Chapters Prologue: Equestria (edited)
In the realm of Statera on the land called Equestria
We find Princess Celestia, an alicorn mare with a white coat, a mane and tail with hues of blue, green and pink flowing in an unseen wind, the mark of the sun on her flank, wearing a crown, a golden peytral with a lilac gem and decorated horseshoes.
She was having dinner with her sister, Princess Luna, an alicorn mare with a dark blue coat and a mane and tail that bears a resemblance to the night skies with shimmering stars, also wearing her royal regalia.
These two are the diarchs, the royal sisters, the ruling princesses of this magical and magnificent land called Equestria.
They are having a meal together, which is only possible at dinner and breakfast, -at dawn and dusk respectively- because of their opposing schedules with one awake and ruling during the day and the other during the night. Because of their sturdier physiology as alicorns they could stay awake for more than a week, but that would leave them in a very bad mood. Nopony likes to stay awake for longer than they have to. So they meet when they are about to trade places, only occasionally staying awake for more than a day.
Celestia was observing Luna. She is adapting well to modern times. Just last month she came back from spending Nightmare Night in Ponyville with the Elements of Harmony. Luna was also getting better with modern speech, only slipping to the old Equestrian when she is too upset, angry or surprised to notice, but she is getting better.
At least Luna has made some friends and she was being accepted by her subjects, but she still has a long way to go to recover from her thousand year banishment to the moon. A banishment that she caused.
Celestia, despite what her little ponies think, has flaws and she always had a bit of arrogance, but she hides it well. It was this attitude that made her ignore the signs of Luna’s emotional distress. She always brushed off her worries by saying something like, “They will come to appreciate you and your night” or “They need to prepare for the next day”, while she basked in the love of their subjects. It was only when Luna’s repressed feelings reached the boiling point that she felt the consequences of her actions, -or inaction in this case-, not only on herself but on a loved one.
She looked back at her life, reevaluating herself. Her first humbling experience was when she saw and understood the mortality of those around her as she and Luna watched their mothers and half-siblings age and die. But at least they lived good and long lives. That was the first time she realized that Luna would be at her side for the rest of her life. Her long -possibly eternal life. Her second and third humbling experiences were her and Luna’s defeat by King Sombra and Discord, but she rationalized that their powers were unnatural and that's why it took both princesses to stop them. But her most humbling experience was Luna’s banishment. In her hubris she wanted her problems go away and the elements made it so. Maybe the elements punished both of them with a thousand years of loneliness.
For the first time in life she felt alone, even around her subjects. But their lives faded and she remained ruling alone. That was the first time she truly felt the weight of her crown.
Luna was the only family she had on this world, but when Cadence ascended she felt hope. Maybe she and Luna were not as alone as they thought. She adopted the young alicorn to show Luna that they could have a family again.
While they both loved their father, he has duties in a distant realm, only coming to visit once every three or four centuries, and couldn't stay for long. The only two times he stayed for an extended period of time were on her foalhood and later during Luna's. Besides, the last time she saw him was before Luna’s banishment.
Trying not to dwell on such thoughts, she remembered that Twilight’s birthday was yesterday and Celestia allowed her and her friends to use the ballroom. They wanted to use the courtyard, but Fancy Pants already had it reserved for one of his high society parties.
She was glad to have her sister back, and with her pupil’s potential -and Cadence’s possible wedding-, to have a family again. It would certainly help Luna.
Unknown to her, she and Luna are about to meet a very peculiar member of their extended family.
At Asgard Dungeon
Locked in his cell, behind the energy walls that were supposed to nullify his magic sat Loki, feeling that things are about to get interesting. He smiled as the guards came with chains to escort him to his trial.
Prologue: Asgard (edited)
At the Asgardian Royal Palace's throne room
“Bring the prisoner,” echoed the powerful and calm voice of the Allfather in the throne room.
The rattling of chains was heard across the halls. At the entrance, walking toward the throne bound by enchanted shackles on his arms and legs, while being escorted by eight einherjar, four of which were holding his chains, was Loki.
The shackles prevented the trickster from using his seidr, his magic, also with the multiples einherjar guarding this halls focusing their attention on him, escaping would be a challenging endeavor but with his adopted parents and brothers here, escape was all but futile.
Speaking of which it was the first time in centuries since the sons of Odin have gathered in a single place for whatever reason, them being Thor, Balder, Hermod, Tyr and Vidar.
Thor was a tall Æsir being 6ft 6in his broad-shouldered body covered in black leather armor with chainmail underneath and his blond hair showing beneath his helmet.
Unknown to all but the king and queen themselves Thor wasn't Frigga birth-son but she loved and raised him all the same as her other children, Thor was actually the son of Odin and the elder goddess Jord, more well known as Gaea or more commonly as Mother Earth. Being the most powerful of the group, naturally he is the champion of The Realm Eternal.
Balder was not as tall as Thor being 2 inches shorter but like him he was a broad-shouldered warrior prince using metal armor with a cape made of fur and with his helmet obscuring his natural ash gray hair.
Being the most level-headed of the group it's no surprise that he is Asgard emissary and representative in other realms on political mission.
Hermod was the shortest of the brothers at 5ft 11in, he was also the youngest, wearing a white leather armor and leaving his arms uncovered and with a horned helmet covering his brown hair.
Being the fastest of the group he is the messenger of the norse gods.
Tyr was a black-haired warrior with leather armor with metal spaulders and a inch taller than Thor.
But his most distinct characteristic is his golden and ornamented prosthetic hand.
Being around the same age as Thor and more responsible, he was the previous champion of the Golden Realm while Thor was out venturing across the nine realms in his younger days, drinking and fighting.
Lastly Vidar also around the same age as Thor and Tyr, wearing a simple purple vest and pants, in addition to that he was the tallest of the brothers, at 10ft and with an impressive bronze colored horned helmet covering his blond hair.
With the brothers beside each other standing at base of their father's throne on his right, at the king's left was his wife, Queen Frigga.
Loki now in front of the throne looked up at the All-Father meeting his one eye gaze.
“Loki Odinso-" "Laufeyson," Loki rudely corrected.
"Loki Odinson, you stand accused of leading an invasion force of chitauri against Midgard and the death of many innocents either by direct or indirect means, among others lesser charges. What do you plead?" Announced the king with his calm and unwavering voice, presenting the charges against his own son.
“Guilty," the Silver-tongue spoke with conviction and amusement.
This trail is going to be fun.
Chapter 1: Sentence
At the Royal Palace's throne room
"How dare you speak like that filth mons-," Tyr started but was interrupted by the blunt end of Gungnir hitting the floor.
“Enough," Odin turns his eye from his son to the smiling prisoner, " you are not even going to try to defend your action."
“What's the point of it? You already made up your mind on the verdict,” Loki spoke in a condescending tone.
"Know your place, you speak to the All Father," said one of the guards behind Loki before hitting the back of the trickster's knees with, making him kneel.
Two guards that were in front of him are now on each side holding down his shoulders, to keep him on his knees, while the four guards that were holding his chains were prepared to subside him if needed.
Thor had to stop himself trying to help his brother, Balder notices this and puts a reassuring hand on the Thunderer's shoulder, Thor looked at Balder.
“Now is not the time to help him," Balder whispered discreetly to Thor " if you go there now you will make the situation worse."
“I can't stand at the fact that our brother is being treated as a common criminal," Thor whispered back to Balder " regardless of his action, he is still a prince of Asgard."
“I know but it's not our decision to make," Balder answer soberly.
Thor frowned but got hold of himself, most of the time he just wants to hit the problem with Mjolnir but this isn't something that can be solved with his hammer.
While the conversation between Thor and Balder as going on Hermod and Vidar observed Loki with indifference, even though he is their brother they never interacted much with him, so they were neither in favor or against this trial, Tyr on the other hand glared hatefully at him, he never liked Loki, he always thought of him as waste of time and effort from his parents part, later when he started to learn the art of seidr, a woman's domain, he went from waste of time to disgrace in his eyes, how his father had the patience to allow such thing to happen he will never understand.
To make matters worse that monstrous mutt he calls son is responsible for the loss of his left hand, ever since he was a child, he has been nothing but trouble for the royal family and Argard itself, he is glad that the All-Father has seen reason and will pass judgement on the troublemaker.
On the other side of the throne Frigga looked at her child, adopted but hers, with sorrow but then she saw his eyes, his seemingly tired and broken eye but to a Vanir like her there was something else there, it was only her mastery of seidr and her intuition that allowed her to peer deeper into his soul, she was not sure of what she saw but it felt.. Ancient?
She let her concerns and worries show as she looked at Loki.
“Do not forget that the kindness of you mother is the only thing that keep me from putting you in the deepest part of the dungeon,” Odin reminded him.
“I know, I spend all my time there hearing the guard that you were being too soft on me,” Loki remarked back.
Odin cast his gaze on the guards, then return it to his wayward son, "It matters not."
“You are a egocentric spoiled child that fails to recognize the value of loyalty, mercy and the lives of your fellow man," said the Ruler of Asgard.
“By my authority as All Father and protector of the Nine Realm I banish you from Asgard until such a time that you learn these lessons!" to emphasize the sentence passed by Odin the sound of Gungnir blunt end hitting the floor once again echoed through the halls.
“This trial is over, you're allowed to have one final conversation with your brothers and mother." said Odin with finality in his judgment.
Tyr turned to the entrance and started to walk out of the throne room, "I have nothing to talk and nothing listen from him."
“So typical of both of you Try avoiding and ignoring me, it feels like my childhood all over again," Loki remarked condescendingly in a sarcastic tone.
Balder being the smart one of the group he inquired about his brother sentence, "Father, I couldn't help but notice that you didn't announce to where he will be banished. Could you perhaps, enlighten us on that?"
"Verily, I would like to know as well?" asked Thor, being troubled and relieved at the same time, remembering his own banishment, remembering its rewards and hardships, thinking that maybe this is what he needs.
Thor was brought out of thoughts by the answer of his father, " He will be banished to the realm of his granddaughters to learn his lesson."
Thor and Balder were the only ones that remained, with Hermod and Vidar leaving soon after Tyr, their eyes widen in surprise as did Loki's eyes but for a different reason.
Odin let his amusement show at the surprised looks on their faces, turning to Loki he says, "Have you forgotten your own son, Sleipnir?"
Loki was surprised by the sentence more than anything else, he expected imprisonment at best and execution at worst, banishment he can work with but banishment to the realm of his granddaughters, that he didn't expected.
Loki let the feeling of surprise pass, with a face of indifference just raised an eyebrow and added, " So you are sending me to Celly and Lulu's realm. You are dumping me so you don't have to deal with me, really mature of your part."
Now it's Odin's turn to be surprised but with thousands year of politics under his belt he didn't let it show as he looked at Loki, " So you know."
“Of course I know, I do keep track of all my children and their families," said Loki to Odin.
All the while Balder and Thor, still in a state of shock, looked back and forth at their father and brother not knowing how to react.
“Whaaa-”said Bader and Thor at the same time.
Odin sighed and asked "Do you want to say anything, Frigga?"
“May I speak to him in private?" asked Frigga.
“Of course, but be brief,” recommended Odin as Frigga used her seidr to create a bubble around just herself and Loki to keep the conversation from being heard by the other in the room.
Few hours earlier in the Realm of Statera, Land of Equestria, City of Canterlot
Princess Celestia was enjoying her break from day court in her chambers, reading her faithful student most recent friendship report.
“I wonder if anything interesting will happen today?" the sun princess asked herself aloud.
“PRINCESS!!" the day guard screamed in urgency as he practically threw himself into the room in a hurry to get to her.
“I shouldn't have said that, I tempted fate just now," she muttered to herself as resisting the urge to facehoof.
“What seems to be the problem my little pony?” she asked in the familiar motherly tone that she was know for.
“There is something going on the sky, strange clouds started forming out of nowhere and then they started to swirl around into some kind of vortex,” reported the panting guard, “ I came to you as soon as I could.”
Looking at her window she saw a strangely familiar cloud formation on the sky, clouds that weren't under the influence of pegasi or the unicorns.
“You did well my little pony, wake up and inform my sister of this development immediately,” she ordered as she opens the door of the balcony.
Immediately after her order was given, he turned around and ran to the night princess chambers.
Flying up and out of the castle grounds onto the city square right beneath the center of the vortex.
Her little ponies were hiding inside their houses and looking through their windows with hope that their princesses will deal with the potential threat.
Hearing the beats of multiples wings and the steps of many hooves, she looks behind her, only to see her sister and a contingent of guards of both day and night divisions armed with spears.
Not far behind them were the group of six mares know as the elements of harmony, the group consisted of two members of each one of the Three Tribes, two unicorns, two pegasi and two earth ponies.
Pinkie Pie is a earth pony that has a, you guessed, pink coat and pink cotton candy like mane/tail and light blue eyes.
Applejack is a earth pony that has a light orange coat and a blonde mane tied by a red ribbon near its end, a similar ribbon of the same color at the near end of her tail, she has forest green eyes and wears a light brown stetson hat on her head.
Rainbow Dash is a pegasus that has a light blue coat and a, you guessed again, rainbow colored mane and tail, her mane being unkempt gave her a more wild and careless look and she has magenta eyes.
Fluttershy is a pegasus that has a butter yellow coat, a light pink mane and tail both slightly longer than the average pony and teal eyes.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8e/94/3d/8e943d34c6425625b0e6e3984d4f3e08.jpg
Rarity is a unicorn that has marshmallow white coat, azure eyes and well kept and stylised mane and tail.
Lastly Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's faithful student, is a unicorn that has a violet coat, purple eyes and mane/tail are dark blue with a purple and a pink streaks.
Celestia noticed that they are wearing their elements as they came running toward her.
“Princess what it's going on? What is that strange phenomena in the sky? We are under attack? It’s another old enemy? Or maybe it’s Disc-” frantically asked Twilight only to be interrupted by Luna, “ calm yourself Twilight Sparke we shall protect our subjects, with our lives if needed, against this unknown threat.”
“Luna are you slipping into the royal we again?” asked Celestia turning to her sister
“No sister I meant we as in you and I,” Luna answered.
“Just checking, say how you all got here so quickly?” asked Celestia before adding, “ I mean you and the elements?”
“The elements were about to leave Canterlot when this happened,” pointing to the sky, “ I didn't sleep because I was strangely edgy and when I you saw you flying, I just followed,” explained Luna
Looking at to the sky again she asked Luna without looking at her, “Luna, this phenomena is somewhat familiar isn't it?”
“Now that you mention, yes that does look familiar,” said Luna with a thoughtful look on her face.
“Familiar, so both of you have seen it before?” inquired Twilight.
“UH, UH, UH, maybe it's a portal for alien to come and visit Equestria,” said Pinkie excitedly while keeping her hoof raised like a student in class.
“Pinkie dear, where did you get such an absurd idea there is no such a thing as aliens,seriously now is not the time,” Rarity declared confidently.
The rest of the mane six wordlessly agreed with Rarity but they missed the look of uncertainty that the royal sisters gave each other.
Luna was about to speak when a thunderous noise immediately caught the attention of everypony.
From the center of the vortex a beam of energy was shot and hit the ground before residing.
When the smoke cleared the beam of energy left an intricate and stylised circle that was burned into the ground.
But that's not what caught their attention, their attention were on the tall mysterious figure, seemingly made of metal, gold and silver intertwining in a complex pattern but the strangest feature was his legs, nothing wrong with them but he has eight.
Celestia and Luna both froze while looking at the visitor from beyond the star, Twilight interpreted as a sign that whatever this was it was a enemy.
Rainbow Dash being the reckless pony that she was she immediately rocketed at him.
“NO!! RAINBOW DON’T-” Luna tried to warn her but it was too late.
Before hitting the stranger a magic circle appeared in front of her, she tried to stop but it was too late and went through the circle and disappeared.
The circle reappeared behind him and Rainbow came out of it still flying at high speed, losing control she crashed on the floor of the city square.
The gold and silver on the stranger started to shift and disappear showing not only his gray fur but his eyes and hooves glowing with magical energy as well.
Celestia felt tears come out of her eyes as she felt the gaze of the glowing eyes of the stranger.
Luna averted her gaze with the feeling of shame at being in his presence.
Twilight was reading a spell as was Rarity, Pinkie brought out her canon and AJ her rope while Fluttershy was hiding behind the guards that had their weapons ready to attack the possible thread.
“STOOOOOP!!!!”
The royal voice of both sisters made everypony freeze.
The stranger approached the princesses while they remained in their position after the use of the royal voice.
“Hello Celestia and Luna, it’s been a thousand years since I last saw you two” the deep and commanding voice of the stranger.
Celestia hugged him “I missed you father.”
….
“FATHER!!!” everypony shouted.
Chapter 2: Meeting
Everypony was in shock, their minds still trying to understand the reality in front of them except Pinkie Pie, she was blowing her nose on a napkin.
“Family reunions are so beautiful,” said the pink one while wiping the tears from her eyes with her hoof.
No one, pony or otherwise, ever consider the princesses’ parents, the sisters have been ruling for so long that to the population of Equestria and the world, with the exception of really old beings, they just seem eternal, mortals sometimes forget that the princesses were born, just like everyone else.
Sleipnir was taken aback by his eldest daughter’s actions but welcome it all the same and using two of his forelegs he hugged her as well.
Looking at the younger of the sisters with a concerned look he asked, “ Why you don't meet my gaze? What troubles you little moon?”
Luna just kept avoiding his gaze and not allowing herself to look at her father.
“It seems we have much to talk about…” sighed Sleipnir.
“Uuunnm…” came a sound in the awkward silence from AJ,” pardon me your majesties, but Ah think we should move this reunion to the castle, you're kinda making a scene,” she added.
Sleipnir looked at the orange pony who spoke, then at the crowd that gathered in the square noticing that citizens had came out of their homes to see what the commotion is all about, luckily they didn't see their princesses loss of composure with a battalion of guards in between the royal sisters and the citizens, only the elements and the front half of the battalion saw that.
But all of them heard the shocking new, the connection between the princesses and the strange visitor.
Celestia recovering from this lapse of control she composed herself and let go of her father, who did the same.
Clearing her throat she announced, "Yes everypony this is my and Luna's father, Sleipnir," using her motherly voice to calm the crowd of agitated ponies and then added, " this all a misunderstanding caused by our father's arrival, there is no need to panic, please return to your normal daily activities."
Luna recovering enough to look dignified before her subjects, commanded, "Guards let us return to the castle and resume your duties as my sister and I have much to talk about with our father."
The ponies with their very strong herd mentality just accepted their princess answer and followed the royal sisters orders.
All but the mane six who who had quite a few questions, except Twilight she had a lot and I mean a lot of question and Rainbow who was freaking out,”Ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh, I just attacked the princesses’ father.”
Half an hour later at the castle’s dining room
On one side of the long table used for meetings of nobles, dignitaries, foreign leaders and rulers sat Sleipnir with his daughters, one on each sides, while on the other side sat the mane six.
“I have cancelled the day and night court of today and tomorrow so our subjects won't disturb us with nothing less than a national emergency,” informed Celestia to all those who are present.
Sleipnir, now without the glow on his hooves and eyes, sat drinking tea from the floating cup, putting down the cup of tea on the the glowing symbols on his forehead dimmed until it was no longer visible,”Good because I have much to discuss with you two,” turning his multi-shaded and kaleidoscopic eyes to the mane six he asked, “ what about them? I thought that this was supposed to be just the three of us."
“They are close friends, not only they helped my sister and I on many occasion but also are the Elements of Harmony and saved Equestria from many threats,” Celestia spoke proudly and added,” I would like to consider Twilight and her friends family, especially my faithful student who I consider a daughter."
The mane six were blushing after being praised by their princess, Twilight and Fluttershy more so than the others, Twilight because she was the focus of the attention and Fluttershy because she is shy, she was receiving attention regardless if she was or wasn't the focus, the fact that it is the princesses' didn't help and neither does Sleipnir presence.
“So they are your champions and envoys” Sleipnir concluded.
"Verily, let us introduce them," Luna spoke not caring that she slipped into the royal we and to distract herself from the inevitable.
She pointed at the orange one,”This is Applejack, a humble farmer but her family is responsible for the best fruits of the land,” “Oh shucks,” said as she uses her hat to cover her face.
Now pointing at the white one,” This is Lady Rarity a very talented seamstress and fashionista, one of the best in Equestria” “Oh my, thank you princess.”
Then pointing at the pink one, “This is Pinkamena Diane Pie or Pinkie Pie for short, a eccentric party planner responsible for all celebration on their town,” then the pink one started jumping and waving her forelegs as if to keep his attention,”Hiiiiiiiii!!!”
Now pointing at the shy yellow one,”This is Lady Fluttershy a healer and caretaker of the creature of the forest.”
All the while Fluttershy tries to make herself smaller, hide behind her mane and disappear under the table.
This time pointing at the blue one with a very colorful mane, “This is the athletic Rainbow Dash that constantly trains herself and leads a team that manages the weather in Ponyville and the surrounding area,” the blue one adjusted her posture and saluted“Rainbow Dash, at your service, sir.”
Then pointed at the violet one the final member of the group, “ And lastly this is my sister’s pupil and one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight was lost in her own little world coming up with question to ask, when “ Pst, egghead,” Rainbow called discreetly, “What,” she said only to notice that she missed her own introduction and blushed in embarrassment, “sorry,” she said nervously rubbing the back of her head.
Sleipnir sighed, might as accept and move on with his mission, “Greetings I am Sleipnir Lokison, father of Dagrsol ‘Celestia’ Sleipnirdottir and Nottmani ‘Luna’ Sleipnirdottir it’s a pleasure to meet you all,” he introduced himself politely.
“Those are very fancy names you got there,your majesties,”AJ commented.
“Applejack don’t be rude I for one think they are very exotic,” Rarity answers.
“Speaking of exotic, you are the princesses’ father, then where have you been all this time?” inquired Twilight.
“Performing my duties on the realm of Asgard," responded Sleipnir.
“Ah never heard of this place called Aguard” said AJ.
“It's Asgard and I would be very surprised if you somehow heard of it considering that it’s on another world,” said Sleipnir unaware of the impact of his words.
“You mean to tell me that are other worlds with life in them?” asked Rarity already knowing the answer but not wanting to believe in it.
Twilight froze in shock as repeated in her head “Aliens are real !”
“Hah, I knew it!” declared Pinkie.
With the egghead of the group stuck in a mental loop a good question was asked surprisingly by Rainbow, “So cool, wait does that means that the princesses are aliens as well?”
“Wha-,ho-,but uuuuu.. I give up” Rarity tried and failed to properly respond to that question.
“No they were born on this world as were their mothers,” answered Sleipnir.
“Ohmygosh, I have so many questions like how did you got here? How many worlds do you known? How advanced is their magic? How is the-” Twilight got interrupted by his hoof signaling her to stop and said, “I hate to be rude but I already wasted too much time, I did not come to visit, I came on a mission, Luna and Celestia I came to inform you that my mother will come in the near future and will need to stay here for a while.”
“Your mother, our grandmother will come to Equestria?” asked Luna.
“Yes,” he answered.
“Why?” asked Celestia.
“What do you know of my side of the family?” asked Sleipnir
“Not much, only what you told us,” said Celestia.
“Two years ago Thor, the god of thunder, the eldest son of Odin, the king of Asgard, with the help of Loki and four friends invade Jotunheim, one of the nine realm, storming the palace and demanding answer from the King of Jotunheim regarding a breach in Asgard vault by two jotnar, needless to say that it didn't go well and both realms were on the brink of war. So Odin banished Thor for his actions and Loki assumed the throne because the king had fallen into the Odinsleep, a healing coma of sort. Loki's actions lead to the death of king Laufey and the almost complete destruction of Jotunheim, luckily Thor meet the requirement to return and stopped Loki by destroying the bridge but unfortunately this caused Loki to fall from the remains of the Bifrost into the void," narrated Sleipnir.
“Few months ago Heimdall, the All-seeing, witnessed my mother appear on Midgard and leading an invasion force that caused untold damage but Thor with the help of Midgard's protectors manage to stop both the invasion force and my mother." continued Sleipnir.
“Father what was the purpose of the first story?” asked Celestia.
“Loki is my mother,” revealed Sleipnir.
*GASP* was the reaction of those present, except Rarity, she fainted.
“But this Loki is stallion right? How can a stallion be your mother?” questioned Luna in disbelief.
“Well, mother is one of the most powerful, knowledgeable and experienced magic user of the universe, among his many powers and talents he can shapeshift, he was in the form of a mare when I was conceived, he stayed in that form to carry, birth, nurture and protect me. When I was old enough I was presented to my grandfather, Odin, to serve as his steed, which is a great honor, and sometimes his spy and/or envoy,” explained Sleipnir.
“Father you can not do this to us, you show up after centuries of silence just to say that you are going to drop your mother here!” Luna screamed in indignation.
“You think I don't know about Nightmare Moon or the incident with Discord,” said Sleipnir calmly and added,” I think that both of you can help my mother but the reverse is also true.”
“I must go now, mother will arrive either tonight or tomorrow morning, I will try to visit as much as I can,” then he got up and disappeared in a vortex of light.
“That could have gone better,”said AJ.
“Aliens are weird,” commented Rainbow.
“Tell me about it,” added Pinkie.
“But my questions….” lamented Twilight.
Rarity was still unconscious and Fluttershy was peeking from her hiding spot under the table.
“Now what sister?” asked Luna.
“We wait.” said Celestia.
Canterlot Castle’s Courtyard at night
Celestia and Luna saw the Bifrost opening and moved to be near its entry, now they stood there waiting for the arrival of the grandmother.
The Bifrost shot at the castle courtyard leaving a teal-colored alicorn taller than Celestia by few inches wearing golden plated black sleeves on his forelegs, a green cape that would have hidden his wings if not for the wind and a golden horned helmet.
“It's been awhile since I visited realm of Statera,” commented Loki before taking a deep breath, taking in the chilly night air.
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.
Chapter 4: Reflection
Canterlot Castle Halls
After showing the guest room that would be Loki’s room for the duration of his visit, Celestia and Luna wished him a good night of sleep.
They started a conversation on the way to Celestia’s chambers.
“What are your thoughts on grandfather?” asked Celestia beginning the conversation.
“I don’t know yet sister but it's refreshing to just feel like normal pony meeting another family member, and our grandfather at that,” answered Luna.
“It certainly is, it’s the first time in millennia that I felt like a foal unaware of the world, in this case the universe,” said Celestia before adding, “I don’t know why our great-grandfather, Odin, thought it was good idea to send grandfather here, if what we felt from him in our first meeting in the courtyard is right, he could, if he wanted, conquer the this world without much resistance.”
“Indeed it was the first time I felt so overwhelmed in my long life, although if we consider our father and grandfather there are individuals and species that can easily not only match our age but are powerful enough to consider us mere foals,” concluded Luna as the sisters reached a golden double door decorated with a stylized sun symbol.
“It gave us much to think about and proved how ignorant we really are about the universe and its inhabitants, well good night sister and good luck with your duties,” said Celestia while she opens the double doors and enters.
“Thank you sister. Good night, see you at breakfast,” said Luna as she starts the walk to her chambers, night court might have been cancelled for the next few days but she still has the duty to watch over the dreams of her little ponies.
It wouldn’t make much of a difference as not many petitioner are willing to come to her court unless they have a request that can’t wait for them to schedule a time in Celestia’s court, ponies with business that operate at night and occasionally a pony that enjoys the nightlife in Canterlot wanting to meet her but Luna preferred this way, it is better than dealing with petty, vain, greedy and power-hungry nobles, frequent and futile requests that were rejected multiple times before and ponies that just want an excuse to see Celestia, the regularity of the latter is astounding.
She likes the attitude of the business ponies they are polite but straightforward and don’t waste time, which works for her just fine, that leaves her with more time to be the guardian of dreams that her subjects needed.
Entering her chambers she let her physical body rest as her astral form explores the dreamscape for any nightmare that might be lurking.
Loki’s room at the castle just after the sisters left
Loki looked around the room, it was quite luxurious for the average hard-working citizen but it was ordinary for nobles.
He likes the room this way, to indulge in luxury occasionally is fine, after all revelling in excess gets old after a few centuries.
He thinks about his granddaughters, Nottmani or Luna as she prefers to be called is opening up to him, maybe she feels a sense of kinship with him, very likely if you take Nightmare Moon into consideration, Dagrsol or Celestia on the other hand, hoof, is wary of him probably trying to prepare for worst case scenarios for the good of her subjects, even young like this she reminds him of Odin, maybe he can change that.
Finding a mirror on the door of the wardrobe, he stands in front of it and observes his current form, a teal-colored horse, or a very big pony if want to be picky, he has a very long cone shaped horn with spiral details around it, a brief shimmer of green light later and his clothes disappear leaving only the Crown of Lies, his helmet, channeling his seidr through his horn to create a telekinetic hold on his helmet, taking it off of his head and letting his black mane flow around his face.
Put his crown on bedside table he returned his gaze to the mirror, shifting his position to look at his side he saw his wing with teal colored feather having multiples shades of green getting darker at the tip and a sigil in his hindquarters, the image of two snakes chasing after each other’s tails.
But unlike that of his granddaughters his was a moving picture, the two snakes endlessly weaving through each other’s coiled bodies.
Going to the bed, he lays on his left side and is ready to sleep but before that can happen he looks at the Crown of Lies.
Since clothes are optional in this form it's better to change the crown into a more practical form, concentrating on it, a shimmer of golden light later and the crown has a new form.
Next morning
Loki woke up with the sound of someone knocking on the door, he sat up on the bed when two pegasi guards, a stallion and a mare, open the doors.
“Your highness it's time for breakfast..is.. “ the guards trailed off while taking in the image before them.
Loki sitting on the bed his androgynous figure making him both beautiful and handsome, his face illuminated by the beams of light coming from the gap between the curtains, the light of the morning sun reflecting on his half open multi-shaded green kaleidoscopic eyes in an almost hypnotic pattern, his long waving black mane framing his face and moving by a unseeing wind just like the princesses, the same light of dawn that illuminate his face also being reflected and refracted on his glossy and silken strands of seemingly obsidian giving him a outworldly, almost tangible, aura.
*POMF*
The wings of the guards extended but they paid no mind to their embarrassing situation as they were to enticed what was in front of them.
Loki, now fully awake, after a few minutes is getting annoyed at the fact that they are shamelessly staring at him, while he doesn’t mind being the center of attentions but they had a message to deliver, they could at least delivered the message before shamelessly staring at him.
Using his seidr he pushes their helmets in front of their eyes breaking their trance.
“Deliver the message before allowing your mind and eyes to wander,” Loki lecture them on their inefficient behavior.
“A thousand apologies for our inexcusable behavior your highness!!!” they said at the same time while bowing to him.
“Just get on and be done with it,” ordered Loki, the air crackling with his seidr showing his impatience.
They shivered in fear feeling at his monstrous, to them, magic but they said,” The princesses requested your presence for breakfast, we are to accompany you there.”
“Will this meal be served in the same room as the one from yesterday?” asked Loki.
“Yes your highness,” responded the mare.
Getting out of the bed he used his magic to fix the bed, groom his mane and put on his crown, all of this made in a fluid and elegant motion.
“Come, let's not waste any more time,” ordered Loki as he walked past them.
They got up and silently follow him.
On his way there, while making a turn he bumped into someone, keeping his asgardian attributes even in this form he almost didn’t felt that he bumped into another pony.
Loki was about to politely apologise and offer help but the stallion he bumped into started to talk immediately after accident,” How dare you bump into me like this, do you have any idea of who I am?”
Whatever apologies Loki had for him died before leaving his mouth, he ignored the probably petty noble and was about to be on his way when the stallion got up and blocked his way.
“Don’t ignore me, hasn’t anypony taught you to properly address to s pony of my status? You must be a peasant, no matter how beautiful you are a true noble mare would know how to properly behave in my presence.” said the white stallion with blonde mane.
“I have neither the time nor the patience to deal with your kind right now, be gone,” said Loki with his clearly male voice.
Blueblood was embarrassed by this turn of events and in front of the servants, guards and passing nobles all of which noticed the wings on Loki’s sides, Blueblood was oblivious to that fact because being in front of Loki he couldn’t get a clear view of his sides.
“Guards arrest him for trying to ruin my image and reputation, also for disrespecting royalty,” demanded Blueblood.
Loki just raised an eyebrow, noticing the lack of action on the guards part Blueblood questioned,”Why are you not arresting him?”
Before they could answer Blueblood’s question the double door leading to dining room, where the princesses’ meals are served, opens and Celestia comes out to see what the commotion is about.
Blueblood seeing his chance to turn the situation in his favor, how wrong he was, called for his aunt,” Auntie! These guards are refusing to follow my orders.”
Celestia just looked at the guards, it was unusual for guards to refuse Blueblood, that only happens when his orders are unreasonable.
“And what were your orders Blueblood,” she asks like a concerned mother.
“To arrest this ruffian for assaulting and disrespecting me,” said Blueblood simply, he has a reputation to keep after all.
Celestia had to resist the urge to facehoof at the situation.
“Celestia we are already late for breakfast, it might be best to just send them away,” said Loki ignoring Blueblood.
“How dare you speak with royalty like that, see auntie, he must be put in the dungeon immediately,” said Blueblood.
“Unfortunately I can’t agree with you Blueblood,” said Celestia.
“Why auntie?” asked Blueblood.
“He is my grandfather,” answered Celestia, she wanted to wait until later today to introduce her grandfather but now that is no longer possible.
“G-gr-gra-gra-grandfather!!! But then I, he,you….” Blueblood tried to say something but fainted from shock in the process, if it was because there was another alicorn, he is Celestia’s grandfather or the way Blueblood spoke to him, it was anypony’s guess.
Celestia sighed looking at the guards on the dining room’s entrance she asked,” Take him to the infirmary, come grandfather let eat.”
As Celestia and Loki entered the dining room the onlookers started to gossip, soon the news/rumors will spread through Canterlot.
Dining Room
“What took you so long sister?” asked Luna.
“Blueblood,” said Celesta.
“Say no more sister,” answered Luna before turning to Loki and asking,” We were hoping that you could answer few of our questions grandfather.”
“How about a trade a question for a question,” suggested Loki.
“We agree,” answered Celestia after looking at Luna and nodding.
“After breakfast, I haven’t had a decent meal in almost two years,” suggested Loki.
“Of course grandfather, you are a guest in our home,” said Luna before clapping her front hooves to call the servants.
The trays of food were delivered and breakfast was served, Loki almost commented on the lack of meat but remembered that he is in a herbivore’s form.
At least the assortment of fruits, vegetables, grains and flowers were delicious, it's fascinating how one’s taste can change radically by assuming another form.
After eating breakfast they waited for the trays to be removed before starting the conversation.
“Before we start, why were you late for breakfast?” asked Luna.
“Those two over there just keep shamelessly and lustfully staring at my body while I was in bed and neglecting their mission to deliver the message to me,” answered Loki while pointing to the guards that were about to leave the room and guard the door outside, seeing as the guards that were previous guarding the entrance are now in the infirmary with Blueblood.
“WHAT!!” screamed Luna while Celestia choked on her tea, she is getting the feeling that this will happen again in the future. The guard in question froze but composing themselves they turned to face the consequence of their lapse of judgment.
They tried and failed to not squirm under the glare of a very angry alicorn princess and the look of disappointment on the other but Loki continued his explanation,” indeed they should deliver the message before shamelessly and lustfully staring at my body,” concluded Loki.
“Are you not angry at their blatant disrespect?” asked Luna.
“Not at all, not to sound narcissistic but it's not their fault, I known that I can sometimes entice and enthrall mortals, I had thousands of children after all,”
“Very well, return to your duties but be mindful next time,” ordered Luna.
Once the guards left the room leaving only the three royals.
“Who gets the first question?” asked Celestia.
Chapter 5: Questions
“I got one, who is that spoiled brat?” asked Loki.
“Our nephew, Prince Blueblood,” said Celestia.
Loki just raised an eyebrow as if asking to elaborate.
“He is a descendant of one of our half siblings from when our mothers were still alive,” explained Celestia.
“Thanks Yggdrasil I am not related to that brat,” said Loki.
“He is not that bad once you get to know him,” added Luna.
“Our turn, you mention a dark presence invading your mind in the battle on Jotunheimr, did you discover who or what that presence was?,” asked Celestia.
“Yes I have, it was Thanos reaching for a potential pawn for his plans, using an Infinity Gem no less, the Mind Gem to be more specific, unfortunately I was deemed the pawn,” answered Loki.
“What is an Infinity Gem?” wandered Luna aloud.
“Now is not your turn, I will answer that after my question,” commented Loki before asking, “So do any of you have or had lovers?”
“WHAT!! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO ASK SUCH A QUESTION!!??” Luna screamed in the Canterlot Voice clearly embarrassed of being asked such question.
“I will take that as a no and what is wrong with a grandmother knowing if her precious little fillies have somepony special in their lives?” spoke Loki in a motherly and teasing tone, and to get the his point across, Loki changed his form to suit his statement.
The change was so subtle that they didn't notice at first. It was only when his voice changed to a silken, honeyed, almost sultry tone that could enthrall anyone, regardless of gender or species, that they noticed that he, now a she, was not the same as before.
Now they are stunned, they were informed by their father that Loki was a shapeshifter but to see this ability in action almost without them realizing was awe inspiring, that demonstration his, now her, mastery of magic.
“What's up with the silence, it's your turn to ask a question, come to think about it you asked about the Infinity Gems,” commented Loki acting coyly and using her soft, smooth and honeyed voice while she uses her right wing to cover the lower part of her face, not unlike a fan.
“Eeeeeh..yeah,” Luna just agreed, incapable of formulating sentences at the moment.
“Very well then,”answered Loki folding her right wing on her side on its original position.
“The Infinity Gems or Stones are artefacts of great power that exist in the universe since the Big Bang, there are six in total each one giving power of an aspect of existence, they are the Mind Gem, allows you to control, recreate, destroy and reshape the minds of any sentient being in the cosmos, the Space Gem, allows you to be anywhere you desire to be, you are basically omnipresent, the Time Gem, allows you to manipulate and move through time at will, the Power Gem, allows you to increase your natural power indefinitely and manipulate all cosmic energy that exist, the Soul Gem, allows you to trap the soul of those that live and have lived and read their memories and feelings, the Reality Gem, allows you to reshape the fabric of reality at will in the whole universe,” concluded Loki before adding, “ those are the Infinity Gems, but no everyone can use them, you must already be powerful and have experience in controlling the energies of cosmic level and/or have untold mental discipline otherwise you will be destroyed by the Gem’s power turning against you.”
By now the sisters have recovered from the shock and are curious about the Gems.
“I have never heard of such artefacts before,” said Celestia.
“Neither have I, sister,” added Luna.
“I would be surprised if you did, very few beings in the universe knows about them and even fewer can use one of them, also they tend to stay in the universe’s main dimension, Midgard’s dimension,” explained Loki.
“Thanks for the explanation grandfa- I mean grandmother,” thanked Celestia.
“Could you go back at being a stallion, it's a little unsettling to see you as a mare after meeting you as a stallion and why would you change gender now?” asked Luna.
“Because I felt like it. And that's another question but being the gracious mare that I am, I will let that one slide,” said Loki to Luna before asking, “ is there any other member of your extended family that I should be aware of?”
“Yes there is, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence for short but she is on a diplomatic mission and is in a relationship with the captain of the royal guard Shining Armor, who also is the brother of my star pupil, Twilight Sparkle one of the Elements of Harmony,” explained Celestia.
“Interesting,” said Loki.
“About something you and father mentioned before, what is Yggdrasill?” asked Celestia.
“Yggdrasill, the world tree, is an energy field, a metaphysical structure, that supports and connects the Nine Realms. It is represented as a tree, its roots and branches permeating time and space. So even realms like Statera that aren’t located in the main branches are still connected by it,” explained Loki.
“Now what are your domain?” asked Loki.
The sisters looked at each other confused by their grandmother’s question, so Luna simply answered, “It's the land Equestria.”
“No, I mean your divine domain, the sphere of influence in which your power is the strongest, basically what are you a god of?” clarified Loki.
“I see, my domain is the Moon, the Stars, their light and dreams,” answered Luna.
“My domain is the Sun and its light,” answered Celestia before adding, “and we don’t consider ourselves to be above other to call ourselves goddesses.”
“I see,” said Loki with a somewhat disappointed tone.
“What?” asked Celestia after hearing her grandmother’s tone.
“No it is nothing, it seems neither of you realize the full extent of your powers and that both of you are demigoddesses, I know the former because your inner sigil isn’t fully develop, ponies these days call it cutie mark, such a childish name,” said Loki.
“What?” this time it was Luna who asked.
“Demigods in this case means to be somewhere between mortal and god, you can be born one, that is your case, or become one either with the help of an already existing god or under your own power and effort,” explained Loki paying no mind to Luna’s surprise question.
“Actually, that makes sense and also answered a lot of questions that I had," said Celestia remembering Cadence ascension to alicornhood.
“Being a alicorn and a god, in this case a demigod, aren’t mutually exclusive status. It’s possible to become one without becoming the other,” Loki added to her explanation causing Celestia to remember a certain unicorn unbrum king, that would explain his power.
“What are your domains, grandmother?” asked Luna returning Celestia from her trip down memory lane.
“Well I am god/goddess of strategies, conspiracy, plots, lies, stories, secrets, change, mischief, evil and to a extent master of the natural elements,” answered Loki.
Loki’s was more than enough for the sisters to be on guard, Celestia more so than Luna.
“You are a deity of evil. How can this be?” asked Celestia.
“I am evil in the sense of adversity that constantly pushes the others to surpass themselves, or die trying, in the eyes of other I am both the narrator and the villain of their stories,” elaborated Loki.
“I really don’t know what to think about that, we are the granddaughter of the god of adversity,” said Luna to herself.
“One more thing before we end this conversation, the citizens of Equestria worship both of you right?” asked Loki.
“Yes they do,” said Celestia before she sighed, no matter what she does or said her little ponies worship her and now her sister as well, to a lesser extent because it’s been over a year since she returned.
“Once a being archieves the status of a demigod the prayers of your worshippers empowers you further and gives you additional powers besides your original ones," added Loki before getting up and walking to the entrance of the dining room.
Reaching the entrance she opens the doors, the guards look at her and were so surprised by her change of gender that they almost fell over.
“Do these good looking guards mind giving me a tour through the Castle?” requested Loki while acting flirtatious.
They were unsure if they should proceed with Loki’s request, looking at Princess Celestia, she nods.
They bow, turns around and started walking, “Please follow us your highness,” they said as Loki follows.
As Loki left to explore the castle the sisters were left to ponder about the information they were given.
“Sister I think we should give her a chance,” said Luna.
“I don't know Luna it's difficult to believe in her when she is the goddess of lies” answered Celestia.
“Goddess of lies she may be but she still our grandmother, doesn’t she deserve the benefit of the doubt?” asked Luna.
*Sigh* “You are right if she truly wants to change and learn her lessons I will be glad to help besides she is the goddess of change as well maybe it won’t that bad,” answered Celestia.
“Shouldn't you inform Twilight of this?” asked Luna.
“Maybe later, we should let grandmother settle down first,” answered Celestia.
Two hours later courtyard
It took two hours for Loki to familiarize herself with the castle and memorize all the important, to her, locations.
It was quite amusing to see the passersby widen their eyes in surprise when they saw a “new” alicorn mare, only when they look at the crown of lies, not that they knew its name, and her cutie mark, how she disliked that childish name, did they notice that she isn’t a new alicorn but one that they have recently meet he just changed gender, she lost count of how many of them fainted.
“Thank you for the tour, that will be all,” said Loki before adding, “both of you can return to your post.”
“Are you sure your highness?” asked one of the guards.
“Yes I am sure, if I need something else I will call either a guard or a servant, for now I just want to relax,” said Loki.
As the guards left Loki laid on the shade of a tree, Twilight favorite spot before moving to Ponyville, extending her right foreleg a ripple of golden light leading to one of her many pocket dimensions used for storage appears just above her hoof, a book falls and she catches as the ripple disappears.
Putting the book on the ground in front of her she starts to read it.
Chapter 6: Pact
Earth, England, a abandoned factory in London
Dr. Jane Foster and her intern, Darcy Lewis, find themselves in a abandoned factory investigating strange spacial and gravitational anomalies that might lead her to learn more about Einstein-Rosen Bridge, the asgardians call it Bifrost or Rainbow Bridge, so that she can finish her thesis.
(Jane Foster on the right and Darcy Lewis on the left)
As Jane investigate the anomaly her intern and her “assistant” Ian were playing with the portals, as she heard something and went to check, she was whisked aways.
Unknown location in an unknown realm
Jane find herself in a dark cavern, on its center was a monolith with a red glowing crack, as she approaches her curiosity gets the better of her and extend her hand then everything went dark.
Asgard few minutes before
On the Bifrost stood Heimdall the gatekeeper that guards the entrance of the Realm Eternal, his red and gold armor reflecting the light of the Bifrost.
As the God of Vigilance and Protection cast his gaze over the void from Himinbjorg, he sees the many realms in existence perched in the branches of Yggdrasil, being the asgardian with the keenest of senses, he can see and hear almost all the known universe.
This sense were a blessing and a burden, he could see a single snowflake falling from the skies of a small world floating in space dimensions away but to prevent his own senses from overwhelm him he wears a helmet that dulls them just enough for him to not go mad.
Thor approaches Heimdall and asks, “How is she?”
“Still looking for you, she hop-” Heimdall started to answer but stopped to focus his attention on something.
“What?” asked Thor.
“I can’t see her,” said Heimdall as he activates the Bifrost for Thor to travel to Midgard.
Somewhere in the void in an unknown realm
A solid black vessel activated and awoke its crew, among the many warriors, survivors of the war of Bor Burison against Dökkálfar, the Dark Elves, who tried to use the Aether, the Reality Gem, to extinguish all light in the universe, was Malekith the Accursed former king of Svartalfheim.
“The Aether has awaken, it’s time for all realms to fall under the darkness of our vengeance,” said Malekith while smirking.
Hours later at Asgard while is under attack
Malekith and one of his Kursed have reach the room of the All Mother were she was protecting Jane Foster the current host of the Aether.
As they battle the Kursed’s blade was about to reach the queen when a green barrier stopped the attack and pushed the attacker away from the queen, it was this moment that Thor came and manage to throw the Malekith of the balcony, while the queen finishes off the Kursed.
Malekith had no choice but to retreat after thor manages to scar and blacken half of his face with lighting.
Hours after the attack at the funeral for the fallen warriors
The royal family stood in silence as did the people of Asgard, the bodies of the fallen were carried by the waters of the Golden Realm on boats, once they passed the limits of the city flaming arrows were launched from the bows of the einherjar, they hit the boats and are set aflame, as the bodies reached the waterfall on the edge of the Realm Eternal, their bodies fell and their souls ascends to Valhalla.
Odin and Frigga watched remembering that this is the price of war, Thor and his brothers for the first time saw what war can be, all this was overwhelming for Jane Foster.
Thor, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif are conspiring to take the fight to Malekith instead of waiting for the next attack and were failing, they didn’t know how to travel to Svartalfheim without the Bifrost or the help of Thor’s pet goats, only Loki or a sorcerer of his caliber could travel between realms freely and even fewer knew how to do so without being noticed by Heimdall.
Canterlot Castle’s Courtyard in the realm of Statera
Loki finished reading her book, as she closes it disappears in the same ripple of light that it came.
“It’s almost time for dinner,” she said to herself before casting a spell that allowed her to see and hear through the dimensional barrier that separates the realm of Statera from the rest of the universe, she focus her attention on one particular realm, on a particular gatekeeper, on a particular bridge.
“Hello Heimdall,” said Loki coyly.
Across dimensions in the realm of Asgard on the Bifrost
Heimdall gaze focused on a particular dimension but still keeping vigil.
“Prince Loki,” he answered.
“You know Thor will only make the situation worse with his recklessness right?” asked Loki back in Equestria.
“So my suspicions were right,” said the gatekeeper.
“And what are your suspicions, Heimdall?” asked Loki coyly.
“You are not the same prince that fell from the Bifrost nor the one that attacked Midgard,” answered Heimdall.
“And you are right, although I am surprised that you didn’t tell Odin or Frigga,” said Loki to the gatekeeper.
“I only do and speak what is requested of me by my king,” said Heimdall.
“Whatever you say, that is no longer my problem, it was good to talk to you, bye,” said Loki as he ended the spell.
Unknown to Heimdall Loki casted another spell when the gatekeeper blinked, after all even a god like Heimdall must let his mind rest, even if said rest is less than heartbeat, because of this the spell would go unnoticed by Heimdall for a while, just enough to reach Thor.
Canterlot Castle’s Courtyard in the realm of Statera
“Who are you talking to, grandmother?” asked Celestia as she got closer, she finished her duties earlier thanks to the lack of the day court in her schedule.
“Just having a friendly conversation with the gatekeeper, Heimdall,” Loki answered innocently.
“The one that sees all?” asked Celestia.
“Common misconception, he just sees the majority of the known universe?” Loki answered as she got up and started walking with Celestia to the dining room.
“That is a very scary ability to have, just the thought that there is a stallion capable of that out there is scary enough,” said Celestia trying to open up to her grandmother.
“Well he is the God of Vigilance and Protection after all,” added Loki.
As they reached the dining room they found Luna was already there waiting for them.
After they finished eating their meal in silence and all the plates were taken Luna asked, “So what do you think of Canterlot so far, grandmother?”
“It’s peaceful, but then again ponies tend to be very passive creatures,” said Loki.
“Well, you are not wrong,” commented Celestia thinking about how her subjects are very comfortable with her leadership, their very strong herd mentality doesn’t help, it’s rare to find a pony with ambition but it’s easy to gather followers, ironically this herd mentality that lead her subjects to become somewhat xenophobic, so unless they interact with other species regularly they prefer to keep their distance.
“Good thing that you ponies are isolated in the realm of Statera, any other realm and you would have either be conquered or destroyed,” added Loki.
“Do you really think so, grandmother?” asked Luna.
“Considering all the species that evolved and spread through the cosmos, yes definitely,” answered Loki.
“Well it’s getting late and Luna still has patrol the dreamscape for nightmares, we can continue this conversation tomorrow and maybe you can meet the Elements of Harmony,” said Celestia.
“That would be lovely, well goodnight then,” said Loki as she went to her room leaving the two sisters to talk a little before going their separate ways.
“Sister, the time we spend with grandmother was enlightening and made me realize how much we don’t know about the universe,” said Luna.
“I agree, maybe it’s a good thing that she came here, in two days we talking with her we learned more about the universe than a millennia of studies” commented Celestia.
“Indeed sister,” said Luna before asking, “We will visit Twilight and her friends tomorrow?”
“Yes, I think it will be better this way,” answered Celestia before adding, “goodnight sister.”
“Goodnight,” said Luna as each sister went their way.
Asgard, Royal Palace, just after Loki and Heimdall conversation
Around a table we found Thor, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif planning their next course of action.
“We can’t wait for another attack, we have to get them out of Asgard,” said Thor in frustration.
“We agree, but we can’t use the Bifrost and none of us know how to travel to other realms without it,” said Sif the female warrior and friend of both Thor and the Warriors Three.
“Loki knows how,” commented Fandral the Dashing a blond and handsome member of the trio.
“But he was banished from Asgard, so we can’t reach him,” said Hogun the Grim the more level headed and ruthless of the trio, also the pessimistic of the group.
“So all we need to do is calm down and think in a better plan,” said Volstagg the Lion of Asgard the optimistic of the group and the one with the bigger appetite for both food and adventure.
“Easier said than done and I wouldn’t trust that snake,” said Sif.
“That snake can hear you, you know,” said Loki in Æsir form suddenly in the room.
All others present got up and ready for a fight but Sif was the only one to attack first and on instinct, her sword went through Loki's body as if he wasn’t there and leaving a trail of green mist on the path of the sword.
The misty reformed into his body and he just raised an eyebrow at Lady Sif vicious attack at the sound of his voice.
“How are you here Deceiver?” asked Sif glaring at him.
“That's not how you talk with the person that went out of his way to help his friends,” said Loki in almost lecturing tone.
“Brother how are you here?” asked Thor.
“That the beauty of it is that I am not,” said Loki before adding, “what you all see before you is just a thought and image projection, a illusion, that only those present can see and hear, it wasn’t easy to sneak this spell pass Heimdall.”
“So you came to help us,” asked Volstagg almost hopefully.
“We can not trust him,” said Hogun.
“Maybe we should give him a chance? What do you think Thor?” asked Fandral.
“I trusted my brother but he fell into the void and didn’t come back since, I don’t trust the twisted person that attacked Midgard but you are different, something about you changed not only that but you protected our mother even when you have been banished and for that I will trust you,” said Thor after much consideration before adding, “but if you betray that trust we will kill you.”
“Fair enough,” said the image of Loki.
“Will you guide us to one of your secret paths?” asked Thor.
“Yes but this is merely an illusion so don’t expect me to fight,” answered the image of Loki.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” said Hogun.
“You always have a bad feeling about everything” said Fandral to Hogun.
“I still don’t trust that snake,” said Sif.
“I don’t think we have a choice in the matter,” said Thor to Sif.
“We depart after dinner, right?” asked Volstagg.
Chapter 7: Plans
Thor, Lady Sif, the Warrior Three and Jane Foster were following the image of Loki, it was quite a shock for Jane to see Loki, especially after his attack on New York and it took a lot of convincing from Thor for her to agree to listen to Loki.
The reason no one, not even Heimdall, couldn’t see Loki is because the spell was projecting the image of his Æsir form and voice only in minds of the ones he intended, it was possible for other to discover that there is a spell over the eyes and ears of the group, but only if they were to look very closely and thoroughly so only Heimdall and the healers can discover that.
The image of Loki have a very small sliver of the original’s seidr so it could create illusions to fool the einherjar, this allowed Thor’s group to sneak into the docks to steal a small ship, but the moment that the ship leaves the whole asgardian army will know that something is amiss.
As they all got on the ship Loki said, “One thing before we go, I going to need to control one of you to steer the ship.”
“I knew you couldn’t be trusted!” said Sif unfolding her sword.
“Wait Sif! Brother explain yourself,” said Thor to Lady Sif before addressing to Loki.
“Of course, using the sliver of my seidr that is over the your bodies I am going to assume control of the arms of a volunteer to steer the ship and navigate through the secret path between realms” explained Loki.
“Why should one of us volunteer for your plan?” asked Hogun to Loki.
“First it’s better than your original plan of stealing a dark elf ship and second the amount of seidr used will be very small just enough to control the arms, you can break my control with little effort,” said Loki.
“Or so you said,” added Sif pointing her sword at him.
“Indeed, better not resist though,” said Loki before adding, “because if you do I won’t be able to steer the ship and navigate through the treacherous path and you all die.”
“And what about you?” asked Volstagg munching on his last piece of food, an apple.
Loki look with disdain at the Lion of Asgard but nevertheless he answered, “Have you forgotten, what stands before you is just an illusion.”
“I will do it brother,” said Thor with conviction.
“Thor you can’t do this, who knows what he will do,” said Jane trying to stop Thor.
“We need him to guide us anyway, with or without him controlling one of us,” said Thor before adding, “without his help we will not make it anyway.”
“Very well,” said Sif accepting Thor reasoning and folding her sword, while the Warrior Three was still uncertain but there is nothing they can do now, the only reason they got this far without being detected is because of Loki’s illusions.
Ready or not they took off with the stolen ship, the moment they did that the alarm was sounded and the einherjar were mobilized, going to their designated positions while others entered the ships.
Loki used his seidr do create subtle illusion over the boat and that caused the einherjar that were chasing and shooting at them to miss by a very small margin as they sailed across the atmosphere of Asgard.
“Whoever is going to be the my conduit better get ready because as soon as I take control you can not resist and I won’t be able to use misdirection to defend the boat,” said Loki their vessel was being pursued by two others.
Thor on the helm relaxed as much as he could in the situation when he felt Loki’s seidr coursing through his body, he felt his arms on the helm moving without him wanting to move them, steering the ship in the direction of one of Asgard’s mountains near its edge.
“Loki whatever your secret path is we better use it now” said Thor as the ship moves toward the mountain and Loki just looks at the group’s distress with amusement, “Loki we are going to crash on that mountain” said Thor looking at the image of Loki just standing there with his hands behind his back, “Loki, do something” said Thor again as the were nearing the rocky surface, “Loki!” Thor said again and still no answer, “LOKI!!!” screamed Thor as a collision became inevitable, only for them to pass through the rock as if it wasn’t there.
Having passed the illusion covering this secret entrance now they found themselves in a very narrow passage the boat almost didn’t fit, despite being narrow Thor, in this case Loki, was navigating through its curves by slowing, accelerating and inclining at the right moment.
“I never knew such a passage existed,” said Fandral.
“Quiet, I need to concentrate now, we can talk when we reach a safe area,” said Loki before adding, “Thor do not tense your muscles, if you want this group to survive the trip keep your muscles relaxed, I don’t want the ship getting off course or crashing.”
After 15 minutes they reached a empty area, literally empty with nothing except for the structures in the distance.
Releasing Thor of his control and pointed to a specific sphere in the distance and said, “That is Svartalfheim just go in that direction, it will take some time to reach it though.”
“What is this place?” asked Fandral looking at this void.
“The space between realms, we are jumping from one branch of Yggdrasil to another,” explained Loki.
“Like using the Bifrost,” said Volstagg.
“No the Bifrost creates a tunnel between two realms like a artificial and controlled version of the Convergence connecting to points of Yggdrasil, we just jumped from one of its branches and now we are on the empty space between them,” Loki clarified.
“So we are outside of the Tree of Worlds!! This is madness, if I knew that this was your plan I would never have agreed,” said Hogun.
“What is done is done there is nothing we can do about it,” said Thor.
“Indeed, now we wait,” said Loki.
Hour Later in Svartalfheim
In a desert of black sand the asgardian boat appears and crashes in one of its dunes.
The passengers were recovering, except Loki who was just floating near the group, from the unexpected landing.
“It won’t be long before the dark elves arrive, what is the plan?” asked Fandral.
“We must….
Few minutes later
They see Malekith landing his ship and lead the search party.
Loki’s seidr left the bodies of the asgardians and converges into the image of Loki giving him physical form to interact with the world.
“Now!” shouts Thor.
Thor throws Mjolnir at Malekith, he dodges, as Mjolnir is coming back and Thor’s friends are about to reach the search party a green glowing chain of energy binds their limbs and a glowing green blade cuts Thor right hand off causing Mjolnir to crash behind the group.
Pushing the pain of having his hand cut off aside he looks at the one responsible only to see Loki holding the green chain on his left hand and a green sword on the right hand while smirking at them.
“Malekith I am Loki Laufeyson from Jotunheim and I believe this belongs to you,” said Loki while pulling the chain with Jane and putting her on her knees in front of Malekith.
“And what you want in exchange?” asked Malekith.
“I knew we couldn’t trust you vi-” Lady Sif started but was green muzzled, very similar to the one used on him after his defeat in Midgard, appeared over her mouth, just to be sure he muzzled the others as well.
“I just want a front row seat to see Asgard burn,” said Loki.
“Very well” answered Malekith as he extended his arms and extracted the Aether of Jane’s body.
“Now!” shouted Thor as a green flash of light covered his severed hand and disappears, on his arm the illusion was dispelled revealing that he was fine and still had his hand, calling Mjolnir and raining down the lightning on the Aether.
As this was happening Thor’s friends leaped from false chains and attacked the other dark elves letting out a battle cry as the muzzles disappears.
Thor’s lightning couldn’t destroy a Infinity Gem and exploded sending him into one of the dunes with great speed, Malekith raised his arms commanding the Aether to come into his body, so he could use its power and spread darkness throughout Yggdrasil.
The Aether seemed to obey him and flow toward him only to shoot past him, turning around he witness the Aether coalescing into a floating sphere of liquid above Loki’s extended left hand.
“You can control the Aether?” Malekith asked in disbelief.
“I can do many things, like this for example,” said Loki as a green swirling portal opened just behind him.
Spears of ice came from the portal, struck the Kursed and they were frozen solid, jotnar walked out of the portal and joined the battle.
The group of jotnar is being lead by….
...King Laufey.
As all dark elves were frozen solid the asgardians got into defensive formation around Jane.
They prepared for the jotnar’ attack but it never came.
“Look what we have here, a group of lost asgardians” said King Laufey with his deep voice.
“Laufey how can you be alive Loki killed you?” asked Thor.
“That's not my story tell son of Odin, if you want answers ask the Trickster,” said the King of Jotunheim.
“How can we trust a word of what you say frost giant?” asked Hogun, more like demanded in a rude and disrespectful tone.
“How dare you speak with King Laufey like this, I should behead you where you stand,” said one of the jotnar.
Laufey raised a hand signaling for him to stop before saying, “You don’t asgardian, the only reason I don’t kill you and your friends is because I am under a geis.”
“How we can be sure you are not lying?” asked Fandral.
“Because I was the one that put him under that geis,” said Loki with the Aether floating above his left hand.
“You made a oath with Laufey?” asked Sif in disbelief.
“Of course, how else was I supposed to make sure he helped when I needed?” sarcastically asked Loki.
Laufey growled at Loki’s tone of voice, Loki just ignored him knowing that there's is nothing he can do about it.
As Laufey glared at Loki the Bifrost shoot at the ground not far from the groups and from it came the Allfather with a squad of einherjar.
Odin didn’t let his surprise show at seeing Laufey alive or Loki present in this place, approaching the two groups he asked, “What is the meaning of this?”
“My king we were fighting the dark elves when Loki used his seidr to summon the frost giants that you see before you and freeze Malekith and his forces,” reported Hogun to the Allfather.
“Laufey” said Odin as he turned to face the king of Jotunheim, not bothered by the height difference.
“All Father” said Laufey in return.
“I see that you somehow survived,” said Odin.
“Not without paying the price, now I am under a geis and incapable of wage war against Asgard, in the end it seems you finally got what you wanted,” said Laufey.
“I am sure both of you have a lot to talk but if you don’t mind I have to go, here is the Aether,” said Loki as he conjured a case with a handle around the Reality Gem and let it float to the hands of the Allfather, Odin just accepted the item in question, he could get his answers later.
“Don’t worry the portal will close once you are back at Jotunheim, so I will leave you to your conversation, bye bye,” said Loki as dissolved into green mist and disappears.
Realm of Statera, Canterlot Castle Loki’s room
Loki woke when she felt the memories of his thought projection that she sent to help Thor against Malekith as well as the projection that she sent to Jotunheim to recruit the help of Laufey.
Soon it will be the time to set her plans in motion.
Chapter 8: Surprises
Loki woke up as the sun shined over her face, it seems she forgot to close the curtains, yesterday she was admiring the city it wasn’t as impressive or advanced as many of the cities that she saw in other worlds but it was nice and simple, sometimes is good to just relax and not have to deal with your problems, to other this may be her punishment, a exile from the Golden Realm, but to her it was a nice, and hopefully, long vacation.
Of course that does not mean that she won’t be enacting a few of her plans, but that's is a concern for another day.
As she got up and stood in front of the mirror brushing her mane and tail, she could do it with magic but she like the feeling of a brush on her mane, once done she put on her crown and did a few poses, feeling that something wasn’t right, a quick flash of shimmering green light later and Loki was back at being a stallion, she, now a he, felt like being male today.
As he finished changing, he heard the knock on the door.
“You may enter,” said Loki in voice a little louder than normal for the guards to hear.
The door was open revealing the same guards from yesterday, they seem to have learned their lesson as they walked into the room.
“The princesses requested your presence for breakfast and today at afternoon Princess Luna will accompany you in a visit to the neighboring town of Ponyville to meet Princess Celestia’s star student,” announced the mare.
“At least you delivered the message, now you can gawk at me to your heart's content,” said Loki not even bothering to look at them or stop posing in front of the mirror.
“So how do I look?” asked Loki.
The guards were trying to keep a straight face as he was getting ready and it was proving very difficult.
“You look amazing your majesty,” said the stallion.
“Indeed I do, so let's go then,” said Loki as he turned and stared to walk to the dining room being followed by the guards.
They manage to get there without incident or interruptions but unknown to him a surprise was waiting for him inside the room.
As he entered the room he spotted his granddaughters but what surprised him was the presence of Blueblood, as he sat he kept his eyes on the prince.
“Why is he where?” asked Loki.
“Well grandm-, I mean grandfather, Prince Blueblood wanted to apologise for his behavior from yesterday,” answered Celestia.
“And why should I accept the insincere apologies of a petty noble?” asked Loki.
“Grandfather, at least hear what he has to say,” pleaded Luna knowing the true Blueblood under his mask of pettiness he uses to deal with the nobles trying to take advantage of his status as a prince.
“Very well but be warned I am the God of Lies and if you are not 100% honest I will know,” said Loki turning his attention his step-great-(insert many great here)-grandnephew.
“Weren’t you a mare yesterday?” asked Blueblood.
Loki just raised an eyebrow silently asking how he knew, Loki was he meet him when he was a stallion before breakfast.
“I saw you as a mare before dinner so I wasn’t sure if really was you,” Blueblood answered the silent question.
“I do not conform myself with labels such as gender I do and am what I feel like,” Loki answered Blueblood previous question.
“I am truly sorry for the way I behave yesterday I just assumed that you are another one of those ponies that want to take advantage of my position, I thought that you were trying to meet .e by ‘accidentally’ bumping into me so I just did what I usually do but when you ignored me it felt like an insult and I had a reputation to keep, sometimes it’s difficult to remember that the unbearably arrogant and petty prince is not the real me but how my late mother expected me to behave, the only ones I ever open up to are aunt Celestia, aunt Luna when she got back from the moon, cousin Cadence when she was adopted into the royal family and Twilight Sparkle who never cared for the opinions of nobles,” confessed Blueblood before bowing and continuing, “they had nothing to gain from me so I felt that they could get to know the real me, when I discovered who you are I was devastated because I may have ruined the chance to have another true friend, friends that were more of a family than my late parents that raised me.”
Blueblood looked at Loki hopefully, he never had many friend even while growing up, any friends he made would either try to take advantage of his status when they found out who he was or were shunned by his fellow nobles, both children and adults alike, by saying that “it isn’t befitting of a prince to associate himself with those that didn’t have a noble lineage”, needless to say that he was a very lonely foal and it would have been worst if wasn’t for Celestia being there to comfort him in his time of need.
“I can tell you are being honest both with me and with yourself,” said Loki as his eyes softened as he remembered his own childhood how Odin was “too busy to spend time with him” either ruling or teaching Thor how to rule and failing on that task as Thor would rather be gallivanting around with his friends then learn how to be a king, how his other brothers didn’t even try to befriend him with the exceptions of Thor and Balder, Thor would just drag him in his adventures even when he didn’t want to go and Balder was to set on the ideas and values of the Æsir so he never could be 100% honest with him, his only source of comfort was his adopted mother.
Even now he looked at the memory of his mother smiling, proud of him when did a spell, with fondness but him learning magic just made him a disappointment in the eyes of others, soon this disappointment became disdain and his fellow asgardian no longer wanted to be close to the “treacherous prince”, now he no longer cares for their opinions or standards.
“I accept your apologies, come sit with us for breakfast,” offered Loki to Blueblood.
Celestia and Luna looked the scene with a smile, happy that they were getting along, there certainly was more to their grandfather than meet the eyes but it is to be expected as is vastly older than anypony alive.
They made small talk, got to know each other better and ate a good meal and for the first time in eons Loki almost felt what was like to have a family again.
Ponyville, this morning few minutes after Celestia raised the sun
Twilight woke up not long ago with the sunrise, as she set on her usual place while Spike, who was more of a morning person, in this case dragon, than Twilight, put a cup of coffee on the table in front of her.
As she drank the hot coffee she came out of her “morning zombie mode”.
“Thank you Spike, nothing better to start a day than a cup of you special coffee,” said Twilight.
“Oh, you making me blush,” said Spike a little embarrassed.
“That just the truth, I have a good feeling about today,” said Twilight before adding, “especially with the day we had yesterday, with your greed growth, rampaging and all that.”
“Yeah, let not about it,” said Spike before burping a scroll with Celestia’s mark and saying, “look Twilight a letter from Princess Celestia.”
“What does it say? Oh I am so excited what new assignment she has for us?” asked aloud.
“Dear Twilight, today Luna will be accompanying our grandmother/grandfather in a visit to Ponyville to meet you and your friends and to learn more about the lives of our subjects. Please do not worry this visit since it isn’t a official one, it’s just a visit from a friend. Regrettably I won’t be able to go as I have attend court that I have postpone for the last two days, have fun. Signed Princess Celestia,” read Spike.
“Why did you think she wrote ‘grandmother/grandfather’?” asked Spike as he inspected the letter.
“It must be the one that arrived on the second beam of light that night,” said Twilight before realizing what was on the rest of the letter, “and they are coming to visit, TODAY!!!”
“This will mess with my schedule, and I need to tell everypony to prepare for a royal visit and then I will have to org-” started Twilight before she started to hyperventilate.
“Twilight calm down the princess said that it’s a casual visit just tell your friends and act normally,” advised Spike making Twilight calm down as she listened.
“You are right Spike my friends will know what to do, it is just a casual visit there is nothing to worry about,” said Twilight agreeing with Spike on the first half of her phrase and the latter half to herself before adding, still talking to herself nervously, “What could go wrong?”
Spike looked at her unkempt mane and twitching eye and it didn’t inspired confidence.
“Yeah, what could go wrong?” Spike said deadpan tone.
Near Ponyville, just past noon
Flying toward Ponyville on a golden chariot being pulled by two pegasi, are two alicorns, Loki and Luna, both of them were admiring the scenery, Loki more so than Luna since it’s his first visit.
“It was very kind of Celestia to lend her chariot, it’s better suited for traveling during the day than mine,” said Luna.
“Why do we have to fly on this chariot when we have perfectly functional wings?” asked Loki.
“Well it is customary to escort royalty,” said Luna.
“Tell me about it, I have been in so many worlds, saw so many civilizations but leaders always have to deal with escorts, sometime it’s fine to just stretch your wings,” said Loki.
“That may be so but I think it’s sweet that our subjects want to help us in whatever way they can,” said Luna.
*Sigh* “Sometimes I forget that you ponies have a very strong sense of community and herd mentality,” said Loki.
“You speak of it as if this is something bad,” commented Luna.
“It isn’t but my mind works differently, on Asgard I was a loner and on that place the only sense of camaraderie comes from drinking, feasting and singing about the epic battles you fought and the maidens you bedded or in the case of the shieldmaidens how many head they took,” said Loki before adding, “I always preferred the way of the light elves, discussing you scholarly pursuits over a fine dinner,*sigh*, just another reason that I never fitted among asgardians.”
“I suppose different species have different ways to bond and express themselves,” commented Luna nervously.
“You have no idea how weird the universe can be,” said Loki in a very serious tone.
Not long after that the chariot started to land and soon after they arrived in Ponyville and as they got off the chariot ponies saw a new alicorn and started to talk, the photographers took pictures, and reporters started to write on their notebook, by tomorrow all of Equestria will know of this new alicorn.
They walked toward a house build in a tree and by the time they arrived there they gathered quite a crowd of curious onlookers, noticing them Luna turned to address to crowd.
“Citizens of Ponyville there is no need to come and greet us personally we are just visiting the elements, you can go back to your daily routine,” said Luna in a very loud voice, but not Royal Canterlot Voice level though.
“Eh, we are wandering who is the new alicorn?” asked a pony in the front.
“He is not new, he is just visiting Equestria and he is my grandfather,” said Luna with her normal voice to the now quiet crowd.
*GASP*
They were frozen with wide eyes and jaws dropped, it’s not everyday they hear that.
It took a few minutes for them to recover and return to their routine, had it been anywhere else in Equestria it would have taken longer but with Ponyville’s craziness they kinda got more used to the seemingly ludicrous situations such as meeting the grandparent of the centuries old princess, the fact that Pinkie Pie lived here didn’t help.
“Could you wait here for a moment?” asked Luna.
“Why?” asked Loki.
“Twilight can be a bit overzealous when a royal visit is concerned, I just need to make sure everything is alright,” said Luna.
“Very well,” said Loki as he conjured a bench in the shade of Golden Oak Library, summoned one of the books from his vast collection and started reading.
Not too far from the library we find a trio of adventurous fillies walking the street.
“Maybe we should ask Twilight for help I mean you sprained your hoof pretty badly when we tried get our cutie marks on bowling” said Scootaloo to Sweetie Belle who was limping.
“Hey is that a alicorn?” said Apple Bloom.
They approached Loki, when they got closer Loki heard their hooves hitting the ground.
Loki looked away from the book to the trio of fillies, noticing the that the white one was limping, avoiding putting the too much weight on the right foreleg, when they got close enough they just keep staring at him in awe, more specific alternating between his horn and wings, he sent the book back to his pocket dimension.
“Can I help you, little ones?” asked Loki.
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