“Y-you’ve taken all the magic... Now give me back my friends...”

“I think not Princess Twilight.”

Her world was pain. An icy wind tore at her bleeding wounds. Her muscles spasmed from contact with the hissing, melting snow. She could barely breathe, her lungs refusing to inhale air that was like icicles stabbing into her bruised lungs. Her pulse pounded in her ears, barely drowning out the screeching winds. Her head swam as stars of many colors burst within her closed eyes. She thought she heard voices. Though she may have been hallucinating. They sounded close, though they were almost shouting at each other.

“What in Oblivion is that?” Male. Voice: deep, resonant, gravelly. He sounded shocked.

“She, is a person and she needs our help!” Female. Voice: velvety with a brogue that she didn’t know why or how she recognized. The female sounded angry, though she could almost feel that the female was using that to hide her worry.

Why was she analyzing them?

Male: “I’ve never seen anything like her before.”

Female: “Does it matter?! Divines, she’s bleedin’ everywhere! Shite!”

Male: “Is that a horn?”

Female: “It’s cracked, but yes.”

Male: “Wait, were those stumps wings?”

“They were- Damnit Urth, shut up, give me yer sword, and stop asking useless questions! I need to remove these stumps, they’re only causin’ her to bleed out faster!”

Male: “Fine. I’ll keep an eye out.”

She felt a hand on her arm. The female spoke again, her voice taking on a soft tone that somehow calmed her. “I don’t know if you can hear me. But I’m goin’ te save ye.” Something sharp stabbed into her back and her whole body locked up. She couldn’t scream, her body wouldn’t let her.

“I know it hurts. Akatosh, let me save this one.”

She wanted desperately to cry out, but all her lungs could do was take in gasps of biting air.

Male (Urth?) from somewhere nearby: “Movement!” She heard the crunching of snow. “Looks like a party of Stormcloaks.”

Stormcloaks?

Her whole body began to seize, and her hands clenched as the felt the sharp object hit a bundle of nerves. Her voice finally reacted and an agonized scream ripped from her throat. She thrashed, trying to get away from the source of her pain. A lance of sharp agony burst from her forehead as her hands grew warm. She smelled ozone as a crackling filled the air.

“Fuck! She’s a mage!” Urth snapped.

“Ignore it! Just steer clear o’ her hands!” came the female’s retort.

A cold numbness began to grow from her gut, as her mind became foggy.

“Shite! Don’t you die on me!”

“Imperials! They’ve got Power Armor!”

“Here!? Now!? Molog’s Cock!”

She felt so weak.

“No! Don’t ye die! You hear me!?”

Everything faded to black.

She felt herself return to consciousness slowly. She heard muffled voices, as well as occasional drips of water, a crackling of fire, and a sound of wind from far off. The air smelled damp and contained the unpleasant scents of stale sweat, urine, and feces. The air was much warmer, and she could feel that she was not only covered in what she assumed was a blanket, but that she was also wrapped in cloth, probably bandages. The pain she’d felt before was now a dull aching. She tried to move, but she only got a few fingers to twitch. Trying again got her arms to jerk a little.

“Hey, she’s moving.” The voice of Urth called from what sounded like across the room.

“Praise Akatosh!” The cry and sigh of relief made her jump. The female was right next to her. “Hello? Are ye awake?”

Her lungs exhaled as she tried to speak. She only managed a rather drawn out groan.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Here, drink this. Warnin’, it’s gonna taste like shite but at least it’s water. It’s all they gave us.” The female said as she felt something pressed to her lips. “Try and drink slowly.” Water did indeed flow into her mouth, and it did indeed taste like shit, but she still gulped it down greedily. So much so, that she accidentally inhaled, choked, and began coughing and sputtering. “Well hon, tha’s what ye get for drinkin’ too fast.” The female giggled softly. “Now, how about ye try and open yer eyes?”

Weakly, she willed her eyes open. The light briefly burned, but her eyes quickly adjusted. She swiftly took in her room, even though her vision was still quite a bit fuzzy. Three rough-hewn stone block walls, a floor and ceiling that looked to be carved out of the stone itself, metal bars for one wall as well as a door of metal bars connected to it. Torchlight flickered from the hallway beyond her cell, because she somehow knew a cell when she saw one. There was a bucket in the corner, as well as a mug filled with water by the door. She was laying on a mat of the ground and a brown blanket had been pulled over to her.

“There ye go. Welcome back te the land o’ the livin’.” The female’s voice caused her to look to her right. She saw... a lizard.

Specifically she saw a lizard with dark green hide, and a bright red neck that probably meant what would equate to a red underbelly. She appeared thin, though she could easily see the cords of muscle on her arms and legs through her clothes. She had a long muzzle and deep sunken blue eyes with slitted irises. Red feathers covered the back of her head and a pair of horns also jutted straight out of the back of her head as well. She wore what looked like brown leather armor on her torso and legs, though she her feet bore grey metal boots, and her hands were covered in gray metal gauntlets.

The female lizard smiled at her. “Well, who’d a thought. Yer eyes are purple too.”

She blinked a few times the managed a small rasp. “What are you?”

The female threw back her head and laughed. “Oh my, tha’s one way of greetin’ someone.” Grinning she responded. “I’m an Argonian. Name’s Sym Red Feather.” Sym nodded at her. “Ye looked half-dead when we found ye.” Sym took on a kind, warm expression. “Who are ye?”

She furrowed her brow. “I’m Twilight. I’m a pony- an alicorn.” her eyes darted around the room as she fought to remember. A lance of pain slammed into her head and her hands flew up to grab her head as she sat up quickly.

“Whoa now!” Sym said quickly as she put her hands on Twilight’s shoulders and slowly eased her back onto the mat. “Don’t try and force it. If that’s all ye remember, tha’s all ye remember. It’ll come back in time.”

Twilight nodded.

“So, yer an alicorn. Can’t say I’ve ever heard of one, but then again I haven’t been all over the world.” Sym looked thoughtful, chuckled and shook her head, then looked back to Twilight. “So yer name’s Twilight? Can’t say I’d a named ye tha’, but if that’s yer name, tha’s yer name.”

“What... What do I look like?” Twilight asked. Her whole body felt off now that she wasn’t in tremendous pain.

“Eh?” Sym asked, looking confused, then briefly shook her head. “Well, if’n ye wanna know. Ye look pony-ish. like the pony version of a Khajiit or an Argonian. Ye’ve got hooves instead of feet, and ye got a horn on yer head. The crack that was in yer horn is healing up nicely. Ye’ve got short violet fur coverin’ yer body, and ye’ve got this long dark blue hair, mane if yer a pony, with a pink stripe and a purple stripe running through it. Ye’ve also got a tail that’s the same color as yer mane.” Sym’s face fell. “Ye had wings I‘m guessin’, but they were just a pair of bleedin’ bone shards comin outta yer back. I had te cut em out. They bled a shite ton whenever ye moved.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked, absorbing the information.

“Urth, my companion, and I were chasin’ somethin’ fallin’ from the sky, thinkin’ it might be somethin’ worth sellin’. Turns out it was ye. We found ye lyin’ in the snow. Ye were naked and bleedin’ somethin’ fierce. I did what I could te help, but I’m no healer. Luckily or unluckily, take your pick, we were caught in the middle of an Imperial ambush for the Stormcloaks. Knocked us out even though I was tryin’ te tell them tha’ ye were hurt. Woke up here. They did patch you up though. It’s ironic, them doin’ that. Could’ve just left ye te die.”

Twilight’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Why’s it ironic?”

“Because we’re in prison.” Urth’s voice came from outside the cell. Twilight looked to see what she assumed was him in the cell across from Sym’s and her’s. Urth was massive, almost filling his cell, even having to hunch over a bit to fit. He was a massive, green-skinned humanoid consisting of mostly muscle. Twilight noticed he was mostly hairless, noting his bald head. However he bore a thick black beard that covered most of the lower half of his face. He had pointed ears, and his eyes were a bright green. He was covered in furs, though he left his chest exposed. Which revealed a very well-muscled torso.

“A-and what are you?” Twilight half-squeaked, a little frightened of the giant of a man.

“I am Urth, an Ogre.” Urth chuckled as he leaned against the bars, and Twilight heard the bars creak as they bent a little under his weight. “We’re going to be going to the headsman’s block.” He stated with a small frown. “It’s ironic because they want you mostly healthy when they kill you.”

Twilight paled, but Sym put a hand on her shoulder. ”It’s going to be fine Twilight. Once they realise we weren’t with the Stormcloaks they’ll let us go. It was simply wrong place, wrong time.”

“O-okay.” Twilight looked at the Argonian and nodded.

“Yer still recoverin’.” Sym said quietly with a small smile. “Ye should try and get some rest.”

Twilight nodded, noting that she did feel sleepy. Probably drained from her wounds as well as taking everything in. She settled into her blanket and closed her eyes, swiftly falling fast asleep.

The sound of wheels clacking on stone and the feeling of chill air woke Twilight from her slumber. Groaning, she opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a cart that was being drawn by a horse, a fact that she found odd, probably due to her being a pony. Pine trees slowly passed by and Twilight could feel that they were going downhill. Looking up revealed that the sky was a dark grey, overcast from thick clouds. She shivered a little, feeling the chill of the air. Looking down, she saw that she was only wearing ragged brown clothes that did little to cover her. Her fur probably protected her from the cold to a point. She also noticed that her hands were bound at the wrists by rope.

“You’re awake.” Sym’s voice made Twilight look to her right. Sym was sitting right next to her. “Just a precaution.” Sym smiled at her nodding to the bindings. “Everythin’s going to be fine.” Twilight looked around the cart, noticing that the rest of the cart was filled with people similar to Urth only smaller and not green. By their build and hair, Twilight guessed that they were male. They wore chainmail and grey tunics and cloaks. All of them looked well-muscled compared the person driving the cart, who looked virtually malnourished in comparison.

“No it’s not, we’re going to our death.” One of them said dourly.

“You might.” Sym frowned. “We’re going to be fine. You chose to fight.”

“I fight for my homeland!” He scowled.

“This fightin’ is pointless!” Sym snapped. “What if something worse comes along and both sides are too busy killin’ each other to fight back? What if the Dominion decides that the Concordat wasn’t enough?”

“We’ll fight them too!” He cried.

“Ya!” The other five hollered.

“Shut up back there!” The driver snapped and the men all shot him a dark glare.

“Who are they?” Twilight whispered to Sym.

“Stormcloaks. Soldiers o’ Ulfric Stormcloak.” Sym responded in a whisper.

“And what are they?” Twilight pressed.

“Humans. Men. Nords.” Sym responded. So they were humans, they were male, and their nationality or ethnicity was Nord.

“What about the smaller humans?” She asked.

“Imperials. Soldiers of the Empire.” Sym responded with a little smile. “Yer jus full o’ questions.”

“Sorry,” Twilight squeaked and lapsed into silence. She decided to take the silence as an opportunity and looked around a little more.

Their cart wasn’t the only one, there was one ahead of hers that contained Urth, as well as three other men. One was in rags, one wore the same garb at the men in her cart and the last wore a fancy grey fur cloak. She could see that one of his eyes was swollen and he had a gag tied around his mouth. The man in rags and the man who Twilight assumed was a Stormcloak were arguing. Urth was looking ahead of them. Continuing to look around, Twilight saw that they were escorted by men on horseback, holding long rectangular objects with triggers. Probably some sort of weapon. The men on horseback, the guards most likely, wore red body armor with gray metal chest pieces, armguards, shin guards, and helmets. At the head of the column was a man on horseback in some kind of black armor that covered his entire body. He was the leader, if his armor was any indication. At either side were massive suits of red metal that were easily the size of Urth. They trudged along in step with their leader’s horse, gripping massive weapons bearing six long barrels, also having to hold the weapons in both hands.

Looking beyond the leader and his guards, Twilight saw a large wooden gate being opened ahead of them. The gate was part of a tall stone wall that had guards holding more of the boxy weapons standing atop it. She could see a large tower not far ahead of the gate. Twilight guessed that was either a fort or a well-defended town.

As the column passed through, she noticed the leader and his guards break off to meet with a black-robed and hooded figure on what looked like a mechanical horse. The figure had pale white skin and gold eyes that seemed to glow. Somehow Twilight could tell the robed figure was female. The woman had her own guards, a pair of pal- skinned, gold-eyed men. They were thinner than the men she’d seen, and wore stark white armor that looking sleek and form-fitting. It was almost elegant compared to the large armor of the leader's guards.

The tower cut off her line of sight, and Twilight decided to look at the rest of wherever they were. Wooden houses with arched roofs ran along the cobbled road, one bore a sign that she didn’t get the chance to read. There was another tower they passed, as well as another building that was larger than the rest, this one bore a sign that read Silvermere Inn. The people that stood on their porches or out in the path yelled jeers and insults at the Stormcloaks. Yelling things like “Justice” and “Death to the Stormcloaks!”

The carts stopped before a courtyard that sat between the central tower, the inn, and another gate that led to a larger courtyard and a large stone building beyond that. The gate closed as the guards that drove the carts got down and ordered the prisoners to line up.

“It’ll be fine.” Sym tried to sound reassuring as she got the back of the cart in front of Twilight and got in the line that had formed. Twilight stood, her legs a little shaky, yet she managed to walk. For some reason the thought of walking on two legs was weird to her. Thankfully she could walk without too much of a problem. At the front of the line was a guard holding a metal rectangle against his forearm. As every man said his name, he’d write on the rectangle with a small metal rod.

Suddenly the man in rags she saw earlier bolted from his line, shouting. “You’re not going to kill me!”

“Lancers!” Someone shouted.

The guards raised their boxy weapons and pulled the triggers. Beams of angry red light burst forth and struck the man running for his life. He was engulfed in red light and in moments turned to ash.

“Anyone else feel like running?” The voice asked. Twilight was too stunned to respond, but before she could think too much on it, Sym had stepped forward and the guard with the rectangle spoke.

“Name?” He stated to Sym.

“Sym Red Feather.” Sym said. “Listen, we’re not supposed te-.”

“You from Windhelm, Argonian?” The guards asked, with a small sneer.

“What? No-.” Sym didn’t get to finish.

“You’re probably a slave of the Stormcloaks. You go to the block.” His sneer widened to a smirk.

“What?! No! I’m-” Sym once again was cut off as another guard stepped up to her and roughly escorted her to the group forming in the center of the courtyard.

“Sym!” Twilight cried, however, she heard the guard call out.

“What the fuck are you?”

Twilight stiffened and slowly turned towards the guard. He was giving her a confused, and somewhat disgusted look. “What are you?” He repeated.

“I-I’m Twilight... I-I’m a pony...” Twilight stammered.

“The fuck- Sure. Whatever.” The guard shook his head. “You’re not going to be anything in a few minutes here.”

Twilight paled as a sick feeling filled her gut. Panic began to well up as the guard that had dragged Sym away, moved over to her, clamped his hand over her shoulder , and roughly steered her towards the group. Her vision began to blur as tears began to well up in her eyes.

Why was this happening? Where was she? Why were these people so horrible?

She was shoved next to Sym, and the Argonian immediately leaned against her. “We’re goin’ te be fine.” Sym reassured. Twilight could only nod through tears.

“-the Empire’s going to put you down, and restore the peace.” The leader’s voice crackled as his statement got Twilight’s attention. He was staring up at the beaten and gagged man. The leader’s voice crackled from his full helm, the blue visor that sat where his eyes would be, stared up emotionless, at the giant of a man. The giant only grunted through his gag in response.

A guard in another one of the massive suits, this one red with silver shoulders, gauntlets, and boots as well as a red helmet, stood before a block on the ground that had a large basket in front of it. Maybe the coloring was rank. He/she could be a captain. Twilight settled on captain. He/She stood next to a monster of a man. The man was garbed in brown leather, his face was hidden by a black hood, and he held a massive axe of black metal in one hand, the butt resting against the ground. The Executioner. Off to the side was a woman in an orange robe, she had a necklace around her neck that Twilight couldn’t identify. Perhaps a priestess?

The captain spoke in a commanding woman’s voice. “Read them their last rights.”

The woman in orange nodded and stepped forward. “As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessing of the Eight Divines upon you-”

“For the love of Talos, shut up! Let’s get this over with!” One of the Stormcloaks shouted and strode forward.

“As you wish.” the woman huffed and stepped back.

A guard stepped forward and shoved the Stormcloak down to his knees and then pushed him down so his neck was on the block. The Stormcloak grinned. “My ancestors are smiling down at me Imperials. Can you say the same?”

The executioner was silent as he took his axe in both hands and raised it over his head. Twilight knew what was going to happen, yet she couldn’t force herself to look away. The axe came down with a whoosh of air, slamming into the Stormcloak’s neck and severing his head from his neck. His head fell into the basket ash the body went limp, neck spurting fresh blood onto the ground. Twilight, could barely process the horror that she just witnessed. She stared at the body in abject horror as a pair of guards dragged it away.

“Next, the Ogre!” The captain ordered.

Twilight gasped as she saw Urth take a step forward.

“No!” Sym screamed.

Suddenly a distant roar echoed through the still air. It was unnatural and chilled Twilight to the bone more than the Stormcloak’s death had. Twilight looked up but couldn’t see anything in the dark clouds above.

“What was that..?” Someone asked.

“Doesn’t matter!” The captain snapped. “Next prisoner!”

“But-”

“I said, next prisoner!”

“Yes ma’am!”

Twilight’s gaze snapped down to see Urth striding forward.

“No! Don’t do it ye bastards!” Sym’s screams of anguish turned to cries of rage. “If you kill him, I will kill everyone here!”

Twilight briefly felt surprised at Sym’s words, but then found herself agreeing with the Argonian.

As the massive Ogre was shoved down onto the block the roar echoed through the sky once again.

Everyone stopped and looked around warily. The roar sounded distinctly closer.

“What in Oblivion-” The leader began then something burst from the clouds.

“It’s in the clouds!” One of the guards cried.

The thing landed on the central tower with enough force to not only create a shockwave from impact, but actually send a crack through the tower itself as stone shards exploded in every direction. The impact caused everyone to stumble backwards, even making a few fall to the ground, as well as knock Urth off the block.

Twilight righted herself to look up at the thing that had almost destroyed the tower just by landing on it. The beast bore two colossal claw-tipped wings. Its long bony tail ended in a wicked point. Massive spikes ran down its spine from its neck. The head bore a pair of massive curved horns that curled from the back of its head. Sharp, jagged teeth protruded from its maw. Something about this beast was familiar, yet felt wrong in some unnatural way that Twilight could not place.

Twilight felt all hope leave her as she stared into eyes that were as red as the fires of Tartarus. Only its eyes weren’t on her, they were on Urth. Then its gaze left him and swept the courtyard.

There was a brief moment of dead silence.

“Dragon!”

The monstrous black dragon roared.

Author's Note

My writing music for this chapter.