Chapters Twilight Sparkle was trotting along with her friends, dictating a letter to her number one assistant, which in itself was not an unusual sight in the town of Ponyville. This, however was not one of her famous – or as some would say, infamous – Friendship Reports. It was a report on the strange burial cairn that had been found right on the edge of Ponyville. As for how it was found, (Cutie Mark Crusaders Demolition Experts, Yay!
The cairn itself was unlike anything that had ever been discovered by ponykind. Well, almost anything. There had been an ancient remnant of what seemed to be a wall found a few hundred years ago that held pieces of a language that matched what was inscribed on some parts of the strange tomb. A copy of the key that had been created not floated in front of the bookish unicorn.
“Twilight, it’ll be fine.” Twilight’s draconic assistant tried to assuage her fears in vain.
“Spike, you don’t seem to understand.” She replied, looking away from the translation key to shoot a worried look at the afore mentioned dragon. “Princess Celestia herself is coming to oversee the final stages of the excavation! It’s imperative that I translate perfectly!”
“Hey Twilight, ya think that there’ll be a bunch of traps inside? Oh, or maybe an ancient treasure!” the rainbow maned Pegasus that asked began to have what we would describe as a ‘fangasm’ as she imagined herself thwarting the traps of an ancient temple with her hero Daring Do for the millionth time.
“Not likely Rainbow, but we don’t know what’ll be inside. There’s never been a discovery like this before.” Replied the unicorn as she continued to pore over the key.
“Hello my most Faithful Student.” Said a new voice. Twilight’s head snapped up and her eyes met those of her mentor, Princess Celestia, ever present smile and all.
“Princess Celestia!” she squeaked and bowed hurriedly, her friends doing likewise in a much more relaxed fashion. The Princess tittered at her student’s reaction.
“Come now Twilight, let’s see the fruits of your labor, shall we?” she asked, placing a comforting wing around the slowly calming academic pony and guiding her towards the excavation site.
“Ah, you Highness, and Miss Sparkle. A pleasure.” Greeted an old light brown unicorn as they approached. “We’ve just finished unearthing the last of the cairn, as well as the marker stone.” He said, gesturing to a worn pillar that stood before the remarkably well preserved tomb. It was still the same slate grey as the day it had been made.
“Ah, Bristle Brush, good to see you as well. I would love to chat a bit, but I think it best we let Twilight here have a crack at that marker stone before she explodes.” Said the white alicorn, smirking down at her student. And it was true, upon hearing the marker had been fully excavated she had begun to trot in place with a giddy smile.
“I won’t let you down Princess!” she said proudly before moving to the old stone. She studied it for a bit, referring back to the guide every now and again, muttering to herself. “I think I’ve got it.” She began to trace her hoof along as she read.
“’Here lies the Hero of – I think this is Sky-rim? –, Guardian of the mortal races, Slayer of the World-Eater. May he rest ever more until the – this one is ‘world’ – May yet again be graced by his voice .’ Wait no, that would be ‘voice’ this is similar. ‘Thu’um’, so ‘thunder voice’? And this –“. Here she cut off, her hoof hovering over the symbol carved into the stone. “Uh, I don’t think this one is the same language.” In her curiosity at the symbol, she allowed her hoof to descend and press lightly against the strange sign. Twilight lurched back as the symbol began to glow and the entire cairn shook.
“What the hay is goin’ on!” shouted Applejack. As those that had been previously engaged turned to look, they were shocked to see hidden seams reveal themselves as the dome of the cairn split into four segments, descending into the ground, the entrance revealed to be a fake as the door stone too slide into the earth. But it was not over, as the floor of the cairn began to rotate up out of the darkness, revealing four pillars surrounding the most dazzling thing they had ever seen.
A thick and short pillar of a strange blue material dominated the center. Five feet wide, seven tall, it stood, and shone bluer than any sapphire and clearer than any ice.
“It’s simply beautiful !” exclaimed Rarity.
“And powerful.” Added a two-tone voice they were all too familiar with. They spun, broken from the daze of the object and saw with horror the entire crew had been rendered unconscious, and looming over nearly every one of them was a changeling. The Princess and Twilight instantly tried to fire off a spell at the Queen, who stood in the center of the K.O.ed team.
“What’s going on!” and several variations thereof where yelled by the Mane Six, as they realized that none of their abilities were working. Rainbow Dash couldn’t fly, Twilight couldn’t use magic, and Applejack was looking strangely exhausted.
“Oh, just a little magic damper.” Chortled the Queen. Soon there was a muffled ‘whump’ from behind. She looked over her shoulder to see the Royal Guards that had accompanied the Princess struggling against an invisible barrier. “And a force field.” She added with an evil fanged grin. “Oh, but can’t you just feel the power!” she said, gesturing towards the stone. “What kind of weapon it is I can only imagine, but one thing I do know,” she paused, most likely for dramatic effect. “It will give us the power to take over Equestria!” she began to laugh, but was cut short by a strange and somewhat ominous chanting.
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The ancient words echoed as the same sign as from the maker stone appeared, facing the stone, on each pillar. As the voices chanted wisps of light flowed from the signs into the stone, causing it to glow with an inner fire. The world hummed with the power of the voices. Just as they thought the light couldn’t grow brighter the chanting reached is crescendo.
A new voice called out as the chant hit its final piece.
“Mul Qah Diiv !” it shouted, the stone blasting apart from within. And there stood a strange bipedal being, clothed in robes with pieces of metal at points, seemingly a form of armor. What was truly spectacular though, was the phantasmic armor over that. It seemed to be of scales and the color was of fire and ice. Horns sprouted from the top, clawed gauntlets over its hands, its shoulders and back had protruding spines. Its eyes however were the most striking, for they burned white with unbridled power, ancient and unyielding. It looked at the changelings, and pulled a massive sword forged from the same stone as it had emerged from over its shoulder, pointing it at them.
“Daal faas paal .” It said, and though they couldn’t understand, the command and power of the tone made them obey. They changeling turned and flew off over the Everfree forest, vanishing in moments. The creature lowered its blade to its side as the armor faded. The watchers were expecting everything except what happened. The creature fell to its knees, then onto its face, unconscious.
The creature that had just saved them from the changelings was now lying unconscious before them. Twilight’s overly-orderly mind did several things very well. Making check lists, hyper analyzing, and reading were some of those things. Right now, she was hyper analyzing.
Subject has lost consciousness after displaying phenomenal magical powers. Seemingly capable of speech, intelligent based on clothing and use of weaponry. Note to self: stop referring to things as ‘subject’ when no experiment is being conducted. It’s rude.
“Shouldn’t we, um, help him?” said Fluttershy, surprisingly speaking first.
“Uh, I agree with Fluttershy.” said Applejack after a moment’s hesitation. “Wait, how’d y’all know it’s a ‘he’?” she asked.
“Oh, um, it sounded like a male?” probed Fluttershy, as though afraid of being yelled at.
“I agree with Fluttershy.” Stated Princess Celestia, beginning to walk towards the downed creature. She stopped as a groan was heard. They thought he was waking up for a moment, until they saw Pinkie poking him with a stick.
“Pin-kie!” the remaining Elements of Harmony cried as one. She grinned sheepishly at them.
“Sorry, just felt compelled.” Was her excuse as she bounced over to them. The princess continued walking, stopping beside the creature. The rest of the girls followed behind her.
“So what’re we gonna do with it?” asked Rainbow Dash as she hovered overhead.
“Maybe we should take him to a hospital?” suggested Fluttershy. Before any of the ponies could respond, a new voice interrupted them.
“I don’t believe that will be necessary miss.” They all jerked in surprise, before turning to the seemingly unconscious creature.
“Um, are you awake?” the timid Pegasus’ question was directed at the body before them. It was difficult to tell if he was or not, seeing as he hadn’t moved at all.
“Yes. Though I suppose that I’ve been in better shape.” he said, finally beginning to push himself up. The ponies backed away as he got into a sitting position. He held a hand to his masked head and shook it a bit, before looking up. He sat there seemingly staring at them for a few moments.
“Huh. Multicolored, talking, equines. Strange, though I’m pretty sure that night of drinking with Sanguine still takes the cake for unusual situations.” He said to himself. He moved his hand to the top of his head, and pulled, the mask sliding off easily. For the first time they saw his actual face. Brown eyes, straight and short brown hair, and a small scar on his right eyebrow. Altogether mundane by the standards of humans.
“Now if you don’t mind, I have a few questions. And judging by the stares that you all are giving me, I’d wager that you have some as well. So, let’s swap questions.” He said, smiling at them like it was the most ordinary thing ever.
“What are you?” asked Twilight, her curiosity taking control.
“Species is human. Subspecies is Breton. We are the most magically adept of the human races and skilled inherently in politics and negotiations.” He answered, as though reading from a textbook.
“Now, where am I?” he asked back.
“You are in Equestria, ruled by myself and my sister.” The princess answered.
“Ah, a pleasure to meet you your highness.” He said, performing a sort of sitting bow.
“What’s yer name partner?” asked Applejack.
He had to think for a moment before speaking. “Magnus Mirith, named after the god of magic. Strange, I had a bit of trouble remembering that…” he trailed off thoughtfully.
“Do any of you know how I got here?” he asked them once he had come back to himself.
“I’m afraid not. We found you entombed inside some form of blue stone in the cairn. Well, we thought it was a cairn, but seeing it retract like that…” Twilight trailed off herself, also in thought.
“Cairn? Well, let’s take a look at this.” He said, standing. They stepped back again, as he was the same height as Princess Celestia. He strode quickly over to the marker stone and bent to read it. “Hmmm…”
“What language is it?” Twilight asked, deciding the question for them.
“The tongue of the dov. The dragons.” He answered.
“Well I’m a dragon and it looks like gibberish to me.” Said Spike, coming out from his place behind Fluttershy for the first time since the changelings arrived. Magnus turned to look at him.
“Small stature, bipedal, lack of sharp spines, arms rather than wings. You may be a dragon, but of a different kind than the ones I know.” He said, turning back to the stone.
“Judging by the work site, I’d say you were excavating this. Which would mean that I’ve been inside for a long time… There’s no way… but I have to check.” He stopped and closed his eyes. As they watched he was surrounded by an electric blue glow. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he collapsed against the stone. They took a few steps forward, prepared to help him.
“H-how long has this been here.” He asked them in a shaky tone.
“Our tests show it’s been around for about six thousand years.” Answered the princess.
“Six thousand…” he muttered. “I’ve been in there for six thousand years. No wonder the world’s changed so much.”
“Um, Magnus, what’re you talking about?” asked Twilight.
“This place, Equestria, it used to be the province of Skyrim. The magicka flow is identical to Tamriel. I’ve been in that cairn for six thousand years. But how am I alive? Is there anything left of that blue stone I was in?” he asked, a strange light now in his eyes. A light that they had seen in Twilight all too often. The burning desire to learn.
“Yes it’s right over-“ before she could finish, he had rushed past Twilight to the remains of the stone.
“Yes.” He said. “That makes sense. It’s stalhrim. Enchanted Ice. It has many magical properties and only a few are actually known. It makes sense that I could have been in a type of hibernative state all along. But when did it happen? I don’t remember anything after the beginning of the attack on the Aldmeri Dominion…”
“It was the beginning of a reckoning that was long overdue. For years the Thalmor, agents of the High-Elven Aldmeri Dominion, had forced the singing of the White-Gold Concordat, an agreement banning the worship of Talos, patron god of Man.” Magnus had only begun and he had them enraptured. The time he had spent at the Bard’s College had paid off.
“We, the soldiers of the Empire, finally marched against the one true enemy of Man, having won a civil war in Skyrim not five years before. The rebel party, the Stormcloaks, wanted to outright defy the Dominion. They were idiots, thinking that with less than half of Skyrim, the second smallest province in Tamriel, they could best the force that had crushed the entire Empire.” Magnus shook his head, a sad look on his face.
“The catapults and trebuchets were all across the back line, launching explosive jars, four at a time. Men, elves, Orcs, Khajiit, Argonians, anyone who wanted to fight the Dominion had signed up. They died by the hundreds, the sky was literally red with the fire of war. The seas were boiling as the warships struck and were struck in turn. The seas were boiling.” By this point he was no longer telling a story, his eyes had become unfocused, and he spoke as though he himself were just seeing this all happen. Which in a way, he was.
“I marched at the head, having attained the rank of General after carrying out special operations for the Emperor himself. Many friends I had made over the years were with me. Not only the normal races either. Paarthurnax, Odahviing, and I had summoned Durnehviir from the Soul Cairn, three of the oldest dragons left on Nirn, and all friends of mine. We tore the enemy apart. Then we set sail, heading toward the Summerset Isles, the homeland of the Altmer, to end this once and for all. We tore through them with sheer numbers and the powers I had brought with us. When we arrived at the Empresses palace, that’s where my memory begins to fade.”
“I remember that there was something familiar but not…” he trailed off.
“I know a memory recovery spell.” Twilight said, stepping forward. “It’s used to help amnesia victims try and recover key memories.”
“Please, cast it. I need to know what happened just as much as you all do.” Magnus said, nodding at Twilight. She stepped closer and placed her horn on his forehead, it began to glow brightly, and then she pulled away. Magnus looked up, his eyes unfocused again.
“I see it. It looked like the Eye of Magnus; something that was in safe keeping by the Psijic Order. The light it burned with was a sickening green. Almost yellow, puss-like. It was a vile thing, unnatural by every definition of the word. Not even the workings of the Daedra felt so foul. It had been a trap. Their Empress was apparently quite egocentric. They trapped the five of us that made it in. Myself, General Tullius, Legate Rikke, and two other soldiers.” He stopped and began rubbing his wrist as memories of the manacles returned.
“They had some crazy plan about using the so called Eye of Judgment to use all the ‘lesser races’ to regain the immortality they believe their kind had been cheated out of. They started powering the damn thing up, and I was struggling. They laughed at me, telling me to give up and die. The looks on their faces when I ripped the chains out of the wall was priceless. The idiots didn’t even take our weapons. Cocky bastards.” He was smiling now.
“I drew Grim,” he patted the unique stalhrim great sword next to him. “And just ran at it. I used a shout I had created, but never wanted to use. Feim Tiid Qahnaar. Fade Time Vanquish. Then I hit it. There was a flash of light then it all went dark.” The ponies moved to say something, but Magnus was not done yet.
“Then they came. The Aedra, and the Daedra. All of them. Nine Divines and seventeen Demons and one other. Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Zenithar, Julianos, Arkay, Stendaar, Akatosh and Talos for the Aedra. Azura, Boethiah, Clavicus Vile, Hermaeus Mora, Hircine, Jyggalag, Malacath, Mehrunes Dagon, Mephala, Meridia, Molag Bal, Namira, Nocturnal, Peryite, Sanguine, Vaermina, even Sheogorath showed up. Then the other. Shezarr, Shor, Sep, Lorkhan, all the same. The so called ‘Missing God.’ The one that convinced the others to create Mundus. They tore out his heart, and he was also called the Dead God. But he continued to exist.”
“Magnus Mirith,” they said, all at once. “You have cleansed the world of a great evil. But not without a price. Aetherius and Oblivion both have been cut off from Mundus, forever. The connection fades even now. Fear not, for the souls of the Children of Nirn shall still find passage into their afterlife. But your time is not yet done, Man Who Chooses His Own Fate. You shall yet be needed in ages beyond out sight. Sleep now as the dead, and rise to protect the innocent, when the last of the Children are naught but memory and dust.”
“Then there was darkness for a time, nothing, until I heard your calls for help.” Magnus finished, looking at them again. He laughed a short laugh. "It seems that I was sealed up like that for a reason. I was supposed to wake up and help you all it seems. One last push by the et’Ada to mess with us mortals. It seems, however that the power that severed the links between realms didn’t affect the sun or stars, at least not in a way that affects magicka flow.”
“That… was quite the tale Magnus.” Princess Celestia said, rising. The Mane Six followed her lead. “I would like you to accompany me back to Canterlot. We would like to confirm your story, and run some tests. I assure you that this is all just a preca-“ Magnus lifted his hand to silence the solar alicorn.
“I understand. You have to make sure this wasn’t all set up and is some overly elaborate trap.” He said. “I will go with you.” He rose and joined the Princess in her chariot. They were off as soon as Celestia said good bye to the Elements.
“Well,” Pinkie said. “That escalated quickly.”
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