The Forgotten Race

Chapters

Chapter 1: Day of discovery (Minor Edits 7/7/21)
Chapter 2: A new place to explore
Chapter 3: A new land awaits
Chapter 5: A surprising discovery
Chapter 6: A new journey begins
Chapter 7: Finding water
Chapter 8: Making camp
Chapter 10: Construction begins
Chapter 11: Disaster strikes
Chapter 12: A new adventure Pt 1
Chapter 13: A new adventure Pt 2
Chapter 14: A bright, new day
Chapter 15: New Experiences
Chapter 16: New Friends
Chapter 17: A bright, sunny day
Chapter 18: New experiences
Chapter 19: On a mission
Chapter 4: New discoveries
Chapter 9: Finding a new home

Chapter 1: Day of discovery (Minor Edits 7/7/21)

Author's Note

WARNING: This story begins MANY years before the ponies gain their ability to speak, they are still very much like wild ponies and don't have any form of civilization. So please bear with me here, this is very difficult to write details for.

Chapter 1: Day of discovery (Minor Edits 7/7/21)

In Erebor, 150 years after the destruction of the one ring

Gimli makes his way through Erebor to the grand burial hall, where their dead are interred in stone tombs. After walking for some time to where his father Gloin is, he arrives at his tomb and kneels beside it. He places a hand on the tomb and hangs his head saying, "I came to visit you one more time to say goodbye father, I had hoped to see you alive one more time before you passed on to the next life. I am going to sail west to Ithilien with Legolas and the others, I am weary from fighting enemies father. Perhaps I may find peace over there with my friends, possibly even find love if any of those annoying elven ladies will have me. I will miss Erebor, but I must now be on my way or they may leave without me. So may we meet again father, farewell." He stands up and wipes a tear from his eyes and makes his way out of the ancient city of Erebor, eventually looking back one last time at the Lonely Mountain before returning to his journey.

500 years later, inside one of the caverns

A dwarf uses his hammer and chisel to chip away at the stone, moving the chisel over further to strike a new spot, and starts to hammer again when a deep, rumbling tremor causes his harness to sway. The echoes of hammers striking chisels and anvils being used stop and allows silence to reign for a few moments before resuming their work again, he sighs and shakes his head at how the mountain is starting to make noises it has never made before since Erebor was built. He then sets the chisel in the same spot before his harness swayed and starts to chip away at the side when a crack appears and starts to run down below him and towards the sky. He nervously watches the crack as it veers off to the right for a little ways and back down underneath him, gulping as he hears a loud crack with the sound of stone grinding against stone as a massive chunk begins to move. Acting hastily, he puts away his hammer and chisel and yanks on the rope hard to ring the bell, signaling the others to raise him up higher quickly.

Asulfur holds on as he starts to quickly ascend as the massive chunk breaks off and plummets towards the ground, landing with a massive crash echoing throughout the cavern. He pulls on the rope to signal them to stop, he watches as he comes to a stop and notices something odd in the space where the large chunk fell from. He then tugs on the rope a few times, signaling those up above to lower him back down. He watches the space intently as it slowly comes into view, his bushy eyebrows furrowing in curiosity when he sees a hole large enough for him to fit into. He looks at the hole in curiosity as he finds a small ledge that he can carve steps into, tugging a signal on the rope for them to lower him down to it so he can start working on it.

He spends a few months forming a suitable spot for him to stand on, allowing him the chance to exit his harness to explore the hole he found. Putting the last touches on the makeshift platform, he informs those up above of his intentions through rope signals and waits for a response. Waiting for a couple of minutes, he receives two sharp tugs on the rope signaling him to continue and tugs a signal back in acknowledgment. He then starts to work his way onto the platform, using the rope to signal for more rope to exit his harness and steps towards the opening. He peers into it and sees that it is a tunnel and goes somewhere further in, he then pulls out a spike and his shaping hammer to drive the anchor into the stone next to the opening.

Asulfur finishes driving the anchor in and pulls up his rope that hangs at his side, going over the edge of the platform and into the large cavern behind him. Reaching the end of it, he ties it to the anchor and runs the rope through a couple of rings on his belt then starts to venture deeper into the tunnel.

He ventures into the tunnel, seeing the wall glittering back at him. Continuing past glittering ore seams and jumping across a couple of short gaps leading to a long drop, he comes to a large chamber that is filled with a light from a pool of water glowing with a gold and white light. His eyes widen at the sight before him, ignoring the sparkling and glittering metals and gems dotting the walls. He is filled with curiosity at what this may be and gets closer to it, stopping beside it and touches the water to see what it would do to him. Not feeling anything at all from touching the water, he gets down onto his knees to smell if anything is wrong with the water. Not smelling anything unusual about it, he decides to taste it to see if anything happens.

Asulfur dips his hand into the water, bringing some up to his mouth, and takes a small sip of it. As the water touches his tongue he feels like his body is somehow better, deciding that nothing is different about the water other than it glows and makes you feel good, stripping out of his clothing to enter the pool and wash the grime off his body. He walks into the pool and feels a tingling all over his body saying, "What in the blazes is this I'm feeling all over, it makes me feel tingly. At least it doesn't hurt. When I get back, this pool will be the attention of our researchers." He then sinks his whole body into the pool and feels a short pinch throughout his whole body and runs out of the pool, seeing a large cave around him with a high ceiling and a narrow ramp leading somewhere. Thinking he is back in the cave, he runs up the tunnel and stops when he spots blue skies at the end of the long tunnel.

He blinks a couple of times to make sure he is not imagining this, then slaps himself and sighs, realizing he is not asleep or drunk. He returns to the cave for his clothes, when he remembers that he took them off to bathe. He wonders what the water did to him and feels his body from head to toe, finding everything the same. He looks at the pool and heads into the water when he hears a noise echo down the tunnel. Wondering what the pinch was, he makes his way back up the ramp to investigate the end of the tunnel. As he gets closer to the end of the tunnel, he looks on in curiosity as daylight pours in from a hole up above. Using a vine that is growing down into the hole to climb the wall, standing upon the ground to look around at a dark forest with thickets of brambles all around him. He is amazed at seeing a different location and jumps into the hole to head back into the water, hoping he will be able to return to where he came from to grab his clothes.

He stops at the water's edge, saying before he takes a breath, "I hope that I am not stranded here naked and unarmed, that would be embarrassing." He then heads into the waters, feeling that tingling sensation hitting him. He heads further in and immerses himself in the water fully, feeling the same pinch from before, and hurries out of the water, finding his clothes in a pile, and rushes over to put them back on.

With his clothes back on and his shaping hammer in his grasp, Asulfur re-enters the water to return to the other location and explore it a little before reporting his find to his overseer.

Chapter 2: A new place to explore

Asulfur walks out of the pool with his hammer in hand ready for whatever may attack him and continues to make his way up the ramp. He arrives at the hole and hangs his hammer on his belt, then grabs the vine and starts to climb it out to begin exploring this new location.

He stands upon solid ground and looks for a suitable path to take, but doesn't see a decent path anywhere. He lets out a breath, then heads in a direction to begin clearing a path through the forest saying, "Well I don't know what else I can do but tear out a few of these brambles to make a path through here, I have to get to an opening somewhere so I can find out what else is here."

After spending an unknown number of hours breaking and tearing the brambles from his path, he finally comes to an open field where he sees a herd of strangely colored four-legged ponies grazing. As the creature looks up and notices him there, it brays in fright and takes off running away with the herd following it. He scratches his head in wonder at the curious sight he just saw, when he hears a growling coming from nearby. Turning towards the sound, he looks to see a wolf covered in branches and bark looking at him with a hungry look in its eyes. He pulls out his hammer and shouts at the creature, "Come on and attack me then beast, I don't have all day!

The wolf then snarls angrily at the large, strange two-legged creature and charges, looking forward to a good meal.

Asulfur readies his hammer to strike the beast down, waiting for the best moment to swing. As the wolf gets within range, he swings hard to cave in the beast's skull. He watches with amazement as the wolf's entire body collapses into a pile of debris, and rummages through the pile to find any fleshy remains. Surprise is on his face as he doesn't see any blood or organs in it, finding only twigs and bark until he discovers a small glowing gem at the bottom. He picks it up in curiosity and stuffs it in a pocket to study later when he hears multiple soft hoofsteps coming towards him, he turns and notices that the strangely colored four-legged ponies are returning.

He stands still so he doesn't frighten them away and waits to see what they are going to do when one of them nickers towards another, who begins to cautiously approach them with one of their ears pointing towards him and the other is laying back. He puts his hammer away and looks at the curious pony and says, "It's alright, I ain't gonna hurt you."

The curious mare stops near the creature and nervously sniffs them thinking, 'Why send me to investigate?' looking for any indication they may be a threat. Finding nothing about the creature threatening, she settles and nickers back to the others, lowering her head down to begin grazing as well as show the others it is safe.

Asulfur watches as the others start grazing around him, apparently not being afraid of him anymore, and tries to reach out to touch one of them. As his hand is about to touch their body, they step away and continue to graze. He tries a couple more times to touch one of them, but fails and stops trying. He instead looks at them closer, noticing that they are shorter than a normal pony, not sturdy enough for a dwarf to ride, however, they are big enough to work with them in Erebor pulling carts. He then looks up to see the sun starting to sink towards the west then turns around and makes his way back towards the hole he came from, jumping down through the opening and landing at the start of the tunnel.

Meanwhile, back in Erebor at the top landing by the cavern

Banil stands near the bell, waiting for it to ring out a signal, and looks over to his friend Osil saying, "Ah wonder what's takin Asulfur so long to explore an opening in the wall where that chunk fell from, he should have reported in an hour ago." He waits to hear the bell ring out a signal for a few more minutes until he starts to hear it ring out and says, "He's found something interesting, ah wonder what it could be."

Asulfur watches as the top landing comes into sight and gets out of his harness, then makes his way towards his overseer Banil to report what he has found down there. He smiles and says, "Sorry it took me so long to report back, I discovered something that you need to see with your own eyes to believe."

His eyebrows rise in curiosity saying, "Please tell me that ya didn't find another Arkenstone, the one from before caused nothing but grief."

The thinner dwarf shakes his head and replies, "Oh this is definitely not another Arkenstone, it is even better than that because I have discovered something that leads to a different location that is not like anything I have seen before. Come see it for yourself sir and come armed because there are critters out there that will attempt to eat you, I found this odd glowing green gem inside one of them."

Banil takes the gem as his eyes widen with interest and hands the gem to another and says to them, "Take this to the Jewelers so they can examine it, ah'm gonna get mah armor and find out what Asul found down below."

Asul helps his overseer onto the platform and ties his rope to the anchor, and leads him down into the tunnel saying, "We will have to jump a couple of gaps, but they aren't large enough to worry a dwarf in heavy armor."

After following him down the tunnel and jumping the small gaps, they arrive in a cavern with a pool emitting white and gold ripples of light saying, "What is this place you have found Asul, it is very wondrous indeed."

He looks to Banil and says, "I do not know sir, but if you go into the pool and immerse your whole body, you will feel a harmless tingle followed by a slight pinch. You will then find yourself in a different cave, so just exit the pool and I will guide you to the place I found."

Banil watches as his friend heads into the pool and immerses his body, the pool emits a brief bright flash that momentarily blinds him. He blinks his eyes a few times and sees that his friend has vanished, his eyes widen in surprise as he says, "No way, this is simply not possible..." He then follows after him and immerses himself under the water, feeling a tingle and a pinch shortly after dunking his head below the water. Returning to the surface of the water, he looks around at a different cave saying, "Woah...this is most definitely not the cave we were just in."

Asul grins at him saying, "You haven't seen anything yet, there are ponies out there that are too small to ride, yet just the right size to work in Erebor. They are small and timid at first until they learn you are no threat to them, so just speak gently and softly to them."

The portly dwarf carries his battleax in his hands and follows Asul up the ramp and through the tunnel. Climbing up the vine and getting his battleax back, he looks around at the new location and feels the need to explore it. He follows his friend down the path he cleared out, arriving at a field stretching out into a distance. Looking around the field to find a herd of ponies standing a ways from the forest's edge, he starts to make his way towards them to get a closer look saying, "Wow, by my beard this is the most amazing thing ah've ever seen in mah entire life. Ah think ya have just found a different land altogether Asul, one that is nothing like the one we come from. We will have to show this to our king to find out what he thinks about this, let's head back and tell him about this at once!" He then turns around and is about to run back to the pool when he hears some growling and squealing coming from the forest around him, holding his battleax at the ready along with his friend.

They watch the forest closely before seeing some wolves made out of wood head towards them, noticing almost immediately what made those squeals. Asul sees the creatures sitting on the backs of the wood wolves and yells, "Goblins are riding those wolves, be ready for the attack! The wolves fall apart when they die, so just smash their head and slaughter them all!"

The goblin leader squeals out a command to attack and the hunting pack of ten goblins and ten Timber Wolves charges at their unknown enemy.

Banil and Asul endure the attack and butcher the entire group of wolves and goblins, collecting the glowing green gems from the wolves before piling the corpses up and setting them aflame. They then hang their weapons across their backs and make their way back to the hole, eager to report this find to their king.

Chapter 3: A new land awaits

King Ornir sits on his throne and sees two dwarves making their way towards him and waits for them to bow to him, after they bow he says, "What brings you before me, fellow dwarves?"

Banil keeps his head low as he says, "We came directly here after finding a pool in the cavern that leads to a new land we have never seen before Yer Majesty, we have proof of its existence and have discovered that strangely colored ponies inhabit it along with goblins that ride wolves made from pieces of wood."

He raises an eyebrow in curiosity and responds, "Are you trying to amuse me, or trying to make a fool of me?"

The portly dwarf looks up to the king briefly and says, "No we are not Yer Majesty, ah fought them alongside Asulfur just a few minutes before coming here. We collected these glowing stones from the odd wolves after their bodies turned into piles of bark and twigs, see the proof for yerself, Yer Majesty. We will even prove it to ya and take ya there ourselves, we are not trying to make a fool outta ya. We are only hoping to bring fame and fortune to Erebor, please give us this chance to prove our find to ya, Yer Majesty."

King Ornir is intrigued by their claim and says, "Very well then overseer, tell me more about this discovery." He then leans forward in the throne and puts his fingertips together to form a peak, waiting for them to give more details.

Banil looks to Asulfur briefly and says, "Asulfur was the one who initially made the discovery, it would be his tale to tell Yer Majesty." He then looks to the dwarf in question and says, "Tell our king what you discovered an hour ago Asulfur."

Asulfur keeps his head low and says, "Well Your Majesty, it all started that day when a deep rumbling caught every single dwarf's attention..." He then goes on in detail, informing the king about the massive chunk of rock that crashed to the floor after a crack formed from him striking the chisel. He finishes his tale by saying, "And then I made my way back through the pool to report what I have found Your Majesty."

The king fondles his beard for a moment before looking at Asulfur saying, "Thank you for your tale and taking the time to investigate the opening, your diligence is much appreciated and may lead to the most important discovery since the Arkenstone." He then turns his eyes to Banil then says, "Overseer Banil, you are to gather a few dwarves and begin building a path down to that entrance and make it safe to walk across. Let me know the moment that construction is complete, and the way to this pool is ready."

The portly dwarf bows once more to the king and says, "Ah will begin at once Yer Majesty, we will work as fast as we can to finish the path fer ya." He looks to his friend and says, "Come on Asulfur, we have a cliff to carve into a path and a couple of bridges to build across those gaps."

Two years later, in the throne room of Erebor

King Ornir watches a group of dwarves approaches the throne and bows down to him and says, "What brings the three of you before me this day?"

The first dwarf speaks up with a female voice and bows her head saying, "Your Majesty, I have spoken with several other female dwarves and have discovered an issue with our population as it slowly dwindles. After a long discussion with them, we would like to differentiate ourselves from the men Your Majesty, will you permit us the freedom to do so?"

He narrows his eyes, pretending to be annoyed saying, "What makes you think that you can ask such a thing of me?" He watches as they prepare to leave then says, "Who said you could go? There is something that I need to say to you all."

They become nervous and kneel before him with their heads low and respond, "We apologize for bothering you with this Your Majesty, we only wish to fulfill our duty as women and raise families."

King Ornir leans forward in his chair and then says, "I understand your concern, but there is just one problem with your request..." He then leans a little bit further and finishes the response, "There is no law that forbids such a thing, so go ahead and do what you want to do."

She looks up briefly at the king in shock saying, "There is no law that says we can't look different from the men Your Majesty?"

He chuckles lightly and shakes his head saying, "No there wasn't. To be honest, most are unable to tell male from female. So go ahead, do your part for every male dwarf in Erebor." He then watches them rise and take their leave after thanking him, embarrassed at how a simple misunderstanding throughout the years caused such problems for all dwarves. Coming up with a solution to clear up any further misunderstandings, he calls for a dwarf to find him a scribe to write something down. A dwarf then hurries off to find one as he watches Overseer Banil make his way into the throne room with a faint smile on his face and looks to him and says, "I was wondering when you were going to return to me with news regarding the path."

Overseer Banil nods and bows to the king saying, "Many apologies fer taking so long to complete the path to the entrance My King, but the gap between the two crevices turned into one long gap. We had to start from scratch to build a much longer bridge than previously anticipated, but it is finished now. There is one more bit of information that we have recently discovered Yer Majesty. Asulfur informs me that when he was working on the cliff, it was always very cold down there. Recently, however, it has started to get warmer over the time we spent carving stairs into the cliffside."

King Ornir sighs and shakes his head saying, "I was starting to wonder why the mountain has started to make noises recently, that deep rumble caused a few problems of its own in Erebor. Times are changing over the years, it appears that it is our turn to be affected by it. Keep a close watch on the caverns, and notify me immediately if anything should happen." He looks to one of the guards and orders them to have the scribe wait for him to return from a short expedition, then looks to a pair of guards near the stairs and says, "I want a small contingent of ten guards fully armed to be at the bottom of the new path before I get my armor and weapons and get to the bottom." he turns back to the Overseer and says, "Let's go get my armor and weapons, then see what this thing is that your friend has found."

An hour later, at the bottom of the stairs near the entrance

The portly dwarf stands behind the king as his guards enter the widened tunnel first, in a column two bodies wide and five bodies long. He follows after the king and says, "There is a pool at the end of this tunnel Yer Majesty, that ya must walk into and fully immerse your body in the water. When ya first enter the pool, ya will feel a tingling sensation all over that is followed by a pinch after you immerse yerself. Ah assure ya that the tingling and the pinch are totally harmless My King, or I would not have gone through there myself."

The king eventually arrives at the pool as his guards stand on either side of it waiting for further instruction saying, "Well then, go on ahead and enter the pool ahead of me and show me how it works Overseer, and my men will follow after you and then finally I will go through after them."

Banil nods his head and walks towards the pool saying, "Ah'm not sure if it will be able to handle more than one dwarf at a time Yer Highness, but ah will continue on through now and wait for you in the cavern on the ramp." He then steps into the pool, feeling the familiar tingling sensation. He continues walking further in and feels the pinch, then makes his way out of the water to stand on the ramp to wait for the king's arrival.

King Ornir looks to his guards and blinks the spots out of his vision then says, "Guards, proceed into the pool as demonstrated one by one, I will follow shortly after the last guard has gone through." He watches as they make their way into the pool and vanish in a flash of light, shielding his eyes with his palm and waits for the last guard to go through. As it quiets down in the room, he looks to see no more guards in the room and proceeds towards the pool himself. He begins to feel the tingling the overseer mentioned and continues to go deeper into the pool, taking a short breath and immersing himself completely into the water. Feeling a pinch shortly after immersing himself, he makes his way out of the pool and is amazed at seeing a different cavern than before, saying, "This is very peculiar indeed, let us continue on this expedition to see what else is in this location."

The Overseer nods and says, "Very well My King, please follow me up this path and climb the vine to get out of the hole. Once we are out of this tunnel, we can begin our expedition by showing ya the field that was mentioned in Asulfur's story."

He orders his guards to follow him up the path, having to crouch down due to his crown scraping the top of the tunnel, and says to the Overseer, "This darn tunnel is not high enough for me to stand up in due to the crown on my head!" He grumbles in annoyance as it catches on a root and removes his helmet holding his crown, placing it under one arm, then stands up fully and huffs in annoyance as he continues up the path. As he gets to the end of the tunnel, he puts his helmet back on and climbs up the vine.

Banil and another dwarf guard offer him a hand, then pull him to the top as the overseer says, "There are blue skies above us, and a clear path in front of us to travel down Yer Majesty. Are ya ready to explore this new location?"

King Ornir's eyes widen in wonder at the bright blue sky above him and the tall dark trees that surround him attempting to block out the sky saying, "Yes, let's continue on this wondrous expedition so we can send dwarves out to explore this place and find out where we are in the world." He looks around at their surroundings as Banil continues their journey when they reach the edge of a field that has a pile of ash and a few bones in it then says, "Is this what remains of those goblins you mentioned?"

The Overseer looks at the pile then nods his head saying, "Yes it is Yer Highness, I hope there are more of those little buggers here so we can exterminate every last one of those disgusting creatures."

The king grins and says, "Perhaps there are even orcs as well. If we want to claim this land for ourselves, we may just have to destroy every last one of them as well."

Banil hears several hoofsteps in the distance and turns to see the herd of ponies running away from something, identifying it almost immediately, and says, "Two Manticores are chasing after the herd of ponies Asulfur saved when he first came here, we should help them Yer Majesty."

King Ornir considers it for a moment saying, "Alright, let's save these ponies from those beasts, get their attention off the herd first, then charge them and cut them down to size!"

Chapter 5: A surprising discovery

The celebration lasts throughout the evening and part of the night, as King Ornir rises from his chair at the table after drinking who knows how many tankards of dwarven ale saying, "Well fellow dwarves, this is where I shall say farewell to get some shuteye." He then looks at the mare sleeping on her feet and chuckles lightly, picking her up and carries her in his arms as he makes his way to his chambers.

After walking for ten minutes, the pair arrive at their destination as the king looks for a suitable spot to set her down. Not finding a better spot, he lays her at the foot of the bed and climbs in the large bed.

The mare wakes up to feel herself on her side, resting on something soft and warm. Looking around to find herself in a smaller area next to one of the creatures, getting onto her underside and eventually rising to her hooves. Finding what she stands on is soft, her legs wobble a bit as she makes her way to the edge. With a little skill, she makes a small hop to the floor, making the sound seem louder as it passes into the areas beyond.

King Ornir yawns and rises from bed in his clothes, smiling as he sees the mare looking around and says, "Looking for the way out girl? Let me get this door for you, after that you can wander a bit."

She notices it is the leader of the creatures that she was with through the night, then begins making her way out of the area to find food.

Asulfur is heading from his room in the mine, carrying a pack of supplies over his shoulder when he spots the mare from the other day wandering through the halls and approaches her saying, "Hey girl you trying to find your way around Erebor, or maybe you just want to go outside?"

The mare cocks her head in confusion at the unfamiliar sounds the creature makes and thinks, 'I will have to find some way to understand you. But first, I really need to relieve myself.'

He chuckles and says, "Come on, follow me. I am guessing that you want to be outdoors for a while." He then waves to the dwarf responsible for opening the gate saying, "I am going out to show our guest where we live Dorfr so let us out!"

She watches as something moves and shows her a sight of a field beyond it full of food and starts to make her way towards the outside thinking, "Oh the light is such a wonderful thing to see after being in this dark place."

Asulfur follows her past the gates at a jog as she looks around at the vast field before them, with a few big trees scattered around it. Having a long stone path leading to the city of Dale, he looks to the pony and says, "Maybe someday you will see the city of Dale, but let's first show you where we call home." He then walks past her, tapping her lightly behind the withers, and beckons her to follow.

The mare pulls her head up from the food and chews on it a little before she decides to continue following them, grabbing a few more mouthfuls along the way thinking, 'I wonder why are they getting me to follow them, where are they taking me?'

He stops a fair distance from the mountain and stops, then turns around and glances at her saying, "Well girl, stop and take a look behind you."

She stops and looks at them curiously, noticing the creature is looking at something in the distance behind them. Curious, she stops and turns her head around to look behind her. She doesn't understand at first until she notices the difference near the bottom of the massive land surface, she looks back and forth between the creature and the land in wonder at how they managed to survive under the surface.

Asulfur sits beside a tree stump and pulls out a book and a piece of writing charcoal, then begins to write down his recent experiences in it saying, "Alright girl, go ahead and eat but don't wander far. These lands have their dangers too, so stay alert."

The mare watches their movements and is curious about what they are doing, then moves to stand next to him and looks at the things in its hands thinking, 'What is this creature doing now, why is he harming that thing?'

He chuckles at the curious mare and continues to write in his book as she watches from over his shoulder saying, "With how curious you are, I must venture a guess that you have an intelligence of some sort. When we get back to Erebor, I will find out what I can teach you."

A few weeks later, in one of the mining caverns

The mare huffs as she makes her way up the path with the object connected to her, sensing something is amiss. She stops and wonders what it is and looks over her shoulder for a moment, looking all around for any danger as her ears turn in various directions nervously before considering it is safe and returns to following the path towards the very hot area. She reaches the top of the path when a thought crosses her mind, 'Why do they want me to go over this path so much with this thing behind me, what is the reason?'

Asulfur is sitting in the mining harness when he starts to hear a faint rumbling coming from below as his harness starts to sway and bounce lightly, halting mid-strike to look below him as sweat rolls down his brow thinking, 'I sure hope that this mountain settles down, all this deep rumbling is making me nervous.' He waits in his seat nervously till the rumbling stops and his harness slowly stills, his heart skips a beat when he hears the cracking of stone fill the air as he yells, "EVERYONE GET TO THE TOP, THE STONE IS CRACKING!" He hears bells start to ring out signals to pull them up, ringing his own as he sees them start to head to the top. His eyes widen as he sees a large portion of the opposite wall behind him crack in multiple places, watching in fear as many pieces start to move away from it and shouts across the cavern to them, "FALLING CHUNKS, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" He watches as a few dwarfs manage to get out of the way of the falling chunks, but others are less fortunate as the pieces catch a few of the ropes and tear a few of the lifts off their mounts, sending the dwarfs screaming and falling to their deaths. A few others are smacked aside and manage to hang desperately onto the edge of their seats and calls out to them, "JUST HANG ON AS LONG AS YOU CAN, THE DWARVES UP TOP WILL PULL YOU TO SAFETY!"

A couple of creatures are firmly holding the panicking mare, preventing her from going anywhere and potentially harming others in her flight as she thinks, 'I must run to safety, let me go!'

He reaches the top and hurries to get out of his seat and sees the panicking mare desperately fighting to get to safety, getting the last strap off, and hurries to her side to calm her down.

The mare continues to fight to get free when one of the creatures stops her head from moving and thinks, 'What are you doing, I am in danger. I must run away, let me go!'

Asulfur speaks gently into her ear to get her to focus on him, taking a few attempts before her eyes finally stop darting around and land on him. With her eyes focusing on him, he continues talking gently to her, "I know you are scared girl, so am I. The others need your help because a few of the rigs are jammed and will release the rope if we try to force them to work, you and I both have work that we must do to save the others that are still holding on down there. Please calm down and help us bring them to safety girl, too many have been lost already."

She slowly comes to her senses, stopping her struggle to get free as she focuses on the one talking, realizing it is the one that took her outside a few times. After a few seconds pass by as she attempts to imitate them, "Oooo, aaae."

He stares at the mare, completely dumbfounded at hearing actual sounds come from her mouth. A few moments of silence follow as he cocks his head and says, "Uhm...are you attempting to speak?"

The mare cocks her head in confusion and repeats the sound, "Ooo, aaae?"

Asulfur blinks his eyes and shakes his head and says, "We will worry about that later, for now, let us begin to save the others hanging on for dear life."

Thinking she is making progress, she follows them across the surface and makes the sound again, "Ooo, aae."

Chapter 6: A new journey begins

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 7: Finding water

Asulfur stands beside Commander Banil at the head of a column of fifty, fully armed dwarves when he hears Banil give the orders to move out. He marches beside him as the column moves together in unison towards the stairs leading down into the tunnel, starting their journey to the new undiscovered world and lands unknown.

Shelly watches as the column moves together in rhythm as they make their way past the stairs and into the tunnel, following them as they stop at the pool and enter it one by one. The flashes of light end as the last dwarf enters the pool and vanishes from sight after one last flash, takes one more breath, then follows them through thinking, 'I'm finally coming home father, you will be so glad to see me.'

He watches as the end of the tunnel gets closer, noticing a set of stone stairs leading up towards the top. Turning his head to his friend saying, "Sir, may I escort the mare Shelly back to her herd?"

Banil looks at Asulfur and scoffs saying, "Stop calling me sir, will ya? We are not part of an army, therefore, ya don't have to be so disciplined. I thank ya fer showing respect, but go ahead and lead her home once we reach the top. The rest of us will secure the area for the craftsmen about to follow us through, we will join you on the field once they arrive.

Asulfur nods his head and says, "The stairs are a far better sight than climbing that vine, nice touch." He then continues on down the rest of the tunnel and up the stairs, hearing some howls come from a distance in the woods, and says to the others, "Get ready for some action everyone, it appears we will be getting a welcome party after all."

Shelly follows them down the tunnel when she starts to hear a strange squealing sound, followed by sounds of a fight occurring outside, and thinks, 'I sure hope that these dwarves will be okay, the fighting sounds coming from above are getting louder.'

Gesi pries her ax out of a tree after spending a few minutes killing a few dozen goblins and chuckles saying, "Here I thought this was going to be a boring arrival, I like this place already Banil!"

Banil hangs his hammer over his shoulder and laughs replying, "I wasn't expecting there to be any fighting on the first day, but at least today wasn't boring Gesi."

Shelly arrives at the top of the stairs and sees piles of wood everywhere with several small green bodies scattered around, looking to the dwarves and asks, "Food?"

Asulfur looks to the green bodies and laughs while a few dwarves look around in confusion and answer, "Blast my beard of course not, I would never want to eat a goblin." He watches in amusement as a few dwarves actually gag at the thought of tasting goblin meat.

The female dwarf looks to shelly and chuckles saying, "Of course goblins will never be food for us, they are a nuisance to us like flies, mosquitoes, and fleas are to you that crawl into your coat of fur."

The mare shivers at hearing that and says, "Pests bad."

The Master of Arms approaches Shelly with a smile and says, "Indeed pests are bad, and we intend to make sure they don't ever annoy us again one day. Are you ready to go see your herd, Shelly?"

Shelly nods her head and says, "Want herd, me miss much."

Asulfur nods and then begins to head away saying, "Okay, well come along with me then, let's get you back to your herd."

After walking a long way, they both come to a field before them. The mare moves next to the dwarf with her and sees her herd grazing in the field before them, feeling happy they survived, and begins to gallop towards them.

A male stallion watches for any threat to the herd, spotting a lone mare heading towards them. He trots off to meet the new arrival, curious as to who she is and where she comes from.

The dwarf stands and looks around at the scenery, watching for any dangers to the herd when he notices a strangely colored spot of grass and heads over there to look at it.

Shelly notices her father is not leading the herd anymore and slows to a walk, wondering where he is, and begins to introduce herself in their wordless language.

Asulfur spots a small carcass and investigates it, spotting a head lying beside the corpse. Recognizing it as the pony that sent the mare to check him out that one day, he notices that his coat color is similar to Shelly's and sighs saying, "I sure hope that you aren't her father because she is going to be hurting if you are." He then hears someone shout no, followed by a pony braying, and turns to check it out to see that Shelly is fighting the other pony for some reason. He is about to make his way towards the two when the other pony goes down, returning to its feet, then scampers away from Shelly back to the herd. He chuckles saying, "Guess she wears the heavy pants of leadership now."

She is upset to find out that her father tried to protect the herd and became food for a predator, huffing in irritation at how the stallion tried to mount her. She notices the herd looking at her curiously, then makes her way towards them to inform them about what she has learned in her time with the creatures.

He hears the sound of marching feet and looks up to see the dwarves marching into the field with the craftsmen behind them, then rises to his feet and makes his way towards them.

Banil looks at the herd as the mare named Shelly is with her herd, which every single pony is looking at her. He looks to Asulfur and says, "Well, the craftsmen are here with us now, so let's look for a place to set up camp."

Asulfur nods his head and says, "I think there may be a stream or a river around here, or else the herd would not return here. Let's all start looking around for one around this vast field, what do you say commander?"

He looks to him and nods his head saying, "Sounds like a good plan to me, 40 of ya head in a direction and begin searching for a water source. Go in groups of five, you craftsmen stay close to me with the other ten to ensure you are not attacked by more goblins."

Asulfur looks to Gesi and asks, "Do ya feel like going scouting with me Gesi?"

She looks to him and nods her head, then selects two others and says, "I wouldn't dream of missing a chance to explore this land and find out where we will be setting up base camp."

Shelly manages to convince her herd to give the dwarfs a chance, then starts to lead them towards the ones staying behind. After they get to the group of dwarves, she cocks her head and says, "Where go,? Need food?"

Banil chuckles and says, "Not yet little one, they went to find water first. We will build our campsite near it, then the others shall come over with our belongings when it is done."

It takes an hour of walking and looking for a decent spot when Gesi finally spots it saying, "Hey Asulfur, there is a small river right over here that would work just fine."

Asulfur returns to where she is after looking at an apple tree, carrying five apples in his arms saying, "Take a look at what I found Gesi, think fast!" just before tossing one of them towards her.

She looks and reacts quickly, catching the apple in mid-air just before it strikes her helm, and scoffs at him saying, "That almost hit me, where did you find it?"

He chuckles and says, "I found it growing on a tree a little ways from here, and there are a bunch of trees over there with even more apples growing on them." he then hands out the rest of the apples to the other dwarves and keeps one to split between him and Banil, looking back at her and says, "Let's go report our find to the commander, so we can get started on building our camp."

Chapter 8: Making camp

The days pass by as Shelly watches with curiosity, learning many new things she didn't know before as the dwarves fashion long things called planks and beams out of the tall things called trees. Dwellings start to pop up one after the other as the dwarves work together to make homes for each and every dwarf that will be coming to this world. Shelly follows a group heading to the dark forest of trees that the herd is fearful of, she stops and watches as the dwarves go to the edge of the forest and start to bring more planks and beams back to the camp. She hears a dwarf shout, "Timber!" as a cracking fills the air, followed shortly after by a heavy crash. She sees one of the trees laying on its side when another shout is heard, she watches the tree make its way to the ground with a loud crash. Other dwarves begin to remove parts of the tree and toss them into a large pile, with different dwarves beginning to work on the tree.

Three months pass by when the camp is finally constructed as Asulfur looks towards the forest from the wall, watching the dwarves making their way through the forest from Erebor. They start to get closer to the gate as he turns his head and shouts, "The rest of the expedition is here, open the gate!"

Gesi and another dwarf unbar the gate and pull it open to let them in, standing aside as the first few dwarves walk past her into the large camp.

Commander Banil stands on a platform in the camp square, watching the dwarves wander further into the camp. He waves his hand and says, "Every dwarf that is arriving, please gather 'round!" He watches them for several moments as the last few dwarves gather around then raises his voice and loudly says, "Welcome to your new home, fellow dwarves! This camp is called Dark Watch, for there are goblins and wooden wolves in the forest that you came through. It also comes under attack once or twice a week, so don't be alone or unarmed if you go out past the gates. There are lands northwest, next to the river just beyond the wall to grow crops. We will need a few brave families to begin working on growing food for us all, I will need a few hunting parties formed to keep a steady supply of meat for us. So welcome home! So find a place to live, and make yourselves comfortable. We will wait until after the coming winter before we even think of beginning to explore this new world.

6 years later in Erebor, on the other side of the pool portal

King Ornir picks himself up off the floor after the most recent tremor, getting more concerned at having to close down two other shafts due to the instability of the cavern's walls. Sighing, he looks to a couple of guards and says, "Come with me you two, we are going to cavern 6 to see if it is still sealed up." He then makes his way down the path towards the mines, hoping that he is wrong with his idea.

After walking for several minutes, they reach cavern 5 as beads of sweat start to roll down the king's face. He stands before the sealed doors and places a hand upon the floor to test the temperature, holding his hand there for a few moments before releasing a sigh saying, "I feared this day would one day come... I only hope there is enough time for us to warn Dale and get our citizens to safety. One of you must send a raven to Dale, tell them our mountain is about to die. Have them evacuate the city and head for Laketown, we will handle our own evacuation."

One of the guards salutes him and says in a male voice, "Yes my king, at once!" He then takes off running for the front gate to send off a raven, wondering where they will go when they evacuate Erebor.

The guard nears the front gate when he hears dwarves coughing from the dust hanging in the air, and stops to investigate what happened. He then calls out, "What happened here!?"

A different dwarf then coughs and replies, "That last shake caused a rockslide that is blocking the gate, it is going to take a few hours to clear up!"

The guard looks outside and still sees daylight peeking through in a few places and says, "Well better get started on clearing the rocks, we are evacuating Erebor."

The dwarf waves his hand in front of his face to clear away the dust and coughs saying, "By my beard, WHY!? It was only a little rumble!"

The guard shakes his head and says, "Dale has to evacuate to Laketown, our mountain is dying and we need to warn them."

The dwarf's face goes pale as he then nods and shouts, "EVERY DWARF THAT CAN SWING A HAMMER OR A PICK HELP US ON CLEARING THIS ROCK!"

The guard then returns to his task of going to fetch a raven to carry a message to Dale, reaching the ravens' hall a few minutes later, and grabs a quill to start writing a message for Dale to evacuate.

King Ornir makes his way back out of the mines and looks to his other guard saying, "I want you to go and begin moving our scrolls, books, and every other piece of knowledge to the camp in the new land first. Then start on moving the women and children, have them cart or carry whatever they can on their way through the pool to the base camp. Also, send as many masons as we are able and go tell them to find us a mountain to call home. Once a suitable mountain is found, they are to begin immediately."

The guard nods and salutes him saying, "At once, my king!" He then takes off to start on his tasks as the other guard passes by him.

The king looks at the returning guard and says, "Is it done?"

The guard bows and salutes the king and replies, "Yes, my king. There has been a rockslide that was caused by the shaking, but the dwarves are already starting to work on clearing it."

King Ornir looks at him and nods saying, "Good, now go up to the secret door and make sure that it is clear as well." He then watches as the guard takes off for it, then continues to find a guard to gather the remaining guards to begin evacuating the women and children first.

Three hours later, in Dark Watch

Asulfur continues to watch as dwarves continue to bring scrolls and other literature to the camp when he sees a dwarf running towards him wearing the royal guard armor and says, "What is going on, why are the scrolls and books being brought here?!"

The guard looks at him and says, "They were the king's orders, this camp is requested to start searching for a mountain to call home. Once a suitable mountain is found, begin immediately. The masons will be on their way shortly to help with construction as we evacuate Erebor."

He looks at the guard with wide eyes saying, "In Durin's name, WHY!?"

With a solemn look in his eyes, he looks at Asulfur and answers, "Because the mountain is dying, there was another violent quake that caused a rockslide that buried the front gate and is being cleared."

Asulfur looks away from the guard and nods his head saying, "Thank you for informing me about the current state of Erebor, you may return to the king and help in the evacuation. We have work to do." He then leaves the wall at a fast pace to get Banil.

Banil is looking at a map of the surrounding areas they have examined when his door bursts open, causing him to look up to see his second in command standing before the table and asks, "What brings ya here today, Asul?"

He looks at his superior and says, "Well sir, I heard that the king is evacuating Erebor because the mountain is dying. The lore and knowledge are already being brought here, and he wants us to start looking for a suitable mountain to call home. When we find one, we are to begin immediately. The masons are on their way and will be here at any time, so where do we start looking, sir?"

The commander looks at the map and says, "We can't use the mountain closest to us straight north, it's too skinny. The mountains a bit further to the north and east are infested with pony-like black insects that capture dwarves alive and suck the juices from their bodies, the mountains straight west or the ones further south and west may work. Gather a couple of parties to go scout them both out, make sure they are fully geared, and take their pickaxes with them to take a few samples."

Asul nods his head and says, "Yes sir, I will start immediately." He then exits the room and goes to find Gesi for a scouting mission.

A few days pass by as Asul and Gesi travel together towards the western mountains as Gesi pokes the campfire and looks to her friend saying, "I will take the mountain to the north, you take the other one."

He looks to her and sits beside the fire as the thirty other dwarves with them lying asleep and says, "That's fine with me, just as long as we can find one soon."

Chapter 10: Construction begins

Frosty Wrath and Razor Wind both take turns monitoring their gathering place for three days when she is on watch as she notices they are gathering outside the gates and sees how they move together and thinks, 'They are very well organized for strange creatures, I wonder if they have any intelligence.' She waits for a few more hours as a large line forms up outside the gates and some of the shiny variations start to head towards the front, breaking down into four groups with two on either side of the line. She notices the same thing with the rear of the line as movement catches her attention, she sees a large group of ponies gathering alongside the line when a loud voice makes her look to the front. Her eyes widen in surprise as she discovers these creatures have intelligence and thinks, 'Okay, so these creatures do have intelligence, but I wonder what their abilities are.' She continues to watch and follow their path secretly, nearly attacking her mate when he lands next to her. She narrows her eyes at him and softly says, "Don't startle me like that, I found out that these creatures are organized, can speak, and are intelligent. I am waiting to find out if they have any abilities, they also have ponies with them for some reason."

Razor Wind lands next to her quietly, then chuckles softly and whispers, "Why are you so jumpy tonight dear, is there anything unusual about them?"

She sighs and returns to watching them move towards the west saying, "I don't know why, but I feel like I should be careful around these creatures."

He watches them continue through the field and says, "Okay then, let's follow them and find out where they are going and why."

Asulfur stops the column when they stand before the mountain to be their new home and turns around to face them and raises his voice to say, "Here is where we will make our new home for all of our fellow dwarves yet to arrive from Erebor, so let's get started on building it. Masons! You are to work together to come up with a design for the entrance gate, I recommend that it have platforms for ranged weaponry. Miners! Begin clearing the area of trees and rocks up to 900 yards away from the mountain, dump the cleared rock into a pile where the masons decide the tailings will be deposited."

Gemil looks at the others and says, "Oh there will most definitely be platforms, we do not want to be unprepared for any attack if they exist here as well. The fire drake called Smaug was bad enough, however, I can tell you all right now that this spot won't work, there is no nearly flat side to carve into. Even if we did want to use this spot, we would have to spend a lot of time moving rock. That is just too much work, so let's go look at the point where these two ranges come together and see how that looks."

The masons spend a few hours looking at different places on the mountain when they locate one that would work very nicely, then head back to report their findings. Once they reach the expedition, they ask the miners to chop down trees to build scaffolding and start to work on coming up with a design for the entrance.

Hours pass by as the masons settle on the design for the front gate with the ground level having two boxes placed between three gates with outer portcullises on each of them to allow entry into the mountain, yet resist any invading force. Just above the gate lies three flat platforms, connected together with a place for archers to stand. The levels above consist mostly of archer paths, with a carving of a dwarf head halfway up the wall. Wearing a helmet and a crown sitting just above its eyes, having a balcony carved into the flat spot of the helm above it with the tips of the crown resting just above the flat surface to serve as railing. Several other archer paths sit above the king's balcony with four flat platforms spaced evenly at the very top under the overhanging ledge of the mountain. In front of the wall on either side of the gates stand two armored dwarven guardian sentries with winged helmets looking forward to keeping watch over the entrance behind them, both their hands rest upon the pommel of their hammers as the head of the hammer rests on the ground.

Frosty Wrath watches with awe as the dwarves start on their tasks. She stays there for several hours to observe what they are doing to the mountain, eager to see what it will look like when they are finished. Scaffolding gets higher and higher, built from the trees around the mountain as a pile slowly forms a distance away, containing the unused bits of the trees.

Three weeks pass by as he forces his mate to take turns monitoring the progress these dwarves are making with the mountain as more and more rock is moved away. Razor Wind is amazed at what the dwarves have created by themselves, he hears his mate approach him from behind and says, "They seem to be done with the outside, now they are going further in. How much work do they have planned for this mountain?"

She continues to watch as rock continues to be brought out and dumped between the two ridges and says, "I think they are making the mountain their home, they seem to be shaping the stone to their satisfaction. I am glad that we are watching from this far away island, I only hope they don't notice us. Apparently, they are not fond of us dragons, but I am so very curious as to what it will look like when they are done."

Asulfur looks at the interior of the mountain, wishing that they had the metal to make doors for the front entrance saying, "This interior looks nice with this mountain being mostly white granite, we will have to keep working on the interior until the living quarters are finished." He assists the dwarves to carve the living quarters of the city out of the mountain for a few weeks before finishing the last dwelling, moving to start working on the dining area next.

Gesi consults with the masons on where the smoke vents should be placed on the mountain saying, "They should stay pretty close to the top of the mountain because smoke rises! The ones for Erebor aren't properly placed and smoke lingers around the forges."

Gemil rubs his head in frustration and sighs saying, "Alright, alright. We will build flues for the smoke, we will have to make chutes for the rain or snow that falls down the vent."

She then nods and chuckles saying, "Don't forget the chimneys that will have to be hauled up to the top with bars to prevent any creature from crawling down through them."

He shakes his head and says, "You're such a stickler when it comes to details cousin, leave me be so I can draw this new idea up."

Gesi smiles and exits the to-be large dining hall, seeing Shelly pulling a wagon loaded with some rock. She walks over to her and says, "Enjoying watching us turn the inside of a mountain into a home kiddo?"

Shelly stops and nods her head saying, "It is indeed very interesting to watch, but why do dwarves like to live under mountains?"

She chuckles and sighs saying, "That is a very good and simple question, it is because we dwarves feel safe underground. We also enjoy digging into rock and discovering what treasures we can find, be it precious gems or metals that we can craft and forge into great weapons. Dwarves are among the most skilled craftsman among men or elves, so if you are fortunate to ever get special items from a dwarf craftsman, be sure to pass it down through your family."

Asulfur continues to help them work on the cooking area for a couple of weeks before deciding that it is time to find a place for the King's residence and his throne, walking into the dining hall to find Gemil and says, "Gemil, where are you?"

Gemil walks up to him with a heavy sigh saying, "What can I do you for sir?"

He smiles and says, "It is time to find a place for the king's residence as well as where to build his throne."

They continue to work on refining the design for the king's throne after finishing the king's residence, deciding to make a separate large room with a set of long stairs leading up to the platform where the throne rests. Having a carved-out space on the platform's floor for the king to choose which metal to pour for the throne to sit upon.

Asulfur looks at the finished plan and says, "This will have to do for now Gemil, start working on the armory and the barracks for single dwarves. I am going to gather a few dwarves and return to the camp and inform Banil of the progress, continue working with the other masons on the interior design of the new city."

The elder dwarf with long silver hair looks at Asulfur with tired eyes and nods his head saying, "I think you should pick a name for this place, sir. It would not be wise to leave it without giving it a good name."

He nods his head and thinks on it for several moments when he overhears one of the pony's comment on how cool the carving's hammers are and says, "I think we should call this place Hammerdeep."

Gemil smiles and says, "That is a good-sounding name sir, I will write it down and have a stone marker crafted to lead visitors here once we have proper gates constructed."

Asulfur then takes his leave and gathers his soldiers to return to the base camp, ordering Gesi to say behind and protect the dwarves within the mountain. With his men behind him, he begins his journey back saying, "Alright warriors, time for us to report back to Dark Watch."

Chapter 11: Disaster strikes

Author's Note

Sorry about this being paced a bit fast, but I was anxious to start getting this to current times. If there are any issues with it, please pm me or notify me in the comments.

Chapter 11: Disaster strikes

Seven years after the founding of Hammerdeep

King Ornir holds onto his throne as he rides out a really violent shaking hits the mountain, causing boulders to fall from the ceiling and crash upon the floor. He waits for the shaking to pass for a few moments longer until it finally subsides and says, "Guards, give the order to abandon the remaining mine and have the fuel for the forges collected and taken to our new home of Hammerdeep, I only hope they have the large smelters ready by now. Be sure to have some of the fuel kept alight or we will have no way to light them. Once the fuel is all moved, have them start breaking down and moving the equipment." He watches them take off on their tasks immediately, then walks away from his throne before stopping in his tracks. Feeling that something is going to happen, he returns to his throne and removes the Arkenstone from his throne when a loud crack is heard below him. He takes off running down the path as the platform where his throne rests begins to tilt backward, eventually beginning to slide towards the back and off the platform. He stops and looks back in shock at barely saving the Arkenstone and his life, then sighs and wanders through the halls to examine the damage caused by the shaking.

On the other side of the portal, in Dark Watch

A few days pass by as Banil moves the remaining fuel and equipment towards their new home, noticing that they are also beginning to carry a few chests with them as well. Curious he stops one of the chest carriers and asks, "What are ya all carrying in those chests?"

The laborer looks to the dwarf and replies, "We are carrying these chests to the treasure vault at the king's orders, he is trying to save whatever he can before the mountain collapses and eventually dies. He stays behind to ensure that every dwarf makes it out."

He nods and replies, "Thank you for telling me this, better catch up to the others."

The laborer nods his head and rushes back to the cart, then helps his brother to pull it towards their new home and says, "We are finally moving to a much safer home brother, our mother would have wanted us to make the best of this adventure. What do you think about us giving up mining and start up a farm outside of Hammerdeep?"

The brother looks back and smiles saying, "Yeah our mother would definitely want us to do that, I think that would be a good idea indeed."

A week passes by as He watches as countless carts make their way back to be loaded once again. With a heavy sigh, he sends for his second in command.

A few minutes pass as Asulfur stops before Banil and says, "What do you need me to do sir?"

Banil looks at his friend and says, "Gather whoever you can, we are returning to Erebor to aid the king with the evacuation of the city so get moving." He watches him take off immediately to get whoever he can find.

Shelly watches as her friend Asulfur rushes out of the city with a small group of dwarves towards the pool to Erebor, causing her to worry and follow after them.

In the city of Erebor two hours later

King Ornir watches as the treasure vault empties a bit more and heads back up the flights of stairs to the main floor, glad he at least managed to save most of what the dwarves needed to have in the new city.

Asulfur spots the king on the main floor, directing a few more stray dwarves towards the portal saying, "My king, we are here to aid you, how may we serve?"

The king looks at them and says, "Go and quickly search for any remaining dwarves still in Erebor then meet us at the portal if you find no one, Shelly and Banil come with me to grab what we can from my room." He then takes off towards his room as the two mentioned follow behind him.

As they reach his residence a few minutes later, Banil looks around the room and says, "What do ya want us to take sir?"

King Ornir looks to his chest while wiping some sweat off his brow from the intense heat and says, "Dump that chest out and toss my books in, there is a hidden stash containing some scrolls, three of which describe how to make black arrows. After that, toss whatever clothing you can fit into it after I put my personal journal into it." He then sets to locating his journal in the room.

Banil gets started on his task and opens the chest, dumping the contents on one side of the room and places it in the center of the room with the lid up. He then grabs the few books on the shelves, then searches for the hidden stash. One of his fingers finds a hole and pries open the cover, revealing a group of six scrolls. Grabbing them all and setting them in the bottom of the chest, he starts to grab whatever clothing he can and starts to set it inside.

Finally finding it, he places it and the Arkenstone in the chest before finally grabbing his weapon off the floor saying, "Okay that is everything, let's get out of here." He then waits for Banil to close the chest and pick it up before following him out of his room.

Shelly follows them at a gallop as they run down the path back to the main floor, then turn and head for the platform leading to the portal back to where she came from when she feels the floor start to shake. Losing her footing and falling to the floor, she scrambles to get back onto her feet.

They are almost to the stairs leading towards the portal when a boulder starts to fall from the ceiling, catching Shelly's eye and causes her to charge forward and push the king out of the way. Sliding across the floor when she stops and suddenly screams out in pain as the boulder crushes her back legs.

Ornir scrambles to his feet, feeling very mad about being knocked down. He turns his head towards her as Banil stops to look back, seeing that Shelly is injured and needs help. He looks to Banil and shouts, "You go on, I will be right behind you after I get her out from under that!"

Banil nods and obeys his king saying, "Yes sir, ah will set the chest by the portal and come back to help." He then takes off towards the stairs.

He jogs up to the downed pony and sees that one of her legs is crushed, then sighs and says, "I am going to have to chop your leg off, the boulder is too big for even two of us to move Shelly."

She takes a breath as tears run down her face out of her eyes from the pain and yells, "JUST DO IT AND GET ME THE BUCK OUT OF THIS MOUNTAIN!"

King Ornir uses his ax to chop her legs off cleanly, feeling sorry for the poor mare feeling so much pain. He sets his ax down to pick her up and toss her over one shoulder with his hand holding her there. He then picks his ax back up and starts to head down the stairs as the mare passes out from the pain and stops screaming.

Asulfur and Banil are about to go aid the king when he shows up carrying the body of Shelly and asks, "What happened to her, is she going to be alright?"

He looks at them and nods his head saying, "She saved me from a boulder that landed on her back legs and completely crushed them, I sure hope she will survive this. Now let's get out of this mountain before she dies and goes berserk." He watches them all go through the pool when he hears a massive crash and a roaring fills the air followed by smoke and ash. He wastes no more time and rushes into the portal as he feels the pinch, and rushes out towards the other side.

Asulfur watches the king get blasted out of the portal along with Shelly, water sprays everywhere as the air becomes filled with glimmering sparkles that linger and drift throughout the air. He looks back at the pool and sees that it barely has any glow to it and says, "I sure hope that I am wrong about this..." before wandering into the pool and ducking down under the surface. Not feeling anything different, he stands back up and says, "We are now officially stuck here with no way back to our home in Erebor."

King Ornir coughs and says, "Today is a sad day for all of us Dwarves, no songs shall be sung on this day or night. We shall mourn our loss for a whole week, meaning no grand feasts or any ale or mead of any kind during this time of mourning." He hears a sputtering cough from the side of the room and rushes over to Shelly saying, "Hang on young one, we will get you aid!"

Shelly weakly lifts her head and says, "Too weak, it's too late for me. Tell my sister Lucia to protect and watch over the herd now, she is the leader. It was so much fun to learn what you had to offer, I only wish I could learn more." She then lowers her head back down to the ground and focuses on her breathing.

He kneels down beside her and replies, "I will be sure to do that, do you want to be buried like one of us?"

She takes a breath and softly smiles saying, "That would...be nice, there is a special cave that ponies visit once a year. It is a deep cave that is somewhere in the forest, Lucia and the herd will lead us there."

The king nods and picks her up in his arms after handing his ax to Asulfur saying, "Alright, let's not waste time then."

Asulfur holds the ax and runs ahead of the group as they make haste towards Dark Watch to find the herd when they find them waiting at the top of the stairs, shocking him as he slows to a stop saying, "Which one of you is Lucia?"

A black mare with violet eyes and a white mane and tail steps forward nervously and stammers saying, "T-That would be I, what do you wish of me?"

Ornir sighs and steps forward, kneeling down saying, "Your sister was badly hurt by a falling boulder when she pushed me out of its way, I had to chop her legs off to bring her home from Erebor. She has something to tell you."

Shelly opens her eyes and looks at her sister, then takes a breath and says, "My time to lead is done, it now falls to you to continue to lead, watch and protect the ponies. Please lead them to the special place we visit once a year, I wish to be buried there as one of them."

Lucia's eyes fill with tears as she sobs and nods her head sadly saying, "O-Okay sister, I will not let you down and do as you wish. Please follow us there."

Banil looks to her and softly asks, "We do not have the necessary tools for the burial, can we go to Dark Watch first for what we need?"

She sighs and looks at him and the large ornate chest he is carrying, then nods her head saying, "Yes we can. Let us be on our way, the journey there is a bit long and a little challenging."

Ornir hurriedly follows them to Dark Watch to get what they need to carve a stone tomb, then looks to Banil and says, "Before you come back here, I want you to bring it with us and keep it out of sight."

He cocks his head to the side and looks at the king in confusion and asks, "It, my king?"

The king nods his head and says, "Yes, bring the shiny, sparkly thing with you when we travel to the cave, there is something very special I want to do for Shelly as thanks for saving my life." He watches as Banil nods his head in understanding before going to his quarters to set the chest down.

Banil hurriedly reaches his quarters and sets the chest down, opens it, then grabs the Arkenstone. Placing it in a pocket in his vest, he then closes the chest and grabs his pickax before rushing out the door.

Ornir impatiently waits for the others to return with the tools needed as the last dwarf finally returns, turning his head to Lucia and says, "We are ready now, let's hurry on our way."

Lucia leads them through the woods to the special cave that her sister requested to be brought to, heading down into the deepest parts of the cave that are dimly lit by slightly glowing flowers. She and the herd stops outside of the innermost part of the cave and says, "This is as far as we ponies dare to go, this place is too special to us so be very kind and gentle if you go further in."

The king nods and looks to the others saying, "Alright, all of you take off your boots. Let's start this as the carvers do." He then gently lays her down and starts removing his boots, setting them to the side before he picks her back up and strides into the room silently. He carries her to the side of the chamber and softly asks, "We are here Shelly, where do you wish your tomb to be?"

Shelly opens her eyes slowly once more and looks around the chamber with what strength she has left and says, "Is floor rock or soil?"

Ornir looks at her and feels the ground then replies, "It is soil, what shall we do?"

She smiles and says, "Move soil away from center, then place tomb. Set me in tomb, and fill with dirt last..." She closes her eyes as her last breath leaves her lungs.

He nods his head as a few tears escape his eyes saying, "It will be done as you request." He then sees the others already getting started on moving the soil from the center of the room clear down to the stone bottom, with a few others going outside to search for a suitable stone to carve into a square tomb.

The ponies watch as the dwarves work to follow her request to the letter as Lucia lays on a stone and sobs over the passing of her sister.

Several hours pass by as the dwarves finish carving the tomb, then carry it to the center of the room and set it down. The king then walks over to pick Shelly's body up to set her inside of it, gingerly laying her down upon the stone. Turning his eyes to Banil, he asks, "Please bring the stone here Banil, there is one here that is more worthy of this stone than I."

Banil brings the stone to him silently and hands it over without a word, then heads back to the group to watch him proceed.

Ornir holds the shimmering stone in his hand and looks at it briefly before looking to the group and says, "Shelly was a good and honest soul, her curiosity and thirst for knowledge knew no bounds. She was a guardian right to the very end of her life, may she continue to be a guardian in the next life." He then turns around to face the tomb and lays the stone upon her barrel, then slowly starts to scoop up the soil with both hands and lays it around her body so the stone is not disturbed. He continues to slowly lay soil in the tomb when the other dwarves join in, following his example and place soil around the body.

When the tomb is full, the dwarves walk over to get the lid and slowly carry it to the tomb then set it down atop of it squarely. To finish this process, they grab a wooden mallet and strike the edges of the lid to make sure it is tight. They then move the dirt back to the center of the cavern to cover the tomb and all stand at the entrance with their heads held low.

Ornir then surprises the dwarves and kneels down with his head held upright and says, "Kneel before royalty." He hears the dwarves kneel down behind him and says, "We dwarves of old bow to the new Queen. All hail the Guardian Queen!"

Asulfur and the other dwarves all repeat him as a slow rumbling sound starts to fill the air around them, making them all look for the source of the noise. He catches a brief glimpse of a rainbow shoot out from where the tomb rests, sending them all flying backward into the wall. He starts to hear a cracking sound as a strange sprout starts to poke out from the top of the mound above where the tomb is and asks, "Am I seeing things, or is that a sprout growing from above the tomb?"

The king watches as the sprout gets bigger and taller then says, "You are not seeing things, a sprout is growing from where the tomb rests." He watches it continue to grow in size as he notices that he can see through one of the leaves and says, "I think that whatever is growing is made of crystal, I never thought that the Arkenstone was actually not a gem, but a seed. We shall have to guard this sprout against any who wish it harm." He is about to give Banil an order when he hears a gentle giggle come from somewhere in the cave.

The dwarves look around the room for who the voice belongs to when a pony with a pure white glistening coat, an auburn mane, and reddish-brown eyes appears on the far side of the room and sighs saying, "It was very nice of you to leave your most prized gem with my body, even I had no idea that this would happen. Thank you very much for replacing the dirt around my tomb, I can assure you that you don't need to protect me. There was an immense amount of magic inside of that seed, I do not know how it got there. With how much magic was kept in that seed, I feel like I can gift it to many creatures. I shall wander around this young world and learn what I can of it and help other races along, so I have much more to learn. Explore this world to your hearts' content, for magic now fills the very air you breathe. I shall endeavor to fulfill my role as Guardian Queen with my new life, King Ornir. So thank you once again, I must go now but I will always be watching over all of you. Be sure to try to at least make friends with the dragons of this world, not all of them are greedy and aggressive."

King Ornir watches as the pony smiles back at him before turning around and walks away when he says, "We will try to be friends with them as long as they don't try to take our gold and homes from us, may you always continue learning new things, Shelly."

Shelly stops and looks back once more and says, "Those small green creatures are not from this world, their presence here threatens the balance and beauty of it. It pains me to say this, but you must root them out and destroy them all so that balance returns." She then returns to walk away from them and fades away from their sight.

The king turns around and looks to his subjects behind him and says, "Let us return now to Hammerdeep. I want Asulfur and Banil to return to Dark Watch with the other dwarves of this group after taking me to Hammerdeep, you are hereby named Governor of Dark Watch. Form an army and begin training new troops, for war has begun and you are the front line. As soon as I return to the city, I shall begin forming an army and will build up a new arsenal to replace what was lost."

Chapter 12: A new adventure Pt 1

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 13: A new adventure Pt 2

Galad sets up the protection runes, then has a light dinner before setting out his bedroll and going to sleep. He wakes to see a darkened sky and shrugs his shoulders saying, "I sometimes wake up a bit early, but perhaps I just woke up before the sun rises. It would be rather lazy of me to go back to sleep, I will just have to make the most out of this adventure and continue to explore this place.

He cleans up the area and puts the fire out and continues to follow the river until he reaches a rail line heading north and south across the river when he notices a tall mountain in the distance with something barely visible on the side of it. He decides to make his way towards it and starts to follow the tracks to the north, hoping they lead to some sort of village.

He walks for a bit longer until he sees darkened houses in the distance, he then cautiously makes his way towards them when he spots a group of six creatures making their way towards him. He hurriedly makes his way to a dark group of trees to watch the group make their way closer to him, he starts to hear chatter among them and listens to what they say.

Pinkie giggles and says, "Whee! Let's take a walk through this creepy, dark forest!" She then starts to head into the forest when Twilight stops her.

Twilight looks to Pinkie and says, "Hold it Pinkie, not so fast. I appreciate the offer, but I would rather do this myself."

Applejack then looks to Twilight and says, "Sorry, no can do sugar cube. We ain't gonna let any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone, we're gonna be stickin' to you like caramel on a candy apple." She then walks forward with the others into the forest.

Pinkie then follows the group in saying, "MHM, Even if there are any candy apples in there, they are sooo good."

Galad hears a sigh from the last member of the group and follows after her, making sure to keep a distance from them as he is outnumbered. He tries to figure out what to do and thinks, 'How am I going to introduce myself to them? I wonder if they are even friendly towards other creatures? I better keep quiet and follow them until I know more about them, I wish that dang sun would rise so I can get a better look at them.'

Fluttershy continues to nervously follow the group into the forest as her eyes dart around at various things and says, "So...have any of you girls been in here before?"

Rarity looks around at the dreary-looking forest and says, "H-Heavens no darling, just look at this place. It looks so dreadful in here."

Applejack looks behind her, thinking she heard a twig snap, and says, "It just doesn't seem natural. I hear folks say it's not the same as Equestria."

Galad continues to follow them when he hears a chicken clucking beside him and stops in his tracks. Recognizing the sound as a cockatrice, he notices something white to his right and closes his eyes. He then moves his hammer to the left and swings his hammer as hard as he can in its direction, hearing a crunching sound then a deep, loud crack as his hammer slams into a tree.

Fluttershy lets out a brief scream in fright and says, "W-What was that just now?!" Her legs then tremble in fear at the sudden noise.

Applejack looks around behind them for the noise, not seeing anything she says, "I-I don't know girls, but we can't fight what we can't see. So let's keep moving."

Hoping he got the creature, he slowly turns his head to the right and cracks one eye open, letting out a sigh of relief at seeing the creature crushed against the tree by his hammer and pulls it free. He watches the lifeless corpse fall to the floor and then kicks it away from him, despising the unnatural beast. He then gets a little bit closer to the group and listens to a bit more of their conversation.

Rainbow creeps towards the others as Applejack and Twilight stand behind her and grins evilly while saying, "It is because that every pony whoever comes in here, has never...came...BACK!"

He watches as a large part of the cliff gives way and falls to the ground below, taking most of the group with it, and sneaks as close to the edge as he can without being seen. He looks over the edge as they slide down as two of the members fly down and carry them one by one to the ground safely, with the last one being caught and taken to the ground below. Looking carefully at the side, he finds a few small drops that will allow him to jump his way down the steep slide. He takes the first jump and feels it start to crumble away and quickly takes another, he sighs with relief as this one holds as he then looks for the one below.

Eventually reaching the middle of the cliff, he looks over the edge and sees more platforms to jump to. Taking his sweet time getting down the cliff, he takes the last jump and lets out a sigh of relief, and sees the group continuing into the forest. He then hurries along to catch up to them before he loses sight.

Rainbow Dash flies in the air behind the group and lands next to Twilight saying, "Oh that was great, once Pinkie, and Rarity were safely return to the ground...WHOOSH...Me and Fluttershy did a loop-a-loop around and...WHAM...caught you just in time."

Twilight rolls her eyes and continues walking and says, "Yes Rainbow, I know. I was there and I'm very grateful for you both saving me, but we have to..." She then gasps in fright as a manticore lands on the ground before them.

Galad hears the roar of a manticore and races through the brush to catch up to them, seeing the group trying to fight the creature in vain. He is just about to burst through the brush when he hears one of them shout, "WAIT!" and skids to a stop just past the edge of the bush. He curiously watches as one of the group walks up to the creature and starts talking to it, eventually pulling something out of its paw then walk right past it after a hug and a few licks from it. He then proceeds to follow after them when the manticore spots the dwarf and rushes away into the forest. He spots the thorn a distance away when it vanishes into a puff of smoke and takes off, making him curious as to what that puff of purple smoke is.

Rarity looks around wearily at the forest and says, "Ugh, this place is hideous! My eyes need a break from all this ickiness."

Twilight looks around as everything turns dark from the lack of moonlight and sighs saying, "Oh that ruin could be right in front of us, and we would never be able to tell."

He notices that the trees have odd faces on them as the group members begin to scream in fear when one of them starts to laugh, then begins to sing a song. Hearing the pony's song starts to irritate him, causing him to shove his fingers into his ears to block the noise out saying, "Ugh, I ain't 35 anymore. This is the most annoying song I ever heard." He continues to watch their movements as the faces slowly start to disappear.

Galad watches as the girls continue moving forward and removes his fingers from his ears, seeing that a roiling river with a weeping water serpent lies within it. His attention is piqued at hearing the water serpent mention purple smoke and pays further attention.

Rarity rushes between Applejack and Rainbow Dash as they pay no mind to the creature's distress and says, "Why of course it is a big deal, you shouldn't ever be so insensitive to a creature in distress. Can't you see that he has such lovely, luminescent scales, and an expertly coiffed mane. You also have such a fabulous manicure, and it is all ruined without your beautiful mustache."

The sea serpent breaks down and wails, crossing his arms over his head saying, "Oh it is true, I am just absolutely hideous!"

She looks up at him and narrows her eyes with determination saying, "I just simply cannot allow a crime to go uncorrected!" She then opens her mouth and pulls off a loose scale, then uses it to hack off her tail. She drops the scale as the serpent collapses onto the ground at the display, then picks her lopped-off tail up and attaches it to the damaged part of the mustache saying, "There you go, now you look smashing."

He watches as one of them starts to cross when a part of the sea serpent rises from the water, lifting them out and allowing them to stay dry. He then starts to follow after them as the last pony reaches the other side when the sea serpent lifts his head and sees him hopping across his body, gasping in surprise, and begins to tremble out of fear.

The serpent places its claws into its mouth and starts to bite them fearfully as his body trembles at the sight of the dwarf and stammers, "P-P-Please don't kill me, I-I-I do not want to c-c-cause any t-t-trouble."

Galad looks the serpent in the eye and sighs saying, "Neither am I, to be honest. So can you do me a favor and please settle down before you make me fall into the water?"

He slowly tries to get his fear under control and continues to stammer, "O-O-Okay, I-I will t-try. I remember the last time I saw a dwarf, I was swimming along the bottom of the ocean west of here when the others around me started heading to the surface. I followed them up after hearing a few of them start screaming in pain, what I saw up there were many sailboats firing harpoons into the others and pulling them on board. I managed to tip one boat over and heard one of the creatures say, 'That bastard just destroyed one of our boats, kill them all and save as many dwarves as we can!' I felt a harpoon go right through my body and fled towards the bottom of the sea, I then went into hibernation for a few years before I made my way into the rivers away from the sea. Now I wander through the seas fearing that the dwarves will return and try to kill me, there are not as many sea serpents remaining in Equestria. I have looked far and wide through every ocean before my fear of the open ocean started to set in, there are only around 200 sea serpents like me left out there, oh woe is me!"

The dwarf sighs at remembering what the dwarves have done in the past in their desire to make the world a better place, taking a few moments of silence before saying, "I do apologize for what you went through, the dwarves stopped sailing the oceans because we detest the sea. It is so vast, and it reminds us of how small we are in the world."

The serpent slowly calms down at hearing that and stops his body's trembling then says, "So what brings a dwarf like you this far from your mountain home?"

Galad looks up at the serpent and shakes his head saying, "Well, I got bored of just learning of what was in the world beyond the mountain, I want to experience it for myself and perhaps make a few new friends. I was following that group when they helped you and crossed the river with your help, will you allow me to pass to the other side?"

He smiles and looks at him saying, "Of course I shall, but can you tell me what your name is?"

The dwarf nods his head and says, "My name is Lord Galad Hillsworth, I come from Hammerdeep. What is your name, sea serpent?"

The serpent bows to him saying, "It is a pleasure to meet you Lord Galad, my name is Steven Magnet. Please have a marvelous day and do watch out for tacky clouds of purple smoke, they are very rude." He then dives his upper body below the water and remakes the bridge to allow his friend to cross.

Galad crosses the river and tries to catch up with the group, catching up to them as they reach a rope and plank bridge across a vast cavern. He watches as one of the group flies over to the other side with the broken rope, then drops it as some other ponies stop in front of them when a bank of thick fog rolls in and blocks his view. A few moments pass as the bank finally clears away with the bridge repaired, allowing the others to cross it safely.

Rainbow flies alongside Twilight and says, "Don't worry, I would never leave my friends hanging for selfish desires."

He carefully crosses the bridge, hearing it creak with each step he takes as he hears them speak from within the ruins. After reaching the other side, he then hears them making their way out and hurries off to the side to take shelter when a flash comes from inside the room. Looking inside, he sees that one of them is missing and wonders what will happen next when the other ponies start to run around the room looking for the other member.

Applejack stops and asks, "Where in tarnation did she go?"

Rarity looks out a broken window, seeing light shine through the windows of a nearby tower and says, "Look, there is something going on up there!"

She then says, "Come on y'all, let's go check it out!" then takes off through an open door leading to the tower.

Galad then sets his hammer down, followed by his pack, and feels a need to get his shield from it. He then unties his shield from the pack and puts it on his left arm and holds the other handle with his left hand, then picks up his hammer and follows the group of ponies along the path.

Twilight charges a spell while running towards Nightmare Moon, activating her spell moments before colliding with her and arrives before the five elements and begins to try to charge them herself with her magic saying, "Oh I sure hope this will work." when it backfires and zaps her, sending her flying backwards a fair distance away as Nightmare Moon appears out of purple smoke amid the hovering stone elements.

Nightmare Moon then says in her booming voice, "You little foal, you honestly thought that would work!?" She then stomps her hooves on the ground, shattering the elements into small shards and continues saying, "Now you won't ever see your princess or your beloved sun, this beautiful night will last forever!" She begins to laugh maniacally as if she had already won.

Galad follows the ponies up the stairs slowly as he listens to their conversation, waiting for the right moment to make his presence known. He hugs the wall as one of the girls speaks, having the full attention of the larger pony.

The evil mare stands up tall and then bellows, "You are still lacking the sixth element, the elements won't work without the sixth!"

He chuckles and sees a chance to be a distraction and says, "Wow, you are one slow mare if you don't already know."

They all turn to look around the room to find out who said that as Nightmare Moon bellows, "WHO DARES TO INSULT THE RULER OF THE NIGHT, COME FORTH NOW AND BE PUNISHED!"

Galad steps away from the wall and makes his way into the chamber as the other ponies finally notice him and watch in wonder, looking at the tall mare saying, "The only one that will be punished this day is you oh tall, dark, and slightly disturbed one."

Nightmare Moon glares at the creature and responds, "DO YOU WISH TO TEST MY POWER, INFERIOR CREATURE!?"

He grins and then chuckles saying, "I would love to, I haven't had a decent sparring partner in years. Now come at me, and I shall show you who is inferior!" He then jogs towards her with his shield and hammer ready, shooting a glance to the purple pony that was speaking earlier saying, "You are only going to get one chance, find the opportunity and make your strike."

Twilight cocks her head in confusion as she wonders who and what that creature is, and why it is here. She then looks to the others and asks, "Do any of you know who or what that is?"

The princess of the night screams out in agitation and fires a beam directly at the creature, watching as it blocks it with its shield. Trying a different approach, she takes flight and charges him.

Galad then dodges her charging attempt and stops near the end of the hall and taunts her saying, "Okay, you don't totally suck at ranged attacks. Come here and show me how skilled you are at melee combat."

Applejack watches the creature skillfully block and dodge her attacks and says, "Wow, that is some skill they have whoever it is."

Twilight then looks to her friends and says, "I felt a different kind of spark when I realized how happy I felt to hear you, to see you come all this way, and how much I cared about all of you. I felt the spark when I realized that you all...are my friends!"

Nightmare Moon is just about to slam her hooves down upon the downed creature when a bright flash catches her attention, forcing her to look up and say, "What is that up there?"

He looks up as the sixth element appears and turns into a crown, bringing a smile to his face as he kicks her back hooves out from under her. Rolling out from under her miraculously lands somewhat upright and raises his shield saying, "That is true magic, and you have lost." He then stops her from preparing another spell with her horn and slams his shield into the side of her head, making a loud clang ring out from the contact with her helm.

She tries to focus through the ringing in her head saying, "AARGHH, YOU FOUGHT DIRTY! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE AGAINST YOU FOR THAT!!" She tries to get her back legs under her, but her balance is completely off.

Galad sees a rainbow heading straight to her and rushes out of the way, standing on the far side of the room as she is struck by the beam screaming no. He looks on in wonder as a bright flash of light fills the room, blinding him completely and making him rub his eyes in pain. He spends a few minutes rubbing the spots out of his eyes when he starts to hear them wake up. He leans up against the wall as they talk amongst themselves, completely forgetting he is there.

Applejack looks to her friend and smiles saying, "Wow Twilight, I thought that you were just spouting a lot of hooey about the Elements of Harmony, I now reckon that we really do represent the Elements of Friendship."

He then hears a new voice saying, "Indeed you all do." and sees rays of light start to shine through the window and says, "It's about time the sun came up, it would be bad for this land if night actually lasted forever." He shields his eyes as a bright orb of light comes in through the window and lands on the ground before them all, then fades to show a pure white pony with wings, a unicorn horn, a sun cutie mark, and a multicolored, flowing ethereal mane and tail.

Happy to see her mentor return, she runs forth and nuzzles against her foreleg saying, "Princess Celestia, you are back!"

Celestia looks at her student and nuzzles her back then smiles saying, "Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, I knew you could do it."

She looks up to her mentor and says, "But I remember from the letter, you told me it was just an old pony tale."

The princess giggles lightly and caresses her student's neck saying, "I just told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing else. I also noticed the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, I knew that you had the magic inside to unite the elements and defeat her. You could not unleash it until you allowed true friendship to enter your heart. I only hope that now another will try to as well..." She then shifts her gaze to the prone form on the floor then says, "Princess Luna."

Little Luna wakes up with a start and a minor headache as a soft ringing echoes through her head, she sees the creature near her sister and gasps as she approaches her while the creature stays against the column.

Princess Celestia looks down to her sister and slowly walks towards her saying, "It has been a thousand years since I saw you this way. Don't you think that it is time to put our differences behind us? Didn't you know that we were always meant to rule together, little sister? Can you accept my friendship?"

She walks over to her sister and happily hugs her saying, "I am so sorry, I have missed you so much, big sister."

Galad watches the touching reunion continue on for a few more minutes before he starts to feel a sneeze coming on and tries to fight it off softly saying, "Oh not now, I'm not gonna ruin this moment for them like...ah....ah....ahh, Ahh CHOO!" as he jerks forward, a short but very noticeable fart is pushed out of his rear end. He straightens himself as one of them slowly falls over in a fit of giggles and looks to the two princesses across the room and bows to them saying, "A thousand apologies, Your Majesties. I was unable to restrain myself from sneezing or releasing air."

Chapter 14: A bright, new day

Princess Celestia steps in front of her sister protectively, then narrows her eyes at the two-legged creature having a light tan colored coat with a long, ornately braided auburn mane hanging from the back of its head and the bottom of its chin with bright blue eyes and asks, "Apology accepted, and just who and what, are you?"

Galad stands up and says, "My name is Galad Hillsworth, and I am a dwarf from Hammerdeep far to the west of here."

She looks at him a bit closer and notices the ornate hammer and the symbol on the shield as she tries to figure out which family has that crest and sighs saying, "Sadly I do not recall ever meeting any of your kind in Equestria before, that is a very fine weapon. Very few are able to craft such weapons, those that can have been missing for a great many years now. I do not recall ever hearing of a nation called Hammerdeep, what family crest is upon your shield?"

He looks at the little princess as she squints from time to time and chuckles saying, "The headache and ringing will fade away after a few minutes princess, just bear with the nuisance until then." He shifts his eyes back to the tall princess and says, "Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty. You wouldn't have ever heard of a nation called Hammerdeep, because we dwarves have been in seclusion for many years. This is not a family crest princess, it is the crest representing our home."

Twilight then recalls the fight and says, "Oh Princess Celestia, I need to tell you that Galad helped us against Nightmare Moon. I was telling my friends about feeling the spark and how happy that I am to have them as my friends while they were keeping her distracted with melee combat."

Celestia calms down a little and relaxes her wings and says, "That is good to hear Twilight." She then looks a little softer to the dwarf and smiles saying, "It surprises me that we have never heard of anything even remotely mentioning the existence of Dwarves in Equestria. Perhaps you can show us where it is one day when time allows Galad Hillsworth, there is a Summer Sun Celebration going on and you are welcome to attend it. Thank you for assisting my student and her friends against Nightmare Moon."

Galad bows his head to her then says, "Just so you all know, I'm a male dwarf. I would be happy to do that one day when I'm able to trust you fully, for we have made mistakes in the past. I followed them here because I was at home when I wanted to see what the outside world is like, mom finally allowed me to go outside where I eventually ran into this group outside of the forest and decided to follow them. I was trying to find a way to introduce myself but had to make sure they weren't dangerous. I don't mean to be rude in any way Your Majesty, but how are you a thousand years old? You don't look a day over 100, how long-lived are ponies normally?"

Rarity's jaw drops open at the insult, narrowing her eyes at Galad before stomps towards him saying, "Oh that is beyond rude, Princess Celestia does not look old at all!"

The tall princess lightly chuckles and says, "Calm down Rarity, he wasn't trying to be rude. but that could have been worded better. Ponies normally live for around 70 to 80 years, though alicorns like my sister Luna and myself have no idea how long our lives last. How long is a dwarf's life usually, and how old are you?"

He looks to Celestia and runs his hand along his beard then says, "Dwarves usually live to an average of 250 years, but it is possible for a dwarf to live to 300. I just turned 95 this year, so I can drink ale."

Celestia is shocked to hear that and says, "That is quite remarkable to hear, I thought that the only beings that lived longer than us ponies are alicorns and dragons. I would love to stay and learn more, but there is a celebration that must be starting soon. Perhaps we can speak more after the celebration, but my sister and I must head to Canterlot to ride a chariot to Ponyville. We will meet you all there, may you all have a safe journey back to Ponyville. Oh, I nearly forgot about the elements, could you all pass them here so we can put them in a safe place?"

Galad watches the others hand them over, as the princess tucks them away somewhere with her magic. He then watches the two princesses teleport away, then turns to the others and asks, "Where are these places Canterlot and Ponyville they mentioned?"

Pinkie Pie steps forward and then says, "When you first met with us, did you see a mountain in the distance with a city on the side of it?"

He nods his head and answers, "Yeah I saw something in the distance similar to a mountain, but it was too dark to see the city. I saw a dark town after I followed the tracks, what one is that?"

She then smiles and says, "That town is called Ponyville, the city on the side of the mountain is Canterlot."

Rarity then sighs as she thinks about Canterlot and says, "Oh it is much more than just a city darling, it is so full of glorious fashion, sophistication, and of course the handsomest stallion you could ever dream of meeting...Princess Celestia's nephew, Prince Blueblood."

Twilight smiles and looks to the group and says, "Well everyone, shall we be on our way back to Ponyville? We have a long way to travel back."

Galad watches the group make their way down the tunnel, looking back at the broken pieces of armor on the floor then decides to collect the fragments left behind. He follows the group back saying, "I have to get my pack from where I left it outside the building, I will catch up with you girls at the bridge." He then heads through the room and exits it, making his way to where his pack is and puts the shattered armor pieces into his pack, then returns his shield to its spot. He then lifts the pack onto his back and catches up with the group saying, "You girls cross first, I am heavier than you are."

Rarity crosses the bridge after Fluttershy and says, "So what can you tell us about this city of yours called Hammerdeep that we have never heard of, I doubt it could compare to the beauty of Canterlot where the princesses live."

He makes his way across the bridge carefully, hearing each board groan in protest under his weight, and says, "Well I can say that it is an impressive sight unless you were never allowed to go outside the city. There are towering white granite columns supporting numerous paths that run throughout the city with crystal lamps that illuminate the city's interior, the paths to walk on are lined with gold trim. The path leading to the throne room is made from gold and silver squares, the homes for the other dwarves are made entirely from stone except for the furniture and interior decorations. The crafting quarters are also a sight to see, with a few stalls to show their latest works. There are numerous mining shafts down below, but the forges are higher above that have a series of funnels that direct the molten metals towards forms so they can cool down and be used for later use."

She cocks her head and says, "The entire city is stone, it doesn't really sound all that impressive to me."

Twilight looks at her and says, "Rarity, perhaps there is a reason for them using stone to build their homes. Why would you build mines below the city, wouldn't the weight from above cause them to collapse?"

Galad chuckles and finishes crossing the bridge saying, "If you were building stone homes on normal ground, they normally would collapse from the weight. We dwarves are peculiar, we prefer to make our homes inside mountains. You see, our city of Hammerdeep is a city under a mountain, so normally we don't go outside much except for the hunting party that ventures out to find food for us dwarves."

Fluttershy nervously asks, "W-What d-do dwarves normally eat?"

He looks at the nervous yellow pony with light pink hair and wings and says, "We aren't like you ponies, we can't eat plants or grass. Our diet consists mostly of meat, fruits, vegetables, grains, and beverages such as liquor, water, cider, or milk."

She steps away from him a little and hides behind her mane then asks, "W-What k-kind of meat?"

Galad watches as they all glance back at him nervously and answers her, "Don't worry, dwarves don't eat pony meat. We tend to stick to manticore, big boar, bear, or even hydra meat. It has been quite a while since we last had bear or manticore though, I do wish we could find another source of food so we could give the forest a bit of a break."

Fluttershy walks beside him and looks at him with a serious look on her face and says, "I have animal friends that are among those you mentioned, I would be very upset if one of them went missing and became your food."

He looks at her and sighs, then gives her a sorrowful look and says, "I would suggest you finding them and asking them to avoid the woods past the tracks to the west of Ponyville then because that is where our hunting parties normally wander to find our food. We are not able to tell which animals are your friends, I hope you can understand that we are just trying to find food so we can survive.

She sighs in return and looks away briefly before saying, "I do understand that, and I will be sure to have them avoid that area, thank you for being considerate. My name is Fluttershy, it is nice to meet you Galad." She then returns to the group as they make their way back to Ponyville.

Galad watches as she walks away and says, "It is nice to meet you too Fluttershy, I will try to get by with what I have in my pack. I will also try to avoid eating meat around ponies during my time with you ponies, it will be difficult but not impossible. I hope to learn a few things from you before I have to go back home in six days, why did the sun take so long to rise this morning?"

Twilight then hangs back a little and looks at his weapon curiously and asks, "Well that is simple to explain, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am Princess Celestia's prized student. You see, Princess Celestia is responsible for raising or lowering the sun and moon each day and night. She was captured by Nightmare Moon and was unable to raise the sun and lower the moon to start the day."

Pinkie then hangs back and asks, "Hi, my name is Pinkie Pie, I love to throw parties for all of my friends! You are new to Ponyville, so I need to plan a welcome party for you! Do you mind if I ask you some questions Galad?"

He looks at the very pink pony with light blue eyes and says, "Sure you can, if I can't answer it I will tell you I can't answer that."

She pulls out a list and a quill then says, "Okay then. First question, when is your birthday?"

Galad chuckles and says, "Well, we don't exactly use months. We use the seasons, so I was born about three weeks after the winter solstice."

Pinkie then thinks for a moment and says, "Okay that would put your birthday around...January 11, 1926. Next question, What are your favorite foods besides meat?"

He smiles and answers her near-endless multitudes of questions as they make their way to Ponyville, finding her energetic nature quite interesting.

Chapter 15: New Experiences

As they come into view of Ponyville, Galad's eyes take in the town in the distance near the stream and sighs as he remembers what happened in the past in this location saying, "Whoever chose to build a town here was either pretty wise or had no choice."

Twilight looks at Galad curiously and asks, "I do not understand what you mean by that, could you please explain it to me?"

Galad smiles slightly and says, "Well this is an excellent location with access to water and good soil to raise food, that is enough to draw attention to it don't ya think?"

Pinkie then replies saying, "Well of course it would draw attention, why wouldn't it?"

He raises an eyebrow at her and says, "I am guessing that the town is always peaceful then, I wonder how long it has been like that..."

The pink pony then looks at him and answers him honestly, "It has always been peaceful in Ponyville, today is the first day there was a problem to deal with."

Galad sighs and says, "I wish that you all have danger-free lives for as long as fate allows, for it is a wheel that always turns. It brings change as it moves ever forward, never stopping for any reason. We all must adapt to the changes that happen all around us, for the young shall be following the examples we leave behind."

As Applejack listens to him, she says, "Ya seem to have a lot of wisdom with how ya talk, what is it like to live in a mountain?

He lets out a sigh, feeling a little homesick, and says, "Well to a dwarf, mountains are our homes. We will fight any foe that dares to try and take our homes from us. We almost lost our home to a swarm of insect ponies about fifteen hundred years ago, but we somehow managed to break their attack. As they started to flee, we pursued them until we lost them. Many dwarves were lost in that attack, however, we did succeed in slaying many of their queens, although one or two did escape our soldiers."

Rarity gasps at hearing that and says, "EEEWWW!! There are insect ponies out there, oh how dreadful!"

Twilight cocks her head and curiously asks, "What did these insect ponies look like Galad?"

Galad sighs and shakes his head saying, "Unfortunately that was many generations ago and the only thing that is clear in the history books is that there was a hive of them that was black and a sickly greyish sea green color, and were wiped out because they stole and consumed our fallen soldiers. They all could fly and use magic from their horns, some others cocooned their victims and dragged them off to feed off them. One queen that escaped us could feed on us from a distance, but we weren't affected too much by her feeding off us and that led us to almost wipe them from existence."

Fluttershy looks away and says, "That was a very mean thing to do to them, why would you continue to harm them as they tried to escape?"

He looks to the shy pony as she nervously glances at him for a moment, then looks away and says, "That was many years ago Fluttershy, so I honestly can't tell you why we continued to pursue them. Perhaps we were angry at them for bothering us and trying to force us out of the home we built for ourselves. When that war with the insects first started about two thousand years ago, we were already in seclusion and only traded with other Dwarven cities. When that war ended fifteen hundred years ago, we stopped all interaction with the cities from above."

Twilight clears her throat and tries to change the subject saying, "Let us change to a different topic, shall we everyone?"

Galad smiles and nods his head to her as a silent Thank You then says, "That sounds like a wonderful idea, how about I hear about you girls instead?"

Rainbow Dash goes first and says, "Hi, I am the one and only Rainbow Dash, and I am a big fan of the Wonderbolts. In fact, someday I hope to be able to join them as one of the best fliers in Equestria. I help the weather team manage the weather, as well as help a few ponies out around Ponyville."

Applejack speaks up next and says, "Mah name's Applejack, and mah friends may call me AJ. Ah live and work on mah family's farm with mah little sister Applebloom, mah big brother Big Mac, and mah grandmother Granny Smith. Ah care for and love mah family and friends. Ah am also a really good cook, though Granny is better at it than ah am."

Rarity then takes her turn and smiles saying, "Greetings darling, my name is Rarity Belle and I have my own shop called Carousel Boutique. I live there on the second floor with my sister Sweetie Belle, I also make marvelous outfits for my customers."

Galad looks at them and smiles saying, "Today is a great day indeed, I've made six friends and met two princesses. I only hope that a friendship develops between us, it would be nice to reintroduce ourselves to the outside world. As long as no one demands that we stay inside our mountain homes because of our crimes, I think that we may be able to come out of our isolation. Depending on how this first week goes, I may be able to get my parents to let me go out again for more adventures."

Twilight then looks at Galad, her curiosity getting the better of her as she notices how long ago the Dwarves' war was and asks, "Galad, how long have the Dwarves been here?"

He doesn't see the harm in them knowing the truth and shrugs his shoulders saying, "We've been here for about forty-five hundred years, give or take a few." and continues on walking towards Ponyville.

The group stops suddenly and speaks in unison, "WHAAAT?!?"

The curious purple unicorn stares at Galad in shock at what they all just heard and says, "Then that means your race was already here when Equestria was founded!"

Galad stops and turns around, looking at them like they should already know and chuckles then says, "If it shocks you that we have been here that long, I can't wait to hear what your guys' history is. Start from the furthest back you know about this land's history as you know it, I will fill in the blanks and correct some of it as needed."

Twilight then nods and giggles softly says, "Sorry my friends but I really want to hear more, do you all mind if we sit down to hear this?"

Applejack shakes her head side to side saying, "Nope, ah don't mind at all. Ah'm rather curious mahself about what Galad has to say." and then moves over by Twilight to sit down beside her.

The dwarf smiles as the rest of them nod their heads and sit down with Twilight as she begins telling the history saying, "Well...I read a book about legends and found something claiming it all started about two thousand years ago when Grogar came to call himself the supreme ruler of the land, creating numerous monsters with his magic to wreak havoc and increase his power." He hears her stop at the end and says, "Is that all there is to Equestria's history, or is there more?"

She giggles lightly and smiles saying, "Oh of course there is more, there's a lot more to tell you. I was just stopping to see if it sounded familiar to you or if you had anything to say in regards to the legend."

Galad nods his head and says, "Nay, not familiar at all so please continue on with your history lesson professor."

Rainbow Dash giggles at that and says, "You really do sound like a professor Twilight." trying to not fall over laughing, she widens her front legs a little.

Twilight rolls her eyes at the teasing and continues on through her friend's snickering saying, "Well about sixty years later, the pony tribes are at odds with each other and are forced to find new lands due to a raging blizzard that has overtaken their lands. After they discover there can be harmony with each other, they unite and found Equestria. As three hundred more years pass by, a powerful unicorn wizard named Star Swirl The Bearded takes two alicorn students as apprentices..." continuing on about his accomplishments for several seconds.

Galad doses off for a moment and wakes up with a jerk, eliciting a giggle from Rainbow Dash and Pinkie while Twilight continues talking about how Discord appeared forty years later and ruled the land by using his chaos magic. He chuckles and says, "I remember about how that nuisance plagued us with his magic, casting it on our people and food. We eventually wisened up to his antics and faced him, almost took his head when he agreed to leave us alone."

She then smiles and says, "Okay so you know about Discord at least, let me continue on with the rest of Equestria's history. Discord is then defeated by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna after they found the Elements of Harmony. The last bit of history is fifty years after Discord is defeated, Princess Luna started to become jealous of her sister's popularity. She wanted the ponies to love her beautiful night so much that she refused to lower the moon one night and turned into Nightmare Moon, forcing her own sister to banish her to the moon as punishment. A few years after Nightmare Moon was banished, the wonderbolts was formed as a protective force in Equestria but evolved into an elite unit only for the best pegasi. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the crystal empire I read about in a book, not much is known about it though since it has vanished without a trace."

He sighs and looks away saying, "I know about the Crystal Empire too, we committed a great sin while we were aiding them."

Feeling a little worried about what her friend said, Fluttershy gathers enough courage to ask, "C-Could you tell us what happened that makes you look so ashamed?"

Galad looks at her and says, "Today is a day of celebration, an occasion to be happy because your princess has been restored to you. Perhaps I shall tell you that a different day, okay?"

Twilight is eager to know more about the Dwarves' history and asks, "Well since you were around since way before Equestria was even a thought, do you know what the world was like then?"

He ponders whether or not to blow their minds and says, "The land was wild and vast when we first learned of it, it was also infested with goblins. It also had manticores, timberwolves, bugbears, giant boars, and we learned later that dragons also existed here as well as sentient dogs that had their own empire far to the southeast of here according to this now outdated map I have."

Rainbow's curiosity piques at not hearing about ponies being on the land too and asks, "Well, how come you didn't mention ponies? Don't tell me we came here from another world where we were terrorized by monsters."

Galad laughs at hearing that and says, "I was getting to that, have a little patience. I was building suspense for a mind-blowing bit of information." He then takes a breath and continues saying, "Let me tell you a story about a dwarf named Asulfur, I only know of this story because he kept a journal that explains what he experienced that day as well as the adventures he went on later. One day he was hanging inside a cavern that was being mined by other dwarves, sitting in a seat against a wall. He continued to chisel away to get at the treasure hidden behind it, when a large crack appeared and started to run along the wall before him. He then pulled the rope attached to a bell up above to signal the others to pull him up higher, after he was out of danger, he watched the large chunk break away from the wall and tumble down through the cavern. The piece landed with a heavy crash that echoed throughout the depths of the city under the mountain, once his chair stilled, he looked down to see a strange crevice in the wall that led deeper and pulled the rope again to signal them to stop. Because he was a dwarf and naturally curious, he then signaled them to lower him back down so he could investigate it further. Once he saw it was deeper than he first thought, he started building a place for him to stand on so he could explore the crevice. It took him two months to carve out a spot where he could stand and hammered an anchor into the wall to secure himself to, and ventured into the depths of the opening. It took him a little time to make it to the end of the hole, and do you know what he found there?"

Pinkie leans forward on her hooves, eager to hear the answer and guesses, "A magical portal that took him to a faraway land?"

Galad chuckles and nods his head saying, "Great guess Pinkie, how'd you know that?"

She giggles and says, "I just took a wild guess, hehe."

He then narrows his eyes at her curiously and says, "A very lucky guess, but aye, he found a large cave filled with sparkling veins of precious metals and gems scattered all along the walls. Though what caught his eye most was a pool of water that glowed with a gold and white shimmering light, so he cautiously approaches the pool and touches the water first, he then smells the water, he even tastes it and it only makes him feel better. He then decides the water is safe and only makes you feel good, so he removes all of his clothing and enters the water. As he dunked his head underwater, he felt a pinch and quickly ran out of the pool. He found himself in a different cave and started to explore when he remembered he was bare ass naked!" He then chuckles at that and continues the story saying, "So he then returns for his clothes and his hammer then returns to the pool to explore the area. After climbing up through a hole in the ground, he had to spend many hours tearing out brambles with his hands before finding a clearing. And in that clearing, he found ponies. He was then ambushed by a timberwolf but he quickly defeated it and went into the clearing further when the herd nervously approached him, he looked at them a little closer and knew right away they couldn't be ridden. So then he returns to his mountain home and tells his boss, bringing him here next and then they both told their king about what they found. He then began working on building a path down the cliff to the pool, there was an expedition that was led by the king later, but he wasn't part of it." He then takes a breath and drinks from his canteen for a moment before saying, "This next part came from the King's journal regarding the expedition. After a few years had passed, the king went on the expedition with a small group of dwarves including the overseer, who led the expedition as he was there before. They passed through the portal and encountered some goblins riding timberwolves, the same herd from before was grazing in the field when one lone mare decided to follow them back for some reason. She quickly learned how to go up and down flights of stairs, she even attempted to speak but it came out as ooo aeee. Anyway, I am saying that it was us who taught you to speak and write. That earth pony was the very first being from this world to visit the grandest city ever built by dwarves, Erebor."

Rainbow then blinks her eyes in momentary amazement and says, "Woah..." then recovers almost instantly and finishes, saying, "Who cares you found some ancient ponies when you came to our world, that story was lame...wasn't exciting at all."

Twilight looks at Rainbow with disbelief and says, "Rainbow, we were pre-sapient and learned what we needed to survive on our own, from them. If it weren't for them teaching us what they did, we would most likely just be learning to build shelters."

Galad then looks to Rainbow and says, "Or still be grazing and serve as prey for other creatures, meaning dragons most often." He then thinks back on what he knows and chuckles saying, "We later found you pegasi and taught them that they could fly for long periods of time, then we found and taught the unicorns about rune magic and crafting magic. Though one thing we learned from the unicorns, was how to use actual magic by feeling the magic that is all around us."

She looks to Galad with her eyes full of wonder and asks, "Can you show us what you can do?"

He smiles and nods his head saying, "Aye I can, the only one I can't show ya is rune magic."

Rarity cocks her head a little bit and asks, "Why not darling, is it some big secret?"

Galad chuckles lightly and shakes his head no saying, "Nay, it is because the moon is not out heheh." he then wonders what to show them first and looks for a rock the size of his fist, locates one to his right and grabs it saying, "I shall show you what crafting magic is first, since it is easier of the two." and sets his pack aside, then digs around for something to carve with and finds his set of crafting chisels.

Twilight watches Galad eagerly as he pulls out a bag containing some long tools, and notices when they move around and strike each other, they make a metallic sound and thinks, 'Okay, what is he going to do to that rock with those tools?'

He gets to work and fills his body with happy feelings as he begins crafting a miniature unicorn out of the rock, focusing on getting the general shape he wants the unicorn to take and thinks, 'I never actually thought I would find myself enjoying making something as simple as this, let's see how much detail I can put into this unicorn figurine.'

Rarity watches curiously as the rock takes on a unicorn shape and says, "Just how fancy is this carving supposed to be if its made from a big rock?"

Galad grins and ignores the mildly disappointed comment from Rarity and says, "You shall see, oh fabulous one. When I am done, we shall see what you think of this figurine."

Twilight watches with awe as he adds more and more detail to it saying, "Oh wow, there is a lot of detail there for it to be just a simple figurine."

He spends twenty more minutes putting the fine touches on it before putting his chisels away and holds the finished figurine in his palm saying, "Tada! It is finally finished, so hold it in your hooves and tell me what you think. Do be careful with the mane, it is rather fragile."

Twilight is the first to reach for it and take it into her hooves and gasps when she starts to feel happiness fill her body saying, "You enchanted this to make others happy? That's amazing, please teach me how to do that!" She then passes it to Applejack to look at.

Galad chuckles and nods his head saying, "Pretty much, aye."

Rarity examines the figurine as the others hold it before her and make their comments, seeing nothing spectacular until it gets to her. Her eyes widen with amazement as happiness fills her and looks at the level of detail in the figurine and says, "How can you make something so marvelous out of a simple rock?!"

He looks at the figurine with a grin, looking at its light grey color having a smooth finish with four legs, which the right front leg is raised up as if to take a step. Its head is angled to the left side bearing a smile with an open mouth that shows small teeth and a tongue in the bottom jaw, it has a curled strand of mane draped over the right eye with the rest hanging in curls off the right side of the neck. Its left eye is incredibly detailed, having a clearly visible eyelid and eye underneath it, with a slight indention for the colored part of the eye and a small raised circle for the pupil. Its tail is also in curls and stops short of the bottom of its hooves. There's even a cutie mark of a clef note on either side of its flanks and says, "We dwarves have been around for eight thousand and five hundred years, this is something very simple that we teach our children. We raised and took care of you for many years, you even helped us carve Hammerdeep out of the mountain by carting off the rubble. The one thing we didn't teach you though is your marks on your flanks, you found those on your own and named them yourselves."

Twilight considers what the past was like when a thought enters her head and says, "So...um...if you did so much for us, how did we come to be on our own like we are and completely forget about your existence?"

Galad looks away in shame as he remembers their greatest crime of all and says, "That is a story for a different day, one to reflect on what we have done. It is not a happy story, and would ruin the summer sun celebration for you all." He then looks to Rarity and smiles softly at them saying, "You can keep that figurine, I can make more for the rest of you if you'd like later. Let's get on our way to the Summer Sun Celebration to celebrate the return of Princess Celestia's sister, Princess Luna.

Chapter 16: New Friends

Twilight smiles as the girls decide to let Rarity keep the figurine and ask for more some other day, watching as Galad starts to make his way towards the town and looks at her friends saying, "Come on girls, let's not be late and miss the Princesses arrival!" She then stands up and trots after Galad, trying to catch up to her newest friend.

Applejack notices Twilight trying to catch up to their newest friend, noticing that he has an unpleasant frown on their face, then quickly goes to stop Twilight from upsetting him further. She catches up and places her hoof on Twilight's withers and softly says, "Hang on for a moment sugar cube, ah think it would be best to leave Galad be for a moment. Ah don't know why, but he seems to be upset over somethin'."

Pinkie then starts to hop past them saying, "Then I will just have to cheer him up and make him laugh!"

Twilight grabs Pinkie with her magic and pulls her aside, then turns to Applejack and asks, "Wait a moment Pinkie, why do you think he is upset Applejack?"

The farm pony then looks briefly at him and turns her head back to Twilight and says, "Well, did ya notice how he avoided telling us anything upsetting or sad aside from the war with the insect ponies, then he makes a figurine to make us feel happier? Somethin' tells me that whatever it is that's got him upset, is either really sad, really bad, or both. Ah suggest we give him a little space now until he's ready to talk to us again and tell us more, maybe he'll open up to us in time."

The curious unicorn sighs and hangs her head a little saying, "Now that you mention it Applejack, yeah, I kinda did notice how he sighed when he saw where Ponyville is at, then when he talked about the war, their history with Discord, some crime they committed in the Crystal Empire, and how he got quieter after he mentioned some grand city called Erebor, then he just refused to tell us how we came to be on our own. Whatever it is that has him this upset, I think that you are right. For now, maybe after a little time, he will cheer up again and we can talk to him about when the party could be."

Pinkie sighs for a moment before cheering back up again and says, "Okey dokey then, let's go celebrate Princess Luna's return instead!"

Galad continues to think back about the day the dwarves lost their home of old and continues to walk as the others continue past him and absently follows them thinking, 'With all that we have done wrong, I wonder if we'll ever be able to atone for some of it...'

With Celestia and Luna on the chariot to Ponyville

Celestia looks at her sister and gives her another big hug and nuzzles her head against hers saying, "Oh I'm so happy that you are back little sister, I have missed you so much."

Luna hugs her sister back and says, "So art we Celly, perhaps we will have a chance to speak to Galad and thank him for his part in freeing me."

She releases her and returns to her regal posture saying, "It is possible, though I think that we both will be busy with greeting everypony." with a slight giggle at the end of it to accentuate her good humor.

The slightly shorter princess looks back at her sister and smiles softly saying, "We still want the ponies to enjoy our beautiful night, how art we going to do that when they sleep?"

Celestia smiles and says, "Who says they don't already enjoy it? Yes, they work during the day to make a living, but it is the night they are very grateful for."

Luna cocks her head slightly and asks, "Why is that sister?"

She then answers, "It is because they can let their worries fade away as you watch over them while they sleep during the night, recovering their strength and energy for when they wake up. So they do enjoy your beautiful night, it is the only time of day where they can truly be worry-free. You also get to watch over them through their dreams, protecting them from the nightmares they suffer that keep them from sleeping soundly."

The shorter princess smiles at her sister and says, "We never thought of it that way...thank thee, sister. We shall be vigilant in doing my duty for our subjects."

Just outside of Ponyville with Galad

Galad lets the girls go on into Ponyville as he wanders into the field, still thinking about what can be done to atone for their sins. Feeling a little annoyed at no ideas coming to him yet, he releases a frustrated sigh and looks towards the forest. Hoping for an idea to hit him, he scans the forest until he spots a group of two timberwolves hanging around the edge of the forest. He sets his pack down and retrieves his shield with his left hand and hammer with his right, then goes to investigate it.

The two goblin scouts sit on top of their timberwolf mounts right at the edge of the forest, looking at the town of ponies when one of them looks up to the black changelings with light blue wings, dark grey fin atop their heads, and big bug-like blue eyes hidden in the darkness of the canopy high above them and says, "Something this way comes on two legs, what we do?"

The changeling looks down from his place at the mounted goblin and answers back quietly as his lisp affects his speech, "You foolsss! You have been noticcced, attack it and bring it back unconsciousss. The preparationsss are not yet finished."

The scout then nods his head and commands his mount to take off towards the creature, his club raised high and squeals, "ATTACK!"

Galad watches the two timberwolves charge toward him and he runs toward them in turn, putting his shield in front of him while still closing the distance between them. He then stops suddenly and brings his shield over to the right, then swings it hard to the left to bash the heads of the timberwolves first and exclaims, "YEEAAAHH! Take that ya filthy goblins, I was hoping there'd be a few things left to make a fight enjoyable!"

A few moments later, with the princesses

Celestia hears an unusual squealing noise coming from somewhere, hoping that the cheering crowd doesn't notice it. She discretely looks around for where it is coming from when she hears a faint, but recognizable voice in the far distance followed by a commotion. To keep the crowd's attention on them, she nudges Luna with her elbow and whispers, "Let's keep the crowd distracted until the distant commotion quiets down, we will investigate it after the celebration. I am going to be displeased with that dwarf if this celebration is ruined by his antics."

Back to the fight between Galad and the goblin riders

The goblin riding on the first timberwolf squeals with alarm as his mount shatters into pieces and scrambles to his feet, barely having time to duck a swing from the creature's large weapon. Enraged, the goblin uses both arms to swing his club overhead, aiming for its head.

The dwarf jumps to the side, letting the swing hit the dirt instead. He uses this chance to get rid of the other timberwolf by swinging his hammer upwards at an angle, crushing the timberwolf's head and causes it to break apart.

The goblin watches as the other scout's mount falls to pieces while the creature spins around, using the hammer's momentum to then bring it down upon the shocked goblin's head. He feels the green blood, chunks of brain, and skull splatter against his skin, causing him to turn around and run towards the forest while squealing in fear.

In town during the celebration

Twilight looks around, finally noticing the squealing coming from the distance and looks around to find it while thinking, 'I wonder where that noise is coming from, I should check it out to see if Galad is okay.'

Back to the fight

Galad runs after the goblin with a grin as it looks back at him, then suddenly stops and brings his hammer back behind his head. He then puts his full arm strength into the overhead swing and hurls it end over end towards the fleeing goblin's head.

The goblin's eyes widen with fear as he runs as fast as he can to escape the creature, abandoning the club weighing him down. As he looks behind him, he sees the creature stop and bring his hammer back. He watches as the hammer is thrown towards him when he runs into something hard and stops to look at what it is. Seeing a tree in front of him, he gulps worriedly then turns his head around to look behind him and takes a closer look at the hammer quickly flying towards him. Everything seems to slow down as he watches the hammer turn end over end slowly, having gold designs carved into the sides, a braided silver and black leather grip with a round blue gem on the hilt. As the hammer's silver head comes into view, he watches as light glints off of the corners and edges. While the sparkling effect mesmerizes him for a moment, he notices something unusual on the end of the hammer. He looks at the image before him, a stone tower behind a hammer with the handle hanging down and recognizes it instantly and starts to squeal, "WAIT...THEY'RE STILL AROU..." just before the hammer strikes and turns his vision black.

The changeling on the other side of the tree watches as the goblin's head explodes into bits of brain, blood, and bone, causing her to look away and vomit. As she wipes her mouth, she looks at the other changeling and quietly says, "Let's get out of here, I really didn't need to see that.

He looks back up to her, fighting the urge to hurl himself, and says, "I agree with you there, we need to report thisss to the queen. She will know what to do with thisss information, let'sss go before that thing ssspotsss usss." He then takes to the air as his companion joins him.

Galad makes his way towards where he killed the last goblin and leans over to pick up his hammer, pausing for a moment as he hears a sound similar to the fluttering of insect wings. He then looks up into the canopy for where the sound is coming from, slowly relaxing as it fades away into the distance. He then sighs and shakes his head thinking, 'I sure hope that those damned insects aren't involved with the goblins...but if they are, the lives of these ponies' peaceful days are numbered. Perhaps I should let the princesses know of what I heard.' He then makes his way back up to where the timberwolves' bodies are and collects the two glowing gems, hearing a brief humming sound as he moves to place them in a pocket. He sets his hammer down and looks at the two pieces in his hand, picking one up and takes a closer look at it. As he looks at the two glowing fragments, he notices a pattern where they could fit together. He then holds them with his fingertips and lines the two up, watching with amazement as the pieces fuse together and a very soft voice sounds from the strange crystal fragment.

The crystal releases a brief pulse of magic as it senses that two pieces have finally been connected by a being and whispers into the air around it with a feminine voice saying, "What manner of creature assembles two pieces?"

He listens to the gentle chiming female voice coming from somewhere around him and answers it, "A dwarf does eh....miss?" then waits for the voice to answer back anxiously.

The female voice replies curiously, "I know of many beings that encountered my children, some of which are vile creatures that found a way to enslave them. There are even fewer that try to study the fragments within, while others fear and avoid both. If you are willing to listen, I shall grant you a gift after fulfilling my request."

Galad listens to her and thinks for a moment before saying, "What is it you wish me to do?"

She then answers, "I ask you to locate the green gems inside the enslaved children. Once you find all 5000, crush them into a very fine powder and I shall guide you to where it is needed."

He then looks around again trying to locate her, and cocks his head saying, "Well I know that we dwarves collected many of them during our hunt to root out those foul goblins, do you know where the others might be located?"

The voice sighs and says with a sad tone in her voice, "Unfortunately I have no idea, I lost contact with them as they were enslaved. What are those two creatures you slew? I recognize their presence when in my forest, they are indeed vile."

Galad answers her saying, "They are goblins, can you tell me where I can find more of them so we can rid this world of them once and for all?"

She sighs again and says, "All I can say for certain is that they have a network of caves somewhere in this forest, how deep they run I do not know. My senses are through the plants and creatures of this forest, as I rule over this forest while another being similar to me works to protect the ponies that wander in occasionally. However, the other has not spoken to me in some time and the magic left behind in their continued absence is waning gradually. Though she is far younger than I am, I find myself missing her company."

He cocks an eyebrow curiously and says, "Perhaps I could look into her absence and find out why she is gone if you would like."

The spirit feels a little happier at hearing the offer and says, "I would appreciate that greatly, kind dwarf. I have encountered your kind before long ago, they took many trees from this forest as well as hunted its denizens." Her anger starts to rise as she thinks about the past and her anger comes out in her voice as she says, "They showed more respect than those wretched, stinking creatures you called goblins. Those things mindlessly destroy and kill whatever they want, I want them out of this forest by any means necessary." She lets out a sigh and calms herself down saying, "It was a pleasure to meet you, what is your name?"

Galad then says, "I apologize if the ancestors of my race have done anything to your forest in the past that earned your anger against us. What can be done to make amends? My name is Galad, and I hail from my mountain home of Hammerdeep."

She continues to be a disembodied presence and floats around him feeling no anger towards them and says, "Your people have not wronged my forest or I in any way, you dwarves showed more respect towards nature's balance than those goblin pests. I have no reason to feel anger towards your kind. Please call me Everfree, it is one of the many names I go by these days. I should be going now, you have a couple of tasks to start on. Fare thee well on thy journeys Galad, I shall keep an eye on you whenever you are around this forest." She then departs and creates a form for herself in a tree a fair distance away, making sure to watch what he does.

He blinks a couple of times and closes his hand around the faintly glowing crystal, then sets his shield down and puts the crystal into his other hand. He then leans down, picks his hammer back up, and puts it back into its place on his belt before tying it down with a small leather strap. He returns the crystal to his other hand and bends down to pick his shield back up, then starts to make his way back towards his pack when he spots Twilight sitting down on a distant hill near Ponyville. Hoping that Twilight didn't see the fight or the two corpses by the trees, he picks up his pace and swiftly jogs towards her.

Twilight sits near Galad's pack and looks at the strange bodies lying on the ground, then casts a small spell to clean up the pile of puke beside her, wishing she hadn't seen that creature's head explode like that and asks with a frown, "Is everything okay? I saw you throw your hammer at the creature that was running away from you, why did you take that creature's life Galad?"

Galad sighs and says, "I killed it because that was a goblin, they kidnap their victims and do horrible things to their prisoners. This world would be a much better place without them in it, they are like those horrid insects we almost lost our home to... they breed and breed, then swarm a location to kill and kidnap its inhabitants." he then sets his shield down by his pack with a sigh then says, "I need to move those bodies further away so the townsponies don't see or smell them."

She watches him as he retrieves a pickaxe from his bag and starts to head toward the first body and asks, "Are you alright Galad? You seem upset about something that happened." then follows after him.

Galad bends down and grabs the goblin's foot saying, "Could you grab the goblin's club Twilight, its right beside it and looks like a large stick." then starts to drag the corpse toward the tree line to dig a hole and throw it in. He then sighs and says, "I will be fine after a little while, remembering what we did in the past, how Erebor was lost to us...it still causes us all to feel such sadness and emotional pain at what we have lost. Let's get these pests buried and return to the celebrating, shall we? I'll make ya all some more figurines after a little while."

Twilight looks around for the club, locates it, and grabs it with her magic. She can't help but wonder what happened that is so bad that made the dwarves isolate themselves from the world and asks, "Could you tell me when we came to be on our own?"

He continues to drag the goblin's corpse towards the treeline and says, "Yeah, it was right after we helped the Crystal Empire 2500 years ago. We parted ways after we got back to Hammerdeep, you all were disgusted with how warlike we became, then took your entire population with you and left to be on your own." He then tries to distract her onto a slightly different subject and says, "I wonder if your princesses' heads will explode when we tell them their real history, what do you think will happen?"

She follows him into the treeline, keeping a wary eye out for any creatures coming their way, and says, "I think that Princess Celestia may be the most shocked, and I have no idea how Princess Luna will act after finding out our history."

Galad stops at a tiny clearing in the forest and lets go of the goblin's foot, taking his pickaxe into both hands and starts to carve out a square for the goblin.

Twilight sets the club down and uses her magic to help Galad dig a hole deep enough to hold the two goblins saying, "Would you mind telling me how rune magic works while we bury these bodies?"

He smiles and continues digging saying, "Rune Magic is powered by the moon or a dwarf's inherent magic, and we also have a special way to write things at night. The way we write at night are called Moon Runes, though they are a closely guarded secret...I will tell you this. To be able to understand the writing, it depends on what phase the moon was in when the runes were written. What that means basically is that you can't read runes that were written during a waning crescent on a waxing crescent, it must be during a waning crescent moon. Some of them can be written to only be read during a specific season, and month as well as a certain stage of the moon."

She continues to move dirt out of the hole and asks, "Is there a certain way or a special quill required to write these runes?"

Galad nods his head and continues to swing his pickaxe and says, "They are a special language all their own, however, I would not know where to begin teaching you. Aye...for the Moon Runes, there is but you need to be on the best terms with the dwarves to be taught that closely guarded secret."

Twenty minutes later

He finishes putting the dirt back into the hole and stomps on it to make it harder for other ponies to tell that a grave is here. After packing the dirt down then scattering a few leaves and bark from the bodies of the timberwolves over it, he exits the forest saying, "There, now that both bodies are buried, no one will know they were there. Though I will have to tell your princesses about them though, but I can wait till later today to do that when the celebration ends." He looks over to Twilight and sees that she isn't too pleased and nudges her shoulder with his elbow and asks, "What is bringing ya down Twilight?"

Twilight sighs and says, "Well, it troubles me how you called those two goblin creatures pests and think that outright killing them is the right thing to do..."

Galad drops his pickaxe, then moves in front of Twilight and places his arms on either side of her shoulders saying, "Look at me Twilight, those two goblins were most likely scouting out the town for an attack. They kidnap prisoners and rape, torture, and treat them like slaves. When their prisoners stop being useful, they kill them and feed them to the other goblins or the other prisoners. If you want me to prove it, give me a little time to find one of their caves and I will take you down there with a few other dwarves so you can see what they do first hand."

Chapter 17: A bright, sunny day

Twilight sighs uncomfortably, saying, "Uhm...thank you for offering but I will have to pass on that adventure, I will just take your word on that."

Galad then lowers his hands and picks up his pickaxe again saying, "Shall we get back to celebrating Princess Luna's return?"

She nods her head, wanting to cheer up after learning a little about how they came to be free and forces a gentle smile saying, "Yes let's, because we also have you to thank for playing a part in her return."

He then returns the pickaxe to his pack and puts it back onto his shoulders with a huff saying, "Though it was brief, that adventure was fun. Maybe we should have another one someday soon."

Twilight then smiles genuinely and turns around as Galad catches up saying, "We definitely should because that actually was fun, if a bit scary."

A couple of hours later, nearing the end of the Summer Sun Celebration

As Galad enjoys a few things that the ponies have made, he looks over to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sitting under a shaded spot. Finishing the apple pastry that was made by Applejack and her family, he walks over to them and bows saying, "Good evening, Your Majesties. Everyone is happy that your sister, Princess Luna has returned. Might it be possible for me to have a word with the both of you?"

Princess Celestia turns her gaze from the celebration to the newest arrival and smiles saying," You may, Galad. What is it you wish to discuss?"

He then looks around at all the ponies and chuckles saying, "You can tell that they are overjoyed at you both returning, look at all those smiles..."

She suspects that something is off with how he is speaking and asks in a gentle, but low voice, "Please rise, we both heard those strange sounds of battle, what happened?"

Galad then turns back towards the two princesses and sighs saying, "I was just walking around to clear my head of troublesome thoughts when I stumbled across two timberwolves and went to investigate. I found out that they had two goblins riding them, since dwarves naturally despise goblins...I slew them and the timber wolves. After I freed the timber wolves from their captors, I thought I heard a slight buzzing noise of an insect's wings. I looked all around for the source, but I lost it when Twilight came to talk. I knew that she saw the fight because of the look on her face, so I then buried the bodies further in the woods to keep anypony from seeing the graves. I tried to tell Twilight that they were most likely scouting this town to attack it, I also told her how cruel and evil they are to the prisoners they take."

Celestia's eyes widen in momentary shock when she sighs and then asks, "How certain are you that this town is their target? Please tell us what these creatures look like so we know what to look for."

He then thinks a moment and answers, "Well they are disgusting. They are green in color, walk on two legs like us, and live deep underground in dark, dank caves. They all are mostly bald and naked except the loincloths they wear, also wielding crude weapons like clubs, and spiked maces. One good thing is that they have no magic at all, I would advise you to show no mercy and kill any you find because they will kidnap, rape, and torture your subjects then kill them when they become useless."

She is about to respond when her sister speaks up first, saying, "We appreciate thy concern for our subjects Galad, we treasure each and every citizen we look after. As for these goblins, if they are truly how thee claim them to be, they shall receive none of our kindness or mercy. If that is the way they treat others, then we shall only grant them a swift end." She then turns to her sister and says, "In light of this threat, sister, I think that we should tighten up security to improve the safety of our citizens." Luna then smiles and returns her gaze to Galad saying, "We are grateful for the part thee has played in rescuing us from our...'other' self. We shall watch over thee from the dream realm while thee sleep. Would thee be willing to tell us more about thy home called Hammerdeep?"

As Galad then tells them a little about his home, he then takes a breath and asks, "That is about all I can tell you about it, could I ask that you not tell anyone about us still being around, our hidden city, and where it might be located? Also, if possible...could you please not send anyone to find me until I speak with our leader about re-emerging?"

Celestia cocks her head as her sister does the same and sighs saying, "I would like to know why you wish to keep your existence such a secret?"

He then sighs and looks down saying, "The reason is that we have done a few things to anger or upset other nations, and must find a way to atone for it. What we did long ago caused many to cut ties with us, flee in terror, or banish us from their lands. So we went into seclusion, eventually cutting ourselves off from the outside world."

Unable to fight her curiosity, Luna asks, "Could thee tell us about your kind?"

Galad then sits on the ground and says, "Well...We have been around for a very, very long time. If I had to guess, I'd say probably between eight or nine thousand years. Though we only have been on Equestria for about four and a half, one of us got lucky and found a portal that led us here though it is just a useless pond now."

The older sister raises an eyebrow and asks, "What happened?"

He then looks up at her, forcing back the ache in his heart and says, "A massive eruption caused it to cease functioning when we came through."

Luna then asks, "Would thee all wish to return there one day if it could be repaired?"

Galad smiles for a moment, but a frown quickly takes its place and says, "That would be really nice, but it is impossible... Our home there...is gone. The mountain we called home became a volcano, forever leaving us no choice but to call this home."

Celestia's mind slowly reboots as she asks, "Wait...so you were here before Equestria even existed?!"

He chuckles at her as her jaw finally closes and says, "I may have a few details off, but yes, an earth pony was the first one from here to see our ancient home of Erebor... We also found ponies wandering around, unable to speak or do anything but eat, mosey, sleep, and relieve themselves wherever. So after you decided on your own to follow us for safety, we found a way for you to help us build a new home. I'm not quite sure when it was that one of you learned to make sounds, but soon after she attempted to speak...we started to teach you things. We found the pegasi and unicorns later, teaching the pegasi they could fly longer, taught the unicorns about rune magic and crafting magic. Although, one thing we learned from the unicorns, was true magic by using our bodies to feel the magic all around us. However, some have more talent with it." He then grins and looks at both of their shocked faces, seeing both their jaws hanging open and says, "And the award for best fly-catcher goes to Celestia."

They both close their jaws with a blush rising to their cheeks as Celestia says, "Well can you blame us for being floored by some information as mind-boggling and world-shattering as that?" and then huffs, puffing out her cheeks slightly in a pout while looking away at the desert table asking, "So we all were laborers then?"

Galad then smiles at her and shakes his head saying, "You were treated more like friends or companions than slave labor, when the ponies under our care left our service...there was another group heading south through the Crystal Empire." he then turns away and sighs saying, "That was when we began withdrawing from our interactions with the world outside..."

Luna hears the sadness in his voice and asks, "Was this before or after King Sombra's rule?"

He then thinks back to what he knows about it, running a hand over his auburn beard saying, "Hmm...I would have to say probably before because Empress Alara was leading the Crystal Ponies then."

They both cock their head and say simultaneously, "Empress Alara?"

Galad then strokes his beard again saying, "You don't recognize the name? Hmm...well, she was around about 500 years before the changelings started attacking our mountain 2,000 years ago."

Celestia sighs at how little she remembers about their history and then says, "I may have to brush up on my knowledge of the Crystal Empire... As for this warning about Ponyville, can you investigate for any proof or further information?"

He then smiles and nod his head saying, "Aye, that I will do regardless of you asking me to do it, goblins are a far worse threat than those changelings. I shall remain around town until the morning and head out, then start my search to find them and learn what I can."

She then smiles and nods her head saying, "That is good to hear, we wish you luck with your search." She then looks at the sun as it sits in the western part of the sky saying, "Thank you again for your part in saving my sister from Nightmare Moon."

Galad then chuckles lightly while rubbing the side of his face saying, "You are welcome, I enjoyed that little spat. I should return to the celebration, I told the others that I would make a few figurines for them."

Luna cocks her head slightly and asks, "Figurines?"

He then smiles and nods his head saying, "Aye, it's just a simple thing carved out of a stone, imbued with a little crafting magic. Would you like me to craft you something as well, Your Majesties?"

Celestia fights against her inner foal and shakes her head with a soft smile saying, "I appreciate the offer, but perhaps another time as there is much I must help catch my sister up on what has happened during her absence."

Surprising herself, she quickly says, "Yes." then blushes a little and looks down bashfully adding, "I mean...I would like one, only if it won't be a burden for thee." She blushes harder when she looks at her sister, catches a smirk on her sister's face, then swiftly looks away.

Galad nods his head saying, "It won't be a bother at all, Your Majesty. I will go and search for a suitable rock, then return here and start carving it for you." He then bows his head to them saying, "I shall be back after a few minutes Your Majesties." and turns around, then heads towards the outskirts of Ponyville.

It takes the dwarf about five minutes to find a stone suitable for what he has in mind for the princess and holds it in his hand, examining it closely. The stone in his hand is black in color, with a few specks of silver glinting back at him. Galad chuckles when he identifies it as a piece of obsidian saying, "How in Equestria did you get way out here? You will be a little bit of a challenge due to how brittle you are, but a challenge such as you is always interesting."

Celestia sits there under the tree, telling her sister a few things that have happened after she left when she notices movement out of the corner of her eye and looks up, going silent saying, "Our friend has returned, so I shall resume after he finishes your carving, dear sister."

Luna watches him return and bow to them before setting down his pack and pulling a thick pouch of tools from it, then takes a seat before them saying, "I see thou have found a suitable stone, what is it thou intends to craft from it?"

Galad turns the stone over in his hand, looking for a good point to start from and smiles saying, "I intend to carve a smaller version of you from this, Your Highness." and then picks up one of his tools and starts working on the high spot of the brittle stone saying, "I was surprised to find a piece of obsidian way out here, normally it can only be found where there is volcanic activity."

The older sister watches him work away on the stone and says, "That is unusual to find one so far from a volcano, perhaps a much earlier eruption caused it to be sent so far away."

He spends an hour carving the little details into the mini Luna carving before finishing it and holding it in his palm saying, "Here you go, Your Majesty. I've added a couple of surprises as I was working on it, let's see if you can figure out what they are. Be careful when you hold it, it is brittle and a few of the edges are rather sharp."

Luna carefully picks up the figurine of her, her eyes wide with wonder and curiosity as she examines it closely. She sees several intricate details that astonish her such as the spirals in the horn, the wavy mane and tail, the iris and pupils of the eyes, the gentle smile on its face and the carved-out ears facing forward. One of the details she notices on it makes her gasp saying, "Wow thou can even see each feather on the wings, the cutie mark is also amazing because it looks exactly like mine." A big smile crosses her face as her eyes grow a bit watery, and looks up at his face as she chokes up a bit from so much happiness overwhelming her, saying, "Th-Thank you so much for this, I-I don't know why I am being so emotional right now." she then acts like a little filly with a beloved doll and nuzzles it gently.

Celestia looks at her younger sister with an affectionate smile, then looks at Galad with a knowing smirk and says, "You have done something to enhance her feelings, what did you do precisely?"

Galad grins and puts the tool pouch away, then looks at Celestia saying, "Aye, all I've done was imbue the carving to make her happy and influence her to think of happier things."

She gawks at him with an open mouth, stunned at what he said, and responds, "That is very difficult to do, even for me."

He then smiles at her and chuckles saying, "Well, this is something we teach a twenty-year-old dwarf kid. If you think this is amazing, your mind is going to explode when you see the living golems that an adult can make. Unfortunately, I haven't learned how to do that yet, the best I can do now is a spider that can be used to scout with. However, I am not the best with it so it has a bit of a range issue." He then looks at Luna as she gently cuddles her figurine and chuckles at how adorable she looks and says, "Well, I will be heading off now so you two can spend some quality time together." He then stands up and bows to Celestia and Luna saying, "Farewell Your Majesties, and enjoy the rest of your evening."

Celestia watches him as he straightens back up and takes his leave saying, "We will, and hope you enjoy the remainder of the celebration."

As Galad meets a few of the ponies from Ponyville, he does what he can to answer their questions while avoiding telling them where he is from. After the ponies start to head to their homes, he collects a few decent stones to make a few carvings for the ponies he met today when a young purple dragon with green spikes running down his head to his arrow-shaped tail comes up to him and taps him on the shoulder. He turns his head to look at the dragon standing in front of him and asks, "Hello there little dragon, what might your name be?"

Spike looks up slightly at the two-legged creature curiously and asks, "My name is Spike, what is your name? What are you, and how do you know what I am?"

He lets out a pained half-chuckle as the knowledge of the Dragon War comes to his mind and says, "Well, my name is Galad, and I am a dwarf. We learned of your kind long ago before Equestria was even a thought."

The baby dragon's eyes bug out of his head in shock as he says, "WOAH, that means you are even older than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!"

Galad doubles over laughing so hard, tears stream from his eyes as he slowly gets himself under control saying, "Our race is far older than them, yes, but we are by no means immortal like the princesses. A dwarf only lives to around 300 or so."

Spike stares at the Dwarf with wonder sparkling in his eyes as he asks, "Okay, but still...that is much longer than the average pony's. Did you meet any of them where you are from?"

He winces as he feels guilty for what happened long ago and shakes his head saying, "I haven't yet, so you have the pleasure of being the first one." He sees the curiosity in the young dragon's eyes shine brighter and tries to find a way to escape the young one's questions about dragons and says, "Would you care for a carving Spike?" while hoping he takes the bait and leaves him alone.

The baby dragon smiles widely and nods his head eagerly saying, "Definitely, thanks! Can it be of a fierce dragon breathing fire?!"

Galad forces himself to smile through the guilt crushing his good mood and sets the stones in his arms down in a pile, then removes his backpack and pulls out his carving pouch. He then sits down and begins to carve it saying, "Sure thing, kiddo." while forcing himself to feel happy so he doesn't

Spike watches Galad carve the stone, feeling excited for what it will look like when it is finished and says, "I'm curious to see what it will look like after you finish carving."

As the minutes tick by, he finishes the figurine and sets it in his palm, then holds it out saying, "Here you go, be careful with the wings, they are thin and brittle."

The baby dragon reaches out and takes the stone carving with a big smile on his face and an untamed curiosity in his eyes happily saying, "Oh thank you so much, this is so awesome!"

Galad watches the baby dragon return to the town, then looks up into the sky and lets out a sad sigh as he can't help but think back to the terrible crimes they have done during their war with the dragon race. Returning his tool pouch to his bag, he picks the stones back up and puts them into his pack. He then closes the pack up and lifts it onto his shoulders, then starts walking around the edge of town deep in thought.

Twilight wanders around Ponyville when she sees Princess Celestia make their way to their chariot saying, "Thank you everypony for this wonderful celebration, but my sister and I must be heading back to Canterlot to help her settle in. Farewell, for now, my little ponies." then raises her hoof in the air and waves goodbye to them.

Celestia spots her faithful student waving to her and Luna, then smiles at her and gives a small wave back before looking at the guards saying, "Please take us back to Canterlot."

She watches the chariot roll away with a smile on her face, then waits a few moments before making her way home to get some sleep

As she heads home, a sad-looking dwarf wanders aimlessly around the outskirts of Ponyville. With a heavy sigh, he sits down and shrugs his pack off his back before staring at the dirt in front of him as knowledge of the past goes through his mind.

Chapter 18: New experiences

Needing to make camp, Galad sighs and pushes his sadness away to look for wood to make a fire. He wanders a fair distance around the town, collecting stray branches and logs before piling them up. As he takes another look at his camping area, he looks for anything that could catch fire but sees nothing.

After setting out his bedroll, he gets started on carving the runes into the dirt to protect him. Once he finishes carving them, he builds a small fire to sit by before going to sleep. He then pulls a log over to sit on and rests on it while staring into the fire as the sadness comes back two-fold, finding himself humming along to a song sung a great many years ago.

As the song ends, Galad wipes his eyes as he remembers the rest of that story. Knowing that a brave band took their home back from the dragon that drove them from it, driving him out in turn when a skilled bowman from Esgaroth slew the beast. He then remembers how that tale continued, with various armies showing up to lay claim to the treasure inside Erebor. Though the dwarves kept everyone out at the orders of King Thrain II at first, several thousands of orcs showed up. When they banded together finally, the king rode out to bring down Azog the Defiler. He succeeded at the cost of his own life in the end, reclaiming Erebor for the dwarves.

A few hours pass as the dwarf decides to lie down, starting to miss home a little. His dreams are pleasant, allowing him to sleep through the night. He wakes up as the rising sun shines upon his eyelids, then thinks about the stones he gathered and smiles as he kicks dirt onto the smoldering fire. He then gets started on carving the stones for his 5 new friends, then sets them down before wiping the runes in the dirt away. With the campsite mostly finished, he picks up his bedroll and puts it back onto his pack, then lifts it onto his shoulders and picks the carvings up to carry them in his left arm.

After making his way into town, he spots Applejack heading into town pulling a cart, and waves at her saying, "Hey Applejack, got a moment?"

Applejack looks over at the dwarf and smiles saying, "Sure, ah have a moment. What'cha need pardner?"

Galad then smiles saying, "Well I have some scouting to do, so I was wondering if you could give these to the others for me since I have no clue where they live?"

She then nods her head with a smile saying, "Ah'd be happy to, when will ya be back?"

He then scratches his head a bit and says, "Honestly, I have no idea, because I need to go back home to check in with my parents in a few days." he then starts to hand them to her one by one saying, "Oh, so you know, the pony pulling the wagon is for you. The small bunny is for Fluttershy, the flying pegasus is for Rainbow, the unicorn reading a book is for Twilight, and the pony taking a bite out of the cake is for Pinkie Pie."

Applejack giggles as she puts them into the cart to deliver them first before opening her apple stand saying, "Alright then pardner, ah'll be sure to do that. Ah'll see ya when ya visit again, don't be a stranger Galad."

Galad then nods his head saying, "I will most definitely be back again someday, after all, there is so much out here I need to see! Farewell for now, Applejack." then starts heading outside of town to go report his findings to his family.

She then watches him leave and decides to go deliver the stone carvings first saying, "Ah think ah'll give Pinkie hers first because she is closer..."

Close to sunset, near the hidden entrance to Hammerdeep

Galad approaches the hidden door while looking around for anyone nearby, but sees no one around and places his hand on the door saying, "Vinr." then looks for the ring to pull the door open after hearing the telltale click. Finding it, he grabs it and starts to pull it open.

The stone door opens slowly, requiring the dwarf to pull hard on it as it continues to open with a slow grinding sound. Once it is finally open, he looks down to see why the door was so noisy. Looking closer, he sees sand on the bottom of the door and then cleans it off, then heads inside and pulls it closed behind him. After hearing the click again, he continues down the dark tunnel to see his mother first and tell her about his journey.

Liandra is at home, sitting in her red oak rocking chair, looking through her family album when she hears heavy footsteps come from the cellar. Curious, she puts down the book and hustles downstairs to see if her son is coming back already. She slides the shelf over to reveal the tunnel when she sees her son jogging through the tunnel. She throws her arms wide and hurries toward him to give him a big hug saying, "You're back! Oh, I have missed you even though it has only been a few days, I was expecting you to come back in a week. Did something happen to send you back early?"

Galad slows to a walk and hugs his mother back, happy to see her again, and chuckles saying, "Well, I'm back for a little bit. I was intending to make my journey longer, however, I discovered something that spells trouble so I must go investigate it."

She releases her son and backs up a few steps, keeping her hands on his shoulders asking, "Why, what happened during your adventure?"

He then tells her about his adventure, how he wandered and came upon a group of ponies, about how they braved the woods and came upon a really powerful foe where he had to step in and help a little, then how he met two princesses briefly before traveling back with the group to the town called Ponyville, then about how he found goblins mounted on Timberwolves scouting the town saying, "I made short work of those goblins and Timberwolves, but then I heard the buzzing of insect wings which faded away before I could find it. So after a little bit, I spoke with Twilight again and looked for the two princesses again, telling them what went on. Now, I know there are more goblins out there which I have to locate to figure out their plans, I do need to inform father of this discovery so we can act fast when I learn their plans."

Liandra sighs and drops her hands from his shoulders saying, "Alright dear, you know he will be home shortly. Your sisters should be home soon for supper anyway as will your father, leave your pack in the tunnel so you can return to it later after he gives his answer."

An hour passes as Galad catches up with his older and younger sister about what went on in the city when he hears the front door close with a bang and watches the front entryway when his father strides into the room and locks eyes with each other saying, "Welcome home, father."

Highlord Breorlun takes off his golden crown and hangs it from a peg on the wall as a big smile crosses his face saying, "Welcome home, my son. You're back so soon, was your adventure fruitful?"

He nods his head saying, "It was, I have learned that the ponies have prospered on their own and have their own society now. Let me tell you all about my brief adventure before I must go back out again."

The highlord takes a seat at the head of the table and says, "Alright, I'm eager to hear all about it, so please go on." and listens to his son's story intently as he tells them all about how he watched the sunset and the moon rise, of the birds' songs and the smells of the forest.

The family all listen to his tale, eager to hear about what is outside their mountain home when the highlord chuckles and says, "The hunting party came across a manticore not too long ago that had slain a deer and eaten it, perhaps it was the one you passed by."

Galad chuckles and nods saying, "It probably was, which means at least you all had great food one evening."

The older sister grins saying, "We did, that manticore was delicious, which was unfortunate for you."

He looks at her and narrows his eyes playfully at her teasing saying, "Yeah, yeah, rub it in why don't ya." then rolls his eyes saying, "Anyways, as I was saying..." and continues his tale leading up to his meeting of the ponies, then his encounter with the cockatrice that startled one of the ponies.

The youngest sister looks up at her older brother with awe at how he dealt with the cockatrice, then how the manticore ran away from spotting him. When she hears how he plugged his ears from the song one of them was singing, she laughs saying, "Big bwother is soo silly!"

Galad rolls his eyes and says, "Yeah, I'm sure that ya would have loved the song they sang little Liddy." and resumes his tale, getting to the part where he met the sea serpent named Steven Magnet.

Breorlun's eyebrows rise with surprise at hearing how many sea serpents managed to survive and says with a sad sigh, "I honestly thought we wiped them from existence..." but gives a gentle, happy smile and adding, "but I am relieved to hear that they managed to continue existing."

He nods his head and smiles, then continues his tale. He tells his family about how he crossed the river and made his way across a rope bridge that creaked with each step he took, then how he left his pack behind and took his hammer and shield with him into the castle.

Liandra watches her son tell his story, smiling all the while as he tells them of his short fight with the older pony. As the story continues on, she looks at the other children. Seeing them completely enraptured in his tale, she smiles fondly while wondering what future lies ahead for her family.

Farelda laughs so hard that tears start running from the corners of her eyes and down to her chin, slapping the stone table top saying, "Leave it to you to do something to ruin a touching reunion!"

Galad blushes lightly at his sister's words and says, "I did all I could to keep it from happening, but there was no way to keep it from happening, Ferretta."

Breorlun smirks at the humorous teasing as he looks at his son saying, "Don't let her get to you, son. She has missed you terribly, continue with the story of your adventure."

He chuckles as his sister abruptly stops laughing and blushes with embarrassment at being ratted out by her own father, resuming his tale about the brief talk he had with the two princesses including the conversation on the way to Ponyville with the others. A smirk comes to his face when he says, "You should have seen the shock and amazed faces that were on the ponies when they heard how long we have been in this world and that they chose to live alongside us and have learned much during that time."

The highlord's wife listens and waits patiently for her son to get to the end of this story so she can do what she can to help her son get the results he hopes for.

As Galad gets to the part where he wandered off toward the forest he says, "The reason I wandered away from the group is that I was hoping to come up with a way for us to atone for the bad things we have done in the past that caused us to lose the Spirit's favor. If we could earn their forgiveness, perhaps we could re-emerge back into the outside world?" Not wanting to derail the ending of the story, he quickly says, "Anyways, consider that possibility as I continue with the rest of the story."

Breorlon listens intently as his face slowly begins to redden with anger at how the goblins somehow managed to survive their relentless onslaught so many years ago and bangs his fist on the table, unintentionally interrupting his son's story saying, "I can't believe those grimy bastards survived through our crusade to purge them from existence..." He then lets out a grumbling sigh and finishes, "Apologies for interrupting you son, please continue."

He nods his head and then resumes his story, telling them all what happened after the fight and that he thought he heard insect wings buzzing, saying, "I looked for where it was coming from but couldn't find the source, but I suspected that it could have been changelings." then goes into how he found two glowing gems and was about to place them in a pocket when he heard a gentle humming coming from the gems, and then raised them to look at them closely when he saw a pattern between the two.

Liandra listens to the part she hasn't heard yet with an eyebrow raised, waiting until he reaches the point when he spots Twilight sitting near his pack and says, "You said her name was Everfree, correct?"

Galad nods his head and says, "Aye, she told me that was just one of many names she goes by. What is on your mind?"

She smiles and wonders if she is the spirit their race met so many years ago and shakes her head saying, "I was just thinking that she might be the spirit we once knew long ago, but it is too early to tell yet."

His eyes go wide at the possibility, saying, "Really, you think that Everfree might actually be her?"

Liandra chuckles and says, "It is far too early to assume it is her, I was just stating my thoughts that it could be her. I might be wrong and she is a separate entity altogether, so don't assume that she is the Guardian Queen and risk insulting her."

Galad takes a calming breath and slowly nods his head, then continues with his story. When he finishes his tale, he looks up at his father and says, "Father, I know I am young and to be the next Highlord, but I wish to do all I can to ensure that the ponies be kept safe from the vile goblins. In order to do that, I wish to assemble a scouting force to scour the woods for any tunnels leading to the goblins' hideout. What do you think about it, father?"

Breorlun runs his fingers through his beard as he takes a few moments to think it over before looking up at his son with a single nod saying, "Although I want you to keep yourself out of danger, I agree to your wishes to keep them safe. However, it is another story entirely for us to re-emerge into today's society. I will have to call a council meeting between the other dwarven cities to hear their opinions about the matter, and if they agree...we will have to compile a list of the various nations we have wronged and gain their approval for us to rejoin the world above."

He looks at his father with a smile and says, "Thank you father, let us begin compiling a list of who shall be accompanying me on this scouting mission."

The highlord chuckles and says, "No need...I have already decided who will be going with you."

Galad raises a curious eyebrow asking, "You have? Who is going to be accompanying me?"

Highlord Breorlun looks at his son with a smirk, saying, "The battlemage Dalain..." and then briefly glances at his eldest daughter and waits a few moments before saying, "Your older sister Farelda."

He stares at his father in disbelief saying, "WHAAAT!? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

Chapter 19: On a mission

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 4: New discoveries

King Ornir and the other dwarves in his group distract the two manticores and charge into the fray, making short work of the two creatures and laughs saying, "That was the most fun I have had in years! Thanks a lot for finding this place Asulfur, and thank you Banil for guiding me here. Let's get these two chopped up, we are going to have a feast tonight and celebrate finding this place." He hears hoofsteps approaching from behind and turns around, seeing that the herd has calmed down and is getting closer to the group.

The herd stops several feet away as the strange creatures in the group inflict further pain upon the two dead predators when the leader of the herd nickers to a mare to go investigate them as he nervously watches them for any motion towards them.

He watches as one of the ponies approaches with one of her ears forward and the other lays back, he smiles and holds his hand out towards her saying, "It's alright, we don't eat ponies. Ponies work for us and we care for them in return, making sure they have a safe place to sleep, are always fed, and have water to drink."

The nervous mare listens to them but doesn't understand, getting a little closer and sniffs his hand thinking, 'They seem similar to the other one, and there are more than before. They don't smell like the one from that one time, though I wonder where they come from.' Not finding a dangerous scent coming from this creature, she returns to the herd to let them know what she thinks.

King Ornir looks back to the others and sees they are almost done and says, "As soon as you all are done with those carcasses, let's head back to Erebor and begin setting up for the feast."

The leader of the herd isn't very pleased to hear his daughter's idea and snorts in irritation at her insistence, returning his attention to her after a few moments of silence, then rubs his neck against her to show his affection thinking, 'I hope you return from your search soon, daughter. I just hope they don't cause you pain like those predators, or worse...'

Banil makes his way back towards the path in the forest when he hears a whinny come from a pony behind him and turns to look, finding that it is the mare that approached the king and sniffed his hand. He chuckles and says, "Ah think ya just made a new friend Yer Highness."

He looks back to find the mare that sniffed his hand is following them through the field and laughs saying, "I think you may be right Overseer, I wonder how the others are going to react to seeing a pony so different from the ones on Arda. I even wonder how she is going to react to seeing our home, and all of the other dwarves that live there."

The young mare follows the group through the field away from her herd to find out where they come from, stopping to look back at her family to nicker at them and thinks, 'I must find out where they come from. These things have saved us from danger twice. Maybe they can help to keep us safe from those that wish to make us their food.' before returning to follow them to wherever they came from. She keeps track of the path the group takes and stops to watch them drop down into an opening, looking into it and seeing a path leading further ahead below the ground, and hesitantly follows them into it. She continues to follow them further and further until they reach some strange water and pass into it, disappearing in brief light that forces her to close her eyes for a moment. Curious as to what is going on, she follows the last creature into the water as it goes under the surface, vanishing as well. She stops as she feels a tingling throughout her body and quickly exits the water, frightened at what might be happening to her body, she thinks, 'What was that! Did it try to hurt me?' starting to look herself over. Not finding anything wrong with her body, she returns to stand in the strange water watching her body as the tingling returns. After everything seems normal, she continues further into the strange water and waits for that thing to happen. With nothing happening for a few moments, she tries lowering her head under the surface as they did, briefly feeling a slight pain throughout her body after going under the surface, causing her to race out of the water thinking, 'That hurt, I don't like that water. I wonder if they felt the same thing when they entered the water, I should look myself over for anything different.' As she looks her body over and finding nothing wrong, she calms down and looks around to see a different area filled with a strange light allowing her to barely see in the dark with the creatures making their way down another long path thinking, 'Well this is different from where I was.' She trots along to catch up to them, hearing herself echo down the tunnel.

King Ornir looks back to see the mare catching up to them and chuckles saying, "Well well well, look who's decided to follow us home! We will have to get some food and water for her after we set up for the feast tonight, so get to it while I give our guest the grand tour of Erebor even though she most likely can't understand a single thing I say."

Banil chuckles and looks back at the king and says, "She should feel so special, for King Ornir himself to be giving her a tour of the city under the mountain!"

He narrows his eyes at the Overseer, chuckling in return, saying, "Oh she most definitely is special, because you are going to be cleaning up after her." His order gets a few laughs from the other dwarves in the company.

She looks at the walls of the tunnel, seeing them sparkle. She stops in her place as they turn and start to make their way towards something, she reaches the point where they changed direction and starts to panic, nearly relieving herself in fear at seeing a massive drop where she stands thinking, 'WOAH THAT'S A LONG WAYS DOWN!' as her breathing quickens and gets shorter, her heart starts to race as her legs tremble underneath her.

King Ornir looks behind him to see the mare staring over the edge frozen in fear, clapping his hands to get her attention saying, "HEY! Stay calm when you are in a high place, going into a panic will not do you any good."

The mare flinches backward and looks to the one who spoke, feeling herself calming down then takes a couple of deep breaths thinking, 'Oh how I wish I could understand what you creatures are saying.' she turns and watches them go up a long, strangely shaped surface. She watches their movements as they lift their legs to go up the strange surface, approaching the first one and attempts to follow them. She takes the first few steps as she feels her body shift, concentrating on the placement of her hooves to make it up the strange surface while thinking, 'Now this is a very weird feeling that will take some getting used to, but how will I return home or walk down?'

The king watches curiously as the mare continues to follow them up the stairs, clapping as she reaches the top landing saying, "Way to go climbing up those stairs on your first try, now let's start the tour of our home called Erebor."

The young mare looks across the vast emptiness as unfamiliar noises make their way to her ears, seeing more light glinting off the walls in various places that tiny creatures are attacking. She continues to follow the group through the massive area, taking in the wondrous sights around her. Seeing strange stone reaching far into the dark sky, numerous stones lay above her thinking, 'Wow, these things here are so tall.' She follows him throughout the area, listening to what they say but does not understand a single word.

King Ornir walks a short distance then says, "You all may return to your duties now, I can handle this part myself. Overseer, go grab a shovel and some cloth to clean up after her if she craps or pees on the floor. Meet us at the stairs to the outer wall when you have the shovel and cloth." He then continues to lead her up the stairs to the wall above the gate, eager to see her reaction at the sight from the top. As he reaches the top landing, he moves out of her way and watches her expression.

She climbs another strange surface after the leader and passes through a tall opening, then is forced to close her eyes as brightness strikes her eyes. She tries to open her eyes a few times, having to open her eyes slowly for them to adjust. Her mouth falls open as she sees the land that lies before her eyes, she notices something strange in the distance and wonders what it is.

The king heads for the stairs behind her and taps her on the back saying, "Nice view isn't it, just wait until you see where we made our home." He then continues to head down the stairs a little and stops halfway down and thinks, 'I wonder if she knows how to go down sets of stairs, I better show her how it is done.'

The mare watches him do some strange motions with his legs as they head down the strange surface, shifting their body slowly for some reason. Curious, she notices that he goes down and heads back before doing it again. She approaches the surface and attempts to place her first leg on the lower step, bending her forelegs slightly before coming down to rest on the lower part and thinks, 'This is a scary feeling when my body shifts into unfamiliar positions.'

King Ornir watches as the mare makes it down a few steps, moving further down as she makes it down. As his foot lands on level ground, he moves out of the way and continues watching while thinking, 'You can do this, young one.'

She calms down after making it down her first attempt thinking, 'I have done it. I learned how to get down this surface, now I would like to see more of this area.'

He smiles at her and says, "Way to succeed on your first try once more, let's continue this tour. We should be able to be back by the time the feast is ready, so come on and follow me."

Two hours later in the feasting hall

She follows the creature, assuming they are the leader of these creatures, to the end of a very long object where he lowers himself into a different object as the others do the same. She looks down to see an odd circular object on the floor filled with what she believes is water and thinks, 'Is this water, I can barely tell it is there.' sniffing it curiously to find out for sure. She takes a drink of it, and to her relief, it is water when a creature sets down a flat object of round food and long thin things with a peculiar smell to them. She starts to chew a little bit of the unfamiliar thin objects before her as the leader speaks again, finishing what is in her mouth to listen.

King Ornir rises to his feet yelling, "ALRIGHT, QUIET DOWN ALL YOU DWARVES AND HEAR ME!" He then takes one more drink from his tankard and continues on, "ON THIS DAY, WE HAVE DISCOVERED A NEW LAND. ONE WE WILL BEGIN EXPLORING IN EARNEST TO DISCOVER AND LEARN WHAT WE CAN ABOUT IT, PERHAPS IN TIME WE WILL EVEN BUILD NEW HOLDS IF IT IS WORTH INHABITING!" He lowes his voice just a little bit and resumes his speech, "We have found other ponies there that are smaller and more colorful than the ones we have here, that means we cannot ride them. We will teach them to perform other duties as well as pull carts, they are to be well cared for as they cannot defend themselves."

The young mare eats and drinks her fill as the creatures speak amongst themselves, eventually all speaking together in unison thinking, 'Okay, this is new. I should at least try to understand what they are saying for my own benefit.'

Chapter 9: Finding a new home

Gesi and her team make their way back from the mountain range with a few samples of the rock, hoping that one of their groups finds a mountain that will be good enough to turn into their home. She hears the sounds of picks and hammers working away as she spots her friend using his hammer and chisel to get a few good samples from the mountainside and says, "How's it going over there, miner, getting any good samples at all?"

Asulfur chuckles and says, "Yes, we have taken a few pieces of the outer layer of this mountainside. Now we are working on getting a few samples of what lies underneath of it, which shouldn't be too much longer than three more hours at the pace we are working."

The two spend the time talking and joining the others in deepening the tunnel to gather samples when they get enough samples of the layer further in as Gesi wipes the sweat off her brow and says, "That will be good enough for samples, let's head back to Dark Watch and show these to the commander."

He pulls his men from the hole and begins their journey back to Dark Watch, hoping that one of these two mountains will be good enough to serve as their new home. They get halfway through their journey home when a roar comes from the sky, causing the dwarves to look up nervously. After not seeing anything after several minutes, a strange creature emerges from the forest having six legs, a few half-stripes on its belly, a stinger for a tail, has black and white fur, and some yellow places on its body. The strangest of them all is that it can fly using a pair of yellow wings on its back. After noticing its strange appearance Asulfur says, "What, in the name of Durin is that!"

Gesi looks the creature over and replies, "It seems to be some sort of combination between an insect and a bear, so I guess it is some kind of a...bugbear?"

Asulfur watches the creature as it roars and flies towards them and says, "Looks like it wants a fight, avoid being stung by it!"

They move out of the way as it charges towards them with its stinger aimed towards them, flying right past them and makes a deepening furrow as it strikes the ground. They charge the beast and attack it with their axes, succeeding in chopping off one of the legs before it can recover.

The beast roars in anger and pain, shaking its head clear before lifting itself into the air to attack again. It turns itself around and swipes at the small creatures, too hungry to look for something easy to kill.

One of the dwarves gets slapped by a paw and is sent flying into a tree, dazed for a moment then shakes his head clear saying, "Now now, that is quite enough of that." Rising to his feet again, he begins to charge the beast. As he nears the beast, he shouts out in defiance to the creature before jumping into the air as he raises his ax above his head.

The beast looks around to the one making so much noise and starts to turn to face it when it feels a sharp pain in its back, roaring out in pain as it falls to the ground as its wings stop functioning.

The dwarf places his two feet onto the back of the beast and starts to pry his ax out when he hears the beast's roar stop. Finally pulling his ax out, he stands back up and chops off the beast's head saying, "I wonder if this beast's meat tastes like, let's find out."

After setting up camp, Gesi starts to cook the meat from the beast saying, "I'm not sure it is going to taste very good, it smells awful."

Usur sits beside the campfire and chuckles saying, "It could be you that you are smelling, you were putting up one hell of a fight against that beast."

Gesi scoffs and says, "It most certainly is not me that smells. Unlike you, who's content with smelling disgusting, we women actually do try to look and smell nice. You all could learn a thing from us, maybe you should give bathing a chance, perhaps you will find a wife."

All the other dwarves around them burst out laughing and a couple of others slap Usur on the back while saying, "Oh she sure got you there Usur, you truly do smell somewhat awful."

Several minutes pass by as she finishes the meat and calls them to get some, taking some for herself then sits upon a log near the fire. Taking one bite of the meat and chewing on it for a bit, she spits it out and says, "Well that is the most disgusting thing I have ever had the displeasure of tasting, I'm never cooking this creature ever again. Before we sleep tonight, four of you will keep watch over us. After three hours, wake someone to take over." She then tosses the food into the distance as the others do the same after tasting it for themselves.

At the campfire around mid-day

The night passes by uneventfully as the group moves on at daybreak, heading back to the base camp when two dragons land upon the ground.

One of the dragons sniffs around, smelling something tasty. Finding the source as some discarded meat and scarfs it down eagerly saying, "I wonder if there is any more of thisss tasssty food around Frosty Wrath?"

Frosty Wrath sniffs around the area and smells a corpse a distance away, but smells a new scent coming from the ground. Curious, she says, "There is a corpse some distance away from us to the west, but there is a scent here that I do not recognize. I have flown all around this land and know every scent, so this one is new to me Razor Wind."

Razor Wind sniffs around for the corpse and then says, "You're always trying to learn something new or testing your frost breath for different things, just ignore this smell and let's have lunch already."

She looks at the fire drake and rolls her eyes in annoyance saying, "Unlike you Fire Dragons who like to roast anything that is unfortunate enough to catch their eye, we Frost Dragons like to learn things to satisfy our curiosity. Eat your lunch, I'm going to check out this smell. Come find me when you're finished eating, I want to know what manner of creature this smell belongs to."

He huffs in amusement and heads towards the corpse to have lunch, arriving at it after walking some distance away. He smiles at seeing that it is a bugbear he is eating, then continues eating it when he eventually notices it has no head. With his curiosity piqued, he finds the head laying on the ground. He looks at the place where the head should sit and notices that it has been removed with a single attack, then looks for other signs of damage to the corpse.

Frosty Wrath follows the smell on all four legs at a fast jog, getting closer to the smell when she notices a glint in the distance and focuses on it. Seeing several small creatures having a strange covering over their bodies, she continues to get closer to watch and study them. She hears a flap of wings as she stops and looks in the sky behind her, seeing that her mate Razor Wind is going to land near her and says, "SHHH, try to keep the noise down! We don't know how good those creatures' hearing is, they have a strange covering over their bodies that catches the light as our scales do. I do believe that this scent is coming from them, I wonder what they are."

Razor Wind lands beside her and says, "Well, I am not positive, but I do know that something cleanly removed the head of that bugbear corpse I ate back there. Whatever removed its head also pierced its back, perhaps the wound on its back happened first. That would explain why it was defeated, the place between the wings is the weak point for many creatures with wings. At least we don't have to worry about anything getting through our scales, the only thing that can pierce our scales are the claws of other dragons."

She looks at him with shock on her face and says, "There was a dead bugbear corpse back there? Damn you are lucky, those taste really good when roasted with frostfire. Those are really hard to defeat for any creature besides us dragons, I wonder what could have defeated it because those wounds don't sound like what any dragon would do. Let's follow these creatures and try to figure out more about them, we will keep ourselves hidden amongst the trees and watch them from cover."

Three days after the mining party returned to camp

Banil looks at the report from the head of the masons and smiles, then looks at his second in command and says, "The mountain up north won't work for us, the outer layer is shale and would not make a strong outer wall for the entrance. The other mountain, however, is perfect due to it being made of granite. I order you to form a workforce of two thousand miners and two hundred masons to begin creating a home for us, have the masons confer with each other on how they think the design for it should be. Be sure to take two hundred fully armed dwarves to serve as protection against any who wish to attack you, head out immediately once they are gathered."

Asulfur nods and salutes the commander saying, "At once sir!" then rushes out to start gathering the soldiers first.

Gesi looks at the wall as her newest students try to learn to speak when she hears a knocking at the door, then looks to Shelly and says, "Shelly Dear, can you take over while I see who is at the door?"

Shelly looks at her and nods her head, then heads to the front of the room and looks at the young colts and fillies in the room and says, "Now class, please repeat after me. The chisel cloves, the graver writes." She listens as the young students attempt to repeat what she said and replies, "You all are getting much better now, let's try something a bit harder. The king rules under the mountain, all those below the king serve in return." She listens to their responses and smiles saying, "Much better than last time, I am most certain of that. Let's do one more. Truth is crowned as king of all, and wealth can be found inside the heart." She listens to them get both parts correct and claps her hooves together with a smile saying, "You are making progress on saying words, all of you should be proud of that." She hears the teacher returning from the door then heads back to her seat.

She looks at the young students and says, "Ok young ones, that will have to be all for today. A lot of us dwarves are going on a journey into the unknown lands out west, so we will be away for some time. I want you all to keep practicing your letters and practice on the sounds each one makes, I will have another teacher take over for me during my absence. Go return to your parents kiddos, I need a word alone with Shelly." She watches as they head out the door at a trot and chuckles saying, "Children are amazing, they can soak up knowledge like a large ravine swallows a single drop of water." As the door closes behind the last student, she looks at Shelly and says, "A big group of dwarves are going on a journey to a mountain to do one thing that only dwarves are best at doing, would you and a few members of your herd travel with us to cart away rubble?"

The middle-aged mare thinks about it for a moment and says, "Yes I would like to go, let me go speak to the herd about it and I will bring back any of those that wish to help." She then hurries out to speak to her herd about this opportunity to be of some help to the dwarves.

Asulfur stands atop the gate counting out the warriors, splitting them into two groups of 100 and assigning the other group to Gesi, and breaking them in half with 50 dwarves each. He tells Gesi to evenly space them along either side of the column in smaller groups of 25, watching as she starts to take command of her group and then proceeds to count out the dwarves volunteering for this expedition.

He spends a few hours counting out the 2,000 miners, and the 200 masons for the expedition before he heads to the front of the column. He waits for the soldiers to get into position before giving the order to move on when he sees a large group of ponies standing alongside the column in a group of their own, making him chuckle to himself and shout in a loud and clear voice, "Expedition, move out! We will not stop until we reach the mountain, so drink water as we move!" He then starts to head out as he hears the sound of armored dwarves starting their march.

Shelly and her herd struggle to keep pace with the column of dwarves for a day and a half without rest when they see the mountain just up ahead of them, feeling glad that they will be able to catch some much-needed sleep and some decent grazing. She looks to her herd with weary eyes and says, "Not much farther now, all of you must keep pushing on. When we get there, we will graze for food after we catch some sleep."