Sh’zar: a khajiit, and dragonborn.
Most of his life is unknown to history, and his disappearance is shrouded in mystery. All that is know of him is that he was the savior of Skyrim, and a living legend, having killed the dragon Alduin, ended the Skyrim civil war, and other countless feats.
Then one day he just vanished from the face of tamriel...
-Chronicles of the Dragonborn
Sh’zar’s house in Windhelm
The khajiit sighed, looking around the upstairs to one of his many homes in Skyrim.
On the walls hung the trophies from many of the beasts in Skyrim. On every weapon rack there were great weapons, like the mace of Molag bal, Volundgrung, Dawnbreaker, and a masterfully crafted dragonbone battle axe. On the mannequins were his many armor sets, now more trophies than for actual use. One had the archmage's robes from the College of Winterhold, another held a set of ebony armor, and the other sported The garments of the thieves guild.
In an empty room upstairs, other miscellaneous weapons and armors lay scattered on the floor, piling up.
Though looking at all his past accomplishments, Sh’zar could not shake the feeling that Tamriel no longer needed him.
The tell tale sound of a summoning gate sounded behind the khajiit and he turned around, grabbing the battle axe off the rack.
“What’s the matter there boy-o, life getting you down?” Sheogorath, the daedric prince of madness asked the bewildered khajiit.
“What are you doing here?” Sh’zar asked, putting back the battle axe.
“I just thought I’d pop by and see how my favorite mortal was doing. Things have gotten so incredibly dull in New Shao,” the madgod said.
“I thought you were going to stay there,” Sh’zar said.
“Ah, but I couldn’t help notice that you looked a little glum. So, what’s wrong, the Wabbajack not working like it should?” he asked.
“Life has just gotten so pointless,” Sh’zar said.
“Ah, then allow me to offer you an, ‘adventure’ of sorts,” Sheogorath said.
“What kind of adventure?” Sh’zar asked, his ears pricking up.
“Now, if i told you, then it wouldn't be a surprise then,” Sheogorath said.
“So what’s the catch this time?” the khajiit sighed.
“You’re almost no fun anymore, almost. The thing this time, is that’s it’s a one way trip, no do overs once you’re gone,” he said.
“I’ll get my things,” Sh’zar said.
“You might want to bring a friend along, this won’t be easy,” Sheogorath said.
“I know just the person,” Sh’zar said.
“Well hurry up then, I don’t have all day, well actually I do, but that’s besides the point. I have a luncheon with Stanley and you know how that grapefruit gets when guests aren’t on time,” Sheogorath said.
Sh’zar ran out of the house, now garbed in a full set of dragon bone plate, hand crafted by the khajiit himself.
He went to the stables outside of Windhelm and rode his horse to the mages college.
When he arrived in the snowy town, he went immediately to the college and found J’zargo, a khajiit that had more than proven himself to be a capable companion to the dragonborn.
“Ah, what brought you here today?” J’zargo asked.
“I want you to come with me. There is another adventure waiting for us,” Sh’zar said.
“Ah, then let’s go!” J’zargo said, enthusiastically.
The two of them rode back to Windhelm, and by the time they did, it was dark.
“Took you long enough,” Sheogorath said when the two entered the house.
“And who is this?’ J’zargo asked.
“Sheogorath, daedric prince of madness, at your service,” the madgod replied.
“You always did have a way of finding strange company,” J’zargo said, but was otherwise unfazed.
Sh’zar went upstairs and pulled out J’zargo’s old set of dragon scale armor.
“You kept that thing?” J’zargo asked.
“I also kept your bow,” Sh’zar said, handing that to the now armored khajiit.
“Is everybody ready?” Sheogorath asked.
“As ever,” Sh’zar said, now stocked up on healing potions, his full set of armor, his trusty dragon bone battle axe, his dragon bone bow, and over a hundred dwarven arrows.
“Then let’s go, I have a friend there, and I’m sure she would just love visitors,” Sheogorath said, producing the Wabbajack.
Sheogorath slammed the Wabbajack against the ground and all of Sh’zar’s senses disappeared in a blinding flash of light.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Canterlot, Celestia bolted awake.
“Well hello your highness, has anything happened since the last time I was here?” Sheogorath asked.
“You!” Celestia snapped. “Last time you were here, you created Discord, and left us in shambles.”
“Oh, so he actually did something? Jolly good!” Sheogorath laughed.
“What do you want?” Celestia snarled.
“Oh, just popped in to say hi, and tell you that I brought a couple of fine chaps with me,” he said.
“More beings like Discord?” Celestia asked.
“Oh, nothing quite so fun, no, these are just boring old cats, though one of them is quite clever,” he said. “Well, it’s been fun, but I do have to get back to new Sheo, ta ta!”
The madgod disappeared as swiftly as he had arrived, leaving Celestia to look out worriedly over equestria.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sh’zar and J’zargo fell a good ten feet, landing with a squelch in a swamp.
“Ugh, this place smells awful,” J’zargo said, wrinkling his nose at the muck clinging to his armor.
“Not as bad as certain planes of oblivion,” Sh’zar said.
“Ah yes, I forgot that you are used to this sort of thing,” J'zargo said.
“The thing that concerns me is that it is night and the colors are still quite vibrant, even without nighteye,” Sh’zar said.
“You’re right,” J’zargo said.
The two khajiit slogged their way onto some drier land, and tried to wipe some of the swamp muck off their armor.
In lieu of any materials to start a fire, J’zargo used a flame spell to ignite some sticks and twigs that Sh’zar had gathered.
“There’s one more thing that’s bothering me,” Sh’zar said as they both sat by the small fire.
“What is that?” J’zargo asked.
“It is much warmer here than in Skyrim, even in the southern reaches,” Sh’zar said.
“It was hard to tell before because of the swamp mud, but you are right, it does feel warmer here,” J’zargo said.
“Wait, do you hear that?” Sh’zar said, his ears pricking up.
“No, but I can smell that awful smell,” J’zargo said, holding his nose.
“Laas, yah, nir,” Sh’zar whispered, using the power of the voice to locate the source of some rustling.
He could now see four red orbs, showing him that four creatures were hiding in the underbrush.
He pulled out his battle ax, and J’zargo readied himself to unleash flames upon the attackers.
“Ugh, that smell is getting worse,” J’zargo complained.
Four timberwolves rushed out of the undergrowth at the two, and tried to attack the dragonborn.
Being roughly the size of a sabercat, the first wolf was taken down by a mighty downward swing of the battleaxe, causing its body to fall apart.
J’zargo unleashed flames on two more and the third went after Sh’zar.
The two caught fire and started running wildly about while Sh’zar fended off the last with the haft of his battle axe.
After a few seconds, the first timberwolf reformed itself, going after J’zargo.
Sh’zar shouted, “Fus, ro, dah!” at the timberwolf that was on him, and fired an ice spike at the timberwolf attacking J’zargo.
He would have hit it square in the face, but after using two shouts in a row, Sh’zar felt lightheaded and only managed to hit it in the shoulder, knocking it away from J’zargo, but not doing much damage.
Sh’zar hurried to J’zargo’s side and the two of them were backed up to a tree.
“Well, I didn’t think that it would end this way, being eaten by a bunch of sticks in the shape of a wolf,” J’zargo said.
Sh’zar braced himself against the tree before shouting, “Faas, ru, maar!” sending the timberwolves fleeing in fear.
J’zargo grabbed his friend before he toppled over.
Using each shout had a different toll on Sh’zar, thankfully, the three he had used had a relatively low toll, otherwise he wouldn't have stayed conscious.
“What were those things?” J’zargo asked.
“I have no idea, but they refuse to die,” Sh’zar huffed.
The two sat down at the base of the tree, keeping an eye and an ear out if the timberwolves came back.
--
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
Something terrible has happened. The entity that created Discord returned, and brought two creatures with it. I need you and your friends to have the Elements ready at all times.
Princess Celestia
“This is terrible,” Twilight cried reading the letter.
What is it Twilight?” Spike asked.
“The princess says that the entity that created Discord returned, and it brought two creatures with it!” Twilight said.
“Does that mean that there are two more Discords?” Spike asked.
“I don’t know Spike, but we need to have the Elements ready at a moment’s notice,” Twilight said.
The newly made alicorn spread her wings and flew off to gather her friends.
She flew to Applejack’s first, hoping that she might be awake.
“Sugarcube, what are you doing here so late?” Applejack asked rubbing her eyes.
“Applejack, I need you to go to the library, and go get Pinkie and Rarity,” Twilight said.
“Can't it wait till morning?” she asked.
“No! We might have two more Discord’s on our hands!” Twilight said.
“What?” Applejack asked, instantly awake.
“We don’t have time to explain,” Twilight said, taking off towards Rainbow Dash’s house.
The cyan pegasus was fast asleep and Twilight had to practically knock down the door to wake up her friend.
“What’s so important that you had to wake me up in the middle of the night Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked, her eyes only half open.
Twilight, snapped the element of Loyalty around her neck and pulled her along with her, heading towards Fluttershy’s.
Rainbow Dash fell asleep as Twilight carried her and didn’t so much as twitch when Twilight dropped her on the ground to knock on Fluttershy’s door.
“Oh, Twilight, what are you doing up?” Fluttershy asked.
“Something terrible happened, and I need you to come with me to the library,” Twilight said urgently.
“Oh, that awful, right away,” Fluttershy said.
Twilight carried Rainbow Dash as the three of them flew to the library where Applejack had gathered the other two elements.
“So what's all the ruckus about Twi?” Applejack asked, yawning.
“I received a letter from Celestia saying that the entity that created Discord returned with two creatures,” Twilight blurted.
“Did you say, created?” Rarity asked.
“Yes, and we have to be ready, for all we know we could be dealing with two more Discords,” Twilight said.
“That’s terrible,” Fluttershy said.
Twilight gave each of them their Element.
“Now, we have to be ready, so you girls can stay here for the night,” Twilight said.
The six of them got some sleep, while the two khajiit in the Everfree forest rested warily.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Well, it looks like we survived the night,” J’zargo said stretching.
“Yes, but what other creatures might lurk here,” Sh’zar wondered out loud.
“Let’s hope nothing,” J’zargo said.
“Well, should we try and find a way out of this place?” Sh’zar asked.
“I thought you would never ask,” J’zargo said.
The two khajiit started trekking through the dense forest, and were perplexed to see a small house made into a tree, not very far from where they had landed.
They looked in through the doorway that they would have had to crawled through, and saw a cauldron and many potions.
“Well that could be a good sign,” J’zargo said.
“Just because something is small, and knows how to make potions, doesn’t mean that it is friendly,” Sh’zar said, remembering rieklings, vile biped creatures that lived on the island of Solstheim.
The two left the hut and moved towards what appeared to be a castle set into a mountain.
“So what do you make of that?” J’zargo said, pointing to the castle.
“It’s well defended, like Solitude, but it is colored so strangely,” Sh’zar said.
“So who do you think lives there?” J'zargo asked.
“Maybe a jarl or something,” Sh’zar shrugged.
The two continued on, heading unknowingly towards Ponyville.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight and her friends woke up early and went to search the town for anything that was amiss.
They found nothing out of the ordinary and by noon they had searched high and low and found nothing.
“So where are these creatures?” Pinkie asked.
“I don’t know, the princess didn’t say,” Twilight replied.
“And what are they supposed to look like?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I would think that they would look like Discord probably,” Twilight said, thinking about it.
“Do you think that they could be in the Everfree Forest?” Fluttershy asked.
“They could be,” Twilight said.
“Then I think we should check there first,” Applejack said.
The six of them headed towards the Everfree forest, ready to search for the strange creatures.
--
J’zargo and Sh’zar both crouched, hiding from the large beast that was ahead of them.
It looked like a sabercat with a mane, wings, and a scorpion tail.
“Ready on my mark,” Sh’zar whispered, readying his dragon bone bow, and knocking a broad headed dwarven arrow.
He lined up the shot, and J’zargo did the same, aiming for the beast head.
“Fire!” Sh’zar hissed, loosing his arrow at the beast.
It roared as the two arrows struck in its hide.
Sh’zar had already fired off another arrow by the time J’zargo had knocked his second, readied a third.
After the first four arrows, the manticore charged at the two khajiit.
Sh’zar unleashed two more arrows into the beast, until it was right on top of them.
He let loose a final arrow into the creature’s skull at point blank, penetrating deep and killing it.
“That was too close,” J’zargo said.
“I wonder if it has anything on it worth salvaging,” Sh’zar said, looking it over.
He decided that the stinger on the tail might fetch a good price with whoever inhabited the castle, and took a couple of claws as well.
After their encounter with the manticore, they moved faster, wishing to get to the safety of a hold.
Not long after that they saw six horses approaching them, except only two of them could even be called horses, and they all only came up just above waist high at the shoulder to the khajiit.
One of them had a single horn, two of them had wings, and one of them had both of these anomalies. The other thing that struck the two khajiit was the fact that all of them were wearing jewelry of some kind.
“Do you think they are friendly?” asked J’zargo.
“Only one way to find out,” Sh’zar said.
--
Twilight and the others gasped when they saw the two armored bipeds walk out of the trees.
They were twice as tall as them, and they had intimidating armor made out of scale and bone. Underneath the armor they could see patches of fur, and underneath their helmets, they could see cat like eyes looking at them.
One of the strange creatures had a large axe made from bone on its back, along with a bow and a quiver of arrows.
The other had only a bow, and he looked like the weaker of the two, following behind the first one.
“What are those things?” Fluttershy asked, hiding behind Twilight.
“I-I don’t know,” Twilight stammered, looking at the two creatures as they casually approached them.
“Hail, do you speak the common tongue?” the leader asked, holding up a gauntleted hand.
“W-what are you?” Twilight asked.
“We are khajiit, but what are you? I’ve never seen horses so small,” the other asked.
“We’re ponies, and what’s a khajiit?” Twilight asked, fumbling with the strange word.
The first one took off his helmet, unveiling his feline face.
“We, are khajiit,” it said.
--
Sh’zar appraised these ‘ponies’ and thought that they didn’t seem like much, far less than a race that could survive against the beasts that they had fought.
“So, what is this place?” Sh’zar asked.
“This is the Everfree Forest,” the purple one said wearily.
“I’ve never heard of it, have you?” J’zargo asked.
“No, it must be outside of Tamriel,” Sh’zar said.
“Where’s Tamriel?” Twilight asked.
“I don’t think we’re really in a place to say ourselves,” Sh’zar said.
“So what are you doing here?” Twilight asked, with more conviction.
“We were brought here by Sheogorath, he said that there was an adventure for us here, and so far, the beasts of this realm are a testament to that,” Sh’zar said.
“Sheogorath?” Twilight said, fumbling over the name.
“The daedric prince of madness,” Sh’zar said.
“Uh, Twilight, I think those creatures Celestia was talking about are them,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Celestia?” Sh’zar asked.
The six ponies took on a more threatening stance, and Sh’zar put his hand on his battleaxe.
“See, they’re dangerous,” Rainbow Dash said.
“You are the ones provoking us!” Sh’zar hissed.
“Because you’re creatures of chaos, just like Discord,” Rainbow Dash spat.
“What are you talking about?” J’zargo asked, lightning crackling in his hands.
“That Sheo-whatever-he-is, created Discord, and if he brought you here, then you must be here to ruin Equestria too!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“We didn’t come here to fight,” Sh’zar said, pulling out his battle axe, “But we won’t just stand here and wait for you to attack.”
The cyan mare backed down a bit, staring at the sharp edge of the battle axe.
“Now hold on here, there’s no need for that,” Applejack said.
“That’s not how your friend seems to see it,” J’zargo said.
“You don’t seem like Discord...” Twilight said.
“I assure you, we have no idea who this Discord is,” Sh’zar said.
“So you’re not here to cause chaos?” Twilight asked.
“No! We’re here because life in Skyrim no longer had meaning...” Sh’zar said.
“Oh, you poor thing,” Fluttershy said.
Sh’zar lowered his battle axe, letting it’ head rest on the ground.
“I suppose that you don’t seem evil,” Twilight said.
“Only to imperials,” Sh’zar said.
“So, if you’re not evil, can we be friends?” Pinkie asked.
“Um, what?” J’zargo asked.
“You wanted to attack us a second ago, and now you want to be friends?” Sh’zar asked.
“Of course,” Pinkie said, as if it was normal, which for her it was.
“I guess...” Sh’zar said wearily.
“Yay!” Pinkie cried, running up to him and hugging him around the waist.
“I think you just got a new belt,” J’zargo chuckled, extinguishing his lightning magic.
“I don’t think a belt holds this tight,” Sh’zar said.
This got a little reaction from the other ponies.
“Pinkie, you can make friends quicker than anypony,” Twilight chuckled.
“So, what now?” Sh’zar asked, trying to pry Pinkie off of him.
“How about some introductions,” Applejack said.
“My name is Sh’zar, and this Is J’zargo,” he said.
“Do you all have such weird names?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“For us yes, but most other races have names that would be easier for you to say,” Sh’zar said.
“Speaking of which, what are your names?” J’zargo asked.
“I’m Pinkie Pie,” she said, letting Sh’zar go and clasping herself around J’zargo.
“And my name is Twilight Sparkle,” the alicorn said. “And these are my friends, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Sh’zar said.
“Likewise,” Rarity said.
“So where did you come from, obviously not this place,” Sh’zar said.
They looked at each other, considering whether it was a good idea to bring the khajiit to Ponyville.
“What’s wrong?” J’zargo asked, “Cat got your tongue?”
Pinkie started laughing, while Sh’zar just facepalmed.
“The thing is, we don’t know how all the others will react to seein’ you,” Applejack said.
“If it is a problem with our armor, I did bring along a spare set of clothes,” Sh’zar said.
“I think it’s more of your weapons,” Twilight said.
“Then that won’t be an issue,” J’zargo said.
“Hm?” Twilight asked.
“Both of us are mages, and khajiit claws make for effective weapons,” Sh’zar said.
“You can use magic?” Twilight asked.
“Yes,” Sh’zar said, using a magelight spell to create a small glowing orb that cast a white light.
“But, how?” Twilight asked, amazed.
“What, can’t you all use magic?” J’zargo asked.
“No, only unicorns and alicorns,” Twilight said.
“Hmm, intriguing...” J’zargo said, rubbing his chin.
“I can see where this is going, and no you can’t run any experiments on them,” Sh’zar said.
“Experiments?” Fluttershy asked, shrinking away from them.
“Yes, often times mages of the college do magical experiments, and the last time one was done, I was turned into a horse, a cow, and a dog,” Sh’zar said.
“That sounds... unpleasant,” Twilight said.
“It would have been, if I was in each for more than a few seconds,” Sh’zar said.
“So, would you mind changing out of your armor?” Twilight asked.
“If you gave us a minute,” J’zargo said.
Twilight and her friends turned around while J’zargo and Sh’zar took off their armor and put on some normal clothes.
Sh’zar was wearing some fine rombes, while J’zargo was wearing the standard college robes.
“Ok, how do we look?” J’zargo asked.
“Much better,” Twilight said.
Rarity was biting her lip at the mage khajiit.
“What?” he asked.
“Surely you have something a little more like your friend here,” Rarity said.
“Is there something wrong with my robe? Is there a tear?” J’zargo asked looking himself over.
“It’s just so... plain,” she said.
“Is that a problem?” he asked.
“Oh no, it’s just...” the white mare trailed off.
“Well, why don’t you talk a bit while I take these weapons and armor to the library,” Twilight said.
“Hurry back sugarcube,” Applejack said.
The purple alicorn nodded before picking up the two bundles of armor and the array of weapons with magic and flying off.
--
Twilight flew into the library, carrying the weapons and armor and hid them upstairs.
“Spike, take a note,” Twilight commanded as she hurried down the stairs.
Spike produced a quill and a scroll, ready to take a message for the princess.
“Dear Princess Celestia, we have found the creatures that you warned me about. While I can be sure they are dangerous, they don’t appear to be openly hostile, unless provoked. I took their weapons and armor, but I think they could still hurt somepony if they wanted to. We will be keeping them at Fluttershy’s to protect the town until we can be sure of their motives. Please come as quickly as you can. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,” she dictated, pacing as she did so.
Spike hastily scribbled the last of the note and sent it away in a puff of green fire.
“Twilight, what do you think they want?” Spike asked.
“I don’t know Spike,” Twilight said.
--
“So what do you propose I do then?” J’zar asked Rarity after they had been debating his clothing situation.
“Well, I suppose I could make something,” she said.
“That would be generous of you, but I don’t think that you take septims,” Sh’zar said.
“What’s a septim?” Rarity asked.
Sh’zar pulled a handful of the gold coins from his pouch and showed them to her.
“It’s quite a tad larger than a bit,” Rarity said.
“I take it a bit is one of your coins?” Sh’zar asked.
“Yes, but I’m not sure how we would convert them,” she said.
“Well, how about a trade?” Sh’zar asked.
“What do you have?” Rarity asked.
“Well, we have this,” Sh’zar said, pulling out the manticore stinger, “and these,” he said, producing a couple of claws.
“Where did you get those?” Fluttershy asked urgently.
“Some creature that looked like a sabercat with wings and a scorpion tail attacked us, so we killed it,” J’zargo said.
“You what?!” she cried.
“It was trying to eat us,” Sh’zar said.
“But why did you kill it?” she asked, almost in tears.
“What? Are they some kind of sacred animal?” Sh’zar asked.
“No, but you still didn’t have to kill it,” she protested.
“I’m sorry, in our experience, things like that don’t just stop attacking something, and they can’t be outrun,” Sh’zar said.
“You were probably just encroaching on his territory,” she said.
Sh’zar put the items back in his pack, “So, I take it that we will not be able to trade these?”
“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t,” Rarity said.
“Look, here somes Twilight,” Applejack said.
“Good, now maybe we can get out of this dreadful forest,” J’zargo said.
“Fluttershy, do you mind if these two stay at your house until Celestia arrives?” Twilight asked, landing beside the pegasus.
Fluttershy eyed the two khajiit nervously.
“O-okay...” she said weakly.
The six ponies and the two khajiit walked to the edge of the forest where they saw Fluttershy’s small cottage, and the town that lay beyond it.
“Oh my,” J’zargo said covering his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked.
“The colors are intense for us,” Sh’zar said, shielding his eyes as well.
Twilight looked at them and noticed that both of them had gray coats, and even the fancy robes that Sh’zar wore were dull colors.
“What is your home like?” Twilight asked while the two khajiit’s eyes adjusted.
“Our homeland is Elyswhere, and it is mostly grasslands and deserts,” J’zargo said, “But we live in Skyrim, a land of ice and snow.”
“That sounds like a dreary place to live,” Pinkie said.
“The southern regions have more color to them, but even those are dull oranges and browns,” Sh’zar said.
“How do you survive in such a dreary place?” Twilight asked.
“We sometimes ask ourselves the same thing sometimes,” Sh’zar said.
“Skyrim is home to the Nords, a hardy people,” J’zargo said.
“What’s a Nord?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“A race of human that are known for revering honor, and skill in battle,” Sh’zar said.
“Human?” they all asked.
“There aren’t any humans around here I take it?” Sh’zar asked.
Twilight shook her head.
“Any elves?” J’zargo asked.
Again, Twilight shook her head, and looked at the two strangely.
“Do you have any ponies where you come from?” Applejack asked.
“Well, we have horses, but they are about as tall as me, and none of them have wings or horns,” Sh’zar said.
“And from what you say, I take it that they can’t talk?” Twilight asked.
The two shook their heads.
“So, then this must not even be on the same plane as Tamriel,” J’zargo said.
“No, but this couldn’t be a plane of oblivion,” Sh’zar said.
“You never know with Sheogorath. For all we know, this might be a new plane that he just found,” J’zargo said.
“If it is, I hope none of the other daedric princes find it,” Sh’zar said.
“Why? And what is a daedric prince?” Twilight asked, her voice distressed.
“Daedric princes are very powerful beings that have dominion over a plane of oblivion. They are not all evil, but more often than not, they harm men and mer alike,” J’zargo said.
“Mer?” Twilight asked.
“Another word for elves,” J’zargo said.
The ponies all looked at each other with worried looks.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that though, because often times they are too busy worrying about each other than exploring unknown planes of oblivion,” Sh’zar said.
“Well, I wouldn’t expect Hermaeus Mora to wait long to find out about this place,” J’zargo said.
Sh’zar hissed and pinned his ears back at the mention of the daedra.
“What?! Who is Hermaeus Mora?” Twilight asked.
“The demon of knowledge, he seeks to know all, and will do whatever it takes to get that information, be it having someone steal a book, to damning entire villages,” Sh’zar said.
“That sounds awful,” Twilight said, her eyes widening.
“At least not all of them are bad,” Sh’zar said, his fur starting to lie flat again. “Azura, for example, is rather amiable.”
“I hope that none of them find this place,” Twilight said.
“So do I,” Sh’zar said, and the group moved on towards Fluttershy’s cottage.
When they approached, most of the animals were outside of the cottage and staring menacingly at Sh’zar and J’zargo.
“Oh dear...” Fluttershy said, moving to try and calm them down.
Sh’zar held up a hand and widened his stance a bit before shouting, “Kaan, drem, ov!”
A pale translucent wave passed over the creatures and after a second they were all calm.
“What did you do to them?” Fluttershy asked, worried.
“Don’t worry, it was only Kyne’s peace,” Sh’zar said.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“It soothes wild beasts,” he replied.
“I see, but what was that... thing you did with your voice?” Twilight asked.
“It was a thumm, or shout,” Sh’zar explained.
“And what’s so special about shouting? I CAN SHOUT TOO SEE?” Pinkie shouted.
“No my friend, this is a shout in the ancient tongue of dragons. It holds magical power,” he explained.
“So you can use magic just with your voice?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, but I can’t use too many too quickly, otherwise I will pass out,” Sh’zar said.
“Are there other shouts?” Twilight asked.
“Dozens,” Sh’zar said.
“Could you show us one?” she asked.
Sh’zar thought for a moment which shout he could use to show off.
He decided on throwing his voice and mouthed the words, zul, mey, gut.
“I’m over hear,” his voice said from far behind the ponies, causing them to look around.
Sh’zar held his head, feeling the effects of using two shouts so soon.
“That was a simple shout. There are many more powerful shouts that I can use, but I didn’t want to hurt or startle you,” Sh’zar said.
“That’s amazing,” Twilight said.
“Look out!” the cry came from a little ways off as a grey pegasus was hurtling towards the ground.
“Wuld, nah, kest!” Sh’zar shouted, and the wind seemed to carry him flying towards the falling pegasus in the blink of an eye.
He caught her just before she hit the ground, and held her cradled in his arms, her eyes shut tight.
“Huh?” the pegasus asked, opening one eye.
“Don’t worry, I got you,” Sh’zar said.
“Derpy, are you alright?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying over.
“I think so,” the grey mare said, opening up her other eye, and revealing that both were looking in different directions.
“Are you sure? Your eyes seem to be a bit off,” the khajiit asked.
He could tell from the look Rainbow Dash gave him that it was a sensitive question.
“My eyes are always like this,” Derpy said.
“Oh, well I’m sorry if I offended you miss,” Sh’zar said.
“It’s ok, but what are you?” Derpy asked.
“I’m a khajiit, and my name is Sh’zar,” he replied.
“Well, thank you Sh’zar,” Derpy said, giving him a slight hug before hovering at eye level.
“No problem,” he said with a slight bow.
“Oh, hi Twilight,” Deryp said as the others approached.
“Derpy, are you alright?” she asked.
“Yes, thanks to Sh’zar,” she said.
“I don’t think I’ve seen even Dash move that fast,” Twilight said.
“Hey!” Rainbow Dash complained.
“That was Whirlwind Sprint,” Sh’zar said.
“So why were you falling in the first place?” Sh’zar asked.
The pegasus looked around, embarrassed.
“I, uh, got turned around and then I, uh, kinda, lost control...” the grey mare trailed off.
“Here, let me take a look at you,” Sh’zar said, a soft pale glow forming in his left hand.
He raised his hand and Derpy started to glow softly, until Sh’zar closed his hand, and the glow faded.
“Wow, I feel great! What was that?” the pegasus asked.
“It was a healing spell,” Sh’zar said.
“Thanks,” Derpy said, giving him another hug.
“You’re very welcome,” Sh’zar said, lightly returning the gesture.
Derpy waved as she flew back towards the town.
“I don’t know what the princess was so worried about, these guys are nice,” Pinkie said.
“I’m starting to wonder if the princess was overreacting my self,” Twilight said.
