The Equestria Scrolls

"Well, here we are," the cart owner said, "White River Watch," he continued, looking at the cave entrance, "Well, good luck with whatever you're here for," he said, turning his horse around and walking away.

"Great, so, what's the plan?" I said to Scootaloo, who had been reading the whole way her.

"Hang on," she said, her left hand lighting up as she prepared a spell again, she'd been trying this most of the way here, reading and trying at the same time. Her hand was only just lit though, she wasn't relaxed enough. She was thinking too hard about this, she wasn't calm enough. The light in her hand died down again. "No, I can't," she said.

"You're thinking too much about it, it should be subconscious," I said, lifting my hand up, I rapidly shifted through my spells, fire, ice, lightning, healing, "It shouldn't require you to stop talking even, you're just not relaxed enough," I said, "Breathe."

She did exactly that, breathing normally, she held a hand out, not looking at it, and attempted to equip her spell, her hand lit up again, before dulling down again. "I can't, not yet at least," she said.

"That's alright, I took weeks to learn my first spells, then, over time, I got fluid with those three," I said, remembering how I was the best student of destruction magic within my school in Cyrodiil.

"What happened then? Because you use a bow now, but if you're so good at magic why not just use that?" Scootaloo asked.

"I was good at it," I corrected, "I completely lost my edge and now I'm pretty average at it. I can probably still cast spells in a pinch though, more than most people could at least," I said.

"Oh, well, that makes sense, anyway, shall we get going inside?" she asked, clearly eager to start moving through the cave, for some reason.

"Sure. Let's go then," I said. "Any reason for the rush?" I asked.

"No not really, just, I can sense that something is coming, I dunno, just, instinct, it feels like something bad is coming. I have no idea what it is or whatever," she said. This was the first time I had ever seen her look scared or less than happy. She usually smiled almost always. This must be big, hopefully, it's not too bad.

"Well then we should get a move on," I said, pushing the doors to the underground building in front of us open, I realised now that I have no idea what this building is other than that it contains bandits. "Follow me and lay low," I said, sticking to the side of the corridor just past the doors.

I walked up to the end of the corridor before quickly peaking around the corner, apparently, it's a small building, just one room, nothing more. Three bandits are standing around the room, two near a chest in the back, and a third against a pillar near the left wall.

I drew my bow, at the same time seeing Scootaloo draw her dagger, she started walking slowly forwards, closer to the light at the other side, where the bandits would see her no doubt. I quickly pulled back an arrow in my bow, looking closer than usual, paying particular attention to hitting the first bandit in the one spot not visibly covered with armour - the neck.

I released my arrow and at the same time, Scootaloo disappeared from vision. She must've used her ring. I grabbed another arrow and readied it, aiming for the second bandit who had just recognised that I was here. He drew his sword - an absolutely massive weapon, at least the height of Scootaloo, likely the weight of her too.

I heard the bandit who was leaning against the pillar cry out in pain, being pulled to the floor by Scootaloo and I loosed the arrow. It missed the target it was aimed for by a small margin, and he turned his attention to Scootaloo. Oh no, you do not get to be close enough to her to hurt her.

I drop my bow while subconsciously equipping my ice spell naturally, it was my best spell. I charge up a spike and throw it at him, barely hitting him in the arm, causing it to bleed crazily around the spike, now sticking into his armour too. He drops his sword, unsurprisingly, it's too large for anyone to hold one handed no matter what, so in pain that isn't happening. Subconsciously I fire off a lightning bolt, shocking the bandit and killing him instantly.

Destruction magic is insane. I really, really do not like having to use it in a fight. But, he was charging for Scootaloo.

I take one more look around, checking for no more enemies before picking my bow back up from my feet and walking across the room to the chest. I tried to pull it open but, naturally, it was locked. A challenge.

I started trying to pick the lock, hearing Scootaloo behind me digging through the corpses, most likely. I break my first pick hearing something that sounded like a bite.

I start focusing. I have a limited amount of lockpicks, and I don't really want to spend any more on this- Fuck! I broke another one.

Alright, it's fine, breath, we have plenty more picks. I reach for another before slowly working the lock open, I was so close on the last one too, I turn the lock and it finally clicks open. There we go.

I open the lid and immediately it was worth it. Two picks, a couple of Whiterun Platinum's, some arrows, potions of all sorts and what looks to be a spell tome. The illusion insignia on it, too. "Hey kid, got a spell book here, no idea which one, but it's illusion," I say, turning to pass her the book. She accepts it quickly and adds it to her book bag, filling it up again after she learned the last spell.

I turn back and grab the rest of the stuff in the chest, but there's no sign of the dagger. "Great, we gotta search more for the dagger," I said, turning back around, seeing Scootaloo's hand lit up again, her sitting down on the floor this time, legs crossed. She moved her hand to the cast position and a line of sky blue light left it, floating over to a nearby wall, the chain on it glowing slightly. "Dear Celestia that was impressively fast kid," I said, smiling at her ability to learn her first spell in a matter of hours. I wonder if her invisibility ring had helped to get her used to illusion magic.

Shortly after, the light flowing from her hand goes down again, she stands up, walking over to the chain on the wall, which, upon closer inspection is a pull chain. "Thanks, Sunset," she said, "But really that was nothing, I just had to remember what I wanted to find as well as a small image."

"I had trouble with just destruction or healing magic, and that doesn't require you to think of the object. I was the best in my class - bar one - and I took weeks to learn sparks. Which was my first spell, so that was impressive," I continued, holding the chain. "Right, be ready for the other side of this door, I have no idea what is over there," I said, pulling the chain down.

The rock wall behind the chain rose as if it was meant to be a door since the day it appeared. I could only just see in when I realised that we would have to fight. I drew my bow again, grabbing an arrow and preparing to fire.

"No, wait, don't fire," one near the front said, "We aren't with them," they continued. She looked to be a miner, at least because of her clothes, and she had a pickaxe, but otherwise was unarmed, something these bandits would never be. I lifted the arrow away from the bow. She seemed to notice my concern and dropped her pickaxe, raising both hands away from anywhere there could be a weapon. "We're just miners, they were paying us to help them, then they locked us in here," she said.

The room was definitely hand mined, that much was fairly obvious. The farthest right-hand side from the door had a wooden floor with some tables, chairs and another chest. The left was mined out, they presumably wanted a new expansion made so they could expand their bandit count. Over in a corner were four or five sleeping bags, poorly kept, low condition.

I put the arrow back in the quiver, walking across the room to the chest, Scootaloo sticking close behind me, holding my leg. The four miners all looked different from me and Scootaloo, they were all white, with black stripes. Or, black with white stripes, either way, they were not any race I could recognise from Tamriel.

"Thank you, we appreciate your help with getting us out of here, by the way, I presume the room ahead is clear?" she asked.

"Yeah, it should be," I replied, crouching down next to the chest as Scootaloo sat down next to me. I heard the four of them walk out of the room, starting to discuss once they left. I attempted to pick the lock, not too difficult, I managed to unlock it in seconds.

Not much inside, a few picks and some gold plus some simple clothes. I put my hand into the chest, searching for anything else. I reach in and feel something metal beneath the clothes, I manage to pull it free and find a dagger, gold in colour, but not shiny, made of something I've never seen before, on the side it had something scratched into the blade. 'Mi Amore'. It's the dagger for the man in Whiterun, perfect.

I stood up from the chest and turned around, seeing Scootaloo still sitting next to the chest. "Okay, so, this is the dagger for the man back in Whiterun, which means we can get back to Whiterun and see what's next," I said, nearly forgetting we needed to find Proto. "Actually, we'll return to Whiterun, then we have to go find someone, which will require you to use clairvoyance."

"Awesome, I get to use a spell I've only just learned."

"Anyway," I said, standing from the chest, Scooaloo standing next to me, "We should be going, I think we'll be walking back, if you want to try any spells on the way," I said, provoking her to quickly reach into her book bag and immediately start reading what I could only presume was a new spell book.

I started walking to leave the ex-bandit hideout, approaching quickly at the pull chain room, leading Scootaloo out and pulling the chain to shut it behind me, knowing everyone inside had already left. "Right, so, let's get moving," I said, walking across the room and out the front doors of the hideout.

---***---

Halfway to Whiterun, it would seem Scootaloo has learned her new spell, she's been casting a spell for a while now, firing it around, aiming at trees and things. I'm not sure what it is other than that it's either courage or fury - the other two spells Trixie gave her. She was still firing as we walked, even now, she seemed to never run out of Magicka, presumably something to do with her cloak and hood. They're likely enchanted, and probably, by pure chance, with high-level illusion.

"Hey Sunset, where did you come from?" Scootaloo said, catching me off guard.

"Cyrodiil," I said, "Why?" I asked.

"I was just wondering, thinking about my own home, and I didn't remember you saying," she said smiling, it looked slightly forced though. "Where about in Cyrodiil?" she continued.

"A small, mostly underground town, we had no real connection to the outside world and it was just me and some other Imperials down there, it wasn't great, but it was home," I said.

"Why did you leave?" she asked.

"King Sombra getting into power meant that I wasn't safe, the political state is in shambles, everything is terrifying and he's attempting to enslave the nation."

"Really?" she said, "I don't know the political state in Skyrim, even," she said, "I barely even know my own politics," she repeated, laughing a little.

"Yeah, it's pretty bad over here, although, from what I've heard, it's not much better over there."

"Well, I know of the war, don't particularly care for it though," she said, "I'm meant to be a determined Dashite, but I don't care about whatever they're fighting for."

"I've realised. Anyway, that's Whiterun, so we're basically back, still bright, do you want to go anywhere?" I asked. Whiterun wasn't the best city, quite small, mostly shops or houses, not really much to do for leisure. It had a large wall around it, so it wasn't all that bad defensively, but still, it could be better.

"Not really, I just want to get out of this sun," she said, "I don't understand how you can like it," she continued. A fair point, considering that she had a full covering cloak on. It must be fairly hot, especially with the magic emitting its heat as well.

"We should go get you some casual clothes, or, really, anything to wear underneath that," I I said, remembering that her cloak was nearly all she was wearing.

"Sure, if it gets us out of this sun," she replied.

"Alright then, we'll go to the inn, get the dagger handed in, then go to the local clothes store for you."

"Alright then," she said, pulling her hood further over her head.

We walked to the inn, pushing the door open and seeing the same bartender behind the bar. I walked over and sat down, Scootaloo sat next to me and got a book out.

"Hey," I said to the bartender, "I managed to get the dagger back," I continued.

"Brilliant, it belongs to a patron by the name of Cadence, apparently she's in Whiterun for the day, so you can hand it to her yourself, I'm sure she'll be grateful," the bartender replied, naming someone I had never heard of before. "I'm sure if you ask Shining Armor he'll know where she is. Or ask Twilight."

Alright, thanks," I said, turning to look at Scootaloo, who was already back in her books. "Do you mind if she just sits here and reads? I'm going to find Cadence, give her the dagger and return," I said.

"Sure thing, she's free to stay all day if you want," she replied, "She's no hassle, unlike those brutes," she said, probably referring to the drunks sitting around in the centre of the inn.

"Thanks so much, I'll be back shortly," I replied, turning to walk out the front door of the inn.

---***---

I approached the castle again, presuming that Shining Armor would be inside. I pushed the large front doors open, walking inside. "Sunset, back so soon?" Shining Armor said, greeting me on the other side of the door, "I presume you do not have Proto Swipe with you, do you?" he continued.

"No, I am here because I have a weapon which belongs to someone I think you know, Cadence," I replied.

"Oh, well she is right this way, please follow me," he said, turning around, "It's her dagger 'Mi Amore' right?" he continued as we began to walk through the castle.

"Yeah, that's the one," I replied as I walked into a small chamber just off the side of the main castle's throne room.

"Cadence," Shining Armor yelled as we walked into the room, "Someone is here to see you," he said, waiting for a few seconds before the door finally opened, revealing a pink girl, with hair of pink, purple and yellow.

"Hello," she said, addressing me, "Who are you?" she continued, looking over me.

"I'm Sunset Shimmer," I said, "I've come to return this," I said, holding her dagger out in front of me.

"Oh my Celestia, it's my dagger, I've been trying to find someone to help me go retrieve it, thank you so much, you do now know just how much this means to me," she said. She quickly brandished a relatively small bag of coins, "I was going to offer this out to anyone who could help me, so I guess that means it goes to you," she said, handing me the bag.

I opened it and looked inside, seeing at least four Whiterun Platinums and some regular gold coins. "I think this must be a mistake, this is nearly five-hundred gold worth of coins," I said, holding the small bag back towards her, it was a time-consuming task, but it wasn't worth five hundred gold.

"Like I said, this is a really important dagger," she replied, not reaching out to retrieve the bag. "If you should ever find yourself in Soltheim during your travels, please feel free to come and see me, I'll happily help you out with anything you need."

"I'm also in with that offer if you need anything from me feel free to ask," Shining Armor said.

"Thank you," I said, "I should be off then, I have to go find someone far away," I said, "And I still don't actually know where she is, she could be anywhere in Skyrim by now," I continued.

"Alright then," Cadence said, "Remember, should you need anything, I will be able to help you, just say the word," she said.

"I will," I said, turning and leaving the room, returning to the main hall of the castle, walking back over to the huge front doors, pushing them open again. So, next on my to-do list, find Proto Swipe. Hopefully, Scootaloo has mastered clairvoyance now, so we can rapidly find her. I'm sure she will have, considering how quickly she learns spells.

---***---

"Yeah, of course, I know it, and I should be able to use it to find her, I've tried it out a little in the bar, I can see exactly what direction certain things are," Scootaloo said, "I've practised a lot," she continued.

"Brilliant," I said, walking out the front door of the city. "It's pretty dark, you sure you want to leave now?" I said.

"Yep, I love the night," she said.

"Alright then," I said, walking over to the carriage near the edge of the city wall. There was a man sitting up front of the cart, being pulled by a horse that looked like it would be much faster than walking. "Hey, can we buy a ride," I said to the man.

"Sure thing, where do you want to go?" he asked.

I turned to look at Scootaloo, "It looks like we're going to Windhelm," Scootaloo said.

"Alright then, climb in back and we'll be off," he said. We both walked behind the cart, I lifted Scootaloo in, before pulling myself up behind her. "It's a bit late to be travelling across the country don't you think?" he said.

"It's still warm and it's not even cloudy, so it could definitely be worse," I replied.

"That is very much true," he replied, "Well, let's be off then," he said, pulling gently on the reigns, the horse started walking fairly rapidly.

I looked over to Scootaloo, who was sitting there, already reading her last book, she looked to have just started it, but I guess this means that by the time we return she'll need a few new ones.

I looked over at the man, seeing him looking back at Scootaloo as well, "I recognise her, don't I?" he said.

"Possibly, her name is Scootaloo, she's Rainbow Dash's sister," I replied.

"Ah yes, of course, good thing you're headed east then. The Imperials wouldn't like her being in their city," he said.

For the rest of the journey, I could see him looking back at me and Scootaloo every so often, but he was mostly silent, rarely asking a few questions, occasionally asking Scootaloo to check we were still going the right way, having noticed quickly that she was using clairvoyance to find someone.

---***---

We arrived in Windhelm just as the sun was rising, and Scootaloo lifted her hood over her head again, sheltering herself from the light, presumably wanting to stay hidden from the outside world.

I looked out over the huge long bridge leading into Windhelm, "So, you can still use clairvoyance to find her right?" I said to Scootaloo, looking over to the city, before turning back to the man at the cart. "Right, how much do I owe you?" I said.

"Forty gold coins," he said. I quickly got my bag of coins out and started looking to see if I had forty loose coins.

"Here," I said, handing over a Whiterun Platinum, "I don't think I have forty loose coins, and I really can't be bothered counting them."

"Uhh, sure, that works too then," he said, "Thank you."

"No problem, and thanks for the ride," I said to him, turning back to Scootaloo, who already had her spell up again, "So, which way?" I said.

She pointed towards the gate to the city, "The only one," she said, walking forward towards the city.

"Of course," I replied.

We entered the city through the front gate, a whole lot easier than at Whiterun and Scootaloo quickly started running towards the castle here. I started to give chase, catching up to her just as she reached the front door of the castle. "Hey, wait up," I said, "Where are we going?" I asked.

"I just wanted to say hey to my sister quickly, sorry, it's been so long," she replied, pushing one of the doors open slightly. I followed her inside, but she quickly turned and stood behind me.

"Scootaloo, it's your sister," I said, wondering why she was hiding. I saw Rainbow Dash walk towards me and Scootaloo, with some men with crossbows on either side of her.

She must have seen that they were following her, as she stopped dead and spun around on one heel. "Alright, for the last fucking time, no, you cannot kill my sister!" she yelled. "Get out of my city!" she continued, "Now!" she screamed as they stood staring back at her. She took a deep breath, "Alright then, alright, alright, you know what, if you don't want to leave, I'll get you out myself," she said, speeding up her words as she spoke. "Guards, open the doors," she said. "You two stand aside," she said, looking back at us.

The two massive doors opened entirely, revealing the staircase down to the rest of the city behind it. "One. Last. Chance," she said. When the two men with crossbows stood still between her and the doors, she shrugged, "Fair enough," she said, taking in a deep breath, before yelling "Fus Ro Dah!" she yelled, a blue pulse flying forwards from her mouth, launching the two men backwards over the top step, I could hear them both hitting several steps on the way down, breaking apart as they fell. "Guards, clean them up and chuck them out of the city, don't let them back in," she said calmly, turning away.

She turned back to us, "I'm sorry you had to see that," she said, "Some Dawnguard members wanting to kill my sister. They just don't understand that I won't let them do they," she said. "Anyway, who are you?" she asked.

Scootaloo lowered her hood, revealing her face and hair to her older sister, "Hey Rainbow," she said. I understood now why she had stood behind me, now stepping out in front of me to greet her sister with a massive smile.

"Scootaloo, for the love of Discord where have you been?" she said happily.

"I got annoyed that you wouldn't let me go on any adventures with the guards, so I ran off to have my own one," she said, her eyes tearing up, "I'm so sorry," she said, holding back tears, "I got caught up in Bleak Falls Barrow, but Sunset rescued me," she continued, turning to look at me before running to hug Rainbow Dash.

"Kid, you don't know how worried I was about you," she said. "You shouldn't have just run off like that," she said. "And you," she said turning to me, "Thank you so much for saving her, I owe you big time," she said.

"It wasn't that big of a deal, it was really just a short walk to a place I would've been going anyway," I replied, "Still, she has proven she is a fairly capable fighter, especially with her ring and dagger, and more recently she's learned some impressive magic too," I said.

"Really?" Rainbow said, kneeling down next to Scootaloo, who had managed to stop her tears, "Which sort of magic," she said.

"Illusion, but it's all basic level spells," Scootaloo replied, smiling up at her sister.

"Impressive, I've never managed to learn even basic illusion spells, never mind anything more complicated, I could never get my head around that concept," she said.

"Excuse me," I said, "But if you don't mind me asking who were those people you kicked out, and why did they want to kill Scootaloo?" I asked.

"Those were the Dawnguard," Rainbow Dash replied, "A group of vampire hunters who don't understand that not every vampire is evil," she said. She saw my look of complete misunderstanding, "You do know that Scootaloo is a vampire right?" she replied.

I shook my head in response. I had no idea, although, that did explain her tendency to have her hood up during the day.

"Really?" Scootaloo replied, "So having my hood up at all time every day didn't give it away?" she said, "Or the fact that I trailed behind after Bleak Falls to drink some blood?" she continued. "None of that seemed suspicious. Nor my glowing eyes?" she said.

"Well, no, none of that occurred to me," I replied.

"Really?" The two replied in sync.

"Yep," I replied, feeling stupid now.

"Well, that's, odd," Rainbow said, "Anyway, never mind that. Thank you so much for rescuing my sister, I feel like a reward is in order," she said, "And naturally if you need anything I will be happy to assist you," she continued.

"That's quite alright," I replied, "I'm just looking for someone here by the name of Proto Swipe," I continued.

"Easy enough, she's in the training room upstairs, you're free to go see her if you want?" Rainbow said.

"Sure," I replied. Well, this was easier than using clairvoyance to find her.

"Alright then, guard, show Sunset - was it - to the training room," she said.

"Certainly, my queen," the guard replied, turning to walk up the stairs in the back of the room, I followed closely behind.

Level up:
Overdraw II: You are practised with a bow, you deal 20% bonus damage for each rank of this perk.