• Story: The Wind Thief: A Tale of the Dragonborn (Update Complete!)


    [Crossover][Adventure] Oh hey! Another Skyrim crossover survived the pre-readers.

    Author: Cold in Gardez
    Description:
    The legends told of their return.

    For over a decade Equestria has been beset by the dragons. Every year more villages vanish in flames, and the lonely cities stand as our last redoubt. Winter has gripped the world, and our hope is fading.

    But the legends tell of another, a light in the darkness. The Dragonborn, a mythic warrior reborn with the power of the Voice, the only one who can stand against the dragons.

    But when she appeared, she was not what we were expecting...
    The Wind Thief: A Tale of the Dragonborn (New Part 6!)

    Additional Tags: Skyrim, Epic, Semi-Long, no-humans <-- (best tag!)

    67 comments:

    1. OO this looks interesting, will check it out

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    2. I wish we had more Ponies playing Battlefield. T_T

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    3. I like the art :) those little Imperial symbols but altered so its a alicorn (ofcourse the writing is good to derp)

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    4. "no-humans <-- (best tag!)" - Agree

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    5. The prologue looks very promising. And "no-humans" is really the best tag.

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    6. "no-humans <-- (best tag!)"

      lol

      For anyone not already following this on FIMFiction, it's definitely worth your time.

      As with any crossover, knowledge of the source material might help you appreciate the finer points of the world, but it is by no means a necessary prerequisite to enjoying the story.

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    7. I used to wonder what friendship could be, but then i took an arrow in the knee.

      (Sorry, i had to... :P)

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    8. Favourite thing ever; pony.
      Favourite game right now; Skyrim.

      ...
      Do I dare read this? I am afraid the singularity of awesome will suck me up.

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    9. Judging from the last line of the description, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say this has Dovahshy, FLUTTERBORN! in it.

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    10. ... My Skyrim fic keeps getting beaten to EQD by others! I must've taken too long sending it...

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    11. I like it! I dont know if other skyrim crossovers are like this, I am scared to read others. it said NO Humans, so I was like, Great! it really is taking the skyrim plot and putting it in equestria, not putting ponies into skyrim

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    12. I love the authenticity of Shy's behavior. Kleptomania and beginning the story as a prisoner are staples of any Elder Scrolls character.

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    13. Whats this? A Skyrim crossover thats actually good?

      What?! An OC I actually find myself liking?

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    14. I agree, no-humans is best tag.

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    15. Image changed. I forgot to include it with the original submission, and the blogponies picked a random Skyrim-themed image instead.

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    16. wow. This is really good. I wasn't going to read it, but then saw the no-humans tag. Now I'm very glad that I did :)

      I also have very little knowledge of Skyrim but still enjoyed the fanfic immensely. Kudos, author!

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    17. Not too bad of a story. Im already wanting more!

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    18. Yet another story to add to my list of stories to read.
      *sigh*

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    19. When i saw this fic for the first time, I was listening to the Skyrim theme...

      ... It's like an omen man...

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    20. Sweet, I was hoping for a Skyrim crossover without humans.

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    21. Not gonna lie, the cover image and the unique title drew me in.

      I HAVE to read this now. I'll post my thoughts when I finish.

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    22. Is this going to end up being, like, 800,000 words, like the serialization of a certain other Bethesda RPG, or is the mane character going to actually try to stay on task? ;)

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    23. @R10t Pol1ce

      This is simply a tale of the Dragonborn. Think of it as one of her side quests.

      In terms of length, most of it is already finished. Looking at around 45k words. Of course, there are many side quests in these types of games, so it's reasonable to assume there are other adventures afoot :)

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    24. No time to read that now, and when I'll have time I'll have forgotten about it, but I just wanted to say : the description leads me to presume this crossover places Fluttershy as the dragonborn, and I must say that really, Fluttershy is best Dovahkiin =D

      FUS RO yay~

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    25. I saw this long time ago, The only one ready was chapter 1 so I read it and find it very good; After that I searched for this everywere to see if any updates where done but never could find it

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    26. Just want to get this down before I read further - I was inordinately happy when it became apparent she was in Canterlot. I had for some reason assumed this was actually taking place in the land of Skyrim, but with ponies, and learning that this is actually Equestria just made me more excited to read this. Y'know, I've never tried a running commentary before, and I've already started, so I might as well, I guess.

      I'd also like to mention that when I read that she was light blue, my first thought was "Trixie is the Dragonborn?", followed by "Holy shit, her boasting is now a lethal weapon."

      "Princess wants to see her."
      I suppose it makes sense that if this is Equestria and not Skyrim, they would be lead by Celestia. And yet it caught me off guard anyways. I wonder what era this is? Is this before the Mane 6's time?

      They gave her a bucket’s worth of water, unceremoniously dumped on her head. Slightly cleaner, she decided to consider that a victory.
      I'm liking this OC already. At least, I'm hoping it's an OC and not actually Trixie... she's not acting like Trixie. I don't think I've gotten her mane color yet.

      A door on the other side of the library opened, and a purple unicorn mare wearing a set of flowing grey robes trotted through.
      Is that...?

      The only living pony in Equestria with both horn and wings towered over the rest of the room,
      Damn, if Luna isn't here, then that means she's probably still on the moon, meaning this is likely before the Mane 6's time, meaning the purple one probably isn't Twilight. Unless this is an alternate reality and those events happened/happen differently... damn, now I'm not sure.

      “Let’s see. Sly, is it?
      She just went from a light blue mare to an anthropomorphic raccoon in my head. I'm going to be imagining a raccoon in all of these scenes now, and I won't be able to stop it. :(

      She's kind'a acts like Sly Cooper, too, doesn't she?

      “I’m afraid Twilight Sparkle is correct,”
      :D So, alternate reality? Or... I suppose this could all be happening before Twilight got sent to Ponyville and Miss Nightmare broke free. But I'm putting my money on alternate reality.

      “As little sympathy as I have for that particular noble,
      inb4 Blueblood.

      She poked curiously at Sly’s star-and-moon cutie mark,
      ... Trixie's cutie mark? :\

      “It’s a special jewel my sister made,
      Luna exists!

      “Twilight will accompany you
      YES

      Wind's Eye is kind of a weird name. Does the artifact's relevance to wind become apparent at some point, or did you choose it just a'cause it sounded nifty?

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    27. Chapter 2, hooo!

      Just occurred to me I still don't have a mane color for Sly(xie). Unless I missed it, but I really don't wanna' go back and look for it, lol. /lazy

      “Do you really need all these things? You have two bows.” “Never hurts to have a spare!”
      It's slowly becoming apparent that Sly is my Skyrim character. ಠ_ಠ

      Dat page break. Have I mentioned I really, really like that you replaced the Imperial dragon crest with an alicorn? That picture is fantastic.

      Oh Twilight, you're so snarky.

      It had been a farming community once; an overgrown apple orchard still bore shrivelled fruit next to the skeletal remains of a barn, which had long since collapsed under the weight of years and neglect.
      This is by the Everfree Forest? Sweet Apple Acres...? D:

      A huge hollow tree in the center of the town provided them with a decent shelter against the cold night.
      The Library...? D: And I'm guessing that random owl is an homage to Owlowicious.

      I didn’t realize you could burn soup.”
      At least she didn't burn the orange juice. /sweetiebelle

      the ones too stubborn or prideful to leave.”
      I instantly thought of Applejack. D:

      a fanciful multi-story home that apparently housed a boutique, before time, neglect and dragons reduced it to colorful rubble.
      D:

      Inside the chest rested a few gold coins, a lock of hair, and what looked like a porcelain comb of some sort, missing most of its teeth.
      If this is a reference to something, I don't get it.

      She dropped them in her own saddlebag without a second thought. Twilight had enough to carry with all those books.
      Yeah, she's totally my Skyrim character. I honestly could not tell you how many people I pick-pocketed while they were asleep. It's totally their own fault, too, what kind of idiot goes to sleep with all their valuables sitting in their pockets? ... No offense, Twilight.

      Just letters, it turned out. Love letters,
      Twilight, you sly dog. On the one hand, I could see Twilight going to such lengths to hide love letters. On the other hand, Twilight would totally be witty enough to hide very sensitive information by magically disguising it as something else, like love letters.

      “This is Owloysius.
      Orly.

      “No! It’s just, you know, high. High and... high,”
      Greatest excuse ever.

      “Remind me to show you my hot air balloon someday.”
      Why didn't they take that? I mean, Sly's apparent fear of heights might have impeded that plan a bit, but it never came up at all. You'd think a hot air balloon would be easier and faster than walking.

      Also, I like how Owlowiicous just sort'a vanished without me noticing, just like in the show.

      And the Pastel Desert? It’s worse than you’ve heard.”
      Just the name alone makes this sound like a place I would like to read about.

      The sky above them dimmed as a massive shadow passed over the clouds.
      Osnap! They've totally got a dragon on their hooves!

      It opened its jaws again, and a wave of heat poured forth. The river around her began to steam.
      And that was just was opening it's mouth, it hadn't even exhaled air, let alone breathed fire. This dragon is decidedly more dangerous than the ones in Skyrim.

      New Perk: Overdraw -- You do 20% more damage with bows.
      Maybe she won't break them now, perhaps? Good thing she brought two.

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    28. Chapter 3, ahoooy!

      Behind her, the butterfly fluttered back to its flower, unnoticed.
      >It was the monarch's plan the entire time.

      “You shouldn’t take things from other ponies,” Twilight cut her off. “Especially not friends.”
      >D'aaaw.

      It was Twilight’s turn to blush. [...] “It’s just something I picked up,” she mumbled.
      >D'aaaw x2

      That Luna will be reborn as the mythical warrior who will save us.
      >Luna's... dead...? Uh yeah, alternate reality alright. Man.... that kind'a sucks. Because Sly is obviously the Dragonborn, she absorbed that dragon's soul. So Celestia thinking her sister is going to be reborn or whatever, is just a desperate and irrational hope. :(
      Unless Sly IS Luna reborn. But that really doesn't seem very likely at all.

      inb4 Celestia uses the jewel thingy to wish Luna back to life.

      Sly gave her a moment. “Better than sex, isn’t it?” she said with a grin. Twilight spluttered, her eyes popping open.
      >I'm laughing so hard right now, you don't even know

      “It’s Old Equuish,” Twilight said.
      >Pronounced e-kwish? Or e-koo-ish?

      >So this is definitely inspired by that one quest in Skyrim, then. I had suspected, but wasn't sure until just now. That quest disappointed me, the end reward wasn't nearly as OP as the quest made it out to be. Hopefully Sly and Twilight aren't disappointed in their magic mcguffin.

      “Toss a boulder at it?” Sly had been thinking more along the lines of her shield spell, but that worked too.
      >Twilight, you're so barbaric.

      The bow would’ve been better, but all her arrows were back in the forest.
      >So she thought to bring two bows, but not two quivers? It's not like arrows have any weight or size, she could stuff hundreds of thousands of them in her shirt pocket and forget they're there. l2skyrim, Sly.

      but it carried a quiver of arrows that she appropriated for her own use.
      >Oh, hey, arrows.

      Twilight looked around the cavern, her eyes wide. “It’s bigger than I expected,” she whispered.
      Despite their circumstances, Sly couldn’t help the snicker that escaped her lips. “Remember that. Mares don’t get to say it very often.”
      Twilight turned away from the cavern to give her a puzzled look. “Huh?”

      >partial lol at the joke, partial d'aaaw at Twilight's adorkableness.

      The stone slab atop the sarcophagus split in two down its middle, sending each half tumbling to the side. [...] Every Celestia-damned time.
      >I know the feeling.

      The world went black for a moment, and when she came to she was lying in a heap against the wall of the cavern thirty feet away.
      >Jeez, that was a helluva buck.

      'I knew it! She is a brave pony!' Sly leaned forward, wondering what fantastic destructive spell the mare would use. [...] Twilight cleared her throat, and spoke. “Hello sir,” she said.
      >/facepalm

      A tuft of Sly’s powder blue mane drifted to the floor.
      >FINALLY! Mystery solved.

      “Haha! Not so tough now, are you? Oh, look at me, mister monster pony, going to guard—”
      The fire in Ageund’s eye re-lit as quickly as it had extinguished.

      >OSHI-

      The ember erupted in a fireball that washed around the draugr and swept across the platform.
      >Dat Twilight.

      >Sly really needs to stop doing this whole passing-out-at-the-end-of-the-chapter thing she's got going on. Let's see... oh, right, the only thing I can think of that hasn't been brought up yet is the Elements of Harmony. Considering Luna seems to be dead, I take it Celestia didn't wield them against her when she became the wicked Nightmare Moon - if that even happened in this fic's history? And considering that they don't seem to be an option in this war against dragons, I'm wondering if they exist at all in this alternate reality.

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    29. This comment-as-you-go thing is surprisingly fun. Also surprisingly time consuming. I should've finished reading all three of these chapters like, two and a half forevers ago. :|

      Oh well, looking forward to reading more.

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    30. I'm glad you've enjoyed the story so far :) I think you will appreciate the next chapter.

      To answer a few of your questions in non-spoilerific fashion:

      - Little items like the broken porcelin comb are offhand references to plot points in some of my other stories. Think of it as an easter egg. The others are the Pastel Desert and Twiilght's book, The Field Pony's Guide to Monstrous Carnivores, which has appeared in several of my fics now.

      - This story takes place in approximately the same time frame as the actual show, though obviously something big happened in the past that changed how the present turned out.

      - The Wind's Eye was deliberately chosen. It's actually a word we still use in English -- from the Old Norse vindr + auga, which became windoge, which we now pronounce 'window.'

      Thanks for reading, and for the comments. Hope you enjoy the rest!

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    31. @Cold in Gardez

      Hmm... something in the past happened to make this alt-universe version of Equestria dark and frightening. Ah! In this universe, Lauren Faust was replaced by Wes Craven! D:

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    32. @Xeddrief if this is the first OC that you like you havent read Antipodes. basically OC only story, but great writing and setting. check it out if you havent

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    34. @unknown variable

      As the author of the other Skyrim fic here, I must respectfully disagree. However, I look forward to seeing another author's methods when it comes to a similar subject. I very much like the protagonist.

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    35. @Gnir

      Just to be clear, it was the blogponies who added the "best tag!" part. I included the "no-humans" tag because I know some people don't like them in pony stories.

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    36. Hurray, enchanted upgrades! Always nice finding good loot. When that spider first started talking, and it said "I had a name once, but now it is gone from me. Like so much else”, my first thought was "Luna?!" I knew it wasn't likely, but I was still relieved when it turned out to be Cianim. Don't know why THAT wasn't my first thought. Kind'a facepalmed at myself at that point. And Twilight's maaaane, nooooo! D:

      At the end, when Twilight got under Sly's covers, and Sly thought 'Well, maybe a little fair', was that intended to seem a bit Shippy? I could see her possibly referring to just making a friend, but it seemed like an awfully Shippy thought, lol.

      Also, I'm glad the whole family seems to be in one big dungeon, instead of spread out across the whole region.

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    37. Gah! Why doesn't this fanfic have roughly ten thousand comments yet?! I keep tabs on around 50 incomplete fanfics, and this one is in my top three for most anticipated updates. Yeah, I have too much free time... *sigh*

      Didn't even occur to me that Theostre was an Earth pony and thus shouldn't be able to cast spells until he actually did start casting spells and Twilight showed surprise. Had kind of a derp moment at that. Really cool idea with the black soulgem horn. Wondering if it's occupant was anypony of note, or just some random bloke he sacrificed for his access magic. And what's this about a sister, huh? I sense a future plot point that I'm dying to know more about.

      If the Wind Stone grants one wish "during the lifetime of it's bearer", and Theostre wished for a never-ending lifetime (immortality), wouldn't that have essentially broken the artifact and disabled it from ever granting another wish? Or does it get to grant a new wish when it gains a new bearer? Because if that's the case, that would be SO easy to exploit. Make a wish, pass it on. Wish, wish, pass. I guess there could be some sort of hardcoded time limit between wishes no matter what, or something like that. /shrug Just thinking out loud (with my fingers).

      w00t, Twilight leveled! If Sly has further adventures after this whole Wind Stone nonsense is finished, I hope Twilight somehow gets dragged into them. Sorry, Twilight, that's the price of popularity. Also, yay, confirmation that Twilight at least knows of Rarity, even if she isn't likely to play any sort of role in this story, lol.

      Speaking of Twilight's possibly-friends, I'm wondering if this alteration to the past that resulted in this Skyrim future is elaborated on at some point, and that it explains what happened to the Elements of Harmony. inb4 the alteration to the past is the Elements never being made. :(

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    38. I... wow.
      This is pretty awesomazincrediblesweet 8D
      You've done the characterization really well, and the pace is really good. I love how the mesh between Skyrim and Equestria is so seamless.

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    39. @Checkmate
      That's Cold in Gardez for you. Read his other stuff.

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    40. Oh yeah! A Skyrim crossover! Looks interesting :)

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    41. @Corejo TWILIGHT NOOOO!!! *begins CPR!* LIVE DAMN YOU!! LIIIIVE!!

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    42. D: Update! Now! Pretty much the best Skyrim crossovr ive ever read

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    43. Hahahaha when Sly was fighting the last Draugr on the last part I was like DAMMIT USE FUS RO DAH! Or FUS! And when she did it I was like EPIC THU'UM :D

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    44. @Alondro Heh heh heh, I caught this, "A glass hummingbird sipped nectar from a crystal flower, so lifelike she almost expected it to fly away."

      A nod to "The Glass Blower". I like those little cross-tale references woven in where they fit.

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    45. @Cold in Gardez
      I love this story so far and can't to see Sly's next adventure :D
      Will they all be very loosely based on Skyrim quests?

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    46. @Alex

      I guess it's not a spoiler to say that Sly does survive this "side-quest" and goes on to have other adventures. I've already started roughing out the next one, In the City of Shadows and Light, about her adventures with the Thieves Guild. Twilight will be along for the ride, as well as some other familiar faces.

      Possibly the guard from the start of The Wind Thief.

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    47. serelersy. The arrow in the knee jokes are getting old

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    49. I'll read this for sure, I just hope that Fluttershy is the main Dragonborn (probably only) of this story.

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    50. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    51. @Cold in Gardez

      ...That e-mail will bounce, all accounts connected to that g-mail have been terminated. Try cassiusmlp@yahoo.com, that'll work and it's connected to one of my main g-mail accounts.

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    52. Oh my god yes I love this story.

      Commented on FIMfiction.

      Sequel sequel sequel sequel

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    53. A completed Cold in Gardez story? Shit. I guess my week is shot.

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    54. @Cold in Gardez It was too awesome. I must now commit seppuku in defeat,for my own writing is akin to the scribblings of a toddler. *dies in shame*

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    55. @Courage Heart

      Pretty good, man :) Might darken her mane a tad, for some more contrast, but that's about it.

      I realize now that I never described her eye color anywhere. Huh. Red works, though.

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