Shadowmere

"Connor, what's happened to the sky?"

Connor groaned from the bed upon hearing Twilight's voice. "Is it red with black streaks, by any chance?" he shouted back from under the warm covers. He liked sleeping, and he liked to have a lie-in even more.

"Actually..." Connor heard the sound of a door opening. "It is."

Connor leaped out of his bed. Something like this always happened when he was around. "Why is it always me who has these problems?" he moaned to himself as he sprinted up the stairs. "Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit shit!" He yelled as he ran across the library, vaulted over Twilight as she was standing in the doorway and stared up at the sky. "By Talos, don't be happening... By Talos..." Connor continued to mutter while staring at the sky, a look of abject horror on his face.

Twilight walked up to him. "What's wrong, Connor? You look like the whole of Tartarus might be about to escape." She joked.

Connor continued to stare, unbelieving, at the sky. "Do you happen to be on good relations with a Daedric Prince, God, Dwemer craftsman or Death right now, Twilight Sparkle?" Connor asked he emotionlessly.

Twilight paused for a few seconds before she answered "No...?"

Connor turned to face the small unicorn. "I'm screwed. You're screwed. Everypony's screwed. This world's screwed. And Nirn is most definitely screwed. We're all going to die in some horrificlly and needlessly painful way, and we don't have a immortal-dragon-god-thing to save us this time around. Are there any prisons or ex-prisoners nearby?"

That had to be on the top five things Twilight had ever heard. Even by Pinkie's standards, asking whether there was a prison or prisoners nearby after muttering about the end of the world was random.

"Why?"

"It's sort of a running joke where I come from, every time the land is threatened by something evil, a nameless prisoner comes out of nowhere, saves it amd occasionally ends up becoming the living incarnation of a prophecy. That logic doesn't apply here, it seems."

"That's not logic, just foalishness. SPIKE! I need you to send a message!"

"Don't bother, Shadowmere will tell them. And do something stupidly heroic, like holding the city with 300 guards."

Twilight cocked her head. "Another of your lands strange traditions?"

"Yes. With a thousand men the imperials couldn't hold Gideon, yet three hundred Argonians could. It's one of the Akaviri rules of war- leave three hundred soldiers in a rearguard. It's small enough not to affect the army, but large enough to hold the enemy up when they're in a defensive position. They've also probabaly evacuated the city... What was it called...?"

"Canterlot?" Twilight supplied.

"Yes, that. You're like the Princesses student or something similar so I'd prepare for her imminent arrival with a small column of evacuees. I wonder how Shadowmere is getting on..." He let the thought trail off.

"Daedroth!"

Shadowmere ducked as the giant humanoid lizard spat a fireball at him. Nightwing glided down from a building opposite him and threw a spear at the beast, nailing it straight through the chest.

"29!" Nightwing yelled as he flew off looking for more Daedra to kill.

A lone Dremora charged round the corner, attempting a decapitating strike on Shadowmere but the black stallion had years to refine his reflexes and kicked the Dremoras legs out, toppling him to the ground before he ran him through with the Ebony Blade.

A Clanfear leaped from a rooftop, attempting to land on his back, but Shadowmere side-stepped, letting the beast splatter on the pavement.

He galloped back down the street towards the train station. A Xivali tried to jump him on the way but he doged and slammed the Blade of Woe into the blue giants eye. The Xivali screamed and ran back down the alleyway where it came from.

He sprinted through the small perimeter of guards around the station, fully aware that the casulties would have been high. At least that Sithis-damned Siege Crawler hadn't shown.

He wiped the blood off the blade with his leg before he once again began trotting towards the train station that had become their command centre since the Daedra overran Canterlot Castle.

He limped into the building, finding Nightwing waiting for him.

"Kill count?"

"32."

"Damn it!" Nightwing stomped. It had become a unofficial contest between all of the guards who had stayed to see who could amass the largest kill count and remain alive at the end.

"Casulties?"

"We're down to twenty-five Night Guards from fifty, one hundred Royal Guard from two hundred and just five Day guard from the fifty we started with. We need to pull out now, 'Mere, if we want to have enough soldiers to survive the post-invasion diplomatic crises."

"Sound the withdrawal."

A waiting Day Guard picked up a bugle from a table and flew out of the station. The bugle notes that were the call for a retreat soon sounded throughout the city as the buglers of other units took up the cry.

Soon enough, battered and brused, the survivors began to arrive at the station in twos and threes, all galloping towards the train and their only escape route as the gates were deep inside Daedra-held terrortry.

Two Day Guard backed into the building, barely fending off the lone Daedroth. One yelled "Go! We'll cover your retreat!"

Nightwing motioned for the driver to begin moving as he flew onto the train.

Shadowmere began to charge across the platform towards the open door.

The Daedroth soon smashed the two Day guard aside with it's massive claws before it hit Shadowmere in the flank with a fire bolt. Shadowmere stumbled and fell as the Daedroth pounced and began tearing at Shadowmere's limp form.

Shadowmere rolled through the Daedroth's legs, avoiding it's claws before he leaped to his hooves and ran the Daedroth through with the Ebony Blade. A scamp charged through the doorway but was dispatched with a buck to the face. The last Nightwing saw of Shadowmere was as he turned towards the doorway, ready to face the oncoming Daedric hordes.

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The column of Canterlot ponies walked into Ponyville like they had just been out for a short trot rather than having just fled the Apocalapse.

The two Princesses found themselves in Twilight's library, briefing the Mane Six on what had happened in Canterlot.

"So this Mehrunes Dagon is invading Equestria for no reason?"

"Yes, Applejack."

"I wouldn't call it reasonless." Connor walked out of the basement, a bottle of Nordic Ale in one hand with his sword half out of its scabbard in the other.

"You must be Connor. Perhaps thee can shed some light on the situation?" Luna spoke for the first time since they had entered the building.

"If you tell me where Shadowmere is, then I might be able to."

Celestia turned to Connor. "Shadowmere is defending Canterlot with elements of the Royal Guard that remained to cover the evacuation."

Connor muttered under his breath "You idiot Shadowmere. Why'd you have to do something heroic like that when it's just foolishness?"

"Anyway, as for why Dagon is invading, he's trying to bypass the magical barriers between Tamriel and the Deadlands by going through Equestria via the portal. Or that's my two Septims on the matter. He's been trying for several thousand years and has failed every time."

Rainbow Dash stretched her wings while leaning against a bookcase. "Why don't we close the portal?"

"It's not that simple, RD." Twilight stepped out in front of the crowd of assembled ponies and Connor. "A portal has a focus, which directs where it goes and how stable it is. Or that's what Starswirl says on the matter. As Shadowmere destroyed my original focus, there must be another focus somewhere. Only problem is..."

"We have no idea where it is." Celestia finished.

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Being dead was not one of Shadowmere's favourite things. It was like when you woke up and everything was fine, and then you remembered you had something very important to do like living. And you forgot to do it. Still, being dead was better than being tortured. Or captured by Dremora. Some of them had... Strange tastes for meat. Like eyeballs.

He dry retched on thinking about Dremora Eyeball Soup. That stuff was simply vile. He now had more important problems. Like finding Sithis and convincing him to let him go back. If this was any other time, he would have let Equestria die. Yet he had found a nation, a flag he could follow and believe in. Something he could hang onto. Something he could care for.

Something he could respect.