A changeling's visit to Skyrim

It was a very busy day in the Ponyville market, ponies from all over the town had gathered before a stall near the road that led to the Apple family’s farm. Applejack herself was working the stall, and that meant dealing with over three dozen ponies at once, all of them anxiously awaiting the new concoction that the famous apple farmers had come up with.

“Settle down y’all, we’ll be with ya in just a minute!” Applejack called out to the crowd. “Applebloom,” she ducked behind the stall to find her sister “Are them boys ready or what?”

“In a minute sis, they’re arguing again.” Applebloom told her.

“It needs more spice!”

“No, it needs more lemon shavings!”

“Hey!” Applejack stomped in and interrupted the pair of arguing unicorns “If y’all don’t get this stuff ready right quick, ponies are gonna leave ‘fore we can sell it to them. Now ah know that you and yer friends are in a spot right now, but ah trusted you to actually do something with all them apples. Now ah’m sure whatever you decide to do will be just fine, as long as ya’ agree on it and quit wastin’ time. Okay?”

“Of course Applejack.”

“We’ll have it out in just a minute AJ.”

Applejack gave a smile and a nod before leaving them to it. She needed to keep the ponies outside from losing interest anyway.

It was a strange day indeed when she found the four of them scattered around her farm, they obviously meant no harm, but they were just so… off; the way they spoke, the way they stumbled around like they didn’t know how to walk, and the way they screamed when they heard her talk.  All of them said they were mages, and had no idea where they were, so she let them stay with her family at the farm while they got their bearings.

The unicorn brothers Brovir and Rundi were trying to create something they called "mead". Applejack had assumed it was some form of tea when they said they brewed it, so when they finally said they’d finished it she just had to open a stand and sell it to all of Ponyville.

The fact that they used her apples without asking might have had something to do with it as well.

What she couldn’t understand though, was how they could be brothers and yet always be at each other’s throats so much. Applejack would never claim to be the perfect sister, and Applebloom would hardly be so generous as to prove her wrong, but those two unicorns argued about absolutely everything.

Suddenly, a rainbow blur shot through the crowd and she was greeted with a large pair of maroon eyes right in her face.

“Is it ready yet?!” Rainbow Dash asked excitedly, trying to sneak a peek behind her friend.

“Rainbow, this is the fourteenth time you’ve asked in the last hour. Be patient will ya? It’ll be out in a minute, for real this time.” Applejack blocked her.

“Be patient?” Rainbow asked “Be patient?!” she asked again as though it were the most impossible and unreasonable thing in the world to ask “Cider season only came once a year! Now you’re doing it again; how can I be patient?”

“Because this isn’t cider season. It’s just somethin’ Brovir and Rundi are doin’ so they can pay me back for usin’ our apples fer their experiments.” She pulled Rainbow a bit closer and whispered to her. “Honestly, ah don’t rightly know what they’re makin’. They just put a bunch of regular ol’ ingredients onto a regular ol’ barrel, but then they used their magic to boil it, and then magic to keep it cold. Magic is fine and all, ah got nothing against it mahself, but I just don’t know why you’d use it ta make cider.”

“Wait a minute. Are you telling me…” Rainbow pulled back with a suspicious stare “That they’re making magic cider?” she squished her face with her hooves in excitement.

“Hey everypony!” Rainbow leapt above the crowd and kept herself aloft with her wings “Brovir and Rundi are making magic cider for us!”

The crowd cheered their approval while Applejack rolled her eyes.

“This is going to be so awesome.” Rainbow said as she landed.

“Rainbow… Dash… Slow… umph. Down.” A red-maned pegasus gasped as she collapsed at Rainbow’s hooves.

“Oh, heh, sorry Yisra.”

“It’s cool, I’m just gonna lay here for a while.” She said and curled up on the ground.

Yisra was with the others Applejack had found on her farm that day, and Rainbow had taken her on as part of her weather team. Yisra was a natural at clearing clouds and making rain, even if she was a weak flyer. She said she was a mage like the others, but as far as Rainbow knew, or anypony else for that matter, pegasi couldn’t use magic.

“Cider’s here everypony!” Applebloom called, much to the delight of everypony.

“Eey-yup.” Big Mac said and hoisted the first keg onto the tap as ponies lined up, bits at the ready.

After most of the crowd had purchased a mug and the line thinned out a bit, a pair of scaly faces showed up at the register, one familiar and the other relatively new.

“Howdy Spike, howdy Ellis-day… or however you pronounce yer name.” she greeted them. “How’s everything goin’?”

“It’s ilas-Tei, but you’re getting the hang of it. Twilight Sparkle is doing her best to help us out, but she can’t seem to find Winterhold, Whiterun, or any of the holds on her maps; quite worrying. Spike and I were just taking a break from it actually.”

“Yep, us dragons gotta stick together.” Spike puffed out his chest.

“I keep telling you I’m not a dragon, I’m an Argonian, there’s a biological difference.” The lizard-pony corrected him “So what’s going on here?”

“Yer friends Brovir and Rundi say they finally perfected that mead stuff, so we’re sellin’ it.” Applejack told him “Come to think of it, this barrel’s almost empty; better get another.”

Ilas-Tei tugged awkwardly at the collar of her robes. “Uh, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you ponies to drink that. You know what alcohol is, right?”

“Well sure, we use it to disinfect cuts and scrapes and clean tar and paint off our tools all the time. Why do you-” Applejack stopped mid-sentence at what was surely a ridiculous thought “Heh-heh, yer not sayin’ they put that stuff in this here cider… are ya?”

As much as she’d rather lie, and ease what was obviously filling Applejack with dread, Ilas-Tei could only nod and point at the ponies surrounding them as their walking patterns became more irregular and their speech more slurred.

“Wow this stuff packs a punch.”

“It burns a little in my mouth, I kinda like it.”

“Why hasn’t this been invented before?”

“I dunno Berry, but it can’t be good for our teeth.”

“I see pink humans.”

“Celestia in living in my torso!”

Applejack sunk down behind the counter a bit and hid her face with her hat.

“Don’t worry, it’s not that dangerous.” Ilas-Tei assured her “They might lose a few brain cells along the way, and they’ll have a massive headache when this is over, but they’ll be fine… probably.”

“Yeah… that don’t make me feel any better.”

“Jappleack!” Rainbow slurred as she crashed next to them “Thish shtuff’s the best thing ever! I’s had like five mugs already, and I feel goooood. Can I get summore?” The pegasus wrapped a foreleg around Applejack in order to stand up straight-ish.

“Sugercube, ah think you’ve had enough. That stuff weren’t meant to be drank anyhow, an’ I’m gonna give those two brothers a piece of mah mind.”

Rainbow just stared drunkenly at Applejack for a second. “You are a good friend.” she stated simply with a slap on the back.

“Uh… than-“

“And I wanna fuck your brains out.”

“What?!” Applejack yelled in shock.

“Yeah. C’mon, you an’ me. Your place. Right now. Heh, when I'm done you won't be walking straight for we- hwu-bmm…”

Her cheeks bulged with the contents of her stomach. And then Rainbow Dash threw up on Applejack.

“You’re hot.” She sputtered and passed out, leaving Applejack standing there with her eye twitching in annoyance and her face twisted up in disgust.

Everyone around had turned and witness the exchange, and now watched in silent, drunken horror at what was about to happen.

“Wuh-oh.” Spike muttered and clung to Ilas-Tei’s back.

“Eey-nope.” Big Mac spoke as he and Applebloom took cover.

“Heh, wow. Okay…” Ilas-Tei nervously backed up “I’m just… I’m just gonna… yeah.” and with that the lizard-pony and dragon fled the market street post-haste as it erupted in an explosion of angry shouting that will not be repeated.

…

Meanwhile in her library tree, a unicorn prodigy by the name of Twilight Sparkle was ripped from her concentration and jumped in fright as the entire tree shook and a layer of dust settled on her notes.

She rolled her eyes with a sigh and got back to her research, the places these mages mentioned didn’t appear anywhere she’d looked, and this got her to brainstorm why that might be. Perhaps they were from another time, in the distant past or maybe some time in the future; it would certainly explain why they didn’t know about Celestia, but it didn’t explain why they were so freaked out by ponies.

Whoever they were, they seemed friendly enough, and she was eager to learn more about them. She just hoped that wherever they were from that she could get them home, back to the people who care about them.

“What do you mean vanished?” Fenora asked Ancano.

Once they had all returned to the college, the black robed elf had practically stopped them at the gate as the golems carried the eye of magnus across that narrow bridge. His first words were a snide remark that maybe another group of apprentices had perished. This brought Fenora to delve deeper into the workings of the school.

Even adjusting her mindset for the fact she was hearing it all from a pompous Thalmor, she didn’t like all the secrets that were brought out into the light.

“What do you think I mean you simpleton? I mean we couldn’t find them, likely due to the gross lack of oversight, just like everything this college does.” The altmer replied with a sneer “And that was just the group before yours. The group before them was incinerated in a training accident when one of those spell pillars exploded. And the one before them tried entering a demonic pact using a deadric artifact and were turned inside out and then burned to death.”

Ancano scoffed and looked into the distance. “Apprentices don’t have much value to these mages apparently. I’m just glad its all contained here… and that no one cares about these students.”

“Fuck yourself with a flaming cactus Ancano.” Tolfdir cursed as a rock golem carried him over “I care about them; we all do. We do our very best to ensure a safe learning environment for any who come to us. It’s not our fault some of them decide to eat deadly nightshade and deer antlers to learn what effects they have. I mean really, who in their right mind would do that!?”

“Indeed… well it’s quite fortunate all of you survived.” Ancano said without the vaguest hint of sincerity “If you need me, and I hope you do not… I shall be putting the finishing touches on my nefariously evil plans.”

Tolfdir stuck his tongue out as Ancano left before turning to Fenora.

“I’m terribly sorry about all that. Ancano has never seen eye to eye with any of us, on a great many things.” he apologized “I’ve spoken to the others already, but I would also like to personally apologize to you as well, for allowing my curiosity to get the better of me yet again, and putting your friend into such danger because of it.”

Fenora looked over her shoulder at the changeling she’d carried on her back. “Well… danger is kind of what we do.” She said as Stross chewed on her neck in his sleep.

“I hope he will be alright. Were it not for his intervention, things could have ended in tragedy today. If there is ever anything we at the college can assist you with, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Actually, have you found out anything about Luna, and why her magic isn’t working?” Fenora asked.

“Actually… we did.” Mirabelle walked up to them.

Luna sat out in the freezing snow, wrapped in a heavy wool cloak. Accompanying her at the top of this peak was a dunmer by the name of Arenea Ienith, who apparently lived up there in order to give daily praise to the goddess before them.

Together they stared up at the great stone statue of a daedric prince holding a blazing sun and a crescent moon in her hands as she gazed out at the horizon.

As she sat there, Luna thought back to just a few hours prior.

*You know what time it is**Flashback time!**Insert past-viewing effects here*

“I just don’t get it, we’ve tried everything!” Sergius paced the floor in the Hall of elements while the others lay about dejectedly “We’ve tried grapefruit, we’ve tried pineapple, we’ve tried apples and carrots and lettuce and mangoes in syrup, and the whole food pyramid for Shor’s sake! What are we missing?!”

It was then that Nirya perked up. “Bananas!” she exclaimed “We haven’t done bananas yet have we?”

“She’s right, we haven’t!” Phinis realized.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Mirabelle asked “We’re talking about using banana’s here.”

“Sure it’s safe, we just need to get some first. I hear Enthir has just recently smuggled some in.”

And with that, all of them left in order to buy some illegal produce, leaving Luna and Trixie alone in the dimly lit room with scattered vegetable debris littering the floor. Alone that is, except for one dark elf illusionist who was painting his nails black.

Letting out a long exhausted sigh, he turned to them. “Do you two want me to just tell you why it isn’t working?”

“Our magic, or the cures?” Trixie asked.

“Yes.”

Both women from Equestia spared a glance at each other before nodding at him.

Drevis took a deep breath. “Something is eating away your supply of magic, but it’s not a parasite, it’s your own bodies.”

“What!?” Luna and Trixie shouted. “What do you mean, how is that even possible.”

Drevis paused. “Are you done? Good, now allow me to explain. Quite simply put, you two are out of your element here in Skyrim. See, you two…” he pointed at them “are from a world absolutely saturated with magic. The animals have magic, the ground has magic, the trees, the sky; I’d bet the air you breath there is full of magical energies.”

Drevis took a moment to sip his latte before continuing. “But here…” he motioned around him “we’ve got none of that. Just dull… boring… painful existence. Magic isn’t bubbly and soft here, it’s hard and cold and empty. It takes time for it to draw into one’s body; you’re not used to the change. Since your bodies eat up any energy that you take in faster than you can absorb it naturally, you’ve gotta keep chugging magika potions in order to keep your magic-eating bodies healthy, just like I’ve gotta keep popping my meds so I don’t off myself.”

“Then how is it that Princess Luna gets so sick, while Trixie merely can’t cast her spells?” Trixie asked.

“I assume it’s because of her deeper connection to your world or something. Her worlds magic keeps her immortal after all, I wouldn’t expect you’d fare well without it constantly feeding into you.” Drevis leaned back and stared off into space.

“Then what of Stross? He is from our world and yet he fares fine.” Luna argued.

Drevis grunted and gave a shallow nod. “Well yeah, but he’s like some life syphoning, vampire-bug something or other. We have a near endless supply of murderous cutthroats and bandit jerk-offs and politicians for him to feed off of. He’s much better off than either of you.”

“How do you even know all this?”

“Because unlike some mages, I actually pay attention to things. I listen, I ask questions, and I figure things out. It’s not my fault no one bothers to ask me for answers.” Drevis sulked.

“Then what are we supposed to do? The great and powerful Trixie can’t be the great and powerful Trixie is she can’t use magic!” Trixie grabbed him by his robes and dragged his expressionless face over to hers.

“You wanted to know, and now you do. Don’t get mad at me for bringing the curse of knowledge upon your innocently feeble minds.” He replied blackly and pulled out a purple flask “You could do what I do, I suppose. Keep on chugging, and keep on trucking... till the world gets the better of you.” He said and downed the contents of the bottle, grimacing as the foul tasting liquid passed over his tongue. “Ahh, that’s some good happy juice.”

While Trixie was rather furious about this revelation, Luna was silently resolved about it.

“Thank you Drevis,” she said to him and turned to leave “tell the others I’m going for a walk.”

“I see butterflies and rainbows!” the normally depressed dunmer cheered before face-planting into a stack of spell tomes.

*end flashback*… *Woo woo woo*

Luna let out a sigh and continued to stare at the shrine of Azura, a light covering of snow coated her now, yet she paid the cold no heed.

“Perhaps you were right cousin, perhaps Tia and I did make a mistake, perhaps we were wrong.” She thought aloud, remembering back to when they found Equestria, before it was Equestira.

They were young back then, and not just by the standards of deities. She remembered how the two of them would gaze through the seas of worlds at that one little planet full of cute little horses. It was so cold, so dangerous back then… so much death and sadness, and so many things preying upon those innocent little things. If we could only help them, they thought.

“…And so we did…”

Finally Luna realized the shivers she was getting were not from the cold, but because she’d run out of- no… her body had consumed all the energy in it again. On what had become instinct at that point, she reached to her belt for another magika potion only to grasp at an empty sling.

Gripping her fist for a moment and pounding it into the snow beside her, she suddenly realized it was stupid to get so upset over such a small thing. Sighing, she threw herself back into the cushiony pile of flakes.

“I just don’t care anymore.” She sulked and solemnly dragged her arms and legs back and forth, giving her outline in the snow a pair of robes.