Back in the snowy hold of Windhelm, Celestia had just begun to exit the front gates of the city. The cold wind was brutally whipping against Celestia’s pale white face like a million cracks of a bull whip. Her new armor, under jacket, and coat of fur mostly protected the rest of her body from the intense conditions. She started walking down the long, snow covered bridge, taking in the sights of the surrounding landscape. Looking to her left, she could see the river stretch into a mighty sea, with various frost covered isles dotting the coastline. There could have been many other isles, but most of them were concealed behind the horizon under a dense layer of fog and snow flurries whipping to and fro across the sky.
Down on the river, Celestia could see a number of sailing and military ships of various shapes and sizes docked up along the stone boardwalk running along the length of the city. Various people from different races unknown to her were loading and unloading goods off and on each of the ships. Men appeared to be making repairs to some of the ships, hanging from the main masts and using pulley systems to repair damage to the outside portions of the hulls. Further into the boardwalk, she spied a group of unusual looking people struggling to carry giant crates to and from the dock to the ships. Upon further examination, through the snow, she could see that these unusual people bore a striking resemblance to dragons, except they were wingless like Spike and their scales carried various shades of dark green and dark yellow.
One of the “dragon-like” people seemed to be struggling to carry one of the larger crates. Celestia’s compassion momentarily overrode her current objective as she saw the reptile woman wobble and stumble, with the heavy load. As she saw it about to fall, she activated her horn with a golden glow and teleported down to the docks right up to the woman and its heavy cargo crates. Grabbing on to the sides of the crates, she managed to help stabilize the stack with her immense strength. The reptile woman on the other side seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as Celestia began to hear a raspy feminine voice come from the concealed figure.
“Many thanks to you friend. I thought I was going to fall in that freezing river. I really don’t wish to die an icy death holding these heavy crates.”
“I can’t stay long, but I’m glad I could be of some help to you.” Celestia replied as she followed the woman gradually moving over to a wooden door up against the outer wall of the city. “Why are you carrying these anyway?” she asked with genuine curiosity.
“You must not be from around here stranger. Honestly, some days as intense as this one I forget myself. We have worked these treacherous docks carrying cargo for the Nords for what feels like an eternity,” the woman replied.
“It feels like safety regulations are in low supply around here. Don’t they protect the workers from this kind of thing?”
“Unfortunately, a number of the Nords in this city do not wish for us to be here and do not even allow us to live in the city, but we live as cheerfully and contently as we can from day to day.” the woman replied as Celestia helped her set down the stack of cargo crates.
"Thank you again stranger. Carrying crates like these day in and day out can get very tiresome sometimes. I wonder sometimes how we have survived this long in this frozen province." the woman lamented.
"Why not go back to your homeland? It sounds like you aren't from around here either," Celestia inquired.
"I consider that option from time to time, but then I must remind myself that I left our Hist ascendants to strike it out on my own with my family out here. There is hard, but honest work here. Plus, all of this fresh air and water is good for the gills."
"I'm sorry you have to deal with this kind of thing," Celestia said in a melancholy tone slowly quieting her voice. "I would definitely not force my own subjects to do this kind of dangerous work."
“Regardless, I do very much appreciate the help. Skyrim could use more people Iike- oh!” the woman exclaimed as she came around to greet Celestia.
I'm sorry if I startled you. I'm Celestia.” she greeted bowing her head slightly.
The reptile woman was briefly stunned by Celestia's beautiful appearance and unknown quality about her. The woman conveyed mixed emotions of shock, astonishment, wonder, and delight all in one expression.
“The foreign horse princess that has been recovering in Jarl Ulfric’s castle? You….are definitely not what I expected your ladyship.”
“I suppose I am going to have to get used to that response,” Celestia replied sheepishly. “What is your name miss?”
“Forgive my manners your ladyship. I am Shahvee. One of the Argonian dockworkers here,” the woman said.
“Argonian? Is that your race?”
“The rumors weren’t kidding, you really are from another continent.” she mused. “Yes, we hail from the mighty swamps of the Black Marsh far south of Skyrim.”
“It is nice to meet you Shahvee,” she replied. “I hail from the land of Equestria. Its...very far from Skyrim to say the least.”
“You came here to the Northern Country at a very inopportune time your highness. Especially during this god forsaken civil war. A pure hearted, kind royal such as yourself that helps a lowly dockworker like myself is looked down upon in these lands.” she replied. "Plus, these Nords aren't very friendly to outsiders."
“I like to think I’m different from many other royals. But if I might ask, doesn’t Ulfric know of the conditions that you and your people go through down here every day?”
“Ulfric is noble and kind, but he unintentionally surrounds himself with the worst bigots Skyrim has to offer.” Shahvee explained intensely. “One of his advisors has been taking over rule of the city right from under Ulfric’s nose while he’s busy with the war.” Shahvee explained. “Every time any of us try to object to anything that happens to us, the city guards and one of Ulfric’s many advisors heads us off and tosses us in the dungeon for days.”
I don't want to get involved with the affairs of another world like Starswirl once warned me, but I can't stand by while people are suffering, Celestia thought conflicted.
"I'm not sure if I can do anything, but while I am here in Skyrim, I will make sure Ulfric knows of your terrible living and working conditions."
"Really? You would do that for us?" Shahvee asked in bewilderment. "But you just met us."
"Ponies like myself make friends very quickly and we like to take care of of our friends".
For a moment, Shahvee's mouth seemed to curl into a smile as she accepted Celestia's offer of help.
“Thank you. While I am doubtful, I sincerely hope for your success.” Shahvee replied cheerfully. "If more races of people were like you, the world might be a happier place."
“Shahvee! Come on, get over here, we have 100 more of these crates we have to unload,” an irritated Argonian man on the boat snapped.
“Well, I must get back to my work. I genuinely hope I see you again soon.”
“Oh, I have a feeling I will be back here very soon. Farewell for now Shahvee.” Celestia concluded as she lit up her horn once again and teleported back on to the bridge leaving a stunned Shahvee behind.
One of the Argonians who observed Celestia’s teleportation ran up to Shahvee to get an explanation.
“Sister...was that the horse princess that destroyed The Butcher and his gang?”
“Y-yes, Neetranza. I believe that was,” she said hesitantly while still shaken up after being startled by Celestia’s magic.
Back on the bridge after reappearing with a golden flash, Celestia continued onwards towards the city of Whiterun, using a simple map she picked up in town as a guide. All it had was the locations of each of the capital cities of each hold in the province and their respective smaller towns that they shared. All of the roads were marked as well for the casual trader or traveler to properly find their way around Skyrim. Near the Easternmost point on the map, she found the shield emblem marking Windhelm’s location. Moving West to the center of the map, she found another emblem with the clear image of a ram’s head. Using her finger, she found a straightforward path past the mountain in the center of the province and towards Whiterun.
“With a bit of luck and no problems to run into, Luna and I should be together again and heading back to Equestria by dinner.” she told herself.
Slipping the map back into her bag, she continued walking through two guard checkpoints until she made it across the bridge. There was a small house sitting right to the left of her with another small building attached that looked a lot like a canopy with many various gates closing it off. There was a sign that dangled above half covered in snow and icicles that read “Windhelm Stables”. Upon further inspection, she found a small group of horses lying down inside huddling against each other to stay warm from the intense cold. One of the horses noticed Celestia and made a whinny that reminded Celestia of the languages the ponies of Equestria once used eons ago. It stood up for a moment and slowly walked over to Celestia to observe and investigate her.
So these are the “horses” Twilight and Sunset keep talking about. I certainly do see the resemblance, she thought while observing the creature.
The filly cantered up to the gate and extended its neck towards her. Celestia stood still for a solid minute, before allowing the filly to give her a gentle lick on the face. The filly nickered and then moved back to her stablemates to huddle up against the cold. As Celestia prepared to move on, she could swear that the filly and its small herd had bowed their heads in respect to her. Celestia bowed her head slightly back before moving on once again.
Celestia momentarily distracted, walked on to the other side of the bridge where the main roads were. Down her left was a road that seemed to just lead to the coast and many various houses and farms that were settled near the city. Down her left a few hundred feet was a saw mill right on the river bed that appeared to be very busy that day. Many workers had been chopping away at the larger trees so they could split them in half with their large saw blade. In front of her was another road that appeared to lead southwards. A separate path appeared to split off and go up a hill where a large tavern of sorts sat on the top. Trusting her instincts, Celestia went down to the right to make a straight shot for Whiterun. A few farmers and workers in the area eyeballed Celestia for a moment but moved on to their daily activities and duties.
After a few minutes, Celestia came face to face with a group of people standing around a giant tree that blocked the entire road. The trunk of the massive tree was entirely scorched except for the bottom near the remaining stump on the side of the road. Many of the smaller trees in the area had looked like they were weighed down by giant ice crystals. She walked up to the group of people to get some answers and attempt to help remove the tree if she could. There was also a man and woman kneeling in the middle of the road weeping, presumably because the tree had fallen on to their home. The group of people standing around them appeared to be talking amongst themselves. Guards were surrounding the obstruction, informing them that they would be bringing tools to clear the tree as soon as possible.
I can’t stay for long, but I might be able to help out by removing this log, she thought as she walked up to the group of villagers.
“Um excuse me, but what exactly happened here?” she asked a brown haired Nord.
“I’m still trying to figure out myself,” the man said still facing the direction of the fallen tree. “A Blood Dragon from the South flew right through here avoiding the city, but blasting the weaker villages around Windhelm. One poor sap from the city guard met a poor fate when he tried to shoot down the beast, but got carried off instead.”
“And the ice crystals?”
“A Hagraven witch by the name of Moira that dwells somewhere close to the city. The piece of filth snuck into the village while the dragon was attacking and stole Dogmar and Frina’s daughter. She blasted us with ice when a small group of Stormcloak soldiers caught sight of her with the girl.”
“She’s been kidnapped?!” Celestia exclaimed. “Aren’t you going after her?”
“We would, but the guards have forbade us from doing so. Besides, nobody has ever been able to track that Witch down successfully without dying,” the man replied.
Celestia had known witches, dark sorceresses and evil enchanters before. Ponies and creatures that were once pure, but gave into the temptations of the dark one and began weaving the most evil of black magic. Warping the world and perverting life into their own twisted creations. A thousand years had passed since the last dark magic caster was killed by herself, and her sister, and they were STILL rediscovering dark artifacts hidden away all over the land after hundreds of years had passed. Their tactics were ruthless, and cunning, but fairly predictable when you catch them off guard. She would have to proceed with stealth and attack with the element of surprise using her own powerful light magic to overpower the dark. She could use her magic to track the signature that the witch left behind. She wanted to find Luna, but her compassion forbade her from ignoring this family’s plight.
“Which direction did this witch go if its alright to ask?” she asked politely.
“Down to the Southwest somewhere. The miserable wretch disappeared when we tried to follow. I wouldn’t recommend going after her tho-what?!” the man exclaimed as he finally turned around to see Celestia running in the opposite direction back towards the bridge.
“....Alright, either mother gave me a Black Briar mead laced with moon sugar, or that was the horse princess that Jarl Ulfric and Galmar were seen walking around town with?” the man concluded with a stunned expression.
Celestia made her way back across to the other side of the river, as she lit up her horn in a warm golden light to cast her own spell. There were many new magical signatures that were unfamiliar to her all around, and it would take a while before she would be able to fully grasp the magic of this world. However, there was one signature that stood out to her. One that matched the residual magic left behind near the site of the fallen sequoia tree. It had a jagged, evil feel to it that she hesitated to grasp on to. Once she did, she could sense the presence of the main source, very close by.
Following the signature with her glowing horn, she made her way ten miles South down the road, observing the frozen land turn into a desolate waste. Off in the distance, she could faintly see the shape of an ominous plateau, covered in bones and surrounded by bubbling geysers. Carefully scanning her surrounding environment, she searched for anything in the landscape that appeared to stick out. Her eyes eventually came across part of the landscape off to the side of the road towards the West. Part of the landscape was faintly shimmering in the daylight. Walking towards the unusual sight, she decided to investigate further while carefully stepping over steaming fissures that had formed in the ground.
She made it to the shimmering wall that seemed to surround a very specific part of the landscape. Using her spell once again, she discovered that the dark magic signature she was tracking lay right through her current obstacle. She carefully scanned the enchantment for any traps and found that while it had been created by magic, it was not being used as a trap. She took out her sword as a precaution and slowly thrusted it at the barrier. The barrier seemed to displace as her sword slowly dissolved further out of existence, the further she pierced into it. She quickly pulled the sword out and examined it, finding no damage whatsoever. Throwing caution to the wind, she slowly stepped towards the barrier and after hesitating for a moment as she was one inch away, she stepped right through it to the other side.
A brand new sight greeted her eyes. It was a large grove of tightly packed pine trees. The grove seemed to get darker and darker, the further in she looked. She looked back and found that the wasteland landscape was still there after she walked through the barrier.
“Silly me, must have been a harmless concealment spell. You know what, maybe when we get back, I should use one on the cakes Pinkie has been sending me every Monday morning. Someone has been nibbling on them when I’m not looking,” she giggled to herself before concentrating back on her current task.
She proceeded into the pine tree grove where she eventually found a small light glowing among the trees. It slowly turned into the shape of a house. The house just screamed evil to Celestia. Wooden stakes were placed in the ground as traps presumably for soldiers. Skulls on posts acting as eerie torches. Burnt giant rat carcasses lain about all over in front of the house. Various cages presumably for different animals smelling of rotting flesh.
Suddenly, her ears picked up the sound of a girl’s muffled scream coming from inside. She silently pulled out her sword and ran up to one of the windows. Peeking inside to avoid being seen, she found a ghastly sight. The walls were covered in many a manner of mysterious ingredients and potions, skulls and flesh still dripping with fresh blood hung from the ceiling. In the center of the room was the kidnapped girl that Celestia was looking for, and the witch that was keeping her prisoner. The Nord girl was bound and gagged and laid in the middle of an altar with carved unknown markings that looked a lot more like claw marks and slashes than an actual legible language.
She was noticeably beaten and bruised, with her clothes in shreds, just barely holding together, clearly showing her undergarments underneath. She had noticeably been crying nonstop as she vainly been trying to scream for somebody to come to her rescue. The witch who was keeping the girl captive was intimidating in her own right. Her hair was frizzy and white, like spiderwebs, her black robes were made of black hide and appeared to have a symbol that resembled a human skull stitched right into the garment. Various posts were placed around the altar that seemed to hold strange looking crystals that glowed in an eerie light purple. She also appeared to be grasping what looked like an exact replica to the giant golden scroll that Sheogorath stole from her back in Canterlot.
The witch appeared to be moving in a dance like motion and speaking in an unknown, but ominous dialect that seemed to send chills down Celestia’s spine.
It must be some kind of ritual. I better stop it before something happens to her, Celestia thought as she carefully circled around to the back.
Celestia began to hear the witch speak to the Nord girl, still unaware that Celestia was lurking on the grounds preparing for an attack. Her big ears could still pick up the girl’s muffled screams as Celestia approached the back door.
“Please don’t struggle sweet thing.” the witch commanded in a slimy voice. “You are giving me your life to me for a glorious cause. One that the College wrongly denied me of: reaching through time to bring back the knowledge of a lost magic and restore my order to its rightful glory. The last to know of this ancient magic was a pathetic, but gifted Khajiit mage hero. And with this Scroll and a blood sacrifice from one of her distant descendants, she shall return to the present day under MY control and my control alone.”
As Celestia came up to the back door, she could hear the witch begin to chant some kind of incantation. The words she uttered came out of her mouth in some kind of otherworldly demonic voice.
“MEHT, EKEM, HEKEM, ROHT, YOODT, NEHT, EKEM, SEHT.
DOHT, AYEM, GETH, OHT, NEHT. ”
Celestia felt a chill go up her spine as she listened to the incancation being cast. She knew she had to hurry before the ritual was complete and the girl was lost forever. She slowly turned the knob with her left hand as to not make any noise, and activated her horn with a golden light to begin her plan.
I might have came too late to stop the ritual from happening, but i might be able to interrupt it at the right moment with a little bit of my own magic, but I have to be precise. If I interrupt at the wrong moment, I risk destroying reality as I know it, she thought as she casted a spell on her sword causing it to glow the same color as her magic. She kept pouring as much magic into her sword as she was physically able to handle. Unfortunately, visible strain could be seen on her face after a few seconds of casting.
I must not be back at full magical strength yet. I need to act before its too late, she thought.
By the sounds of things, the witch was about to conclude her ritual as her chanting became slower and louder as if reaching a crescendo in a symphony. Through a crack in the door, Celestia could visibly see the sigil underneath the girl and the crystals around the altar begin to glow brighter and brighter. She could feel herself reach her limit as the witch chanted her last spell.
“BEHT, ROHT, IYA, NEHT, GETH.
MEHT, EKEM.
KOHT, AYEM, TAYEM, IYA, AYEM, MEHT, AYEM, NEHT, AYEM, GETH, AYEM, NET” the witch was interrupted as Celestia tackled the door with her strength, causing it to fly directly into the witch.
The door impacted against the spell caster as she was smashed into the opposite wall of the house. Celestia rushed in and unleashed the magic she was storing in her sword on the pedestal in an attempt to stop the ritual. Her magic seemed to work at first as it exploded into a fiery ball, causing the altar to break with a palpable crack and the spell to falter for a moment, allowing her to jump on to the altar. She quickly ripped her bounds off of her hands and tossed the girl over to a nearby rug away from the effects of the ritual. However, the spell seemed to kick back on as the soul gems began to emit a ghostly gale of winds around her. An unseen heavy weight seemed to push her down onto her hands and knees as the winds grew stronger and stronger, knocking her sword out of her hands and off to the side of the room. Seeing the door move to reveal the witch noticeably battered, but alive, she saw the enchantress give Celestia a smile full of malice.
“Ahhh, the horse princess found by Stormcloak. Many a powerful spellcaster in Nirn sensed the arrival of you and your sister in Mundus. Just imagine the power my lord, the Prince of Ambition will have, once he has the power of both the sun, the moon and the ancient creation magic of Aetherius in his grasp. He will be free once more and the Mythic Dawn will finally have its vengeance upon Nirn and all those who stood in our way." the witch cried with evil glee.
“I don’t know anything about your so-called “Prince of Ambition” or your Mythic Dawn, but there is one thing I DO know.” Celestia grunted in pain.
“Oh, and what is that?”
“He will not lay his hands on me or MY SISTER!!!” Celestia roared as she powered through the spell and unleashed an explosion of flames in all directions, knocking the witch unconscious and destroying the altar.
The winds seemed to grow faster and faster, stronger and stronger as her outburst of light magic caused the mysterious purple crystals to fracture. They then began to crackle and split as the power Celestia unleashed into them became too much for them to handle. Suddenly, an explosion of purple lightning and fire engulfed the entire room as the crystals finally gave out, turning into dust and useless fragments. Celestia was launched into the wall by the powerful blast, impacting with a crash among the various shelves, breaking most of the glass jars and flasks into millions of tiny fragments and splitting the shelves into an an explosion of splinters. Thankfully, her heavy armor took most of the impact, only leaving her moderately shaken up from being tossed around. The resulting blast left behind a giant cloud of smoke impairing her vision within the main room of the house.
Somewhere else, in the realm of Aetherius
A: "I feel that something is amiss..."
K: "Does something trouble you my liege?"
A: "Yes, I feel that someone has used one of Father Anu's Scrolls to open a minor Dragon Break."
J: "Yes, I felt it too. One of Winterhold's dropouts seems to be up to trouble"
T: "A Dragon Break? How serious is it my lord?"
A: "Nothing to be too troubled about. It stayed open for less than a moment and Celestia quickly dealt with it before it could become a problem."
T: "Was it the Scroll your champion needed for his quest my liege?"
A: "No, that one still awaits "his" and "her" arrival along their journey. This one though, has not been seen nor have I sensed it for quite some time. I believe it once belonged to the hero of the place the mortals call Daggerfall."
S: "So the important question is then, did anything dangerous come through that Break?"
"Ugh, I could really use a nice hot bath right now," she lamented as she could feel her fur and armor was covered in a mix of splinters, potions, and a little bit of blood from the various dead animal carcases that had been thrown about the room.
All of a sudden, Celestia could hear the pained groans of an injured woman within the house. At first, she thought it was the witch recovering from her injuries, but after a minute, nothing seemed to happen. She looked around her immediate position through the dense smoke and found the girl that had been kidnapped lying close to her on the wood paneled floor. Fearing the worst, Celestia checked the girl’s condition, praying to whatever deity that might be watching for the girl to be alive. To her relief, he placed two fingers on her neck and found that she still had a pulse. She then placed her hand over the girl’s mouth and found that she was still breathing as well. She had just been knocked unconscious from the impact. So after ruling the girl and the witch out, she picked up her sword that had been thrown to the side from the blast and slowly walked deeper into the smoke back to where the altar once was. The groans seem to get louder as she came up to the altar, and in the smoke, she could distinctly see a feminine figure slowly rolling around on the shattered remains of the altar in pain.
“Oh, excuse me. Are you alright miss?” Celestia asked in a concerned motherly voice as she approached the figure.
“Oooooooh, I feel like I was smashed by a damn boulder,” the female voice said in agony.
“Where did you come from?” Celestia asked.
“I WAS trapped inside of a cage a moment ago. I made the mistake of eating Imp Gall while blind and using all of my magic at once to counter a powerful fire spell.” the woman in the smoke said nonchalantly.
“Oh my, I had no idea that awful witch had another kidnapped prisoner here. Are you going to be alright?” Celestia asked.
“I think so. And I guess a witch is one great term for someone like Sigrid. And what do you mean more than one kidnapped prisoner? I broke into this damn fortress to get my stuff back! Why would anyone else be here?”
Celestia climbed back up on to the altar to properly introduce herself and get to the bottom of this confusing situation.
“Miss, I’m afraid you aren’t inside any fortress. You’re inside a witch’s house. its much too small to be any fortress. Except to foals anyway.”
“Wait. WHAT???” the figure exclaimed as she slowly stood back up on to her feet.
Celestia could finally see what the woman looked like as she stepped into her field of vision. She appeared to be some kind of cat girl like the race she learned about in the books she read back in the Palace of Kings. Her fur was a deep golden color and her eyes were big, expressive and had bright green irises that almost seemed luminescent. She was wearing some kind of green robe with a big leather hood acting as the collar.
Here's an image for reference
The girl seemed to freeze as her eyes fell upon Celestia. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours before she started to mumble to herself.
“Am I dead? I think I might be dead. Oh my Akatosh, I’m dead and I’m seeing freaking white unicorns with wings that can talk,” the girl mumbled to herself sounding more and more frantic and more hysterical as time went on.
“I can assure you that you aren’t dead miss. You looked like you have been through a lot of horrible things.”
“And now the white unicorn with with wings and a crown is talking to me. Oh, my Akatosh, I have completely lost my mindandSigridisgoingtohavemecapturedandthrowninthenearestslumpit. How do I know this isn’t some kind of sick joke that Sigrid or some Daedra is playing on me? HowdoIknowthisthingdoesn’twanttoFUCKINGEATMYHEAD OFF!” the girl screamed.
Celestia looked at the girl with disappointment as she continued to rant and rave faster and faster. She seemed to be having a panic attack as Celestia did the only thing she thought would snap this girl out of her raving. She pulled out a spare pair of leather underarmor gloves of her pouch and whipped them across the girl’s cheek with an audible slap. The cat girl’s face whipped to the side as she seemed to be snapping out of her hysterical raving.
“Thanks,” the girl said simply as she rubbed her face in pain.
“My pleasure,” Celestia kindly replied. “I do recommend though you work on not doing that in the future to yourself.”
“How did you know that would even work?” the girl asked as she rubbed her cheek.
“A student of mine did the same thing on more than one occasion and she ended up gave herself panic attacks that I had to snap her out of more than once.”
“Student? Are you some kind of teacher in pony land where you are from?…” the girl asked in an unsure tone.
“You could sat that. For now though, maybe we should step off of this altar and get outside where we can actually see our surroundings and continue this when we are out of danger?” Celestia suggested.
“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea”. the girl replied sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head.
As the smoke slowly started to dissipate and flow out of the house, Celestia could see where she left the kidnapped Nord girl. She sheathed her sword back into her scabbard and picked the girl up in her arms. With her arms full, she carefully looked for where the witch had been blasted just in case she was not killed by Celestia’s blast. There appeared to be not much left of the witch as Celestia saw a long streak of blood go across the floor and end right at a large piece of the roof that crushed her into a red pulp. Celestia shook her head in sadness and disappointment at the witch's fate.
"Another weak, prideful fool vying for ultimate power. And another needless loss of life..." she lamented.
The golden Scroll with star carvings and jewels that the witch used lied right by where the witch was standing when Celestia unleashed her spell. It appeared to be completely undamaged and knowing how similar her own looked to this one, she figured that it must have some kind of significance to the man who called himself, "a Daedric prince." With a gloved hand, she picked up the giant golden scroll and carefully placed it into her backpack before focusing her attention back on the Nord girl. She carried the girl outside with the Khajiit girl walking alongside her carefully observing her surroundings for any more threats. Making their way far enough away from the perimeter witch’s house to avoid any further confrontations. She found a rock outside of the now dispersed concealment field to prop the village girl up against to catch her breath for a moment.
“Now I think we are alright for the moment,” Celestia said.
“So who are you and where am I? This doesn’t look anything like Kvatch at all,” the girl asked as she scanned her new surroundings.
“My name is Celestia. I’m an alicorn. I’m afraid that I haven’t heard of any such place called Kvatch in Skyrim...yet at least.” Celestia replied.
“Nice to meet you Celestia. Wait a minute. Skyrim? That backwater frozen northern country with all of the old human ruins? I mean cool, I’ve always wanted to see this place, but why am I HERE??? That bitch Sigrid must have tried to kill me by sending me somewhere dangerous. Oh man, Quillweave is going to kill me if I can’t get back in time,” the Khajiit girl lamented as she buried her head in her hands.
“Is this Quillweave a friend of yours?”
“Yeah, she’s a really nice Argonian who's trying to help me get on my feet. Or paws, Whatever my race calls their feet,”
“She sounds like a very kind person,” Celestia sweetly replied.
“Yeah, I guess she’s alright. I’ve been a crappy friend to her lately though. She gives me money, food, a place to sleep, and I’ve been unable to find a way to repay her without screwing up,” the girl said sorrowfully.
“Borrowing money from a friend is a risky business,” Celestia said. “It can damage a relationship very easily.”
“Tell me about it. After botching that heist to get my stuff back from that succubus wench. All of my robes, magical jewelry, that Aetherius magic book and that bag of 4000 septims I was going to repay Quillweave with”.
Celestia’s magenta eyes widened in realization as the wording of those belongings sounded eerily familiar. She opened her pouch and looked through all of the contents inside. The girl pulled a small piece of metal out of her pocket and sighed.
“And somehow, I still have this stupid lockpick. Its like this thing deliberately refuses to leave my side.”
“Um...miss what did you say your name was exactly?,” Celestia asked suspiciously like she had an idea.
“Oh yeah, sorry. I guess I forgot to mention it. Call me Katia.” she replied.
Oh dear, I really hope she isn’t who I think she is or I might have accidentally ruined this dimension’s reality.
Celestia was beginning to sweat and laugh sheepishly as she coughed politely into her hand.
“Um...would...your...last name happen to be...Managan Katia?” Celestia asked slowly.
“Yeah, that’s exactly it, but...how did you know?” she asked.
“I think these might be your belongings Katia.” Celestia replied as she handed Katia the bag.
Katia’s eyes widened and a smile came upon her face as she took the satchel and started looking through it.
“Oh my Akatosh! I thought Sigrid still had it hidden away. Everything is here. Including the bag of Septims and my spell books!” she exclaimed happily. “But, wait a minute. If Sigrid still had them when I was back in Kvatch, then how did you get my bags?”
“I’m not sure if there’s an easy way to see this Katia, but your bag was found in a warship a few weeks ago, it was then found by the Jarl’s men nearby....and...you...may...have...been sent a century into the present by that witch.”
Katia then stood completely still. Not saying a word to Celestia and Celestia not saying anything to her. The silence seemed to stretch on uncomfortably for what felt like hours, but was really only minutes. Katia’s pupils seemed to shrink to the size of pinhead’s as her left eye began to twitch. An unnaturally comfortable smile stayed on Katia’s muzzle which made the situation all the more uncomfortable. Then out of nowhere , Katia did something that was understandable, but concerning to Celestia. She began running around in circles screaming her head off like a mad woman.
Celestia looked at the situation with a frown, not liking how bad it turned out. Katia’s frantic panicking lasted for several minutes as the situation was beginning to get even worse and worse as time went on. Then when Katia nearly tripped over a rock, she began to hyperventilate again. Celestia began to fear for her safety as Katia collapsed onto her legs and held her chest as if she was in pain.
Oh no, I’ve got to stop her fast breathing or she’s gonna go into cardiac arrest. Celestia thought frantically.
So Celestia did the only thing she could think of and knocked Katia on her back then pulled her arms straight up away from her body.
“Wh-wh-what are you doing? Lemme go!” Katia weezed.
“You are suffocating yourself! This will help you breathe. Now, I want you to breathe in deeply, breathe out deeply, and repeat for a few minutes before you end up killing yourself!,” Celestia barked.
“O-o-okay. I-I-I’ll try,” Katia weezed back.
She struggled at first for a minute, but she started to slowly regain control again as she shakily breathed in deeply and exhaled deeply once. Then after ten repeats of breathing in deeply and exhaling deeply, her breathing began to return to normal. When she seemed to calm down enough, Celestia stood up and helped Katia back up on to her feet by offering her gloved hand.
“Thanks,” Katia said morosely as she gripped her right arm with her hand.
“You gave me a scare there for a second.” Celestia said in a concerned motherly tone.
“Sorry. I tend to do that a lot….”
Katia became silent again, but this time, she seemed to be in deep thought. Celestia could see a big mix of emotions going across her face as she was trying to properly process the situation that she had found herself in.
“Hey, Katia. I just wanted to say that I’m so sorry that you had to go through this ordeal. I swear on my title as Princess of Equestria that, I will do everything in my power to return you home to where you belong.”
She seemed to look up with a sad smile and then shake her head.
“Naw, that’s alright. I figure that this might be a sign. I wasn’t really getting anywhere back in Kvatch anyway. I constantly got robbed, swindled, lied to, ridiculed, and I constantly made bad decisions that good people around me had to pay for. Who knows? Maybe this is the chance I needed to start over-WAIT,” she abruptly said. “Did y-you say that you were a princess?”
“Yes, my full name is Princess Celestia of Equestria.” she replied politely as she pulled her crown back out of her bag and placed it back on her head.
Katia didn’t exactly start hyperventilating again, but a look of fear seemed to cross her face as she tucked her arms in across her chest very tightly. Celestia looked around in confusion as a nondescript voice began to speak in the third person.
'You think you should be afraid. Every cell in your body IS telling you to be afraid of this royal horse woman with the big imposing armor. For some reason though, you only feel a little bit nervous. You never understood why royals scared you to begin with. Maybe you always thought that those crowns, jagged rims glistening like a dozen metal teeth bursting forth from their skulls like vestigial jaws seeking to devour any who have the unfortunate pleasure to find themselves upon it. Maybe it was their dresses and suits that reminded you of the vicious tendrils of an unholy carnivorous plant. Maybe it was their solemn expressions that ooze dedication. That nightmare you had recently about that dark King swallowing you whole and stabbing your friend QW, left you shaken up for days and days on end. This royal though isn’t a countess, a queen, or even a duchess. She’s a princess. And for whatever reason, princesses seemed to only make you nervous. But you are starting to realize that the fear you are feeling was only in your head, and something about this princess makes you feel safe and warm inside. You decide to speak to her before she starts thinking you are weird.'
C'mon, a non-descript mental voice tells Katia. She's not a King or a Queen, or even a Countess. She's a Princess. A member of royalty that doesn't have much power beyond her own family ties.
Yeah! another nondescript mental voice tells Katia.
Alright, I think I can get behind that without scaring myself, Katia thought to herself.
“Who’s speaking?” Celestia asked with bewilderment as she scanned her surroundings. "And I do like to think I rule my country pretty well with a bit of power thank you very much."
Katia didn’t seem to hear her as she finally gathered up the courage to talk to Celestia again, now that she knew of her title.
“You said you were from Equestria? Where is that exactly? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that country.”
“Perhaps I’ll can tell you in a little bit, right now I really need to hurry up and return this girl back to her village so I can get back to finding my sister,” she said as she picked the girl back up. The girl moved around as she was being picked up. Celestia began to walk back towards the road.
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Why are you carrying that girl with you?” Katia asked as she followed alongside Celestia.
“Remember when I mentioned a witch?” Celestia asked. Katia then nodded which gave her cause to continue. “I was on my way to Whiterun when I saw a tree blocking the road and there were ice crystals everywhere. I found out that there was a dragon attack and a witch that lived at that creepy house back there used the commotion to kidnap this poor little thing here. I believe that she was being used as a sacrifice in some to bring YOU here Katia. Apparently she needed blood from one of your descendants."
"Me? I'm nothing special. I'm a loser back where I'm from", Katia sadly replied.
"Oh, I'm sure that isn't true Katia. In fact, the witch mentioned something about you knowing the ancient secrets to something called "Aetherius magic"
"What? I just learned how to use magic a few days ago. And I just learned about that Aetherio or whatever magic that is just yesterday. ....Or a century and one day ago I guess." she explained as they stepped back on to the stone road.
"There must be something that witch knew then that we didn't then cause Jarl Ulfric said that his family owes a great debt to you."
'This whole thing is confusing you to no ends. You travel a century into the future and the first person you meet is a white pegacorn princess wearing Dwarven Armor named Celestia. Somehow, she ends up with your stuff that had been previously stolen from you by that cowardly thief Sigrid. Now she tells you that you that dragons exist again. You were told stories about dragons from your dark elf neighbor who hit the Cliff Racer more times than you could count. Giant fire breathing lizards who could bite your head off with one swoop. He told the children that they were all slain many centuries ago. You are starting to feel more comfortable around this pegacorn named Celestia, but the idea of being in a country with giant fire breathing lizards doesn't sit right with you. Even thinking about it is making you begin to flip out again.'
"Uh, Katia? Are you hearing that voice?" Celestia asked as she adjusted her arms to get a better grip on the sleeping Nord girl.
"Wait. Are you telling me you hear my Narrator?" Katia exclaimed in surprise.
"Your Narrator?"
As the two of them approached the crossroads back to the village not far from Windhelm, Katia explained to Celestia that all her life she was never able to talk to a lot of people and was always paralyzingly timid. At some point, she began to hear voices in her head that seemed to help her not only speak to other people, but sometimes with help making decisions in everyday life. Sometimes they would give good advice that helped her and sometimes they would give her bad advice that would end up hurting her somehow. Celestia smiled when she was reminded of a certain pink pony when Katia called these voices “the audience”. Katia explains that their help with her decision making doesn’t always translate into her being brave enough to complete said suggestion or the suggestions actually being good all of the time. Most of the time, she just ran away or cowered in a corner. This made Celestia begin to feel sorry for Katia, feeling that life had given her chance after chance, but was instantly ripped it away from her when things were beginning to change for the better.
Celestia came up to the crossroads where Windhelm and the icy river out to sea was completely visible despite the unrelenting snowfall coming down on them. Katia smiled with awe and wonder at the magnificent structure and the gorgeous white landscape.
“So….cool!” Katia quietly exclaimed. “Maybe being here won’t be so bad after all. Despite you know, the dragons, draugr, potential racists, bandits, orcs, you know I probably should stop talking before I lose it again.
. They eventually made it back to the village where the log was slowly being sawed away by the loggers of the local mill. People all around were busy repairing damage to the town while the city guards appeared to be in full force, preparing for any further attack from outside. As Celestia and Katia walked through the town looking for the parents of the girl, many of the townspeople began to cast suspicious glances their way. With her large ears, Celestia could overhear some of the unsavory comments being made about herself and Katia, despite the fact that they were whispering about it.
“Uhh, Princess? I don’t think that we are welcome here.” Katia stated as she looked around at the unfriendly looks being cast their way.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ve dealt with sour looks before, always have, always will.”
One of the city guards noticed Celestia and approached her.
“Princess Celestia! We had thought you already left Eastmarch for Whiterun. I’m glad to see that you made it out of the attack alive.” the guard said. “Who is that girl in your arms though though? Does she require medicine?”
“Yes Sir guard, I believe this poor thing is the girl that was kidnapped by that witch. I believe she’s alright. She was just knocked out when I...killed that witch with my magic,” Celestia replied.
“That explosion was you and your companion here?,” the guard asked while motioning to her and Katia. “We’ve been looking for Moira the Hagraven enchantress of Witchmist Grove for quite some time now. She’s been capturing young children to use in her...sacrifices for quite some time now”
“Sweet Mara,” Katia exclaimed in horror.
The thought of any person harming an innocent child in such a way enraged Celestia to no ends, but if she was going to survive and persevere in this hostile, unforgiving land, she would have to learn to keep her head on straight and not give in to her base emotions. To temporarily calm herself down Celestia remembered her old breathing technique and managed to center her thoughts and emotions.
“I...wish I was here to do something for them, but I hope to at the very least return this girl to her on parents before I continue on to Whiterun with my companion,” Celestia said to the guard. “Do you think that you can take the girl for me? I’m afraid my detour to find this girl has left me pressed for time to rescue my own kin.”
“Of course Princess,” the guard replied. “I will let them know of your kindness and heroism. I’ll also be sure to inform Jarl Ulfric of your service to the hold”
“That is all I ask for thank you.”
After watching the guard return the girl to her parents, Celestia and Katia slowly moved out of town and down the road once again, ignoring any sour looks and insults from some of the more unsavory locals. The snow slowly but surely gave way to a more temperate landscape the further away from Windhelm they got. White, snow covered trees gave way to Evergreen pine trees and flowers growing alongside the road. When Celestia noticed that Katia was still following her, an idea came into her head that she figured Katia would like.
“So...what are you going to do now Katia?” Celestia asked.
"Honestly, I don't know." she replies with a shrug. "My whole goal back in Kvatch was to return Quill Weave's book to her and repay her for letting me stay in her house, but I only ended up ruining said house. After that I would've probably gone to a Mages guild to try my hand at becoming a mage. Now though, I don't know. Quill-Weave is probably long gone by now and Sigrid probably passed on that guild hall of hers to some family member or lover" .
"You have magic?" Celestia asked.
"Barely. I was born with a unique ability to absorb magicka instead of generate it. Half the time I could barely even feel I had magic even after I discovered it. Every time I even attempted to use any magic, I just end up barely making it work".
"Tell her about your funny skeleton conjurations." one of the mental nondescript voices urged.
"Ooh! Ooh! Tell them about your "punyrokenesis." eh? eh?"
"She doens't need to know about that until I actually do it again dummies," Katia growled through her teeth at the voices.
Celestia now knew that she might have an idea that may prove to be beneficial for the both of them.
"Katia, I was wondering if you would like to join me on my journey to find my sister?" Celestia asked.
"Y-you want me to come with you?" she replied meekly.
"Well...yes. I think having a companion might help with the journey and in return, I want to ask if you would like to learn more about magic? From what I can gather, you never really had proper instruction in the magical arts, so I thought I'd be willing to teach you a little bit of what I know. Plus, while I am here in Skyrim, I want to do all that I can to see if there is any possible way to help you return hom-
"YES!
YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES!!!!"
Celestia smiled sweetly as Katia was prancing around her in glee and delight. Watching Katia brought a tear to her eye as she reminded her of a certain unicorn that was like the daughter she never had...
"Well, I'm glad I could have you along Katia." Celestia replied as she stook her gloved hand out to shake Katia's.
Katia then immediately jumped to Celestia's position as her tail started twitching like crazy and she started shaking Celestia's hand a dozen times all in the span of a few seconds. Her energy reminded her of a certain pink mare back home.
"I'm thankful for the opportunity Princess," she replied.
You are ecstatic that things might finally be turning around for you. Sure you have to travel with a royal like the ones you've been pathologically afraid of all your life, and you might have to deal with even worse things in this country than you had to deal with back in Cyrodiil, but now you finally have a friend that will stick by you through thick and thin. You finally have the opportunity to become a proper mage and put all of your past sins behind you.
"Does he do that ALL the time?" Celestia asked as she leaned over to Katia.
"You have no idea. My audience is even worse than that sometimes. Their suggestions have nearly gotten me killed!"
"That's youtube commenters for ya. Can't live with them, and you can't throw them off a cliff." one of the nondescript voices replied.
"Go on Katia! Tell her about your incident with the pineapple!" another nondescript says.
"SHE DOESN'T NEED TO KNOW!" Katia barks at the voices.
"Well, at the very least finding Luna in this big country won't be boring, Celestia replies humorously.
In the dark realm of Coldharbour,
Inside a darker version of a famous landmark in Cyrodiil, A dark imposing being sitting on a throne of dark stone and gold,, goes over the news his minons brings him about a series of disturbances on Mundus. He listens to his minions prattle on and on, thinking he might feel it necessary to disembowel them for wasting his time, until one piece of news catches his interest.
"They came out of nowhere just a short time a while ago my lord. A rift was opened in Dark-father Sithis's Void and two powerful beings of the cosmos came through."
"Haha. It seems that brother Sheogorath is up to his games again," the being chuckled darkly. "Bring me my pensive worm. I wish to see what delicious victims my brother has unintentionally brought me this time.
The smaller figure left the large dark throne room for a moment and brought back a large bowl filled to the brim with thick, red blood. The large being extended one of his large claw-like fingers into the liquid and slowly stirred. A light began to permeate through the blood to create two seperate images. In these images he could see the shape of a white alicorn bright as the morning sun walking with a Khajiit woman in green and in the other, he saw the figure of a dark blue alicorn dark as the night sky walking with an armored Nord man in a horned helmet.
"Ohhh, yes. These two will do nicely as unwilling wives," the being purred. "The delicious looking white one and her Khajiit pet may be easy enough to conquer as long as that fool Harkon does his job. It will be glorious to finally conquer the sun. The man with that lovely blue one may present a problem. I cannot take on the champion of Kynareth and Akatosh on Mundus without challenging the Divines themselves. However..."
The being reaches down the side of his throne and holds up a pitch black mace covered in thorns and horrifying faces. The mere sight of the weapon makes the being's minions grovel and shrink back to where they came from. The being chuckles darkly to himself as he gazes diabolically at the weapon in his hand.
"Every champion can be dominated with a little bit of...incentive."
His laughter was heard throughout his entire realm, making all of its inhabitants shrink in fear.