Ice Veins

The man that stood before Twilight made her feel very uneasy. This was due in no small part to the fact that he had just admitted that he had been one of Rurik’s enemies.

“And just what did you mean by Rurik absorbing your soul?” asked Twilight suspiciously.

“Well, like him I was dragonborn but unlike him however; I was foolish. I lusted after more and more power rather than focusing on my destiny to save Tamriel. I made dark pacts, and I paid for it in the end. Rurik weakened me in single combat; and the entity that I had made pacts with killed my physical body. Rurik absorbed my soul, the soul of a dragon: and here I am today. I am trapped within Rurik, and I see what he sees, unless I choose not to watch what he is doing. He does not even know I am there.” explained Miraak.

“Why don’t you show your face?”

“Because every time Rurik saw me; I wore this mask. This is how he remembers me, and so this is how I appear before you in your dream or to anyone else who I choose to reveal myself to.” replied Miraak.

“Speaking of which, how are you in my dream right now?” Twilight inquired tilting her head in curiosity, at which Miraak chuckled arrogantly.

“I may be dead in the physical realm, but my soul lives on in its full power, which is nothing compared to that of Rurik’s. Think of your new friend as a living, breathing prison for dragon souls. When he learns a new shout and taps into the souls he has absorbed, one of the souls is… executed to give him that knowledge. I have avoided such a fate: why? I do not know. Soon after I was absorbed, I found that I could leave Rurik’s body when he slept, but I could not travel too terribly far, nor could I interact with people or objects. If I ventured too far, an invisible force prevented my escape: I was also able to see into the minds of others, but only when they sleep.” he explained.

“So what has stopped you from convincing someone to kill Rurik and free you.” she asked; her voice still full of suspicion.

“If he dies: then I and every other soul he contains are destroyed with him. I like living. Hence, I keep him alive; in battle I may whisper a suggestion into his mind about an enemy attacking from behind that he cannot see, or suggest to him that he adjust the trajectory on one of his catapults to score a hit that will bring a battle to a faster end. He does not always heed these whispers, ha! He doesn’t even know it’s me. I do this because it benefits me. If he dies, I die, and I prefer being able to live and maybe even have a chance to return to the mortal plane one day. Maybe even redeem myself if I am able.” he replied wistfully.

“What did you mean when you said Rurik suffered a tragedy?” asked Twilight.

“That is not for me to answer. If you really want to know, go and ask Rurik when he wakes up. Just be sure to leave me out of the conversation.” answered Miraak, “Next question, as I can tell you have more.”

“So, why did you reveal yourself to me?”

“Because I am curious: never before have I seen an intelligent unicorn. The ones on Nirn were not sentient as you are and asked fewer annoying questions as a result of not being able to speak. Nor could they use magic, and they were much taller.” answered Miraak in a teasing, arrogant, tone and holding his hand above his head, Twilight snorted in annoyance at the man’s belittling tone.

“Do you always talk down to others as if they are lower forms of life?” she asked with some ire in her voice.

“I do so until said individual proves themselves worthy of being addressed otherwise. You should be honored that I am even speaking with you at all.” he said cynically.

“I will have you know that I am Princess Celestia’s star pupil and one of the most powerful unicorns in all of Equestria!” Twilight growled at the now irritating man. Miraak just chuckled at how easily he had gotten under her skin.

“Please: when I existed in the mortal plane I could suck a dragon’s soul from its body with my voice. Only Rurik has surpassed my power and mastery of the voice; so what makes you think that you are deserving of my respect just because you are the understudy of a powerful magic user? MUL! QAH DIIV!” at Miraak’s shout, a bright, glowing aura surrounded the robed man. The aura took upon the form of a dragon; making him look very intimidating, “You may be powerful, but you are nothing compared to me. As for whom your teacher is: that means absolutely nothing to me: until you earn my respect, I will speak to you however I please.”

Twilight’s blood was boiling, what right did he have to treat her like this?

“Well, at least I get to wake up in a physical body.” growled Twilight. The former Dragon Priest stood silent for a moment as if pondering her response.

“Touché.” Miraak responded sounding genuinely impressed with the comeback before he suddenly began fading into mist.

“What’s going on? Where are you going?!” asked Twilight.

“Rurik is waking up, and I suggest you do the same: we will speak again, Twilight Sparkle. Oh, and you will not remember our little chat when you awake. I cannot have you telling Rurik I am still alive and well; no telling how he may react.” replied Miraak as he finally disappeared with a snap of his fingers.

Twilight felt suddenly felt exhausted and collapsed to the ground, allowing sleep to remove her from her dream world.

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Twilight woke up slowly, the morning light of Celestia’s sun assaulting her blurry vision. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves before turning her head to look at the clock. Much to her annoyance, it was ten in the morning. She had overslept by three hours. She groaned before hauling herself out of bed and making her way into the bathroom, taking a good twenty minutes to get ready for the day, taking a shower and then brushing her teeth and combing her mane. Spike was still sleeping in his basket, and Twilight decided to let the little drake sleep to his heart’s content. She figured that he probably had not slept well over the past few days due to worrying about his adoptive big sister. As she made her way down to the kitchen, she could hear two voices talking in the living room.

One was definitely Rurik, the Nord battle mage’s accent was unmistakeable; the other was somepony she did could not tell. As she listened closer she realized that the voice was that of Duke Steel Shod, the officer that had led the royal guard when the princess had been attacked. When Twilight came to where the two were sitting, she saw that the stallion was out of his steel plate armor, revealing his cutie mark, which was a shield over which were two crossed warhammers. Rurik was wearing a fine looking ensemble, complete with finely tailored gloves and fine black boots that came up to his knees, while a hooded mask covered his head and face. The mask itself was made of gold, and two small tusks protruded from the cheeks, giving him a rather menacing appearance. At his side hung Windshear, the lethal curved blade sent a sinister chill up Twilight’s spine just looking at it. Neither of the two noticed her as they were enjoying some coffee from Sugar Cube Corner.

“So, how did last night go commander?” asked Rurik.

“Very well, I got all of the young ladies home without a hitch.” replied Steel Shod.

“No, I meant with Miss Applejack. You seemed pretty interested in her.” replied the Nord with a slight chuckle.

“Oh… well she was the last stop, and we talked a lot on the way.” he said before pausing to take a sip of his coffee.

“So, in your conversation did you happen ask her out?” asked Rurik.

“Yeah, we’re going for lunch in a few hours; if the date goes well I will see if she wants to get together again tomorrow too. Princess Celestia gave me today and tomorrow off before she headed back to Canterlot this morning: said it was because of the overtime I have been putting in back at the capital.” replied Steel.

“Aren’t you worried about not being around if the guards she left here need you?” inquired Rurik raising an eyebrow.

“Not at all: the only one with combat experience nearly on par with myself is Lieutenant Blood Mane, my second in command. He showed up this morning at Princess Celestia’s orders.” replied the stallion.

“I see.” Rurik then turned his attention to Twilight. “Twilight how are you this fine morning?” he asked pleasantly.

“Good Morning to you too Rurik, I am well, how are you?” she said returning his greeting.

“I am alright, but I think you and I should speak a little.”

“About last night?” asked Twilight warily. Rurik simply nodded his head, and Steel Shod took this as his cue to go.

“Okay, I better get going. I don’t want to be late for a lunch date with the Element of Honesty.” proclaimed Steel.

“Good luck and thank you for the coffee!” said Rurik in a cheery tone.

“Not a problem Rurik, have a good one!” replied the young noble as he walked to the door. As soon as Steel Shod was out the door, Rurik motioned to the seat where the commander had been sitting.

“I would like to apologize to you for how I reacted. I made myself a hypocrite, as after I sat there yesterday in front of the princess and lectured her on how a soldier should control his emotions and yet I went and acted like that.” said Rurik with some shame in his tone.

“I forgive you, it’s no big deal really.” replied Twilight.

“Well still, I did act like a bit of a jerk.” he said with a shrug.

“It’s okay really Rurik, I accept your apology." she confirmed with a small grin.

"Thank you." he said with a half smile.

So, I doubt you want to sit around all day doing nothing, did you want to do anything?” inquired Twilight.

Before Rurik could answer, their attention was drawn to the stairs by a small yawn: there on the bottom step was what looked like a small purple Argonian with green spikes on his back.

“TWILIGHT!” he shouted before booking over to her as fast as his little legs could carry him and throwing his little arms around her and taking absolutely no notice of Rurik.

“It’s okay Spike, I’m home.” said Twilight in a soothing and motherly tone while wrapping her hooves around the little drake, Spike crying tears of joy that his adoptive sister was back home safe and sound.

After he had calmed down a little bit, Twilight introduced Spike to Rurik.

“Rurik, this is Spike, my number one assistant. Spike, this is Sir Rurik Skull-Taker, he’s from an entirely different world and he is staying with us for a little bit.” explained Twilight.

“Oh Uh, hi.” Spike said timidly. The little drake looked nervous, so Rurik removed his mask.

“Good to meet you Spike.” said Rurik holding out his hand, which Spike hesitantly took in his own, accepting the man’s handshake.

“So, uh what exactly are you?” Spike asked curiously.

“I am a human. A Nord to be racially specific and you must be the young Dovah that Twilight told me about.” said Rurik in a friendly tone.

“Dovah?” asked Spike.

“In the tongue of the dragons of my world, it means dragon, referring to a single dragon, while Dov, means dragon kind or multiple dragons.” explained Rurik.

Twilight was scribbling down every word that Rurik said but her empty stomach quickly got the best of her, and she and Spike prepared breakfast: a large stack of chocolate chip pancakes.  The smell of the tasty food made Rurik’s mouth water like crazy. After breakfast was finished, Rurik decided that he should go to Sweet Apple Acres and check up on Odahviing and make sure the large drake wasn’t too mad that he’d had to sleep in a farmer’s field.

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As Rurik and Twilight walked through the town, Rurik noticed that the streets were unusually empty.

“Huh, for a good sized town, it is not very heavily populated.” pondered Rurik.

“Ugh, not this again…” groaned Twilight.

“What’s wrong?” asked Rurik.

“Well, whenever they see somepony that looks different from the norm around here, the townsponies tend to run and hide.” she said annoyed.

"Eh could be worse, sort of like Windhelm during the war with the Empire. The  citizens were wary of any human who was not a Nord, and they were downright hostile to elves on some occasions." he said with a disappointed sigh.

“Why?” asked Twilight. She just couldn’t comprehend why someone could be so prejudiced.

“Mainly due to the whole deal with the Thalmor, who were elves: and because it was no secret that the Imperials had informants everywhere in the city. Some people though took things way too far: the guards had their hands full constantly in the Grey Quarter where the Dark Elves lived.” he said with a sigh. Before he could say anymore, Rurik felt a little tug on his jacket.

Turning around, he saw the most adorable little gray unicorn filly looking up at him with big golden eyes. He removed the mask he was wearing, leaving the hood up to keep the morning sun out of his eyes.

“Hello little one, how may I help you?” asked Rurik kindly.

“Hi! I was just wondering what you were, I’ve never seen anything like you before!” replied the little unicorn. Rurik admired the little filly for her bravery: and she certainly had spirit.

“I am a human.” he answered.

“Wow, I’ve never heard of a human before, what’s your name Mr. Human? My name’s Dinky Hooves.”

“My name is Rurik, it is very nice to meet you Dinky.” replied Rurik holding out his hand. The little unicorn put her hoof in his hand and he gave it a shake. After the hoof shake, her eyes travelled to the blade at Rurik’s hip.

“Is that a sword?” she asked with wide eyes.

“Why yes little one, it is.” he said patting Windshear’s pommel.

“Are you a Royal Guard?” she asked. This filly was certainly full of questions.

“No child, but I am a knight where I come from.” explained Rurik.

“Wow! That is so cool!” she said with excitement.

Before Dinky could bombard him with any more questions, a wall eyed gray Pegasus with the same golden eyes as Dinky and bubbles on her flank flew over from one of the buildings. Rurik could tell that she probably had problems with her vision as her flight pattern was rather erratic and she nearly ran right into Rurik who took a casual step back, just avoiding getting knocked to the ground.

“Sorry about that mister!” said the pegasus with an embarrassed tone.

“Oh, it’s quite alright. No harm, no foul. I take it that this charming little one belongs to you?” asked Rurik.

“Yep! This is my little muffin!” said the Pegasus proudly. The little unicorn walked over and gave her mother a hug. Rurik smiled at the

adorable sight before him.

Before any more of a conversation could develop, a certain rainbow maned Pegasus flew down from her perch on a cloud and landed

next to the little filly and her mother and greeted everyone.

“Hey Ditzy, Dinky, Twilight,” she said before turning to the human, “Rurik.” she said in a friendly tone.

“Hi Rainbow Dash! How’s it going?” asked Ditzy.

“Pretty good, how about you guys?”

“Great! We still on for lunch later?” asked Ditzy.

“For one of my oldest friends, of course!” replied Dash throwing her foreleg over Ditzy.

“It’ll be great to see you again Rainbow Dash!” said Ditzy with an adorable smile; now Rurik knew where Dinky got it from.

“Alright, you guys go on ahead, I’ll catch up to you at Sugar Cube Corner.” said Dash.

“Okay see ya there!” said Ditzy waving a hoof.

“Goodbye Mr. Rurik!” said Dinky waving a little hoof. Rurik smiled and waved back.

“Goodbye little one.” he said with a friendly wave.

“So, what are you guys up to?” asked Dash.

“Nothing much really, going over to Applejack’s farm to check up on Rurik’s friend.” said Twilight.

“Oh, the dragon: last I saw he was sleeping up in the field when I went over the farm earlier.” she said with a shrug.

“Well, he does like to sleep in.” said Rurik with a small chuckle.

“Well, it was good chatting with you but I have a lunch to get to. See ya later!” With a wave of her hoof Rainbow Dash took to the air like the bolt of rainbow colored lightning that was her cutie mark, causing the Nord’s mouth to involuntarily drop open.

“Uh Rurik, you may catch flies.” chuckled Twilight.

“Damn: she’s fast!” said Rurik, his face showing genuine shock at how fast the cyan Pegasus moved. Twilight was not pleased with his choice in language, but reminded herself that he was not from around here.

“That’s Rainbow for you.” replied Twilight with a small chuckle.

Rurik shook himself out of his awe before replacing his mask and following Twilight towards Sweet Apple Acres.