This has been tossing around in my brain for days now, and I couldn't sleep tonight so here it goes! I hope you all like it! My first stab at ponyfiction.

Act I, Chapter 1: Introductions

The cart jumbled along the path, jolting her awake as they hit a rock, sending her crashing into the bars of her cage. She trembled, testing the chains around her hind legs. She couldn't remember how she'd gotten there. She shook her head, fluttering her wings as the cart hit another bump, but finding them restrained.

"So you're awake." A voice said and she turned her head curiously. A grimy looking pony was folded up within his cage, his hair longer than a pony warrior would have normally worn it with several braids holding it out of his face. "I was starting to think you never would. You were caught with the rest of us, crossing the border from The Haven."

"Tell him! Tell him we're not supposed to be here!" A third pony voice spoke up. "You and I!" He was a commonpony, with a long face and stocky legs… a workhorse.

She observed them a moment with her calm, pale green eyes then pawed at the bars. "No use getting worked up now. They'll set us free when they find out we're not on their lists."

"Hah! They don't care if your name is on the list or not." The first pony spoke. As they jostled along she could finally see the mark on his flank. He was certainly a warrior, however scarred and muddy he may be she could most certainly see the shield there. "Where are you from, ponies? We're all brothers in iron now."

"I'm from Ponystead." The second speaker replied. "Slate Hoof, from Ponystead." She looked over to see him, a dingy grey pony. His brown eyes were mournful. "If you all wouldn't have shown up I could have been on my way to the Equine Isle by now!"

"Robbing the dead is nothing to be proud of, scavenger." The first pony spoke again.

"What's his problem?" The one called Slate Hoof asked, noticing the fourth passenger in their cart, a sleek smoke-grey pony with braided grey hair.

"Careful who you're talking to!" The first pony warned. "You're addressing Storm Cloak! The High King of Equirim!"

She lifted her eyebrows, looking over at the pony curiously. He was more of a stallion than a pony, almost too big for the cage he was crammed into, with a muzzle over his face and fiery golden eyes that flared with anger at being caged. She thought that he was the kind of pony who liked to be free, running on the plains of Equirim

"Enough back there!" The guard's voice said as they trundled into the city. She could hear the men and women around them cat calling or booing. She wasn't surprised that there weren't many ponies there. Gelden had been on the borderlands for quite some time. She turned her head as they slowed to a stop, watching the guardponies drag them down in their cages, letting them out one by one. She stepped out of her cage with little dignity, tripping on the shackles on her hind legs. One by one the ponies were called forward, the pony that had been speaking earlier (she now learned his name was Gold Strike) went just before Slate Hoof.

"Slate Hoof of Ponystead!" The guardpony said, standing next to his captain. She knew what was going to happen before it did.

"No! I'm innocent!" Slate Hoof said, wild eyed. He reared the instant they removed his shackles. "I'm innocent!" He charged off.

"Guards!" The cold-eyed captainpony said.

She had to look away, closing her eyes as the soldiers descended upon him and killed him. Her stomach churned, it was starting to set in that she was going to die.

"Anybody else want to run!" The charger asked, her captain's helmet gleaming in the morning sun. A strange sound echoed through the execution grounds but hardly anypony seemed to notice. "Next!"

"Who… are you?" The guardpony asked.

"My name is Featherlight." She replied softly.

"A little far from Weather Falls aren't you? Captain she's not on the list, what do we do?"

"Nothing. She goes to the block. Next!" The captain said fiercely.

She had never seen a pony beheaded before, but she hadn't assumed it would be such bloody business. She saw the guardponies standing around, just in case, as well as several griffons. The Lionhawk Dominion always had their hand in these proceedings, she thought darkly. Before she knew it she was walking over, a chained pony, to her death. 'This is no way for a Pegasus to die.' Her eyes saddened as she knelt down, bending her magnificent head. Then her ears twitched. This time she knew the others heard it too. The screeching what had not been heard in hundreds of years. The sound of a dragon.

With a thunderous roar it landed on top of the guard tower above them. It roared again, throwing them all back and sending her tumbling. She staggered to her feet as fires lit around her, stones falling from building as the massive dragon destroyed the buildings, killing ponies left and right.

"RUN!" The guardpony from earlier told her. She tried, desperately, bucking and hopping around her bindings. The powerful pony charged forward and threw her onto his back, galloping for the safety of the keep. "Hang on!" He said, side stepping a fire as the dragon swooped low, catching a few more of the soldierponies up in his talons.

"Are you crazy!" She cried as he ducked out of the way of another wave of flames, barely licking their heels as he ran.

He galloped to the edge of a burnt bridge and took a mighty leap towards the guardhouse, barely making it. He scrambled to the door and threw them both inside as the dragon blew flames at them. He slammed the door shut just in time, prancing away from the door as it trembled against another one of the dragon's shuddering breaths. She panted, scorched from the fires, but certainly alive. "That was a dragon." She said softly, folding her legs beneath her.

"We can't stay here long." He said, tossing his helmet off. He cantered over to her and pointed his horn at her, unlocking the shackles on her ankles and the bindings on her wings. "There you go, Pegasus. There's another way out of here, we'll just have to find it." He told her. She watched him for a moment, taking in the faded red of his horse blanket, tied at his chest neatly, the rearing stallion superimposed over the golden sun printed on the flank.

"Thank you." Featherlight said softly. Now that she had a good look at him he was a handsome Palomino pony with a silvery white mane and tail and a caramel coat. He had the prettiest amethyst eyes she'd ever seen and when he looked at her she looked away, fluttering her wings slightly. "Which way is the way out?" She asked, looking around.

"First let's get you in a uniform." He said, pushing open the wardrobe and pulling out a pony coat for her, walking over to toss it over her back. He took the chance to see her cutie mark, several beautiful feathers swirling together as if on a breeze. He half wondered what her talent was as he helped her slip her wings through the holes in the pony coat, letting it sit in place on her back. He used magic to tie the ribbon. "There, now you look half the part." He told her. Upon second glance he noticed that her coat was not white, as he had originally thought. It seemed to be a pale gold, barely noticeable if one wasn't looking. Her long mane and tail were deep amber, and when clean must have shone in a glory of colors.

"Why are you helping me?" She asked curiously, then winced as she heard the dragon's cry.

"No time for that!" He turned and galloped off through the keep. She followed, glad to be able to stretch her legs again. He yanked the handle to open a door just ahead of them as they followed the path out. Several of the prisoners had escaped and were looting the keep they were trying to escape.

"Die Imperials!" One of the prisoners said and charged them. She covered her face with her wing, timid behind the guardpony. Come to think of it, she hadn't asked what his name was. She watched him rear and strike out at the other pony, knocking him to the ground. She grew bold and kicked, protecting him from another attack.

"Thanks!" He said and loped off down the next path. "There must be more here!"

She nodded in agreement, following him. She had never been in battle before, and this seemed to be as close as she was going to get. She felt exhilarated as they encountered another blockage of prisoners, she reared and boxed one of them until he fell to a blow from her companion. Her eyes grew sad as they reached the next room of the keep, realizing just where they were.

"Torture room…" He said softly. "I wish we didn't need one of these."

"I don't know if you do." Featherlight replied as they walked down the stairs. "Do you hear that?" She could hear the neighing of ponies fighting.

"Come on!" He led her down the stairs, throwing himself into the fight. She couldn't help but think how brave he was, to charge into battle without a second thought. She pranced around the outside of the fight, then noticed a pony caged up. She kicked the door lock to no avail, and then tried again. The second time the lock popped loose.

"Thank you!" The pony said weakly as she helped her out. "Thank you so much."

"Follow behind us, we'll clear the way." Featherlight said softly, spotting her companion waiting for her. She galloped after him after she saw that their way out was blocked by a number of the rebel soldiers. It felt wrong to her, to fight her own kind. Seeing the ponies die and be injured, but she didn't know what else to do… she couldn't just stay there and die.

"Careful!" Her companion warned as one of the rebels barely missed her with a sword clenched tightly in his mouth. She stepped out of the way but he cut her cheek just before her companion kicked him into the wall. She didn't have time to think now, following him through the cave. "There's a bear up the way here." He told her as they crouched low. "We'll have to be careful." He led her go first, walking as silently as their hooves would carry them. She saw the exit, the light streaming into the cave from it and felt her heart leap. "We're almost free." He told her.

"I know." She replied with a smile. "Thanks." She walked out of the cave with him, blinking in the bright light.

"Get down!" He pushed her down suddenly behind a boulder, covering her as the dragon circled overhead, then took off. "He's heading North, but it looks like he's gone for now." He sighed.

"That's good." She curled up in the pine needles for a moment, enjoying the sweet smell of the earth. "So where do we go now?"

"Well if you want to get cleaned up you can come with me, my family lives in Coltwood not far from here." He said. "You know you're not a bad fighter." He told her. "Have you ever fought before?"

"No." She shook her head. "I don't think I did that great, I did a lot of hiding."

"Well you saved my life. I owe you that much." He bowed his handsome head. "Now come on, we should get going." He turned to walk off.

"Wait!" She fluttered her wings to get back to her feet, following him. "You didn't tell me your name!"

"Buck, Buckskin." He replied. "Ponyfolk call me Buck." He explained as they walked.

"Buckskin." She looked him over. "Thank you, Buckskin." She murmured.

So that's the first chapter! Sorry it's a little dull! The next one will be a lot more interesting, I'm not sticking solely to the Skyrim storyline. Read and review! That little button down there gets lonely!