//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Description 
// Story: Ponies and Palaces 
// by EricStarstorm 
//------------------------------//

	"Okay, so lemme make sure I got this right," Ragnar said as he put down his teacup. "Yer not horses, yer ponies."

"That's right," Twilight replied.

"The dragon is friendly and always will be."

"Yes, go on."

"The supreme rulers 'round here are ponies like ye, with the wings and the horn, that raise the sun and the moon."

"And...?"

"And riding on yer backs is a no-go."

"All right, that covers the basics. You shouldn't have any problems, provided you stay out of trouble."

"Hey, uh...sorry I thought you were a rapist," Rainbow Dash said sheepishly. "I'm not exactly one to trust new people very easily. No hard feelings, right?"

"None at all," Ragnar replied. "Anyway, I'm sure ye don't need me life story, so I'll just explain me actions briefly. Where I'm from, we adventurers like to ride on horseback to travel from place to place, I have a heightened danger sense 'cause of all the monsters, and when I first ran into Fluttershy here, I failed a Diplomacy check when I was just tryin' to make conversation."

The three ponies looked confused for a second. "Um...what's a Diplomacy check?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'm surprised ye don't know! Ye just roll a twenty-sided die and add yer Charisma modifier."

"I didn't see you rolling any dice," Rainbow said.

"...Well, what I'm tryin' to say is that I tripped over me words. It happens where I'm from--ya try and convince the king that yer a royal ambassador and ya end up sayin' that yer tryin' to, and I quote, 'stick me flag in yer daughter and claim her as me territory.'"

"How is that tripping over your words?"

"I don't claim to understand it. I just follow the rules."

"Your world sounds...interesting," Twilight said. "All right...I'll talk to the mayor about living arrangements. Until then, you can stay here if you want."

"Nah, I have me own bedroll. I can sleep under the stars for a night or three."

"All right, then. As promised, here's your axe back."

Twilight's horn glowed with a purple aura again, and Ragnar's axe floated over to the table. Ragnar took it from the air and stood up before putting it on his back. "Well, it's been a pleasure meetin' all of ye, but I think I'm gonna do some lookin' around town. If I'm gonna be livin' here, I should get to know the place."

"That's a good plan. If you have any more questions, you can always come and ask me."

Ragnar nodded, then turned around and left the library. In all honesty, he had no idea what he was going to do first...but he did have one idea.





Ragnar entered a dimly-lit pub. It was rather spacious, and looked as if it was intended to give ponies that were too drunk to go home a place to sleep for the night. That wasn't the important part, however--Ragnar's eyes fell upon the bar and the line of stools that surrounded it. At this time of day, only one other pony was sitting at the bar, and the bartender looked extremely bored. The news about Ragnar's arrival apparently traveled fast--neither of the pub's inhabitants seemed at all surprised to see him.

Ragnar took a seat beside the other pony. "Barkeep, gimme somethin' so strong that it'd make a pony roll a Constitution save," he said.

The bartender gave him a strange look. "A what now?"

Ragnar was having trouble getting used to that. He cleared his throat. "The strongest drink ya got."

The strange look was wiped away as the bartender nodded and took a bottle down from the shelf. As he started mixing a few things together, the pony beside Ragnar laughed heartily. "You're a brave one," she said in a slightly drunken slur.

Ragnar turned to the other customer, only now getting a good look at her. Everything about her was some shade of purple--her coat was a classic light shade, and her mane and eyes were tinted with red. The emblem on her flank showed a strawberry and a bunch of grapes. He nodded to her. "Hardly," he said. "If yer standards for alcohol are like the humans' where I come from, it'll take the strongest thing ya've got just to give me a buzz."

The inebriated pony's eyes widened. "No kidding?"

"We Dwarves have more tolerance fer this stuff than an Indian elephant. Watch and learn."

As if on cue, the bartender placed a glass on the bar in front of Ragnar. It was filled with liquid that was red near the bottom and faded to yellow as it reached the top. It danced around in the glass like a campfire. Thick froth overflowed over the glass, bubbling like hot tar. "One Phantom Fireball Whiskey," he said with a hint of slyness in his voice. "The strongest thing we've got."

Ragnar took the glass and raised it slightly. "Cheers."

Both ponies watched in amazement as Ragnar tipped the glass back, downing the whole pint in seconds. Ragnar was willing to admit that this was a strong brew, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. He put the glass down after he was done and wiped a bit of froth from his mouth.

The other patron clapped with her front hooves. "Now THAT was impressive," she said. She held her hoof out to Ragnar. "My name's Berry Punch."

Ragnar took Berry's hoof and shook it. "Ragnar Hallowshield," he replied with a smile. "What brings ye here at this time of day?"

Berry laughed. Ragnar could tell that it wasn't a completely happy laugh--it was more self-deprecative than anything. "Not much else for me to do, honestly," she said. "My daughter's at school, and she doesn't want me picking her up anymore. I always show up drunk."

Ragnar frowned. "If it's such a bother to yer daughter, then why don'tcha just stop drinkin' the stuff?"

"It's...complicated. If you were in my position, you'd get it." Berry tapped her hoof on the bar. "Let me get another pint."

The bartender put a mug full of ale in front of Berry. As she drank it, Ragnar decided that pressing her for details wasn't going to go over well, so he dropped the issue. "What's yer daughter like?"

Berry put down her mug and smiled again. This time, it was much more sincere. "Her name's Ruby Pinch, but everypony just calls her Pinchy. She's a little troublemaker, but she's so sweet that I usually let her get away with it. Miss Cheerilee--the local teacher--gets really mad and confused that she gets good grades when she goofs off in class so much."

Ragnar chuckled. "She sounds like a great little girl." He turned to the bartender. "Gimme another one of those whiskeys."

"I just hope she doesn't change too much once she gets her cutie mark. I've heard that a lot of kids really adjust their attitudes after they discover their talents."

"What in the world's a 'cutie mark?'"

"Wow, you really don't know much about this place, do you?" Berry gestured to the fruits on her flank. "They symbolize our special talents. Mine is making juice and wine."

"Well, if ya can make wine, then why're ya here?"

"Do you know how expensive buying all those grapes would be? I only make wine when I plan on selling it. The stuff goes for crazy prices in Canterlot." Berry took another draught from her ale. "Besides, wine is a sometimes drink. Trust me, I'm a bit of an expert."

The bartender put another Phantom Fireball Whiskey in front of Ragnar. This time, he decided to savor it. "I can respect that."

"Not to mention, Barley Hops here makes the best ale in all of Equestria." Berry turned to the bartender. "Isn't that right, Barley?"

"You haven't had ale from anywhere else," Barley replied.

"Not the point! Point is, you brew a spirited spirit!"

Ragnar laughed. "I wish I'd brought the recipe fer Dwarven ale with me," he said. "The stuff would blow yer mind. And possibly yer liver."

"Man, you're gonna have to come back here sometimes and tell me more about the place you came from," Berry said. "I listen to a lot of ponies ramble on while I'm here, but I'm willing to bet that your stories will be the best."

"Well, I'm not in any hurry right this minute. How 'bout I just tell ye a little somethin' now?"

Berry's eyes lit up. "R-really?!"

"Oh, fer sure! Ye get a lot of stories to tell when yer goin' through paladin training." Ragnar made himself a bit more comfortable. "I'll start from the time me friend Lance spiked an ambassador's drink..."





Only when Ragnar left the pub did he realize how much time had passed while he was there. When he stepped outside, the first thing on his mind was getting somewhere peaceful to set up his bedroll. He wasn't sure how the village's night life was, but he didn't want it keeping him up at night. He figured he could set it up safely on the outskirts of town. The walk took a bit longer than Ragnar thought it would, but eventually, he was situated just between the town and the neighboring forest. He wasn't sure about sleeping near a place that he knew hostile wolves lived in, but if he took on three before with little trouble, he was sure he could handle them for a few days.

By the time Ragnar had set up his bedroll, it was sunset. He thought it would take longer to do this, and he considered going back into town and enjoying more of the ponies' lifestyle...but something stopped him. He had lived for 64 years, and each one of them was a good one--even the ones he looked back on in disdain were only like that because of minor regrets and disappointment. In those 64 years, he had seen the sky thousands of times. Up until now, he had thought that the sky was just a shade of blue that varied in brightness to fill in a void, with clouds only showing up when it rained. He only saw what the supreme deity "DM" described, and given that said deity didn't care much for long descriptions, that wasn't usually all that much.

With all this in mind, before Ragnar was the most gorgeous sunset he had seen in his entire life.

The sun sat on the horizon, lighting the sky up with brilliant flares of orange. Some clouds were slowly creeping in from the north, and the sun gave them a shimmering aura. It seemed as though the entire sky was on fire with the sun's brilliance. Its rays stretched all the way across the sky, brightening the world with the last remnants of the day's light.

A sunset like this really made Ragnar think. He was in a world that wasn't his own. Nothing that he knew from his childhood was there for him anymore, save for his ever-trustworthy axe. Before, he had just been concerned with what an adventurer would normally be concerned with--survival and making use of what he's given. Now, though, he had to wonder if he would ever find a way home...or if he should even try.

His thoughts were interrupted by small footsteps. Normally, he wouldn't have noticed, but these footsteps were not only getting louder, but they were also constant. It was like listening to a bard tap-dance on a shag carpet. He turned towards the source of the sounds to see three small fillies running past him. One was an orange Pegasus with a purple mane, one was a white unicorn with a half-lavender, half-pink mane, and one was a sand-colored regular pony with a strawberry mane and an enormous hot pink bow. None of them seemed to have cutie marks. 

The Pegasus turned towards him and smiled. "Hi, Randall!" she exclaimed. The trio stopped, and the other two ponies turned towards him as well.

"Randall?" the unicorn asked. "His name is Ragnar, not Randall."

"Yeah, whatever." The three fillies walked over to the dwarf. "We've heard a lot about you! Is it true that you were gonna mount Fluttershy and 'buck her like a lion?'"

"Oh, gods, no!" Ragnar exclaimed. "How do the rumors get around so fast and the truth behind 'em doesn't? We cleared up the misunderstandin' at Twilight's library."

"I told ya!" the sand-colored filly said smugly, in a slightly exaggerated southern drawl.

"Yeah, yeah," the Pegasus said. "Rub it in."

The unicorn cleared her throat. Ragnar noticed that her voice was ridiculously high-pitched, even by little girl standards. "Sorry, I just realized that we know your name and you don't know ours! I'm Sweetie Belle."

"I'm Apple Bloom," the regular pony added. She then gestured towards the Pegasus. "And this is Scootaloo."

"Well, it's good to meet ya," Ragnar replied, smiling. "What brings ye here so late in the day?"

"Well, uh...to be honest, it was hard not to be curious when we heard the rumors about you," Sweetie Belle said sheepishly. "We heard you're a paladin! We had to come see for ourselves!"

"You don't know what a paladin is!" Scootaloo interrupted.

"Yes I do! It's a..." Ragnar could tell that Sweetie Belle was wracking her brain on this one. "It's a...um..." She looked sheepish again. "...a stallion with attitude?"

Ragnar chuckled. "Not even close. A paladin is a champion of a god that lives to protect those around him. The best term to describe us would probably be 'holy warriors.'"

"That sounds really interestin'!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "But...that means ya gotta do a lot of fightin', right?"

"Oh, believe me, bein' a paladin isn't easy. But let me tell ya somethin', lass...nothin' in life worth havin' comes easy."

"I know...it's just that Equestria's a pretty peaceful place. There's not much for a warrior like yourself to do 'round here."

"Really? But I fought three wooden wolves in the forest just this mornin'."

Suddenly, the three fillies' eyes widened to levels beyond belief. "You fought TIMBERWOLVES?" they asked simultaneously, nearly blowing out Ragnar's eardrums.

"Ya don't have to scream at me!" Ragnar rubbed his forehead for a brief moment before continuing. "Besides, with dragons runnin' around in this country, I'd hardly think that some Druid's experiment is what ye should be worried about."

"The dragons usually stay in the mountains waaaaay off the eastern border," Sweetie Belle explained. "But the Timberwolves are always hanging around in the woods."

"You fought Timberwolves, but you came into town without a scratch!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "That's amazing! I'm surprised someone as...um...bulky as you has that kind of agility."

"Agility? What're ye talkin' about? I've got trainin' as a warrior--I'd have to be a fool not to use it."

By now, the three fillies were looking at Ragnar as if he was a celebrity giving them a signed photograph. He was a bit concerned that they were idolizing him over something so simple as cutting up a few wooden animals.

"Giiii-iiirls!" an elegant voice called. Everyone present turned to see another white unicorn. This one was about Fluttershy's and Rainbow Dash's age, with a purple mane that was curled up towards the end. Normally, it'd look rather silly, but she pulled it off with aplomb and even made it look upper-class. Her eyes were noticeably sharper than the others, and her eyelashes were much larger. "It's time to go home."

"Okay, Rarity!" Sweetie Belle replied. She turned back to Ragnar. "To be continued?"

"Sure, kiddo," Ragnar said.

The three fillies smiled and ran towards Rarity in high spirits. Rarity had walked a bit closer in the meantime, and she appeared to be studying Ragnar. She put a hoof up to her chin in thought. "Say, Ragnar...would you mind coming to Carousel Boutique tomorrow? There are a few things I would like to know."

"Sure, I can do that. Where's Carousel Boutique?"

"It's near the center of town. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it." Rarity nodded her head. "Thank you for keeping the girls out of trouble, even if only for a moment. Until tomorrow."

With that, Rarity and the girls turned and went back into the town. Ragnar was alone with his thoughts. As he watched the sun go down, he couldn't help but smile. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all," he said to himself.