The Forgotten Race

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.'