Cold.
If any one word could properly describe the Nordic city of Windhelm, it would be cold. My orange coat, by itself, did almost nothing to shoo away the freezing temperatures. Being born a Pegasus meant I would naturally have a resistance to cold, but the Nords that reside in Skyrim deal with this temperature since times immeasurable, and have gained a hearty resistance to it.
As I trot through the streets of the great city, the sound of a hammer beating metal passes through my ears. I follow the sound to find the city's blacksmith working hard on a steel sword.
"Need some metal hammered?" he asks as I pass by his hulking form.
"No...but I was wondering something. Are you the castle blacksmith?"
The burly Nord responded with some sharpness in his tongue "of course I am. What do I look like, a tavern wench?"
He sighed "don't let my words cut you too deep. I've just been working the forge too hard. Trying to set this sword right."
I had half a mind to tell him to mind his manners, but I knew first hand how on edge you can get from work.
"What's so special about this sword that's got you in such a knot...um."
"Oengul. Oengul War-Anvil."
"Right, what's giving you so much trouble?" I ask him. Looking up to his burly form in curiosity.
"Jarl wants it to look like an ancient blade. High Queen Freydis ruled over Windhelm in the Second Era, and her sword was legendary. Getting the real sword would be even better than making a copy, but no one wants to risk getting it from its resting place."
"Hmm..." I put my armored hoof on my muzzle in concentration.
'I could always use the extra gold and experience...plus, I might get my cutie mark!'
"What if I find this sword you speak of?" I ask him.
"If you find that sword, traveler, I'd be grateful."
I nodded to him. I bought some refined malachite from the blacksmith to forge my glass shield some. Better safe than dead.
"Nice job there, that reminds me of when I first picked up a hammer. Tell you what, traveler, when you find that sword. I'll teach you some tricks of the trade. Though I've never taught a..."
"Pegasus."
"Right, I've never taught a Pegasus how to smith. But if Nords are anything, they're persistent."
"That'd be cool Oengul!" I happily say to the man.
"By the way...I've never caught your name."
"People always call me for what I am, Dovahchickiin. But...since we're friends, you can call me Scootaloo." I say to the Nord.
""Scootaloo..." Oengul tests the name out in his mouth. I giggled a little. His big, masculine voice uttering my name sounded hysterical.
"Haven't heard a name...quite like that before."
"Yeah, it's nothing like War-Anvil! Sounds like you could just give an anvil a hilt and start smashing people over the head with it."
Oengul laughed a deep hearty laugh, "There are sometimes I actually want to do that to some of the ungrateful milk drinkers in this city."
I laughed. "Well, I'm gonna go get that sword. Have a nice day!"
"If you meet anyone in your travels who needs good steel, send them my way."
"Will do!"
The stone bridge connecting Windhelm and the stables was always a nice walk. Some guards would always talk about new places they heard from the grapevine, about their past adventures, or basically say hi. As I near the stables, I come across my trusty friend, Shadowmere. Contrary to the name, he's a boy.
But, instead of riding him to the camp housing the sword, I decide to take the scenic route and walk.
As I trot to the camp, admiring the beauty of the winter wonderland before me, I hear something.
"Raaaah!"
That sound was unmistakable. A dragon's roar is something you can't mistake for anything else. True to it's roar, I see a dragon overhead. It looks like it's attacking something. So I flap my tiny wings as hard as I can to help me cross the river that separated me and the dragon.
When I clime the hill, to my right I see a farm, and to my left, I see a scared chicken running away from the scene. I automatically assume that this dragon is attacking defenseless farmers.
When the dragon is in range, I take out my trusty Ebony bow, enchanted with soul trap, and prime a orcish arrow. The bow string in my teeth and the grip in my left hoof.
'Alright, Black Lavender, do your work.'
I let the arrow loose. It flies straight and true as it perfectly hits the dragons eye. When the dragon looks in my direction...I notice something.
'That's...that's Alduin!'
The dragon roars again and flies away as I prime another arrow...but that wasn't the end of it.
"Raahh!"
Another dragon, this one by the name of Viinturuth, circles overhead. He breaths frost on me. I roll out of the way just in time.
He lands with a deafening, ground-shaking, thud. The dragon rears up for another frost attack. But I smash my glass shield in his face before he gets the below 0 breath out.
The dragon is dazed and confused, I crouch. Turning invisible, the dragon can't find me. I take advantage and plunge Mehrunes Razor into his skull. The dragon is severely hurt, but not dead. I crouch again and deliver the final blow. The dragons death roar loud and filled with pain.
Soon, after the dragons demise at my hooves, it's skin starts to crackle and burn as the dragon's soul is sucked into my body.
"Aw yeah! Not so tough now, skin and bones!" I smugly say to the dragons corpse. I wipe the blood from my razor...and wash some of the blood that dripped into my mouth with some snow.
As I continue my journey, my map tells me that there is a Dwarven ruin close by. Oengul never gave me a deadline to which he wanted the sword, so I let my curiosity get the best of me...
"Aww, come on!"
Turns out the ruin was the Great Lift at Raldbthar.
"I've already explored this place!" I sigh in disappointment and continue my way to the camp.
"I walked all the way up that mountain for nothing..."
As I walk, I hear the sounds of two trolls. They were hard to spot because of their white coats, due to the fact that everything was covered in a thick layer of snow.
I take out Black Lavender and readied an arrow.
*Twoo...*
The sound of my arrow flying towards the trolls face could be heard over the blowing wind of the mountain we were on.
The troll took the arrow, but the monster didn't die. The trolls started doing that frantic dance of theirs while I lined up my next shot.
*Twoo...*
An arrow flew into the trolls knee, that arrow finally killed it. The other troll was making it's way towards me, but two arrows to the stomach ended it's run.
When I made my way towards them, I manged to salvage three of my four arrows that I used.
As I descend down the mountain, I finally find the camp that housed the sword. I make my way towards the door to enter...
"What was that?"
But two bandits that I didn't see became wary of my presence.
I crouch, turn invisible, and silently roll behind a rock. The two bandits, one lightly armored and with a bow and arrow, and the other heavily armored and with a giant steel axe, pace around trying to find my location.
"Huh...must be my imagination..." The lightly armored bandit says as he puts away his bow and starts walking to the fire that they set up. As does the heavily armored one.
I roll behind some trees, the bandits none the wiser, and silently get behind the lightly armored one.
'Let's see what you have. Soon, you won't need it...'
I, ever so carefully, take off his armor, take his bow and arrows, and his gold. Leaving him absolutely naked.
"I need some skooma...the good stuff...just one more time."
I snickered as he just walked forward, not even knowing that I took all his clothes, before I take out my razor and slice his throat open. His naked body falling like a house of cards on the cold ground.
"What was that?" The heavily armored man says as he hears the final screams of his comrade. I snicker as he walks towards his dead friends body, not knowing that I rolled away and snuck behind him in his distraction.
I jump up and rip into his throat like I did his friend. His body falling over his friends in an X pattern. I dump all the things I stole from the first bandit onto their dead bodies, and continue into the camp.
There was a visible breeze flowing through the camp, the halls were covered in ice. As I trek through the icy halls I hear the unmistakable deep voice of an Orc.
"Lying little harlot, I never said that was my kid...won't get a rusty septim from me."
He patrolled the hallways almost absentmindedly, facing away from the only place that an intruder could possibly enter from.
'Idiot.'
I sneak behind him and take all of his armor off. His naked form still complaining.
I took all of his armor, but when I tried to take his grilled chicken breast, he caught me.
"Well, ain't this a surprise." he said as he backtracked to get a weapon, while facing me, mind you.
'Idiot.'
I rolled out of the way and patiently waited for him to come back. When he did, the only thing he had on was a belt that held the sheath of his sword. He didn't even bother to check if I was anywhere else.
"I guess I was just hearing things"
I facehoof at the sheer stupidity of this Orc.
"Go to college...Pa says...make a living, Pa says. Like I'm suppose to know what college he meant."
'I've had enough.'
The Orc still faced in the opposite direction. I slit the idiots throat, dump all his crap on his corpse, and continued on.
I see the distinct light of a fire in the distance, I carefully sneak over to see a redguard and a Khajiit warming up to a fire. I took out Black Lavender, and shot the redguard lady in the ear.
"UUhhhh!"
She fell to the side, and the weapon that she had violently flew up in the air for some reason.
"Is someone there?" the Khajiit says as he walks towards the body. I take out my razor and start to roll behind his form.
"Must have been nothing." the Khajiit says right before I slice his throat open. I take the eight gold he has on his person and opened the wooden door adjacent to the fire place.
The door lead me to a stone staircase doing downwards. Going down I saw a table with a lantern on it and a pillar. There was another staircase going down to, what my guess was, the chiefs quarters. Another bandit was coming up the stairs.
Thinking fast, I hid behind the pillar. The woman looked around when she came to the top of the stairs. Then turned around.
I quickly took my razor out and slit her throat the moment the opportunity arose. Taking eight gold from her person. I didn't hear a voice, or anything when I killed the girl, so I looked ahead to see if it was safe.
A lone bandit sitting on a chair, not even 4 yards away, sat there like nothing even happened. His line of sight was perpendicular to mine...
'Bandits are idiots, I'll tell you...'
I took out Black Lavender and shot the bandit in the ear. He fell to the side and and his sword flew out from its sheath and hit the ceiling.
"..." I didn't say anything.
"Is someone there?" A gruff, but feminine voice called out. I rolled back behind the pillar and waited for something, anything...
When no one came out, I went back down the staircase. To my right, there was a door. When I opened it, a giant, steel armor clad female was sitting on a tiny table, eating bread. Next to her was a giant treasure chest.
'I'm guessing that's where the sword is...'
I was literally three feet away from the chief, right next to her, and she didn't even notice me.
'I'm either that good...or she's that stupid. Probably both.'
I took out my razor and stabbed her in the arm. She died and her body slumped back in the chair, like she was relaxing. Her weapon though, violently threw itself to the other side of the room.
"..."
I opened the treasure chest and finally found this legendary sword, and the 239 gold that accompanied it wasn't too shabby either.
I made my way out of the camp and traveled back to Windhelm.
__________________________________________________________________________
"Hey Oengul!" I scream as I run towards the friendly blacksmith. He turned around from his assistant and smiled when he saw me galloping towards him.
"Well, if it isn't my orange friend, I take it your quest was a success?" He asked.
"Yup!" I smiled and took the sword out and gave it to him.
Oengul took the sword in his hands, he looked at the blade in admiration.
"Look at that edge. Still Sharp. I'll present this to the Jarl later. As for you..."
He put the sword away and pointed to the Blacksmith Quarters.
"Let me cook you up something to eat and teach you some smithing techniques. With or without hooves, you'll be one of the best blacksmiths in Skyrim when I'm done with you."
"Yay! Maybe I'll get my cutie mark in being a blacksmith!"
"Uhhhh..."
My head throbbed as I woke up from my drug induced nap. My mouth hurt intensely as the pain of having all four of my Wisdom teeth removed reared its ugly head again.
"Man...these meds."
I took the bottle filled with pain medicine from the nightstand next to me. I opened the bottle and popped another tablet with some grape juice..
"What's next? I fight a Sweetie Bot Apocalypse as Rarity? Uhhh..."
End.
