The soldier looked at the list confused. “Of all the things to appear in Skyrim at a time like this… A rare race from outside our borders that hasn’t been seen since the days of the Oblivion crisis. Captain, what should we do? She’s not on the list.”

The captain looked unconcerned. “Forget the list, she goes to the block.”

The soldier didn’t seem to like the order, but he obeyed it. "By your orders, Captain. I’m sorry. I wish I knew how to treat your remains. Follow the Captain, prisoner."

Twilight did as instructed… hoping to bide her time to escape. She still had wings but wasn’t sure she could fly fast enough to avoid the Imperial soldiers’ arrows and while she still had a horn on her forehead, she instinctually knew that spells would be cast from her hands like the other races of this land. With her hands bound, she was nearly powerless.

The man that had been pointed out as General Tullius spoke. "Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero. But a hero doesn't use a power like ‘The Voice’ to murder his king and usurp his throne."

Ulfric was only able to grunt in response, the gag preventing any real conversation.

General Tullius continued, sounding angered. "You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace."

A loud roar was heard in the distance. The townsfolk either didn’t seem to notice or they didn’t understand the significance of the sound.

The soldier with the list looked towards the sky. "What was that?"

General Tullius replied dismissively. "It's nothing. Carry on."

The loyal captain replied without concern. "Yes, General Tullius.” She turned to a priestess that was in attendance. “Give them their last rites."

A Priestess of Arkay began to speak solemnly. "As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nirn, our beloved..."

A random Stormcloak Soldier interrupted the priestess and began walking towards the headmen’s block. "For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with."

The Priestess of Arkay sounded miffed and replied stiffly. "As you wish."

The Stormcloak Soldier continued with disdain in his voice. "Come on, I haven't got all morning.”

He couldn’t seem to force himself to kneel but the Imperials had no trouble forcing him to the ground and forcing his head onto the block. The town seemed to go completely still, waiting for the axe to fall. He continued to taunt the Imperials to the last possible moment.

“My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials. Can you say the same?"

With those last defiant words to everyone in attendance, the Stormcloak was beheaded by the executioner. The Imperial Captain then shoved his lifeless body off to the side of the chopping block. Twilight watched in horror.

This isn’t justice! No trial. Merciless. Brutal. This isn’t how you maintain a happy and loyal populous. How dare they?

A female Stormcloak called out, enraged. "You Imperial bastards!"

A random male citizen of the town rebuffed her. "Justice!"

Another random female citizen seemed to continue the jeering. "Death to the Stormcloaks!"

Ralof sighed, hope beginning to fade.. "As fearless in death as he was in life."

The captain sneered. "Next, the pony! I wonder what color your blood is…”

A second dragon roar was heard, causing some pause amongst the people who heard it. It sounded like it was a little closer this time.

The soldier with the list looked towards the sky again. "There it is again. Did you hear that?"

The captain sounded angry. "I said, next prisoner!"

The soldier with the list sighed. "To the block, prisoner. Nice and easy."

Twilight approaches the chopping block, confused, yet determined. As she kneeled down and places her head into position to be sliced off by the headsman's axe, her eyes are momentary fixed on the head of previous Stormcloak prisoner in the headsmen’s basket.

Twilight looked up at the headsman as he raises his axe to execute her, hoping for some last second mercy. The headmen had no mercy to give but was interrupted as the Dragon roared a third time and was finally seen. Twilight’s eyes widened at the sight.

That dragon is nearly as big as Torch. By Celestia, I hope he’s friendly…

General Tullius exclaimed. "What in Oblivion is that?"

The Captain seemed confused, not having seen what the general saw. "Sentries! What do you see?"

An Imperial soldier called out. "It's in the clouds!"

The sound of weapons being drawn was heard as all eyes turn to look at the dragon, now perched on the Helgen Watchtower after a hard landing had knocked the headsman off balance.

A female Stormcloak cried out… "Dragon!"

The dragon roared with a voice that invoked a Meteor-shower. It would have been pretty if it wasn’t so deadly.

The headsman fell dead upon the next attack with a dramatic. "Hunh..."

The dragon was clearly speaking, although not the common tongue. His very voice invoked a strong and seemingly ancient magic. "Fus... Ro... Dah!"

General Tullius was yelling but not quite panicking. "Don't just stand there! Kill that thing! Guards, get the townspeople to safety!"

The dragon’s shout had knocked Twilight off the headmen’s block at the same time that it killed the headsmen, but it left her disoriented and confused.

Ralof cried out. "Hey, Pony! Get up! Come on, the gods won't give us another chance!"

Twilight picked herself up and ran for all she was worth towards the tower, not at all concerned that it was all Stormcloak soldiers gathered there.

Ralof continued to call encouragement. "This way! This way, come on, In here! Over here!"

The Imperial Soldiers were clearly panicking as she ran past them towards safety. She was only halfway listening to all the yelling the Imperial Soldiers were doing.

"What in the Eight Divines is this thing?!"

"Keep your eyes on it!"

"How in Oblivion do we kill this thing?!"

"It's still coming!"

"By Ysmir! Nothing kills it!"

"Die! For the love of the gods, die!"

Another soldier was hit by a meteor and was killed almost instantly, screaming as he fell. "Yeargh!"

Twilight was terrified of the chaos around her as she really started to understand the danger of this situation and was grateful to be indoors again.

I didn’t think those meteors were coming this way. The precision of that strike leads me to think that it’s a spell of some kind. So much for the dragon being friendly…

Ralof closed the door as soon as Twilight was safely inside. None of the soldiers were idle as they tried to recuperate while tending to their wounded. Ulfric Stormcloak removed his gag.

Ralof was holding it together, but just barely. "Jarl Ulfric! What is that thing? Could the legends be true?"

Ulfric shrugged, not looking or sounding afraid, just like a natural leader should. "Legends don't burn down villages."

The whole tower seemed to shake with a thundering explosion from outside. The dragon had clearly used another magical shout.

Ulfric raised his voice and issued an urgent order. "We need to move. Now!"

Ralof nodded quickly in agreement. "Up through the tower, let's go!"

One Stormcloak briefed Ulfric quickly about the wounded. "They're hurt, but they'll live. Another second out there with the dragon, and they'd both be dead..."

Ralof turned to Twilight "Let's go! With me, up the tower!"

Twilight followed him up the stairs towards the roof. The obvious plan being to get to the roof, and then climb down the tower to safety. Right?

Well… as long as the dragon doesn’t eat us. We can’t exactly defend ourselves while climbing down. Completely separate from my hands still being bound… How am I suppose to do anything like this?

About halfway up, the stairs were blocked with fallen stone. A Stormcloak soldier turned to Ralof. "We just need to move some of these rocks to clear the way!"

Before Twilight or Ralof could in any way help, the Dragon burst through the wall and blasted the Stormcloak soldier with a fiery breath that left absolutely no doubt that the man was dead.

Ralof didn’t pause to mourn the loss as he turned to give Twilight instructions, looking out the hole in wall of the tower. "See the inn on the other side? Jump through the roof and keep going! Go! We'll follow when we can!"

Twilight gulped but backed up for a running start and went for it. She used her wings to give her a softer landing than a human could manage and was careful to avoid the parts of the building still on fire. Quickly leaving the ruins of the inn, Twilight was shocked by how much damage the dragon has done to the entire town.

Helgen will never recover from this… I can’t imagine something like this happening to Ponyville. I need to get strong enough to be able to stop it.

Twilight banishes those wayward thoughts and runs into the street, looking for a way to escape the town. An Imperial soldier, the one with the list, was speaking urgently to a child. "Haming, you need to get over here. Now! That a boy. You're doing great. Torolf! Gods... Everyone get back!"

The dragon had landed right behind Torolf and shouted. "Yol...Toor...Shul!" Torolf’s death was instant but probably not painless. Twilight winced at the idea of being roasted alive by dragon fire. Spike's fire never seemed that dangerous but it could have been.

The soldier gave a defeated sigh but turned to Twilight. "Still alive, prisoner? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way. Gunnar, take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join their defense."

Gunnar nodded seriously and gave a farewell. "Gods guide you, Hadvar."

Twilight hummed to herself, deep in thought and considering her next move.

So… his name is Hadvar. Can I really trust him? He was going to let me be executed even though he didn’t agree with it. I suppose there are worse things than following orders. I can’t hate him for doing his job although it is easy to question the morals of executing people without a trial. Would Shining Armor defy Princess Celestia about an execution like this? Well… I suppose a situation serious enough to warrant an execution would have to happen first. I still don’t know what’s going on here.

Twilight followed him reluctantly and he shouted. "Stay close to the wall!"

Twilight just barely had time to crouch down close to the wall when the dragon landed on it above her. A quick bout of fire later and the dragon launched back into the sky. Rounding the corner, another dead Imperial soldier was there, clearly no match for the dragon.

Hadvar swallowed hard. "Quickly, follow me!"

Moving around the corpse and ducking through a destroyed house, they made a break for it out into the open where most of the survivors, both villager and soldier, were still trying to fight the dragon, seemingly in vain.

General Tullius caught sight of them. "Hadvar! Into the keep, soldier, we're leaving!"

Hadvar acknowledged the order. "It's you and me, prisoner. Stay close!"

Twilight hesitated for just a moment; her eyes caught on a dying citizen of the town.

The man was speaking softly. “Tell my family that I fought bravely…”

He was wearing armor and still took a mortal blow. If I’m going to survive here, I’m going to need some decent armor… and I’m going to have to learn how to use it quickly.

General Tullius noticed Twilight lingering. "Run, you idiot!"

That snapped Twilight back to the present moment and she hurried behind Hadvar. They approached Helgen Keep, only to find Ralof having made it there himself, having broken off from Ulfric and the other Stormcloaks to escape alone.

Hadvar sounded angry. "Ralof! You damned traitor. Out of my way!"

Ralof replied almost jovially. "We're escaping, Hadvar. You're not stopping us this time."

Knowing that he couldn’t really stop Ralof without risking becoming dragon lunch or losing his prisoner, he huffed. "Fine. I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde."

Ralof turned back to Twilight and beckoned to her. "You! Come on, into the keep!"

Hadvar also beckoned to her from a different entrance to the Keep. “With me, prisoner.”

Twilight was looking back and forth at Ralof and Hadvar. It was clear that she was going to have to chose who she wanted to travel with, one over the other. They seemed to know each other or have some kind of past together but convincing both of them to travel with her for a ‘safety in numbers’ concept wasn’t going to happen. Both men struck her as honest so she would be safe with either of them… but it wasn’t just choosing who to go with. It was choosing a side. In a war that she knew nothing about.

Ralof called again. "Through here. Let's go!"

Hadvar countered. "If you’re really innocent, then you’ll prove it by coming with me. I can cut you loose inside the keep. Come on! We need to get inside!"

Twilight sighed, unhappy with her limited options and even more limited time to evaluate her feelings on the matter. These last 20 minutes had been the longest 20 minutes of her life.

This must be part of what Celestia meant. Making snap decisions. Trusting your gut. Figuring out when someone is lying to you or trying to use you. Staying alive when the whole world is trying to kill you.

The dragon then swooped down and picked up a soldier off the wall and threw him high into the air to fall to his death. The dragon spoke an ancient language that no one seemed to understand.

"Hin sil fen nahkip bahloki."

That was enough to force Twilight forward. Despite some misgivings… she ran to Hadvar and followed him into the Keep.

* * *

Twilight followed Hadvar into the Keep, the doors shutting behind them. They entered a large room that looked like was sleeping quarters for the guards of the Keep. She walked towards him and he cut her bindings with an iron dagger, setting her free.

Hadvar cleared his throat. “There you go… Go ahead and look through those chests for some gear… I’m going to look for something to treat these burns.”

Twilight’s eyes were drawn to a couple of books on a mostly empty bookshelf and a few gold coins on the desk. “What about the coins? Should I grab them too?”

Hadvar looked up. “Coins? Oh… the septims. Yes. We will probably need the gold for supplies when we make it to a town. Take whatever you can carry. Anything you don’t want to use yourself you’ll be able to sell or smelt and repurpose. Selling weapons, armor and other loot that you find in caves or old ruins is how most adventurers make their money. And the things that don’t sell for a lot of coin, like basic iron swords and cheap iron daggers, you can smelt back into iron ingots and use the material for something else, like lockpicks.”

Twilight’s face fell as she put the coins in a coin purse, the books into her backpack, and then looked through all the chests. She wasn’t too keen on the ‘adventuring lifestyle’ but that seemed to be exactly what Princess Celestia had intended for her to learn.

She found a full set of both Imperial Light and Heavy Armor plus a steel axe, an Imperial Bow with about a hundred steel arrows, and both one-handed and two-handed Iron swords along with a couple of different styles of shields. The most valuable item she recovered was an enchanted necklace that gave 20% Resistance to Frost.

With Hadvar’s back still turned to her, she took off the old rags she was wearing and threw them into a chest, not wanting to carry the extra weight of something she wouldn’t be able to sell. She then decided to equip the light armor set, opting for ability to dodge over physical protection, along with the Necklace of Resist Frost. The Imperial Light Helmet, Imperial Light Armor, Imperial Light Gloves, and Imperial Light Boots along with an Imperial Light Shield to block with felt good on her fur. A matching set… if that mattered.

With her free hand, she tried to channel her magic. In Equestria, her favorite magical attack had been a beam of pure magic that had been effective at nearly everything it hit. She focused and focused, holding her hand out to blast the empty bookshelf.

Nothing happened.

Okay… let’s try something else…

She tried to focus the same pure magic beam into her horn…

Nothing happened.

With ever so slight a panic, she tried something different. She tried using a message spell that could teleport a letter or book to a specific person, if you didn’t happen to have a dragon that could do that for you.

It worked… but she had no letter or book targeted to send, so nothing really happened.

So… I could, in theory, still write Celestia letters… so at least send letters to other people within this land without waiting for a mail courier to deliver it.

She tried to teleport herself from one part of the room to another using both her hands and then with her horn.

Nothing happened.

She then tried to open a magical storage portal. It didn’t work with her hands, but it did work with her horn, being more of an Equestrian magic. She was confused when more than one portal opened and was equally confused to see them labeled with almost an information bubble near it.

She read the bubbles next to the portals. The five portals were named, ‘weapons,’ ‘armor,’ ‘potions and food,’ ‘reagents,’ and ‘miscellaneous.’ The descriptions explained a lot but also seemed oddly out of place.

Did the Elder Scroll imbue this ability into me? Can anyone else see it? I wonder if I’ll encounter more information presented to me in this fashion in the future…

She didn’t have an answer for herself, and she had no one she could ask, not wanting to sound crazy. She opted to busy herself reading the information descriptions instead.

Weapons portal can store unused weapons that you don’t want in your backpack.

Armor Portal can store unused armor that you don’t want in your backpack.

Potions and Food Portal can store extra potions and cooked food that can used later. (Recommended to keep some of both in the backpack.)

Reagents Portal stored reagents used in Potion crafting along with some other ingredients used in cooking that wasn’t beneficial to consume without cooking, such as uncooked meats.

Miscellaneous portal could store books, scrolls, letters, keys, and other items commonly used in smithing, such as ingots and ores.

Upon further examination of the portals, her backpack, and the armor she had equipped along with the other items simply in her bag, absolutely everything had a defined ‘weight’. She was shocked to find that she had a default carry weight of ‘325’ and each portal matched her carry weight. A warning was listed that she couldn’t store anything in any portal that exceeded the carry weight of that portal and that if she held more than 325 weight on her person, her stamina would drain, and she wouldn’t be able to run. However, the portal carry weight would increase to match her normal carry weight every time her stamina increased.

Huh. A hypothetical 1,950 carry weight would make it very easy to loot, at least.

She frowned at another thought and seemed to search herself. Her inner mind. She found a menu, of sorts, that listed 18 talent sets, with a rating of 15 to 25, and a series of corresponding skills she could learn with ‘talent points.’ Scrolling through the information about herself, within her own mind, she only knew ‘Flames’ and ‘Healing’ as spells. Her ‘Destruction’ magic was 25, so the ‘flames’ should do a fair amount of damage, but she could only heal herself with that basic Restoration spell, and that talent set was only 15 so it would use a lot of magicka to cast.

I can use some basic, non-combat Equestrian Magic but I only know two spells used by the races of this land. If I want to be a mage in this land, I’m going to have to learn more of their spells. Which means… I have no real way to defend myself. I’m going to have to use either the bow or a traditional melee weapon until I can learn more combat magic. Flames, alone, might not be enough…

As if reading her mind, Hadvar returned to her side. “If you don’t know any combat magic… you should give that axe a few swings. See how it feels in your hands.”

Twilight nodded and equipped the axe. She tried a few normal swings and then one heavy swing.

Hadvar raised an eyebrow at her. “That… was terrible. Who taught you how to fight?”

Twilight looked away from his gaze. “No one… This is the first time I’ve held an axe.”

Hadvar shook his head with a sad sigh. “And we were going to execute you. There’s no way you are a Stormcloak if you don’t know how to swing an axe. Do you know any magic?”

She nodded and put away the axe, drawing the flames from the now ‘equipped’ spell into her hand. She let loose a bout of fire from her right hand that completely destroyed the bookshelf she was aiming at. Hadvar whistled in amazement.

“Yes… you should stick to magic. Those are some powerful flames you have there.”

Twilight smiled sheepishly. “I was a mage back home… but most of my magic doesn’t work here. I guess the ah…”

How am I supposed to explain that I’m from a completely different realm of existence?

“… resonance… is off. I’ll have to learn your people’s spells sooner or later if I can’t figure out how to fix my resonance.”

Hadvar nodded, seeming to understand. “I’ve heard a few battlemages speaking about the importance of resonances in certain magical situations. In any case, you’ll want to go to the College of Winterhold. It’s the best place in all of Skyrim to learn magic. However… it’s also in Stormcloak territory… so you’ll have to be cautious if you go.”

Twilight was ready to move on and steeled herself. “I guess I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be. So… what’s next?”

Hadvar cocked his head towards the hallway. “This Keep is pretty big. We’ll need to explore a little and see if we can find a backway out where the dragon won’t kill us. If we’re lucky, we may find some surviving Imperials to help us. If we’re unlucky… we’ll have to fight and… kill… the other Stormcloaks that survived in order to escape the Keep.”

Twilight sighed at that. “Well. I’ll follow your lead.”

Hadvar lead the way down a short hallway to a locked door. We could hear voices coming from the other side. He took in a deep breath before he pulled the lever to open the door.

“Hear that? Stormcloaks… Maybe we can reason with them…”

Twilight swallowed hard as she readied her spell, no longer willing to be optimistic. Hadvar stepped through the door and didn’t even get a chance to speak before the Stormcloaks charged him with weapons raised. He jumped out of the way of a downward slice from a two-handed Iron Sword and Twilight knew she would have to beat the Stormcloaks back.

She unleased the full force of the flames spell and the female Stormcloak soldier screamed in pain. The Stormcloak couldn’t seem to get her bearings and died under the onslaught of the spell. Twilight dropped the spell and Hadvar rushed around the corner into battle, attacking the other Stormcloak relentlessly. Hadvar got a few good strikes in with his sword and the Stormcloak fell.

Twilight walked up to the female Stormcloak that she killed. It was so odd… she died from fire… but there were no burns. The armor she wore could still be used, as if it had no battle damage. No weakening of its protection. If looted… it could be sold as if it had never been used. However… Twilight could still hear her screams. It was the first life she had ever taken.

Hadvar put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey… are you okay?”

Twilight shook her head ‘no’ as a tear rolled down a cheek. “This is the first time I’ve ever taken a life. Even back home, when I had to fight bad guys, we always seemed to take them alive. Convince them to stop fighting. I’ve never fought someone so willing to die as these guys are…”

Hadvar sighed and rubbed his face. “That’s Nord stubbornness at its best. We don’t really surrender. It makes us great soldiers for the legion… but hard to fight in a rebellion.”

Twilight pursed her lips to ask a question. She had to know. “Why isn’t she burned? I killed her with fire…”

Hadvar shrugged. “The gods decided a long time ago to make combat less gruesome for the innocent bystanders or children that happen to witness it. There is very little blood, unless a learned skill perk gives you a skill that would allow dismembering. Fire ‘burns’ the target but doesn’t leave a mark, usually. With the right skill, you could turn them to ash… which only happens at higher, expert level Destruction magical skill. Flames is the most basic novice spell, but very efficient. Trolls, vampires and other undead will take extra damage from fire. Only Dark Elves and maybe Dragons will take less damage from fire. Sparks… is the only element that no race has a natural resistance to, but it also costs the most magicka, so you’ll need to choose your spells wisely.”

Twilight accepted the explanation with the same level of understanding as the rare and unique abilities that the Elder Scroll seemed to have given her… unless that’s just how it was here. It would somehow be scarier if everyone could do what she did… it meant she had no edge. She took all the gear from both dead Stormcloaks, hoping to sell or smelt the gear later, leaving both of the corpses completely naked.

Hadvar seemed a little shocked at the open looting, but then, it had been him that had said that’s how Adventurers made their money. His own thoughts rebuked him.

Who am I to deny her the ability to eat? It’s not like I’m going to be taking care of her once we leave the Keep. Though… I would like to teach her more before we part company so I have the peace of mind of at least hoping she’ll be able to survive alone.

Twilight finished shoving all the gear from the Stormcloaks and the extra gear from her backpack into the appropriate storage portals. She looked up to see Hadvar’s slack face.

“Oh… did you want a moment with her?”

Hadvar seemed extra shocked at the suggestion. “NO! I would never… to a corpse?”

Twilight got beet red as she stood… “I didn’t mean… that…” She sighed. “It seemed like you knew Ralof. I thought that maybe you also knew her. Maybe… wanted to pay your respects to her even though you were on opposite sides of the war…”

Hadvar walked towards the door at the opposite side of the of room and unlocked the door with a key. “Me and Ralof grew up together. The Village of Riverwood. My uncle is the village blacksmith and Ralof’s sister owns the sawmill. Nice little town… a little under-protected with the threat of rebellion… and now… dragons. Come on, let’s keep going.”

Twilight followed him down the stairs and towards another door, picking up literally everything as she passed. Lettuce, salt piles, salmon. Every cart, Every bag. Looted. Hadvar said nothing about it.

In the distance, she could see four Stormcloaks, but a cave in of stone prevented them from being able to get to each other or fight. Hadvar opened the door and two more Stormcloaks attacked. One charged Hadvar while the other went for Twilight. She had the Flames spell ready and simply dodged the enemy while pelting him with flames. She managed to kill her opponent before Hadvar but was unable to get close enough to Hadvar to help him before he finished as well. He sheathed his sword with a wariness of knowing he would need it again soon.

He sighed. “You seem to be getting the hang of it.”

Twilight nodded with less enthusiasm than she would normally have. “My teacher always said I was a quick study. So, what now?”

Hadvar looked around. “This appears to be a storeroom. Check around for food or potions. Stock up on what you want, and we will continue. I’ll wait for you.”

Twilight looted the two Stormcloaks and collected a few bottles of wine, a few potions and various other ingredients that would be useful later, including some rabbit and pheasant that had been hanging up to cook. It didn’t take her long to check everything before they continued.

Hadvar continued to be both impressed and miffed about both how quickly Twilight seemed to be learning the way of Skyrim and how long it was taking to move on to the next part. He kinda wanted to live…

“Done then? Let’s keep moving.”

They left the room together and headed down more stairs. The sounds of fighting could be heard with both magical attacks and melee weapons.

Hadvar swallowed a lump in his throat. “Gods… a torture room. I wish we didn’t need these…”

Hadvar drew his sword once more and Twilight still had her flames ready. The torturer and his assistant were battling two Stormcloaks but both Stormcloaks fell to the onslaught of Sparks and the Assistant’s mace before Hadvar or Twilight could join the battle.

The Torturer sounded pleased at his handiwork. "You fellows happened along just in time. These boys seemed a bit upset at how I've been entertaining their comrades."

Hadvar wanted to scream at the man but held onto a civil tone. "Don't you even know what's going on? A dragon is attacking Helgen!"

The torturer scoffed. "A dragon? Please. Don't make up nonsense.” He paused. “Although, come to think of it, I did hear some odd noises coming from over there."

Hadvar beckoned to him. "Come with us. We need to get out of here."

The torturer refused to leave his torture room. "You have no authority over me, boy."

Hadvar raised his voice, a little exasperated. "Didn't you hear me? I said the keep is under attack!"

The torturer still wouldn’t budge but the assistant was moved by Hadvar’s warning. "Forget the old man. I'll come with you."

Before Hadvar could leave, he noticed one of the cages. “Hey… there’s something in this cage.”

The torturer scoffed again. “That cage? Forget it. Lost the key ages ago. Took the man weeks to die.”

Hadvar returned to Twilight and gave her 12 lockpicks. “Here. Take these. I was never much good with lockpicks, but you can give it a go. We might need that gold when we get out.”

Twilight looked at the picks and the lock. She placed the pick within the lock and experimentally tugged on it. It rattled but didn’t turn. She loosened the pressure and adjusted the picks, looking for some kind of mark or imperfection that might could point to the correct placement of the picks. She saw a slight nick and went for it. Turning the picks with an almost expert level of patience and steady skill, the lock clicked, and the door opened.

Her lockpicking skill increased to 16 and a magical bar that rated experience seemed to move closer to the next level. She blinked at the internal information, not sure what to say.

Hadvar chuckled. “Are you sure you were a mage back home? You’re a natural thief.”

Twilight smiled nervously. “Like I said… I’m a quick study.”

She took the Novice Robes of Destruction off the dead mage and put it on, over her armor like a cloak. She also placed the mage hood over her light helmet and placed the gold in her coin purse. She picked up the spell tome of Sparks, but when she opened the book, it seemed to dissolve, and the knowledge flowed into her.

She gasped. “Is it supposed to work like that?”

The torturer nodded. “Yes. You ‘absorb the book’ to learn the spell. And the higher your level of magical knowledge is, or I suppose, the more practice you have, the less magicka it will cost to cast the spells.”

Twilight changed her equipped spell from Flames to Sparks. She grabbed more lockpicks, a few more books, a potion, and more gear from around the room, after also looting the Stormcloaks. She then proceeded to unlock every lock within the torture/dungeon area for ‘practice,’ only breaking 3 picks between the 6 locks.

The torturer looked miffed at her actions but didn’t really try to stop her. "Sure, take all my things, please.” Then as an afterthought, he added. “There's no way out that way, you know."

They proceeded anyways, careful to look around the corners before moving on, not wanting to run into anything unprepared. Twilight checked the skeletons for coins and was surprised to find something called ‘bone meal.’ After examining the substance, she discovered that it was yet another alchemy reagent, and placed it in her bag. Not knowing what was useful she couldn’t risk leaving anything behind.

The torture assistant asked the question that Hadvar wouldn’t. “Why did you put the robes and mage hood on over your armor?”

Twilight frowned. “How else would I wear it?”

The assistant rubbed the back of his head, not sure how to explain it. “Well. Spells like Oakflesh and Stoneskin gives you extra armor rating but with the mage armor perks, it doubles or triples the protection value when wearing clothes or robes and not armor. Plus, there’s weight to consider. Most adventurers travel as light as possible to have more ability to loot. As a mage, the robes are all you really need. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with having the robes over the armor like a cloak, but it’ll weigh you down a little. Most adventures will wear armor or robes… but not both.”

Twilight shrugged. “So I won’t be able to take everything I see. So what? I’ll live long enough to sell what I do take. The robes do make me a more efficient mage and it really doesn’t weigh that much extra. And… I don’t have the skill perks you’re talking about, nor do I even know the spells that you speak of. There is no point in risking death just because of how everyone else does it. I want to live, thank you.”

Hadvar felt better about her chances of survival after hearing her say that. The group continued on and they came to a large room with four Stormcloaks. The Stormcloaks were arguing.

“Where is the way out? This water has to be flowing out somewhere…”

Hadvar drew his sword again and whispered to Twilight. “This is a larger group than the previous three smaller battles. Are you ready?”

Twilight nodded seriously. “We have to get through them to make it out. We already know that they can’t be reasoned with. I’ll take the one to the left, you take the one in the center. First person to reach the archers, win.”

Hadvar smiled at the light-hearted comment and charged forward. Twilight ran to the left, unleashing a wave of sparks and just seemed to rip the Stormcloak apart. The sound of magic alerted the Stormcloaks to their presence but she couldn’t be worried about that now. She could hear both Hadvar and the Torturer’s assistant battling the other Stormcloak, so she rushed over the stone bridge to close in on the archers.

Her movements didn’t go unnoticed, and she was hit with not one, but two iron arrows. The arrows impact was blunted by the light armor, and she closed the distance, putting away her light shield and calling flames into her left hand and sparks into her right.

The Stormcloaks cursed. “Damn it all… she’s wearing armor under those robes. Die!!!”

They both notched another arrow, but Twilight was faster. The sparks shot out at them directly and the flames ignited a red liquid on the floor, catching fire and burning both Stormcloaks alive. Twilight fell to her knees, breathing hard once they both went down.

The torturer’s assistant nodded to Hadvar. “I’m going to go back and check up on the old man. Good luck to the both of you.”

Hadvar shook his hand and ran over to Twilight. “Are you hurt?”

Twilight shook her head, her healing spell fading from her hands. “Not anymore. That armor saved my life… had I only been wearing robes…”

Hadvar swallowed the lump in his throat. “Are you going to be okay?”

Twilight nodded again and stood back up. “I was just musing about the battles. We’ve killed 10 Stormcloaks so far. We haven’t seen Ralof or Ulfric. Lokir was killed before the dragon showed up and then there’s me. Unless I missed a wagon, or unless Ralof and Ulfric are still nearby, that should be all of them. We shouldn’t run into any more Stormcloaks.”

Hadvar smiled warmly at her logic. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all day. Did you want to loot these four before we continue?”

Twilight nodded. “I can still carry a bit more before I’m overburdened. I literally have no money other than what I’ve gathered so far since you set me free. The more I can sell, or repurpose, the happier I’ll be. I have a feeling that I’ll have to craft what I can’t afford.”

Hadvar waited with the patience of a parent while Twilight quickly took all the gear off the corpses. If the legion didn’t have strict rules about looting, he’d probably take his fair share of the loot. Being a soldier paid the bills, but it wasn’t going to make him rich.

“Come on, let’s see where this goes.” He pulled a lever that dropped a draw bridge.

Twilight and Hadvar crossed the bridge with Twilight musing out loud. “This is an odd thing to have back here. It’s like an escape tunnel… with the bridge up, people can’t come in from outside. Very clever… However… the one thing I don’t understand is why the Torturer said there was no way out down here if this is here?”

Hadvar shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t know. This tunnel is probably only known to Generals, Legates, and other trusted high-ranking officials. Helgen was one of the bigger border towns on the Imperial side of the rebellion. An escape tunnel like this would have been useful if the Stormcloaks attacked in force and the ranking officers had to retreat. I never thought I’d ever have to use something like this… but I’m glad it’s here.”

Just as they finished crossing the bridge and before Twilight could reply, a loud roar was heard from above them and then a huge piece of rock came falling through the bridge right where they just had been standing.

Hadvar placed a hand over his heart. “Whoa. No going back that way… I guess we should be glad that it didn’t land on top of us. Let’s keep moving.”

Twilight’s heart was in her throat as well from the near miss, but she calmed down as she continued to follow Hadvar. They followed the stream, which lead to a skeleton and a dead end on one side and an opening to the right. Twilight took the opportunity to add to her loot; taking the coin purse, potion and dagger but frowned and asked quietly.

“If he had a healing potion… how did he die?”

Hadvar seemed uncomfortable answering the question but tried to address it anyways. “He could have been poisoned… or maybe starved to death. A healing potion, much like a healing spell, will heal your injuries but won’t prevent hunger or thirst from overtaking you. That’s why it’s important to keep food with you. A journey into a cave or ruin could take longer than you planned. It’s not like you’re going to be able to stay at an Inn every night.”

Twilight made a mental note to remember that, and they continued yet again. Following the only path downwards, they came to another large cavern-like room with two spiders the size of Spike.

Twilight gasped. “What in Tartarus are those?”

Hadvar’s eyes tightened. “Frostbite Spiders. They can spit poison and their bite can be pretty bad. Luckily, those are actually on the small side for them. I’ll take the one on the left, you take the one on the right. Fire or Sparks should be fine to kill them.”

Twilight called forth Sparks in both hands, opting for the more power element, not worried about the magicka cost. The Frostbite Spiders noticed them immediately and spit Frostbite venom in their general direction but missing. Twilight unleased sparks from both hands, nearly exploding the spider while Hadvar used a power strike to impaled the spider square in the middle. Without warning, two even larger spiders dropped from the ceiling.

Twilight cried out. “Watch Out!”

She unleased her sparks, focusing the right hand on one spider and the left hand on the other. The spiders seemed almost stunned under the effects of the lightning-based spell, and having relatively low health despite their size, died quickly.

Hadvar once again sheathed his sword. “What’s next… giant snakes?”

Twilight wasted no time harvesting some frostbite venom from each spider, as if she already knew exactly how to do it. It gave her pause.

Do I know how to do this because I have 15 skill in Alchemy granted from the scroll or is this a crossover of other skills I learned in Equestria and I just didn’t know it could be applied like this until now? Maybe it’s better if I don’t ask questions that nopony can answer.

She shook away those thoughts and also managed to recover the tails of large rats and some spider eggs, which both seemed to also be alchemy ingredients.

Continuing to trudge through the cave, Twilight was starting to ger tired. Or perhaps worry was starting to overtake her.

Are we ever going to get out of here? We have very little food and most of it is uncooked. Are we going to starve like that other poor guy did?

Twilight saw yet another skeleton, which reinforced her worry, but took no time in recovering another small coin purse, another iron dagger and potion of a different type.

Huh. This one increases my maximum health for a short period of time. I guess there could be advantages to increasing my health before a large battle if I know the battle is about to happen.

She rejoined Hadvar and was surprised when he stopped and crouched down. Twilight kneeled down beside him, trying to see what he was looking at.

He spoke softly. “There’s a bear up there. See her? As tired as we are from all the fighting, I’d rather not tangle with her. We can try to sneak past. Or… if your feeling lucky, you can try to take her down with a bow. Might can take her by surprise. I’ll follow your lead on this one.”

Twilight frowned. She’d rather not kill an animal for no reason, especially a dangerous one that could hurt them if they mishandled it.

She whispered back. “Are there advantages to killing it?”

Hadvar frowned. “A few… you can harvest four bear paws… used in alchemy. The bear pelt itself is valuable sold or can be used to make a decent amount of leather which can be used to make armor and other traveling accessories. Plus… it is large enough to be a threat to travelers on any nearby road. Killing it could be considered a public service.”

Twilight nodded slowly. All of those were good reasons… “What about the meat? Can bear meat be eaten?”

Hadvar shuddered at the thought but nodded yes. “Bear meat is… questionable… at best. Bears that eat fish taste horrible but bears eating berries or normal wildlife is fairly edible. Of course… if you're starving… you’d probably be happy to eat anything. A bear that size could net you up to 100 pounds worth of meat… however, you probably won’t be able to sell it. I also doubt you could eat 100 pounds of meat yourself before it goes bad. Once again. It’s your call.”

Twilight frowned, considering the information at length.

My magical storage portal for food would also preserve everything from going bad… almost like being vacuum sealed… but he doesn’t need to know that. I could easily store 100 pounds worth of meat given that very little of what I picked up today was food or alchemy, however, I’m probably already carrying more than a normal adventurer can manage, so I’d rather not tip my hand to how much loot I can carry. If I am going to ‘hunt’, I need to hunt things that would sell for decent money. I can’t afford to carry around things I can’t sell and I’m still not sure I’ll eat a lot of meat myself.

She shook her head. “I’m not sure it’s worth it. I don’t want to slow us down being overburdened and there is no point picking up anything that I can’t sell. Let’s just sneak past it.”

Hadvar nodded and followed Twilight. They hugged the cave wall as far away from the bear as possible and followed the bend, past a pile of bones from where the bear had obviously been eating both wildlife and people and started to ascend the path towards a light.

Hadvar pointed to the light. “That’s the entrance to the cave… we found the way out.”

Twilight practically sobbed as she stepped out of the dark cave and back into the light of Skyrim’s open sky.

We made it…

* * *

Author's Note

6 votes for Imperials, 1 Vote for Stormcloaks. You guys either really hate Stormcloaks or really thought Twilight was a better Imperial. I'll make it work.

Next Chapter polling question. If you were given a boon of 3 perk points (for the skill tree) at level 1 to give you an edge on the dangers of Skyrim, but had to apply them as 1 point on the warrior path, 1 point on the thief path and 1 point on the mage path... What 3 skills does Twilight start with?