A Khajiit and a Turian in Equestria...enough said...except Cheese.
Long: An act of a mad god and an accident in space brought two unlikely heroes to the world of Equis. Will their combined magic and tech be enough to stave of whatever evils that plan to destroy that which is good? Will Cheese and Crackers be...DAMN IT, SHEOGORATH!!!
MLP/Mass Effect/Elder Scrolls V crossover, all franchises belong to their respective companies.
Torrin belongs to sornos Qa’taro belongs to Wayward Shadow
‘Why did khajiit have to help madman and Mad Prince of Maddness?’ A tiger furred khajiit named Qa’taro asked himself as he floated through a rainbow colored void. He last recalled speaking to a madman, sneaking into the Pelagius Wing of the Blue Palace in Solitude, getting warped into a dead man's mad mind, speaking with a mad Daedric Prince, solving some nonsensical puzzles, then there were those words. Those Divines Damned words, strung into a paragraph of horror.
‘You know, I like you. You seem like the kind of fella an old college friend of mine would like around. Tell him I said, “Hello!” then play skip rope with his tail...or was it his entrails? It doesn't really matter. Toodles!’
And just like that, he was suddenly hurtling through Oblivion, Aetherius, Agartha, Hades, Valhalla, etc. The only things he had on his person was his armor, clothing, weapons, his new staff (compliments of Sheogorath himself), and a few musical instruments. He had no gold to immediately speak of, nor any remaining family that would miss him. So...Sheogorath tearing Qa'taro from Nirn wasn't too big of a deal, but the fact he did it without any consent...to say that Qa'taro was upset would be a huge understatement.
Before he could contemplate his situation further, he was suddenly rocketed faster through the void, prompting a loud cat screech before he impacted a smooth surface. His consciousness faded to black as he slid down said smooth surface. When he awoke, he found himself on a cot in a prison cell...and he was literally stripped of all his clothes, armor, weapons, and possessions.
After talking a quick moment to tie the cot’s provided sheet around his privates, he walked to the cell door and gave it a few bangs. “Guard!” He shouted. “While this one appreciates these fine sleeping arrangements, he would at greatly appreciate it if he had clothes to wear.”
“Shut it, cat, and the princesses might be merciful!” The guard shouted back.
Qa’taro rolled his eyes. “Racial slur aside, could you at least give this one's current location in relation to Solitude or (Divines forbid) Skyrim.”
A roughly 4 foot tall quadruped pony in what seemed to be Moonstone armor walked into his view. “Did you hit your head too hard, cat? You should know that this is Canterlot in Equestria, and whatever Solitude or Skyrim is, I've never seen them on a map.”
Qa'taro backed away from the door with one part shock, two parts amazement, and three parts amusement. “Well, Sheogorath must have a bigger sphere of influence than most believed.”
The guard rolled his eyes. “You Abyssinians and your odd words,” he muttered.
A heavy door opening and closing caused the guard to tense and straighten up at attention. When a shadow began to cover him, he saluted. “Princess Luna! No offence, but why are you down here? The cat-”
“It’s khajiit, you miserable excuse of a horse!” The guard turned towards Qa’taro with a death stare at those words.
“What did you call me?!” He nearly bellowed. “I’ll have you know that I’m married and have not cheated on her at all during our marriage! You have no right-”
“To be judged by your standards,” Qa’taro countered. “This one is not from this land, let alone this world, so accusing Qa’taro of calling you a prostitute because of a minor word misinterpretation isn’t applicable.”
“Why you!” The guard went to unlock the cell door, but was restrained by a roughly six foot tall alicorn’s deep blue magic.
“Restrain yourself guard!” The alicorn bellowed, loudly enough to knock off his helmet. “Treat this...khajiit...with respect. He isn’t from here and can’t be completely judged by our standards and laws.” She set him down and gave him a glare. “Now return to the barracks and send down a guard who isn’t culturally insensitive...that is to mean one of my guards!” The guard scrambled off in fear, nearly forgetting his helmet.
The alicorn turned towards Qa’taro with an apologetic smile. “My apologies. My sister’s guards are rather green, and culturally insensitive. I blame the over thousand years of peace and most pony’s xenophobic tendencies.”
“Qa’taro is used to such racial bias, having lived in a land full of bigoted Nords, and supremacist Altimer,” he commented.
“Odd race names,” the alicorn commented to herself. “Racial problems aside, introductions are in order. I am Princess Luna, Diarch of Equestria, Queen of the Night, and the Guardian of Dreams.”
“If this one’s speech didn’t give it away, Qa’taro is the name this one responds to,” he told her. “Out of curiosity, with the whole cultural issues we brushed over, nudity isn’t taboo and therefore, those idiot guards confiscated my clothing thinking that khajiit culture followed same lack of a taboo.”
A bit of giggling came from both Luna and a new guard that came through the dungeon door. “All too correct,” the guard, a thestral, said. “With how stupid most of those guards act, I sometimes question if they had to go to school to learn how to be that stupid.” The guard then opened a hidden saddlebag and pulled out Qa’taro’s spare clothing.
“Agreed,” Qa’taro agreed, as he accepted his clothing and began dressing. “All nonsensical talk about arrows in knees.” He then sighs. “Aside from being an unknown, why is khajiit locked up like a war criminal?”
Luna sighed and gave him a sad look. “I am sorry that you are locked up like such, but Equestria has been threatened by an unknown power recently. Our security has been increased and as a consequence, unknowns are immediately imprisoned until the threat has passed.” She bowed her head in apology.
“Understandable, threats come about, something unknown shows up, keep it contained for safety,” Qa’taro commented. “Qa’taro will stay here and wait for my trial when it comes. Also, khajiit just wishes to know where his weapons and armor are, just in case.” Luna didn’t answer, but lit her horn and his mind was suddenly filled with information. With a nod, Luna walked off, followed by her guard.
“This one knows not why, but it felt like the power of Secunda and Messer was contained within that pony’s flesh,” he wondered aloud. Qa’taro then laid down on his cot and started to sleep, oddly dreaming of wheels of cheese. ‘Damn it, Sheogorath!’
Meanwhile
If one looks closely, light seems to bend around one spot. “Well, looks like I’m on some sort of other planet. This person seems important. I better keep an eye on him.” Seemingly nothing said softly. “Torrin out.”
A crater was formed from a recent crash by ship from space. Fires have also started up from the ship’s fiery entry. Inside the ship, just waking up was a strange being in strange armor.
“Ugh, did someone get the name of that Krogan that rammed me?” It moaned as it held its head for a second. “I better check the air to be sure it’s safe to breathe the air.” It started to mess with something orange on its arm. “So earth normal air? Alright i won’t need my air supply. But just to be safe, for now I'll keep my helmet on.”
Suddenly, his motion tracker started beeping and showed a few blips coming from the South, according to the planet’s directional orientation.
“Need to hide for now.” He actives his tac cloak and finds a place to hide. “Likely natives coming to examine the wreck.” A few minutes after he hid, three equines appeared and began speaking in a harmonious, yet unknown language.
One of the equines had a horn and did the most talking, using telekinesis on a notepad and pen. The other two had wings and seemed exact opposites in terms of personality. One seemed to have an arrogant air about it while the other seemed scared and flinched at every noise made.
‘great so I'm on a planet where equines are the dominant form of life?’ he thought staying as quiet as possible, while his omni tool was quite yet hard at work, try to translate the words they were saying.
During the observation, the horned equine seemed to be examining the wreck in detail, while the winged ones looked for danger, one fearfully and the other in boredom. The bored equine seemed to complain to the horned one, but was ignored. The fearful one took notice of some footprints and followed them. After a short while she was near his hiding spot, speaking in soothing tones.
‘What do i do? If I reveal myself it's a risk, but its a risk i have to take due to limited food supplies. Please tell me the program is done!’ he thought looking at his omni tool. *translation program ready* it said. He decides to reveal himself. “Sorry had to hide until I could get my way to understand you to work.” He explained. “What brings you to the wreck of my ship?”
The reactions from the equines weren’t exactly what he was expecting at first. The fearfully shy equine yelped in fright; the arrogant one flew up into the air and pounded her hooves together, ready for a fight. The horned one, however, seemed to freak out, but more academically rather than in fear or anger.
“Slow down miss? Let’s start with giving names at least first.” He said. “My name is Torrin Jo’gon. You may simply call me torrin for short.”
“My name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are two of my friends. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.” The horned equine said, pointing to the different ponies as she introduced them.
“I’ll be honest with you, the only reason I revealed myself was due to my limited food supply and unique food needs.” He explained.
“It better not be ponies!” Rainbow Dash said. “If it is, I’ll give you a beating faster than you can say, ‘Sonic Rainboom!’”
“No, its not ponies. Say Twilight do you know what a amino acid is? It will be easier to explain if you do.” He said.
Just when she was about to explain, Fluttershy spoke up. “Amino acids are a type of bodily chemical that is found in protein rich foods, such as beans and meats.” Rainbow and Twilight looked at Fluttershy in confusion. “I take care of animals. I have to know these things to keep them healthy.”
“You also forgot that each being is made up of them. The thing is, your kind like most are levio based amino acids. Mine however are based on dextro acids. If I try to eat your food at best it will not give me energy. At worst it could kill me.” He said. “I only have a month's worth of rations.”
“Hmm...if I could examine a small piece of your rations and you are willing to wait, I could do some research and see if I could find a suitable substitute or make what you need.” Twilight offered
“I would be grateful. To be fair though I would like to come back with you as I can’t let you do that alone. Do we have a deal?” He asked.
“Sounds fair enough. *SQUEE* I can’t believe that I’m actually interacting with an Extra-Equestrian!” She said in excitement.
“So this is the first time you have seen someone not of this world?” He asked.
“Uhh, duh!” Rainbow said. “I don’t see any more of...whatever you are. So...”
“Just being sure. For the record, my kind are called Turians.” He explained.
“What does a Turian look like?” Fluttershy asked. “I don’t think your face is just armor...no offence.”
“None taken.” He decides to take off his helmet and reveal his scale like face plating that was partially covered in some sort of blue face paint. “Our homeworld of Plaven has a weaker atmosphere so most life their including us Turians have evolved an exoskeleton of sorts to protect from solar radiation.”
“Fascinating!” Twilight exclaimed, but her face of amazement changed to that of confused.
“Is something wrong Twilight?” He asked noticing the look change.
“Well, wouldn’t the Turian in charge of raising your sun just keep said radiation from even entering your planet’s atmosphere?” She asked.
“Our sun and moon moves on its own. We don’t have the power to move the sun or moon. Can you ponies?” He asked.
“I...but...bwah!?” Twilight stuttered out. Rainbow then answered for her.
“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna do their magic mumbo stuff to do that to the sun and moon. And to translate Twilight’s Egghead speak, she said, ‘How is that possible?”
“Magic? Magic is simply a myth. I will admit that the fact you are flying without proper sized wings makes me think perhaps the myth is true here. To answer how the sun and moon move on their own, it’s the gravity of the planet that moves the moon, and the sun doesn’t move at all.” He explained. “We don’t have magic of any kind.”
“That makes sense,” Rainbow said. “I’ve read my fair share of science-fiction books to think that magic isn’t going to used everywhere.”
Twilight then recovered from her broken brain. “You got that from science fiction books?! But those aren’t true!”
“What is not true for some could possibly be true for others don’t you think twilight?” He said. “We don’t possess magic, and its seen as a fairy tail. I will admit its likely magic exists here but the closest thing to magic the rest of my galaxy has is biotics.”
“Biotics?”
“A rare ability that some that exposed to a rare elements dust form can use with training. I am once such person.” He explains. “It's very complicated to explain how they work. However I could give a demonstration of at least one such skill within biotics.”
“Sounds cool,” Rainbow said. “What is it?”
“It’s a skill biotics call warp. It allows one to literally affect the target on the microscopic level.” He starts to glow blue a for second the aims it at the ship’s door. “Try to just tap down the door.” Rainbow tapped the door and it simply broke as if it was glass.
“Well? Is that enough of a demo? A lot of biotic skills are a bit over the top and meant more for combat as far as has been discovered.” He explained.
“Is your culture all about fighting?” Fluttershy asked.
“Not exactly. You see it’s more about owning up to your actions and doing your part for the community. While it is mandatory for all Turians that turn 15 to go through at least one year of military service, you don’t have to stay in there.” He explains. “We tend to be very organized to the point that even if half our chain of leadership dies, we have a idea of who is next in line. You have to understand the galaxy back home is not as peaceful as your planet seems to be. In fact we just came out of a galaxy wide war against an ancient race of sentient machines that wanted nothing but to kill us all.” He sighed.
“That’s horrible!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “Who would make such machines to do something so heartless?!”
“Its their methods of fighting that is even worse. Those that are of weak stomach might want to leave the ship now.” Torrin said. “It was a massacre, for everyone that we downed, 12 more took its place. How do you fight a foe that every time you lose a friend, ally, even a lover, they gain a soldier.” He started to tear up a little bit. “I lost my whole team to them.”
The three ponies teared up as well, however, just as they were going to try to comfort him, he was snared by a lasso and was pulled from the ship.
“WHAT THE!? BY THE SPIRITS!?” He exclaimed. Before he could comprehend more, he was hogtied and an orange pony in a strange hat ran past him towards the three he had been conversing with.
“Twi! Dash! Shy! When I heard from Spike that you rushed out here after...whatever this thing is, I came as soon as I could. Why did you let yourself get cornered by that lizard-bird thing?” She scolded.
“Applejack, you’re overreacting,” Twilight explained. “He’s just an alien that crash landed here after surviving a long conflict.”
Applejack went to verbally retaliate, but held her tongue when her gut told her that Twilight was speaking the truth...at least as far as what she said. She turned towards Torrin and gave him a glare. “Is what she said true and are you even thinking of hurting us?!”
“I got enough of that from my own people, so can you PLEASE stop that!” He exclaimed. “I would only ever fight in self defense or on orders which i have none, on the spirits of my house I vow i will not ever hurt you without good reason.” He replied. “What your friends don’t know is I could have chosen to kill them, but i chose not to due to not wanting to kill if peaceful means can get the job done.”
Applejack’s glare softened and she undid the ropes on him. “Sorry about that.”
“Its ok, I have suffered worse. Next time though, I'm a Turian, not a lizard bird thing.” He said with a laugh.
“To be completely honest, you do have minor similarities to both animals. No offence,” Fluttershy said with a slight giggle.
“Its fine. You can keep a eye on me miss if you feel you don’t trust me.” He conceded. “As I told them, I am a soldier. One scarred to the soul, but a soldier.” He said. “So if you don’t trust me due to the fact I have had to kill before, then tell me now please.”
“It makes me a mite uneasy, but I’ll just keep an eye on you,” Applejack answered. “Heck, if we can get your ship thingamabob to my orchard’s barn, you could stay there and it’ll be easier on my eyes to keep them focused.”
“Really? You mean it?” He said. “Well, unless you have some way to lift something that weighs over 10 ton, then moving it is out of the question.”
Torrin suddenly felt a bit of weight on his shoulders and heard an excitable voice say, “Of course we have a method to move something that heavy! The story wouldn’t move forward without it!” He looked over his shoulder and saw sky blue eyes surrounded by pink. “Hi!”
“By the spirits, what the heck!?” He exclaimed, falling onto his rear. “Is that normal for this pony?”
“Yeah, best not to question her,” Twilight said. “I tried questioning her methods and such, but it resulted in me getting more injuries than I should have been able to take and literally bursting into flames in rage.”
“Duly noted. Now then you seem to have more questions for me?” He said.
“Yes, but for now, let’s get your ship to one of Applejack’s barn. I think you’ve had enough for now. Plus, I’m trying to not be overly academic,” she said with a shudder.
“I have questions!” Pinkie exclaimed before launching into a series of questions. While she was asking those, Twilight began preparing to move the ship.
Some time later “Sorry pinkie pie. Unless you have access to dextro food. A party is a no go, as much as i would want to have it.” He said back to her questions about the food. “Not like you can pull some dextro chocolate out of a hat?”
In response, Pinkie pulled a hat out from behind an apple tree and then pulled a hand (or hoof) wrapped...dextro chocolate!?
“Ok, then it's official, you are a miracle worker you silly mare!” he takes the chocolate and takes a sniff to be sure it it dextro. “Yup this is dextro alright.” After munching on the chocolate, a question came to mind. “Why the heck did you have something you couldn’t even eat!?” He asked confused.
“Party planner rule number 42: Always be ready to serve food for whoever may be at parties, regardless if you can or can’t eat it as well.”
“Ok one thing I have to ask. How much dextro based food you got?” He asked. “You see I only have one months worth of rations, and anything I can do to stretch that would make my life so much easier.”
“Well, I only have...three or four kilos of the stuff left...and that chocolate bar took about...150 millograms of it. So…”
“You have 2 whole years worth of dextro food just laying around!?” He exclaimed in shock. “Please tell me none of it spoiled.”
“Well, I did have about twenty kilos when I first found the stuff, but experimentation and stuff took quite a bit out of it...and that was a month or two back.”
“This will help a lot pinkie. Twilight you can take your time on the project.” He said with what appeared to be a smile, but was hard to tell due to his mandibles.
“Thanks,” Twilight strained to say as she was finishing hauling Torrin’s ship to an isolated barn
“Twilight are you ok?” He asked in worry.
The ship came down hard and Twilight began breathing deep. “Sorry. Last time I had to lift that much, it was an Ursa Minor...and comparing that to your ship, it’s like comparing a stick to a cinder block
“I see. Take it easy Twilight. There is no rush to do anything else.” He said.
“Twilight!” Shouted a male adolescent voice. Torrin and the group turned to the road saw a purple dragon, Spike, and a white unicorn, Rarity, hurrying up the path to Sweet Apple Acres
“So it that the last pony in your group?” Torrin asked.
“You must either be good at guessing or something in what we said or did gave it away,” Applejack commented.
“Well when seeing details can save your life, you tend to pick up on things like how just from one look at her, she seems to fill a role the rest of you lack if that makes sense.” He explained.
“It makes perfect sense!” Pinkie exclaimed as she popped out of Applejack’s hat, giving Torrin a fright. “The six of us are bearers of what are called the Elements of Harmony.”
“Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic,” Fluttershy listed off.
“Let me guess, your kindness, Pinkie Pie is generosity?” He guessed.
“No, I’m Laughter, silly!” Pinkie said with a snort and giggle.
“I’m not able to tell perfectly just yet.” He replied. “What are the Elements of Harmony?”
“Short Definition: they are magical gems that rely on the bearer’s friendship and best adherence on the six virtues that Fluttershy listed,” Twilight answered.
“Thank you for telling me but what do they do?” Torrin asked.
Before Rainbow could say anything, the group heard Rarity gasp as Spike rushed to Twilight with an envelop and a scroll.
“Oh my stars, Darling!” She exclaimed. “Whatever are you wearing? It looks atrocious, like it has been through a fire!” her question directed at Torrin.
“You mean my armor? Well seeing as I just crashed my ship. Kind of hard not to get some burn marks.” He sighed.
Rarity tisked. “That certainly won’t do. I must certainly-”
“WHAT?!” the group heard Twilight yell. “He didn’t bother to tell me until practically the day of his wedding to tell me he was getting married!?”
“That does sound strange.” Torrin said. “Even i could see that and marshmallow? You try to get me to take off this armor it won’t be pretty. There are more ways than violence to do that don’t you worry.”
“Oh, perish the thought,” Rarity said. “I was merely thinking of getting it repaired and cleaned up. I could possibly even see if there could be a way to have variations made so you aren't restricted to just one set and style.”
“No offense but you likely don’t have the material its made of, and to set in the tech involved in this armor takes a long time. Thanks for the offer though.” He said. “Pinkie and the food was one thing, but for you to have high grade plasteel is pushing it.”
“Girls and guys,” Twilight interupted. “I hate interupting such good conversation about biology and technology, but we need to get to Canterlot to help at the wedding (and give my brother a piece of my mind).”
“Alright, but since I’m not invited I’ll use the time to look over this “Canterlot” just in case.” Torrin said.
“Sounds fair, but until we can have a reliably private meeting with one or all of the Princesses, see if you keep hidden,” Twilight said with a worried look on her face. “My friends occasionally say I go all “Frankenstallion” when I don’t understand something, but the scientists under Royal Commission...they could be worse than what my friends say about me.
“They will never see me unless I want them to Twilight. I have a tactical cloak program in my omni tool for just such times.” He said with a smirk before activating it in demonstration.
Time and Location Skip
As Torrin watched the strange cat or khajiit, after a moment or two, he seemed to notice that his ears seemed to twitch in time with his own heartbeat. The khajiit then opened his eyes.
“There are times when Qa’taro hates his sometimes overactive senses,” he said aloud as he sat up on his cot. “And this one isn’t criticizing your stealth skills, whoever’s heartbeat is being heard. Khajiit is merely hating being on alert. If you simply reveal yourself, I swear on my devotion to Akatosh and my...craving of cheese...I won’t harm you, immediately.”
Thinking that there is no harm in it, he turns off his tactical cloak. “How the heck are you able to hear heartbeats without any aid?”
“This one has learned how to sleep light when on alert. Khajiit blames the city’s “lockdown” that is in effect due to a threat to it’s lands. More alert means harder sleep,” Qa’taro said.
“Impressive to be honest, that’s equal to top tier training. I’m glad we are not attacking each other.” Torrin said.
“Same here, and training can only take one so far. As distant cousin used to say, ‘Why do soldiers bother with target practice. One learns best by hitting real people.”
“Now then you need to keep my existence on the down low if you understand what I mean. Can you promise me that?” Torrin asked nervously.
“Relax, this one is used to hiding from vampires, Imperials, and the general law. Hiding one’s existence is easy compared to those three,” he answered. “If anything, you are more likely to reveal yourself, than me exposing you.
“Alright i got to go, picking up movement on my motion tracker.” Torrin cloaks once more and wanders off. Before he got too far, the sound of glass shattering, followed by insect buzzing was heard from outside. Peering through a window, he saw large pink shards falling from the sky, followed by a small number of green meteors and slower moving black swarm of some kind.
Heading back to the khajiit for a second he uncloaks. “Say care to give me a hand? I’ll break you free if you say yes.”
“Qa’taro would gladly help, but you just need to stand back. Three words will get khajiit out.” Torrin took a few steps back and watched. Qa’taro’s eyes seemed to briefly glow red before he shouted, “Yol! Toor! Shul!!!” And flames seemed to leap from his mouth and melt the entire cell wall and door into slag.
“Ok, that is something that is just plain amazing!” Torrin admitted. “Now come on, we have bug things to fight!”
“Armor and weapons first. Follow khajiit, he won’t steer you wrong.”
Twilight and her “friends” were overwhelmed. To say that sentence is an understatement, that’s an understatement. After having fought changelings until past exhausted, they found the Hall of the Elements swarming with changelings. Having pushed themselves, they were in no condition to fight longer and were forced to surrender.
After being captured, the Mane 6 were brought back to the now ruined Throne Room, where Queen Chrysalis was looking over Canterlot with a smug look. “Soon. soon it will all be mine to feast upon. Their is no one left to stop me. HAHAHAHAHHA” She chuckled a bit. “How does it feel to fail? To lose it all? Let it sink into your very bones!”
“I doesn’t matter if we lost now,” Twilight spoke with exhausted confidence. “So long as there is at least one free pony, you have yet to win!”
“Unless you have a pony that I have no idea about, you have still lost!” The queen was still confident she had won. “HAHAHAHAHHAH!!!!!!!”
Suddenly, without any warning, one of the windows shattered. The Queen stopped her laughter long enough to create a barrier to prevent glass shards from harming her. A quiet thud was then heard. As it turned out, the reasoning behind the glass breaking was a crossbow bolt flying through it and punching clean through a changeling’s head.
“What!? Agh!” She clutched her head as that voice in the hive mind cut off jarring her for a second. “Show yourself!”
POV Shift
“This one is not entirely sure it is wise for you see us,” Qa’taro spoke loudly through the window while remaining hidden. “We are so hideous that the mere sight of our flesh would cause you to die of immediate loss of your very soul.”
“Even if you don’t, we could kill you in the blink of an eye.” Torrin said loudly and forcefully. “So be careful what you wish for.” The Mane 6 quietly gasped, recognizing his voice.
“Are you sure you want to test us?” Torrin continued. “It could get ugly.”
“We are most unnatural,” Qa’taro added on. “With the body of a tiger and the head of a…”
“A raptor. So don’t mess with us!” Torrin finished Qa’taro’s statement.
“Who asked your opinion!?” Qa’taro shouted, pretending to act annoyed, while secretly agreeing with her.
“Release the ponies or we will attack. This is your ONLY WARNING!” Torrin said in his commander voice.
“What kind of attack? Hugs and cuddles? OH NO!” Chrysalis mocked.
“The deadly kind you bug creep!” Torrin replied back.
“Lacerations!” Qa’taro listed.
“Brain damage!” Torrin said.
“Incineration!” Qa’taro added.
“Caved ribs!” Torrin said.
“And-” Qa’taro began, but was interrupted by a voice behind the two.
“Miscalculation?” A changeling said, exposing Qa’taro.
“Torrin,” Qa’taro whispered. “If this one could list two words to describe our situation, they would be SCREW IT!!!” He then pulled his axe off of his back, knocked the changeling out of the air with it’s blunt end, and vaulted into the Throne room and charged the queen...only to get blasted by a magic beam.
“Really? A frontal attack? What an idiot.” She said. Suddenly, to her surprise, she starts to float. “What the heck!? Where is this coming from!?” She spots some sort of weird ball of energy forcing her into the air.
A figure then drops his cloak and in a flash of blue seems to fly at her. “Looks like that did the trick. Do you wish to see the face of the one that is to beat you?” He takes of his helmet and shows her his face. Her face as she takes in his face is one of shock.
“Odd argonian face, this one admits,” Qa’taro commented while standing after his flight.
“Oh, I am no argonian, whatever that is. I am a Turian.” As soon as Torrin said his races name the Queen’s shock seems to grow even more.
Qa’taro took notice of the Queen’s shock and asked, “Why is Queen Chaurus so shocked?”
“That is not possible! The origin of our kind! Your telling me you are the origin!?” She exclaimed in fear.
“Wait a second our races are related!? You have got to be kidding me.” Torrin sighed.
“Seems too much like a joke. It would be like comparing khajiit to Falmer.” Qa’taro facepalmed.
“It’s reaching a bit but possible that they evolved to take in a new source of food.” Torrin admitted. “Why would she be afraid of me then?”
The Queen quickly hid her fear and snapped. “I’m not afraid, I am angry! The Prophecy will not come to pass! You won’t take my throne!” She managed to pull herself out of the gravity field and charged Torrin with her horn glowing.
“Why would I ever want your throne? Sleep now, your rage is not needed.” Before she could land her attack, he glowed blue once more and the Queen seems to be stuck in place as if in stasis. “Your rage is misplaced.”
“What did you do?” Princess Cadence asked, as Qa’taro was cutting herself and several other ponies free.
“Stuck her in a biotic stasis. I'll be honest though the magic she tried to use might have affected the ability I used.” Torrin admitted.
“You mean that you did something to stop her, but her attempt to use magic cause it to kill her?” Twilight asked. “I tried scanning her after you did that thing, and there’s no pulse or bodily function.”
“It could just mean that she is in a state of shut down until it wears off. We must not jump to conclusions just yet Twilight.” Torrin said. He then starts to clutch his head as if he was in pain.
“Torrin!” Qa’taro and the Mane 6 shouted in concern. Torrin began to fall, but Qa’taro managed to catch him while the 6 gathered around.
“I went a bit nuts with my biotics. So I have to pay the price. I’m glad it’s only pain at least.” Torrin grunted. “I will recover.”
“It is good it is only that much, but we might have a bigger problem,” Qa’taro said while glancing at Princess Celestia as she was cleaning the changeling goo off of herself. After she finished such, her attention turned to the two with a glare.
“Sorry we had to kill a changeling. We had no choice.” Torrin said.
“Everycreature-” She began but…
“Just say “everyone.” It’s easier on ears and makes you sound less like a racist bigot,” Qa’taro interrupted, causing Twilight to hold her breath and started becoming a deeper shade of purple out of fear.
With a sigh, Celestia simply continued. “Everyone has a choice. And you both chose to take a life.”
“You must see that even had we chosen to spare them, someone else could have died from that, someone that didn’t deserve to die. Don’t say we had a choice when we followed our morals and hearts.” Torrin fired back.
“The insects were looking at those mares like vampires looked at prey. Had we not acted, those six would have ended up dead, or made into their thralls,” Qa’taro said. “Believe me, khajiit knows from experience. Very few who have killer intent can be reasoned with, if at all.”
“You're not the one to judge that!” Celestia declared.
“Once more you see only the black and white not the grey. Did you not hear we only took the lives of those about to kill as well? Had we gone for non lethal moves, ponies would be dead. It's not our morals that are at fault here little princess. It's yours for saying we did wrong when all we did was protect even if we killed it was never in anger.” Torrin spat back. “Hate us if you will, but don’t you DARE say you would trade one life for six.”
Celestia was about to retort, but before a word left angry mouth, the Throne Room doors were blasted down by the sound of someone shouting, “Enough!” After which, Luna strode into the room with a glare towards Celestia.
“Heh, to wield the power of the Thu’um without need of the Dragon Tongue,” Qa’taro whispered to Torrin.
“Sounds like she gots a set of massive pipes on her, thats for sure.” Torrin whispered back.
“I’m honestly surprised that of the two of us, it is you, the Elder Sister (need I remind you), that acts foalish enough that I, the Younger Sister, have to try to “beat” some sense into you!” Luna scolded, causing Celestia to recoil and start backpedaling in a combination of shock, fear, and a bit of embarrassment. “You know they are right, but you always wanted things your way. You were the one who wanted day and night to be equal in length, but you never thought how much that would have impacted the world. I object and next thing you know, 1000 year time out where I was able to be corrupted into the Nightmare you insisted I was!”
“Uh, Miss Celestia did do one thing right. When one has to take a life, it should always be called into question.” Torrin interjected. “So that everyone knows it wasn’t done with malicious intent.”
“While I agree with that, her questioning that seems somewhat out of character for what I remember before my “time out.” Luna then began to mockingly mimic Celestia. “Oh, I’m Lady Tia and I’m going to go forth in my 24-karat gold armor and slay creatures that are as sapient as we ponies and did nothing wrong, because Adventure Time!”
“So not only did she overreact to us having to kill to save lives, but she has done the same!?” Torrin exclaimed. “You hypocrite!”
“That was over 1000 years ago,” Celestia tried to protest, but Luna kept going.
“And let’s not forget the “debate” we had last month,” she said. “It should be ‘someone,’ not ‘somepony.’ ‘Modern,’ not ‘Equish.’ And similar non-racist words over pro-racist words.”
“As it should be in any society where more than one race lives.” Torrin nodded in agreement.
“Luna,” Celestia growled.
“What? Gonna threaten me with “time out” much like how you threatened me with it in said debate?” Luna taunted. “Go ahead, I’m sure your student will think your foalish desires are worth banishing your sister again for who knows how long. Am I correct, Twilight?”
“ENOUGH!!!! This has got to stop. Anger will only keep this going.” Torrin sighed.
“Agreed. You both sound like children, squabbling over a sweet roll,” Qa’taro said.
“I...you...Are you telling me, that the whole “Nightmare Moon” story and history was, in actuality, a SIBLING DISAGREEMENT!!!” Twilight bellowed in anger at Celestia.
Trying to brush off the revelation towards her student, Celestia tried to say something calmly. “Now, Twilight-”
“Don’t ‘Now, Twilight’ me!” she spouted back, causing another recoil of fear, shock, and embarrassment
“On the way here they had time to tell me all you have done. You knew they were the keys to harmony, yet never even taught them how to defend themselves? To be honest by all rights i should have you thrown in the dungeons.” Torrin exclaimed. “I however hold no power on this planet. No it's up to your sister how much your deserve.”
“I am the Elder Sister!” Celestia bellowed. “She cannot-” Her complaining was stopped by an axe handle to the snoz, courtesy of Qa’taro.”
“Worse than Thalmor complaining about Talos,” He calmly said.
“While I said I had no power here. Technically you hold the same amount of power over me. I am what is known as a spectre, a agent of my government above the law. While I will normally follow the law here, if their is great need to break it I will break it without a second thought.” Torrin explained. “So under that power, Luna is now to give out your punishment.”
“And with said power, I decree that your punishment will be as follows...someone write this down,” Luna said. Qa’taro pulled out a blank parchment and a small stick of charcoal. “Item 1: The “head” ruler of Equestria [Celestia] is being relegated to the “lesser” ruler position. Item 2: The now “lesser” ruler [Celestia] is no longer allowed to eat cake of any form, except on her birthday (if she even remembers when that is). Item 3: With the exception of basic levitation and the routine of raising and lowering the sun, no use of magic will be used by the lesser ruler [Celestia].”
“If I may at least advise you luna. In case her life comes in danger, you need a exception.” Torrin pointed out.
“Add what your companion said in the exception portion of Item 3,” she instructed Qa’taro.
“Plus while not me adding something to your list I would like to set up some training for what amounts to a army among these people. They are spirits awful!” Torrin said. “Even a fresh from boot could beat anyone in your guard with a little time.”
“Hey!” Shining shouted from his position next to Cadence. “I’ll have you know that I was at the top of my class and nopony within the the Guard could ever defeat me in a fair fight.”
“That just means you were the best of the worst. Not much to brag about.” Torrin commented.
“Add to the fact that the Guard were overpowered by non-ponies and the fights were more than likely unfair, really makes you look like a twig in comparison to the “leaves” you work with,” Qa’taro added.
“You have to practice in both fair and unfair conditions to really be able to be called the best.” Torrin pointed out.
“I...Why...You…” Shining growled before begining to charge at Torrin. Qa’taro quickly stepped in and gave him a sharp kick, before grabbing around his midsection and slammed him on the ground hard. He then grabbed his back legs, bend over backwards and slammed him on his ribs. After that, Shining could only stay in his last position and girlishly squeal in pain. “See? You can’t expect everyone to fight fair.” Torrin said.
“Serves you right for actually thinking I didn’t know the mare who...babysat me?” Twilight asked, looking to Torrin and Qa’taro for confirmation on her speaking. Qa’taro nodded.
“Overblown ego, moments of thinking he is always right, ready to jump to conclusions,” Cadence listed. “Yep, that’s the dork I fell in love with.” She then turned to Luna. “Let’s postpone the wedding for a week or two. I need to have some choice words and...some fun with my fiance.” She snagged the pained captain in her magic and drug him out of the room.
“Well that’s a riot!” Torrin chuckled a bit.
“I think we all need to take time to rest and recover from the whole situation,” Luna said. “Everyone but you three-” she pointed her hoof at Qa’taro, Torrin, and Twilight “-go and rest. I need to speak with them...privately. With that, the gathered ponies left the throne room and Luna led the trio out a different way.
The door to Luna’s office closed with an ominous *boom,* despite it being a normal door.
“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Torrin said with a sigh.
“Perhaps it was the “boom” we heard,” Qa’taro guessed.
“Or the strange smirk Luna has,” Twilight added.
Torrin nodded, feeling kind of weird. “Huf huf. I must be out of it if i’m out of breath.”
“Considering the fact that when I scanned Chrysalis, I caught a “reading” of you and...well…” Twilight balked.
“It wasn’t pretty. I know my body was not in great shape but this bad?” Torrin sighed. “It's a miracle I can still fight.”
“Bah, it shouldn’t be too much of a concern,” Qa’taro brushed off. “Khajiit has been nearly decapitated and is still alive and able to fight.” He shook his head for a short bit before his neck popped and he flinched in pain. “Although, it has left this one with nasty neck pain on occasion.”
“Try losing half your lung capacity at best and damage to your heart.” Torrin said.
“And all of a sudden, regret over making comparisons fills this one with grief.” Qa’taro shrunk into a seat.
“As intriguing as your health and near death experiences are, let’s jump onto the subject I feel should be addressed. Primarily, the potential of contact with the worlds you come from.” Luna began.
“Mine is possible but unlikely as while we can travel the stars, your planet is at least 100 light years away. Which means unless a mass relay misfires again, I will be the only one from my universe.” Torrin explained. “You Qa’taro?”
“Unless the Divine Aedra and/or the Daedric Princes can work something for that, no,” he answered. “And even if it was possible, the Imperial Empire, the Aldimeri Dominion, and what’s left of the Daggerfall Covenant wouldn’t be receptive of new races. If anything, they would assume this world is nothing but a portion of Oblivion and would insist on war to “purge” the new Daedric threat.”
“That just mean just in case, I need to get to work training your guards.” Torrin commented. “Anything else?”
“Citizenship,” Luna said simply. “If you desire to help Equestria in any way, then you will need citizenship...and don’t worry. We can provide a form of dual citizenship so you may still remain loyal to your worlds while giving aid here, if you so wish.”
“Sounds good, but I have no ties save a few friends back home.” Torrin said.
“And Qa’taro was but a mercenary, fence, spy, and vampire hunter. No real loyalties or family to think of.” Qa’taro said.
“Even my own race hated me for my powers. So they hold no loyalty for me.” Torrin said.
“I’ll take that as a no then,” Luna said with a bored tone while jotting something down on a nearby notepad.
“My power as a spectre is all I have that could tie me to home, and I plan to drop it.” Torrin added. “Unless you plan to make such a role for pony government?”
“There might be something I could work out, but for now, the project you had in mind should tide you over until such time that a spectre would be needed,” Luna said. “And Qa’taro-”
“This one mostly in skills of combat of various forms, as well as having a bit of a silver tongue for some cases,” Qa-taro answered. “However, the specific skills that involve hunting vampires and the buying and selling of questionable merchandise probably wouldn’t be needed.”
“It's simple my feline friend. You could set up a spy network with that skill as a fence.” Torrin pointed out.
“Setting it up is one thing, maintaining it and keeping corruption from infecting it...not something Qataro enjoy’s,” he said. “Khajiit prefers the actual dirty work over leading any day.”
“Understandable,” Luna commented. “Tia only loved two things: chess, and cake. In other words, she prefered to have others do the dirty work while she sat on her fat flanks and directed from afar...mostly.”
“So not even willing to do anything dirty herself? What a coward.” Torrin said.
“She did it under a lie that she was helping ponies learn, a lie she believed herself,” Luna agreed.
“Then she was no leader worthy of respect.” Torrin sighed. “I’m going back to the wreck of my ship. With luck some of the armors and weapons survived the crash.”
“And what of Qa’taro and I?” Twilight asked.
“To answer your question, Qa’taro should accompany you and Torrin to Ponyville, as I’m guessing that is where his shipwreck is,” Luna told them. “However, how a ship got so far inland is what I want to know...at a later time that is.
“It’s a quick answer so I can do it now. It's not one that sails the seas, but the stars.” Torrin explained.
“Curious. This one wonders if the vessel has hints of Dwemer influence,” Qa’taro said as he stood up. Before he started to walk off, he turned to Luna. “And Qa’taro hopes this isn’t an insult, but for some reason, Khajiit can feel the power of this world’s moon, or moons...it must have to do with the phases of the moons on Nirn when I was born.”
“Wait! Moons? As in plural?” Twilight asked, a frenzied look in her eyes.
“Yes?” Qa’taro answered hesitantly. He was suddenly enveloped in a purple aura and Twilight left the room with him floating behind while she started asking question after question.
“Twin moons likely as that is the most stable set up after one moon. Huf huf.” Torrin’s breathing was a bit ragged.
“Of course,” Luna said. “It should be understandable that those from lands and worlds unknown have different customs and probably different phenomenon. Now, I’m not giving any command right now, but I think it would be best if you rescue your feline friend and get to Ponyville with Twilight and the other Bearers.”
“Sounds good. Huf huf. But not sure I got it in me to move fast. Cursed broken air sacs!” Torrin exclaimed. “Sorry that's what I meant by losing half my lung capacity.”
“Then for now, I shall assist you.” Her horn glowed blue before the feeling of being disassemble into millions of pieces and then reassembled elsewhere hit him.
“Ugh and I thought the feeling of a biotic charge was bad.” Torrin looked quickly for his new friend. What he saw was borderline hilarious and practically embarrassing...for his feline friend.
Qa’taro was hanging upside down in a blue aura while his armored shirt was being examined by Rarity, all while the Mane 6 watched. Add to the fact that he was wearing more of an armored skirt rather than pants...
“Uh Rarity. Luna said we all should head back to ponyville.” Torrin said quite loudly. “So please let him down.”
“What?” She said, looking at him in slight confusion, before brightening up. “Oh, of course.” She then absentmindedly dropped Qa’taro on his head, her attention brought back to the armored shirt.
“We better get going. Huf huf.” Fluttershy was the first to really notice Torrins ragged breathing.
“Oh my! Are you okay?” She asked.
“Its some old internal damage acting up. I will live.” Torrin explained. “It’s not like you can fix broken air sacs.”
“Actually, we can, if we have enough understanding of the patient’s body,” Twilight said. “And no, the scan I unintentionally did didn’t give me enough knowledge to heal the damage I saw.”
“Would a focused one do the trick?” Torrin asked. “Would be nice to get healed.”
“Yes, but now isn’t the time or place, and it would be best for a medical professional to do the scanning and healing spell.”
“Of course Twilight. As I said. I will live.” Torrin said with a smile.
“Regardless, it would be best if you get yourself checked up,” Qa’taro said as he stood up from his fall. “Perhaps either after the trip to Ponyville or the rescheduled wedding.”
“Twilight do you think there is such a professional in Ponyville?” Torrin asked.
“Yes, but compared to what we could find in the cities, what Ponyville has is decent at best, basic at worst,” She answered.
“Then perhaps we should delay heading back just yet and look.” Torrin said. “It might be too late if we wait.”
“Sounds promising, but Khajiit believe that you may still need a guide,” Qa’taro said
“Then perhaps most of you should head to Ponyville, while the rest of us find a medical professional.” Torrin reasoned out a plan. “How does that sound Twilight?”
“Yeah, It does,” she agreed. “But who-”
“I’ll do it,” Rarity jumped in. “You do need this world’s currency, if I’m guessing correctly and I have the money to pay for your procedure. Better for that than my thought of purchasing makeup from out of Equestria.”
“We have room for at least one more. Anyone else want to stay?” Torrin said.
“Umm...Me,” Fluttershy whispered nervously. “As disgusting as it sounds, I want to know more about Torrin and how he works. New creatures fascinate me.”
“That actually sounds very noble Fluttershy. I think these two are more than enough so everyone else head back to ponyville. We will meet you there when we are done.” Torrin said.
“Excellent,” Qa’taro said. “Let us start moving and working.” Rarity and Fluttershy started walking to a hospital with Torrin following. The rest went to the train.
“So what is this visit going to involve?” Torrin asked as they went to the hospital. “They aren’t going to try to dissect me are they?”
“Only ponies who are mentally unsound would do that,” Rarity answered. “With the spell that Twilight spoke of, the only cutting that may or may not be involved would be surgical kinds.”
“Then I better make sure they know to avoid my plates then.” he replied. “Likely you don’t have a metal to cut through them.”
“The spell should tell them where it may be best to do any cutting, if that happens,” Fluttershy said. “If not, a warning before...hand?” She gave Torrin a questioning glance.
“Yes that's the right word.” Torrin nodded. “I plan on telling them as much as i can before they start.”
“Of course they may take a skin and blood sample so that in cases of surgery, they can replicate them to allow for blood transfusions and skin grafting, should they be needed.” Rarity paused in walking and shook her head. “All of this talk of blood will either require two tons of ice cream or a hard drink or two to forget it.”
“Fair enough not all can take it.” Torrin amidted. “So is this the place?”
They all took a look at the building they were in front of. “Yes, this should be it.” Rarity strode to the door and opened it for Torrin and Fluttershy. When they entered, they found it was busy, more than likely for those injured from the invasion, civilian and military. However, when one of the nurses saw Torrin and the other two, she walked up to them.
“May I help you three?” She asked.
“I am in need of medical care.” Torrin said.
“Alright, we’ll have to get the recently reworked paperwork out for you to work with,” She said as she went to one of the administration desks. “Luna, having been given primary “stewardship” over Equestria, she instituted a few laws to counter ones that most ponies practically ignored. That, and she also informed us of some...one of another race of needing medical assistance for accumulated war scars on the inside, and assuming it’s you, it’s supposedly long overdue.”
“War scars?” Fluttershy asked, looking at Torrin.
“I’m a soldier Fluttershy. In fact I’m special ops.” Torrin explained. “My powers come with a major cost if I overuse them.”
“Then after this check up and possible surgery, we may need to schedule more check ups and needed surgeries,” the nurse said, as she handed over the paperwork.
“Oh I’ll likely need at least two. My amp is a big issue.” Torrin explained as he took and quickly filled out the paperwork. “There we go. Should have everything I need to put and some of the extra’s I felt i needed to say.”
“Hmm,” the nurse said. “Let’s see, plates over major organs, cellular structure not composed of material found in the life of this world, no dissection, skin, plate, and blood samples to be taken for both research and any medical needs, and finally…” Her face contorted in confusion before giving Torrin a nod and taking the paperwork towards the back. “Take a seat while I find a...trustworthy team to handle your needed assistance, which may take a while, with the invasion that happened, we’re a little backed up.”
“Take your time, I have lived with this for ten years. A few more hours can’t hurt.” Torrin said taking a seat.
“As true as that initially sounds, it isn’t,” Rarity said. “Take your time, but not too much.”
“That’s of course what I meant. My life is in no immediate danger is my point.” He said. After waiting roughly for half an hour, Torrin was called to the back by another nurse. He was given a minotaur hospital gown and a private spot to change. After a quick change, he was brought to the OR, and the nurse gave him a quick scan. After the scan, Torrin gave a summed up version of his biotics and the pockets of element zero through his body as the nurse readied a strong sleeping spell. Within a few seconds, Torrin was in a deep sleep.
Meanwhile
“For the last time, you are not going to touch the Wabbajack!” Qa’taro shouted at Twilight as the train was going down the mountain.
“Think of all we can learn from its strange magic!” Twilight whined.
“That’s about as bad as purposefully asking to go mad!” Qa’taro yelled. “In a roundabout way, this one has seen madness personified and his tendencies!”
“Do you mean Sheogorath?” Pinkie asked suddenly.
“Pinkie, you are so random,” Rainbow said as she smirked at Qa’taro as he had to physically and psychologically fight of Twilight and PInkie.
“And who’s this Sheogorath, if Pinkie is right?” Applejack asked.
“Sheogorath is the Daedric Prince of Madness, one who delights in tormenting men into madness, and that’s when he’s relatively normal,” he answered. “If he’s in a bad mood, your intestines would make good jump ropes for him, and in his kinder mood, that’s the issue this one has.”
“Disgusting!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash said in obvious disgust.
“He sounds like a big meanie!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“How can he even get away with that!?” Twilight said in shock.
“He’s a Daedric Prince, which is to say that he is practically a god in all but title. He cares not (entirely) for mortals and only cares for himself.”
“So...could the Princesses defeat him?” Rainbow asked.
“Short version, not in the long run,” Qa’taro said. “He is more than roughly 50 or so times stronger than both, and the only thing they could do is keep him off the mortal plane of existence and in the Shivering Isles.”
“What!? That means he surpass all the villains the princesses faced in their prime, combined!?” Twilight nearly fainted at the thought.
“Not sure how powerful these villains are, but yes,” he answered.
Twilight fainted to the shock of everyone.
“That would easily have been a new level of doozy if I felt him on my Pinkie Sense.” Pinkie said.
“Not sure what that is, but Qa’taro will just nod and agree.” He then gave a slight sweeping look at the four ponies. “Since the trip to Ponyville may take a while, what do each of you do for work?”
“I run Sweet Apple Acres,” Applejack boasted. “We grow the best apples in all of Equestria.”
“I’m the weather manager, and soon to be Wonderbolt,” Rainbow proudly said.
“Wonderbolts?” He looked towards her questioningly.
“You don’t know about the WONDERBOLTS!!!” She flew up to his face with a shocked expression.
“Dashie! He just arrived as he is from a different dimension!” Pinkie said.
“Oh, my bad,” she said as she rubbed her head in embarrassment.
“Just remember that next time you tell Khajiit and he’s confused,” Qa’taro told her. “And now you, Pink one?”
“Yes? Whats up?” Pinkie said.
“Uh, your job? What is it?” He asked.
“I make sweets at Sugarcube Corner. I also take care of the Cake twins.” Pinkie said.
“A baker and a babysitter...This one of course find it disgusting that these Cakes pay you to sit on babies.” He paused before he started chuckling to himself. “Qa’taro can do it for nothing...now why does my head feel suddenly foggy.”
“I don’t know. It happens to me sometimes too.” Pinkie said.
“Possible side effects of being sent here by Sheogorath,” he guessed. “It may also explain my sudden craving of cheese and quesadillas since I woke up in the palace dungeons.”
Twilight started to stir only to faint again at the mention of cheese. “She faints at power level differences, and now concerning cheese,” Qa’taro commented.
“There must be a reason my new feline friend.” Pinkie said. “Something to ask latter.”
“Well, I ain’t gonna question it too much,” Applejack said. “It just means that most of my meals will have cheese on the side rather than in it, just in case Twi ends up visiting for dinner.”
“I will keep this in mind when I plan your party big guy.” Pinkie said.
“Keep the cheese hidden, yet present, and make sure there is plenty of mead.”
“Mead?” Rainbow asked.
“An alcohol that is made from fermented honey, and can sometime have fruit mixed in,” Qa’taro explained. “Sweet as a summer’s morning and can kick you harder than a giant’s foot.”
“Huh, sounds like something I could try to make and see how it works for sales,” Applejack thought out loud. “If it tastes as well as you claim, it could possibly sell better than our family cider.”
“Just so long as I can get a mug of both to test and see which tastes better and which stays or becomes my favorite,” Rainbow said.
“Noted big guy. I will see what I can do.” Pinkie smiled.
“This one thanks you. Now, I don’t mean to be rude, but Khajiit has decided to take a nap,” Qa’taro said. “In the meantime, see to your traumatized friend.” He then stood and climbed into a bunk in their car. Within seconds, he was out.
“What’s going on? Why am I here?” Torrin said as he sees he is in some kind of strange space.
“Better question. Where is “here?” And why is Qa’taro here as well?” He heard Qa’taro say behind him.
“Well they knocked me out to perform the surgery. Then I ended up here.” Torrin said.
“This one is taking a catnap...take from that what you will,” Qa’taro joked.
“Who brought us here? Why are we here in this strange space?” Torrin pondered out loud.
A brightly colored orb appeared in front of the two and spoke. “I have, and it is to warn you both.”
“Now i know it must be the spell. How can a orb talk!?” Torrin starts to freak a bit.
“It is because I’m not an orb.” The orb spoke before brightening and showing a large, glowing, golden dragon. “For I am Akatosh, the god of Nirn’s sun, the god of time, and the father of all Nirn’s dragons.”
Upon hearing those words, Qa’taro fell to his knees in a bow and began muttering in an unknown tongue. Torrin on the other hand...
“A god? There are no such thing as gods!” Torrin exclaimed.
“In your dimension, that may be true. But that doesn’t mean that is multiversally true,” Akatosh calmly responded. “Before I continue, Khajiit, I wish to feel your Thu’um. It has been literal ages since I felt Talo’s power.”
“Thu’um? What the heck is that?” Torrin asked confused.
“Then listen carefully,” Qa’taro said as he stood up. “Yol Toor Shul!!!” He shouted, blasting flames at Akatosh.
“Ahh! Such power. If you were born as dovahkiin, then your power would have rivaled many of my children,” Akatosh complimented him as the flames burned before extinguishing. “Now, the warning I spoke of. In actuality, two warnings.”
“What is it you have to tell us?” Torrin says able to tell this “being” is powerful to say the least.
“Patience, armored one. The dreamscape is timeless, but regardless, time will be shortly short.” Akatosh chuckled at his joke. “A thousand years in the past, an Empire existed that was ruled by a harsh leader by the name of Sombra.”
“Getting dark immediately,” Qa’taro commented.
“For fear of his literal dark reign spreading like a plague from Peryite, the two sisters struck him down and banished him to the shadows of this realm. But not without cost. He cursed the Empire in the last second to follow him into the shadows.”
“Let me guess, this empire is soon to return?” Torrin asked.
“Your perception seems to rival that of Shepard himself. Yes, that is true, but alongside the Empire’s return, it’s Dark Emperor returns as well. When the sisters call for Twilight, then upon her departure, you must board the soonest train heading into the Frozen North.
“I at least can do one better. They see me as a friend, so i could be with them when they arrive.” Torrin pointed out.
“As for the second warning, Molag Bal is seeking to conquer Equis.”
“How could this come about?” Qa’taro asked in shock.
“Sheogorath unintentionally brought enough of his influence through you that Oblivion is now a part of Equis as it is a part of Nirn.”
“Why do I have a bad feeling about that?” Torrin moaned.
“It is because Molag Bal, in his curiosity over Equis, he has discovered other Realms, ones he will find agents to do his will to conquer this one. Fortunately, I have also alerted the Guardians of those realms of Molag’s ambition. So when one of his agents arrive to either sow chaos or bring destruction, aid will come.”
“The catch? There is always a catch.” Torrin said.
“The only catch is an oath, one that the khajiit has already made. Do you swear by your ancestors, that you shall protect those who cannot do so themselves and to do so in my name?!”
“Other than the in your name part, that is already in my job description as a specter. So I swear. This doesn't not mean I trust you as a being, just that I wish to do what I can.” Torrin said.
“Very well. As a token and sign of the oath you have made, upon your neck an amulet of my worshipers shall be placed. So long as it remains on your neck and you fulfil your oath, then the affliction your gift curses you with shall be weakened, but not banished.”
“Your telling me this thing will make my amp deal me less damage on overheat!?” Torrin exclaimed.
“Of course, but remember this: I am bound should ye do what I say, but if ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” Akatosh flapped his wings and took flight through space before vanishing in a flash of light.
“Ok that is amazing.” Torrin smiled. “How will I explain this to the doctors though?”
“Khajiit finds that the truth works best,” Qa’taro said. “It is good for the soul.”
“How do I wake up from this though!?” Torrin starts to panic a bit.
“Like this!” Qa’taro’s hands burst into flames and fired a fireball at him. Just as it was about to impact...
Torrin jolted awake in the hospital. “Why do i feel so powerful?” he wondered. “That crazy cat tried to burn me alive!”
“Who? What? Huh?” He heard from a nearby chair. Rarity was shaking herself awake while checking her reflection in a mirror. “Oh My Stars! My hair is all messed up! And Torrin just woke up too! He must think I’m hideous!” She said in a panic.
“Relax Rarity. You look great.” Torrin said.
“GREAT! I’m supposed to look fabulous, not great!” She started tearing up. “I can’t be here with my hair like this! Fluttershy!” She yelled out while rushing out of the hospital room.
“What the heck did I do!?” Torrin exclaimed.
A nurse opened the door and asked, “Who was yelling?” “One of my guests just left.” Torrin explained.
“One of the Elements?” She asked with an annoyed deadpan tone. Torrin nodded and the nurse sighed. “Typical Elements. They save the world a few times over and, perhaps subconsciously, they think they can break rules and laws with little to no consequence.” She then moved to the side, allowing Fluttershy to enter the room. “With a few exceptions,” she added before leaving.
“I heard Rarity shouting. Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked.
“It's fine, Rarity just got a bit overboard about her hair.” Torrin said.
“I DON’T GO OVERBOARD!!!” They both heard Rarity bellow, causing the hospital to shake.
“Be careful what you say about her looks or reputation,” Fluttershy whispered. “She had a terrible time as a teenager, acne and sometimes overly bad hair days.”
“I see. Fair enough thanks for the warning.” Torrin said. “Now about this amulet?” He moved his hand to the amulet and examined it. It seemed to be a simple leather rope with an intricately carved wooden arrowhead.
“That necklace looks pretty,” Fluttershy said. “Where did you get it?”
“From a possible friend. As a sign of my oath.” He said.
“Who, and what oath?” She asked.
“It’s a long story. I have sworn to keep others safe.” Torrin said. “Not sure if I should say who.”
“If you’re uncomfortable about saying it, then it can wait,” She said before gently laying him down in the hospital bed. “And it’s currently late, so you can get some more rest before you tell.”
“But i just woke up!” Torrin whined a bit.
“And if I know anything, you’ll need what rest you can get before the pain comes back as hard as Dashie crashing headfirst into the dirt at Mach 4.
“What pain? I was never in any pain?” Torrin asked confused.
Fluttershy sighed before counting down on her feathers. “Three, two, one.” At the last word, he started to feel like he just downed a bottle of ryncol, massive waves of pain hit every cell in his body.
“AGH!!!!!!!!!!” His muscles tense as he fights the pain.
“I don’t have to say it, so get what rest you can,” she said as she walked to the door. “I’ll go and see if a nurse can-” The door suddenly burst open, Rarity walking in with her hair and makeup fixed.
“There we go!” She exclaimed. “Now, what did I miss?” Torrin stared at her for a few seconds with a pained ‘Really?’ expression, before two Royal guards walked in and gently pulled her out. The door then closed, showing Fluttershy imbedded into the wall with her eyes rotating in dizziness.
“Agh! So much pain! Why does it hurt so much!” Torrin screamed. A nurse rushed in, slamming the door open on Fluttershy again, and quickly cast a numbing spell. Without any more words, she walked out after checking something off of a clipboard. The door closed again and he saw that Fluttershy looked flattened, almost as if she was one of those old human cartoon characters.
“Fluttershy? Are you ok? OW!” Torrin exclaimed still in quite a bit of pain. “How much did you have to fix?”
Fluttershy pulled herself out of the wall and began to drunkenly sway around. “Oh, Angel. My Angel, why do you have wings?” She drunkenly sang before collapsing into unconsciousness.
“Can we get a doc over here. She might have minor head trauma. OW not again!” Torrin exclaimed.
“To think that your technology runs on the power of storms and not souls,” Qa’taro commented as he toyed around with an omni tool.
“On electricity and mass effect fields, not storms.” Torrin corrected. “Ya for sure your not getting any tech programs for a while no offence.”
“None taken. With no complete clue on how the Dwemer disappeared, most of Tamriel simply try to understand the basics of their technology before going into what may have caused them to disappear,” Qa’taro explained. “And for you information, your short description of both sound like storms, as in thunderstorms, with lightning and everything.”
“Fair enough. I was in luck though. Found a few intact models of my kind armor, and even a massive supply of omni gel.” Torrin smiled. “With the gel i can make armor worthy of a cabal squad for sure.”
“While that may look like a cheap material, Khajiit will just keep his mouth shut and agree to disagree,” Qa’taro muttered.
“It's a kind of plastic that is stronger than the toughest steel. Lightweight yet sturdy. It would take a rocket to even heavily damage this.” Torrin said.
“Now you are giving Qa’taro thoughts of making fake Glass armor,” he said before accidentally shocking himself with a cat like hiss.
“Oh sorry I didn’t warn you. That tool had a overload program, wouldn’t do a lot of damage to organic material, but would hurt.” Torrin said.
“Understandable. I at least understand why that is where it is in the device.”
“We would want to test it on magical barriers to see if it has any effect. For research.” Torrin said. “I will have to work with the omni gel carefully.”
“Are we both talking about the same thing or are we in our own little worlds?” Qa’taro suddenly asked.
“Well I went off on a tangent. Sorry.” Torrin said with a sheepish look on his mandibles. “Now then go ahead and see if any of these models have things you can use. Never know what could come in handy right?”
“Even if this one hardly understand most of your technology,” Qa’taro said as he opened a crate and pulled out the first thing he saw, a phaseton. “Like this?”
“That’s a phaseton. A assault rifle common among Turian soldiers.” Torrin explained. “It’s a ranged weapon.”
“Ah,” Qa’taro sighed. “So...which end is business end and where can Qa’taro aim, so he can fire off one shot safely...for personal opinion on weapon?”
“The barrel is on the front end. To fire pull the trigger once as if you hold it with a amtoucic weapon like the phasteon, it will fire multiple rounds.” Torrin explained. “Aim along the top of the weapon.”
Qa’taro did as instructed, and fired, accidentally firing two shots, but he seemed impressed. “Interesting. The projectile flys more straight than an arrow or a bolt.”
“Do you like it? Funny enough this is one of less accurate guns. Still more so than most of its type mind you.” Torrin said.
“When comparing these guns to a bow or crossbow, accuracy is much easier with one of those than this.” He pulled his crossbow off of his back.
“Fair point. Your in luck as that gun seems to be set on cool down. Had it been set to need thermal clips, it would only work for so long.” Torrin noted.
“Thermal clips? Cool down? This one lack’s understanding,” Qa’taro said.
“Most weapons bac home use disposable heat sinks called thermal clips, think of it like the weapons ammo. With it set to cool down, all you have to do is make sure not to have it overheat and it will last a long time, ten years before new ammo is needed.” Torrin explained.
“Sounds fascinating.” Qa’taro looked over the weapon in curiosity. “Is it okay for Qa’taro to learn how to use this and maybe other weapons of your arsenal?”
“Yes so long as you promise me not to use them out of malice.” Torrin said.
“If Qa’taro was to harm someone out of malice, he has his own weapons for that,” he said. “And remember the keyword: if.”
“Alright then. We can start with your aim with the phasteon.” Torrin said, standing up and adjusting Qa’taro’s. “An assault rifle is not meant to be used at a massive long range. It’s meant to bring bullets down range quickly. So to focus your fire. Relax your mind and aim. Short bursts of three to five are best.”
Qa’taro aimed down the sights and just as he was about to touch the trigger, a loud, “Hey Guys!” sounded out behind him, causing him to accidentally pull the trigger and send a burst of shots inside the ship. Both Torrin and Qa’taro dove for cover as the shots ricocheted around the room before stopping after a few seconds.
“Who is there!? Show yourself!” Torrin said tensing up.
“It’s me, Pinkie Pie!” she said as she suddenly appeared on Torrin’s head. “Oh, by the way, do you want these back?” She shook her tail and a small pile of bullets fell out of it.
“You can keep those Pinkie, when used up they aren’t much good.” Torrin said. “What brings you here Pinkie?”
“Plot convenience!” She exclaimed. “Twilight was just informed to get you two and the rest of us. How I know this, despite not being told yet, only Sheogorath knows. Anyway, plot convenience over! Pinkie Vanish!” She threw a cupcake on the floor, causing a large pink cloud of smoke to puff up. When the smoke cleared, she was gone, leaving a small platter of cupcakes and a note.
Torrin goes to pick up the note and reads it. ‘These are for Torrin only. Dextro based stuff. Enjoy!’
Torrin takes one and eats it. “Wow, she really knows her stuff.”
“Unfortunately, her Oblivion damned madness does unintentionally waste ammunition,” Qa’taro said as he swept up the bullets.
“Its fine, the weapon still has a lot of ammo in it. Say do you like long range combat?” Torrin asked.
“Yes, but having back up weapons and such are not bad either.”
“Go ahead and break open the crate labeled raptor.” Torrin said. Qa’taro did as instructed. Pulling out another rifle from the box, he examined it.
“Aside from range and maybe other obvious features, what is this thing’s difference from the assault?” He asked.
“A scope as a starand for one thing. This model take some practice to touch at long range, but it has a modest clip size and can fire as fast as you pull the trigger, it’s got a bit of weight to it though without being modded with lighter materials.” Torrin explained.
“Qa’taro has handled heavier...including a man so fat that his belly swallowed a friend’s sword whole.” He commented with wide and disgusted eyes.
“Why not give it a try?” Torrin offered.
Qa’taro pulled the weapon to his shoulder and took aim down the scope. Just as he put his finger on the trigger, they heard, “Hey, Taro? Torr?” Causing him to accidentally pull the trigger. There was a ricochet sound and they saw Applejack lacking her hat and seemingly missing a small patch of hair on her head.
“Sorry Applejack. We were testing weapons in here.” Torrin said.
“It’s alright...for now,” She said as she picked up her hat (now missing a small chunk of the brim) and put it back on her head. “Twilight told me to get you two and come to the train station.”
“Alright. Qa’taro, grab as many thermal clips as you can carry in your pack ok?” Torrin said.
“Understood!” He grabbed his side pack and backpack and did such.
“We will be ready shortly.” Torrin said. “I want to be prepared.”
“Understood, we’ll be waiting.” Applejack then galloped off
“Let’s go Qa’taro!” Torrin exclaimed.
Several hours later, in the Frozen North
“Did I mention how much my kind HATES the cold!” Torrin whined.
“Don’t be such a milk-drinker,” Qa’taro said. “This is nothing compared to the cold of the Soul Cairn. Qa’taro had to go in there once with another vampire hunter, and it isn’t pleasant...especially since you have to offer up part of your own soul as as an entrance fee.”
Torrins eyes go wide at that. “Ok that's a bit darker than I care to hear.”
“On the bright side, Qa’taro got that soul portion back and he can now travel in and through said realm as he wishes.”
“Can we not talk about that?” Twilight asked. “As fascinating as that sounds, we’re already on edge about trying to save an ancient empire from a dark king. We don’t need soul cars or whatever fouling our mood up even more.”
“I agree with Twilight on that. This Sombra while he sounds more angry at the world than evil, seems a big deal.” Torrin said. “I say that due to seeing that had I not had people that cared about me at all in my life, I could have ended up just as much a monster as he has been forced to be.”
“What do you mean by that?” Rainbow asked. “If anything, he’s just another villain. Why care about him?”
“Open your mind and listen. No one starts a villain. Likely the hate for the fact he was not a “true” pony caused people to see him as a monster, which over time caused him to be forced to take on that role that others have given him.” Torrin explained. “I could have ended up the same way, a father that hates me, a dead mother, and most my kind thinking me cursed by the spirits just for my powers. Can you see my point Rainbow?”
“Oh...umm...what?” Rainbow said.
“To summarize what our armored friend said, no one is born evil. They become evil after a series of unfortunate events...and why am I suddenly thinking of lemons?” Qa’taro rambled.
“Exactly. It might not be too late for sombra. I’m not saying risk your life for him but at least see his pain.” Torrin said. “The pain that caused him to become the dark king.”
“If we put it that way, almost anyone of us could have become a villain, under the correct, or rather incorrect, circumstances,” Rarity said.
“My oath would keep me from doing so, but yes for the most part.” Torrin agreed.
“Now, so aside from freezing our cheese wheels off, what is our plan for taking down this Sombra?” Qa’taro asked. “Because, as far as khajiit can tell or guess, blades and bullets can only do so much.”
“Well I could set him up with some of my powers. What then though?” Torrin said.
“I think our best bet is to get into the Empire and figure out any weaknesses there-”
“Why is there a massive pink dome over the empire?” Torrin asked confused. “Is it some sort of magic shield?”
“Yeah,” Twilight answered, after giving Torrin a short glare for interrupting her. “I was told that Shining Armor and Cadence are there right now.”
“Have those two managed to get married yet?” Qa’taro asked. “Never heard any public announcement of a new prince or whatever.”
“That’s because they are already married, as I had to find out after the fact. Stupid brother, pulling the wool over my eyes because of maintaining security,” Twilight grumbled. “It wouldn’t have been hard to send one of those timed message things to tell me that my old foalsitter is now my sister-in-law.”
“I see. They wanted to have a public one to show the stability of Equestria.” Torrin said. “Makes sense.”
Qa’taro started humming in contemplation, getting weird looks from everyone in the car.
“Anything to add Qa’taro?” Torrin asked.
“I’m just thinking about what we were told about the Empire,” he said. “How positive emotions, like love and happiness, are radiated from the Empire.”
“Makes me wonder how Sombra could have ever fallen, if that was all that come from here.” Torrin noted. “You likey are thinking of something else?”
“Not of immediate relevance,” Qa’taro said. “Regardless of how he fell, how he managed to change a place of such emotions into a place of hatred and despair is what we need to know.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it already had the cracks forming, and he just punch a hole of fear through them.” Torrin stated.
“That aside, we’ll need to head into the Empire to see how Sombra can possibly be defeated,” Twilight said.
“Well yes, that much was never in doubt.” Torrin said shivering like mad.
“So, will the train pull into the Empire?” Rarity asked. “I don’t think Torrin can stand this cold any longer.” Shortly after she said that, the train slowed before jolting to a stop...a good mile or so away from the shield.
Qa’taro then began laughing. “Looks like you’ll have to endure the cold,” he said, before lighting one of his hands on fire. “Or I can give you the occasional roasting to keep you warm.”
“Shutting up and running!” Torrin said.
“Then shut up and run, you piece of hardened, blue shit!” Qa’taro shouted, firing off a small burst of flames past Torrin’s face.
Torrin is like a blur running so fast he simply passes through the barrier.
Qa’taro then turned his predatory gaze on the rest of the car’s occupants. “You all need to get going as well! And forget your luggage!” He shouted, causing everyone to rush out of the car, Applejack having to drag Rarity while she was complaining about her clothing and makeup. Qa’taro then casually exited the train while chuckling. “Works every time.”
In the Empire
Qa’taro entered the shield while carrying an incapacitated Shining Armor on his shoulder. “You really know how to be stupid, don’t you,” he said. “You should have seen everyone running from the train as if a madman with a torch and a bloody axe was chasing them.”
“That’s what got me going out there in the first place!” Shining retorted.
“It’s too cold for anyone to run outside right now.” Torrin said. “So what we need to do is plan.”
“Alright, Qa’taro will lecture him later about running towards danger without backup,” Qa’taro said. He then dropped Shining on the ground and kicked him towards Torrin.
“Shining how is Cadence holding up? Its likely not easy on her to use up so much magic.” Torrin said. “Qa’taro why did you kick him to me?”
“His horn is covered in crystals harder than stalhrim and it’s blocking his magic,” he said. “And if you can’t tell, I tried getting it off, but look what it did to my axe!” He pulled out his axe and showed the chipped and cracked blade.
“I can try, but the risks for failure are high. If i try a biotic kick it could work, or could break a bone. Even if that works, my amp will be heated a great deal due to ho much energy i would have to put into it. If that's the case, I can’t do the other thing I wanted to do.” Torrin said. “I could hold a biotic barrier for long enough right now to give Cadence a chance to rest and recover her magic. Not forever, but for a good while”
Qa’taro looked between the shield, Shining, and his axe. “Eh, he could use some time without his magic. It might be a good cure for some of his ego,” he said. “Khajiit at least need his axe either repaired or replaced.”
“Stick to your guns for now. Latter we can get you a replacement.” Torrin said. “Now where is the highest place in the Empire?”
“Well, it should be obvious that the top of the castle,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing up towards the center of the Empire.
“Thanks!” Torrin starts to run to the castle.
“Hey!” Qa’taro shouted, and started after him. “Don’t leave Qa’taro here with babysitting duty! It should be your turn!” Qa’taro chased him through the Empire until they reached the door of the castle.
“If I do that I can’t make a good barrier.” Torrin said as they get stopped by guards.
“Then why didn’t you say so!?” Qa’taro bellowed.
“The magic barrier is already getting weak, I need to hurry.” Torrin exclaimed.
“Why couldn’t you do so when we were at the barrier to begin with!?”
“Who are you and what are you arguing about!?” One of the guards interrupted.
“We came with twilight sparkle, we wish to ease the burden on the one casting the shield.” Torrin said. “Please allow me at least to pass.”
“Let us check with the Princess,” the other guard said. He then entered the castle and left the three there.
“I really didn’t want to have to do this. But If i wait, we could be doomed.” Torrin said. “By the power I hold as one above your laws, let me pass.” He said in a way that spoke of authority.
The guard didn’t flinch, but he stepped aside and said, “If you’re that insistent, I’ll let you past. Just be careful of the other guards. They don’t have to deal with the kind of problems we door guards do, so they may or may not attack on sight.”
“And Qa’taro guesses that if they do, fight back with no lethality?” He asked. The guard nodded and let them pass. “Going to have to use khajiit claws rather than weapons. Still sharp, but less lethal.”
“I do know talon to hand combat. Let's go for stealth where we can.” Torrin said. “I also have a tech program to help with this.”
“More for you and less for khajiit,” Qa’taro muttered.
“I could also give this program to the omni tool I gave you,” Torrin said.
“If it still works with all the tinkering this one has done with it,” he said as he pulled out the tool and fitted it onto his arm.
“You got nothing to lose as far as this.” Torrin said copying the program to his tool. “It’s a tactical cloak.” With a few taps on the tool’s screen, Qa’taro turned invisible...only to trip over his own feet.
“It doesn’t last forever, but can really get you out of a pinch.” Torrin explained. He felt around until he found Qa’taro’s arm and lifted him up. “Now then let's move quickly.” Torrin started to run off.
They walked through the castle, nearly losing each other on occation. Thankfully, for both, Torrin was able to give Qa’taro a crash course on using his omni tool’s radio and tracking device. Their search for a way to the Castle’s central tower took a while, but it gave them a chance to get some of the layout of said castle...and map some of the ‘dangers.’
“Remind Qa’taro to stay away from the castle pantry,” he said into his radio. “Khajiit had a close shave with his nemesis.”
“Duly noted. Now then we are here.” Just as they got with in sight of Cadance, the cloaks gave out.
“Huh? What are you two doing here? I thought the guard said you left with no explanation,” Cadence spoke.
“No time to waste. Drop your barrier, I can take over for a bit.” Torrin said.
“But-”
“No ‘buts,’ your highness,” Qa’taro interjected. “While unsure as to how long you may have gone without food or sleep, this one knows that it is best to not push yourself past your limits. Now get some rest and make sure your staff gets rid of those cucumbers in the pantry!”
Torrin closes his eyes and when he opens them, they glow with power as a purple barrier comes up as the pink one drops. “I will have to reinforce it every once in a while, but I will be fine for at least a day before my amp gets close to overheat.”
“Alright, but what do you mean by the cucumbers?” Cadence asked. “Are they rotten?”
“No,” Qa’taro answered with a shiver of fear. “They exist.”
“If it’s anything like earth cats back in my own dimension. It’s a smell that they give off.” Torrin said.
“Qa’taro’s not sure what scares me about cucumbers, but it wasn’t the smell,” Qa’taro shuddered.
“No need to get rid of them then, just keep them in a place my feline friend can’t see them.” Torrin explained. “I’m so glad I managed to bring a few months rations with me.”
“Even though it will probably take just the rest of the day for the problem to finish,” Qa’taro said. “If the invasion is anything to go by.”
“I have two reasons for the over kill. One is that using my powers makes me need more calories. Two is just in case this takes longer than expected.” Torrin explained.
“Eh, true enough,” Qa’taro said as he started flipping a septim coin. “While you’re maintaining that, I’m going to explore the room.”
“You don’t have to take more than a nap if you wish Cadence.” Torrin said.
“I’ll do so, and hopefully Shining didn’t do something stupid and get hurt,” Cadence said.
“He didn’t get hurt, but the stupid part…”Qa’taro muttered as Cadence left the throne room. He then started looking around the room.
“What's up Qa’taro? Need to explore?” Torrin asked grunting slightly as the barrier took its toll for now.
“Just this room,” he answered. “Qa’taro has a feeling that Sombra may have hidden something that may be important later. Like a journal, an artifact that exposes his weakness...or is his weakness, or even a secret room or so with both.”
“Isn’t that a bit to much like a holo vid?” Torrin sighed. “Well worth a shot.” Torrin looked for a guard. “Guard make sure Cadence is close at hand.”
“Why so?” The nearby guard asked.
“It’s best we switch before we burn out, rather than keep it going tell we are nearly passing out.” Torrin said.
“Got-” The guard started, but a clanging sound was heard, interrupting him. Both Torrin and the guard looked at Qa’taro, who was ‘tapping’ his axe’s handle against the ground.
“What are you doing Qa’taro?” Torrin said.
“Checking for a hidden door or passage,” Qa’taro answered as he kept tapping the ground. “Tapping with a foot, or with these crystal floors, a hard item, one can find a sound difference.”
“Fair enough but seems like a bit out of the way.” Torrin said. “Why would he make a hidden passage.”
“There are some individuals who actually plan things out, rather than make them up as they go along,” Qa’taro said. “This is just a theory, but khajiit is sure that both Celestia and Sombra are the first kind.”
“Ok fair enough, it's not impossible.” Torrin amdited. “I have seen just as many planners during my time in the cabals.”
“But there are moments that plans don’t go as planned because of unconsidered variables, like us,” Qa’taro continued. His tapping slowed as he reached the center of the throne room. “Celestia had her ‘rule’ secure...until we punched right through her plans. Sombra may have anticipated getting free and having to contend with someone for the Empire, but with only ponies in mind.”
“Exactly. Perhaps we can throw a curveball at him.” Torrin said with a smile grunting as it took its toll again.
“You need a respite?” The guard asked.
“My amp is not even halfway to overheat Cadence needs to rest more than me right now.” Torrin said.
“If that’s the case, that means Qa’taro will have to explore the secret passage...if his search methods has found it...which it should be...right here,” he said before taking his axe blade to throne room floor and carving an ‘X’ in the room’s center.
“Ask a guard about how Cadence is doing.” Torrin said.
“You’re standing next to him, you ask,” Qa’taro retorted.
“Is this guard near her to check? I think not.” Torrin said.
“Urgh, Talos preserve us,” Qa’taro muttered. “Guard! Check on Cadence and if she is even remotely awake-” he pulled a green bottle out of his sachel. “-give this to her and get her up here.” The guard saluted, took the bottle, and ran off.
“Sorry for that but we have to be sure to keep the barrier up till we have a permanent answer.” Torrin said.
“Which might be soon,” Qa’taro said. His ears suddenly perked up. “You might want to step away from the door.”
Torrin nods and moves closer to the center of the room, grunting again as the toll of matning the barrier is taken from him again. The door suddenly burst open, with Cadence, Twilight, and Spike arriving in the room
“Either the guard was very fast, or you knew we needed you here, Princess,” Qa’taro said.
“A little of both actually,” Cadence said. “The guard came in and gave me that potion, but just as he was about to say why he came, Twilight entered and told me that she knows how to stop Sombra.”
“Whatcha got Twilight?” Torrin asked grunting a bit louder than before as the toll was taken this time.
“An artifact, which is called the Crystal Heart, is what can stop him,” she said. “Before his defeat, Sombra hid it away so that no one could find it and defeat him, but I believe it is hidden somewhere in the castle.”
“Alright sounds good. Qa’taro do you have a extra one of those potions you gave Cadence?” Torrin said.
“Qa’taro should have a magika potion, a health potion, and maybe a loaf of bread to keep the potions from becoming volatile in the stomach,” he said as he pulled said items out of his satchel. “And khajiit should at least inform Twilight that he may have found either the hiding place or the entry to the hiding place.”
“Really?!” She asked excitedly. “Where?!” Qa’taro pointed to where he carved the ‘X,’ causing Twilight to put a hoof to her chin in contemplation. “Hmm...Sombra kept a secret passage in the throne room…”
“A escape route just in case? Sounds logical.” Torrin said.
“Or to keep an eye on the passage if it was used for hiding something,” Spike said.
Twilight gasped happiness and gave Spike a grateful hug. “That’s it Spike! He must have hidden the Crystal Heart somewhere that only had one entrance and where he could watch! Where would I be without you?”
“Probably holed up in the Canterlot Public Library, doing nothing but reading,” Spike muttered to quietly for her to hear.
“Now that we’ve got a strong theory, we should get searching,” Qa’taro said. “And unfortunately, khajiit doesn’t know how to open the passage.”
“I might have an idea, but you might want to stand back,” Twilight said. She then powered up her horn, but it shortly changed from her standard lavender glow and turned into a sickly green and seemed tinted with shadow. She then shot a black spell at a crystal just above the throne and it cast a shadow over the area Qa’taro marked, and revealed the secret passage...which also turned out to be directly underneath Qa’taro as well.
“Damn my tail to Oblivion,” he said before starting to tumble down the passage’s stairs. Twilight and Spike quickly rushed down after him.
“Cadence, take over for me. I’m going with them.” Torrin said. After a quick gulp of the potions, Cadence raised a barrier, allowing Torrin to drop his and follow down the passage.
“Back! Elbow! Shoulder! UAGH!” Qa’taro shouted as he fell down the stairs and landed on those respective locations as he did so.
“Really? Just ask I could have stopped you with my biotics.” Torrin sighed when Qa’taro finished falling.
“You try asking while your everything is undergoing pain while falling at the same time,” Qa’taro weakly said as he tried to stand up only to stumble like a drunk in the process.
“Need a hand?” Torrin asked helping him up.
“You don’t happen to have an extra foot lying around, do you?” Qa’taro joked as Twilight and Spike got down the stairs.
“Okay, the Crystal Heart should be around here some-” Twilight began before breathing deeply and cringing in disgust. “Eww, what is that smell?”
“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Torrin sighed.
Qa’taro took a few sniffs of the air before his eyes went wide in fear. “Torrin, Twilight, do not hesitate to strike what we see down,” he said as he drew his axe.
“I smell weakness!” A garbled voice yelled from around a corner.
“Alright I got it.” Torrin pulls his rifle from his back.
“THERE YOU ARE, MORTAL!!!” Yelled a red and black skinned creature as it charged out of it’s cover and towards the group. Torrin responded quickly and put a skull-full of bullets into it, knocking it down and killing it, before it dissolved into a purple mist.
“Daedra...Should have known Molag Bal would have wanted to aid someone of a dark disposition,” Qa’taro sneered.
“Or perhaps he wants to be sure Sombra stays dark.” Torrin said.
“Six of one, half dozen of the other,” Spike said. “Regardless of why, we need to get past however many of those things there are to save the Empire.”
“Couldn’t agree more,” Twilight said as she powered her horn with a spell. “You two ready?” Qa’taro looked at Torrin and vice versa, both having determined gazes on their faces. Both shook the other’s hand before nodding in confirmation.
“Then let’s go,” Twilight said. The group rounded the corner and found the hallway choked with a good dozen or so Daedra.
“I got this!” Torrin fires off a warp attack at the group of daedra. The half dozen in range braced themselves, only to see their armor glow purple for a moment. They began to laugh, but said laughter was interrupted by Qa’taro, who imbedded his axe into the closest’s shoulder. The daedra was shocked and dazed from the strike that when Qa’taro pulled his axe out, the daedra stumbled away, trying to stay alive. Before he got far, he was lifted up by Qa’taro, who let out a savage tiger roar and slammed the back of the creature on his knee with a sickening crunch, before rolling him off.
Acting fast, Torrin pulls out his side arm and opens fire with both his weapons at the same time at the rest of the horde. The weakened daedra were mowed down and the others were jolted by the bullet impacts. He stopped his barrage for Qa’taro to charge in, stun one of them, then pick said creature up and slam him into a wall and took his knee to the daedra’s nose.
“Twilight magic support now!” Torrin exclaimed. Twilight shot out several concussive blasts at them, seeming to blind and stun the ones that Qa’taro passed.
Torrin quickly opens fire on the ones twilight hit with great hits rates landing shots in the head.
Qa’taro finished his off by throwing it to the ground and buried his axe in it’s…..
“Ow, right in the nuts. Not many worse ways than that!” Torrin said.
“Serves them right for getting in our way,” Qa’taro said before spitting on one of the dissolving corpses and muttering, “Þú ert dauður!”
“Ok why do you know Icelandic?” Torrin asked.
“Qa’taro spent time with a tempermental Nord that had no regard for personal safety from weapons...other than his own axe,” he answered.
“Ok then. Let’s move on.” Torrin took point as they moved deeper inside. A few minutes of walking, they came to a door that seemed to be oozing fear itself. Qa’taro reached for the handle, but when his hand touched it, his eyes closed suddenly and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
“Great, that idiot triggered a trap!” Sighing torrin also grabs the handel passing out.
Within the Dream Realm
Torrin ‘woke up’ and quickly sat up straight in shock. Looking around, he found himself in a cold looking, arena like area. Lying next to him was Qa’taro, ‘awake,’ but in shock.
“Qa’taro? What’s wrong?” Torrin asked.
“Arkay preserve us...we’re in Coldharbor!”
“That is correct, mortal,” a cold, demonic voice said. [start music] There was a loud crashing sound as a foot that seemed to be an unholy cross between a cloven hoof and dragon claws stepped into view.
“So this is a Realm of Oblivion?” Torrin asked. “How were you able to force us here?”
“That is not necessarily what I did, foolish mortal,” The being said as it stepped into view, being twice Torrin’s height and wielded a demonic mace. “For you see, most of this is just a projection of the cat’s deepest fear, but I am far too real.”
“Oh so a sort of fear trap. Would have no effect on me but it took us to you.” Torrin said. “Let me guess, we have to fight you?”
“You don’t have to fight, but I love it when my victims fight back,” the being said while licking it’s lips. “Dominion comes at a price, and Molag Bal is ready to pay it should he need it.” The mace was swung in the direction of Torrin and Qa’taro.
Torrin dodged to the side and rocketed forward with a biotic charge. While the attack hit, it didn’t seem to bother the Daedric Prince, who simply chuckled and kicked him to the side. “That got close to tickling me,” he said. “You have a skeever’s chance against a dragon when facing the Mighty Molag Bal!” He swung his mace towards Torrin, only to have the mace intercepted by Qa’taro’s axe, but it simply resulted in knocking him back, shattering the axe into unsalvageable pieces, and seemingly crippling his arms.
“Ok ow! That is nuts. By Akotosh, how do we beat this guy!?” Torrin moaned desperate enough for an answer to call upon a god foreign to him.
“Qa’taro has no answer,” he wheezed. “Never in my years as a vampire hunter, have I ever thought I would encounter the lord and creator of such beasts.”
“Now you realize your hopeless situation,” the Daedric Prince taunted. “You shall fall, Sombra will reclaim his throne and conquer Equis in my name, before I add it to Coldharbor. None shall stand in my way!” Molag Bal swung his mace downward towards the two.
“NEVER! Even if I must die I WILL STOP YOU!” Torrin exclaimed. The mace was just about to impact when a bright golden light, soothing to him and Qa’taro, but blinding to Molag Bal.
“GAH! You meddlesome dragon!” The Daedric Prince recoiled from the light, as it shone brighter and enveloped Torrin and Qa’taro. [end music] The fear the two felt was no longer and they felt energized and free.
Back in the Real World
“Ugh, what a horrible nap.” Torrin groaned as he got up.
“This one can only...agree,” Qa’taro agreed before he saw the shattered remains of his axe.
“Wait how did he break your axe in a dream!?” Torrin started to panic a bit.
“When it comes to the Daedric Princes, the line between ‘dreams’ and ‘reality’ can sometimes be blurry,” Qa’taro answered. “At the very least, it was just the axe and not the arms, although they do feel sore.”
“That’s good at least.” Torrin said. “So wait where is everyone?”
Qa’taro opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, two or three purple shadows moved to the two and suddenly jumped out of the ground. [start 2nd song] Qa’taro gave a cat screech and pulled out his own assault rifle. “Survival first, questions later!”
Torrin nods and opens fire only to find the bullets are not doing a whole lot. “SHIT! Bullets are useless!”
“Then claws and fire it shall be!” Qa’taro said, stowing his rifle and lighting his hands on fire before attacking...only to get briefly dogpiled by the strange creatures. Torrin used a biotic charge to close in on the creatures then starts moving with grace, hitting each one with great skill with his talons. While the strikes did little, it was more than the bullets and was more manageable.
“We need a way to deal more damage.” Torrin grunted in between strikes.
Qa’taro blasted the dogpile off of himself with his fire magic, instantly vaporizing the few that dogpiled him. “I guess magic may be our way of clearing these things out.
“That’s good for you, but I have no magic!” Torrin pointed out. He lashed out with his biotics a bit, resulting in some of the creatures getting vaporized as well. “I have to pace myself, but I can help!”
After finding the creatures’ weakness, the fight began to go in their favor. After slaying a good number of the creatures, a good half dozen bigger ones showed up from black, warp-like portals. Qa’taro rushed forward towards them and slung fire at them. While the bigger creatures were getting hit, and therefore hurt, they seemed to absorb the attacks and not seem to react to them, aside from their bellies’ jiggling.
One of them caught Qa’taro off guard and uppercut him so hard to send him to the ceiling, but not hitting it. When he came down and landed hard, one of the other creatures got ready to charge and attack.
“NO!” Torrin lets out a massive shockwave attack. Only for it to be blocked by a pillar of all things. “OH COME ON!”
The creature charged and looked like it was going to body slam. Just as it readied to jump, a young voice called out. “LOOK OUT!” Something of a bronze color rushed by and knocked the creature back, before boomeranging around and going back the way it came. Looking in that direction, there was a young drake that was bronze colored. Said drake was clearly taller than Spike, but was shorter than Torrin and Qa’taro. In his hands was a strange, key shaped weapon, which he held in reverse grip.
“Who are you and why did you save us?” Torrin asked getting a strange feeling about the newcomer.
“I’ll answer that in a moment,” The drake answered. “Take care of your friend, I’ll take care of these monsters!” The drake rushed forward towards the creatures and began to fight them. The drake’s arm almost seemed to be in several locations at once, slicing and blocking the attacks from the creatures.
Torrin nods and helps Qa’taro up. “Are you seeing this, that weapon is hurting them!”
“Yes, and for some reason, khajiit is remembering a long ancient story passed through generations of khajiit. A story as ancient as the tale of the Dragonborn,” Qa’taro responded.
“Please explain.” Torrin asked.
“It is said that the stars are other worlds, but before they came to be, there was only one world. Then, greed for power split the world into fragments, which were rebuilt and lit, becoming the stars. There was mention of a powerful ancient weapon, but the name eludes me. However, the weapon the drake holds seems to put the word on the tongue, but it cannot escape.”
“It seems almost like a keyblade.” Torrin pointed out.
“Keyblade...keyblade...keyblade...KEYBLADE!” Qa’taro shouted, before he jumped out of Torrin’s grasp and began aiding the drake. Within minutes of him jumping in, the creatures were gone.
“Thanks for your help mister?” Torrin asked.
“Please, I’m not old enough to be called mister,” the drake said as his keyblade vanished in a bright, bronze light. “My name’s Ventus, but you can call me Ven.”
“Torrin jo’gon nice to meet you.” Torin let out a talon for him to shake.
“Qa’taro, and this one never thought to meet a wielder of a sacred and ancient weapon, such as yours,” Qa’taro said, with a slight giddiness.
“Umm, what?” Ven said, clearly confused.
“Legend of your weapon has been passed down on his world.” Torrin explained.
“Wait, you’re from another world?!” he shouted in shock.
“Not willingly brought here, for both of us,” Qa’taro pointed out.
“I’m from a whole other galaxy to be honest.” Torrin admitted.
“Wow, but what about the world order?” Ven asked. “With rare exceptions, the worlds are supposed to be secret from one another.”
“Taken out of our hands at least in my case. Had I even tried to keep a low profile I would have starved.” Torrin said.
“And considering their calm, casual reaction to some of us, they assume that we, this one especially, are native to this world,” Qa’taro added.
“Not like we knew about the world order anyway.” Torrin said.
“That makes sense,” Ven admitted. “By the way, how long have those monsters been causing problems?”
“Not even a day. Normal weapons do jack squat so it’s a big problem.” Torrin sighed. “Magic seems to have an effect on the smaller ones though.”
“Alright...what were you doing in this dark, creepy hallway to begin with?” Ven asked.
“Seeking an artifact that would potentially be the means of ending the reign of a dark emperor named Sombra,” Qa’taro said. “Hopefully, our companions have managed to find it and not get caught up in any more daedra, if there were more.” Suddenly, there was the sound of something breaking.
“Wait was that the sound of shattered glass!?” Torrin exclaimed. “Oh CRAP! The barrier!” Torrin took off down the corridor.
“Akatosh, Damn It, Torrin!” Qa’taro yelled. “Let’s go, Ven. I’ll explain more later.” Qa’taro and Ventus took off after Torrin. The corridor led to a spiral staircase, and at the top of the staircase was a mess of a problem.
Twilight Sparkle was trapped in a cage of dark crystals while Torrin seemed to be in an intense grapple with a strange Crystal Monster. To Qa’taro, it looked like a combination of a tall Frost Atronach, dark crystals, and one of the monsters that Ven helped fight off.
“Little help here! This thing is one of the monsters, but on like crack!” Torrin grunted as he held on to the thing’s back.
“Got it!” Ven said as he rushed in and started going crazy on it’s legs, slicing, hacking, and casting spells. Qa’taro decided to try and get Twilight out of her cage, with barely any success.
“Is there nothing I can do? All this power, and I can’t even help my friends!?” Torrin muttered. He was suddenly grabbed, pulled off, and thrown into Ventus, knocking him down and causing him to lose grip on his keyblade. Torrin saw it and quickly grabbed it and tossed it to him. Ven caught it and managed to intercept the monster as it charged towards Qa’taro and Twilight.
Just as Ventus blocked the attack, a bright light started to shine from outside the tower. He took advantage of the light, as it distracted the monster, and managed to give it a solid strike, vaporizing it.
“Is that!?” Torrin exclaimed in shock as he looked outside. Ven followed suit and saw a beam of light coming from the castle’s base to a bipedal figure, who seemed to be redirecting the beam into a patch of darkness.
“Terra!” Ventus shouted before jumping out of the tower and slid down the side of the castle
“Must be a friend of his.” Torrin said.
“Hmm...Terra for Earth, Ventus for Wind...This one would find it funny if he had a friend named Aqua,” Qa’taro joked. After he finished that, a bright light seemed to build from the castle’s base and shoot upwards, forming a new shield and everything turned shiny, including...
“Why does Torrin look so enticing?” Qa’taro said, unaware of his own current crystal form.
“I feel at peace. Why I wonder?” Torrin muttered. He then noticed that he was holding something in his right hand. Taking a look he saw… “Wait is this also a keyblade!?” Torrin exclaimed quite loudly, examining his new weapon.
“Eh?” Qa’taro said, shaking his distraction out of his head and looking at the weapon. “Ironic. Qa’taro loses a melee weapon and you get one. And you normally don’t seem to be the type to fight up close...mostly.”
“Well I can up close. It’s just it’s not my primary fighting method.” Torrin said. “Now what do I use this for?”
“Hmm, a keyblade, combination of ‘key’ and ‘blade,’ well, maybe it’s use is in the name,” Qa’taro said.
“Fair enough. What sort of powers do I now hold I wonder.” Torrin muttered.
“We can worry about that later,” Qa’taro said. “In the meantime, let’s go check on the Princess and that dimwit husband of hers. We can give her the rest and food she may need and give him the brain he definitely needs.”