//------------------------------//
// Chapter II: Meeting The Locals I 
// Story: Equestria's Light: A Realm Reborn 
// by The Warrior Of Darkness 
//------------------------------//

Skye awoke with a headache. Needless to say, he wouldn't be going back through the Crystal Tower portal anytime soon. He slowly got up, only to find many things wrong, he was on his back first of all. Second, his dragoon armor was missing, and in the place of it was some very loose fitting clothing. His attention was briefly drawn to a dull ache coming from his neck, upon placing his hand there, he could feel an etching drawn upon his skin, and as he took his finger tracing the edges, he had an idea of what it was, but he would hold out the theory for now until he could see what he looked like after his bout with the mirror.

He instead decided to focus on his surroundings, looking around at a very neat and clean room that was obviously in a medical ward of some sort. He could see many different beds along with what looked like medical utensils. The look of the room reminded him of Limsa Lominsa, so perhaps he ended up their and someone saw him? Skye's brain came to the decision that this indeed felt right, but he begged to differ, considering no one in their right mind would even think about taking off The Warrior Of Light's armor without consulting him first. Perhaps he was in Ishgard? No, that couldn't be right. 

If he was in Ishgard, he would've felt the cold of the weather by now, regardless of how warm the civilians try and make it, it was always cold. Skye had always wanted to figure out how to travel back in time when Ishgard was first created, and ask them why the fuck they decided building a city in freezing weather conditions sounded like a great idea. Perhaps the mirror just decided to send him somewhere in Norvrandt, and he had never left the first? Nay, that wasn't even a smart idea.

Which left the worst idea Skye's mind could come up with. He had been summoned into another world again. He hoped it wasn't this one. While it was fun exploring and rescuing another world from the fate of oblivion, this time becoming a Warrior Of Darkness, he still didn't want to be doing something like this anytime soon. If anything, he was glad to have had a break from all the craziness that was his life. He slowly got up out of the bed, only to be interrupted by the sound of a door opening and a voice speaking. 

"And everypony said I was crazy for thinking you'd wake up soon! What with all those wounds you had they expected you to be out for more than just a day!" 

Skye turned to the voice's owner, only to be slightly putt off by what he saw. Standing and looking at him, was what he believed to be a Hyur, about as tall as him came into view, but it wasn't that which put him off, it was in fact not a hyur, but more along the lines of beastman that had equine ancestors. The beastman had a white skin tone, somewhat akin to the sin eaters, and aquamarine hair suffused with crème highlights. Skye also took note of how his vision had seemingly been altered, for the world around him was filled with vivid colors that he was not used to. Perhaps he had somehow been put into a child's drawing? 

The beastman came over to him, and began to look at some paper scrawled to the side.

"Hmm.. So, we really didn't know what to do for you, so we just simply used some healing spells on the cuts you had on you and that's about it." He said, turning to Skye.

Cuts? Great. Another scar to add to the growing collection. Skye took into consideration what he had just been told, before deciding to break the silence.

"So. Where am I and what exactly are you? I've never seen a manner of beastman like you before."

The assumed doctor gave him a look of shock, like he had just shot an arrow at his favorite chocobo.

Great. New place, AND I've already managed to show off my wonderful tact.

Skye wasn't always great at speaking normally to people. You'd think the Warrior of the light and now the Warrior of Darkness would know how to speak with people, but he was always good at saying things that needed to be said at the current moment, never normally. It was kind of a wonder to him how he was able to speak with his fellow scions normally, and he surmised that it must have been the result of them all dying together nearly several times within the last few years.

"I'm.. kinda surprised you don't know what a pony looks like, nevertheless, your in Canterlot Castle, in the infirmary. While I'm sure you have more questions, I've been told not to answer many in the event that you do wake, Princess Celestia's orders. I'm Arctic Scalpel by the way, it's nice to meet you..." 

Skye let an amused look take his features as the "pony" failed to think on a proper name. After a few seconds, he decided to give him a break.

"Skye. Skye Pendragon."

Arctic Scalpel got an appreciative look on his face, a smile coming onto his features.

"Well, nice to meet you Skye, if you'll give me a moment I'll get the guards so you can be escorted to where the princesses can meet you. You're armor unfortunately, was confiscated. Apparently it was made from dragon hide?" Arctic questioned.

Skye let out a silent curse in his mind. Two worlds and now a third and this one had a problem with the various armor he wore? He was fuming, but there was no need to show it, maybe there was a work around. He'd figure it out by the time he would meet this 'Princess Celestia'.

"Alright. I'm ready whenever you are." He said as he waited patiently as Arctic went to get the guards.





Celestia happily munched on some fruit, as she, her sister, and the elements sat through breakfast. Her thoughts, while usually on the future of Equestria had been pulled away towards the being, and his armor that had been confiscated. She doubted whoever they were, would be happy to find that there gear had practically been ransacked in their sleep, but that wasn't what was on her mind. It was the the fact that the armor had been identified as dragon scale, and while it only took a  small spell, but they had learned that their guest was not native to this world, considering the armor could not be identified at all by the royal guard's smith. As it were, it would seem that this particular being was from beyond the stars. 

Celestia's attention went towards the main doors as they opened, and in walked their guest. She immediately noticed the dynamic between his hair and eyes; the dark silver offset by pools of molten mercury that sat on his features. The eyes flowed over the group, acknowledging each and every one of them, before settling upon her. Normally, she would be able to figure out the emotions within someone's eyes because of being around her ponies for so long, yet she found herself looking into a gaunt white star, and found that she had no answers. He merely stared back, before taking a seat at the table where he was directed to by the palace maids. She decided that now would be a good time as ever to start the conversation, and so she began.





Skye entered a room to what he assumed was a dining room. It was simple, one that you would perhaps find in Mor Dhona, yet he could find some exquisite taste in it. He let his eyes slowly drift over the group at the table, seeing ore of these "ponies". Firstly, there was the large alabaster one. She reminded him of the sin eaters, but there was a gentle tide that seemed to flow from her, that and he soon spotted wings behind her, as well as a horn that rooted from her head and sat above a small tiara. This was most obvious to be the person that he would be meeting, yet he remembered that Arctic had said 'princesses' meaning there was another. He shifted his gaze to the right, eyeing a dark blue being, one that was somewhat smaller compared to the one he had just been eyeing. She looked right back at him, both of their eyes meeting in what would seem to be a battle of wills, before he idly looked towards the rest of her, spotting another tiara and a set of wings accompanied by a horn. As his gaze went back to meet here eyes, he let a small smile grace his face as he looked towards the other accompanied people.

To the left, sat a lavender colored pony, with midnight blue hair accompanied by two different colored strips of pink and purple. She wore a long sleeved white shirt, accompanied by a fuchsia skirt. She also had a horn like the previous two, but no wings. Perhaps both were a sign of royalty? It wouldn't surprise him at all. The look upon this lavender pony's face made it look like he was eye candy to her. He would need to be warry of that. Next, his gaze came across a white pony with a horn as well, with purple hair, an elegant sky blue dress along with it. The look in her eyes was akin to the many aestheticians he had met in his travels. Most of them were harmless, so he saw no concern to linger any longer.

To her side, was a blue colored pony who seemed to hold the colors of the rainbow in her hair. Her look was one he would expect from a adventurer, but the face was misplaced. Her features held clear distrust, and Skye couldn't stop himself from letting his malice creep into his eyes, into a short, fleeting scowl. The girl soon looked away, back into her plate of food. Beside her, was a yellow and pink one, a look of cowardness upon her face. Skye naturally let his face do the work, letting sa smile take over so as to not terrify her. He surmised that should he ever come across her, being in the armor of the dragoon or Dark knight would probably kill her.

Lastly, there were the two at the end. Both of which held neither horns nor wings that he noticed from the previous beings, one was two shades of pink, her body position indicating that she wanted to take off like a rouge spell, the other was a orange and blonde haired being that gave him the same look as the rainbow haired one, only hers was clearly fleeting, but held a silent message screaming 'I will punch you into an aetheryte should you make the wrong move'. With his analysis of the group done, he took a seat to where he had been directed. 

"It is good to see you awake and about, the last we saw of you, you were in a crater outside of Ponyville. I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister, Princess Luna."  Did she say Ponyville? The seven hells? and Celestia and Luna? That seems very original, what are they, paragons of the sun and moon?

"It is good to be awake. I am Skye Pendragon, Scion of the Seventh Dawn, Warrior of Light and Darkness. It is nice to meet you all, however before we continue, I would ask to have my armor back. I was told it was confiscated and I would like to know precisely why?" 

Many if the smaller ponies got a look of confusion upon their faces, before a sound of shimmering came forth and his armor lay bare in front of him. 

"I knew you would ask soon, but not this soon. The reason it was taken was because it bore a striking resemblance to dragon scale, which would largely be unethical. We found it very hard to get off, and had to teleport you from the armor, which needless to say was very difficult to do. Could you perchance tell us how you acquired it?" This came not from Celestia, but from the younger looking pony, Luna.

Skye was surprised at the question. Surely they had dragoons?

"It is the armor of the original dragoons from my world. They would ride upon dragons' backs into battle. The armor was a gift from one of these greater dragons, and it was re-forged anew within the waters of Norvrandt. It was said that the scales were used only when they fell off a dragon, not taken from them in any cruel way."

Skye brought his hand up to his face, letting his thought run amok. 

"Perhaps if it were dragoon armor of the current age then yes, but as it is not, it bear a resemblance to dragons of eld."

He snapped out of his stupor, realizing that these words were needlessly wasted until explained. Taking a look at the armor, he decided to put it on, rather than feel like a newly started adventurer. Taking off the attire he had been given, he heard a voice call out over the others. It was a male's voice, so he surmised it to be a guard.

"Stop! Changing clothes in the open is public indecen-"

Skye quickly called out over the voice:

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you." 

Moments later, he had his armor on, but not properly calibrated. Simply donning the armor was inefficient. One would have to know the armor's design to properly click it into place. Pressing his hand up against the gauntlet on the right, a swift set of clicks were heard, before the armor locked into place. Lastly, he took his helmet in his hands, before fitting it over himself, the series of clicks echoing once again before the gleaming eyes of it came to life. With his armor finally restored, he decided to change jobs to something a little less terrifying, and so he focused inward on the one he wanted, taking the stone in to his aether before pushing it outwards toward the surface of his body. 

A blinding light was dispelled from him, a gust accompanying the dying light, before the armor was replaced with a suit of mail and cloth. Dragonhide gauntlets became of metal, and a coat of white resilient cloth took hold over his body. Skye had decided to forgo with having the weapon adorn his back, there would be a need for it eventually, there always was. Looking back upon the group, he saw that their had been many different reactions, but they all converged on one singular question.

"What was that?"