Chapter three: Ambush and Aftermath

The battle was not going well not even five minutes into the fight over seventy-five troops were dead or unable to fight. Dan and about ten other men were going after Alduin while everyone else dealt with the other dragons. Dan and his men were losing. Fifteen minutes later almost all the men were dead or unable to fight, Dan and the surviving thirty men prepared to make a last stand.

"Do you not realize it is hopeless Dovahkiin, you have lost and I have won. If you had stayed home and cowered in fear I might have made your death quick and painless." mocked Alduin.

Dan badly wounded still holding his sword shouted, "You shall not win even if we die general Tullius will be ready for your return with every soldier Tamriel has. You will not win."

"How foolish of you to think you have a chance of victory. My army is fifty strong but there are still more dragons in this land for me to recruit. I will have more dragons than there are people in Skyrim before I return. Kill them all." With that the dragons used their breath attacks, fire and frost covered the remaining soldiers killing all of them. As Dan's vision faded he heard Alduin say one last thing. "You five go and destroy their ships leave none alive." Then he passed out as the dragons left the smoldering ruins that used to be a grassy field.

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"Come on girls the fire should be just over this…oh no." said Twilight who was unable to comprehend the amount of destruction she saw as her friends slowly maid their way up the hill that over looked the field. As they looked at the scene of death and mayhem they all had the same look of horror and sadness on their faces. "Girls we need to see if any of them are still alive."

(The tone of how heartbreaking it is for them to see is best felt if An End, Once and for All, Mass Effect 3 Original Soundtrack, is played)

As they looked through the burnt and frozen bodies of the dead soldiers all of them almost broke out in tears, including Rainbow Dash. After thirty minutes of searching they had only found fifteen survivors, including Dan, however most looked as if they could die at any moment. By this time most of Ponyville had come to try and stop the fire only to find this scene of death, some helped the girls try to find survivors while most looked away and cried.

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After over twenty hours of surgery on the survivors only five, including Dan, survived. They were put in the hospital while they were unconscious. Twilight sent another letter to princess Celestia explaining what they found.

Two days have passed since the attack on the imperial soldiers by Alduin, the princesses and about twenty royal guards have just arrived and Twilight is leading them to the scene of the battle, still unaware of what happened there.

"Here we are your highnesses, this is where we found them." Celestia and Luna and their guards all surveyed the landscape of what was the battle ground. By this time all the bodies have been removed and buried.

"Twilight what happened here." Asked Celestia still shocked at the amount of damage.

"We don't know. There is a spell that would allow us look into the past to see what happened but I have been unable too successfully perform it. If only they would wake up."

"How long before the damage too the field can be repaired?" asked Luna.

"We don't know princess, some parts of this field may never recover and stay burnt and blackened."

"Where are the survivors? I believe I know a spell that will allow us to see their dreams, it could be use full." said Celestia.

"I agree sister, their dreams may give us an idea as to what happened. Twilight take us to them immediately."

One bring and uneventful trip later…

"Luna, I need you to look into the dreams of those two, I'll check these two. Twilight can you check the last one?"

"Yes princess." Twilight, Celestia, and Luna approached the soldiers. Twilight would be looking into Dan's dream, but none of them knew what they would find. However as they were about to perform the spell one of the soldiers started to wake up.

"Uh, my head, where am I? I was just…oh no Alduin!" As he tried to stand up he was pushed back onto the bed by the doctor. He then realized he was surrounded ponies. Princess Celestia was the first pony to try and talk to the soldier

"Hello and wel-" As soon as the soldier heard Celestia speak he passed out, unable to comprehend that a pony could talk. "-come… well that could have gone better."

Authors Note: I have finally used all the ideas I had when I first came up with the concept of this story, expect updates to be about one a month. Also reviews would be appreciated.