//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - The Plot Unravels // Story: The Lost Mercenary - A TES/FiM Story // by DemonRykuKyuubi //------------------------------// Ra'zaan sat up slowly in his castle suite. It was about six in the morning. He'd woken up in this world three times already, but this time he felt different. He was more relaxed than he'd been in a long while. The Khajiit looked out the window of the castle tower that his room was located in. It was facing the castle courtyard. For a moment, he got lost in it's beauty. Suddenly he remembered why he needed to get up this morning. "'Sigh'. I'd better get equipped. Today is going to be a very long day..." Just as he was tying his pack to his side, Rainbow busted in through the door. The blue pegasus pony looked very tired. "Well, Rainbow, looks like you got up early." Ra'zaan said cheerfully. "I couldn't sleep very much last night. I was too busy thinking about what we're going to do today! What's the guy we're going to confront today's name again?" "The only one that we will be 'meeting' that I know the name of is Golam Faram. He's the one I was sent to go after by the Mage's Guild. Why?" "I keep forgetting his name. You creatures sure do have strange ones." "I could say the same to you. To me, my name is normal. Your's and everyone else's are strange to me." "'Yawn', Geez, I'm tired. I hardly slept a wink last night." Ra'zaan looked at Rainbow and laughed a little. He was used to getting up early and not getting enough sleep, but it looked like this blue pony wasn't a morning person. He looked in his pack and pulled out a stamina potion*. He looked at it, then back at Rainbow. "This won't hurt her, right?" He thought quietly to himself. After all, this particular potion was just made from antlers, mountain flower, lavender, and water. "Here, Rainbow. Drink this. It should wake you up a little. In my world, this is called a stamina potion. They give us quick energy when we need it most." Rainbow eyed it carefully. "What's in it?" "Nothing that's going to hurt you, I can assure you of that." Ra'zaan was trying to sound convincing. In reality he had absolutely no idea what it wound do to this pony, but he knew if she didn't wake up by the time they got to Ponyville, she wouldn't be any help with Golam or any of his lackeys. Rainbow seemed to buy the mercenary's careful words, though, and she took a few swift gulps from the bottle of green liquid. "Blechk! That tastes awful! Why'd you make me drink...whoa...that stuff really works!" Rainbow said as she almost instantly perked up and started flying around the room. "I told you it would." Ra'zaan said as he put the empty bottle in his pack so he could fill it up again later. "Thank Talos it didn't hurt her." He thought quietly to himself. "Let's go meet the others in the throne room. Coming?" He asked. Rainbow seemed to be in her own little world for a few moments. "Huh? Yeah, yeah, I'll be right behind you..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Golam and friends had stayed the night in the town hall. Currently, they were sitting in Sugarcube Corner, eating breakfast. Whatever these 'Pancakes' were, they sure were good with the sugary sauce the shop owners had put on them. Halius had made some of his concoction that was created to cure coughs when he'd first made it, but he'd found it was equally good for waking up in the morning. He'd named it "Cough Ease", but the group had just taken to calling it "Coffee". Mr. and Mrs Cake, the bakery owners, didn't know what was in the foul smelling liquid, but they didn't really care. They had five paying customers before six in the morning, even if these customers were paying with the same currency they'd seen Ra'zaan with. The group waited for the Cake couple to go into the back room before they got into more important conversation. The Cake's had something different in mind as they stayed near the door to listen in on the conversation. "Alright. Looks like taking over this town isn't as big a problem as I'd thought after all, however, we must think about what is to come for this operation. The mayor's mind caved in to Ysura's magic quite quickly, as did the 'Big Mac' fellow and most of the others we tried it on. This shows we should be able to control a much more vast amount of these citizens. Ysura, does your spell have an area effect form as well?" Golam asked calmly. Ysura beamed with pride. "It does! It took me a while to get it right, but I should be able to effect a fairly large area at once." "Good. Kynan, gather as many of the ponies as you can together in the center of town where we sat down at when we first got here. Nadene, make sure the ponies that do show up stay there until Ysura is ready to cast the spell." "Yes, sir!" Both Kynan and Nadene exclaimed at once, darting out into the streets of Ponyville. "Halius, I need you to watch for any unwanted disturbances. No direct action is needed, but come straight to me if you see anything." "Alright, I'll get on it." The old mage said as he got up and walked briskly out the door." "You'd better head out, too, Ysura. Get the area ready and all that." Golam said distractedly. "Your right. See you out there, Mr. Faram." Ysura gave a twisted smile and laughed as she walked out, following the other threes' lead. Now that he was 'alone', Golam thought he'd say something to the two thought-to-be well hidden ponies. "Well then. You two heard all of that, isn't that right? We can't have that, now can we?" He laughed as he walked towards the back room, bringing Mr. and Mrs. Cake's eavesdropping to light. Now, what shall I do with you two...?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ra'zaan once again stepped into the throne room with the other six ponies. Rainbow was still on what seemed to be a prolonged sugar high to the others in the room. Only Ra'zaan knew what had her so energetic this early, and he smiled, keeping his secret to himself. Suddenly the loud, kind voice of Princess Celestia interrupted the Khajiit's thoughts as she addressed the group. "Well, my little ponies. It seems that the other creatures from Ra'zaan's world are attempting to mind-control the town of Ponyville. I've just received a letter from the Cake family. They eavesdropped on the creatures' conversation, and slipped the letter outside a window to one of my guards I had posted there. He, in turn, gave it to our fastest flyer and that guard got it here just before you arrived." "That's not unheard of with mages. An uprising was led in the past that was comprised of one mage controlling almost an entire army that almost took one of Cyrodill's Provinces. Although it was put down, a great many lives were lost in the battle. We'd best get to Ponyville as soon as we can." Ra'zaan said calmly. "Do you mean we may be forced to fight our friends? In our own hometown?!" Pinkie asked. "If what the letter said is correct, then it would seem that way, Miss Pie. We'd better head to the train. Princess, you know someone... I mean somepony is bound to get hurt in this, right?" Ra'zaan stated. "Yes..." The Princess was deep in thought for a moment. "...If it can be helped, do as little damage as possible. But... if it comes to it, you have my permission to do whatever is necessary..." It was obvious to everyone that this decision was not an easy one for the Princess." "Thank you, Princess. I'll try my hardest to do this with little or no injuries, but with rogue mages, it is highly unlikely. Ready girls?" "Let's get started!" The six ponies all said at once. They left the throne room and headed for the train station, leaving Celestia deep in thought. "What will become of my little ponies if this should fail?" She thought to herself. Ra'zaan was still hesitant about the whole 'being on a large moving object' thing, but the ponies reassured him and they all boarded the train, ready to begin their trip to fight the enemy that awaited them back in Ponyville. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Golam had decided that killing the bakery owners wasn't a good idea. Instead, he had tied them up in the back of the bakery and left them there, gagged. He walked outside to take a look at his group's progress. A large group was already forming in the center of town, just as he'd asked. He could see Halius far down the dirt road, watching for anything suspicious. Golam sat at a bench in the center of town and waited for the crowd to grow. Ysura was finishing her preparations, which gave Golam nothing to do. Kynan had done his job to the letter. He'd gotten over half the town of Ponyville to gather at the center of town in less than three hours. He walked up to Golam with pride in his step. To his dismay, Golam still had on his signature stone-face. "Took you long enough, huh, Kynan?" Golam sneered sarcastically. "B-but I got this huge crowd here in almost no time..." Kynan said, his disappointment clear in his voice. "Relax, boy. I was only teasing.You did a nice job. Go check on Ysura, the spell should be almost ready." "Alright, thank you sir!" Praise from Golam didn't come often, so Kynan felt a sense of pride when his leader did praise him. Most of the crowd had been waiting for quite a while and was getting antsy. Nadene knew she had to get their attention back. She thought for a moment and then looked at the newly-controlled mayor. She smiled. "Fillies and Gentle-colts. Our new friends here are just about ready to begin their 'presentation'. Please stay seated and wait patiently for them to begin." The corrupted mayor said. The crowd obeyed the mayor, not knowing that she was under a spell. They sat obediently, idly chatting with their friends. Nadene laughed at how easy it was to get them to settle down. Just then Halius ran up to Golam. Halius said in a very out-of-breath voice: "Sir! I spotted a very fast-moving...thing...coming down the mountain. From the speed it's moving I'd wager it'll be here in about fifteen minutes." Golam sighed and looked at Ysura. "Ysura, continue as planned. I'll be going to 'greet' whatever is coming down the mountain." Ysura just nodded and watched as Halius and Golam walked down the road, towards the incoming object. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ra'zaan could see Ponyville up ahead of the train. The Princess had insisted on having them take four Royal Guards with them on their journey, and the guards stayed at the ends of the train. Despite the guard presence, there was still a mixture of fear and excitement all around the inside of the train. As the train stopped in Ponyville Station, The Khajiit spotted two figures walking quickly towards them...both on two legs like himself. The group quickly descended from the train to meet the two that were coming. Ra'zaan stood at the head of the group, watching calmly as the mage he himself had run through with a sword and another mage slowly came clearly into view. "Well, well. Looks like the rumors running through this town are right; you are still alive, Khajiit." Golam growled. Ra'zaan was as calm as ever. "I'm not sure how you survived my attacks, but I assure you, you won't a second time if I have the chance." "Confident, are we? I like that. But you're too late. As we speak, one of my assistants is finishing the next part of our plan." "You mean the plan to use mind-control on our friends here in Ponyville?! Like we'll let you!" Rainbow yelled. Golam was a little surprised they already knew about his plan, but he was sure he knew who was to blame. "The bakery owners got you a message after all, did they? No matter. Like I said before, your too late." Ra'zaan drew out his katana, and pointed it at Golam. "You're not taking over if I have anything to say ---" Ra'zaan was suddenly cut off by a huge flash of light coming from the direction of the center of town. None of the ponies that were with Ra'zaan knew what had occurred, but he did. Golam had told the truth. They were too late... TO BE CONTINUED (Stamina potion* - It's described fairly well already, but these are used in The Elder Scrolls to restore - you guessed it - stamina. Stamina is used for things like sprinting and power-attacks in the game.)