Chapters Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter One: Great, Lost Again.
Chapter One
Just being in Skyrim was a difficult life. The harsh winters, the ragged terrain, and the creatures that lived there were all constant life takers. Being a Kajiit in Skyrim was even harder. You were hated and stereotyped just because a few of your people were thieves. You were no different from the rest of your kind. Were you also a thief? Yes. Did you get yourself locked up in prison for it a few times? Of course. But you had something special about you, there was one thing that separated you from the whole of Tamriel. You were the Dragonborn. You had slain Alduin, The World Eater. You settled the war between the Stormcloaks and the Imperials. You were the head of the Thieves Guild. You even had a few Daedric artifacts. One of these artifacts, The Wabbajack, was lying on the ground nearby. It had been knocked out of your hands during a fight with an uncharacteristically strong Dremora Lord. You had bested a few before, but this one was different. He seemed smarter, faster, and stronger than the others you had fought. He gave a testament to his heightened intelligence when he ran for your fallen weapon. He had been fist fighting you before, courtesy of the disarm shout. Now he ran for the weapon he had knocked from your hand. You were still a little dazed, so your movements to stop him were slow and shaky. He picked up his new weapon and aimed it at you. A soft glow surrounded the weapon as he charged it up, it was moments from firing, and you prayed to the nine that it didn't turn you into a chicken, or some other animal.
"Foolish mortal," its deep voice was raspy from the fight, giving the Dremora an even more frightening air about him. "You could not hope to best me, now perish in agony, so that I may be rid of you." The glow around the Wabbajack intensified, and a ball of light shot out of the end, flying towards you at a blinding speed. You barely had time to register that you were about to die before the ball reached you. There was a flash of blinding light, and you felt yourself being thrown back. The light died down and you saw a forest below you, steadily growing closer. You realized two things. The first being that you weren't dead yet. The second being that you were probably about to be. You fell through the tree canopy, branches lashing at your sides as you did so, and caught sight of something small and yellow a ways off to your right before you hit the ground and everything went black.
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You awoke slowly, a nasty headache and other general pains throughout your body dulling your senses. The first thing you noticed was that you were indoors, and a large number of animals and animal cages in almost every corner of the room. You were laying down on a couch with a blanket draped over you. You noticed with a bit of concern that your weapons were missing, as was your armor. In fact, you were almost completely naked under the blanket. You had no clue where you were, and not being able to defend yourself worried you. You sat up slowly, rubbing your still throbbing head, and began to look around the room you were in for some sort of closet or chest. You saw what looked like a promising closet on one wall, and were about to get up and search it when you heard a door to your left open, and a butter-yellow horse came in. She was carrying a tray with what looked like a bowl of soup on it. She- at least you assumed it was a she- seemed a little startled that you were awake, but quickly overcame that and began to walk toward you slowly. You didn't trust this horse thing, and you immediately went on the defensive, preparing to fight and kill this horse at the first sign of aggression. She smiled at you, seemingly unaware of your feelings towards her, and set the tray down on an end table.
"It's okay. Don't worry kitty, I'll make sure you get all better. Now come eat your soup so you can heal. C'mon." Was she mocking you? Did she have no respect at all? Or maybe... you had never seen anything like this horse before. It was obviously a horse, but it was... different, and not just because it could talk. Which, come to think of it, shouldn't surprise you. You have met a talking dog, so a talking horse can't be much different. Could it? Best to play it safe, she seemed to not know what you were. 'Well, I do need answers about where I am. This horse seems like a good place to start as any. '
"You do realize I can talk right? And I am a Khajiit, not a... 'kitty '" You din't exactly get the expected response. Instead of answering you, the small horse yelped and flew into the closet you had noted earlier. It seemed she was very- wait, she flew ? Great, so not only was she a talking horse, she was a talking pegasus. This made things all the more interesting. You stood up and went to the closet she had ducked into. You opened the door to see her curled into a ball, shaking like a leaf. Fantastic, she's a chicken. Speaking of which, I could go for some chicken right now. You shook your head and got back to the task at hand. You needed to get this little pegasus to trust you. A certain word came to mind, and you smiled slightly. Instead of shouting, you merely whispered,
"Ov" Trust.
The pegasus sat up, her flow of tears stopping, and her face rising into a more peaceful appearance. She looked up at you and smiled. She nuzzled you slightly, this took you a little off guard, but you let it pass. You stood, and she stood with you, still smiling.
"Now then," you stared. "Where am I, and who are you?"
"You're in Ponyville, and I'm Fluttershy." Fluttershy? Well, that sure did explain a lot. "Who are you? If, that is, you don't mind me asking." She hid behind her mane a little, and you groaned inwardly. This little thing was too shy for her own good. But, at least she wasn't trying to kill you, so that was a nice change of pace.
"My name is J'dagna. I'm a Khajiit, as I stated earlier. I'm personally from Skyrim. My people hail from Elsweyr. Now would you mind telling me where the things you pulled off of me are? I would very much like to get my belongings back."
"Oh, um, right this way Mr. J'... J'dan...J'dar..."
"J'-dag-na," you enunciated.
"J'-dagna. Right this way Mr. J'dagna." She turned and walked into what looked like a kitchen, then went through a door and down a flight of stairs into a basement. She walked over to what looked like a storage chest and opened it. It held everything you had on you- minus the Wabbajack. You hurriedly put on your Nightingale armor (except for the cowl) and hooked your glass war-axes to your sides. You grabbed the potions you had had with you, mostly health and stamina, and drank a small healing potion before you forgot. You put your ebony bow across your back, along with the hundred or so matching arrows you had with you before being stripped. You pulled out the large pouch that held your gold, and turned to Fluttershy, pulling out a gold piece.
"Does this resemble what you use as a currency here?"
"Um, well it certainly looks a lot like a bit. But I'm not sure if ponies would accept it. You would have to ask around first. I could come with you... if, that is, you want me to." You cracked yet another smile at how shy this horse, wait, she called herself, and her kind, ponies , was being. You where beginning to think that it was almost cute. You figured it best to respond to her comment, seeing as you didn't know what kind of a threat her or her race posed to you.
"I think it would be in my best interest if you did accompany me. Other, ponies , might not take to kindly to a strange creature in their city."
"Oh, okay. Oh, and Mr. J'dagna?"
"Hm?"
"Ponyville isn't big enough to be considered a city. At least, I don't think it is. Y-you might but, I suppose that's all a mater of opinion." Ponyville, you thought to yourself, what a ridiculous name for a town! And I thought Falkreath had a strange name.
"Let's just be on our way." She nodded and you followed her back up the stairs. This time, she led you to a door on the far side of the room you woke up in. When she opened it, sunlight assaulted your eyes, blinding you momentarily. After your eyes adjusted, you could see that the small little hut that you had been staying in was very isolated. Though it seemed Fluttershy wasn't alone, despite her distance from civilization. Animals of all sorts surrounded her home, playing with one another, napping, or swimming in the nearby stream. You thought it was quite peaceful, another change of pace from Skyrim. You saw a chicken coop nearby, and licked your lips at the prospect of some chicken breast. You looked back toward Fluttershy, who was slowly walking down the road ahead of you, and where about to ask where you could get some chicken, when a realization hit you: Horses don't eat meat. Well this sucks.
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Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter Two: Shouting Can Have More Results Than One.
Chapter 2
You walked along with Fluttershy through a small wood, walking toward what you assumed to be the town proper. You only half listened as she told you about the town and her five friends. You managed to catch their names however, there was Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. What strange names these ponies have. I wonder what these other five will be like. Hopefully none of them will be crazy to any degree, I cannot stand crazy anything. The trees around you where thinning out now, and the dirt road changed to one made of cobbled stones. A few houses could be seen in the distance, along with more ponies. You noticed some had wings like Fluttershy, some had horns, but most of them had neither. As you walked along with Fluttershy, all the ponies around stopped and stared at you, most of the time in fear. Good, they have a right to fear me. Although, that might make it a little hard to get help so I can go back home.
"So Mr. J'dagna, which one of my friends do you want to meet first?"
"The one that is capable of returning me home in a timely fashion. I don't want to spend more time here than I have to."
"That would probably be Twilight. She's very smart, so she has probably heard of your home." She took a left turn, bringing you through the heart of town. Once she went past what appeared to be a marketplace, she took another left. After walking a ways, she stopped in front of a large tree and knocked on the door. She lives in a tree? How much weirder could this day get? The knob of the door turned, and it opened revealing something you where all to familiar with.
"DRAGON! Get down Fluttershy!" You rushed past the yellow pegasus, drawing your axes from your belt. You sucked in a deep breath, preparing a shout to kick off the battle that lay ahead of you.
"FUS RO DAH!!!
The small purple dragon gave a shout, and flew backwards into the building, smashing up against a bookshelf. You ran in after him, readying your weapons. He tried to get up from the pile of books that lay on top of him, but you pinned him down with your axes to his throat.
"Any last words dragon?" You snarled in his face, and he recoiled back from you in fear. Suddenly, you felt something grip you, but there was nothing there but a purple glow. You where picked up off of the ground, and you spun in mid-air until you where facing an angry looking purple unicorn. You niticed her horn had the same purple glow around it, and you made the connection. Magic.
"Who are you and why are you attacking Spike!?"
"Who is Spike? I was ridding your home of that foul creature before it had the chance to harm you. Or did you not know dragons were dangerous?" Why this pony was keeping you from killing a dragon was beyond you. You had seen far too many unlucky guards and commoners get carried away in the claws of a dragon before you had the chance to kill it.
"That dragon is Spike! Now why where you about to kill him!?" Wait a minute, the dragon has a name? Does that mean that... oh. She is a very powerful mage indeed.
"My apologies mage, I had no idea the dragon was your pet. Tell me, did you have to kill it's parents before you took the egg? Or was it abandoned?" A look of shock and horror appeared on her face, she looked disgusted at the thought of killing.
"WHAT?! I've never killed a living creature in my entire life! And Spike is not my pet, he's my assistant!" Now it was your turn to be surprised. Her assistant?! What does that even mean?! And how did she manage to get hold of a baby dragon without killing it's parents?
"If you have never killed, then who defends your town from dragons? This town would be easily taken if a dragon attacked, so who do you have to defend it?"
"Dragons never attack pony settlements. They haven't for almost a thousand years. Now I'm going to ask you one more time. Why where you trying to kill Spike!? And for that matter, what are you?"
"I am a Khajiit. I was trying to kill your little dragon because that's my job . I kill dragons before they have a chance to kill me or anyone else around me. Do you have a problem with that?"
"No. I don't have a problem with you doing your job. However, I do have a problem with you trying to kill one of my friends. I'm sure not all of the dragons where you come from are bad. By the way, where are you from?"
"To answer your second question, I am from Skyrim. It is a harsh, cold land plagued with dragons who want nothing more than to kill every living thing they can find. This brings me to your first question. No, not all of the dragons where I am from are bad. There are two that I trust. But these two out of thousands make it more likely that any dragon I see is out for murder, and I'm not one to take chances. Now, if you wouldn't mind mage, I would appreciate it if you put me down."
"Fine. I suppose I can trust you for now. I'm Twilight Sparkle by the way. Nice to meet-er... what's your name?"
"I am J'dagna. I have heard of you Twilight, from your friend Fluttershy."
"Fluttershy? Is she here with you?"
"I'm here," the shy pegasus poked her head out of the bush next to the door. She had hid when you shouted. "Um, Mr. J'dagna, what was that shouting thing that you did? I mean, if you don't mind my asking."
"I really can't explain it. Other than that it's a special power of mine. I speak certain words in the dragon language, and it makes specific things happen, depending on what I say." You blinked. "Huh, I guess I can explain it." Twilight looked over at you, a puzzled look on her face. The dragon, Spike, had recovered and was getting up from the pile of books he was in. He gave you a fearful look, and then ran upstairs. Twilight walked over to you, and looked up into your face, studying you.
"If you don't mind, could you show me this 'shouting' thing that you do. I would like to record what you say, and what happens."
"Perhaps we should go outside. Some of them can be a little... destructive. And then there is this one that... well, you'll see I suppose." You and the two ponies walked outside, Twilight was floating a quill and parchment along with her, so she could jot down notes. You looked around at your surroundings for a moment. It was cloudy, so that was good, and there was a pile of wood nearby, now you had targets. You walked over to the pile, and picked up a piece of wood. You walked back to the two ponies, set the wood down, and put your back to them.
"This is the one I used on your dragon friend." You inhaled sharply, preparing to let loose your voice.
"FUS RO DAH!!!! " The log was sent flying back, and back, and back, and back until it was out of sight.
"Fus ro dah, pushes things... hard." Twilight scribled down on her parchment for a moment, then looked back up to you expectantly. You went and grabbed another log, repeating the process.
"YOL TOOR SHUL!!!! This time, instead of flying backwards, the log burst into flame. In mere seconds, it was reduced to ash. You heard Twilight scribble onto her parchment again, as you went to grab another log.
"FO KRAH DIIN!!!! " The log was instantly covered with frost crystals. You had to use your axes to break the ice that had formed around the base.
"So that one freezes things."
"No, it doesn't," you corrected her. "It makes it cold, covers things with frost. But it does not freeze. This one , freezes." You went and grabbed another log from the pile, repeating the process once more.
"IISS SLEN NUS!!!! " The log froze solid, a thick layer of ice locking it solidly to the ground. You where glad it was the last shout you needed to have a target to use on. Well, a target that wasn't alive anyway.
"Wow, that was impressive. Is that all of them?"
"No, I know many more. You see how the sky is cloudy?"
"Yes."
"Watch." You turned your head skyward, preparing one of your favorite shouts.
"LOK VAH KOOR!!!! " After a moment, all the clouds in the sky parted, leaving the sunshine pouring through. As it turned out however, messing with the weather wasn't the best idea.
"HEY!" You turned, just in time to see a cyan and rainbow colored streak slam into you, pushing you to the ground. At that point, your combat instincts took over, and you turned the fall into a roll. You came up back on your feet, a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane was staring daggers right at you. She yelled a battle cry and charged, you sidestepped, slamming your fist into her ribs as she passed you. She crashed to the ground, clutching the spot you had just hit. You stepped over to her, and got down on one knee.
"Don't attack something you aren't sure you can defeat."
"You don't look so tough you cat faced weirdo!" You stood, and kicked her. She caught air for a moment, turning over mid flight, and landed hard in the dirt a few feet away. You walked over to her again, and once more got down on one knee.
"Never underestimate your opponent either. You gloat a lot for someone who can't back it up with action. If you were from, where I was from, you'd be dead." You offered her a hand to help her up. She took it, and stood shakily, still holding her ribs. Twilight galloped over, and went to the aid of the rainbow haired one.
"Rainbow, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." You gave a smile. She wasn't much of a fighter, but she sure could take a hit. Something as small as her should have a few broken ribs from the beating you just gave her. Twilight turned back to you, a scowl on her face before returning to it's usual scholar neutrality.
"Shall we continue?"
"Of course." All the ponies present went and stood behind you, awaiting your next shout. You pondered for a moment, wondering which one to use next. Suddenly, an idea came into your head, and a mischievous grin crept across your face. You inhaled, and shouted.
"FEIM ZII GRON!!!! "
Instantly you vanished, gasps could be heard from behind you, accompanied by a scribbling sound as Twilight took down her notes. You quickly moved behind the mares, never one to pass up the opportunity for a good laugh. You grabbed Twilight, making her jump. You rolled onto your back and laughed as you came back into view. Rainbow, after realizing what just happened, joined in on your laughter. Then, a voice that was unfamiliar to you spoke from within your quiver.
"Haha! That was funny Mr. cat-man. You sure do know how to play pranks! Plus, that shouting thing you did was REALLY COOL! You were all like 'fiem zii gron!' and then you were all like 'boo!' and you scared the living cupcakes out of Twilight! HEY! You know what!? We should throw you a party because your new to Ponyville! We could have cake and ice-cream! OH MY GOSH! We could have an ice-cream cake! Those are so good! Well, nopony has ever actually made one because I just came up with it, but I mean COME ON! It's ice-cream cake, how not cool could it possibly not be!? I'll get started on it right now!"
You had taken off your quiver during this whole ordeal, and simply stared at the pink pony head sticking out of your arrows as it spoke. After it had gone, you turned and gave the three behind you an inquisitive stare.
"That's-" The head popped back out of your quiver, and began to speak again.
"Oh and by the way I'm Pinkie Pie! Who are you?"
"Uh..."
"Never mind I'll get your name later, I've got an ice-cream cake to bake!" You turned back to Twilight, who simply shrugged.
"I learned a long time ago not to question what she does. She defies the laws of physics all the time." You simply nodded, things like this weren't uncommon, but you had never had a pink horse come out of your quiver before. Come to think of it, you had never had anything but arrows come out of your quiver before. You could already tell that your time here was going to be even more interesting than you had previously given it credit for.
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A/N: Now, I know that it's short, but I don't really like writing long chapters. I also know that it probably isn't all that good, so if you actually like it I-
"Are you kidding!? Your writing is awesome! I really like how you made Mr. Cat-man fun, but he can change to be dangerous at the same time! Hey, you want some ice-cream cake!"
Pinkie? How in the... you know what? Never mind. Sure, I'll take a piece of ice-cream cake.
"GREAT! Here ya go! Hey, readers, give our author here three cheers for being such a swell guy! HIP-HIP HOORAY!!! HIP-HIP HOORAY!!! HIP-HIP, FUSRAY!!! Heehee. Well, see you later!"
Um... okay. Well, see you guys in the next chapter. And-
"Oh, and one more thing, KHAJIIT RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Yes, they do. Hey, you wanna come on through and play some Skyrim?
"Sure!"
Well then, catch you readers later! I'm going play Skyrim with Pinkie. Wha? No Pinkie, they don't have cupcakes on Skyrim. They have sweet rolls though...
Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter Three: HOW MANY!?
Chapter 3
You continued to stare at your quiver, what had just transpired still shocked you. You weren't one to startle easy, you had dealt with dragons, talking dogs, and a crazy Daedric Prince. But having a pink pony come out of your quiver was not something you were prepared for.
"Um... Mr. J'Dagna? Are you alright?" Hearing Twilight's voice, you shook your head to clear the crazy, and stood turning back to face the group of ponies behind you.
"I'm fine, this is not the first ridiculous thing I have run across in my days, I'm sure it will not be my last."
"Well, okay then. if your sure. Do you want to keep going?"
"Actually pony, no. I need rest, and I should give you a full explanation as to why i attacked you pet dragon." You stood, rolling your head to loosen your slightly stiff neck muscles.
"Ugh, Spike is my assistant , not my pet. Why does everypony get confused on that?" She facehoofed, sighing in exasperation.
"Probably because you having an exotic pet dragon is more likely than said dragon being an assistant. Although uncommon, there is one where I come from with a pet dragon."
"Really? Who?" She looked to you expectantly, possibly hoping for a grand tale of some dragon taming hero, who saved the land with his flying, fire breathing companion.
"Me." A simple answer, one that crushed her hopes of storytelling.
"Oh. Well, shall we go inside?"
"But of course. After you." You followed the lavender mare inside the large tree, and sat down on the couch in the main room. Twilight sat in a nearby chair.
"So, what is your elaborated reason for almost taking my assistants head off." Twilight shuddered at the mental image, but regained her composure soon enough. She was nothing if not level headed.
"Well, you recall me saying that dragons are dangerous yes?" She nodded, and you continued. "Well, where I am from, Skyrim, the dragons are very dangerous. They patrol our skies, burning our villages, and killing our loved ones. They had been gone, or rather dead, for hundreds of years. But, as if the war wasn't bad enough, they started coming back to life. Legends foretold of this, and that these would be dark times. However, legend also foretold of a hero, the Dragonborn or 'Dovakin' in the dragon tongue. This hero is me. This is how I can use the thu'um, the shouting. I speak the language of dragons when I do this. My destiny was to stop Alduin, The World Eater and basically king of the dragons. When I did this, those who would have benefited from his success turned on me. This is how I came to be here. One particularly lucky dremora got hold of my Wabbajack and banished me here. I have only met two dragons who I am now befriended to, and one took some convincing."
"Convincing?"
"I beat him within an inch of his life and killed his 'lord', Alduin."
"Well that's...brutal."
"Quite. But, other than Odahviing and Parthurnax, I've killed every dragon I've come across. So, in my eyes, your pet- er, assistant, was no different. I apologize for my actions, and I hope we may forget what has passed, so we may start anew."
"Of course, but you'll have to promise not to go just killing dragons all willy-nilly. They are still inhabitants of Equis, and are quite sentient. Although, they are still a constant threat. I should consult the princess about this."
"The dragons in Skyrim were sentient as well. This did not matter to me. I did what had to be done. But besides, how many dragons could this land of yours have? One, Two-hundred?"
"The last count yielded approximately four-thousand six-hundred and seventy-five. Give or take five-hundred." She sat there, a small smile on her face, as if this population, nay, infestation was perfectly normal. Your right eye twitched, and you collapsed to the ground in a heap.
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You awoke, lying on Twilight's couch. Said purple unicorn was nearby, pacing back and forth with a nervous look on her face. You groaned slightly, and she immediately noticed you were awake. She rushed over to you and began to ramble.
"Ohmygosh! Are you alright? I was so worried! I told you how many dragons were here on Equis and your eye twitched and then you fainted! What happened?!"
"Calm yourself pony. I was merely shocked by the sheer number of dragons in your land. It was far too much for my mind to comprehend. Strange, this has happened twice now since I've been in your world. I hope it does not happen again." You swung your legs off her couch and stood, the blanket that had been covering you falling to the floor. You stretched you arms and back, and gave a slight grunt when your shoulder popped. You looked down to see Twilight with a blush on her face, covering her eyes with a hoof. "Twilight, why do you appear so flushed? Have I done something to embarrass you?"
"No."
"Then what is wrong?"
"You're naked."
You looked down, you completely unclothed body was displayed in all its glory before Twilight. You chuckled slightly, and looked around for your armor.
"I'm sorry, but I had to take off your armor, in case it was caused by lack of blood flow. Please don't be mad."
"I assure you, I am far from upset with you pony. It is not the first time someone besides my mother has seen me naked. And it certainly won't be the last, I'm sure." You noticed your armor in the corner, and moved to put it on. You put your pants on, followed by the rest of your armor with the exception of the cowl. "You may look now my friend." Twilight lowered her hoof and gave a small sigh of relief.
"Oh! I just remembered something! While you where unconscious, I had Spike send a letter to Celestia telling her everything. She's coming to see you!"
"Celest-who?"
"Celestia! She's my mentor, the princess, and the pony who raises the sun every day! She's very important, as you can tell."
"Oh, if that is all. Though I am a bit concerned. You said that his was a peaceful land and that attacks by dragons were unheard of, yes?"
"Yes, but I don't see how that's... oh."
You got down on one knee, a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Do you see what I am talking about? Once you ruler learns that I am a killer, she will surely throw me in some dungeon, or worse, kill me."
"No! She would never kill anypony! Ever!"
"Ah, but I am no pony my purple friend. I am a carnivorous stranger, armed literally to the teeth, and I almost took your pet's-" she glared at you, "-assistant's, head off. She will no doubt see fit to be rid of me as quickly as possible." She motioned to argue, but a knock was heard at the door just then, and Twilight moved to answer it. You stood, and waited for the inevitable to happen. Twilight slowly and cautiously opened the door to reveal two white stallions in golden armor. Behind them stood a tall, pure whit pony with both a horn and wings, wearing a crown and golden breastplate. Her hair was also very peculiar, it was luminescent green, pink, and blue, and flowed in a nonexistent breeze. She smiled at her student, then her gaze turned to you, and her face contorted into a scowl. She stepped passed her guards, much to their chagrin, and approached you.
"My students assistant Spike has told me much about you in his letter. How you were a bipedal feline, who possessed great power, and skill in combat. How you were from another world, and how you were a dragon slayer. One who almost killed him had Twilight not stopped you. I should have you killed on the spot for nearly ending the life of my personal students 'brother'." Her guards move toward you, drawing swords. Your hands instinctively moved to your axes. You and her guards glared daggers at one another, each one ready to tear the other to pieces. "However," the princess spoke, both you and her guards looking up at her with confusion. "I am not unreasonable, and I think I may have a use for you. One that would fit your skill set very well, if what Spike told me is true." She turned and faced her student. You and the guards turned back to one another, questioning looks on the faces of all. "Twilight," the princess started once again. "I would like for you to gather your friends and have them meet here. There is much to discuss, and I'm afraid I bring bad tidings.
Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter Four: Are You Serious?
Chapter 4
Twilight trotted into the library, trailing the five mares who were her friends. The princess stood in the center of the room, awaiting her arrival. You waited in the corner, your hand glowing a golden color, then it switched to a fireball, then an orb of frost. Twilight was about to inquire as to what you was doing, but her pink friend beat her to the punch. She appeared directly behind you and questioned you loudly.
"Whatcha' doin Mr. Cat-man!?"
You jumped so high, you almost hit the ceiling, and let out a yelp. You landed back on the floor with a faceplant. Groaning, you slowly picked yourself up off the ground. You stood there, rubbing your nose while Celestia began to speak.
"Well then, shall we get started? There is much to discuss, and little time to discuss it." The mares all sat, and you turned to look at her. "Good. Now, as I told Twilight and our guest, I bring terrible news. Another evil has arisen, and this one is more powerful than anything you have faced before."
"What is it?" Twilight spoke up, she had fear in her eyes, her mentor's words frightening her. But lying beneath that fear was a sense of confidence. She had a look that said she knew something terrible was coming, but she was ready to face it.
"It is a dragon," your ears perked up at this. "It is a dragon the likes of which I have never seen. It is as large as a mountain, and black as the night. Its body is spiked and its head bears a crown of horns. It is rallying the dragons of our world, bringing them together for something. I do not know his purpose, but it can't be good."
"I know this dragon." Everyone in the room turned their eyes to you you, and a few gasped.
"You know it? How could you know a dragon? Is he some enemy of yours?" The princess looked worried. You tried to defuse the situation as quickly as possible.
"Yes, I have fought, and killed, this dragon before. His name is Alduin. in my world he is known as 'The World Eater'." You sighed. This was the second time that demon had been 'killed', and here he was, in a world full of ponies no less. Things around you never seemed to go right.
"You said you have killed it? How could that be possible if it is alive and well? Here, in Equestria?" twilight, ever the sharp mare she was, had quickly caught on to what you had said about killing Alduin. It didn't seem to faze her, the thought of death. Perhaps all of her ours studying had desensitized her? But that was of no consequence. There were more pressing matters at hand.
"I do not know how he is here, but I know one thing for certain." Your eyes shone with hatred and malice. It seemed to be scaring some of the seemingly more docile ponies, such as the white one, and the yellow one. You quickly made a mental note to get their names.
"And what is it that you know?" Celestia raised an eyebrow, and a faint gleam of hope shone in her eyes.
"What I know, your highness, is that this dragon shan't live much longer in this world. What I know, is that this demon shall be dead in three days time. WHAT I KNOW! Is that HE will PAY for all the innocents he has so ruthlessly slaughtered in my world! One death, it seems, was not enough to avenge them, in the eyes of the nine divines." The ponies all stared at you, open mouthed. Even the princess seemed shocked. And why shouldn't they be? You, a stranger to them, just condemed a living creature-dragon or not- to death by your hand. You did not care however, he would pay for the men, women, and children he killed. He would pay for killing Ralof. He would pay for killing... her. You walked towards the door, and opened it. You were about to continue walking out when Twilight's voice called out to you from behind.
"Where are you going?" You turned your head to look at her over your shoulder, a fire in your eyes.
"To kill a dragon."
Author's Note
So, I finally got this done. To be honest, I didn't have any plans on bringing Alduin into this, and it never even occured to me to do so. But, last chapter in the comments, people made a few remarks about it, and I couldn't resist. So, if you said something about him, then congratulations! You've contributed to the story! Sorry for it being short. It just kind of happened that way. The next chapter will be longer, and contain much travels and laughs. Probably. If not, well... sorry.
Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter Five: Let's Get Down to Business
Chapter 5
You stepped into the cool night air, a shiver running down your spine. You scanned the horizon, looking for the nearest mountain range, and your eyes fell upon a lone mountain in the distance. Though this was no ordinary mountain, a city clung to its side, a glowing beacon in the night sky. You raised an eyebrow at this, and stared at the mountain city for quite some time. You didn't notice Twilight come up beside you, so lost were you in your thoughts of the city. So when she spoke, you nearly jumped out of your skin.
"Do you even know where you're going?" She looked at you inquisitively. You thought for a brief moment, and then realized that you had no clue where to even start.
"Um, well... no. Not... not really." She laughed a little, and looked back up at you, smiling.
"Then I'm coming with you." You stared at her for a few moments, assessing her combat prowess and experience. If you knew anything about what a warrior should look like (and you did), this mare was more of a librarian. Which made sense. You had your mind made up the moment she said it.
"No." She glared at you.
"Yes. I'm more than capable of handling a few dragons." She smiled, confident in her abilities. You chuckled. This pony certainly had courage, but courage did not win battles. Skill did, and she had none. Not fighting dragons.
"I said no. That's final. I've almost been killed by dragons myself a few times, and that was one at a time. Where I'm going, there will likely be three or four at once trying to kill us." You smiled mentally a bit. That speech always worked.
"I don't care. You can't scare me away from this." She had a fiery determination in her eyes. Ready for anything. You thought a moment, trying to figure out how to keep her from coming with you. It wasn't like you didn't want her along. You just didn't want to be responsible if she died. When she died seemed a bit more adequate. You wouldn't be able to always protect her and fight dragons at the same time. Something might happen, and while you did enjoy horse meat...
Then an idea came to you. You couldn't scare her off with the dragon's numbers, perhaps their ferocity might do the trick.
"Fine," you said, pretending to give in. If this didn't work though... you probably would. Time was short if what the goddess had said was true. "But don't blame me if they shred you to pieces and eat your still steaming entrails."
You heard her through up in her mouth a little, but she swallowed it back down. You smiled in triumph, That did it! Now i don't have to worry about-
"No dice J'dagna. I'm still coming with you."
Damn.
__________
After Twilight had gone in to talk with her friends about going with you, you suddenly found yourself with six multicolored horse companions. The yellow one seemed reluctant at first, but after some coaxing from her friends, she came. (A.N. Shut it you sick bastards...) You sighed, resigned to the fact that there was no possible way to convince them to stay behind. You were only used to traveling with one companion at a time. Sometimes two, when you felt like bringing your dog, CuSith along. You looked at the six of them and sighed again. Mostly at what they where bringing along.
Twilight had saddlebags filled with scrolls, a few quills, and enough ink to flood Solitude. Rainbow Dash, if you were remembering her name correctly, had a bag with a few paintings. One said 'Wonderbolts' or something. She also had a green book that you couldn't discern the title of, and she was wearing goggles on her head. The orange one had a rope and a hat. If she knew how to use that rope it might come in handy. The pink one, Pinkie Pie you remembered had saddlebags filled to bursting with treats and candies. You could swear you even saw a sweet roll in there somewhere. She also had a rope tied around her neck, the other end attaching to a blue canon. The white one had... a pile? No, too small. A mountain of highly decorated cases, and she was wearing a scarf and some frilly looking glasses. The yellow one had nothing with her, but she was visibly shaking with fear.
You sighed a third time, turned and set out towards the nearest mountain range. You figured that would be the best place to start. You all walked in silence through the town. The other ponies in the area were staring at all of you, mainly with confusion. You paid them no heed as you continued to trudge on, a blank expression on your face. If the group of ponies were to be your group, the so be it. You may even be able to make fighters and dragon slayers out of some.
"Ah! I chipped my hoof! And I just had them filed!" The wine of the white mare came from the back of the caravan. You stopped, facepawed, a sighed for the fourth time that afternoon. It was going to be a very long journey.
Author's Note
So, we finally set out to do stuff. From, here, things will start to pick up. I may even start updating a bit more frequently too, seeing how my own interest in the story is rising. Thanks again for reading. And sorry for the wait!
Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter Six: So It Begins
Chapter 6
You and the six mares walked along a path headed towards the mountains in the far distance. You were silent, thought the ponies talked among themselves about random nothings. You tried to block out their words, not because you didn't care, but because you were listening. Listening for a sound you knew very well. You had even heard it a while back. They were always there, no matter where you went. You didn't fear them, not in the slightest. You had killed plenty before, and would kill many yet to come. The ponies hadn't heard it though. hey hear nothing. But your keen ears picked up on the soft padding of feet. The rustle of bushes. And the occasional howl in the distance. You knew they were close. You could feel it. You paused in the road for a moment, trying to discern which side of you they were on.
Then you heard them. They were on all sides and approaching fast. You said one word to alert the ponies of their presence, and drew your weapons, the malachite blades gleaming in the afternoon sun.
"Wolves!" The ponies instantly went into a frenzy. Twilight charged a spell, the orange one pulled her rope off and began to twirl a lasso above her head. The pink one put colored paper into her canon, and Rainbow Dash took a fighting stance. The other two, the yellow and white one, hid behind the mound of luggage the white one had brought with her. You looked around at them one more time, and then the wolves were upon you.
They weren't normal wolves however. These wolves appeared to made entirely out of wood, and so their skin was a bit tougher. This proved to be of little help to them, as your axes did their jobs all the same. The sound of splintering wood permeated the air as you and the four mares who were fighting along side you did battle with a seemingly infinite number of wolves. They continued to come, and the pile of broken bodies around you grew ever larger. You spun, ducked, hacked, and sidestepped in a graceful whirlwind of blades, teeth, and fur. Their numbers began to dwindle after a while, and you began to relax a bit, toying with the remaining wolves. There were only three left, so you figured you would have some fun.
All three stood in front of you in an arc, slowly approaching you. They were more cautious of you, seeing their pack mates' corpses littered around you in a large circle. The ones on the left and right of the center wolf jumped at the same time, hoping at least one would make it through. If it were only so easy. You swung both of your axes outward in an arc, sending a wolf flying in either direction. Your smile quickly faded however, as the third wolf was mere inches from your face now. He had jumped after the other two it seemed, using his comrades as a distraction.
You attempted to dodge the wolf's fangs, but it was too late. While you did manage to get out of the direct path of his teeth, they still took a chunk out of your left cheek, leaving a sizable gash and the wolf's muzzle covered in blood, as well as your face. You cringed from the pain, but fought through it as best you could. You weren't used to taking too many hits in a battle... your enemies hardly ever got the chance. You hefted your right ax as the wolf lunged again, but this time you were ready. You kicked the wolf when it got close enough, sending it into a tree a few feet away.
WULD!
You shouted, bringing you to the wolf in mere seconds, giving it no time to recover, and you buried your weapon deep in its neck. You pulled you ax out once the wolf ceased twitching, leaving the head nearly severed and sap oozing out of the wound. You turned back to the ponies who stared at you in with their jaws open. Whether it be in astonishment or terror, you couldn't be sure. Perhaps a mix between the two? The first one to recover was Rainbow Dash, who flapped into the air.
"That. Was. AWESOME!" She cheered loudly, her hoof punching the air. Only the orange one and Pinkie Pie seemed to come even close to agreeing. Twilight was passive, or so it seemed since her face showed you no emotion. The yellow one however... she was losing her lunch in a nearby bush. The white one comforting her. She turned and shot you a glare that could make the heat from a Dwemer furnace seem like High Hrothgar, such was the fire in her eyes. She turned and marched towards you, the fire only burning brighter.
"You brute! I understand they needed to be dealt with, but did you have to kill them?!" She glared at you. You weren't sure what had made her so upset, but it wasn't helping the predicament. You decided to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. So you did what your mother always taught you to do in these situations: tell the truth.
"Yes, I did." Short and to the point.
"Well then why did- wait WHAT?! You mean to tell me that slaughtering those wolves with the brutality you just displayed was necessary ?"
"Yes."
"Could not have simply turned them away? Run them off or something? Let me tell you something about our world-" Not willing to take this kind of abuse from a talking pony, you cut her off.
"No, let me tell you something about mine. In my world, it's kill or be killed. I did what I did just now for mine and your survival little pony. I was brought up around this sort of thing. If you don't like my methods, Ponyville is back that way. I will kill anything that so much as looks at me the wrong way. You don't know what true survival is." Your face and tone grew darker as you spoke. You were about to continue, but the fear in the white mare's eyes told you that she had had enough. You turned and continued walking in the direction you were all originally headed, uncaring if the ponies followed.
______
As it turned out, the ponies did indeed end up following you onward to the mountains. The white and yellow ones were in the back now though, the former still comforting the latter. Twilight was right behind you, lost in thought, and the remaining three were discussing your feat with the wolves.
"I mean did you see him Applejack!? He used his epic voice power and shouted the wolf into a tree! How awesome is that!?"
"Listen sugarcube, this is the fifth time you said that. Ah know what happened for pony's sake. Ah was there remember?" You made a note that the orange one was named Applejack. Two to go.
"Don't be such a downer AJ, Mr. Cat Man was so cool! He was all like 'BLARGH!' and the wolf was all like 'OH NOES!' and Mr. Cat Man shouted again and he PWNED that wolf!"
"Pinkie, what the hay does 'pwned' mean?" Rainbow asked.
"It's from the Internet silly!" She had a broad smile on her face, when you looked back in confusion. You had been able to judge what 'pwned' meant due to context clues and all, but what in the name of the Nine Divines was an 'Internet'?" You shook you head and kept walking as the three continued their banter. Twilight seemed to be done thinking, seeing as she picked up her pace to walk in stride next to you.
"Can we talk about something?" She looked up at you expectantly, and you stole a glance down at her. You sighed and responded.
"Fine, but no questions about my world."
"Of course," she responded. "Did you really need to kill the wolf so violently? I understand it needed to die, but decapitation?" You went to speak, but she interrupted you. "Before you say something about 'that's just the way I do things', hear me out." You nod -reluctantly- and she continues. "My friend Fluttershy, the yellow one, is the keeper of our towns animals. And while she realizes the dangers of Timber Wolves, just as we all do, it's difficult for her to watch any animal die. Especially in a way so gory and brutal. I wont ask you to stop killing, but if at all possible, make it clean?" Then she said under her breath, "Does that even make sense?"
"Yes, it does," you reply, causing her to jump a bit.
"How did you..."
"Cat senses. But as to your question, I can make no promises. I can however, try to at least keep the brutality to a minimum." You sigh as you realize you're making another promise you can't keep. Well, at least you can try anyways.
"Now then," she says, drawing you from your thoughts. "i think you should go apologize to Rarity and Fluttershy-" name list complete "- for scaring them like that." You start, to protest when you manage to comprehend what she just asked of you, but she gave you a glare that could shatter mountains. You sighed and moved to the back of the caravan, letting Twilight lead for a bit. You were about to face your toughest challenge ever, apologizing.
As you came to the back of the group travelling with you, Rarity gave you another heated glare, though less intense than the one before.
"And what do you want hm? To kill more animals?"
"No, I came to apologize. I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier. Though it was necessary to kill it, the brutality was not needed. I hope we can get past this and be... friends." Did you really just say that? You couldn't believe that had come out of your mouth. You had never considered anyone a friend really. There was just people you like more than others. You never even considered Ralof or Brynjolf friends. Just like-minded individuals, who you happened to be on good terms with. Now that you thought about it, that was pretty much the definition of the word 'friend'. So maybe it was feasible to consider the ponies friends. You both wanted Alduin dead, and you were on good terms with them. Well... most of them anyway.
"I understand the need to dispose of the wolves. But killing them was NOT-"
" I forgive you." Fluttershy made a barely imperceptible noise.
"Fluttershy?" Rarity looked over at her friend, likely due to the lack of being able to hear her.
"I- I forgive you. I can't hate somepony for being who they are. I may disagree with them, but I still love them." She gave you a small smile. At that moment, you could have sworn you felt your heart shatter into a million pieces. This was a pony of great kindness and love. you had only ever met one person like her, and that person was a vampire ironically enough. But that story was for another time. You brought yourself back to the real world just in time to feel Fluttershy hug you. You knew your heart shattered that time, because you actually felt it stop beating for a moment.
Rarity stood there, mouth gaping open and her eyes the size of dinner platters. She apparently just as shocked as you were. After a moment, Fluttershy stepped back and hid behind her hair.
"S-sorry. I'm not usually so assertive. Please don't hate me." She visibly shook a bit as you pondered what to do. After a moment, you decided to just go with it and hugged her back. Maybe you could change. You might like it.
"Well darling, if Fluttershy can forgive you, so can I." Rarity joined in the hug as she spoke.
"AWWWWWWWW! You guys are getting along!" A bubbly voice came from behind the three of you, and you turned to see Pinkie Pie standing there with a big grin on her face. You laughed a bit, and soon all present were joining in. You stood back up, and continued walking, your mood significantly higher.
Just maybe...
Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter 7
You walked along with the ponies, growing ever closer to the mountains. It had been almost a week since you had all left, and it would be about another before you reached your destination. That upcoming week would be a long one however, as you and your... friends were beginning to run out of supplies. While you were used to almost a whole week without food at times, the ponies were not, and they wouldn't last long on your rationing system. Mostly because that system consisted of raw venison. Due to relations between horses and deer, you decided it wouldn't be the best idea to try and make them eat it.
Those troubles aside, you still had to figure out how you were going to take care of the ponies when dragons started popping up. You could train Twilight, Rainbow and Applejack, maybe Pinkie. Fluttershy and Rarity however didn't seem like the kind to fight much. Perhaps if Rarity was angry...
Due to you being so deep in thought, you failed to notice Twilight appear next to you. She cleared her throat slightly, catching you attention.
"Hm?" You glanced down at her, acknowledging her desire to speak with you.
"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? About you, and where you're from?"
"Not at all, as long as they aren't too personal." You were a bit hesitant to accept her request, but there could be no harm in a few simple questions. You were curios to see what she would inquire about.
"The day we first left the library, I recall you had strange glowing lights in one of your hands. One red, one gold, and another a light blue. What was that? Some form of power?"
"Actually, power is pretty accurate. Those were spells, flames, healing, and frostbite. In that order."
"You can do magic! That's so interesting! You don't even have a horn... how do you do it?" Her eyes were literally sparkling, her smile covering nearly her whole face. She apparently loved magic. Made sense, she was a librarian.
"Well, I do not need a horn. I can merely channel whichever spell I want through my arm and into my hand, at the cost of mana." You demonstrated by placing healing into your hand, and holding it close to Twilight so she could see.
"Fascinating," she stared in wonder at the glowing ball of light you held in your hand. "So, what's mana?" She returned her gaze to you, eyes gleaming with the anticipation of more knowledge.
"Well, the amount of mana determines how long you can hold a spell for. It slowly drains as a spell is cast. Some spells cost more than others though. So it also determines if you can even cast a spell without passing out, or worse, killing yourself." You went back over your words to see if you had left anything out, or could explain it better than that, but you found your knowledge of magic to be very limited, so that was the best explanation you could offer.
"Hm, this is very interesting. Can everyone in your world do magic, or is it just a select few?"
"Well, as far as I know only certain people can actually use magic, and fewer still the more advanced spells. But, if you were to set your mind to it, it is likely that you magical prowess could increase slightly. With years of study and practice, that is." That part you were confident about. You had asked Tolfdir a similar question the few weeks you went to the college, and he had given you a similar answer. You sighed aloud. You wondered if there was a way for you to return. You didn't have anything there that you couldn't live without. The moon sugar and Skooma would be nice to have, but it wasn't life or death. The only thing you would miss would be all of the friends you had made along the way.
"Is something wrong J'dagna?" You looked down at the lavender mare walking by your side. The look of concern in her eyes told you a thousand stories. Adventure, heartbreak, joy, laughter. They say the eyes are the window to the soul. Your eyes were cold, hard, and with little feeling remaining. All of the life in your eyes had been ripped away in Sovengarde. Seeing her perish, the appear again in the Great Hall brought some form of reprieve, but you still wouldn't be able to see her until you yourself fell in battle.
"I'm... fine Twilight. Do not worry about me. I merely miss my friends back in Skyrim." At this point, Applejack trotted up, and began walking on the other side of you.
"Hey Twi. Howdy Ju-dagger." You looked at you, one eyebrow raised. No doubt she was inquiring to see if she pronounced your name correctly.
"Close enough I suppose. How are you Applejack?"
"I'm doing mighty fine. Say Twi, you mind if Ah talk with him fer a while?" She looked past you at her lavender friend, a pleading look in her eyes. Twilight gave a nod, and fell back to the rest of the group.
"Alright partner, Ah'm gonna be honest with ya. Ah don't trust ya, not one bit. Now, Twi seems to, and that's good enough fer me, but Ah'm keepin' an eye on ya." To emphasize her point, she shut one of her eyes and glared at you with the other.
"Very well, though I must ask, why is it you don't trust me? I think I know why, but I would like to hear you say it." You returned her glare in force, not really willing to be stared down by a pony... again .
"Yer a killer. At any point ya could turn on us and kill us all and we wouldn't be able to do anything. Now Ah'm not sayin' that you would, but I still don' think Ah can trust ya." She turned her head to face forward again, and gave you a sideways glance before doing the same with her eyes. You thought on her words a moment, before deciding on what to say to her reason.
"While I can see your point, I would like to make one of my own. I would like to point out the fact that, had I wanted to kill you, I would have. I currently don't want to kill any of you, and I never will. It is likely that I will never want to even cause you physical harm. Perhaps a smack to the back of your head for something stupid you do, but never anything more than that." You continued walking without giving her another glance, letting her think on your words. After a few moments of silence, she sighed, and looked at you again.
"Alright, Ah believe ya. I can tell real easy if somepony is lyin'... and I can tell you ain't. Ah'm... sorry for not trustin' ya and all. Ah'm just concerned about mah friends ya know?"
"It's fine. I harbor no ill will towards you. It is understandable, your lack of trust. And I know how you feel, being concerned for your friends. I lost my wi- someone I was very close to, not too long ago. The very dragon we hunt now killed her." You weren't sure why you were disclosing all of this information.... you just felt like you could trust the orange mare.
"Ah'm sorry for yer loss. Ah know how ya feel." A tear rolled down her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away.
"We've all lost someone. I more than most. So many friends, all of my family... I've gotten to the point where I feel nothing anymore. I feel terrible for not mourning their losses, but at the same time I know that to do so constantly would mean my end as well. At least... in my world it would. But, none of that is important. Come, we should make camp, night will be upon us within the hour."
______
You and the six ponies had gotten camp set up very quickly. It only took about fifteen minutes for the tents to be raised, wood to be gathered for a fire, and a few large rocks were brought in to serve as chairs while dinner was cooking. You silently stirred the pot of soup, once again lost in thought about your life in Skyrim. You missed the thrill of danger around every corner, all of the friends you made. Brynjolf chief among them. Though he was a bit crude at times, he was one of your best friends, and the only reason you were still alive. If he wouldn't have been there with you in Irkngthand, you would have drowned in that chamber.
You sighed heavily, though you missed Skyrim, you were beginning to... like it here. You never thought you would enjoy the peace and quiet of a safe world so much. The large cities in Skyrim were different, while they were safe (sort of), they were never very secure. The wilderness in this world is safer than High Hrothgar was. Perhaps you could retire? You had been fighting monsters, slaying dragons, and saving tons of helpless people from bandit raids for many years. You had stopped counting after three, and all of the years just seemed to blur together in a haze of blood and gold.
While you sat there in silence, Rainbow Dash stood and walked over to you. You followed her with your eyes as she drew closer, and upon reaching you, sat down on the ground next to you. You turned your head towards her and saw her staring at you, a mix of fear and awe on her face. Her friends were talking among themselves, and seemed to not notice that she had moved over to you.
"Need something?" She startled a bit at your words, but quickly focused her eyes on your own.
"Sorry, I was just, um... admiring you body structure? It's just so, um... interesting how much different you are from us." She looked up at you, seemingly hopeful you would buy into her poorly concealed lie. You chuckled a bit, and gave her a small smile.
"Well, as... flattering as that is, you do not strike me as the scholarly type. You seem more like the brash, headstrong athlete, given the circumstances of our introduction. If you were simply admiring my physique, you need only say so." She blushed a little, making your smile grow wider.
"Oh, well... yeah. You caught me. Do you mind if I ask you for a favor? Seeing as we're about to start facing dragons, and you would be the only one fighting them, maybe you would want a little help? So i was thinking, that maybe you could-"
"Train you to fight dragons? I was contemplating doing just that earlier today. I was also considering Twilight, and Applejack as well. Your request is granted, though you should know, my training regime will likely break you at least once. Only one man has ever passed without losing a limb... or his mind." At these words, her pupils shrunk, and a face of pure terror adorned her face. Finally, when you could take it no more, you burst into riotous laughter. The other ponies looked over, just as confused as Rainbow now was.
"Wh-what's so funny!?"
"You are!" You replied, still laughing uncontrollably. It was a while before you managed to calm down. "Worry not Rainbow Dash, you will be fine when you start your training, and all throughout. I as merely playing a joke on you." She looked confused for a moment before your words sunk in, but when it finally clicked...
"Why you little!" She jumped on you, an unrelenting rain of blows being thrown your way. You pulled up your arms to cover your face as you laughed some more. Her friends sat on the other side of the fire in confusion, with Pinkie giggling madly.
"Pinkie," Twilight spoke up. "whats so funny?"
"They are!" She turned to her friends and recounted what had happened. Whether she heard it all or was just being Pinkie, not even I know.
"Now wait just a minute. J'Dagna wants to train me, Twi, and Dash ta fight dragons!? What in the hay would give him that idea?"
"Because, I can't fight them all on my own."
"Alright, well that's all well and good, but what'r we gonna fight em' with? Our bare hooves?"
"Worry not, I always have extra weapons on me, just in case. I only have two options, so Rainbow will get one, and Applejack the other. You can choose tomorrow. Tonight, you should get some rest, I hope to have you trained in two days time. Goodnight, and sleep well. We rise at dawn."
"Excuse me? You said you only have two options for weapons. If I'm getting this training as well, what will I fight with?" You turned and saw Twilight looking at you inquisitively.
"I'm going to teach you how to cast destruction magic." To emphasize this, you summoned a fireball in your hand. "Prepare yourselves ponies, we have work to do come sunrise."
Author's Note
Well, here it is! Finally got this one cranked out. I feel a bit iffy about some of it, like the ending, but meh. Let me know If i should change it a bit or add more or something.
Next chapter have training in the form of a parody song!
(notice: parody song will not be the entire chapter, just a portion.)
Let's hear it for our favorite Chinese Captain- Li Shang!!!!
Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter Eight: Training Pt. 1
Chapter 8
You woke with the sun, cracking your eyes open as the celestial body made it's light known to the world yet again. You groaned slightly and sat up, stretching and yawning as your muscles woke themselves one by one. You exited out of your makeshift tent, and looked around at the area you and your companions decided to settle in last night. There was a decent amount of trees, but it was far from overgrown, and there was many areas of empty field.
Perfect
You got straight to work, setting up obstacle courses, designating trees for either climbing or fighting dummies. After about an hour, a good amount of the work was done, and you could hear stirring coming from the camp area. You made your way back to see that Twilight had awoken, and was cooking breakfast over the now re-kindled fire. She looked up upon hearing you approach, and gave a faint smile.
"Good morning J'Dagna. Sleep well?" She went back to cooking, and you walked over and took a seat on the other side of the fire.
"I hardly ever sleep well anymore," you responded. "It is far from a burden, but still it has a fair impact on my physical health. To say nothing of my mental, what with all of the nightmares." You sighed heavily. Though you wouldn't trade your life for all the gold in Cyrodil, there were many things that still haunted you till this day. Most of them likely would till you passed to the winds as nothing more than dust, or ash.
"Nightmares? Of what? I-if you don't mind my asking, that is." She was scared of you, you could tell. Despite all that had happened, she still feared what you might do, should she incur your wrath. Though that was unlikely to happen.
"I do not mind your inquiring, Twilight." She seemed to relax a bit, and looked up from her cooking to listen. "I do not, however, wish to share any great details of their nature or cause. Though I suppose a vague explanation is in order. I have told you of my homeland, Elswyr, and of Skyrim, correct?" She nodded. "Well, then you know my world is a dangerous one, and many things happen that should have otherwise been prevented. Twilight, I have done many things that I regret, and there are many things that I regret not doing. I am constantly troubled by the events of my past, and I sometimes wonder, if some things had gone differently, would I still even be hunting dragons?" You gave a small sigh, thinking back on all you had done. The bandit raids, the war, all of the people you had slain under the Dark Brotherhood. Though some deserving, many were only trying to make it in the world, or protect their homes, or had made some small mistake to anger another. But the two things you regretted most of all was killing Paarthurnax to sate the blind rage of the Blades, and not being there when...
....
GAH! You couldn't even bring yourself to remember it! So horrified were you with the events of that day that your mind had shut it out, preventing you from thinking about it for too long. It pained you to not have the nerve to bring the memories back from the depths of your mind. You were married to her for Mara's sake! If you could not remember the day she died then did you even love her!? Did you?
_____
Outside, Twilight had finished cooking breakfast, and was about to rouse the others. She looked towards J'dagna, and noticed a tear moving slowly through his fur. She moved closer, and sat beside him, a look of worry on her face.
"J'Dagna? Are you... are you okay?" He did not respond, and only kept staring at the ground. A tear fell from his chin, splashing silently on the ground below. She tentatively put a hoof on his shoulder. "J'Dagna, what wrong?" At this, he picked his head up slightly, and turned to look at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Twilight, have you... have you ever loved someone?"
"Well of course, all of my friends and-"
"You miss-understand. Have you ever had feelings for another pony?"
Twilight was taken aback at his question. It was a strange one coming from such a seemingly hard creature, and it was also something she had never even thought about very hard. She stopped, and decided now to be a good a time as any to determine this for herself, so as to better help her friend.
_____
You gazed at the purple mare, awaiting her response. You opted to let her take her time, as this was likely a touchy subject for her. Heh, as if it wasn't for you as well. You waited for her to speak. The tension was palpable, and it seemed to be coming to a head.
"I... I don't know. I mean, what do I even look for in a... mate. Should they be strong and protective, or delicate and caring? Handsome, smart, or funny? I'm just not sure. What would being in love feel like? I mean, there are some stallions in Ponyville and I think 'Well maybe' but I just don't know." You smiled at her answer, and laughed a bit. She looked up at you in confusion, "What?"
"My dear Twilight, you just answered your own question about love." She looked at you with confusion. You laughed a bit again, at her expression and at how the tables had turned. "You listed several different qualities, wondering which one a suitable lover should posses. Well, the answer is all of them. As for what it feels like, it is like no other feeling in the world." As you spoke, you thought back to your wife, thinking of all the good times you had had with her. Adventures, exploring, just sitting in the woods talking about nothing and everything. It brought a smile to your face, the first in a while when you thought of her. Your thoughts had always been of the day she died, but now, you remembered the good times. The times of joy and peace, love and kinship. It was pure bliss. "Love, Twilight, is the feeling that is coupled with all of the others, all at once. Happiness, joy, laughter, peace, pain, heartache, sorrow, anger, and regret. It is up and down, good and bad, wonderful and horrible all at once, and yet never at the same time. Sure these can be experienced with your friends, and you can love them, but you will only be IN love with one person throughout your entire life. When you find them, you will know who it is."
She sat in silence, drinking in your words. Then she smiled, a look of pure joy crossing her features. She looked up at you, and her smile grew wider. She leaned forward, arms moving around you, her face close to yours, and whispered, "Thank you." Then she gave you one of the most powerful hugs you had ever received. You were a bit shocked at first, but eventually returned the hug in full. You broke apart, and both of you stood.
"Well, I had better go wake the girls so they can eat. I'll be right back." She turned and trotted away towards the tents. She looked back and gave you a smile, then vanished into the trees. You stood there for a moment, thinking about what had transpired between you and Twilight. While it was hardly intimate, it was something you had never shared with anyone. It was a sort of connection. A strong bond of friendship and trust. You smiled again, a moved to finish setting up the training grounds.
_____
About thirty minutes later, Twilight and the ponies showed up. They were talking idly among themselves, but when they noticed you standing in front of them with your arms crossed over your chest, they grew silent. They sat in an arch in front of you, ready to listen to what you had to say.
"Ponies, up until this point, we have not known each other very well, with a few minor exceptions." You flashed a quick glance at Twilight. "Today, you will start your fist of two days of training. Day one, you will be put through your paces for endurance, strength, speed, and precision. I will work you hard and without mercy. You will all have had some degree of skill in some of these fields. Today, you master all of them."
"Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie please step forward. Fluttershy, Rarity, you may do as you please." The ponies you had requested to do so stepped forward, and Fluttershy and Rarity moved to sit on a nearby log and watch.
You turned and pulled some weapons off of a rack. For Rainbow, you had two Ebony daggers. For Applejack, and large Dwarven war hammer. For Twilight, a few spell books and a staff of firestorm. And for Pinkie, an Elvish sword.
"So, awesome!" "Yes they are, but be careful," you warned
"This is a might heavy." "You will get used to it."
"Fascinating." You gave a small nod.
"No need, I've got my own!" You looked at Pinkie with confusion. She smiled big and gave a laugh. Then, from seemingly nowhere she pulled out a large blue canon. You were about to ask how and why, but decided against it. You merely shrugged, placing the sword back on the rack.
You moved to a chest filled with some armor you had modified to fit the ponies. For Rainbow, leather. Applejack got Steel. Twilight was given an enchanted circlet and some robes and boots. And Pinkie was given studded armor with an iron helm.
"This is cool, but shouldn't it be... stronger?" "You will be able to fly faster in lighter armor," you replied.
"This is still pretty heavy, and it'll slow me down." "You are our powerhouse. I'll explain what that is in a moment."
"Are these enchanted?! Amazing!" You smiled, "Glad you like them."
"Just like the cover of the game!" Again you looked at Pinkie with confusion. Something told you that she was the spawn of Sheogorath. You just sighed and watched as the ponies put on their armor. They all looked combat ready, but looks were far from everything.
"Ponies, I have given you these weapons and armor now so that you may acclimate yourselves to their weight and presence. You will train, eat, sleep, and use the restroom in this armor. You will not remove it unless I say so. When your training is complete, you will keep your armor, and be responsible for it's upkeep. If you lose it, then Akatosh help you. Now then, a few things before we begin. All of you have a role to play in this quest. Rainbow Dash, you are our scout and fast hitter. It is your job to let us know what sort of fight we are facing, and to preform hit and run attacks on specific weak points on a dragon. Applejack, you are our powerhouse. You move slow, but hit hard and are able to take a lot of punishment so we don't have to. Twilight and Pinkie Pie, you are support. You deal the majority of the damage, and bring our foe down as quickly as possible. And Twilight, if you know any healing spells, take care of that as well. Now I will be doing all three, and acting as the leader and coordinator during a fight. Understand?" They all nodded, and brought their weapons to bear, though a little clumsily.
"Good. Now then, let's get down to business."
Author's Note
I realize that the whole 'feels' scene in the middle wasn't very in tune with the title of this chapter, but it seemed to just sort of happen, and I decided to go for it. So anyways, I realize I didn't put in the song I promised, but that's why that little 'Pt. 1' thing is there.
That brings me to my next point, and first question: Should I sing it? I have the ability to record it, and I'm a pretty good singer. The only downside is is that I wouldn't be able to put in any music, it would just be my voice. So what do you guys think about that huh?
Anyways, sorry this chapter took forever, I get sidetracked, and swamped by schoolwork all at the same time. Thanks for reading!
Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter Nine: Training Pt. 2
Chapter 9
"C'mon you four! I know you can do better than this! Twilight, focus fire! Keep a steady flow of spells, and don't think. Feel what needs to be cast and just DO. Applejack, swing the hammer from side-to-side and use the momentum for follow-through attacks! Rainbow! I said hit-and-run! MOVE! Pinkie! I- what in the name of Uriel Septim are you doing?"
"I'm leveling up silly!" The pink mare returned to staring at the sky, an inquiring look on her face. "Hmm... now let's see... should I get 'big blast' for my cannon, or 'detect dragon' for my Pinkie-sense?" You just blinked a few times in confusion, and went back to training the others.
They were all doing rather well, and you were genuinely impressed by their progress over the last few hours. Though they weren't accustomed to this lifestyle yet, and it was nearing noon. Twilight had learned the spells you had given her, flames and ice-spike, with relative ease. She had been practicing them all day, and had them nearly mastered. Applejack seemed to have gotten used to the weight of her weapon and armor, though she was still very slow on her follow-up attacks. Rainbow was being brash and staying too close to her target for far too long, but was at least agile and was able to use the knives to great effect. Pinkie was being Pinkie, and Rarity and Fluttershy were cheering them all on from their log. You could tell they were all tired and hungry... save Pinkie Pie anyways.
"Alright everyone," you cried out, gaining their attention. "Why don't you all take a break and get some lunch while I make reparations to the training grounds." They all gave an audible sigh of relief, and started working their way back to the camp. They were all talking about something, likely the training, but you weren't really listening. You started to walk over to the training dummies to inspect their condition.
The ones Twilight were working over had been scorched, frozen, and any combination therein. Pinkie's were covered in confetti and frosting. Frosting that seemed to be eating through the iron armor you had placed on them... What in the world? You leaned in a took a brief whiff of the 'frosting' to find that it smelled of acid. By the nine, where is that creature from? You just shook your head dejectedly and moved on. Applejack's dummies were crushed rather well, though it was a bit scattered. Not that it mattered, she was meant to be taking hits, not dealing them out. Rainbow seemed to get the idea though, and had gone for chinks and weak spots on the armor. She knew she wouldn't get through it, but she could get around it with great ease, and effect.
You smiled, they seemed to be doing well, and only a few more hours of training would be required before they were ready to go out and fight without being killed. You cast a few spells of your own and brought everything back to the way it had been this morning, and while this nearly depleted your mana stores, it was nothing a few potions couldn't fix. You nodded at the field, and moved back to the camp after the others, your stomach groaning in protest.
__________
As you neared the camp, you once again picked out the sounds of talking and laughter. You could see a small column of smoke through the trees, from the cooking fire no doubt, and made your way towards it. Pushing some foliage out of the way, you made it to the small clearing that the camp was set up in, seeing all but Rarity sitting on logs around the fire, the posh mare on a velvet pillow instead. You chuckled lightly to yourself and walked over, sitting beside Twilight.
"-an' Ah tolled Big Mac 'Brother, iffin' you ever do that again, Ah'm gonna kick your flank all the way back to Appaloosa to apologize to Breaburn yerself!'" The girls bust out in riotous laughter at the closing of Applejack's joke. You even smiled yourself at the mental image it gave you. While you had never actually seen her brother, Applejack had described him to you, so you got a rough idea of what that would look like.
"Oh, hey J'Dagna," Twilight said, noticing you beside her. "Got the course fixed already?"
"I do," you nodded. "I know a bit of powerful magic myself Twilight, at least by my world's standards. I see you use telekinesis all the time. But that's besides the point," you turned to the rest as you spoke. "I took a look at all of your training dummies, and I must say I'm quite impressed. Especially with you Rainbow Dash, I had not figured you'd able to figure out to go for weak spots on your own."
"Tha- hey wait a minute!"
"Twilight, you seemed to have my spells mastered, and you are using them to very good effect. Applejack, you have a good feel for your weapon, and while aiming for the head and similar weak spots wouldn't hurt our fights, it is not necessary. Pinkie, I... whatever you're doing, keep doing it. Aim for the eyes." She gave a crisp salute while the others simply nodded. Twilight's eyes shone a bit at your praise, but nothing more.
"Now then, let's eat and then get back to training. We still have seven hours till nightfall."
__________
You and the ponies reentered the training grounds, the four fighters returning to their spots while Rarity and Fluttershy once again sat off to the side. Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie all turned to look at you, awaiting your order to begin.
"Alright ponies," you yelled. You thought for a moment... it had been a long time since the bard's college, but maybe you still had it in you. You cleared your throat and began singing a reiteration of Matthew Wilder and David Zippel's 'Make a Man Out of You'.
Let's get down to business, To defeat, dragons. Keep your wits about you, and the war, is won.
You don't look like much but never fret, 'Cuz you can bet, before we're through Ponies I'll, make a Dov, out of you.
Care ful of their fire, YOL! Be prepared, for all You will not be ready, T'ill you give, your all.
You're a joke, a weak, pathetic lot, and you haven't got a clue Somehow I'll, make a Dov, out of you
My magic needs a rest Gotta swing this hammer harder I've gotta go much faster if I'm gonna win He's got these dears half worked to death I really hope he won't need me I'm really glad that I know how to swim!
Be a Dov, You must be smart as a Sigic Mage Be a Dov, With all the strength of the mighty Talos Be a Dov, Have the speed of the Whirlwind Fury And be as great as the one who taught you so!
Dragons racing towards us, You must fight, or die If you heed my warnings, then you might, survive.
You are ready for, the dragon war, So pack up, we march at dawn I think I've made a Dov, out of you. RO DAH!
The ponies were all panting heavily from the days training, but as you watched them surge on, you knew they were ready. As you looked on, preparing to call a halt to training, Rarity trotted up besides you. You looked down to her as she spoke.
"That was... quite the song J'Dagna. I had no idea you knew how to sing so beautifully." She smiled up at you, and you returned it in full.
"Well thank you. i assure you, there are a great many thing that I can do that would surprise you. And a great many more that you wouldn't think possible by any."
"Well I should hope we get to see some of those grand feats then." Your smile broadened, and you gave her a soft wink.
"We shall see Rarity, we shall see." You turned back to the training ponies, and called for them to stop. They once again sighed in relief, and a few of them even collapsed on the ground. Well, all of them really. You laughed aloud, and made your way over to inspect the damage.
As you surveyed the training dummies once again, a broad smile reappeared on your features. They had done beautifully, and they would be more than capable of handling themselves in a fight. You looked at their forms slumped on the ground, and gave soft chuckle. Well, a short one anyway.
Author's Note
I took forever again! Yay! Though I think by now you guys expect it, and I do apologize for that. But I do promise that once I start work on my flagship, I will work on it as much as i can, likely bringing weekly updates.
Also, I would like to once again say sorry about the lack of me singing, but hopefully you guys won't mind that too much. At least the song is still there right? Anyways, if you are unaware of what the 'flagship' is, check my blog for details. It'll be the second one.
So, yeah. Thoughts on the song everyone? I hoped you liked it, if not then it's no big deal. Not that great anyways. So uh... *ahem*. Dragon fights coming soon!
Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter Ten: Delicious Fish
Chapter 10
After you had finished 'training' the ponies, as it was really just to get them to a point of moderate hope for survival, you led them back to the camp for dinner. Though, with what you were used to eating, it could hardly be called as such. Grilled vegetables, steamed vegetables, and raw vegetables and fruits. Wonderful. It's not like you were complaining, you've made due on far less, but would it kill them to have some fried salmon? Actually, given that they were herbivores, it just might. But all of this was besides the point, as the real concern was how well they had done in training.
"Alright everyo- er, everypony, listen up." You spoke with a tone of mock anger and disappointment, attempting to build to one of your favorite types of jokes. They all turned to you, some with looks of confusion, others with mild fear. "I took a look at what each and every one of you did out there today, and I must admit myself..." Pause for dramatic effect, "Highly pleased with how well you did! Not only did you show considerable levels of proficiency with your particular weapons, but you did so with only two days of training. I do believe you ready to take on a few dragons."
Their previous faces of confusion melted away, some turning to annoyance, others to laughter in the case of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie. You figured they would be able to appreciate you joke. They seemed like the ones who enjoyed pulling a few themselves every now and again. You joined in laughter with them, but quieted down when Twilight spoke up.
"Well J'Dagna, I'm glad you think us ready, but are you sure? I mean we have only been training for two days, and I highly doubt we're prepared to fight against dragons for our lives."
"I'm sure Twilight," you responded, a small smile on your face. "Though it would be in your best interest to remember, I didn't train you so you could go rushing in with me, taking on several dragons at once alone. I trained you that, through your combined efforts, you might be able to hold your own should one of them attack you instead of me."
"Wait a minute!" Rainbow Dash... of course she would object. "You mean to tell me you trained just in case we might have to fight some dragons? I was looking forward to kicking some scaled butt!"
"That is what I'm telling you Rainbow. Believe me when I say, a dragon is far tougher than you are. You alone could not defeat one, not without great injury, and a great deal of luck."
"A dragon, tougher than me? Psh, yeah right. I bet I could take one. I mean, how hard could it be?"
"Believe me when I tell you, you don't want to find out. They breath fire hot enough to melt iron, with claws like razors, and scales thick enough to turn even the mightiest of blows. Trust me on this one Rainbow Dash, and try to look past your own veil of boasting. Fighting a dragon by yourself will do nothing but get you killed." She just stared at you after that, hovering in the air, trying to decide what to say. Finally, she settled for simply sitting down and finishing her food. You looked to the rest of them seated around the camp fire. "The same goes for all of you. Do not try to fight a dragon alone. I don't want to have to tell your princesses that I am only returning with five ponies because the sixth was eaten, squashed, or burned."
The fear in their eyes told you that you had perhaps gone a bit too far, but you didn't really care. They needed to hear the truth, no matter how gruesome it may be. Perhaps their fear would keep them alive. That was a good a chance as any, you decided, and it was far better than no chance at all.
"Hurry and finish your meals, and rest up. We leave for the mountains in the morning."
__________
Once again you rose with the sun, accustomed to being able to sleep for the exact amount of time you felt necessary. At least down to the hour anyways. Half or quarter-hour resting periods seemed to elude you for one reason or another, but that was of no consequence. Today you and your entourage were to set out for the mountains in hopes of finding Alduin. I still can't believe he still lives... and I find him here no less. You sighed inwardly and rose from your makeshift bed. That bed being a particularly comfortable patch of leaves on the ground. An uncomfortable sleep was better than no sleep however, and you felt better for having gotten some rest. You stood fully now and stretched, a series of loud pops emanating from your back, neck, and shoulders. Today was going to be tiring if nothing else.
You began to get your belongings gathered as you waited for the ponies to awaken. Hopefully they didn't sleep for much longer, as you were ready to get moving. If push came to shove you could always wake them yourself, but letting them sleep for as long as they could would be better for everyone. After you finished getting your things together, which didn't take long, as you don't have much you keep with you, you decided now would be a good time for breakfast. You looked around and noted that all the ponies were still sleeping peacefully, and the fire was still smoldering. After only a moments thought, the fire was re-lit with a fireball from your hand, and a salmon steak was pulled from your bag and thrown on the fire. Hopefully the smell wouldn't wake the ponies, but even if it did you reckoned you could talk your way out of the situation. You sat down and began tending to your food, shifting it this way, moving it that with your emergency ebony dagger. A quick flip and the process was repeated. The fish was nearly done when the pony who was likely to be the least understanding yawns, and sits up. Fluttershy.
She gets on all fours, slowly and drunkenly walks over, sits next to you, and looks at you with nearly closed eyes. her nose crinkles, she looks at the fire and your breakfast, and you can't help but follow her gaze. Noticing the food is done, you pull it off the fire and set it on a wooden plate you keep with you. Not having a fork or anything, you settle for cutting the steaming fish with your dagger, and using your claws as a fork. You bring the amazing looking (and smelling) fish to your watering mouth to take a bite. just before your jaws close on the salmon however, Fluttershy mumbles something to you.
"Misser J'Dagna.. was- *yawn* wassat?" You lower your meal and look at her. Alright... play it off like it's nothing.
"My breakfast. I awoke early and got packed, so I figured I would eat." Please don't press the issue, PLEASE don't press the issue...
"Smells mgood... can have some?" You can tell she has no clue as to what's going on. She may even be sleepwalking.
"Uh... I'm not so sure that's the best-"
"Aw c'mon. Jus a wittle bite? I swear I wun't ask fer *yawn* any more." Even in this non-cognitive state, she still manages to give you a face you can't say no to, regardless of the no-doubt catastrophic consequences that will come from feeding a pony fish. You relent, against your better judgement, and cut off a small portion of the fish for her. Every part of your brain is screaming at you to stop, but you can't help it. You give her the small bit of fish, and watch as she eats it, making a cute little *om* noise as she does so. She chews happily, completely oblivious to what she's just eaten.
"Thanks misser J'Dagna. Was good... what issit?" Oh no... this is bad.
"Um... fish." No! You idiot, you weren't supposed to tell her that! Bad mouth!
"Oh. Sgood. Y'know I've some little fishies in my pond back home. I didn't know hey were so... good... wait." Oh dear... she's waking up. You can see the realization dawn on her face. By the nine... what have I done?
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH-
*Please stand by, your irregularly scheduled chapter of Dragon Cleansing will return in a moment. Thank you for your patience.*
"Fluttershy I'm sorry! You... you made this face and I couldn't stop myself and I'm so so sorry. Please stop crying. I don't want to cry too... please just... I'll uh, I'll make it up to you! Somehow..." You were trying your best to comfort her. She was curled in a ball next to the fire, crying so loudly that it almost hurt you sensitive ears. This, in turn, made you start to tear up. Imagine, all your years and everything you've encountered and it's a crying yellow pegasus that finally turns on your waterworks. Though this wasn't even the main issue, it was the fact that her scream had woken up all the other ponies, who were now rushing over to investigate. Twilight got to you first, and before she could ask any questions, she saw the plate of fish and had already begun to piece together what the problem was.
"Oh no... Fluttershy. It's okay, shh. You knew J'Dagna was a carnivore. You feed some of your animals at home meat, why is this any different?" Well... maybe she didn't figure out the WHOLE thing. Regardless, Fluttershy wasn't talking, so you had to.
"Um... Twilight?" She looked over at you, nothing but concern on her face. "Can we talk... i-in private? Please?" Confusion now. She simply nods, and you lead her away a bit to be out of earshot of the others.
"J'dagna, listen, you don't need to feel guilty or anything. I honestly have no idea why this is getting to her so badly. Like I said, she-"
"I know what the real issue is." She stops and looks at you, confused yet again.
"Um... what real issue?"
"Well.. she was asleep, sort of. She came over to me and asked what I was doing. I told her I was eating breakfast, and she asked if she could try some. I tried to resist at first but... that face. Those eyes. I couldn't stop myself." The confusion remained.
"What are you talking abou-oh. Oh no. Oh no no no nononononononononono! What were you... how did... why would you... GAH!"
"I'm so sorry! Like I said she made this face and before I could even consider trying to think about stopping myself she had already eaten some and then I told her what it was without thinking and she woke up and she realized what just happened and then she screamed and then you came out and now we're here and I'm so sorry-y-y!!!"
"I... look, it was clearly an accident, so let's try and move past this. I'll forgive you, but it's Fluttershy who you really need to talk to. You didn't give her much did you?"
"No, just a small piece. I don't suppose her liking it helps at all does it?" You only got a glare in response.
"No. It doesn't. Now go over there and explain things to her. I have to let the girls know what happened and try to keep Rainbow from killing you. Those two may as well be sisters they way Dash takes care of her. Or maybe it's something more, but that's not important right now. What IS important is that Flutters gets talked to. By you. try not to make her cry again." You merely nod, and head back to camp, Twilight right behind you.
"Girls," at Twilights voice, the other four ponies turned and looked at her, then you, then back to her. " Come with me. J'Dagna needs to speak to Fluttershy, and I need to speak with you. Rainbow, hear me out till the end, got it?"
"Uh... sure thing Twi, but whats going on?" Twilight remained silent, and just walked back to where you and her just talked. The four mares trot past you, and you walk over to Fluttershy. You kneel down beside her, and lightly pet her head. Why? Because it just feels right.
"Listen, Fluttershy, I-"
"Are they gone?" She interrupts you, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Sorry?"
"My friends... are they gone?"
"Um... yes. Why?" She gets up and sighs in... relief? What in the name of Akatosh...
"Oh good. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep that fake crying routine up. Listen, you can't tell any of them that this is how this conversation went, okay? They can't know that I actually really LOVE eating fish. I keep it a secret because it would just break their hearts, and I am the element of kindness after all. So... wanna split the rest?" What. The. Fu-
"HE DID WHAT?!" That'll be Rainbow Dash. You turn around, only to have your face be met with a blue hoof traveling close to the speed of sound. Of course, you black out. Wouldn't be the first time. You just hope this time you don't wake up in a shed in the middle of nowhere with the lives of three people in your hands. That one time was enough.
Author's Note
So... that was... something. I'm not entirely sure where I went wrong here, but it all felt so... right. Please forgive me, and I hope you can all get a good laugh from this. I know I sure as heck did. But yeah, they'll ACTUALLY head out in the next chapter, after J'Dagna, you, come to. Rainbow can really pack a punch huh? I hope 'your' face starts feeling better soon. Wouldn't want a black eye while 'you're' fighting dragons now would we?
Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter Twelve: Crazy Incarnate
Chapter 12
After defeating the hopefully rare diamond skin dragon, you and the ponies headed back to your camp to rest up until noon. Applejack removed most of her armor, but left the breastplate on. When asked about it, she simply said it felt natural. She was now in her tent, taking a much needed rest. Twilight had been sitting with Fluttershy, who was very much worse for wear, but seemed would make it. The lavender mare had applied several spells and salves, some to ease the pain, some to help with healing. You offered your own healing magic, but Twilight was unsure how your magic would clash with the magic of their world, so she advised against it. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were busy talking about the fight while Rarity made some repairs to Dash's armor. You informed her that you were more than capable of completing the task, but she insisted. Something about it being her duty as a seamstress.
And so there you sat, merely watching the ponies as they worked through their various tasks. You hefted one of the dragon bone axes up to hold in front of you, looking it over. You had already sharpened them to some degree using a stone you always carried with you, should it be a while before the next grindstone came up. It had saved your life more than once. If only there was an enchantment table somewhere. You could make them truly devastating. Sadly it seemed, sharp would have to be enough.
"Hey, J'dagna, how are you feeling?" Twilight had apparently finished tending to Fluttershy, and had come over to check on you. It seemed the blood stain on your armor hadn't gone unnoticed. You had been healing the wound in your shoulder yourself over the past few hours, but your magical ability wasn't the best, and potions only went so far. While the wound wasn't nearly as gruesome and deep as it had been, it was still quite painful. You gave your shoulder a roll, and winced as the muscle caught in an awkward position. You brought up your healing spell and placed its golden light over the wound.
"I will be fine Twilight, you needn't worry about me. I've had far worse wounds than this. Heh, I remember the first Dremora I fought, almost lost my arm." In truth, you actually HAD lost your arm, but due to the clean cut, a 'Fus Ro Da' of the demon off a cliff, and a VERY long hike back to the College of Winterhold, you managed to get it re-attached, courtesy of Colette.
"Oh my, that sounds quite awful. Though... I'm not sure what a Dremora is. Is it some sort of monster in your world?" She moved and sat down beside you, interested in the opportunity to learn more about your home.
"Yes, one could say that, though they aren't monsters in the sense that they are mindless creatures. Dremora are quite clever, and one of the most dangerous things one could have the misfortune of facing. They come from a plain of existence known as Oblivion, though you may refer to it as Hell. It is a realm of pain and blood. Not one to be traveled lightly. Though, there was this hero, several centuries before I was even born, who charged headlong into the depths of Oblivion to fight the Dremora, and seal off the gates between our world and theirs. His quest saved all of Tamriel from an onslaught of terrors that would have likely destroyed our world. I suppose I am like him in some regards. Fighting insurmountable odds for the sake of life as we know it. But enough of that, you asked about the Dremora. Well, they are humanoid in form..." You went on to explain in great detail just what a Dremora was, what they looked like, and so on. This then lead to a wider spectrum covering what the Daedra are, and further on to the Daedric princes. When Sheogorath came up, Twilight made an observation.
"This... Sheagroth guy sounds a lot like Discord." She placed a hoof on her chin in thought.
"Discord... yes, I suppose that would be the most appropriate word to describe him. He is very discorded. In fact, it was an artifact of his creation that wound me up in your world."
"No no, Discord. Proper noun here. He's the spiritual embodiment of chaos and disharmony. He's a draconequus, and he's been a constant thorn in our side since the dawn of time. Celestia won't admit it, but she has a thing for him. My step-sister told me so." She gave a soft chuckle at the thought. "Y'know, he really isn't all that bad, and I think he and the Princess would make a cute couple. Not that I have much experience in the matter."
"Hmmm, indeed you don't, my dear Twilight, though I'm flattered you would thing so highly of a relationship between myself and dear Princess Celestia." Suddenly, a long... thing appeared in the air. Though, judging by it's appearance, the words it spoke, and it's seemingly very high levels of power, (something in the range of 9,000+ if you had to put a number on it), this was the topic of you and Twilight's conversation...
"Discord! What are you doing here? And uh... how much um.... how much did you hear?" Twilight, at first very aggressive, suddenly became more like Fluttershy when it dawned on her what exactly Discord had said, and the statements she had made prior.
"Oh, not much... just that you think me and 'ol Sunbutt would make a, ah... 'cute couple' I believe were your exact words? And it's nice to know that after all we've been through, you don't think I'm all that bad after all. Oh, and hello everypony! So nice to see you all. Especially you dear Fluttershy. Although, you do seem a bit worse for wear... it wouldn't happen to be HIS fault, would it?" As he spoke those words, you suddenly felt yourself lifted up off the ground, and unable to breathe. Discord turned to you, a hateful glare in his eye. He spoke to you, words dripping with malice, but not loud enough for the others to hear. "So help me, if you've hurt dear Fluttershy I'll burn you to cinders, and scatter the ashes across the plains of Tartarus."
"Woah there Discord, take it easy on our new friend here. He saved Fluttershy's life. Shoot, he saved all our lives I'd reckon." Applejack, the first of the other mares to recover from the shock of Discord's sudden appearance, came to your rescue. There was a solid thud as you slammed into the ground face first, discord raising you up again, this time by your shoulders.
"Well now, is that so? I suppose my thanks are in order then. And perhaps i can return the favor somehow Mr.....?"
"J'Dagna. I am a Khajiit, and no, I am not from your world." You dusted yourself off as Discord placed you gently back on the ground, a slight chuckle rising from him as you finished speaking.
"Well of COURSE you aren't from our world, what do you think I am a fool? No, Khajiit hail from Elsweyr. Although you... you smell of ale and nord. You've been living in Skyrim for some time haven't you? Several years at least. And... AH! You've met my brother! Well, half brother really. Mommy did get around... hmm. Tell me, how is dear Rathy these days? Still mad as a hatter?" You stood there, completely dumbfounded. How could this creature know so much about you? About your world? It made no sense. Though, he did say something about his brother. Rathy? No...
"Your brother is Sheogorath?" A massive sign appeared above your head with bright, flashing lights surrounding it. It said 'Winner!" in the middle, with an arrow pointing to you.
"Bingo! Who else could be my brother but the Daedric Prince of Madness himself! Really, I am so proud of him. He's the reason I became a spirit of chaos you know. I wanted to be just like Big Brother Rathy when I was growing up. Naturally I had to select a realm in which to stake myself, and it just so happened this one was being formed as I was in the final stages of my youth. Ah, good times." Discord manifested a large velvet chair into existence, and took a seat, smoking a bubble pipe as he got comfortable. He snapped his claw, and a feast appeared in the center of the camp, along with a small table of medical supplies. You cracked a grin as you looked across the food... MEAT. Real, true MEAT. And it was all yours, or so you would assume anyway. You looked at Discord, your expression growing serious.
"Why?" You walked over to the spirit of chaos. He looked at you, confusion on his face.
"Why? Why what? Oh, I presume you mean my generosity. Well, unlike my dear older brother, I'm actually quite a kind fellow, or at least... I am now. That's dear Fluttershy's doing, she's rubbed off on me after all these months." He smiled, a little halo appearing above his head as he bat his eyelashes.
"Right... well I'm not really in the mindset that you'll be doing this for free, so what's in it for you? What do you want?" You gave Discord an accusatory stare, awaiting his demands.
"Want? Why, there's nothing I want dear... J'Dagna, was it? I'm simply helping out my friends, and seeing as you saved them, this is also my way of saying thanks. Consider it a... let's say a quest reward shall we? You know all about those I'm sure. Also, should there be anything else you need, simply ask and I'll do what I can." He pat you on the head, a soft chuckle escaping him. You gave his words a bit of thought, and decided that was reasonable enough. You supposed things worked differently here in this world.
"Although, now that you mention it..." or perhaps not. You turned to face him. "There's is something you can do for me, a promise of sorts. I need you to protect this ponies, with your life if you have to. I'll do my best to keep an eye on your travels, and interfere should I feel I need to. I'm quite busy however, and us immortal beings getting involved in the affairs of you mortals is frowned upon by the celestial higher ups. So there's not much I can do. So i need you to protect them J'Dagna. Keep them safe, and if at the end of all this, you're still alive, I'll send you back home, maybe even throw in a few bonus rewards. So ,what do you say? Will you do this for me?" You looked at the expression on the god's face, and instantly you knew that he was dead serious about this. There was no joke, no trick or trap at the end that would leave you blindsided and married to a hagraven. No, he was sincere in his request.
"I... yes, of course. I wouldn't dream of letting harm come to these ponies. If i can help it, they won't get a scratch... well, another scratch on them. You have my word Discord." He smiled down at you, and gave a sigh of relief.
"Well, that's good to hear. Now then let's eat, shall we? Before there's nothing left." You noticed the ponies had almost devoured everything the draconequus had conjured up for them. You chuckled a bit as AJ, Pinkie, and Dash stuffed their faces, looking like pigs compared to the time and effort Rarity was putting into eating her food. You smiled at the sight. It seemed like things were looking up for you. On the up and up as it were. Suddenly, Discord's words came back to your mind.
"Hey Discord, I have a favor to ask." He looked at you inquisitively, awaiting your request. "You said if there was anything else we needed, just ask. Any chance you know what a grind stone, a workbench, and an enchanting table are?" He only smiled and snapped his fingers yet again, the afore mentioned objects poofing into existence. You rubbed your hands together, ready to get to work. Just then a loud rumble emanated from your stomach. It seemed as though food would have to come first.
"Well everyone, my work here is done. I'll be off now, but please enjoy the food, and don't worry about cleaning up, it should all go away in a few hours. Oh and Fluttershy, I'll be in touch. Toodles!" And just like that he was gone. The ponies all went back to their meals, and you opted to join them. As you began to eat, you jumped into the conversation, adding your own jokes here and there, even telling a few of the more tame stories you had to offer, trying to keep everything PG. You smiled, finally feeling truly happy for the first time in a long time. Yeah, once this whole business was over, you were definitely going to retire. Live out the rest of your days in peace until you passed away, and got to see her again.
Author's Note
Alright everybody, here's chapter 12, hope you like it, and I'm pretty sure this had a smaller gap between the last one than the previous chapters. So perhaps I'm getting better at this. Anyways, Discord has arrived, and he brings all sorts of hijinks now, and later for sure. And at this point, I've sort of stopped worrying too much about characters being in cannon character. I'm not going to go off the wall or anything, more so display a side of their character that I think they hide in the show. If that makes sense...
Keep on keeping on!
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Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter Thirteen: Long Walks On the Mountain
Chapter 13
Another day come and gone, you and the ponies had laid yourselves to rest after finishing the vast table of food that Discord had left, and getting some more practice in with weapons. You had supervised for a while, the ponies opting to use trees as targets rather than spar with one another or do anything too reckless. Once they seemed to be in the groove, you went over to the item enhancement stations discord had left for you. The workbench was really just used to fix up your armor, with some good design input from Rarity. She suggested a few tweaks that both improved movement, and defense, all while shaving weight. You armor as a whole was probably a good ten pounds lighter now. You then sharpened your dragon bone axes, and got ready for enchanting them.
"Hmm... I could just do fire like always, but I've picked up a few more over the years. Perhaps a few of the more exotic options?" You thought it over for a bit, but ultimately decided to just do fire as always. "Not this time... best to stick with what works best." You pulled out a couple of soul gems, and threw a flame enchantment on your new axes. Now they were truly worthy of dragon slaying. Good thing it worked too, those were your last full soul gems. You'd have to make more if you wanted to enchant anything else. Of course, that would take... "Actually.... I wonder if..." You root around in your bag again for a few minutes, searching for a weapon that you rarely use. You like to keep it on hand though, because having a range advantage can come in handy. Plus, it's funny to watch skeletons basically explode when you shoot them. "Hrm... let's see..... Aha! There you are." You pull what you had been looking for from the depths of your infinite bag space. It sucks that weight still has an effect, but hey, you can't have it all. Out came the only bow you had ever bothered to use: an ebony bow with soul trap. You always kept a store of soul gems on you, so why not go out hunting, fill a few, and enchant everyone's gear while you were at it. Plus, it'd be nice to have a bit more meat around. You wouldn't tell the ponies of course, but what they wouldn't know...
"Hey, J'Dagna?"
"Gah!" You turned, finding Twilight behind you, concern on her face.
"Um... are you okay? I didn't mean to startle you."
"No.... no, I am fine. Did you need something?" You placed your now enchanted axes on your hips, and the bow was slung across your back. A quiver full of steel arrows joining it as you listened to Twilight.
"I did actually... a question. Well, more of an observation than a question... although, there IS a question involved. Of course, you're under no obligation to answer, but I'm just curious. Um... oh, how best to put this?"
"Twilight, you needn't worry about upsetting me, I'm hardly one to get his feelings hurt. Please, speak your mind." You knelt down to be eye level with her, and she gave a small sigh of anxiety.
'Well, the thing is... I've noticed that your fur is really light, almost white. Which, isn't really all that strange. But your canines, they shouldn't be as long as they are... plus, that wound from the other day is practically gone now. I know it sounds crazy, but I can't help but put two and two together. Are... are you... a vampony?" You blinked a few times, her words processing in your mind. A bead of nervous sweat rolled down Twilight's head. She was biting her bottom lip, shying away from you. Anxiety plastered across her face as she awaited your response with bated breath. Finally, you just laughed.
"Hahahaaa!!! Twilight, my dear pony..."
"Aw c'mon! It's not that crazy! I mean, you match up with the descriptions... save being allergic to sunlight anyways."
"Of COURSE I'm a vampire! I would have thought that to be obvious."
"Look, I know it doesn't... wait, what? You... you're actually a vampire?" Her face showed a bit of fear now. You understood. It never mattered how long or well somebody knew you, once it was out that you were a vampire, they were always afraid. You placed a comforting hand on Twilight's shoulder.
"Twilight, there is no cause for fear. Honestly now, if I had wanted to hurt you, do you not think I would have done it by now? Besides, I've never really USED my vampiric powers. Not the blood drinky ones anyways. I do have this really cool ability to shapeshift into a vampire lord. Perhaps you will get to see it, but I use it very rarely." She nodded, understanding that you weren't a threat. Then, as expected, she shifted into full scholar mode. She even pulled out a notepad and quill.
"Okay, so how are you not killed by sunlight? Are vampires not actually allergic to it? And what was it like? Being bitten? Were you scared? Oh, and what happens when-" You placed your hand over her mouth, stopping her barrage of questions. You chuckled a bit at her inquisitive nature. Once again she reminded you of... well, that was in the past now.
"Slow down pony, I will answer your questions, just one at a time. As for your first few: Yes, we are allergic to sunlight, but it does not kill us. It just makes us incapable of regenerating. I have a few items to counteract this. As for what it was like being bitten... I was not scared. Unlike most, I chose to become a vampire." Her eyes grew wide, and she began writing down notes.
"Okay, but what did it feel like? And... why did you choose to become a vampire? Aren't they hated and feared?"
"Of course we are. The turning process felt very painful. First there wasn't much of anything, just the sting of fangs. But then, the wound started to itch, then burn. Suddenly, it was like my entire body was aflame. My blood boiling, I doubled over in agony, and then blacked out. I awoke several days later, a fully fledged vampire." You really hoped she just moved on, choosing to take your ignoring that other question as not wanting to answer it.
"I see, that's all such good info. We know so little about vampires here. Or, vamponies as we call them. The night guard is made up entirely of vamponies, but their abilities are kept secret within their own ranks. And they don't really talk. But, you didn't tell me why you wanted to become a vampire. Surely you had a reason?" There it was again. That question you didn't want to answer. Not because you didn't want Twilight to know, but because it was too hard to talk about her.
"Look, Twilight... if it's all the same, I'd rather not get into that. It... it's a long story. Please, can we move on?" She thought for a few minutes. For a moment you thought she was going to press the issue, but in the end she just dropped it. She did move on however. A lot. For the next several hours you were assaulted with question after question about what it was like to be a vampire. You answered every one to the best of your ability, but in truth it really didn't affect your day to day much. You were just a white furred Khajiit instead of dark gray. With fangs. And immortality. No big deal really. Twilight did offer a word of caution however: don't let the other mares discover your vampirism. Especially Applejack. When you inquired further, Twilight simply said that 'It wouldn't end well'.
The end of the day drew near, and you informed all of the ponies during dinner that night that you would all be setting out early in the morning. It was imperative that your group pressed on into the mountains tomorrow. You needed to find more information on the whereabouts of Alduin and the dragons. Starting with no real leads, the mountains seemed to be your best bet. You just hoped they wouldn't turn out to be a bust.
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You rose slowly in your bedroll, the morning sun pulling you from your sleep. You rolled your shoulder, checking the progress of your healing. Still a ways to go. Externally, there was little more than a scar, but the bone and muscle inside were still rather messed up. You could tell that your shoulder blade was fractured badly, but it was still holding together at least. It was unfortunate that it it was wood that had made the wound, and not steel. The healing would take longer because of that. No matter, you'd be back to maximum in a couple more days. You downed a healing potion, and exited your tent.
It had been two days now since you and the ponies had left the safety of the forest and entered the mountains. You hadn't run across any dragons yet, but the signs were evident of their presence. Huge claw marks in the rocks, blackened cliff faces, even several scales lying about. Likely from fights. Rainbow Dash had found a tooth while she was out ahead, scouting the best route, and now wore it proudly as a necklace. You told her if she could find some more, you'd make her a new set of daggers with them.
You went and sat by the still-lit fire from last night, the embers producing a fair amount of smoke that rose into the sky. You gazed up at the black column, and watched as the wind blew it gently to the north-east as it rose into the sky. It could probably be seen for several miles around. Something in the back of your mind bothered you as you stared at the smoke, but you couldn't quite place it. Suddenly, a roar broke you out of you daydreaming. A very close roar. It was quickly joined by another, this one from a different direction. Then a third, and a fourth. What? How did they... your head slowly swiveled to look at the column of smoke. Stupid.
"Ponies! Rouse yourselves, quickly! Trouble on the horizon!" You really needed to quit waking up to dragon attacks.
Author's Note
Yep, I'm still alive. And double yep, I'm still super slow. I'm sorry blah blah. You know the routine. How long has it been this time? 6, 7 months? I don't even know. But, new chapter, and a little something to brighten your Monday. Lot's of action and fighty bits to come in the next chapter... whenever I get around to it. Honestly I only work on this stuff when I'm in the right mood. As you can tell, that isn't often. Take care, and try not to hate me too much!
-Duvagr007
Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter Fourteen: Never Tell Me The Odds
Chapter 14
You snuffed out the smoldering fire with a quick burst of frost magic, putting an end to the beacon of smoke that had already brought at least four dragons down on your head. Pulling your axes from your belt, your gaze tuned skyward to scan for the beasts rapidly bearing down on your camp. You spotted the first one to the north. That one was nearly upon you. The second and third could be seen to the east and southeast, with the final dragon coming from the west. That last one was little more than a spec, so you would have some time to kill the first three before it showed up. Unfortunately, killing two dragons at once was a tall order, not to mention a third and fourth. Of course, normally it was just you and one other companion. Now you had four. Speaking of, your shouting had roused your party, and Twilight and Pinkie Pie were both ready to go. Rainbow was done with her gear, but she was currently busy helping Applejack with her own. So, three versus one? Not too bad, maybe you could get down North before East and Southeast showed up. On that note...
A loud roar broke the silence as North flew overhead, blasting fire at you and the ponies. It's copper hide reflected the morning sun, causing you to have to squint to keep from blinding yourself as you tracked it's movements. It flew a tight circle and landed at the edge of your camp, letting out another roar in challenge. You lowered your head, letting out a yell in reply as you charged full speed at the dragon. Twilight sent a bolt of lightning arcing past you, striking the beast in the side of the head. It let out a roar of pain and recoiled at the hit, but it would take much more than that to bring it down. You lept into the air, axes poised above your head to strike the back of the dragon's neck. You landed hard, the blades striking a heavy blow, but not where you intended. Seeing you coming, and not nearly dazed enough from the lightning, the dragon had pulled it's head back in order to take the blow on its crest of horns, rather than its softer neck.
Cursing softly, you landed on the ground with a light foot and sprung away from the dragon's counter attack. It's powerful jaws clamped down around the space you occupied just a moment ago, causing the beast to growl in anger. A loud explosion could be heard on the other side of the dragon, followed by an impact on it's flank that caused it to fall off balance. Taking this chance, you lunged forward yet again, this time finding your mark, and burying the axes in the dragon's spine. Bones crunched and nerves severed, leaving the body of the dragon completely limp. It roared out in pain, throwing its massive head skyward. The cry was cut short as another lightning bolt from Twilight arced into the dragons gaping maw, frying it from the inside. With smoke pouring from the mouth, the dragon's head fell to the earth with a heavy impact, the light gone from its eyes.
You had no time to celebrate however. As North breathed its last, East and Southeast crashed to the earth, one facing you, the other moving to attack the ponies. You gripped your axes tighter as the green dragon bared down on you, eyes filled with vengeance for the fallen North.You cast a sideways glance to the camp and saw that Applejack and Rainbow had joined the fight against the other dragon, this one a deep blue. The ponies seemed to be holding their own, so you decided to leave them to it while you took care of this one. The beast pulled its head up and backwards, the shot it forward in an effort to end the fight before it started. Luckily, dragons had very few tricks, so you were easily able to anticipate and dodge. Rolling in and to the right,you swung upward with the right hand as you pivoted, keeping the left out for balance. You connected, and put a gash over the beast's left eye. It recoiled and pulled it's head away, swinging it's powerful tail towards you. Unfortunately, you didn't see that coming until it was to late. With just enough time to brace, you caught the tail square in the chest and got sent flying towards a cliff face. The impact was heavy, and you fell back to earth dazed and barely conscious. The back of your head felt wet. Your axes clattered to the ground on either side of your prone form, just out of reach.
You looked up through bleary vision and saw a vague green mass moving in your direction. A stalk slowly grew from the top, an orange light adorning the head. Something in your subconscious screamed at you to move, but your limbs would not comply. The light grew more intense, and then suddenly exploded as you felt a wave of heat racing towards you. Fire. Fire was the only word in your mind as you lost consciousness.
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...
"J'Dagna!" Sound... soft and distant. Like it was only in your mind.
"J'Dagna!" There it was again, louder this time. Was that real? Were you dreaming? Dead? Could you remember anything?
...
The camp. You were under attack. Four dragons, one dead. You were fighting another. Hurt it, caught the eye. Tail swipe, cliff. Fire. Purple flash, black.
Wait.
Purple flash?
"J'Dagna!" You snapped back to the world, head screaming and fur singed. Twilight was standing in front of you while Green did it's best to smash through a translucent purple dome surrounding you. "You're alive! Oh thank Celestia. When I saw you hit the cliff face and not get back up, I feared the worst. Are you okay? I mean... obviously you aren't but can you stand?" You winced as you brought your arms in, slowly pushing yourself off the ground. Your left shoulder screamed in protest, but you ignored the pain and got your legs underneath you. Kneeling for a moment, you caught you breath as you looked at the purple mare in front of you. Her horn was practically on fire with amethyst light, and she grimaced with every impact on the shield. Yet, her face held only concern for you. Your safety and well being.
"I will be fine Twilight. Thank you." You gave her a smile as you stood to your full height, grabbing your axes from the ground. Your head was still throbbing like mad, but you grit your teeth through the pain. You wanted to save what few potions you had left for emergencies, and your mana was already low. That minor reserve was for healing hands only. Another wave of flame shrouded the shield, obscuring your view of the dragon. "Twilight, as soon as the flame ceases open the shield." She looked at you for a moment, face still plastered with concern. Still, she nodded, and you braced yourself to spring into action.
Any moment now.
Right when you anticipated the inferno ceased and the shield fell, giving you a perfect opening. You sprung straight at the surprised dragon, knocking its head to the left in order to get on its blind side. You buried one axe into the beast's throat, leaving it behind as you hefted the other above your head. You swung down with all of your strength, bringing the blades together inside the dragon's neck. The dragon's head, along with your other axe, fell to the ground as the body convulsed violently. You looked to see the other mares finish blue, Rainbow plunging her daggers into the heart of the creature. You heard a gagging noise, and saw Rarity and Fluttershy off behind a group of boulders, the white mare comforting her friend. You hated that they had to bear witness to this butchery, but it was the only solution to a problem you had ever really known. At least, dragon related problems. They certainly weren't keen to talk about their feelings. You looked to the West and saw the fourth and final dragon was still at a distance. Squinting a bit in an effort to clear your still blurry vision, you saw it circling slowly. Perhaps the sight of three of its fallen kin was enough to make it question an attack.
A few more turns in the sky and it flew off to the north, back where the first had come from. It let out a roar that echoed across the mountain range, sound bouncing all around you. You did your best to focus, trying to pick up anything intelligible.
Grah
Dinok
Alduin.
He was here.
You began moving towards the remains of the camp to help the ponies salvage anything you could. The adrenaline was leaving your system. Your limbs began to feel heavy. Your grip on your axes faltered and they fell to the ground. Vision failing. Can't stand. You fell to your knees. Coughing, red splotches replacing the gray of stone in your vision. You checked your breathing.
Heavy. Rough.
...
Broken ribs. Dammit.
You coughed again, more blood.
Purple at the top of your vision. You struggled to raise your head to look at Twilight. You did your best to instruct her.
"Bag. Red phial. Shade." You only hoped she would understand as you once again lost consciousness.
Author's Note
So, a whole year for 1,600 words? Still got it. In my defense, I was working on Steele Breaker. Which, if you like fantasy type stuff like this then please go give that a read. It's a completely original work minus the fact that ponies. But real talk the only ponies in that that are in the show are Tia, Luna, Starswirl, and the villain. Please read it. It's a bit dead in the comment section, and that's disheartening.
Anywho, I'll do my level best to update this story and that one alongside one another from here on in. Like, every other month stagger kind of thing. One month this, next moth that. I'm rambling. If you liked the chapter let me know, if not still let me know. If you're sick of me taking forever there's really no need to say it because I know. I need sleep now.
-Duvagr007
Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn
Chapter Eleven: First Encounter
Chapter Eleven
You jolt awake, breathing heavily and holding your hand to your chest. You look around your tent, and take note after a moment that it's still early morning. You slowly rise, and crawl out into the morning air. Standing, you look around to find that all the ponies are still sleeping, and the sun has just peeked over the horizon. it takes you a moment, but you slowly realize it was all a dream. You sigh mentally, and crawl back into your tent to get a few more minutes of rest. As you do however, your hand bumps into something, sending it rolling across the ground where it stops with a soft 'clink' against something else. Looking, you see a small pile of skooma bottles laying in the dirt. Small being around ten. All empty. Realization dawns, and suddenly the dream makes much more sense. You went to sleep drunk and high at the same time. Groaning, you face plant into your pillow and mentally berate yourself for getting wasted. Again. Oh well, at least you won't have to worry about going into withdrawals while fighting dragons.
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You jolt awake again, this time to a roar. One you're all too familiar with. You put on your armor, run out the tent grabbing your axes on the way, and begin searching the skies. After a few moments, you spot it. A large, bluish-green dragon, flying low over the forest. You could only catch a glimpse now and then through the trees, but it was definitely heading this way. Knowing it was only a matter of time before it realized you were there, you brace for combat, and begin shouting for the mares to wake up.
"Ponies! Rouse yourselves, there is a dragon upon us!" You run over to Twilight's tent, poking your head in to see her sound asleep. "Twilight," you shout. "Wake up! We've got a fight on our hands."
"Hu-wah?" The lavender mare slowly sits up, eyes half lidded and wetting her mouth. "J'Dagna... was goin on," she slurs drowsily, looking in your general direction. Just before you answer her, the roar sounds out over the trees again, this time much closer. Immediately Twilight perks up. She shoots to her hooves and her eyes snap open, both startled and afraid. "Oh no! Dragon!" She shoots out of her tent and into the one closest to hers, this one belonging to Applejack. While Twilight wakes the farm mare, you decide to go and get Rainbow Dash. You run over to her tent, fling the flap open, and see Rainbow already strapping on her armor. You make eye contact with each other, she nods, and you leave to go and get the physics-defying pink mare.
"Pinkie Pie," you call as you enter her tent. "Where are you pink pony?" You look around, but there is no sign of her in the small tent. Just a small impression in the ground where she was lying, and two small divots nearby where her canon sat. You pull out the tent, scratching your head, and begin to look around the clearing. Applejack is almost finished suiting up, with Twilight helping her. Rainbow was giving her armor a final once over, tightening a strap here and there. Even Rarity and Fluttershy were up, setting up a shelter to take cover from the dragon. No sign of Pinkie Pie.
"Have any of you seen Pink-" you begin, but are cut off by a high -pitched noise from above.
"WEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"ROAR!!!!!"
The dragon swoops overhead, roaring in anger at the small pink blob atop its back. You mentally facepalm, and sigh aloud. That pink mare will be the death of what little sanity I have left. You begin to head for the larger clearing nearby, in hopes you can coax the dragon to land. As you race through the trees, you look back and see the ponies you had trained following behind you, with Applejack taking up the rear. You had made her armor out of the lightest thing you could without sacrificing too much protection, this being steel, but it was still heavy, and it slowed her down.
Regardless, she was making good pace, and would arrive with the rest of the group. As you entered the clearing, you heard the dragon roar again, this time back on your right. You look up just in time to see it careen into the ground, sending dirt up in a shower as the colossal beast dug a trench with its own body. This collision also sent Pinkie, who was still atop the dragons back, flying forwards and bouncing along the ground a ways. She moved to stand, but fell again with a cry audible over the sound of the dragon roaring in pain.
"Pinkie!" Twilight immediately began running to the aid of her friend. Leaving her to it, you, Rainbow, and Applejack all looked at one another before nodding and running off to fight the dragon. It began to rise, and you steeled yourself to run faster, shouting as you vaulted into the air once you neared the dazed monster. Raising your axes above your head, you aimed for the dragon's neck, hoping to end this fight before it ever really began, but fate, it seemed, had other ideas.
As you axes made contact with the beasts neck, they didn't slice through it as you had expected. They instead merely shattered against the scale hide. You gazed in complete disbelief at your now destroyed axes. The only thing that could have done that was... no. There's no way the dragon's hide is made of diamond. It would be too heavy. But, if that was the case, as it appeared to be, you would have to get weapons stronger than malachite. In your shock, you failed to notice that the dragon had finally risen to its full height, and was staring angrily at you. You looked up into its cold, dark, unforgiving eyes.
"Mew?" Did I... did I REALLY just MEW at a DRAGON?? I really have gone insane, haven't I? The dragon merely swats you into a nearby tree, shattering it with your body as the wrecking ball . You land a few feet beyond, and groan as you sit up, and take in the scene before you. Applejack has the dragon distracted, and Rainbow is waiting for an opening. Twilight is still trying to resuscitate Pinkie, and you're lying in the dirt, surrounded by splinters. One of these splinters, you notice, seemed to have embedded itself into your left shoulder, somehow finding a chink in your armor.
All in all, the fight was going pretty well, in that nopony had been injured yet. Baring yourself of course. While it would take much more than a swat through a tree to kill you, it still hurt like Oblivion. You stood with a groan and pulled the large splinter out of your shoulder. You were about to rush headlong back into the fighting, but then you remembered your axes. One of the handles had buried itself into the ground a few feet away, the jagged remnants of the blade brought a small tear to your eye. You loved those axes.
"Oh well." You rushed back to your tent in the camp and pulled out your dragon bone axes that you had been saving for a rainy day. While the sky was clear, a diamond skin dragon fit the bill rather well. The only problem was that the dragon bone axes weren't improved at all, and they had no enchantments. That's the reason you kept using your old glass axes. While they didn't do as much damage, watching enemies flail around as they burned to death was fun.
Still, it is what it is. You hoist the axes, and rush back into the fray. As you re-enter the clearing, you once again asses the situation. Twilight, it seemed, had given up trying to bring back Pinkie, and instead had begun herling fire balls, ice spikes, lighning bolts, and any other spell she knew at the dragon. Most weren't doing a thing. A few seemed to annoy it, but nothing more. AJ and Rainbow were still up close, trying to find a soft spot, but a dragon with daimond scales was something you had never even considered.
"Darling... shouldn't you be helping?" Rarity was sitting beside you, nearly scaring you. How'd she do that? It was nearly impossible to sneak up on you. Though, she had a point.
"Uh... yes. Right." You sprinted into the open, working out a plan to take this beast down. No matter what happened, you would not be bested by a dragon.
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You couldn't believe it. You've been bested by a dragon. Your axes had been of no use, Twilight, AJ, and Rainbow lay in heaps, knocked unconcious by swats from the beast's wings. It now had a claw pinning you to the ground, and despite struggling with all of your strength, you could not move it. You had even tried shouting it it the face, but all that did was piss it off. It had it's head not two feet from your own, glaring at you, ready to eat you alive. You thought this was the end. After everything that you had done, all of your achievements, you were going to be eaten alive by the very enemy you were born to slay. Then, something rather... unexpected happened.
"How dare you! How DARE you!" Fluttershy. the last pony you expected to be anywhere near a dragon suddenly flew into your field of vision. The dragon looked at her, confused. "Just because you're big, doesn't mean you get to be a bully! You may have daimond skin and snore smoke and breathe fire, but you do not, I repeat you do NOT HURT. MY. FRIENDS." The dragon only blinked, unamused by the small yellow pony staring him down. You, on the other hand, were quite thankful you chose to wear brown underpants.
"Kril, Brave, but foolish. Bovul, jool. Run." The dragon snapped it's jaws at Fluttershy, but missed. Fluttershy froze in terror. Why she thought that would work, you have no idea. The dragon was undeterred by his misse dbite however, and settled on swatting the yellow mare across the field. She landed several yards away, not moving once her body came to a rest.
"Fluttershy!" You tried again to move the dragon's claw off of you, this time with slightly better reseults. It amounted to nothing however, ans the dragon's massive weight hardly budged. You had failed your pony friends. You had gotten them all killed, and you hadn't even stopped one dragon. Maybe you should have retired after beating Alduin the first go around. Then you wouldn't have even been fighting that deadra. Still, none of that mattered now. Your death was at hand.
"Hi there Mister Cat man! Miss me?" Pinkie Pie... of course. Her head popped into your field of vision from the top, and she smiled down at you. then, she gave the dragon a heated glare that could melt steel. You think you did actually see a bit of steam rise off of AJ's armor. "Alright then Mister Dragon. Nopony hurts Fluttershy!!!" She pulled out her cannon from Akatosh knows where, and shot the dragon square in it's gaping maw. The cannonball traveled down the monster's throat, choking it. This didn't last, as the beast managed to choke it down, swallowing the lead ball.
"Pinkie, it seems your plan has failed. Dragon's eat things like lead all the time." She merely giggled.
"I know that silly! H-E rounds!" You stared at her in cofusion.
"What are H-" just then, you heard a muted 'BOOM'. The dragon keeled over, smoke rising from it's mouth. The life fading from it's eyes.
"H-E. High Explosive! Never leave home without 'em!" You shook your head and stood. There were more pressing matters than how Pinkie managed that. You had four unconcious ponies to deal with. First up, Fluttershy. "I'll get Fluttershy J'Dagna, you get Twilight!" First up, Twilight Sparkle. You rushed over to the unicorn, who seemed to already be coming to. You helped her up, and noticed that Pinkie was now carrying Fluttershy. Rarity was helping AJ, and Rainbow was sitting up, rubbing her head.
"Wha-... what happened? J'Dagna? Did... di we get it?" Twilight looked over at the fallen dragon, the around at her friends, all of which were now awake save Fluttershy.
"Yes, Twilight. Pinkie Pie managed to... defeat the dragon." You thought it best not to asy 'kill', seeing as it was Pinkie that had done it. She seemed to be the truly innocent one, so best not to spoil that. "I then killed it. I'm not sure why I haven't absorbed it's power though. Maybe your dragon's are different from the one's in my world. I do think Fluttershy needs your attention however." She looked past you, and saw Fluttershy still unconcious on Pinkie's back.
"Oh! Oh no!" She rushed over to help her friend, leaving you alone. You walked to where your axes had fallen, and looked them over. No damage. They'd have to be sharpened though.
"Woohoo!" You looked to Pinkie. It seemed Fluttershy had woken up, and was unharmed. You smiled, glad that everything had worked out. You just hoped you wouldn't have that much of a fight every time you fought a dragon. THAT would suck.
Author's Note
Dragon Translations:
Well guys, guess what? I'm still crap! Hooray! Seriously, I'm really sorry this took so long, and I'm really sorry I keep having to say that. I should be more consistant than this. Still, here it is. So, let me know what you all think. I'm sure it's pretty terrible considering how long it took me to write it. Also, if you like World of Warcraft, and stupid, drunk-style humor, check out my newest story: World of Horsecraft. One that I stated on a whim after the idea came to me pulling into my garage Monday.
Keep on keepin' on!
