Chapter 1: Friendship by the Boar
“Huzzah!” cried Button Mash, raising his hoof triumphantly as his enemy fell to his knees. “Overlord Falling Star is no more! Come on, crew! We’ve earned ourselves a night at the inn!”
Completely ignoring the beautiful weather in the park and the soft wind that blew made the propeller on top of his hat spin, Button guided his heroes, happily humming along with the soundtrack. In his hooves, Sharp Edge, the main character, guided the rest of the team inside the inn for the night. The screen went black for a couple seconds and a sweet short melody replaced the joyful town’s soundtrack. When the short tune was over and the screen returned to normal, the crew was fully healed and ready to go.
“Alright!” shouted Button, shaking in excitement on the bench. “Now let’s go to the weapon shop! I can’t wait to buy Sharp Edge that magical stiletto they have there.” Without a second to lose, he quickly guided the team across the city, keeping the B button pressed so they would run instead of simply walk and rushed inside the smithy. Button mashed the A button anxiously. “Come on, come on, let me buy the stiletto already!” he cried as he darted through the boring dialogue lines he had already learned by heart. He giggled when he surfed across the daggers menu and clicked the “buy” button when he found the stiletto he had longed for. However, his attempts to get the weapon were instead welcome by a negative chirp. “Wait, what?” he asked right before checking his money, only to notice that he was a couple dozen bits short. Button leaned his head back and let out a disgruntled huff, annoyed at his own forgetfulness. “I didn’t take into account the increase of the price from leveling up!” With a defeated sigh, Button Mash shrugged, his attention returning to the screen. “I guess I’ll have to sell some of the useless stuff I got from the temple. Now, let’s see...”
Button surfed through the menus, getting to the “sell” option. As he moved through the inventory, he scrolled down all the magic scrolls, potions and many other consumables. He always kept them just in case he really needed them, but never used them because the fight wasn’t that critical. Just as he was about to sell a few pieces or broken armor for the bits he needed, a loud cry made him jump on the spot. His console flew from his hooves, forcing him to jump to get it before it fell to the ground. Once the console was back in his hooves again, Button hugged it tightly, sighing in relief before looking up to find whoever scared him off. “Hey!” he yelled, flustered at the intrusion. “What the hay is your—”
He trailed off as he saw the scene around him. The park was practically deserted as the cloudy sky had discouraged most colts and fillies from spending the afternoon there. The interruption turned out to be a reddish brown colt riding a wild boar, swinging a wooden sword in one hoof and speaking in some language Button didn't understand. His dark blue leonine mane flared fiercely due to both the wind and the galloping swine that carried him. Button stared at the sight with his jaw hanging incredulously.
“Fastari, Gullin!” cried the colt, pointing his sword forward, as if challenging an invisible threat. The boar squealed as the pony goaded him, rushing across the park in a few seconds,only to turn around in a tight curve and run in the opposite direction.
“Bróðir, be careful!” called a female voice from behind Button. He turned to see a young, yellow coated unicorn filly galloping towards him and stopping next to his bench to catch her breath. Though he found the sight of her scarlet pigtails bouncing as she galloped to be hilarious, he was still going through the shock of witnessing what he considered the most amazing thing ever.
“You... you know him?” was all Button could ask, pointing at the boar-riding colt and staring at the filly with a shocked expression and beaming eyes.
The filly looked at Button through the corner of her eye and raised a confused eyebrow at him that showed off her charming orange eyes. “That... that's my younger brother, Skjǫldr.”
At the filly's words, Button blinked a few times, shaking his head before letting out a blunt “Huh?”
“Skjǫldr is my brother's name,” repeated the filly as she pointed at the boar rider. “I'm his older sister, Gungna.”
“Oh, well... My name's Button Mash!” said Button as he waved awkwardly at her.
“A pleasure, Button Mash,” replied Gungna with a quick nod.
“Wow, you sure are polite!” said Button as he tilted his head and scratched his back. “I guess I might've sounded really rude in comparison,” he added shyly.
Gungna shrugged it off, shaking her head with a comforting smile. “No need to feel bad about it. Our father is quite traditional when it comes to manners, though I guess that doesn't stop things likethat from happening,” she explained as she pointed at her brother again. “Our father's pet has a lot of energy, but he's too busy to take it for walks himself.”
Still remaining sat on the bench, Button shook his head in disbelief. “Waitwaitwaitwait, timeout!” he said, raising both forehooves and making Gungna take a step back. “Are you saying that your dad has a wild boar as a pet? Do you have any idea how cool that is?!”
“Well, Gullin is certainly not the most picky pet when it comes to food, so I guess that's a plus,” replied Gungna with a barely audible chuckle. “My father has had him since he arrived here about ten years ago, and it has been his loyal companion ever since. He also brought me a pet sheep when I was born. We love having animals around. My parents take great care of them, and taught us to do the same.”
“Well, you can't compare a boar with a sheep,” said Button with a shrug, still hypnotized by Skjǫldr riding the wild boar.
“You say that because you haven't met my dear Sauðr,” replied Gungna with a slightly devilish grin. “The moment you see her, you'll take everything back. She's not our guardian animal for nothing, you know?”
Button's attention quickly shifted from Skjǫldr to Gungna completely, ignoring the filly's brother. “A sheep is keeping your house safe from thieves?”
“I don't really like sounding like my brother, but,” she said over her shoulder as she walked forward, passing Button and trotting after her brother. “You haven't seen a good sheep until you've met one of our Fimbulvetrian sheep.”
“Fimbulwhere?”
“Fimbulvetr.”
“Fimbulwhatnow?”
“Fim-bul-vetr!” Gungna gave up as Button sat there, looking at her while moving his lips in an attempt to repeat the word, but to no avail. Letting out a friendly chuckle, she turned to face Button for a moment. “Just wait here while I get my brother and then we'll talk.”
Button watched the filly gallop towards her brother, staring in awe at how the colt easily stopped the boar and hopped off. As the two siblings seemed to be talking, Button turned his console into battery saving mode and put it inside his saddlebags. Without a second thought, he galloped towards the two unicorns. Skjǫldr's ears perked up at the sound of Button's hoofsteps, turning to face the young colt.
“Wow!” exclaimed Button joyfully, hopping on the spot for a moment before speaking again. “What you did was so cool!”
Skjǫldr raised an eyebrow at the colt's ecstatic reaction, but put forward a confident smile as he patted the side of the resting boar affectionately, causing it to grunt happily and roll onto its back. “I'm glad you think that way,” he said, an arrogant smirk lighting his face. “Nothing compared with the skills Faðir shows, but it's something I love doing.”
“And every time he does, he ignores my advice,” added Gungna with a disgruntled sigh. “Skjǫldr, I know you've been practicing with Father for a long time, but it wouldn't hurt you to put a saddle and some other riding gear for safety!”
At those words, Skjǫldr laughed, resting his back on the lying boar. “Oh, please, it's not that dangerous.”
“Skjǫldr, Gullin is much larger than you. What if you had an accident? What if Gullin tripped and fell? You could get crushed!” Gungna shouted at her brother, who only rolled his eyes in response to her regular warnings.
“Hey, could I have a ride?” asked Button with a wide grin and pleading eyes.
Both ponies stopped and stared at Button’s eager expression. While Gungna blinked in astonishment at the request, Skjǫldr showed a mischievous smile. “If you really think you can take it—”
“Bróðir, don't even dare!” cried Gungna, pressing her hoof accusingly against his chest.
“Come on, systir, the colt's looking forward to giving it a try.”
“I will tell Father!” threatened Gungna with an even deeper frown.
Thought Skjǫldr cringed a bit at first, he quickly shook her head. “I don't think he's going to get mad at me for this. Okay, kid, hop on!”
“Yay!” Button clumsily climbed up the wild boar's side, who was still lying on the ground and watching the new colt getting on top of him. When Button finally sat on Gullin's back, Skjǫldr's mischievous smile became even broader. “Okay, how do I make it move? Is there a command of some sort?”
“Gullin, upp!” At Skjǫldr's order, the wild boar slowly stood up, oinking playfully as he did.
Button tightened the grip he had on the boar's mane as his joyful smile slowly started to fade away. “Okay? This is a bit higher than I thought.”
Before Button could say anything else, Skjǫldr fiercely slapped Gullin's hindquarters. “Rinn!“ he cried as the animal let out a loud squeal and darted forward with a fast gallop.
The sudden burst of speed sent Button's hat flying off to land in front of the two siblings. Button’s cries for help were soon louder than the boar's squeals as he held its mane as tightly as he could. “Heeeelp! Moooooom!” he screamed in desperation while doing his best to not fall off.
“That will teach him,” muttered Skjǫldr, only to get smacked in the back of the head by his sister. “Ow! I'm going to tell móðir about that!”
“You are going to tell mother about how I hit you for letting a colt ride Father's pet and then scaring it so it would gallop and probably cause Button to fall off and hurt himself?” Gungna yelled incredulously mere inches away from her brother, who refused to even take a step back despite Gungna's attempts to intimidate him.
“He wants to do what we do in Fimbulvetr,” replied Skjǫldr with a shrug, only to turn around and move away from her. “I'm just making sure he learns his place. Also, have you seen how ridiculous this thing is?” he added as he picked up Button’s hat and showed it to her. “What's he trying to do, pretend to be a pegasus?”
“You know that father never behaves like that with Equestrian ponies!” Gungna trotted past her brother and stood in front of him, resting her hoof on his chest. “Now go and make Gullin stop!”
Skjǫldr, however, shook his head and simply sat down, watching Button struggle. “You're not making me do it.”
Gungna let out an exasperated huff, throwing a furious glare at her brother before rushing towards the boar. Skjǫldr remained idly on the spot, smiling devilishly with his forelegs crossed in front of his chest as he watched his sister’s attempts to stop their pet and save Button. Due to the terrified colt’s cries for help, Gullin couldn’t hear Gungna’s commands, no matter how many times or how loudly she screamed them, she couldn’t be heard.
After a couple minutes, Skjǫldr's ears slowly perked up and his arrogant smile faded away as he stared in disbelief at Button, still hanging on despite his terror. He stood up, still holding the colt’s hat, while his horn and throat began to shine in a dark green flare as he took a deep breath.
“Bíð!” shouted Skjǫldr.
The spell made his voice boom all across the park, loud enough for Gullin to hear it. As the wild boar's gallop switched to a slower trot and finally to a halt, Button clenched the animal's mane, crying in despair. When Gungna turned to face her brother, she found him wearing a quietly awed expression instead of the expected cruel and mischievous smile he had mere moments ago. She also noticed that he was taking Button's hat with him as he walked towards them. Though she kept her distance, her ears remained folded back as she scowled.
“Gullin, niðr!” demanded Skjǫldr again, making the animal lay down on his belly. Even though Gullin stopped moving, Button still refused to get down at all. Skjǫldr took a look at the colt's hat, then back at Button. “That was impressive, kid,” he said as he offered it back to him. “For not being Fimbulvetrian, you sure are tough.”
Button sniffed and wiped away the tears that blurred his vision, then turned to take his hat and put it back on. “Why... did you do this? What did I do to you to make you be such a meanie?”
At those words, Skjǫldr’s ears drooped, shaking his head ruefully. “You didn't do anything. I just—I just wanted to give you a test.”
“So you... force all the ponies you meet to do this?” asked Button, naivete in his voice.
“No, I just simply ignore them. To be honest, few ponies get close to me when they see me riding Gullin,” he added with a shrug. He then pointed at Button, showing again his joyful smile. “But you? You came here and asked to ride him. And you stayed on him like a real Fimbulvetrian! That's something you should be proud of! So don't ruin your moment of glory and stop crying, kid!” From below the colts, Gullin let out a loud oink, to which Skjǫldr reacted with a sheepish smile and drooped ears while turning to face the boar. “Yes, I'm sorry for hitting you!” Returning his attention to Button, he offered his hoof to him. “What do you say? Do we start over?”
Button didn't say anything for a while, staring in confusion. After a moment, he turned to look at Gungna in the hopes of getting something that would help him decide. However, what he found was the filly staring at her brother with her eyes wide and her jaw hanging open. Button returned to face Skjǫldr, who was still patiently waiting for his reaction with a humble smile. “O... okay, I guess.” Button grabbed the unicorn's hoof, giving it a soft shake. ”I'm Button Mash.”
“Skjǫldr,” he replied, gripping Button's hoof tightly as he returned the shake. “Skjǫldr Drakkarson. Hey, do you want to come home with us? I'll let you ride Gullin all the way back. Nice and slow this time,” he added with a laugh and a pat on Button's shoulder. “You've earned that right.”
“Really?!” asked Button with a wide grin.
“Of course!” replied Skjǫldr as he got down from Gullin. He then turned to his sister, closing her mouth with a hoof. “Come on, systir. We're going home! I hope Móðr and Fáðir don't mind if I bring a friend with us.”
Gungna shook her head in disbelief, barely able to speak coherently. “I... I don't think they'll have a problem. On the contrary, to be honest! But—”
“It's decided! Onward, then! Gullin, troð!”
At Skjǫldr's command, the wild boar began walking slowly. Though at first Button's reaction was to hold on tight at the first sign of movement, he calmed down when he noticed that the animal was walking at a gentle pace. From the more relaxed position, he could now focus on everything around him. He looked down at the siblings, noticing that they both had already earned their cutie marks. Skjǫldr had his flanks decorated with a round, wooden shield, while his sister had a spearhead pointing forward. “Woohoo! Giddyap, swiney!” he cried as he raised his hooves in the air.
Gungna chuckled, getting closer to her brother. “It's good that Father trained him to only accept commands in Fimbulvetrian.”
“Hey, the kid likes action! I like him!” replied Skjǫldr before bursting into laughter. “I hope he likes swordfighting. There's no way I can beat Fáðir for now.”
“You really expect him to be that easy to defeat?” inquired Gungna whole pointing at Button, who was sitting atop the boar, having what seemed to be the time of his life. “He was able to keep up there without falling, which is more than I can say about you the first time you decided you were ready to go for the gallop.”
Letting out a disgruntled growl as his ears folded backwards, Skjǫldr moved closer to his sister. “I didn't say I wanted an easy fight.” At Gungna's chuckle, he sighed and turned to Button, tapping his hanging hind hoof. “Hey, Button. Do you have to return home early?”
“Huh? Oh, I dunno,” replied Button while his ears drooped. “I think I should be going home now before my mom gets worried.”
“Oh, right.” Skǫldr lowered his head with a grim expression, letting out a disappointed sigh as he kept walking.
Gungna shrugged their words off, gently shaking her head before speaking. “Since we're going home, you can ask permission to Father and Mother to go with him for a while.”
Skjǫldr's eyes lit at his sister's words. “Do you really think so? Will they agree?”
“Well, I don't see why they shouldn't, since you have never brought anypony home,” she replied, smiling at the joy her words had brought to her brother. “But I still think they'd like to meet Button's mother as well. You know, they'll like to know the ponies you're hanging out with are trustworthy.”
“Hey!” complained Button as he accusingly pointed at Gungna. “My mom is the most amazing mother in all of Equestria!”
“It's okay, Button, don't mind her,” replied Skjǫldr, shaking his hoof at his sister's words. “She usually doesn't use the right words.”
Gungna let out an exasperated huff, trotting in front of her brother. “Well, where does making Button go through the boar galloping session put you, bróðir?”
“Hey, I put him through a test and he proved to be a worthy pony! That's how colts do things here, right, Button?” he asked as he looked at Button, looking for his approval.
“Well, I don’t think they do,” he replied with a shrug. “But I’ve seen some video games where they do it. It felt like a roller coaster; scary the first time, but you want to do it again when it’s over!”
Both colts laughed together, contrasting with Gungna's annoyed grunt. “What's the next thing? Biting each other's faces off as a greeting?” She then blinked for a moment, raising her hoof as she shook her head. “No, you know what? I refuse to give you crazy ideas.” However, their laughter was infectious, and Gungna had to hide her smile from the two colts as they chatted between them. “There might be hope for him, after all,” she whispered to herself as the three ponies and the boar strolled out of the park.
Author's Note
To all those readers who didn't read, The Lovers' Edda, from which this story is based... hi.
Though it's not really necessary to know, the story's tagged AU because, in this "universe", so to speak, The Lovers' Edda took place ten years before it originally happened, which makes Drakkar's children have the same age as the colts and fillies that appear in the show. More interaction with canon characters there and all.
Norse lessons with this chapter for everyone, so we can read all those crazy symbols.
-The "ð" character (upper case Ð) reads as the "th" in "the", "though" and "those", for example.
-The ogonek character (ǫ, upper case Ǫ) reads as a long "o", as in "long"
You'll see more runes and explanations as the story goes (and they're used, though I'll try to have Norse speeches at a minimum.
