Clash of the Dragons

Chapter 2

Dragonborn came out of the other side of the portal and found himself standing on a dirt road leading through a forest, he also saw in front of him 2 Equestrian Pegasi Royal Guards, who were standing around, facing the same direction as him and therefore didn't notice him yet.

Though he didn't know what they really were yet either, and thought, looks like someone left their horses behind, that's at least one sign there are people here.

The Dragonborn was about to walk around the Royal Guards only for them to have quickly heard his footsteps and promptly turned around to see him.

"What are you, strange creature?" one of the Royal Guards asked, much to Dragonborn's surprise, "Did you come from the other side of that portal?"

The Dragonborn couldn't believe his eyes, "Talking horses with wings and armor? did someone put skooma in the last batch of mead I had?"

"Answer our question!" the other Royal Guard barked sternly.

The Dragonborn calmly folded his arms and said, "I guess you 2 have never heard of a Nord before, but to answer your second question, yes, I did come through this portal, now if you don't mind.."

The Dragonborn tried to walk past the royal guards, but one of them blocked his path by spreading one of his wings.

"You are a stranger here, biped," the royal guard blocking Dragonborn said, "stay where you are, as soon as our relief arrives, you will be taken to our superiors, who will expect you to tell them everything you know about where ever you came from."

"What a coincidence!" the Dragonborn exclaimed, "I came here to find out as much as I can about where we are now, so what say you 2 step out of the way and let me pass so I can get to that?"

"No," both the Royal Guards plainly said in unison.

Damn it! Dragonborn swore to himself, I shouldn't just kill them, they're likely just doing their jobs and I know too little about this place. I guess for now I have no choice but to wait and cooperate.

Fortunately, another duo of Royal Guards, coming to relief the 2 guards that were watching the Dragonborn, arrived just seconds later.

Speak of the Daedra, Dragonborn thought, pleased to see the relief's sudden arrival.

Meanwhile, in an undisclosed part of the Everfree Forest.

Trixie has been falling in a rough patch ever since that humiliating time in Ponyville, when those 2 colts Snips and Snails brought that Ursa Minor over and how Twilight made her look like a fool when she dealt with the situation.

Even now it still made Trixie's blood boil thinking about it. Fortunately for her, she paid some 2nd visits in towns she already performed in, which helped her earn enough money to help get her back on her hooves. She did what she could to make sure word of what happened to her in Ponyville didn't get out anywhere else, but the most she could do was keep that event from getting too public.

So her reputation has suffered considerably after a while, though there are still some devoted fans that were generous enough to still pay for her performances and even help her out in what other ways they could, a good chunk of Equestrians have mostly ignored her after they heard about what Trixie personally dubbed the 'Ponyville Incident' when she arrived to new towns, more-so than how her career was so successful in the past.

What popularity Trixie salvaged was so far the only thing that help her mellow out, but she remained determined to figuring out a way to put Twilight in her place.

But after seeing what Twilight did in dealing with that Ursa Minor, Trixie figured she had to step up her game if she hoped to even match the skill Twilight demonstrated. so she spent a good amount of her time practicing her magic in the Everfree Forest.

Whenever she could afford it, she would buy supplies for staying in the Everfree Forest for extended periods of time, leave her newly built wagon in a carefully selected hiding place in the forest, and then would set out to practice her magic on the dangerous local fauna.

She was so bitter about how she was humiliated earlier that she actually found herself disregarding the dangers of some of the weaker creatures she fought with, but she was considerably more cautious with what she picks fights with and, much to her own surprise, has been doing surprisingly well.

She grinned smugly as every spell she's casted gets progressively stronger with every use, it was a slow process, but as creatures like Cockatrices or even Timber Wolves (though she strictly targeted strays to assure she didn't have packs coming after her) have proven to become gradually easier to beat, she started to become confident that her plan will be well worth the time it was taking.

She at one point spotted a lone Timber Wolf from behind a tree, which didn't seem to notice her. She took this opportunity and casted a fireworks spell at it, which, much to her surprise, brought down the Timber Wolf with one shot.

Trixie gave a smug grin, but it gradually vanished when she remembered how long it took for her to get this strong, "this is already getting easier, but it's still a slow process, Trixie has spent months here yet she still can't even begin match what Twilight pulled off on that Ursa Minor."

Trixie found herself collapsing to the ground, sitting down hard as if suddenly realizing something, "By the time Trixie can surpass what that absurd librarian did months ago, Twilight might be able to pull off stuff that is far greater. Trixie needs to find a faster way if she wants to get revenge, but what faster way is there?"

Trixie heard snorting directly behind her, she quickly turned around to see, much to her dismay, a Manticore.

The Manticore unleashed a loud roar as it charged at Trixie.

Trixie was scared, but tried to push her fears aside, she was partly confident that her spell practice should at least give her a chance against the formidable beast.

"You dare challenge the might of the Great and Powerful Trixie?" Trixie boasted in as couragous a voice she could muster and fired a fireworks spell, which only managed to cause the Maticore to stagger slightly, but appeared unscathed by the attack.

"That spell blows up a Timberwolf with one hit yet it does nothing to this beast?" Trixie asked herself in disbelief.

Trixie then summoned a storm cloud and had it fire a lightning bolt at the Manticore, which shocked it abit, making it clear that the spell did do some minor damage, but now it appeared more ticked as it charged after Trixie.

"By Celestia, Trixie should've known this was a bad idea!" Trixie said as she found herself running away from the angry beast.

After a few seconds of running through the forest, however, she accidentally tripped on a stuck-out tree root and her faced smacked the ground, she found herself dazed from the fall as the Manticore was getting closer and closer to her.

But suddenly, a strange bipedal figure moved between Trixie and the Manticore, it looked very similar to the mythological humans, but it had pointy ears, a pointed chin, wore long jet black hair, a strange looking black long robe, gloves, and boots, anyone in Tamriel would easily recognize him as an Altmer Thalmor mage, but Trixie obviously didn't know about such things.

"Stay behind me if you wish to live," the Altmer mage warned Trixie as he fried a spell that shot a large ice spike at the Manticore's leg, causing to roar in pain.

"You pathetic weakling!" the Elf sneered at the Manticore as he used both hands to prepare another spell. The Manticore heard his insult and was even more ticked as it charged furiously at the bipedal wizard.

But the Thalmor mage casted a powerful fire spell with both hands, that not only pushed the Manticore a few feet away, but also caused it to be engulfed in flame.

What pure rage the Manticore had within it had turned to fear and panic as it started running around looking for a body of water.

"Now to finish the job," The Altmer mage said as he casted another spell that managed to paralyze the Manticore into laying on its side, helplessly immobilized as it was still being burned alive. He then casted a spell with both hands that unleashes a deadly spray of lightning at the manticore, eventually turning it to a pile of ash.

Trixie, upon seek the strange biped, was amazed, shocked, and partially grossed out by the mage's performance, the mage turned to Trixie and said, "I've been following you and observing your performance for around an hour, I can see that you are of apprentice level in terms of magic-based combat at best."

Trixie's horn glowed, she found herself offended by the mage's remark, "You dare to mock the Great and Powerful Trixie?"

"I've slain this creature when you were only able to run like a coward," the elf pointed out, "Is it really smart to try and provoke someone like that?"

Trixie saw her incidental savior had a point, she sighed as she cancelled the spell she was preparing, "Who are you anyway?"

"I am Torenon, Thalmor mage and general," the Altmer introduced himself, "And your name is.. Trixie? this place is obviously filled with creatures well beyond your league, so what are you doing here?"

"If you must know, Trixie was practicing her magic on the weaker fauna," Trixie answered, "You see, there was this ridiculous librarian unicorn that upstaged Trixie and messed up her reputation, you're looking at Trixie's efforts to get stronger with her magic so she can have revenge on her."

"Odd coincidence," Torenon commented, "You see, my government has been searching for a barbaric Nord who calls himself Dragonborn, in a cold wintery land called Skyrim, he's been killing Justiciars, butchering some of our high-ranking officials, disrupting many of our operations. That human is wanted by the Aldmeri Dominion dead or alive, and many of us have been trying, and failing, to take his head. perhaps we can help each other?"

"Wait a second," Trixie said, realizing something, "You don't call yourself human? but you have skin, hands and wear clothes like the humans of mythology."

"Human? bah!" Torenon scoffed, "Anyone else of my kind would be greatly offended by you calling us that. I am an Elf, or more specifically, a High Elf or Altmer, if you knew about such things, you'd see my ears, eyes, and other more.... well-crafted features make me very different from the Men races like Nords or Imperials. now, do you want my help, or not?"

"Possibly," Trixie answered, "But what's the catch?"

"Ah, you're clearly more clever than that slip up you had would indicate," Torenon complimented, "Well, it's obvious that you know more about this world than I, but I came here to investigate this world in search of whatever I can use to pursue some... personal goals. The details are irrelevant now, as I am still at square one with said goals. But if you agree to be hired as my guide and to provide assistance whenever I ask for it, I will immediately start in helping you in your desire for revenge. And as a bonus, I will agree to let you be a temporary apprentice to me in the arts of Destruction magic, since your kind CAN use magic, right?"

"Certainly is!" Trixie boasted,"you're looking, in fact, at one of the rare unicorns that are talented in all kinds of magic!"

"Good, than you should have no problem with-" Torenon was cut off when he heard someone say;

"General! we've found something!"

"Must be my troops," Torenon groaned in annoyance, "Wait here, I should be back in a minute."

Torenon walked off somewhere, with Trixie waiting for him as she was told, and sure enough, Torenon returned.

"There's something that thoroughly demands my attention," Torenon said, "But I think we can use it to our advantage."

"What are you even talking about?" Trixie asked, understandably confused.

"I mentioned earlier of the fugitive known as Dragonborn," Torenon answered, "Apparently he's in this world as well, he seems to be escorted by 2 winged and armored... ponies," Torenon felt slightly awkward saying the word 'pony'.

"They must be Royal Pegasus Guards," Trixie said, "No doubt taking your fugitive to their superiors, or perhaps even to Princess Celestia herself."

Torenon thought for a moment and said, "Say, this librarian that upstaged you, do you know where she is?"

"She lives in Ponyville, just a few miles from here," Trixie answered.

"Than perhaps we can take 2 birds with one stone, if you understand the metaphor," Torenon said, with Trixie nodding affirmatively, "Here's what I'm thinking...."