Mori Pro Imperio: The Story of Pliton Calleius

I wandered around for half an hour, but found a hotel that was still standing. It was relatively close to the castle too, which was a plus as well. It was called “The Hornless Unicorn.”

I walked inside, and walked up to the concierge desk. There was nobody there, so I looked for a while, but then saw a bell on the desk. I poked it, and looked around me again. I was growing frustrated, and no one was there to help me. In frustration, I smacked the top of the bell, when it rung.

Immediately a gray Equestrian with pale yellow hair and crossed-eyes came out from a door, and stepped behind the desk.

“Welcome,” she said, “To the Hornless Unicorn, my name is Ditzy Doo, can I help you?”

“I would like to rent a room for the night.” I said.

“There’s one open,” she said, but then sighed, “In fact, every room is open. Business has stalled because of the war. Would you like to rent the penthouse suite?”

“No thank you.” I said, not even knowing what a penthouse was, “I would just like a standard room with a washroom and a bed please.”

“Oh,” she said, “That’ll be fifty bits please.” She outstretched her hand, and I had no idea what to do.

“I don’t have fifty bits,” I said, reaching for my coin purse, “But I do have fifty septims.”

“Septims?” She said, tilting her head, “What are septims?”

“They’re pieces of gold,” I said, showing her one, “See? They’re my money, all that I have. I don’t have any bits, sorry.”

“Oh,” she said, “Um… ok, I’ll take these septims, but only if they’re real gold.” She looked at my face. I smiled nervously, and she started to look at a septim, but gave up. She turned around, and screamed, “These don’t look local. Honey, do you know this guy?! He’s not from around here!”

I watched as the doctor –Doctor Whooves, if I remember clearly– from the hospital walked into the lobby and stopped as he saw me.

“Oh, Legate Calleius,” he said, “Had a night on the town, I hear?”

“Unfortunately,” I sighed, “Never go drinking with Shining Armor, you don’t want to stop.”

“Alright,” he laughed, “Thanks for the advice. Now, what seems to be the problem, Ditzy?”

“He doesn’t have any bits,” she said, crossing her arms, “How do you expect us to pay the taxes on this place if he could be giving me fake gold?”

“Ditzy,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder, “I can tell you, he’s legit. He came from Tamriel, you know, where Princess Celestia went.”

“Oh yeah,” she grunted, “Just before the Changelings came back and ruined our business. Do you know it’s going to take months to get out of the debt we’re in?”

“I know, honey,” he said, “That’s why I became a military doctor. It’s getting us some nice money. We can get back into the black ink soon.”

“Well,” Ditzy said, warming up as she turned to me, “I trust you met my husband, then?”

“Met him?” I asked, “He operated on me only hours ago!”

“Really, and you lived?” She laughed, “Doesn’t sound like him.”

“Well,” I said, “Doctor, I didn’t know you had a wife.”

“A daughter too,” he said, “Though she’s adopted. I found the two as I was travelling through Equestria. She was a country gem, from Ponyville. I plucked her from the bush, and brought her to Canterlot. She wanted to run a hotel, so I got her this with some of my life savings. Pretty nice place, isn’t it?”

“Better than what we have in Tamriel.” I said, looking around at the design and décor, “Considering that the best inns in the Imperial City are at most, two stories high.”

“Well,” Doctor Whooves said, “We beat that by thirteen floors. Alright, so you know he’s legit Ditzy, so you can take the septims, or whatever they’re called.”

“No,” she said, “He’s military, he stays for free.” She turned back again, and shouted, “Dinky, show this man his room, take him to room 14R!”

A small, pale gray-purple Unicorn with pale yellow hair with gold streaks appeared from behind the counter. She looked no older than ten years old. I thought about how much of a shame that was, especially since she had to live through the siege.

“Hi,” she said, “I’m Dinky Doo. I’ll take your luggage and…” She stopped as she saw that I was empty-handed, and continued, saying, “Never mind that, I’ll just show you to your room. Follow me, please.”

She led me to a small room, with a railing along the back wall, below a mirror. When I looked into the mirror and saw my reflection, I was mystified, to say the least.

My figure towered over Dinky’s small figure. My hair was cut short, and for the first time in my life, I saw that I had black hair. It was black as the night, but now it was matted with dirt, considering that I fell into the streets dozens of times with Shining Armor.

I had never seen my hair before because when I would have mine cut, it was tradition that we would put a blindfold around the person’s eyes, so that if the barber cuts the person’s head, they wouldn’t see how much they were bleeding.
Even though my hair was black, a few gray hairs were starting to be noticeable. I was still pretty young, at just twenty-five, but the stress of the military and family had contributed to the first gray hairs growing. I was caught off guard by the reflection, as a commoner like myself never saw their reflection.

I began to look at my face, and counted the scars going this way and that across my nose, eyes and cheeks. I looked into my eyes, and saw piercing green eyes look back. My mother had always said the gods had destined me to go somewhere in life, else they wouldn’t have given me these eyes.

Even though I had just gotten out of the hospital hours before, the amount of dirt on me was startling. Even worse, it made me look older, even though I wasn’t even thirty. I looked almost twice my age, all because of dirt bringing out my exhaustion, both physically and mentally from the war. I had large bags under my eyes, and that made me feel even more tired.

“Is there something wrong sir?” Dinky asked, staring at me looking at my reflection.

“No,” I said, running my hand up and down my scraggly beard, “There’s nothing wrong. Could you take me to my room please?”

“Ok.” She said, she then pushed a button, and the door behind me closed. I turned around, and reached for what would’ve been my sword. Dinky looked at me for a second, and began to giggle, and then outright laugh. I turned back, and gave her a look.

“What?” She said in between giggles, “It’s just an elevator, here, we can get out now.”

The door opened, and I walked out with her. She guided me down a hallway, and led me to a door. I looked around, and I figured this must’ve been used as a hospital or shelter or something, the hallway was filthy, and I saw that some of the walls had blood running down onto the carpets.

“I’m sorry for the condition of the hallways,” Dinky tilted her head back, “This was used to give some ponies who had lost everything in the siege a place to stay. Some still are, we just don’t know what to do.”

She opened the door, and the room was remarkably clean, when compared against the hallways. It was simple in nature; there was just a bed, and end table, a wardrobe, and a washroom. The walls were painted light beige, and the carpet was gray. The washroom had a flush toilet, a luxury known only to the Elder Council and the Emperor. There was also something called a sink, where water was supposed to come through the faucet. There was a mirror above it, I figured this was where I was going to groom before leaving the next morning.

I came back into the bedroom, and found a large box with buttons and knobs, with a little screen with a mirror and different numbers listed on it.

“What is this?” I asked, looking curiously at it, “It certainly is something I wouldn’t see back home.”

“It’s a radio,” Dinky said, pushing a button. Music suddenly started playing, and I jumped ten feet back, much to her laughter.

“You’re funny, mister,” she giggled, and readjusted some knobs, and soon, sweet strings played soothing music. I sat down on my bed, and listened intently.

“Who is the bard who wrote this?” I asked, “This is a masterpiece.”

“Bard?” Dinky asked, “You mean musician?”

“Oh,” I said, “Yes, I meant that.”

“Well,” she said, with a hand holding her head up as she thought about it, “Somepony named Lyra Heartstrings composed this. I think it is called ‘Harmonious Victory in C Major.’”

“I think it is beautiful,” I said, “Nothing like this from home.”

“Where do you come from?” She asked, “Because you certainly don’t act local.”

“You can ask your father that question,” I said, “Thank you. I would like to be alone now.”

“Enjoy your stay at the Hornless Unicorn,” Dinky said, and closed the door. The symphony ended, and I pushed a button, and the entire radio shut off. I tried to turn it back on, but to no avail. I sighed, and gave up.

I climbed into the bed, feeling intense exhaustion. The bed was incredibly soft, and I immediately started to doze off, and think about the dream world I was in, when I was under anesthesia. I began to think about the children, and my thoughts lingered on the boy who had the dark black hair.

My eyes snapped open, and I sat up immediately. I had, in my sleep-like state realized two things that were true in the dream world, and reality. I had dark black hair, and I was a Legate. At first, I thought badly about this, but then I relaxed. After all, I had had children with Twilight, so that meant that she would eventually get over tonight.

That was a nice thought, and I began to think about where we would live, if we lived in either Equestria or Tamriel. Ideally, I would want to live in Skingrad, but I figured I could get a house in the Imperial City, and live the good life with her, maybe see a few Arena matches.

I lay back down, with these thoughts calming me. It was getting late, and I figured we would be leaving at dawn. I hoped it wasn’t just a dream, but a look into the future, because I would leave my family behind.

Don’t get me wrong, I love them, it’s just that I never really had the best upbringing. My father was away fighting the Great War, and when the Aldmeri Dominion sacked Skingrad, our large house was razed to the ground, and we had nothing. When my father came back, we had to rebuild. I had to grow up quickly, so I never really had a childhood. I thought the Legion would get me some time away from the stress of being the man of the house, and being in Equestria with Twilight would be just perfect.

I fell asleep, but I had terrible nightmares, most of which had Mehrunes Dagon coming and killing Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and the others. I had no resolve to fight against the Daedric Lord, and he and Molag Bal proceeded to take me to the pits of Oblivion, where they tortured and humiliated me. Then, they took me to the Imperial City, where the Daedra had overrun the Imperial City, and they beheaded me in front of the White Gold Tower.

I woke up in a cold sweat, and looked outside to the window. The black of the night was giving way to the gray of dawn. I shook my head, and got up.

I went over to the washroom, where I washed my face, and took a look at my face. I figured I had better shave off the scraggly beard, which had become more prominent through the night. I looked through the cabinets, and found a straight razor.

I washed off the razor, and took it to my chin. I took the first stroke, and saw that part of the beard disappear. I sighed; I had been wasting money on someone who could do this all my life. That put a smile on my face as I chuckled about the fact.

Once I was done, and I had dried off, I went down to the lobby. I used the elevator, and as I went inside, someone else was inside. I nodded in greeting, and pushed a button saying “Lobby.”

“Who’re you?” The Equestrian asked, “You don’t look local.”

“I’m not,” I said, looking at the Earth Pony, “I was sent here to advise General Shining Armor on how to defeat those Daedra bastards.”

“You know Shining Armor?” He asked, “Wow. I’ve only seen him give speeches, and I saw him at his wedding.”

“Really?” I said, “I hear that was big.”

“It was,” he said, “At first, his bride was the Queen of the Changelings, only posing as his real fiancée!”

“That had to be awkward.” I said, feeling a bit uncomfortable, as he was coming closer to me with every word.

“Oh yeah,” he said, “It began the Equestrian-Changeling War. Lasted about five years, I served in it. I was an archer.”

“Oh really?” I said, “You don’t look the archer type.”

“Well,” he said, “My name is Trusty Gunner, so I have to be pretty good with a bow, eh?”

“Yeah,” I said, as the door opened to the lobby. “Well, I’ve got to go now. It was nice, um…”

“Trusty Gunner!” He said, grabbing my hand and shaking it violently, “The pleasure was mine! See ya around!”

“I hope not,” I muttered to myself as he walked off. I headed for the door, and waved my thanks to the Doctor and Ditzy. They waved back.

“Please come back!” Ditzy said, “And bring bits next time!”

“I’ll make sure!” I said, “I’ll see you around!”

I walked out of the door, and walked to the castle. The city was still asleep; very few Equestrians were walking the streets.

As I walked inside the castle, I was escorted by two Equestrian soldiers into the Throne Room, which also served as the War Room, where we were planning the next move against the Daedra.

When I walked inside, I was saluted by the two guards, and every other soldier. I felt a bit awkward to say the least, since I was usually the one giving the salutes.

“Legate,” Shining Armor said, “I’ve got to ask you something.”

“Sir?” I asked, “Is there something wrong?”

“Well,” he said, “Were you wearing this armor inside Oblivion, because we found it inside a chest with your name on it.”

I looked inside the chest, and found a Daedric Cuirass, Gauntlets, Boots, and a Daedric Sword, Shield, and Bow and arrows. My face scrunched up in confusion.

“No sir,” I said, “I never wore this.”

“Then what do we make of it?” Shining Armor asked.

“I have no idea, sir.” I said, taking them out of the chest. They were surprisingly lightweight, which I would soon find useful. As I looked into the chest to see if there was anything else, I found a small, sealed letter.

I picked up the letter, and opened the seal with a dagger. I then began to read the message written inside.

“Use this armor forged with the hearts of the Dremora,” it began, “And with these weapons forged in the fires of Oblivion to destroy the Daedra in the foreign land. Then, use the armor and weapons to pave the way for the Holy Army to save your homeland.”

Once again, I was thoroughly confused. This letter gave me more questions, and no answers. What was the Holy Army? Why me? Who wrote this?

“What is it, Legate?” Shining Armor asked, walking around the table. “What does the letter say?”

“Meaningless rubbish,” I said, stuffing it in my rucksack, “The letter implies that I was chosen to rid the Daedra from Equestria and return to Tamriel to pave the way for a ‘Holy Army.’ Would you know anything about this, sir?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head, “Come, Legate Calleius, we leave for Baltimare today. Maybe killing some more Daedra will bring you some answers.”

Okay, so I have thrown something in here to mess with your minds! I know what the Holy Army is, but you’re going to have to read on to find out! The next chapter will have more surprises, and I promise there will be more action to come. Read and review please!