//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 - Dovahkriid 
// Story: Mal Keyye Ko Keizaal 
// by Dragon Dreaming 
//------------------------------//

	Outside. Ah, the sky was such a lovely sight. Much better than Dashie’s face, right now. Or Jackie’s, for that matter. The two girls had been all silent and mopey during the whole trip out of the Barrow, which had been a whole lot shorter because of a shortcut passage with secret doors and stuff that was up some stairs from the really big shrine with the funny markings on the wall.
Pinkie turned around and grinned a massive grin at her two companions, doing a little spin on the spot. “We made it girls! Of course, Pinkie knew we would, because nothing can beat this team, but we really, truly made it! And we even got that stone that your wizard friend wanted! Hey, hey pull it out, Pinkie wants to take a closer look at it!” Applejack rolled her eyes, but obliged, slinging her pack to the ground and taking the opportunity to sit, while Pinkie rummaged around in the contents to find the object of their quest.
The Dragonstone was a curious object – a sizeable slab of stone engraved with strange markings on both sides. On the one, what looked to be a map, perhaps of the province of Skyrim, with dots all over it. Pinkie frowned. She never really paid that much attention to maps, but those dots didn’t really seem to fit with any cities or towns. Oh well. The back of the stone was about as strange, carrying more of those marks that had been on the wall of the shrine down in the barrow, all lines and dots and stuff. It looked like writing, but she’d never seen the like before. Not ever.
“AJ?” Pinkie’s ear twitched, and she pretended to be engrossed in the stone before her.
“Yeah, Rainbow?” They were going to talk. She risked a peek. Neither of them were paying any attention to her, at all. Rainbow’s face was all angry, Applejack’s was all grim. Ooooh, this could be baaaad.
“Just what the hell happened back there?!” Oooh, she was shouting. Very much not good. Pinkie opened her mouth, and-
“I know, Rainbow. I’m sorry.” And promptly shut it again. “I froze up.”
“I’ll say. I still can’t believe Pinkie had to lick you to get you out of it.” Pinkie grinned. Applejack grimaced.
“Don’t remind me. Look, it’s a … story. Sit down, alright? It’ll make it easier.”
“Hmph. Fine.” Grumpy-wumpy Dashie-washie. They could all use some cheering up. Maybe a song? Or maybe a party. When they got back to Riverwood, of course, she couldn’t very well throw a party here!
“It goes back to when I was a little girl, about Apple Bloom’s age. We didn’t always live in Riverwood, see – we moved there when Gerdur did. She built her mill, we made our farm. But before that, I lived in a little town called Ivarstead, first stop on the way up that there mountain.” Both Rainbow and Pinkie looked up to where she was pointing. It was across the grassland in which Whiterun sat, a great spire of earth and rock that stretched up into the clouds themselves, so high, in fact, that its peak could not be seen. “It’s called the Throat of the World, and near the top there’s this temple of sorts, that people make trips to every so often, so we got a fair bit o’ traffic through there. And with those travelers came stories, and an awful lot of ‘em were about treasure in tombs and barrows.”
She paused for a moment, as if collecting her thoughts, and continued. “There’s a barrow right close to Ivarstead, so close it might as well be part of the town, really. I was always told never to go in there, because I could get trapped and they might never find me. But for, uh, reasons I’d rather not tell,” Pinkie checked, and yes, there was a blush, “I decided to go on in, once.”
Rainbow leaned forward a bit, uncrossing her arms. “And you were Bloom’s age? Man, AJ, that was stupid.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said, her tone just a bit miffed. Just a touch. “I pretty much regretted it the moment I stepped inside and saw the first corpse.”
“Wait, hold up. Let me guess. There was a boy involved, wasn’t there?”
Oooo, look at that blush! “Rainbow,” she said, through gritted teeth, “I said I didn’t want to tell, and I ain’t gonna.”
“So, yes, then.”
“Rainbow! Do you want the story or not?”
“Right, right, go ahead already.”
“Thank you. So, anyways, I went inside, and saw the bones in the walls … and the ones that still had skin. And as I went in, I kept thinkin’ about the stories about how they could get up and come after people who went stealin’ into the barrows. But none of ‘em did. I got pretty far in, like I was supposed to-“
“So it was a bet, then.”
“Rainbow.” Nice growl, AJ!
“Sorry! Go on.” Applejack sighed, and rubbed her forehead, then went on.
“So I got pretty far in, and I came up against a gate, and couldn’t go no further. So I shrugged, figured I’d done my part, and turned around to go, and there was a draugr there.”
“Wait, for real? Like, walking?”
“Uh, well, not-“
“How’d you escape? I mean those things are hard enough to take down, and you were a kid!”
“Dash!” Pinkie was glad she’d been keeping her mouth shut. AJ looked mad enough. “Would you let me finish?”
“Uh, right.”
“There was a draugr there. I panicked, and ran, down a side passage I guess, because it sure wasn’t the way back out. I came to a dead end, and when I turned around, I saw the draugr comin’ after me, and I just fainted dead away. Woke up back at home, with ma and pa lookin’ worried and relieved at the same time. Was told later that it was all a prank, that one o’ the other kids had been movin’ that corpse around like it were alive.”
Everyone was silent for a bit, Rainbow’s eyes turning thoughtful. “That’s just plain mean.” So super-duper mean. Whatever greeny meanie pants had done that needed a serious party. Oh, but that was when AJ was a kid. Maybe they’d grown out of it!
“Yeah. Yeah it was. I had nightmares for weeks. Finally got myself convinced that they just weren’t real. But then, in there …”
“They were real.” Whoops, she’d talked. Oh well. They probably knew she’d been listening.
AJ just nodded. “Yeah. And I just froze up. It ain’t no real excuse, though. I almost got us killed with my silly fears.”
“Silly Jackie, that’s not silly! You just never learned to laugh at them!”
Both of the other girls stared at her, as if she’d grown another head. “Wait, what?”
“Pinkie was a scaredy-kitten. Pinkie knows, it’s hard to believe! But Pinkie was scared of everything, even of her own shadow sometimes! Then one day Granny taught her how to laugh at the scary things, because really, when you think about them, they’re kind of funny! Like the draugr: the way they walk and how their skin is all wrinkled, and what are those girl ones thinking, wearing that armor? It’s like they’re trying to be sexy or something, and that’s just bleah!” They were still looking at her strangely, but the corners of Dash’s mouth were twitching upward.
“Granny also said this, and Pinkie always took it to heart. She said, ‘Pinkie, the scariest monster in all the world can never beat a smile. The toughest, grimmest warrior will always falter when he sees that his opponent wears a grin. So smile, Pinkie, and laugh, and nothing will ever be scarier than you.’”
She grinned at them both, and they shared another look. “That’s actually a pretty good idea there, Pinks,” Dash said.
Applejack nodded, adding, “It also explains an awful lot,” under her breath.
“Y’know, AJ, you did snap out of it at the end there, and kind of saved my life. So, no harm done, really. Just, uh, try not freeze up again?”
The Nord chuckled. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”


-oOo-

 
The Sleeping Giant was packed that night, nearly the whole town of Riverwood having gathered to toast the return of the questing trio. Applejack had tried to downplay the whole thing, but Alvor had had none of it. “We didn’t get a chance to celebrate when you returned with the guards, and now you’ve taught bandits not to steal from us! You’re going to the party, niece, and no mistake.”
So there they were, everyone enjoying themselves on food cooked by the inn’s rather gruff barman, the cost of the party largely footed by the Riverwood Trader. AJ sipped at her mead, and continued her story, eyes flicking over to Rainbow Dash every so often to ensure she wasn’t listening. It was at her expense, after all.
 “So y’know how Big Macintosh is, gets all huggy when he’s been worried, right?” Hilde nodded. “So o’ course the first thing he does when I get back is give me a big ol’ bear hug. I guess Rainbow finds this funny or somethin’, cause she starts snickering. Big Mac looks down at me, and gives me a wink, then walks over to Rainbow and offers his hand. She takes it, and then instead of givin’ her a handshake, he pulls her into a bear hug of her very own, and forces her face into his chest.”
“No!” gasped the old woman.
“Yes! So she’s strugglin’, and I think cursin’, but everything she’s sayin’ is muffled because, you know, her face in his chest. Then Pinkie,” she pointed out the Khajiit, who was busy tuning up a lute, “says, ‘Awww, that’s so sweet! Pinkie wants in!’ And she goes and hugs them both.” Hilde blinked, imagining the scene. “So Rainbow is now sandwiched between Pinkie and Big Mac, and I swear I almost died from laughin’. You should’ve seen her face when they finally let her go. It was just about as red as her hair.” Hilde was giggling, hand over her mouth, and AJ had a big goofy grin on her face. “I swear I never knew he had that kind o’ humor.”
 
Rainbow had her own captive audience, in the form of three small children. Apple Bloom, Dorthe, and Frodnar were each listening with rapt attention, the two little girls flanking the boy. “So as if bandits and poison dart traps were enough, the next thing we run into is spiders.” The girls squealed. Frodnar, of course, just grinned. “And I’m not talking about the tiny little house spiders that you can just stomp on, either. These spiders were as big as your dog, and they were angry. Of course, we were on the watch for ‘em, because of all the webs. So AJ and I pulled out our bows, and when we spotted one …”
“You shot it?” asked Apple Bloom.
“You got it, squirt. You gotta make sure to aim right for the middle of their eyes, or the arrows might not stick in right. Now, the whole time, we’re hearing this guy calling out for help, and he sounds like he’s getting really close. So we pick up the pace a little, and then we come to this wide-open room, that’s all covered in cobwebs, and on the other side of it, stuck in huge amount of webs, is a dark elf, and it turns out he’s the one who’s been shouting. So I take a step forward, when Pinkie shouts ‘Look out!’ and then a spider drops down from the ceiling. And here’s the thing. Those spiders that are the size of your dog?” The kids leaned forward, nodding. “They’re tiny compared to this thing. This spider is, like, the size of a wagon.” At this, the kids gave a collective gasp, Dorthe putting her hands over her mouth. “I’m too close to shoot at it, so I drop my bow and pull out my daggers, and charge in, and so does AJ. But that spider was tough, I don’t mind telling you. First thing it does is spit this globby ball of green nastiness right at my head!”
Apple Bloom pulled a face, Dorthe said, “Ew,” and Frodnar said, “Cool!”
“I ducked it, of course, because nothing’s faster than I am, and stabbed it, right in the leg. But like I said, it was tough, and it just knocks me away, and then slams AJ back before she can really get a good swing at it, either. Now, real quick, take a look at Pinkie, there.” The three children obliged. “Tell me what you think of her.”
Apple Bloom was the first to speak up. “She’s really nice!”
“My daddy says that cats are mostly all thieves and that you need to keep an eye on ‘em,” said Frodnar. Rainbow chuckled.
“He’s not wrong, but keep in mind that ‘mostly’ bit, kid.”
Dorthe took the longest to speak, her eyes narrowed. “She’s got muscles, kind of like Aunt AJ, and Uncle Macintosh, and my daddy.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Good eye, kid. Don’t let the whole cute and fuzzy thing fool you: that right there,” she said, pointing to the darkly colored and intricately engraved battleaxe propped on the wall behind the Khajiit, “is her weapon.” The kids ooo’ed appreciatively. “So of course, she’s the first one to do any real damage to the spider. How she got behind it, I couldn’t see, but she brought that axe down and, spack! Off  came one of its legs. You should have heard that thing screech! It whipped itself right around, and smacked Pinkie right into a wall. But I was back up, and so was AJ, and it had just opened up its back to us! So AJ goes in and takes a couple smacks at its big ol’ butt,” and the kids all giggled, “and her maces start sinking right in. Me, I figured I’ve gotta get to where I can get my daggers into a weak spot, so I jumped on top of it.”
She paused letting the kids get that image in their minds, and once their expressions were appropriately awed, she continued. “It starts bucking like a crazy horse, but I’m too good for it to shake me off, especially with AJ still wailin’ on it and generally being a huge distraction. It did manage to pitch me forward,” she said, miming herself falling forward onto its back with her hands, “but that just got me closer to its head, which is exactly what I wanted. You know what I did next?”
The kids shook their heads, eyes wide. “I stabbed it in the face. Yep, put both of my daggers right into its ugly mug. And it went completely wild. I had to jump off, it was going so crazy, and then we all just watched as it twitched itself to death.”
 
Pinkie struck a chord, and nodded, satisfied with the sound. The local bard was in a funk, because his sweetheart had given him a major tongue-lashing. Served Sven right, though, for writing that meany meany pants letter. It also meant that she, Pinkie, could do her thing! With the lute properly tuned, she strummed a quick, jaunty tune, drawing everyone’s attention. “Alright, everybody! This is supposed to be a party, and it’s not a party unless there’s dancing!”
She immediately launched into a foot-stomping tune, and before long the celebrators had a space cleared in the inn’s common room and a few couples were on the floor. Alvor and Sigrid were first among them, with Hod and Gerdur, who owned the mill, not far behind. Given the limited space, the dancers rotated, couples and individuals alike taking turns on the floor. Big Macintosh was persuaded to take the floor, and proceeded to give Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Apple Bloom, Dorthe, Camilla, and pretty much every single woman in the town a dance, before finally claiming the need to rest and setting himself down for the rest of the evening. Sven was persuaded to play a few rounds, joining Pinkie with a drum and taking over completely for a couple songs so that she could dance as well. And, of course, there was mead.
 
“AJ. AJ. AJ.” Someone was poking her. Oh, it was Rainbow.
“What?”
“You’re drunk.”
“No I’m not.”
“Yes! Yes you are. You are, like, sooooo drunk.”
“You … you take that back. Apples don’t get drunk. We hold our liquor.”
“No, like, you gotta be drunk, or that means I’m the only one who’s drunk, and that’s no fun. No fun being drunk alone.”
She considered this for a moment, eyes wandering across the night sky, not really paying attention  to much of anything. “Yeah okay, I guess I’m drunk.”
“Hooray!” Rainbow threw her arms in to the air, did a surprisingly graceful pirhouette, and fell to the ground, landing close to where Applejack was lying. “Always better to be drunk together.”
“Mmmm.”
Rainbow broke the silence a few moments later. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?”
“Oh … nothin’.”
“Pfffft.”
“What?”
“Liiiiar. Liar. As Pinkie would say, lying liar liar-pants.”
“I ain’t a liar!”
“Yes you are. You said nothin’, and I know you’re thinkin’ about somethin’. Nobody just lies down on the grass while being drunk and thinks about nothin’.”
“Well maybe I’m too drunk to think.”
“Pfffft.”
“What?”
“That only happens when you pass out. Like, lights out, puking up your guts, killer headache in the mornin’. You are not that drunk. Come oooooon, spiiiiill. I wanna know.”
“You get pushy when you’re drunk.”
“Hey, I resent that! I’m always pushy.”
AJ snickered. “Ha! Made you laugh. Okay, now you have to tell me.”
“Alright, alright! I was just thinkin’ about, well …” She fell silent, brow furrowing. She was a little drunk, she had to admit. Not as drunk as Rainbow seemed to be, but it was making her head foggy, and just a little hard to think. “I was thinkin’, about dragons.”
Rainbow shuddered. “Dragons.”
“Yeah. Like, they’re myths, right? They all died a real long time ago, and nobody’s seen one, ever, since before Talos. But now all the sudden they’re everywhere, or somethin’. Or at least there’s one who’s everywhere.”
“Big black bastard son of a-“
“So I’m wonderin’ why now. And why here. I mean, why Helgen?”
“Dunno. ‘S weird. Whole thing.”
“Though, thinkin’ ‘bout it, that dragon kinda saved your life.”
Rainbow snorted. “Yeah, I’ll make real sure to thank him for that. ‘Heeeey, Mister big, black, and ugly! Totally just wanna thank you for savin’ my life back there! It was really great how you tried to burn me alive after, too! That was tops!”
“Heh. Still, if he hadn’t shown up, then you’d be kind of headless right now.”
Rainbow groaned. “Just my luck, you’re a morbid drunk. Where’s Pinkie?”
“Right here!” They both started, looking at the source of the voice. Somewhere in their chatter, the khajiit had joined them, lying down with her face to the stars and her head towards theirs.
“Huh. Oh well, saves me trying to get up. Don’t think I can.” They all fell silent, then, each one looking skyward.
It didn’t last long. “Hey Pinkie. Pinkie. Whatcha thinkin’ about?”
“Mudcrabs.”
“What?”
“Mudcrabs? Why mudcrabs?” wondered Applejack.
“They’re like these little moving mounds of dirt and mud with claws that hide in riverbeds and jump out and pinch your feet if you get too close.”
“Uh, yeah, we know,” said Rainbow. “It’s annoying.”
“So Pinkie was wondering who came up with them. And also if they’d be good in a stew.”
“Huh.”
They fell silent again. And then, “This is nice,” said three voices in unison. They all three shared a glance, and giggled.


-oOo-


“Halt!” The three women pulled up short, staring at the guard. He narrowed his eyes at them. “I told you before. The city is closed to visitors due to the dragon attacks.”
The blonde slapped her forehead. “Oh, not this again!” the redhead groaned, and stomped up to get in his face. She had interesting eyes, he noted. Not often you saw any shade of red in eyes that weren’t elven. “Look, pal, we’re on business for the Jarl,” she said, accentuating the last three words by drawing them out. “Well, more like his wizard, but we’re expected at the palace.”
“Oh, I know,” he said. She blinked, and looked confused.
“Then what’s the problem?”
He pointed. The Khajiit’s eyes widened. “She is not on business for the Jarl, and she’s with that caravan. She can’t come in.”
They stared at him, looks of incredulity on the human’s faces, a kind of sad resignation on the Khajiit’s. The Imperial was quick to switch to anger. “What?! That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! Look, pal, she’s with us! I mean, if she hadn’t been with us we wouldn’t have even gotten back here! And now you’re gonna say that she can’t come in because she’s with the caravan? That makes no sense!”
He stared her down. He might have backed off the first time, but he was no coward. “The Khajiit are not allowed inside the walls on suspicion of trafficking in skooma. They should be grateful we allow them to camp as close as we do.”
“But she’s not with the caravan, she’s with us!”
He shook his head. “Makes no difference. You two are welcome inside. She is not.”
Rainbow turned away with a cry of frustration, stomping back over to her two friends. Of all the stupid, idiotic, straight-up freaking unbelievably unawesome things to have happen! No way was one of her friends gonna be kept out of a city just because she was a cat. There were plenty of awesome cats! Most of them fine upstanding citizens!
“Alright, so we gotta figure out a way to sneak her in,” she said the moment she was close enough to whisper and not talk. AJ looked at her askance.
“Really?”
“What, you want to just leave her out here?”
“No, sugarcube, I don’t, but it’s broad daylight and there’s not a street in there that doesn’t have a guard or seven patrolling it. She couldn’t walk with us, and that just defeats the purpose, don’t it?”
“Well we gotta do something! Maybe we could get her over the back wall?”
Whatever Applejack might have said in response was interrupted by fuzzy paws over their mouths. “Girls! It’s okay. Pinkie will be fine.” The Khajiit did not look quite like her usual cheerful self, but she was still smiling.
“You sure, sugar cube?” Pinkie winked at her.
“Oh, no, it’s fine,” she said, her voice suddenly a lot louder. “Pinkie will be just fine,” she continued, her expression suddenly entirely forlorn, her mane seemingly hanging just a little flatter than it usually did. “Pinkie will just wait out here. Alone. With just the cold stone for company.”
AJ and Rainbow shared a glance. This wasn’t exactly making them feel better. “Uh, Pinkie-”
“Will be fine! She said so. It’ll be dark and cold and she’ll be all alone,” she said, eyes staring directly at the guard, “but Pinkie is used to that. You girls go on ahead.” She turned them both around and pushed them toward the door. They both opened their mouths to protest. “No! You go. Pinkie will stay!”
With words and glares, she coaxed them through the gate, and waited for it to close. The moment it had, her determined expression deflated back into a sad one, and she turned away, shoulders slumped. The guard shifted uncomfortably, then did a double-take. She had produced a rolled up mat from her pack, and was laying it out on the ground, not three paces away from his post. 
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting, of course!”
“Here?”
She looked up at him, eyes almost impossibly wide, and glistening. “You mean,” she started, voice quivering, “you mean that Pinkie can’t wait for her friends?”
He blinked, mind suddenly derailed. Somehow, the sight of this particular cat looking so dejected was almost the saddest thing he’d seen. “No! No, there’s fine. Just … fine.”
“Oh.” Well, she didn’t look like she was going to cry anymore, at least, which was an improvement. Only now she had a lute in hand, and looked to be gearing up to sing. He braced himself.
“Alone again,” she sang, voice quavering, her lute giving a soulful twang. “Alone again, once again I’m on my own.” He winced, and reached for his helmet, hoping that it might muffle the heart-wrenching sound. “Alone again, alone again, once again my friends have flown.” It did not.
“My own again, my own again, once again my fate is mine.” Well that sounded better. But every eye was on him, still, and though he couldn’t see the expressions of his fellow guards, he could imagine them. “My own again, my own again, once again for friends I pine.” Oh gods.
“Enough!” he nearly shouted, and she immediately stopped strumming, looking up at him with impossibly wide and glistening eyes. “Look, just go on in already.” And she was hugging him. Wonderful. This would be the talk of the barracks for weeks. “I said go in, cat, so go, before I arrest you for assault.”
“Okey dokey lokie!”

“Okay, stop.” Applejack halted in her tracks, turning around to face her companion. They stood there silent, just looking at each other, until finally, “We can’t just leave her there.”
Applejack sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I don’t like it any more than you do, Rainbow, but I don’t see what we can do. The best chance is probably to petition the Jarl. He seems a reasonable sort, he’d probably make an exception.”
Rainbow crossed her arms. “You saw how broken up she was.”
“Rainbow, this is Pinkie we’re talking about. When have you seen her actually, truly sad about anything?”
“Well it’s not like we’ve known her all that long. And also that’s exactly the problem! This is the first time she’s actually looked sad, and I think she might actually be sad, and we can’t leave her there.” Rainbow punctuated the end of her statement by poking AJ in the chest, ignoring that her iron breastplate meant she couldn’t actually feel it. “Cats are a little screwy to begin with, and Pinkie’s on a whole different level. Who knows what she’ll do?”
Applejack sighed, and moved over to the side of the road, looking up towards Dragonsreach. It was a good point, and honestly, leaving the Khajiit alone outside the gate was just about tearing her up - given the number of times Pinkie had saved her life, this only made sense. Plus, she mad a very good traveling companion. “How about this: I’ll go on up and plead the case, so she can enter the city. Hopefully. You go and keep her company. Fair?”
Rainbow considered for a moment. “Fair.”
“What’s fair?”
Both women turned around quickly, Rainbow’s jaw going slack. “Pinkie?” said Applejack, incredulous. “What … how did you get in?”
The cat smiled, her eyes almost closing with the sheer size of her grin. “Oh, Pinkie sang a song!”
“A song,” AJ deadpanned. “The guard let you in for a song.”
“Not for a song, because of a song. It was a very sad song,” she replied, nodding enthusiastically.
AJ and Rainbow shared a glance. They’d been doing that a lot since Pinkie joined them. “You know what,” said Rainbow, “I’m okay with this. To the palace!”
“To the palace!”


-oOo-




Dragonsreach was in a panic; or rather, an organized chaos. The hall’s long tables had been cleared of their usual array of dishes of goblets, replaced by a series of maps. Guards and guard captains gathered around the maps, the captains doing most of the talking, the guards mostly nodding their heads at appropriate times. The reining expressions were those of worry and grim determination.
The returning Barrow delvers looked around them, bemused by the activity. Pinkie was the first to speak. “Do you think they’re planning a party?”
“Looks more like they’re planning for war,” Applejack replied, scanning the crowd for anyone she knew. “I wonder what happened? The city outside looked normal.”
Rainbow shook her head. “We won’t find anything out just standing here. Come on, let’s go see Farengar and give him his stone.”
The wizard’s office, however, proved empty. Rainbow threw her hands in frustration. “Oh, for the love of Talos! Look at this! I mean, there’s not even a note!”
“You are looking for Farengar?” All three women turned around at the same time, and the speaker took a startled step backwards, her hand reaching up and tugging at the cowl she wore, to better obscure her face. Applejack narrowed her eyes, instantly suspicious.
“Yes. We have business with him. Who are you?” The other woman hesitated, and Pinkie took a step forward and stuck her face almost directly into the cowl. The woman took a startled step back, and Pinkie followed, ears twitching. For just a short, short moment everything was still.
Then Pinkie giggled, and stepped back. “You smell good! Like pine needles!”
The cowled woman was silent, her mouth hanging slightly open. Applejack and Rainbow glanced at each other, and Rainbow shrugged. The Nord rolled her eyes, and stepped forward, extending a hand. “Sorry about that. Pinkie’s a touch odd, but she’s good people. Don’t mind her.”
The woman shut her mouth, and took the proffered hand, shaking it firmly. “I’m an associate of Farengar’s, and I suspect you’re the folks he sent to retrieve the Dragonstone I informed him of.” Her voice was deeper, suddenly, and raspy, as if she’d gone hoarse. Applejack’s suspicious instincts twitched again.
“Aye, that we are. We’ve come to deliver it. Where is the wizard, anyway?”
The woman pointed to the stairs that led to the upper parts of the palace. “In conference with the Jarl.” She was silent for a moment, head moving slightly. “Actually, you could likely be of use to them. Come, I will take you there.” She turned on her heel, and started walking. The others followed.

The top of the stairs opened into a vaulted room, clearly another hall. The space had been converted into a war room, and the Jarl, his housecarl, and his wizard were all gathered around a table, discussing something in tempered voices. Irileth, ever alert, was the first to see them, and called the others attention to the approaching group. Farengar stepped forward, his expression eager. “You return! Do you have the dragonstone?”
“Yes,” Applejack said, presenting the pelt-wrapped stone to him. “It turns out the legends of the draugr are true, by the way. It wasn’t easy to get.”
The wizard raised an eyebrow, taking the stone and unwrapping it. “Fascinating. It looks like a map, of some sort … and writing! In the dragon language!”
“The what now?” Rainbow asked, brow furrowing.
“The dragon tongue! This is, truly, a wondrous find!” Farengar looked ecstatic, already tracing the lines of the writing. “I had only hoped it actually existed.” Irileth cleared her throat, pointedly, and the wizard jumped. “Oh, but I forget myself. I will have to work on this later. There is an actual dragon to deal with!”
“Say what? Where?” Applejack asked, worry rising up within her.
“The western watchtower,” the Jarl said, motioning for them to come closer. “One of the posted guards returned here not long before you. It had not attacked when he left, but now …” he trailed off, eyes on Rainbow Dash. “You have already done much for us, and I would reward you. But this is a crisis we face. Farengar’s knowledge of dragons comes from books and lore; yours, my dear, comes from an actual encounter.” Rainbow shuddered, the images of Helgen rising unbidden in her mind. “You, better than any of us, know the true danger of a dragon. You would be doing us a great, great service if you went with those who go to face the beast.”
Rainbow stared, her mind reeling. Face a dragon. Willingly. Go up against and try to kill the unkillable. Oh no. No no no no no-
There was a hand on her shoulder. She looked over, and found herself looking into Applejack’s eyes. They were very green, she noticed. “I’m with you. So’s Pinkie. Right?” The Khajiit nodded her head vigorously, her face sporting a grin. “If we could actually fight it, then … that’d give a lot of people a whole lot of hope.”
Rainbow blinked. Crap. This was just like the meeting in Riverwood. As much as she did not want to do this, she couldn’t say no. Not now. Slowly, a frown on her face, she nodded. “Yeah. Alright. But you’re sending your best, right?” she said to the Jarl, her tone aggressive.
“Of course he is,” Irileth retorted. “I will be personally leading the force. Farengar, you stay here,” she ordered, raising a hand to cut the wizard’s objections off. “If we should fail, your knowledge will become doubly critical. You three - make your preparations and be at the gate within the hour. We must make haste.” Her orders given, the dark elf left, striding purposefully down the stairs.
“I have not forgotten what you have already done for Whiterun,” the Jarl said, “and I always reward good service. Divines willing, should we survive this crisis, you will be honored.”
Applejack bowed, and the other two took their cue from her.


-oOo-


The tramp of boots upon stone came to a sudden and abrupt halt. At the head of the column of yellow-garbed soldiers, Irileth, attired in her usual plain leathers, her only concession to Skyrim’s chill a cloak about her shoulders, had held up a hand to signal a stop. Wordlessly, she gestured to the three who walked beside her, and they moved to a nearby vantage point.
The view was a grim one. The tower was broken, the stone bridge that led inside lying, ruined, some feet away from where it should have been. Smoke poured from the gaping hole in its side, and joining the cast-offs of the fires that burned around the tower’s base. Scorch marks littered both ground and stone, and there was nary a soul to be seen. Rainbow shuddered, tugging at the fur lining of her bracers. So much like Helgen.
“No sign of the dragon,” Irileth said, eyes sweeping the skies. “It might be gone … but keep your eyes open. Skjol, Hlar!” she barked, the two guards she named stepping forward. “You’re with me. The rest of you, fan out! Look for any signs of survivors! You three, check around the tower base.” Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie nodded, and the housecarl’s orders were followed.
Rainbow stood before the broken remnants of the watchtower’s bridge. The half still semi-attached to the tower itself provided its own makeshift ramp up to the tower’s entrance, and she took a tentative step onto the stone. “Hey! Anyone alive in there?”
A helmeted head poked out from the doorway, eyes wide. The tower guard’s face was near covered in soot, but he seemed unharmed. Rainbow grinned, and took another step. “No!” he cried, and she stopped, confused. “Go  back! Get out of here! The dragon’s not gone!”
She blanched. “What?”
“Hroki and Tor just got grabbed when they tried to make a run for it! Get out of here, before it returns!”
From behind her came a bellow, carried on the chill north wind - a strange, alien cry. All of a sudden, she was back in Helgen, staring into the eyes of a great, black beast, while the fires raged around her. It opened its mouth, and she screamed.
Instinct put her feet in motion, and led her to cover, underneath the broken bridge in front of her. A peculiar whine filled the air, followed by a dull roar, and a sudden thump, just above her. The stone around her jumped, as sound vanished, small rocks and powder raining down upon her. The fringes of the blast curled around the edges of the stone, long fingers of flame reaching for her. She hunched down, cowering, and the flames receded. The heat did not.

Applejack spat a curse that would have earned her a caning from Granny, and brought her bow to the ready. The dragon had already passed by, the wind of its passage almost enough to make her stumble. How in Oblivion were they supposed to hit something that could move that fast? Searching around wildly, she found the creature, already looping around for another pass. Arrows flew into the sky, but none made contact.
The dragon finished its loop, opened its mouth, and spewed forth a veritable torrent of flame, scorching a trail across the ground. The screams of a hapless guard reached her ears, and she grimaced. The dragon was coming towards her, however, which gave her a shot. She drew her bow, took a split second to aim, and released. The shaft zipped through the air, struck the dragon right in the head, and spun away harmlessly. Cursing again, she ran to the side, just barely avoiding the snatching talons. This was going to be hard.
A lightning bolt cracked over her head, causing her to jump. She whirled around to find Irileth muttering to herself, blue-white lightning arcing from the energy she held in the palm of her hand. The dark elf raced past her, already chasing the dragon, and she watched her go. The housecarl knew magic. Well. That would help.
A flash of color caught her eye, and she turned just in time to spot Pinkie disappearing inside the tower. Where was she … wait, where was Rainbow? She’d ducked under the bridge, but she should have gotten out by now! Fear gripped her chest, and she ran, coming to a sliding stop where she’d seen Rainbow disappear.
The Imperial was curled into a ball, shivering, face covered by her hands. “Oh, Stendarr help me,” AJ murmured, and moved to Rainbow’s side. She put a hand on the woman’s shoulder, and shook her. “Rainbow. Come on. Snap out of it.”
“Can’t win. Too strong.”
“We can’t know that unless we try. Come on now, you’re braver than this.” Silence. “You leaped onto a giant spider’s back, Rainbow. And then you stabbed it in the face. Come on.” Silence. But the the woman was peeking at her from between her fingers. AJ smiled at her. “Surely,” she said, lowering her voice, “the great Rainbow Dash ain’t gonna die like this? Cowering under a bridge?” The Imperial was glaring at her. Good. Get her angry, and she’d-
A rush of moist air blew across her face, and she looked up in dawning horror. The dragon’s snout had filled the other side of the arch, and it was smiling. The lips peeled back, displaying the rows of wickedly sharp teeth, and, for a split second, she froze. Her ears caught the beginnings of a word, and she did the first thing that came to mind: she threw herself down in front of her friend.
A blast of killing frost washed over and around her, sailing out the other side of the bridge. Pain wracked her body, but she closed her eyes, did not move. Eventually, the assault ceased. She raised her head, painfully, and opened frost-rimed lids. Wide, fuchsia eyes stared back into hers, and she grinned. They were alive. Thank Stendarr, they were alive.
She rolled over, groaning in pain, and fumbling for her belt. Rainbow’s hands found the bottle she had stashed there before she could, and, trembling, uncorked it and brought the reddish to the Nord’s blue lips. The concoction burned, going down, but nigh instantly she could feel the warmth spreading, chasing away the cold that managed to work its way inside. “Thanks,” she said, struggling to her feet.
Rainbow just shook her head, mutely, and helped her up. It was then that the words coming from outside filtered their way through the clearing haze. “That’s right! Come on up and face the Pinkie, you overgrown lizard! Pinkie’s axe wants a taste! It doesn’t think you’re a real dragon, you son of a motherless goat! Yeah! Come on! Come on!” The women looked at each other, and scrambled out from under the bridge.
The dragon had climbed the tower, its hind legs using the gaping hole as a footrest, its front claws gripping the parapet. It was looking down at something up on top of the tower, and AJ knew immediately what that was. She scrambled for her bow, Rainbow doing the same, and ran to get a better shot. The dragon laughed, a deep, rumbling sound. “You are brave,” it said, its voice primal and ancient. “Balaan hokoron. Your defeat brings me honor.” It breathed in. Applejack and Rainbow released their arrows. An axeblade flashed in the sunlight. A lightning bolt rent the air.
The axeblade bit into the dragon’s jaw, snapping its mouth shut. The arrows struck home in the membrane of its wing, causing it flinch. The lightning limned its form for a fraction of a second, drawing a grunt of surprise and pain. The dragon slipped, its hind legs losing their purchase, and it fell against the tower’s side. Already weakened, the stone gave way, and the beast came down amidst an avalanche of rubble, slamming into the ground with a resounding crash.
The battlefield fell silent. The women readied arrows, and trained their sights on the dragon. But it lay there, unmoving, chunks of the tower strewn across its form. The seconds ticked by, and the guards regrouped, slowly gathering around the dragon, but maintaining a respectful distance. Finally, AJ lowered her bow. “I guess that’s it.”
The dragon shifted, and everyone took a step back, bows at the ready once more. The creature struggled to its feet, dust and stone falling from its back, and shook itself, the motion starting with its head and traveling down its length. Blinking, it took in the scene before – a score of arrows trained on its body, and arcane lightning in the hands of the Dunmer leader. “Brit Grah!” the dragon crowed, flaring its wings. The guards fired, their arrows bouncing off the dragon’s hide, with only a few finding purchase in cracks or in wings. Another bolt from Irileth wreathed it in lightning, but the creature did not flinch. Instead, it spoke.
She could not catch the word, but the sound of it washed over her, full of power. A stream of flame burst forth from the dragon’s open mouth, sweeping across the line of guards, and she closed her mind to their screams, aiming her arrow for the dragon’s eye. Two shafts flew, Rainbow being of same mind as her, and found purchase in the dragon’s flesh. It bellowed, the killing stream of flame cut off, and charged forward, trampling a guard underfoot and bulling through another bolt of lightning.
Three guards charged in, trading bows for sword, axe, and shield. The dragon lashed out with its wings, sending two of them flying, and grunted as the third’s axe bit in its haunch. A lash of its tail knocked him off his feet, and the dragon turned, laughing once more. “Brit! I had forgotten what fine sport you mortals make!”
AJ’s mace cracked it in the jaw, and it snorted, startled, turning its head to bring the Nord into view. She slipped forward, however, staying on its blinded side, and struck with all her might at the wing joint. Once again, the dragon grunted, this time retaliating with a forward bash of the wing, but she was moving still, ducking beneath its neck as it tried to locate her. Lightning snapped once more, and arrows sank into its wings, the guards choosing now to stay out of the melee, and Rainbow aiming for where its armor was weakest.
AJ’s maces beat into its neck, but it ignored her, now, flaring its wings and flapping, once. The rush of air knocked her off-balance, and with a second wingbeat, the dragon took a prodigious backwards leap. “A valiant effort, mortal,” it said, with what looked like a grin on its face. “You will know honor!” She could feel the stirrings of power this time, even before it formed the word. Instinct pitched her to the ground, the blast of frost passing over her prone form. Even though she had escaped the worst of it, the painful cold washed over her exposed back, and she cried out.
The assault cut off, and she rolled to the side, trying to make her legs work. A high-pitched yowl caught her attention, just in time to see booted feet fly past her. She sat up, startled, in time to see Pinkie slam her axe-blade into the dragon’s snout. It did not stick, but its enchantment triggered all the same, and coated the dragon’s snout in frost. It bellowed in surprise, shaking its head, and the Khajiit stepped to side as another round of arrows pelted its hide, taking another swing at its neck. The blade struck, and stuck, and the rime of frost began its rapid spread.
The dragon whipped its head to the side, knocking Pinkie on her back. As lightning covered it for the fourth time, it moved to the side, twisting its neck to look at the fallen Khajiit, and raised a limb. Applejack stumbled to her feet, eyes widening in horror as the clawed leg descended. She could not attack from where she was. She could do nothing but yell.
The dragon startled, and its leg came down hard upon her friend. The Khajiit’s cry pierced her like an arrow to the heart, and she charged, the pain in her legs forgotten. Her yell turned to a scream of rage, and her maces crashed into the dragon’s nose, tearing through the skin. The beast whipped its head up, out of range of her strikes, so she threw her mace. The head of the weapon stuck into the dragon’s throat, and it grunted, stepping back.
Its mouth opened. She felt the stirrings of another word, and dove to the side, the blast of flame missing her by inches. Rolling to her feet, she charged back in, slamming her remaining mace’s head into the dragon’s good eye. Blinded, it howled in pain and rage, backing away yet further. She heard a yell from behind the dragon, a shifting of its wings revealed Irileth, sinking her sword into its haunch, and grasping the hilt with a lightning-charged hand.
The lightning course not just over the dragon, now, but through it, arcing from tooth to tooth as it opened its mouth in a silent scream. An arrow thudded into of the roof its mouth, and she was struck by inspiration. Taking the haft of Pinkie’s axe, she pulled it from the dragon’s neck, and staggered back, surprised by the weight of it. Catching herself, she hefted it, stepped forward, and swung.
Her aim was off, but the blade was long, and it sheared through the skin of the dragon’s cheek with ease, lodging itself in the beast’s jawbone. Irileth’s magic ceased, and the dragon attempted to close its mouth, teeth grinding on the enchanted axe, the shaking of its head pulling the haft from AJ’s hands. She fell backwards, and Rainbow ran past her, daggers in hand. The Imperial vaulted onto the dragon’s neck, somehow keeping her balance despite its trashing, and slammed her daggers into the base its skull, right where the neck connected to the head. Almost instantly, the thrashing ceased, the dragon’s head falling to the ground.
It opened its bruised eye, the bloody pupil focusing, for a moment, on Applejack, and widening. “Dovahkiin! Niid!” the dragon groaned, the word muffled by the axe in its cheek, but clear, nonetheless. The light faded from its eye, and its head slumped to the side, its whole body going limp. It was dead.
AJ scrambled her way across the ground to where Pinkie lay, choking back a cry at the sight. Bone was showing through the skin of the cat’s legs, and deep gashes crossed her torso, but her eyes were open, and she was breathing. “Pinkie,” she said, and her friend smiled at her.
“We did it!” she said, her voice pained, but still chipper. “We make a good team. Not even a dragon can beat us.”
“Don’t talk, Pinkie,” AJ managed to choke out, her fingers fumbling at her belt for a potion bottle. The Khajiit nodded, and laid her down, closing her eyes. Potion in hand, AJ removed the stopper and sloshed the healing liquid onto the cat’s gashes. Almost instantly, the stuff went to work, turning the raw mess into something recognizable.
“Applejack! Run!” She looked up to find Rainbow, and got no further than the dragon’s corpse. Her eyes widened – the whole thing was going up in some kind of eldritch flame, holes appearing in the skin as the fires spread. The golden smoke gathered into a hazy fog above the corpse, roiling with energy and power. “Get out of there! It’s gonna blow!” Applejack did the first thing that came to mind – she covered Pinkie with her own body and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the impact.
But none came. Instead, she felt only the rushing of air, and a warmth overtaking her. Opening her eyes, she found herself engulfed in the same golden haze that was rising off the dragon, a tingling sensation moving over her skin. Pinkie was untouched.
She threw herself off the cat, scrambling to put distance between herself, the dragon, and her friend, determined that whatever final revenge it had for her would not affect anyone else. The dull roar in her ears grew stronger the farther she got, and she could feel the haze seeping into her. She risked a glance back, and saw a massive wave of power coming straight for her. This was it. She was done. “’Bye, Bloom,” she whispered, and the wave hit.
She fell to the ground, eyes stuck wide open. Words she could not recognize roared in her head, deafening her, as the world in front of her spun with broken and scattered images:  trees, oceans, mountains, towns, fire, snow, wings, people, arrows, swords, faces, blood, flesh, teeth.  Emotions flooded through her, jumbled and incoherent: anger, pride, surprise, arrogance, pain, glee, and desire, roiling over and over each other, and finally fading in the face of one, overwhelming feeling – terror.
The terror paralyzed her, and words and images faded in the face of its overwhelming cry. Everything fled, until there was only silence, until there was only darkness, until there was only the fear. And once there was nothing but the fear, that faded as well, leaving her in a soundless, empty void.
Or almost soundless. She could hear a heartbeat, faint, but growing louder with each beat. With it came the image of that word she had found in the barrow, clear in her mind along with its meaning. There was something with it, she thought, indistinct in the background, important concepts, but ones she could not yet fathom. This one, though, she could.
Fus. Force. Not strength, nor power, nor coercion - just force, pure and simple. 
She opened her eyes, and immediately set to blinking away the blur that seemed to have overtaken the world. When she could see clearly, her vision was filled with Rainbow’s relieved face. “I’m fine,” she muttered, and the redhead nodded, took her hand and helped to her feet. Instantly, the world was spinning, and she nearly fell, Rainbow just managing to catch her.
“Okay, that’s not ‘fine.’ And holy Nine you way a ton,” the redhead said, straining to keep her upright.
“It’s the armor. And I’m fine. Just dizzy. It’s goin’ away, see?” AJ said, managing to straighten up. The world was, in fact, spinning far less quickly, her dizziness receding along with the pain in her head that she was just now really noticing. “Who else got hit? Anyone?”
Rainbow shook her head. “Dragon didn’t explode. It just … burned up, and entered you. Or something. I don’t know how to say it, really - it was just plain weird. Take a look,” she said, pointing. “Nothing’s left but bones and a few scraps of skin.”
Applejack goggled. Rainbow was dead right - where once had been a fully-fleshed dragon, there was a skeleton, a few unburned patches of skin hanging on the bones. “What in all …” She shook her head. There was something far more important to worry about. “Pinkie. How’s Pinkie?”
“Right there.” AJ turned, following Rainbow’s finger. Pinkie had apparently been moved, and Irileth was bent over her, a golden glow wreathing her hands and the Khajiit’s legs. Magic. Restoration. Praise Stendarr, Irileth was a healer. She made her way over, going cautiously to avoid a fall, and sat beside the two, taking Pinkie’s hand in hers. The cat cracked her eyes open and smiled.
“How is she?” AJ asked.
“She is not well, but she will be. She is lucky - there are no other wounded. Only the dead.”
The Nord bowed her head. “I am sorry.”
The Dark Elf snorted. “For what? They are soldiers, sworn to serve and protect with their lives, and give them should it be necessary. The only blame lies with the dragon, and it is dead. Well done, by the way,” Irileth said, nodding to her and Rainbow, who’d joined her. “You three are natural warriors.”
“I’m sorry that they had to die at all.” Irileth raised an eyebrow. “I know where the blame lies. But that don’t make the deaths any easier.”
The Dunmer closed her eyes, and was silent for a moment, before returning her full attention to the magic she was wielding. “You are right. It does not. If you are feeling well, you may wish to help the others rig a stretcher. She will not be walking until tomorrow.”
Applejack nodded, and rose, giving Pinkie’s hand a pat as she let it go.