Chapters Prologue: revenge of Sithis
Prologue: Revenge of Sithis
It was a quiet night in Helgen. The full moon casted ghastly shadows all over the dead city. One would need to be stupid to go back to Helgen, ever since the dragon destroyed the city it has been a den for some dangerous brigands, but tonight, they lie dead in their graves. Three figures in dark leather armor and hoods wander the streets, looking for their target, an Argonian, who thought it would be smart to hide in one of the buildings.
The Argonian hid behind the shadowed doorframe of a destroyed inn, and watched his hunters closely. This wasn’t his first encounter with the dark brotherhood, and it won’t be his last. Since his betrayal to Sithis, the dread father has since sent his best to exterminate the Argonian, but now, this was an insult. He could tell these assassins were rookies; they were arrogant, and cocky. They walked down the street as if they had a sure victory, not aware they were being watched. It wasn’t fair what the Argonian was going to do, he almost felt sorry for the initiates.
Fire-Lance spent a year in prison before his first encounter with the brotherhood. In that prison, there was a loose brick, and on it, was where someone engraved a word of power. its meaning was also scraped underneath, and since he didn’t have anywhere to go, he spent that entire year studying the word, and its meaning. He thought of the famed Dragonborn while doing this, the one who caught him during his heist, and wondered how he learned his shouts, but saw the Nord was disciplined. Lance meditated on the word, and was quick to master it. His first encounter with the brotherhood, happened a day after the start of a new year. The wall to his cell in solitude crumbled, and an assassin walked in. he quickly overpowered the would be killer, and escaped. He used his shout to outrun the guards, and get to freedom.
Since then he mastered the shout. The assassins were in position between the inn and another building, he set his plan in motion. He stepped from the doorway, and…
“WULD!”
Fire-Lance shot from the doorway, and armed his dagger. It was steel, but the momentum was enough to decapitate one initiate. He was still in motion towards another wall, he jumped, kicked off it, and fling the dagger, catching another initiate in the face. He quickly retrieved his dagger from the corpse, but noticed a distinct lack of a third person….
“Fuck!” an arrow embedded itself in Lance’s right shoulder, forcing him to drop his blade. He was now disarmed and without his dominant hand, then the initiate foolishly revealed himself.
“You’re a bitch to find Lance, but I’ll make Listener for this.” The Nord was full of himself, but before he could fire his bow another time, a jet black arrow sprung out of his forehead, the trademark arrow of an old friend of Lances.
“Thanks sister, but I doubt you did that to save me.” Lance knew outright that not even his family would be on his side, they were all shadow scales after all.
“You know why I am here, right brother.” Swift shadow walked from her hiding place. She wore the traditional brotherhood leather armor, and wielded our fathers jet black bow and poison arrows. Like him, her scales were a dark blue, which blended her well with the shadows. The feathers on her head were a deep crimson, like blood, and her claws were sharp, like a saber cats. “Sithis demands retribution for the crimes you have committed.”
"Reveal the locations of a few hideouts, and you are the most wanted man in Tamriel.” He muttered under his breath.” You very well know that I won’t go down without a fight.”
“You don’t have to brother, this was just a distraction.” Swift Shadow smirked, it chilled Lance to the bone, unlike his sister, his claws and teeth were short and less prominent, instead of feathers, he had spikes, but something in her smile scared him. Then he turned around.
“Greetings, Lance.” Lances heart dropped. The initiate his sister shot, got back up, but his voice changed, to that of the dread father himself.
“By Azura, what sorcery is this!” then, lance noticed a distinct pain in his chest.
“Revenge, for your sins.” The rose of Sithis protruded from Lance’s stomach, fired by his sister when his back was turned.
This was somewhat true. When Lance dropped to his knees, flowers bloomed from the arrow, outside of his body, and inside. He choked up, and is eyes rolled into the back of his head from pain. The arrow was then ripped out of his body, and he fell to the floor, dead.
“Good work, listener.” Sithis drew out the last word. Swift was practically beaming with pride, her plan was working. “Now, go back to the sanctuary, and await your next contract.” With that, the body glowed purple, and fell to the floor.
“If only you could have seen this coming Lance, but nobody crosses the dread father. But I will leave you with a token of apology for this betrayal, father’s heart stone, and yes, the stories from our clan are true. Have fun in Limbo.” She looked at her brother’s lifeless corpse one more time, then casted an invisibility spell, and returned to Dawnstar.
Lance was in the faded realm, a preverbal limbo for those who die on Nirne, to pass judgment by the divines. There was one thing that kept him here though, and it was his family. He was part of the blackheart clan from Blackmarsh, a necromantic clan who used onyx gems in the shape of a heart to summon the souls of the dead to do their bidding.
Lance picked up the black heart stone, in the faded realm, they were the only thing he could touch. Instead of moving on, he would be a slave to any mage who activates the heart stone, he would live an undead life of being forced to do anyones bidding from now on.
“I guess it is time to go, my dead body won’t be the one to activate this rock.” He joked to himself. He walked from the battlefield, and out of Helgen. The scenery looked different to him though, it resembled the deserts of the Khajiit homeland, yet with more rocky outcroppings, boulders, and holes. Then, an unknown force gripped the heart stone, and dragged him from his thoughts…
Ch1: A New Master
The heart stone that Fire-Lance held started to glow. It wasn’t a comforting white glow, it was a sinister dark purple glow, the one associated with necromancy. His form materialized in front of his new master, with a gaping hole in his chest, probably from the rose of Sithis. The heart stone floated out of his grip, and into his chest cavity, where his flesh mended itself around it, sealing his fate.
He turned towards his new master, and then his mouth dropped. In front of him, was a snow-white unicorn with a purple mane and blue eyes, which seemed disproportional to its head, which seemed to have a shorter snout than normal horses. It stared at him with a wide eyed expression, and was practically shaking with fear from what she has witnessed.
Rarity stared wide eyed at the creature that seemed to materialize in front of her. What went from a normal trip to gather gems, has taken a twist. A seemingly harmless looking gem turned into a short dragon-like creature wearing what she assumed to be the worst clothing she saw in a while. When she was about to flee the creature, it bowed, and spoke with a reptilian accent.
“How may I serve thee?”
“How can I serve thee?” this time, he said it as clear as he could, but sometimes, when you talk with a forked tongue, people have trouble understanding you.
“Wh-what are you?” the horse sounded female, and Fire-Lance was shocked at this. A simple nod of recognition and a hint to follow would have been good, but never has he seen a talking horse.
“I am your new servant, by activating the heart stone, you have retrieved me from limbo, and now I am sworn to serve you.” Surely Lance could handle the jobs of a talking unicorn, but he swore that if this was a wood elf trick, he would gut the prankster like a fish.
Rarity was in a predicament. She was wary of this creature, but was intrigued by its statement. She decided that her gem cart was getting heavy, and accepted its offer.
“Okay then, um. You can start by helping me bring these gems back to my boutique, once we get there, I have some questions, and maybe a new outfit for you.”
“What is wrong with my current attire?” the creature asked. She was still freaked out about the reptilian accent it had, but still answered its question.
“because that thing is absolutely filthy! How can you stand to walk around in that, hideous set of clothing?” she truly wondered why anypony would need something as crude and dull as what the creature was wearing, and she firmly decided that if it was going to be seen around her, it would need some proper clothes.
“my armor has saved my hide many a time, but if it is what you wish, then I shall comply.” Rarity heard some form of agitation in its voice, as if it didn’t like its current job. She was about to reply when a group of five diamond doge dug up from underneath them.
“Pune pony give dogs all gems, NOW!” the dog shouted loudly, then she heard a low growl from the dragon thing next to her.
Lance couldn’t believe it. Trolls that could dig through the ground like a knife through butter, but as soon as they threatened his master, he geared up for a fight, by pulling out his backup dagger. Again, it was steel, but with a bit of pressure on the hilt, and it would secrete a deadly poison, one of his own inventions.
“WULD!”
The shout rang out light thunder on the field as he dashed forward. The trolls were packed together, a stupid mistake. He killed three in the charge, and before it ended, he shifted his momentum by turning around. The sudden change propelled him towards another troll, to which he flung hid dagger at. It struck him right in the back of the head, the blade went deep, and the troll fell. The final attacker took his hands off his ears, and looked at his comrades, each were lying dead in pools of blood. Lance retrieved his dagger from the last troll he killed, stared at the now cowering being before him, and…
“BOO!” the troll wet itself and dug for its life. Lance laughed at this, and then looked at his surroundings. He was still in the same area, rock floor, boulders everywhere, six new holes added to the already monstrous amount. He determined the area safe, and then turned to the unicorn, who stared wide eyed at him.
“What, was it something I said?”
This thing was dangerous. Rarity’s every instinct told her to run, but she regained her composer, but was still shaky from what she saw.
“It is nothing dear, just if something like that happened again, try to take a more… civilized approach.” The creature seemed to ponder on this, then said,
“What harm could be done of that then?” it sheathed the blade it was holding, and picked up the handle of the cart. “where to?”
“My boutique in Ponyville I guess.” The creature chuckled. “What is so funny?”
“Oh nothing. It’s just the name of the town, it seems quite odd to me.”
“Well then, if you have nothing nice to say, you will not say anything at all.” rarity finished her statement, then the creature bowed. Rarity facehoofed when she realized that it was taking her statement literally. “forget that, just watch what you say please.”
“Will do, this could be an interesting experience.”
Sithis slammed his fist on his throne. Material possessions were worthless in the void, but this felt needed.
“Tricked by the siblings. I shall deal with the new listener, then send some of my servants to bring his soul back.”
Ch2: Arrival
The trip to Ponyville was taking longer than Rarity expected, especially when her new companion ran off. It wouldn’t have been that bad, she would have returned to Ponyville by herself, but the creature had her gems with it, so she decided to run after it, but stopped outside of some thick brush when she heard some bones snapping. The bushes rustled another time, and the dragon-like creature started to stand back up.
“Ugh, don’t come out until you clean up, from what I heard coming from behind that bush, you must be filthy.” Seeing the creature soaked in blood was something she would rather not see.
“I do not see a stream nearby, and since I’m not a cat, I can’t lick the blood off. Looks like we’ll have to wait until we find a stream, or a suitable bathing area.” With that, he exited his little dining area and stood before rarity. There was still blood caked to his armor, but it was cleaner than she thought.
“Fine, just don’t get any of it on me.”
She may not be showing it, but Lance could tell she was even more spooked out by his appearance. Not many people are comfortable standing around someone who has blood and bits of fur from another creature on their armor. Soon enough, they were out of the forest, and heading towards some sort of town, it looked way to colorful for him to really admire, and it was giving him a headache.
Next thing he knew, “EEEP! MONSTER!” a yellow blur shot straight past him, towards some sort of hollowed out tree.
“Well, that was unexpected. Do you think it’s because I still have a bit of pork stuck in my teeth.” Lance proceeded to lick between his sharp teeth with his forked tongue.
“No, I think it’s the fact that Fluttershy is scared of dragons and you just happen to look like one. Plus it doesn’t help that you have blood on your scales. I’ll go talk to her, meet me at my boutique at the center of town, and get cleaned up while I’m gone, oh, and do try to avoid being seen, I’m not sure how others will react to the sight of you.”
“Sounds like a plan, I like traveling unseen, so this shouldn’t be a problem, but should I take the gems with me, or are you going to bring them with you?”
“I’ll take them with me, I don’t want you running off with them again. I’ll see you at the shop in a few minutes.” With that, she walked towards a house that looked like a tree, not too different than what he saw some wood elves living in.
“Well, let’s see what wonders await me here.” Lance then casted his invisibility and muffle spells, and made his way towards his master’s shop in town.
A few minutes into the town, and Lance got an uneasy feeling, like he was being followed. He glanced back, but only saw a bale of hay, so he shrugged the feeling off and continued sneaking.
A few minutes later, and he snuck another glance back, and that bale of hay was still behind him, but with an odd set of glasses, nose and mustache disguise. “What in Mara’s name?” he moved forward, and so did the hay. He found an alleyway, and quickly duck into it, soon after the hay followed. He jumped from his cover onto the hay to try and find his follower, only to find it empty. “What trickery is this?”
He managed to stand up, and… “HI THERE!”
The sudden noise startled Lance, and made him jump in the air, and land flat on his back. “What in oblivion was that!” he cupped his hands over his mouth when he realized he yelled. He quickly reactivated his spells, just in time too. A beige pony with a grey mane looked into the alleyway.
“Pinkie, what are you doing?”
“Oh nothing mayor, just saying hi to a new friend.” She proceeded to put a hoof around his shoulder.
“Okay then.” She shrugged and left.
“Hey, how come she didn’t see you?” she then proceeded to poke him to get an answer.
“How is it you can see me, I’m using an invisibility spell.” He then smacked the hoof away. “Listen, I would love to stay and chat, but I have somewhere I need to be.”
“Oh oh oh, is there some kind of secret party you are going to, if it is than can I come, I just love love love parties.” She was right in his face when she said this.
“Sort of, I need to meet someone in town.” He pushed her away slightly to get some breathing room.
“Is it Rarity?” she gave him an inquisitive eye.
“Who?”
“One of my bestest best friends silly. She has a white coat, and a purple mane and tail.”
“Yes, it is, but how did you know?”
The pink pony pulled out a stack of paper. “I read the script of course. Oh, and by the way, my name is Pinkie Pie, what’s yours?”
“What is a script, no matter. My name is Fire-Lance, it was nice to meet you, but I must get going.” He then jumped onto a roof, deciding it was the best way to get around the colorful town.
“He seemed pretty grumpy, maybe a surprise party will cheer him up!” pinkie proceeded to bounce away, this would be the first time she planned a party for a dragon.
Lance made it to the town center, and saw his master, Rarity, walk into a white building with what looked like mannequins in clothing decorating the windows. “Did it really take me that long to get here?” He muttered to himself something about tardiness, and then proceeded to make his way into the shop from the top floor.
Rainbow Dash was cruising through the sky above Ponyville, practicing for the Wonderbolts like she normally does, but then noticed something at the Carrousel Boutique. When she looked closer, she saw Rarity’s top floor window open, then close with no assistance from magic. She then flew down to investigate, entering through the same window.
Lance just entered the shop, and was heading down the stairs. He let his cloak slip, seeing that it was almost empty of life here, except for him and Rarity of course. He was at the stairs, and then something tackled him. He proceeded to roll down the staircase and land on his face at the bottom, and he also felt something holding his arms behind his back.
“Hold it right there ugly, just what do you think you’re doing in Rarity’s house?”
“I was invited.” This one was starting to get on Lance’s nerves, so he kicked her off and tossed a paralysis spell at her, which quickly made her stiffen up, and fall over.
“What did you just do to me, why can’t I move!” her attempts to struggle made him laugh.
Just as this happened, Rarity busted the door open, “Just what is going on in here! Oh, hi Rainbow, hi... uh, sorry, I didn’t get your name back when we were getting the gems.”
“I am Fire-Lance, and don’t worry, I didn’t kill her, just used a paralyzing spell.”
“Well, let her out of it, I’m sure she has questions for you as well.as well as an apology, don’t you Rainbow.” She then sent a glare at the blue pony with a rainbow mane and…wings.
“Sure, yea, sorry.” She stated indignantly. Lance sent a purple haze towards her, which seems to have cured her paralysis. “Mind if I ask the first question.”
“Go ahead, just let me clean up first.” Lance left for a minute to clean off his scales and scale armor. He returned to find the mini horses drinking what appeared to be tea. “Okay, fire away.”
“Just what kind of dragon are you?”
Lance just glared at her before answering. “I am not a dragon, I am an Argonian, a sentient race of reptilian people from Blackmarsh, I should really take it as a compliment, but it seems to bother me more than when the imperials threaten to turn me into a pair of boots.”
Rarity was appalled by this. “That is just horrible!”
“Thank you for your-“
“I mean, who would want to turn you into boots, your scales aren’t really the color to match any clothing other than dark funeral attire!” Lance deadpanned at her, which made her blush and shrink back a little. “Oh, um, sorry.”
“The thing that sucks is that I can’t really be mad at you, being the one with the most power over me and all.” this caught the rainbow ones attention.
“Really, how so?”
“Yes, I’m quite interested in that too, I remember you saying something about a heart stone, so start there.” Lance opted to tell a short description about the stones power, but the look on Rarity’s face told him that they needed the whole story behind the stone.
He took a deep breath. “The heart stone is a chunk of onyx used by the blackheart clan, where I am from, to resurrect warriors or young Argonians who have fallen, prematurely to death. The stone only works on those who are part of the tribe, which is good, some necromancers have tried using it to bring themselves back, but it didn’t work. The stone actually traps the soul of the unlucky sod that died in limbo, forcing them to roam a type of spirit realm until the stone is activated. Any magic can activate the stone, even a child can activate it if they are in the vicinity of each other. The one who activates the stone has absolute power over the soul that was trapped. To make it even better, the stone even replaces the heart of the one resurrected, making one giant flaw in its design.”
Rainbow had fallen asleep during the lesson, but Rarity was giving her rapt attention, clearly interested. “What is the flaw?”
“The gem can fracture and break if there is too much strain on it. Sometimes a few good smacks with a hammer is the quickest way to destroy it, and the person it revived. The other quick way to kill someone who has been resurrected is to kill their master, thus, severing the stones tie to the living world, and sending the soul back into limbo.”
“Well, that is interesting, but it doesn’t really seem right, then again, necromancy is never right.” At this point rainbow woke up, and decided to take her leave. It was now Rarity and Lance in the room. Lance was about to say something when something burst from his pack.
“HI RARITY! I just wanted to invite you to a surprise party for someone I just met in Ponyville today, he seemed like a grouch, but I know a good party is all he needs to cheer him up, but don’t tell him, it’s a secret.” She then disappeared back into the pack, the only evidence that she was even there, was a blue envelope slowly floating to the floor. Rarity looked around the room for Lance, and noticed him hanging from the ceiling by the spikes on his head; the sight of this sent her into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
“Yes yes, very funny. If you could be so kind as to help me down, we could get going with what needs to be done.” Rarity recomposed herself, and helped Lance down from the ceiling.
“Well, first order of business is to make you some new garments. Since I don’t have a mannequin for Argonians, you are going to have to model for me.”
“Well, as long as I don’t look ridiculous in it, it is okay.”
“Don’t worry about it darling, you are going to look fabulous. “ her statement sent a shiver up his spine, last time he checked, Argonians were never made to look fabulous, only the smooth skin races could pull that off. He reluctantly followed her into a room with a stage and various pieces of fabrics that littered the floor. He took one look at the six mannequins that lined the right side wall.
“By the nine, this is going to take a while.”
Ch3: shadows
(The Void)
Sithis stood before three souls in the Void, the same three that failed miserably in Helgen just last night.
“You three will have a chance to redeem yourselves, once I find a way through the damnable magic barrier into that plane, you will hunt down Fire-Lance again, and kill him.” The three shades nodded, and disappeared back into the darkness that is Sithis’ realm. “Now, to deal with this pesky magic barrier.
“I believe I can help with that.” Sithis looked behind him, and saw a strange creature, or a jumble of many put together. “Hello, my name is discord, god of chaos, and I believe I may have an answer to your problem, if you are willing to help with mine.” He started rubbing his talon and paw together menacingly, Sithis already hated him, his aura reminded him of Sheogorath.
“Well, what is your solution to me problem then, spit it out, I have deaths to plan.”
“Straight to the point, well that’s no fun, but if you’re willing to help, then I can get your little minions pass the barrier, with just a snap of my fingers.”
“Is it really that easy?” Discord nodded. “Fine” with a snap of his fingers, Sithis summoned the three shades in need of redemption in the Void. “Send these three to the closest location of Fire-Lance, I want him dead.”
“Oh this should be fun, let’s work wondrous chaos together.” Discord put his arm around Sithis’ shoulder, as if they were best buds.
“Don’t get your hopes up, he must die first, his betrayal must not go unpunished.” Discord only nodded, and snapped his fingers, sending the three shades to equestrian.
“Do you have anything else, other than shades, to cause chaos with?” Discord asked with a cocked eyebrow towards Sithis.
“Dagon owes me a favor for saving his hide during his failed attempt to conquer Cyrodiil in the third era. Since I can’t leave the Void without assistance from someone from the dark brotherhood, you will go call it in for me.”
“This is going to be fun!” and with that, he disappeared, no doubt on his way to oblivion.
“Yes, fun indeed.”
(Ponyville)
“I look ridiculous.” Lance felt like some bootlicker from the imperial court in Cyrodiil. His clothes were the exact opposite of what he would normally wear, but at least it wasn’t a dress.
“Oh stop complaining. Wow, that took longer than expected. Let’s get some sleep, and get ready for the party tomorrow. You can sleep in Sweetie Bells room for tonight; she is staying at applejacks with her friends for a sleepover.”
“Okay, well, show me the way.” Rarity led him to a small room that looked like it belonged to a kid. “I guess this Sweetie Bell is a kid.”
“Well yes, she is my younger sister, well anyway, good night.”
“Yeah, good night.” Rarity left I’m in the small room to get situated. He took off the ridiculous robes that she made for him. He plopped down on the bed, and decided to get some sleep. “Small bed, but surprisingly soft, damn, I can’t believe I am enjoying this.” He soon fell asleep, unaware of what was going on outside.
It was the middle of the night when Lance woke up, something was wrong; a town is never this quiet. He felt as if something was watching him, he looked around, and it was as if the shadows were moving. He moved towards the window, and saw three familiar looking shadows moving down the street. It looked like they were talking, but he heard no noise, they walked as if they were sure of themselves. “I guess he found me, but again insults me by sending these three.” Lance moved out the window, unaware of yet another set of eyes watching his every move.
Luna found the source of the disturbance in Ponyville, and was surprised to see three shades casually walking down the main road. She also saw something coming out of the window of the boutique, it had a dark aura around it, but started to sneak towards the shades. She flew above, and waited to see what would transpire.
Lance jumped off the roof and rolled behind a bench. These shades were the exact same people that were killed at Helgen, only more alert, he didn’t want to wake anyone, so using his shout was out of the question. He went invisible and ducked behind the fountain in the middle of the square. The shades passed him, oblivious to his presence. As soon as the third passed him, he went for an assassination. He snuck up behind the last one, and slit his throat, he fell, and burst into a cloud of black smoke. This alerted the others; they each pulled out spectral swords and charged. Like at Helgen, they were sloppy, he must have killed the one with the bow, the only one who used his brain. He dodged one attack, and parried the other, then proceeded to slice one of their throats. He squared off with the last one, waiting for him to make a move. The shade charged, but was fast, he did a quick slice, but Lance blocked it. The shade continued to cut at Lance’s defense with rapid swings, he got tired of this. Lance blocked a heavy swing, and then roundhouse kicked the shade in the chest. It then flew back a yard, and crashed into a bench. Lance dashed forward and plunged his dagger in its chest, and squeezed the handle. It may have been a shade, but Lance killed ghosts with this enchanted poison. The shade stiffened up from the paralysis effect, then its body convulsed, and died. With the last but a cloud of smoke, he checked to see if he was alone, and then returned to the room in which he was sleeping. “I’m going to need strength if Sithis is going to send the ones I killed after me.” he muttered, and then fell asleep on the small bed.
Luna was shocked at the skill the creature had with such a small weapon, and even more so when she saw that it was residing in Rarity’s house. She flew home fast to tell her sister of what she had learned.
(The Void)
Sithis growled in frustration. In retrospect, he should have anticipated this, now he would have to buy his time, and chose his shades carefully.
“I’m back~, and I brought a friend.”
“Shut up you blubbering fool, you’re worse than Sheogorath. What is it you need Sithis, I have a busy schedule.”
“Would you both shut up! Now, that you are here lets discuss our next order of business. What did you say you wanted in return for helping me?”
“Oh nothing big, just to take over equestrian.”
“So you need an army, why don’t you use yours Sithis?”
“My shades are only as strong as when they died and since many of them died w=before reaching their true potential, my army isn’t as strong as I would like. That is where your army of deadra come in, not only will you get to taste battle again, I will have my revenge, and Discord will get to rule another plane.”
“You do know how to hold a grudge Sithis, fine, I will help you, if only to bloody my axe again.”
“Oh the chaos we will ensue, it’s making me giddy with excitement. Let’s get started planning right away.”
(Mages guild remnants: Valenwood)
Swift Shadow walked through the halls of a ruined temple. She has been spending time with the remnants of the mages guild, under the nose of the Aldmeri Dominion. In her mind, the Thalmor knew that the guild was here, they just didn’t care enough to bring down the mages. “Are you sure that this spell will work?” she asked Arch Mage Loric, a Breton who definitely deserved his title.
He nodded his head.” If you want to travel to another plane, the well of magic is the safest way. If you have the plane in mind, it will be easy, but if you don’t, it will send you to a random one. A few mage have tried it, and only two ended up dying.”
“Why is that?”
“They were transported to two of the more, dangerous realms of oblivion. The others are building up branches in the safer planes as we speak. Once the mages guild is back up to power, we can return and start back up in Tamriel. So, are you ready to get started?”
“Yes, I have a plane in mind.”
“Good, because we are here, I will tell the mages to get ready.”
Swift stood before what appeared to be a pit that radiated magic. There was a platform made of stone that led out to the middle. Loric motioned to follow, and then made her stand on a pedestal in the middle of the circular platform, he quickly retreated and told the mages to begin. They chanted some strange Akaviri lyrics, and then the magic in the pit started to expand upwards. The pedestal glowed blue and then the world turned white.
Loric was pleased with another success in the ability to send others to different planes. He heard the beat of hooves galloping along stone; he turned around and saw a scary sight. A big shade wielding a staff with scythes at both ends riding a black horse with glowing red eyes burst into the chamber, its voice was loud and almost made the mage wet himself.
“Where is the traitor, where is swift! Tell me or you all will feel the wrath of Sithis!” to make his point, he sliced off the nearest initiates head with his weapon. “You have five seconds, where is she!”
“Where you will not find her shade!” Loric did not regret his decision. The shade yelled an ear splitting screech, and then charged. The mages put up a valiant fight, oh who were they kidding, they didn’t even touch the shade, he was too powerful. The shade stood before Loric on his horse, all other mages lie dead.
“You will burn in the Void mortal, Sithis have mercy on you, because I won’t.” with that, he decapitated Loric. The shade turned his horse around, and retreated back to the Void, Sithis will not be pleased.
Ch4: Attack
(Canterlot)
Celestia was in deep thought about the information Luna brought her. “that explains the weird sources of dark energy. Where did you say the last one was?”
“I saw it crawl through the top window of Rarity’s shop. It may either be staying there, or is hiding. In any case, we need to find out what its intentions are.”
“I’ll send a letter to Twilight, maybe she can find out what’s going on. How is it that all the interesting things happen to ponyville?”
“Does thou wish for more things to happen here?”
“No, no, the wedding was good enough for a long while.” Both sisters chuckled at this. Celestia wrote a letter to Twilight, stating what the princess wanted her to do, and then sent it.
Lance woke up even more tired than before he fell asleep. It seems his late night fight got in the way of his sleep. He was surprised at his state, but then again, four sleepless nights in a row will do that to someone. He got out of bed, and went downstairs. He made it to the main room in the boutique, and couldn’t find anyone.
“Rarity, where are you?”
“In the kitchen darling, I’m making breakfast.”
Lance went to the kitchen, and was surprised at what he saw. “Wow, I’ve never seen such machinery. How did you get this dwemer technology to work, whenever I try it just attacks me.”
“What, this is regular kitchen equipment, you have this where you come from, don’t you?”
“No, the only advanced equipment we have are enchanters tables, and destroyed dwarven machinery.”
“Well, could you get me some eggs from the fridge over there.” Lance walked over to the metal box Rarity motioned towards. It reminded him of a larder from Skyrim. He opened it, and jumped back in surprise when the light turned on.
“What sorcery is this?” he proceeded to open and close the fridge in fascination.
“Stop screwing around.”
“Okay.” He stopped messing with the fridge, and brought some eggs over to Rarity, who then cracked them and made omelets.
Breakfast went by without much of a hitch, but Lance kept having a nagging feeling that something was wrong. He took a quick look around, and then shrugged it off, shades can only come out at night, and the sun was up, so he assumed he was safe, and we all know what happens when you assume. “Hey Rarity, when is this party that you were invited to, and who is it for?”
“I believe it is in an hour, and that it is for you.”
“Me, well, that’s a first.”
“Why do you say that?”
“When your entire life consists of nothing but training and missions for the Dark Brotherhood, you tend not to get to too many gatherings. Last time I was at a party, was when I had a contract on an ambassador, it was his birthday too, sometimes life just hands you the easy ones. Suffice to say, I’ve never been to a party centered on me.”
“Well that just won’t do. We will have to start getting ready for the party, we will need to look our best.”
“Does that mean I have to wear those robes again?”
“Well of course it does darling, and we will also need to trim your nails, and file down those spikes on your head. One wrong move and somepony could get hurt.” Lance sighed, and started to get ready.
(Everfree Forest)
Swift opened her eyes to a familiar sight. “Trees, damn mages just sent me somewhere else in Valenwood. What in oblivion am I going to do now?” a rustling in the brush behind her gave her an answer, with a roar, some hybrid lion, scorpion, bat thing lunged at her. She rolled out of the way, drew her bow, and shot an arrow at it. The arrow stuck into its side, but the creature didn’t seem to feel it, it just turned at her and looked even angrier. “This may take a while.”
Dagon seemed agitated, “what do you mean you can’t open the portal?”
Discord looked a bit embarrassed, “well, I am not at full strength yet, and opening an interdimensional portal big enough for the three of us, and an army, will take a lot of magic and-“ He was cut off by Dagon picking him up by the throat.
“Stop the excuse, how do we get more power?”
“Well, I am strengthened by chaos.”
“Dagon, you could send some of your deadra to this... equestria, that should cause some chaos.”
“Very well, Discord, set up this sigil stone somewhere outside of a town, and then watch as my minions cause some destruction.”
“looks promising, I’ll be right back” with that, he disappeared in a cloud of pink smoke, which then started to rain chocolate milk.
Dagon set it on fire with a spell, “this fool better know what he is doing, I grow tired of waiting.”
“Patience Dagon, soon, a mortal plane will fall to our power, and then we can spread our influence in Tamriel properly.”
(Sugarcube Corner)
Lance was just making small talk with the various residents of Ponyville. He got used to the fact that everyone just called him a dragon, it was somewhat easier for them to understand than trying to learn about a completely different race, well, except for a purple unicorn, she was curios, too curios. He explained almost everything he knew to her, and she continued to ask the most inane questions.
“Just what are you trying to accomplish asking me these pointless questions? I can tell that you’re not just curios, you are taking notes.”
She seems taken aback by this, “just how do you know I’m taking notes?”
“I can see the scroll and quill under that table, be honest, who are you working for?”
“Well, princess Celestia told me to be wary of some creature taking residence in Ponyville, she is just being cautious.”
“Well, stop taking notes, if you want to know why I’m here, ask Rarity. Don’t feel like setting up another explanation on necromancy.” Lance got up and took a walk outside.
“Aw, leaving so soon?” this pink pony seems to be everywhere.
“No, just need a bit of fresh… air.” He then saw the ever distinctive armor and weapons of the deadra under the command of Mehrunes Dagon. “Pinkie, get inside, and keep everyone in there.”
“Okie dokie lokie. Don’t have too much fun without me.” she disappeared into the building.
“This will be interesting.” He pulled out his dagger, he hid it in the stitches of his robe, just in case.
“Look, fresh meat, kill him!” The Valkynaz ordered a group of Churl, and they charged, brandishing weapons ranging from swords, to maces, and even a Caitiff brandishing a wicked looking spear.
“Yea, nothing is bleeding, yet.” The caitiff charged after he said this, Lance dodged, grabbed the spear with one hand, and stabbed the deadra in the face with his dagger; the dremora fell into a lifeless heap on the floor. Lance sheathed is dagger, and took an offensive stance with his new spear. “Try to get weapons, they won’t go down easily.”
“Well hun, we don’t rightly now how to use weapons.” The others nodded in response, except for Fluttershy, who cowered behind Twilight, and rarity, who fainted at the sight of the deadra, probably because of their armor.
“Alright then applejack, just keep them off me when I need help.” The deadra resumed their charge, Lance blocked blow after blow with the spear. Having this new weapon allowed him to take shots at other deadra, but he noticed how few were attacking him. He turned three deadra into a shish kebab and turned to look for the others. The six ponies were pinned to the floor by deadra, and more rushed at him. The Valkynaz ran up behind him to deliver a fatal blow with a war hammer, only for his right eye to be replaced by a familiar black arrow. His sister dropped from a tree and took down three more with arrows. “Damn sis, good timing as always, here to kill me again?”
“Leave the questions till after we close the gate.”
They fought off the rest of the deadra, and ran towards the center of town, where his sister showed him the gate that opened up had been. Twelve more deadra jumped out, accompanied by two deadroth and a frost atronach. During the fight, Lance and his sister got split up. He was rushed by two Churls who wielded an axe and a great sword. He jumped over the first, but then the second managed to cut the back half of his tail off.
“Now you asked for it you fuckers.” He grabbed the deadra by the horns, snapped his neck, and took his great sword. Lance then proceeded to fell the others. The deadroth smacked him across the plaza, and into a wall. “What a crappy place to put a house.” He dislodged himself from the wall, took out a scroll, and launched a blast of lightning at the overgrown gator, disintegrating it.
To his surprise, his sister jumped out of the gate, and then it closed behind her. “Better?” she asked.
“Yeah, better.”
“You seem to be missing something…”
“Don’t, even say it.”
“Wow dude, what happened to your tail?” The cyan Pegasus known as rainbow dash then signaled the arrival of the rest of the gang. Rarity just woke up from fainting, only to look at Lances ten faint again.
Fluttershy just gasped, “Doesn’t that hurt?”
“Yes it does. Give me a moment; I need to have a word with my sister.”
Rainbow’s ears perked up at this, “isn’t she the reason why you’re here in the first place.” Lance nodded. “Then why are you not trying to get back at her?”
“Simple, she’s here for a reason, if she wanted me dead, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now.”
Twilight turned to swift, “Why the change of heart, from what he told us, you don’t seem like a nice person.”
Pinkie jumped out of Swifts pack this time, “Yeah, from what I heard, you are a real meanie.”
Swift just smiled, lifted Pinkie out of her bag, and said, “Well, it’s just that we have a common goal right now. I just need to tell him something.” They walked behind a corner into an alleyway. “Lance, Sithis is stepping up his game.”
“How do you know?”
“I heard from some reliable informants, that he employed the help of Dagon, and someone named Discord.”
Twilight couldn’t believe her ears, some gods from their world teaming up with discord. If these demons are their handiwork, then equestrian is in trouble. She rushed back to her friends to tell them the news, they decided on a plan, and split up to get ready. Twilight returned to her library to send a letter to Celestia, and Rarity, who just woke up again, decided to wait for Lance and his sister.
Discord watched in disappointment as the deadra fell to the hands of the two dragon-like creatures below, but that didn’t matter. He had enough power after that show of chaos to probably turn the two alicorn sisters to stone, but he had a job, and returned to Oblivion, where his two new friends were waiting.
=============================================================================================
Authors note:
Had a bit of trouble trying to envision this in my head. Let me know if anything is bothering you in relation to the plot. i will be happy to explain it.
Ch5: Preparation
It has been nearly a week since the attack, and it seems things have almost gone to normal, barring some hysteria from the more concerned ponies about Discord. Lance was helping Rarity with some dresses for a large order going to some prestigious shop in a city called Manehatten. Swift was staying in the nearby forest, saying that there was someone she needed to thank for saving her life.
“How many more dresses do we need to make?” stitching dresses by hand was annoying, and slow, but it seemed that the more checks she was putting on the list was going up.
“Another twenty, but don’t worry, if we split up the work we’ll be done in no time.”
“Good, I think I’m getting tired of pricking myself with a needle.”
“I’m surprised at how good you are at this, you don’t really look the type.”
“I know right, must be the connection we have when you revived me, gave me some of the same skills you have.” His mind turned back to the battle, and how unprepared he was. The sudden influx in anger caused him to jerk the needle upwards, ripping the fabric. “Gods damned thing.”
“What’s got you so worked up?”
“How unprepared we all were when Dagon sent his soldiers after us.”
“If it makes you feel any better, how could we have known or prepared for an attack like that?”
“Training, when we finish, gather your friends, we are going to train.”
“We?” Lance nodded. “As in, all of us?” he nodded again. “Will it involve dirt?” he face palmed. “What?”
It took a while to finish the dresses, one day to be precise. At noon, swift, Lance, and the elements were gathered in the park.
“Um, Lance, what are we doing here, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Training Fluttershy, making sure we don’t get caught off guard again.”
They all groaned, but that is why he brought Swift along. “The good news is that I won’t be training you, Swift is.” They seemed to perk up at this.
“ALRIGHT MAGGOTS, FALL IN!” Lance laughed at his sisters imitation of the trainer from their tribe, that month had been the most grueling. The six ponies then stiffened up, and stood at attention. “I want twelve laps around the park, running… err, galloping. We need to shape you up.”
Lance left to begin his own training, his sister would push them, make them stronger. Lance on the other hand, needed to speak to a certain deadric lord for help.
Sheogorath was sleeping soundly at his throne, thoroughly bored with the constant petty troubles of his subjects. When the demented dark elf finished, Sheogorath woke up.
“So my lord, will you help?”
“I, need to think about it. Court is closed, be gone, your constant chattering is making ma teeth itch.” The room quickly cleared, thanks to his ever loyal Dark Seducers and Golden Saints.
“Do you need anything my lord?”
“Yes, I need the crystal ball, not the one jyggalag made, the one ah did.”
“Is there someone you want to talk to outside of the realm?”
“You could say that, so, you going to get it, or are you just going to stand there staring at me like I have two heads. That isn’t a bad idea actually, after you get me the crystal ball, find me someone who isn’t really attached to their head.”
“Yes my lord.”
The isles were always fun, sure the people were a bit drab, and tiresome, and... Oh who is he kidding, he misses the Argonian that made his realm seem infinitely less boring, and the assassins that followed him seemed to liven up the streets.
“The crystal ball my lord, we will begin the search for the head now.”
“Thank you, now, leave, I have someone to talk to.” The guards left, and Sheogorath then summoned up magic, and it showed him Lance, his favorite Argonian, Trying to contact him through a mirror. “Lance my friend, how are you, long time no see.”
“Yeah, long time. Listen Sheogorath, something big is going down here, and I need your help.”
“Lance, are you on Equestria, how in oblivion did you get there, I thought only I knew it existed.”
“What, never mind. Sithis, Dagon, and some fella named Discord are planning a big assault on the realm, and I need your help.”
“Hmm, the law enacted by the original eight forbade any deadric lord from directly interfering with another ones plan, but I think I can indirectly help by putting some guards under your orders, and maybe giving you that armor you left in ma castle, and also giving back the necklace you left here.”
“I left my amulet there? Shit that was my favorite to, stole that in Cyrodiil from the emperor, says it was a remake of the amulet of kings, but I thought it looked cool.”
“Well it’s a good remake; it is imbued with the power of Akatosh after it was given to the emperor. Never worked for him after that, but it should work for you.”
“How do you know?”
“Ah looked at the script my boy, don’t you?” Sheogorath proceeded to take out a stack of papers like a certain pink mare has done before.
“I don’t want to know, how soon can you get them here?”
“It will take ma a few days to get a portal on Equestria again, but it will be done.”
“Thanks Sheogorath, oh, and before I forget, how is that new champion of yours doing?”
“Oh, he didn’t work out, boring, like the others. You were right.”
“Yeah, I was, see you in a few days.”
“What a nice lad, shame what happens to him later. Ooh, I get to host a part later, I wonder what type of cheese there will be? No matter, I have a job to do.”
The dark elf from earlier burst through the door, “my lord, did you consider my proposal, I just couldn’t wait to get your answer.”
“How dare you interrupt my thoughts, guards, throw him in the dungeon!”
“My lord, we don’t have a dungeon, they were destroyed during the last Greymarch that you stopped”
“Really, I need to get those up and running again. Okay, string him up, time for a hangin.”
“Yes my lord.”
“Wait, you can’t do this, what about my proposal!”
“Don’t care, get him out of my sight, and string him up by his own intestines.”
“Yes my lord.”
“Well, that was easy. I wonder how the others are doing with Swifts training.” Lance left the bathroom, and went downstairs. He saw Rarity passed out on the couch. ‘Dang, sis must have run them hard, then again, first days the easiest.’ He took a look around the room, and saw that it was a mess. He started to clean up, and found a note for a dress that’s going to a bride in Trottingham, next to it, a complete design for a dress. “Might as well get started, don’t want it getting in the way later.”
Rarity woke up sore. Yesterday was the first day of training, and she was already sick of it. She decided to try and make the dress for the Trottingham order, to find that the entire boutique has been cleaned, and the wedding dress was on a mannequin, it looked exactly like her sketch. Granted it was only a bit frillier than the normal wedding dress, but then again, it was for a family member. She went upstairs, and found Lance passed out on the guest bed.
She sighed, she wanted to make the dress herself, but was also glad for the break. It gave her more time to prepare for the days training.
Ch6: beginning
Ch6: Beginning
It has been a good month since the attack on Ponyville, and Celestia doubted that discord and his cronies would ever be back. These assumptions were shattered when several oblivion gates and a great gate opened up in Canterlot.
“Guards, sound the alarms, get the civilians to safety!”
“Right away Princess!”
Canterlot was in chaos, deadra littered the streets, attacking everything. That wasn’t all; a giant metal contraption appeared from the great gate just on the outskirts of town. It shot fireballs, and demolished everything in its path.
“Princess, everypony is safe in the tunnels, what now?”
“Get them as far away from the city as possible, then we will deal with these things.”
“Yes pr-” the guard gasped and started kneeling forwards, the blade of a scythe was embedded in his back.
Celestia just stared at the creature in front of her. It was tall, around six feet, very muscular, and the details she could pick out from its shadow body, she could see it had two tusks forming from its lower jaw, and its face was contorted in an ever present hatred for everything. It took its scythe from the guard’s corpse, and spun it around, revealing another scythe at the other end.
“I’ll give you just five seconds to run runt, if you aren’t gone, then Sithis will have your soul in the void.” Celestia thought that if the thing was alive, its voice wouldn’t be as deep or foreboding, but she was shaking in her hooves from the power she felt from it, she telepathically told her sister to get the rest of the guards out, it was time to leave.
Discord chuckled at Celestia’s weakness; he found it funny that the most powerful being in equestrian was afraid of a little shade. The now former ruler ran like a chicken, while he took his place on the throne.
“Such weakness, my deadra didn’t even get to bloody their blades. “
“Calm down Dagon, we will find more, soon, the real invasion will begin.” Discord was growing tired of their constant talking behind his back.
Sithis looked at Dagon, he nodded. Sithis took out a wicked looking gem. “Do you know what this is Discord.” He shook his head. “It is a grand black soul gem, my listener Grognack went and searched for it while we waited to get here.”
“What does it do?” Discord inquired. He stared at the gem, wondering why they would need it.
Dagon then struck Discord with his axe. “What was that for, and why can’t I move!?!”
“You re the next part of the plan Discord. In order for us to continue, we need power, and your immortal soul will be the perfect battery for the perfect black soul gem.” Dagon decapitated Discord's physical form, and his soul then was dragged into the gem, making it emit a hideous black aura.
“Can’t believe the fool didn’t see this coming.”
“It’s not over yet Dagon; we still have some loose ends to tie up.”
“Right, those two Princesses, the Argonians, and those elements. Why don’t I open a great gate over there and get it over with?”
“Because it wouldn’t stand a chance, your deadra are no match for two trained assassins and the power of these, elements, but my listener would make quick work of them, one by one.”
“Fine, send the shade, hope the Orc has fun.”
Sithis nodded to his listener, who left the throne room. He summoned his steed Shadowmere, and rode off towards his next contract.
Lance was in deep focus. When he heard the news by Celestia and Luna, he knew it would only be a matter of time. He is an ordinary shadowscale, he is also a rare case, and he was born under two birth signs, the shadow, and the atronach. Since his magic doesn’t regenerate fast enough, he must store it. A special necklace that he stole from a noble in High Rock ensured that his magicka well was deeper than an Akiviri tomb.
Concentrating helped him build his power, but he was starting to get distracted by something galloping in his direction. It was heavy, and he heard a loud neigh, he recognized it. He quickly ducked down, narrowly missing being cut by a scythe. His suspicion was true, but he never thought he would have to fight Grognack again.
“I thought you would have given up on killing me back in Morrowind.”
“You got lucky you sack of filth, but since I know you don’t have a mountain to drop on my head, your death will be quick.” He spurred his horse and charged again. Lance didn’t have anything with him other than his dagger to fight off Grognack, and he was only in his scale armor too, when the damn Orc died, he was wearing Deadric.
Lance rolled to the side, and decided to try and make this fair. He sliced one of Shadowmere’s front legs, the horse toppled forward, and disappeared into a cloud of smoke, launching Grognack forward, smashing his face on a rock. He got up, now there is only one thing scarier than Mehrunes Dagon was during the Oblivion Crisis, and that is a pissed off Orcish Listener with muscles like a dragons.
“No more games, time to send you to the void.” He charged again, yelling the standard Orc battle cry. He swung the scythe like a reaper would, and nearly sliced Lance in half. He had to keep dodging, there was no way he would be able to get close to Grognack, he was too skilled with that scythe.
Lance got a great idea just then; he would try to steal one of Grognack’s backup weapons. He rolled backwards, picking up sand along the way, and when Grognack was lining up a swing, he threw it. Lance took his chance when the Orc was slightly dazed, he rolled forward grabbed his sword, and rolled out before he got a scythe to the back.
“Insolent little wretch, I will enjoy picking the flesh from your bones.” He charged again, and then Lance blocked, while locked up with the assassin, he took a good look at the blade. It was jet black, and looked hungry, if a weapon could do that. It emitted a purple haze, and seemed to burn through Grognack’s scythe, but he saw it too, and kicked Lance backwards. “Not even Umbra will save your hide.”
Lance felt power he never had before coming from Umbra, he looked at Grognack, and time seemed to slow down as he charged. Lance took a defensive stance, as soon as the Orc readied a swing, Lance struck. He drove the blade deep into Grognack’s stomach, then brought the blade upwards, slicing the upper part of his body in half. The strangest thing happened though, instead of disappearing into a cloud of smoke, Grognack’s shadow form seeped into the blade, empowering it, and Lance at the same time. Grognack’s corpse lay on the floor, all the color returned to it, and bled as if he were alive again. Lance looted the scabbard from the body, and sheathed the dark sword.
“Good job, but did you really have to use that sword?” his sister appeared behind him; he nearly unsheathed the damn thing and killed her.
“You show up at the worst times. Did Sheogorath arrive yet?”
“The portal opened up, but it seems that he won’t be present until tomorrow, some fellow named Haskill said that the Mad God needed some time to ‘prepare’ for a grand entrance, whatever that means.”
“Let’s get going then, don’t want to leave him waiting.”
“From what I heard, I would rather not even see him; I’ll be out of sight while he is here.”
“Suite yourself.” With that, Lance left his sister in the clearing, to go and great Haskill, and wait for the mad God to make his big entrance.
To be honest, Swift didn’t like the mad god, even though her grandfather was his champion once. She turns away from where her brother was heading, and walked, she had her own preparations to finish.
Everyone, excluding Swift, was looking expectantly at the portal to the Shivering Isles. It seemed as though Sheogorath wouldn’t come, but then his guards marched through the portal, one side had the Dark Seducers, the other had the Golden Saints. On a raised platform being carried by servants, was Sheogorath, in his customary two colored suite, and balancing his cane on his right hand.
“Well hello mortals, it nice to see you again, oh, and you too celestial. Is your mother still around, we still need to have tea and talk about the rights that my subjects have in this realm.”
Sheogorath reminded Celestia of Discord, in a more, controlled way. He didn’t seem dangerous, no chocolate milk raining cotton candy clouds, or other chaos going on. Something finally clicked in her head, discord, how could she have forgot about him. “As you can see, she is no longer with us. We would give you a formal welcoming, but it seems that we are at war, and don’t have time for it. Discord could also show up at any moment.”
“You don’t need to worry about him, Dagon and Sithis trapped him in a grand black soul gem, he won’t be a problem, but the other too, they are bad news. No fun either, I remember a wonderful Deadric gathering that Dagon ruined by bringing one of his siege machines to the party. Boy, did Molag have a mess to clean up after that! Okay now, what were we talking about?”
“The aid you said you would give…” Celestia was annoyed at how off track he got. Then, a certain blue mare with a screw for a cutie mark ran up to Sheogorath, jumped on him, knocked the platform into the dirt, and proceeded to lick his face. The guards who were supposed to restrain her stared in shock, then started backing away, fearing the worst.
“Down girl down, sheesh, I was in mid thought there for a moment. Wait, I remember you, your family was the one left behind in my last visit.” All he got was an excited bark from the pony. “Good to know, now, those reinforcements will be here in a day or two; it takes a while to make a portal to another world.” Celestia sighed with relief. “Now, on to some personal matters, there is an Argonian I need to see, I have armor to give to him.”
Ch7: Gates
After the little incident in the morning, things started winding down as much as it can when you have the deadric lord of madness in town. Several deadra and shades tried to assault the town, but the Mazken and Aureals drove them back with almost no casualties. Celestia, Luna, the six elements, Sheogorath and a panting blue pony all sat on bales of hay in Applejacks barn waiting to see what the armor would look like on Lance, wondering what armor could possibly look like if it were made from ore made of madness.
Several minutes of what appeared to be metal banging against metal, Lance finally stepped out from where he was getting dressed. The main color of the metal was black, with some shadowy gold highlights that depicted faces on the armor that either looked like they were laughing, or were in extreme pain. He had plates going down whatever tail he had left, and the helmet was designed to make the spikes on his head more pronounced, or just plain deadly. Along with the sword called Umbra, Lance also had a madness long sword and shield.
“Well, what do you think?” he asked, voice muffled by the heavy metal he was trying to speak through.
Of course, Rarity was the first to speak up, “well, the color scheme and designs could do with a bit more work, it’s too drab to be walking around in and…” she looked around and saw everyone in the room giving her a quizzical look. “Or it could be just fine.”
“We like it; it reminds us of the old days in which knights clad in armors of heavy make would slay dragons and other manners of beasts to try to win the hearts of me and my sister. As we recall, there was a certain Pegasus that you just couldn’t stop drooling over Celestia.”
“Okay Luna, nopony needs to hear about things that happened almost one and a half thousand years ago. Back on the topic of the armor, it does look durable, but where did you get that sword?” Celestia was eying Umbra with a stern look, trying to figure out if it was just her, or did the blade seem hungry.
“Yes Lance, where did you get Umbra, Clavicus was looking for her, and he also just wouldn’t shut up about Barbas, I mean he’s just like a kid, all he does is complain. Yet, I would rather listen to him blabber on all day about nothing important than be in a party with Molag Bal, he just seems to suck the joy right out of everything.”
Pinkie brightened up at the word party, but before she could mention anything, a purple hoof was shoved into her mouth. “Not now Pinkie, Equestria is in danger, remember?” the pink pony’s mood dampened a bit, and she nodded, but then she remembered she could throw a ‘just saved Equestria from complete destruction party’ when this is all over.
“Well, I got it from Grognack, the strongest listener from the dark Brotherhood, killed him with his own backup weapon. I honestly didn’t expect him to have it, if you want, you could take it back to Clavicus so he can stop crying about it.”
“sure, I could do that, but only if I could hold the deadric gathering on this plane of oblivion, I would love to see Molag’s face when he appears in a world where is out of his element.” Lance handed the sword and sheath to Sheogorath, and felt like some heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders, but he also felt like he lost something important, he shrugged it off.
“What makes you think I would agree to that?” Celestia asks.
“Because we get to throw one of the biggest parties ever silly.” Pinkie threw in.
“Exactly!” Sheogorath’s statement was accompanied by an excited bark. “Anyway, here is that amulet that I told you about, you’ll need it later. Ah have to go now, need to make sure Haskill didn’t burn down the palace again. Now that I think about it, how did he set stone on fire? Gaaah, ah hate thinkin, when I do, stuff starts makin sense!”
“I know right, thinking is for smart ponies like Twilight!” Twilight raised an eyebrow at Pinkie pie, trying to figure out if that was a compliment, or an insult.
“Oh, before I forget, I found your amulet Lance. You won’t believe where it was, it took my champion a good week to try and find the Grummite that ate it for lunch.” He tosses the amulet that has the same appearance to the one emperor Martin Septim wore during the Oblivion crisis. “Well, off we go, I leave the troops here in your hands, err, hooves. You should really fix that, hands are much more effective.” He got up and walked out of the barn, Screw Loose stood up, barked, and trotted after the mad god.
“That girl aint right.” Applejack said.
“Alright, we got some things to do. Does everyone know their jobs for the upcoming battle?” Lance announced to the group. Everypony in the room nodded. Due to her nature, Fluttershy will stay back and help the wounded, Pinkie Pie and Rarity will help her with any supply needs she has. That left the other three, Luna, Celestia, Swift, and me. The other three elements will be leading medium sized groups of soldiers consisting of royal guard, and either Mazken or Aureal, depending on their objectives, which are a few of the many strategically, placed gates in the city. Luna will accompany Swift and a squad of Aureal into the Great Gate to neutralize the threat of the dremora devastator. Celestia and Lance will lead the frontal assault, the other groups will break off the main force when they enter through the front gates. “Get some final preparations done, Swift will go and close the gate around the outskirts of Ponyville, and don’t worry about your families, some soldiers are staying behind to protect the town.” With a couple nods of recognition, the elements left to take care of any last minute details, while the two princesses stayed.
Celestia was the first to voice her concern, “this doesn’t seem real, what will happen if the attack is not successful?”
“It helps to not think about the negatives before battle, but most likely the end of your realm.” He replied solemnly. “But it is not going to come to that, we will win.”
Luna was just as optimistic as he is, “Really sister, what could go wrong with the battle? Considering the number and strength of our forces, these deadra don’t stand a chance.”
“I wish I could share your enthusiasm Luna.” Celestia was only in this situation once before, but the enemy wasn’t in control of the capitol, and most certainly didn’t have forces massing near every city in Equestria.
“Considering what Sheogorath gave us, we probably have better chances for a victory than Cyrodiil did when it was invaded.” The princesses gave him blank looks. “It was where the Oblivion crisis took place, mostly, and where Dagon himself appeared to defeat the Empire that stood in his way. He failed, obviously. Enough of that, you two should get some rest.” They nodded and walked out. He took a look at the amulet he clutched in his hand: a flawlessly cut ruby in a diamond shape, embedded in a gold amulet of the same shape, strung onto a gold chain. On the back was an inscription that he didn’t recognize, it was similar to the dragon language, but the characters were off in shape, and probably didn’t have the same meaning. He left for the boutique; he would need the rest for the battle ahead.
Sithis and Mehrunes Dagon stood on the balcony, staring over the army gathering outside the city gates. Dagon had his four enchanted war axes slung on his back, each capable of cleaving small mountains in half if he took his larger form, and Sithis was glowing from the amount of energy he took from the Grand Black Soul Gem. They both were ready for battle, best be prepared, even if they knew that the mortal army would never make it past the first few Oblivion Gates.
“You seem really calm Sithis; I would think that even you would have an adrenaline rush before a battle like this.”
“Yes, but it pays to keep a cool head, so to speak. It helps me think of ways to adapt to a situation it things quickly change, in which I mean that if he does seem to break the thing that keeps your gates bound here, I won’t be affected, unlike you who draws all your power from it.”
“Don’t worry, the thing is virtually indestructible, nothing short of the wrath from the nine could possibly break it.”
“that’s what you think Dagon, just remember to keep your axes away from it, soul gems and deadric weapons don’t mix all too well when they make forceful contact with each other.”
“You just worry about your part of the battle, I’ll worry about mine.” With that, the four armed deadra walked back into the castle, intent on meeting the enemy head on. Sithis was cautious, ever since Sheogorath showed up unannounced and was able to tinker with the soul gem; he had to resort to leaving the battle himself, letting his shades fight for him. The Dread Father could be called many things, but careless and foolish are definitely not among them, like many deadra referred to the prince of chaos and destruction as. It wasn’t direct interference per say, it was a loophole in the rule that the mad god had exploited. ‘who would have thought that he could find so many loopholes, if anyone could have found as many as he did, it would have either been Boethia or Azura, not that blubbering fool.’ He thought to himself, he too left the balcony, and proceeded to go with his part of the plan, sneaking open gates to the void behind the enemy, to capture/ kill them from behind, capture because he wanted to torture them before death so he can get more fun out of being here. He faced the soul gem, and started up a spell…
Everything seemed quiet to Fire-Lance, barring the sound that the Oblivion gates make when they are active. He shifted in his position, uncomfortable with standing the whole time, he would ride a horse into battle, but that would just be degrading to whoever had that job. With one last look at the people and ponies behind him, he donned his helmet, readied his sword, and signaled the charge. It couldn’t have gone any better than how he played it out in his head, as soon as the first few soldiers under his command started forward, deadra poured from the gates up front. Swift and a few of her choosing quickly moved forward and entered the three gates up front, while the rest of the army dealt with the deadra already out.
Lance met with two Valkynaz brandishing long swords and round shields instead of kite shields, which was odd considering their rank. He quickly blocked one slash on his left with the madness shield; some sort of enchantment shattered the sword as soon as it hit the surface of it. ‘Damage weapon, huh, never would have guessed.’ He though, then parried a stab toward his abdomen on the right and severed the dremora’s sword arm. He stabbed the wounded one in the chest, and then used the sharp edges of his shield to cut the throat of the other one. He wasn’t paying attention again, and an arrow slammed into his back plate, archers took positions on the walls of the city. The Mazken took notice, and quickly sent a volley of dark arrows into the deadric fortifications, sending some deadra over the edges of the wall, clutching the arrows embedded in their chests.
After felling three more dremora Kynreeve, a deadroth, and two scamps, Swift and two Aureal jumped out of the three gates and then they abruptly shut. After the structures crumbled, Lance signaled two royal guard unicorns to start pulling the gates open. He motioned to his sister to take the secret way in, which she did. He knew this because three more red lights in the city abruptly went out after the front gate opened up. The pegasi kept the walls clear of archers as the army moved forward, Celestia landed near him, and started helping by using her magic and horn to kill Dremora.
What happened next, completely took Lance by Surprise. The devastator was already halfway out of the Great Gate that was open in front of the castle, and at least twelve others were opened at random parts of the city.
“This may prove a problem, Luna, Swift, get that gate closed now!” his voice may have been muffled by the heavy helmet he wore, but his statement could still be heard. The two in question rushed towards the gate, intent on stopping it before the devastator did any real damage to the army.
Another problem was Celestia’s reaction to every pony that fell during the fight. By the time they got halfway to the main square, a good dozen royal guards, unicorn and pegasi, have been killed. The Mazken and Aureal ranks though, were untouched, mostly, a few scratches on the Mazken and some dented shields in the Aureal ranks.
“Celestia, if it hurts you so much, have the guards fall back, they don’t have to be a part of this.” He exclaimed after bashing a spider deadra on the head and spearing a Churl with his own weapon.
“Sorry… I just… didn’t expect such resistance, but the guards should be fine once the gates start closing.” Her breathing started becoming labored with every few kills; he suspected that this was the only real exercise she had gotten in a few years.
“Take this; it will help with your fatigue.” He passed a green potion to her, which she quickly drank, and then started blasting away with renewed vigor at the deadra. He remembered that Rarity told him that the magic ponies use drains their energy, as in they don’t have Magica pools to tap into when blasting away with spells.
He himself was becoming tired, but that is expected when you are hacking away at seemingly endless waves of deadra. After a good hour, they finally made it to the central square, and then the real fun started. The Great Gate closed, and the Devastator fell, but nor before incinerating a good number of ponies and acquired troops, several other gates closed, signaling the success of the three elements. Shades started making their way out of the shadows of buildings in front of, and behind the attacking force, killing many before they had time to react.
Lance and Celestia were back to back again, keeping the shades at a distance from themselves, Celestia using her magic, and Lance using a crossbow he looted from a dead Mazken archer. Shades and deadra were dangerous foes, but when they work together, they become outright deadly, it was all they could do to keep from being overrun.
Another good hour of going nowhere at all, Dagon decided to show up, with a wide smile on his face. He wasn’t at the height that he tried taking over Cyrodiil in, but he was easily a foot taller than Lance, and his muscles made Grognack look like a mouse. He brandished his four war axes, and laughed menacingly. “You just have no idea what you got yourself into don’t you?”
“What do you mean Dagon?” Lance asked.
“Let’s just say Sithis and I anticipated this.” He held up a sigil stone, which warped in color to show eight figures bound and gagged, lying unconscious before the Dread Father. The elements, Luna, and his sister have been captured, which meant that his forces were cornered in the city. “I am going to enjoy this thoroughly.” He then crushed the stone, and scattered the remains. Six more gates opened up, and deadra started marching out.
Lance took a look at his troops, the six thousand he brought into battle, were whittled down to half of what he was comfortable with. He took out his amulet, ‘I hope you’re right Sheogorath.’ He took off his helmet, put on the necklace, and immediately felt an alien power coarse through him. His blood boiled, and new thoughts formed in his head, he heard the whiper of the dragon tongue, giving him the power that lay dormant in him. ‘Damn, I owe Luna twenty bits.’ He thought to himself.
Dagon then had a shocked look on his face, but then regained composure. He lifted one of his axes and spoke in a voice that would make one of those manticore things cringe in fear, “CHARGE!”
Ch8: End
The square was quiet before Dagon shouted his command. Buildings lay ruined on either side, and the fountain was completely destroyed. There was only about seven yards separating the two opposing forces, but would quickly diminish.
The deadra rushed forward, brandishing weapons, claws, and spells that would make mere men cower in fear. Lance didn’t even signal for his own retaliation, he himself ran forward, shield up and sword at the ready, with a sort of orcish tactic in mind.
Bringing his shield up, and using the knowledge he gained from the amulet, he prepared for his own attack, “WULD-NAH-KEST!” the shout launched him forward, and using himself as a battering ram, he bolted through the lines of the deadra, and when his speed started to decrease, he jumped on a deadroth’s head, and used it as a spring to get even closer to his intended target, the Prince of Destruction.
He planted both feet on Dragon’s chest, and kicked upwards, catching the deadra in the chin and knocking him backwards. Lance flipped, and landed on the back of a spider deadra, he stabbed it through the back, and turned his attention back to Dagon, who just got back up, with a menacing scowl on his face. He lifted his four axes, and ran at Lance, ready to chop his head off.
Lance saw this coming, and used it to his advantage. He ran and slid under Dagon’s swing, and came up behind him. He then proceeded to jump onto Dagon’s back, and then stab his madness sword through down the deadra’s spine. Dagon growled in pain, but then dropped an axe, grabbed lance by the head, and slammed him into the ground, making a small crater.
Dagon backed up with a smile on his face, only to see Lance get back up. He scowled again, if he kept it up, he would look like Jyggalag on a good day. He picked up his axe and decided to end it there, bringing all four down on Lances head, but the blow didn’t connect with the target.
A thunderous roar echoed across the square, “FUS-RO-DAH!” and Dagon was sent flying towards the castle, making a hole in one of the walls. ‘Now time to go after him, or try to at least.’ He thought to himself. He blocked a strike from an incoming churl with his shield, and stabbed it in the chest. Celestia ran up to him, blood staining her fur, and with a black eye that could only have come from a really bad face-hoof.
“Now may be a bad time to mention this, but I just remembered that I could teleport us into the castle.” She said with a blush. Lance stabbed a scamp in the face with his sword, and threw it towards a group of incoming churl.
‘For the love of Talos’ he cursed to himself. “Well then, let’s get going. Celestia nodded and they were enveloped in a white light. They appeared just in the castle courtyard, with all the statues. The only problem with the scene was that the statues were gone, and the only things in sight were his tied up friends, Dagon, Sithis, and a pedestal with the Grand Black Soul Gem on it.
Sithis gave a small smile, which is the only thing that the rotting dragon priests body could do with its face. “Glad you could join us, now it’s time to eliminate the only threat to our campaign. Dagon, if you would.” The Deadra nodded, put one of his hands on the gem, and drew power from it. Lance could have sworn he heard pained howls from somewhere. Dagon slowly walked towards Lance and Celestia, axes raised, and a big grin plastered on his face.
“Celestia, I’ll take care of these two, you free the others.”
Celestia nodded and teleported next to her sister and the others. Lance and Dagon squared off, only did Lance move when a bolt of magic struck the ground he was at, the Dread Father is also getting into the fight. Dagon charged towards Lance and started swinging his axes, while Sithis fired bolts of shock magic to help suppress him. Lance couldn’t get any swings out, he was just blocking everything, there had to be a way to make this easier…
Then it hit him, literally. He was thrown by a magic explosion and he landed at the foot of the pedestal, and he decided to put a stupid plan into action. He stood up and turned around, just when Dagon was bringing down his four axes. Lance dove to the right, and the axes connected with the soul gem, which shattered. This surprised Lance, not only did his idea work, but the Grand Black Soul Gem, which is supposed to be indestructible when filled, shattered when it was hit by Dagon’s axes. What happened next nearly killed him, again. The gem exploded in a fury of dark magic, sending Sithis into a wall, and Dagon to the floor a few feet away, it also tore metal plates off of Lance, and sent his shield and sword to the other side of the room.
Lance stood up, he lost most of his armor in the blast. His plate body was now a pitch black leather jerkin, his gauntlets were cracked in places, squares of metal and the knee guards were missing from his greaves, and his boots were seriously damaged. He also noted the complete lack of an amulet, shield, and sword on him, though he still had his custom steel dagger.
He turned to face Dagon and Sithis, only to find Dagon getting sucked into an oblivion gate. “Help me you infernal shade!” he shouted.
“I told you this would happen, but you just had to go and ignore my warning. No, I won’t help, off to oblivion with you and your deadra.” Was the reply, Sithis then kicked Dagon into the gate, and it closed.
Lance looked back at his friends, and found that the princesses protected them from the blast with some sort of shield, which was thrown down when Sithis summoned shadow chains around them. “Now now, we don’t want the fight to get too one sided, don’t you think?”
“How bout this, you go back to the Void quietly, and I don’t kick your undead ass into the next Era.” Lance brought out his dagger, he would need to get really close to use it, something Sithis wasn’t keen on letting happen.
All he got as a response was the same grin from before, a bit of rotted flesh from his form slowly peeling away. An unheard signal announced the start of the fight, Sithis summoned a blade in his right hand while volleying shock spells with his left while Lance was left to dodge the attacks and occasionally block a stray spell with a ward. “Quite moving.” Sithis growled, his frustration only increasing.
Lance was able to dodge enough attacks to get close enough to Sithis to use the only shout he knew how to do. “WULD!” he shouted and launched himself towards the dread father, unfortunately, he forgot about the sword Sithis still held in his hand, which was thrust forward when Lance used the shout.
The sword handle was sticking through Lance’s chest, but he showed no signs of pain. In fact, he was smirking; his own dagger was lodged into the Dread Father’s throat. Sithis then threw Lance off his sword, and ripped the dagger out of his neck, ash falling from the cut, it would kill a normal person, but Sithis wasn’t at all mortal. “What was that supposed to do?” he asked, and then the Lance he was facing turned to dust. “A clone, where are you mortal?”
He looked behind him just in time to see a beam of lightning heading for him. Too late to dodge or counter, he took the blast, which stopped after a few seconds. Sithis’ physical form was now missing several bits of rotted flesh, and his robes and bits of plate metal protection were singed. He steadily got up, using some sort of stone surface for balance. Without warning, a dagger came down and embedded his hand into the surface of the… pedestal… which was glowing slightly.
“Well, looks like this will be the last we see of each other.” Lance said smugly.
“Yes it will.” Sithis replied, and with his other hand, stabbed Lance in the chest, ripped out his heart stone, and dropped it on the floor, grinning as wide as his physical form would allow.
Not many thoughts passed through the Argonians mind. Nothing but the thought of completing the spell, and the realization that he may have just fucked himself over. He cursed the dread father for this, and devoted half of his magica to literally hold his body together, and the other half to a conjuration spell that would forever bind Sithis to the void.
Swift couldn’t believe what she was seeing, her brother couldn’t have hit his head that hard, could he? If he was thinking straight then he would have pinned both of Sithis’ hands, and then finish him, but then again, she did barrow that stack of papers from Pinkie before.
The nine of them watched with shocked expressions as the very thing that kept Lance alive fell to the floor. she could see the look in her brothers eyes, not that it portrayed anything, it’s just that they glowed a bright gold color, while his right hand slammed a purple flame into the head of the Dread Father, a rune glowed for a second, before a purple light expanded from it and then imploded on itself. It reminded her of what happened when you summon something, but reversed. She saw the light in his eyes slowly fade, and the hole in his chest started glowing, as he started fading away.
Their bindings were gone, but they were all stuck in place, not turning away from the sight. This was odd for Swift, usually when the host is separated from its heart stone, parts of their body fall off and turn to ash before they finally pass into Oblivion to be claimed by Sithis and brought to the void. She couldn’t see why this was different, maybe he was given the chance to put the stone back into his chest, no, that’s not what he was doing. He placed it onto the pedestal, and it started glowing a bright gold instead of a shadowy dark purple. He placed his hands on it, and funneled his magic into it, she got up and started walking over to him, then she him humming a tune that originated in Morrowind. Seconds felt like an eternity when she slowly walked to her brother, completely unaware that the others were doing the same.
He stopped funneling magica into the onyx, which turned from black to a bright gold, and turned around, facing the nine of them. He leaned against the pedestal and said his last words. “Well, my time is up, it was quite a ride up till now, and I think that this little spell will be a great ‘thank you’ gift.” With that, he faded away. Something told her he was in Aetherius now, she never showed it, but she was close to her brother, and seeing him finally fade into the afterlife broke her, for the first time in Swifts life, she shed a tear.
Celestia didn’t know what to say. She thanked the stars above that this crisis was over, but she heartbroken to see such a thing as to the death of Fire-Lance. The only thing that stopped her from tearing up like the others, was the strong amount of magic she felt coming from the stone on the pedestal. She reached out with her magic to pick it up, but was shocked to see it drain a bit of her magic before floating into the air on its own.
She finally found out what his final gift was. The stone sent out pulses of magic, that rippled throughout Canterlot (even over Equestria as she learned later), and started repairing the damage that the deadra and shades left on the land. Wherever the waves of magic passed, rubble was cleared and buildings were repaired, even the dead were showing signs of life. The previously dead Pegasus lieutenant that took an arrow to the heart for her flew over with many more guards. Mazken and Aureal joined them soon after.
“The deed is done?” one asked, Celestia nodded. “Then our job here is done, we will alert the mad god of what happened here today.” She opened a blue portal and then they left the city. Leaving only the ponies and one Argonian.
“I think it would be best if we got some rest, then we will see if we can return things to normal.” Celestia stated.
“We think that is a great idea.” Luna replied, the only thing she got from the others were nods of approval. “Alright, everypony get some rest, we have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
Epilogue: Akatosh
Celestia was relaxing on the balcony outside her royal quarters. She just finished lowering the sun, and was trying to find a way to get the day’s events out of her mind. The moon rose high in the air, courtesy of her sister, who then flew up and sat next to her. They sat in silence for a while, not bothering to speak up, just being in each other’s presence made the day more bearable.
Just when they thought nothing else was going to happen, a flaming dragon was flying towards them, but it wasn’t a dragon like they have seen. It had wings for arms and was much smaller, but Celestia felt more power than she had coming from it. They both backed inside Celestia’s chambers as it landed on the balcony, shaking the foundation in the process.
“Krosis, my apologies for the interruption, but I believe you are the ones I should thank for delivering Lance to Aetherius.” It said in a deep voice, Celestia and Luna stared at it in shock, never before have they seen a dragon like this. “Hmm, maybe introductions are in order, you are definitely not the former deities of this land. I am Akatosh, the Dragon god of time for the mortals of Nirn.”
“Are you one of the Nine Divines that Lance mentioned, and why are you thanking us for his death for that matter?” Luna questioned, slightly pissed that this creature was thanking them for the death of a hero to Equestria.
“I am one of the nine, soon to be eight though, if the Thalmor get their way with Talos. As to why I am thanking you, is because he is the first Blackheart Argonian to pass into Aetherius.”
“What do you mean?” Celestia inquired. “Why is he the first?”
Akatosh lay down on his stomach and got comfortable. He saw them do the same and got the meaning, “the story isn’t as long as you think, and I haven’t had a break from my duties in millennia. Now, as to why he is the first, goes back to when the mortals of Nirn started exploring other countries. There are ten races that are the most common, the Argonians being one of them. Since they originated in Black Marsh, they were already on difficult times, the flora and fauna there are quite deadly. They were also enslaved by the Dunmer, or Dark Elves of Morrowind, and then suffered imperial aggression during the start of the first era. During the years after, the Dunmer have increased export of Argonian slaves, until the volcano erupted and the Dunmer had to leave Morrowind. It was between the time they were attacked by the empire and the eruption of Red Mountain that decimated Morrowind, did I give a tribe of Argonians my favor. Since they mostly resembled my kin, the dragons that were defeated once upon a time, I was able to give them some special powers. They are most notable when one wears the dragon stone amulet, which was given to Lance, or when one becomes an elder to the tribe, when the full power of the gift is shown.”
“What is this gift you gave them, if I may ask? And you still didn’t answer my question as to why he is the first to go to Aetherius.” Inquired Celestia.
“The tribe worshiped dragons, and also had a deep affiliation with the Dark Brotherhood, but it was their dragon worship in the dawn of their lives that interested me. Whenever they received a new member, he or she had to become one with the tribe, which meant sharing the blood of the Argonian dragon borne, who was long dead, so the blood of his descendants was used. They fell on hard times, and the other divine had their own favorites, so I chose mine. The Blackhearts quickly adjusted to life and started to thrive in Black Marsh, until the Brotherhood started killing them off. The tribe consists of almost all shadow scale, so each was part of the Dark Brotherhood, and each, upon death, went to oblivion, instead of Aetherius, this was something I admittedly did not know how to fix.”
“But you are a god, how could you not know how to fix something like that.” Luna finally chimed in.
“Gods aren’t as perfect as many think, I’m sure you two have had your fair share of mishaps.” The princesses blushed. “Exactly.”
“Why are you here? I appreciate the visit, but there must be something you want.” Celestia said. It’s not that she didn’t enjoy the visit from one of the nine that Lance always talked about, but she could tell he wanted something.
“The Blackheart are few in number, and I fear they may die out. I also know about the grief that the war has caused your people.”
“What are thou getting at?” Celestia couldn’t believe Luna said that.
“Luna, I think he is asking us to let the Blackhearts take residence in Equestria, and in return, he would warp the memories of our subjects.”
“How did you get that conclusion ‘Tia?”
“Because Celestia may have been in this situation before, or am I wrong.”
Celestia pondered over what Akatosh asked. The last time something like this happened, several high profile pony clans were killed off, but this was different in the case that these Argonians had nowhere else to go, and Sithis wouldn’t dare show himself here again. She didn’t know if he could, so she made up her mind, “I will allow the blackhearts to dwell in Equestria, and I give you permission to, change the memories of the ponies, this was a traumatic experience that should not have been put on them. I want to remember the true story though, what about you Luna?” her sister nodded.
“Then it shall be done, by morning, our people will meet, and history, will be warped.” With that, he got up, turned around, and before flying off, said one last thing, “you may keep the dragon stone amulet, do what you want with the relics of your hero, I will ensure he has a place in history here.” With a flap of his fiery wings, he launched himself off the balcony, and flew off into the night, giving off a roar as he traveled back to Nirn.
“’Tia, do you think this was a good choice?”
“Luna, you know that the ponies should not have been subject to any of this, Discord we could handle, but seeing Equestria nearly fall to deadra would scar them. They need to forget that this war happened, one reason is that if it wasn’t for Lance, the country would have completely fallen.”
“The other reason would be?”
“That they would have the knowledge in which something like this was to happen again, without help, we would be powerless.”
(Several years later)
Sheogorath didn’t like spending time teaching a bunch of sniveling kids about magic and history, but it was part of the deal he made with Celestia. He would hold deadric Gatherings in Equestria when it was his turn, and in return, he would help teach the future equestrians about their shared history. It was madness, sometimes boring madness, but madness none the less. He just finished the last bit about how Argonians ended up in Equestria, courtesy of Akatosh, when a filly raised her hoof to speak.
It was a Pegasus, but not the normal Pegasus, Swift Shadow’s daughter. Cutie mark of a heart stone covered in ice with rings of ice shards in an X formation going around it. She looked like a pony, but her form was off, like the other two species of hybrid lizard pony, she looked like a mini dragon with hooves, bat like wings, lizard tail, feathers on head and at the end of the tail. Six races of pony and only three have sharp teeth.
“Frost, what is it.” He asked. “Go on, my patience is wearing thin as it is.”
“Is it okay that I think that this history lesson sounds like complete manticore crap.” Several others nodded in response.
“Say what you want, but I haven’t lied to you yet now have I… don’t answer that. Right, now off you go, I need to return to the isles. Haskill, we are leaving until next week.” With that, he left the class room.
Ponies started funneling out, but four stayed, soon three others joined them. They looked much like their parents, well, except for Frost, who was an Argonian Pegasus. One was a unicorn named Flawless Gem, she had a white coat and a purple mane like her mother, but she was without a cutie mark. The next was a timid Pegasus mare by the name of Autumn Breeze, with a red coat and orange mane and completely blank flank, eyes like her mother Fluttershy. A strong looking earth pony colt with blue eyes by the name of Apple Slice with an orange coat and crème colored mane and apple cutie mark like his mom. a very full of herself blue and rainbow mained mare who was almost a perfect lookalike of her mother, except for the green eyes and checkered flag cutie mark, her name was Jet Stream. A pink earth pony that may have just been a clone of his mother named Raspberry Pie, and last but not least a green unicorn mare with a cutie mark depicting the symbol for conjuration,her name was Aruara Borealis.
“Say Frost, you free tonight?” Jet asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“The rest of us are going to watch the meteor shower with our parents, want to come?” they each gave Frost puppy dog eyes.
“Don’t look at me like that, you guys know I would go with you, just need to let dad know and I’ll be there.”
“well alright then, we got ourselves a date.” Said Apple Slice, the mares started giggling, leaving him and Rasp puzzled. “what, was it something ah said?”
“Hey girls, I think they were absent for that part of class.” Whispered Frost. They all giggled even harder, that was the best class Sheogorath ever taught.
“What did we miss, was it a party?!?! Darn it, I should have been there, I hate missing parties.” Rasp like his mother, found his talent in parties, taking a love for them from his mother Pinkie Pie.
“I think we can show you…” Gem said coyly, while bumping her flank into Apple Slice’s, his face turned a shade of crimson which made the rest of the girls, and Rasp to burst out laughing.
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Included last bit to show that the blackhearts have been successfully integrated into society, and history successfully being altered to include Argonians, both bipedal and pony. This concludes Revival and may make way for a future fic involving these characters.
On another note, the blackhearts and their history are completely made up, but the enslavement of argonians isnt. Another race that was used as slaves for the Dunmer are the Khajiit. I may tweak some of the chapters that gave me trouble when i get better at writing.