The Phoenix's Guardian

"So, where are we headed?" Sam asked as we walked towards CHS.

"Well, we have a four day weekend from school, so the three of us are taking advantage of that and taking care of some things that need to be handled." Twilight replied.

"Like what? And why are we heading to your school packed like we are going camping?" He asked, still confused.

"Well, we are taking a trip, and our method of conveyance is at the school." I replied. "Got confirmation that the path is open, so we can go and get Sunset her sword."

"I still am not looking forward to this." Sunset grumbled.

"What part? The meeting your teacher again or the conversation that the three of us need to have with Luna?" I asked.

"Both!" Sunset said emphatically.

"Hey, you were the one who chose to be the lead mare of this herd, so a lot of this boils down to you laying down the law." I replied, giving her a side hug as we walked.

"Lead mare? Herd? What are you talking about?" Sam asked, starting to get a bit frustrated.

"You'll see." I said cryptically as we approached the statue in front of the school.

Sunset, Twilight and I did a quick look around the area before I grabbed Sam's hand, dragging him through the portal, my mates following us.

We landed on the other side of the portal, and Sunset, Twilight, and I were able to sort out ourselves quickly before we turned to a highly confused and annoyed Sam.

"Well, I am disappointed." I said, looking over his form.

"What happened? Where are we? And why do you three look like animals?" Sam asked.

"What happened was that we dragged you through the portal with us." Twilight said. "Also, while we're here, call me Raven." She added with a smile.

"Where exactly is 'here'?" Sam asked.

"The magical land of Equestria. Where friendship is quite literally magic." Sunset replied.

Just then the door to the mirror's chamber opened.

"Hey, there you guys are. We were thinking something happened." Starlight said as she entered the room.

"Hey Starlight! Just had to wrangle our tall friend here so we could give him a few days away from the family business." I replied heading over to the mare a hug.

"Well, he certainly is tall. Kinda scrawny though." She observed.

"Hey!" Sam indigently replied.

I chuckled. "You kinda are Sam. So, introductions are in order. Sam, this is Starlight Glimmer, one of our friends on this side of the portal. Starlight, this is Sam Winchester, a recent friend who just lost his brother."

"Oh, my condolences. It is a pleasure to meet you all the same Sam. Welcome to Ponyville." Starlight said, offering a small smile.

"Eh, it's okay. He'll be back in about six months or so. Winchesters don't know how to stay dead." I replied. "Now, I believe the Princess has our tickets to Canterlot?"

Starlight gave me an odd look. "Yeah, she should be in the map room." She said after a moment, before motioning for us to follow her.

"Okay, why am I a horse?" Sam asked.

"Pony. And you are a pony because of the portal. Coming to this side, most folks will be ponies, I am the one exception we have found, and going to the other they will be human." I replied.

"Yup, takes a bit of getting used to, but once you do, the transition is pretty easy, if nausea inducing." Sunset replied as she tested her magic, making her horn light up red and lifting a few things and moving them around, and shifting a few pictures on the wall just that much off level that you can't be sure it wasn't straight and it drives you nuts.

I chuckled at her little prank on the Princess.

"So why were you disappointed Talisman?" He asked.

"I was expecting a moose. Was half expecting Bullwinkle when you came through. But instead you are an Earther stallion." I said.

"Earther?" Sam asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Equestria has three main types of ponies." Sunset explained. "Earth Ponies, or Earthers, such as yourself who are generally more physically sturdy and have a high endurance for physical labour and their magic usually has a strong tie to the earth. They tend to be farmers, but not always. Then you have Unicorns, like Starlight and myself, who can actively channel magic. Most unicorns are limited to telekinesis and spells related to their special talents. But some like Starlight, The Princess, and I are more capable of casting any spell as long as we understand it and have the reserves to do it. Then you have Pegasi, which have wings and are capable of flying and manipulating the weather. They have a whole industry based around it."

"Then what is Raven? A pegacorn?" Sam asked, causing the rest of us to laugh.

"No actually. She is a rare pony called an Alicorn. Due to that rarity and the fact that we are a perfect blending of the best traits of all three tribes, and some very old traditions, Alicorns are the rulers of Equestria." Came the answer from across the map room we had just entered.

"Wait, what? But? How?" Sam asked, stammering his questions.

"Like I said, nearly everyone in Canterlot City has a counterpart on this side of the portal." I explained. "This is Princess Twilight Sparkle. Alicorn of Magic and Princess of Friendship."

"Please, just call me Twilight. My friends don't need to use my title." Twilight said.

"This is why I said to call me Raven while we are here. It simplifies things a bit." Raven said as she leaned against the table.

I smiled a bit as I thought about the confidence boost she had gotten since she had started training with Sephiroth. She was much more sure of herself and didn't have as many 'shrinking violet' moments anymore.

Introductions were quickly made, and Twilight commented on my statement about Dean.

"Talisman, ponies just don't come back to life. Especially when torn apart by hell hounds!" She exclaimed.

"Anyone besides Dean Winchester, and you would be right." I said. "But, he is important to the 'Grand Plan of God', so he gets a pass. Several actually. Reapers hate these two because of all the times that they get a 'avoid Death' card."

"This 'God' guy sounds like a jerk." Twilight said.

"Oh, he is. He definitely is. Horrible father too. Kicked out one of his kids because he threw a tantrum about humans being his dad's new favorite." I said flatly. "Dude is a dick of the highest order."

"You seem kind of blasé about calling a deity a 'dick'." Starlight said.

"Meh, when it comes to the various gods and goddesses, we kinda antagonize each other. No pantheon is squeaky clean, but the Abrahamic God, wooboy, now that is someone we all hate." I replied.

"Wait, 'we'?" Twilight asked.

"Whoops, forgot to fill you in on that. Yeah, turns out, I am a goddess. Not just a Fenrir, I AM Fenrir, or Fenris rather. Daughter of the Norse God of Mischief, Loki." I replied.

Twilight stared at me. "Well, that makes a strange amount of sense given some recent developments here in Equestria." She said finally.

"What do you mean?" I asked as another door opened and another mare entered the room.

"Hey Princess Twilight, I heard you were looking for me." Said the mare. "I was halfway to Baltimare when your letter found me."

Then the two of us made eye contact. Time seemed to slow, and there was an ominous rumbling of thunder outside.

"Where did that come from?" Twilight asked. "There isn't a storm scheduled until next week."

The moment passed and the two of us shook our heads.

I looked up at the ceiling with a deadpan expression.

"The Quickening? Really?" I asked out loud, not expecting a response.

"What the hell just happened?" The mare asked, glaring at me.

I looked the mare over. Dark purple fur with a reddish mane, green eyes, and most shocking, a scar over her right eye and a broken horn.

When I saw the scar and broken horn, I knew immediately who she was.

"Hel?" I asked quietly, causing her to jerk her head back.

"How do you know that name?" She asked.

"It is simple really, sister." I replied, causing Raven and Sunset to gasp.

The mare looked at me. "Fenris? Is, is that you?" She asked.

I nodded. "It is sister. Been a while hasn't it?"

"A while? A while she asks." Hela said. "Try something like millennia!" She added as she stalked over to me.

I motioned for everyone to stay put.

I was glad I did, because the first thing she did was throw a haymaker at my jaw, sending me to the floor.

"You little bitch! You just walk in and make like all is hunky dory!" She shouted. "Do you know what I have been through? What happened when I was cast out of Asgard?" She continued, giving me a solid kick in the ribs. "Where were you? We swore to take care of each other!"

I coughed a bit and spit some blood up, which immediately started sizzling on the floor.

"I was fettered. They went to the dwarves and had them forge a bind made of the roots of every mountain, the footsteps of a cat, the breath of fish, the spit of birds, and the beards of women. The Gleipnir." I said as I cast a Curaga on myself. "Some bastard put their sword between my jaws to keep them from closing after I took Tyr's hand. So even if I knew, there was nothing I could do. I could not break that bind."

Hel stepped back. "They bound you, but why?" She asked.

"Because of a prophecy that the All Father heard. That I was to be his doom. That I would kill him during Ragnarök." I said standing up. "By their actions and hubris, they almost set the prophecy in stone."

"Almost?" She asked.

I nodded. "We were only just past our first century, just children by the standards of Asgard. They could have raised us to be their greatest allies, but instead they lashed out and cast you and Jörgmungander out and bound me to a mountain." I said. "They came frequently, taunted me, hurled abuses at me, inflicted wounds upon me. In my rage, my drool formed the river Ván. Eventually though, I collapsed, my struggling merely making Gleipnir tighter and tighter. My howls of rage were replaced with tears as I wept at the betrayal of the Æsir." I said, my voice thick with emotion.

"Then what happened?" Hel asked quietly.

"Belldandy came." I replied with a sad smile. "She had heard the howls stop and paused her carving of Yggdrasil to investigate. She came upon me, and when I did not rise to attempt to attack, she approached. She used her magicks to banish to sword from my jaws and asked why I had stopped my howling."

"What did you do?" Hel asked.

"I asked her why. I asked her why the Æsir did this to me. I asked her why I was feared by them. I asked her why I had to suffer the way I had. I asked her why I was hated." I said. "She was taken aback by this, I could see it on her face. Then I surprised her, I shapeshifted for the first time. I became more humanoid, but I had the body of a child. Gleipnir still dug into my skin and fur, even after the change." I said.

Raven and Sunset came up behind me and wrapped their arms around me, with Raven surrounding all three of us with her wings.

"She smiled sadly at me and left. I thought she had turned her back on me as well when she came back dragging her fellow Norns, Urd and Sküld, behind her." I continued. "Needless to say I was surprised when Urd of all people got royally upset on my behalf."

"Wait, Urd? As in Weaver of Fate, Norn of the Past, Urd? Quite literally the least likely to care about anyone other than her sisters, Urd?" Hel asked.

I nodded with a chuckle. "Yeah, I was surprised when she shredded Gleipnir, wrapped her cloak around me and held me while the three of them discussed what to do now. In the end, they asked me." I said. "I told them that I didn't want to be in Asgard anymore. That I didn't want to be found until I could protect myself and my siblings. I didn't know what had happened at the time, only found out when I started reading Norse mythology in my last life before I took a nuke to the face, but I knew that if something had happened to me, then something similar might have happened to you. They agreed and sent us on the constant chain of lives and reincarnations until we were either strong enough to stand on our own or we were needed. They did manage to talk Odin down when he came charging up as we were talking."

"Wait, Odin showed up?" Hel asked.

"Yup, and he was not happy that they let me loose." I replied. "But, when Belldandy is dead set on ripping you a new one, it doesn't matter if you are a mortal or the king of Asgard. You take that ass chewing, and you better listen."

"How do you remember this?" Hel asked.

"Well, considering that my memories have slowly been unlocking from when they were suppressed, that bit was recent in my recollection. It has been a gradual process thankfully. Pretty sure my brain would have melted if they had come back all at once." I explained.

Honestly, the last couple of months have just been a variety of weird and painful as I remembered what passed for my first childhood. Hopefully I don't remember anymore lives. That would be too much.

Hel nodded. "Well, I would apologize for knocking the shit out of you, but I needed someone that can take a hit to vent my frustrations on." She said with a shrug.

"Please, we spent a good portion of our childhood in Jotunheim. That isn't anything compared to our scraps as kids." I replied. "And what frustrations?" I added.

"Oh, just the usual of getting crippled and scarred and basically turning into a bitch." She replied.

"By the way, what is your name here?" I asked. "Pretty sure Hel isn't in the normal lexicon of Equestrian names."

Hel mumbled something.

"Sorry, didn't catch that." I said, fighting a smirk at her blush.

Another, slightly louder, but still unintelligible mumble.

"One more time?" I prodded.

"FIZZLEPOP BERRYTWIST!" She shouted finally. "Happy now?"

I nodded. "It is a cute name." I replied. "Now I know what to tell Chrysalis to put on your documentation so you have it when, if, you want to come over to our side of the portal."

"Wait, Chrysalis?" Twilight asked.

"Oh yeah. Forgot about the whole changeling thing you had to deal with." I said. "Yeah, this one is just good about being able to make proper identity papers for those that don't have it. She was Celestia's college roommate apparently."