met by anypony, but Celestia didn't care. It  suddenly struck her that she didn't know where to go; the troops were in  no condition to make the trip back to Canterlot, neither was she nor  Luna, but there was nowhere for them to stay.

"Celestia" a voice mumbled from behind her. The princess of the day turned her head back slightly.

"Yes, little sister?" The dark mare shifted slightly, getting comfy on Tia's back.

"What happened, did we win?" The white mare's mood dropped again, her head doing the same.

"No"  she answered simply. Luna didn't say anything in return, but she felt  her loosen slightly and her fore-hooves wrap around her neck in a tired  hug. Celestia decided her sister needed rest and mentally shrugged. She  guided her company through Ponyville towards the large oak tree in the  centre. She hoped that Spike would be home so she could just pass out on  Twilight's bed. The only consolation was that the working day was in  full swing, and most of the ponies were either at work, school or  indoors. Those who weren't, however, were met with the sight of Princess  Celestia, her head hung in defeat, Princess Luna riding her big sister,  Discord, holding his jaw and limping slightly and no small amount of  the night and day guards missing. When they were a but a few steps away  from the door, it opened of its own accord.

"Celestia" Twilight exclaimed. Celestia frowned; that wasn't who she'd been expecting.

"Twilight"  the white mare murmured "what are you doing here?" The purple unicorn  started to look sheepish, but when she saw the state of her teacher, the  blackened mane, the melted armour, the cuts and gashes all over her  body, it turned to a look of fear.

"Oh my gosh" she whispered,  cantering up to her teacher "what happened?" Celestia didn't answer,  instead she just kept her head hung, staring emotionlessly at the  ground. Twilight wrapped her fore-hooves around Celestia's chest.

"Why are you back" Celestia asked again, her own fore-hoof around the back of the purple unicorn.

"I-I  got worried, so I came after you" she explained, her voice still  worried "Spike wouldn't let me follow you into the forest, but he agreed  that it was a good idea to wait for you and the newcomer." She gave  Celestia one last squeeze before she released her and stepped back,  looked past the gold clad mare at the other ponies with her before she  frowned. "Where is he?" Celestia didn't answer, the smaller pony  suddenly understanding why her teacher was so quiet, not to mention why  she was so battle-damaged. "Would you like to come inside" she asked  quietly; she didn't need to ask what had happened. Just looking at her  teacher's expression told her everything, not to mention the fact that  her little sister was on her back, never mind the wounds. Celestia  nodded once.

"Please. Me and my company need rest" she answered.  Twilight nodded and stepped back, bidding them enter. It didn't take  long for the troops to get comfy; when the troops trotted inside, they  didn't bother looking for seats and just plopped down wherever there was  room, some of the forming small circles and leaning on each other's  backs. Most of them pulled their boots off and examined their hooves,  most flinching upon sight; those who didn't have horrible burns had  frostbite, and those who didn't have frostbite were blackened by the  lightening, the fur standing on end, some of them even having small  sparks crackling around them. It hit Celestia in a strange way that even  Discord wasn't taking the time to be remotely humours or annoying,  instead he just sat against a wall and buried his face in a book he'd  randomly picked out to mask his shame, loss of pride and the pain of his  wounds. The solar princess didn't have the heart to tell him it was  upside down, but even so, the behaviour unsettled her. Once they'd  gotten settled, Celestia looked at her student. "Do you have somewhere  for Luna to sleep?" She nodded and guided her to the spare room. Once  they were there, Celestia pulled Luan's armour off of her before she lay  her down on the bed, delicately laying the covers over her. Once  settled, she quickly fell back to sleep. Celestia lingered for a second,  watching her sister sleep; she brushed a piece of frazzled mane out of  her eye, the hair matted with sweat.

"You look like you need to  lay down too" Twilight noted from besides her. The solar princess made  no argument as her student guided her to her room and sat down on the  bed. Twilight sat down on the stool she normally kept by her writing  desk. "What happened" she asked cautiously. Celestia sighed again.

"Twilight, forgive me, but I really don't want to talk about it" she answered. Twilight nodded once in understanding.

"That's  alright" she answered "I'll just leave you to your thoughts" she said  as she got up. She didn't get very far before a hoof on her shoulder  stopped her.

"Twilight" Celestia started "could you keep me  company for a while. I just…really don't want to be alone right now" she  explained. Twilight smiled slightly as she took her teacher's invite  and sat next to her. Celestia didn't bother being subtle; she quickly  put her fore-hoof around Twilight and pulled her in. The metal was cold  and hard but her embrace was warm and comforting. "I wanted to thank you  for housing me, Luna and the troops" she said. Twilight nodded, smiling  slightly.

"Don't mention it. I can tell you've all had a…a really  bad day" she answered. There was a period of silence for a while before  either spoke again. "So…was that dragon working with him" she asked,  trying to answer a few of the questions they'd amassed. Celestia nodded.

"Yes,  and it seemed your brother was right as well; he didn't demonstrate  half of his powers in the palace, and I'm not all together sure he did  all he could back in the forest" she answered. Celestia sighed as she  released Twilight and her horn sparked to life, her armour gaining the  same glow as she removed it piece by piece. "He also knew how to use a  sword" she added.

"What about those shouts?" Celestia had pulled  off all her boots and examined them; they were partially ruined, melted  in no small places, and placed them in a neat row besides Twilight's  bed.

"He had many more of them. I get the feeling they and the dragon may be connected" she answered.

"Why's that" she replied as Celestia pulled off the breast plate and gazed through the hole, setting it to the side.

"The dragon seemed to be using the same kind of magic, the same sort of shouts" she answered. Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"So now he has the same powers as dragons?" Celestia deflated slightly as the realisation hit her.

"Goodie,  more questions" she drawled as the rest the battle suit came off and  got dumped to the side, Twilight giggling with little mirth. Celestia  looked down at her student; she would die one day, and there was nothing  she could do about it. No spells truly conveyed immortality without a  catch. And she had no idea when her time would come; but when it did,  there would be no turning back. She'd miss everything that would come  after her, she'd leave nothing but a memory and Celestia would miss her  opportunity to tell her how she really felt about her. Celestia put her  fore-hoof back around Twilight and the purple mare leaned into her.

"Celestia"  Twilight started, prompting the solar princess to look down at her "I'm  glad you're alright." Celestia swallowed slightly, her affection  bubbling over slightly. She pulled her daughter in closely, hugging her  tight.

"Twilight, there's been something I've been meaning to tell  you" she said shakily. Celestia had never been more anxious in her  life, and this was just after she'd come from a rather massive and nerve  wracking battle. She took a long, calming breath, and steadied herself.

"Yes Celestia" Twilight answered. Celestia took another breath, and opened her mouth to speak.

That was when they heard the roar.
> The slayer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter six: The slayer


Remus checked the perimeter one more time.

He had to be sure. 

He,  Lucien and Durnehviir had left the clearing a little under an hour ago,  preferring not to be around when this world's armies came back in form  of reinforcements. Predictably, both Lucien and Durnehviir, Lachance  more than Durn, had questions for the last Dragonborn about what had  happened. Why did they run, was at the top of their list and Remus was  more than happy to answer such a simple question. Only, he didn't know  the answer himself.

One moment they were fighting, the next she  was about as fearsome as Sofie. When she was sleeping. Numerous theories  had gone through his mind; that the ponies here were simply within the  shout's targets of effected? Unlikely, the shout was specifically  designed to combat the dov of Tamriel. That this was all a  ruse? No, he'd seen it in her eyes…something had happened to her,  something had broken her spirit. That she was…

No, he shook that  preposterous thought away before the seeds of doubt could even take  root. Throughout his travels, Remus and his cohorts had come across many  strange things, and met many strange beings, but none of them had been  cursed or blessed with everlasting life. The dragons were another  matter, they lived forever, the currents of time their domain, because  they were the sons and daughters of Akatosh. Vampires on the other had  were not so much immortal, as they were undead. They were already 'dead'  so they couldn't die, they never grew old nor sick, but the trade-off  was their inability to truly live. Sunlight and being unable to bare  children were the things that came to the forefront of Remus's mind,  after Serana of course. That all said, both these things had one thing  in common, in that Remus knew he could kill both dragons and vampires  permanently. To meet something he couldn't kill because of its inability  to be killed, whether through curse or blessing in their eyes, made a  chilling sensation of an emotion he told himself he no longer felt run  down his spine. To find a friend or, worse yet, a foe who held such an  advantage over him made his eyes narrow in thought and…something else he  was unwilling to truly take into account.

Either way, the reason  for his perimeter was not because of his worry of stumbling across an  immortal in this forest, instead, it was because of the almighty,  ungodly roar he and his companions had heard moments earlier. It was  like nothing neither Remus nor Durnehviir had ever heard before, both of  whom had prior experience with Alduin's Roar, the same fabled roar that  he'd somehow merged into a shout that split the sky and brought fire  raining from the heavens. Naturally, both dragon and Dragonborn had both  jumped to the assumption that the hells damned World Eater had somehow  followed them to this place, though that was another thought that Remus  had soon banished, as he knew for a fact that even the first born of  Akatosh couldn't roar so greatly as to let it carry beyond even the eyes  of a Dovah. The reason for this reasoning, was because of Remus's position at the moment.

The  last, the undead and the Speaker had all moved through this forest to  some degree, their estimations of distance vague at best considering  they weren't sure if they'd gone deeper into, away from the core or just  left or bloody right in this Oblivion damned forest. Right now,  however, Remus was atop one of the tallest trees he'd ever seen. To put  that in perspective, Remus and Serana had once journeyed to Valenwood at  the guide of Niruin where the last had seen the tallest trees in all of  Tamriel, and those trees had nothing on this one.

Perches aside,  Remus scanned the horizon thoroughly, looking for anything that may be  out of place. Not exactly an easy task, given that he didn't know what  was in place. Nevertheless, there was at least no immediate  sign of Alduin or any other dragon he'd slain in his life. A disgruntled  look found his face as he wondered what it could have been. His first  though beyond the return (again) of Alduin had been one of the creatures  of this forest, such as the beast he'd hunted and slain earlier today.

Gods,  this day had gone by slowly. He was used to his days filled with either  travel, combat, training, taking care of the guilds, running errands  for the guilds, forging, enchanting, reading, any number of his other  hobbies or just one of his days he just spent with Serana, relaxing on  the shores of Lake Ilinaltawith his vamperic lover. It suddenly struck  him just how much he'd been thinking about her, and he came to a  somewhat painful realisation. He missed her. One of the few people, make  that only people, he'd ever admit he loved. Without lying, he'd been  with many women over his life thanks to the snake tongue that lived in  his mouth, ranging from tavern wenches, the fair Ysolda of Whiterun,  Alea, Vex (though she made him promise never to mention it, loath was  she to let her love of cuddling with a partner out) and Senna, the  priestess of Dibella whom had woken him up after that night with Sam  Guevenne. Though throughout all of them, he could never admit to loving  them. Serana was different in every respect. A respected friend, a  powerful mage, a capable warrior and a woman capable of being soft and  warm-hearted despite the cold, hard world they lived in.

He shook  the thoughts from his head, pressing a hoof to his muzzle as he chased  the memories of his lover away. He'd been gone three days, and he  already missed her more than anything. By Oblivion, what was wrong with  him? He'd been away from home for months on end in the past, none of his  family nor friends for company, and he'd been perfectly fine with it.  Though, perhaps it was because he knew he could retune to them at his  whim. He looked around himself again, finding nothing of interest, and  decided he'd lingered up here with his thoughts long enough. He dropped  to a lower branch without looking, landing with a wooden 'thud' as his  hooves met the thick of the branch.

As he descended, he considered  his options. At its simplest were two choices: investigate the roar he  and his had heard, or continue to look for a better place to set up a  more permanent camp and take better consideration as what they should  do. Landing on a low branch, he looked down to see the Speaker and  dragon that stood with him at the moment. Lucien was sat cross-legged  against the tree he was in, Durn laying on the ground before him. They  were silent, the Speaker declining to speak while the being who's power  revolved around speech refused to make conversation. They'd both gotten  quiet after their questions. Remus wasn't sure whether to be relived or  stressed with the prospect of silent companions. Remus leapt at the  expansive trunk of the tree and slid down it, leaving his lower stomach  and the front of the leather cuirass dirty with moss and other likely  undesirably stains. He felt better when he found the dirt on his  otherwise pristine, snow-white/ice-blue coat. He didn't like being too  clean, it made him feel disconnected from Kyne and nature as a whole.  That, and only milk drinkers liked being completely clean of Nirn's  elements.

Both Lucien and Durnehviir looked over at Remus,  Lachance's expression hidden by the shadow of his hood, Durn's the  scales of his race.

"No luck" Remus said without prompt as he  trotted towards them. The three of them were silent again, both assassin  and dragon watching him with a slightly eased glare. Remus looked  between them, his head slowly turning between them as his stance tensed.  "Something the matter" he asked steadily, his own gaze turning to a  glare as he looked between them all.

"You want to go after the  source of that sound, don't you" Lucien said. His voice was darker than  normal, more an angry grumble than his normal speaking voice. Remus  turned to him slightly. He took a long breath before answering.

"Yes"  he admitted. "Why?" Lachance stood, his size which Remus normally  easily towered over with both height and sheer muscle now beating his to  a pathetic pulp as he looked down at him, his arms crossing  impatiently.

"We could ask you the same thing" he replied shortly  "we should find a place to rest, to think. Also, I seem to remember the  direction that sound came from being the same direction the horses  retreated towards" he noted curtly. Remus cocked his head.

"I  don't see what the problem is. Are you not curios? A strange new place,  likely filled with equally strange new things. I only wish to find out  what it is" he told them. Lucien narrowed his eyes slightly more, his  stance tightening. Remus's own glare went deeper. "You don't want me  helping these ponies if it's a threat, do you? If it turns out to be  something like a dragon, no? I never said I would-"

"It is in your  nature" Lucien interrupted. Remus raised an eyebrow, the Speaker always  having the courtesy to let someone finish speaking in the past.

"And  what is that supposed to mean? That my helping and protecting of others  is a character flaw?" Remus heard Lachance growl quietly.

"Perhaps  I should remind you, Listener" he began, using the title with disdain  "that here you are no hero. You are a villain, through and through. You  are not the man who stopped the return of Alduin, the rise of the  vampires and reformed the first Dragonborn. Here, you are just a pony, a  pony who has attacked the monarch of this land. You're not a well-liked  man anymore" he reminded. Remus grunted.

"Then no better reason  to investigate the prospect of a threat to this land" he persuaded.  Lucien grunted like he'd been struck, turning his head away. The  Listener was right, no matter how much venom that snake of a tongue of  his had just bit him with.

"Fine" he grumbled, heading towards  Durnehviir and standing beside him "my blade is yours, as always, and I  shall follow you on this pointless venture." Remus raised an eyebrow  again, Lachance catching the meaning behind it. "I very much doubt that  you will be met with open arms in this endeavor" he said as he climbed  upon the silent and still Durnehviir with an unnatural grace and  agility. Remus blinked after a second.

Had he just made a joke…?





Celestia's  breath and words caught in her throat. Her eyes went wide as the pupils  dilated. Her jaw came loose and hung barely a centimeter below her  upper jaw. Her senses dulled and became numb.

To the casual observer, Celestia had either had an orgasm or was suffering from supreme stress.

Unfortunately for the solar princess, it was the latter.

As  her mind came back to her, Celestia drew a breath and swallowed as she  felt Twilight tense in her grip. She released her and trotted for the  window, looking out to find a shadow looming over most, if not all, of  Ponyville. She swallowed once more, turning away from the window and  trotting past Twilight towards the door to her room. She pushed the door  open, looking down at the guards gathered down there patiently.

"TO ARMS"  she roared, the guards jolting from their relaxed and weary activities,  all of them lunging for their weapons and armour, most of them leaving  their boots behind in favor of keeping their sore hooves out of anything  that may hurt them further. Celestia galloped for the room her sister  was sleeping in, bursting through the door to find her wrapped up in the  sheets, likely finishing off the bad dream she'd been having before.  Celestia cantered towards her big sister, putting her hooves on her  shoulders and shaking her awake rather violently. "Sister, Luna, you  must wake up!" Her words fell on deaf ears, Luna just stirring slightly.  "LUNA" Celestia roared in the Canterlot voice, the princess of  the night jolting from her slumber, swiping her hooves at the air  blindly.

"Who, what, how where" she spluttered before she realized  what was happening, her head darting left to right with her gaze before  she found her sister, groaning before she fell back to sleep. "Five  more minutes Tia" she begged for her semi-sleep state.

"No, now"  Celestia ordered, whipping the covers from Luna's body "Ponyville is  under attack!" One of Luna's eyes shot open, the rest of her quickly  springing upright as news that her favorite little hamlet was under  threat.

"What, who's attacking" she asked in panic, her tone  edging on demanding "is it the Newcomer again" she replied, her eyes  narrowed. Celestia was at least glad to see her sister having found it  in her to reignite her fighting spirit. Though what she said troubled  her; if the Newcomer really was back, on the offensive this time no  less, she doubted the hooffull of guards stationed at Ponyville, her and  Luna's troops, Discord and the two princesses themselves would have a  hope of fighting him off. Of course, that wasn't saying much, because  unless it was a hoard of evil, cuddly sheep, she doubted the  inexperienced guard, weary troop, beaten Draconequus and defeated  royalty had much hope at all. And, considering the giant shadow looming  over Ponyville, she very much doubted it was evil, cuddly sheep.

"I  don't know, and I sure hope not" she answered her questions  respectively as she trotted out of the room and trotted towards the exit  of the Library. Discord had stood and was next to the door, looking  more serious than either princess had ever seen him before.

"Dragons"  he said flatly "more of them" he droned. Celestia swallowed gently once  more, hiding the reflex from her guards, and trotted outside with her  guards. Outside, it was as Discord had said: dragons. Two of them, both  stood in the clear land on the outskirts of Ponyville, looking down at  the small town. Celestia, Luna, Discord and the guards all galloped/ran  towards them, Luna at the front of the pack while everypony else just  tried to keep up with her. Once the arrived at their landing sight, they  found that most of the town had gathered around them or fled, most of  the town guards with them. Luna and Celestia pushed their way to the  front, Celestia shouting orders back to the guards to get rid of the  crowds.

"By Tartarus" Luna breathed as she looked up the dragons.  Before, both princesses had taken on one dragon at a time alone, two  between them at full strength, maybe more when they were accompanied by  large platoons of guards. But, never before had they see two, fully  grown, eleven thousand-at least- year old, heavy-scaled, steel-like  spines, razor teeth, sharp eyed dragons. They loomed over everything in  sight, gazing down at the little ponies at their feet with vacant  interest and bemusement. They were around the same height, the one on  the left of deep, fire red scales over his back, arms and legs, while  his stomach was covered in a lighter shade of the same colour. The one  on the left was of green scales, forest green over his back and legs,  while his stomach was a deeper, murky green, that of a bog or forest  leaves at night.

Celestia looked around herself, finding that the  guards had managed to push the civilians back, giving them some room,  but little else. She, Luna and Discord stood in a triangle, Celestia  leading them in their gazing up at the dragons.

"What do we have  here" the red dragon said to his companion "puny, little ponies all  coming to see the big, bad dragons" he mused in a deep, rumbling voice.  His wings flexed a little when he spotted the two Alicorns and the  aspect of disharmony stood before him. "Ahh, the slaughter of the sun  and the murder of the moon. If I am not mistaken, you both are  responsible for the deaths of so many of my brothers and friends."  Celestia and Luna narrowed their eyes at him as he turned his gaze to  Discord. "And you, the false king. Overthrown by these…" he looked at  the regal mares with clear disgust in his eyes "mares, so easily." In  response, Discord shrugged.

"What did you expect? I had you on my  team" he replied in a bored tone. The dragon growled, smoke billowing  from his jaws as he glared daggers-or claws-at Discord.

"Do not, test me" he seethed.

"Why are you here" Celestia demanded before things got out of hoof. The green dragon snapped his gaze to her.

"Did  we say you could speak" he snapped in a venomous tone, his voice  strained and sore. Celestia narrowed her eyes again, wishing this could  have happened tomorrow, when at least she would have been strong enough  to take one. With Luna, they probably could have taken them both. Alas,  it was not tomorrow, and neither princess was at full power.

"Will  you answer my question then" Discord asked, slipping his claw and paw  into the pockets his thighs had formed casually. The sight rather  unsettled Celestia. The dragons looked at him with hateful gazes, but  nodded ever so slightly either way. "Why are you here" he asked in a  disinterested voice. The red dragon blasted a jet of fire from his snout  in annoyance, but complied either way.

"We felt the presence of  another dragon nearby. We were dispatched to investigate" he paused as  though finished for a second before he spoke up again "I should point  out, our orders were very, hmmm, open ended" he finished with a dark  grin, his companion giving a dark laugh.

"We know where this  dragon is" Luna said calmly, garnering the attention of Alicorn and  dragon alike. "It stands with one of us, a pony, and something else, a  biped of some sort. If it is your goal, we sanction your hunt. They are  all enemies of-"

"BE SILENT, pony" the red giant spat "I did not ask your opinion, nor your information. Furthermore, I will lay dead before I do your dirty work, muck" he snarled. Luna took a breath, regretting her attempts at a 'diplomatic' approach.

"You  will watch you tongue when you speak to my sister" Celestia growled,  her eyes narrowed and her teeth bared to the dragon in a threatening  manner. The green dragon let a ghastly sneer stretch across his face.

"Ahh, some fight still left in you, hmm?"

"Round  one, ding, ding" Discord muttered from the corner of his maw. As the  Alicorns and Draconequus took stance, the dragons followed suit, the red  opening his maw and letting fire build in his throat while the green  let his claws extend with a 'shink', green venom dripping from  them. Before the first blows were struck, however, a roar echoed through  the air that was familiar to only three of the combatants.  Everypony/dragon looked to the sky, the citizens in confusion and  horror, Celestia in horror and dread, Luna in dread and apprehension,  Discord in apprehension and worry and Twilight-now joined by her  friends-in worry and confusion.

Celestia whipped her head across the sky, looking for the source of the noise. She found it when somepony behind screamed 'WHAT THE HAY IS THAT' at  the mountains Canterlot rested on. Following the aim of her scream and  pointing hoof, Celestia saw something both incredibly aweing and  impossibly fearsome.

It was the dragon from before, ghastly,  undead gunk dripping from every spine, horn and limb, flapping his  rotting wings and roaring into the heavens, his maw going wide to reveal  razor sharp teeth, dirty and ugly thanks to lack of care, as he sored  through the winds and skies against a backdrop of the majestic city of  Canterlot, towering Sunrise mountain and the skies of Equestria, white  clouds dotted across it. It made for an impressive image, not to mention  an entrance worthy of Father Time himself. Celestia squinted her eyes  and confirmed her prior suspicion; the Newcomer, and the biped, were  riding the dragon flying towards them. With another unearthly roar, the  dragon swooped low, gliding on its wings around Ponyville. Though there  was too much distance between them to be sure, Celestia could feel the  eyes of the Newcomer glaring back at her as he flew. After twice  circling the hamlet that was Ponyville, the dragon descended steadily  before landing between the dragons and the rulers/mischief-maker of  Equestria.

Feeling somewhat insulted that somepony would dare  stand in front of her, Celestia cantered around the dragon until she  could see its head and the beings dismounting it. Luna and Discord had  soon joined her, watching the Newcomer and biped get off of the dragon.  The Newcomer didn't even spare a glance at them, but the biped looked  over and grunted before turning back to the dragons.

Celestia  watched with bated breath as the Newcomer looked the dragon up and down  with an impassive expression on his face. He muttered something in a  language she couldn't understand and barely hear, and the dragon behind  him moved, thudding around in a circle until it faced the crowds.  Celestia's eyes widened when she saw it take a breath, fearing it about  to burn, or whatever moldy scales dictated, her ponies before it loosed  another mighty roar at them. The ponies promptly screamed and galloped  for cover, all but her dear Twilight and her friends, leaving them  alone. It suddenly occurred to Celestia what he'd just done: he'd  scattered the crowds, within seconds. She looked back at Luna, who was  watching with just as much surprise as she was.

Given some room to  maneuver, the dragon backed up with his companions, all three still  looking up the gargantuan beasts. Celestia heard the sounds of galloping  hooves and found Twilight and her friends galloping towards her, the  princess of the day letting Twilight dash into her protective hold.

"Celestia,  what's going on? Who is he, isn't that the Newcomer?" Her questions hit  Celestia thick and fast, though she barely felt them register in her  mind.

"Yes, I think it is. And, I've no idea, Twilight" she  answered, her responses backwards in relation to the question's order.  All three watched as the Newcomer found a better vantage point, still  gauging the dragons.

"Greetings" Remus called. The dragons exchanged a look before they looked down at the Remus again.

"What do you want, little pony" the red one demanded. Remus shrugged.

"Simply to make your acquaintance" he replied evenly. The dragons both snorted.

"And what makes you think we would make yours" the green one sneered. Remus cocked his head.

"Zu'u kiin se dovsosse, Dovahkiin. Gein se hin." The dragons looked at him in irate confusion before turning to each other.

"The  pony speaks gibberish" he told his equally estranged companion.  Quickly, Remus's expression changed to something akin to a glare mixed  with a frown, his head snapping back to Durnehviir, who was looking up  at these 'dragons' in much the same way.

"You do not understand the dragon tongue" he demanded. Both dragons laughed.

"You speak nonsense, pony, not the dragon tongue" the green one laughed. Remus growled, but kept it under wraps.

"In  that case, would you be so kind as to share with me your language?"  Both dragons snarled as though he'd just called their mothers a whore.

"You  dare ask of our language" the green beast screeched in anger. He curled  his great body to the ground before he snaked his head towards the  Dragonborn. "You dare not ask that" he hissed. Remus took a calming  breath.

"In that case, would you be so kind as to bless me with  your name" he persuaded. The green dragon straightened up, looking back  at his cohort with a smirk.

"You may, pony. You stand before Virifall. Cower or die" he snarled. Remus nodded a few times, as though in thought.

Virifall-

Everypony and dragon, asides Durn, all frowned at him.

Zii-los, dii, du

The  shockwave of the shout careered towards Virifall, striking him in the  stomach. He soon doubled over and screamed in pain, arching his back as  he roared for the heavens once again, for the last time, as the area  around his stomach burned away as flaky, golden skin, flittering away on  the wind. Then, the sounds of a rushing gale swept through the clearing  as orange, reds, blues and golds swirled in a tight vortex before they  rushed towards the last, clinging to him as they transferred from the  dragon to Remus. The dragon continued to roar in pain as his sole was  devoured by the Dovahkiin, his legs and most of his front now  reduced to naught but a skeleton. The gold flaking soon reached his arms  and back, then his wings, ripping away the scales and skin as it  continued to slowly crawl over him. With a final snarl and a glare in  his eyes aimed at Remus, the dragon's eyes and face were taken by the  golden flows of energy and he was very much dead. For a second, the  skeleton teetered on its skeletal feet before it fell back, crashing  into the ground with a deafening clatter of bone and fallen scales.

Everypony  and the red dragon looked on in both horror and confusion. Nopony but  the Newcomer and the Newcomer's companions had a clue what he'd just  done, and very few even wanted to know.

When the dust settled, the  red dragon found himself staring down at the skeleton of his friend in  confusion. He blinked his wide eyes in shock before he turned to the  pony before him.

In blind rage, he roared in sheer anger, his  wings extending as his arms and claws tensed and flexed to reveal his  muscles, posing a threatening sight to any. Apart from Remus, Durnehviir  and Lachance, who all heard only one word of that sentence. Posing.

The  dragon reared its head and breathed a jet of fire down on the Newcomer.  The biped dive-rolled out of the way, the dragon taking flight, while  the Newcomer remained still. Celestia, Luna and Discord all took flight  too, the winged Elements of Harmony holding themselves up while Celestia  carried Twilight, Luna carried Rarity and Pinkie while Discord held a  slightly annoyed Applejack. For all of fifteen seconds, the dragon  continued his stream of flames, Lucien taking cover behind a convenient  rock, his sleeve covering his face, while Durnehviir hovered in the sky,  unwilling to interfere without a request from the Dragonborn. Once the  dragon had stopped his flow of fire, the grass around the stallion  remained on fire, setting the silhouette of a pony stood in a ring of  fire against it. Soon enough, the flames cleared to reveal Remus, the  leather armour having been burned off of him, a few patches of black  soot here and there, but was otherwise completely unharmed. He brushed a  patch of black soot from his shoulder nonchalantly before he spoke.

"My turn."

Gol

Two  spike of earth shot from the ground beneath the dragon's feet, impaling  him to the ground. The dragons responded with a pained roar to match  that of his cohort easily, howling into the air. At an unseen command,  Durnehviir swooped down and caught the Dragonborn as he hopped up,  making him vanish in a blast of dust. Before anypony knew what was going  on, Durn had flew up the length of the dragon, hung for a second over  his maw and the last had leapt off.

"He did not just…" Luna began.

"He bucking did" Celestia replied in a mutter.

The  last fell into the dragon's open mouth in a free fall, his hooves  snapping to the side as a pair of swords materialized in his hooves as  he fell into the dragon's mouth. Shocked for a second, the red dragon  swallowed instinctively before hiccupping.

"Oh gods, oh gods, oh  gods, oh gods" Remus chanted as he slid down the dragon's throat. Purple  and red muscles surrounded him, all wet with saliva and likely  something twice as repulsive. Streaks of red and blue marked veins and  arteries, the walls of the throat expanding and contracting around the  Dragonborn as he crawled down the seemingly endless neck. I'm not even  going to try and describe the smell. When he decided he'd had enough,  Remus posed he swords against the wall of the dragon's throat and thrust  both. His ears rung and his whole body shook as the dragon loosed  another roar of pain, this one much more panicked as he felt it thrash  about wildly, ripping its claws into its own chest as Remus cut through  the windpipe in a sawing motion. Another ungodly roar as he progressed,  blood pouring from the dragon's internal wounds. Remus pulled himself  thought the opening, feeling blood splash all over him, only his mane  protecting his eyes. Using a rough guess, Remus dragged himself, using  his ethereal swords through the dragon's chest until he found himself  around where he felt the heart would probably be. He slashed through a  random piece of chest and found himself in what he assumed to be the  place this dragon's heart live. He assumed right.

Above his head  was a rapidly beating muscle of red and blue, its speed indicating  panic. Now that he thought about it, he could hear the dragon shouting  'get it out, get it out' through the walls of his chest. The last just  grinned.

"Heeeeres Remus" he goaded as he summoned a bound axe and  swung it over head, feeling it land in the heart with a satisfying  'thwack!' Yanking the ethereal Daedric axe out of the heart, another  rush of blood followed after, covering the slightly maddened Dovahkiin  in the dragon's vital fluids. Rearing the axe once more, he swung it  overhead, watching it hack deeper into the heart again. Another of pain,  this one accompanied by a second, much more extensive gush of blood as  the heart beat wildly, forcing blood from the wounds in gallons. Heaving  the axe out and swinging it again, the blade ran right through the  arteries, severing them and leaving the heart hanging from the veins on  one side. Remus soon solves that as he ripped the heart clean from its  blood vessels, more blood and roars pouring into the chest from outside  the cavity in the chest.

Outside, Celestia and everypony else  could only watch as the dragon thrashed around, clutching at its chest  in something that made it look like it wished for agony instead of  whatever it was suffering now. Its eyes opened wide as something  happened inside it, its maw opening but nothing coming out. It teetered  on one foot for a second before it fell back, still holding its chest.  Everypony and the Newcomers companions all hurried over to the body of  the dragon; they could all here the sounds of rushing winds coming from  the dragon, stopping when the sounds were loudest.

The biped was  stood closest to the dragon, its black cloak and hood obscuring its body  and face, the dragon to the left, forming a towering vigil of wing and  muscle, waiting for somepony to make a wrong move. The sounds of the  gales rushing by intensified as the outside scales of the dragon began  to burn away, revealing a skeleton and a pony, covered in blood and  grinning like a mad-stallion.

The Newcomer trotted calmly out of  the dragon' corpse, his breathing controlled and looking remarkably  healthy for somepony who'd just slaughtered his way through a dragon.  Standing between the dragon and biped, the red stallion cracked his neck  left and right, looking at the ponies stood before him.

"It seems we got off on the wrong foot…"