Ra'zaan wiped the sweat from his brow as he worked in the apple orchard of Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack had offered him the job shortly after the group had arrived in Ponyville. She'd said he'd need to find a job if he was going to stay in Equestria, and obviously his original profession wasn't going to work. Instead, the Khajiit accepted the farm mare's offer of a bit for every four trees he cleared. He'd never seen an apple tree orchard, so he figured it might be interesting. That was one week ago, and Ra'zaan was starting to get used to his new life. He was happy.
Applejack had left him with the task of clearing a small section of the orchard's apples, and he quickly realized that picking them one by one was definitely not going to be fast enough. To speed the process along, he'd taken to setting the apple baskets under each tree, and then ramming the tree with his shoulder, knocking the apples down.
"Raaaaah!" Ra'zaan screamed as he slammed himself against his fortieth tree that morning.
The Khajiit gave a satisfied sigh as the apples thumped down into the baskets. He hefted them onto his back and carried them off towards the barn. The work wasn't too hard for him, as he usually wore armor that weighed more than twice what these apples weighed.
"Hey, Ra'zaan! Nice work out there, Ah'm glad to see ya workin' so hard." Applejack said as Ra'zaan entered the barn where she had been inspecting his work.
The Khajiit smiled at the sight of his friend and new employer. "Good morning to you, AJ. Here's another batch of apples for you."
The mare nodded as Ra'zaan carried the baskets to where the other apples he'd shaken were. "Ah'm hopin' this isn't too hard for ya. I know yer probably not used to this kind of work."
"AJ, I was a sell sword back in my world. Compared to that, this is like a vacation!" The ex-warrior laughed.
Applejack smiled. "Ah'm glad yer havin' fun. Yer helpin' me and the farm out, too. Look, it's almost noon. Go 'head and take a break, sugarcube. Ya haven't even taken a look around the town since we all got home."
"Thanks, Applejack. I'll be back before five to finish up for the day." Ra'zaan nodded to the orange mare as he walked out of the barn and down the road towards Ponyville.
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"Hey, are you having fun? I am!" Pinkie giggled as she bounced over to Nadene, who was standing near a stove waiting for a batch of cupcakes to finish baking.
Nadene gave a wide smile as she watched the energetic pink pony bound over to her. "Sure am, Pinkie! This is a lot more fun than all the boring work my uncle used to give me. I mean, all we have to do is bake up some sweets and sell them? We never even had any real bakeries in Cyrodill. We only had a few people that knew how to bake sweet things at all!"
"The Cakes and I have been selling cupcakes and all sorts of other things out of Sugarcube Corner here for a long time! I love this job, because I get to make all the customers smile!" Pinkie giggled and pulled the cupcakes out of the oven. "What do you know how to bake?"
"Not much. The only thing I did learn how to make was a dessert called a sweet roll. It's like a cake in size, but it has a bread-like texture and you cover the top of it with a glaze." Nadene wasn't the best cook in the world, but she did know a few things.
Pinkie's eyes widened and she gave another huge smile. "Oooh! Can you show me how to make it? We have sweet rolls here, but that sounds different from ours!"
"I guess... here, how about a right the recipe down and you can try to make it on your own?" Nadene took a quill and some ink and jotted down some ingredients and measurements along with a rough drawing on what the dessert looked like. "If you want to try to make it, is it alright if I go out for a walk while you work?"
Pinkie nodded furiously and hurried Nadene out of the kitchen, determined to make something new.
Nadene grinned happily at the pink party pony's sudden action. "Yep... I think I'll like working here... It looks like there won't ever be a dull moment!" Nadene glanced around the shop. She was in Sugarcube Corner, the place she and her fellow mages had been the morning before Ra'zaan had first shown up. The Dark Elf still couldn't believe that the owners had allowed her to work here after what her uncle had done to them. They offered her forty bits a week, and she wasn't sure how much that was, but at least it was money in her pocket.
She looked down at the dark violet, amethyst-emblazoned dress Rarity had made for her. The Dark Elf wasn't used to dresses, but it was a nice change from the usual robes she wore. Nadene walked out the front door and out onto the streets.
The residents were starting to settle down after finding out that the Khajiit and one of the mages would be staying in Ponyville. At first, they were all afraid the same thing would happen again and these two creatures would try to take over their town. After the six element bearers had explained what had happened, however, the citizens relaxed, if only a little at first. Nadene waved to each pony she passed on the street and gave them each a smile. As she walked she looked around. She'd been through the area before, but this was the first time she'd actually given it any interest. The whole town was so colorful and happy. Nadene loved it. Street vendors stood on either side of the street and every citizen had a smile on their face.
The Dark Elf stopped in from of a house that looked as though it had just been built recently. It had, actually; it was the house that Princess Celestia had asked be built for the two new residents. It stood just across the street from the Ponyville Library - or, more accurately, Twilight's home. Both Nadene and Ra'zaan knew that the Princess had done this in order for her faithful student to keep an eye on the two bipeds, but they didn't care in the least. Nadene walked through the front door and was greeted by a familiar voice.
"Well, I'm guessing you were let out for a break as well?" Ra'zaan said with a smirk on his face. He was sitting in a chair.
Nadene was surprised to see the Khajiit, but it didn't show. "Yeah, Pinkie Pie has a little 'project' that she's working on..." She paused for a moment before continuing. "... Hey... Ra'zaan? What do you think of this town?"
Now it was Ra'zaan's turn to be surprised. "Why do you ask?"
"Well... I'm just not used to how happy everybody... I mean everypony is. I like it, but how do you think they've stayed so peaceful?"
"I'm not sure, but I know one thing. I don't want this world to end up like ours. Our world was so corrupted that no one trusted anyone. I like things here much more."
Nadene sat quiet for a moment before continuing. Finally, she broke the awkward silence. "How is everything so tranquil, though? I haven't even seen an argument break out!"
"I think I can answer that for you." Twilight said as she walked through the pair's open front door. "Sorry, but I overheard you two talking and wanted to find out what you were doing."
Ra'zaan and Nadene turned the the purple unicorn. "Oh, hello Twilight!" They said together.
"No need to apologize. It was our fault we left the door open." Ra'zaan added.
"Anyway, to answer your question, Princess Celestia has kept our world peaceful for over a thousand years. Ponies don't fight because there isn't any need to. On the rare occasion that somepony isn't fairing well, the town's citizens always lend a helping hand. Everypony works together to keep order and happiness in the town." Twilight explained.
"Wow... I didn't think any place could be so devoid of hostility or anger..." Nadene thought aloud.
Twilight giggled for a moment. "Don't get me wrong, ponies argue too, but we try to keep disagreements from ruining our friendships. Anyway, how have you two been doing? Is everything going okay?"
"Everything is perfect, Twilight. Thanks for asking!" Nadene said cheerfully.
Ra'zaan nodded in agreement. "Would you like to see the rest of the house?"
Twilight smiled and nodded. The group of three looked around the house. There were five rooms in total; three downstairs and two upstairs. They were sitting in the living room, which had a bookshelf on one wall, a few chairs, and several decorations on the walls. The kitchen and bathroom were also on the first floor. The doorways of which were on either side of the room. The kitchen had a large dining table and chairs, a refrigerator, a stove, and some pots and pans in it. The bathroom was medium sized and had all of the possible necessities.
The other two rooms were bedrooms; one for Ra'zaan and one for Nadene, and each was decorated with everything the two had asked for, which wasn't much. Ra'zaan's room was painted a dark orange color and had a color-matching twin-sized bed in the center of it. Other than some random decorations on the walls, it also had some shelves for clothes and a mannequin which Ra'zaan used to display his armor and weapons, which he and Twilight both agreed was a good place for them. Nadene's room had another color-matching twin-sized bed in the center of the room. It also had a shelf for clothes, and there was a large mirror on the far wall. Random decorations dotted the rest of her walls, and her ebony dagger lay on a small pedestal near her bed. Everything was simple, but it was all the duo needed.
After they'd looked around the house, they went back downstairs. "Do you two like this place? You could have stayed in my house longer if you had wanted." Twilight said.
"Well, we couldn't trouble you in your library any longer, Twilight. We were glad to move in here after it was finished." Ra'zaan said, grinning.
"That's good... Oh, right! I almost forgot! We need to be at the park at three! Let's go!" Twilight said as she rushed out the door.
Nadene and Ra'zaan exchanged glances. They shrugged and followed the unicorn out of the house. Twilight had Spike with her now, and was waiting for the Khajiit and the Dark Elf to come out.
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Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity were already at the park. Rarity had brought a blanket to lay on the ground for their picnic and Applejack brought some apple cider and a basket of apples. The group of four all smiled and waved as Ra'zaan, Nadene,Twilight and Spike came into view.
"Well, hello everypony! Nadene, how are you liking your new dress, my dear?" Rarity asked curiously.
"I love it, Rarity! Thank you very much." Nadene smiled as the group sat down in the shade of a tree near the blanket.
"Where's Pinkie? I thought she'd already be here... She'd never miss this..." Twilight said, deep in thought as Spike set his favorite punch next to Applejack's cider.
Rainbow interrupted Twilight's thought. "There she is! She's got a big basket with her..."
"I wonder what she brought... She always brings something different to our picnics." Fluttershy added.
Nadene laughed to herself. "I bet I know what she brought..." The Dark Elf watched as Pinkie bounced over to the blanket and placed her basket down.
"Hi everypony! I brought a new treat for the picnic! Nadene gave me the recipe, but it took just a teeny weeny bit longer than I had hoped to get it right!" Pinkie said as she opened the basket.
The first thing that everypony saw was a tray of cupcakes, which was a normal sweet for the group. After Pinkie took the cupcakes out, however, they saw what the pink mare was so excited about. Underneath the cupcakes were five of Nadene's sweet rolls, each as big as a pound cake, and in the same shape. Each one had a sugary glaze covering the top of it.
"What are those, Pinkie? I ain't seen ya make somethin' like that before..." Applejack commented.
Pinkie smiled brightly. "These were Nadene's recipe for sweet rolls! I didn't think they were this big when I first started, but they look really good!."
Everypony looked at Nadene for a moment. The Dark Elf nodded.
"Alright then. Let's eat!" Pinkie exclaimed as she cut the sweet rolls in half.
Ra'zaan and Nadene got up and walked over to the blanket to sit with the group. Pinkie handed everyone and everypony each half a sweet roll, and Applejack and Spike gave out drinks. All of the ponies started chatting about the past week.
"It's hard to believe that just a week ago all of Ponyville was in jeopardy." Twilight said.
Rainbow frowned. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about that for a while."
"Which reminds me... Has the destroyed area where Ra'zaan and that AWFUL mage fought been fixed up yet?" Rarity asked, taking a bite of her sweet roll afterwards. "Mmmm, that's not half bad!"
"It's all patched up now, Ah reckon. The town usually fixes itself up real quick-like." Applejack added.
While the others were talking, Rainbow Dash had something else on her mind. "Hey, somepony stole my sweet roll!"
"Relax, Dashie! I've got another one for you!" Pinkie said, handing Dash the last sweet roll half.
Ra'zaan and Nadene looked at each other and smiled. They remembered the guards in Tamriel always saying 'Let me guess. Somebody stole your sweet roll.' The guards also talked about how they all used to be adventurers, but after a while people just kinda tuned that particular conversation out.
The ponies continued on to another topic entirely and the duo from Cyrodill were left to think privately about their situation.
"So, what do you think about us staying here, Ra'zaan?" Nadene asked suddenly.
"Hmm? To be honest, I think we made the right choice. The people - or ponies, I guess - here are so much more likable than the people of Tamriel."
Nadene smiled. "I agree. I hope we get so stay for a long time."
"I'm sure we will, Nadene. We've got friends here, and everypony is starting to accept us. I'm sure we'll be able to stay for a long time." Ra'zaan looked at the group on ponies talking and laughing as he finished his thought. "Come on. Let's make the most of things.Let's have some fun with our new friends and neighbors." He smiled.
The group got lost in conversation. They ate and talked all afternoon. Ra'zaan and Nadene were just part of the circle of friends now, and no pony even questioned it. Life was good.
The mercenary had finally found his home.
THE END
(A/N: Thank you all for reading. I've had a blast with this story and I'm currently planning a sequel. While I don't think I'll be posting it for a little while, keep watching as it won't be much longer than a week or two. I do hope you all have enjoyed this little tale I've told, and I hope to see comments and ideas you might have. I'll be posting a blog shortly after I put this chapter up. Again, thanks to all of my faithful readers.)