Ra'zaan, a Khajiit mercenary working out of Cyrodill, goes on a trip he won't soon forget!
When Ra'zaan, a mercenary Khajiit known for taking difficult jobs from the higher ups in Cyrodill, takes a job from the Mage's Guild's Arch-Mage to go investigate a disturbance near Anvil, he gladly excepts. what happens next is something that not even the Mage that sent him on this quest could see coming. Ra'zaan seemingly falls off the face of Nirn! He wakes up in a very unfamiliar place, and sees no way to return home. Where is he? How did he get here? ...How can he get home?....
(Warning! I plan to have quite a few instances of violence and blood-shed in this. If this is not your thing, please, do not read this story.)
(About Image: I had an extremely hard time doing this. I couldn't find any pictures that I thought would work. Instead, I drew the Khajiit in paint (Not too bad is it?) and edited him into a picture of Ponyville from a distance. If anyone wants to try and find/make a better picture, please feel free, because I'm no artist.)
Ra'zaan woke up with a pounding in his ears. He looked around and saw that he was in the center of where what looked like a large fire had engulfed the small area he'd woken up in. The place he'd been lying was a large circular scorch mark on the ground. He tried to think of where he was but the pounding in his head made that a lost cause for the time being. So, instead, the Khajiit glanced around the area a bit. Outside the burnt area, there were dark trees with vines all along the rim of the circle, and what looked to be a swamp farther back. As Ra'zaan stumbled to his feet, something caught his eye; there was something moving in the bushes. He drew his trusty katana he had received from the Blades after a mission he had accompanied them on.
"Who's there?" Ra'zaan shouted. No answer...
"I'm armed, so don't get any funny ideas", He said, a bit louder than before. Silence...
Still on guard, he looked down to make sure he still had everything he may need in case of a real fight. Ra'zaan was a Khajiit* of medium build, tiger striped fur, yellow eyes and an unreadable face. He had on his steel armor he'd purchased the previous year (minus the helmet, as he hated wearing anything that restricted his view), and the glass dagger he'd "found" in Cheydinhal's private armory. The Khajiit also had his black bow he'd taken off a bandit he'd killed near Leyawiin, and the steel arrows he used with it, of which he had around fifty in the quiver. Other than that, he had a few potions; lock-picks; some food he'd grabbed for the road and not eaten yet; one hundred Septims; and an old book he'd been carrying in his leather pack, but he had left almost everything else at home that day. Ra'zaan also had a fire spell he used from time to time, but he found that fire magic wasn't the best thing to use in the middle of a forest.
"Well, are you going to show yourself or not?" Ra'zaan said after finishing his checkup.
The bushes shook one more time and a rabbit hopped out from behind them. Ra'zaan laughed to himself and sheathed his weapon. He took another look around and decided to get to a vantage point to find out where he was. He could see a mountain peaking over the tree-tops, so he chose that as his first destination. As he walked along through the dark, menacing trees, the pounding in his head subsided and his memory started coming back to him. He looked at his journal, which he had found laying not far from where he woke up, and read what he had done just before he blacked out. He read it to himself as he walked:
-I took a job from the Arch Mage up in the Mage's Guild. He asked me to go "persuade" a rogue mage in Anvil to tell me where he and his group are working.
-I found the rogue mage. He was more than willing to give me the location of his friends after I threw him around a bit. He mentioned a dark elf by the name of Golam Faram. I'd better report my findings to the Mage's Guild.
-The Arch Mage seemed to cringe at the name Golam Faram, and told me to go to the location the rogue had given me. He warned me that Faram was a very dangerous man. After I'm prepared, I'll head out there and check it out. The area's known for mage activity, so I'd better be ready for a fight!
-I've located my target. Now all I need to do is run in and either talk to the rest of the rogues to see if what they are doing is legal, or kill them all. I'd much rather they choose the latter of the two, it's always so much quicker!
This was the last entry in his journal. The mercenary thought and started to remember what happened right after writing that entry. He stopped his walk and leaned against a nearby tree as he thought to himself.
"Let’s see... I walked up to the door, and busted through using my sword..." He stopped, searching his mind for any clues as to what happened next.
"...The mages were performing some sort of weird ritual... A circle with a strange design was drawn on the floor. As the circle started to glow, they stood up and armed themselves with magic... I attacked..." Ra'zaan struggled to remember what occurred next.
"There were five of them in all...I think there were five at least...anyway, the first two went down with ease as I sliced threw them... Then the next two attacked from both my left and right, one with fire and one with ice. I ducked under the streams of magic and used my dagger to quickly take them down before they had time to pin me with the magic. One remained from what I could tell... Golam, it seemed. He stood in the center of the circle. I ran at him, ducking and dodging his lightning strikes. In one quick movement I pushed my sword and dagger deep into the center of his chest, my sword going all the way through to the other side... But Golam, with some quick thinking, finished the glowing circle beneath us with the blood that was pooling at his feet, and a huge blast of light and heat hit me, and then it all goes black..."
He finally realized then that the blast must have teleported him somewhere...but where? That was the question he kept repeating to himself. He looked at the sky and saw that the sun was near setting, meaning it must be around six in the afternoon.
"It looks like it's been about five hours since I got teleported here." He growled to himself, knowing now that he'd been out for at least four and a half of those five hours.
Ra'zaan continued his walk towards the mountain, which by now was in view about a quarter mile through the thinning trees. It took him about five or so minutes to reach the mountain because he was weighed down by his armor, but when he reached the edge, he looked up at a nearly ninety degree vertical wall that was the cliff face of the mountain. This was no problem for Ra'zaan as he removed his steel gauntlets to reveal his razor-sharp claws. He did the same with is grieves and placed both sets of equipment in his pack. He ascended up the cliff face with near ease, and looked out over the forest. His heart sank a little when he realized that he wasn't in Cyrodill anymore.
"By the Nine! Where in the world am I?”
After he'd regained his composure, he sighed.
"Quite the view", he said distractedly to himself. "Better head to that town over there tomorrow." He told himself as he saw the tops of some buildings of a colorful town down past the direction he had come.
The only answer to his comment was the echo from it that bounced down into the forest.
Rainbow Dash had been testing out a few new tricks she'd obsessed over for the past week when she heard an explosion and saw smoke coming from deep within Everfree Forest. In the five hours that had passed since then, she'd been explaining to her friends what she'd seen and trying to convince them to go with her to check it out.
"Come on girls! Let's just go take a look and see what made that awesome explosion!" Rainbow begged.
Twilight Sparkle, who agreed with Rainbow, said "Yes, we still have some time before it gets too dark!"
Rarity, who was not at all excited about the idea of adventuring out into Everfree Forest, especially at night, cried, "What if it DOES get dark out while we're there? And what if the thing that caused the explosion isn't HAPPY to see us?"
Suddenly Pinkie Pie burst out with excitement and said, "We could have soooo much fun!!! Let's go exploring!!!"
They all felt a little bit of the tension decrease and had a bit of a laugh because of their bubbly friend's outburst.
As everypony settled down, Apple Jack, who had been sitting a little bit away to avoid being sucked into the argument along with Fluttershy, calmly said, "Why don't y'all calm down a bit now. How 'bout we have ourselves a vote instead of arguing about everythin'?"
They all quickly agreed, obviously tired of getting nowhere fast debating over it. They got together in a circle to get ready to vote. When they were all in the circle, Twilight began:
"All those for going out to look around say 'Aye'!"
Four voices, those of Pinkie, Rainbow, Apple Jack and Twilight, exclaimed all at once, "Aye!"
"All those against going out to have a look say 'Aye'!"
Now the opposite two voices, those of Fluttershy and Rarity, both said "Aye!"
After the vote, and with a big grin on her face, Rainbow Dash yelled, "Then that settles it! To Everfree Forest!"
The two that had down-voted looked at each other with uncertainty and reluctantly followed the rest of the group out towards the forest. As they neared the forest, Rainbow saw what looked like a small fire out on the cliff side.
"Look everypony! What do you think that fire up there is?"
With a destination now in front of them, the six friends raced off into the darkening forest. As they ran they all started trying to imagine what could have created the explosion. Was it some sort of monster? Maybe something or somepony tried a spell that misfired or failed? If it is some sort of creature, will it be friendly or…? They stopped abruptly and the group stood, looking at a small clearing. The only problem was that the clearing looked like it had formed because of some sort of fire! The ground was scorched and the only thing in the clearing was an interesting indent in the ground. It looked almost like a star, but the bottom two "arms" of the star were longer than the middle two, and the upper most was very short, kind of like somepony's head had laid there. It looked like something, or somepony, made a very hard crash landing on that spot. They looked at each other in disbelief as the story Rainbow had told them became real. They shook off the worry they had about the clearing fairly quickly, however, and continued towards the fire on the mountain.
Ra'zaan had set up a small camp on the cliff side and had even set himself a fire so he'd have light and warmth, and be comfortable enough to get sleep in the chilly night air. He did so because he knew he'd need rest for the next day's journey. The tired warrior unrolled his bed roll near the fire. Once the bed was made, he removed his armor, which showed that he had some basic cotton clothes on underneath, and laid down with the book that was in his pack. It was entitled "Ahzirr Traajijazeri" which roughly translates to "We justly take by force." It was a book written by another Khajiit explaining the reasons behind many Khajiiti attacks on the Cyrodillic province of Leyawiin.
Darkness had just fallen on the land. As Ra'zaan finished the third chapter of the book, he heard what he thought were horse hooves coming to a halt at the bottom of the cliff side. He grabbed his black bow and steel arrows and went to the cliff's edge.
"Hello? Don't make any sudden moves, I've got an arrow trained on the...purple......pony......in...front...Alright, what in Talos's name is going on now?!" He said, lowering his bow from his target.
The group of friends just stood there for a second in shock. They'd never seen anything like the creature that was up on the cliff side!
As they regained their focus, Twilight said in a rather nervous voice, "Wh-what are you, sir? Also, f-for that m-matter, what's a T-Talos?"
Ra'zaan just stood there, flabbergasted. Now he'd seen it all. He'd seen demons summoned by necromancers, whole bandit camps taken down by a single person (usually himself), and strange rituals preformed by mages. None of this had ever caught him off guard. Then, out of nowhere, a little purple pony talks, and it's like his mind just went blank.
"Great. You can talk too. That's...that's just great." He finally said as he sat down to try to comprehend what was going on. "What's next, you gonna fly around or start levitating with magic?"
Rainbow and Fluttershy flew up to him at this point, carrying Rarity and Twilight, who were both using their magic to float Apple Jack and and a very excited Pinkie Pie up. As Pinkie landed on the cliff's edge, she answered Ra'zaan's question:
"Actually BOTH!" exclaimed the pink pony.
With that, Ra'zaan had had enough. The great mercenary from Cyrodill, who had faced many a battle in his day, fainted right where he sat. The ponies gave each other a puzzled look, and Twilight floated Ra'zaan over to his bedroll. They were sure going to have to explain a lot to this creature, and they wanted to know about him as well. The true meeting of the two sides would have to wait until morning.
"We can't just LEAVE the poor fellow here, can we?" Rarity said in a surprisingly worried tone.
"No, we should get him out of the cold out here and take him back to Ponyville." Twilight said calmly.
Twilight then gently carried Ra'zaan and his bedroll down the less steep edge of the cliff side with her magic while everyone else carried the rest of his equipment.
"Tomorrow's going to be quite an interesting day, everypony!" Twilight laughed, along with the others as they carried their new curiosity back to Ponyville.
After the long trip back to Ponyville (By now it was nearing midnight),They all went to Twilight's library home and set Ra'zaan and his things down near one of the bookshelves. They all decided to stay at Twilight's that night, excited for what tomorrow morning would bring.
TO BE CONTINUED
(Khajiit* - Cat-like humanoid species found in the Elder Scrolls games.)
Ra'zaan stirred to a light from a nearby window, which was shining brightly on his face. The pounding in his head had returned, but it wasn't quite as bad. He sat up slowly with his eyes still closed to shield them from the light.
"Wait a minute, what window?!" He thought suddenly to himself.
"Girls, look! He's waking up!" said a gentle, curious voice.
Ra'zaan snapped open his eyes and reached for his dagger, which he never removed in case of emergency.
It wasn't there.
Instead, six sets of huge eyes stared at him from the other side of the room.
"Are you looking for your weapons? we put them along with the rest of your equipment on the shelf behind you." The voice he'd heard earlier said.
It belonged to the purple pony he'd seen the night before. He hadn't noticed last night because of the dark, but she had a horn like that of a unicorn on her forehead, and a dark purple mane with a pink stripe. The other five from the night before were there as well. He didn't know what he was doing in this...library...but he did know he WASN'T here last night. Keeping a watchful eye on the group across from him, he slowly turned to see if what she'd said was true. Sure enough, all of his belongings were there, on the top shelf of a bookcase. The shelf next to it seemed to have twice as many books as the rest, showing that they'd moved some to put the items there. A little more relaxed than he was before, he said:
"Why did you bring me here? Who are you?"
"I'm Twilight Sparkle. We thought you'd be uncomfortable where you were when you passed out, so we brought you to our town." Twilight said with a grin.
"Ah'm not sure whatcha was plannin' to do up on that there cliff, but Equestrian nights can sure git awful cold!" Said the orange, blond-maned pony to the far right in a rather southern tongue.
"And who might you be?" Ra'zaan said.
"Ah'm Applejack! This here is Fluttershy..." She pointed at a yellow pony with a pink mane and wings, who was looking nervously at him. "...That over there is Rarity an' the bouncin' pony near Rarity is Pinkie Pie..." The first one Ra'zaan was directed to was a pure white pony with a purple mane and a horn like Twilight's, and the other, which was bouncing up and down in one spot, was pink with a pink, puffed up mane. "...an' finally, the blue pony next to me is..."
"...And I'm Rainbow Dash! Nice to meet ya!" Rainbow said, cutting Applejack short and pushing her out of the way. "Now that we've told you who we are, what's your name, Mr. Cat?"
Ra'zaan didn't enjoy the nickname, but he let it slide. He was far too confused to be angry as it was. "My name is Ra'zaan, and I'm a mercenary from Cyrodill." He said as calmly as he could. "You six wouldn't happen to know which way to go to get back there, would you?"
The ponies all looked at each other in confusion. Then they all said in unison, "Cyrodill? Where's that?"
"I've read all about the different areas of Equestria, but I've never heard of this Cyrodill place..." Twilight said confidently.
He didn't have a reply to that. He knew that if none of them had ever heard of Cyrodill, he must be in some other realm, because Cyrodill was the empire's main province.
"Nevermind." He said slowly. "It's where I'm from, but it seems I've been transported here by some form of magic."
Ra'zaan was on his feet by this point. He stood about twice as tall as the ponies. He was pondering how the hell he was going to get out of this strange land and back home again. He reached for his armor, but once again he heard Twilight's voice.
"You won't need your armor here. Nothing dangerous enough for that is going to happen while your in Ponyville."
"Just the same, I'd like to at least have my dagger with me." He retorted as he slipped the dagger into his pack, and attached the pack to his side. "If none of you know about Cyrodill, I'd better get to know this place a little until I find some way home."
"OOOOH! Let's take him over to Sugarcube Corner! We can talk more there! And I'll make cupcakes!" Pinkie suddenly yelled.
The sound of the name of the place the pony had described made Ra'zaan cringe, but he knew if he wanted to get anywhere he'd need to go somewhere he could get information.
"So," Ra'zaan said finally. "Is this 'Sugarcube Corner' your town's version of a tavern?" Taverns were the first place he would always check before anywhere else.
"I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'tavern', but Sugarcube Corner is a bakery, and one of the local hot spots." Twilight said.
"...Very well, lead on." He said dryly. He had gotten tired of talking and it seemed that this place, while maybe not so much what he wanted, was going to be his best bet for finding out information.
"Okie Dokie!" Said Pinky cheerfully as she bounded out the door.
"Oh, well. Spike's still sleeping so I can't introduce you to him right now, but you'll meet him later." Twilight said, following Pinkie and the rest of the mares out the door.
Ra'zaan had heard Pinkie say cupcakes, and this mention of food had made his stomach growl. But cupcakes weren't on his mind. As he walked outside he pulled some of the food he had in his pack out. Out came a salmon steak, which he looked at with hungry eyes. He started eating peacefully as he walked and stopped in his tracks as he found six sets of eyes fixed on him yet again. Two deep aqua-marine eyes were staring intensely at him.
"Wh-what are you eating?" Fluttershy asked .
"Just some fish. Why?" Ra'zaan asked.
Fluttershy had a sudden pang of worry in her eyes as she darted off towards her home. Ra'zaan looked in the direction she'd gone, then back to the other five.
"What did I do now!? Is it illegal to eat fish or something!?" Ra'zaan half-asked, half-demanded.
"Fluttershy loves all living creatures. Seeing you eat fish might have just made her remember something...or you could have just really made her sad. We're all vegetarian here, so no one here eats fish or meat." Rainbow explained.
"So, is it alright that I have this?" The Khajiit was clearly not happy about all the commotion over his food.
Applejack answered this time. "Well yeah...but try to be careful aroun' some of them there townsfolk an' 'specially Fluttershy... she can be a might...fragile..."
"I'll keep that in mind I guess..." Ra'zaan hadn't thought something as simple as a snack, no matter what it was made from, would cause so much trouble. He finished his snack quickly and everyone continued towards Sugarcube Corner, one pony less now. Though he'd had no intention of doing so, he'd managed to upset one pony already, AND worry her friends. Yep, this was going to be a long day...
They continued down the road for a little while. He felt like he'd forgotten something about yesterday, but what? He couldn't place it, so he decided to ignore it for now, choosing instead to look at the town. Without a doubt, this was the colorful town he'd seen from the cliff. He looked forward again as they neared their destination. The place was pink, and decorated like a gingerbread house... which made Ra'zaan uneasy as they approached. Nothing in this town seemed normal to him.
"Come on in Pinkie and friends! Said a voice from behind the counter. The mare it belonged to just tried to ignore the gang's new "friend".
"Thanks, Mrs. Cake! Let's sit down and get something to eat, and then we can talk!" Pinkie said quickly.
Nervously, Ra'zaan followed the group. He wasn't one to readily give out his trust without reason, and that feeling that he'd forgotten something hadn't gone away. He was on guard as he approached the large booth most of the ponies had sat down at. The bakery had a few other ponies sitting and chatting around the room, and the smell of baked goods made Ra'zaan a little dizzy. Pinkie, meanwhile, had disappeared into the kitchen.
"So, what EXACTLY does a mercenary do?" Rarity asked shyly.
"Well, I'm pretty much a sell-sword for the higher ups in my world. People pay me to do dangerous things that they may not have the courage to do, or that they need help with. Stealing, killing, threatening, and treasure hunting are but a few of the odd jobs a mercenary covers." he replied, showing that he was very comfortable with the topic.
Obviously, by their reaction, the ponies weren't. They all exchanged looks of worry as he continued.
"No need to be on edge. The only thing I've killed so far while I've been here is a splitting headache."
"It's the 'so far' in that sentence that bothers me. Anyway, how'd you end up here in Equestria, then?" Twilight asked.
"It's quite a long story." Ra'zaan said as Pinkie appeared, leaving the kitchen with some fresh-baked cupcakes.
"We've got time!" Said Pinkie happily as she laid a tray with a little over a dozen cupcakes on it down.
"Alright then." He said as he got ready to continue. Suddenly the bakery's door opened. They all turned and noticed Fluttershy quietly entering. She walked over and sat down with the group. She'd calmed down a little.
"Sorry for upsetting you earlier, Miss." Said Ra'zaan in as sincere a tone as the fighter could muster. She just nodded quietly and waited for him to continue his conversation.
"Well... anyway. I'd taken a mission from Cyrodill's Arch Mage, the leader of the Mage's Guild. He thought for a moment and realized the ponies might not have any idea what a mage was. "Mages, to put it simply, are my world's main magic users."
"So, basically like unicorns for us?" Fluttershy asked almost inaudibly.
"I guess if unicorns can use magic, then yes. Anyway, The Arch Mage gave me a mission to 'acquire' information about some rogue mages..." Ra'zaan continued his explanation, sparing no detail. He finished with "...And that's when the six of you 'surprised' me on the cliff side."
The girls just sat there, dumbfounded. Killings didn't happen in Ponyville, and deaths only occurred rarely. From what Ra'zaan had said and how he'd said it, he was used to killing people. That was one thing they did not care to hear about.
"S-so, this Faram m-mage is d-dead now?" Twilight stuttered.
"I can't honestly confirm or deny that he's dead. The flash happened before I saw if he'd died or not... But I ran him through, so I'd imagine he is." He answered.
"W-we need to bring you to Princess Celestia, she'll w-want to have a t-talk with you. Is there anything e-else we should kn-know?"
"Not that I know of... I'm guessing this 'Princess' is your leader?" The group nodded. "Alright, I'll go grab my armor and weaponry. I don't like going far distances without them."
Twilight started to object, and then realized that this time she wasn't going to win the argument. Instead, she just nodded.
"Will this cover everyone?" Ra'zaan brought out ten Septims, the currency from his world.
"What are those?" All of the ponies asked at once.
"These are my world's currency. They're called Septims. What, are they not taken here?" Ra'zaan questioned.
Mrs. Cake walked up and looked at the coins. After inspecting them thoroughly, she said, "They look like much larger bits with pictures on them! I'd say if I took those as bits they'd be worth ten times the normal, but you don't need to pay, sir. These were Pinkie's cupcakes, so they were free."
"Alright, I guess. Thank you." he said, placing the Septims back into his pack.
He followed the group out the door to go get his equipment and head out on a trip to meet the so-called 'Princess Celestia.'
A dark, lean figure stood up and shook himself off. He had a great pounding in his head. He looked around, and noticed that he was in the center of what looked like a scorched circle. He saw eight figures lying unconscious on the ground...four were dead from what looked like blade cuts, and four were still alive, apparently untouched. A sharp pain suddenly echoed through the center of his chest. He looked down and saw two VERY deep cuts in his chest, one going all the way through. He sealed the wounds with a powerful healing spell quickly before he lost any more blood.
The other four living figures came around soon after the first. As they shook themselves off, they too glanced around the place quickly before looking directly at the first figure that had woken up. One of them, a women with blond hair and a strong, accented voice, spoke.
"Well, I'm glad our enchantments kept us all together, like you said they would." She said uneasily. "I have to hand it to you, If that Khajiit had come after us without you there, we'd surely have all been killed. Thank you for that, Mr. Faram."
The group was traveling down a long road towards Canterlot Castle. It had taken a few hours by train (which the ponies had to coax Ra'zaan onto, as he was less then happy to get on a large moving anything), but they were well on their way to talking with Princess Celestia. Twilight had written a letter to the princess telling her of the ponies' discovery, and Royal Guards had met them at the train station to 'escort' Ra'zaan to the castle.
"Is it really necessary to have all of these guards, Twilight?" Ra'zaan said, obviously worried.
"Well, no, I don't really think..."
"By order of the Princess, the creature called Ra'zaan is to be taken directly into the castle. No detours." One of the Royal Guard said, cutting Twilight off mid-sentence.
"With all due respect sir, Ah reckon we could a just taken 'im there ourselves." Applejack said, holding back her annoyance.
"No exceptions. We have been ordered to take him with us, you are free to go where you please." The guard retorted coldly.
"We'll stay with him. We did get him into this after all." Twilight said defensively.
The remainder of their trip was very quiet. Twilight looked at Ra'zaan as they walked. She could tell he was worried; his stone face had a glimmer of anxiety shining through. Inside his head, Ra'zaan thought about what was going on. "The Princess sends guards to get me... just great... what have I gotten myself into now?" He looked around the city. Canterlot was much better looking than Ponyville in his eyes. It was still as sickeningly colorful as Ponyville, but had a different feel.
As they neared the gates, Ra'zaan saw just how many guards there really were. It seemed like there was one around every corner. He'd thought he could get away from or beat the four that had showed up at the train to fetch him before. He knew he didn't have a chance now. They walked up the steps to the castle. After a long walk down a large hallway, they came to a throne room. Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna sat side by side at the top of a set of stairs.
"You may take your leave now, guards." Celestia said calmly.
"But your Highness, this man could be danger--"
"I said you may leave. This man has been with Twilight this entire time, so we've got nothing to worry about. Otherwise she wouldn't have asked to bring him here. Isn't that right, my faithful student?" Celestia had quieted the guard.
Twilight answered softly. "Yes Princess. Something strange is going on. We found Mr. Ra'zaan here out in Everfree Forest, and he has no idea how to get back to his home, which is called... what was it again Ra'zaan?"
"Cyrodill, your Highness. A land that apparently doesn't exist in this world." Ra'zaan said. His voice had changed back to normal after he had seen that the Princess only wanted the guards as a precaution, which was understandable.
"Well, then. I'd like to hear everything that's happened up to the point you found yourself in Equestria."
"As you wish. I had accepted a mission from Cyrodill's Mage's Guild..."
The five creatures, led by Golam Faram, walked slowly through forest. Golam is a Dark Elf*. dark, blue-tinted skin, tall, lean, black-colored and trimmed hair, and a stone face. His group comprised of a short, middle-aged Nord* woman with short, blond hair and an angry look to her face. A young, medium built Breton* man with brown eyes and a worried look on his face. Another Dark Elf, this one was a younger woman that was tall with the same dark skin as Golam, but had an excited, happier face than her colleagues. Last but not least, there was an older-looking High Elf* man with white hair and a face much like Golam's.
"Mr. Faram, where are we going? Do you have any idea where we are?" The Nord woman said, sounding very irritated from walking a long distance.
"Calm and quiet yourself, Ysura. We must focus on what we need to do now. It seems the teleport spell we designed worked well, and we are in fact in a different realm. Halius, you know the Clairvoyance** spell do you not? Use it, it may lead us somewhere to get us started.
"Yes, sir. The High Elf said obediently. He cast the spell, and a thin golden glowing mist formed and lead them forward. "I can't do this for a long time, so I hope we aren't going far."
"Quit your complaining, old man. We've already done the hardest part of getting here, so this should be easy!" The Breton said. Halius just grumbled to himself.
"Leave him be, Kynan, you know this trip has been draining for all of us." The cheerful Dark Elf woman said.
"Good point, Nadene. Everyone settle down, we must stay focused here. Whatever we find here will be ours, even if we must take it by force!" Golam announced.
The group followed the golden path for a while, talking about their ordeal as they continued.
"I still can't believe that Khajiit killed all four of the apprentices. They really didn't stand a chance!" Kynan laughed.
"If it weren't for their being there, we may all be dead now. Then our plans would be ruined." Ysura growled, showing her annoyance for the youngest member of their group.
"Can you two quit bickering and just walk? Please?!" Golam was more annoyed now than he would admit.
Unbeknownst to Golam, his annoyance had been sensed, and everyone quieted. No one talked for the rest of their walk. The path seemed to stretch on endlessly, and the strain of the spell could now be visibly seen on poor Halius. He was breathing heavily - panting really - and slowing in pace a little. He tried hard to hide it, but the pure relief escaped onto his face as they neared the edge of the forest. The rest of the group saw it, but continued on, not wanting to anger their less-than-happy leader. They exited the forest and saw a very colorful town just a short distance ahead of them. Golam motioned to Halius, telling him he could relax. The exhausted High Elf collapsed on the ground and caught his breath. Over two hours of casting the same spell can wear you down, after all.
"Alright, spread out and see what we're up against. Tamriel may be too much for us to handle, but let's see if we can't take control of this new world!" An evil grin appeared on Golam's face.
"...And that's when these ponies 'surprised' me on the cliff side." Ra'zaan finished.
"Do you have that written down or something? You said it with almost EXACTLY the same words!" Rarity pointed out.
Celestia smiled and looked at Ra'zaan curiously for a few moments. Even she had never seen something like him. Finally, she said,
"You've been through a lot in the past two days, haven't you, Mr. Ra'zaan? While killing and several of the other jobs you'd normally take aren't allowed her in Equestria, I'm sure we can find something for you to do while we try to figure this out."
"Thank you, Princess. I'm quite sure the mage Golam Faram and his team were the only ones who knew how this happened, though. Mercenary work is all I really know, but I'm sure I can do odd jobs to keep busy." Ra'zaan said with doubt in his voice. "So, what else should I know about this land? Equestria was it?"
"Our land is peaceful and calm, for the most part. Villages dot the land and major cities like Cloudsdale and our city here in Canterlot are few and far between. You've met the three varieties of ponies, bit there are also griffons, zebra, buffalo, and many other species. The creatures that live high in the mountains are scarcely seen and never very happy to see anyone. These creatures are called dragons. They sleep most of the time, but when awakened they often attack." The Princess was about to continue but saw a look of fear spread across the Khajiit's face. "What's wrong, something I said mean something to you?"
Ra'zaan only managed a stutter. "Dr-dragons?! Here in th-this p-place t-too?! Oh Talos, will they never vanish?";l
"Do you have experience with dragons Mr. Ra'zaan?"
"In my world, on the continent of Tamriel, Dragons have ravaged the land for over fifty years now, ever since they were reawakened..."
"Well, there's no need to worry about these dragons. They are mostly docile unless provoked."
"Alright, if you say so... That is, yes, your Highness!" Ra'zaan corrected himself.
"Let's go out and get you some new clothes! The ones you're wearing are... ATROCIOUS at best." Rarity said.
"And I'd like to see some of your skills! Can you show me sometime?!" Rainbow asked.
"Calm down, my little ponies. You've got all the time in the world. Go around Canterlot and enjoy yourselves." The Princess smiled as she used her magic to open the exit door.
"You heard the Princess! Let's go have fun!" Pinkie screamed as she bounded out the door.
The five rogues had all gone into the town from different areas. They didn't want a fight if they didn't need one, so instead they just strolled into town casually. Golam went in on the main road, and headed directly through it, towards the center. As he walked, he surveyed the area. What he saw he was not ready for. This was a very cheerfully-colored village, filled with... ponies?! The residents of the town looked upon Golam with a mix of curiosity and terror. They'd already seen one creature that sort of looked like this one, but they still were very cautious around there 'visitor'. Golam wasn't sure what to think of them either.
"Ahem, can any of you understand me?" He asked with a calm but serious voice.
One of the ponies stood up and whispered nervously, "Y-yes, w-we understand you j-just fine... Why are you here?"
He looked at the female pony that had answered him in confusion for a moment. Then, after he had taken in that they could talk, he pondered something to himself. "If they can talk, then they'd be intelligent enough to be useful to us. Better just lie for the time being."
"Just curious about where I am, that's all, little pony. Can you tell me?"
"Why, you must be just like the other creature that came through here! He was lost as well! You're in Ponyville, a village in a Equestria!" Another villager said loudly.
"Other creature? What did it look like?
"It stood on two hooves like you, but had fur and looked kinda like a cat! I think I overheard Pinkie say something about his name being Ra'zaan."
Golam froze up. The Khajiit that had mortally wounded him and killed four of his apprentices had not only survived the teleportation, but had even landed relatively close to his own group's landing area. "Calm yourself, Golam, he could be miles away by now, and we'll have plenty of time to deal with him later..." His composure intact, he left with a simple "Thank you for your time, miss."
The others in his group all found out the same thing Golam did, and all had different reactions. Halius just sighed and walked down the road without so much as a thought. Nadene laughed at the thought of meeting the Khajiit again. She had respect for him after their little 'confrontation' the previous day. Ysura gave a enraged yell, then quickly shut herself down, not wanting to scare the ponies she was hoping to conquer. They had been nervous anyway. Last of all was Kynan, who's normal sarcastic side was gone and now there was only fear setting in. He may have made light of the deaths of the apprentices earlier, but he had seen them fall to the Khajiit with ease. He knew he couldn't stand alone against him.
The quintet met at the center of the town, swapping information they'd gathered. The group had gotten quite the audience from the quiet town; over half of it was surrounding the area where they'd sat down to rest and talk in.They weren't too happy about their audience either because they wanted to plan out their plot to take over.
"We appreciate the fact that you interested in out little group, but can we please have some space? We'd like to discuss something, if you wouldn't mind." Golam said in his most sincere voice.
The crowd cleared out and they were left to think. They began passing ideas back and forth.
"We could try to get them to listen to us. They must be fairly easy to trick I'd think!" Nadene said happily.
"That's what you said about the Orc tribe we tried to take over last year! We all know how well THAT went." Ysura said angrily.
Halius laughed. "Heh, my back still hurts from that night. Anyway, how about we just ---"
"We could just blast them into submission! Kill a few and they'll listen!" Kynan nearly yelled aloud.
Golam silenced Kynan. "Your rough and reckless nature will only serve to get you killed, boy. What were you saying, Halius?"
"How about we just find a few of the important members, at least at first, and use Ysura's new mind control spell on them?" Halius said proudly, happy that the youngest member had been put in his place.
"That may just work. How does that sound, Ysura?" their leader asked.
Ysura smiled. She'd been waiting for a chance to try this. "Sounds good to me, and I know just the pony to use it on. On my way here, I met the 'Mayor' of this little village. I guess she's the leader, at least locally."
"Good. Get it done. Our plans shall go into action as soon as possible! Ponyville will be our first conquest!" Golam cheered.
It took a good two hours for the small group to find the mayor again, and another half an hour to get her secluded, but they got her and used the spell. This was going well, so far. Maybe they might just pull this whole thing off.
The group of seven, led by Twilight, were walking back towards the castle. Rarity had made Ra'zaan some new clothes, which were an orange collared shirt and black pants to match his fur. Both articles of clothing had orange citrine and black onyx gemstones***. He had also given Rainbow her wish, and the small cut on her cheek was evidence of that. It had been put there when Ra'zaan misjudged a spinning knife and sword strike. Rainbow didn't care either way though, because she'd gotten to see how Ra'zaan fights. They'd eaten lunch, given him a tour of the city, and even explained why they had strange pictures on their flanks - their cutie marks. It had been about noon when they left, and it was going on four in the afternoon. Today, nothing seemed like it could go wrong...
Back in the castle, Princess Celestia sat, bored and tired, on her throne. She heard the door sweep open and watched as the six ponies and the Khajiit walked in.
"How was your day, my little ponies? Uh, and my not-so-little Khajiit?" The Princess joked.
"Very nice, thank you, Princess." Ra'zaan said happily, surrounded by his new-found friends.
He'd relaxed a great deal since that morning. He was still cautious of new things, but that was normal for a well-trained fighter. Twilight started a chat about something regarding the 'elements of harmony' with the Princess, so Ra'zaan decided to think over something in his head that he'd been pushing away for a while now. That thought that he'd forgotten something... but what? The mission had failed. he'd been transported to a new world by a strange ritual, and the other people that were caught up in it... were... "Oh, by the Nine, how could I not see this sooner?!?!"
"Um, Princess...I might have forgotten to mention something earlier..." Ra'zaan said sheepishly.
"Well, what is it, Ra'zaan?" Celestia asked.
"About the people involved in my ending up here, they ---"
Before he could finish, a loud bang was heard as three Royal Guard burst into the throne room.
"Your Highness! An urgent message from the guard you sent into Ponyville! Five more creatures that are similar to him(They pointed at Ra'zaan) are trying to get the people of Ponyville to work for them! They want the city to be theirs, whether anyone has a say or not it seems! The Mayor is already taking their orders!" The guards yelled simultaneously, pointing at Ra'zaan for a moment.
"Calm down. Twilight, take Ra'zaan and your friends to Ponyville first thing in the morning and see what's going on." The Princess said seriously.
"But Princess Celestia, we could get there tonight!" Twilight said, showing irritation.
"You must stay. If you go now, I't will be dark when you get there. You'll want it to be light so you can see what's happening more clearly."
"B-but..." Twilight started, then quickly changed her mind and said, "'sigh', Alright, lets go to our rooms for the night girls. You too Ra'zaan."
Ra'zaan followed, knowing that from what he'd just heard, his nightmare had come true before he'd even voiced it. Golam was alive, and his true plan was only just beginning...
TO BE CONTINUED
(The Races* - Nord - Humans that are strong and stubborn. They are more skilled at melee combat normally, but some are mages. Breton- Humans that are normally calm and collected. They are very skilled in magic. Dark Elf - Elves with dark skin and, like most elves, are magically oriented. High Elf - Elves with strong magical abilities. Usually they see themselves as better than other races, but some can be loyal and kind.)
(Clairvoyance** - This is a spell used in The Elder Scrolls that shows a path for the player while they are using it. The path leads to the player's current objective.)
(Citrine and Onyx Gemstones*** - These are two real gemstones that are orange and black for the most part. I wanted to add a 'Rarity' touch to Ra'zaan's clothes.)
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.)
Golam laughed quietly to himself as a surge of confusion played out in front of him. Halius just stood and smiled. Ra'zaan was less amused about the situation.
"Girls! This is no time for panic. The spell is done. There's nothing we can do about it right now." He said, sounding a little more annoyed than he had intended.
The six ponies all stopped and looked at him with worried faces. "What are we going to do then? If what you said earlier is true, then we just lost almost all of Ponyville!" Twilight yelled.
"They're not lost. They are just under Golam's control." Ra'zaan hadn't turned to the ponies at all. His eyes were fixed on Golam. "This is the man you want if you want your town back, girls. Calm down. Now. Your panic will only serve to hinder us."
"He's right you know. You won't get anywhere the way your acting now, little ponies. Halius, keep them busy. You know what to do. I'm going to check on the others." Golam smiled and walked away.
"Where do you think YOU'RE going?!" Rainbow screamed as she started off towards Golam. Applejack grabbed onto her tail.
"Thank you, Applejack. Calm down, Rainbow. We'll have our shot at him. Until then, Golam has left us a little challenge for us to deal with." Ra'zaan turned to the High Elf. "Before we begin, my name is Ra'zaan. Your's?"
"Not that it will matter soon, but the name's Halius. Now, I'm going to even this fight up a bit." Halius said confidently as he motioned for somepony to come out of hiding. Out from around a corner came a very familiar, well built red stallion. He galloped to Halius's side.
"B-Big Mac'? What're ya doin' with him?!" Applejack looked at her brother with a mixture of confusion and anger, releasing Rainbow from her grasp. Ra'zaan tried to explain.
"He won't answer you, AJ. He's under their spell now." He said.
Applejack shrank down a bit, but her eyes still seethed with rage. Halius, meanwhile, was forming a spell in his hands. His hands glowed purple for a moment, then suddenly two ghostly human spirits* appeared at the left and right of Big Macintosh, who'd positioned himself in front of Halius.
"Aren't my creations wonderful?" The High Elf asked, pointing at the two spirits. They had on light armor, swords and shields, but it was impossible to figure out what the equipment was made of. "Only one more thing I need now." Halius thought aloud. In one hand, a bound sword** appeared. In the other, his hand glowed with the power of frost.
Ra'zaan had seen enough. "Three of you guards come with me. Captain, you stay with the girls, alright?"
The captain simply nodded, but Rainbow and Applejack had other ideas.
"We can't just sit back and let you handle it! Where's the fun in that?!" Rainbow growled.
"Yeah, we're gettin' in on this here fight too ya know!" Applejack added.
Ra'zaan grinned. "I know, but I need you six and the captain to go farther into town and find out what were going to be up against, alright?"
Both ponies sighed, but they knew Ra'zaan wasn't going to take a no for an answer. Instead, the captain and the six ponies ran off towards the center of town. Halius made a move to stop them, but Ra'zaan and the three guards that stayed with him blocked his path.
"Oh, no. You'll deal with us first." He turned quickly and shouted to Twilight and friends. "Keep moving! I'll catch up!" "So much for trying not to bloody my blade." He thought to himself as he turned back to face a very annoyed Halius.
"Don't underestimate me, cat! The three of you! Get them!" The High Elf snapped as he motioned for his three 'minions' to move in for an attack.
Big Mac', the two spirits, and the three guards, who consisted of two pegasi and a unicorn, clashed into battle. That left Ra'zaan and Halius alone.
"Looks like it's our turn now, Halius." Ra'zaan gave a malicious grin as he charged straight at the mage.
Steel grinded against shade as Ra'zaan's katana collided with Halius's bound sword. Neither side budged for a moment. Then Halius shot his frost spell under their clashed swords. Ra'zaan jumped back in shock, frost crusting his abdomen. The warrior shook it off, and quickly moved out of the way as the unicorn guard was sent flying through the air by a strong buck from Big Mac'. Ra'zaan again charged at Halius, who was by this point already anticipating this action. Halius froze the ground under the Khajiit, who slipped and landed flat on his back.
"Argh! Damn you!" Ra'zaan snapped as he stood back up.
"What's wrong, Ra'zaan? I thought you were a better fighter than this. It's somewhat disappointing!" Halius mocked.
It was Ra'zaan's turn to be annoyed now. He roared angrily and lit his free hand with his fire spell. Unlike Halius's frost spell, which hit's the enemy directly for damage, Ra'zaan's could be sprayed on the ground in a wall form...or, as he used it, to make his melee attacks particularly painful. Ra'zaan cast the spell across the blade of his katana, igniting it brightly with a crimson glow.
"You're not the only one that knows magic, mage!" Ra'zaan growled furiously. His anger had begun to get the better of him.
Halius stared at the Khajiit's blade for a second. He'd seen weapons enchanted with fire before, but he'd never seen one actually visibly flaming like Ra'zaan's.
"Clever use of a Fire Wall Spell***, but don't think you've got the edge just yet, cat."
Ra'zaan yet again charged at Halius, this time dodging the frosty ground. Their blades collided once again, but this time Ra'zaan started slashing his katana against the blade of Halius's bound sword again and again, furiously pushing the older mage backwards with a barrage of strikes. From the left, right, and every other direction, randomly Ra'zaan smashed at Halius's sword. Halius couldn't keep up against him, and his focus on keeping the sword solidified started to waver. In one swift slice, Ra'zaan's blazing katana crashed through the magic blade, slicing Halius's shoulder wide. Halius jumped back, wailing in pain, but a healing spell wasn't required. The fire from the blade had done quite a nice job cauterizing the wound.
"You...'cough'...how did you manage to keep that up...? A normal man would have...'cough'...exhausted himself fighting like that!" Halius said, gasping for breath.
"You know nothing of me! My kind does not show their emotions like most other species, but I've learned to tap into my more useful emotions in times of need." Ra'zaan snarled. "You told me not to underestimate you, but it seems you are the one who was underestimating." The Khajiit's normally stone cold eyes shone brightly with a fiery wrath.
"Not...'cough'...necessarily!" Halius retorted and smiled, pointing to the warrior's feet.
Ra'zaan looked down and saw a blue-hued circle with a pattern drawn inside. Ra'zaan knew instantly it was a rune^, but had no time to react. The volatile enchantment exploded in a frosty hail of ice shards, launching Ra'zaan into the air and down onto his back.
The seven ponies walked quickly through the streets of Ponyville. The whole town seemed deserted. The usually busy streets were empty; no stalls were being tended to, and no noises came from the surrounding houses. The captain, a very muscular, blue-coated, stallion earth pony, was the first to speak.
"I can't say I've ever been to your town here before, but I'm guessing it's not normally this quiet this time of day..."
Pinkie, who was depressed to see her normally happy town so empty, screamed as loud as she could. "Where IS everypony!?!"
"Pinkie, settle down! If they are under mind-control, screaming will just attract unwanted attention." Twilight said quietly. "We don't want everyone knowing where we are then, do we?"
"She's right. We'd best keep moving, everypony." The captain announced. he was being uncharacteristically informal, trying to help the ponies keep clear heads.
They continued walking down the main street, moving ever closer to the center of town. The captain had moved in to lead the group. Little noises became audible as the continued, coming from all around the group, and putting the them on edge.
Kynan sat looking out of a window of a blue and white house above the group of seven, watching them intently. His face contorted into a grin as they neared the spot where he'd prepared his ambush.
"If my 'team' can take out the stallion in front, the others shouldn't be a challenge at all." He laughed to himself ."That's right, little ponies... just a little bit further..."
The seven ponies continued down their route, completely oblivious to the danger ahead of them. The noises had grown more frequent, but nothing had come of them yet. Suddenly, two medium-sized, gray-coated stallions busted through a nearby house's door and slammed the captain into a nearby tree. A loud 'crack' echoed from the blow his left foreleg recieved as it hit the tree, and the captain let out a blood-curdling scream.
"Captain!" The six mares cried.
Before they had time to get to him, they found themselves surrounded by almost three dozen other mares and stallions, some carrying knives and others with random blunt objects.
"Move out of our way!" Rainbow said, body-slamming one mare in front of her, who's forced flight in turn knocked down two others. The rest of the seemingly mindless group ran at the six mares, slashing and bashing as they ran. Twilight used her magic to form a rubber-like wall that repelled the attackers. The brain-washed ponies immediately got back up and began running back at them. Applejack bucked the first mare that reached her in the chin, launching her straight into the air and down onto two stallions that had been behind her. Pinkie was bouncing from one mare's head to another. She looked like she was having fun rather than fighting, but the mares didn't see it that way as one by one they had hooves bounce on and off of their faces. Even Rarity got into the battle, throwing random objects at them with her magic. The only one of the group that stayed back out of the fight was Fluttershy; she was cowering in the center of the battle.
"Fluttershy, what are you doing?! Help us!" Rainbow yelled, knocking back another stallion.
A light 'squeak' was all Fluttershy could muster.
"Come on, sugarcube! We need yer help here too!" Applejack said, dodging a knife quickly.
Another 'squeak' escaped her as she hid behind her forelegs.
"Don't worry about her right now! Just focus on keeping yourself safe and getting through this!" Twilight commanded. They had much more to worry about right now.
Rainbow ducked and dodged as she knocked stallions and mares back, but they just kept getting up.The six elements of harmony were tiring. The fight had already taken close to twenty minutes. They were fighting well, but there were just too many. A rather large blue stallion suddenly hit Rarity with a devastatingly strong buck, sending her flying through the air and into a nearby house's wall.
"Rarity!" The other five yelled in horror.
A canary yellow blur flew past everyone and slammed at full speed into the blue stallion, who flew through a house's wall. Seconds later, the yellow pegasus pony stood above Rarity.
"Rarity! Oh my gosh, are you alright?" Fluttershy asked the very disoriented white pony. Rarity had a light trickle of blood flowing from a gash on her head.
"I-I'm fine darling." She stammered, visibly shaken. "W-was that you who j-just knocked that nasty stallion through a wall?"
Fluttershy blushed. "U-um, when he h-hit you, I j-just kinda lost it when you g-got hurt... I... I'm s-sorry..."
"Fluttershy, that was awesome! Were did that come from?!" Rainbow interrupted, still fighting against three stallions.
"Nice job Fluttershy! You taught that meany-pants stallion a lesson!" Pinkie announced with joy, landing on yet another mare's snout.
Fluttershy's new attitude and willingness to join the battle gave the six ponies a renewed burst of strength, and they all began pelting the mind-controlled mares and stallions with everything they had. In less than five more minutes, all the six the ponies had left in front of them were almost three dozen unconsious ponies, and the two stallions that had knocked the captain into a tree... Or rather, they would have those two left if the captain hadn't beaten them nearly to death after they put him in a pain-powered rage. His left foreleg was bloody and twisted, but he wore a disturbingly happy smile.
"So, anyone else hungry, or is it just me?" He smiled wickedly, his nostrils still flaring from his rage.
The six elements stared at him for a moment before shugging off his less-than-sane comment. They were all pretty tired, both physically AND mentally. As everyone caught their breath, they heard a noise come from behind them.
Kynan was clapping slowly, now standing in front of the blue and white house he'd been in. "Well, looks like I underestimated you little ponies." The Breton said, smiling. "You dealt with those worthless excuses for fighters pretty well, but now you have me to deal with! Get ready, 'cause here I come!"
Halius was fighting to keep calm. His breathing was irregular and his shoulder pulsed uncontrollably with pain.
"Damned Khajiit, he almost had me there for a second. I've got to keep calm..."
Ra'zaan was... in pain. A lot of pain. He was staring straight in the air, and he felt like he never wanted to move again. He couldn't look down to see what was causing the immense pain, but he didn't have to. He knew from what he'd been hit with that the pain was most likely caused by large ice shards. Feeling started coming back to the Khajiit, and he looked up. sure enough, he had two icy spikes in his chest, with one being to the right of his heart and one below it. Another one was in his left shoulder, and one was in his right thigh. "I've got to get these things out, but if I do, I could bleed to death..." He thought to himself. He saw that Halius was leaning against a tree, facing away from him about twenty-five feet away. His wounded shoulder wasn't bleeding, but Ra'zaan could tell it was hurting him quite a bit by the way Halius was clutching it. "That bastard must think I'm dead...Better try to heal up quick..."
Ra'zaan slowly reached into his pack and brought out a glass vial - a healing potion. The warrior removed the ice shards and quickly brought the vial to his lips and drank the potion as fast as he could, wincing at the taste a bit. The holes formed by the ice started sealing up almost immediately, and Ra'zaan soon had the strength to pull himself up off the ground.
"Ahem. I think you're forgetting something, Halius." Ra'zaan mocked.
Halius spun around and met the eyes of what he thought was a dead man. From the look of Halius, he hadn't recovered at all in the short half hour Ra'zaan had been out.
"Y-your d-dead! I k-killed you! How are you still s-standing?!?!?!" Halius stammered out.
"You let your guard down Halius. Now I think it's about time I end this." Ra'zaan said, taking slow steps toward his enemy. "Always make sure your foe is dead before turning your back to him." He smiled.
"G-get away from me! Golam! Nadene! Someone!!! Help me!" The old mage begged.
"No one's coming to help you Halius." Ra'zaan was now directly in front of the mage.
He drew out his sword yet again, though by this time the flames had extinguished. He lifted the blade above Halius's head, ready to swing straight down. The weakened mage, who's magic hadn't had time to recharge, was powerless.
"Please! Let me go! Please!!!" He begged.
"It's to late for that, Halius. It's time you join the Divines." Ra'zaan said, a deep, malicious smile crossing his face.
Ra'zaan stared at the mage a few moments longer, and pulled the blade up to the highest point he could. His sword arched straight down towards Halius.
...two feet away...
...one foot...
...half...
'CLANG'
The loud noise startled Ra'zaan. In front of him now stood a tall, thin figured Dark Elf woman in front of Halius. She'd blocked his downward swing with a small ebony dagger. The Khajiit jumped back and took an offensive stance.
"Oh, what now? Who in the Nine Divines are you?" The bemused warrior asked.
"My name is Nadene! You sure did a number on this poor old mage, 'Kitty-Cat'! What do you have to say about that?" Nadene said almost cheerfully.
Ra'zaan looked at the young Dark Elf curiously. "How did you get in front of my blade so quickly? No one was anywhere near me when I started the swing..." He questioned.
"My personal favorite ability is teleportation, my friend. But aren't you being a bit rude? Most people introduce themselves before questioning a lady!" Nadene gave a mock pout.
"Ugh, fine. My name is Ra'zaan. Now, teleportation? You got in front of my blade by teleporting? But you couldn't have had any idea where we actually were..."
"Well, that's easy! When I make a friend, I always learn their certain presence - their aura, if you will. That way I can just teleport straight to that! To answer your next question, it was just coincidence I arrived when I did. By the way, your WELCOME Halius." She said almost like she knew this would be Ra'zaan's next question. It was going to be, but the Khajiit backed off.
Halius, at this time, was still leaning on the tree. He had only recently become aware that he was still alive, and had started listening quietly. "Y-yes, um, th-thank you v-very much, Nadene..." He stuttered.
"That's better! Now, Mr. Ra'zaan, I do believe that red stallion over there has business with you!" Nadene said happily, turning around and rushing to Halius. "Bye-bye, 'Kitty-Cat'!"
"No, wait!" Was all Ra'zaan could muster before Nadene and Halius vanished in a purple flash. Ra'zaan sighed and turned to what Nadene had pointed at. His eyes widened as he saw the three guards badly beaten on the ground, and Big Mac' facing him. The two spirits were no where to be found, most likely defeated before the guards had fallen.
"Let me guess, now I get to deal with you, huh?" Ra'zaan said pointing at the stallion.
"Eeeeyup." Was all that came from the red stallion.
"Great. At least I don't need to worry about this one talking me to death... Here we go!" Ra'zaan whispered under his breath.
TO BE CONTINUED
(Ghostly human spirits* - Summoned via conjuration spell, spirits like these can take several different forms. Most are used to protected their summoner.)
(Bound Sword** - Sword summoned via conjuration spell. Purple in color, it mimics the properties of an actual sword, but a large amount of focus is needed to keep it solidified, so it can only be used for a set period of time.)
(Fire Wall Spell*** - Name pretty much covers it. It is sprayed on the ground and walls to block enemies. It can't ACTUALLY be used on weapons in the game, but it sounds awesome, right?)
(Rune^ - A symbol that can be placed on the ground as a trap of sorts. Used in fire, ice or lighting damage spells, it explodes when anyone but the caster or his/her friends walk over it.)
Kynan was... bewildered. The predicament he found himself in was not how he'd imagined the fight would end at all... He thought back to what had happened...
"I ran at the ponies as fast as I could with a bound sword in each hand... I kicked the bubbly pink pony out of my way and continued my charge..." Kynan thought back, picturing it all in his head.
"The blue pony rammed me in my stomach, but I brushed it off and knocked her out with a blow from the hilt of one of my swords... Then the only male of the group leapt at me, slashing with a short steel sword... I caught him with a swift kick to his side - his flank, I suppose." Kynan tried his best to remember, but his ego made it hard for him to see the last bit where it all turned bad for him. He finally started picturing it.
"The yellow pony was tending to the white pony, so the only two left were the orange and purple ones... I decided the purple one looked fairly frail, so I turned my attention to the orange one... I dispelled my bound swords and lit my hands with fire magic... She bucked me in my shin, causing me to attack without thinking through pain... I kicked her away and hit her with three fireballs... They knocked her down and scorched the orange pony pretty badly... Then the purple pony's eyes lit up..." This was the part the Breton didn't want to remember. The 'frail' pony he'd ignored completely caught him by surprise.
" I looked over at the purple pony just before there was a bright flash of light, and then I was in this thing..." Kynan took a little time to look around his prison. He was trapped inside a purple-hued sphere of energy, barely floating above the ground.
Twilight had no idea how she'd trapped the human in the sphere; all she knew is she had one friend that appeared hurt very badly, one that was knocked out cold, and two that were dazed. She ran to the smoldering orange pony's side.
"Applejack! Come on, AJ, are you okay?!" Twilight asked, but she already knew the answer she'd get from the stubborn farm pony.
"Ah'm fine, Twilight. Ouch! I little on the cooked side, but Ah reckon Ah'll be fine!" Applejack explained, more to convince herself than to convince any of her friends.
Applejack sat up, her eyes tearing up, but she never actually cried. She was too strong for that, or at least that's what she liked to think. After a few more moments, she and all the other ponies except Rainbow went over to where Kynan was trapped. Rainbow was still out cold.
The ponies looked at their prisoner with anger in their eyes, but curiosity got the best of them as one of the ponies voiced a question.
"You're with Golam, right? What do you want with our town?" Twilight asked, looking into the Breton's dark green eyes.
Kynan just scowled at the purple pony. He was humiliated, but he wasn't about to give his plan up to his enemy.
"...Okay then... Ya could at least tell us yer name!" Applejack said, obviously annoyed by the human's silence.
The Breton sat as still as a statue. He might be trapped, but he wasn't going to make this easy.
"Let me give it a try." The captain said as he walked over to the sphere. "Who are you!? Why are you here!? Answer me when I'm speaking to you!"
"Piss off." That was all that escaped the Breton's lips.
Ra'zaan found himself in a sticky situation. On one hand, he wasn't about to let this big red stallion beat him to a bloody pulp. On the other, he didn't want to hurt Big Macintosh because he was Applejack's brother. The Khajiit settled for using his gauntlets instead of bare fists to avoid slicing the stallion with his claws, and kept his sword sheathed. It was as close to a fist fight as a stallion fighting a Khajiit could get.
"Well, then. Let's make this as fair a fight as we can, Shall we?" Ra'zaan stated, taking an offensive stance.
The only answer he got from Big Mac' was another "Eeeeyup."
The stallion charged at Ra'zaan, his face and eyes void of emotion, and collided his hooves into Ra'zaan's hands. Caught, Big Mac' spun himself around and gave the Khajiit a strong buck to the center of his chest, knocking him backwards and forcing him to release Big mac's hooves. The stallion then charged again, but Ra'zaan landed a punch directly to the side of the farm pony's muzzle, knocking him to the side.
"You have quite the kick, there, Macintosh. If I wasn't wearing my armor, that could have done some serious damage." Ra'zaan pointed at a large dent in his chest-plate. "I'll have to take a hammer to this to get it out now." He smiled, and Big Mac' grinned back, though the stallion's smile had no real emotion behind it.
Big Mac' got up and charged yet again, and Ra'zaan caught both of the stallion's hooves, making sure to hold them tight so the farm pony couldn't buck him again.
"Sorry to do this to you, Macintosh, but the only way to bring you back to your senses..." Ra'zaan slammed his head as hard as he could into the top of Big Mac's, knocking him out instantly. "...Is to literally knock you back to normal." Ra'zaan finished, his own head pounding a bit from the sudden impact.
The red stallion lay limp on the ground, but he was fine. He'd wake up with a splitting migraine to be sure, but he wasn't in any danger.
"I'd better get him out of here. I don't want those mages to get him again... Damn this guy sure is heavy..." Ra'zaan thought to himself as he heaved the bulky stallion up onto his shoulders and began walking in the direction the other ponies had gone.
The ponies' interrogations had been almost completely fruitless. The only things they did manage to get from Kynan were his name and a barrage of insults which were starting to really get on the nerves of a now-awake Rainbow Dash.
"I'm not answering any of your questions you stupid little bi --- mfph!" Kynan blurted out before Twilight silenced him with a gag made of magic.
"...Ugh... I think I preferred him when he was quiet..." Twilight said, and everyone giggled a little.
The Captain spoke up after the laughing quieted, "Girls, I think we should head back to the Princess. She'll want to hear from us. Plus, I think we all could use some rest..." He pointed from his broken leg, to Rarity's head wound, to a very burnt-looking Applejack.
They knew he was right. They were all exhausted. Before they headed out, however, Twilight needed to do something.
"I need to head back to the library before I go. I have a feeling my assistant might be wondering where I am!" She smiled.
"I don't really think that's a good idea, Miss Sparkle, but if you insist, please take Miss Pie and Miss Dash with you for safety, alright?" The Captain suggested.
Twilight new this was more an order and less a request, but the stallion was trying his hardest to be nice to the mares. He knew all this violence must be pretty stressful.
"Alright! Come on you two!" Twilight yelled as she started off in the direction of the library. Pinkie and Rainbow followed close behind.
With three of them gone, the Captain looked at all the unconscious ponies they'd fought off. "They'll be fine; just a few headaches. The two I went a little overboard on should be fine too...I hope..."
"Alright! Let's get this prisoner back to Canterlot, girls." The Captain yelled finally. They began walking back in the direction they'd left Ra'zaan, albeit a bit slower than last time because of the Captain's broken leg and Applejack's burns. They took this time to really look at the town as they walked. There was no pony anywhere. The town was deathly silent. They'd already been there a few hours and the sun was high in the sky. The Captain guessed it was about noon.
The group of now four ponies continued down the long road silently until they saw something materialize up ahead of them. It was a large, lumbering figure with two legs and something that looked very heavy on it's shoulders. Three pony figures followed behind it. The four ponies, led by the Captain, got into defensive positions, fearing the worst. They relaxed, however, when they realized it was just Ra'zaan and the three guards, with Ra'zaan carrying...
"Big Mac'! What 'appened to 'im Ra'zaan?!" Applejack asked, a very worried look crossing her face.
"Now before you get all flustered, Applejack, you must know that I had no choice but to knock your brother out. He'll be fine, but I'm fairly sure he won't be waking up for some time... ouch... I'm surprised I didn't knock myself out with the way I hit him though..."
Applejack relaxed a little. She looked Ra'zaan up and down, but he didn't appear to have very many wounds. There were two small holes in his chest, one in his leg and one in his arm, but nothing very damaging.
"You don't look like you 'ad to much trouble with yer fight, back there. How'd it go?" Applejack asked.
"It was worse than I'm looking right now. I drank a healing potion to seal up my serious wounds. Unfortunately, Another mage showed up and saved Halius before I could finish him... Her name was Nadene." Ra'zaan said, anger growing in his eyes as he remembered his battle. "At least it look's like we now know three of the mages' names..."
"Make that four, darling..." Rarity smiled weakly, her head still throbbing from the blow she'd taken to it. She was pointing at Kynan, their prisoner.
Ra'zaan seemed to only now notice the floating orb with the Breton inside. He gave Kynan a closer look.
"Well, well, well! What have we here? Got one of you annoying bastards after all, eh? And what, pray-tell, is your name?" The Khajiit said half mockingly. Rarity removed the magic gag.
Kynan looked at him with fear-stricken eyes. The Khajiit that had crushed the four apprentice's he'd helped train was standing right in front of him. "T-the n-name's K-Kynan... Y-your Ra'zaan, r-right?"
In his head, Ra'zaan was amused by the fear he'd brought to this mage's heart, but he kept from making that fact known and instead held a stone-cold face. "Yes, I am. Well, Kynan. I hope you're willing to help us out. We might even let you go free later if you're cooperative!" He lied.
Applejack went to protest this moronic idea of letting their prisoner go, but stopped when Ra'zaan looked at her and gave her a quick wink to tell her he wasn't actually serious. She sighed with relief.
"Come on, ya'll. Let's get Kynan back to Canterlot." She said finally. Rarity replaced the magic gag and the group headed off towards the station.
Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie reached the library in almost no time at all. They ran in and locked the door behind them, startling the baby dragon that was busy snacking on a ruby.
"Twilight?! Where've you been? The whole town's gone crazy over some weird new creatures..." Spike said quickly.
"We'll explain later! Right now we have to get out of here. I'm not sure how long we have before we're attacked again!" Twilight looked out the window as she spoke.
"Again? You were already attacked?! What's going on?!?!"
"NOT NOW!" Twilight yelled, floating the dragon onto her back and bolting out the door with Rainbow and Pinkie following.
...
".....Oh buck us......RUN!!!!!" Rainbow screamed as they trotted outside, only to meet a huge mob of mind-washed mares and stallions.
They galloped as fast as they could towards the train station, with literally over a hundred other ponies chasing after them.
Ra'zaan and friends sat at the train station, chatting about how the day had been.
"...So he froze the ground under my feet and I slipped and hit the ground. Ouch! My back still hurts!" Ra'zaan laughed. He loved talking about his past fights, even if they were only a couple of hours previous.
"Ya sure do like fightin', don't ya Ra'zaan? No pony 'round here seems to be as experienced as you are at it." Applejack said smiling. The Captain gave her a little glare.
"It sure isn't my fault no real training has been needed for all these years! The Princess should have known something like this would happen." The Captain said. He was now being as casual as a normal pony.
"Ah know, Ah know. But if'in ya guards did have the trainin' for this, we might be a whole lot better off." Applejack retorted.
"Alright, you two. Please stop fighting. I've already got an AGONIZING headache." Rarity snapped.
Fluttershy tried to get the groups attention. "Umm, excuse me, everypony..."
"Well, anyway, what do you think we should do now while we wait for Twilight and the others?" Ra'zaan asked, staring off at the distant mountains.
"I don't know... They shouldn't take too long now, though..." The Captain said with a sigh.
"This is serious everypony...Twilight and her group are..." Fluttershy tried again.
Applejack started up again. "Well, Ah don't see why we don't just go looking for 'em... Twilight and the rest I mean..."
"LISTEN TO ME!"
Everyone, pony and humanoid alike, quieted and turned to stare at the flustered Fluttershy.
"Um, well, you see... Twilight and a lot of ponies are headed this way... over there..." Fluttershy pointed towards the center of town, where Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Spike were all being chased by a huge mob of ponies... and they were headed this way.
Ra'zaan looked at the crowd, then back to the train. "Everyone... I mean, everypony, get on the train. NOW." He commanded. As they jumped on, towing their prisoner with them, The Khajiit turned to the stallions at the front of the train. "Get going, the only ones allowed on train out of all those back there are the front four. Get the train moving, they'll be able to get on while it's in motion." Ra'zaan said as he, too, jumped onto the train carrying Big Mac' and set him in one of the train's seats.
The train began moving, and Twilight could be heard yelling. "Wait! We're not on yet!"
Ra'zaan ran to the back ledge on the train and called to the ever-nearing ponies and baby dragon. "Twilight! Run and jump up here! Hurry!"
Twilight heard him, but he didn't know what she was capable of. She vanished along with her three friends and they all appeared directly behind Ra'zaan on the train.
"What the?! Damn, next time warn me when you're going to do something like that!" Ra'zaan smiled. He turned his attention to the stallions in front and yelled as loud as he could. "Go as fast as you can! We need to get out of here!" On cue, the train picked up speed and the crowd behind the train couldn't keep up. They made it.
"Finally, some time to relax... At least we got something useful out of this painful adventure." He smiled, pointing at Kynan, who looked more worried than angry now.
Ysura stood under a tree near the train tracks. She watched as the Khajiit she hated and his friends rode off with Kynan as their prisoner. She didn't really like the Breton, but he was one of her closest allies.
"Heheh. Go. Run, Cat. Lead us right where we need to go. Don't worry, Kynan. We'll be coming for you..." Ysura thought to herself, a malicious grin spreading across her face.
Princess Celestia sat in her throne, thinking about the letter her faithful student had sent her moments before detailing what had occurred in Ponyville that morning. It was three in the afternoon now, and the group would be back shortly. Suddenly, the doors to the throne room swung open and two royal guards came in.
"Your Highness, the train has arrived. Shall we send an escort again?" One of the guards asked.
"No that's quite alright. At this point I think it's safe to assume that Ra'zaan is on our side. Be ready however, as the group has captured one of the mages that attacked Ponyville." Celestia said with a smile.
"Yes, Princess!" The guards said in unison, taking positions on either side of the throne room.
Ra'zaan stepped off the train, still carrying the unconscious Big Macintosh. He was pleasantly surprised when the Princess hadn't sent guards to "escort" him this time. One by one, the others stepped off the train, with Twilight floating the purple sphere with Kynan in it out. They stretched, readying themselves for the walk to Canterlot Castle.
The Khajiit looked at the three ponies that had been most seriously wounded. Rarity looked like she was fairing better now that her headache from the blow to her head had subsided. The Captain's broken leg was still bent at a sickening angle, but he seemed to by doing better as well. The only one of the three that seemed to have gotten worse was Applejack; she was visibly exhausted and the burns she'd received looked extremely painful.
Ra'zaan voiced his worry. "AJ, how are you holding up?"
"Ah'm fine... sugercube... don't worry... 'bout little old... me... Ah'll be alright..." Applejack tried to look confident, but her heavy breathing from dealing with the pain made it obvious she wasn't doing so well.
"I think we should take you to a doctor, Applejack... If you don't mind..." Fluttershy was surprisingly forward about her worry.
The others nodded in agreement and Applejack sighed. She knew she wasn't going to avoid going to the doctor with everyone on her case about it. She just nodded painfully and stood up. The group proceded down the streets of Canterlot. They were moving at a fairly slow pace because of their wounded, and weary eyes watched the battered group as they walked.
Twilight looked at Applejack carefully. She wasn't going to handle the pain much longer; the burns on her sides were obviously more severe than they looked. The mere fact that the farm mare was still standing was amazing.
"AJ, you sure you don't need a rest? I could carry you with my magic if you want to relax..." Twilight smiled, hoping her friend wouldn't get the wrong idea.
Applejack did get the wrong idea, unfortunately. "Twilight, Ah don't need no pony's help walkin' on mah own, thank ya very much!" She said angrily.
"Whoa! Calm down, there, Applejack," Ra'zaan said, a small chuckle appearing in his voice from the situation. "Don't be fighting with your friends, now! We'll have plenty more fighting coming up!" He smiled.
"Well, don't y'all start gettin' worried about me then! Ah said Ah'd go to the doctor's, now leave me alone 'bout it!" Applejack was fuming. She didn't like feeling helpless.
"Alright! Alright! Let's just get to the castle. PLEASE, no more arguing everypony!" Rarity exclaimed, showing that her headache had come back.
The remainder of their trip was spent in complete silence. The only noises were the constant quiet huming coming from Kynan's prison, and the heavy breathing coming from Applejack. The group looked up at the castle and saw the Princess standing at the entrance to the Castle. They walked past the gates, and when they made it about halfway from the gate to the Princess, Applejack collapsed. She'd obviously had enough punishment for one day.
"Applejack!" The five remaining elements and Ra'zaan all called simultaneously. Another voice joined them as well. A deep, rough voice came into focus.
"A-AJ?!" Wha' 'appened to her?! Why am Ah on this thing's back?!" Big Mac' said worriedly, jumping off of Ra'zaan and running to his sister's side. Ra'zaan cringed at the way the stallion reacted to him, but kept silent. "Somepony gonna tell me wha's goin' on?" The farm stallion demanded.
"All in time, my little pony. For now, your sister needs to get to a doctor, and I'll take her to the castle's private clinic as soon as possible." The Princess said, smiling at the big red stallion.
Big Mac' looked up, and then instantly bowed. "S-sorry, Princess! Ah didn't realize where Ah was..."
"There is no need to bow. It's alright, you've been through alot. I'm sure your sister and the others will fill you in on the details later. For now, let's go inside." Celestia smiled and motioned for two guards to take Big Mac', Applejack, Rarity and the Captain to the clinic, then turned and started walking back into the castle. Everypony else followed, the rest of the group was soon in the throne room again.
"Now, I know you sent me a letter detailing what happened, Twilight, but I'd like to hear what happened to everypony straight from their own mouths. Let's start with your arrival." Celestia said in a serious tone. She glanced at the trapped mage for a moment before turning back to the battle-worn group.
Ra'zaan started the story. "Well, the train pulled up to Ponyville station, and we saw two of the mages walking toward us..." He continued, and each pony began telling their story.
Golam was furious. Not only had that damn Khajiit survived, but he'd injured one of Golam's subordinates and captured another. The four mages gathered together near the train station.
"There were ten of them. TEN OF THEM! We couldn't even handle that with all the ponies we're controlling?!" He raged.
"B-but sir! We had only just gotten control. We weren't ready for the fight yet!" Ysura stammered.
"We should have been! Now the enemy has Kynan, and who knows what they could be doing to him? Especially with that damned Khajiit watching over him!" The stressful state that Golam found himself in made him look years older than he was.
"Well... we could go get him back..." Nadene offered.
Golam pondered this for a moment. "Hmm... Alright, I've got an idea. Halius and Nadene; I need the two of you to find and infiltrate the place Kynan is being held, and get him out of there. While you're doing that, I will be leading a small crowd of ponies into the main area of the city as a distraction. Ysura, I'll need you to remain here and organize the rest of out little army. Understand?
Ysura started to argue that she wanted to fight as well, but quickly realized there was no point. Golam knew what he was doing, and Ysura knew she'd get to fight eventually. "Yes, sir..." The anxious Nord said finally.
"Well then, let's start walking. We don't have the luxury of a fast way to get there, so we'd better get moving now." Golam motioned for a group of nine pegasi to follow. Eight were fairly normal looking, and mostly uninteresting. There were four stallions and four mares, all in a rainbow of different colors. The ninth pegasus, however, was much more... unique... She tripped as she was walking and tumbled forward before getting back up and continuing. She had a gray coat, a blond mane and tail, and the strangest eyes...
Golam, the two mages accompanying him, and the nine pegasi began their trip to Canterlot. The trip on foot would probably take them into the night.
Big mac' sat quietly by his sister's bed watching her rest. He had a bandage around his head as a precaution after taking such a hard hit to it. Applejack was out cold, and the doctor had dressed and bandaged her burns. Rarity sat in the seat next to Big Mac' with a bandage around her gash on her head. She was equally worried about her friend.
The only ponies in the room that weren't with Applejack were the nurse and the Captain. The Captain did not look happy.
"What do you mean I should stay here until my leg heals?!" The captain glanced down at his leg. It had a splint and a heavy cast on it to keep it from moving. His cutie mark was visible now that he wasn't wearing armor. It was a picture of a red, circular shield with a gold rim and a gold center. "I have to go and fight!"
"I'm sorry, Mr... what's your name again?" The nurse asked.
"The name's Iron Pride, but that doesn't matter right now!" Iron never usually used his name, but he didn't care at the moment.
"I'm sorry, Captain Pride, but if you don't rest that leg you could damage it forever."
"I'll just have to take that chance!" Iron growled as he started towards the door.
Suddenly the door opened, and Princess Celestia stood in front of the Captain. Twilight, Ra'zaan, and everypony else stood behind her.
"Ever restless as always, I see, Iron. Come sit and relax." Celestia said as the group filed into the clinic. Twilight, on the Princess's request, floated Kynan and his prison with her.
The Princess had come to know all of her royal guards, and held each and every one of them dear to her. All the color flushed from Iron Pride's face when the Princess addressed him. All he was able to mutter was a meek "Y-yes, P-princess..."
Twilight brought Kynan and his sphere to the center of the room. Applejack opened her eyes and immediately saw the Breton.
"Not the purttiest sight to wake up ta in Equestria!" Applejack smiled, still staring at Kynan.
"AJ! Ya alright. sis? How ya feelin'?" Big Mac exclaimed, running to her side and ignoring everypony else.
"Big Mac'? Well, 'bout time ya woke up!" Applejack teased.
"The red stallion smiled. "Ah could say the same for you, sis." They hugged.
Suddenly Applejack became aware of what was going on around her. Everypony was here. She spotted the Princess.
"Um, Princess? What's goin' on?" The farm mare asked.
Celestia looked at Applejack with a smile on her face. "Good to see you're doing alright, Applejack." The Princess's smile vanished, however, when her gaze set itself back on Kynan. "So, you are one of the mages that has been causing so much trouble in Ponyville, hmm?" She asked the Breton.
"What's it to you? You important or something?" Kynan snapped.
"You're talking to our Princess, the benevolent ruler of Equestria! Watch your tongue!" Iron said angrily.
"Calm down, Iron. Shouting at him will only serve to make him more resistant to helping us." Celestia said. "Now Kynan. Will you please explain to us what you and your friends are doing in Ponyville and why you are doing it?"
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you. It won't matter soon, anyway." Kynan gave a malicious grin. "My leader wants to take over your world, and we're here to help him do it!"
"But why our world? Why not any other? Why not your own?" Twilight asked.
"Our world's warriors and mages were strong and there were far too many for us to handle. Take that Khajiit over there. While he is stronger than most, warriors like him are everywhere in my original world. Also, don't get the wrong idea. It's not like we chose your world on purpose. We couldn't control where the teleport spell would take us. But we're here now, and we're gonna make the most of it!" Kynan sounded as if he was sad he had ended up in Equestria.
"You seem to think our world will be easier than yours to conquer. Do you think we won't put up a fight? My beloved subjects are more capable than you may think." The Princess stated.
"Well, we have nothing to lose, now. Our world is behind us, and there is no way that we know of to return there, so we're going to make something for ourselves here."
"You know, you could've just come to Canterlot and talked with me. There's plenty of land out there for anypony who wants it. Too late for that now, though." The Princess was fighting to keep calm. These creatures were barbarians. They had no care whether or not others got hurt as long as they got what they needed.
"We don't want to control just a part of this world though. We want it ALL." Kynan gave a disturbingly happy smile and then faced away from the Princess, signaling that he was done talking.
Suddenly a loud bang was heard and everypony turned to see that the door had been slammed shut, and Ra'zaan was no where to be found. Twilight ran to the door, opened it with her magic, and saw Ra'zaan just across the hall, deep in thought.
Ra'zaan, are you alright?" Twilight asked.
"Alright? ALRIGHT? I just found out that not even the people that got me into this world can get me home, and your asking if I'm alright? No, I'm not alright, Twilight. Not in the least." He was visibly shaken and was trying very hard to keep calm.
"We'll figure this out, Ra'zaan, I swear. Please come back in and sit with us." Twilight said, trying to calm the Khajiit.
"...Okay..." Was all the warrior said after a long pause.
The two walked back in together, and everypony sighed. They were all worried as to why the Khajiit had run off.
Everything alright, Ra'zaan? The Princess asked. When he nodded she continued. Now then. I need somepony who knows what these mages are capable of to stand guard tonight. Ra'zaan, would you be willing to?"
"Yes, I will."
With that Everypony filed back out of the room. It was dinner time.
Everypony enjoyed the meal. Even Ra'zaan, who was given some cooked beef even though nopony else would ever eat it. He ate pretty quickly, and then headed back to the large room that Kynan had been brought to. The Breton had been brought a meal as well, and was finished eating. It was just about seven at night.
"Looks like it's just you and me tonight, huh, Kynan?" The Khajiit laughed and sat down on a nearby cushion. The Breton just sat and stared out a window. Neither had any idea what was headed their way as they sat.
Golam, Halius, and Nadene could all see Canterlot from where they were. The big, towering castle was surely the place the enemy had taken Kynan.
"Just a few more hours, all of you. Just a few more hours." Golam said calmly. They hoped to get inside the city later that night in hopes of attracting less attention.
"Let's give them a visit they won't soon forget!" Nadene said happily. The started off again down their long route to Canterlot.
Nadene looked up at the castle with starry eyes. It was beautiful, and it was huge! The whole city, for that matter, was amazing. Colorful, luxurious buildings on every corner, and fancy decorations hung in ever window. She got lost in it's beauty for a moment before Golam brought her back to reality.
"Snap out of it, Nadene! We're on a mission if you forgot." Golam said coldly.
"Ugh, yes sir. I just wish we could enjoy the town more!" Nadene faked a pout.
Golam sighed. "There'll be time enough for that once we've gotten rid of all our obstacles. I'm not sure how we got inside this city unnoticed with all the guards around, but you two need to get up to that castle and find that idiot of a Breton."
"I don't see why we should bother. He only get's on our nerves anyway." Halius said sourly.
"Yes, but he is the only one of us capable of opening the way back to our world. Let's just hope he can keep that cocky mouth of his shut." Golam retorted. "Go, you two. I'll get the guards riled up while the two of you get in and find him."
Halius nodded, and he and Nadene ran off towards the castle. Golam gave a evil grin as he and the nine pegasi ran out into the open. He looked around and already five guards had spotted him.
"Okay, how DID we get in without being noticed? These ponies are everywhere!" He thought as the approached.
"Hold it right there! You are under arrest! The Princess has given orders that no two-legged creature except Ra'zaan is allowed in the city! You're coming with us!" One guard announced. "All of the pegasi with you are to be detained as well."
"Is that so? Well, if you think you can take me by force, I'll gladly come with you!" Golam laughed maliciously as he and the pegasi charged at the guards.
Halius and Nadene ran silently through the streets of Canterlot. Nadene had training from the thriving Dark Brotherhood* in the province of Skyrim, and Halius had training from the Thieve's guild in Cyrodill, so they could both easily hide in the shadows. They passed within two or three feet of guards without even being noticed. In no time at all, the two mages reached their destination. Halius looked at the front gate. Four guards sat at the gate, two more at the front door, and several others we scattered throughout the front courtyard.
"We'll have to find ---" Halius started.
"...Another way in? This way!" Nadene finished his sentence for him, then darted along the wall that was the fence enclosing the castle.
Halius hurried off after the excitable Dark Elf, hoping she knew what she was doing. They came to a dead halt and looked over the wall into the side courtyard. There were still too many guards, and the duo continued their sprint. They came to the back of the castle wall and again looked over it.
"Two guards at the door, and two more patrolling the courtyard..." Halius described the area.
Nadene giggled a little. "I can see perfectly fine thanks, old man! Oh, and you missed the one directly below us..."
Halius, froze, and slowly looked down at the ground... directly into the eyes of a guard. The unicorn guard started to sound an alarm, but Nadene was too quick for him. Within seconds she had him flat on the ground, out cold.
Halius just stared at the scene in front of him. "Nice job..." He said slowly.
None of the other guards seemed to notice the commotion, and instead continued their patrols.
The duo looked at each other before nodding and splitting off in different directions. Nadene dealt with the two patrolling guards the same way she'd dealt with the first, and Halius stealthily moved in on the two at the door. He slipped behind them and slammed the guards' heads together, putting them out cold instantly.
"That was easier than I thought!" Nadene smiled.
"These guards are nothing compared to the guards in Cyrodill." Halius grinned. "I swear, those guards had a sixth sense! They knew you'd done something even if no one was there to see you do it!"
"I know! Those guys were horrible! I couldn't get away with anything without having to pay them off!" Nadene laughed.
Halius suddenly remembered why they were there. He looked up at the castle. Searching something that big could take hours, and Golam could only hold out for so long before he would have to pull out. Halius looked at the moon. By where it was in the sky, It was about midnight.
"Nadene, all joking aside, can you sense Kynan's energy?" The high elf asked.
"Hmm? Let me check." She focused her attention and searched for Kynan's aura. "That's strange... I can't find him anywhere..."
"Ysura did say she had seen him in a sphere of magic... Maybe that's interfering?"
"Possibly. But that means we'll have to search the castle for him. You know the detect life** spell, right Halius? Nadene asked.
"Yes. Give me a minute..." Halius said as a red light appeared around his hands. "The spell only works on me, so your going to have to trust me."
"Well, of course! I can't really work with you if I don't trust you!" Nadene said happily.
Halius smiled. Nadene always had a cheerful attitude, no matter what the situation was. "Alright, here goes nothing! The High Elf said.
The High Elf's hands lit brightly for a moment, and his eyes turned solid black. They cleared and went back to normal a few moments later, and he looked up at the castle.
"There are... Several life-signs walking through the halls... Probably more guards... Two large signs in the towers... A room with... Nine-life signs... and right next to that... Got 'em!" Halius yelled louder than he meant to.
"Oooooh, what did you find?!" The Dark Elf asked curiously.
"In the room next to the nine signs, I see two. Both humanoid figures... Oh no... That means..."
"We get to see Mr. Cat again? Great! We still have so much to talk about!" Nadene said with a big smile.
"Nothing scares you... does it?"
"Nope! Now come on! I can teleport us to the floor they are on. From there, you lead the way!" Nadene smiled.
Ra'zaan sat in the holding room with Kynan. The only problem was, he was asleep.
"Heh, stupid cat passed out after dinner. Well, guess I better try to find a way out while I can..." Kynan mused in his head.
He searched the sphere up and down, but found absolutely no flaws he could take advantage of. He attacked the side of it with kicks and punches, but the Breton didn't even scratch his magical prison.
"Damn, how the hell am I gonna get out of this? I can't use my magic or I'll wake that damn Khajiit... Kynan couldn't take being in the bubble much longer.
Nadene landed in a hallway, with Halius right behind her. She glanced around. No pony was anywhere nearby. The duo saw doors lining the hall, but Halius had a pretty good idea which door was the one they were looking for. He walked up to it, and whispered to Nadene.
"Here we go, this should be it...be quiet now..."
The High Elf cracked the door open, and his eyes laid on nine sleeping ponies. He shut the door as quickly and as quietly as he could.
"Yeah... Wrong door..." He said shakily. "That means it has to be this one over here..." He walked over to the door next to the first. He turned and looked at Nadene, who nodded uneasily. He opened the door slowly.
"Well, about time you got here..." A familiar voice said quietly.
Golam was having a blast. The Dark Elf and the pegasi he had under his control were causing all sorts of chaos. Wave after wave of guards showed up, and Golam welcomed each group with malicious joy. He held a bound bow*** in his hand and stood in the center of the battle while having the pegasi fly around and keep the guards at a distance. One pegasus in particular kept Golam entertained. The gray-coated, golden-maned pegasus he'd watched tumble before they left Ponyville was giving some of the guards a really hard time. The Dark Elf only now realized she had a picture of bubbles on her flank. She was dropping random objects on the guards from the sky.
"Get the creature! Ignore the pegas -- ahhh!" One guard exclaimed before having a heavy-looking crate on his head.
Golam, meanwhile, was firing arrows like a mad man, missing almost every shot but making the guards lose focus. He wasn't missing accidentally. He was trying to hold their attention so none of them left to get reinforcements from the castle. Golam wasn't worried about himself, he was worried about his subordinates being found too early. His battle wasn't going as well as he'd hoped, though, as five of the pegasi had already been subdued.
"Well, you guards aren't as weak as I'd first imagined! Looks like I'll have to work a little bit harder!" The mage smiled darkly.
Golam dispelled his bound bow and his hands sparked with electricity. He looked over at the gray pegasus mare and called her over while the remaining three battled with a little over a dozen guards.
"We aren't going to be able to hold out much longer here, Miss. Let's give 'em hell, alright?" Golam handed her an elven dagger. "By the way, what is your name?"
"Okay! And ponies just call me Derpy or Ditzy! I don't care which one you use!" Derpy said happily, although her eyes were still dull from being under the control spell.
With that, Golam turned back to the guards with the gray pegasus, and saw that the other three pegasi had been defeated and tied up. "Ah, well. They fought pretty hard even though they weren't soldiers." The mage thought to himself.
"Do you surrender now, or must we take you in by force?" A guard asked.
"I'm sure by this time, you already know the answer to that." Golam retorted.
The guards charged at the two that were left standing. Derpy flew directly into the group of guards slamming into one and knocking four others back in a domino effect. Golam, meanwhile, attacked with quick blasts of lightning from his hands, hitting guards left and right to try to keep them from capturing his last fighter. Derpy flew out of the crowd and dive-bombed another guard, knocking him to the ground. The guards were losing, and badly.
"I might just grow to like that little pegasus. She can really move!" Golam thought happily to himself. He was starting to want to keep Derpy around.
Another guard showed up quietly and readied himself to attack Golam. He crept closer and closer to the Dark Elf, sword drawn. Golam never even saw him. Someone else did.
"Look out!" Derpy screamed, knocking Golam out of the way and getting hit with the sword herself.
"What the hell? Ditzy!" Golam yelled. He ran over as fast as he could to where the guard was standing and grabbed the stallion's head with both hands. He then sent electricity from his hands into both sides of the guards head, frying him and killing him instantly. Afterwards, the mage ran over to Derpy. "Ditzy, are you alright?"
"I'm okay! Wait, no, not really... my side really hurts..." She said painfully. Her side had a long slice down it.
Golam did his best to heal the wound with a healing spell, but it wouldn't seal the cut completely. He stood up and looked over at the group of guards he'd been toying with. He didn't know why this one pegasus got to him the way she did, but one thing was certain. He wasn't just going to toy with these stallions anymore.
"I'm done playing now. I hope you're happy, you little bastards." The malicious happiness that had been in his eyes had dispersed, and rage replaced it. "I'm going to enjoy this." He said angrily.
"So the Khajiit is out cold, huh? Why don't we just kill him now and avoid another fight with him?" Halius asked in a low whisper.
"Because, on the off chance we wake him, there won't be any way we could get out of here! You should have seen it when they brought me in! There were guards literally everywhere! Just get me out of this damn thing, please." Kynan said quietly.
Nadene walked up to the sphere and examined it. "I'm not really sure how to get him out... This took some mastery level magic..."
"Then take me and the sphere with you! I just want to get out of here!" Kynan raged louder than he'd meant to, but Ra'zaan still slept.
"Hmm... that isn't going to happen. It would slow us down way too much. Maybe we could try to dispell it with counter-magic? Halius pondered.
"Maybe... We should both try at the same time though. Here goes nothing." Nadene said.
The duo's hands began to glow and the elves pressed them to the sphere. A very loud bang rang out and the sphere shattered in a magical explosion. The three mages recovered as fast as they could and tried to make for the door, but Ra'zaan, who had woken up by this time, was standing in their way.
"Well, that's the last time I fall asleep on the job!" The Khajiit smiled, drawing his glass dagger out.
"You think you can fight three of us on your own?! You must be out of your mind, Cat!" Kynan laughed.
"No, if I tried to fight you three alone I'd probably be killed. But with backup..." The Khajiit grinned as Twilight and friends showed up behind them.
"How did they get in? Guards were everywhere!" Iron asked.
"Training in stealth is easy to come by in my world." Ra'zaan answered. "Now what will you do, mages?"
"Hold on, you two! I'm getting us out of here before things get ugly!" Nadene said, readying a teleport spell.
"Oh, no you don't! You're not getting away again!" Ra'zaan yelled as he charged at the group with Rainbow close behind.
Ra'zaan grabbed Nadene's wrist and Rainbow tried to tackle Kynan, but all five of them vanished as the teleport spell finished.
"Where'd they go? We've got to go after them!" Iron ran to where they just were.
Twilight knew what had happened. "They got caught in the that woman's teleport spell as they tried to leave."
"Well? What're we waitin' for? Let's go git our friends back!" Applejack yelled.
"And how exactly do you suppose we go about doing that? We have no idea where they went! We don't even have a general direction!" Rarity said.
"Everyone calm down. I'm going to go inform the Princess on what's happening. Everypony else should split up and search the city. She couldn't teleport too far with five people, so they should still be in Canterlot." Twilight said calmly.
"You heard her, girls! Let's go find Ra'zaan and Dashie!" Pinkie screamed happily.
Applejack and the Captain started off with the group, but Twilight called over to them.
"Oh, no. You two stay here, you need to rest up!" The purple pony said.
"Well, it was worth a shot Ah guess..." Applejack said as she and Iron trotted lazily back into their room, knowing that Twilight wouldn't take no for an answer.
Halius, Nadene and Kynan all landed on a street in the city with Ra'zaan and Rainbow Dash. All five of them looked on in horror at what they saw playing out in front of them. Dozens of guards lay on the ground, many dead or dying from scorch marks inflicted by Golam's lightning magic.
"Golam?! what the hell are you doing? I thought you weren't going to kill anything!" Halius was dumbstruck by what he saw in front of him.
"Why? So they'll just have more soldiers to fight us with? I'm going to kill them all!" Golam tried to make that his excuse, but behind it he was just venting after Derpy had gotten hurt saving him from a sword to the back.
Suddenly, the fact that Ra'zaan and Rainbow had been teleported with them was recognized. The three mages jumped away from the two enemies.
"Golam, sir! Our mission is complete! We've got to get out of here!" Nadene exclaimed. "I'll hold them all off! You get Kynan and Halius back to Ponyville!" Nadene said confidently.
"You sure, Nadene? Alright, you two, let's go!" Golam looked at Derpy on the ground. "They'll be better equipped to fix her up. I can't carry her and get out of here anyway." He thought as he and the other two mages took off towards the town exit.
"Guards, go after them! We can handle this woman!" Ra'zaan yelled as he drew his katana in his right hand and his glass dagger in his other.
Two guards ran over and picked up Derpy's unconscious body, and, together with some of the other guards, carried her and the other pegasi towards the castle. Ra'zaan, Rainbow, and Nadene were the only life left on the street.
"Looks like we get to fight after all, 'Kitty Cat'!" Nadene smiled darkly.
Ra'zaan cringed at the nickname he hated. "Careful what you wish for, girl. Ready, Rainbow?"
"Hay, yeah! I've been wanting a rematch with one of these mages since Kynan knocked me out!" Rainbow copied Nadene's dark smile.
Ra'zaan readied himself for a fight. He was going to enjoy this much more than he probably should.
TO BE CONTINUED
Dark Brotherhood*: Group of assassins that specialize in hiding in the shadows. The people in Skyrim and Cyrodill both fear and respect them, and they are called upon all the time to assassinate all sorts of people. They're even credited with assassinating the Emperor.
Detect Life Spell**: When used, this spell allows the caster to see faint red glowing lights even through walls. These lights are showing how many people or creatures are in a room, and where they are.
Bound Bow***: Spectral bow formed using conjuration. When this spell is used, one hundred arrows are also created for a short period of time.
Ra'zaan waited for Nadene to make the first move. The three fighters eyed each other for what felt like forever.
Suddenly, Nadene vanished in a violet flash, and appeared above Ra'zaan with her dagger drawn. Ra'zaan raised his own dagger and deflected the Dark Elf's aerial attack, forcing her down next to Rainbow. Rainbow, with a quick snap of her back legs, bucked Nadene in her ribs, causing her to double over for a few moments. The mage recovered quickly, however, and swiftly got to her feet. She moved a few feet away.
"You two... aren't going to make... this easy... are you? Nadene asked between heavy breaths. She had a wide smile on her face. "That means this will be more fun than I thought! I can finally use my favorite moves!"
Without warning, the Dark Elf ran into the shadow of a nearby building and seemingly disappeared again.
"Damn, where did she go now?" Ra'zaan growled.
Rainbow flew up to get a better look around the area. They were fighting in the middle of an intersection, where two major roads of Canterlot crossed. All the shadows on the street and on the buildings seemed to be alive. In one fluid motion, the stealthy mage materialized out of one building's shadow near Rainbow, and fired a lightning spell like Golam's that grazed the cyan pony's left wing. This caused her to lose control and start plummeting back towards the ground. Nadene quickly vanished again in another shadow.
"Rainbow!" Ra'zaan yelled as he ran to try and catch the falling pony. He dove through the air and caught her just before she would have hit the ground. The Khajiit laid there for a minute, catching his breath. "You alright... Rainbow?"
"Heh, yeah. Thanks for the save!" Rainbow jumped up out of Ra'zaan's arms and shook her wings, making sure no permanent damage had been done. "Now, where is she?!"
"Careful, Rainbow. She's hiding in the darkness, Try to stay away from the shadows. The warrior instructed.
A slow, quiet clapping started as Nadene stepped out of a shadow near the two fighters. "You figured that out really quick, Cat! Now what will you do to stop me?" Nadene laughed.
"I already told you, my name is Ra'zaan." The Khajiit snapped. He was obviously annoyed. "You'll just have to see how I handle you, now, won't we?"
The Dark Elf said nothing, and instead ran into the shadows once again, vanishing within.
The Princess sat still as a statue, listening to what her faithful student was detailing. They were in Celestia's tower bedroom.
"...And then the group of mages vanished with Ra'zaan and Rainbow... Everyone else went out to search for them while I came up here..."
Celestia sighed. Her guards had been out-smarted, and their one chance at finding out more about the attack on Ponyville was gone.
"...Alright, so Ra'zaan went after the mages?" The Princess asked finally.
"Yes, and Rainbow went with him, though I doubt she knew she was going to be teleported..."
Just then, the Princess's bedroom door flung open and three guards ran in, one carrying a certain gray pegasus.
"Princess! Canterlot has been attacked! This pegasus was one of nine that followed one of those two-legged creatures as he attacked some of the guards!" The guards exclaimed all at once.
"Ditzy!" Twilight ran to Derpy's side. She was one of the few ponies that called the gray mare by her other name. "What happened to her?!"
"A guard was about to stab the creature in the back, but then this pegasus pushed the creature out of the way and took the full force of the attack. That seemed to cause the creature to lose control and he started flinging attacks wildly..." The guard started explaining,
Celestia stopped him. "Were there any casualties?!"
The guards looked at each other, then at the floor. "...Y-yes... eleven guards are dead and twenty-seven are injured... The creature and two others like him ran off, and some of the guards ran after them... Ra'zaan and a cyan pony are currently dealing with the one creature that stayed behind..."
Celestia bowed her head. A few golden tears escaped her eyes. There hadn't been a killing in Equestria in over a thousand years; before Nightmare Moon. "G-get... get the guards together... tomorrow we plan our attack on these creatures..."
"Princess Celestia?! Your not actually thinking about attacking Ponyville, are you?!" Twilight couldn't see an attack of that magnitude ever happening in all of Equestria, let alone her home town.
"Twilight, this is different now. Death has resulted from these creatures' appearance in our world. They must be dealt with before any more killing occurs. Tomorrow, I will personally organize the guards. In the meantime, Take Ditzy to the clinic. She and the... surviving guards... will need immediate attention..." Celestia found that last part extremely hard to put into words. With that, The Princess vanished in a flash of brilliant white light, leaving Twilight to ponder what she had just said.
"I know she's right, but I wish there was some other way..." The purple pony thought as she and the guards carried Derpy towards the clinic.
Ra'zaan and Rainbow weren't fairing very well. The warrior would try to turn left, and Nadene would attack from the right. He'd look up, and she'd strike from the ground. He'd try to guard his back, and she'd hit him from where he'd been facing. The Khajiit had cuts and lightning burns all over his body. Rainbow wasn't doing much better; the cyan pony was down-right exhausted. Ra'zaan looked at the battered blue pony, then looked out into the darkness with fire in his eyes.
"Coward! Enough of your tricks! Come out and fight us!" The Khajiit roared.
A voice that seemed to come from every direction answered him. "But if I were to do that, I wouldn't be able to toy with you so much!" Nadene followed with a light giggle, as if she was really enjoying herself.
Rainbow nudged Ra'zaan's leg, and he glanced down. "Hey... that bow you've got... how fast are you with it?" The blue pony whispered.
Ra'zaan took the hint and gave the pony an acknowledging wink. Rainbow took off back into the sky. As if on cue, Nadene struck out at the colorful pony through the shadows. This time, however, the warrior was ready. In a blink of an eye, he pulled out his bow, strung an arrow on it, and fired...
For a moment, it looked as if the arrow would miss entirely. Then its true target became clear. The arrow went straight through the Dark Elf's cowl, dragging and pinning her to a nearly building.
"Yeah! Got her! Nice shot, Ra'zaan!" Rainbow yelled. She patted herself on the back because her plan worked. "Not so confident now, are ya?!"
"Aw, and I was having fun, too... Well, aren't you going to hit me, or are you scared, little pony?" Nadene mocked. Rainbow took the bait.
"Here I come!" The cyan pony exclaimed as she built up speed.
Ra'zaan had already put two an two together. The mage's hands hadn't been bound. "Rainbow, no! It's a trap!"
Too late. Nadene raised her now glowing hands and formed a lightning cloak* around herself. Rainbow crashed into it, and took the full effect of the shocking shield. She fell once again from the sky, in the Khajiit's waiting arms.
"This is the second time I've had to catch you now." Ra'zaan smiled. "You rest a little. I'll deal with her from here."
Rainbow gave a weak smile, then closed her eyes. She had a fairly bad burn that covered over half of her body from the collision, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the burns Applejack had received. Ra'zaan set her down gently on a patch of grass, then turned back to the mage.
"That was a dirty trick you pulled, Nadene. You know as well as I do that these ponies are naive to fighting. "Ra'zaan growled.
"So what? If she didn't want to get hurt, she shouldn't have tried to fight in the first place!" Nadene smiled. "Well, I'm outta here!"
Nadene's hands began glowing purple as she got ready to teleport away to safety from the wall she was pinned to. Ra'zaan saw her start and pulled out his bow. He aimed his bow directly between her eyes. He knew he could get the arrow out in time before she vanished. He steadied the arrow and was ready to fire, but suddenly he felt a hoof on his shoulder.
"I'll handle it from here Ra'zaan. You done quite enough." A familiar voice sounded.
In the blink of an eye, Nadene's hands were encased in a white aura, stopping her spell. The aura of magic then ripped the confused mage off the wall, and lowered her to the ground where Ra'zaan stood. The Khajiit glanced over his shoulder to see who had stopped the mage's teleport.
"P-princess Celestia?! What? How? Why are you here?!" Ra'zaan seemed as confused as Nadene at this point.
Celestia's face was grim. "Don't worry about that now. Just take Rainbow Dash to the castle to be taken care of." The warrior stared at her a moment longer, then did as he was commanded and ran off towards the castle with Rainbow on his shoulders.
"Who the hell are you?! Let me go!" Nadene's normally happy disposition was replaced with confusion and anger. "Let me go!!!"
"Your speaking to this land's princess. I've ruled this land peacefully for over a thousand years. Then you creatures show up, and all of that is out the window." Celestia glared at the Dark Elf. "Whatever your plan is, I'm going to stop it before you kill any other ponies."
"I knew when I saw those guards laying dead it would cause a problem. That's why Halius and I just knocked them out!" Nadene said. Her happy side had already returned.
Celestia remained frighteningly cold. "Enough talk. You're coming with me."
With that, the Princess readied herself to teleport. She then saw the other ponies that had left to search for Ra'zaan and Rainbow.
"Princess? Where are Ra'zaan and Rainbow?" Pinkie asked.
"And...what are you d-doing out here...?" Fluttershy added.
"No need to worry, my little ponies. Head back to the castle, and get some sleep. I'll explain everything in the morning." With that, Celestia teleported back to the castle, and the group, still confused as to what exactly just happened, slowly trotted back towards Canterlot Castle. By now, it was just past two in the morning.
The next morning, everyone woke up a bit later than normal. Ra'zaan got up slowly and walked out into the massive dining room. He looked at a clock nearby; it was nearly half past ten. The Princess had asked her private chef to make them a surprise breakfast, and sure enough, the table was covered from end to end with different foods. Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy sat in a row at the table, chatting together. Applejack, Big Mac', Rainbow and Derpy all sat together an the opposite side of the table, having their own conversation. Even the Captain was up and about, speaking with Celestia.
"Princess, do you really want to go through with a full scale assault to bring these mages down?" Iron asked worriedly.
She looked down at him, tiredness in her eyes. "I don't see any other way. If there was, believe me when I say I'd give it a shot."
"Sorry to interrupt, but did you say you wanted to send an attack force? You'll need someone skilled with dealing with mage's magic if you want them to succeed." Ra'zaan said, eavesdropping on the conversation.
"I'll be sending anypony and everypony willing to go. I'm even going to use my magic to heal Iron, Rainbow, Ditzy, and Applejack. It won't completely heal them, but it will get them back to full strength. After breakfast, I'm going to go and brief all the guards that will be going on what their job will be. I don't want the brain-washed ponies hurt... at least not severely if we can help it... but I want the mages dealt with. I don't care anymore whether they are taken alive or not."
"Alright, Princess. I will be ready when the guards and everyone - I mean everypony - are. Until then!"
Breakfast was finished up quickly and the group all got together to discuss the Princess's plan.
"So, what does 'everypony' think of the Princess's plan?" Ra'zaan asked casually. He was starting to get used to speaking this way with the ponies.
"To be honest, I completely agree with the Princess. Although her tactics are a bit... BARBARIC, those ruffians have done nothing to permit mercy." Rarity said. She looked around and caught several sets of eyes staring at her. "...What? He asked."
"Anyway... Ah think those varmints have this comin' to 'em. They've already hurt too many good ponyfolk as it is." Applejack continued.
"Um, Girls? Don't you think we might be moving too quickly? Maybe they could still change..." Fluttershy didn't want to see any living creature hurt, no matter what they'd done.
"Ra'zaan looked at the canary colored pegasus and sighed sadly. "Unfortunately, people from my world are not as quick to change. At the rate these mages are moving, if something isn't done soon, your world may never be the same. They need to be stopped. I'm sorry, 'Shy."
Fluttershy's ear's and head drooped, and she sat silently. The whole group was quiet for few moments before a voice sounded from the other side of the dining room.
"Now Ra'zaan! People aren't as bad as that! Sure, the other rogues and I are here to take over, but we aren't inherently evil. We just want to rule some land of our own!" Nadene said.
She was magically chained to the wall of the dining room, and her hands were still bound by Celestia's magic. She's been served food just like everyone else, and had been eating quietly. She turned to the Princess sheepishly.
"Oh, and th-thanks for the meal, P-princess." The Dark Elf stuttered carefully.
The Princess nodded slowly. She pondered what the Dark Elf had just said. "You say you just wanted to rule land of your own, but then why attack our land when you hadn't even attempted to speak with me?" The Celestia asked finally.
"Well, that doesn't usually go over well based on experience. In our world, asking a ruler if you can 'have some land to rule' is like asking the thieves guild not to steal. If you don't know how hard that is, then here's another example. It's like asking Ra'zaan over there to stop looking like a cat. After several attempts at things like that, Golam, our leader, decided we weren't going to try that again."
"Equestria has many uninhabited lands still. If your group had come to me in the first place, I may have given you some of that land for yourselves. After all that has happened, however, you ---" The Princess was cut off.
" --will be lucky to get out of this without any of us dying? Yeah, I've heard that more than once." Nadene said coldly.
Celestia smiled a little. "I was going to say you'll be lucky if I don't banish you away from here, but that works too."
Iron Pride ran into the room just then, and addressed the group with the most authority they'd seen.
"Everypony, the guards have been assembled. Please come out into the courtyard and brief them on the coming battle, Princess." Iron's leg had been healed to the best of Celestia's ability, and he had put his armor back on.
"Yes, of course! Come on out my little ponies." Celestia said as she undid the magic ties binding Nadene to the wall. She left the hand binds on. "You too, Miss."
The now large group of ponies walked out into the courtyard, and most were taken aback by what they saw. Over three hundred guards stood at the ready, waiting for their Princess the explain their mission.
"Greetings, my faithful warriors." Celestia began. "I have asked you here for some very important business. I'm afraid that this is very grave news indeed. Ponyville, a small town near the Everfree Forest, has been taken over by a group of creatures known as mages. They look like this woman right here." The Princess motioned towards Nadene. These creatures will be your only 'dead or alive' targets. The ponies of the town are not to be killed. They are under the control of these mages and are innocent. If at all possible, avoid fighting these ponies. If, however, you are forced to fight them, do your best and try not to hurt them too badly. Ra'zaan, you wished to speak?" The sun goddess asked the Khajiit.
"Thank you, your Highness." Ra'zaan bowed to the Princess, then faced the guards. "These mages are extremely dangerous and are not to be taken lightly. The spell they have over the Ponyville residents is strong, but there is one way to break it. Knocking these brain-washed ponies out seems to remove the spell, and the only side effect is usually a migraine when they wake up. Back to you, Princess."
"This 'Khajiit', as Ra'zaan is called, will lead one group of guards.In fact, I am officially giving Ra'zaan, the six bearers of the elements of harmony, the stallion named Big Macintosh, the pegasus named Derpy Hooves, and Captain Pride leadership roles in this mission. Each leader will lead a group of thirty guards. Does everypony understand what is expected of them?" Celestia addressed the guards with a fine assertion that must have taken over a century to perfect.
"Wait!" A shrill voice screamed behind the Princess.
Startled a bit by this sudden noise, Celestia turned around to see a Dark Elf breathing heavily in her binds.
"I know you have no reason to trust me, but may I please join the battle? I wish to help you!" She said with seriousness overshadowing her normally happy voice.
"Why would you want to help us? You are one of the mages these guards are going after!" Ra'zaan said, his voice slightly raised in suspicion.
"I know you probably won't believe me, but I've seen how kind you are, and how wrong we mage's have been. This whole time I've been with you, you've all pretty much treated me like I was just another one of the group, even after all I did. You even let me sit at the table for breakfast. In my world, prisoners are just thrown into jail and given meager meals. This world or yours... we really did disturb it with our presence, didn't we? I want to help you, if you'll permit me to..." Nadene finished with a bow in front of a very surprised Celestia.
The Princess wasn't sure what to say. She glanced over at Ra'zaan. "What do you think, Ra'zaan?"
The Khajiit hated to admit it, but Nadene seemed genuinely honest when she spoke. Ra'zaan looked over at the Princess and spoke. "It's your call, your Highness. She seems truthful enough to me, but who knows if she will keep her word?"
"Very well, then. I'll allow you to go along with the attack. Do know, however, that if you double-cross us, I will not be so kind next time." The Princess's voice was cold, but truthful.
"Thank you, your Highness! You won't regret it!" Nadene said with her normal, playful attitude.
Celestia turned back to the guards. "Well, then. This mage will be accompanying you as well. Ready yourselves. You depart with your leaders at four in the afternoon. You are dismissed."
The guards slowly disbanded to go and get prepared, and the leaders all exchanged looks of worry and excitement. Whatever happened, they knew they'd have each other's backs.This was going to be one hell of a battle.
Golam looked at his army of more than a thousand brain-washed ponies. He had a feeling the events that occurred in Canterlot would instigate an attack, so he was readying his forces just in case. Kynan, Halius and Ysura stood at his side.
"Are you sure we're ready for this, Golam?" Halius asked.
"We have to be, Halius. Otherwise, this will be our last hurrah."
TO BE CONTINUED
Lightning Cloak* - Spell that encases the caster's body in the element they choose. (fire, ice, or lightning) Any enemy that gets within melee range is repelled and hurt by the 'cloak'.
Ra'zaan stood at the top of a hill, looking off into the distance. It was six in the afternoon, and Ponyville was in the horizon. The Khajiit turned around and saw over three hundred guards, and all the ponies he'd met thus far. Even Nadene, who until this morning was against Ra'zaan and the ponies, was ready to charge her former leader. She caught the warrior's eyes staring at her.
"You like what you see?" The Dark Elf giggled softly. "You still don't trust me, do you? It's understandable, I guess. After all, the only things I've done while I've been here are stop you from killing Halius, and nearly kill that rainbow-maned pony..." Nadene showed a sign of remorse, then quickly shook it away and smiled. "I'm going to try to fix that!"
"I'm not worried about what you've done." Ra'zaan said. "I'm worried about what you could do."
"Ra'zaan, you need to relax a little. The fight hasn't even started yet!" Twilight said, having overheard their exchange.
Pinkie Pie popped up from behind the purple unicorn. "Yeah, silly! Have a little fun before you have to get all serious!"
"Heh, See? Even your friends think you should lighten up, you stubborn cat!" The Dark Elf joked, giving a playful smirk to show she meant nothing by what she'd said.
Ra'zaan knew he couldn't win this discussion. "Oh, alright. You win. I'll try to loosen up a little." The Khajiit glanced back down at the colorful town in the distance. "Be warned, though; If you betray what trust I have for you, I won't hesitate to take you down." "We've got one hell of a battle ahead of us... I hope the Princess knows what she's doing..."
Ponyville was a little less than and hour's walk away. The guards had superior training, but the mage's had the advantage in terms of numbers. If Ra'zaan, his friends and the guards don't win this battle, Equestria as a whole could be changed forever.
Golam, Halius, Kynan, and Ysura sat around a booth in Sugarcube Corner. Golam had untied the Cakes and had Ysura use her mind-control on them. The mages were enjoying some fresh-baked cake.
"Do you think Nadene got away okay?" Kynan asked.
"She's probably trapped in the castle right now. That girl is just too excitable." Ysura snapped.
Golam looked at his three subordinates. "I'm sure she's fine. Nadene is made of tougher stuff than most."
"You give her too much credit, Mr. Faram." Ysura's eyes shot daggers at Golam. "Just because she's your niece, that doesn't make her any more capable than the rest of us!"
Golam had to suppress a laugh at that accusation. "No, her training in both the Dark Brotherhood and the College of Winterhold* is what makes her more capable. I saw to her training myself." He smiled at a fuming Ysura.
Halius just sat quietly, happily watching his companions' conversation. The rogue mages had already seen The mage's army was as ready as it could be, so now all they could do is wait. They couldn't gain control over the remaining population of the town because, after the initial fight, most free-minded ponies had fled the town to get away from any dangers the town would soon face.
Halius glanced out the window of the bakery, and saw a large enemy force approaching about a half-hours walk away.
"Golam, sir. They'll be here soon." Halius said calmly, pointing out the window.
Golam sighed. "Very well. Ready the ponies. We'll be ready for them."
Ra'zaan walked at the front of the guard army as they moved down the road towards Ponyville. The edge of town could clearly be seen, as they were only a few minutes away. Another thing that could clearly be seen was the enormous crowd of brain-washed ponies lined up at the edge of town, ready to fight. The mages, which were the guards' real targets, were behind the huge collection of ponies. Ra'zaan looked back at the other group leaders. They nodded.
"Charge!" The leaders all yelled at once, running towards the advancing enemy.
"Get them!" Golam screamed as his army began it's assault.
Loud cheers and battle cries could be heard throughout the battlefield as expertly-crafted steel met kitchen knives and make-shift blunt objects. The guards knew their orders and knew the consequences of disobeying them. It was obvious even to Twilight and her friends, whom had almost no experience with fighting at all, that the guards were holding themselves back.
Fortunately for the guards, the plan the leader's had come up with only involved them holding the mind-controlled ponies off while the leaders went after the mages. So far, that plan had gone perfectly. The guards were outnumbered, but could hold their own against the inexperienced mares and stallions. Ra'zaan, the element bearers, Captain Pride, Derpy, Big Mac' and Nadene all made it through the giant crowd while the guards handled their part of the plan. The group of eleven stood facing three familiar faces and a new one. The four mages stood across from the leaders, ready for the fight that could make or break their conquest plans.
"This is it, Golam! Let's end this!" Ra'zaan growled, drawing his sword.
"I agree, Khajiit. This constant battle between our two forces has dragged on long enough. Prepare yourselves!" The leader of the rogue mages snapped.
As the Dark Elf finished his sentence, the three mages that were with him split up, and ran at the group in different directions. Halius was matched up against Rainbow, Pinkie, and Big Mac'. Applejack led Derpy and Fluttershy towards Kynan. Ysura was up against Twilight, Rarity, and Iron. That left Ra'zaan and Nadene alone against Golam.
Celestia sat out on her balcony overlooking Equestria quietly with a very solemn look on her face. All she could think about over and over again was "I hope they'll be alright..." The little purple dragon that sat at her side had a similar look on his face. He'd stayed with the Princess on a certain purple unicorn's request.
"Princess..." Spike began. "What do you think will happen if Twilight and everypony else fail? What will you do?"
Celestia glanced over to the baby dragon before answering calmly. "I... I'm not really sure what I'd have to do... and I'd prefer not to think too much about it right now, if you don't mind..."
"Of course, Princess. I'm just worried about them..." The dragon said slowly.
"I am too, Spike. I am too..." The Princess said shakily.
Twilight stared straight into this new mage's eyes. This was the fifth and final mage, and she had no idea what abilities this one had. Rarity stood at the purple unicorn's left and Iron stood at her right.
"Who are you?" Twilight asked.
Ysura stared at her first opponents since she'd gotten here. "My name is Ysura. I am the one responsible for the spell our army is under."
Iron cut in at this point. "Your army? Don't you mean the innocent lives your taking advantage of?" He snapped.
"It doesn't matter whether they are innocent or not, as long as they serve their purpose. They're expendable." Ysura smiled.
That last statement was too much for Iron. He charged at the mage blindly with his short sword drawn.
"Captain, wait!" Twilight pleaded. The Captain Ignored her.
Lunging out with his sword, Iron sliced at Ysura. She calmly dodged each consecutive slice, moving just out of reach every time he attacked. This only made Iron more irritated than ever. After another failed swing of his sword, Ysura finally stopped the raging stallion with a quick kick to his chest, sending him flying back to Twilight and Rarity.
"Captain, that was reckless! You know these mages aren't going to go down easy, so calm down and think before your act!" Twilight yelled.
"The Captain glared at Twilight, but nodded regardless. "I know... But they're treating ponies like worthless pawns! We have to do something!"
"...And we will, but we need to know what we're up against before we can deal with it, darling." Rarity said while watching Ysura, who, at this time, was just staring blankly into the sky, waiting for them to get serious and fight.
"Are you three just going to sit around and talk? I was expecting more of a fight from you ponies." Ysura had a bored look on her face. "If you won't attack, I will!"
Ysura made a motion with he hands and a bound bow instantly appeared in them. Then the hand that wasn't holding the bow started to glow a dark purple. Two red-skinned creatures with menacing black, spiky armor appeared, holding equally menacing black swords.
"Do you like my Dremora**? I hope so, because you'll be getting to know then here very shortly!" Ysura sneered.
In one quick move, the battle had been turned from three-on-one to three-on-three. Twilight gulped. They needed a plan, and they needed it now.
Rainbow dodged a frozen spike as she weaved back and forth in the air, flying straight for Halius. The High Elf had a bound sword in one hand and was firing frost magic from the other. His robes were cut open and the wound Ra'zaan had inflicted earlier could clearly be seen underneath, but it was sealed up for the most part. The cyan pony swooped down and tried to slam into the mage, but he swung his sword and she had to redirect herself so she wouldn't get sliced. Rainbow then landed back between Big Mac' and Pinkie.
"Darn it! I thought... I had him... that time!" Rainbow said, breathing heavily.
"Well, duh! Of course it didn't work! That was the third time you've tried that Dashie!" Pinkie smiled.
Big Mac' didn't say anything, and instead stared at the mage that had pitted him against Ra'zaan the day before. A deep scowl adorned the red stallion's face.
"What's up, Big Mac'? Something wrong?" Rainbow looked at the stallion with curiosity. "Are you okay?"
"Ah'm fine. Let's git this varmint. Ready, girls? Rainbow, you attack from the sky. Pinkie, see if ya can't get behind 'im..." Mac' whispered slowly.
"A-alright then, big guy... Let's do this!" Rainbow stuttered. She wasn't used to hearing the Red stallion talk so much.
Pinkie just smiled and nodded vigorously. Rainbow and Big Mac' ran in, Mac' on the ground and Rainbow in the air. Halius blasted them back again and again with ice shards and swings of his sword. They dodged everything he through at them, and continued charging.
You two must know this pathetic routine isn't going to work, right? I've blocked every one of your attacks. it's pitiful." Halius laughed as he swatted the red stallion away with is sword. "You two aren't even worth the effort I'm expending at this rate."
What Halius hadn't realized was that the two ponies in front of him were just creating a distraction. While he'd been busy blocking and bad-mouthing them, Pinkie had made her way back around behind the High Elf. She ran up and bucked him in his back with all her strength, sending him flying through the air right into Mac' and Rainbow's waiting hooves...
...their back hooves, that is...
Halius flew straight from one buck onto his knees in front of the blue and red ponies. These two, in turn, bucked him directly into the center of his chest, launching him over fifteen feet backwards, over Pinkie's head. He laid there for a moment, then slowly got to his feet.
"You three... are going to pay... for that!" The High Elf said angrily. His breathing was heavy as his free hand glowed with an intense blue aura.
"Well, if it isn't the little pony I toasted with fire magic yesterday! You little pests heal quick, don't you?" Kynan laughed, staring at Applejack.
Applejack returned his gaze with fire in her eyes. "Ya won't git me a second time! Ah think it's 'bout time Ah settled the score." She growled.
She, Derpy, and Fluttershy stood facing Kynan, who had both hands lit with fire magic. He looked at the trio and smiled.
"Well, looks like you don't have one of your 'unicorns' with you this time, so I don't have to worry about getting trapped again. Without that, your fate is all but sealed!" Kynan smirked.
The Breton started firing fireball after fireball at the three ponies, causing them to scatter. Fluttershy took flight with Derpy and started swerving back and forth, dodging the flying fire easily. Applejack was busy dodging back and forth, gaining ground with each movement. As she crept closer, Kynan sped his shots up so he could fire faster. His focus quickly went from all three ponies to just the orange one in front of him as he failed over and over, trying to hit the farm pony.
"Damn it! Stop moving around so much you little bi -- ugh!" Kynan was cut off as two sets of hooves beamed him in the left side of his head.
The two pegasi responsible landed on the ground as Kynan's body was slammed into a nearby tree. He got up quickly, but evidently not fast enough as Applejack had already reached him and planted her hind hooves directly into his jaw. While he was face-first in the dirt, Fluttershy and Derpy ran over and grabbed his feet. They then took off up into the air until his head was a few feet off the ground.
"Let me down, you stupid ---" The Breton was again cut off as a sharp pain appeared in his abdomen.
He was sent flying the the air and landed on on some grass under the same tree he'd hit a few moments ago. He stood up a bit slower this time, and his eyes were full of rage. He looked over and saw Applejack standing back up after she had body-slammed him.
"Alright... You want to get serious about this? Then I'll allow you the privilege of seeing my strongest power!" Kynan yelled as the glow on his hands dispersed.
Applejack, Fluttershy and Derpy watched on in horror as the mage's body started changing... Brown fur grew all over him. his nose and mouth extended out into a snout. His eyes narrowed. His hands and feet changed with sharp, menacing claws, and when he opened his mouth, several rows of long, sharp teeth were there. A short, furry tail appeared, and his stance completely changed.
"W-what the h-hay is th-that th-thing?!" Applejack asked with fear in her voice.
"I-I'm n-not sure... I-it looks a l-lot l-like a w-wolf s-standing up..." Fluttershy squeaked. She was visibly shaking from fear.
Derpy's eyes seemed to straighten themselves out for a moment. "Do w-we have t-to fight t-that th-thing?!"
Applejack's face was completely flushed. "I don't r-reckon we got a ch-choice! Here it c-comes!"
The trio braced for impact as the Werewolf*** ran at full speed towards them.
Ra'zaan stood with Nadene, staring at the cause of all that had occurred in the past three days. Golam, the leader of the rogue mages and the reason Ra'zaan was in Equestria in the first place, stood smiling back at them.
"Well, it's good that you brought my niece back to me, Khajiit. I'd begun to worry about the poor girl."
"Don't act like you don't know what's going on, uncle. "Nadene shouted at the older Dark Elf. "I'm here to finally get rid of the one person that I've ever hated. You."
"Don't be ridiculous, Nadene. Get over here and help me with this cat!"
No, Golam! I'm tired of listening to all of your theories and conquering ideas." She held out the ebony dagger she'd used against Ra'zaan in front of her. "Did you ever wonder why I always use this dagger when I fight? This belonged to a close friend of mine. A friend you killed when he stood up to you and fought against your ideas five years ago. I kept it so I could always remember what you did. Now, I've got a chance I never had before. A chance to finally avenge my friend by killing you!" Nadene's normal, happy attitude was gone. A rage that had been building for five years replaced it.
"Well, it looks like you'll get to see this so-called friend a lot sooner than you thought. Come at me then, girl. You and the Khajiit are no match for me." Golam said with a cold, angry tone. He reached over to his side and drew out two katanas exactly like the one Ra'zaan was holding. "If you think you can fight me, be my guest. I'll saver every second it takes to kill the two of you!"
Hearing the story Nadene had just told, Ra'zaan's trust was more than doubled. Anyone that held that much contempt for someone had to be telling the truth.
"She's your niece, hmm? And yet, you'd have no second thoughts about killing her?" Ra'zaan's voice was devoid of any emotion.
Golam turned to the Khajiit. "I have no need for a traitor, family or not. I will not screw around like my subordinates have against you, Khajiit. I'm going to use my full power. I know how strong the two of you are."
Golam's eyes changed to a dark, crimson red. His dark skin paled, and a smile spread across his face. Two long, sharp fangs hung out of his mouth.
Golam was a Vampire^.
TO BE CONTINUED
The College of Winterhold* - Skyrim's version of the Mage's Guild.
Dremora** - A demon-like humanoid from a hellish dimension known as Oblivion. Often seen wearing Daedric Armor, which is the armor that usually only Dremora can make.
Werewolf*** - To be a Werewolf in the Elder Scrolls (Skyrim at least), one must consume the blood of a living werewolf. This is usually done with the consent of the one becoming the werewolf. Werewolves are much faster, stronger, and fiercer than humans.
Vampire^ - To become a Vampire in the Elder Scrolls (Skyrim at least), one must be bitten by a vampire of consume the blood of one. Golam is shown in this chapter changing into a vampire a will, which is not possible in the game.
Big Mac', Rainbow and Pinkie stood and stared as Halius's hand began glowing brighter and brighter. The blue aura that engulfed it was an intense turquoise. The High Elf smiled when he looked up to see the three pairs of eyes fixed on him.
"Now you'll learn the true reason Golam selected me for his team!" His hands glowed a few moments longer before Halius unleashed his spell.
The ground all around him and the ponies suddenly froze in a thick layer of ice, and three huge creatures that looked as though they were made of ice appeared.
"How do you like my Atronachs*? Halius asked sarcastically.
Big Mac' glanced around with a bit of worry in his eyes. "Now since when has magic been able to do somethin' like this?" He asked shakily.
"I'm not sure, but I think we should worry about those... things... that are coming this way first!" Rainbow yelled, pointing at the frost atronachs that were shambling towards them.
In a flash of pink, Pinkie was gliding around on ice skates that the pink pony seemed to pull out of nowhere. "This is AWESOME!!! I love ice skating!" Pinkie screamed with joy as she slid in circles around the walking ice sculptures.
The atronachs swung aimlessly at the pink pony, but she was moving too fast for them. Rainbow looked on in amusement as their friend slipped back and forth between the three giants.
"Hey, Big Mac'?" Rainbow nudged the red stallion.
"Eeeyup?" He answered.
Rainbow gave a mischievous smile. "You think we can take those things down while they are distracted?"
"Eeeyup." The stallion replied. "I doubt Pinkie even realizes that she's got their attention, but if she keeps this up, it wouldn't be a problem at all."
"Alright then! Let's get 'em!" Rainbow lifted herself into the air and took off towards the giants with the farm stallion close behind.
The cyan pony flew directly into the closest atronach, smashing into its chest. The atronach stumbled backward a little, and the blow left a crack down its center, but it was relatively unfazed. Rainbow, on the other hand, laid on the ground holding her head.
"Ouch! I don't remember ice being that hard..." She laughed a little as she staggered to her feet.
"Come on, Rainbow. Aim fer their legs." Big Mac' said as he dashed past the dazed blue pony.
The red stallion bucked the atronach Rainbow had knock over in his leg, shattering it with an explosive crack. The atronach fell to the ground, and then began crawling towards Big Mac'. Mac' felt a gust of air fly by him as Pinkie zoomed by him and jumped into the air, slamming down onto the head of the crawling atronach. The sudden collision of ice skate-to-head crushed the wounded atronach's head entirely, causing the spell over the heap of ice to break.
"Damn you! You little ponies just don't give up, do you? Fine, if my atronachs aren't enough for you, I'll go one step further!" Halius announced as his entire body began glowing with the same blue aura he'd had when he first summoned the atronachs.
The two giants that were still standing suddenly dissolved, and the ice that had formed their bodies swirled around Halius. Slowly, the bright blue ice layered itself all over Halius's body. The ice started taking the form of a suit of armor as it built up, and blades - or rather, very sharp-edged ice shards - appeared on each of his forearms. His fingers were encased in ice that came to a point on the tips, and they looked like menacing claws. The armor lifted Halius up so he was as tall as one of the atronachs, and the only part of him it didn't cover up was his face.
"This is my ultimate spell! It took me years of practice and many failed and painful attempts, but I finally got it right. I call it the 'Armor of the Titan'. Let's see how you deal with this!" Halius's face contorted into a twisted smile as he readied himself for the battle that was to come.
Twilight shook her head as Captain Pride tried again to take down one of the Dremora, and again was tossed away by the demonic creature. He'd been continuing this cycle for about ten minutes now.
"Captain, don't you think there might be a better way of dealing with these two creatures?" Twilight was a bit annoyed that Iron had kept up an obviously failing plan.
"But... I almost... got him... that time..." Iron said between breaths. "They've got... to be wearing down... by now..."
The Captain began yet another charge, but Twilight grabbed him with her magic and dragged him back over to her.
"Would you just listen to me! It's obvious that these things are very skilled fighters, so a direct approach isn't practical!" The purple unicorn said. "Just look at Rarity! She's no where near as strong as you are, yet she's holding off the other creature on her own. Just watch what she's doing. I'll handle this one for a moment." With that, Twilight sent a wall of magic towards the creature Iron had been fighting, knocking him backwards to give her some time.
Iron hated taking orders from Twilight, but he knew she was trying to help. He glanced over at Rarity and, to his surprise, she wasn't fairing very badly at all. She was sending baseball-sized rocks at the Dremora with her magic, which the creature easily deflected. But something was odd. She had I much larger rock - about the size of a watermelon - behind her, and he couldn't figure out why she didn't throw that one. Then he realized what she was doing. With each rock she threw, she inched it lower and lower. Before long, it appeared that Rarity was aiming for the Dremora's legs. But what Iron noticed was that, with the creature guarding low, he left his head completely exposed. As soon as the white pony knew the creature was focused on guarding his legs, Rarity lifted the watermelon-sized rock and flung it as hard as she could at the creature's head. The Dremora tried to guard his face, but he wasn't quick enough on the draw and the rock smashed his face directly. The demonic-looking creature hit the ground with a loud thud, and laid lifeless. Rarity had out-smarted the Dremora, but the expense of so much magic had taken its toll on her and she collapsed.
The Captain ran over to the heaving unicorn on the ground. "Rarity, are you alright?"
"I'm... fine... Darling..." She said quietly. "...Just ... a bit... tired..."
The Captain started to ask another question, but was cut off by an arrow the flew so close to him it knocked his helmet off. As if on instinct, Iron grabbed Rarity, threw her onto his back, and darted for cover.
"So close! How could I miss such an easy shot?" Ysura scolded herself.
Twilight looked over at Ysura after knocking the remaining Dremora back again. "You didn't miss; I saw it heading for The Captain and did my best to knock it off course with my magic. It almost got him anyway..." The purple unicorn said proudly.
"Oh well, you won't get that chance again!" Ysura said, pulling back her bowstring. "Take this!"
The Nord sent a barrage of arrows toward Twilight. The purple unicorn put up a magical wall, and held all of her concentration to keep it from breaking under the strain of the arrows. This, however, put her in a vulnerable situation. The Dremora got back up and ran at Twilight screaming in a foreign tongue. Twilight was powerless to stop his incoming attack...
'CLANG'
Twilight glanced over, and in front of the rampaging Dremora's sword stood Iron, with Rarity still on his back. He'd blocked the demonic creature's blade with his own, but the creature was overpowering him. The Dremora bashed and slashed at Iron's small steel sword, and the Captain was starting to show signs of wearing out. They were pinned there, stuck protecting their unconscious friend as both Iron and Twilight slowly ran out of the stamina needed to keep up the fight.
Applejack let out a high pitched scream as she barely dodged the menacing claws of the werewolf. In one fluid motion, it had jumped from where it was straight passed her, clawing at as it passed. It's dark, cold eyes came into contact with the emerald green of Applejack's as it landed. The beast growled angrily for having missed it's target.
"Whoa... that critter is fast..." Applejack thought out loud.
"Is that even the mage anymore? His eyes seem so empty compared to the fiery eyes Kynan had shown..." Fluttershy commented.
Applejack wasn't really worried about the beast's eyes at that moment. "Well, we'd better figure somethin' out before we get into... look out!" Applejack cut her sentence off as the werewolf darted from where he was standing directly towards Fluttershy.
It missed, however, and instead grabbed onto an unsuspecting Derpy, dragging her from her aerial location straight to the ground. She yelped in pain as the full weight of the hulking creature landed on top of her. The beast raised it's paw to swipe at the shaken gray mare, but was interrupted by a sharp pain as Applejack slammed herself against it with the full extent of her strength. The werewolf was sent tumbling across the ground, and when it came to a stop, the beast let out a loud grunt.
"Y'alright, Derpy? That critter din't hurt you none, did it?" Applejack asked the wobbly mare.
"I'm... fine... just a little... dizzy..." Derpy glanced over at the beast. "How can we beat something so fast?"
Applejack looked worriedly from Derpy to the creature. "Ah'm not too sure, but we'll have ta wing it for now. Look out, it's gettin' up again!"
The orange farm pony dashed towards the beast, who took one look at her and began pouncing towards her. The werewolf lunged forward with it's arm out-stretched, aiming for Applejack's head. The earth pony ducked at the last moment, but the beast still smacked her favorite stetson hat off of her head. The creature gave a satisfied snort before realizing he'd missed the orange mare. Suddenly, he felt himself lift off the ground as Applejack bucked the werewolf in his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
"Gotcha, ya big varmint! Um... uh oh..." Applejack said as she noticed the beast was falling back towards her. She had no time to get out of the way.
After Applejack heard the thud of the massive creature slamming to the ground, she opened her clenched eyes and noticed she wasn't under the werewolf after all. Actually, she wasn't even on the ground anymore.
"You okay, AJ? That creature didn't hurt you, did it?" Derpy mimicked what Applejack had said a few minutes before with a smile.
The orange pony smiled a little. "V-very f-funny, Derpy. Mind p-puttin' me d-down? Ah'm not v-very good with h-heights."
Derpy grinned sheepishly and set Applejack down on the ground. The farm pony shook herself and picked up her hat, setting back in place on her head. She jumped when the beast stood back up, seemingly unfazed by his ordeal.
"What can we do to beat this thing?! That buck had all the power Ah could muster behind it!" Applejack did a visible double-take. She took a couple of steps back as her eyes again met with the deep yellow that was the werewolf's eyes.
"Uh, girls? Ah think we need a new plan. NOW." Applejack said.
Golam stood with both of his swords colliding with other blades. On his right, he was holding off Ra'zaan. On his left, he held off Nadene. The two were swinging like maniacs, furiously slashing left and right at the evil Dark Elf. Golam, while blocking every wild swing, had a bored look on his face.
"Is this really the best you two have? I must admit, I'm somewhat disappointed. Especially of you, girl." Golam yawned.
The evil mage side-swiped Ra'zaan in the Khajiit's gut with his foot, pushing him away. He then turned his attention to the Dark Elf at his left. He swung his right sword around and began mercilessly bashing against Nadene's dagger. She blocked the attacks, but with every swing she was pushed farther and farther back. She glanced back and noticed that they were rapidly coming up on a building. The shadowy side of a building, to be more precise. Golam kept on swinging, seemingly unaware that they were approaching a building. As soon as her foot stepped into the shadow, Nadene vanished into it. She reappeared on the wall, above where she had been standing, but to her surprise, Golam wasn't there.
"Did you really expect that to work, girl? I am the one who taught you how to use the shadows, after all." The evil mage said as he appeared next to Nadene.
Golam slammed both swords straight down in an arc. Nadene countered the attack, but the force of it threw her into the ground. As the dust cleared, Nadene could be seen with her body indented about six inches into the soft dirt.
"Nadene! Damn you, Golam!" Ra'zaan yelled loudly.
The rogue, satisfied he'd effectively finished his niece, turned to the Khajiit with a smirk on his face. "Aw, what's wrong, Cat? Did you really think you could beat me after fighting my subordinates? You are the biggest fool I've ever met."
Ra'zaan lost his temper. "Oh yeah? Is that right? That scar showing through the hole in your robes says something different!" He snapped.
"That injury was a fluke. A lucky shot. My mind was focused more on finishing our portal to this excuse of a world back then. You have my full attention now, Khajiit." Golam grinned. "That armor of yours is nice, but it won't help you against me!"
Golam tossed his left-handed sword to the side and lit his left hand with a bright electric hue. He sent it directly towards Ra'zaan, who's armor would only amplify the shocking effect.
"Ahhhhhhh!" The Khajiit said as the electricity flowed through him. "Fine, you asked for it!!"
The warrior undid his electrified chest-piece and removed it, followed quickly by his gauntlets and grieves. His clothing that Rarity had made him shined brightly in the sinking sunlight. He placed his sword back in its sheath and ran at the Dark Elf with his glass dagger.
Golam laughed. "You think you can hurt me with that little blade? You've obviously got a screw loose."
Golam got ready for what he thought would be an easy take-down, but the Khajiit was surprisingly fast without his armor weighing him down. In fact, he was downright acrobatic in his movements. Ra'zaan ran directly towards Golam at first, but quickly swerved right and ran up the wall. Golam swung around with his sword and sliced at the feline fighter, but the Khajiit pushed off the wall in such a way as to direct himself, completely upside-down, above Golam. As he was flying over the Dark Elf, Ra'zaan sliced down with his dagger and sliced the arm Golam hadn't been using, disabling it. He landed a few feet away, on his feet.
"You think I'm not capable of fighting with out armor, Golam? When I was just a kit, I had to be a thief just to survive. Even in my early years as a mercenary, I went out without armor with stealth-killing in mind. Don't ever underestimate me, mage!" Ra'zaan said cockily. He was trying to keep his anger down so he could keep that strength boost hidden as a last resort.
"Don't think you've won anything yet, you insufferable cat! I'll skin you alive!" Golam bellowed loudly. He was clutching his arm in a green glow, sealing the wound. He grimaced when he realized why the Khajiit had attacked that arm. The muscle in it had been sliced through, and the mage couldn't move it an inch. It would take a much longer healing spell to fix it. "Oh, you're going to pay for this, Khajiit!" he bellowed.
Meanwhile, Nadene's eyes slowly opened. She sat up and looked over to see Golam standing only a few feet away from her. He was looking the other direction. She quietly reached for her ebony dagger. If she could catch him off guard, then she might just get her revenge after all...
Ysura smiled at the worn-out unicorn behind the magic shield. The Nord had been firing arrows over and over, and the signs of wear and tear could clearly be seen.
"What's wrong, little pony? Can't keep up?" Ysura laughed.
Twilight glared at the mage through tired eyes. "Shut...up..."
The purple unicorn and Captain Pride had held this position for more that ten minutes straight. Twilight held off arrows while Iron blocked oncoming swings from the one remaining Dremora. Iron had cuts and bruises all over himself, and was breathing heavily. Rarity, weak from expending too much magic, laid on his back. She was awake, but couldn't do much more than talk.
"You two... can't keep this up... forever..." Rarity said slowly. "You have got to do something soon!"
"Do you think we don't know that?! We're pinned, if you hadn't noticed!" Twilight's anger was beginning to get the best of her.
Rarity glanced down and spotted what she was looking for. "Captain, you still have your shield!"
"Yeah, but it's usually just for decoration because I can't hold the sword and the shield at the same time... wait a minute..." The Captain face-hoofed.
Rarity smiled weakly. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I sure as hay hope so! Twilight, swap places with me! I think I can handle the arrows." Iron ordered.
"Twilight hesitated before answering. "Alright... I hope you know what you're doing!"
In an instant, the Captain dodged a swing from the Dremora and swapped his sword with his shield. He positioned himself in front of Twilight, and she then let down her magic wall. The purple unicorn whirled around and blasted the Dremora with a powerful force-push of magic, flinging the demonic creature back and causing it to drop it's weapon.
"Yes! It worked! Did you see that, Captain!? Uh... Captain?" Twilight turned around, only to see Iron, with his shield in front of himself and Rarity, being pushed back by an unending hail of arrows.
"Little... busy... right now... Twilight!" Iron said, barely holding on to his shield.
Twilight looked around, and spotted the Dremora's sword lying out in the open. She lifted it with her magic aura and flung it, point first, towards the Nord's bow. Caught off guard, Ysura gasped as her bow was ripped from he hands and carried off away from her.
"What?! Where did that... oh by the Nine..." Ysura yelled as she realized where the weapon had been thrown from.
"Thanks Twi... I owe you one..." Iron said, gasping for breath. At that point, he didn't really care about being formal like normal. His shield looked as if it had been struck with a hammer a few hundred times.
Ysura roared with anger just then, causing everypony, including the dazed Dremora, to turn and look at her.
"Oh, that's it! I'm going to reduce you persistent little creatures to ashes!!!" The raging mage screamed as both of her hands ignited in an intense flame.
The now-unarmed Dremora walked to the Nord's side, and she handed him a steel dagger out of her pouch.
"Kill... them..." Ysura hissed.
Iron set Rarity down and threw his battered shield to the side. He drew his sword and charged straight towards the Dremora. Sword met dagger as the Captain stopped the Dremora in his tracks.
"Take that damn mage down, Twilight! I'll handle this creature until you do!" Iron said around his sword's hilt.
The purple unicorn simply nodded and darted towards Ysura.
"I'm ending this! Burn, you little pest!" The Nord yelled, pulling one hand back and readying a fireball.
Twilight grabbed the mages hand with he purple magic aura and stopped the attack. Ysura pulled back her other hand to fire from that one, and Twilight didn't have time to stop her. She closed her eyes and waited for the attack to come.
She heard the fireball hit something, and opened her eyes to see. In front of her stood Rarity, holding the Captain's shield out ahead of her with her magic. She'd blocked it with the battered shield, and the shield fell in two shortly after the fireball impacted it. Before Ysura could attack again, Rarity latched her own blue-aura magic onto Ysura's free hand, and together with Twilight they lifted the mage into the air and slammed her into the ground, pinning her there.
The Captain disarmed the Dremora easily, and quickly decapitated it. After he was finished he glanced over and saw his two unicorn partners on the ground, collapsed and panting, with an unconscious mage in front of them.
"You got her! Nice job girls!" Iron yelled happily.
"Yeah... I just hope everypony else is doing okay..." Twilight said sadly.
'Rarity looked up in the direction Fluttershy, Applejack and Derpy had run off in. "Yeah... I hope they're okay too..."
Applejack dodged left and right as the massive beast flung itself at her in every direction. The fight was going nowhere fast. It was all she could do to keep from being nailed by the creature's giant claws. Derpy and Fluttershy hovered a few feet off the ground and a few meters away, trying to think of a plan while Applejack kept the enemy busy.
"W-what are we going to do, D-Derpy?" Fluttershy asked worriedly, watching her friend play chicken with the werewolf's claws.
Derpy watched too; there had to be something they could do. "Maybe... we can trap it?" She suggested.
"B-but how? What could we use?" The canary mare asked.
"Well, Applejack could try to use her rope... Should we try it?" Derpy looked down at Applejack, who was starting to show signs of tiring after keeping up with the impossibly fast creature for so long. Derpy looked at Fluttershy, who nodded.
"Hey, Applejack! Try to tie him up!" Derpy yelled to her orange friend.
Applejack swerved to dodge another slash from the beast. "Hogtie 'im? Ah'll try, but this critter's got a problem with stayin' still!"
The farm pony whipped out a rope from Celestia knows where and tied it into a lasso. She waited until the werewolf was almost on top of her, then jumped into the air, throwing the lasso as she did. The rope wrapped around the beast's huge head as Applejack landed on the ground. She yanked with all her strength, but the creature was too strong. It grabbed the rope and yanked in it's direction, dragging Applejack towards it. The werewolf grabbed the poor, dizzy earth pony out of the air and slammed her to the ground.
"Applejack!" Derpy screamed as she saw her friend nearly broken under the force of the beast.
She and Fluttershy dive-bombed the creature, knocking it off of their friend. Derpy flew after the tumbling beast while Fluttershy checked on Applejack.
"Oh my gosh... are you alright, Applejack?" Fluttershy looked her friend up and down, inspecting her for any injuries.
"Ouch! Aw, don't you worry yerself over little ol' me, 'Shy. Ah'll be fine. Stay back here. Ah'm gonna go help Derpy, alright?" The battered orange pony looked over towards her gray friend, who was swooping and swerving around a very confused and enraged werewolf. "Stay safe, 'Shy. Derpy and Ah can handle 'im, Ah'm sure..."
Applejack shook herself and then darted off towards where Derpy was fighting the angry wolf. It's focus was on the sky, so the farm pony had an opening. She positioned herself beneath the hulking monstrosity and bucked it straight into the air. Before the creature could so much as figure out what had happened, Derpy swooped around and body-slammed it into a tree. The gray mare, out of breath from fighting alone, flew down and landed next to Applejack.
"Thanks, AJ. This thing is fast, but isn't very bright!" Derpy laughed.
Applejack's face was expressionless. If she was feeling anything, there would be no way of knowing. "Ah'm pretty darn sure we ain't done with this thing yet." She said disdainfully.
As if on cue, a howl came from behind several trees as the werewolf came crashing through. The two ponies looked at each other and then back at the beast. Derpy started lifting into the air and Applejack turned to flee, but the creature was too fast, and it slammed its full weight into both of the mares. The werewolf pinned them to the ground and began savagely clawing at them. Fluttershy looked on in horror as her two friends were scratched and clawed and beaten.
:"Hey, you! Leave my friends alone! What do you think you're doing, mister?!" Fluttershy said, coming out of her hiding place.
Applejack's stone-cold expression turned into a mortified one when her shy friend came out of hiding. "Fluttershy, RUN! Get out of here before it --- oufph!" She was cut off by another slap to her jaw as the massive creature looked up at the flustered little pegasus that had yelled at it.
It jumped off of Derpy and Applejack and ran mindlessly towards the canary-yellow pony. It growled and panted and ripped up the ground as it ran.
"Fluttershy, look out! That thing'll tear ya apart!" Applejack said, watching helplessly as the werewolf came closer and closer to her friend.
Fluttershy, on the other hand, was surprisingly calm as she waited for the beast to get to her. Well, calm wasn't really the word. Furious would pretty much cover it. The mindless creature bounded aimlessly towards her. Fluttershy closed her eyes.
Twenty feet away...
...ten feet...
...five...
'YIPE'!
The loud whine was heard from several miles around as the wolf's eyes met those of a very angry Fluttershy, as the look in them was one of almost hypnotic effect. The werewolf had stopped dead in its tracks and was now paralyzed with fear from just the mere sight of this shy little pony's eyes.
---
Deep in the recesses of the wolf's mind, a thought occurred. "W-what in T-Talos's n-name IS th-this p-pony?!?!" Kynan thought, seeing all that had happened since he'd let his inner beast out.
---
"Way to go, Fluttershy! How do we always forget she can do that?" Derpy asked happily.
"'Cause she don't have control of when it happens! Thank Celestia it happened when she needed it to!" Applejack was both excited, and angry that her friend had taken such a risk. "Oh, well. Grab that there rope, Derpy. We got ourselves a wolf to hogtie!"
After about five minutes, the farm mare and the gray mare had the still-paralyzed werewolf tied up nice and tight. They looked over at Fluttershy, only to see tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong, 'Shy? Ya gonna be okay, sugarcube?" Applejack asked calmly.
"Yes... I was just SO worried when you two got pinned... I'm sorry for worrying you, AJ... You too, Derpy..."
Applejack looked at her shy friend and smiled. "Ah, shucks. Don't worry yerself too much about it. Ya did a great job, after all!" The orange mare grinned.
Derpy glanced over and laughed. "Yeah! We'd have been goners for sure if it wasn't for you, Fluttershy!"
The shy pegasus blushed. She looked out in the direction the rest of her friends had gone. "I hope the others are doing okay, too..." She thought to herself.
Big Mac, Rainbow and Pinkie just sat, dumbfounded by what they were seeing. The towering, armored version of Halius was extremely intimidating, but He hadn't moved since he changed. He just sat there, watching them quietly, waiting for them to make the first move. In the distance, a sound of pure fear was heard.
"What was that?!" Rainbow asked, whipping her head in the direction it came from. "Isn't that where Applejack and her group are? I wonder what happened..."
"You should be more focused on what's going on around you!" Halius said, firing a frozen spike from one of his ice-coated hands.
Rainbow dodged quickly, then glared at the mage. "Hey! That was a cheap shot!"
"Ya should have been payin' attention, Rainbow." Big Mac' said dryly.
Rainbow's glare then found a new target. "Hey, who's side are you on?!"
"Enough bickering! I'm going to finish you three as quickly as possible!" The old mage moved surprisingly fast, and was upon them in mere seconds.
They were caught slightly off guard, but dodged just as he slammed his fist into the ground, causing a frozen explosion of ice and snow. Pinkie, ever carefree, chose to ride right back to where she'd been and preceded to taunt the frustrated mage.
"Hehe! Missed me! Come catch me, meany mage!" The party pony laughed as she skated right behind Halius.
Halius was furious. "Damn it! I'm not as slow as those mindless atronachs, you little annoyance!" He growled as he swiftly swatted the pink pony off her feet and into a frozen rock.
"Owwie, that hurt! Why do you gotta be so mean? You should cheer up and stop being so evil! OOOOOH! I've got an idea! How about a song! Those always cheer people up!" Pinkie sucked in a huge amount of air before starting. "You've gotta shaaaare! You've gotta caaaaare! You've gotta..."
"Enough! By the Nine, your voice hurts my ears! Do you ever stop talking?!" Halius asked, holding his hands to his ears.
Rainbow took this opportunity to strike at the frozen mage. "Take this, you over-sized popsicle!"
Rainbow collided with the frozen back of Halius's head and slid to the ground. Halius didn't budge. He turned to her and booted her away with a merciless kick to the blue mare's ribs. She slid several feet before coming to a stop and coughing up blood.
"Pathetic! Your feeble attacks will have no effect on me! My armor is impenetrable!" Halius laughed maniacally.
Big Mac' ran to Rainbow's side as Halius turned his attention back to Pinkie. Pinkie was dashing back and forth on the ice, dodging flying shards of ice.
"Rainbow, y'alright? Can ya stand, or do I need to carry ya now?" The red stallion asked sarcastically.
Rainbow glared at him. "I'm perfectly... capable of standing... by myself... thanks!" She snapped between breaths. The kick hadn't done much more then knock the air out of her.
"Alright, then. Pinkie seems ta have the mage's attention fer now. What do ya think we can do ta beat 'im?" Big Mac' asked, staring at the icy titan.
Rainbow thought about his question a minute before answering. "I'm not sure, but one things for sure. If that thing doesn't have a weak point other than his face, we're not gonna win this..."
Big Mac' looked at Halius carefully while Pinkie kept his attention - or more accurately, rage - fixed on her. The mage's frozen body was not only faster than his normal one, it also looked as if there was no flaw in it all. Just as he was about to give up, something caught his eye.
"Ah think Ah've got an idea... Ya trust me?" He asked to blue pony next to him.
Rainbow rolled her eyes and nodded. "Of course. What's your idea?" The pegasus asked.
The red stallion pointed towards the mage's shoulder. "Look. Remember the cut Ra'zaan gave 'im? If you look at it, it has a crack where his skin was sliced from before."
"If that's our target, we just need to catch him off guard. Let's call in the secret weapon!" Rainbow smiled, pointing at Pinkie, who was sliding blissfully across the ice. "Pinkie!"
Before the two ponies could even take a step towards their overly-energetic before she was almost nose-to-nose with Rainbow Dash. "Yeah, Dashie? What's up?"
The red stallion and the blue mare quickly explained their discovery before the frozen giant came into earshot.
"Okay! You can count on me!" Pinkie cried as she spun around to tease Halius some more.
"Let's go!" Rainbow yelled as she flew off towards the mage with Big Mac' close behind.
Halius's face gave away everything he was feeling as he dealt with a fast, ice-skating pony at his feet, a blue pony dive-bombing him from the sky, and a big red stallion slamming into his feet. "Argh! Damn you little annoyances! Get away from me!" He screamed as him punted Pinkie away from him.
"Now!" Mac' yelled as he delivered a devastating buck to the back of the only leg Halius was standing on during the kick.
The mage hit the ground with a loud thud. "I'll get you for that!" He went to turn and attack the stallion responsible for his collapse, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder. "Wh-what?!"
Rainbow had come in at nearly sonic speed after the mage had hit the ground. Aiming directly for his already-wounded shoulder, smashing the damaged ice in front of it.
"There's no way... Damn you Khajiit! You ruin everything!" Halius roared into the sky, realizing his older wound had caused a flaw in his armor. "Don't think this is over!" He said as he grabbed Rainbow Dash and squeezed her, effectively strangling her.
Though Rainbow's attack itself had only damaged the area around the mage's shoulder, the armor started to disintegrate completely. Halius's face suddenly turned to one of fear. He stopped strangling the cyan mare and pulled her close to him, holding her by the neck. He formed a frozen knife with his magic and put it to Rainbow's neck, facing Big Mac'.
"Don't ya hurt her! You're finished anyway, so why not come peacefully?" Mac' said, beginning to plead with the mage.
Halius smiled darkly. "I'm leaving this place. There's no way I'm getting captured!" He began backing up slowly, away from the farm stallion. I might even let her go after I get out of here!" The mage gave a vile laugh.
Big Mac' looked on helplessly as Rainbow was carried off. Then suddenly, something caught his eye, and he smiled.
"There's one thing ya fergot about, mage." Mac' said calmly.
Halius didn't catch his meaning. "...And what would that be, then?"
Mac' laughed. "Her."
That was the only thing that escaped Mac's mouth before a fluorescent pink hoof connected with the back of Halius's head. The pink pony on the other end of it had a very serious look on her face before she'd hit the mage, but, as both she and Halius hit the ground and Rainbow got free, her normal attitude returned.
"It isn't very nice to threaten ponies like that, silly!" Pinkie said to the groaning High Elf on the ground.
Halius went to get up and run, but felt two sets of four hooves land on his back and force him back to the ground.
"Oh, no you don't! You're not going anywhere!" Rainbow yelled victoriously.
The three ponies tied up the disheveled and defeated mage before sitting back down and catching their breaths.
"That was hard! I wonder how the others made out..." Pinkie said happily, as she and her two friends looked off towards where Ra'zaan and Nadene had gone.
"Ah thought Ah heard voices! Y'all made out all right too, huh?" A familiar southern female voice suddenly appeared behind the three ponies.
It was accompanied by the sound of three sets of hooves and something being dragged. Pinkie, Mac' and Rainbow turned to see Applejack, Fluttershy and Derpy walking towards them, dragging a strange looking animal.
"Ah'm not even gonna ask. So, y'all have a hard time? We sure did." Mac' said with a huff.
"Yeah, this big critter here gave us a good run-around. We got im' though, thanks to 'Shy."
"Yet another familiar voice piped in as she finished. "You all made out okay! Great!" A certain purple unicorn called.
This time, six heads whirled around to see Twilight, Rarity and Iron walking slowly with their opponent in a magic bubble much like the one Kynan had been in, but a bit weaker.
"Everypony made it! This couldn't have gone any better!" Rainbow yelled with delight.
"Not everypony." Applejack said with concern in her voice. "Ra'zaan and Nadene are still out there."
"She's right, girls! Oh, and a... guys..." Twilight smiled sheepishly at Big Mac' and Iron,who were the only two of the nine that were stallions. "We'd better go find out how those two are doing. Let's go."
All nine ponies, with the defeated mages in tow, turned in the direction Ra'zaan and Nadene had gone off in and started off towards them. They knew if anypony was capable of defeating Golam, Ra'zaan could, but worry was clearly visible on everypony's face as they walked.
Nadene inched closer and closer to Golam, who still had his back turned to her. She was being sloppy. She wanted her payback. Dagger in hand, she jumped at the seemingly distracted Dark Elf. Golam moved just out of reach as she was about to slice him though, and Nadene landed on the ground in front of him.
"You're pitiful. Did you learn anything from your training?" Golam was standing over his niece with his sword raised in his good hand. "You've outlived your usefulness to me. Now I'll send you to the Divines!" He swung his blade down towards Nadene.
She barely rolled out of the way in time to dodge the attack. She got up quickly and ignited both her hands with electricity. Golam, noticing this, sheathed his sword and ignited his own hand with electric energy.
"Nadene, what are you doing?! We need to work together!" Ra'zaan yelled to the young Dark Elf.
Nadene glanced at the Khajiit for mere seconds before looking back at the target of all of her rage and sadness. "I want to deal with him alone, Ra'zaan. Please." She begged.
The Khajiit shrunk back. He didn't want to get in her way. Nadene fired her electricity from both hands while Golam only used one, and the attacks collided together in the center. Being equal in power, the two sides seemed to be at a stalemate.
"I... won't... lose... to you!" Nadene said, throwing all of her power into her magic.
The magic flowing from Nadene slowly started moving towards Golam, pushing his flow back.
"I've got you now!" The young Dark Elf woman said.
Golam's face remained blank as she pushed his magic further and further back towards him. It inched slowly along, coming closer and closer. Nadene had a huge, malicious smile spread across her face. Suddenly, showing his full strength, Golam gave a single push forward with his hand, and his power dwarfed that of Nadene. The evil mage's electricity completely destroyed the flabbergasted Dark Elf's stream of magic, and she was hit directly with the complete force of Golam's shocking attack. Golam held her in the continuous flow of energy for several moments before dropping her where she stood.
"...And that is the reason the apprentice never challenges the master." Golam laughed. He then turned to Ra'zaan. "Well, Khajiit? Still think you can beat me?" He grinned.
Ra'zaan stared at the lifeless body of Nadene. The only thought running through his mind was "Please don't let her be dead...please don't let her be dead!" With his eyes closed, the Khajiit lifted his head and pointed it towards Golam. His eyes opened slowly, and the fire in Ra'zaan's eyes could have matched the power of Fluttershy's stare.
"You have no concern at all for who or what you hurt to get what you want, do you?" Ra'zaan roared. He drew out his katana again and continued. "I'm going to show you just how much you've screwed yourself over with that philosophy, Golam!!!"
Ra'zaan charge at Golam with everything he had. Golam fired stream after stream of lightning at Ra'zaan, but the Khajiit dodged each and every one. The mage whipped out his own katana and locked blades with the Khajiit, and sparks flew from their connecting swords. Golam glanced into Ra'zaan's eyes while they held this position, and quickly wished he hadn't. What ever he'd done, Golam was sure he'd awoken an emotion that had laid long dormant. Ra'zaan, on the other hand, already knew what it was. Pure, uncontrollable hatred. Golam swung his blade again, smashing it against the Khajiit's and pushing him back.
"Well, now I know why Khajiit never show emotion. You fools don't even have the mental strength to control your emotions once they're out!" A hint of fear that was in the evil mage's eyes quickly dispersed before Ra'zaan could see it.
A noise behind the mage and the Khajiit made them both spin around, only to see something that completely caught Golam off guard. Nine ponies carrying three now-conscious but still bound mages.
"Ra'zaan! Are you okay?" Twilight asked. When she saw the look in his eyes she stopped dead in her tracks and already knew the answer.
Golam stared in disbelief for a moment. "How could you have possibly defeated my subordinates?!"
"It doesn't matter! Your fight is with me, Golam! All of you, stay out of this!!" Ra'zaan roared with enough volume to rival the Royal Canterlot Voice.
All nine of the ponies backed up a few paces and looked on in confusion and fear as the Khajiit and his enemy turned back towards each other. Ra'zaan gripped his sword as if he was ready to destroy anything that got in his way. Golam smiled.
"Fine, you want to wrap this up as fast as I do, so I won't hold back anymore!" The mage said. Golam's sword began to spark with electricity as he combined his magic with the blade. It glowed an intense electric blue aura and he held it out for all to see. "Let's see what you can do, Cat!"
Ra'zaan smiled and licked the edge of his blade. His left hand ignited and he lit his sword much like he had done in his battle with Halius. But something was definitely different. Instead of merely glowing a fiery red like it had before, the blade turned completely white hot and red flames visibly reached out from the katana.
"I'm ready when you are, Mage!" The Khajiit roared.
TO BE CONTINUED
Atronachs* - Conjuration ability. This spell summons one of three types of elemental creature, each with its own look. Ice, Fire, and Storm are the three types. Obviously, the scene with Halius using them as a suit of armor is completely of my own design and absolutely not part of The Elder Scrolls. It sounded pretty cool, though, right?
The loud noise echoed in the ears of the ponies as they watched Ra'zaan and Golam clash together with an almost impossible speed.
Twilight glanced to her right and realized what had the Khajiit filled with such rage. Lying several feet away from the battle was Nadene, and she wasn't moving. Twilight levitated the young Dark Elf over to the group with her magic to assess the poor mage's condition. She didn't look good. Rainbow noticed Ra'zaan's pack sitting on top of his armor, and quickly fetched it. The cyan pony landed next to Twilight and held out the pack in front of her.
"Twilight, I think we might be able to help her with one of Ra'zaan's potions... should we give it a try?" The cyan pony asked, staring at the contents of the bag.
The purple unicorn turned and glanced at the bag. "What should we give her? I have no idea which potion does what..."
"Ahem..." A voice behind the group said weakly.
Everypony turned to see Halius, barely conscious, staring back at them. All the ponies glared back.
"What do you want, mage?" Iron asked angrily.
Halius looked sadly over at Nadene. "If you want to help her, see if that Khajiit has a red potion in his bag... 'cough'... That's what a healing potion from our world looks like..." The High Elf was finding it fairly hard to breath.
"Yeah?! Why should we trust you?!" Rainbow growled angrily at the mage.
Halius just smirked painfully and replied calmly. "Because if you don't, we'll both lose a good friend... You see, I knew about Nadene's craving for revenge... I believe I was the only one she ever confided it in... So please, trust me just this once, and give her the potion..." The High Elf's eyes were full of sadness and regret, and he laid there, staring at Nadene's unmoving body.
Twilight searched the mage's face for any sign of malicious intent, but found absolutely none. She glanced over at Rainbow and nodded. Rainbow reluctantly flew over to the bag and grabbed the only red potion she found. Carrying it carefully, she hovered over to Nadene and placed the vial to her lips. Twilight raised the mage's head and made sure the liquid wasn't going into the Dark Elf's lungs. Rainbow slowly emptied the large vial completely down the Dark Elf's throat and sighed.
"I really hope that works..." The blue pegasus said solemnly.
Twilight looked over at the battle that was occurring in front of them. "It has to, Rainbow. If it doesn't..." She couldn't finish her sentence. She never wanted to see anypony - or anyone, for that matter - die in front of her.
In front of them, the fiercest battle they had ever seen was playing out.
Ra'zaan stood with his sword clashed against Golam's. the intensity fire on the Khajiit's blade was matched almost exactly with the ferocity of the electricity running through Golam's. Ra'zaan slammed his white-hot blade against Golam's again, knocking the mage backwards.
With the few seconds that gave him, he glanced over to see if Nadene was okay. To his surprise, he sees Rainbow and Twilight giving her one of his healing potions. "Good job, girls. She may just make it after all..." He thought to himself.
"Your inattentiveness will be the end of you, Cat!" Golam yelled as he ran at the distracted Khajiit.
Ra'zaan spun around and blocked the attack with ease. "You're strength isn't as much of a factor anymore, Elf." The Khajiit's eyes still glowed a crimson red that showed the immense hatred he had for the mage. "Come at me with everything you've got, because if you don't, not even the Divines will save you!"
Ra'zaan pushed Golam back with another forceful strike. Then, with a downward arc, he swung his katana and created a flaming wave of energy, which was hurled at the evil Dark Elf. Golam countered the wave with his own electrically-charged horizontal arc. The two energetic waves collided together, causing an explosion of fire and lightning, which knocked both Ra'zaan and Golam back several feet.
"Not... bad... Cat..." Golam said between breaths.
Ra'zaan glared at the mage. "Not... too bad... yourself..."
The two fighters ran at each other again and clashed. Left and right, they swung, each trying to outmaneuver the other. With each connection of their swords, sparks and flames shot out from the center. The mage and the warrior were a blur to everything around them; they were moving at unbelievable speeds that rivaled that of Rainbow Dash doing a sonic rain-boom. Ra'zaan jumped backwards and pointed his blade straight out in front of him. Charging with all of his strength, the Khajiit ran at Golam. The mage spun around the flaming edge and caught the warrior's thigh with a back-slash of his katana.
"Ahhhhhh!" Ra'zaan yelled in pain and cringed slightly. Electricity from Golam's blade danced freely throughout the wound on the Khajiit's leg, amplifying the pain it inflicted. "Damn you, Golam!!!"
The fury in Ra'zaan's eyes somehow grew even more intense as he spun around with his sword outstretched. The blade seemed to be alive as fire skipped on and around it. The swing produced another wave of fire, and the Dark Elf didn't have time to react. The wave hit him with full force and launched him into a nearby tree, stunning him a bit. The wave had left a searing burn across his abdomen, but the mage would have to worry about that later. For now, Golam was more worried about the half-sane Khajiit charging at him. Golam ducked just as Ra'zaan swung his ungodly flaming sword at him, and the tree he'd been leaning against fell in half and landed on the ground. The mage landed a kick to the warrior's chest and pushed him away to give him a moment to catch his breath.
"You really are a lost cause, Khajiit. Attacking aimlessly like that? I thought you were a better fighter than that! You couldn't even land a blow with me against a tree!" Golam taunted after taking a few deep breaths.
An extremely dark smile grew across Ra'zaan's face. "Is that so? Care to reach up and touch your left ear?" Ra'zaan asked confidently.
Golam reached up to see what the Khajiit meant. To his disgust, the top half of his ear was gone, and the wound was burnt shut, preventing a healing spell from fixing it. "He was that close... I'll have to be much more careful than I thought with him..." He thought, a bit of fear welling inside him. The mage wasn't about to show this enemy any weakness, however, and kept the feeling locked away. "Fine. That was a lucky shot, Cat. Let's see you do it again!" He yelled angrily.
Again they collided their blades, and again both held their own under the others' strength. With each passing moment, the intensity of the magic flowing from the blades grew stronger and stronger. Ra'zaan hacked and slashed at Golam fruitlessly for several more moments before jumping back. Golam took this chance and pointed his katana straight into the air. A blue streak of lightning flew off of Golam's sword and into the sky. Ra'zaan realized what was happening and hopped to his right just before the same lighting bolt came crashing down where he'd been standing only a second before. He turned to the Mage and smirked.
"I've got a surprise for you, too!" He grinned as he brought his sword over his head and stabbed it into the ground.
A rumbling sound resonated from underneath both fighters for a moment before several cracks started forming all around Golam, including directly beneath him. He jumped to the left just as a geyser of flame shot out of the crack. The mage dodged over and over as each of the cracks that had formed shot fire out at him. Just before he was in the clear as far as the geysers were concerned, one caught his robe on fire. He took off the flaming cloak, and underneath was a black tunic that looked like it had seen plenty of use. There were no sleeves on the tunic, and the mage's arms displayed the fact that the mage had seen his fair share of battles. Scars ran up and down both of his arms. He also wore a set of black pants that had the same worn look as the tunic.
"Well, I can safely say you are the most persistent opponent I have ever faced." Golam said, his fangs glinting in the sliver of light that was left as the sun finished its route across the sky. "I'm going to end this, here and now." An electric glow flowed across Golam's immobile arm, bringing it to life.
The mage reached his animated arm towards his other sword, which was stuck in the ground a few meters away. The sword came to life and flew the his hand. Once there, it ignited with the shocking power Golam's other sword was showing.
"Disabling my arm was smart, but futile. As you can see, I can still move it with my magic." Golam laughed.
Ra'zaan looked on with a hint of fear in his fiery eyes. "N-no way... I cut his muscle... He shouldn't be able to move it even with magic!" He thought. Then it hit him. Golam was a vampire. the powers he possessed were a mystery, so the Khajiit should have foreseen this from the beginning. He smiled and drew out his glass dagger.
"I'm not going down without a fight. Vampire or not, you still bleed the same, Golam!" Ra'zaan remarked as the glass dagger lit with the same white-hot appearance as his katana.
They slammed together with their blades again, but this time Golam had the advantage. He held Ra'zaan's sword with one of his own, and furiously bashed against the Khajiit's dagger over and over. Ra'zaan couldn't keep up with the sheer speed of the mage, and the dagger flew from his hand. Golam then sliced between the warrior's ribs and Ra'zaan jumped away in pain. Again, the pain was amplified by the electricity.
"Where is your cockiness now, Cat?" Golam gave a malicious laugh.
The pain was starting to get to Ra'zaan. He was finding it increasingly hard to think straight. He lifted his head and swung his blade twice releasing two more flaming waves. Golam sliced at them with his katanas and made them vanish with ease. Ra'zaan charged at the mage and swung again, hacking and slashing to find another way through the mage's defense.
There was none.
The mage kept in pace with the Khajiit's every move. No matter what Ra'zaan tried, Golam could match it. It was a lost cause. Ra'zaan sliced wildly, but it was no use. In one swift motion, Golam slammed both of his blades against Ra'zaan's single one and launched him backwards several meters.
"This can't be happening... This can't happen now!" Ra'zaan thought to himself.
But it was all real. He couldn't beat the mage that stood in front of him. The Khajiit started to doubt himself.
"He's... he's too strong... there's just no way... It's all over from here, isn't it...?" He questioned himself. "Fine. If I'm gonna die, I'm going down in flames!"
Ra'zaan's fiery aura that surrounded his sword grew to surround the Khajiit himself as well. He knew what he was about to do. He'd use all the power he could muster in one last devastating attack. Fire rose from the Khajiit's body, showing just how much pent-up energy he was about to release. This was it. He had one shot.
Ra'zaan looked up at Golam. The mage hadn't even flinched. "I've got one last trick up my sleeve, Golam!"
The warrior ran towards the mage. He stopped halfway, though, and pulled his sword back like he was going to try to spear the mage again. Instead, the Khajiit thrusts his sword straight ahead of him, and all his rage and power were released. A white-hot, flaming spear of magic was fired from the tip of Ra'zaan's katana at an almost impossible speed. Golam didn't even have time to raise his weapons, and was hit directly with the wave of intense heat and power. After a few seconds, all that could be seen in the entire area where Golam had been was smoke and ash.
Ra'zaan fell to his knees. He was more than tired. Even exhausted wasn't the word for it. All of his energy was drained, and he felt like he could pass out at any moment.
"You did it!" "Way to go Ra'zaan!" "It's over!" Ra'zaan could hear these and several more compliments and cheers coming from the sidelines. "It is, isn't it? It's all finally over..." A smile crossed the Khajiit's face.
A little too soon, in fact.
Suddenly, two waves of lightning crashed through the smoke and ash and directly into the kneeling Khajiit, forming and 'X' across his torso and launching him all the way back to just in front of the ponies.
"Ra'zaan!?!?!" Nine voices sounded in unison as the Khajiit landed. He moved his head towards them, but nothing else on him moved.
"Girls... I can't beat him... He's too strong for me..." Ra'zaan said painfully.
A figure materialized from the ash. Golam staggered towards the Khajiit with burns covering over three-quarters of his body. "Well, this is it, Cat. You fought well, I'll give you that, but you're just not strong enough to beat me." Golam smiled as he stopped at Ra'zaan's side. "It's over."
"No! Leave him alone!" Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow ran to guard Ra'zaan, but Golam simply shocked them away with his electricity.
"Well I guess this is it... Too bad, too. I thought for sure he'd be done after that last attack..." Ra'zaan thought calmly. He looked up at all the terrified faces that were behind him. "What am I thinking?! If I let this bastard win, all of these innocent ponies are gonna feel his wrath! Think, Ra'zaan, think!" His, entire thought process went into overdrive.
"Well, any last words, Ra'zaan?" Golam asked, raising his sword above his head.
Ra'zaan looked around. His sword lay inches from his right hand, and the glass dagger he'd lost was only about two feet away from his left. He knew he'd never have time to react both before Golam finished him, but it was a thought. He looked at ponies' faces one last time. The Khajiit sighed before speaking.
"I won't waste my breath on you, Golam. Do your worst." Ra'zaan spitefully.
Golam scowled at him. "Fine, then let's end this!" He pulled back and was ready to swing down when he heard something.
"Wait!"
In the blink of an eye, Derpy hovered in front of Golam.
"D-Ditzy?! Y-your alive?!" Golam stuttered at the sight of the only pony that he'd ever given a second look in this world.
"Leave him alone! What's wrong with you?!" Derpy said angrily.
While this was happening, Ra'zaan found his opportunity. He rolled to one side grabbed his sword, then rolled to the other and grabbed his dagger.
Golam noticed his movement and came out of his stupor. "Out of my way! If you're against me, you're as worthless as that niece of mine!" The Dark Elf swung his sword at Derpy with deadly intent.
'CLANG'
Ra'zaan now stood in front of Derpy, sword and dagger blocking Golam's weapons. "Thanks for the distraction Derpy. Thanks to all of you, too. I wouldn't have been able to snap out of it if you hadn't been here!"
The Khajiit swung his sword in one fast motion and knocked both blades from a stupefied Golam's hands. The mage was knocked back two or three feet, and this gave Ra'zaan the opening he needed. He pulled both of his blades back, dagger in his left hand and katana in his right, and charged. He pushed his two favorite weapons deep into the mage's chest, with his sword reaching all the way through. Time seemed to slow down as Golam and Ra'zaan's eyes met.
"...And so... it ends..." Golam said, blood pooling at his feet the same way it had the first time he had laid eyes on the Khajiit.
"...The same way it started..." Ra'zaan finished.
Golam gave a small smile. "That was a dirty trick, Cat..."
Ra'zaan smiled back. "Sorry, but fighting clean never got this mercenary anywhere..."
The mage laughed. "I'm... a little glad this is all over, you know. This body of mine was old and tired, considering it has been around for longer than most. I guess the best thing I can say... Is thank you, Khaj... I mean, Ra'zaan."
"Rest in peace, Golam. You fought hard, I'll give you that. But this is the price you pay for threatening so many and helping so few." Ra'zaan's eyes were still filled with rage, but a side of sympathy was there as well. "Go now, mage."
With one last motion, Ra'zaan pulled his blades to either side, finishing the job and making sure to kill the evil mage. The Khajiit laid Golam's lifeless body gently on the ground, then turned towards the ponies.
"It's finally over, everypony. All of this mess... It's finally over..." Ra'zaan said. He passed out right where he stood, landing right beside the Dark Elf he'd fought for the last four days.
All the ponies looked on and smiled. They weren't smiling because of the death, but because they were happy for Ra'zaan. Ra'zaan had finally finished his mission he'd accepted from his 'Mage's Guild', and now he lay peacefully, resting. The ponies just sat there quietly, watching as the moon finally came into view.
The moon rose slowly above the horizon as the Khajiit fell, and it beamed it's light down on the two fighters. On one side, the Khajiit was out cold, blissfully resting after a chaotic day. On the other, two fangs shined brightly from the rapidly cooling body of Golam Faram. A wide smile was spread across his paled face.
The sun shined brightly through a nearby window and beckoned for the tired Khajiit to awaken. His eyes opened and he yawned and stretched slightly.
"Ouch! I should probably be more careful..." He said aloud to no one in particular. He had bandages wrapping most of his body, and the doctor had dressed the 'X'-shaped burn that Golam had inflicted towards the end of their fight. Ra'zaan glanced around the room. He was back in the Canterlot Castle Emergency Clinic, but wasn't quite sure how he'd gotten there. He assumed Twilight or some other pony probably carried him here. He noticed he was wearing a hospital gown - or the equivalent of one, anyway - and the clothes Rarity had given him were laying on a stand next to him, cleaned and sewn up. He didn't think about that very long, though, because his eyes caught something much more important. In a bed on the other side of the room, a peaceful-looking Dark Elf lay asleep.
"Nadene... You are okay after all... It looks like everything went as well as it could have..." Ra'zaan thought to himself as the clinic door creaked open. In walked the six ponies he'd met when he first found himself in this world.
The Khajiit smiled. "Good morning, girls."
"Morning? That's funny, Ra'zaan. It's already two-thirty in the afternoon." Twilight smiled.
"Yeah, sleepyhead!" Pinkie giggled.
Rainbow gave a quick glance as if to say 'I'm glad you're okay', before speaking. "About time you got up! You slept longer than I normally do!"
Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack looked more sympathetic.
Ra'zaan grinned. "Aside from hurting all over, not wanting to move, and feeling like I'm starving, I'd say I'm doing just fine. Thanks, AJ."
"While you were out, the doctor needed to get you out of your clothes to get a better look at your wounds. He gave them to me, and I washed and fixed them up for you, Darling. They're right on the stand next to you." Rarity said, giving a proud smile at her work.
Ra'zaan nodded in appreciation. "I noticed. Thank you very much."
Fluttershy was at the bedside, listening to everypony speak. "I hope you'll be okay later. The Princess wanted to speak with the captured mages, and wanted you there to help... um... that is... if that's alright..."
"Yep. No problem. I'm hurting a little, but I'll be able to walk around as long as I don't have to do much work." Ra'zaan said with another playful grin. He glanced back over to Nadene and stared at her for a few minutes.
"She'll be alright, you know. The doctor said she'll make a full recovery. Whatever was in that red potion we gave her really worked!" Twilight said happily.
Ra'zaan nodded, but kept his focus on Nadene. He couldn't help but feel a little guilty about her getting hurt. After all, he'd just sat there while her battle went south. But what could he do? She told him to stay out of it. Rarity seemed to read the Khajiit's mind.
"It's not your fault, Darling. She'll be okay, so try not to worry so much." The alabaster unicorn said, trying to comfort Ra'zaan.
"I know... I'm just worried about her, that's all. Well, it's already late enough, so shall we go see what the Princess wants?" Ra'zaan just wanted to change the subject. He hated being comforted. It made him feel weak, even if it did also make him feel a little better.
"Sure. She's in the throne room. When you're ready, we'll head down with you." Twilight said.
Ra'zaan sighed. "Well, another day of dealing with mages, I guess. At least I don't have to fight anymore..."
The Khajiit looked back at the group of ponies in front of him. "Let me get dressed and I'll be ready. Okay?"
"So... we're just going to be released if we go back to our world and never come back?" Halius asked Celestia. His and Ysura's hands were bound with magic, and Kynan was encased in a magic bubble again to keep him from escaping using his wolf ability.
"If you cooperate, then you will be free to go. This is effectively a banishment, but I'm being fairly lenient considering the only one of you that has killed anypony has been taken care of." Celestia said. She wasn't very happy about what the mage's had done, but they still deserved some bit of mercy. A banishment was harsh enough under these conditions.
Ysura wasn't even looking at the princess. She was ashamed that she'd been captured by creatures she saw as inferior to her. "Pfft. Leaders from our world would have 'traitors' like us hung for our crimes. You're soft. You're not used to dealing with fights and crime in this world, are you?" The Nord said with contempt apparent in her voice.
"You're talking to our Princess, the benevolent ruler of Equestria! Watch your tongue!" Iron, who had been watching cautiously from nearby, blurted out.
Kynan laughed a bit from inside his bubble and received a glare from Iron.
"What's so funny, boy?!" Iron yelled more than asked.
The Breton smiled back at the Captain. "Oh, nothing. It's just that you said the exact same thing to me about the princess when I was here the first time. You got that rehearsed or something?"
Iron blushed a bit. He would never admit it, but he did have that particular line rehearsed and memorized...
"Back to the problem at hand. Can any of you open a portal back to your own world?" The Princess changed the subject, attempting to end any conflicts before they began.
"I do. Golam set up the spell so werewolf's blood was needed for the return teleport spell. He figured no one would ever suspect that we'd have a werewolf with us if we kept it quiet. Unfortunately, that didn't quite go as planned..." Kynan was cut off rather abruptly by Ysura.
"Yeah, because someone couldn't fight without using the werewolf!" The Nord growled, glaring at Kynan.
"Geez, even without Golam being here, you two still bicker like you're married. Enough. What's done is done. Focus, you two." Halius was shaking his head and standing as far away from the other two mage's as possible.
Celestia had face-hoofed already and was waiting for the Breton and the Nord to calm down. "Thank you,Halius. So, only your blood can open the portal? Isn't that a little barbaric?"
Halius laughed a little. "In our world, barbaric is considered normal, Your Highness."
The sudden noise of the throne room's door swinging open silenced them all as Ra'zaan, the element bearers, Spike, Derpy and Big Mac came into the room. Ra'zaan adorned his gemstone-embossed clothing he'd received from Rarity a second time.
"Well, it looks like the gangs all here! Hello, there, Princess. Hello, Iron. Good afternoon, mages." Ra'zaan said cheerfully as he walked into the room.
"Good to see you too, Ra'zaan." The princess smiled. Iron and Halius nodded; Kynan and Ysura looked away out of spite.
The Khajiit ignored the two mages with attitudes. "So, what happened after I blacked out?"
The guards had almost all of the mind-washed ponies taken care of. Apparently, when Twilight, Captain Iron and Rarity defeated Ysura, the spell broke. Everything is getting back to normal now in Ponyville." Celestia walked over to a window overlooking the castle garden. "My personal sculptures decided they'd make a statue to commemorate Golam's defeat at your hands. They finished a few hours ago and placed it in the castle garden. Take a look."
Ra'zaan walked over and stood at the Princess's side, looking out over the garden. Out on its own platform, just a little ways down from a statue of a creature that looked like it was made of several other creatures, stood a statue of The Khajiit and Golam. It depicted the scene where Ra'zaan had just run Golam through and ended the battle. It looked almost as if the artists themselves had been there. Every detail was perfect, right down to the looks on the Dark Elf and Ra'zaan's faces.
Celestia looked at Ra'zaan, who was in awe at the fact that the ponies respected him so much. "The artists asked Twilight and her friends what happened. As you can see, they described it all very clearly."
"I... I don't know what to say... I've never had anyone - or anypony - that thought I was worth more than just the septims to hire my services before..." Ra'zaan thought back to his world.
He was more of a tool than anything else to the higher-ups of Cyrodill, and the people shunned him for being a killer. Even in his younger years he hadn't had anyone to call a friend or family. He was always a loner. This world was different. He could see that now. He kind of liked it.
Ra'zaan was shaken back into reality when someone yelled at him.
"Hey, CAT! You dreamin' over there?" Kynan yelled. "Do you want to get out of this place? I sure do. I have a way out for all of us, you interested?
"...You do, eh? Well... that's... that's great..." "Looks like I have a decision to make... and soon..."
"Isn't it great, Ra'zaan? You'll be able to go back to your own world after all!" Pinkie was bouncing happily as she said this.
The Khajiit was a little reluctant to reply. "Yeah... That would be... nice..."
The princess could tell Ra'zaan was distraught about something, but wasn't sure what exactly. "Well, let's get that portal open. I'm sure after all this, you mage's will be happy to get back to your own world. You too, Ra'zaan."
"We'll miss you when you go. It was nice to meet you." Twilight said, a small frown on her face.
All the ponies in the room had a sad or disappointed look to them. Even Iron, who until recently had disliked the Khajiit. He looked around at them all, and his heart sank a bit. He'd grown used to the warm smiles and happy attitudes of this world. Going back to his world of war and emotionless faces was not going to be a fun transition.
Ra'zaan turned to the princess and sighed. "...If I'm heading out, can you tell me where my armor is?"
"Yes, it's back in the clinic in the storage room. I had some of the guards repair it for you. Go ahead and get it, and have the doctor there bring Nadene. She'll be going with you, too."
The Khajiit was walking down the hall towards the clinic. His pace was slow and he had a depressed look on his face. He stumbled into the clinic and walked towards the storage room. "Just as Celestia said; it's all right here..." Ra'zaan slipped on his armor and thought back to the time he'd spent in this world. "This world... it's so filled with peace that they didn't even know how to handle an attack... It would be nice to have such a peace in Tamriel..." The warrior looked at Nadene, who was still out cold on her bed. He walked over and sat on the cushion next to her.
"What do you think, Nadene? How would you describe this world?" This was the first time Ra'zaan had really thought about it. "The ponies don't have to worry about being attacked every time they turn a corner... The land isn't owned by a selfish and evil ruler... The people make all of their decisions for themselves... It's nothing like Cyrodill, is it? It's like they're polar opposites... Look at me, talking to a girl that's fast a sleep... you probably can't even here me..."
"Oh, I can hear you alright." Nadene said with a smile.
Ra'zaan jumped a little in surprise, but then laughed. "Well, at least my words were heard by someone."
"You don't want to go, do you?"
Ra'zaan just shook his head.
"Me neither... but I doubt the Princess wants any of us to stay after causing such a problem. I wouldn't really blame her of she just told us to get out." The Dark Elf said, sitting up. She nearly fell over in pain. "ARGHH! He really did a number on me, didn't he? Heh."
"You gonna be alright on your own?" Ra'zaan said, accidentally showing his worry. "Need a hand?"
Nadene went to give a witty comment, but decided against it as she felt her legs buckle a little. "Sure, that would be nice, actually..." She said, swallowing her pride.
"Alright, let's go..." Ra'zaan had Nadene lean against him as they walked out of the clinic.
Celestia looked at the circle that Halius was drawing on the floor in the center of the throne room. She'd undone his binds against Iron's protests, and the mage started drawing calmly with an enchanted piece of charcoal he'd gotten from Ysura, whistling as he went along. He was starting draw a symbol in the center.
"So, what does drawing a circle on the floor of the castle have to do with your exit?" Twilight asked.
Halius looked up for a brief moment before going back to what he was doing. "I guess you could call this the 'closed' version of our gate. To get here, a catalyst was needed to open the gate, and each catalyst had a different portal to open. Apparently, to get from our world to your world, Golam's Dark Elf blood was needed. For the portal home, we need a werewolf's blood. It's hard to just explain it, so sit tight and you'll see for yourself." The High Elf said confidently.
Halius had finished the design now. It had a star drawn in the center, and an intricate, wavy pattern was detailed along the outside of the star. Ra'zaan walked in with Nadene on his shoulder just then.
"So, you've got the circle ready, then?" Nadene said as cheerfully as she could to cover up her disappointment.
fourteen heads simultaneously turned towards the Dark Elf with astonished looks on their faces.
Halius was the first to speak. "Nadene?! The doctor pony told us you wouldn't wake up for several more hours if not days!"
"I guess I just threw out what she knew about medicine, then, didn't I?" Nadene laughed. Several giggles could be heard throughout the room.
"Well then! Let's get this show on the road!" Kynan said eagerly. He couldn't wait to get out of this world. The Breton glanced at the princess cautiously. I-if you'll let me out of here, I'll add the other ingredient."
Halius rolled his eyes. "The catalyst, Kynan."
"Yeah, what he said." Kynan gave a playful smile to Halius.
Celestia was cautious at first. The werewolf seemed very dangerous. Reluctantly, she dispelled the bubble Kynan was in. The Breton began his transformation as soon as he landed. His fur grew in seconds, his snout extended to full length again, his eyes narrowed, and his claws and teeth reappeared. The only thing different about him is the fact that he stayed calm.
"I'm ready, Halius." Kynan said in a scruffy, raw voice.
Halius looked at the wolf. "Alright then. Hold your hand over the center of the circle."
The wolf reached his paw-like hand over the circle and held it there. Halius produced a small knife and sliced Kynan's wrist, allowing a small amount of blood to fall onto the circle. In an instant, a flash of light occurred and a spherical portal opened above the circle. It showed the area on the other side of the portal as a picture.
"If that is all that did, why did the house we were in explode when we opened the portal to get here?" Ra'zaan asked, puzzled.
Nadene poked Ra'zaan in the ribs before answering. "Because, someone spilled too much Dark Elf blood on the circle so the portal became too big and was unstable!"
Ra'zaan looked away, a little embarrassed. "Oops... Sorry about that..."
"It looks like this is goodbye, Ra'zaan. Thank you for all of your help over these past few days." Celestia said, unbinding Ysura's hands.
Ysura smiled. "About time! Let's get out of here, you two!" Halius, Kynan, and Ysura got ready to leave.
Ra'zaan and Nadene didn't move...
Several minutes went by...
...
"...Ra'zaan? Something wrong?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, sugarcube... Ya ready to go?" Applejack asked.
Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity just stared, not sure what to say. I few more awkward minutes passed before anypony spoke. Finally, Rainbow Dash broke the silence.
"Well, are you leavin' or aren't you!?" She said, trying to hold back her emotions.
Ra'zaan looked at the princess pleadingly. She sighed.
"You want to stay, don't you?" Celestia asked with a welcoming smile.
The Khajiit nodded.
"Don't you have any family back in your world... Tamriel, I believe it was?" The Princess asked.
Ra'zaan looked down at Nadene on his shoulder. "...No, Princess. I was basically a tool for hire... I was orphaned at a young age, so I have no family."
"My uncle was my only family left. Without him, I don't have much left." Nadene said sadly.
Celestia called all the ponies in the room over to her for a minute, and whispered with them.
"What do you think, everypony? Should we let them stay?" Celestia whispered he question.
"It's your decision Princess. Whatever you think we should do. I think Ra'zaan just wants a home, and Nadene is with him because she doesn't want to be in the place where she has bad memories." Twilight said.
Iron looked around at all the faces, and saw that they were all nodding agreement. "I think it's unanimous, Your Highness." He smiled.
"Very well... They can stay... But they must go to Ponyville so you all can keep an eye on them. Fair enough?" The Princess smiled. The other ponies in the group cheered agreement.
Celestia backed away from the group and walked over to Ra'zaan. "You two may stay, if you promise to stay in Ponyville."
Nadene squealed with excitement. Ra'zaan's entire face lit up.
"Thank you, Princess Celestia!" They both said happily.
Halius frowned. "Is that what you want, Nadene?" He was happy for her, but at the same time he didn't want to lose a close friend.
The Dark Elf looked at her old friend. "I'm sure. Sorry, Halius."
The High Elf smiled weakly. "That's.. fine... I hope I'll get to see you again is all."
"Hey... Nadene... Ra'zaan..." Kynan's voice surprised everyone - and everypony. "... Do you have an empty vial?"
"Yeah, here." The Khajiit tossed the werewolf the vial he'd taken from his pack. "Why you want that?"
To the shock of every creature in the room, Kynan reopened his wound and filled the vial with enough werewolf to open the portal again several times. Halius caught on to what he with doing and took a blank scroll out of his pocket and scribbled down the circle they'd used to open the portal.
"Take this... if you ever want to come home... Nadene..." Kynan said shyly.
Halius smiled. "...And this. Draw this on the ground and drop that blood on it if you ever want to come back."
"Wow... thanks you two! This means a lot!" Nadene said happily.
"...You'll need a couple of these, too..." Ysura said, handing Ra'zaan three pieces of enchanted charcoal. "...You know, for drawing the circle..." The Nord was shy as well.
"I'll miss you three... Goodbye..." Nadene said.
"Goodbye Nadene! Goodbye Ra'zaan! Goodbye everypony!" The three mages said in unison awkwardly as they turned back to their portal.
They stepped through, and as the portal shut, the three could be seen walking away on the other side.
"Now you two are official residents of Ponyville, and I'll send word of this to the Mayor there later." The Princess said as she smiled and walked to her throne. "Ra'zaan, you won't need your weapons or armor anymore, so what will you do with it?"
"I was hoping I could store it in Twilight's library... that okay, Twi?"
"Yep, and we'll get you two a place to stay soon. I can't believe you actually wanted to stay!" Twilight said happily.
Pinkie was bouncing off the walls with joy... literally. "Yay! Ra'zaan is staying! This is so exciting!!!"
The Princess smiled. "My little ponies, please take Ra'zaan and Nadene to their new home. I'm sure they're excited to get settled. Iron, you stay here for now, alright?"
"Yes, Your Highness." Iron said.
The Element Bearers, Spike, Derpy, Big Mac' and the two newest citizens of Equestria bowed happily to the princess and turned to walk to the train station. Ra'zaan and Nadene started to think about what their new lives will be like as the walked towards they're new home.
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.
"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.
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.)
