Cheese, CHIM, and Ponies

Chapters

1 Escape
2: Awake
3: Celestia
4: Pony-A Dull, Expected Journey
5: Ooh Look, Multiple POVs!
More joyous walking, now with exposition!

1 Escape

The harsh winds present at the Monahaven never could detract from the beauty of the peak for me. Honestly, I always thought that the simple sounds of the wind helped prevent a too-complete silence that would have detracted from its charm. However, the empty husks of Dovah long passed has always succeeded in dampening its majesty for me. The hallowed feel of the place unfortunately causes my mind to return to making a comparison to another hallowed mountain. It reminds me of Vvardenfell’s ironically dubbed Heart. Yes, from the moment I heard the bullshit prophecy depicted on the Wall, I could never unsee the similarities. They were both referred to as towers when mentioned in said prophesy, red and snow respectively. Adding to this similarity is the fact that both have hallowed, Doom-driven pasts, hosting great events that stand out amongst contemporary events in an age of metaphorical giants. Further Supported by the fact that these great events served as origins of prophesied events that have brought such Doom to a new Era. Well, at least I can say the Monahaven wasn’t a fortress full of hunchback cephalopods and ash vampires when I came to meet my Doom here. More comfortable temperature too. But then again, I did get to meet “Wulf” at the Ghostfence, so that was pretty damn amazing. I still have that lucky coin.

In any case, I’ve wasted enough time thinking about the past when we should be ensuring my future.

As I glance towards the Time Wound, and my lean to, my thoughts return to my “hoard” and its contents. With a thought the familiar sensation of everything but my thoughts stopping completely takes hold and a book-like image appears. I say book like, but for the life of me I still haven’t thought of a better analogy to describe it. An image appears and I will it to focus upon my inventory. So many jewels and drakes, such wonderous trinkets and wealth. I can’t help but be reminiscent of my trophies from my early jobs in Skyrim’s guild. They always had paying jobs, so they were a priority once I dealt with Alduin in Sovengard. The Companions came soon after, had to refuse Skjor and Aela’s premature offer to join the upper ranks(to my displeasure, but I couldn’t just let them know Hercine hates me and I couldn’t become a werewolf!), but at least I still had the chance to reaffirm my honor on the hunt for the silver hand. Then of course came the College, idiots who couldn’t understand that messing with a large object named after an Et’Ada leads to disaster. At least they were mostly nice and had a big library.

I thought I said I was not going to keep thinking about the past.

Climbing down from the summit and returning to my little camp by Paarthurnax’s wall, a simple whispered “Fus” clears the snow from the stones under the Time Wound with more force (heh, punny) than the full shout would have when I was first learning. Thankfully for my ambition (read as: never ending lust for as much power as possible while aiming at not being a worse monster than Mirrak, the Thalmor, or Harkon), Juergen had a pretty solid idea when it came to meditating and sparsely using the Thu’um without necessity. The wall brings a smile to my face as I reminisce on my first meeting with Paarthurnax. So many years and I still take pride in calling him friend. I’ve already said my goodbyes and wished him well. He declined my offer to try to take him with me; he always has been better at self control and acceptance. He’s with the Greybeards in the courtyard now, meditating and finding comfort amongst each other as they wait for the end.

I thought I said was going to hold off on thinking about the past!

Yes, the end. As Paarthurnax had predicted, Alduin was preserved to perform his true duty of letting the next world begin. I’m surprised at just how quiet it is, the end of the world. I guess I expected more bang. Instead of that, it’s just as if a fog is covering the world. I can even see the rim of Red Mountain as it slowly disappears in the mist. When I think about it, this mist is quite similar to what he did in Sovengard to trap souls. Neat how there's a similarity in the only two exceptional performances he gave that differed in format from the rest of my Dovah killing. Well, aside from the power behind his attacks of course. It’s a good thing that the Monahaven is so close to to being in Kyne’s realm, or else I wouldn’t have this chance. You see I have no intention to just give in and die to AlduWeener after kicking his ass in Sovengard. Not only would I have Zero-Summed if I was so weak in resolve, I’d be no better than someone without a Dovahsil if I just lay over and die without a fight! Only one who can truly be worthy of accepting their fate without a fight and not insult their Dovahsil is Paarthurnax. Only Paarthurnax. He’s more than earned the right to peacefully go. The other Dovah can only begrudgingly accept this end, for they cannot stop Alduin’s power and they respect that overwhelming power. Paarthurnax deserves to peacefully spend the end with the people who helped him have a reason to care and stay strong in his Way. Other than me, the rest of the Dovah and Joore don’t really have any chance to oppose this end in any event. Though I am quite happy that I can.

Stop being moody Me and GET ON WITH IT!

Well, I suppose that this is as close to the end end as is safe for my continued existence. I take my camp into my inventory and walk to the Wound in reality. This plan of mine came together when I was reading up in the College on old experiments I had helped with when I first joined. When I came upon the records from my assisting Arniel Gane was when inspiration struck. I had already gotten the “false copy of Sunder” before my acquiring the real set on Red Mountain, and thanks to Gane’s endeavor, I had acquired a “false copy of Keening” that was still capable of the “original” purpose. When I first saw the copy-after finding out that my extreme caution and panic to avoid holding it without Wraithguard was for naught- I couldn’t help but wonder if the two “false copies” were related. One not-so-quick trip to my pre-Akavir equipment stash on the ashen coast southeast of Blacklight later, and I had the Sunder “copy”, along with the real set. Unfortunately, I was distracted shortly thereafter and only remembered my curiosity when reading the records for nostalgia.

I have a problem…

Upon finally getting around to further examination of both sets, I came to a stunning conclusion. The weaker set was not a false copies at all, but a means of gentler, more precise adjustments that prepare tonal works for the use of the “true” set! This, coupled with a drunken accident involving a barrel of Mazte and a conversation about what happened to Septimus Signus led me to an enlightening question: how would Elder Scrolls react to the profane tools?

GET ON WITH IT!

Long story short for the sake of completing my plan- they can mess with the “wall” of the reality beyond the Dream. As this Kalpa has begun to end in order to birth the next, I’ve decided to put that ability to use in escape. I am going to try to leave the Amaranth. Let it be known that I have loved the many within this Dream, but in order to preserve my I, I am resolved to not join in the rebirth of Nirn in the next Kalpa.

Blah blah blah CHIM nonsense blah blah blah

I equip a blindfold and start the ritual. I must begin without sight or I’d be unable to complete this. Once blinded, then out comes the Scrolls. First the Dragon, then Blood, then Sun, each opened sheet overlapping. Next comes the fun part. Taking the gentle set I start the process of mixing the reality warping from the Scrolls with those of the Wound, taking care to ensure there is no explosive reaction. I may want to leave, but I care too much for the rest of the dreampt to ruin their next Kalpa. Now for the painful part. I begin pumping my magicka into the energies swarming around me in a maelstrom of arcane power, causing the already powerful winds to grow quite violent. Making sure that the gentle tools are safely returned to my inventory, I equip the true Profane Tools in their entirety. I feel the comfortable embrace of Wraithguard on my right arm as a spectral coating comes over my left, and Sunder and Keening feel warm in my hands. All that is left is to open the door and step through. I tear away the blindfold and force my eyes open in agony at the light and raw energy. I see the door, I knock with Sunder, unlock it with Keening, open it with Wraithguard, then store them safely away. I can no longer see with my eyes, but I can still feel the light burning my damaged eyes through my singed eyelids. My resolve is unwavering, and I step into the abyss without a second thought.

Author's Note

Bethesda owns the Elder Scrolls series
Hasbro owns mlp

2: Awake

I, Raveren Black-Mane, have experienced great physical pain in my life, and I have never been in a greater agony than now. Within this… portal? Yeah, let’s go with portal, I am am feeling the most excruciating pain I have ever felt. Now, I have walked through the terrible ash storms around Red Mountain with a multitude of open wounds but this is beyond even that! I can feel the raw power of the rift bombarding my body, mashing and reforming it in a constant cycle. I can feel my bones crunching, my skin tearing, and my veins randomly alternating between pumping magma and liquid stalhrim all at once. I would scream but no air flows from my lungs, I would cry but my tear ducts were burnt alongside my eyes when I opened them. For time unrecognizable, this pain is all I feel.

Zu'u lost nid su'um nuz Zu'u kent marzu!

Suddenly, the vertigo and pain lessen, and I find myself beginning to feel the pull of gravity once again. Unfortunately, the pain returns to near full force when I hit what I would assume is the ground. I feel the ground below me, I can smell the surprisingly potent dirt and dew, I can even hear the many birdsongs and dim brabble what I can only assume is a nearby stream. For a while I just lie still, hoping that my surroundings will be patient enough to give me enough time to collect myself before the inevitable interruption by some hostile being, because that’s what always happens when I rest in the wilderness. This came true in quite a surprising way some time later.

I had begun to feel around me to make sure my magicka was properly regenerating in its normal, slower than a snail’s pace, when my strangely potent hearing picked up something similar to a mix of hoof falls and plate armor that was different from what typically comes from cavalry attempting to be stealthy. It didn’t help that I could catch glimpses of their horses’ very polished armor. What I couldn’t understand was that it sounded like their already quiet armor (but not quiet enough, probably don’t have cloth to buffer sound) made more sound than their mounts’ hooves. Resolving to be prepared for combat, I finally realized how different my body feels. I had been laying with all fours splayed out, reaching out and pulling up grass to pass the time. But when I had meant to move my fingers, while it gripped fine, I can’t actually feel any digits move. Assuming I have nerve damage along with my now blind eyes, I move to prepare a quick close wounds spell, but find the magika moving to collect around my head rather than my hands. The magicka cost seems far lower than usual as well. Aside from this unusual location and cheap cost I feel no problems with the spell and release it. While my eyes seem to be healing I feel no change in my hands and that truly worries me. Now that my eyes have conveniently healed I might as well use them to get a look at myself. Slowly, can’t let them know anything is wrong, I open my eyes and am surprised at how big they feel. What I’m more surprised at is that my hands aren’t hands at all! Instead of hands, there are what appear to be big furry hooves. They don’t look like normal hooves either, the hard part is shorter and less distinct from the rest of the leg. Considering my previous spread out position, another difference is in just how much range of motion these legs seem to have. They move like normal arms, even have wrist like joints with the same dexterous range of motion. I move to inspect the rest of my body, slowly to give the illusion that I’m stretching, and find that I am indeed some sort of horse. My unusually large eyes can see a square-ish muzzle, i now notice my ears are at the top of my head, I’m covered in long shaggy wheat-yellow fur, and my similarly dexterous yet somehow sturdier rear legs are equally equine. It should say something about me that it’s only now that I realize that I’m still wearing intact clothes. It appears that my unenchanted robes are still intact.

Should probably check on why my spell came from my forehead methinks. Upon doing so, I come to find quite a distracting sight. I have a horn. “Is this some revenge prank from Mr. ‘Sheo of Kvatch’ for not inviting him?”

“While I don’t know who this Sheo person is, you’ve certainly gotten quite far from home” says mystery woman number B from over by the cavalry. “However 4 leagues from the closest village seems extreme to be brought on a prank.”

“Well I’ve been brought farther before, and that was without wild magic to do the transporting” I say while shamelessly twisting the truth, “may I ask who you are?” Hopefully this woman isn’t freaking out at my unusual appearance. I turn, expecting to find a woman, and to my surprise I instead find a tall(based off my current height from my sitting and her standing) horse, with stark white fur and pink hair. What really surprises me are the wings on her back. They don’t look to be proportionally able to give her flight, but with the confidence she oozes from her stature and movement I’d best not assume.

It should also say something that I only noticed that she was naked because that was how I could see her wings. I’d best keep it polite, hopefully buy time for when her buddies attack. Hmm, wonder if they’re like her -or rather us now, and are intelligent equines?

She smiles at me with all the grace of a queen and says to me “Of course, my name is Sunny Skies, May I have yours?” Odd name, but I’ve heard stranger, and it really fits her appearance. Now… do I give my real name or not? Eh, I’m not wanted anywhere and this obviously isn’t somewhere that has heard of me so why not. I don’t even think I look like what people would recognize me as. Though I think I’ll shorten my first name like I usually do, it sounds better that way anyway.

“Raven Black-Mane, a pleasure to meet you.”

“It is equally a pleasure dear Ser. To be perfectly honest, I was not sure what to expect when I heard some noise from the road, though encountering you is much more preferable than to face some wild beast. Now I must ask, are you well? You appear to be having trouble standing, and you appear distressed.” Cripes, was my nervousness that obvious? I’m losing my touch. She didn’t get confused with my title name so I guess my hair and beard are still black. I really hope my beard is intact. I can’t feel if it is, and I would seem distracted if I moved a hand-er hoof now. Though I suppose it’s quite funny that I now truly have a black mane. Oh no, with my new coat color I look like a bee.

While it’s been literal centuries since I’ve had to walk with a quadruped body (does being dragged around as prisoner in my body thanks to Hircine even count?), I remember enough from that fiasco to stand even when distracted. Might as well continue to stretch, my hair color won’t change and I’m stiff. I need to get a feel on how my body moves anyway.

“I can stand just fine, just sore from how violently I was transported here. Magic, am I right?” She turns a smile at that. Good, she seems to find that humorous. “Mind helping me get back to the road? I seem to be lost.”

“I would gladly help anypony in need. I hope that everypony in Equestria would do so, especially in the case with somepony as amicable as you, ‘tis the friendly thing to do after all.” Oh no, whatever we are is called a pony. I’m a pony. I feel dirty being called that for whatever reason. And this country’s name! Equestria! I hope this country isn’t so punny with all their names. Oh well, I can freak out when I’m actually alone and free from observers. For now at least, I must keep a calm head, give a reason to receive more information.

“I’m sorry miss, but I think whatever brought me here was pretty jarring, because I can’t remember much of anything about an Equestria or much of anything else about here.” Here’s hoping she doesn’t inquire any further.

“Oh my! What a terrible thing to happen to somepony, I’ll be happy to tell you what I can on the road to the nearest town. It’s a small town formed at the base of the Canterhorn on the road to the capital. I shall fill you in on the way.”

Ok, that’s not too bad, but I have to know what the ones surrounding us bring to the picture. Worst case, I’ve got my magicka mostly charged and am confident that I’m able to take on a group larger than her and her ten or so friends hidden in the forest surrounding us. So let’s confront the issue then.

“Thank you kindly miss. Though I must ask that your friends that surround us introduce themselves before we get going.”

Author's Note

I hope it’s not too obvious this is my first story...

3: Celestia

She had felt the disturbance during her court. She could remember how her heart raced, knowing that the last time she had felt such a sudden shift in the world, she’d delayed confronting the issue. That lax action then most likely ensued that she would lose her sister to the Nightmare. Doing her very best to keep her outward appearance calm, she had sent a silent glance to her guard captain, knowing that she would recognize the signal to prepare an excursion. She was relieved to see her Captain’s silent salute and departure, it meant she would be ready to embark quickly to investigate this surge. With that she moved to address her court, so as to postpone any further petitions for today and the next. “Unfortunately dear ponies, I must inform thee that there is something that calls me away from court. Let it be known that upon my return, notices shall be sent for those still queued and they shall retain their place in line when court resumes.”

While she had seen some of the more pompous nobles having to hide their displeasure, and was thankful to see some open commoners who were comfortable enough to not be so subdued in their feelings, she saw nopony who had begun to panic that their petition would not be heard. After her announcement the ponies began to slowly file out into the hallway. As the petitioners had finally been drained from the throne room she turned to her assistant. “Your Highness, what would you have me do?”

“Thank you, Steady Quill. We have felt a disturbing amount of magical discharge coming from the forest at the base of the Canterhorn. The last time We felt such power was many years ago, before the change of the Era. We did sorely regret not reacting swiftly to such an anomaly that time previous. We have signaled Captain Tenacity to prepare a dozen Guard to join me to investigate posthaste.”

“I shall make the required alterations to Your timetable for appointments immediately. Though Your Highness, I must remind you of your request to have me correct you when you slip into older vernacular. You used the royal We rather than I and said thee At one point.”

“Ah indeed. We-oh, rather, I thank you Quill”. To that slip her assistant made a polite laugh, then moved to do his work. She couldn’t help but slip into long familiar habits at times when her beloved sister came to mind. It was just something about remembering the happy times when they could happily converse that made her slip back into that way of speaking. With that out of her way and her schedule clear she moved to meet her Guard Captain in the armory with a weak and gentle teleportation spell. Upon her arrival, her day captain, a youthful upstart unicorn named Tenacity, greeted her.

“Princess, I have assembled a 12 pony team in a 4-4-4 diurnal tribe formation.”

“Excellent work Captain. I take it the arrangements been made with the night captain for relief for when the time comes to make camp?” She knew they would be, but asked for confirmation regardless.

“Of course Your Highness. Though I shall admit my husband’s reply of ‘they’ll be ready to relieve her camp in 2-6-2 nocturnal so please let me go back to sleep already please’ was somewhat humorous to hear.” Celestia couldn’t help but laugh at that, the dynamic between her two Captains has always been a joy to witness. This was only multiplied when they got married the previous year.

“I must thank him for that humorous response, the abrupt circumstances have left me rather unsettled. Now then, shall we depart?”

“Yes ma’am!” Several Minutes later, the 14 ponies were on a train car headed down the mountain. Once they were in the station at the base of the mountain, the group disembarked and began their trek. The pegasi took turns between circling, scouting ahead, and trotting alongside the rest of the formation. While the unicorns were within a elliptical formation mirroring the spread out formation of earth ponies, with her and Tenacity in the center. The distance to the location of the surge was a solid 5 leagues, the path was long and winding to traverse the river branches that form at the base of the falls. Roughly a 4 hour trot full of quiet conversation later, they approached a heavily wooded area that seemed to be the site of the disturbance. The only unusual aspects to the site was the noticeable lack of brush, and the pony that lay in its center. “Captain, surround the disturbed area, I think I’m going to approach them under disguise to scout out their intentions. Let’s see if they know anything about what happened.”

“Understood, please be careful” and with that, Tenacity quietly saluted, moving to order her ponies into position. She watched as her Guards moved to surround the small clearing, noting that the unknown pony was now sitting up but otherwise still. One weak-for-her-but-advanced-for-everyone-else glamour spell later she was slowly walking into the clearing. As she got closer she began to take in the details of the stranger, taking note of his size.

The pony was a stallion of considerable size, his height reminded her of Lun- NO, do not lose your composure- Rockhoof, yes, he was similar in stature to Rockhoof. What was unusual was that he was a unicorn, as unicorns of such size were not common these days. She was at the wrong angle to see his full face, but it appeared that he had a black mane and beard, with his coat being a darker shade of yellow, and wore layered pale blue robes that covered his most of his body and had sleeves on all four legs. What stood out as odd about him was the appearance of boots on his hind legs but not on his forelegs. She could see his ears rotating at the sounds of the forest that were all around her and-the Guards! He had somehow heard and knew about the Guards surrounding them. She made sure to keep her outward appearance calm, as he had not reacted to them, and then slowly approached him. As she got closed she heard him mumble and call his appearance here a prank by someone named Sheo. Deciding this is a good time to announce her presence, she called out to him. “While I don’t know who this Sheo person is, you’ve certainly gotten quite far from home” especially when such power is involved “However 4 leagues from the closest village seems extreme to be brought on a prank”.

She didn’t really pay attention to the majority of their conversation, though she was amused at one point. She was preoccupied observing his reactions and appearance. Now that she had a view of his full face, she saw that while his beard was indeed full, it failed to cover a scar that trailed up his left cheek from his upper lip. Their conversation continued until her attention was brought to something he said. “I’m sorry miss, but I think whatever brought me here was pretty jarring, because I can’t remember much of anything about an Equestria or much of anything else about here.”

What? That statement meant one of two things: that he lost his memory to the magic that brought him to this spot, or that magic brought him here from far further than she had thought. Well, that would explain his odd attire and confusion. “Oh my! What a terrible thing to happen to somepony, I’ll be happy to tell you what I can on the road to the nearest town. It’s a small town formed at the base of the Canterhorn on the road to the capital. I shall fill you in on the way.” From there he would be able to be tempted by the library and its maps to come to Canterlot, where she’d be able to keep a metaphorical eye on him until he was acclimated. However the relaxed atmosphere shattered when he said “Thank you kindly miss. Though I must ask that your friends that surround us introduce themselves before we get going.”

The clearing grew silent. Celestia was surprised, but not that he realized she wasn’t alone, but that he was so willing and calm about mentioning it. That either meant he was a fool, or the exact opposite. But if there was one thing was certain about him, it was his lacking of hostility. “Ah you must mean my Guards. You see, your apparent arrival here was very loud, and had distracted me and my escorts on our journey. Would it bother you to come with us on our trip to town? I could understand apprehension of an armed presence when we first encountered each other, so I bade them to stay out of sight and let me introduce myself.”

“Of course madam, I can understand perfectly having guards on your travels. I would certainly appreciate your group’s company on this unfamiliar road.” Again, he does not seem any different, neither relied nor distress at my having a concealed escort. May as well call them out into the open.

“Captain, please have everyone come out.” The guards began to slowly come into the clearing. Celestia took notice of how Raven seemed to do little more than take notice to the new ponies in front of him. “Ser Black-Mane, I introduce to you Captain Tenacity of the Equestrian Guard.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance Captain.”

“Likewise. I must ask, you seem quite calm for somepony who was just surrounded by previously unknown assailants.”

“Ah, I’d be happy to answer, and perhaps give some advice.” To that comment Celestia could see her Captain give a small scoff, and could feel herself getting sceptical at his comment. That doubt changed to concern, however, when she heard the unicorn’s next words. “Shiny, unpadded armor walking through well lit woods does not a stealthy pony make. You did indeed avoid making much noise, but your lovingly polished armor was reflecting the light and your movement caused other animals to go quiet around us.” He has experience in finding hidden enemies, and it would be safe to go foreword assuming he has experience combating said hidden enemies. At least that explains his nonchalant attitude towards being surrounded by-

“Impressive. Being able to detect armor enchanted to be quiet. Though it is our folly to assume our bright colors would not matter, even if us Day Guard are typically not required to be stealthy.” Thank you Tenacity for voicing your own similarly inquisitive thoughts.

“Thank you for the compliment Captain, though I was unaware of their enchantment. I do believe now that I am indeed in a new nation then.” Well that confirmed that he had indeed been brought here from a distant Country. She couldn’t help but feel some pride that there were ponies that had integrated positively with foreign societies. I wonder which country he’s from. Let Us hope that Tenacity continues to bring out answers through her conversation.

“Are you sure? I’d have figured you’d at least have been in the Guard unit from your local Fife.”

“Yes I’m quite sure. While I did briefly spend time in the army, I distinctly remember the armor not being enchanted.”

“Army? Was there a separate armed force dedicated to guarding territory and upholding the law?”

“No, they typically were one in the same. The troops dedicated specifically for law enforcement duty were the only ones called guards. The rest, and the group I was in were called the official name, were known as the Imperial Legion.” That was a surprise for her. Though there were several empires in the world, she was not aware of any of them that called their army a legion. There were those that had legions as the size of a unit, but not as the name for the whole army. A cold pit grew in her stomach as a new theory began to take hold. She would need to keep a close eye on him to see if he was hostile. Especially with Lu-with her sister and the Elements not here to help.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your budding conversation, but I think it would be best for us to get back to the road to cover some more ground before we have to make camp for the night.”

“Yes ma'am. I guess we’ll have to continue this later then. Guards! Into formation! Let’s get moving!” With her guards responding with an affirmative, Celestia turned back to their new companion.

“Shall we then good Ser?”

“Of course Miss, though I’d appreciate a slower pace to start. I think I’ll need some time for my disorientation to fully dissipate.”

“Gladly so.” With that, they set off on the walk to the road, and beyond.

Author's Note

4: Pony-A Dull, Expected Journey

These ponies are nicer than I honestly expected someone randomly encountered on the road to be. This Sunny Skies lady seems to be some noble wom-er, noble pony comes off as as quite amicable. I’m even more surprised at how friendly the guard Captain is, especially with how rude I was when I was introduced. I’ve joined up with their group since they know where we’re going, and it’s been mostly quiet since we’ve got to walking. Boy am I glad that I didn’t try to stand like the werewolf form did, it would have been awkward do try to explain to them why I was standing so strangely compared to them. We’re moving at a relatively slow pace through the brush, when suddenly I’m surprised to see that the winged ones can indeed fly, as two just took off. They’ll probably start watching me more closely if I just act quiet, should probably do something about that. Maybe tell a story? No, I’ll need to adapt one for pony speak first. I truly am having a terrible dilemma trying to find a way to get the conversation going again. Thankfully the road seems to be coming up, and Sunny Skies looks like she’s going to say something.

“Ah, here’s the road. We’ll be headed to our right on the path to head north.” Knew she’s start talking, she seems the type to provide information to new people. There’s always one of them in groups like this. If this group keeps acting like a new faction to join, then the next sentence will be something that hooks my curiosity. ”Tenacity, I think we’ll need to get ready to set up camp for the night. It should be getting dark soon and we should have everything done before the night guard arrives.”

“Yes ma’am. I’ll send the signal for the Night Guards to locate us once we’re where we’ll set up” Tenacity quickly responds. Knew it. I should probably ask what that is, but I won’t. That’s a one way ticket to getting roped into some business that I’d have to wind up fixing. Well, either that or nothing, I’ll just get roped into something involving them eventually regardless if my luck holds. Until then, I’ll just learn what they’re talking about when they get around to actually doing it.

Now that we’re on an actual road, I can say that the scenery around us isn’t all that different from Skyrim. I mean there’s more vibrant colors on a lot of the flowers, but nothing that clearly shouts “not Skyrim”. I mean there’s even mountains surrounding us in the distance! The only things that consistently show I’m not in Skyrim are the present company of pony people, and how freaking hot it is compared to Skyrim’s wonderful freezing summers. Between my unenchanted college robes and coat of shaggy yellow fur I’m getting pretty hot. Not that I’m not used to being hot, I mean that’s just what happens when a nord used to living on snow capped mountains for years that’s just what happen-wait a second.

If I’m apparently a pony now, why do I still feel the same as with my nord blood? The robe doesn’t feel any different, certainly no enchantments on it, besides the obvious shape change. There’s no alterations to the fabric that I can feel and I can’t look any further until I’m alone. Questions for later aside, the scenery is much less interesting compared to Skyrim and Tamriel in general. We’ve been walking for 10 minutes and I haven’t seen a single interesting sight. I mean no animal attack, no weird encounters, no ruins, nothing! Sure the scenery is pretty and we haven’t traveled that far but it’s still seems far too peaceful. I can feel myself slowly growing more paranoid about this as we walk. I itch for something to do. All this silence brings are the issues I have with this body. My soul boils at how I’m stuck in a prey body, I feel my thoughtful side trying to bring the pain of losing everything from home to the forefront, and the pragmatic power-hungry side burns to get into a mess to fix with as violent a way as possible to get rid of that pain through fire and war. I’d welcome it if we were attacked by something if only to relieve this frustration from all sides of myself. The lack of conversation is most definitely not helping. Speaking of conversation, Tenacity and Sunny Skies are too many syllables for me to not make a mental nickname for them. I think I’ll think of them as Sunny and Tenny. Yeah, that works for me.

Let’s at least move faster to get moving. I’ve got the hang of this, it’s just like running as a werewolf but better coordinated.

“Say, you said you wanted to cover more ground before we have to set up camp right?” I ask this to the whole group, but it looks like Sunny and Tenny are the only ones that listen. They look at each other, Sunny nods to Tenny and she nods to the rest of the guards.

“Alright then let’s move then. We’ve got an hour before we have to stop. I want us within a league of town before then, so pick up the pace!” Yeesh, I wanted to go faster and start a conversation, not make it so there’s no comfortable room for talk. Now our pace has picked up into a near gallop. This kind of pace was not conducive of conversation. Oh well, back to my thoughts. I’d be able to talk normally if I was used to running in this form as my nord one, but I’ll just have to settle for getting practice running.

“Alright, this spot seems to work for us. Get the camp set up while I signal the night guard.” Oh how time just flies past when one only has one’s paranoia and the sound of hoof falls and the occasional wing flaps to pass the time running. Now, I’ve slept on plain snow before, but I’d really like to pull out the roughspun bedroll to sleep in. Only problem to this? It’s in my inventory. Granted, these ponies seem to have something to set up where I can’t see it. But unless it’s a magical storage space that looks the same as mine, then I’ll be stuck on the forest floor. To my great joy however I am now witness to one of the normal shaped ponies taking out a cooking pot and table out of thin air. So they have inventories here then. Excellent.

With this joyful thought I take out my roll and see Tenny shoot multicolored flares from her horn into the air. I guess the magic coming out of the horn is normal. Now that I’m all set, I move to see if I can help. “Miss Skies, is there something I can do to help with camp?”

“Yes, I do believe there is. Are you skilled with fire making?”

“Oh I’m quite proficient.” That’s putting it mildly.

“Then would you please get a good fire going? We’re close to town and we were planning to splurge on dinner.”

“Then I’ll get started right away. Need any help cooking? I know some good recipes.”

“I do believe that just the fire should be fine.” Doesn’t trust the stranger with the food like a fool, good.

“Understood.” I’d best get started on the fire then. First, I look out under the surrounding trees and find a suitable amount of branches. Next comes the stones for the pit. A quick and dirty modified transmute turns some dirt into reasonably shaped stones, with some dirt added to make them look natural once they’re seen. Now that that’s done, I divide the sticks from the branches. With the sticks separated, I further divided the twigs from the sticks, then made a bird’s nest from the twigs, then put the nest in the newly made pit. I know from seeing Tenny’s signal to the night guard that magic isn’t uncommon, so the ignite spell from Gane is perfect to start the fire. Once the twigs light I start the process of adding the sticks to make the infant fire grow. As I’m about to add the smallest of the branches I look up to the sight of flying carriages and Sunny holding a hoof to her face. Once these immensely potent creators of curiosity land which is a whole other curious conundrum itself, one of the ponies pulling them walks up towards the pair of Sunny and Tenny with a salute to both.

“Captain Nox Wing sends his best wishes ma’am.”

“Thank you guard.” Sunny says with a sigh. I guess she’s upset her attempt to seem less important than she is (which wasn’t working honestly) has gone up in smoke. “Please get your camp gear set up then prepare for your patrols. Once dinner’s ready the guards not on patrol are free to help themselves.”

“Thank you ma’am.” With that, the uniformed guard moved to assist the other guards. I notice that these seem to have a similar (if darker) color scheme to their day variants. Questions for later once I’m alone once again. Unfortunately, or the opposite, I’m getting curious looks from some of the night guards. They look about the same as their day variants, but most of the winged ones have more bat-like wings. Meh, I’ve got my enchantments on my roll and am more than capable of handling any night assault from these guys. So I quickly and quietly grab some uncomfortably sweet vegetable soup (which was weird to have—I don’t like it), I move to my roll and go to a (very) light sleep.

Author's Note

Hi how are ya?

5: Ooh Look, Multiple POVs!

So much for relaxing on this ride, I think to myself as I dry heave into the strange wagon’s toilet. “Oh if feels worse without the windows, why does it have to feel worse without windows.”

“Are you alright in there mister Black-Mane?” No Sunny, why would I have ran in here if I was fine!

“Ugh, I do believe that I’m getting the land based form of sea-urp-sickness. I think I’ll stay here for a while if that’s no trouble.”

“Oh dear, motion sickness. Do not worry sir, I believe we shall be arriving in about 30 minutes. It is only a trip up the mountain and with the cog gears deployed we should be making good pace up the hill.” Well that’s a relief I suppose, I thought we might be here for hours.

“Alright then, I’ll be here if you need me.” With that, I resume my hovering over the bowl.

She was split between hoping he would feel better and enjoying this excellent chance to discuss what do do with their new guest with her Captain. “So what do you think of him from these two days of observation?”

“He’s arrogant Ma’am, but it doesn’t seem to be the completely baseless.”

“How so?”

“His eyes were moving constantly from what I could tell. I suspect he saw me, yet didn’t change his posture at all.”

“So his arrogance is extreme confidence, rather than simply being naive to us.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Do you believe he’s seen combat?” A question with an obvious answer, but still one that must still be asked.

“Absolutely, and lots of it. Between his detecting of our presence, and knowing you approached him last night, he’s likely been ambushed multiple times-”

“And developed the ability to be constantly on the lookout for them.”

“Princess, if I may ask-“

“Of course you may”

“Do you know what those spells he had charged were? None of the night guards covering you could tell from their positions.”

“They most likely are from his homeland. They seemed to be defensive in nature, but even for all my years, their exact mechanics and function were a mystery.” A simultaneously disturbing and exciting prospect. She suspected her teacher would have loved to be able to analyze every bit of those spells as she did. Magic the likes of which hasn’t been widely seen since before her ascension, how could she not be curious?

“Whatever they were Ma’am, the guards reported that they seemed powerful. That seems a risk.”

“A risk they may be, he has done nothing hostile since we encountered him. We must not treat somepony as a dangerous entity based solely on somepony’s magical strength and military experience.”

“Of course Ma’am, but it’s my job to be paranoid, I thought it necessary to bring up regardless.”

“Thank you Tenacity, I am sorry to have been so hasty to approach him when we first spotted him. I know you and everypony else had kittens when I walked up to him.” At this remark, the guard who had happened to be sitting next to them replied before her Captain could.

“Thank you Ma’am, we know you can handle mortal risks, but it’s our duty as Guardsponies to want you out of harm’s way.” The stallion seemed to be nervous at saying so to her, so she moved to positively reinforce that willingness to speak up to her outside of official duties.

“Thank you guard for saying so. What is your name?”

“Light Shedder Ma’am” Ah, a lower noble of a Clever branch.

“Ah, which of the Evening families do you hail?”

“T-the Star Gazer
“Thank you for voicing you and your peer’s opinion Light Shedder. While I cannot guarantee that I will heed them, I still appreciate that dedication.” Shedder blushed then nodded, remaining silent. She could hear what sounded like a door opening and locked eyes with her Captain.

“So besides your sleep, how was your morning?”

“Mine was good, had some good coffee rations with the fresh breakfast. I can’t wait for food from an actual kitchen back in the Canterlot barracks.” With that smooth transition, the previously ill topic of their previous discussion returned.

“My apologies. It would seem that whatever brought me here did a greater number on me than I’d thought” the unicorn said as he retook his seat. “I’m usually quite fine with riding carriages, boats, etcetera, but I’m a bit under the weather from my journey here.”

“Do you think you’ll be alright?” Even as veteran guards, her ponies show her how caring hey can truly be.

“Once I get some more rest I should be on track, thank you for asking. Speaking of which, what exactly is this thing we’re riding called? I know the locomotive pulls this whole train as you said, but white are the individual carriages called, if not carriages?”

“These are called cars, they are what the train’s engine is coupled behind to pull along the rails.” She always enjoys a chance to teach, and this newcomer, whoever he is, gives her an opportunity to indulge.

“Trains made up of an engine and cars, thank you.”

“I am happy to help.”

Suddenly, a voice is heard coming from the front of the car as the train begins to level off in the tunnel “We are now arriving into Canterlot’s outer station, last stop before Canterlot Central Station and the public line’s end. Anypony disembarking here should do so now.” When none of the guards moved to exit, nor their company, the conductor nodded and moved on to the next car. She, for her curiosity and his safety, moved to ask him to stay with them.

“Mister Black-Mane”

“Please, drop the mister, it makes me feel old.” Not compared to me, she thought.

“Alright then, Black-Mane. Would you have a problem with coming with us on until the Guard-only train stop?”

“Would that be a problem for your superiors?”

“I think it’ll be fine.” Day Captain Tenacity of the Equestrian Guard answered for her. Though his reply was worrisome.

“Ok then, I hope I’m not in any trouble?” After subtlety giving Tenacity confirmation, the Captain answered.

“I see no reason for you to be in trouble, is there one?”

“Of course not miss, I was just nervous. The last time I was put on a cart into an unfamiliar city surrounded by guards, I was to be executed without being charged with a crime nor given any trial.” Both of them could not stop their eyes greatly widening at the sudden revelation. Upon seeing their reactions, Black-Mane backtracked to explain. “Well I wasn’t executed of course, and that actually ended up being what started the series of events that led me to being in the very legion that brought me there. And to be fair, I had simply been swept up in their circumstances when they caught me along with their actual quarry.”

Oh boy they’ve got questions at that. What did I expect honestly, dumping that little tidbit on them. Now we’ll have to give out more information to appease them.

“Please let me give some context” at this, and their subsequent silent nods, let’s get this story started.

“First I must say that the legion had been in conflict with the other group for some time. This other group, led by one Ulfric Stormcloak, had been fighting a civil war with the Empire to which their homeland was a province. This group, called Stormcloaks after their leader, sought to drive out the imperial rule and have Ulfric become their king.” Oh, I’m being interrupted by Sunny.

“Why would they go so far as to start a war?”

“Why else, religion and deep rooted hatred for a group that opposed theirs.” To this Sunny sighs and developed an almost haunted look to her, I wonder why.

Yeah, she’s in a higher position than she seems to be, and it’s really showing.

“Long story short, the Empire made a treaty with an enemy nation in order to buy time to rearm and prepare for another war, and the Ulfric and his supporters couldn’t stand for one of the points of the treaty banning the worship of one of their most valued deities. While I, and the many who supported the Empire, understood the inflammatory intentions for the banning or simply remained loyal, Ulfric and his many supporters took exception to the ban and started a revolt.” They’re enraptured by my story, Sunny seems haunted as I described the religious aspect of the history. I wonder if she’s seen such religious violence before.

“So, because of the Stormcloaks’ rebellion, the king of the province, known as Skyrim, was killed by Ulfric in a duel he was honor bound to accept, despite being incredibly outmatched, and this led to Ulfric to be branded a murderer by those who supported the Empire.” The ponies are aghast at that, apparently disturbed by what they likely think was purely murder. Not that they’re wholly wrong, just not entirely correct.

“While a truly horrible circumstance, this unfortunate act is not unheard of here, especially in the Griffon Empire and Dragon lands.” Griffins? At Sunny’s reply I realize there’s new group I’ll need to read up on. I can already tell that I’m going to wind up camping out in the local college’s library.

“What can I say, Skyrim’s a harsh place, and the culture lends itself to that. The traditions held strength of will and martial prowess highly in regard to leaders. The simple fact that they hadn’t been used for centuries didn’t matter until then.”

“So context behind murder aside, where does this lead to you almost being executed?” Sunny’s reply cut right to the matter.

“Well, Imperial Legion had been deployed to quell this uprising, and had successfully ambushed Ulfric as he was traveling with a small escort. This is where I come in as, while crossing the border to reach a village near my small camp, I had walked right into ambush alongside the Stormcloaks.” Along with a certain foolish horse thief that got himself killed before the attack that would’ve given him a way out arrived.

Tenny, grim faced, is the one to speak next. “So when they captured you they roped you in with the rest.”

“Yup, one cart ride and no trial later I was the second one brought to the chopping block.”

“So these ponies were about to execute you without a trial and you’re telling us you joined them?” Tenacity, asking the question practically written on their faces.

“Eh, context matters in this whole debacle, in my time serving the situation behind the civil war was resolved peacefully between the two factions.” Leaving out that I’d already retired from my first time serving the Septim line, so I had a vested interest in the Empire triumphing over the Thalmor that sullied their memory regardless of any other factor. “As a legionnaire I fought in the unified force that bested the Thalmor and ended the religious persecution. So that wrapped up the whole problem as neatly as one can hope.”

“So how did you not di-“ Tenacity’s question interrupted by a terrific sound and the train lurching to a slow crawl into the station.

“It would seem that we shall be arriving at our stop soon, everypony should prepare to disembark now.” And with Sunny Skies’ statement we’ve begun to do just that.

Author's Note

It took me much longer than it should have to figure out how to do the

thing.
Yippee

More joyous walking, now with exposition!

My dreams are weird, as usual, but nothing really crazy. They simply start with my memories flowing before me as they were experienced originally, then they start having voices or phrases that weren’t originally there for me. It’s rather jarring when you’re dreaming of talking about progress on the ceasefire between Imperials and Stormcloaks when suddenly you hear Heimskr screams coming out of Elenwen’s mouth as she’s removed from the building. Granted it likely did in fact occur in some timeline or another.

Almost as odd as us actually quoting Dagoth Ur when welcoming the delegates at the time-

-Hush me! Someone’s coming!

Your rest has been interrupted!

I hold my eyes shut and keep my breath as still as possible while I prepare to cast my defensive magics. An ebonyflesh and bound armor should work. As I do this I reason that I should probably be more curious about my magic still working here, and why it seems drained, but that’s an issue for when I can afford to spend time on it. But in the meantime, it seems like whoever this visitor is they aren’t doing anything other than look at me. “You give off more than you would like to admit little pony” ooh it’s Sunny, this should be good. “It takes training for a unicorn to have the physique to keep up with my guards and then some. Especially when that unicorn was barely able to stand shortly before that. Not to mention the ease with which you seem to interact with armed guards. I do wonder if you have a military background from your homeland.” Well, I do have time in the legion, but that’s not where my physicality and calm attitude towards your guards’ weapons comes from. That comes from being used to much worse foes. They honestly don’t seem all that dangerous to me at this point, especially since our magic works normally here for reasons I will definitely look into. With my magic working I can easily wipe out a few dozen guards without preparation or sweat.

That being said, the only difference if I was without my magic would be that it would just take longer to deal with each individual guard. Even in this new body that hasn’t changed.

“Wherever you come from my not so little pony, you are under my and Equestria as a whole’s protection. So long as you obey the laws once you learn them when you’re awake and able of course. Your skills and physique are of no consequence to this fact. Perhaps you might take up residence in Canterlot, perhaps not. But if you do so I may ask you formally to involve yourself in the Guard in some capacity. It would be nice to interact and discuss with you openly rather than me simply talk at you. Your lives are too short for me to feel otherwise.” I’m having some trouble not saying anything to her. All her comments just seem to make me want to correct her. I have no intention of passing on anytime soon. That’s part of the whole reason I’m here now lady. With an audible sigh, she walks to my front, my eyes shut and spells still ready. I can’t tell what she’s looking at, but it doesn’t matter. Then with another sigh she speaks again. “I would suppose that you really are asleep then, so these questions must be asked when you awake, so I bid you dreams as sweet as they can be…sadly.” Oh such pained hesitation. There’s definitely a story in there somewhere. Well, she’s walking away from us, so we might as well sleep some more. Let’s aim for before dawn or whenever the day units stir.

-You awake feeling rested-
It feels good to awake as rested as one can be. The pre-dawn light really shows the shimmer of the dew on the leaves. Sunny seems to have disappeared for now. She comes back after sun up, so I’ll assume she was just doing some morning routine. It’s mostly quiet during breakfast and no one really asks us any meaningful questions. The pack of ponies prioritizing the precious preparation for the preparation of our predetermined point of departure over topical pleasantries. The same practiced pace of well-practiced wordless work was how we went about closing camp. There was some small talk and confirming of decisions but the packing mostly consisted of guards dismantling equipment, then briefly talking about splitting it up into their item storage. It’s still rather early into the daylight hours when Sunny, along with Tenny and the other guards from yesterday form up together with me joining in set off while the ones that came for the night fly off. Our wonderful disregard for discussion with people we don’t know strikes again. We probably could have asked about the carts the winged ones pulled the rest on. The trees have slowly thinned as we walk. The different fauna boldly going about its business as we pass them by. Curiously, we’ve not seen elk or other types of deer, so there’s a chance that they’re like the ponies in regard to their being people. We’ve been walking for a while now. I can see that we’re getting close to a settlement, road’s more open and looks better maintained, and I can hear an odd noise that sounds like a horn. No one around me finds this to be strange, so let’s just keep quiet.

We had almost equipped our old “huge enemy” equipment we kept from bygone days on reflex. It sounded dangerously similar to the sounds of some reality-bending Dwemer thing that’s awoken to [try and fail to] kill us.

Thankfully, it seems that only Sunny and Tenny noticed. I’m going to have to answer questions about my reaction. Even then only Sunny seems to realize I had reacted by tensing for battle. Tenny’s smirk tells me she finds that funny and little else, I’d expect better from a supposed captain. Or maybe she’s more focused on outside threats. Either way she didn’t realize what exactly I did. Only Sunny saw that. Judging by the look she gave me just as it happened, I’ll be asked to explain to her my behavior. Great. Here’s hoping I don’t get too paranoid sounding when I tell her the reasons for my paranoia at the sound of gushing steam. Looks like she’s about to say something. Wonderful

“Are you alright Mr. Black-Mane? You seemed upset at the sound of the train.”

“My apologies Miss Skies, I have simply not heard of this ‘train’ of which you speak. From what I heard it seemed like a large steam contraption, is that correct?”

“Indeed. The train is a line of carts pulled along a pair of rails by a steam-powered locomotive. Where we are headed is the entrance to the small town surrounding the station that holds the nexus for the many rail lines that come to Canterlot.” So benevolent steam devices are common enough to be casually revealed, this is simply fascinating! Let’s give a little and see if they tell me more.

“Fascinating! Where I come from, the only prominent steam devices exist either in ruins or very secretive research laboratories. To learn that here they are so widespread brings me joy.”

“Another difference in our home’s cultures I suppose.” Her eyes narrowed just then, she put together that I know of such ruins and labs and have likely -to her knowledge- been to them. Well she’s not wrong.

“You speak of these places as if you know of them personally, is this true?” Ah, Tenny got it too. And she probably only asked so Sunny could avoid doing so herself, well coordinated. Sadly that just shows that Tenny has more experience with verbal battles off the field rather than martial. Definitely not the kind of verbal battles I enjoy.

“Yes, the vast number of ruins in my homelands are quite astounding. Most of my life in and out of the Legion consisted largely of me exploring these many ruins. I would go so far as to say that there are more ruins than there are cities and settlements in some areas!” I think it best to not mention barrows and tombs yet, would be awkward to explain legal necromancy practices to them. I like how they set up the potential to say that my experience adventuring into the unknown had to do with my work in the legion bleeding into my civilian life, rather than the truth, which was the other way around. Why was the second thing I’m made to do by the legion in Skyrim an expedition into a ruin with a bunch of greenhorn soldiers who knew nothing about the risks of trespassing in ruins.

“Ah, might I ask why there are so many ruins? If it were as simple as the ruling government collapsing the settlements would continue to be used and gradually changed over time.” Smart Sunny, you keep probing for more information real good there.

“No, not all of the ancient cities have become ruins, but of the ones that are still inhabited, most have drastically changed the design of buildings over time so that they typically look very different from ruins from the same time period. As for the ones that did became ruins, they typically were founded or led by those who, once overthrown, held legacies that were sought to be separated from. The ones still in use officially have largely been either renovated over the years, expanded beyond the old town borders, or are overcrowded.” My throat is itching to not hold back, talking has been taking an annoying amount of focus to keep at “safe for non-tongue” levels. I really must be more exhausted than I originally thought.

Maybe we should find out just how exhausted we are that a full night’s sleep is not enough to fully recover.

This is true. But we shouldn’t when in the middle of a conversation.

“I see, that would explain why such ruins came to be. Though I must wonder why there are so many as to, as you said, outnumber in some places the currently inhabited ones?”

“Well that has more to due with how some of those societies collapsed really.”

“How so?” Say the Dwemer, they’re the ones with the least-overtly violent ends.

“Most of the settlements nowadays are more condensed and in more accessible compared to their ruin counterparts. But for an example of how such a large amount of ruins come to be from the remains of a society, let us briefly discuss a group called the Dwemer.

“Dowemer?”

“No, it’s pronounced duh-weh-murr, dwemer. It goes straight from the ‘duh’ sound to the ‘weh’, no ‘oh’ sound in between.”

“Thanks, weird name for a people.”

“Well it more has to die with the language they derived their name from. The word dwemer translated into our language means ‘Deep Mer’. They were one of the most widespread of these now ruined civilizations. They held territory and many cities across the entire top section of my home continent. Then their society’s western leaders, in an act of desperation due to their neighbors’ opposition to them, played with a force that they didn’t -and truly couldn’t- understand. That’s an unfortunate trend back home, actually.” I have to stop my story, we’re nearing what they called the station. Sunny’s eyes have widened at that, while Tenny is tense. I wonder what exactly they’re reacting that way about: the size, the implication in that they collapsed so entirely, or that I’ve paused in my story. For about 10 minutes we’ve been walking without a sound. One of the nameless guards alongside Tenny runs out of patience first.

“So what happened?” Tenny has a thankful expression, even as she facepalms. Would it be facehoof now? Facehooves? I think that’s the term to use for it, but regardless. She’s trying to hide that she wanted to hear more and that’s what she did to try to conceal it.

Stupid changes of phrases to contain horse puns and terms.

Anyhoo, “Every Dwemer alive vanished in an instant. ” All by Sunny gave small gasps. They’re like children almost with how they’re reacting to this. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m stuck as one, I’d find it adorable. They reminded me of those Dawnguard huskies and other, less hostile to people, creatures. “Yes, every Dwemer of every shape and size and walk of life seemed to simply disappear without a trace. The only thing that proves that they even existed are their many ruins and accounts of other, surviving societies interacting with them.” The guards seem horrified, but Sunny just looks sad. Not the usual kind of sad, the haunted, ‘seen it before’ kind. I think she’s still upset about the scope, but she’s not shocked that it could happen.

Interesting. She’s seen more than she lets on.

Aaand it looks like I killed the conversation. For the best really, we’re near our apparent destination now. There are some groupings of buildings that surround a massive warehouse-type structure near the foot of the mountain. I’d look more at the appearance of these buildings, but I’m too distracted by how abysmally defended this place appears to be. I’m talking no gates, I’m talking no guard towers, no nothing! This is supposed to be a key transportation hub (which I would think would be what it was called since it’s a purely transport oriented version of a trade hub), not a big price of meat to attract bandits! Ridiculous! Am I being made a joke of? “Why is such a hub so poorly defended?”

“We’re just below the capital of a prosperous nation and have regular guard patrols.” Tenny that’s not enough for a place so isolated in a forest that bandits or worse could be lurking. “There’s emergency gates and defenses at and in the station itself, with 2 tracks for trains into Canterlot proper. In an emergency ponies are to evacuate to the station and take the emergency lines up into the city. Besides, the rail station and the residential area is built inside the mountain itself, so there are tunnels leading into the mountain and separate escape tunnels as well. As for the risk of collapse, they’re too close to Canterlot’s own protective enchantments to have any dangers of that. The mythical Tirek himself couldn’t scratch those things.” Ok, better than I thought. Still sceptical-wait, what’s a Tirek? Not now, we can look into it later.

That doesn’t detract from their haphazard defense from attacking forces you fools.They seem to have focused on exclusively the structural defense from bombardment, rather than defending residents from invasion. The only less-defended settlement I can compare it with from back home were the Ashlander villagers, and they had the excuse of being nomads that regularly moved! Even then the permanent defenses did nothing against what happened. We failed them. We always fail them.

They’ve gotten pensive at that, especially Sunny. She’s really giving away her deeper investment in the safety of ’her ponies’. I wonder if this is a Balgruf level of discretely being amongst her people kept secret besides her guards and the like. The question is how important is she that she’d have to go that far to freely move.

“You make a good point, but from what I have heard, this town is declining in lieu of a smaller rail hub specifically tailored for train switching is being developed near Ponyville. Because of that, Horn’s Deep is likely going to decline to being little more than a stop just before the tunnel leading up to Canterlot. Still worth protecting and lively, but sadly not important enough for a vast redesign of defenses.” Thank you Sunny for your marvelous exposition, truly informative. Tenny seems unamused at that, while the nearby guards looking nervous. More evidence that she’s someone high up. “But alas, it is the will of the bureaucrats and the fine ponies in charge of the budget that are the deciding factor. The guards would likely have a different opinion.”

“Absolutely ma’am. I’d personally prefer at the very least more guards patrolling the area, more if it were in my power.” Tenny comes in and leaps at the opening. “But more priority has been going to the defenses for the new docks put up in Canterlot. I’ve heard they’re treating the railway like it’s now only worth use by rail enthusiasts and the common rabble compared to their brand new flying toys. The guard will likely have to wait until the novelty of airships and the construction of their support systems passes before any changes not of national security can be done.” Alas, an excellent point she makes, the novelty of new things is quite potent with the useless nobles. The guard will have to wait a while if the nobles control the budget for new projects. It really can’t be helped if that’s the cas-wait a second.

“Excuse me, excuse me, but did you just say airships? As in flying ships?” Oh please let it be so! I knew this place is more technologically advanced than Tamriel was when I left, but this! Airships! I haven’t seen those since I wasn’t me! Oh this is exciting, this place is shaping to much further in technology and magic than a vast majority of Tamriel is. Was. When I left.

“Yes, they seem to have become the latest craze for the nobles to have. I am afraid that any attempt to build any practical ships will be delayed until the newly constructed shipyards and docks are free from the swath of nobles prioritizing the creation of their yachts.”

“It can't really be helped ma’am. Without the nobles the airship would’ve taken years to develop into what it is now.” Past the initial buildings, most of which seem to be warehouses, we’re seeing more ponies walking about on daily routine. They seem to have quite a large diversity of colors and come in all combinations of limbs. Some waved hello with their forelegs at the semi-casual procession of guards.

“True, their interest in the concept for their pleasure has bankrolled their development from the small prototype into something that can benefit the entire country and beyond in regard to trade.” Ah, that is a good point they make. It would appear that the investment of the nobility in the airship is being paid back in priority for their yachts. And that’s before any other potential profit for them and the companies. The Dwemer had a small fleet of them way back when, but their underground isolation gave benefit to more subterranean modes of trade. At least with the cities that regularly interacted with each other. The Dwemer were a very closed off race.

“That sounds amazing. I have little doubt in how beneficial those ships will be.” Passing through the rows of warehouses, I can already see some showing signs of decline. Some buildings seem to have a less maintained appearance. “You said we were taking a train, is there a scheduled time?”

“Yes. Let us make haste, so that we may have all of our company travel with us for this final stretch.”

”“Yes ma’am!”” Was the resounding reply from the gaggle of guards around us. The station is coming into view now, it appears to be a brick building with many different sets of rails flowing into it. I can see what I can only assume to be the carts for cargo and passenger trains up on sets of rail that come to an end shortly after they start. I can’t see anything that would be the locomotive device, but there seems to be a lot of steam coming from the building the rails lead into, so I guess there’s that sight to look forward to. We’ve come to some steps leading up to a pair of doors and our little posse head on up and begin to enter. First Tenny, then a handful of guards, then Sunny, now it’s our turn. I am not disappointed with what I see.

Wow. “So that’s a train.” Before me lies a separate pavilion inside the building. There seems to be a pony wearing some kind of vest within, but what’s important is the magnificent sight sitting on the rails. A large cylinder several ponies long, with a multitude of small pipes and nozzles jutting from it, with steam coming out of several. The cylinder has some kind of plow-shaped metal cage attached at the front end, along with a few lamps that some non flammable source of light that I can’t determine without taking it apart. Along the diameter of the front end of the cylinder there’s some kind of reinforced hatch with over a dozen large rivets holding it together alongside the welds on the circumference. Above this flat front end, there’s a pipe chimney with even more steam coming out of it, and sometimes more fire. At the rear of the cylinder there’s a small structure that has a few ponies inside moving around, with a large metal box linked to it by metal claws and strangely flexible pipes. The whole great thing seems to be on rails that are depressed into the floor, with those same types of cars as outside hooked up behind the box. The only thing I can think of besides my intellectual curiosity and awe at the moment is question why it was colored pink.

“An impressive sight, is it not?” Yes it is Sunny. Not Dwemer level, but yes.

“Quite. I haven’t seen such a large steam contraption since my last time in a Dwemer ruin.” Which we avoided like the plague. Stupid betrayed snow elf descendants and their pet chaurus.

“Oh? These Dwemer had steam power? Yet your home did not have steam widespread? For what reason?” Says Sunny as Tenny shows the pony in the vest a scroll, to which the pony flusters and calls other workers and starts giving them orders. Probably requisitioning a train for us. Who knows, let the background do its thing. Got used to that ages ago when dealing with nobles and suchlike.

“Unfortunately, my homeland lost much of its large scale technological advances over the years due to a tendency for records of them being lost with examples being either destroyed or too remote to reverse-engineer.

“Why would this occur?”

“Varies really. Sometimes a catastrophe, other times society just naturally declines, or people associate the advancements with things they despise and thus shun. The end result is the same: very little besides day to day quality of life developments, mainly sanitation and agricultural advances, remain widespread.” Please don’t ask about the catastrophes. I don’t want to discuss the end of the third era, or the decline of the elves- or the reasons why that one wasn’t entirely a bad thing.

“Are such catastrophes so common that you would mention them in passing?” Aww, Sunny looks sad. Well that just confirms that these ponies are adorable.

“I would guess so, but it’s been centuries since the last real one happened. Besides the two largest recent examples of technological decline have been from incidents that did more to create cultural instability rather than from any cataclysm.” Both examples separated by the Septim line to be exact. “These kinds of things are rare anyway, so it’s fine. More importantly, what is this contraption called and where do we get on?” The majority of the armored ponies are getting on the thing while others are boarding those fancy carts some of the winged ones were pulling. Some of the winged ones that weren’t doing the former two actions were stretching their wings and making some sort of formation. A uniformed pony with a horn has walked up from the group working the desk at the front of the office.

“Hello Mares and Gentlestallions, I presume that you are the leaders of this group of guards correct?” Tenny nodded to him while Sunny seemed to step back. “Good, then you can come with me to board.” He waves us to follow him towards the contraption while beginning to blabber “I must confess we were quite surprised when we heard yesterday that there was going to be an emergency deployment drill and expedition. However as we are trained here at the Royal Equestrian Railroad that if the guard is to deploy then we ask where and when, the train has been prepared and on standby since it’s arrival from Canterlot yesterday morning.” Hmm, so it’s called a train, neat. Maybe it’s derived from wagon trains? “The train itself is mostly the same as yesterday but with two additional freight cars that were requested for your logistical equipment. May I ask who along you officers is the commander? We have a few required forms for you to sign off on once we get onboard for confirmation of boarding.” Tenny sighs at that one, then nods in confirmation to him. The stallion then has us follow him up to a stairway into one of the shed-like carts. Upon entering, were greeted with rows of benches with tables in between next to the windows. Better than most carriages at least, so that’s nice.

“Alright then, you all go on ahead into your seats, I’ll join you later.” Tenny said, turning to follow the attendant to do whatever paperwork they’re doing.

“Well then, let’s sit.” At Sunny’s cue, we got into one of the benches; now that was hard to get right the first time, almost fell off. We pretty much just sat there in a kind of awkward silence until Tenny walked through the door to the next segment. Once we sat the attendant walked up and said goodbye and left the train. I can hear the steam of the engine getting louder, we’re most likely about to- kachunk- and in a great shudder the whole train lurches forwards at a slow pace. Well that was startling. Well, at least we can relax on our way, watching the scenery go by.

Author's Note

Me when writing: