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// 5 - The Second Introductions 
// Story: The Dragonborn's Magical Adventure in Equestria 
// by blackjack 
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Chapter Five
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Luna and I had been talking since I gathered up and donned my gear from the hospital store rooms nearly twenty minutes ago. She had filled me in on everything I’d missed while passed out.

Apparently the town I was in was called Ponyville, for lack of a more creative name I suppose, and it was populated by little more than a few hundred ponies. Most of them were without horns or wings, and supposedly lived primarily off farming.

When the daedra moved in, they were hardly prepared to fight them off; most of them probably hadn’t even been in a fight before. Even the purple unicorn that was healing the resistance was working on spells she had hardly ever used- a fact which told me of her great mastery over magic.

Despite the purple unicorn’s prowess, Luna stressed over how I’d saved the town with my arrival, how even with her spells they wouldn’t have lasted long enough for the military to arrive. I wasn’t sure I believed her, Twilight Sparkle-the purple pony-hardly seemed to be breaking a sweat, and the other ponies near her; the pink one and the rainbow haired one, were doing just fine on their own. Luna shook these statements off, claiming that even together they would never have been able to defeat the Valkynaz. 

I was inclined to believe her, even I nearly died in that fight-hell to be honest I did. The dremora was inhumanly fast and strong, and it shook off pain with nary a grimace. Fighting the thing was terrifying, I had no way of predicting its moves, and I could hardly block most of them, let alone dodge any. The move I used to finish it was more trickery than skill, if I hadn’t done so it would have won, easily.

The creature’s power struck me as odd, I’d fought many dremora before, conjurers have a love for summoning them in combat, but that one was different. It was faster, stronger, more agile, more endurable, and more brutal than any other Valkynaz I had seen before, and most of Mehrunes’ bodyguards were tough enough as it is. 

Luna seemed enthralled as I told her this. She listened with keen detail, interrupting once or twice as we walked to ask a question, but otherwise she was rather silent. At least until I finished telling her of them, then there were many questions, but their points generally ended up at, “What are those things?” and “why did they attack Ponyville?” I could only give her a simplified version, that they were beings from another dimension or world, like me. She asked me once if it was my dimension. I answered that with a shake of my head and by saying, “There are numerous realms of Oblivion; khajiit is from Nirn, these dremora are not.”

When she asked what I had done towards the end of the fight, when I shouted at the general and threw him off balance, I simply said, “Do’Jzir has the power of the voice, an ability of each Dragonborn has.” She made a noise that sounded like “hmm” and went silent.

After a few moments, she turned towards me and asked, “Do’Jzir, thou hast mentioned something called a Dragonborn numerous times, pray tell, what is that?”

I raised a hand to my brow, bending over to run my fingers along the ground near a building; the once brown dirt was now painted black with ash. “A Dragonborn is-” I stopped to think about my answer, “This is a long story, princess of the moon, are you sure you would like to hear it, khajiit could tell you of other more important things.”

Luna raised a hoof into the air in protest, “We hath the time, it is the middle of the night, and Tia could use the extra rest, after all.”

I furrowed my brow as I wondered just how it was already night, despite only having been asleep for a few hours. “Luna, when Do’Jzir passed out, it was still morning. Could you explain just how it appears to already be midnight?"

Luna chuckled half-heartedly before going silent, “Celestia used up almost all her energy in the fight, so much so that she could nary hold the sun up all day. I lowered it and brought the moon up early so she could get the rest she needs.”

“Interesting, khajiit would think the princess of the sun would heal in daylight, but it appears to be the other way around.” I said while stroking my chin with my right hand.

“Indeed,” Luna agreed, “But thou art avoiding mine question, just what is a Dragonborn Do’Jzir, I am truly curious.”

I stood back up and ran a hand along the hilt of Dragonbane, “If you please.” I turned and leaned against a nearby wall of a burnt out building before speaking.

“Khajiit’s world is old, very old, and yet as old as it is, dragons are older. Back when the species of the world were just starting out, the dragons already populated much of the land. When they found us, they immediately took control, and ruled over the world’s people with sheer might and cruelty. 

Over the years, the people tried many times to free themselves from the dragons’ rein, but each time ended in failure. Eventually, they placed their trust in the gods, and prayed to them for a way to free themselves.

And the gods answered with the dragonborn, people born not with the soul of a man, but with that of a dragon. They gained the power of the voice, the ability to use all of the dragons’ abilities and magical powers.” Luna’s eye widened as she heard this. “With this, they rose up against the tyrants, shouting them out of the sky in a furious battle. When it became clear that they wouldn’t win with force alone three people gathered together and issued a challenge to the leader of the dragons, a huge black monster named Alduin. They set about the daunting task of slaying him.

But even with the combined strength of the world’s three finest warriors they couldn’t defeat the ancient dragon. When this became clear the surviving Dragonborn called upon the power of an Elder Scroll, a figment of creation itself, to cast Alduin away upon the stretches of time, banishing him from the face of Tamriel.”

The princess of the moon stirred uncomfortably as she heard that detail. “I have heard of similar things before…” her tone changed to that of sorrow for but a moment, but changed back as she said, “Do continue.”

“Not long after the people managed to slay almost every living dragon, ending the war, but at the cost of an entire species. This was thousands of years ago, and since then, almost every Dragonborn has died. We thought them to be permanently gone, but when Alduin himself reappeared with the threat to end the world in a blaze of fire, one more was born.” I pushed off the wall and gestured at myself, “That one Dragonborn is Do’Jzir- me.”

Luna’s eyes were wide open; she looked as if she was expecting more, “But Do’Jzir, what happened to Alduin? He couldn’t have possibly succeeded.” She said while lowering a hoof to the ground in a stomp.

“No, he didn’t, but that is a tale for another time, Do’Jzir does however believe that the princess and the others are waiting for us, so shall we hurry this up?” I gestured toward the treehouse in the distance, right next to the still open but dormant Oblivion gate. I could see many ponies surrounding it; several of the unicorns were occasionally casting spells at it. 

“Khajiit awaits this meeting eagerly.” 

Luna sighed for a moment, then turned and walked off towards the building, passing me as she did so, “Such a shame, thou art a fascinating individual Do’Jzir, if I might say.”

I chuckled as I jogged after her, “We have been told this before.”

----

I could hear voices from the inside of the house as I approached it, “Twilight, I know you want to fix this, but you must get get some sleep! Those bags under your eyes are practically black! How long has it been since you last slept?” said a female voice that sounded rather over-dramatic to me.

“Rarity, I have to double check my calculations, I can’t have more of these things just popping up all over Equestria! Besides, you hardly look any better, were you up late again working on another dre-” A voice I recognised a Twilight Sparkle replied before being cut off.

“Twilight dearest, you have to get some sleep. These equations will be here in the morning.” The pony apparently named Rarity told Twilight, this was accompanied with the sound of hoofsteps across the floor.

“But Rarity I-” Twilight sighed, a sound which turned into a yawn halfway, “If I don’t get these done then I won’t be able to predict when another gate opens.”

“Twilight, dearest, we don’t even know if another will open, and either way, you’re helping nopony without proper rest.”
I heard another yawn, it was distinctive, obviously form Twilight. “Rarity, you just don’t understand...” Another yawn, this one deeper, “I just have to get them done…” I heard the sound of a body hitting the floor.

“Twilight? Twilight are you all right?” I heard the sound of more hoofsteps. “Hmm, poor mare, tuckered yourself out didn’t you, well just let me get you upstairs dear, I do think your bed will be more comfortable than the floor.” A sparkling sound came from the room, and then a series of hoofsteps went upwards, followed by a door opening and closing.

“Well,” I said with a sigh, having overheard the whole conversation through a window, “There goes the plan to tell them tonight.”

Luna chuckled lightly, “Wilt thou blame them? Twilight hath been up for days, I think she deserves a rest.”

I rotated my shoulder as I peeked in through a window, “She lives in a library?” Luna nodded, “Hmm, must be rather dedicated. So tell us moon princess, what is it we do for tonight then?”

Luna looked me over, “It depends, if thou shalt sleep thy can probably introduce thineself briefly, I’m sure there is some room in there for thee.”

Somehow, I couldn’t deny the fact that I was still incredibly tired despite having just woken up from a quarter day nap. I didn’t want to bother anyone however, so I tried to stop Luna from interrupting the ponies’ well-needed rest.

“No, Do’Jzir wouldn’t want to invade upon their hospitality.” I told her right before I yawned, which made me take a step backwards and lean against a wall, “Khajiit would prefer not to be a burden.” 

Luna shook off my protest as if she could tell how tired I was despite my best efforts concealing it, “No, I think with these circumstances they shan’t mind.” She turned away from me and knocked on the door before I could say another word. Moments later, it opened, and a small lizard like creature stood in the doorway.

“Yes?” The lizard asked while rubbing sleep out of his eyes right before he realized who he was talking to, “Oh! Princess Luna, what are you doing-” He stopped speaking as he spotted me standing next to her, fully armored with two blades and a dragon priest mask hooked onto my side. The lizard’s mouth fell open as he stared, transfixed, at me.

“Spike, I would like to introduce to thee Do’Jzir, of Skyrim.” She gestured towards me with a hoof, “And Do’Jzir, meet 
Spike, baby dragon and Twilight Sparkle’s assistant.”

Twilight Sparkle had a dragon... as an assistant! My mind flooded with countless objections about just how much of a bad idea that was. Dragons don’t make good friends, aside from Paarthurnax and Odahviing, every dragon I’ve met has tried to kill me. I may be biased by distrusting them, but I can’t help it. Despite having a dragon soul myself, I find myself uneasy around almost every dragon I see. Even the ones that I merely glance at flying in the sky make me reach for Dragonbane’s hilt. 

So when the little dragon named Spike held out a hand to greet me, I found it rather difficult to keep myself from drawing both my blades. I resisted the urge though, and bent down to shake the creature’s claws a second later.

“Hey, nice swords!” The dragon exclaimed before he walked forward to look at Oathblade, strapped around my waist, “Where did you get them?” 

I stood up and stretched out my back before responding, “Do’Jzir got them from a friend.”

Spike furrowed his brow, a task I thought impossible to do without eyebrows, “Doe’Jez-what?” The little dragon attempted to say, but he found it difficult to pronounce my name with his accent.

“Do’Jzir.” Luna corrected, “He speakest as if he was a third pony, but other than that he’s rather normal, truly.” Yes, because a katana wielding bipedal cat in armor made from the scales of dragons was normal. 

“Oh, okay.” Spike opened the library door wide and the three of us walked inside, “Twilight’s upstairs with the rest of the girls, Celestia is with them. Oh, and Shining Armor is here too, he wouldn’t let Celestia put him anywhere else.” Spike stopped walking and turned around to look at us, “That’s what you wanted to know, right?”

Luna chuckled before responding, “Yes, thank you Spike.” With a nod the baby dragon turned and wobbled off on his stubby legs.

“Khajiit wishes you told him.” I whispered to Luna once Spike had entered a different room and was out of earshot, “that Spike is a dragon.”

“Yes,” Luna responded as she ran a hoof through her strangely fluent hair, “But it all turned out, well did it not?”
I sighed as I looked towards the stairwell nearby, “Do’Jzir supposes, but still wishes he knew. It is a rare occurrence to meet another of the Dovah; he gets rather nervous around them.”

Luna looked at me with a face of confusion, “Pardon me, but what is a Dovah exactly?”

I chuckled, “Apologies. Dovah is dragon tongue for dragon. Khajiit admits, he doesn’t speak much of it, but he knows enough to understand basic speech.” Luna made a ‘hmm’ noise when she heard this, but before she could speak, “I pointed towards the staircase, “So, moon princess, how will we do this? The meeting, khajiit means.”

Luna thought things over for a few moments, “How drastic is the situation, do they have to know right away?” She asked me.

I thought over the answer over. To be honest, I had no idea how severe the gate was. I’ve heard of Oblivion gates opening up in Tamriel aside from the crisis two hundred years ago, but those were small, and closed not long after. This one was somewhat large, and it had yet to close. “Khajiit does not know. He doesn’t believe it is much of a threat now, but it would be best to deal with it soon.”

The deep blue alicorn frowned, “I suppose it can wait then, as for where you can sleep…” She leaned her horn down and there was a bright light before a voice spoke up. 

“Yes Luna?” It voiced. I recognized it immediately as the sun princess from before, Celestia.

“Tia,” Luna answered while she walked forward and stood next to me, from this range I could see the tip of her horn was glowing, a telltale sign of a passive spell. “I’m in the tree house with our ‘guest’, He’s rather tired however, be there any room in the tree house for him to rest the night?” 

Not long after the light responded, “Why doesn’t he stay at the hospital, I’m sure there is room there for him, he did stay there for quite some time.” I recalled the bed in the blank room being strangely uncomfortable- not just the bed itself- but the plainness of the room. I nearly objected, but fortunately, Luna butt in before I could:
“I think he wouldst prefer to stay somewhere other than there sister.” she opined.

Celestia waited a moment to respond, “There is an extra room up here, but I think Rainbow Dash is patrolling the halls, she may wake the others if she spots him.” I thought back to the rainbow haired pony from earlier, she seemed the most likely to be named ‘Rainbow Dash".

I figured I might as well speak up, “Why should Do’Jzir care about being caught?” I asked the light, leaning against a nearby bookshelf as I did so.

“Hmm, I suppose it isn't of much importance, but try to avoid waking Twilight and the elements. They've been up nearly all day, and deserve their rest, especially Twilight and Rarity-I don’t think they've slept for days.” 

I tapped my fingers against a nearby table as the light spoke, “Very well, khajiit will try to be discreet.” 

There was a flicker form the light, “Good luck khajiit, we will speak in the morning.” The light on Luna’s horn glowed brightly for a moment, and then went out with a flash.

“Seems like, we hath formed a plan.” Luna stated as she walked up to me.

“Indeed.” I agreed with her.

----

Needless to say, I was not discreet.

I figured the best thing to do was to simply introduce myself to Rainbow Dash, explain my situation, and bid her farewell. When I told Luna of my plans, she agreed with me and followed me upstairs, staying a few meters behind me as she did so.

I wasn’t a foot into the room before I was tackled by a vaguely pony shaped object.

The force threw me off my feet, knocking me into a back wall. I slid down the wall and fell to the ground afterwards, clutching my chest and wheezing as I forced air into my suddenly deflated lungs. I was almost recovered when my attacker, who I recognised as the rainbow haired pegasus, Rainbow Dash, was on top of me, pinning me to the floor with a single hoof. 

It surprised me by how impossibly strong she was; being but half my overall size and yet still strong enough to keep me pinned. I attempted to say something, to explain to her what I was doing, but she cut me off.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?!” She interrogated me with a threatening undertone, “Why are you sneaking around so late? What are you up to?!” I was about to speak, when once again I was cut off, this time by Luna.

“Rainbow Dash, please, allow me to-” Luna tried to say, only to be drowned by the sound of a door opening behind her.
“Rainbow, you simply must keep it down, there are ponies trying to get their beauty sleep over here!” A small unicorn with a violet mane and white coat said as she stepped out of the room, only to spot the three of us, me and Rainbow Dash pinned to the ground, and Luna standing not far away. At the sight of the moon princess, the unicorn went a shade of crimson. 

“Oh pardon me Luna, I didn’t mean to disturb!” She voiced right before turning her attention to me and the colorful pegasus, “Rainbow, what are you doing?” she asked just in time to see me throw her off and pin her to the ground in a carefully practised move, holding her left foreleg halfway behind her back.

“Ack! Get off, you-!” Rainbow yelled in protest, but I didn’t listen, instinct had taken over, and logic took a back seat. I pulled her hoof upwards, and she cried out for a moment, then without warning bucked upwards and kicked me flat in the gut. I didn’t feel the blow through my armor, but the sheer force was enough to push me away from her.

Before she could attack again, both of us were surrounded by a deep purple glow, and Rainbow Dash was levitated off the floor, protesting all the while. I however merely felt a strange sensation of slowness, my arms and legs felt sluggish.
I turned to Luna, slowly, because of the spell, and saw her standing still, her horn was glowing brightly, and she was pointing it in my direction. After a few moments, she gave up trying to lift me, and instead just kept up with her current attempt.

“Halt thine quarrels!” she yelled, her voice magnified by magic, and easily loud enough to awaken everyone else in the house, “Cease fighting, thine Princess commands it!”

The purple glow subsided and Rainbow Dash fell to the ground, catching herself at the last moment with her wings and floating upwards, glaring at me all the while.

“Rainbow Dash, this is Do’Jzir.” she told the pegasus, “Do’Jzir, this is Rainbow Dash,” I looked at her, almost mesmerized by her deep pink eyes.

“Do’Jzir would like to apologise for that, he means no harm.” I said to her in an attempt to defuse the situation we were in, but she merely scoffed at me.

“You could have just said something! I coulda hurt you!” She floated close to me and gazed into my bright golden eyes, as I looked into hers, both of us wanted to say something, but neither could think up the words.

It was the white unicorn that broke the silence, “Terribly sorry to interrupt you two but…” she walked in between both of us, pushed us apart, gave me a shove to the chest, not nearly enough to move me, but it got the point across that she was upset, “I must agree with Rainbow Dash, what were you thinking!” She poked me in the chest with her hoof, as if examining my armor, “You simply cannot walk around in such ugly apparel, have you no fashion taste?”

What was she talking about? That wasn’t even related to the matter at hand. “What?” I said in disbelieve as she continued to investigate my chest plate.

“Is this bone, actual animal bone?” She gasped in disbelieve, “Who in their right mind would wear such, such…” She turned away and swayed as if suddenly dizzy.

“I simply must lie down; I can only bear to look at such hideousness for so long.” As if on cue, she collapsed on a nearby lounger, which until then I hadn’t noticed was in the room.

Looking at the white unicorn nearly crying on the lounger made me drop my jaw, I just couldn’t believe her reaction. Her friend and I were but a hairs length from killing each other but moments ago, and she was more concerned with the appearance of my armor, which might I say is also a terrible insult; I take much pride I the appearance of myself, thank you very much.

Shaking my head, I turned to Luna for answers, “Is she always like this?” I ask, more out of curiosity than anything.

“From what I have seen” Luna paused and sighed, “Yes.” She then took the small break to let me know she hadn’t met the ponies here many times before. I was about to respond to her when another door opened, and out from it came three other ponies, the lavender unicorn, who I now knew as Twilight Sparkle, an orange pony with a hat on, and tiny yellow pegasus with a yellow mane; she was hiding behind the others and doing her best to remain unseen.

Twilight took one look at Rarity, and then at Rainbow Dash, who was still glaring at in my direction; turned to Luna and in a surprised voice asked, “Princess Luna, what happened?”

Luna sighed before responding, “Rainbow Dash and Do’Jzir,” she spoke while waving a hoof in my direction; I raised an eyebrow in response, “Hath gotten off to a rough start, and Rarity is under the opinion that his armor is ugly.” So the white unicorn was named Rarity, interesting.

Twilight sighed before she looked at me, head to boot, her eyes opening in fascination, “Wow, I’ve never seen anything like you before!” She pulled out a piece of parchment, as well as a, pen and quill, seemingly from nowhere, “What species are you, where are you from, Oh, just think of what we can learn from each other!” Her sudden excitement almost scared me. Almost.

“Khajiit would appreciate it if he could be left alone for the night,” I yawned, remembering how strangely tired I was, “He thinks he could use the sleep.”

Twilight twisted her head to her side, before writing down something on her paper, “Speaks in third pony.” she dictated aloud, almost as if no one else was there, “Hmm, fascinating!”

I took a step back as the orange pony with a mark of three apples on her flank trotted towards me. I contemplated asking what those were about, but she spoke up before I could.

“Hmm, ya seem all right.” The hatted pony squinted at me before she stuck out a hoof, “Nice ta meet cha, ma name’s Applejack, sorry for how the others been treating ya.”

I smiled, this pony looked sane enough, “We thank you Applejack; this one is Do’Jzir.” I shook her hoof.

The orange pony smiled as she pulled her hoof away, “Don’t mind Twilight and Rarity none, they ain’t got much sleep in a while, so they just need some shut eye.” She looked over at Twilight, who was viciously writing down notes about me despite shaking so much from exhaustion that she could barely stand, and then to Rarity, who had actually managed to fall asleep on the lounger in the middle of her drama queen act, “Trust me on that one.”

I had to fight to supress a wild smile, “Khajiit thanks you for the advice.” The orange pony nodded her head before turning and walking back to the small group; the pegasus cowered behind her when she was close enough.

“Now, now Fluttershy,” she claimed while stepping aside so I could see her, “He ain’t gonna hurt ya.” 

The yellow pegasus, who I now knew to be Fluttershy, merely leaped back around Applejack, “Don’t mind her neither,” the pony affirmed, after rolling her eyes, “She’s just a little shy with newcomers.”

I wasn’t sure her fear would qualify as ‘shy’, but I approached her nonetheless. When I was a small distance away from her, Applejack casually stepped aside, only for a small white bunny to take her place. At first I was just going to walk by it, but then I glanced at its face. Unlike any other animal I had seen, this one’s face showed emotion, thought, and most importantly, anger. It stomped its leg impatiently, as if waiting for me to turn around and leave.

Seeing no other option, I knelt down and look the bunny straight in the eye, “Khajiit isn’t going to harm Fluttershy.” I assured while extending my hand, “You have our promise.”

The bunny took a moment to glance at Fluttershy, who at this time was cowering in fear, before it looked back at me and shook its head. 

I pulled back my hand as I thought over what to say. After a few moments, I had it, “So you’re loyal to her?” The bunny nodded its head, “Do’Jzir can respect that; you must care for her a great deal.” Another nod, “Well then, if you care for her so much can you answer this, do you think khajiit is going to harm her?”

The bunny looked backwards toward Fluttershy, then back at me. It sighed, turned, and then hopped away, much to the yellow pegasus’ amazement, her mouth opened in surprise as he hopped over toward Applejack. With my path clear, I walked towards Fluttershy, who recoiled into a ball and shut her eyes tight as I knelt next to her.

“Khajiit doesn’t want to hurt you Fluttershy,” I held out my hand, but she made no motion of accepting it, “Is there anything Do’Jzir can do to make you know this?”

Fluttershy seemed to move slightly. She slowly lifted her head off the ground and opened each eye, one at a time.
Then she nearly burst into laughter, the rest of the group looked around suspiciously, as did I, until the pegasus finally stopped long enough to form a complete sentence.

“You look just like the animals down at my cottage.” She said as she stood up, “Almost like Rarity’s cat.” 

I wasn’t sure how to respond, deep down I was rather annoyed at being compared to a household animal, but I wasn’t really angry, more confused at her sudden change of demeanor.

After a few moments of contemplation, she sat down and explained, “I love and understand all animals, and I can see it in you, you only want to do good.” Her voice was hysterically quiet and soft, almost as if it were delicate. I found myself feeling sorry for approaching her like I did earlier, I might have simply scared her more, if there was something I wanted to do, that was surely not it.

After my pointless self-monologue, I heard a sound coming from the lounger as Rarity moved in her sleep, and then Applejack was at my side, “Hoowee, Ah ain’t never seen no pony befriend Fluttershy that fast before.”

I stood back up to my full height, about two heads above the tallest pony, not counting Luna. Rolling my shoulders, I yawned aloud as I asked, “So, anyone else for khajiit to meet?” Turns out there were two answers.

One, a male unicorn, revealed himself by stepping out of the room Twilight and the others had come from, accompanied by the sun princess herself, Celestia, wearing full plate armor and carrying a sheathed sword on his back. I figured this to be a guard of some kind, and I stepped forward to meet him, only to get shot in the face by a gathering of confetti. That turned out to be the second.

The party decorations knocked me backwards as I stumbled over my feet, until I came to rest a few meters away from where I stood. Next thing I knew, there was pink everywhere.

Turns out that the pinkness was another pony, a normal wingless and hornless pony named Pinkie Pie, who appeared to be bouncing, literally bouncing-not jumping-off the floor right in front of me. 

“Oh, a khajiit, I haven’t seen one of you in soooooo long!” The pink pony said while flying up and down near me, “Ooo, I wonder where you came from, where did you come from khajiit? OH! What’s your name, that’s more impor- HUUUUH - we should throw a welcome party for you!”

I was surprised by how much the pony was saying, but not quite so much as when I realized she wasn’t speaking in any normal language.

She was speaking dragon tongue.

“Pinkie, what in tarnation did you just say?!” Applejack exclaimed confusedly while walking towards her.

I turned my head to the side, absolutely dumfounded by her ability to speak in a language even I could barely understand. “Indeed, how can you speak that? And perhaps more importantly, how do you know what a khajiit is?”

Applejack and Twilight looked at me, “You can understand her?” They both said in unison, to which I nodded, “Hmm, what does she want?”

I raised a hand to my chin, “She wants to throw a party, or at least that’s what Do’Jzir thinks. She was talking rather quickly, and he hardly understands that language to begin with.”

Before anyone else could speak, the pink pony did.

“Oh, sorry!” the pink pony apologized while she halted her constant bouncing, “I forgot to change languages, silly me.” Her sentence was accompanied by a series of giggles. What was strange was that none of them seemed forced, each one sounded completely genuine. I didn’t know much about this pony, but so far, she was creeping me out.

After I was allowed a few moments to examine the pink pony, she spoke again, this time in a language everyone understood, “Hey Twilight, can I throw a party for Do’Jzir can I-can I, can I, can I!? I mean almost everypony in town left and all but I think there are enough of us to throw a single tinsy weenie party for just one special occasion!” The pony rushed in one breath, without a single break. Twilight, who for the first time in minutes, seemed to realize that everyone else was standing in front of her, rolled up her parchment, and cleared her throat.

“I don’t think so Pinkie, this isn’t a normal day for Equestria, and I’m afraid we simply can’t throw any parties until we have dealt with the situation at hoof. Speaking of which…” She turned away from Pinkie and looked towards me, “I think I can take more notes on you later, but for now, do you have any information on what that…gate out there is?”  Twilights said, her tone becoming more serious and concerned than before.

I was about to respond when Celestia spoke up, “My little ponies, please, this visitor is our guest. We should allow him to rest; he hasn’t gotten any natural non-magic induced sleep for quite some time. I think we should show him to a room and discuss this in the morning when we are all better rested.” So magic induced sleep doesn’t make you any less tired, interesting.

The rest of the ponies agreed with Celestia without argument, all except the armored unicorn by her side, who said not a word. I recognised his gaze from the dozens of similar looks I had gotten from town guards over the years; that determined gaze they had as they scanned their surroundings for any hint of danger. Except that his eyes also carried with them the look of experience, it was almost enough to make my pre-thief instincts go crazy.

“I see you’ve spotted my brother.” Twilight remarked, suddenly appearing at my side. I leaped away from her in sudden fright before she spoke again, “He’s the Captain of the Royal Guard, here to act as personal bodyguard to Princess Celestia herself.” She sighed as she turned away, “I wish he went on a less dangerous mission, I hardly ever see him these days.”

Twilight’s sudden change in tone surprised me, “Do’Jzir wouldn’t know, he has no siblings.” Twilight perked her ears up as I spoke, “But he thinks that following what you believe in is always the best way through things.”

Twilight turned to face me, “What do you mean?”

I took a few moments to think before responding, “Your brother is the Captain of the Royal Guard, honor guard of the one of the two rulers of Equestria, khajiit would be proud to have him as a brother. He earned his rank through experience and skill. He will be fine.”

The lavender unicorn looked up at me, “You really think so?” I nodded, and Twilight looked at the ground for a few somber moments before looking up.

“Do’Jzir, do you really think we can win this? Can we really close the gate?” She asked me.

I looked to the ground and kicked it with my boot, “Khajiit is uncertain, but he does know one thing.” I knelt down to look at the unicorn face to face, “He knows that the best way to save the future is to have hope in it. Do you have hope in the future Twilight Sparkle?” 

She looked away from me for several seconds, and then looked back, “Yes.”

“Then there is no need to fear little pony.” 

I stood up as someone put a hoof on my shoulder. Looking over, I spotted Luna gesturing me towards an empty room not far from where I stood. “Come on Do’Jzir, let me show thee to thine quarters.” She pulled me gently across the floor as everyone else dispersed back to their rooms, all except for Rainbow Dash and Rarity, the former trying vainly to awaken the latter.

As I entered my room Luna shoved something into my hands. It was a small silver band with a topaz in the center; it was about the size of my fist, if slightly larger, “Here, take this. It’s enchanted to allow thee to speak with me or mine sister from any distance. It was meant to be donned upon  forelegs, so it should fit thine arm pretty well.”

I shrugged before taking off my right hand gauntlet and slipping it on over my wrist. Instantly my mind became a swirl with a variety of colors, until at last, they settled down into normal shades again.

Then I heard a voice in my head, “See, it works rather well, does it not?” Luna’s voice, obviously, but her lips weren’t moving, which meant the charm on the band was working. 

I thought up a few words to tell her, and when I focused them on her, I heard them echoing across to her, “Interesting, khajiit hasn’t seen an enchantment like this before.”

Luna thought a few words back to me, “It is working. Good. I must depart now, I hath duties I must attend to, but I wish you a good sleep Do’Jzir of Skyrim.” With that Luna turned and exited my room.

I wasted no time in settling in, removing my armor down to my clothes, I slipped into the nearby bed, this room appearing to have been a guest room of some kind, and relaxed as I entered a peaceful, natural sleep.

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Miles away from Ponyville, a figure stood atop a hill, flicking a bit up in the air with its keen and nimble fingers. “You’ve met your match Dragonborn,” the coin landed face down, and the figure laughed, “You just haven’t realized it yet.” Slipping the gold piece into its coin purse, the figure turned and headed downhill. 

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(Author's Note: Well there you have it folks, chapter 5. I hope you liked it just as much as I hope you didn't discover the dozens of plot holes that came with it. As always like/dislike if you could, and if you really liked it, please considering faving or leaving a comment. Thanks for reading.)