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The Elder Scrolls: The Dragonborn of Equestria

by Urimas Ebonheart

Chapter 31: Chapter 30

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The Elder Scrolls: the Dragonborn of Equestria
Chapter 30

I wake up feeling better than ever, I remember last night and smile, Luna's in my arms sleeping peacefully so I just lay here in content.

Five minutes later a knock is heard at the door, Luna's still asleep so I answer it. "Yes?" I call out.

The door opens to reveal the maid I met several times. "I'm here to inform the Princess that it's time to lower the moon."

I nod and lightly shake Luna. "Time to wake up, you have a moon to set." She murmurs but doesn't budge.

I get a devious grin. "Fine then, have it your way." I place both hands on her sides and start tickling.

Her eyes fly open with a fit of laughter. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH HAHAHAHA HAHA HAAAAAHAHAA OKAY! HAHA OKAY YOU HAHA WIN! HAHAHAHAA!" I stop and she calms down.

She gives me a playful glare. "Ooooooh I am soooooo getting you back for that!" she says.

I chuckle and look at the maid who is now smiling. "She has a message for you," I tell my love.

"Hmmm?" Luna looks to the maid.

"Celestia is ready to raise the sun, also breakfast is ready, Princess" the maid says.

"Thank you for informing me," Luna replies.

The maid waits outside as we get cleaned, especially after last night.

Once clean, I put on some clothes and my armour, I then equip my sword and bow.

Luna, Moonbeam and Tala are already waiting outside the door with the maid, I look outside to see the sun already rising and the moon setting.

"So, what's your name? All the times we've met and I still don't know," I ask the maid.

"My name is Feather Duster, but you can just call me Dusty for short." I look at her flank and see a feather duster as her mark.

"Nice name," I say and turn to Luna. "By the way, how's Blueblood doing?" I ask, it's been about a week since he was imprisoned, Luna frowns.

"He's still under guard in the dungeons, and there he shall remain for what he's done to you... Though he has tried to use magic while in there, let's just say he didn't try it again." She then was silent for a few seconds. "Though he has been acting strange lately, the guards say he's been talking to himself."

I frown as well, that does seem odd, maybe he's just lost his mind. Oh well, no point dwelling on it, he did it to himself really.

"So, Dusty. What's for breakfast?" I ask the maid.

"Eggs, prench toast, an assortment of juices, fruits, salad, and alfalfa," she replies.

I raise an eyebrow at the last one. "What's alfalfa?"

"It's a plant with purple flowers on it."

"Yeah, I'll pass on that," I say with a wave of my hand.

We all make it to the Dining Hall and enter, breakfast is already served as we all sit down.

Luna has a large smile on her face as she hums a tune, Celestia picks up on this instantly. "Your looking more energetic than usual, did something happen?" she asks Luna.

Luna's face instantly turns red as she stutters out words, Celestia's smile drops as a confused expression takes its place.

"Are you alright? You're redder than a cherry," I scrunch my nose, I know exactly why.

"I-I'm just f-fine!" she replies before stuffing her face full of food.

Celestia looks quizzical but drops it. "If you say so..." She then turns to me. "Farengar, today you'll be taking the Elite Forces exam along with Armoured Honour, I hope you're prepared, because it's going to be a lot harder than the guard test you took in Ponyville." Her face turning to a serious expression.

"I've been through a lot over the last four years, I'm sure I'll do well, even so, I'll do the best I can,” I reply with a shrug.

"That's all anypony can ask," she says with a smile.

"Oh by the way, Moonbeam?" I say getting her attention. "Now that we'll be living here, do you want to continue learning Tamriellan magic, or learn pony magic at Celestia's school?" I ask her.

"I want to continue learning your magic, it's a lot easier to learn. Besides, I want to be a healer so if you or anyone else gets hurt I can help them," she replies with a smile.

I turn to Luna. "And there you have it."

Moonbeam is eating her breakfast as well as Tala, I finish mine as does Luna, I say my goodbyes and leave Moonbeam and Tala with Celestia as Luna and I head off for my exam.

I make my way to the back of the castle, there's a portcullis leading to a courtyard hidden from view by the castle and mountain side. We walk past a few ponies in what looks to be a mix of heavy, light, and robed armour adorning them.

"Princess Luna, welcome," Hammer Strike greets her. "Ah and Sir Farengar as well, welcome, I take it you're here for the exam?" he asks.

"Yes I am, but why are you here?" I reply.

"Oh I didn't tell you did I? I'm the general of the Elite Forces now." That's a shocker, I thought he was retired and just around as an advisor.

"So if I pass, you'll be my commander?" I ask him.

"That's right, if you do as well as I've heard you can do, you'll have no problem making captain," he replies.

That would be interesting. "So what do I have to do now?" I ask.

"Just wait over there as we finish up the preparations, you're not the only one taking the exam," he tells me.

I look to where he's pointing and see an area with ponies in royal guard armour, Luna and I walk over to them.

"Princess!" The guards salute to her.

Luna gives a small nod as Honour walks over to me. "Hey, Farengar. So are you looking forward to the exam? I know I am after five years of waiting," he asks me while Luna walks off with Hammer Strike to help with the preparations.

Before I could answer, a large dark red earth pony with a slicked back silvery mane and tail and light blue eyes speaks up. "So this is the creature I've heard about," he says as he looks me over. "It amazes me that a creature like you managed to not only best Prince Blueblood, but also won over Princess Luna."

I don't like the tone he used about Luna, he made her sound like some prize, I keep a neutral expression.

"My name is Farengar, and don't talk about Luna like she's some object to be claimed," I reply.

He 'hmphs' and smirks. "We shall see." And with that, he walks off.

I watch as he heads off to some other guards, Honour then turns to me. "That's Silver Spear, son of a high ranking noble family, rumour has it that a year ago he and Luna were to be married, but it never happened, I wouldn't be surprised if it was him that started it."

I'm going to have to keep an eye on him. "So any idea what's going to happen?" I ask Honour.

"Not a clue, I've only heard it's very hard and only around ten percent make it through," he answers.

I sigh as I wait for Hammer Strike to return, I notice Silver Spear looking at me every now and then, he doesn't look at all friendly.

After ten minutes of waiting, Hammer and Luna return. "Alright you fillies! You're here because you think you're the best of the best, the cream of the crop, well bad news, YOU'RE NOT!" he yells at us.

"I've seen bigger colts than you cry home to his mommy, hay, I've seen mares with more back bone than most stallions," he starts walking along the line of applicants.

"It's my job to separate the beasts from the foals, you'll go through Tartarus and back. If, and I mean if, you pass, you'll be part of the best fighting force in the world." He stops at me and looks me in the eye.

"So you got what it takes?" he asks me.

I draw my sword and hold it to my chest with my right hand pointing it skyward, my left arm against the back of my waist, the blade is engulfed by a white flame just like the time I slew Viinturuth.

"YES SIR!" I yell back with determination and conviction shown on my face.

Hammer Strike grins. "Now that's what I want to see! Confidence!" I hear a snort to my right, I guess it was Silver Spear but I'm not sure.

"Now we'll begin your first test, Stamina! You'll be running a few laps around the field." I look around and see a dirt path with white lines going around in a circle. "This is not a race, your task is to run as fast as you can for as long as you can." He walks over to a starting line. "Now pick a lane and get ready."

We all pick a lane with Honour to my left and Silver Spear to my right. "Let's see just how fast you are hmm?" Silver Spear says.

I just ignore him and get ready, Hammer Strike lifts a hoof up. "Ready!.. Set!.. GO!" Everyone but me runs off down the lane, I wait a few seconds as I breath in and out. After five seconds and with the aid of my enchanted leggings, I burst forward from the starting line and within ten seconds, I catch up with the rest.

I pass everyone and kept going. After three minutes, two of the others collapse, after five minutes, five more drop out.

Honour is still going strong as he's an earth pony, seem's Silver Spear is also still going strong as well. After ten minutes, I start to pant and slow down, it's just me, Honour, Spear and two other earth ponies still running.

At the thirteen minute mark I finally collapse, with one of the other earth ponies as well. Honour, Spear and the other pony keep going for another three minutes before they all stop as well.

Spear walks over to me while I'm still sitting down getting my breath back. "That's it? I was expecting more." He walks off looking smug. 'Why's he so smug for? I ran faster than he did at least,' I think to myself.

Honour sits down next to me panting. "That... That wasn't so bad," he says as he falls onto his back making me chuckle.

"Not bad ladies! Not bad!" Hammer says as he walks over to us. "Alright, well the one that lasted the longest is Silver Spear!" Silver Spear just smirks at me. "But the fastest runner was Farengar!" That removed his smirk.

I just nodded to Hammer Strike. "Now, you get a ten minute break before your next test." I lay back down alongside Honour.

After a ten minute rest, Hammer Strike calls out to us all. "Alright! Next test is a strength test." He walks over to a machine with a padded plate on the front and some gauges on the side, next to it is an assortment of weapons. "First test is that you're gonna hit this machine as hard as you can, it'll register your physical force." He says as he pats the padding.

Hammer nodded to an earth pony mare, she steps up and faces away from the machine, she raises her hind legs and bucks the pad hard.

"Hmmm, very good, scored a five-hundred, ok next." An earth pony stallion now does the same. "Hmmm, four-hundred and sixty-eight, you need to exercise some more, colt," The other stallions chuckle while the stallion gives a mock scowl.

The others take their turns and some used the Warhammers, Honour got a score of five-hundred and forty-five with his hooves, Spear got five-hundred and fifteen with the hammer.

As I thought, the earth ponies scored the highest, four-hundred to five- hundred and fifty. The pegasi scored between three-hundred and four-hundred while the unicorns only got two-hundred to two-hundred and fifty.

I step up next and grip the Warhammer next to the machine, it's heavy with a flat and round head on its sides.

I pull the hammer back and get ready, I roar out as I swing the hammer with all my might, and with the aid of my gauntlets, I hit the machine hard, the pad splits open but the machine itself survives.

Everyone just stares at me with wide eyes. "N-Nine-hundred and twenty-six... That's a new record," one of the examiners says.

Once again Silver Spear gives me a glare. "Very good, now onto the next test," Hammer Strike says as he scribbles down notes along with some of the other examiners.

Hammer Strike walks over to a small pile. "Now you'll be tested to see how much you can safely carry." Behind him are some saddlebags with metal weights next to them.

"You're each going to put on one of these saddlebags and we'll fill them with the weights. Once you think you have a comfortable amount we'll be taking a little hike down the mountain and back up again, so remember, only carry what you can handle." With that said, the ponies start to strap on the bags and fill them with weights.

The earth ponies carry the most with about three-hundred kilograms, the pegasi at two-hundred and twenty, and the unicorns at one-hundred and forty. I manage to lift about two-hundred and ten, the gauntlets may increase my arm strength but not my back or legs it seems.

With everyone packed and ready to go we all head down a path carved into the mountain side. After thirty minutes we reach the bottom and the unicorns seem mostly out of breath. I still feel good to go, but going up is going to be a lot harder than down.

I make sure the bag is strapped on tight and begin climbing again with Honour and Spear right in front of me. Half way up the mountain, Spear looks around. I think it odd, but I then see why, he kicks his right hind leg back and hits Honour’s right foreleg.

Honour didn't expect it, so he had no chance to avoid it, he slips off the path and plummets down the cliff side. Reacting quickly, I dump my weights and jump off after him, my wings tuck in against my back to increase my speed.

I make it to Honour, who has his legs spread out wide to reduce his speed, and unstrap his bags. Once free, I clamp onto him with my arms and legs and spread my wings wide open, We're slowing down but I'm not used to carrying this much weight while flying and continue to fall at an alarming rate, I manage to steer us to a nearby lake and crash into it with a large splash.

I manage to resurface along with Honour, two of the pegasi examiners make it to us and lower two ropes which we both grab onto. We're both pulled to the lake side and start removing our armour. Once we're stripped, I take off my shirt and rinse it out.

"Are you two alright?" one of the examiners ask.

"Yeah we're fine, but you might want a word with Silver Spear, he caused Honour to trip and fall," I say, Honour just looks pissed.

Luna makes it down beside us. "What happened?" she asks.

I explain what I saw and Luna looks angry. "This is not the behaviour we need in the Forces, I'll have a word with him personally." And with that she flies back up. Once my armour was dry enough, I put it back on and head back up.

Hammer Strike greets us as we arrive. "Good to see you two in one piece, that looked like a nasty splash," he says.

"No kidding, my stomach still feels sore," Honour says while rubbing his belly, I can't blame him, he did take most of the impact being on the bottom.

Luna returns with an annoyed expression. "Silver Spear claims he slipped and his hoof hit yours by accident, he wishes to apologize for it," she says as Spear walks up to us.

"I am very sorry about that, my hoof slipped on a piece of loose rock, I do hope you're alright," he says.

I look at Honour and he just frowns. "I'm fine," was all he says.

Spear bows and walks away, I'm sure I saw a smirk as he left.

"Don't believe a word he said, I know him, he never apologizes and if he does, he never means it," Honour whispers to me while watching him walk away.

"We'll just have to keep an eye on him then," I whisper back to him.

Hammer Strike then calls us over to him. "Well you'll have to take the test again but you've proven you're a team player by risking your own hide to help a fellow soldier, that goes a long way here in the Forces, a team that trusts each other is a team that can get anything done." He turns to the group but stops and looks back. "Also, I did notice he did that on purpose, just don't tell anypony about that, I want to keep an eye on him, he'll get what's coming to him." And with that he walks away.

We both head back down and collect our weights. Once strapped on, we both climb the cliff. An hour later, we're back up and out of breath.

"Very good," Hammer says as he scribbles down on his clipboard.

"The next test is an agility test." He leads us all to an obstacle course with logs, netting, barrels, and spinning vertical logs with clubs sticking out swinging around it.

An earth pony stallion steps up and starts running through it, he makes it over the logs easy enough but has trouble climbing the netting, once he's over it he starts weaving in between barrels but clips a couple of them. Once he's through that, he's at the swinging clubs and charges through them, he's hit a few times but stays up.

He gets through panting slightly with a bruised right foreleg. "Four minutes and twenty-two seconds," an examiner says. Next up, a pegasus mare takes her place at the start.

She bursts forward with a graceful leap, she jumps over the logs with ease and climbs the netting with no trouble, she arrives at the barrels and weaves through them like a breeze, she gets through without touching a single barrel and makes it to the gauntlet, she uses her wings to zip past all the clubs but gets clipped at the end, she makes it through with only one hit, impressive to say the least.

"Two minutes three seconds," says the examiner.

Everyone else takes their turns, Honour ended up with five minutes seven seconds and Spear got three minutes forty seconds.

I then take position at the starting line and get ready.

Author's Notes:

Vote for the next story I'll write after this one here! http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/350856/next-story

Next Chapter: Chapter 31 Estimated time remaining: 56 Minutes
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