The Elder Scrolls: Equestria

  It was cold. Very cold. As I trekked through the tall mountains, I realized my armor did naught to cover my body against the freezing air of these mountains -- in fact, it only made my condition worse. I originally thought the infamous Daedric Armor I crafted seemingly ages would be warm likes the fires of Oblivion and like the demonic Daedra that roam Oblivion. I was wrong.

  I was strong, I already knew this well but I was not immortal. I knew very well that my body would soon collapse under the bitter frostbite inducing blizzard that I walked through idiotically. Sighing in defeat, I raised my left hand in front of me as warm, red flames emerged from my palm. I then reached behind my into the knapsack I had on me and brought out a few pieces of of hardy, oak firewood.

By that, I meant ten logs. I was quite unsure how I could hold so much without my body falling asunder the massive weight but that's why I appreciate the blessing of the mighty horse, the Steed Stone. I possessed the ability to carry much more and my armor felt weightless, however sadly my Dragonbone Battleaxe did not join my armor in the weightless fun.

I placed the firewood in a neat pile and then, blasted it with flames. The wood quickly ignited and I was blessed by gracious warmth. I again sighed, not of defeat but out of great relief. I knew I would live to see another day with this fire. I then placed myself near the fire and laid down. It was not until then that I truly realized my fatigue. It likes to do that. I decided that I would rest for a few hours, then continue along my mission. After all, who was insane to come up these mountains and secondly, who would dare fight me?

I mean, have you seen my armor?

  "The Dragonborn must die." I heard those hushed words coming from a female visitor that I was blessed with. I heard the sound of a dagger being unsheathed and I felt her feet right next to me. I knew no ordinary dagger would pierce my armor, but I decided not to humor her. I opened my eyes, which she could not see under my armor and grabbed her legs from out under her.

I quickly stood up, equipping my weapon I dubbed Hellfire. Hellfire was a powerful Legendary-tier Dragonborn Battleaxe I forged ages ago, enchanted with a powerful Flame enchantment that was supplied by Azura's star. This meant it's charge was infinity, endless. It was quite the powerful weapon and it did the job well. Most opponent's armor was cut clean through the flames singed their flesh.

  The person who dared to try and kill me was a mage. I could tell by her mage robes. I was not sure what tier of Robes as I did not pay attention to them, but I did know one thing overall. They were just simple robes. They could not possibly withstand my powerful weapon. I charged at her, swinging my axe as I did. She jumped back, performing a backflip with an agility I did not foresee whatsoever. As she jumped back, she quickly removed the robes and revealed her skin tight leather "armor". It was mostly black, but on the certain areas there was patches of red. Dark Brothehood armor, I thought. I smirked under my Daedric armor, realizing this could be a potential challenge.

I love challenges.

"The Dark Brotherhood requests your head, Dragonborn." She spoke. "One million septims. I wonder, why hasn't any one else got to you yet? That's quite a bounty, you know."

"I am the Dragonborn, after all. If I was just another petty target, I would be already dead but I am no petty target. Even the strongest of Dragons bend to my very will. I'm afraid you will not have my head this day, but I can return them yours, if you like."

"Heh. I like you but it's time to die." Her hands then unleashed a Fire Storm. I ran through the attack, brushing off any fire damage with ease and attacked her. She dodged and jumped behind me, but I quickly wrapped around and finally hit her. She was swung back with great force. She impacted the ground and bounced with force. She recovered, but realized there was a deep gash in her flesh. She ignored the wound and equipped a orange-ish dagger, resembling stone.

  She threw the blade at me. Ultimately confused, I did not dodge. The blade lodged itself in my cuirass, finding a cozy home in my front plates. I chuckled, before I attacked her again, ignoring the blade. She dodged, of course and delivered a Ice Spike to my back. The frost-based attack sapped my stamina and stunned me. Wait, frost doesn't stun. It was then I realized the dagger's purpose. It was poison-tipped.

  My body's strength began to fade as I found myself to my knees. The poison couldn't of made contact with my flesh, could it? No. It would have to be- Dragonbone. The tip must of just barely poked through the early layers of my skin. No wonder I didn't feel it. After all, my body must of been extremely numb after all that cold so of course I wouldn't feel it. I began to lose consciousness, drifting in and out of darkness and the mountains.

I saw her dark figure slowly approach, laughing. Her voice sounded so far, but yet so close. Whatever she did, I couldn't prevent it. Maybe I should've became a vampire. I heard those guys are immune to poison. I should've asked Serana to turn me. What felt like years later, I fell face first to the ground. I finally faded from the world seconds later.

  My body ached with a pain I hadn't felt in a long time. I felt the poison run it's course through my veins at great speeds. I could feel my internal organs shutting down with each lasting moment until it reached my heart. It was then, where it stopped. I was unsure if it faded before it could kill me or I had been cured. I heard faint voices with urgent voices speaking, so most likely, it was the latter.

I was forever in debt to whoever had saved my life. I knew that if I was not helped, my existence would crumble like stale bread. I would not go out a hero, I would leave Nirn with a gasp of breath before I died. Most of the faint voices had stopped, leaving only two voices left. One sounded angry and hostile, the other sounded forgiving and curious. One was a male, the other female.

Possibly, a couple? I could only guess inside the depths of my mind as I sat there, waiting for me to awaken so that I may continue my journey. I hope Odahviing waits for me. I soon felt my vision brighten as I was met with a crystalline-looking room. My vision was blurry, but I could see two blobs in my sight. One was white, adorned golden armor while the other was pink in a red gown or dress.

  I could feel my vision slowly returning by the second. As Dragonborn, I possessed an innate lacking of death in my life. It was hard to kill me, fatally injure and such. Even when I was wounded, I would regenerate quite quickly. I soon gained my vision as I laid eyes upon the two blobs now perfectly clear.

"AH!" I jumped at the sight of my captors.

"AH!" The other two jumped in sight of me speaking.

"What in the world are you?" I questioned. A bit rude of me to ask that, but oh well.

"Well, what in Celestia's name are you?" The white one replied.

"A Nord. What are you?"

"Ponies."

"Okay then. Where am I?"

"You're in the Crystal Empire." The pink one stated with a small smile.

"Don't tell him that. What if he's a Changeling spy?"

"I guess he got a lot of things wrong then."

"What's a Changeling?" I asked.

"Okay, this is getting us nowhere. Who are you, anyway?" The white one finally asked.

"My name is..." During my journey, I had long forgotten my name along the midst of becoming Dovahkiin. I had just grown accustomed to that title and heralded it as my true name. "...Dovahkiin. Forgive me, the effects of the poison have made me weary. Now that I have introduced myself, who are you?"

"I'm Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. You can just call me Cadence. " She giggled.

"I see. Royalty, then? Excuse my rudeness."

"It's perfectly fine. This is my loving husband, Shining Armor. He is the Captain of Princess Celestia's Royal Guard."

"Don't tell him that!" He told her in a hushed tone.

"Shining, if he was a Changeling, I could do this." A blue aura engulfed me for a few seconds as did her horn. "See? That's a spell that reveals the pony's true self. If he was a Changeling, he would've just been discovered."

"Fine, you're right. But that doesn't mean I have to trust him."

"The feeling is mutual, Shiny." I mentally laughed at the adorable nickname.

"See? You're getting along already. Anyways, Dovahkiin, just where are you from exactly?"

"I come from the land of Tamriel. Have you heard of it?"

"Unfortunately not."

"This worries me. I shall not over react, however until all my options effectively show me that I cannot return. Princess Cadence, is there any others who may help me return to my homeland?"

"There is Princess Celestia, but even if we were to send a letter. It would take a few days, even with magic. Are you willing to stay and wait?"

"I am."

"Fantastic then. Shiny, will you go prepare a letter for my auntie Princess Celestia? It is her birthday after all, I'm sure she love to have a letter from me."

"Yeah, just be careful around him and you, if you do anything to my wife, I'll hurt you."

"Noted." I nodded. He nodded back as he exited the room, leaving behind Cadence and me in the room. "Princess Cadence, where have you taken my armor? I would appreciate it if you could return it to me."

"Oh! Right. Hang on." She whistled. On cue, a crystalline-pony appeared, adorned in what seemed to be more colorful Glass Armor. "Fleet Hooves, will you retrieve our guest's armor and weapon?"

"Yes Ma'am!" He gave the pony a salute and disappeared in a flash. A mere moment later, he returned. In his hands, he held my Daedric Armor to which he placed the set on the ground. He disappeared again, grabbing my Battleaxe and bringing it to me personally.

"Thank you Fleet Hooves." He nodded and disappeared once again.

"Thanks." I said to her. With that, I began equipping my armor. Daedric Armor was made up of multiple plates and pieces, making it quite difficult to put on but I had already mastered that art. About eight minutes later, I was suited up once again. "Now, where did you find me?"

"What? Oh sorry, I must of dozed off. We found in in the snowy, barren Wastelands about a day ago. We had a search team going out there and they found you. Your black armor stood out amongst the white so when they found you, they took you and brought you to the castle where we removed your armor. I did a scan of your body and found out there was some kind of poison running through your body. I was obvious not about to let you die, so I healed you and brought you here to the infirmary where you soon recovered."

"Cadence, I've written the letter and sent it to Princess Celestia." Shining stated as he entered the room.

"Great. Dovahkiin, in a few days, you'll get your answer if you can return home or not. Until then, how would you like a look around the city?"

"That would be fine. Since I am going to stay here for a few days, you might as well reveal my existence to the populace. Thank you again for saving my life."

"It was nothing."

"So, whenever you two are ready."

"Okay, let's go." We finally stepped out of that room as I laid eyes upon the glass-like castle. It looked as if you tapped it too hard, it would shatter but no, it held strong.

Cadence decided to show me around the castle first before we headed out. There were many floors, in fact nearly thirty. As we walked in, I took in every detail of the castle as to remember it well. Since I assumed this was where I was going to be staying for the next few days, I made sure to make note of every little thing as I knew it would serve me well. Some time later, we finally stepped out of the castle.

I was awestruck at the sight of the bustling, thriving community of a crystal city and what sights it had to behold. Tall spires of reflective crystals stood high the in the sky as the beams of light from the golden sun bounced off of the crystals onto more crystals, creating a circle of light that encompassed the city. I gazed beyond the kingdom and saw a barren, arctic wasteland just as Cadence had stated I was found in.

We began walking around the city as Cadence and Shining Armor showed me around. Many other ponies questioned me until they noticed the two most important ponies with me. As we walked by, they bowed out of respect and simply nodded to me to which I returned most of the time. We spent roughly a few hours around the city as the two explained much about their wondrous city.

I mostly paid attention, but I simply couldn't believe my eyes. An entire empire built out of crystals? It sounded straight out a fairy tale, but so did Dragons and look where that got me. We returned to the castle about much later. As we walked back, I noticed the sun was quite low in the sky. Violet and orange rays of light shone across the sky, telling me of night's steady approach. Cadence and Shining were tired from the walk, but I was merely unfazed by the walk as I had walked many miles before without stop.

"So, did you enjoy the tour, Dovahkiin?"

"Yes. Your city is so wonderful, I could barely keep my eyes away from it's glory."

"Why thank you, Shining and I put many hours of hard work into it. Shining, you go get some rest." He nodded tiredly as he slumped back to his room. Cadence giggled at his antics. "Anyways, it's fairly late so would you like me to show you to your room, Dovahkiin?"

"That would be appreciated."

"Follow me then." Cadence then continued through the castle as I followed. She stopped a certain door with the words engraved in the crystals "GUEST." She pushed open the door, revealing my wonderful room. "Here you are."

The room I was given resembled a King's suite being big enough to room three different people, it was decorated carefully. Soft pale blue carpet was laid out on the floor, spanning the entire room. Walking over, I parted the slightly transparent blue curtains, revealing a pearly moon rising from the land below. The bed could fit three average people on it, I felt it was unnecessary but I was not about to argue. I was grateful for what she had given me.

"I cannot thank you enough, Cadence."

"Don't worry about it. It's the least I could do."

"Have a good night." I said to her.

'You too." She closed the door as she walked away, leaving me by myself. I stood for a few minutes, listening to her steps become faint. Sighing out of relief, I removed my black armor and placed it next to my bedside. Afterwards, I noticed a dresser on the other wall, which I walked over to and opened one of the drawers. Inside were pairs of clothes which once I put them on, I found them to perfectly fit. Odd.

After donning the clothes, I laid down in the bed. It was undeniably comfy, I admit but I couldn't fall asleep. Not because I wasn't tired, the beast blood coursing through my red veins kept me from any kind of sleep. No matter how hard I tried, I could never fall asleep. It was a curse, but it came with a gift. My energy was eternal. I could never become tired and merely suffered temporary fatigue.

I decided that I would explore around the city after I was sure Cadence and Shining Armor would be asleep. I'm sure the guards would not mind if I walked around. The Guards of the Holds don't so maybe they're the same. I began thinking about the next few days had in store for me. Many thoughts crossed my mind, but I was sure not let any sort of paranoia cloud my mind.

Roughly about an hour later, I hopped out of bed and donned my armor again. To this day, the weightlessness still confounds me but it's nice to have. After equipping my armor, I put my battleaxe on my back and in it's sheathe. I wasn't sure who was around or near me, so I decided to use a Shout to aid me for this moment.

"Laas Yah Nir!" Aura Whisper. My eyes began to glow with a faint blue aura as I examined my surroundings. I could see a few red-colored apparitions around me. One was a few feet away from my door while there was some others down the halls. I then opened my door and headed out.

As I passed by the Guard, I noticed he had fallen asleep but still kept his up-right pose. I chuckled quietly and lightly shook my head in disappointment. The walk to the castle's main door was short after I memorized it, but I passed by a few Guards who simply nodded to me which I returned.

I finally exited the castle afterwards, gawking at the city still beautiful at dusk. A light smile appeared on my face as I began walking around the city, simply admiring it's beauty. As I turned a corner, I heard a voice from behind.

"You must be the 'one' We have heard about from Princess Cadence." It was a female. I turned around and observed the midnight blue pony in front of me. Her skin like I described was as dark as the midnight sky. Her hair was flowing in the non-existence wind and looked like I was staring at the night sky. Filled with small, sparkling stars. Her eyes were cerulean and shimmered in the moonlight.

"That depends on who is speaking, of course." I retorted.

"Hm. We are Princess Luna. The sister of Princess Celestia. Princess Cadence had sent a letter to Us which arrived quickly. After Our sister had read through it, she sent me to go and locate you personally."

"Then why did Princess Cadence tell it could take days, then?"

"To keep a watchful eye on you. You are not like us, Dovahkiin - Dragonborn." I could feel the coy smirk on her face.

"How do you know who I am?" I questioned.

"In the Old times, there were legends about humans. These 'humans' came in many shapes and forms and were so varied. Amongst the normal humans, there was few who were gifted. The Dragonborn was one of them. A mortal human said to have the soul of a Dragon, he possessed a great ability beyond his or her's imagination. Do you know what that is?"

"The Thu'um."

"Hm. It seems you do then. Tell me, what is the 'Thu'um'?" She asked.

"The Voice is an ancient form of magic prominently used during the late Merethic and early First Era, but have gradually become obscure. Shouts use the vocalization of specific words of power to create powerful magical effects. Each shout is made up of three words, although Shouts could be composed of two or even a single word and still function. This, however, produces a far less powerful Shout." I explained to her. "For example. STRUN BAH QO!" Within seconds, a weak blizzard formed due to the climate of the Crystal Empire.

"Amazing." She gawked at the blizzard above.

"Yes. LOK VAH KOOR!" As the Shout hit the newly formed blizzard, it faded away in seconds as if it was never there.

"Is it possible to teach other who are not the Dragonborn the 'Thu'um?"

"Yes. Easy? No. I have learned from the wisest that it can takes years of training to learn and master even one word." I claimed.

"We thought as much. This has been informational."

"Is that all?"

"No. Now that you are here and settled in, I'm afraid We cannot allow you to stay here for very much longer. It would not be ideal if We allow to roam free. That's why We are here. We are here to escort you to Canterlot."

"Fine."

"Do not worry. Our sister will inform Cadence of your relocation. Stand next to me." Doing as she commanded, I stood next to her as she pressed a hand to my chest. Her horn then flared to life as I felt my total entity being moved. I saw many lights and colors rush by me at great speeds as I soon landed in another luxurious castle. I dropped to my my knees out of dizziness, but I quickly recovered.

"Are we in Canterlot?" I asked, standing back up.

"Yes we are. Follow me."

"Where are we going?"

"To the Headquarters. We know of your dilemma, Dovahkiin, We know you cannot fall asleep. This is because being a Princess of the night, We possess the ability to enter a pony's dreams when they sleep. While We were searching for you, We assumed you were asleep but when We located you, We noticed you have not slept in a very long time. Why?"

"If I tell you, will you execute me? It's a taboo and shunned." I tested.

"Of course not. You are important."

"Lycanthropy. I am a Werewolf. It is a gift given to me by a Guild by the name of the Companions. In the Guild, there is the Circle. The Circle is comprised of three other members. There was two others, but they have passed away. A long time ago, the original leader made a pact with Witches who explained that if they hunted in the name of a deity, they would receive the 'gift' of Lycanthropy. He thought it was not permanent, so he accepted. He, of course, was deceived and later learned the 'gift' was a curse. I see it as both. It prevents me from sleep, but grants me eternal energy."

"I see. Do not worry, your secret is safe with Us. Here we are." Pushing open a door with magic, she revealed a large room which contained many things such as papers, a map and others. "It seems your arrival has brought forth something we cannot believe unless we saw it with our own eyes. Only hours after what we presume you arrived, a gigantic mass of dark energy formed in Appleloosa. We received reports that a dragon as dark as midnight had destroyed the entire town."

"A dragon?" Black as the night sky. Oh no.

"Yes. It was massive and razed the town to the ground. Not many survived, but it spoke for a few moments. It said it wanted the 'Dragonborn.' Nopony knew what this 'Dragonborn' was so out of anger, it destroyed the last remaining portion of Appleloosa."

"Alduin."

"Who?"

"Alduin. A dragon that I had cast away with the flow of time, only to reappear at a later date. Not another world. It seems he wants me and I want him. I need to eliminate him before he can destroy any more."

"Good. We feel there isn't much time left before he finds you."

"There isn't."