Mori Pro Imperio: The Story of Pliton Calleius

"What?" Vignar said, "I said I surrendered!"

"I never said what I would do as temporary Jarl. Give them one hundred lashes, and take them to the gates to crucify them." Tullius said, and about ten Imperial soldiers grabbed Vignar off the throne, and dragged him outside of Dragonsreach.

"What do they mean by crucifying?" Twilight asked me earnestly, not unlike a child.

"You're going to find out," I said, "It isn't pretty. It's common with us, so if you could tell your leader not to stop it."

"Alright," she said, and she teleported away. I was shocked, not knowing the fullest extent of her magical ability. I had never heard of teleportation spells, but then again, today was full of firsts for me.

She teleported back, and told me that Princess Celestia wouldn't stop the executions. I nodded, and we walked outside, where Vignar and the other two, which one of them I recognized as Eorlund Gray-Hair, the brother of Vignar.

"That man, there," I said, pointing to Eorlund, "Is the best smith in Skyrim, Eorlund Gray-Mane, Vignar's brother."

"What a shame," she said, "What a shame."

Right then, three soldiers armed with whips began the hundred lashes on each of the three. It was gruesome to watch, as the whip marks were visible on each of the men's backs. Each of them screamed out in pain, while the crowd of Imperials cheered, while the Equestrians stayed quiet.

Once the whipping ended, three crosses were brought to each of them, and they picked them up. They walked, and we followed them on their way to the gates outside of Whiterun. The soldiers whipped them all along the way, causing more ruckus from the soldiers. I stayed silent, and Twilight looked sick to the point of death.

Once they were at the gates, they put down their crosses, and were stripped naked. Twilight looked away, but I stared on as they were nailed to the crosses, and they were lifted up. There were documents on top of their heads, reading their charges.

"Behold, Vignar Gray-Hair," the document above Vignar's head read, "Charged with high treason against the Empire and aiding Ulfric Stormcloak after the murder of High King Torygg."

"Behold, Eorlund Gray-Hair, suspected for aiding Vignar in getting Ulfric Stormcloak to Windhelm after the murder of High King Torygg and high treason."

"Behold, Kolfhedi Black-Sword, charged with High Treason." As I finished reading all three documents were mostly fabricated by General Tullius to give him some credibility in crucifying them. I looked, and I saw the Companions standing there, watching their dear friend be crucified by the occupying Imperial army.

When Twilight had enough, I watched her go. I wondered whether I should follow after her, or watch the traitors die. I decided to stay where I was. I figured it was my duty as a Legionnaire.

After most of the crowd had dispersed after Eorlund and Vignar had died, I looked for Twilight, and found her talking with her friends. She saw me, and smiled.

"Guys," she said, "I would like you to meet, um, what's your name again?"

"Pliton," I said, "Pliton Calleius."

"Pliton," she said, "Pliton, meet my friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity." All except Rarity wore the standard armor, but because Rarity had the horn on her head, she wore mage's armor.

"So," Rarity said, "Did you see that gruesome executions over by the gates, Twilight? I, for one, was revolted, so I did not watch."

"Yes," Twilight said, "Although I didn't watch any of them die. Pliton and I watched the whippings and followed them to the place outside the gates."

"Oh," Fluttershy said, "I would hate to watch that. I can barely stomach being a soldier as it is."

"Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said, "We all know you can't, but do you remember what the Princess said? Every able-bodied pony must fight."

"Wait," I said, thoroughly confused, "Pony, as in the small horse, pony?"

"Yes," Rainbow Dash said, "We're all Ponies. It's the name of our species. Just like there are Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth Ponies, we are all Ponies. "

Right then, an aide to General Tullius rode by on his horse, and said, "Auxiliary Pliton Calleius, report to the General's lodgings outside of the city immediately. Also, the Equestrian warriors and mages by the names of Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie are also to report to the lodgings immediately."

I looked to the Equestrians, and shrugged. We walked to the tent, and were welcomed by General Tullius and Princess Celestia, who had wings and a horn.

"Auxiliary Pliton Calleius, I presume?" General Tullius said, looking up from a map of Tamriel.

"General Tullius, sir." I said, "You requested my presence, sir?"

"Yes, I did," he said, "We need to know what your friend there saw when she foresaw the great disaster that is about to rock Tamriel."

"Well," Celestia said, "General, we don't even know what she saw, just that a disaster is going to rock this land and will result in the capitulation of the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion."

"Damn it, Your Highness," Tullius said, "What in Oblivion is this disaster you speak of? It can't be worse than the dragons."

"General," Twilight walked towards him, "Even though I do not know what the disaster will be right now, I know it will be worse than dragons."

"I cannot heed your warnings if I can't tell what this disaster will be!" Tullius said, "Pliton, tell me, has she told you anything more than she has told me?"

"No, sir," I said, standing erect, "She told me nothing about it, sir."

"How did she foresee this disaster, anyway?" Tullius said, looking at Twilight.

"General," she said, "My friends told me my eyes turned into a bright purple light, and I levitated off the ground. I was suspended in that position for about a minute, and then I told Princess Celestia myself as quickly as I could."

"Alright," General Tullius said, "Now we know that what she looks like when she had a revelation. I want to know when she has one of these, so that I can alert Emperor Titus of the findings she gets."

"Now, General," said Celestia, "Now that we have connections with High Rock, we can now invade Hammerfell? We can use the Seventh Legion to stay in Skyrim while we move into Hammerfell."

"Not yet," he said, "We need to take Windhelm, so that we can begin expanding our borders to the other provinces lost. The thing that scares me is the Aldmeri Dominion in Valenwood and Summerset Isle; they can easily invade Cyrodiill anytime they want if we invade Hammerfell. We can't invade from Cyrodiill either, with the damned Alik'r Desert barricading us from where most of the Redguards live."

"How about if you continue your campaign in Skyrim, and I take my troops down into Hammerfell to take over the province. If the Aldmeri retaliate, I can quickly move my troops into Cyrodiill to stem the attack." Celestia said, pointing to relevant locations on the map.

"But," he said, "You will have to split your forces, if you leave with the entire body of your troops from Hammerfell, we may face a Redguard rebellion. It is hard trying to coordinate strategy in a world that hates the Empire."

I felt I was dismissed, as General Tullius and Princess Celestia began talking strategy that I felt I shouldn't know.

I walked out of the tent with the others, and I looked out east, where the Stormcloaks were most probably readying a counterattack. I sighed, and I wondered when we would get going again, and meet the Stormcloaks in the field of battle.
I found waiting outside a city to move on the worst part of the campaign in Skyrim. We always waited for a few days to recover and treat wounds before we would continue onto the next hold. I figured that we would either go to Hjaalmarch in the northwest, where the Stormcloaks still held the capital of Morthal or to the Pale in the northeast, to take Dawnstar, a valuable port city.

Around noon the next day, mail came from our wives and families back in Cyrodiil and High Rock. I got a letter from my mother in Skingrad. I headed over to a fire, as it was cold. It was the beginning of the month of Evening Star. Snow was beginning to fall, and there was a bitter cold wind blowing through the Imperial camp.

Pliton, It began, My son. I hope that you were able to get this letter. The family back home is praying to Mara that you will be alright. Life is beginning to get hard here, with the family not being able to plant crops the last Rain's Hand. We're getting a bit hungry, but the Count is making sure that everyone eats this winter. I hope that things are going well in the war, and please write back. From, with love, Viania, Your Mother.

I began to worry about my family back home. My mother had to tend to five other children than me, and my father was away from home, he was a Praefect in the Fifteenth Legion, at the border with Valenwood. That left my mother alone. I shook my head, and grabbed for a piece of dog meat which was cooking over the fire.

I turned as I heard Twilight sit down next to me, and smile.

"Want some dog meat?" I said, swallowing a piece of meat off the ribs.

"Dog, you're eating dog?" Twilight said, "How can you eat dog? That's disgusting, you know that, right?"

"Only meat in the city," I said, "Lest you want to eat Vignar or the others who were crucified."

"This is a twisted world," she said. "So, where are we going next?"

"I heard from some that we're heading northeast, to Hjaalmarch, where we will link up with the Fifteenth Legion, which was trapped in High Rock after Ulfric declared Skyrim's independence." I said, "We shouldn't have any trouble taking Morthal, the capital. It has no walls, and only a few thousand live there."

"And how many live in Whiterun," Twilight said, "For comparison."

"I'd say about fifty to sixty thousand," I said, "It's one of the largest cities in Skyrim, only surpassed by Solitude and Windhelm."

The sun was setting, and many soldiers were heading to their tents to get a night's sleep, and prepare for the long days ahead. I said good night to Twilight, and walked off to find a tent to sleep in. If you were the last one awake, you had to sleep on the ground, and I always seemed to be the one. I was determined to not have that happen.

I found an open tent, and climbed into the sleeping mat. The past few days had been long. The Battle of Whiterun gave end to the month-long Siege of Whiterun, which had begun three months after the invasion of Skyrim. I had been involved in the Siege of Markarth and Whiterun, which had kept me busy. I hadn't had much time to write home to my mother, and I made sure I would tomorrow.

I had fallen asleep after I had made that promise. A few hours later, I had been awoken to the sound of soft squealing. I got up, and got out of my tent. I grabbed a torch, and went out to investigate. I didn't know what the sound could be coming from; I thought I heard some sort of Stormcloak spy.

I came up to a tent, and I heard the squealing at its loudest. I swallowed, and called out as I opened the flaps at the front. What I saw shocked me.

I saw Fluttershy, in a sleeping mat with Rainbow Dash, and it seemed that they were doing it under the mat. Their wings were wrapped around each other's body as Rainbow Dash was kissing Fluttershy's face. Their faces were red as apples, and tears were flowing down Fluttershy's face.

I stood there, shocked to the core. I didn't know what to do, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were looking at me in shock and anger.

"What in Oblivion are you doing?" I whispered, "What's going on?"

"Get off me, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said, shoving her out of the sleeping mat, "We were just, relaxing and getting warm under a sleeping mat."

"It didn't look like that," I said, "What were you really doing?"

"Oh," Fluttershy said, "We were just doing as she said, getting warm."

"Then why do you have that red mark in between your legs?" I asked, pointing to the place where a large red mark was forming in the shape of an opened mouth. "That doesn't look like getting warm."

"Oh, alright," Rainbow Dash said, "If you won't tell anybody, I'll tell you."

"I swear to Talos," I said, making Rainbow Dash look confused, "He's a god."

"Alright," she said, "Fluttershy and I, have been," she gasped, and said, "Having a love affair."

"Does anyone know of this?" I said, "What would people do if they found out? Are all of you like this?"

"They would send us back to Equestria in shame," she said, "Please don't tell anybody, Equestrian or Imperial. And, I think there are more Equestrians like us, but they keep it a secret, like us."

"Alright," I said, "I won't tell. Just don't do it in the middle of a camp, you woke me up about a hundred meters away."

"Alright," Fluttershy said, sitting down next to Rainbow Dash, "We won't do it again, won't we, Dashy?" She then leaned into her face, and gave her a quick brush of her lips. Rainbow Dash kissed back, and looked to me.

"Thank you," she said, "We are both in debt to you."

I nodded, and started to walk back out as I saw Rainbow Dash put her hand on Fluttershy's breast and shoved her to the ground. I exited the tent, to hear Fluttershy tell Rainbow Dash to stop.

As I went back to sleep, I couldn't help but think of what they did. Of course there were homosexuals in Tamriel; marriages for them were legal exclusively in Skyrim, at the Temple of Mara in Riften.

I never really thought about what happened when I woke up the next morning. By the time I got up, nearly everyone was awake and getting breakfast. I sat down at a campfire, and took off a piece of goat leg looted from Whiterun. I bit into it, and noticed that it looked like it would rain. Of course, in Skyrim, it was always close to rain, but these clouds looked nasty.

The first drops of rain came down after I had finished my breakfast and threw the bones into the fire. I went into my tent, and put on my Imperial armor. The heavy metal breastplates always seemed to weigh me down when I first put it on, but you eventually get used to it.

The Imperial and Equestrian camp was up and awake by mid-morning, with the officers, General Tullius and Princess Celestia being the last to wake, since they had meetings all through the night. The atmosphere seemed as though we would be moving out, and many Equestrian soldiers were getting anxious to march.

I looked around, and found Twilight at a fire, sitting next to her friends, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. I was a bit nervous sitting down next to them, but I needed to speak with Twilight.

"What is it, Pliton?" She asked, "You seem like you need to ask me something."

"Oh," I said, caught off guard, "I just wanted to know, how you got here. It was quite an entrance, coming through a gash in the sky."

"Oh, that?" She said, "It was just a spell that all the Unicorns and Princess Celestia conjured to rip apart the boundaries separating our two worlds, which led to the large gash in the sky."

"Alright," I said, "I just wanted to find out. I think we're going to be moving out of Whiterun Hold now."

"Do you know where we'll be going?" She asked, "I don't think even Princess Celestia knows where General Tullius wants us to go." She looked out towards the horizon, and looked surprised as she saw an Imperial messenger came running into the camp.

"Where is General Tullius?" He asked, "I have confidential information for the General's eyes only!"

"I'm General Tullius," Tullius said as he dismounted a horse, and grabbed the envelope. He read the letter, and looked to the camp. "Load up," he said, "And set a curse due south. We're heading back to Cyrodiil."

I can tell all you perverted bronies loved me shipping Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, I’ve got to admit I liked it too. I will have them interact more later on, but not for a few chapters. Now, there will be a bit more talking before there will be more action, but don’t worry, the action I think will be well worth it. Also, thanks for the criticism I got! Thanks to one, I now changed the title to truly read "To Die for the Empire" in Latin! Thanks to you all!