Chapter 3: Tale

   Celestia and Luna approached the new alicorn, looking at his eyes they couldn’t help but compare their grandmother, still weirded out by that fact, eyes to their father’s, both of their eyes are a kaleidoscope of shades from a color, while their father’s is blue their grandmother is green.

    However the biggest difference between them is not physical, the princesses knew that their father was more powerful than both of them but that's the first time in their lives that they encounter a living being vastly superior to them in power and age, looking into those green windows they glimpsed something ancient, broken, complex, beautiful, fearsome and unknown, like the very cosmos it promises seemed boundless and enticing, like a black hole it promised doom with it’s all consuming hunger and like both it seemed unyielding and uncaring of the mere specks of dust that existed.

    All this was perceived in a moment and when Loki blinked the spell was broken.

    When they turned their gaze away Loki answered, “First time seeing a being this powerful? Yeah, that tends to happen the greater the difference in power and age the worst the effect is, especially if you have great sensitivity to seidr,” while looking at his frightened and shivering granddaughter.

    “Maybe we should take this conversation to a more comfortable location,” Loki commented.

    The still shaken royal sisters just nodded and Luna said, “Follow us.”

Canterlot Castle, dining room

    Now back at the dining room, the royal sisters having recovered from the experience were sitting on one side and their new guest opposite to them, the mane six had to return to Ponyville because they can’t ignore their jobs and responsibilities there and they should've been back yesterday.

    “So, I assume you two know who I am and why I am here?” Loki asked.

    “Only what you did and that you are our … grandparent,” answered Celestia.

    “In actuality I am your grandmother but you may call me grandfather when I am male,” affirmed Loki.

    “Excuse me but did you said ‘when I am male’?” asked Luna with incredulous look on her face.

    “You don’t expect me to be a stallion all the time do you?” Loki asked back while raising eyebrow.

    “I don’t know how to react to that,” answered Celestia while Luna just nodded.

    “I take that you don't know much about Sleipnir’s side of the family,” said Loki.

    “No, father never talks about his family outside Equestria” answered Celestia.

    “So typical of him doesn't talk with his siblings, doesn’t visit me as often as he should and didn’t tell you about you extended family,” Loki commented offhandedly.

    “Siblings, father has siblings? Did you know that sister?” asked Luna.

    “No I didn't, sister,” answered Celestia before returning her attention to Loki, “Out of curiosity, how many siblings does father have?”

    “Not sure about the exact number but right now a few hundreds,” said Loki.

    They were stunned not believing in the sheer size of their extended family but at the same size it shouldn’t be that surprising if their grandfather’s age and attitude is as they seem.

    “I think it’s better we talk about why you are here,” said Celestia trying to focus on the reason Loki is here in the first place.

    “Why? I thought that Sleipnir already explained to you the reason I was banished to Statera?” asked Loki.

    “Statera?” Luna wondered aloud.

    “Yes that’s the name of this realm,” answered Loki as Celestia sighed it seems that no matter what they ask, they end up with more questions, picking a cup of tea she let Luna satiate curiosity for now.

    “No, this land is called Equestria,” Luna answered back.

    “By this realm, I mean this dimension, that is how it was called last time I was here anyway, are you saying that the name of this dimension was changed?” clarified Loki

    “I was not even aware that our dimension, I mean realm, had a name. When was the last time you were here?” asked Luna

    “About 6 millennia ago, give or take a few centuries,” answered Loki cause Celestia to choke on her tea.

    “Wha- *cough**cough* what!! But we are around 2,5 thousand years old and recorded history started around less than 4 thousand years ago, how could you have been here before that?" questioned Celestia.

    “Didn't you wanted to know about my banishment?” asked Loki, he always liked to mess with other whenever he can by destroying their preconceived notions of reality, no matter who they are.

    “Let's concentrate on your story for now, you can answer our questions later, we want to hear your side of the story,” said Celestia after calming down.

    “Where do I start?,” asked Loki.

    “Two years ago according to our father,” answered Luna.

    “Very well, my eventual descent into madness starts at my eldest brother’s, Thor Odinson the god of thunder, coronation ceremony. While the proceedings were happening two jotuns manage to sneak into the vault in order recover the Fimbulvetr Skokkr, The Casket of Ancient Winters, but they were killed by one of the more dangerous items in the Allfather’s collection The Farbjodr, The Destroyer, a magic set of armor that moves on it’s own and attacks intruders with its destructive powers.” narrated Loki.

    “And with them dead it was impossible to known how they got there in the first place, Thor demanded retribution but Odin was willing to ignore this incident, either way Thor’s demands just proved to Odin that his firstborn son was not ready for the throne, because of this the ceremony was cancelled,” continued Loki before adding,”but unknown to them I was the one that lead the jotuns to the Casket.”

    “Why would you do that grandfather?” interrupted Luna.

    “Because Thor wasn’t ready for the throne his actions afterward only confirmed that fact,” responded Loki before continuing his narration of the events that lead to his fall, “Thor being the arrogant and narrow-minded Æsir that he is, he convinced to me and his group of friends, The Warrior Three and Lady Sif, to invade Jotunheim, break into the palace and demand answers from King Laufey, needless to say that ended in a massive fight and the death of many jotuns and during the fight a jotun touched me.”

    “What is wrong with a jotun touching you grandfather?” asked Celestia.

    “Jotun are known as ice/frost giants, because of their size and ice cold touch any creature not resistant to extreme cold will, if touched by a jotun, at best get frostbite and at worst be frozen solid, but when a jotun touched me my skin turned blue like them, in that moment two things happened, the first I realised why was so different and treated as an outcast sometimes, I was a jotun taken by Odin in the last war between Asgard and Jotunheim, the second thing that happened was that with my shock something dark and twisted had invaded my mind and I wouldn’t notice until it was too late,” explained Loki.

    “What is wrong with being a jotun grandfather?” asked Luna enthralled by the story of her grandfather and letting her foal like curiosity shine through while Celestia stays silent and tries to be impartial to better understand the situation of her grandfather.

    “Because of the war, Æsir are not fond of jotuns, in fact asgardian children grow hearing scary stories of the ice/frost giants, they were the monster that parents used to scare children into behaving, so find out that I was one shocked me enough for a unknown force to invade my mind and go unnoticed,” explained Loki to Luna while feeling happy to be looked at with childlike wonder by his granddaughter.

    “As I was saying the battle was still going and we were cornered by an army of jotuns led by King Laufey himself, then the Bifrost opened and the Allfather came with Sleipnir and rescued us, because I warned the guards in the palace just before we left, but in the process broke the treaty between the realms, Thor was banished to Midgard for his actions and Odin fell into the Odinsleep but not before informing me of my heritage and the circumstance of my adoption,” narrated Loki.

    “What is the Odinsleep, father mentioned it briefly? And about your heritage?” asked Luna.

    “The Odinsleep is a healing coma that the Allfather must undergo to recover his seidr, his magic, you have to understand that in Asgard magic is considered a woman’s, I mean mare’s domain and males are expected to be warrior, Odin uses seidr only when needed, after all the good of the realms is more important than a warrior's pride and the people see this as a sacrifice, so when Odin uses seidr it is matter of concern because doing so hasten the coming of this healing coma and it’s during the Odinsleep that Asgard is the most vulnerable. The fact that I am a sorcerer and the son of Laufey by blood does not help my case seeing as the Allfather ‘rescued’ me as baby when he took the Casket in the last war between Jotunheim and Asgard.” explained Loki.

    “With Thor banished, Hermod and Balder on missions, and Vidar and Tyr not being suited for the throne, Frigga appointed me as temporary ruler, as my mind was starting to be corrupted the Warrior Three and Lady Sif asked me to use my authority to bring Thor back, I refused because I knew that wouldn’t help at all, so when they try to bring him back without my permission something inside me snapped and I send the Destroyer to kill them while conspiring with Laufey to kill Odin. Only for me to betray him and seemingly kill him and his forces and use that as an excuse to eliminate Jotunheimr and all of its inhabitants and I almost succeed but Thor manage to fulfill the requirements to overcome his banishment and return to Asgard, with the help of Heimdall, the All-seeing gatekeeper, he fought against me and broke the Bifrost, that left us hanging over void at the edge of Asgard, Odin woke and came to our rescue but I couldn’t face him, so I let go of the edge and fell to what I assume would be my death, how wrong I was,” lamented Loki.

    “You wanted to die?” asked Celestia.

    Ignoring her, now too immerse in his own memories to care he simply continued the story, “The Bifrost bends time and space to connect different dimensions, its power can be used to disrupt the integrity of said dimension and collapse it, even though Jotunheimr wasn’t destroyed the breach between dimension as still open when I fell, I fell into the void between void, I saw the beauty, horror and complexity of time and space in it’s entirety: past, present and future. That experience broke me but I couldn’t die for neither life nor death existed there, but the worst was yet to come and it was to be in presence and be burdened with the eldritch knowledge of the Many-Angled-Ones and Those-Who-Sit-Above-In-Shadow, infinity knowledge is only useful with infinity understanding, my mind, body, soul and heart broke beyond measure and scattered through the multiverse and beyond. It took many billions of years for all my pieces to find themselves so I could be whole again,” finished Loki.

    “So you are billions of years old?” asked Luna in awe.

    “In fact I manage to become an Elder of the Universe known only as the Traveler,” answered Loki.

    “Elder of the Universe?” this time it was Celestia that asked.

    “A group made of the oldest immortals in the cosmos all of them many billions of years old and masters of a uncountable number of fields of magic and science, I kinda cheated since I am also a time traveler,” explained Loki.

    “Two of my fragments are of note for this story, one fell in a distant corner of the universe a few weeks after my supposed death in Asgard, he was captured and tortured into submission to serve the Mad Titan, it was this fragment that attacked Midgard under the mental control of Thanos, the second fragments fell when the universe was young and amidst the first civilization since the Big Bang, there he meet the ones that would eventually become the Elders of the Universe,” Loki continued to explain.

    “So you have the memory of all your fragments?” asked Celestia.

    “Yes I have,” answered Loki.

    “If you are whole again, how did you get captured by your brother and banished here?” asked Luna.

    “The fragment under Thanos’ control  was the last one to be absorbed back into the whole, after that I took his place and let my brother take me to Asgard,” explained Loki.

    “So you don’t need reforming at all?” asked Luna.

    “That is debatable but I do want to spend time with my cute granddaughters,” said Loki teasing tone before continuing, “while I don’t hate my adopted family, I also have no love for them, with the exception of Frigga, so being banished works just fine for me,” answered Loki.

    “Well it’s getting late, let us retire for the night, come grandfather I will take you to your room for the duration of your visit,” said Luna.

    “Thank you Luna,” said Loki.