Thor: The Dark Realm

by SomeAssembleRequired

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Crossover
Length: 10588

" Some ponies believe, that before the realms, there was nothing. They are wrong. There was darkness. And it has survived. "

A Thor: The Dark World crossover

Set during Season 4

Assemble! - Part 1

Story is set after the events of "The Hero Within "

Thor must return to Horsegard and together with Sif, Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg fight for peace in the 9 realms. And also find Loky once and for all.

But meanwhile a dark race awakens and threatens to bring eternal darkness upon the universe…

Lyra is accidentaly reunited with her old extraterrerstrial coltfriend, while she tries to establish a connection between the realms. But there won't be only roses and doves…

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-01-07 08:21:20 UTC

The Fight for the Dark Realm

Algrim looked at the battle field. The Horsegardians were more than they have expected. The Einherjar were great warriors . He turned to report to his master, Malekith, but he found out the Horsegardians had already climbed the temple and Malekith was fighting him.

" Soldiers! " Algrim summonned the nearby dark elves.

Only the look of their enemies frightened the warriors with the helmet with flat horns, the distinctive feature of an Einherjar.

Strange masks with no expression, just two perfectly round eyes and a small mouth on the white piece of wood. Even their horn was covered, since unlike Horsegardians, who were usually pegasi, all of the dark elves were unicorns.. Or was it really wood?

Before the brave Horsegardians could react, one of the elves threw a small object at them. They recognized it immeadietly, it had caused the death of many of their allies. But there was nothing they could do. The grenade broke, but did no damage. Instead it sucked the nearby soldiers to their death. It lasted about a second and than a small implosion destroyed what has been left of those, who had been sucked in.

The dark elves levitated their strange looking curved guns in front of them and fired. However, now reinforced with another squad, the brave Horsegardians attacked and dodged the red energy blasts with their shields. Malekith jumped forward and the last thing the front line of the soldiers saw was the shine of his dagger and his vicious,treachorous and crannied face. The master of the dark elves didn't need any other weapons.

" The portals are almost at perfect positions. The Convergence has reached it's maximum." Algrim reported to his master.

Malekith smiled and turned his non- cracked part of the face to Algrim. The dark elf spoke:

" Good. I will take the Aether and you use the Kurse. "

While Malekith went to take the Aether, Algrim tossed some crystals to three of the dark elves. The elves didn't wonder for a second, they stuck the crystals on their own horns. The crystals shone with a dim red light, as the Dark Elves rose in size and strength. Their masks fell off and now, after they were 10 feet tall monsters, they rushed at the Horsegardians, breaking their lines.

Malekith was delighted. He slowly lifted the cover and almost immeadietly the red and black living liquid, the Aether, started slowly spinning and curling around him. But before it could fully adapt, a strong energy beam fired at it and forced it back under the stone cover.

The ruler of the Dark Elved turned around. Only one pony had such power.

" Bor! " he spoke with despise

" Give the Aether away, Malekith. You have failed. " Bor spoke. The pegasus was wearing a black and gold armour with 4 circular plates on the chest. His helmet had two long horns. The spear he was holding was probably the reason for the Kursed Ones to be lying on the ground, defeated.  Algrim had a sword an inch from his neck.

" How? I have the Aether and the Convergence is at optimal position. " Malekith grinned and laughed viciously. A sudden sound of explosion stopped his laugh.

The dark elf looked behind Bor and his soldiers. The Einherjar had pushed his army in the center of the valley. A huge shadow has hung over them and it was growing and growing. The ruler knew the reason: the Horsegardians' winged boats had somehow succeeded to defeat his squadron of ships and now the huge space ships with the form of a " T " were falling down. The last red sparkles from the windows, the place where the two parts of the " T " crossed, went out as one of his own ships smashed the army of the dark elves. The Malekith's face wrinkled in rage.

" You have underestimated us... and you have paid the price. Your home world is ruined. Your folk is mostly dead. You have no choice but to surrender. And by the way, the maximum of the Convergence is now over. "

The words of the Horsegardian ruler made the dark elf even more angrier. He looked at the sky. The portals to the dimensions were going to different sides. The power of the Aether was now useless.

" Never! " Malekith yelled and drew Algrim next to him with magic. Than he jumped off the edge of the temple. A hidden T- formed ship raised. Obviously Malekith had chosen to save himself and Algrim, together with the crew of the ship, and save himself.

Bor quietly stared at the ship as it slowly dissapeared in the sky.

" They have made their choice. " he spoke. Than he looked at the Aether. The mysteriuos liquid relic, that was able to destroy everything and bring eternal darkness back upon the world was now trapped under a stone cover. Bor smiled, but still commanded strictly:

" We'll take this. We'll lock it away somewhere it would never be found. "

Two soldiers carefully lifted the stone and put it in the nearby flying boat.

" The Dark Elves shall never rise again. " Bor spoke and got on the boat together with the soldiers. It flew away and many other boats followed it. A huge rainbow beam fell upon them and than they dissapeared.

" And so the Dark Elves were defeated once and for all. " Odin finished with his story. Both Thor and Loky smiled:

" Father, when did this happen? " the black- maned Loky asked

" Before the destruction of the old Equestria, thousands of years ago. " the Allfather replied

" And what happenned to Malekith and those, who survived? " Thor was interested.

" They were indeed never seen again. I suppose their lives ended when the dimension was destroyed. " his father smiled and brushed his son's mane. He always liked to tell his stories in the Relic Vault. It kind of made them more real. Thor and Loky rushed after him.

" And what happened to the Aether? " Loky got up with his father.

" It has been locked away, but my father didn't tell anypony where it was stored. Not even me. "  Odin answered.

" And how do we know this isn't just an old mare's tale? " Thor doubted the story's truthfullness.

" Here. " the Allfather stopped in front of one of the relics. When the two colts stood next to him, they saw, that it was a book with moving images. They showed strange ponies with masks, that matched the description of the Dark Elves' masks perfectly. One of them was holding a strange figure with no form, that was coloured in black and red and was moving inside a oreol of light. Runes described all of this, though Thor and Loky still couldn't read.

" The Book of Yggdrasil contains no old mares' tales. " the ruler of Horsegard showed the book to his colts " It's the story of this whole dimension, all of the 9 realms. "

After that Odin walked out of the room, with Thor and Loky following him. The huge golden gate closed behind them.

Struck by a Lightning!

' Oh, no, you're not missing this one! ' Darsea thought. She had grown tired of Lyra constantly rejecting the stallions her intern was trying to hook her up with. After all, she couldn't just hope, that he would return.

Darsea sighed. The colt from another world. He had stolen Lyra's heart and they didn't hear anything of him. Until 2 years ago....

Some kind of brilliant scientist smartypants, that Sellwig now never stopped jammering about, emmerged from a cryo-chamber and threatened to .... make everypony immortal. This didn't sound bad at all, at least to Darsea, but obviously the two Princesses took this for a danger. However, this event was planned to air exactly when a kind of insidious storm, carying the wrath of the nature, was going to strike upon Equestria. Because the Princesses were delayed by some rusty robots, who eventually got their flanks beaten by Discord, the mad scientist had suceeded and somehow absorbed the power of the storm and gained control of the elements. Despite their failure the two Princesses brought him out of the Everfree forest with the intention to imprison him ( forever, if possible ) . The pony had no such intentions and his new powers triggered a portal to an alternate dimension, called New Equestria (  great imagination, New Equestrians. But why does it sound familliar? ) .

There the beloved Mane 6, together with the Princesses, should of fought the science pony's evil forms, actually him, wielding every one of his newfound Elements of Chaos. On the way by they picked up some heroes, the so- called Avengers, and some of the Mane 6 even became part of them. One of the Avengers was the Thunder God, Lyra's only object of love, Thor.

The two lovebirds first met 4 years ago, when, according to thunder colt, his father exiled him to " Midgard " ( it took Darsea a week to learn how to pronounce these scandynavian words the right way ) , stripped from his power of a god, his immortality and his " Mjolmy " .

Meanwhile Lyra was gathering some info for her science project. Back than nopony cared about science ( and now, after the so- called Hase was declared ruler of the Moon all of his fanmares were trying to assemble their own robot ) and Lyra had it hard. Luckily for her project, her coltfriend from outer space appeared to prove everypony else wrong and to prove, that other worlds (  or " realms " as blondie with the hammer called them ) exist.

However, his vengeful brother Loky  didn't want Thor to become worthy for Mjolnir again, because he had the strange plan of trying to kill Odin (  who turned out to be only his stepfather ) with the help of his real ice giant pony dad, Laufey, only to betray him in the last second, prove himself worthy of the throne in front of his stepfather and destroying Jotunheim, the home of the frost giant ponies, who Thor earlier would kill by himself.

So, as a gift to his older brother, he sent the Destroyer to eliminate Thor. It nearly destroyed the little town of Puente Antiguo, to the south of Appleoosa. Even though the back-up of lady Sif and the Warrior's Three ( quite a merry gathering ) , it even almost killed Thor. But with this sacrofice he proved worthy for his hammer, came back to life a second before he truly died and turned the Destroyer to shreds. Than he went off to Horsegard with his fellow warriors, promising to return.

Apparently his quest for Loky led him to New Equestria, where he met the group, seeking for the scientist, and his brother with them. But a lot later, he found out, that it was just one of Loky's illusions. Actually, he was hiding somewhere in the realms and planning his vengeance.

A pony would guess, that the thunderer would at least write a letter once he returns, but the problem was, that he was trapped, together with all of the Avengers and the Lords of Chaos, in the science pony's head, as his alternate " forms " . Those " forms " weren't released until a year passed and that science pony had to fight some school friends. So Thorse only had a week in his own body until Sif of Horsegard summonned all of the Avengers to the Citadel of the Gods.

And that's the point Darsea had reached. She had only read the half of the book, after all.

The reason why such book existed were the doubting ponies. After a meeting with his father the science pony suffered a dramatic change in appearance. He was now a pegasus with the size of the Royal Sisters with a long, waving as if there is wind, but no gravity, dark blue mane and extreme magical knowledge.

This was suspicious and some ponies thought, that it's a trick of one of the villains, that Celestia had earlier forgiven, or, Celestia forbid, Nightmare Moon. This led the pegasus to the decision to describe his adventures in a book, called " The Chronicles of the Unseeing " , because according to him, before the events in the book took place, he was blind. Each and every copy of the book came with the Royal Seal of Legitimacy, assuring the citizen in it's trustworthyness. This caused the ponies to stop doubting the new ruler of the Moon and it also became a bestseller for a week.

But the point was, that after this ceremony there had been no sign of Thor and Darsea was trying to cheer Lyra Heartstrings, her science mentor, with a selection of prime Canterlot fine gentlecolts. However, Darsea had just received a letter from the latest one. It said, that Lyra had been staring in her menu... for 2 hours. And the menu only contained three meals.

Darsea would usually ignore that, but she was worried about Lyra. She was looking for ways through the dimensions. And Darsea knew, that it wasn't for science. She was becoming possessed by her work. But she wasn't working for herself. She was working her way to Thor.

The earth pony mare broke into the restaurant and pulled a chair without waiting for a waiter's approval. She put it next to the special table next to the window she had chosen personally. The stallion, that Lyra was supposed to speak with, was making strange signs to the intern. Darsea now glanced upon Lyra.

Most ponies found Lyra with her mint green coat and mane quite attractive, so Darsea didn't have such a big problem picking out her dates. Obviously, there was only one thing that deserved her attention. And it was Thorse.

" Hi, Darsea. " Lyra spoke, without even bothering to look to the pony she was greeting.

" Hey, do you actually know this is a date? " Darsea asked the unicorn

" Yes, I've just had some trouble picking out my dinner. " the mint-green mare replied.

" I would leave you two alone. " the stallion got off the table and walked to the door. He turned around,threw a cross look at the earth pony and slammed the door behind him.

' Guess I would be paying tonight. ' Darsea thought.

" Your coltfriend just left! " she told Lyra.

" I disagree, I prefer Number 3. " Lyra's answer didn't match the question at all. The earth pony sighed. She got to get Lyra out of her trance the hard way.

" For Horsegard! " she imitated Thor's voice. It was something she had become quite good at ( she had a lot of practice).

Lyra's horn suddenly stopped levitating the menu list and it fell down. The startled unicorn jumped from her seat.

" Tho.... " before the mintgreen mare could finish her word, she noticed the grin on her intern's muzzle.

" Darsea Lumis! " the unicorn walked back to her chair

" It isn't funny! "

" But it gets you every time, ja? " the earth pony pronounced the last words with a Scandynavian accent, but her mentor just sniffed. Darsea realized it woud be another boring night ( and she ment completely boring ).

Luckily, she was rescued by the most unexpected pony.

" Darsea! " Ion entered through the door, but forgot to catch it on the way back. The loud thud make some ponies of the highest class sip some of their soup on the floor. They threw angry glances at the newcomer, but the climsy pegasus ignored them and headed for his teacher.

Yes, Darsea concidered, that she now knew enough to be able to train her own intern. And besides she needed it. Their friend, Berry Sellwig ( quite a strange name for quite a strange pony ) had been a little wacky nowadays. Royal Guard complained of him, running around like crazy and murmuring science mambo- jumbo on importrant events.  They had to pay his fine several times already, so Darsea decided Ion is the perfect sidekick. His cutie mark was a model of a ion, a clear sign he was interested in science, and Lyra also approved him being darsea's intern.

However, his entrance was the last thing needed. The waiter threw the three of them out, complaining about the colts and fillies of today and how irresponsible and crude they were, as if raised in a barn.

" I think that was pure racism! " Darsea, an earth pony herself, yelled at him, angry with his comment.

" Ah, Darsea... "

" What, Ion! " the earth pony mare wasn't less angrier at her intern. It was his climsiness that caused the waiter to throw them out.

" There had been several space anomalies in the western part of town... "

Lyra's eyes shone and Darsea already knew what awaited them. A night in the cold. And it even started raining. The unicorn wouldn't just skip this news. She would investigate to the end.

" Lead, Ion. " . Many of the misfortunes in Darsea's life had begun with this phrase, but this was the greatest one so far. Her intern had lead them to a poor neighbourhood of Canterlot. Poor according to Canterlot standards, which meant normal according to, for an example, Ponyville standards. This was the part of the town were pegasi and earth ponies lived. None of the high class lived here. The eastern part of the town was entirely theirs.

Personally, Darsea kind of disliked the arrogance and the pride of East Canterlot. West canterlot felt more... living. Warmer.

Here the ponies had good hearts and didn't threat the others as underponies, as some of the high class did.

But even she disliked the fact that it rained today. Sometimes the earth pony mare just wished there was a fifth Princess, controlling the weather and delivering rain only where it was needed - like the fields. But the rain just made West Canterlot a sad place.

Eventually, Ion lead them to an abandoned hospital. At least it was dry in there. But it was also spooky. This day clouds covered the whole sky and inside of the hospital it was even darker than outside. And just to spook her even more, hoofsteps could be heard. The earth pony wondered how can there be such abandoned places in the capital.

Luckily, it only turned out to be some foals: two pegasus colts and a unicorn filly.

" Do you... know what's happening here? " Lyra asked. The filly nodded in responce.

" It's pretty funny, but it freaked us out the first time we saw it. " one of the colts smiled.

" Come. We'll show you. " the unicorn filly led them.

The 6 ponies soon reached what once used to be the emergency. The filly pushed the gates aside and walked to the operation table. It untied some ropes, that connectedit to the ground, and pushed it. Instead of rolling on it's wheels, it raised in the air and spun. Lyra gasped in amazement.

" It's really strange. " one of the colts now le them elsewhere. While walking in the corridor, Darsea noticed, that some of the garbage, that rolled on the floor, was actually levitating.

The pegasus colt led them to the garden. The small pony pushed one of the statues and it also levitated in the air, spinning. Lyra moved it around with her magic for a minute, supported with multiple gasps. Ion was amazed and so was Darsea, but the wonders weren't over.

Once again the unicorn filly led them, this time up the stairs. When they reached the third floor, the filly dropped her ball in the gap, that formed between the staircase, that was stuck to the wall. After 2 seconds Darsea expected to see it bounce of the ground, but near the level of the first floor it simply dissapeared. The earth pony mare was just thinking where did it go, when the ball suddenly passed the third floor and fell down again. Astonished, the intern gazed upwards. Somewhere near the fifth floor the ball appeared and fell down, untill the filly caught it with her magic. Ion obviously wanted to try it out, so he threw his hat. Expectedly, it dissapeared and 4 seconds later fell again, again caught by the filly and tossed back to Ion. Excited, the pegasus dropped the only umbrella they were carrying and waited for it to fall again. 4...10... 20 seconds.... and it didn't fall.

" Sometimes they don't return. " the filly smiled tenderly.

" Ion, that was our only umbrella!!!! " Darsea was mad at her intern.

But something more interesting had caught Lyra's attention. though the windows weren't broken, wind was moving the leaves, that strolled around the corridor, that led to the second floor of the hospital. Intersted, the unicorn followed the leaves around the corner. The wind blew the leaves into a wall. Strange, there wasn't a pile of leaves, as the mint-green mare had expected. In fact, there were even less leaves than anywhere else...

Suddenly Lyra felt something move her towards the wall. She tried to hold for the corner, but her hooves slipped. Than she pressed them harder against the ground, but it wouldn't work either. She closed her eys as she expected to be slammed against the walls.

After a good 20 seconds had passed, Lyra decided it would be safe to open her eyes. The place where she was totally wasn't the abandoned hospital. She, together with a pile of leaves, was standing on a dark platform, swimming in a sea of darkness. The unicorn didn't know if there was any floor and she didn't want to test that. The sea of darkness looked like if it had no end, both in front of her and behind her. Columns with big figures of warrior ponies with swords and axes held the ceiling, forming a long corridor.

' Interesting. Horsegardian architecture. ' Lyra thought, as her gaze fell upon something really strange.

A big square rock about 2 feet tall. There was also another square bif rock, that hung from the ceiling and ended 2 inches before it would meet the other one. Lyra came closer, wondering of the purpose of such structure. As she neared, she saw a red glow from inside of the fissure. The unicorn pressed her eye against the fissure and observed.

In the exact center there was a strange, moving, substance. It was coloured in red and black and it looked like it wanted to escape the prison. It showed interest to Lyra and some of it extended towards her. The unicorn was so fascinated with what she saw, that she didn't notice it. But than the whole liquid moved towards her and Lyra realized she was in serious trouble. It moved towards her, escaping it's prison and levitated to her. The mintgreen mare went to the edge and turned around. There was no escaping. The substance surrounded her and the mare closed her eyes for a second.

When she opened them again a second later, she was in the hospital, but now it was pitch dark. It was still 4 pm so Lyra got confused. Than she saw a light approaching from behind the corner.

A royal guard, holding a lantern in his mouth, appeared. He seemed surprised from her being there, but he helped her get on her hooves and led her to the exit.

" Lyra! "  Darsea ran to her, excited

" Where have you been? "

" What do you mean, I was gone for only a minute! " now Lyra's confusion grew. But than she saw the guards sealing the entrance to the building with a restricting ribbon.

" You called the Royal Guard? Now we would never able to complete our reserch! " Lyra told darsea.

" Yes, because you were gone for two hours! " her earth pony intern complained. What she was talking about? Anyway, Lyra would certainly not leave now. She gallopped towards the entrance.

" Ma'am. Please step aside! " she heard a voice behind her. However, she didn't stop her rush. She was desperate. This place had led her to a place, connected to Horsegard. With some research it could of been the key to a portal, not created by alicorn magic!

She heard the sound of a pegasus landing and felt a hoof on her shoulder. Lyra was just about to turn around and tell him, that she was going to inspect this place no matter what, when she noticed, that a part of the building had collapsed and all of the guards were pushed 20 feet away.

What Darsea saw probably had no scientifical explanation. It was pure magic. As the guard touched Lyra, there was a massive surge of energy from her, magic, that pushed everything in it's reach away and even broke the nearby wall. The earth pony was sure it wasn't her mentor, since the mint- green mare's magic had green colour and this was a huge wave of energy, coloured in black and red.

And as if things couldn't get more wacky, the clouds on the sky coloured in yellow, as a huge yellow beam of energy struck the ground, leaving a strange Horsegardian magical mark and - who would know - the god of thunder.

" Thor! " Lyra ran to him and literally fell in his gaps.

" Lyra! " the thunder god wasn't less excited " Heimdall had lost you of his sight for a moment! "

" Hey, you keep up the good look! " Darsea approached Thor and noticed, that he now had longer mane and his armour design was different.

" By the way, who's Haintal? "

" Heimdall is the vigilant and guardian of Horsegard. Nothing in the nine realms escapes his gaze. Except Lyra, for a moment. " Thor explained.

Shivvers went down Darsea's spine. That Heimdall guy saw anything he wished. She didn't wish to wonder how many of her secrets he already knew. And with Lyra acting as a beacon... the earth pony shook her head to banish that thought from her mind.

" Excuse me, but I need to get in there, so if you don't mind... " Lyra got out of her hug and rushed to the entrance. Knowing that the building isn't safe to enter, the guards tried to stop her, but the result was same as before- the guards were thrown away.

Judging by Thor's look, even he was scared by Lyra's new powers, Darsea thought.

" Lyra! " he flew to her and spoke, worried " How did you do this? "

" Well, I...  kind of appeared in another world for a second. There was this flowing red - black liquid... "

When Thor heard the last words, his face became pale white. He held Lyra's hoof and led her to the strange mark, that the Bifröst formed.

" Hold on tight. " the thunderer instructed her and caught her with his forehooves, hovering in the air.

" Wait, what? " Lyra was kind of confused, but Darsea knew exactly what would happen.

" Lyra! " she ran to the two ponies, but it was late. The Bifröst was unleashed once again, and when the Rainbow Bridge dissapeared, Lyra and Thor were gone, leaving Darsea, Ion and the Royal Guards riddled.

Vanaheim Problems

Sif didn't expect for the Marauders to be great enemies. And they weren't. At least for the godess of war. Their battle style?  Horrible. Judging by their foolish swishes with the swords as if they were knives, Sif guessed axes would of fit them better. Not much better....

One of the disoriented hits of the Marauders almost hit her. Sif reminded herself to tell the guard back in Horsegard to give this one a bit more food as a reward for his accurate strike, before she turned around and using her elegant blade dodged the next hit and disarmed her opponent. The pony shook in horror and ran away from her screaming. The godess knit her brows. She wasn't going to give this chicken extra food.

But meanwhile she had to turn around and face another of those bad warriors. Ah, such an annoying chore, being the godess of war:  you constantly fought complete amateurs!

Besides the fact, that they were horrible warriors, Sif knew almost nothing of her enemies. They were crude ponies ( all of them wearing helmets with cow horns. Was this imitation or just a stupid style? Everypony should of known, that Horsegardians hadn't used animal horns on the helmets for at least 3000 years or maybe 5000? ), who threatened Sif's  friend Hogun, a member of the Warrior Three, 's  homeworld of Vanaheim. In all of those years of fights Sif, Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg and Thor had learned to stick together, which was the only reasons Horsegard even interfered in this. Usually the Horsefardians wouldn't of been interested in such a small battle.

However, that was how it once was. Now Horsegard eliminated any threat in any world. Hiding behind the wish for peace was the Allfather's desire to find Loky. He has assigned Thor with searching through the nine realms and finding him, meanwhile ending the chaos his escape from his hideout in Horsegard and gathering of armies from different worlds, together with several assaults on Horsegard, caused.

But before they left for Vanaheim Heimdall informed Thor, that he couldn't see Lyra, hos equestrian marefriend. Sif was a bit dissapointed when the thunder god immeadieately went searching for her. Although she didn't consider it to be jealosy...it was jealosy. He was with her for a week. And he knew Sif since his foalhood. What was so special about her?

Sif looked at her surroundings. many Marauders were now retreating to the nearby pine wood. Only a single squad remained and retiliated against the Warrior's Three and the Einherjar. The  godess smiled as she saw how much fun Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg were having. The blonde Fandral was spinning with his sword making the enemies keep distance. Hogun's mace was lifting the Marauders in the air or throwing them away. With his long red and swirly beard and mane swinging, Volstagg was attacking with an axe.

Than suddenly the squad split in two. Wondering what caused this move, that would only aid their voctory, the Einherjar and the Warrior's Three stopped and looked with confusion. Sif didn't understand this tactic either.

But the reason was revealed to her soon enough.

A big rock beast walked and stood between the two squads. The Marauders greeted him and taunted at the Einherjar. The creature shared barely any resemblance to a pony, was 30 feet tall and made entirely out of rock. He held a huge mace in his mouth. When one of the Einherjar rushed at him, preparing to stab him, the giant just swished with the mace and sent the warrior away, causing another way of triumph amongst the Marauders.

Now the Stone Golem was a challenge, swords were useless. Sif had to climb his back...

Her line of thought was interrupted by the sound of the Bifrost. The godess turned around to see the god of thunder grinning at the golem.

" Great timing. All yours. " Sif told him and decided to stand back and watch.

The monster came closer and roared. It prepared to smash Thor the same way it dealt with the warrior, but he wasn't so stupid. Mjolnir spun around a point in the air and after the pegasus released it from his  grip, that was actually just a connecion between his mind and the hammer, it flew right into the face of the golem, causing the monster to break into the stones it was made of and fall down.

" Anypony else? " Thor mocked. The marauders looked like if Mjolnir had struck them instead. They had no choice but to surrender.

" Any signs of Loky? " Thor asked Sif, while the Einherjar were moving groups of Marauders prisoners through the Bifrost, that Heimdall opened and re- opened, since a constant beam would of destroyed the whole realm.

" None. I think even he has a better taste. You saw how they fight. Well, not really, since you considered saving your mare more importrant than... "

" Siiiif... " Thor smiled " Come on, Lyra is a special mare. "

" And what happens after 60 years? She dies and you remain with a broken heart. Thor, she's not the only pony, who loves you! " Sif's words should of been clear enough to finally reveal what her true feelings were. However, the thunder god continued speaking about his equestrian love:

" Actually, she is immortal. Result of Hase's immortality machine. It made the whole Ponyville immortal. "

" What ?!? " Sif was more confused than ever " You're telling me he made a whole town immortal. But that's outrageous! "

" He did it, because he never wished to lose his friends. " Thor replied, but before he could continie his argue with the godess of war, he heard a familliar laugh. Too close to the one of...

Both Thor and Sif turned around and took their battle stances. Loky was there, wearing his green cape, black vest with  golden ornaments, mostly circles and crescents, his long black mane was falling down the back of his neck. But most importrantly, he still had the Tesseract controlling scepter.  The Tesseract was now in Horsegard's weapon vault, kept from the best Einherjar and the Destroyer, but the scepter was still pretty dangerous. Suddenly Sif realized the reason why so many ponies had supported Loky, instead of turning him back - he had them under his mind control.

" Bravo! You looked hardly through all of the nine realms! So hardly that I almost thought you care about me! " Loky laughed, while flying in the air about 10 feet in front of his brother and Sif.

" I care about you, Loky. " Thor replied, but Sif noticed how he changed the position of his hammer in order to be ready to throw it at any time - just in case.

" Wooo... Love and friendship! " the son of Laufey teased him " The Midgardians have made you soft, my brother. Let me guess - now you are going to call them and use their sunshine and rainbow to turn me good? "

" I wish... but I can't. The Elements were needed. Now they're gone. " Thor frowned, while his brother grinned:

" Oh, yes, i've heard of it. I heard they were having some visitors from a gardener's nightmare and they needed to let their precious magic- soaked Elements in a stone tree. How interesting is that! And how lucky for them to be lacking any major villains now. Perhaps I should pay them a visit. Let's see how are they dealing without them. "

" You forget the Avengers. " Thor noted and Loky obviously got annoyed. The team was Equestria's new defense.

" Oh, right. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was somepony who can really test their true strength? Somepony like me? Well, sadly I haven't got time for them. I nearly forgot I should kill you! " Loky's movements were quick. A normal pony wouldn't be able to dodge the hit. The god pulled a dagger out of his vest and with his mouth threw it at Thor. Luckily, the thunder god expected a simillar move and blocked the deadly flight of the blade with his hammer.

" I wouldn't expect it to be so easy, of course. " Loky commented as he landed

" Probably it would require some magic. "

Without any warning Loky pointed his scepter at Sif and fired a blue bolt. Sif dodged it with her shield and rushed at the god of mischief. She swiped with her sword, but Loky blocked it with is scepter. Than he tried to stab her with the sharp part of it, but the godess of war made a step aside and while Loky still hasn't prepared for another attack smacked him with her shield. The son of Laufey made a few steps back and licked the blood off his lips. He grinned and spoke to her:

" Sif... still good with the sword! Let's see how your agility will help you now! "

A few copies of Loky appeared and surrounded her. Sif knew, that his mirror images, those that weren't real , wouldn't cause any damage to her, but she didn't know which one was real, so she had no choice but to fight as if they were all real.

Although a magician, Loky still knew a thing or two about close quarters combat. He surely knew the godess of war would recognize any small difference between the copies if he didn't give them enough time to mimic his moves, so he took it slowly and all of the copies attacked as one. Thus Sif couldn't tell which one was real. But the slow movements were no match for her and soon the god of deceit was alone again. Sif rolled under him, but Loky guessed her tactic and jumped in the air, while turning around and firing another magical bolt. By this time however Sif was in a kneeling position and protected herself with her shield. Loky created ghost copies once more and attacked with full power, ignoring the fact, that Sif would recognize him, this time he only wanted the copies to distract her the first second after she got up so that he would finally land a succesful hit. He aimed his scepter for her head, while she was looking around, still not seeing the incoming danger, when his brilliant plan was ruined by a lightning.

At the command of his hammer, after the clouds gathered, a lightning struck after the clouds gathere, something unexpected by both Sif and Loky, so it was surprising for both of them, as both fell away after that. Thor instructed the nearest Einherjar to take care of her if she was injured and headed to the place where his brother had fallen.

By the time he reached it Loky was standing, standing on his hindhooves while leaning on his scepter and his grin made his intentions clear. After Thor was near, the god of mischief returned to his normal position. The two of them walked in a circle, without that anypony of them broke the eye contact, since that would give the other an advantage.

" So Thor... how is it on Midgard? I've heard you didn't just stand still while you were there. You travelled through whole two dimensions, you even had to save the past... and that's when that pegasus frenemy of yours broke the connection. I'm very curious what happened afterwards. Did you fail and return to the past and mobilize all forces to stop him when he wouldn't have a chance? " Loky's calm green eyes hid his evil intentions well, but this effect was broken by his words.

" Loky... why won't you ever understand the good side of ponies? " Thor' s answer showed his enormous grief and sadness.

" Because I know none, Odinson! Now prepare to die! " Loky's answer came as quickly as the bolt from his scepter, but Thor managed to block it again.

" You give me no choice, brother. " Thor spoke and the hammer flew towards the good of deceit. Overwhelmed by the fake feeling, that Thor was hit by his attack, because his words kind of sounded like a farewell, instead of defending himself Loky jumped in the air for a finishing move and the result of the mistake soon fell upon him, or more like flew towards him. Carried by the momentum of the magical hammer, Loky crushed in a pine tree 20 feet away and when he fell on the ground, Mjolnir, who nopony but Thor was able to lift, ended up on his chest, holding him on the ground. The fight was over, at least for the god of mischief. Thor and Sif, together with two guards, soon appeared by his side. He summonned the hammer, but a second after it raised from Loky's chest his hooves were bond with magic- restricting chains and his staff was taken away. Loky stood in the front of the Marauders as it moved towards the Bifrost sight.

However, not less interesting as the first in the line was the last one. An untrained eye would of thought him for an oversized Marauder, what the Einherjar took him for. The creature's armour was darker than the one of the most marauders and two curved horns went past his neck. He was wearing a mask with 4 small horns, two on each side and there were more horns on his back and shoulders. He was larger than the Marauders and even taller than the Horsegardians, but nothing seemed too suspicious about him. But if the guards knew who he truly was, they surely wouldn't mishandle him this way, because this was Kurse.

The huge ship was quietly soaring through the space. All of it's inhabitants were asleep, when suddenly an alarm sounded. Inside of the ship, in the control room, red letters shone across different devices, letters from a long forgotten language. In the main room there were two pony- like figures, standing in a vertical position with their heads covered by strange covers. At the sound of the alarms the steel covers split in strands, which went aside, revealing the faces of Malekith the Accursed and his loyal lieutenant Algrim the Strong. They crumbled on the ground and breathed heavily. The sleep was never pleasant. Some other dark Elves, all of them with their muzzles covered by their masks( only malekith and Algrim were allowed not to wear them ) , rushed to help them. Both of them refused and after a minute of heavy breathing and falling they got back on their hooves.

" The Aether has returned, my lord. " Algrim reported to his master, reading the red letters.

" It is in Horsegard. "

" Good. " the Dark Elf ruler approved and demonstrated this with an insidious grin

" Algrim, do me this honour. "

Held by the dark oreol of malekith's magic, a kurse crystal appeared next to Algrim. The lieutenant nodded in responce. it would of been his honour to serve the king. Without any further delay he took a mask, given him by one of the other elves, adjusted it to fit his muzzle, so that the horn can come out, and quickly stabbed the crystal with it. Before the eyes of the Dark Elves he quickly grew in size to become a big beast. Malekith seemed delighted. The ruler commanded quickly:

" The Horsegardians are in Vanaheim. Their victory is certain. Join the line of the prisoners and infiltrate Horsegard from the inside... Kurse. "

The beast nodded in responce and soon vanished from the main room. One of the smaller ships, that reminded a blade of a sword without the handle, flew away from the big T- formed ship. The dark elf quickly commanded something on a language, that only he and his servants understood and after mere seconds the ship vanished.

Punishment

Loky moved through the hall, keeping his head down. Most of the ponies would of thought for this as an act of regret, but actually the pegasus just wanted to hide his grin. He had just thought of a perfect plan to get away. And his brother couldn't possibly stop him. He was too foolish to do so.

Loky sighed at the thought of his brother. How could a living being be so... stupid? Has not one single small part of his genius past into his pathetic, hammer- throwing brohter? Haven't they not been close enough through all these years, during which he didn't know the truth?

The truth... how could the Allfather been so cruel not to tell it to him all these years? Why did he keep it secret? He said, that he only wished to protect him. From what? The ice giants were worlds away, and as a foal, Loky would have never had a wish to go to Jotunheim, no matter if his father was their king. After all, ice giants were the monsters from all of the fairy tales, and in Horsegard all fairy tales were real. If only Odin had spared him that protection... everything would have been different now.

That helped him perish the thoughts of asking for forgiveness. The guards on his two sides stopped and so did he. He raised his head and glared at the Allfather with hatred. His shackles, placed around all of his hooves, his wings, and neck, stopped clinking and there was complete silence.

The throne of Odin wasn't as nig as the one in the ceremonial room ( the place, where his copy led the foolish Midgardians to Prequestria with the hope to eliminate them, his brother and Sif once and for all). It posed two big copies of the head of Jormungand, the world snake, who stood on the both sides of the throne ( Jormungand was Loky's pet once, but after his betrayal he was gone ... or perhaps the Horsegardians killed it! Another reason to hate them, the pegasus reminded to himself) and the throne itself was simple, excluding the two huge circles, the one carven into the another, forming a ring, where there was no gold, unless for 4 strands, connecting the circles, pointing up, down, left and right, and some beatiful ornaments, that replicated wild roses. The vines also went through the stone circles, making them look as stones from the wall of a castle.  The circles were surrounded by the two heads of the world serpent. Odin sat on the throne with his unofficial armour ( the other one was too shiny and uncomfortable. In fact, all of the Horsegardians' official armours were pretty uncomfortable). Two lion figures with extended back served him as a place to put his forehooves while sitting. The lions' tails  were nowhere to be seen, since the bodies of the lion joined behind the throne and so to say, t was carved in the stone creature.

And yet in the room there was somepony he didn't hate ( he couldn't say he loved her, after she let all of this happen), his mother, Frigga. She neared him, but Loky just grinned and spoke:

" Hello, mother. Have I made you proud already? "

" Please, Loky, you shouldn't make that worse. " the concerned pegasus mare replied to him.

" Define worse! " he spoke with sarcasm.

" Enough! " Odin ended this conversation with his stern voice.

" I wish to speak with the prisoner alone. "

Obviously that didn't include his escort of 10 Einherjar, since the only pony, who left the room, was Loky's mother.

' They're seriously overestimating me here. ' Loky thought to himself. 10 guards just for him? Come on! 5 guards would have been enough to hold even an ice giant in one place! What's with the crowd?

Well, usually he was much more dangerous than an ice giant, but they have taken away the Tesseract ( locked in the Weapons Vault, he guessed. He was never taking it away from there. Such a pity! The cosmic cube could have been used for much more useful things than creating portals. ), his scepter ( well, it was obvious why) and even his dagger. Why the hay would they do that? It was his own dagger, given him the same time when they gave Thor Mjolnir. As with the hamer, Loky shared a mental link with that weapon ( and with the scepter as well) and felt a bit uncomfortable now, after it was gone. It was like if somepony had taken away Thor's hammer. Of course, they couldn't do that, since only the thunderer himself could lift the hammer. And Loky's dagger was a small, ordinary dagger with no enchantments at all. What did they think he could do with it? Kill 10 guards and Odin? Hardly. Maybe up to 3-4 Guards.

Loky made a few steps forward. The chains, connecting him to two Einherjar clinked again. He stood there, between the two goblets of fire on the two sides of the throne, watched Odin and suddenly laughed. After he did so for a second, he told the Allfather:

" Really, I don't see what all the fuss is about! You have your world, why shouldn't I have mine? "

"Do you not truly feel the gravity of your crimes? " Odin spoke with a calm voice.

" Wherever you set hoof, there is war, ruin and death. "

While listening to the Allfather, Loky showed sudden interest in the fact, that the lions actually have wings.

" Are you listening to me? " the stern voice brought Loky back to reality.

" I intended to go down to Midgard, no matter which one, and rule over the ponies as a benevolent god. " he defended himself.

" Just like you. " he added a second later.

" We're not gods. As every living being we're born, we live... "

" But we don't ever die. " Loky interrupted him.

" That doesn't make us gods. " Odin replied to him.

" All of this just because Loky desires a throne. " he spoke with sarcasm.

" It is my birthright. " now Loky spoke more seriously.

" Your birthright... " Odin got up from the throne and yelled

" ... was to die in the ice desert of Jotunheim! As a foal. Cast out on a piece of frozen rock."

And yet again Loky chose to focus over the Allfather's new manecut, beardcut and new golden eyepatch, but still carefully listened and thought of a way to return the favor.

" Had I not taken you with me, you weren't going to be here to hate me. " Odin calmed down and sat back on his throne.

" If I am not worthy of your mercy, for eternity's sake, just kill me. " Loky made another step forward, causing the chains to cling, and pretended to be insulted.

" It's not like if I rather continue our little talk, but I just... don't love it. "

" Your mother is the only reason you're still alive, but you're never seeing her again. You're going to spent the rest of the days of your eternal life in the dungeon. " Odin answered him.

The Einherjar pulled him back to the place where he first stopped to talk with his mother, but Loky held back for a moment and asked with a serious expression on his face:

" And what of Thor? You're going to make that ponylover a king, while I rot in the dungeons? For eternity's sake, he loves Midgard more than Horsegard! "

" Thor must strive to undo the damage you have done through the 9 realms, and I learn he had almost done so, and than... yes, he will be king. " a slight grin appeared on Odin's muzzle.

The guards took Loky away, and he was still thinking of a way to get away.

A new world!

A new world!

Lyra literally had no words when Thor took her with him up the Bifrost. It was amazing! Though they were travelling very fast, she could see all the celestial objects she once witnessed through her telescope from up close. But this didn't last very long, since soon the galaxy her world was in was nothing more than a swirled star cloud was parseks behind her, and new stars and constellations, ones, that she had never seen before, were revealed around her. Soon they enetered another galaxy and it wasn't long before she found herself in a strange circular room with an armoured pegasus standing in the middle, with a big sword stuck in the platform he was standing on. The unicorn looked around her and noticed she and Thor had come from a strange glass beak with metal framing. On the inside of the golden room there were tooth wheels of different size.

" Vanaheim, Heimdall. " Thor turned to the brown stallion. He pushed Lyra aside and told her:

" Be careful until I return. Some Horsegardians aren't overfond of ponies from your realm. "

" So... what do I do? Do I stay with... "

" Heimdall. " her love interest ended her doubt about the vigilant's name.

" He's friendly. Yes, I think it wuld be a good idea. "

Thor instructed her to stand aside while he was being sent to the other realm. He returned to the point where they initially stood and nodded to the pegasus with the golden armour. He nodded back and stuck his sword even deeper in the platform. White light filled the beak, and it looked like Thor's image was being blurred and sucked into the light, until finally he dissapeared. The pony removed the sword from the hole, the gears on the walls spun and the beak moved, ending up on the ceiling.

This whole thing was a bit to much to handle for a first visit in Horsegard, but Lyra succeeded to keep her excitement contained and not constantly gawk at the room, and instead tried to learn something more from Thor's friend:

" Hello! " she spoke unsurely.

" Hello. " he replied with a calm voice. The guardian of Horsegard didn't look like a pony who was affected by the surroundings. The perfect guardian, only focused over his task.

" I'm... "

" I know who you are. " the pegasus interrupted her.

" Oh. Does Thor mention me sometimes? " Lyra hoped, that her love interest hadn't forgotten her until today.

" A day doesn't pass without him coming to ask me what are you doing. " a small sign of humor sneaked into the voice of the observer of the nine realms.

" Wow! " Lyra surely didn't expect such care and interest from the god.

" I would never guess! "

" Many ponies of his family were concerned about that. The Allfather thinks a king should only focus over his own world. " Heimdall answered her.

" The Allfather is...? " all of this Horsegardian therminology was new for the unicorn.

" Odin Allfather is the king of Horsegard and my king as well. "  the pegasus noted.

Lyra felt, that the conversation was getting rather monotonous, so instead of asking more questions about the realm she wouldn't fully understand either way, she just stood on the exit of the " Observatory" and watched.

She never imagined there were mountains in Horsegard, however there were, rising high and surrounding the huge city from all sides but towards the Observatory, on which two sides the unicorn could see the vast lake, surrounding the Hornburg, as she remembered Thor saying, if that was the name of the city, pouring it's waters out of this world, to the infinity of the stars bellow. The structures were magnificent, and in the center of all, on the end of the rainbow path, stood the golden palace, consisted of something like pipes, or at least so they looked to Lyra. She gasped as she walked out of the Observatory and looked at all of these wonders.

" Horsegard seems to have such an effect on all Midgardians. " she heard Heimdall speaking from the inside of the room. Curious what he ment, she turned around and walked back to him.

" What do you mean? Other ponies were here too? " she glared at him with a questioning gaze.

" Yes. It wasn't too long ago. " the vigilant confirmed.

" A group of 12 + ponies, including the former benders of the Elements of Harmony and Thor... "

" What do you mean by former? " since Lyra wasn't in Ponyville when the Everfree went wild, she knew nothing of this accident, so Heimdall had to tell her about it.

" How do you know about that? I thought you have never left Horsegard! " Lyra was completely confused.

" You forget, that I see everything in all of the 9 realms. Only an extremely powerful spell could conceal something from my gaze. " Heimdall replied to her.

" Than... how couldn't you see me? Was it so serious? " the unicorn mused out loud.

" What was so serious? " the guardian, that didn't move until this moment, came down from the platform and his golden eyes locked with Lyra's.

Lyra became very concerned. She gulped and made a few steps back, saying the vigilant of Horsegard what has happened:

" Well... " she muttered.

" I was researching a very interesting gravitational anomaly. By the way, do you know what might have caused it? "

" The Convergence. " the stallion replied and refused to give Lyra further information, until he learned what had happenned.

" I was suddenly sucked into another place, or even another realm, maybe. It was very dark and the place had Horsegardian architecture, but the most interesting thing was between two big rocks, the lower on the same platform I was standing on. It was a strange, moving liquid, coloured black and red. It moved towards me very fast and I thought it was hostile, but when I opened my eyes again after I had closed them from shock, it was gone. So later I..."

" You're not safe here. " the brown pegasus warned her and went out of the room. A second later he returned with two guards with strange armour.

" Try her. " he ordered them. The guards nodded and suddenly, completely unexpected to Lyra, they swung their swords at her. They glew in blue, but a second before they hit her they hid behind their shield.

A powerful surge of magic, coloured in black and red, was released from Lyra, that threw her on the ground. Luckily, nopony else fell, since Heimdall had also hidden behind the shields of the guards. The shields shone with the same light as the swords before, but even with the magical protection, they were pushed all the way to the exit.

" There is exterior magic inside of you. It might turn out to be more than you can handle. " Heimdall noted, after he got out from behind the shields.

" Take her with you. She must speak with the Allfather. " he turned to the guards.

" Wait, Thor said I should wait here! " Lyra protested.

" Do you have any idea what's inside of you? " Heimdall asked.

" No. " the surprised mare replied.

" Do you? " she turned to the him.

" Sadly, no. " the guardian frowned.

" Only the Allfather will know. "

Two of the guards stood on Lyra's side and she realized there was no choice, but to move it. Anyway, she was partially grateful for that, since this way she'd be able to take a closer look at Horsegard.

As they walked on the rainbow path, the mint-green unicorn constantly divided herself from the two Einherjar, gasping at the different sights of the Citadel of the Gods. The two stallions chuckled while waiting her, but showed no sign of protest, even when Lyra started asking them about all the different aspects of Horsegard.

" What is that thing's purpose " she asked, looking at a high tower with something, that resembled a crossbow on its top. However it was a lot longer and became thinner at the top, instead of spreading, like how it would have been if it was a crossbow. The mare couldn't find out more about the device's construction, since the both sides of it were covered in long metal pannels.

" We use this energy turret and all of it's alikes, spread everywhere in Horsegard, " The guard swung with his hoof, showing the massive city there were nearing. From what she had understood from Thor's stories, Lyra always imagined Horsegard as a lonely world with only the Hornburg and the Bifrost on it, but actually it was a civilized world, and the Hornburg was surrounded by a big town, whose borders they were nearing. The rainbow path went over it, straight to the gates of the huge building, the Hornburg.

" , to defend Horsegard from attacks. There haven't been much recently - there was some ice giant problem 4 years ago, but it was minor and the turrets didn't get in use. In fact, I've never seen them in action, but I'm sure they work. " the Einherjar finished his sentence.

Suddenly, a raven landed just in their way. The two guards kneeled and lowered their heads, placing their weapons on the ground. Lyra looked at them with confusion, and than walked to the raven and spoke:

" Shoo! "

The raven just tilted his head to the left side and looked at her, as if she was doing something very stupid and for a moment Lyra realized she might be actually doing something stupid.

" This is either Hugin or Munin! What are you doing? They are mentally connected to the Allfather! " one of the guards whispered and instructed her to kneel. But before she could do so the raven flew away and instead the guards came back on their hooves.

" Sorry. " she apologised to the guards, but they just smiled weakly:

" I think he'd understand. After all, most ravens are birds, who can be "shoo" ed away, but these two should not be threated like that. But concidering the fact, that you're a Midgardian, I think he'd understand. "

Than suddenly their march was stopped by yet another obstacle, but this time a lot bigger: it was a big boat with two metal wings on its two sides. As it stopped in mid- air, the wings, which formerly went back, went up and the ship slowly descended on the path. Another guard jumped from inside and spoke:

" The Allfather wishes to speak with the pony from Midgard. "

Since she noticed the two metal rods with holes on their top, who concerningly resembled weapons, Lyra thought it would be best to follow the Allfather's orders. She got aboard the flying boat and the two guards, who accompanied her by so far, saluted, using an unfamilliar metod. The mint- green mare tried to reply with the same salute, but nearly fell off her hooves. The two guards smiled again, while the pilot of the boat showed her how to salute the Horsegardian way. After she tried for the second time, it looked good, so she could hear the two guards clapping, while the boat was flying towards the Hornburg.