Shadowmere

"Why didn't you get here sooner, and save my flank from the Princesses voice? She is rather loud as you may have noticed, and where in Tartarus have you been?" Nightwing was full of questions as he and Shadowmere wandered away from the train station out into the deserted streets of Ponyville, neither wanting to face Luna for several reasons.

"I went to get some..." Shadowmere wasn't sure whether Sheogorath would actually send someone helpful or whether he'd send the Adoring Fan or one of Tamriel's many other irritating people. "Help."

"And then where is this help of yours, and how did getting blasted in the flank by a firebolt  let you get help?"

"Trade secret. Where are the other guards?"

Nightwing shrugged. "Camped out over at Sweet Apple Acres along with the evacuees. You should've seen Blueblood's face when Iron Wheel gave him a tent." The Night Guard and much larger black stallion let out a laugh at the same time before Shadowmere ended up rolling on the ground in a fit of coughing and Nightwing's eyes were watering.

"Did someone actually tell Blueblood to put up his own tent?"

Nightwing nodded. "We still need a place to sleep, and we're out of tents."

Shadowmere grinned. "Have you ever slept rough?"

Nightwing frowned. "Yes, and that was quite possibily the worst night of my life. Are you seriously suggesting..."

"Unless you want to go bother somepony in this town at..." Shadowmere looked up at the sky, he had become rather accurate finding the time since he had been outside for nearly all of his life. "Ten o'clock, asking if you could sleep in their house? I could ask Connor, but he's a Nord, and therefore he'll either be drunk, asleep or both."

"Good point..." Nightwing conceded defeat. "So where exactly are we going to sleep?"

Shadowmere looked around and soon spotted a oddly-clean alleyway. "In there."

Nightwing peered into the alleyway. It was, fortunately, empty of the usual rubbish that seems to group in alleyways the world over. However, it was not empty completely.

Instead, this was the alleyway that served as the Cakes delivery yard, and so it was filled with box upon box of pre-made cake mixture.

"Would now be a good time to mention that I hate cupcakes?" Nightwing whined, this day was just getting worse and worse for him.

"Nope."

"I'll get you back for this, Shadowmere." Nightwing shook a hoof at him.

"I'm looking forward to you trying. And this is a good place to be sleeping. Have you ever slept in a cave full of Giant Spiders?"

"We don't have things like that in Equestria, remember?"

"Well let me tell you one of my many war stories..."

"In Skyrim, just about everything that is a animal will try and kill you on sight. Some animals are cleverer than others, and lay ambushes. The Frostbite Spiders are one of the latter group, and often make their nests in the ceilings of caves. It's very hard to tell whether a cave is lived in by those damned eight-legged terrors, and more than one trade caravan has been killed by spending a night in a cave they thought was safe."

"Can we settle down? My wings are beginning to freeze off."

"Just let me finish. So I slept in one of these caves just after I'd galloped halfway from Winterhold to Dawnstar to avoid a bunch of Imperial Legionarries. I was tired, so I collapsed into sleep almost immediately. When I woke up, I found the largest Frostbite spider I'd ever seen, sitting on top of me because they can't see too well and I'd layed down on a cluster of its egg sacs. I had to wait a entire day, sitting under a Giant Spider while it fulfilled all it's usual functions and the like before I could escape."

"That's just nasty." Nightwing walked into the alleyway, and layed down on a pile of flour sacks. "Go claim your spot then."

Shadowmere examined the alley for a few seconds before he curled up on top of a stack of crates, opposite Nightwing. It wasn't that uncomfortable, he'd probabaly wake up with at least one splinter in his chest, but compared to the horror that was the bog of Morthal, this would be nothing.

He hoped he'd have a peaceful, dreamless sleep- fate, as usual, decided to prove him wrong.

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Shadowmere found himself deifting in the Dream-Void; the formless place that dreams happen, and can be invaded by others or yourself if you could locate the dream you wished to invade.

"Ah, back again so soon? Have a seat... or not, I'm too lazy to give you one." Shadowmere groaned, the last thing he needed right now was Sheogorath deciding that his head would serve as a new playground.

"Why have you invaded my dreams, I need my sleep, Argus." Shadowmere mentally shot out into the dreamscape.''

"Is that any way to treat the messenger?"

"Actually, yes it is."

Sheogorath laughed. "I thought you forgot about that rude Dunmer Merchant we killed."

"I never forget anything, and I know that all too well."

"You really need to stop beating yourself up, and let some Madness into your life! You were fine earlier today! Anyway, would you like the good, bad, or the ugly news first?"

"Er..." Shadowmere looked around for inspiration, and there wasn't any in the empty endless plains of the dreamscape. "Ugly?" After all, what kind of news was ugly, unless it was the population of Chorrol?

"The ugly news is that Azura's finally discovered this little world, and she's rather intrested in Celestia and Luna and their concepts of 'raising the sun and moon'. It's not really raising, more kicking one to get the other to move, or at least that's how I do it in the Isles."

Shadowmere sighed. Azura was one of the more helpful Daedric Princes, yet even she was not always truely 'good'. "And the other news?"

"The good news is..." A loud ping, much like a doorbell, rang out through the Void.

Sheogorath's voice grew quieter, like he was talking to someone else.

"Shove off Luna, Shadowmere's dreams are mine... Just because you are a Princess doesn't give you the power to use that voice, perhaps you would like to come back to your moon? It is mildly boring up here.... No, don't even think about using those eyes, I've had two hundred years of pasting troll masks on people's faces to be even remotely swayed... Just get out."

"Sorry, just some minor interruption from this world's protector of dreams. Anyway the good news is half the help arrives tomorrow and I know where the portal focus is."

"Wha- Why does Dagon need a portal focus?"

"To keep the portal to Nirn open, you idiot!"

"Oh, sorry, just my head hurts a bit."

"The bad news is the portal focus... Or should that be focuses? Anyway, Dagon's got to have one on the side from which there isn't a gate structure for some strange reason, and so the portal's three focuses are now sprinkled across Nirn, in Divines know where. Good Day!"