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Dimension: Skyrim

Planet: Nirn

Specific Location: Northeast of Riften

Time: Eleven days after the Paradox took over Equestria

"Soooooo... Where are we, again?" asked Desmond slowly. He and Emilee slowly trudged through the snow. Behind then was a vast stretch of sparkling snow, and before them was a gigantic ruin of stone and masonry.

"We are in Mzulft, as I have already stated," replied Emilee cheerfully, "Gosh… this place seems quiet, am I right?"

"Of course," said Desmond, his eyes darting around. He had been positive that, when they had been spotted by the Shradian Tanks, they were going to be pursued or ambushed, but every shred of evidence cried otherwise. They were completely alone. By some miracle, they had shaken loose of their pursuers.

"You're not still worried about being followed, are you?" asked Emilee, smiling sweetly at Desmond, "Come on now, buddy, we have ninja skills! I will have to admit, though, that I expected more of an exciting chase… but, meh, I'll take this as well."

Desmond nodded, still looking very distracted. So distracted in fact, that he almost ran into a tree. Smiling a little, Emilee planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Come on now, it's no problem!" she exclaimed, "We've lost them, and that's that."

Desmond grinned sheepishly, and pulled himself back into reality. He then looked at the Dwemer ruin, Mzulft, that leered before them. "I guess we have to go in there?"

"Yep!" chirped Emilee. She than began to practically skip up to the decimated stone steps that led to a dilapidated oaken gate. Sighing in resignation, Desmond followed her, still keeping an eye out for pursuers. Still he saw nothing.

Emilee looked the gate up and down skeptically as she approached it. "Boy," she said, "I'm surprised this thing has even held up…" With that, she tapped the wooden surface, and the whole thing fell backwards. Fortunately, the thick dust muffled the sound, and so all that resonated from the collision of wood with ground was a dull thud. Emilee winked at Desmond and strolled inside, saying, "The Great Mask of Detection is pointing me in this direction. Follow me!"

With that, she ran down one of the halls of the ruined city.

"Wait!" exclaimed Desmond. Unfortunately, Emilee kept running. Gritting his teeth, Desmond sprinted after her, using his superior speed to catch up with her in a matter of seconds.

"Careful Emilee!" he said sharply, "We have no idea what is down here!"

"Of course, Mr. Grumpy," snorted Emilee good-humouredly, "I will make a note of that. Have any ideas of what catastrophically dangerous hostiles might be lying in wait for us in this lofty, abandoned city?"

"There are plenty of things that come to mind."

"Name one."

"Um… Er… Uh…"

Emilee smiled at him fondly. "See? You worry too much. She then turned and continued through into a massive circular hall. "There source is somewhere around here… I know it…" she muttered.

Desmond bit his lip and rushed in after her. "We should still be careful, Emilee! I mean, even though I can't think of any possible hostiles that could attack us right now, that doesn't mean there could be something hostile lying in wait that we don't know about!"

Emilee nodded sagely. "Of course! However, what here could possibly harm us?"

Suddenly the ground began to reverberate with heavy, powerful, footfalls. The room shook, and dust fell from the rafters. It was obvious that these powerful footsteps were heading in their direction. Desmond facepalmed. It was Emilee's turn to grin sheepishly. "Oh well… I've been wrong before. Can't blame a girl for trying to be too optimistic."

Desmond sighed and extended a hand. A longsword conjured up in his fist, and then began to crackle with electricity. With his other hand he pulled out one of his beretta 45 custom cutlass handguns, which he tossed to Emilee. He then armed himself with his remaining gun. The two turned to face the source of the sound, which was echoing from behind a massive wooden door opposite to where they were standing.

The footfalls grew louder and louder as the unknown being approached the hall from the other side of the door. Suddenly, the sound stopped. Both Emilee and Desmond tensed, as they waited with baited breath for some form of attack. They were not disappointed. Abruptly the door that had separated them from the owner of the heavy footfalls blasted from its hinges and flew towards them. Desmond pulled Emilee behind him and slashed at the door, severing it in two with one humongous blow. The door caught fire and split down the middle. The two pieces flew by them and smashed into the wall behind them and lay on the ground in flaming splinters. Emilee and Desmond then turned to face their attacker, what they saw shocked them.

Before them was a massive mechanical humanoid. It was covered entirely with thick metal plating, and was armed with a massive warhammer and battleaxe. For a moment, it stood there tall and menacing, facing the two.

"Well," said Emilee brightly after a pause, "Look on the bright side! There is only one!"

Suddenly the mechanical creature moved aside, and two more identical metal monstrosities filed in.

Emilee continued to smile, but now it looked strained and forced. "Well. Look on the bright side! There are only… um… three! Yay?"

Desmond conjured up a warhammer of his own and whispered, "You take the one in the middle, and I'll take the one on the right. As we speak, I am conjuring up a miniature black hole in the heart of the one on the left, so that one is taken care of for now. When I say go, we rush them. Get in close, but watch out for their feet."

Emilee nodded, her eyes now alight with the flame of determination.

"Ready… set…" whispered Desmond, slowly taking a couple of steps forward, "GO!"

With that, Desmond released the energy he had been building up within his body and conjured up a mini black hole within the metal monster on the left. Immediately the thing began to fold in upon itself and crumble to nothing. Then, with a yell, Emilee and Desmond rushed the other two. The metal monsters began to lumber forward, warhammers raised. Emilee fired off a well-aimed shot with her handgun, clipping some vital gears in the armpit of her target. The arm of the robot suddenly flopped down, useless. Unfortunately, this did not deter it from continuing its headlong rush. Desmond dove under his enemy, while conjuring up a giant spear. Superheating it with plasma, Desmond then proceeded to hurl it at his target's back as he passed under it. The spear sliced right through. Unfortunately, it did not stop the robot from turning around and swinging its warhammer. Desmond barely ducked the attack, but it still smashed into the wall behind him, bringing down a great section of it, almost burying him.

Emilee glanced in alarm in his direction, but Desmond only yelled, "I'm fine! I'm fine! Keep fighting!"

Emilee nodded and opened up with her handgun, hitting her target in a couple of vital spots. Suddenly, the machine jerked, and looked like it was about to topple over. However, instead of doing so, it fired a thick stream of extremely hot steam in a powerful jet aimed directly for Emilee's head. By some miracle, Emilee managed to scramble out of the way. As she did that, she quickly fired off a bullet straight through the hole in the machine that was releasing the jet of steam. It was a brilliant idea, and it paid off. The metallic monster abruptly stopped firing the steam attack, and collapsed. The bullet had struck a vital component. Emilee was about to twirl her gun in the air when Desmond shouted, "Emilee! Look out!"

Emilee turned just in time to see the battleaxe of the last surviving monster swing down on her. She barely managed to dodge the attack, but the explosion of masonry and stone shards from the contact point of the axe with the stone ground sent her flying backwards. The metal being then turned slowly and began to lumber towards the fallen Emilee, almost complacently.

However, at this point, Desmond erupted from the debris that buried him and sprinted towards his girlfriend. As he did so, he conjured up a giant double-handed sword. Charging it with dense lightning, Desmond then leapt high in the air and landed on the shoulders of the last metal monster. With a yell, he drove the blade into the skull of his target, splitting the head in half, and sending billions of joules worth power streaming through the metallic frame. The thing practically exploded in a blinding flash of plasma and fire. Desmond jumped off just in time as the metal monster was consumed in flames and toppled over.

"Are you okay?" Desmond asked anxiously as he helped Emilee to her feet and hugging her tightly.

"Yeah, just a little shaken up," she murmured. Suddenly she exclaimed, "Wow! It's incredible!"

Desmond let Emilee go and asked, "What?"

Emilee pointed to where Desmond had been buried in rubble. Apparently the wall the one metal creature had brought down on Desmond had been hiding a secret hallway.

"That is exactly where the Great Mask of Detection is telling me to go!" she explained excitedly.

Desmond smiled. "Awesome! Let's go!"

With that, the two quickly sprinted across the hall and into the secret passageway. Emilee began to navigate the twists and turns of the path as if she had done the same thing a thousand times before. All of a sudden, the narrow passageway widened into another circular hallway. It was a whole lot bigger than the one they had been in previously, and in the center was a small raised platform. A stone table, basically. In the center of that table was a small cube of glass. Within that cube was a globule of some strange solid-gas-liquid that was glowing an eerie purple. It was the Imagination Energy source.

Desmond smiled triumphantly and hugged and kissed Emilee. "We did it!" he exclaimed, letting out a huge sigh of relief.

"We sure did!" replied Emilee happily.

"Oh my God, you did!" echoed another voice, dripping with sarcasm, hate, and sadistic joy.

Both Desmond and Emilee stiffened and turned around slowly. The voice belonged to Pictor.

"Fancy that," snorted Pictor as he strolled purposefully into the chamber, "You led me right to my missing Imagination Energy cube! I thank you for that, my friends."

Desmond then realized that this was Pictor, the monstrous serial killer that Alyss had talked a bit about.

"Stay away from us," he said slowly. Pictor just grinned and turned around to signal someone behind him. In the split second that he did that, Desmond grabbed the small cube of Imagination Energy and stuffed it in his back pocket. In the same instance, he conjured up an exact (yet totally fake) replica using his molecular constitution powers. He then placed the fake cube in the exact spot the real one had been in not a second before. Pictor then turned around again and took a step to the side. A troop of Phasetroopers marched in and blocked the entrance. They then aimed their guns straight at Desmond's and Emilee's chests.

"I would love to stay and chat," said Pictor gleefully, greatly anticipating watching the bodies of Desmond and Emilee fly across the room while being torn apart by energy blasts, "But I really have things to do."

Emilee smiled. "So do I."

There was a pause as Pictor stared blankly at her, his right hand in the air as he prepared to signal his troops to fire. Then Emilee said, "Sorry that I couldn't think of a better comeback, but I am under pressure. However, actions speak louder than words, so hopefully this will help get my point across."

Emilee then suddenly whipped up her handgun and fired. By pure skill, pure luck, or a combination of both, the bullet from the gun flew straight into the charge core of the singularity grenade launcher of the Phasetrooper in the middle of the trooper group. The core exploded and then imploded at the exact same time. Physics and Molecular Chemisty went momentarily haywire as the blast of pure power enveloped the Phasetroopers and Pictor. However, as the energy blast cleared, Pictor was still standing, minus his entire troop of Phasetroopers, of course. Emilee had killed the entire team of hostile Phasetroopers with one shot.

Pictor actually looked stunned. Then he pointed a finger at Emilee and said, "That was pretty badass."

Emilee smiled and put an arm around Desmond. "You would be surprised what the power of love can do."

Pictor shrugged. "Can love block this?" He then released a beam of pure power... and it struck Emilee straight in the chest.

She flew across the hall as the beam exploded and blew her body open. She was dead before she even smashed against the wall on the opposite side of the chamber.

Desmond… screamed…

Stumbling, he scrambled towards the dead body of his girlfriend as Pictor laughed sadistically.

"Emilee? Emilee!" yelled Desmond as he grabbed Emilee's shoulders and shook her. Her head lolled to one side, and her eyes stared off into the distance, unseeing and unblinking. She was dead.

Desmond wanted to deny it, to think of a rational explanation as to why she could not be truly dead, but there was no way around it. His loved one had finally met her end. He was about to slip into pure oblivion when the voice of Pictor interrupted his slip from reality.

"Did you see that?" the sadistic Dimensional Lord exclaimed, "She flew across the room like a flying squirrel! I can tell you, I have never seen something so funny! That was the best death yet! I will have to remember this one."

Desmond's mind snapped. Emilee had died at the hand of this monster, and he would pay. Oh, he would suffer a million times more than anyone had ever suffered before. He would make Pictor beg for a quick death before he gave it to him. Desmond would slowly drag the life from this hated monster until Emilee's memory had been avenged. Pictor would pay… he would pay…

Shaking with rage and grief, Desmond slowly stood up and turned around. Pictor was just in the process of smashing the replica of the Imagination Energy source (which he believed was the real one) when he noticed that Desmond was back on his feet.

Sprinkling the dust of the destroyed Imagination Energy container copy as if it was confetti, Pictor commented dryly, "Look what we have here: an angry weakling here to take his revenge. What are you going to do? Poke me with a sharp stick?"

Desmond went nova. The massive release of explosive energy ripped from Desmond's body and tore through the Dwemer ruin, turning everything within a ten kilometer radius into pure nothing. The molecules constituting every piece of matter in the blast radius simply drifted apart due to the explosion of power.

Sadly, as the dust cleared, Pictor was still there, with an energy shield shimmering around him.

"So… predictable," sighed Pictor dramatically, "You know, you really need to think of a different opening line. I mean… that one I could see coming from a mile away…"

It was obvious that the death of Emilee had put Pictor in his element.

Desmond was not deterred. Though the nova blast had greatly drained the energy from his body, he was not even close to giving up. Now shaking with exhaustion, along with grief and rage, Desmond extended a hand and conjured up sword. However, unlike the quick melee weapons he usually conjured up at a seconds notice, this sword was practically the definition lethal. The sword that slowly came into being now was beyond deadly, constructed out of the strongest materials known to Dimensional Travelers, and charged with a mix of dark matter, light energy, shadow energy, and pure power. This was a true weapon. This was THE weapon.

Pictor eyed the thing that was now in Desmond's hand with an air of interest. "Oooooh… what do we have here? You know what? I accept your challenge, mewling child. I will play your little game."

With that, Pictor conjured up his own sword, and held it in front of him in a ready stance. There was a deathly quiet as the two stood facing each other, in a massive crater full of ash and soot. The only thing is sight was dust, ash, Pictor and Desmond, and the dead body of Emilee.

Then, with a yell, Desmond rushed Pictor and began to attack. Hacks, slashes, and cuts rained down on Pictor with blurring speed as Desmond used his grief and fury to fuel his attacks. Pictor, however, was completely ready. With an elegance that resembled pure nonchalance, Pictor deflected each attack. Then, with a quick flick of his wrist, he disarmed Desmond. Then Pictor smashed the butt of his sword into Desmond's stomach, sending him flying high into the air.

Incredibly, Desmond recovered, and he landed on his feet. Ducking a blurring cut from Pictor, Desmond dove for his sword and seized it. However, as he got up, he found himself now under attack from Pictor.

Pictor's attacks, unfortunately, were not as sloppy as Desmond's. They were calculated, calm, and precise. Each was designed to set Desmond off balance, and suddenly Desmond found his feet slipping from underneath him. With another quick flick, Pictor tripped Desmond and disarmed him again. Desmond fell heavily. Pictor then drew pack his sword and drove it towards Desmond's heart. By some miracle, Desmond rolled out of the way in the nick of time. The blade only nipped the side of his arm. Desmond scrambled to his feet once more and dove for his sword. Whirling, Desmond raised the weapon high above his head and rushed again. Then the fight began in earnest. Now more familiar with Pictor's fightning style, Desmond was able to keep himself from being totally humiliated again. Sadly, it was obvious to both of them that Pictor was still just toying with his prey.

"After this is over, I think I'll skin you both," commented Pictor airily as he parried, struck, dodged, and then thrust before doubling back to perform a cutting sweep, "After that, I will make you into rugs. Don't worry, I will put your rugs next to each other, so you will always be together. That's what you wanted right?"

Desmond grit his teeth as he pressed his attack. Pictor barely ducked a sweep. Straightening up once more, Pictor laughed, "Don't be so touchy! I've only separated you two momentarily! You'll be together again soon!"

With that, Pictor tripped Desmond and threw him down. Now Desmond lay on the ground, breathing heavily. Pictor chuckled harshly in triumph.

"If it makes you feel any better," he said, "This was never any effort. What can I say? I like playing with my food."

Desmond looked up at Pictor, hate dancing in his eyes. "I will avenge Emilee. I will avenge her."

Pictor shook his head dramatically. "What is with revenge, anyway? It only leads to mistakes, and by the time you get your anger under control, you no longer feel the need for revenge. Revenge really just gets in the way if you ask me, I should know. But it doesn't matter… You're dead."

Pictor reared back his sword, and prepared to decapitate Desmond. Then Desmond struck.

Putting every ounce of strength into this final attack, Desmond swung his sword with blurring speed. The sharpened endge of his powerful blade slammed into Pictor's left arm. The sword cut through some of the Dimensional Lord's armor, but failed to sever the arm. In fact, it barely even made it through the protective plating. However, as Desmond fell over and passed out, and the sword was wrenched out of Pictor's armor, a small trickle of Dimensional Lord blood dribbled from the wound. The cut was not very big, but Pictor had been marked.

Pictor was in shock. No one… NO ONE had ever drawn blood from him in combat before besides Doxia. This was something new, this was something strange. As if he was in a trance, Pictor slowly reached up with his right hand and dabbed at the wound. It was not too bad, but he had been hurt. He had been hurt by a weak little Dimensional Traveler.

Pictor suddenly felt something he had never felt before: Awe. Pictor dissolved his sword into thin air and then inspected the face of Desmond as he thought up all the things he could do to him. However, only one option was really predominate in his mind: let him live.

"Yes… this one deserves it…" muttered Pictor, "I think I will let him survive a little longer…"

With that, Pictor hoisted the unconscious body of Desmond and draped him across his shoulders. He then glanced over where the dead body of Emilee lay. After a moment of fighting with himself, he snapped his fingers, and a hole besides Emilee opened up. Emilee's body rolled into the fresh grave, and it closed upon her. Then, a single, blood-red rose grew out of the ground at an accelerated rate where the ground had covered Emilee's body.

Pictor blinked. Had he really just buried an enemy? He had never done that before. In fact, one time he had killed an entire orphanage, and he had simply laid their bodies out for the birds to devour. Why had this been different? He shook his head. This Desmond person had hurt him… and therefore warranted respect, no matter how little. Desmond had earned it, and the Pictor was going to respect him in this way.

Pictor then turned and opened a portal back to the My Little Pony dimension.

Taking a deep breath, Pictor stepped through with Desmond on his back and closed the portal behind him. Little did Pictor know, he was bringing the true Imagination Energy source with him.

The portal closed with a pop, leaving behind a massive blackened crater. For miles there was nothing but black rock and ash… save for a single red rose, which marked the place of the fallen. The final resting place of Emilee Walter, the best friend and love of Desmond Butler.

Note: I actually don't have much else to say other than that this chapter was rather tragic. What will become of Desmond now? Find out tomorrow! By the way, don't forget to leave a review! Thanks!