Prose Equus

Chapters

The Hall of the Hanged Mare.
The Fate of All Fools.
One's Place.
Breaking Rank.
Fist of Justice.
Confidants.
Through The Stomach.
Miracle Duty.
Death's Door.
Ave, Imperator.
Communion.
True Strength.
When it Rains.
Divine Arms.
Magic Musings
Buried Secrets.
Festive Fracas.
Abyssal Priestesses.
Direct Approach.
Dust and Crypts.
Spooky Scary Symbiotes.
Death Sentence.
Windows to the Past.
Bleeding Gods.
Breather.
Duality.
A Day of Sun.
Helpful Hermit.
Fancy Disguise.

The Hall of the Hanged Mare.

Dying was not what you were lead to believe.

The sting of your demise does not ache in your soul after the fact and you were somewhat surprised to be remembering the experience at all. The thought that this was all simply a dying dream of yours, and that your last memory before now where you had screamed your lungs to bursting while you stabbed your broken blade into the head of an enormous spider, and that you now occupied a space within its stomach as it digested you, had crossed your mind.

Though all the same, couldn’t your entire life up to this point had been the dream that precluded a death in a previous one?

Such thoughts do you no good, so you banish them.

You feel yourself pulled over Equestria, the land you’d called home for nearly your entire life, with nothing but the feeling of the incredible sights you’d seen in life passing you in your mind. The Crystal Kingdom becomes a dot on the horizon, and then Yakyakistan. You pass over the Forsaken Forrest and the dreaded Ruins of Tambelon on your way through snow filled mountains containing the stoney edifices of the Griffon Kingdom on their faces.

Faster and faster you feel yourself move, now with the sensation of rising into the air. You become one with the sky and feel as though you could slide your hand across Celestia’s sun or press your face to Luna’s infinite starfield.

Your spirit beholds the totality of the realm below you in all its grace and grandeur before it winks away out of existence.

You open your eyes, actually open your eyes, on the floor of a golden hall.

”Ah! The newcomer is awake!”

Focus comes to your eyes in time and spots an older stallion getting down off a bench and looking you over with one healthy eye and another white and scarred from behind his bushy white beard. He talks with a heavy accent. “What is wrong, man? Lynx got your tongue?”

“Where…am I?”

You push yourself off the floor and behold the golden hall. Ponies and griffons and diamond dogs alike all gathered round tables that stretch endlessly beyond your sight lined with steaming meats and flowing meads. Laughter and cheers shook the very roof as everyone celebrated something or another.

You knew this place, knew it well.

“Am I-“

”Dead!” he answers for you.

You bite back what you were going to say at his bluntness and see him rise and look at the hall in wonder. “Dead and welcomed into the hall of Valhalla! You must tell me of your deeds, stranger! Only those who earned their glory call this their final resting place!”

“Val…halla?”

You get yourself to your feet and look around, the other souls seated at the table noticing your presence and raising their mugs or food to you in recognition of your entry into the afterlife. You allow yourself a brief chuckle at the idea that at least some of the stories you had heard when you first came here turned out to be true.

”Welcome, brother…” your companion says as he ushers you to a seat next to him. “You have earned your rest I think…”

You nod and take a succulent piece of boar off a plate in front of you. “I can only hope my friend-“

The hall quakes as two doors at the far end are flung open and a voice from everywhere at once fills the air.

”SEND FORTH THE ONE OF YOU WITHOUT A NAME.”

All eyes turn to the entrance of the hall as She walks in.

She strides among the tables and is taller than the trees. Her single eyed gaze silences each rapturous voice in the hall and ceases the feast. Her eight mighty legs firmly plant polished steel horseshoes on the ground as she whips her mane, somehow more golden than the hal,l around looking.

”Have the dead grown deaf since I last walked this hall?” She asks. “I know you have arrived here, no-name.”

“Fine.”

All eyes now turn to you.

You put down your boar, stand and walk from your spot at the feasting table to the center of the hall.

“You clearly know of me, stranger. I feel I know you as well, though only in whispered words spoken of in the harsher places of the world.”

In seconds you find yourself face to face with the newcomer, and you present as fearless a face as you did back in Equestria to her.

“You would turn your judgement on me? I offer myself freely. However, my upbringing was based upon manners, and you have me at a disadvantage.”

Her single emerald eye narrows and the hall gapes at your nerve. For some reason, she humors you. “I am known by many things. I am All-Mother, I am Skylord of the Eastern Cosmos, I am the living Daughter of Fire and Lord of the Day and the Night." The halls bellow with the thunder of her voice, but you feel as if she isn't even raising it. "I am She Who Knows All Things, God of War and Poetry, of Kings and Gallows, of Sorcery and Frenzy, and of Knowledge and Death. The Griffons call me Othinus, the Minotaur call me Typhon. I am Queen Sleipnir of Asgard. And you…”

She leans her head in closer to you, already taller than you by a head and a half, to examine you closer. “Are not one of mine…though I may find use for you. I would know your name, speak it.”

“I have no name, one-eye. The world welcomed me into it with no knowledge of who I once was and crafted for me a new purpose to defend the weak. I am simply Anonymous, stranger, and any God or demon that would damn fighting for those who cannot is not worthy to speak my name.”

The hall is now so silent that a drop of sweat hitting the floor would sound like a hurricane. Battle-scarred feasters look on with their beards nearly hitting the floor.

Sleipnir left eye narrows to a slit, and you see your face in the reflection of Her too-green eyes, the consideration of which gave you a sense of vertigo, but you would not allow yourself to show such weakness and power through. She bends her long neck down and looks you dead on. “You will do.”

With that, she turns around and begins to trot at a brisk pace towards a doorway through which pure white light billowed.

”Come, No-Name!” she demands.

Sleipnir leads you out of the great feasting hall out a door of blinding white light, which surprised you since you didn’t remember walking after her. You both exit into a causeway flanked on either side by four guards clad in shimmering golden armor and spears that scrape the sky.

Despite yourself, you feel your gaze turned back to the door.

“Was that-“

”Valhalla is not opened to you yet, No-Name. You yet have tasks ahead of you before you may be welcomed at my table.”

Sleipnir speaks with her back to you, but pauses in the middle of the path. You look past the guards finally and take in a sight so grand that it might just kill you again. Beneath the cause was a pool of water that lead to a series of falls overlooking a vast city of alabaster stone and stretches of life. Statues of heroes past rose higher than the Royal Castle and overlooked the city below. The sky above you had not a cloud within it as the sun shone down through the leaves of the biggest tree you had ever laid eyes on stretching too far into the sky for you to see.

Words escaped you for some time.

“Asgard…I never expected to go to Asgard when I died.”

A little purple friend of yours would be ecstatic to know it was real.

You only now notice the One-eyed Queen next to you. “Many never will. More, if you tarry.”

“Why have you brought me here?” you ask.

Sleipnir must not deem you worth the effort to move her entire head, simply turning her eye down to you. When she speaks this close, you see the magical runes carved upon her teeth.

“You walk among my kingdom because I deem you may have purpose within it. The realm of the Gods has stood strong and powerful for longer than any soul in Midgard has existed for, my duty as the All-Mother of the Nine Realms is to defend them both from threats both beyond…and within.”

“What place could I have in such a duty?”

”All things above and below are within my dominion, No-name…save for you. Your existence beyond the cycles of this world offers certain…attributes I would have use for. Asgard is not the only home of the Gods within this realm, but your actions among the mortals these last many years have not escaped my eye.”

You bow your head. “You honor me, All-Mother.”

”I summate.” She answers before a pause. “…Circumstances have been engineered to prevent my duty from being fulfilled with mine own hooves, so I must act through mortal means.”

You feel that green eye gaze through you again. “I have judged you, No-Name, and found you of interest in my grand designs. You once protected Midgard from threats to her, I would have you be true to your nature and do so again by my command.”

You blink and think of those who had grown close to you in your time in Equestria, how Twilight Sparkle and her friends had taken you in and how the Princesses of Equestria had welcomed you to their land. You had arrived in this place with no memory of your name or past life, and so very long ago decided to repay them by protecting them from all you could.

Now, with one so wise telling you that more dark threats loomed on the horizon, how could you turn your back on them?

You nod. “I will.”

Sleipnir arches her eyebrow. “So ready, are you? The path you would walk will be one of strife and conflict, you that into your life once more?”

“Why are you changing your mind?”

That causes the All-Mother to blink. You cross your arms.

“I have been the anonymous protector of Equestria and all those who walk the earth below for as long as I can remember. Strife? Conflict? Ruin? Ptah! I spit on such attempts to shake me.”. She doesn’t speak, letting you continue. “I did not enter into this world with a destiny like they did, so I had to become what they needed me to be! If the Gods above need me to be the same as I always was, then that just means that I made the right choice.”

No emotion flickers across Sleipnir’s face. “Good.”

You grin. “Then what awaits me? Am I to be slaying Frost Giants by day and spending my nights among the embers of dead trolls?”

Sleipnir turns her eye away from you and looks over the city as two jet black dire birds land on her haunch. You catch something behind her eye but it vanishes when she speaks.

”There are no Frost Giants.” Her words feel as icy as the beings they described as they leave her mouth, but you nod again.

“None around to slay? Fine then. What would you have me do?”

She turns her eye back to you like nothing had happened. “North, the Crystal Kingdom. A beast of shadows and sap roams the shores of Luminous Lake. You will kill it.”

You nod, you knew those mountains well from when you and Shining Armor secured his boarders from the Changlings.
“Why’s this animal taken up home there? I don’t recall any dangerous creatures in the snow plains when I last walked the ground.

Sleipnir glances down off the walls to the world below. “Rumor tells of a maiden who has begun to reside within the center of the lake, there she waits with a blade encased in ice, waiting for those brave enough to best the beast to bequeath it to.”

“Well send me down, she won’t have to wait too long.”

”A fiery heart will serve you well in the cold north…Come. Your success is my desire, so I will at least put something between you and your foe.”

The All-Mother doesn’t wait for your response and you follow with none to give.

You get lead to a fortress that nearly scrapes the sky affixed along a thick wall on the southern end of Asgard’s lands.

“Are you expecting trouble to come knocking?”

”Not in the south, no.” Sleipnir answers curtly as she pushes open the massive stone doors.

The room beyond contains warriors, about two dozen or so, moving about with purpose. They transport supplies up further into the keep or sharpen weapons in the corner, each of them notices your arrival and bow their heads to the ground at the passing of their Queen.

All but one, one with a dark coat and golden armor that stands before a well of rainbow light in the center of the room, his orange eyes not blinking as they stare into it.

”Has she moved?”

”No, my Queen.” He answers with a booming voice. “The lake, just as she has been.”

”Good.” Sleinpir answers as she leads you over. “You will take the Bifrost and return to Midgard, No-Name. Heimdall, how close are you able to place him?”

The watchpony slightly tilts his head. “Within the mountains, away from prying eyes, a short hike to lake.”

You feel the God-Queen’s gaze turn to you again and meet her. ”Do not draw attention.” She says. “Find this lake, defeat its guardian, and return. That is your purpose this day.”

“Am I to do all this with my bare hands?”

Sleipnir scoffs. “If mortals could do anything worthwhile unarmed, I would not have to be here.” With her magic, She pulls a cold iron aegis from its place on a weapon rack and slides it up your forearm.

”You remember how this works, I hope.”

You smirk and strike the shield with your gauntlet. “Just a shield against an unknown threat? Give them a chance, One-Eye.”

Sleipnir remains stonefaced and pulls something from her mane, a long leather strap by the look of it that attaches itself to your wrist opposite the shield. “When you are close, it will work.” She says.

”My Queen, the window approaches.” Heimdall says.

Sleipnir keeps eye contact with you but steps aside, clearing your way to the rainbow font. “You might tuck your legs when you jump.”

You smirk again and run towards the well, leaping over the edge and falling into the tunnel of light.

“I’ll bring some of my leftover glory back along with the beast’s head!”

The Fate of All Fools.

In all your life you had never experienced falling forever, that was normally a sensation you let the pegusi keep to themselves, but the tunnel of violent rainbow light you tumbled through brought you as close to that feeling as you could imagine as you spun end over end and saw so many colors you thought you would go mad. The flashing colors cease just as they begin to overwhelm you accompanied by a loud WHUMP and twin lances of pain as you land in a snow covered clearing on your feet. The impact pushes you to one knee lest you fall flat on your face.

“I hope Asgard knows how to fix knees…” you say with a grimace.

You push the pain from your mind while you push yourself to your feet and check yourself. Your borrowed shield was still attached to your forearm and none of your armor had come undone, what little you still had when you left Valhalla.

The night sky hangs above you half illuminated by Luna’s ever-present eye on the world below, casting dark shadows from the crystal trees and jagged crags in its path. You throw the moon a half smirk and a two-fingered salute and run off into the trees.

Only a few strides into the woods and you felt your past years on Equestria come back to you. Your eyes flit from side to side checking for any local predators who might be interested in a midnight meal and you hunch yourself over to be able to drop as soon as you might need to.

The icy feeling on your skin drifts into your blood as the familiar surge of adrenaline pumps its way into your brain, letting you feel and hear and smell the forest around you.

Something odd catches your attention from the corner of your eye, fractured in the reflection of a crystal tree. It was you, but different. The bags under your eyes had been pulled up a bit and there was much less grey in your hair, your face was less etched with lines and even some of your old scars had faded away.

“Hah! Death does wonders…” you say, marveling at your added youth for a moment before the cawing of a bird grabs your attention.

You stuff a handful of snow into your mouth and jog towards the direction of the sound, taking a knee behind a crystal fig near the forests edge to observe its source; a single raven sitting perched atop a rock near the base of a small mountain. The bird looks in your direction for a solid ten seconds before it caws and takes off up the mountain with a single flap of its wings. You find it difficult to take your eyes off the creature and before you could register it, your legs were moving you to the winding path up the side of the mountain.

“What in-!? Alright, alright!”

You grumble as you resign yourself to climbing the peek, clearly something wanted you at the top. The wind bites at your face as your come around to the north end of the peak and meet the historic Crystal Mountain Squalls head on. You raise your shield to your face and push your body forward step by step. The hold whatever is pushing you up this path has on you abates for the briefest of moments as you spot a familiar sight. Over the farthest peak you see a crystal spire whose tip touches the sky and sends ripples through the night air, illuminated by the soft glow of the lights of life beneath it.

That would be the Crystal Palace and the city at the heart of the kingdom.

You stand still on the path and look towards the old familiar place, remembering. It did not seem like so many years ago that you had come to this kingdom of Equestria and been found by a small purple horse and her friends. They had helped you piece together some vestige of a life here, lacking the memories to craft one on your own as you did, and you couldn’t help feeling indebted to her. You remember the many cold nights you and that purple horse’s brother had spent in the Crystal Kingdom, devising schemes and stratagems to push the vengeful Changeling horde back into the mountains where they could be crushed between you and the Yaks. You remember the letter you had sent to them all when you’d sent out before you traveled to that spider’s cave where you died.

”Do they still think I’m dead?” you wonder. “AM I still dead?”

The constant motion since your time of death had left little time to consider the situation. Was your body still in that cave? If so, then what was your mind in now? How much time had passed since then? Should you let your old friends know?

Questions swirl in your head until the caw of the raven perched above you drew your attention.

You look up into its featureless eyes against the rich blues and blacks of the night sky behind it and chuckle.

“Right. I have a job, and it’s not to think.”

You walk to the rocky wall of the mountain and grab ahold of the side. “It’s finding what’s at the top of this peak!”

You resume your climb.

Music

The peak of the mountain is flat, as if some great force had sliced the natural peak away in times past, but it leaves ample rocks for you to pull yourself up with.

“Not as easy as I remember…but easier than it should be…” you remark, catching your breath.

You push yourself to your feet as your ears detect the sound of gentle water coming from beyond a copse of crystal trees. The raven that guided you hear is nowhere in sight. Swallowing your trepidation, you enter the small forest and keep your eyes open. Another sound finds its way to your perception, the soft caress of music upon your ears. It was a language you couldn’t decipher, but it had an almost hypnotic quality to it.

Almost.

You press on to the center of the forest, beholding a small lake of water both as clear and as still as the crystal around you. In its center rests a foggy figure coalescing around a worn deer skull, its mouth open and letting the ethereal hum out onto the land. It turns its green pupils towards you and sends a chill up your spine.

You raise your shield and drop to a low stance, it laughs with the blowing wind. “You have come…to my lake?” it asks.

“I come to a lake, demon. There is a blade here that I would have as my own, and a beast here that I would slay. If you point me towards one, I’ll promise to make the other as quick as possible.”

Her chilly laughter rings among the trees. “You are mistaken…I am no beast.”

“You could have fooled me.”

”I already have.” She says.

You hear the snapping of a twig to your right and wheel around just in time to get smacked with a tree. You roll end over end as you have many times before until you jam your shields edge into the ground, anchoring and righting you enough to let you see what the hell just hit you.

It’s verdant eyes watch you like will-o-whips among the shadows of the trees as it skulks in the shadows on limbs of wood, waiting for the slightest opening to attack.

You hold your shield in front of you and mirror its footwork. You’d killed Timber Wolves before, but never unarmed.

But that didn’t mean you didn’t have a plan.

As you position yourself, the spirit in the lake watches you from her relaxed position. “These guardians found their way to me after I called this place my home. Prove to me you may be a better guardian, and perhaps a prize shall I bequeath.”

“I’m afraid I’ve already been scouted by another supernatural entity for something.” You say, keeping the wolf in your sights as it gets to the other side of the lake.

With your foot, you ply the ground beneath the snow with your foot searching for exactly what you would need. “So while I’m afraid I can’t guard your lake for you, I’ll be more than happy to kill your mutt and take your sword!”

The wolf opposite you howls and breaks from the trees. You had misjudged it in the shadows, but you can make it out clearly as it sails through the air and crosses the lake in a single bound. It was just a big bigger than your old cottage.

Great.

You spot it raising its paw in the air as it comes down and roll to the right, dodging its initial bite and deflecting its swipe of the claw off your shield. No opening could be wasted here, so you throw a punch at the wolf. It’s wide, as you’d intended, which means the hard iron of your shield strikes the beasts shoulder and takes a chunk of it off. The beast howls in pain and turns its head to you, just as your foot knocks against what you needed under the snow.

“Paydirt.”

You thrust your shield flat end out and smack the timber wolf in the face, buckling more wood under your muscles as the initial strike you made begins to reform through natural magics. The moment your shield slam bought you is all you need to throw your hand into the snow and take hold of the fist sized rock by your foot. You dive to your right as the wolf snaps its broken snout at you, it manages to just brush your foot as you get underneath its belly. The Timber Wolf barks a challenge at a foe he can’t see, but he soon feels. You hold your shield above your head and thrust it upward as hard as you can, into the rich oak skin of the monster. Metal strikes wood again and again while the wolf howls and shakes in pain until a head sized gash is caved into its skin, with a final mighty push you embed your shield into the wolfs body where the magics within it begin growing over your arm.

”Oh dear…” you hear the spirit say.

You can only laugh inside, she hadn’t caught on.

You decide to clue her in just a bit. “Just what I was waiting for!” you scream.

You bring the rock in your hand up to the metal binding of the shields edge and scrape it along the side. Nothing happens, but you continue to drag the rock again and again in the same direction, up into the wolfs gut, as fast as your arm will let you. The Crystal Kingdom and the roof of the world beyond it were harsh and bitter places, you’d learned in your time here. However, most were incorrect in assuming that it snowed year-round.

In truth, you rarely saw fresh snow in the Crystal Kingdom, almost all of it was just blown in from the mountains by the harsh winds. The Crystal Kingdom was, in reality, a very dry climate. Which means that the skin of this timber wolf was more than likely pretty parched.

You continue to strike the shield’s edge until the stone in your hand cuts into your flesh and sharpens to a razor point, producing a handful of sparks that fly up and take hold on the wolf’s bark skin.

“Yes!”

You blow as gently as you can on the embers within the wolf, stoking them into a flame that gnaws at it as it grows. The wolf senses its weakness and forgets all about you, scraping at the ground and jumping around to try and free you from it so it can try to save itself. It succeeds in tearing your shield from its body, and almost tears your arm from yours, but the flames feed on the dry wood and begin to consume it. You had done all you needed to and roll back to your feet as the wolf runs through the trees in a panic, crashing into them to smother the flame.

A smirk crosses your face as you look to the lake spirit.

“You looked cold up here! I hope this helps.”

The lake spirit wordlessly watches as her guardian crashes clean through a crystal tree and plunges itself into the lake beneath her to save itself, darkening it with wood flakes that its death spiral cleaves from its body. You smirk again and walk to the edge of the shore, tired and a bit bruised, but that was nothing at your age.

“That’s a shame, I worked hard on that fire.”

She doesn’t turn her head, just like Sleipnir didn’t, and looks at you with one emerald eye. “Indeed…never have I seen a mortal kill a Timber Wolf…even less with a rock.”

You give her a thumb up.

”But it’s not dead, is it?” she ponders

It all happens in the span of two heartbeats.

Within the first, the remains of the Timber Wolf explode out of the lake and towers over you. It’s wooden fangs and claws descend on you from above while water flows like blood through the charred carcass of its torso and catches a sharp green light from inside.

Within the second, your hand clutches tight the sharpened rock within it and moves upward, jabbing forward with the focused precision decades of combat had honed in you and piercing the brittle shell of its rib cage, along with something soft inside.

The wolf freezes in place and its eyes go dark, then it falls to your side with the crash of a redwood and just as still. You shake free the splinters in your armor and look back to the spirit.

“Check again.”

”How-“ the spirit begins.

“I had friends in a town to the south of here, one bookish and learned and the other experienced from a life on a farm. From them I learned of the sap heart that exists in every Timber Wolf.” You can see the lake spirit’s jaw clench as she floats her way over to you. “If you break that, you break the wolf. Simple.”

”Clever clever creature…” the spirit says.

You put your hands on your hips “Flattery won’t get you out of my prize, I was promised a sword.”

The orbs of emerald fire that serve as her eyes shrink a bit in what you guess is anger. “Indeed…”. From a space behind her you didn’t see, the spirit retrieves a jagged block of ice encased around a longsword. The ice distorts, your vision but you can clearly see the smoothness of the steel and the leather grip. The guard of the blade was curved inward and the pommel the head of a ram. You let yourself have a moment of pride as your right hand reach out to claim it. But that never happens. What happens instead is the thin leather strap Sleipnir had placed upon you shoots out from your wrist with the snap of a whip and ensnares the hoof of the lake spirit as if she were corporeal.

”What trickery-!”

“Damn!”

The sword clatters to the ground as the two of you struggle with the binding. “What is this, you-you-whatever you are!?” she cries.

“How should I know?! I just wanted the sword!”

The binding doesn’t give you even the width of an ants’ leg no matter how hard the two of you pull on it. To make matters worse, you hear something over your shoulder and look to the woods.

More yellow eyes, the same as the timber wolf you slew.

“…Spirit, what is this.”

”Well I wasn’t about to just let someone walk away with a blade I worked so hard to steal…” she answers.

“You dishonorable-!”

”It was MINE!” she whines.

The wolves break from the treeline and dash to you. There was no way you could beat them all with just a shield and a bound arm, but you’d take down one or two before they killed you.

“Well now you get to die for it!”

”Back! Back I command you!” shouts the spirit as the wolves close in.

In your last moments of life in the past day, you see a single star twinkle brighter than the others, and it unleashes the wrath of a God upon the mountain peak.

Music

A beam of white fury from the cosmos strikes the first wolf and reduces it to its composite atoms in a flash, then starts slowly dragging across the snow like a painter’s brush and obliterating everything in its path. For the briefest instant, you see fear within the wolf’s eye before it disintegrates. The remaining wolves remaining intelligent enough flee, but only after their pack became one with the wind. The mountain beneath your feat shakes as the ray of light descends from the whirling clouds above. Crystalline trees hundreds of years old shatter to dust as the vibration of the mountain and the sound of the heavens wrath resonates through the valley.

Shining Armor and Princess Cadence awake from their slumber while their daughter screams in fright and look out the window with mouths agape, each frantically trying to peace together what in Equestria could warrant such a thorough annihilation. You almost laugh at the idea of telling them its just some Timber Wolves.

The ray of almighty light traces itself along the mountain peak, systematically and coldly making its way to the hiding spot of every wolf that attempts to flee and carving perfectly smooth gouges into the mountain that quickly begin to drain the lake you stood at the shore of.

Your body relaxes in pure awe watching the display from above.

“…Luna?”

In all your years, the only display of power that came close to this was when Twilight did battle with Tirek. You wonder if they were even capable of something of this magnitude.

”No…” the spirit says, her voice trembling. “This is He-“

The spirit gets cut off as the apocalyptic light ceases like a faucet one had simply turned off, replaced by a tunnel of rainbow that engulfs the two of you and whisks you away.

The tunnel pulls you faster than it threw you, and in a flash, you find yourself airborne above the well in the center of the Asgardian keep you departed from, suspended in momentary zero gravity. Your trained eyes and mind make note of the Spirit beside you, your limbs still bound. Heimdall watches you from one end of the well with a scowl on his face, on the other stands the God Queen Sleipni-

Why did She look so angry?

Both you and the spirit are encased in a silvery-blue glow before you’re torn apart. You are flung gently but firmly onto the ground next to Heimdall while the Spirit is flung over Sleipnir’s shoulder towards the door. The All-Mother turns and casually walks towards the spirit with a double-timed clip clop clip clop.

”You-“ The spirit starts.

”Silence.” Sleipnir finishes. With a flash of her eye, the spirits form breaks like glass struck with a stone and turns to a small green pelted pony with a ridiculous helmet on.

“What in the Hel-!”

”You used the Gleipnir on your own daughter!?”

”Aye.” Sleipnir answers.

“Daughter?!”

”Princess Loki.” Heimdall says beside you with contained anger. “Youngest of the Queen’s family and last in line for the throne of Asgard.”

You remember the tales and legends Twilight Sparkle had told you in your time on Equestria.

“I thought Loki was a male!?”

”She likes to go between.”

That explains the fact that she was a spirit two minutes ago.

”What was that light!? What happened to “Do not draw attention!”?”

”That rule was for you, not me.” Sleipnir says, once again without looking at you.

”The light you saw was Our Lady’s magic.” Heimdall answers. “She is one with Yggdrasil, the World Tree, and so through her does its power flow like sap through an oak. What you saw tonight? Well, that was a bit of show for our wayward princess, I would think.”

You blink twice. “What is Gleipnir.”

Heimdall answers again. “A binding, made of many things. The sound of a cats footfall, beard of a woman, roots of a mountain, sinews of a bear, breath of a fish, and spittle of a bird.”

“None of those things are possible.”

”Because we used all of them to make the chain.”

You blink twice again, Loki informs you more as she gets to her hooves. “It has only been used to bind the Dread Wolf in the past…” she says through clenched teeth.

”Aye.” Sleipnir says. The Queen lowers her face and looks her daughter in the eye. “But today we used it to capture a bitch.”

You grimace, Loki looks offended, Heimdall cracks a smile.

”Mother I-! How dar-!”

”How many?” Sleipnir interrupts. Perhaps that was not the right word, perhaps it was simply always Sleipnir’s turn to speak. She keeps her head low and stares through Loki, trotting towards her slowly in a way that reminded you of the wolves who just died. “How many lives did you plan to ruin and end with your little scheme?

Loki looks up at her mother, looking strong, but you see her ankles shake ever so slightly. “If any mortal foolish enough to walk into so obvious a trap wishes to throw away their lives, I say let them.”

Sleipnir doesn’t move, Loki does. The princess is flung back over the rainbow well so quickly that her helmet falls off. The Queen keeps her floating there without looking. ”Perhaps little godlings so foolish to pervert their purpose ought to suffer the fate of their sister, and can face the judgement of the mortals they look down on so.”

Heimdall chuckles again as Loki screams in fright during a momentary freefall before she’s stopped inches beyond the well’s event horizon.

”Allow me to be clear, DAUGHTER-“ Sleinpir begins with checked rage.

But she doesn’t get farther.

“Hey.” You take four steps forward and look at the All-Mother from the side of the well. \

“Put her down.”

Sleipnir actually turns her head to look at you this time, her pupils shrink and look like the star that obliterated those wolves. Still, you can’t let yourself back down.

”You would DARE speak over-“

“Put her down. Right now.” You repeat.

Sleipnir’s eye seems to bore into you. “My daughter had all intention of causing harm to our flock, she is to be PUNISHED for it.”

“Maybe she intended that, but it didn’t happen, I stopped her.”

Sleipnir doesn’t speak, but her eye glances to Loki, then back to you.

“The only one at risk was me, and I’m fine. Put her down.”

”You would let her FREE?” Sleipnir demands.

“Of course not, but harm has not been caused, All-Mother! I don’t see a criminal here, just a fool child who made the mistake of seeing where she fits into the world in the wrong way!”

The keep, clear of warriors, hangs in a heavy silence.

“She will learn that fire is hot just the same as everyone else does but punish her in accordance with the damage done. She shouldn’t lose her limb if the only one at risk was herself.”

Sleipnir’s eyelid narrows and she locks eyes with you for what feels like your entire life. You feel a presence at the boarders of your heart, attempting to reach in. You try to resist only to find will undone in but a single moment. As the feeling of vertigo passes, Loki is whisked in front of her Mother’s face by a magical grasp she could never hope to break. “You are grounded. Confined to your chambers until I decide you may leave them. There will be no lessons from Amoran or your father during this time.”

”That’s not fai-“ Loki begins before being squeezed and making a sound like a duck’s quack. “Yes Mother.” She gets out. Sleipnir drops the Princess to the floor and turns on her heels, walking to the doors that get flung open by gale force winds.

“Show No-Name to an empty room and then go to yours. Do not let me catch you dallying.” She says.

”In the palace?” Loki asks.

”I would keep my eye on him.” Is the last thing Sleipnir says before she continues along the bridge.

You look down at your feet and spot the sword you had won, the ice keeping it shattered by your arrival.

“Hey, what about-“

”Keep it.” You hear.

Heimdall returns to his post behind you with a small smile on his face. “It is not wise to bother the Queen now after her quarrel. Keep the blade, it is yours by right for defeating this ones challenge.” He nods his head to Loki. Heimdall chuckles sincerely. “Defeating a Timber Alpha with naught but a rock and some fire…even I have never seen that before.”

With that his eyes return to the swirling pool of colors and his face falls to a neutral one.

”And there he goes…uhg.” Loki says beside you. “Come, No-Name. Pick up your trinket and come with me, let’s make haste before I’m killed, hm?”

Loki walks away from you and retrieves her helmet along the way, slipping it onto her head and continuing down the same path to the palace her Mother took, albeit some distance back.

You nod and grab your sword, taking your place behind the shadow of the Littlest Diety.

One's Place.

Little Loki leads you through halls of polished bronze and shimmering gold and convinces you that Equestria has nothing on Asgard when it comes to opulence.

“By the Sisters…this palace is enormous! How long has it stood?”

You see vestiges of her Mother in Loki, vestiges such as not facing you when she talks. ”The palace was built by our grandfather, Bor.”

“I don’t know of a Bor…”

”You wouldn’t” she answers. “He was Mother’s father, he died back with the Old World.”

“I beg pardon?”

Loki sighs and stops at an intersection. “Do not think to drag me from Midgard and declare yourself my friend in the same day, mortal. I grow tired of your presence already and must begin my grounding after I’m rid of you, ask another your incessant questions.”

You feel the frost of Helheim emanate off her icy glare and age has brought with you the wisdom to know when not to press.

You raise both your hands. “As you wish, Princess.”

Loki clenches her jaw and continues to walk. “I will choose to take that as a compliment.”

“I meant it as one.”

”You talk too much, mortal.”

“Princess Luna thought it was one of my better features.”

”Then Princess Luna has rocks for brains.”

A single snicker escapes past your lips.

The rest of your walk with the Asgardian Princess was strictly educational, though with some reluctance from her.

You learned that Princess Loki was fourteen years young as the youngest of the crown children. Heimdall, the watchpony you’d met, oversaw the Bifrost; one of several wells within the nine realms and one that served as a bridge between all the others.

“I have never heard of a well being a bridge before.”

”What you have not heard of before could fill a library, No-name. Bifrost is not the only bridge in these lands…” You almost ask her what she means, but she flicks her horn and opens a set of doors taller than you are.

The room beyond is made of the same fantastic stones and metals as the rest of the palace and stretches for dozens of feet from the door. A wide bed sits at one end against the wall while a hearth, empty of flame for now but warm and inviting at the promise of more rests on the other side. To one end of the room, a table for eating and racks upon the walls for the hanging of clothing or weaponry, while the other end holds a basin for washing and a small balcony overlooking the city below.

You stand in awe for the umpteenth time today.

“THIS IS AMAZING!”

”This is actually one of the smaller rooms…”

You walk in and look around at it all. “It’s bigger than my entire home back in Equestria!”

”Because you are not nearly as large as some of those Asgard has needed to entertain.”

You continue to marvel at your lodgings while Loki takes a few steps into the room. “The water in the basin fills from beneath the basin itself and the sprites will tend to the plants upon your balcony. If Mother has you here for whatever reason then I’m sure you won’t be bothered unless something is burning down, but do not trust that the guards are not nearby if you are to engage in any…mischief.”

From out beyond your doorway, the shadow of one of the armored guard-ponies passes along the wall.

“Right…”

You walk up to Loki, she retracts her hoof as if to preemptively guard against being struck when you get close and you spot her grimacing expression in the reflective floor when you bow before her.

“My thanks to you, Princess Loki of Asgard.”

”What are you doing.”

“Bowing to royalty is customary, isn’t it?”

Loki shifts her weight on her hooves. “Of…course it is, but I did not command you to. Cease at once.”

You rise and pat your back. “Better for the bones at my age, your right.”

Loki rolls her eyes and begins toward your door. ”Well then, with this detour out of my way, I’ll be going now. If you go insane and decide to hurl yourself from the balcony, do ensure you perform a flip on your way do-“

”YOUR HOME!” a rapturous voice calls from the hall, interrupting Loki.

”Oh Hel.”

You had counted yourself fortunate enough to have personally met Princess Celestia in life and you considered yourself to be used to the naturally increased ambient lighting that came with being in proximity to the ruler of the sun.

But if she was bright, this newcomer was positively incandescent.

He quickly flutters through the door on a wide pair of wings made of ethereal light. He wraps both his limbs around Loki’s neck and holds her close to him as his wings dissipate and he drops to the floor. Loki, meanwhile, looks like she wishes she was currently on fire.

”OH WELCOME BACK, SISTER!” the newcomer says. “Mother was FURIOUS that you snuck out this time! She stomped around for hours after she discovered you and then went off to the room she goes to for black magic! I don’t know what she did, but she went into Valhalla itself earlier today! Can you believe that??”

Loki turns her eyes to you agonizingly slowly in a pathetic attempt to impart her pain right now onto you as he continues to talk. ”But you’re back now! Heimdall told me you were grounded when I walked by his post so I raced over here to find you and keep you company! We can-“

“Excuse me.”

He turns his head to you, noticing you for the first time. “Hail and well met!”

You look down to Loki. “Sister?”

She sighs and waves her hoof over his head. “My brother, Prince B-“

”Baldur!”

He leaps off Loki and towards you, stopping right before he tackles you and snatching your hand between his hooves where he shakes it vigorously. Your first instinct is to wonder how he was faster than you, but your second is more enlightening. This pony had disarmed you with his presence, and you did not feel even the remotest bit of a threat from him in all your years of experience.

”I am Prince Baldur! God of Light, Beauty, and Lord of the Heliopolis!”

”He made the last one up.” Loki interjects.

”Hush, you! I did not!” Baldur retorts.

The Shining god settles a bit and gives you a more traditional hoofshake. ”Prince Baldur, second to last in line for the throne of Asgard. What is your name?”

You shake back like you did when you had to meet someone important at the capitol. “Haven’t got one, I’m afraid.”

”AHA!” Baldur laughs, in a laugh that shakes the light fixtures. “Heimdall said the same THING! When I asked him who sister went along with, he told me “no one and someone”! I just figured out what he meant!”

You chuckle again as Loki walks to the door. “I’m leaving now.”

Baldur’s head turns so fast you hear the wind break. “WE WILL JOIN YOU! You may be walking to a grounding, but No-name and I shall make your last moments of freedom more enjoyable together!” he says, already going after her.

“That sounds nice!”

Loki’s groan echoes through the hallway.

Loki didn’t do much talking along the way to her room, but damned if you and Baldur didn’t.

“Wait, so you don’t feel ANY pain?”

”Not an ounce!” Baldur proclaims. “My Father, Frig, hath enchanted me with invulnerability when he obtained the word of all the things in the mortal world to never cause me harm.”

”Except-“ you hear Loki say, although she mumbles the rest.

“Say again?”

”Nothing, forget I brought it up.”

Odd. But you return to the prince. “I’m jealous, your highness! Such a blessing must be akin being unbeatable on the battlefield!”

”I don’t know! I am not permitted to leave the city! And please, simply call me Baldur, No-name!”

“Wait, what?”

”Mother’s command is that he must never leave the capitol.” Says Loki, imitating Sleipnir by not facing you again.

”I have received standard instruction in the art of combat from brother or others that have visited Asgard, but I may count the number of times I have left her walls on one hoof.”

“A waste, says I. With your power, I could end war.”

Baldur chuckles to himself and stops as Loki stops before a large wooden frame with a green carving in the center. “It is not so bad, No-name. It offers me many blessings even now, such as entertaining! Watch! Hit me!”

Baldur leans forward confidently and presents his chin.

You raise your fist, but hesitate “…Are you sure, Baldur?”

He opens his eyes and looks right into yours. “I did not know I was escorting two fillies to their rooms.”

Well there goes that worry. You shoot your fist out quickly and strike Baldur on the chin with a hook. Not only does he not move a hair, but you feel your fist crumple and bend awkwardly.

You bite back a curse and wince as you grip your aching fingers. “Gaaah! Ow ow ow!”

”Ahahahaha! I told you, No-name!” the light god boasts.

“Ponies are meant to be made of flesh, not rocks!”

Baldur laughs at you, but it doesn’t hurt.

”Well this has been brutish and uninteresting. I am going to my room now, Baldur. Perhaps I’ll get out before Ragnarok. No-name, you will probably be dead by the time I’m released, so good bye.”’

At that Loki turns away from both of you and walks towards the sigil on the wall, a flash of light whisks her away and leaves the two of you alone in the corridor.

“…Women.”

”Absolutely.” Baldur says with a grin.

The two of you share a hearty chuckle together.

“I appreciate your company, Baldur, but I have had an eventful day to say the least and think retiring would be wise before these old bones begin to ache.”

”Indeed! Dinner in the grand hall will be soon and I want to get there before the Alfheim pastries are gone. Meeting you was a pleasure, No-name!”

The two of you bop hoof to hand again.

“Likewise, my lord! Your realm is as fantastical as the legends in Equestria make it out to be, I would relish the opportunity to learn my way around it and meet your friends here.”

Baldur puffs up. “I would happily aid you in your acquaintance with Asgard, No-name! But I’m afraid I have to disappoint you, as I have no friends.”

You had spent all your adult life in Equestria, and all your memories were of your time there and the lessons you learned. The appropriate response here was child’s play. You extend your hand to Baldur.

“Well, you do now.”

It takes a moment to process, but the smile that grows on Baldur’s face fills up more than half of it with glee. The two of you stand there for a short while shaking hooves, confident that you’d both forged a bond already stronger than Gleipnir itself.

Breaking Rank.

A little over two weeks have passed since you were brought to the Halls of Asgard. Since going out with Baldur and subduing his nephew, Svaolifari, you had taken to walking the streets of the city when the prince was busy. At first he insisted on coming along with you, saying he could afford to delay his duties, but you explained that you could take care of yourself being nearly twice his age, you believe he just wanted to spend time with you. Princess Loki still serves her grounding in her room and you knew better than to ask Queen Sleipnir for a tour. You were more than happy to meet Her in the occasional passing moment.

Today you find yourself at the southern keep along the wall, in the chamber where Heimdall watches his well from an elevated walkway in the shape of a horseshoe. You occasionally feel his gaze glance down towards you as you swing around a war hammer long as your torso.

”Enjoying yourself, are we?” you hear as you hop back after a particularly wide swing.

You glance up to the watchpony. “Just getting a feel for your steel. It’s lighter than it looks, it reminds me of the armor the Griffons wear. Right after I joined the guard, the Griffons perfected a metal that weighs as much as a feather when they wear it but stops an arrow cold.”

Heimdall looks away from his all-seeing charge directly at you. “The griffons can do that?”

“Correction; they did do that.” You smirk at him and rest the hammer on your shoulder.

Heimdall looks to the middle distance and nods his head. “It would appear the mortals have grown since I last looked at them in earnest.”

“What do you mean?”

Heimdall looks around the room, noticing that the two of you were the only ones in it, for the moment, the signals for you to come up to his level. You swiftly climb the ramp.

”It is true that the enchantment upon my eyes permits me perfect clarity to look through the Bifrost upon all who walk upon Midgard…but perfect focus? I’m afraid that is the realm of our Queen alone.”

He gestures to the cacophony of lights. “Imagine looking over a gathered crowd of one-hundred ponies. You may begin being able to concentrate upon each of their faces, but with time the picture loses focus. To see the whole, you must broaden your vision, and miss the details.”

You wrap your head around it and nod. “How does she do it?”

”She doesn’t blink.”

Of course.

“To view it all would drive anyone mad.” you say.

”Ah, but the Queen does. Her ravens fly out around the Nine Realms every day and return to her each night to whisper what they saw into her ears.”

“That’s a lot to take in…”

”Aye. Which is why she calls upon the aid of a watcher.” You let the gatekeeper toot his own horn and try to focus on the colors swirling through the well.

“This gives me a headache.”

Heimdall takes a deep breath before he speaks. “You’re looking into the Bifrost as you would look out a window. To gaze from Asgard to Midgard is no simple feat. First; empty your mind and un-focus your eyes, let the well reach into you with its visions. When you feel it take hold, begin to focus. The well will show you what you need see.”

You obey the watchpony’s instructions, slowly emptying your mind of thought and focusing only on the colors before you.

At first, they only produce the same stabbing pain behind your eyes as they did before, but you relax and see the sharpness of the edges melt into each other. Reds become blues become purples as the tunnel expands before you down to the world below. You feel a sensation within your thoughts, like a loved one reaching forth to shake your hand and begin to focus.

Soon you see what the well wants to show you and you smile.

A group of ponies and a small purple dragon cheerfully march through the woods. Each of the girls laughs or smiles with each other and they appear just as happy as they were the day you had last seen them, before taking off in secret. It pains you how you left the girls, but back then it was what you felt was all you could do. Better to leave with the memory of you as you were rather than see you get older and slower, only to have to watch you get your head caved in by some monster when you got too old.

This god business threw a wrench into that idea.

Hemdall must have glanced at you, because he speaks up. ”See something you like?”

“My friends…the ones I had before I died.”

He takes a place next to you and focuses his eyes. “Aaahh yes, the young Princess of Friendship. I remember the day I informed my Queen about her ascension. Full of surprises, that one.”

"Heh, yeah, she can be.” You try to focus some more “I don’t recognize where they are though…”

Heimdall tilts his head. “Mm… a place where old heroes rest. The Shrine of the Pillars at the edge of your kingdom.”

Never heard of it…must be a bookworm thing.

”They must-“ Heimdall cuts off.

“…What is it, Heimdall?”

”There. In the forest.” He says. “Something has their scent, sneaking in along their flank… Are any of them trackers, No-name?”

Heimdall doesn’t get an answer. Instead, you clutch the hammer in your hands and leap into the Bifrost. You can just hear Heimdall call your name before you pass through the event horizon.

It went by Ponehenge to most, the shrine of ancient rock and stone that housed the spirits of the Pillars of Equestria, the heroes that protected the kingdom back in times of old.

Today it serves as the destination for a gaggle of friends seeking to solve yet another friendship problem.

Twilight Sparkle leads the way alongside her protégé, Starlight. Her ever present friends, the other Bearers of Harmony follow behind them, along with an orange coated pony in a thick cloak that spoke with a city accent. Along with them traveled young Spike, the kindest and most considerate dragon anyone had ever called friend. Their mission at Ponehenge was one of discovery, trying to learn more of the ancient Pillars and, with luck, return them to the world. It should be one without danger.

But things rarely are.

Off some distance from them do they wait, six eyes spotting nine morsels for them all, enough food the last them the month.

”The small one, I want him.” Says one, rising above the others on a body made of muscle.

”You could never eat a dragon with your gangs” says another with horns. “Their scales are too thick.”

”Then we’ll just have to cook it, won’t we?”

”Are you two done talking? They’re getting further away.” the lead one says.

It receives nods and wicked grins from its two sisters as all three take a step forward, already plotting their course that would take them around behind the herd of ponies and into prime striking distance. A cruel twist of fate, they thought, when something impacted the base of the tree they were about to pass and brought it crashing down in front of them.

They leap back on four strong legs away from the tree and that which threw the metal hammer comes to collect it. It turns to them.

“Don’t.”

You scoop up your war hammer and twirl it in your arms, getting the final feel for its weight you think you’d be able to get. You were a bit surprised, truly. A chimera? This far out? You were told they mostly lived in swamps or other places that fit their rancid personalities, this place seemed far too idyllic for them. The three-in-one beasts growl and snap at you, and the snake head tries to use its entrancing eyes on you. You can’t say you didn’t appreciate the directness, they all knew that you were going to try to stop them from reaching the girls and you knew that was what they wanted. There really wasn’t much reason to say anything else.

Almost.

“I’ve always wondered…”

You rest your hammer on your shoulder, a display of mockery to let your guard down.

“If I crack one of your skulls, will the other two heads feel it?”

The tribunal of savagery pounces at you. Your fight training takes over and your first action is to test your theory. You hop back as the chimera land where you once were and swing your hammer wide, letting the goat in the side of the head and sending it crashing into the feline. To your absolute delight, the snake tail shakes her head; disoriented.

“WONDERFUL!”

You spin around for another tornado-strike, but the chimera ducks you and slashes at you with her claws. You only just get the handle of your weapon up to block them. Your legs buckle a bit under the weight of the patchwork creature and you see the intelligence behind its eyes that glimmer with the realization that she’s physically stronger than you. She leans up higher, putting more weight on you and pushing you down further.

Need a plan. Need a plan fast.

You cock your leg back and deliver a full force kick to the chimera’s chest. The monster lets out a yowl of surprise and pain and you use those scant seconds to disengage and get behind it. You prepare for a rebound strike but get immediately put on the defensive by the monster’s serpentine tail catching sight of you. It’s jaws snap and clap at you while its fangs drip with green poison and the other two heads shake off the pain.

“Damn!”

The snake retreats just as the chimera’s main body turns to face you, and dive at you with razor claws. You swing your hammer at it to give yourself some space and successfully strike one of its claws, but a single noise causes you both to pause.

”Hold on Twilight, I just know I heard a noise over here…”

Your mind freezes wondering what Fluttershy was doing over here.

Time slows to the extent that the space between your heartbeats feels like an eternity. Thoughts flood your mind as you take immediate inventory of the situation.

Setting: You were within a heavily wooded copse of trees, with one fallen over while others surrounded you. There was a chimera attacking you that you estimated probably weighed close to seven hundred pounds. You were currently lightly armored and armed only with a war hammer of Asgardian steel you pilfered.

Problem: Fluttershy, one of your close friends from your old life, was approaching thanks to the sound of the tree you fell to keep the chimera from attacking the girls.

Solution: Get Fluttershy to go away to safety.

Second problem: Fluttershy seeing you after you’d more or less been dead for some time would no doubt be a shock to her and may cause her to hesitate or try to help you, during that time the chimera could get her. Also Queen Sleipnir might atomize you.

Amended solution: Get her to leave without being caught.

Course of action: Do this quietly.

The chimera was still looking towards Fluttershy’s voice which meant you had about a second to do this. You silently hoped she wasn’t too close to hear this. You swung your war hammer as hard as you could and nailed the side of the feline head, disorienting them all again. Fluttershy doesn’t hear the impact, nor you keeping your momentum going and tackling the beast to the ground like an oversized dog. You places your shoulder on the neck of one of the heads and press down with the head of your hammer on the other, blocking their windpipes.

”Is someone in there?” you hear her say.

You instinctively grunt and risk letting her hear as the snake head darts from beneath its main body and lunges at you. The little blighter was faster than it looked and although you try to grab it, it jukes you and plants both its fangs into your forearm. A silent scream escapes out of your mouth as you somehow stifle your own voice despite the six inch incisors sending waves of pain to your brain. Still, you could use that. You whip your arm into the ground, snake head first, and press it down into the dirt. The serpent bites harder at the impact and you feel its toxin seeping into your flesh for the briefest of moments before you lose feeling in your wrist.

All you could think of was Fluttershy, hoping she wouldn’t investigate further and would return to the others.

The numbness spreads up your arm further as you kick your legs, trying to still the flailing of the chimera ‘s hind legs. Tall as you were, this beast has a good foot or more on you and you can’t wrangle its limbs with your own. You have no choice but to press further on each of its heads to suffocate it still. The poison can chew away at your arm and rot your heart a second time, but you wouldn’t let this monster near the girls so long as a breath remained in your lungs.

Just as you were trying to slow your heartrate do slow the poison’s crawl through your veins, you hear something.

”Fluttershy! Let’s go!” you hear Rainbow Dash say

Your salvation comes shortly afterwards when Fluttershy, just on the other side of the tree above your head by the sounds of it, calls back “Eep! Coming!”

You count the flaps as the chimera wrestles underneath you with its last bouts of consciousness until you’re sure Fluttershy was gone.

“Heimdall!” you gag out. “Now!”

A rainbow light shoots from the heavens and engulfs both you and the chimera.

It is not Heimdall that hovers you and the chimera over the Bifrost, however.

”Explain.” Queen Sleipnir says, flanked on either side buy guards with Heimdall at her side.

You spare a glance to him. “You…talked…?”

”My duty is to Asgard and its Queen, No-name. I had to.”

Okay, that made sense…

Sleipnir shakes you and sends you into a coughing fit, your arm still numb. ”Explain to me why I was taken from my duties to drag my guest from Midgard where he chose to wrestle pests.” She demands.

The chimera beside you, held in the silver grip of the Queen’s magic, looks around slack jawed at the grandiose gold chamber it found itself in. ”Holy-! What in Euqestria-!”

Her outburst gets the attention of the last pony she wanted.

”Begone.” Sleipnir says, and with that the chimera is sucked back into the Bifrost screaming in fright.

You tilt your head and watch her go “I worked hard to restrain her, you know…”

The Queen snorts and floats you to her face to look at you with her single eye. She didn’t have to talk to demand you explain for a third time.

“My old friends…walking the forest. It was hunting them…would have eaten them if…no one got there.” You tilt your head towards Heimdall. “He said so…”

The God-Queen keeps her gaze upon you but addresses her watchman. “The truth, Heimdall?”

”Aye, my Queen.”

Back to you. “And protecting these mortals is to you worth losing your place in Asgard? In my presence?”

“A…hundred times…over…” you cough out. “They’re…everything to me. No God…or afterlife…is too much to keep them safe.”

”…Mm.”

Sleipnir floats you away from her face and nods, a single flash escapes from behind her eyepatch and you’re unceremoniously dropped to the floor.

”I have prevented you from succumbing to the poison. It will still hurt. A lot.”

And indeed it does, your veins felt like they were on fire, but you didn’t feel the toxin creeping towards your brain or heart anymore.

“How magnanimous of you…”

Sleipnir turns to one of her guard. “Take him to a healing room and flush the poison from his body. When he is able to hold a sword again, send him to Tyr upon the northern wall. He will see to our No-name.”

The guard salutes and gets you onto his back. You spot the war hammer you had borrowed on the floor before it’s whisked up by silver magic. Sleipnir looks over the fresh blood and dirt on it. “This will be returned to you when you earn it back.” She says no more, simply walking away from you.

“Better this than the alternative…”

The guard carrying you glances back at you. “Five minutes with Lord Tyr will change your tune, No-name.

You cough out a single chuckle and let him carry you off to recover.

Fist of Justice.

The Asgardians call it Ulfirborg, “Wolf Keep” in their oldest tongue. From the tales told by the two guards escorting you along the path there, it has had more names than there are stars in the sky and has always stood strong at Asgard’s northernmost broader at the apex of its great wall. By some accounts, it was the first piece of the wall actually built, and all other fortifications sprung from it and encircled the city.

“Who carved the giant wolf head?” You point to the large lupine carving atop the massive spire fortress casting a shadow down on you even from this far away. You could tell what it is even if it was facing away form you, and you could just see its furious eyes pointing out to the wilderness beyond.

”Carved in commemoration of Lord Tyr’s bravery in sealing the Dread Wolf.” Says one of your escorts

You nod and stroke your chin as you walk “Tyr…I’ve heard the name spoken often since I arrived here.”

The other guard speaks up. “He Lord High-General of Asgard’s standing army, Defender of the Wall, Grand Judge of Asgard, and God of War and Justice.”

You glance back at her. “I thought Lady Sleipnir was the God of War?”

She did say that over breakfast once.

The two guards look to each other, clearly not expecting that question. They wordlessly communicate and look back to you. “There can be two…”

“Of course…Well, regardless.” You roll your shoulder to get the kinks out “The poison of the Chimera is out of my veins, I’m sure I can have whatever words another war god wants to have with me after that little outing.”

The two guards laugh to each other as they lead you through the main gates.

That does not fill you with confidence.

The first thing you hear as you enter the fortress is the sound of someone being thrown to the ground in a heap, a sound you’d recognize anywhere.

”Pick up your mace, try again.” Says a raspy voice filled with authority as it echoes against the stone walls.

The warriors inside the fortress all crowd around a sunken fighting pit in the center of the room, illuminated by sunlight from the sky above that glistens off the golden trim of their black armor. Their eyes turn to see the oddity entering the building and offers you enough clearance to push through and investigate the ring.

What you presume to be Lord Tyr has nicer armor than just about everyone else in the room. It’s polished and layered, and his mane is messy but kept as trim as possible in what you could recognize as a self-done cut, probably away from the fortress. He circles around a younger looking warrior on the ground nursing a bloody mouth with an uneven gait, thrown off by the silver cap over his right forehoof.

”Let’s go, boy.”

The warrior pats around for a silver mace some few feet away from him while he stammers an apology. “A-apologies, lord. That last hit has me seeing stars.”

Tyr’s unicorn horn glows a cobalt blue as he helps the colt to his feet. “The wilds won’t wait for you to collect your senses, pup. You must learn to cultivate a combat trance to shake off those dizzying blows faster.”

“Ah, is there any practice more pure than brutalizing neophytes?”

Every eye turns to you for interjecting, something you noticed was common in Asgard. Tyr glances up and locks eyes with you with a small snort through his nostrils. “And you’re the one the Queen brought out from Valhalla then? You attacked my nephew.”

You leap over the side of the pit arena and land in a crouch next to the initiate. “Honest mistake.”

A cursory glance at the boy is all you need to see. “This one looks done, need a new partner?”

”I-I can still-“ he starts.

”Stay down.” Says Tyr. “Go take a breather.”

You give the warrior some room to get to his hooves and wrap your hand around his fallen mace. “Can I borrow this?”

”It’s…not mine.”

“Ah, so I can use it then. Marvelous.”

You rise and rest the mace on your shoulder “I’m told that you’re to “take care” of me, Lord Tyr.”

He nods once and begins to walk to your right, you instinctively begin to circle left while keeping him in your sight.

”Aye.” He starts. “As Lord-Commander of all Asgard’s warriors, it falls to me to judge those who break rank in any way.” He pauses in his step, putting pressure on that silver cap over his hoof. “Such as those who nearly get themselves discovered by the mortals of Midgard to go kill a Chimera.”

You pause yourself as well. “Save, actually. I saved them from that chimera, as I thought you gods up here in your golden palaces and Ulfirborgs were supposed to do.”

Tyr’s eyes narrow slightly. “Your heart is in the right place, No-name. But even we must have our limits. To open ourselves to them would be to open them to all the dangers that WE face.”

“And meanwhile they still die to something that could have been stopped. Everyone loses.”

Tyr continues his circle, so do you. “You would have us intervene to prevent every death then?”

“Hardly.” You point your mace at him. “I saw danger and I did something about it, I’ll do it again the next time I see it. Guard’s don’t stop every death, we can’t. But we do try and stop every death we can.”

Tyr slowly nods. “Ah…a guard then. Show me something.”

You tilt your head a bit.

”Show me how well you’re trained.” Tyr whistles as his horn glows and a brick from the wall flies at you.

You don’t think, but feel your arm with the mace fly up to your face. The brick recoils off your weapon and flies back at the War God before two halves of it fall to either side of him

Tyr stands before you on three legs while holding his capped foreleg out. The cap itself is gone and now a wide runed blade is in its place. His gaze holds the same intensity it did before as he stares through you, his eyes hold the same luminescence as the other gods here you’ve met.

”Good.” He says, the metal of the blade shifting like clay on a potter’s spinner and reforming back into the silver cap that lets him set his foot down.

“…That’s a neat trick.”

Tyr allows a single chuckle to come through his lips. “Uru is a fantastic metal.” The war god looks you over again with a discerning eye. “You carry that weapon as if you were born with it. Who taught you to hold it?”

You turn your own gaze to the floor and sigh. “You wouldn’t know him.”

”Try me.”

Painful as the memories were, you recall your old master. “Geaus. He was Geaus, former captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard.”

You have never been the most social of clever man, but even you can detect the atmosphere in the room change when Tyr quickly turns his head away and half those watching gasp.

You glance around to the observers and hold your arms out to your sides, trying to get someone to tell you what provoked such a reaction.

“Wha-“

”Leave. You shouldn’t be here.” Tyr says.

You look over your shoulder and find the war god glaring at you. His snout is pointed downwards and his eyes foretell of either frustration or anger.

It gets under your skin. “Oh no.”

You turn around and face him fully, mace in hand. “At my age? With all I’ve done? You don’t EVER talk to me like that.”

Tyr slams his hoof onto the ground and shakes the foundation. “That was not a suggestion.”

“I’m ignoring your suggestion.”

”You’ll do more harm than good here.”

“Then I’ll be the only one doing something out of all the soldiers in this hall.”

Tyr’s eyes narrow even further. “The Queen brought me out of my afterlife for a reason, War God. I would see what that is, do something about it if you don’t like it.”

Tyr scrapes his metal hoof on the ground, signaling a charge. “By your request…”

Both you and he kick off at the same time as you rush one another.

In the heat of battle, you were taught by your master to count time in the form of heartbeats. In your early days, your engagements could last up to fifty heartbeats. Later, your one-on-one battles were shaved down to thirty, then twenty as you got stronger. With your age and experience now, you could now reasonably end a fight in ten heartbeats if it was an even match.

It takes you approximately three beats of your heart to realize that you are outclassed here.

Tyr starts by shifting his limb into a sword and swinging low at you, your attempt to block met the blade becoming fluid again and encasing the haft of your mace in an impervious metal. With a flick, Tyr send it clattering away. That was the first beat.

In the second heartbeat, you try to take a half step back and raise your arms to get a feel for the war diety’s form.

By the third heartbeat and accompanying metal hoof cap to the face, you realize that there is no form and that Tyr is moving in one constant motion. A strike to the face heralds a blow to the legs and a punch to the gut. Your world becomes an inescapable flurry of blows from which even falling over is no reprieve, as Tyr uppercuts you back to your feet when you begin to list.

You get your hands up next to your head to block a strike that sends you to the floor instead of sending you to the wall in a heap. You prepare for the follow-up but get interrupted.

”Tyr.”

Her voice cuts through the haze of pain you’re in like a knife through cloth. You glance out of the corner of your eye as God-Queen Sleipnir now stands where you once did, every other soldier in the fortress watching your bout now with their heads to the floor. ”Explain yourself.” She demands.

Tyr pants in the center of the ring, looking between Her and you. He gasps for air and manages to get a few syllables out.

”I-“ “He-“

”While I’m still young, son.” Sleipnir says.

No one dares laugh at Her remark, but you let a small chuckle out.

”Mother!” Tyr exclaims, collecting himself and bowing. “…He was trained-“

”Tyr.” She interrupts again. The war god looks up at her. Sleipnir tilts her head barely an inch to the side. “Do you believe I would bring an outside to the Golden Realm were I unaware of such things?”

A long silence hangs in the air as Tyr lowers his head again. “No, Mother…”

”Then cease your tantrum and act your age, fool child.”

No sooner does Sleipnir finish speaking than a runner, a Pegasus, flies in through the door. “LORD-COMMANDER! I BRING NEW-EW-EW-EW-!”

It could be a trick of the angle, but you believe for a moment you see Sleipnir roll her single eye as the runner tries to stop himself in mid-air before the Queen. “Well?” She asks. “You have burst through here so quickly, speak your news if it is of such importance.”

He nods nervously. “A-aye, Your Grace!” before he looks to Tyr. “Milord! Heimdall claims something has escaped from the Underworld, an Argus!”

Tyr swears as the bowing warriors rise, murmuring to themselves of the dangers. You hear mention of “acid-spray” and “baleful tentacles” from down on the floor.

”Settle, all of you!” Tyr shouts, silencing the room. His gaze drifts over all in assembly. “Where is it?”

”The mountains, just outside of a Midgard city known as “Stalliongrad”.” The runner reports.

Tyr slowly nods his head, looking solemn. “The Argus Panoptes was indeed sealed away in the Underworld back before the mortals were so widespread…but now it wanders near them, and our intervention would reveal us and our own horrors to them. It is not our place to stop this beast.”

“What a load…” You rub your jaw, feeling it and fearing it was dislocated, as you rise up and speak through the pain.

“What coward lets a giant rampage through innocent lives because he’s too scared to be seen? Were I you, I’d be too scared of being seen NOW acting as you are than to be seen trying to save them!”

”YOU don’t know the Argus Panoptes.” Tyr retorts.

“I know those damn mountains!” You point two fingers at the war god and everyone else in the room “No creature, not even this Helspawn you’re talking about, can travel those peaks and hills without getting lost, the area is damn near a maze. Send someone with even half of an idea which way is which and you can find it before it gets anywhere close to Stalliongrad.”

”And whom would you send, No-name?” Sleipnir asks for her son.

You hold up a trio of fingers to the Queen. “I’ll give you three guesses, but I wager you won’t even need one.”

”Indeed.” She replies, stone faced as ever and directing her gaze to Tyr. “The order is yours to consider, Lord-Commander.”

Tyr looks at you from the corner of his eye. You still see the anger that prompted his earlier assault, but the fires of rage are smothered by the cool blue of the Lord of the Ulfirborg. “Summon a healer.” He commands to any who will listen. ”Stitch him up so he can fight, have Heimdall find a place we can send him.”

“I need a weapon.”

”We’ll find you one.”

Tyr keeps his back to you as he climbs the stairs out of the arena.

”No-name.”

You turn your gaze to Queen Sleipnir. “This is the third time I have had to save you since I brought you here. Continue this, and I will consider bringing you here a mistake. Do not make me do it again.”

You nod. “Aye.” Your grace.

No pressure.

Confidants.

The snow to the east of the Celestial Ridge upon which Canterlot sat was the result of Artic winds coming down from the Griffin Kingdoms to the north as well as the moisture blown up from the Bridle Shores to the south. The ridge itself blocked most of the winds from reaching the more populated western area of the Kingdom, probably helped by a smattering of Princess and Pegasus magic.

The Ridge itself, with Stalliongrad in the shadow of the peak furthest to the east, was a chaotic mess of mountains seemingly attempting to climb over each other forming half peaks, broken trails, and sheer drops from whatever mess of tectonic activity formed them. Old legends told of a colossus who scraped the sky and devoured the land forming them with his footprints.

But that was patently ridiculous. Right?

Somewhat equally as ridiculous was how much time you’ve spent scaling through these peaks.

You take a breather at the face of a cliff and let the blustery wind blow through your hair “At least Asgard was nice enough to give me some furs…”

Kinda itchy though.

“Alright, enough of that.”

You slide your helmet back on and stand up, gripping your borrowed mace and buckler shield tight. “Alright, review the situation…”

The Argus Panoptes, the hundred-eyed horror you were here to handle before it killed somepony, was loose somewhere in these mountains.

“From the way they describe it, it might be moving on its tentacles? Or maybe it can fly somehow…”

If it was landlocked it’d be slower but flying would mean you’d have to hurry. You glance to the west, the sun was already beginning to set and cast the long shadows of the peaks over the valleys below.

“Running out of time…”

You turn on your heel and start heading down the way you came to check another direction “And worse I’m talking to myself…”

The path you walk takes you down the peak you used for reconnaissance and through a valley towards another in the next ridge.

“If I can cross over here into the lowlands, I may be able to find something to eat along the way…”

You glance up at the sky, past the clouds. “And I am ONLY talking so that you have updates on my status, Heimdall. You or the Queen, I know you’re watching.”

Yes, that was the reason you decided on for self-narration.

Continuing along the path gives you time to think. What was this creature? And why was it even potentially out here?

Your career as a guard was spent hunting down monsters as much as it was spent on domestic problems, probably moreso. Knowing Princess Twilight as you had also meant that you had been involved or involved yourself in many of their more dangerous outings and adventures.

The day that sticks out in your head presently is the Royal Wedding, when the Changeling’s tried to enact a coup d’etat that eventually just turned into an invasion. You and the rest of the girls were fighting in the streets when Shining and his wife saved the day.

“Heh…just as good you did, you never could fight, Armor.”

You sigh and push those thoughts out as you’d gotten used to, all they did was remind you of how long you’ve been doing this and your encroaching age. Before you died and went to Valhalla, you had wandered off to find your death in defense of Equestria rather than having your body betray you in a crucial moment during some future crisis.

“I mean, I’m happy to be “alive” again, but…”

Being alive again meant another opportunity to fail when you were needed most. You had taken note that you weren’t feeling your age in Asgard, but you weren’t pious enough to believe that would stay that way forever if nothing was done. You spend so much time in your own head as you cross the ridge that you almost don’t notice your foot hitting something that feels different.

“Mm? Now what’s this?”

You kneel and brush the snow off whatever you stepped on. Beneath your foot you find a square cut stone with a worn and faded symbol carved into it, reminding you specifically of-

“A brick? What in the Hel is a brick doing out…?”

You hear someone below you and close sneeze. Your instincts tell you to hunker down close to the ground as you inch yourself towards the edge of the small drop near you.

Further investigation reveals to you that you’re apparently as blind as a bat pony. These rocks at the edge of the drop weren’t rocks, they were keystones. Carved keystones. You rub your hand over the smooth edges when the sneeze echoes through the valley again And it’s coming from right below you.

You stay low and circle around, sliding down a snow embankment to get around to the entrance of the cave the sneezing was coming from. Wait, no, not a cave. The entrance was a perfect rectangle and the stones leading up to the keystones you were at are uniform and perfectly geometric. Beneath your feet you can feel the smooth stone of a weathered floor and carvings within it which would make this-

“A temple? Here?”

Another sneeze mixed with a surprised whinny comes from the doorway into the temple and out comes its squatter. “Who in-?”

He’s wearing pristine polished silver armor that compliments his resplendent gold mane. His shoulders are broad, and he’s got a decent bit of muscle on him, which does NOT go with the classical rapier at his side. “Who goes the-“ he begins to shout in a high society voice before beginning to look you over and his face growing befuddled. “What…manner of creature are you?”

“Prince Blueblood?”

He’s slightly taken aback by that. “How do you know my name?”

You really ought to be running away or knocking him out and passing yourself off as a cold-borne hallucination to preserve your continued existence a secret, but he seemed to barely recognize you.
“I…was a guard in the city for a few decades? The only human?”

”Well I don’t recognize you.”

“I worked for your aunts for probably longer than you’ve been alive?”

”You did?”

You instinctively shrug “I was at there at the Changeling invasion?!”

Blueblood rolls his eyes back like he’d just been caught doing something embarrassing. “Yes, well…I was not. Dreadful business that, I’d come down with hay fever just two days before and couldn’t attend such a wonderful affair, so sad…”

Right.

“What the Hel are you DOING out here, Your Majesty?”

You probably didn’t need to call him that, having died and all, but old habits were harder to shake than the mortal coil. Blueblood straightens and for a moment looks as regal as his position would demand. “There is word of a monster loose within these mountains that puts Stalliongrad in danger. I have come to confirm these suspicions and, if needed, slay the beast!”

You chew that over for a spell “So EVERYONE else was busy with something else and you came out to snag a bit of glory is what you’re saying?”

Blueblood is silent for a moment as he thinks over his response. “…A little recognition WOULD be nice.”

You knew of Prince Blueblood, knew of his reputation for being a prick at times and a showboat at others, but you also knew of the stories behind those of his unparalleled fencing skills and unwavering support for those who managed to penetrate his outer shell and become close to him.

And at the frigid roof of the world here, you couldn’t exactly afford to be picky.

“Alright then, we’re here for the same reason. Let’s head inside and get warm while we figure out a plan, and I guess make our introductions.”

You quizzically tilt your head to the side.

“That looks like a hot bowl of soup…”

”It is a MONSTER, Sir Anonymous. At least try to pretend you’re taking this seriously!”

“Oh like looking for glory, boy? I am taking this seriously.”

Blueblood’s artistic rendition of the monster he saw just…left a bit to be desired. “If we can watch out for the steam clouds-“

”TENTACLES.” Blueblood insists.

“If we can stay out of reach of THE TENTACLES then, we should be able to observe it with at least some safety…”

”We also need be aware of its thousand eyes and acid spray.”

Oh. So those weren’t you hearing things from your war-god induced concussion.

“Great…”

”I was in the process of thinking of a plan when you arrived.” he says.

“Mm…”

You close your eyes and lean back against the temple wall, tapping your foot to think “What are you even doing here?”

”I told you that!”

“I mean HERE! In this temple! What is it? It looks older than old.”

Blueblood looks up to the roof and glances around. “Aye, indeed…the carvings inside tell that it was a hidden temple from the old world, but I could not say from which culture. As it was, I simply saw it as shelter from the winds and sought to catch my breath.” He says, pushing his satchel back with his legs.

You tap your foot as you stare into the fire and try to think of an idea. The dance of the flames cast umbral shadows on the wall and sting your eyes as you look at it for too long.

Lightbulb.

A glance outside the door of the temple washes you with orange sunlight reflecting off the snow, giving you further idea and telling you that you had a time limit before it was gone.

“I have it.”

Blueblood glances over to you as you quickly climb up.

“Get your things and put that fire out. We have one shot to make this work and not a lot of time.”

Music

“That is downright unsettling…”

Blueblood and you observe the monster you were both after from behind a rock. It was…a vile thing, floating through the canyon in a gelatinous sac above the ground by some arcane means. Dozens upon dozens of eyes stare in every direction from within the sac, never blinking and observing everything within its proximity. The objects of interest it wraps in its tendrils longer than you twice over, which it holds to one of its eyes to examine before tossing it away. It drifts along the snow and rocks of the mountains, cloaking itself in the shadows of the peak to your back.

”One of those could squeeze a stallion in half…” Blueblood says grimly.

“Aye, and look at its eyes. The fluid in that sac must keep them moist enough that it never has to blink.”

”I see…perhaps it is not even able.”

You glance beyond the Argus Paneoptes towards the end of the canyon, at a rocky crag wall “Alright…that gives me the idea. Let’s go.”

You slide off the rock and stay low as you creep through the snow in the direction of the monster. Blueblood audibly winces behind you and hurries to catch up.

”What are you doing!?” He shouts in a whisper “At least tell me what your plan is before you enact it!”

“I need to get closer first.”

”For WHAT?”

You crouch behind another rock and signal for Blue to get lower, to which he complies. You take a runic marking from your belt and hold it at an angle in your hand towards the Argus. You estimate you were about a hundred or so feet from it now.

The setting sun’s brilliant orange light catches on the polished metal and reflects across the canyon and onto the jellified sac of the Argus.

The beast wriggles in discomfort, something that would possibly be cute if anything else were doing it, before unleashing a high-pitched screech that makes your blood run cold. While you grit your teeth and fight through the effects of the scream, you spot something flying at your location. An attack, surely.

Your legs will not move, but you force your shield arm to action. In a flash your buckler intercepts the splash of green, viscous liquid with a splash. The snow behind you melts in places the liquid hit and your buckler smokes as even the magic wood begins to pulp.

“For THAT.” You answer Blueblood finally.

You knew you heard mention of acid.

”What. In Celestia’s name. Are we to do against THAT?” Blueblood wonders aloud.

You dap your shield in the snow to smother the effects of the acid. You were surprised how quickly it could site and shoot at you.

As well as how quickly it was recovering.

“Right now, move!”

Blueblood follows you as the two of you take off running and the rock behind which you were hiding melts in a rain of acid.

”Plan! Now!” Blueblood demands as panic sets in.

You however were fine as the icy chill of your combat rush set in. “Split up! Avoid the spray and try to make some tears in that sac of its!”

”Are you mad!?” Blueblood when you run away from him.

You didn’t blame him for the legitimate question, you probably were.

Closing on the Argus Panoptes, you drag your mace along the ground and catch a fist sized stone with it, batting it through the air until it strikes the Argus dead in the eye-sac. It makes that same sound as before, the sort of cough you’d hear from a disgruntled child, as it turns its tendrils to you.

“Hah! I told you!”

You duck under a swipe of a noodly appendage and gesture to your companion. “I told you it would work, now go the other way! Push it down canyon and into the light!”

Music

Blueblood begins to gallop down the snow field, drawing the attention of the Argus by the glisten of his armor. The monster turns its mouth to him to spit-

“Oh no, that’s too soon!”

You leap up and swing your mace, catching a bit of skin on it with the edge of your weapon and drawing a thick blue blood.

“Heh! Ironic.”

The other, friendly Blueblood continues to gallop as his horn begins to glow, he scoops up long streaks of snow in his grip. He presses the snow together into shards of ice and rime that streak through the air towards the Argus as its distracted with you, dragging lines of cobalt ichor along its skin and spilling it to the ground in a frothy gruel of fluid and blood.

The Argus screeches again, but in pain and surprise more than outrage, and you see the eyes where Blueblood cut begin to squirm and dart around.

“Keep the pressure on!”

That was the wrong thing to say, as it draws the attention of the Argus to the much closer target: You.

“Uh oh.”

You dash forward to avoid the strike of one of its tendrils and swear to yourself for presenting your back to your enemy.

Hazarding a glance behind you, the Argus raises both its long tendrils above its body, the speed you’ve seen it move at tells you that you won’t have time to get away from it. The Argus unleashes a gurgly roar in its slowly draining fluid sac as one of its tendrils hits the ground next to it. Blueblood races around the crippled side wielding an ornate rapier in his magical grip. “It turned it’s back!”

“And you saved my life!”

You skid through the snow and take a hard right, heading up a ride and back the way you came towards the Argus.

“I’ll set it up, keep going! We need to get it past the mountain’s shadow!”

The Argus spots you with one of its still functioning eyes and spits a green mucus in your path. Your old body is too worn to dive in time without loosing a leg at the speed it was coming, but your life is saved once again when some instinct overtakes you and you send your buckler sailing off your arm and through the air with a flick.

The acid overtakes the shield, but the momentum from your throw impacts the acid and slows it enough for you to slide down the ridge and closer to the monster.

”You need this more than I!” Blue calls, getting your attention

His fancy saber comes spinning at you just as you turn your head and your arm snaps up to grab the hilt. “Thanks!”

Just what you needed!

You whip the saber forward and slice off the tip of one of the remaining tendrils, slicing clean through with the expertly honed edge of the weapon. The rest of your momentum carries your mace and its considerably higher mass which you slam into the remainder of the tendril, knocking it out of the way and crippling the appendage.

You plant your forward foot in the ground and step forward as you bring Blue’s saber up over your arm and stab it into the face of the Argus, piercing one of its central eyes low in the sac.

“Paydirt!”

The Argus screams in pain again and resolves to crush you with its remaining tendrils or melt you down to your bones, but you distract it long enough to escape its proximity by dragging the blade across its body, tearing into the next two eyes before ripping it out and running.

If it wasn’t going to follow you before, it would now.

“Get ready, Your Highness!”

”What??” Blueblood turns to you in the field of snow just beyond the shadow of the mountain. All around you was fresh, untouched powder dropped by local weather ponies without end that was left to peacefully pile up due to how little anyone came up here.

You have to lift your legs high to slog through this deep snow, slowing you considerably as you rejoin Blueblood and toss him his sword.

“It’s coming.”

If you were still running, the Argus would be sure to catch you. But running was the last thing on your mind. The Argus floats towards the two of you in the shadow of the mountain, bleeding from half its eyes and leaking fluid from the sac it lived in that stains the snow. The eyes that still function dart every direction as the cold air begins to dry them.

“Be ready…Aim for the lower eyes still moist.”

”What are we doing, Anonymous?”

“Wait for it…”

Your eyes dart up the side of the crag you were beside as the Argus encroaches, gripping the handle of your mace tight.

The Argus halts mid-flight once it reaches the edge of the shadow and squeals in pain. It’s top eyes are red and bloodshot as they fail to focus while freezing over and the snow all around you, shining like a torch in the light of the sunset, catches the others.

“Now! Angle your blade and keep it off balance with light to the last of its eyes!”

Blueblood obeys your command and bounces the sunlight right into the last eyes on the Argus still moistened while you take your mace in both hands and arc it back over your head. With a mighty heave you hurl your mace through the air as hard as you can and send it sailing up the side of the mountain, it spirals through the air and strikes a collection of boulders you’d eyed when you entered the valley.

“Now! Down!”

You grab Blueblood and tackle him to the snow.

The mace rebounds on contact, but jostles the boulders free, which fall from their precarious height and knock bits of mountain off on their way down. The Argus has time to notice that it is no longer fully blind and look up before it gets crushed under the jagged stones.

”Cover your eyes!” you hear Blueblood yell when the wave of blood and acid from the creature’s death looms over you.

The sounds of fading magic and snow dissolving in acid meet your ears as Blueblood’s ward falls.

“Your highness, never let anyone call you a lackabout who rides on his royal reputation ever again.”

”Not…not, dammit.” You hear the Prince grumbling next to you.

You lift your head up and behold him fighting a spark of emerald magic at the top of his horn. His coat is flashing between black and white while his entire form shifts until the spark explodes over him and his spell fades, returning him to a form you were much more familiar with.

A silence passes between the two of you. He looks at you with his milky eyes while you register what just happened. As soon as the moment passes, the thought cements itself in your head and you’re on your feet, hand wrapping around your mace for another battle.

“What have you done with the prince!” you demand.

”It’s fine!”

You leap at him with your mace, but he hops back before you can reach him.

“Where IS he!?”

”CALM DOWN!”

“I have not lived this long taking suggestions from Changelings!”

”And if I were attempting to deceive you, you’d be dead again already!”

You bit your teeth as you come to that realization yourself, as well as another. “’Again’?”

The Once-Prince takes a deep breath and speaks with a double flanged voice. “Yes, you fool. I know of how you went off to the far North to meet your end, everyone does. The Princesses held a ceremony in honor of all you’ve done for the Kingdom.”

That made you feel warm inside, you ever so slightly relax your stance.

“I will ask again, bug. Where is Prince Blueblood?”

You see him roll his eyes. “At his chateau in the hills more than likely! I’ve never even been near him, just saw his photograph and knew his form would be helpful!”

“Helpful for what?” you ask.

The Changeling looks to the runic inscriptions on your belt and breastplate and opens his mouth to answer, but a call from down the valley catches both your ears.

”COME THIS WAY! STRELNIKOV HEAR RAGING BATTLE JUST OVER THIS RIDGE!”

”Dammit!” exclaims the Changeling.

“The Stalliongradians!”

The Changeling runs over to his bags, a flawless recreation of the bags a Canterlot prince would have and digs around in them. “We do NOT have time for this. You need to GO.”

“I beg your PARDON?”

You didn’t like this insect giving you orders, but he looks back at you over his shoulder with fury in his eyes. “YOU are dead, I am an enemy of the crown, and I know where you come from!”

Wait WHAT?

He trots over to you literally hissing. “I presume this beast was YOUR mission, but it was not mine! I stumbled onto this mayhem by accident and if we tarry ANY longer then they are going to find out we’re BOTH here and this corpse will be in every newspaper by tomorrow morning!” he says, pointing to the approaching sounds of the locals. ”So are we REALLY going to dig up animosity from years ago until we’re both found out, or are you going to take this thing away with you, let me assume the Prince’s form to turn THEM away, and let everyone get what they want and be happy!?”

You were a soldier, not a politician, and this smelled a lot like politics. Changelings were untrustworthy, this one especially since he had the shape of a prince and seemed to know how you were alive again, and both of those made you nervous.

But soldier as you were, you weren’t an idiot.

“I have no choice, do I?” you ask with a sigh.

”No.” he says. “Now hurry!”

The Changeling uses his magic to assume Blueblood’s form once more and gathers his props for his disguise. You run over to the corpse of the Argus and look to the sky.

“Heimdall! It’s dead and the mortals are coming! I need you now!”

As the clouds above you swirl in the pattern you recognize as the opening Bifrost, you look back to your unlikely ally.

“Just tell me, what in the Hel are you doing out here, Changeling?”

His answer comes as he uses his magic to toss something to you, a glistening orange jewel that you catch with your hand.

”Tell Lady Loki that Thorax’s debt has been repaid!”

You’re shocked stiff twice in the past ten minutes as the Bifrost spirits you and the Argus away.

You blink away the mountains of the Celestial Ridge and find yourself back in the Bifrost Keep in Asgard. Others are here as well, Heimdall watches from his perch behind you and Tyr stands before a group of hooded unicorns who have the corpse of the Argus suspended in a force field above the floor, to keep the acid from eating through, no doubt.

Before them all was Queen Sleipnir, looking over the corpse of the Panoptes with an expression that could be at best considered “mildly interested”. She turns her head to you shortly you register her presence, possibly detecting that you were aware now. ”What does this make, the second time you have killed something with a rock instead of a weapon?”

You lower your shieldless left hand and silently place the jewel that Changeling gave you in your pocket, you were intent to figure that mystery out yourself after what you’d gone through.

But that meant you needed to handle this situation now, so you fall to a joke.

“We had sharp rocks before we had swords, Your Grace, I dare say they’re the weapon we have the most experience in.”

An almost laugh escapes the Queen’s nostrils before she strides over to you. “You slew the beast and solved the problem my son too cautious to do, you as well do not need to be put back together again this time. Well done.”

“Your son was nearly right to leave it.”

Sleipnir cocks an eyebrow.

“The sounds of the battle drew the attention of the locals, they nearly spotted me before Heimdall pulled me away.”

Sleipnir looks over her shoulder to the other war god. “Fortunate then that we have the both of you here. One to remain cautious and voice concerns, and the other to ignore them and slay the beast.”

Tyr nods his begrudging agreement with her assessment as the Queen walks past him. “Throw that in a pit where it belongs, then arrange a feast, we will commemorate No-name’s deed today.”

”As you wish, Mother.”

That gets your interest, you were never one to turn down free food…

The meal lasted long into the night and featured more guests than any event at the royal palace. They hailed from all walks of the city and congratulated you on your slaying of a Tartarian beast. Warriors you’d seen at the Ulfirborg, visiting diplomats from other realms, even Baldur and Tyr had offered their word.

Sleipnir informed you that one of her children, Hermod, offered much the same and that the strong gust of wind you’d felt when they brought out the third boar you were eating was him, but that he had to return to his duties.

That was fine with you, as you needed to get out of there to investigate further.

You walk down the hallway Baldur had shown you on your first day and stop before a section of wood inside of a door frame with a splash of green paint on it in a runic shape. You had seen Loki walk into this sigil when you first saw it, but could she hear you through it?

“Loki?”

No harm in trying. No response though.

You look both ways down the hall to ensure no sentry would spot you and, content that they were off getting drunk, rap your hand against the wood.

“Loki, it’s No-name, I need to speak with you.”

Still nothing. It was like you were talking to a wall.

You sigh at how foolish you must look, but resolve to try one last thing. “I met Throax, he gave me something he said would clear his debt.”

The instant the words leave your mouth, the sigil on the wood alights in a flash of green. You don’t have time to shout in surprise before you’re whisked away.

Music

”Show me!” is the first thing you hear.

You blink the spots away to find yourself comfortably standing on the other side of the sigil doorway in a room that had a lot of attention poured into it. Books, tomes, and ancient scrolls are stacked in almost every corner of the. Next to the bed, the table stocked with fruity drinks and ales, by the window. Plants and greenery made the room smell fresh and natural and on the fall wall there was a tank of water populated by a half dozen slithering eels.

“Charming…”

”Hey!” Loki, absent from her helmet and finery and looking uncombed, leaps into your vision from below your belt and you notice she wiggles her legs when she jumps. “Show me the jewel, you oaf!”

“Alright! Settle down! By the nine…”

You reach into your pocket and hold the jewel to her eyes between your fingers. Her eyes light up like Hearths Warming as the light from her room catches the facets, no doubt seeing something you didn’t. “Beautiful…just beautiful.”

She reaches her hoof to it, but you pull it back just as fast. You get a puffy cheeked face of anger for your troubles.

“Oh no, not yet. First you tell me what this is and why you had a Changeling getting it for you.”

”I am sure you’re aware that I can simply make you give that to me, No-name.”

“Just as I’m sure YOU are aware that the first one to find out after you do would be your Mother, Lady Loki.”

She tightens her jaw when you say that.

“So start talking.”

Princess Loki silently considers your words. “Very well…” She turns and goes to a stack of books near the wall, digs behind it, and produces a chest. Using her magic, she manipulates a complex lock on the chest and produces a single flat talisman with an empty socket in the center.

”The jewel goes in tandem with this mystical talisman I spent nine months tracking down from Alfhiem and had to beg my older brother to win in a gamble for me. I simply told him I thought it would be a pretty necklace and shed some tears.”

“How cute. Keep talking.”

Loki sneers at you and continues. “A lie, obviously. The two pieces together form a talisman dubbed Palantir. The tales say that the first king of the Elves crafted it to relive the memories of the older races of the world…and was driven insane by it as a result.”

“And now you want it? There are easier ways to go mad, Princess.”

”I am not looking to go mad, OAF. I need it for…reasons.”

“Yeah? Like what.”

Loki narrows her eyes at you “You are annoyingly persistent.” She remarks, trying to change the subject.

“QUEEN SLEIPN-“

”STOOOP!” she cries with both hooves out, suddenly very much a young filly. You laugh in your head.

Loki composes herself and takes a breath. “The REASONS…are that according to the tales, the Palantir will transcend time and space when called upon to view anything the wielder wishes.”

“And the “insanity” thing?”

”Stare into the sun for too long and you’ll burn your eyes, No-name. This is much the same.”

“On today of all days, I’m very familiar with the idea.” You say.

“Why then? Why does this interest you?” you ask.

Loki heaves a heavy sigh and looks away from you. “I am adopted.”

“I know.”

”And what you do not know is that I was adopted the day I was born, the same day my birth-parents died.”

Ah…

Loki continues. “I would use this to answer…questions about my past, and provide me direction in…my future.”

It may have been a trick of the light, but Loki seems to lower her head and look sadder from where you stand.

Looking down on her with the gem in your hand makes her seem much smaller than the goddess who’d nearly gotten you eaten by Timber Wolves, smaller than the large room she was in by herself all this time.

“…No, it’s fine, me too.”

Loki’s head perks up and she looks to you. “Excuse me?”

You approach the goddess from across the room, noting her still apparent distrust of you by the way she raises her leg and grits her teeth, but you extend the jewel out to her.

“I said me too. I came here when I was a young boy, no older than you were now, but I didn’t remember a thing about where I came from or why I was here.”

Loki continues to look up at you, though her eyes dart to the jewel.

“I remember the nights staying awake wondering what reason I had to be alive in Equestria, or questioning the kindness of those who took me in. Growing up isn’t easy, and it’s harder when you have all that going on.”

You tilt your head to the side. “You think I didn’t wish for a magic spell that could tell me all the answers I wanted? I did, but I didn’t get it, I had to grow out of those the hard way.” You shake the gem at her again “So if I can make your road down that path easier, I’m going to.”

Loki looks at you like you have two heads. “And you…trust my words?”

“You’re a brat, Loki. But I can tell a frightened and confused child when I see one after so many nights in front of a mirror.”

Loki’s face of disbelief melts off into an annoyed one. “And now I regret speaking.”

“You’ll regret more if you don’t hide this somewhere your Mother can’t see it.”

Loki’s eyes bug wide open as she realizes that. “…Yes, indeed. This room is enough sanctuary for me for normal life, but even I cannot hide something like the Palantir if it’s complete and inside the palace…”

Her face shifts once again back to the composed, condescending face of a lifelong royal. “You trust me, No-name?”

“Until you give me reason not to.”

”And you could have given this to Mother but instead came here…”

“Yep.”

Loki approaches you and looks you up and down. “Keep the gem.”

You cock and eyebrow.

”The pieces are safer from Mother separate than together. I propose a…contract of sorts, No-name. I will keep the base, you will keep the jewel, and we will only use the Palantir together to learn what we desire.”

“And we’ll both have enough on the other that the Queen would bury us if she found out.”

”Which will keep either of us from telling her.” Loki says, extending her hoof. “Do we have a deal?”

You contemplate her words, actions, and the look in her eyes before you pocket the gem and shake her hoof “We do, Princess.”

Deep inside you, you feel the faint embers of a mutual bond forming with the princess.

Through The Stomach.

You rapidly spin the midsections of the striking dummies in what is rapidly becoming your favorite courtyard in the palace until they look like they’ll go on their own. You take a deep breath and pluck your sword from the ground as you dive between the two of them.

Iron striking limbs hit at you from all angles, requiring you to parry from forward and backwards with your ice sword and a sparring blade you’d borrowed. The tornado of steel and wood becomes your entire world as you focus on your rhythm. Strike, strike, reverse strike, turn, strike, practice dummies get stopped by gold magic, strik-

Wait hold on.

You stop your flurry and look to your guest, the God Queen of Asgard.

”You spend more time alone with these training tools than you do with others.” she says.

You snort and rise, sheathing your blade and swinging the borrowed one. “The same could be said for yourself, Grace. You spend so much time as a Queen that I never see you rest or spend time with your friends.”

”Because all my friends are dead, No-name.”

The silence in the courtyard is palpable.

“…Really?”

Sleipnir does what you construe as a shrug. “No, not all of them. But most.”

“I’m sorry.”

Sleipnir signals for you to follow her, to which you obey.

”Do not be.” She says. “They were gone long before you were born.”

“Then you have my sympathies.”

”Something I neither require nor desire.”

Either you made a face or she read your mind, but the Queen of Asgard knew how you felt and continued to speak as she walks with you.

”We die, that is the way of all things. Some may pass sooner, others later. But all things are destined to end, one day. So says the God of Death.”

You mull that over for a second as the two of you walk “Pessimistic nihilism, if you ask me.”

Sleipnir stops in her tracks and looks back at you with a tempests eye, so you make quick to explain yourself. “Yeah, people die, sometimes we can’t stop it, but that doesn’t mean we submit ourselves to it either. Prevent it wherever you can, accept it when it happens, but never, EVER resign yourself to it.”

She continues to stare at you, you put your fists on your hips and puff your chest a bit.

“So says No-name, God of Nothing.”

Sleipnir continues to stare, until she doesn't and just continues on her way. “Come, we’re late for breakfast.”

The Queen leads you into the feasting hall which is entirely empty, with places set for only two.

“Didn’t think we were THAT late…” you muse.

”Normal breakfast was early today, we required the room.” Sleipnir gestures to one of the seats. “Sit.”

You hang your sword on one of the hooks by the wall and sit down.

“Early, eh? I can never eat so soon after waking up, it makes me feel sluggish.”

”I do not sleep.” Sleipnir says.

You ponder the logistics of that when two others enter the room.

”I’ve retrieved her as asked!” Baldur proclaims.

Next to him, Loki grimaces and rubs her head near her horn. “Not so LOUD, brother…”

“Hey! Welcome back to the land of the living, Princess.” Loki grunts as she walks around the table and takes a seat next to you.

“No meal in your room today?”

”Nothing MORE obvious to state today?” she asks.

”Enough, the both of you.” Sleipnir silences the both of you as she approaches from the other end of the table, floating a golden chest the size of your head. She places the chest before you on the table and eyes Loki sternly.

”Tell me what it is you did wrong.”

Loki squirms in her chair and looks away from her mother.

”Now.” She demands.

The princess closes her eyes and lets it all come out. ”I wandered down to Midgard and tried to trick the mortals to me because I wanted SOMEONE up here to take my magic seriously for once in my life and that seemed the best way to do it OKAY? Honestly…how am I to make myself known as a magister when you are here as well, Mother?”

”You don’t.” says Sleipnir, echoing through the empty chamber. She leans her head down to Loki’s level and looks her in the eye. “You are not prepared for the role you seek, child. The throne takes more than a magister to occupy.” Loki breaks eye contact with her mother and nods with a sigh. “If you wish to be noticed, then be something worth noticing.”

Loki is about to object before she continues. “There are enough magisters in this realm, you are a goddess, a princess, and my daughter. Surely you can come up with a role you wish to be.”

”Now, eat.” She commands as she opens the chest.

Inside the resplendent chest on a cushion of red silk was a single apple, about the size of AJ’s back home. Unlike hers, however, this one was the same color as the chest it came in.

“What in the world-“

”The Golden Apples of Iduun. Called Ambrosia by the Equestrians and the source of the might of the Aesir. The grove where Iduun cultivates them is one of our most closely guarded secrets, as the power they hold within them the power to make a mortal into a king.”

You look between the apple and Sleipnir.

“And?”

The Queen grabs a knife with her magic and stabs it into the table in front of you.

“You can’t be serious.”

”She’s always serious.” Loki says.

“She JUST said it would have the power to make me a king.”

”Half of one.” Sleipnir corrects, taking the knife and floating the apple up. With gentle care, the Mother of All cuts the heavenly fruit in half first, then begins slicing it.

“Beg pardon.”

”The apple does indeed have the power within it to make a mortal a king, but only those of Aesir blood may have the fortitude to contain it all.” Sleipnir places the slices gently in front of you both. “You two will make due with half of such power.”

Loki simmers and grabs one of the slices. “Mother! I am not a little filly anymore, cease treating me as one at once!”

”No.” is all the response she gets.

You snicker under your breath.

Sleipnir goes around behind your chairs. “When you are my age, daughter. Then I may consider your request. Baldur.”

”Yes’m!” you hear.

”When your sister finishes her apple, spend the day with her outside the palace. Take No-name with you to ensure that the apple does not harm him.”

Loki’s ears perk up at the idea of not being grounded.

”Should she behave herself for the day, she will be permitted to walk the city again.”

You’d never seen anyone dig into a sliced apple meal so fast, but Loki certainly tried.

“Hah! Well, bon appetite, I guess…”

You pick up the odd fruit between your fingers and pop it into your mouth.

Hmm. Tasted like sunshine.

After your meal, the three of you walk from the entrance of the palace along the path to the city, between the golden statues of heroes from ages past that tower taller than the palace in Canterlot.

You look at your hands, flexing them and trying to feel the power the apple had carried into you. “I don’t FEEL any different.”

”Give it a bit of time, No-name!” Baldur assures you. “The nectar of the Golden Apples is like a gentle drip carried by the clear waters of the Aesir through our bodies! Yours might just take a bit of time since your blood is more like…uhm…” He chews on his tongue a bit in thought before he gets something. “Mud! Blood like mud! Hehe.”

“You’re too kind, Majesty.”

”Baldur to you, No-name! Just Baldur!”

The prince walks along the path with his head held high and you look down to his sister, keeping her gaze low as she trots along.

“Bit for your thoughts.”

Loki blinks away her haze and looks up to you. “Were you addressing me?”

“Yes?”

She scrunches her nose. “My thoughts are none of your concern, No-name!” she says in her haughty princess voice.

“Right, right. Humor me with a question then.”

Loki looks back to you with one eye open, the action form of a question mark.

“The Queen called you her daughter so…assuredly, but you told me you were adopted, so…”

A shade of crimson comes from under Loki’s cheeks and her horn sparks. “You have some nerve on you, Mortal! To think that you would ask a goddess such-“

”Settle down, sister!” Baldur chides, stopping ahead of you both. He extends a calming hoof out and pats her back. “He doesn’t know, alright? Settle down.”

“I get the feeling you two know something I don’t.” you say.

Baldur gives you a big smile and laughs. “I believe this may be what you mortals call “cultural differences”, my friend.” Baldur pulls Loki a bit closer, the princess clearly not enjoying the physical attention. “In Asgard, so many may die in wars or battles, that bonds we form must either form quickly and deeply, or not at all. Because of that and any familial deaths within those wars to be “adopted” does not carry with it the stigma it may in other realms.” He explains.

Baldur smiles down at Loki, who does her best impression of a rock wall. ”Sister has been accepted as one of us! That means she is of our family, by heart if not by blood.”

”Being of the same family as you, brother…I can hardly contain my excitement.”

You chuckle. “You both act like family, at least.”

”His fault.” Loki assures. “He was here since I was a newborn and I am only able to withstand so much of him after the years.”

She removes her brother’s hoof and continues down the road. “Come! I would use my first day of freedom for something other than the cultural enrichment of a braindead peon.”

You and Baldur exchange a look and a half-sigh.

“If she gets in trouble and stays grounded, she’ll never let us hear the end of it.”

”So we should get in the trouble before her since we’re not being punished! Come, No-name!”

Baldur gallops after his little sister, with you not too far behind.

Miracle Duty.

”KILL IT! KILL IT! WHY AREN’T YOU KILLING IT!”

“I heard you the first time, hold on!” you chide

You prop your foot upon a rock and lean your weight into pulling your war hammer free as another deafening roar echoes through the cave. The hardened magma bursts around your hammers head as Loki lets out another yelp. ”HE IS BURNING MY CLOTHING!”

“Then stop wearing such long robes!”

You hold your hammer tight in both hands and rush the magma-beast low. The first order of business was getting it away from the small cave Loki was hiding in that it was trying to cram its arm into.

“Blow it back when I say so!”

”WHAT?!” Loki calls as you slide into action.

You plant your foot next to the sweltering leg of the magma elemental as it slowly takes notice of you and swing your hammer from as far back as you can with as much force as you can. The silver head of the hammer impacts the molten flesh of the colossus and presses against the liquid rock held inside. The force of your blow depresses the creatures leg as it crumples beneath you and the hammer tears out the other side, obliterating the monster’s ankle.

“Gooooo!”

You hear Loki scream in either fear or rage before a sub-zero wind quickly blasts from the mouth of the cave she secured herself inside and impacted the golem center mass. The creature groans a surprised and frustrated dirge as its weight gets the better of it and sends it toppling to the ground where you’re reading for the second hit.

You lock eyes with the creature for a moment as you raise your hammer above your head and zero in. “Just needed your head a bit closer!”

The beast moves to stop you, but doesn’t get more than a few inches before you bring the hammer down on top of it and crush its head as easily as its ankle.

As the magma creature’s hand falls to its side, the cavern falls silent.

”Is it dead?” Loki’s voice squeaks, breaking the silence.

“Hrmm. Interesting question.”

You set your hammer head down on the ground and rest your foot on it, tapping your lips “Flesh of stone, blood of lava, heart of fire. Was this creature ever truly “alive”?” you ponder.

Loki scrambles her back legs to climb out of her hiding spot, grunting from the rare physical effort. “I’m ignoring you now.”

The princess approaches the corpse of the Mag-man, a term you had just thought of and are incredibly proud of, with extreme caution that betrays her raw age.

“I colored the floor with its head, highness. It won’t be getting back up, of that I assure you.”

”Yes, well, see to it that it does not, No-name.” she huffs out.

You choose to ignore her attitude and watch her do her thing.

Loki retrieves a pair of items from her saddlebags within her magical grip, a long narrow metal rod and a pair of tongs.

“What in the world are those?”

”A magic chisel forged in the heart of Muspelheim that can endure the heat of a dying star.” she answers.

“And those?”

”A pair of tongs that I borrowed from the blacksmith when he was not looking.”

Loki swings the chisel up high and strikes it deep into the chest of the Mag-man, it sinks in nearly to the hilt.

“A-huh. “Borrowed” is it?”

”With every intention of returning them once I’m done with it.” Loki grasps the chisel with the tongs and begins to pull for leverage, exerting herself with her magic in a way she’s not used to. “What. Do I. Need. With. Tongs. Anyway?” she grunts.

“Here.”

You approach her side and take one of the handles of the tongs. “Together.”

Loki silently puffs her cheeks a bit but doesn’t push you away.

“Okay one, two, THREE!”

With your added muscle, the two of you pull and feel the insides of the golem shift around. The chisel lists slightly from the effort and deforms the torso of the Mag-man until the entire side of its body wrenches free and drops an orange-hot, glowing geode onto the floor in an oozing pool of burning blood.

Loki sighs in exertion and pulls the chisel out with her magic, picking up the stone with the tongs. “The heart of a magma elemental…just what the Griffons need.”

You wordlessly grab your hammer while she makes for the entrance to the cave, content, it seems to let whatever else lived in this cave have the Mag-man.

A short while later Loki and you are wordlessly treading the peaks and ranges that make up most of the Griffin Kingdoms. The times you’d been in the kingdom made you recall how the structure of it all seemed to be vertical in its entirety. Keeps and fortresses built 500 years ago went straight up the side of the mountains, all while the ever-agile Griffons darted in and out of strategic entrances at all altitudes.

You pause your stride a moment and look behind you over a smaller crag, just spying the tips of the stone spires of Gryphus peeking through the clouds.

You sigh and shiver the chill out of your bones. “Damned birds have it easy.”

”Hurry UP no-name!” comes Loki’s impatient call ahead of you. “I am not in the mood to drag your frozen corpse along with this thing!”

“Settle down, highness!”

You trudge closer to her, enjoying the ambient heat from the Heart she carries. “It will take more than that to be rid of me.”

”I’ll keep that in mind.” She says with a smug look before turning and continuing on.

“I notice you haven’t told me why we’re out here, Loki.”

You’re a bit surprised Loki gives you a straight, if sardonic answer. ”Miracle duty.” She groans.

“I’ll need a bit more than that.”

The princess rolls her eyes and huffs but continues on. “Has a thought ever crossed your mind wondering how all the godly miracles that make it into the tales you mortals tell came to pass?”

“With the magic your Mother wields, I presume she simply speaks and things happen.”

”Tch. Hardly.” Loki answers. “One of Mother’s favorite things to say is how “power requires sacrifice”.” Loki says, imitating her mother’s tone of voice perfectly with her own magic. “However those who will take it to such an extreme as her are few and far between, mostly dead.”

“I can’t say I disagree with her, though.”

Loki looks back at you, you flex your arm. “Everything in life worth having is something you work for. Think I could have crushed that beast before it ate you if I didn’t sacrifice my time and effort into honing myself?”

”You would if your fragile mortal body could handle the Apples of Iduun better than it is.”

The apples you and Loki ate have been affecting you much slower than they have her, but you did feel a bit of spring in your step lately.

“And you’d not be rubbish with a sword if you picked up something heavier than your head, that hot air must weigh a stone!”

Loki gnashes her teeth at you and wings the heart of the Mag-man near your head, but she’s far too slow to hit you.

“I’m kidding, relax!”

Loki grits her teeth and continues. “I do not have time for this.” She bites out through her teeth.

You follow Loki along.

“You were telling me about this miracle duty of yours?”

Loki keeps her eyes forward and mouth shut.

“Come on, I’m sorry.”

Still nothing comes from her.

“I could start singing to pass the time…”

Loki still doesn’t respond.

Alright, she asked for it. You take a deep breath of the mountain air.

“THREE MONTHS OF WINTER COOLNESS, AND AWESOME HOLI-gah!”

You brush the snow thrown at you out of your mouth and spit. Loki stands before you looking livid. “Utter ONE more syllable and I promise that this mountain will be your grave!”

A silence passes between you two with only the wind to keep you company.

“You ready to talk now?”

Loki hangs her head and seems to accept that you aren’t giving up. “You are more tiring than my sister…fine.” The princess resumes her path along the ridge and down the side away from the wind on a hewn stone road with you in tow. “The source of miracles you suggest is only the result of those mighty enough to do so. More often than not, miracles for you mortals are the result of foresight on our part followed by a not-inconsiderate amount of walking, occasional killing, and using a big fire stone in some ritual or another.”

“And you’re doing it because?”

”I am doing it because someone has to keep you mortals from dying so damned fast and my number came up.”

“You’re trying to use this to get less grounded, aren’t you.”

Loki is silent for a moment. “That is a beneficial side effect.”

“Of course. And I’m here?”

”In the event I needed something smashed? And would you look at that! I did! Congratulations minion, your purpose is fulfilled, and you may die happy now. For the rest of today, you must simply accompany me to the druidic shrine up ahead where the ritual may take place.”

“So glad to be of service, your grace.”

Music

A short while later, Loki and you arrive at the destination she was seeking out with the magma heart intact.

”The druids who built this place died out some hundreds of years ago so no one should come knocking.” She says while approaching the trio of stones in the center of the room.

“Just the same I want to look around to make sure…”

”Be my guest, just be silent so that I may work and we may go home.”

You let Loki be and look around the shrine. Like many things in the area, it was located in a cave carved out of the stone of the peak by either wind, time, or Griffon talon. The stones in the center of the shrine hum with a natural resonance you associated with magic and Loki fussed over, while the walls are adorned with detailed tapestries and paintings in between the rare lush greenery.

Your attention goes to the paintings. You see giant creatures and hordes of ghouls rampaging across the landscape towards brilliant light in the distance and lead by a horned beast of pure darkness. The field before the brilliant light is littered with illustrations of the bodies of the dead while nightmares rip the sun and moon above their heads from the sky. Behind it all a colossal red devil towers, wielding a sword of midnight and marching with the demonic host.

“Not a pretty sight.”

”Ragnarok never is.”

You turn to her as she performs her ritual.

“That’s the most confident you’ve spoken about something all day.”

”It is one of our oldest and our most retold tale. I ought to.” Loki grumbles. “Father drilled it into all our heads many times…”

“Tell it to me.”

Loki sighs and attempts to focus on her ritual, but you can see something behind her eyes that makes you believe that might be the last thing on her mind. The girl needed to talk to someone. “I do not have the time to recount for you a story you should already know.”

“I will know it if you tell me.”

Loki chews over your logic for a minute but refocuses on the Heart. “There is not much to tell. The dead rise, giants descend on Asgard from all corners of the Nine Realms, there is a final battle and then everyone dies and the world returns to ash. There, that is the long and short of it.”

“I’m told there are no Frost Giants…”

”There aren’t.” Loki states. “But there are more giants than simply them. The ones who live in the hills, for example or the fire giants from Muspleheim. There is also the dead from Helheim and Nifflehiem as well as the Nidhogg himself.”

“Lots of names.”

”Every enemy old and new Asgard has ever known is said to rise during Ragnarok and pull the home of the Gods down before they spill out over Midgard and like a tide, and it all begins when one of them uses a sword to pull the heart of Asgard out.”

Loki’s face catches your glance. The girl is focusing on the ritual spell before her, but her eyes seem different. Not a spark of life exists behind those green windows and the bags under her eyes look like the kind of tired that sleep cannot fix. You think about what she said earlier, about her father telling her this story so much, and how much a teenager being forced to think of her own grisly demise would ruin them.

Can’t have that.

You put your fists on your hips and puff your chest a bit.

“Nothing to be done about any of that, then?”

”No. It’s fate.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it. I haven’t met a fate I can’t fight yet.”

”It’s Mother who tells the tale most, do you think you can fight her?”

You let the silence sit for a bit. “…I can probably get a hit or two in.”

Loki lets a smile pull the corner of her mouth and lets out a single snort of a laugh. “I would like to see that.”

“Then I promise you that before the world ends and we both die, I’ll let you watch me fight your mother. How’s the ritual going?”

”Nearly…done.” Loki announces as a warm wave of orange light erupts from the Heart and seeps into the floor. “The heat will find its way to the land and thaw the snow; the animals will return after and the Griffons will have their food back. We just need to return here in the summer to retrieve this.”

“We can worry about that later. No point in concerning ourselves with summer or apocalypses today, neither of them are happening right now.”

Another snort-laugh. “Keep thinking like that and you’ll live half as long as you normally would.”

“Twice as bright though, I’d rather a bright life than a long one.”

You make a show of glancing from side to side and leaning down to Loki. “Does anyone REALLY want to be as old as your mother?”

Princess Loki does the unthinkable by going even further and laughing. It’s short and only a few chortles, but unmistakable. “You’re lucky you’re down here while she’s up there.”

“I’m sure she’ll be there you glower at me once we return, which we ought to be doing by my clock. Are you ready?”

The shimmer in Loki’s eyes returns. “Aye, we can call Heimdall from outside.”

The two of you walk out of the druid’s cave and shout Heimdall’s name to the sky. The clouds above you swirl as the Bifrost opens and you prepare to return.

“I bet we could float ourselves to Asgard if you filled your head with more hot air.”

The spark in Loki’s eyes becomes an inferno as she tries to scream at you, but the Bifrost scooping you both up silences all.

-Elsewhere-

Shining Armor floats his breastplate up and over his head with a tired sigh, telekinesis going through the familiar motions of fastening the harnesses and belts that keep it in place. Normally, as a prince, he’d have aid doing this, but today his role was that of a guard captain and advisor.

A grim glance out the window of his room in the royal palace, at the dark skies and the whipping winds, makes him glad that he left Cadence and Flurry up north.

With a final check to make sure everything is in place, he steels himself and heads outside to his escort.

“Smiles.”

”Armor.”

Sunshine Smiles pushes himself off the wall he’s leaning on with his leathery bat wing, already in his armor and waiting to go. Shining could tell even when looking into Smile’s eyepatch that he was impatient, so he wastes no time in starting down the hall.

“Any change?”

”Nothing. I’ve sent two flyers from the extreme weather unit into the skies, but they both came back with nothing more than “these clouds aren’t natural”.”

“How did you get Valkyries all the way from Stalliongrad here so fast?”

Smiles keeps his head forward when crossing over the courtyard. “We are our master’s pupils. Just because you won’t lean into that for a favor here or there doesn’t mean I won’t.”

Shining looks up to the clouds now that they’re out in the open; low and boiling, like the breath of a sleeping dragon, but with the faint air of decay and sinister intent in them.

“Speaking of, will Tempestra be joining us?”

”No. Master is on far deployment and can’t be recalled.”

Shining nods. “That’s too bad, she might be able to scare the clouds away.”

”You’ll just have to manage with me.”

Shining Armor winces at his choice of words. “Sunny, I didn’t mean-“

”I know.”

He turns to Shining and gives a rare smile for a member of the Night Guard, let alone a captain. “How long have we known each other? I’ve got you figured out too well to think you’d want to offend me.”

Shining returns the smile and jostles Sunshine a bit in a shadow of the roughhousing play the two of them would do back in training.

“Where’s Flash?”

Sunshine groans. ”Far away from your sister, I told you I’d take care of that so can you please stop pester-“

“I mean NOW, Sunny.”

”Oh…I have him scouting the AO down south with a team.”

“Is that safe?”

”It’ll have to be.”

The two guards enter a long hallway at the foot of the central palace, a private hallway lined with paintings and memorials to comrades lost.

“I guess I’m worried…It’s just the three of us left now.”

”Anonymous was older than the both of us and twice as active, we can’t exactly say his decision was surprising in our line of work.”

The two continue their path.

“Just…after Captain Gaeus…”

Sunshine Smiles nods. “That one, no one could see coming…Do you miss him?”

“Every day.”

”Do you resent that he chose you as his successor?”

Shining Armor shrugs. “The job can keep you down sometimes, but I met my wife through it, so…”

”So two negatives?”

Another laugh shared by the friends while Shining pushes Smiles with his hoof, who smacks Shining with his wing.

Below Canterlot Palace, surrounded by a womb of concrete, magical spells, and the stone of a mountain, sits a single room. The room is said to be able to withstand the attack of an Ursa Major and is only used during the direst of emergencies. Such as now.

The two guard captains descend from the secret entrance in the palace and usher themselves into the room. In attendance around a war table with a map of the region sits the Royal Sisters, Princess Twilight Sparkle, along with the High Jarl of the Griffon Kingdoms and the chief of the Buffalo.

“Thank you all for coming.” Shining says. “I hope you can understand dropping the pleasantries and getting right to business?”

Everyone in attendance nods as the two approach the table.

”Any change?” asks Sunshine.

Princess Twilight steps forward and her older brother registers the concern in her face, she isn’t used to dealing with things of this magnitude. “The doors have opened another five degrees, the rate they’re spilling out is even faster now!”

”The preliminary forces we have sent are having great difficulty already, I fear they will not last long against this sudden surge.” Princess Luna adds.

"What about the Elements bearers?”

Twilight shakes her head. “The girls and I are ready to do whatever we need to do, but I’ve poured over every tome in both my library and the royal one here and I can’t find ANYTHING that could seal the gates back up short of a miracle!”

The two captains share the same grim expression.

“What are the projections?”

Princess Celestia steps forward. “If the gates open fully, the southern settlements will be overrun within a week, and Canterlot will be in a month.”

Shining looks to one of his oldest friends and meets his single eye, the two brothers-in-arms share a nod in agreement of their non-verbal assessment.

”Then the situation couldn’t be clearer.” Sunshine says.

Shining Armor turns back to the gathered council and begins moving pieces on the map. “The Gates of Tartarus are open, and it’s the fate of Equestria on the line for us to close them. Tonight, we plan and at dawn, we march to drive the tide of whatever is behind them back.”

The sky above Canterlot rages with grief while a desperate plan is concocted beneath a mountain.

Death's Door.

”Come on, throw it!”

“Baldur, I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

”Frightened children don’t get a seat in Valhalla, No-name! Throw it!”

You twirl the spear you held between your fingers and take a deep breath, sending it slicing through the air with a mighty heave. “Pleasedontdie!”

Baldur closes his eyes and juts his chin out with an expression so self-satisfied that you’d only seen it on cats before.

The spear strikes the prince’s chin and rebounds with a CLANG, spinning through the air and landing some feet away in the courtyard.

”Tadaaaah!” Baldur explains, flapping his wings out triumphantly.

“Did you even feel that?”

”Like a breeze on my coat, friend!”

You walk over to retrieve the spear. “And everyone does this? Throws weapons at the crown prince?”

Baldur rolls his hoof as he recounts. “Rocks, weapons, the occasional barn. It’s all in good fun if I cannot be hurt!”

“You’re one of a kind, Your Highness.”

As you bend down to pick up the spear and inspect its head for chips, you see Crownsguard dashing along into the central hall of the palace on the veranda above you. It sets the hairs on your arm off.

"…Baldur, what do you make of that? The armor of those warriors looked different…”

Baldur hops upon a rock and gains some altitude, looking into further into the palace. “That’s peculiar…those are the markings of the Wolf Brigade, brother’s hoof-picked warriors.”

“Lord Tyr’s personal army?” you ask “What are they doing here…?”

Baldur lands next to you, the time for games at an end. “I cannot say! It is rare to see them out of the Ulfirborg unless it is out in the frontier.”

You look up upon the golden walls.

“What say we take a closer look…”

You step silently along the rich crimson carpet of the Asgardian royal palace and make your way deeper in. The Wolf Brigade were keeping themselves to the hall closest to your favored courtyard, requiring you and Baldur to go all the way around to the opposite end of the palace to avoid them. As you sneak closer to the throne room they were protecting, the walls subtly shift from polished brass to gleaming gold, and the glow reflecting off them gets brighter.

You glance back at the Living Lightbulb before he ruins your stealth.

“Could you not do that?”

The God of Light closes his eyes and suppresses his divine radiance back to a normal level. “Sorry.”

“No sneaking operations for you, Baldur.”

”I will have you know that I-“

You shush Baldur as a new sound enters your ears, the double-time clipping of someone with eight hooves.

”What is it you would have me DO, my son?”

You and Baldur sneak your heads around the nearest door and peer into the hall, where the Allmother was walking next to Lord Tyr. The queenly war god wore her usual stern face, while her counterpart kept pace with her despite the difference in size trying to instill some of his own emotion into it.

”Do NOTHING, Mother! Simply allow my warriors and I to travel to Midgard so that we might prevent this tragedy!”

”Midgard…?” Baldur whispers.

“What tragedy?”

”Lords of the Nine Realms we may be, Tyr, but you know the price of interference with them.” The Queen states. She looks down at her son with the softest eye you’ve seen from her. “I beg you, remember what transpired the last time an Aesir interfered with another realm to this magnitude, this is greater than simply slaying a few rogue giants.”

Tyr’s face falls and his head hangs. “I will never be able to forget that day, Mother…”

The Gods of War share a silent moment together before Tyr raises his head. “But she is still down there.”

Sleipnir frowns and turns away from Tyr to silently chew his words and contemplate this mysterious “she”. Her eye looks back at her son with a question.

”Are you certain it is her you are trying to save?”

Tyr’s eyes widen and his head hangs, you hear Baldur suck the air through his teeth behind you. As you’re about to ask him what that meant, the Queen reaches out and places a hoof on Tyr’s shoulder. “You give these mortals too little credit. They have repelled Tirek before.”

That gets your attention for a change, you remember the underground martial resistance you’d formed to get civilians to safety when Tirek rampaged through Equestria those years ago. If he was returning then-

Tyr cuts off your thoughts with a second blow. “He was never at the back of a horde of demons.”

Sleipnir nods and lowers her hoof, Tyr continues.

”Mother…the Tartarian gates are open, and every minute sends them wider. Your birds themselves saw that the mortals stemming the tide are beginning to break against it.”

Time has taught you many things, patience, calm, and confidence; you are not one easily shaken.

However the thought of your friends down in Equestria falling against an army of Tartarian spawn, or facing the Desolator again while you were trapped here, chills you to your core.

Your conscious mind catapults back to a week ago, with Loki in the Griffon cave where she told you the tale of Ragnarok.

Horde of ghouls. Horned beast of darkness. Fields of dead.

End of the world.

”We must leave the realm of the mortals to the mortals for now, my son…” Sleipnir says, while Tyr simply sighs.

You feel your hands break into a sweat and your breath catch in your throat.

“We need to save them…” you whisper.

Baldur’s ears flatten. “Mother thinks that the Midgardians can handle this threat…”

“Well she’s wrong.”

You turn back to Baldur, his cheeks are puffed in surprise at your sacrilege.

“I’ve seen this terror with my own eyes, it has only grown worse. We can’t just stay here and do nothing!”

Baldur nerves must be getting to him, he scrapes his hoof on the floor. “We…cannot! Mother hath decreed that we shall not interfere and Tyr will abide by her will! So will Heimdall! There’s simply no way DOWN to Midgard right now!”

You feel you can no longer spend another moment here and push past Baldur, heading towards your room.

“I refuse to accept that!”

After an hour, you set your plan in motion. To the south of the palace, at the edge of Asgard, the watchpony Heimdall kept his eyes turned towards his rainbow well. Through the mystical Bifrost, he saw all that transpired in all the realms, but nothing right now was more worthy of observation than the battle that held Midgard in its grip.

Until you arrive.

With both hands, you throw the doors to his keep open and meet his gaze as he looks up. His eyes go between you, the heavy armor you wear, and the multiple weapons strapped to your person that you’d gathered since arriving in Asgard, from the icy blade you’d retrieved alongside retrieving Loki to the spear you were just playing with Baldur with.

Heimdall sighs. “No-name.”

“Watchman.”

”I suppose you’re here to join your friends in Midgard.”

You take a deep breath, continuing to block the doorway with your body. “I am.”

”The Queen has decreed that we are not to interfere, No-name.” Heimdall says. “You know I can’t let you pass.”

“I know only one thing, Heimdall.”

You reach into your satchel and retrieve something you’d stolen from a butcher after getting your weapons, a succulent cut of red, dripping meat.

“I know you can only stop one of us.”

A flick of your hand sends the venison sailing through the air, spreading its rich aroma across the keep.

You duck as the flap of wings at your back sends a freed and hungry young Manticore through the air.

“Gah!”

Svaofali’s hooves can’t exactly stop his momentum as he overshoots the meat and crashes into Heimdall.

”What is the prince-!”

“He’s here because I freed him.”

You leave the doorway and march towards the well, strapping your shield and chestplate tighter to your body one final time.

“Everyone here may not want to engage with the demons down there, but you’ll just as happily watch them, to the ignorance of things right under your nose by the looks of it.”

You stop before the well while Heimdall tries to push Svaofali off him, the Manticore Prince now thinking he’s playing.

“I’ll keep them safe from anyone, Heimdall. Even all of you.”

You ignore any response he had, leaping into the Bifrost.

-Midgard-

“Shore up the left flank! Fall the wounded back and reinforce from fifth company!”

”Shining!” comes a call from above you as Sunshine Smiles lands at your back. “Fifth Company has been fully deployed! We have no one to reinforce with!”

You summon an Ethereal shield to protect you from a hurled fireball.

“How did we go through them that fast!?”

”Perhaps the horde of demons had something to do with it!” Sunshine pounces on a fiery hound and pushes his clawed weapons through its chest. “There are too many of them! We’re getting more wounded than we can treat here!”

Dammit.

“Where’s Twiley? We need a bombardment to fall back!”

”While the Princesses hold the skies with the Jarl, Flash reports that she went towards the gate!”

Your stomach drops. “What?!”

”She snuck along the crags to our right flank! She has to be trying to go close the gates!”

You push your barrier forward, keeping the infernal hounds at bay a few moments longer so your men can fall back. Chaos reigns all around you as the tide of demons prices the souls of the royal guard and begins to overwhelm their ranks.

“You need to get to her, Smiles! She’s our only hope of retreat!”

You snag a lance from a fallen guard and thrust it through your barrier and through the skull of the dire beast behind it.

“I’ll hold the line here, but hurry!”

”You can’t hold this front all your own, Shining!”

“I’m going to have to! Get to Twiley!”

Smiles looks to the sky for his opening. “Too thick! We’re choked with-“

Your friend doesn’t get any further as one of the demons climbs over your barrier and tackles him from behind like prey. You see it happen in slow motion and for a moment, your panic overwhelms you and your barrier falters.

The demons spill over and close on your ranks as you try to dive to Sunshine’s aid.

But it was too late.

Music

A shaft of rainbow light hits the ground like a meteor and blows dust and dirt into the air. The sounds of Sunshine’s struggle with the demon cease and for a moment, you fear the worst, until a voice calls out to you.

He stands up to his full height, towering above any pony on the field. ”You’re letting them shake you, Shining. With as few guards as you have here, you could never hope to defend this line.”

Another demon charges from its brethren into the smoke as the voice steps forward into a ghost you thought long gone.

”You have to ATTACK!”

Anonymous uppercuts the demon in the jaw with a mace and sends it careening back into the masses. The hounds that it lands on snarl and snap to get to their feet, but Anonymous whips his arm back and then forward, throwing a polished golden buckler off with incredible force that impacts the head of one before rebounding into another, its sharpened edge embedding deep inside.

In rage, a pack leader in the back leaps over its fallen friends and aims to fall on Anonymous. With a grim smile, he reaches back and pulls a golden tipped spear along with the corpse of the hellspawn that attacked Smiles out of the dust, twisting it in his hands and thrusting it up into the gullet of the diving alpha.

He’s just as quick to lower the skewered beast down where it drops on another.

A cough from your side calls your attention.

“Sunny!”

You help your friend to his hooves and get his helmet off him, he’s been bloodied a bit, but his remaining eye is still there.

”Did I take a hit to the head, or is that what I think it is…”

“You’re fine, Smiles…Anon is back.”

Your once-dead friend ducks under a swipe and retrieves his shield, using it to bash back a demon into a retreat. He turns to the both of you and holds his arms out.

”Is this what Equestria’s finest have become since I’ve been gone?”

You feel a smirk tug at your face and a fire in your heart ad the old man’s audacity.

“Smiles, go find Twiley. We have it here.”

”You on your own, I doubted. With him? Maybe just…” Sunshine says before taking to the air.

Anonymous locks eyes with you as the demonic horde charges at his back and the thunder pounds in your ears. “Let’s get to work, “captain”!”

-Anon PoV-

Shining Armor lowers his horn and charges at you while dragging sparks of the weird out of the air to the tip. Tired as he is, he powerful legs still let him leap, armor and all, over your head.

A magenta barricade forms before Shining as he crashes into the ground behind you, crushing the infernal demons into ashes on impact.

”Weapon!” he cries, your arm already reaching back behind you.

“Left side!”

You throw your war hammer, tested and true against Chimera, along Shining’s side and crush the skull of another demon. Your feet move on their own bringing you to his side where you lance another.

“Good to see you!”

”Likewise, you look well!” Shining responds as he gets the war hammer in his grasp and sends its head through another demon’s torso. “Remind me how that came to be? Because last I heard, you were dead.”

“Was, didn’t take.” You drive your spear through the neck of one of the demons and get the eye of the one behind it. “As for the rest? Clean living, and eating my apples.”

Especially golden ones.

”Ah, of course. How foolish of me.”

Shining sidesteps a hound and brings the hammer down onto its head. “Cover me!”

“At your back!”

You step in front of Shining and raise your shield, getting between him and the horde.

Shining turns to the guard behind you. “LET’S GO YOU RUNTS! DON’T YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER!?”

A few of the guard get to their feet as their captain calls.

"I SAID STAND UP! THE ANGELS HAVE FALLEN TO AID US IN THIS BATTLE, THEY WATCH OVER YOU STILL!”

A resounding cheer erupts from the Equestrian Guard. Weapons are grabbed, hearts are steeled, and the Tartarian Hordes pushed back against the hooves of Equestria’s finest.

But for Shining and you, a different priority.

“Move!”

You kick Shining out of the way and duck yourself back just in time to avoid losing a foot when a beam of destructive energy ripples through the air and scorches the earth behind you among a chorus of screams.

”Well! I could scarcely believe it when I heard what stopped our charge!” a voice calls.

You get to your feet, but remain behind a nearby rock to get eyes on the speaker. A pony, it seemed, taller than the others and bulkier, wades through the battlefield. From the sides of his head sprung two massive bull horns that widened his wingspan. His blood red eyes scan the scene as his hooves leave a trail of fire in their wake. In the center of his head, a gnarled unicorn horn that held a miniature sun atop it.

He chuckles as he sees Shining getting to his hooves while the demons at his back break around him like a stream on a stone to attack the guard.

”The Captain of the Guard and his former lackey, it was my understanding that you’d died.”

You push yourself up with your spear and ready it.

“I got better.

”Clearly.” He replies, puffing himself up. “Rejoice then, Equestrian! Your second death comes at the hooves of the mighty Trihorn Demoneye, servant of Lord Tirek himself.”

A pregnant pause passes between you and Shining as you exchange a glance. Supressing yourselves.

”Y-you can’t be serious.” Shining says.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be the one dead, with a name like that?”

The orb swells in size. “And now you die.”

You spin your arm and send your spear flying. Your aim is slightly off, but it strikes one of Demoneye’s horns and throws him off balance, sending the beam of energy into the sky.

“Rear!”

”I’ll take front!” Shining calls.

Shining and you cross over with one another as you charge Trihorn. The demon’s namesake eyes open and spot you cursing past his side. His horn alights with his cursed magic, but he gets the head of a hammer to his face.

Demoneye turns his attention to Shining who blocks his blast with another barrier.

You draw your ice blade from your waist and look around. “Spear’s too far off!”

”Then we do without! Number 23!”

“Got it!”

Trihorn hears the glint of steel behind him and turns his head, his pupils shrinking as he sees you. An attack on two fronts was something even a demon would have trouble with. And so he does, bucking back and sending a wave of fire into the air, which you block with your buckler.

Just as planned.

Being in position before you, Shining can strike the demon’s skull with your hammer, letting of a resounding KRACK against it. He turns his blood red eye back to the captain to incinerate him, but instinctively closes it in pain as a frigid blade cuts slices out of his hide.

An attack on two fronts is what any soldier wants to avoid, and that’s what Trihorn finds himself in now as he had to engage between you and Shining. The moment he could get one of you in his sights, the other would land an attack that would require him to turn his attention if he didn’t want to lose his head. And each time he was forced to turn his back, he’d take a hit from one of you, slowly wearing him down.

You catch his eye one time when he turns to you and smirk.

“What’s wrong, darling? Getting tired?”

The blood red orb turns into an inferno as all three of Trihorn’s namesake light up with infernal fire.

”You just had to say it, Anon.”

Trihorn Demoneye rears back and slams his hooves onto the ground, sending a wave of force from the impact and flinging you back into a rock wall while Shining Armor is sent end over end back to his men.

“Gah!”

Your sword and shield fall to the ground amidst the piles of demons as you slide to your ass. Even in armor, the impact on stone took the wind out of you.

“Shining…SHINING ARMOR!”

You blink through the battle haze and delirium from the impact as you get to your feet, the boiling sky rolling above you past the flying hordes.

You could see Princess Celestia and Luna each doing battle with flocks of the Tartarian spawn, but holding their own.

You silently wonder what would happen if you died here again, would they notice?

”O-on your hoves, soldiers!” you hear.

"Shining!"

You push yourself up to see Shining Armor standing in front of his guards who caught his fall. His head is bleeding over one eye and his horn sparking, but he locks eyes with the enraged Trihorn. ”Shining Armor” he muses, his horns alighting with fire. “Let us see if the slag I reduce you to shines as brightly as you do now.”

Trihorn Demoneye unleashes his fury at Shining Armor and the remaining Equestrian Guard.

“NO!”

A flash of light from the sky descends on Shining and the beam of destructive magic breaks on it.

Music

Magical forces from the demonic commander blow apart the dust of impact. A pulsating hexagon of radiant light stands inches before Shining’s face and breaks the unholy energy against it effortlessly.

Sunshine looks up at his savior, his red mane whipping in the breeze his magic makes.

Stance wide and protecting the guard, Baldur strikes his front hooves into the ground. ”FACE ME, DEMON! I STAND FOR ALL OF US!” he cries.

With a stomp oh his hoof, Baldur’s barrier repels the attacking spell, while he looks no worse for wear.

”No-name! Let us take him!”

“BALDUR LOOK OUT!”

As Trihorn prepares another volley, Baldur lets out a childish yelp and opens his eyes as wide as you’ve ever seen them.

”Headlights!" Brilliant beams of light flash from Baldur’s eyes and illuminate the entire area, but they’re directed at Trihorn himself.

You run looking for a weapon that wasn’t melted already, but they seem to have been blasted away by Trihorn.

“Baldur what in the Hel are you DOING here!?”

”The God of Light will not abandoned his closest friend, No-name!”

”Anonymous, what in the world-!?” shining starts.

“Baldur! This is Shining Armor, captain of the Equestrian Guard!”

”Greetings, Captain! Gah! Eyebeams!” Baldur’s holy light drives Trihorn back down the hill he was atop, the magic on his horns fizzling.

You however keep looking for a weapon.

“And this is Baldur! God of Light in Asgard and totally in..vin…cible…”

An idea dawns on you, one that you hope the queen can’t see.

“Keep flashing at him, Baldur!”

”I never stopped!”

You run over behind Baldur and grab his hind legs. As a Unicorn, he was lighter than most. With a heave, you get him off the ground, though he flaps his hooves wildly in surprise.

”Whoa! Hey! Bad touching!”

“It’s time to put on your war face, your highness!”

You unleash a terrible howl that Baldur is all too happy to mirror as you rush Trihorn with the God of Light held above your head.

The demon sees your makeshift weapon just in time for you to bring it down on him. Again and again and again.

You stand up tall and look down at Trihorn’s bleeding face. You spit on him.

“Stay down.”

A toothy gurgle is your response.

”Hey! Hey! Turn me around and let me see!” your weapon cries.

You chuckle and indulge Baldur as you sit yourself down. The Princes ooh’s and aah’s at the defeated demon and then nearly jumps a foot as a soldier runs past him, charging into battle and screaming a victory cry.

”Whoa-hey!”

Another soldier follows him, then another, and another, before a routing charge materializes and attacks the demons.

”Anon! Let’s go!” Shining calls, getting to his feet.

“After you, old man!”

In moments, your sword is in your hand and you’re off after the others.

And in due time, you’re crouched to one knee in the middle of a combat zone.

”Anon!”

”No-name!”

Your friends rush over to you, you hold up a finger.

“Just…give me a moment…to catch my breath.” The pounding in your chest rings through your entire body, even with the magic of the golden apple. “I’ve got a few years on the both of you…hehe.”

The Equestrian forces around you, rallied by the arrival of a bonafide god and the defeat of the demonic commander, quarrel with the demons on even footing. The demons themselves have the opposite effect, staying distance and cautious after one of their own fell as they plan their next move.

“Just need…one more minute to-“

”No, I think you need some space.” A voice says.

You, Baldur, and Shining are encased in a mystical bubble and floated off into the air.

Baldur contorts in the bubble. ”HELP! MOTHER! STRANGER DANG-“

”Relax, Prince Baldur!” Shining says “This magic belongs to-“ You’re deposited in front of the spellcaster, a purple alicorn in a fancy hat. ”-Twiley!” Shining Armor is the only one not on his flank when the bubble lets you out, instead running up and embracing his little sister. “You’re safe…”

Sister hugs brother back before she sees who he came with. “Anon! Holy Celestia, you’re alive!”

A moment later she’s wrapped around you.

“Heh, in a manner of speaking. Hello Twilight." You say, patting her mane lightly. "This is my friend, Baldur.”

You gesture to Baldur who is already prostrating himself out. “Your Royal Highness!” he says emphatically.

Twilight giggles. “He’s certainly polite.”

“He’s well groomed.”

You push yourself to your feet a bit wobbly.

“Twilight is the one who found me when I arrived in Equestria, Baldur. She helped me even though she was just a filly.”

”Then my most magnanimous thanks for aiding my future best friend, Princess!”

Another girly giggle from Twilight escapes her before she composes herself. ”Anon, I’ll be brief.”

”Then can I be-“ Baldur starts before you get your hand over his mouth.

“Please continue.”

”Anon? Briefly? What the BUCK is going on?!”

Shining grimaces at her language, but she continues. “You died! DIED died! We had confirmation that you went into that cave and never came out! Then you show up here with someone calling himself a god-“

”Not “calling”!” Baldur shouts.

”-right as the gates of Tartarus are opening?? Serendipity of this magnitude only exists in stories!”

You look over the battlefield of soldiers fighting demons, once weary and now galvanized by the arrival of two souls at the right time. You shrug.

“It’s miracle duty, Twi.”

Twilight rolls her eyes.

“What? It’s the most apt… How have you been since I’ve been gone?”

”Oh you know. Finding the Pillars of Equestria, establishing a school for friendship. I was investigating a strange offucrance near the Crystal Empire some weeks back; a beam of pure cosmic magical energy shot from the sky and obliterated one of the peaks in the mountain range! Theories abound, but I’ve heard legend of a magical sword of ice that was kept up there-”

“That was me.”

Twilight pops up. “Excuse me?”

“Yeah, that big magic. That was my fault.”

”…You can do that now after you died!?”

“No no! Someone I know can! She did it to scare the witch at the top of the mountain.”

You think.

”Who could wield such awesome power?! Not even Princess Celestia can do that and she’s…THE BEST!”

”Oh oh! I know!” Baldur chimes in. “It was my Mother, Queen Sleipnir of Asgard! All-Mother, Skylord of the Eastern Cosmos, Living Daughter of Fire and Lord of the Day and the Night!”

There’s another pregnant pause in the air as Twilight sits herself down and rubs her head with her hooves.

You hold a hand out and count off on your fingers. “Right…so just a recap; Asgard is real, I’ve been there the last little while, you might be able to blame any strange happenings on me lately, and his Mother is the most frightening thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

You snap your fingers. “Oh, and we’re here to help.”

A great roar from the gates catches all your attentions. You see the massive Adamantine doors push open a bit more in herald of more demons spilling forth.

”No! The doors!” cries Twilight. ”More of them are coming through, Anon!”

You reach for your weapon. “We need to get to the front!”

Twilight runs back to a blue tent stocked with books. “Before Commander Smiles found me, I was trying to close the gates by force, but that won’t work now! You need to keep them at bay while I figure out a way to close them! Before Tirek arrives!”

You nod and pick up your sword and shield, sliding a spare helmet over your head. “They won’t take another step this way.”

”I hope so. “ Twilight looks back at the two of you with worried concern etched into her face. “I’m happy to see you, Anon but…it’s hard to believe any god sent just you and a novice fighter like your friend to us in an hour like this.”

”Oh-ho, they did not.” Baldur says in a teasing tone.

All eyes turn to the prince who points smugly at a whirling gap in the clouds, you know what’s coming from that hole in the sky.

”No one sent me, friends! I ran away to help No-name, just as planned.” Baldur looks to the rainbow lights seeping from the cloud with a tired but assured smile. ”Being prevented from leaving the city as I am, I knew someone would have to come get me…”

Music

The stream of light from the Bifrost scorches runes into the ground on the field of battle, dividing the Equestrian Guard from the demons and leaving angels in its wake. Lord Tyr stands before ten of the most massive ponies you’d ever seen, wearing the armor you’d seen at the edge of the palace before your ill-advised jump.

The Equestrian Guard drop to their flanks in awe, though the demons don’t hold such fear in them. A few of the brave ones charge forth only to be but in two when Tyr transforms the cap on his hoof into a mighty broadsword.

This was not the Tyr you had seen in his keep training men. This God of War raised his weapon to the sky and bellows “WOLF BRIGADE, ATTACK!”

The ten guards with him joined their commander in their charge. They formed a perfect spear’s head formation as they drove into the demons, either skewering them with magical thrumming weapons or stomping them under the soles of their mighty horseshoes. The entire battle becomes just this front as demons pour from the heavens to try and reinforce their brothers making the push, only to be grounded and burned by the magic of the unicorns within the Brigade.

What would take an army hours takes them but scant minutes as they divide the enemy line almost to the gates themselves, each warrior a flurry of motion as they tore demon flesh from its hides and sent the beasts screaming back to the abyss they pulled themselves out of.

Shining Armor stands next to you agape at the spectacle, and you’re not too far behind him.

“Baldur…what-?”

”My brother Tyr commands all the legions of Asgard, No-name.” Baldur begins, coming up to your side. “If, in any of those legions, he discovers one of extraordinary talent, then they are offered ranks among his personal unit, the Wolf Brigade. Mightiest warriors in the realms clad in the most powerful armors and for use against the fiercest foes. They used to travel to the other realms as often as they could! Battling foes and righting the wrongs they could find as the swords of justice! ...Until, well, something happened…”

Baldur goes quite.

”And they’re here to help us?” Shining says in shocked disbelief, probably the first good news he’s heard all day.

Baldur sucks his teeth a bit. “Theeeey are probably here to retrieve me as I disobeyed Mother, and in such force due to my closeness to the Gates of Tartarus. But they’ll help while they’re here! The Wolves love a good hunt.”

You sigh a tired sigh. “Well I won’t turn down their help here…they can court martial me when everyone is safe.”

You start to breathe easy when Twilight comes and ruins everything. ”Uhh, guys!?”

Shining rushes over “What is it, Twiley?”

A magical apparatus Twilight is adjusting with her horn explodes in a shower of sparks. The Princess of Magic turns around frantically. “That astrolabe was the only way I could think of to close the doors! By all logic it SHOULD have worked, but something must be holding them ba-

Twilight is interrupted by thunder speaking.

”WELL WELL, IF IT ISNT THE LITTLE MORSELS COME TO PLAY AGAIN.”

Dread crawls into your stomach as orange eyes filled with hatred alight inside the Tartarian gates, their glow highlighting hellish red skin and rippling muscles that forces open the gates more.

“Tirek!”

Twilight points. ”He’s going to force himself through!”

”We need to get all our soldiers out of-What? What is it? A spontaneous storm cloud isn’t our priority right now!” Shining Armor shouts at a subordinate behind him.

A sphere of fire hot as the sun forms between Tirek’s horns and fires through the gate, impacting with nuclear force at Lord Tyr’s hooves.

”MORE MORESELS THIS TIME, YOU EQUESTRIANS DO SPOIL ME!”

Baldur reaches his hoof forward. “BROTHER!”

Like a bullet, Baldur is flying off over the battlefield to Tyr. Like Baldur did for you, you run right after.

“Twilight figure something out fast! Call the Princesses if you need to! We’ll hold him off!”

Platitudes, you knew, but your body wouldn’t let Baldur run off into certain death to save his brother that protected your family without you.

”Anon! Baldur! Get back here!” you hear Shining Armor cry.

”Fear denies faith, Captain!” Baldur cries back.

“What he said!”

And faith was all you were running on right now.

You run past the site you did battle at earlier and spot a battered demon rising. ”You cannot defeat Lord Tirek!” Trihorn jeers. “All the power in Equestria could not hope to best him in combat and you three have so much less than that!”

“Shaddup!”

You’d give it all you had, even if it wasn’t enough. Demon or no, God or nothing, you’d die standing like you did before.

Another of Tirek’s beams hits Tyr’s hoof, now transfigured into a large banner shield that he ducked behind while his Brigade weathered the atomic storm with the wards on their armor. You and Baldur get behind the shield and press yourselves against it, offering what resistance you could against the unstoppable force bearing down on you all.

Through the squinted eyes of effort, you meet gazes with the Battlelord.

“Lord Tyr.” You get out through gritted teeth.

”No-name.” he bites back, pushing against the shield.

As you feel your legs pushing back into the dirt and your hands burning through the metal, you make one final call to the sky.

“I don’t suppose you have any more miracles left for me, do you All-mother?”

The All-mother doesn’t answer, but the sky does, with a mighty clap of thunder.

Something races across the battlefield from behind you, breaking the sound barrier as it blows past Twilight and Shining’s camp towards the Gates of Tartarus.

Trihorn’s mocking laughter is cut off as the object barrels through his head on its approach to the gates. A moment of shock crosses Tirek’s face as the object discharges a force of impact and forces the gates shut moments before it impacts them itself.

Silence falls across the battlefield save for the sound of melting metal and discharging energy, but you can’t see what in Equestria is going on behind this shield. Tyr pulls the shield away as the object falls to the ground in a cloud of dust and steam before the gates.

You look up at them. The black metal, said to be unbreakable Adamantine, was fused by some great heat down the center of the door, connecting both doors together into an unbreakable lock.

“What could have done this…” you ask aloud.

”Oh dear…” Baldur says.

”By Mother’s eye…”

Spoiler Image
Music

You look down at the clearing smoke and see what saved you all. Even you, a novice, recognize it in an instant.

“Is…that what I think it is.”

”OH YES.” Baldur says emphatically.

You hear a whistle off in the hills and the mallet floats off the ground, sparking electricity.

”We should run.” Tyr says.

”I agree!” echoes the invincible god.

With those two decided, you weren’t going to argue. The three of you turn and start beating feet back to safety as the hammer begins to spin at high speed.

The hammer sins and spins, pulling wind and gale from all corners of Equestria towards itself in a mystical cyclone that tears at the very ground itself. You must fall to your knees and hang on to rocks for safety, as do your comrades, but the demons still outside were not so lucky to escape the storm’s wrath. The infernal hounds get pulled from the ground and sucked into the vacuum made by the mallet.

In what feels like moments, the battlefield is cleared of demons and the storm shoots up into the air. A hypersonic burst of air explodes over the valley as the hammer gains altitude, pulling the cyclone of demons behind it.

Ponies below stand in silent awe as the hammer suddenly ceases its gale and expels all wind from the valley. Demons hang in momentary stasis, the ones still alive from not suffocating in the vacuum clawing at the air, before they slowly begin to fall to the ground.

“What in…the Nine Hels…”

Baldur looks to the sky with tears at the corner of his eyes, smiling his most earnest smile. “The Princess wished for a real miracle, did she?”

Even Tyr mirrors his brother’s gaze, watching the demons fall to the ground with the same astonished expression you saw Slepnir obliterate a mountain with.

Far off, you hear a single distant voice in the nearby forest the cloud of demons was over shout.

“Hammer DOWN!”

The hammer falls streaking a trail of lightning. The night of the battlefield from the acrid smoke of war becomes a brilliant day as the largest lightning bolt you’d ever seen erupts from where the hammer landed and into the clouds above. It didn’t stop there. The clouds themselves, fed this raw power, eject the same streaks of electricity through the sky and strike every single demon still in them.

The Equestrian defends drop to knees, flanks, and more watching the storm incinerate the demonic host. Even the princesses watch astounded as the lightning flays the demons of their flesh and reduces them to ash in the wind.

Howls of the hounds die with the lightning as their remains scatter into the air.

The ground rumbles beneath your feet rumbles as the hammer shoots off into the sky and breaks through the clouds like it did the Tartarian gate. The force of its passing so great that a wide area of sky is pushed away, letting the light of Celestia’s setting sun bathe the battle-weary soldiers.

And then it is gone.

An explosive cheer of joy bursts from the mouth of every pony across the battlefield, marveling at what just happened and grateful to be alive.

Yourself, Baldur, Tyr and his warriors remain near the gate watching the sky.

“That…just happened.”

”Yes No-name, yes it did.” Baldur says.

The light god looks to his brother excitedly “Do you know what this MEANS, Tyr!!”

Tyr looks less than optimistic, locking his jaw. “Yes brother, I do.”

One of Tyr’s wolves approaches behind him and speaks with a deep, hollow voice. “My lord, the Midgardians approach.”

You straighten up as Shining Armor, Sunshine Smiles, Twilight and even Flash Sentry race down to meet you. The Princesses approach from above to see all the commotion.

“Hey Flash.”

”Hey old man.”

”ANON THAT. WAS. AMAZING!” Twilight explains, jumping for joy. “Whatever that was, it sealed the gates and killed every demon in the area! You were RIGHT, it IS a miracle you’re here!”

”What happened?” Sunshine asks.

You look to Baldur who just smiles at you, then to Tyr who is avoiding your gaze by examining the clouds.

Guess it falls on you then…

“Well, you see-“

The Bifrost opens up and pulls the lot of you back to Asgard.

-A bit later-

“Ow! Ow ow ow!”

You’re floating above the Bifrost well in the emptied keep bend over backwards and in an inescapable magic grip. You can feel your spine screaming in protest as you get bent in more terrible ways.

”A bit louder, No-name. They couldn’t hear you in Vanaheim.”

Queen Sleipnir continues to trot around the well, her eyepatch glowing as she holds you and bends you more, while Loki watches from the floor.

The irony isn’t lost on you.

“You’re loving this…”

”I’ll admit to a slight pang of joy over this.”

“Let me remind you that when you were here, I saved yoU-AAAAHHHH!”

Your body contorts in ways it shouldn’t as Sleipnir approaches and holds her head next to yours. “Tell me what it was you did wrong, No-name.”

You think for a minute. “Got caught?”

Sleipnir spins you around into a ball and bounces you off the wall a few times before returning you to your place above the well.

”She hates that answer…” Loki says.

“Probably because she heard it so much from you.”

”Silence.” She demands.

Sleipnir turns you around so you’re looking at her upside down, still in a pressure pose. ”What you have done, human, is reveal our existence to the Midgardians by dragging not yourself, not one, but TWO of my children along with you to a place where all eyes were upon. They know of you know, know of US.”

You nod in pain. “That…sounds right, yeah.”

”Your actions go in the face of my rule back for hundreds of years. Gods have been banished for less.”

She lowers you down just over the event horizon of the well and continues to squeeze, so you continue to scream. “Perhaps, if the mortals mean THAT much to you, I will return you to them…in low orbit. We can see if half an Iduun Apple is enough to survive re-entry.”

Loki watches and grimaces, too frightened to speak.

“AAAHHH! YOU DON’T DESERVE THE PRIVACY!”

Sleipnir pulls you from the horizon and holds you before her face. “What.”

Either it was the battle or your shoulders getting singed by extradimensional energy, but your patience has worn too thin.

“I said you don’t deserve the privacy, you one-eyed mountebank! “Queen of the Gods”! Ptah! What good are you if you lead your gods to let them die when a Devil breaks out of Hel!”

Your wriggle in your binding. “Maybe it’s a matter of perspective, Your Highness, but I was on Equestria when Tirek last set foot on it and he put the fear in me when he drained the Princesses of their magic and nearly destroyed the kingdom! I had to learn to fear him when we were organizing what amounted to a suicide run just to drown him in bodies!”

Loki watches you rant, Sleipnir remains stonefaced.

“So you’re damned right I’ll throw myself right in front of every pony I’ve ever met to try and stop him from returning! And I’ll drag any of your children along with me, they all want to get out of here often enough! Hold me back long enough and I’ll even drag you down there, O Lord of Asgard! My life is given so that those ponies may never know a day where they must feel that fear! And so should yours and everyone else in this city!”

You jerk your body forward and get a centimeter closer to Sleipnir’s face. “So throw me or get the HEL out of my way, because I’ll tear down every veil of secrecy you have if it means saving ONE of their lives.

”As you wish.”

Sleipnir throws you.

You impact on the keystone of the doorway into the keep and smack into the stones on the ground.

“Ow.”

It is Loki, surprisingly, that is at your side first. “If you lost an eye then Heimdall owes me a golden helmet!

You lift your head and offer a quick, tired smile with both eyes, much to Loki’s disappointment.

”So.” Queen Sleipnir starts, her eye still glowing as she approaches you. “You wish to be a meddler? Stick your nose in the business of the nine realms and impose yourself on them? An unpopular life, I assure you, it’s why everyone hates me.”

You don’t touch that bait and just shrug your hands. “We can’t put the past back, My Queen…the genie is out of the bottle. They know, and they need help.”

”Indeed we can’t. I detest time travel.”

”She really does.” Loki chimes in.

Sleipnir continues. ”In your arrogance, you have revealed us to the mortals and you DO speak truth, we cannot put our secret back to the way it was…so we will control how the mortals are made aware of us, and you will spend the next eternity in penance for your misdeed.”

“I beg your pardon.”

”You will not receive it.” Sleipnir extends her neck down to you, regarding you as a bug. “Did I perhaps stutter? I am say that you are now my PEON, No-name. You will do what I command when I command it and it will be recompense for revealing yourself as you did.”

”I hope you turn out better than the last peon…” Loki bemoans.

“…I’ll bite, what happened to him?”

”I turned his skin into fire and then cut off his head.” Sleipnir answers, walking over you and out of the keep.

”Be better, No-name. Loki, get him to a healer. Our No-name has changed more than he realizes by revealing us, and there is much to do…”

Loki gets you onto her back and follows her mother, letting you asses the weight of today in your head in peace.

Author's Note

Characters appearing in this chapter, in order:

Ave, Imperator.

You dangle your feet over the back of the flying chariot as it sails over hills greener than the deepest emeralds under a sky of radiant opal. Even here, so many miles from the city and under the perfect clear sky, the shadows of the branches of the world tree brush the landscape. Whenever you look up to try and catch it, the ephemeral world tree eludes your gaze.

“I didn’t know Asgard had farmland.” You ask.

Baldur turns from the front of the carriage and smiles at you. “Of course it does, where else would the food we eat come from?”

“Your mother once mentioned some “Hall of Eternal Hunt” or something.”

”That’s only our meat.”

The other passenger of the carriage lifts her head up and gives you a look. ”Honestly No-name. Have you ever known a city to have no farmland in it?” Loki asks.

You could explain hoe the Griffon kingdoms used a system of hydroponics for indoor farming, but that sounded like a headache with her, so you just turned back to the view.

In the two weeks since the mortals down in Equestria had learned of the existence of their gods, in that time Asgard has been a busy place. Legions were gathered, the realm below was constantly watched, and you’d been told that Queen Sleipnir has been even more busy than normal.

You say told because you’ve been confined to your quarters until yesterday when the Queen came through one of your walls while you were trying to take a bath and told you that you, Loki, and Baldur were to travel south of the city and call her son home. You sensed it was easier said than done, but you came unarmed just the same.

When you turn to ask Baldur how much longer, you see a sight just beyond the clouds. A large farm in the shadow of a truly massive mountain covering many hills that would make AJ weak in the knees.

“I don’t know which the odder sight is, that farm or the goat pulling our carriage.”

The animal brays a response while Baldur takes his place at the front again. ”He has a name! Onward Toothgnasher! Let’s go find Vidar!”

Some minutes later, your carriage lands at the front of the farmhouse and you now see how big it is. Almost half the size of the royal palace in Canterlot, you could only assume that a prince of Asgard lived big.

“Well, so much for humble living.” You remark.

Loki looks to you and cocks a quizzical eyebrow, you gesture to the massive home. Loki simply chuckles at you. Not concerning at all.

You follow her as she in turn follows Baldur as he walks over towards the fields. "Vidar! Brother it is I, Baldur! Get your massive flank out here and speak to me!”

The three of you pass onto the fields and let you examine the crop more closely.

“Turnips?”

”They do the body good.” Loki tells you.

The leaves atop the crop begin the shake as the earth rumbles.

“What in-?!“

”Relax” Loki says “It’s only the children.”

A pair of ponies with peculiar, curved horns on either side of their heads gallop over the hill towards the two of you. They’re taller than any pony you’d ever seen save the Princesses, and twice as wide.

”Uncle Baldur!” they exclaim with glee.

Baldur’s smile grows into a giant, open-mouthed grin as the two run towards him and he bounds out to embrace them himself. The brawn of the ponies meets Baldur’s invulnerability and smacks the two of them to the ground where they roll around and laugh.

You and Loki watch the affectionate exchange.

“Is that normal?”

”It is for ten year olds.”

“Riiiight. Wait what?!” You look at the two massive stallions rolling around with Baldur, himself of average size and dwarfed by the two “Ten!?”

”They’re their father’s children.”

The earth rumbles again as a nearby hill approaches.

He strides among the treetops and is taller than the trees and his hulking body shakes the ground as he walks.

”Ajax, Kastor. Off him now.” He thunders across the land.

The mountain of muscle approaches you, with positively scores of gathered turnips in satchels on his back, and stops before you all as his children obey his command. He must tower over 50 feet tall by your estimate, with a coat of deep auburn and a mane as fiery as his glare. His face, hooves, and peculiar horns were all jet black. A low feeling of dread washes over you, like how the Queen makes you feel.

”Baldur” he rumbles.

”Brother!” the light god exclaims, running over and hugging his massive leg. “It is so fantastic to see you once more, Vidar! It has been years!”

”Yes, it has.” Vidar answers. “Many quiet, uneventful years away from the palace.”

The feeling of dread under the giant’s gaze crept back up, so you bow your head.

“My honor to meet you Prince Vida-“

”I am no prince, Two-legs!” he roars, the mountains nearby sending snow down their summits as his voice echoes through the canyon.

While you’re still holding your ears, Loki steps forward. “Vidar renounced his title and claim to the throne some decades ago, shortly after Baldur was born. He has not spoken to Mother in person since then, and only responded to a summons once.”

“How’d that go for the deliveryman?”

”I threw a barn at her palace.” Vidar answers.

You stand up straight and look back behind you at the small speck of gold on the horizon marking where the palace was.

“And you hit it? Color me impressed.”

”This is No-name.” Loki starts, introducing you. “A greater enigma than even I’ve ever seen. First he appears in Midgard some, oh, twenty-odd years ago-“

“Flattering an old man like me gets you nowhere, Princess.”

Loki hisses at you to be quiet and continues. “He served with the mortals until he died, then Mother pulled him from Valhalla.”

Vidar snorts, it’s enough warm wind to blow your hair out of the way. “Did she now.”

”I will tell you later brother, Loki promises.”

Vidar nods. “Though we all know how much those are worth.” And Loki doesn’t even look offended.

”Come.” The giant god says as he heads for the massive barn house. “While you’re here, you can help prepare supper.”

Supper consists of, as you anticipated, a fair number of turnips and dishes that involved them. However your hosts saw fit to break out the meats, cheeses, and other things that actually hold some sort of flavor in them thanks to having company over, so you presume Vidar must not be as icy as he initially came across. The family themselves were pleasant enough, even if your mind was on the patriarch thanks to your mission. Vidar’s two sons, Ajax and Kastor, were almost always enthralled by their uncle’s tales, and their mother Ariadne was more than happy to let them focus the unbridled energy of youth on something else for a change.

Throughout the entire meal, not once did either of your companions mention the reason you were even here; bringing Vidar back to the palace for whatever Sleipnir wanted him for. After the glimpse of his temper at even calling him a prince, you didn’t even want to mention his mother’s name. The dissonance of it gives you a headache, so you make an excuse while Baldur starts up another tale and step outside for some fresh air.

The mountain behind Vidar’s home creates a shadow even from the moon as its peak scrapes the very sky and beyond it you see the flashes of the unleashed cosmos connected via the world tree.

You hear someone approach behind you.

“Easy to get lost in all of it.”

”Mm.” she responds. Loki walks up next to you and looks to you. “They say that nowhere in the nine realms minus Midgard has the same sky.”

“Why is that?”

Loki rolls her head thinking over her answer. “The realms exist…close to one another, occupying similar spaces however on different planes, like different colored bits of cloth stretched over one another.” She looks up to the sky. “The sky is like…lenses of glass, unique to each realm. This high atop Yggdrasill, we see through each of them in unison.”

“Huh. So that’s why I see the moon?”

”Midgard is a part of the world tree, just the same as all the others. I see constellations from Alfhiem, clouds from Muspelheim, and nebula from Svartalheim just here alone.”

“Beautiful sight…it makes it easy to understand why your brother retired this far out, if he sees this every night.”

”Mm…Vidar was already gone by the time I was welcomed into the family.”

You turn to look at her. “I bet you still know why he’s out here.”

”I do.”

“And does it relate to why no one’s said a word about our mission since we got here?”

”It does.”

An uncomfortable silence passes between the two of you and you get the feeling you’re not being told something.

“Sharing is caring.”

”I don’t care.” She responds.

“I’m hurt.”

Little Loki sighs and closes her eyes. “I don’t care because our mission is a predestined failure. Vidar won’t set foot in Asgard, even if Ragnarok comes for him. His hatred for Mother runs far too deep for that.

“Why though? What makes him that way?”

Loki looks up to you. “Are you daft? Can you not figure it out? Vidar is born of mother, but his father was a giant. The last king of them, to be exact.”

You stare back at her for a moment. “…And?!”

Did she think stating the obvious made her smart?

“Clearly he’s some sort of giant, he IS giant! There aren’t any frost giants but what does that have to do with the Queen?”

Loki sighs explosively again and levitates a stone amulet from beneath her robes. “To Hel with it! It is easier to show you. Do you have your piece?” You recognize that amulet from all the work you went through to get it. Your hand already going to secret pouch woven into your pocket where you keep your half of the Palantir.

“I keep it on me, but what will looking into the past show?”

Loki levitates the jewel from between your fingers and plugs it into the talisman. “Just…watch the mountain.”

You blink as the mountain starts to disappear in a haze of fog.

Music

“Loki! Where are-“

”Relax, No-name. It’s just a vision. It can’t hurt you.”

As she speaks, the fog around you begins to lift and reveal more of your surroundings. Loki stand next to you, as she was before and with the amulet in her grip. The field behind Vidar’s house now stretches out towards and past the horizon, unplowed and populated by peaceful trees and meadows. The mountain who’s shadow you were in is no longer there.

“When is this?”

”Considering Vidar’s age? Oh…a few decades? Watch your back.”

“Wha-“

You turn just in time to see the mountain thrown over you. With a clamoring crash and a mouthful of swears, it lands in its spot and flails around. Through the dust and fog, you see horns and limbs that clue you in. It wasn’t a mountain; it was a massive horned creature.

You suddenly wish you were in possession of your sword, even if this was just a vision.

“I take it that’s-“

”The former king of the giants.” Loki answers.

“Former why?”

”Look up.” Loki answers glacially.

You look to the sky and see an eight-legged figure descend from the fog. She walks upon the air like its stone and orbits a dozen glimmering weapons around her body in her magical grip. ”We had a PACT, Asterius.” The Sleipnir of your vision calls. “Should I even expect a good answer?” she asks with a tilt of her head.

The Giant King attempts to push himself to his hooves, only for streaks of golden light to pierce through his legs at the knees, impaling him with a pair of golden spears.

Through gritted teeth, the king speaks. “Peace! A farce, and you know it. We’re both pulled upon strings that only we may see, One-eye! Why pretend any different!?”

”Indeed, because it was not your command to have your giants descend from the hills and raid the elves.” Sleipnir says on her way down to the ground.

The crystalline growths on the Giant King shimmer with magical light, and rocks as big as houses fly towards the Queen. Without stopping one of her eight legs, the blades and weapons encircling her deftly cut, bash, and deflect the mounds of earth as if they come at her. You note that the chunks of earth being removed make the plains look like the farm you saw.

”I have seen it all, Sleipnir! The commands of a king mean nothing in the face of a god! And those of a god mean nothing to that which lays above them!”

A massive towering mace spins through the air and strikes the king upside the jaw, sending his teeth flying into the air and embedding into the ground. Queen Sleipnir snorts and narrows her eyes in anger. “Oathbreaker! You do not deserve your son!”

The Queen unleashes a lance of white hot flame from the head of a scepter beside her that breaks upon the king’s body.

”All of them are BLIND, All-Mother! While you, you who sees all hides the truth from them!” The king rips the spears from his body and hurls himself at Sleipnir, only to be rebounded by a mighty blow from a massive axe.

The king lands in a heap behind you and speaks from his bleeding mouth. “I declare you Oathbreaker, Sleipnir Borsdattir, All-mother of Nothing! You who saw all that there is to see and LIED TO US ALL! This ruin! All of it! Your doing!”

The All-mother’s good eye glows stark white and the ground beneath your feet rumbles, even in the vision. A massive chunk of earth on the horizon rips itself from the ground and soars through the sky towards you.

”Fate or no, Asterius, knowledge or not. The choice to debase yourself was yours and yours alone!”

”WHAT CHOICE?!” the king spits back.

The mountain falls from the sky atop the crippled giant, shaking the very roots of the world tree itself.

When the smoke clears, you and Loki are standing next to the All-mother as the fog begins to creep back in. She stares at the rocky face of the newly positioned peak as if she were still speaking to the one beneath it. “That perfection does not exist…is no reason we should not reach for it, husband…” she says as the fog overtakes you both.

The vision ceases, the Palantir goes dark, and your face to knees with another giant though this one is smaller than the last.

Vidar looks down at the two of you. “You are both louder than a dying pig.”

He and his booming voice catch you off guard.

“Sorry about that Milro-“

”Not another word!” he shouts, punctuating by stomping his hoof.

You look up to his simmering eye as he scrapes his hoof along the ground and snorts. “I am not your “lord”. I am no prince. I want nothing to do with Mother or whatever she sent you here for.” Vidar stomps in anger again and sends a tree in his orchard falling to the ground, your weaponless brain tries to back away with your hands up in a vain attempt to deescalate.

Several tense seconds pass between you and the giant god as he glares down at you, contemplating whether to gore you on his horns or not.

Loki intervenes between you two. “Be at peace, brother. No-name is simply…out-of-sorts.” She floats the Palantir into Vidar’s view. “He wanted to know why you hated Mother so…I showed him with this.”

Vidar looks between the amulet, Loki, and you.

”No name.” he begins. “Why are you here. I would hear it from you.”

You swallow. “The Equestiran-the MIDGARDIANS know of the existence of their gods now.”

”Thanks to him.” Loki interjects, you ignore her.

“Your mother wants you to return home…she didn’t specify why.”

”How like her.” Vidar retorts. The giant god takes a few steps, which carries him several dozen feet and lets him pass you as he walks towards the mountain.

”You wish to know why I hold such hatred for Mother within me…? Look before you.”

Vidar gestures to the tip of the mountain with his horns. “My father entered into a pact with her and saw something that drove him to madness…something she may well have known of, and she killed him for it. Dropped a mountain on him as a grave marker.” He turns back to you and glares at you, but you sense his anger isn’t in your direction. “Every. Single. One of her children, everyone in her LIFE, is nothing but a pawn in a game that only she knows of. Not a year after she killed my father, she birthed Tyr, to “try again”. She will do that to you the moment you no longer serve her needs, No-name.”

You cross your arms and stare at your feet, thinking that over. You think back to the battle at the Tartarian Gates, hunting that Manticore, even retrieving Loki. You think all the way back to the first conversation you’d had with her after exiting Valhalla.

“I don’t believe that.”

Both Loki and Vidar turn their heads to you.

“I was ready to die and have my long sleep…and she roused me back. She has a reason for that, I’m sure. However whatever that reason IS, it has never conflicted with what I’ve always been driven to do.”

You finally lift your head and meet their eyes “So I’ll keep doing as I please with this second life of mine. If the Queen has a problem, she can take it up with me.”

Another long silence passes between the three of you, until Vidar lets out a sharp snort. He looks down at Loki. “I like him.”

”Statistically, someone has to.” she replies.

“Quiet, you.”

Vidar turns from his father’s grave and walks back to his home. “You may stay the night, but I want you gone come morning.”

“What should we tell the Queen?”

Vidar stops, but doesn’t turn to you. “What she expects, I refuse her summons.”

“As you wish Pr-Vidar.”

The giant continues back to his home.

“I hope there’s no hard feelings!” you call out.

”Disturb my peace again like this and you’ll find out, No-name.”

Vidar shuts the doors to his home behind him and leaves Loki and you alone outside.

Author's Note

Here's Vidar.

Communion.

You step off your train to Canterlot station and look around puzzled. Normally when you get summoned to Canterlot by a personal letter from Celestia, somepony is here to meet you to tell you what’s going on.

“That’s…weird.”

It didn’t take a Princess of Friendship to notice something was off.

The platform at the station was mostly empty of other ponies and none of the freight workers were out by their trains. Even the guards by the entrance were absent, like the entire city was neck deep in something else “I’ll just…go see what’s wrong. It can’t be too serious if they aren’t here freaking out about it.”

You manage one step before a teleport spell whisks you to the palace and you have Celestia’s face an inch from yours.

”TWILIGHT!” she shouts.

You jump out of your skin and nearly spill your saddlebags. “Gyah! Princess!”

Behind her is chaos. Princess Luna rallies a group of guardsponies with gleaming ceremonial armor while behind her, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence adorn themselves in their regalia in a room across the hall.

Celestia floats over a scroll that rolls down to the floor and out the door. “Thank goodness you’re here.”

The Princess zips over to her own armoire and beings the process of placing her own regalia on while she talks to your reflection. “We’ve got so much to do and only so many hooves to do it with! The list you now hold is everything we have to do before noon, we need your help, Twilight!”

You start to read over the list instinctively as you would any list, but a question plagues your brain.

“Princess Celestia…did you bring me here…for a scheduling problem?”

Celestia looks over her shoulder at you, face heavy with concern. A silent moment passes between you both. ”Are you mad?”

“I’d be mad if you hadn’t.”

Celestia smiles a warm smile at you, knowing she chose well. “With you here, we may just pull this off.

You look to the clock; 10am. Two hours to get all this done.

“What exactly are you trying to do with all this, Princess?”

A low crack of thunder rolls in from the balcony and silences everypony in palace. Celestia looks out to the swirling clouds gathering above Canterlot.

”We’re entertaining guests, Twilight…the most important guests in the history of the kingdom.”

-Two hours later-

Music

You watch from the top of the stairs to the palace. The entire city gathers to watch the clouds swirl above the plaza in front of the royal palace. The sky burns and boils before a gap forms at noon on the dot. A shimmering beam of energy from the clouds impacts the plaza grounds and kicks up wind and dust in its wake. Canterlot’s citizenry shield their eyes and hold onto their hats as the spectacle unfolds.

Familiar figures emerge from the beam one at a time, most that you’d seen at the Tartarian gate. First the massive armored ponies that pushed the hordes back almost singlehoofedly create an honor guard line, then out comes their one-legged commander and that sunny fellow in the glittering armor.

You smile when the next figure emerges. Clad in a freshly polished suit of silver armor and letting his hair out, Anonymous walks next to a unicorn you’d never seen before who was wearing a horned helmet. Despite the circumstances, you’re sure you see him grin and wink at you. When they were all out, the beam cuts off like water from a tap and leaves the real guest of honor in the plaza. Clad in a silver neck regalia and wielding a golden spear, she looks over the gathered onlookers with her single eye.

Queen Sleipnir strikes the ground with the pommel of her spear, signaling her escort to turn and face her as she walks through them. More than a few of the ponies watching her arrival think they should bow when she does that. You take the opportunity to size her up as she walks along the stairs up to you. You’re familiar with the legends relating to her, but they failed to capture her…intensity. Ruler of Day and Night, All-Mother of all things...and one of the more brutal depictions in myth and legends you'd read, most with her list of deeds ended up in Tartarus. Either despite or because of that eyepatch, you felt your legs shake under her gaze.

”Twilight Sparkle.” She says as she reaches you, snapping you out of your trance.

“Yes!”

She continues to watch you as two jet black ravens descend from the sky and land on her shoulders.

“Uhm…I’m a bit surprised you know my name, your grace.” You bow to her to show respect.

”I know many things, little one.” Was her response. “Come, take me to them.”

You throw the doors open into the palace and lead the procession through. The Queen clips along on her eight legs next to you while Anonymous and the others walk behind you both. This was a massively important part of your duty here, as hosting the Queen for the next few minutes was your responsibility and yours alone.

Visiting dignitaries and nobles’ line some of the halls along your path to bow to the Queen, but the guards along your path stand resolute and keep them back, even if it means fighting the urge themselves.

Queen Sleipnir ignores them as she walks, using the bottom of her spear to keep rhythm with her legs even though she had eight of them.. “I know many things, Twilight Sparkle. I would know more from you.”

You’ve prepared for all contingencies, so you’d of course planned to answer a few questions. “Well! The palace was built some 900 years ago after Princess Luna-“

”About you.” The queen interrupts. “When did you ascend?”

You nearly stumble. “Ah-Begging your pardon?”

She nods down to you. “The wings on your back.”

”Oh…a few years ago.”

She grunts in acknowledgement as the two of you round a corner to the throne room. ”Friendship, mm?”

“Y-yes.”

The Queen keeps her eyes forward as you lead her in. “Could have used you back when the world was forming.”

You push the Queen’s comment to the back of your head and walk into the throne room ahead of them. Celestia and Luna sit on their twin thrones at the top of the royal spire, while Shining and Cadence sit one level up.

You clear your throat and turn as the Queen and her followers stop in the center of the room. The armored honor guard spread themselves along the back of the room in silence.

“May I present to you, honored guests, Princess Celestia of the Sun and Princess Luna, of the moon. Alongside them, Princess Mi-Amore-Cadenza, Princess of Love and her husband Prince Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard.”

The four of them nod, you place your hoof to your heart.

“And I am Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle. Former bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony.”

For all the pomp and circumstance, declaring the names and titles of any who visited the kingdom was an essential part of the diplomatic process. It let everyone know where they stood.

Anonymous clears his throat and begins to step forward, but a raised hoof from the Queen sends him right back.

”I am Sleipnir Borsdottir; All-Mother, Queen of Asgard, Skylord of the Eastern Cosmos, She Who Brunt the Old World, God of War, Poetry, Magic, and Death.”

That sounded…lovely, you guess, save for the magic part.

The Queen gestures to her side and the two stallions step forward. “My sons. Tyr, High General of Asgard and God of War and Justice. Baldur, Lord of Lights.”

You got a much better look at them now that there wasn’t an apocalypse going on. Tyr closes his eyes and nods stoically, while Baldur places his hoof to his heart and gives a heavy bow. “It is my honor to be within your presences, Princesses.”

You think you see Sleipnir roll her eye as she gestures to her other side. “My daughter, Loki, one of our most talented spellcasters in Asgard despite her young age and No-name, with whom you are all acquainted.”

”Charmed.” Is all Loki says.

Anonymous however, smiles. “Good to be back.”

You feel the others smile at him, but you’re hung up on her. Familiar as you were with their stories, the name Loki sets off bells in your head. The last thing you need is another-

"HELLOOOOO EVERYPONY!” shouts the last voice you wanted to hear.

Discord, the ever-present pain in your and your friend’s flanks, materializes out of a stained-glass window wearing a golf caddies’ uniform and hoisting a net full of chicken eggs.

”My my, look who it is!” he says, gesturing towards the throne. “Celestia, Luna, Prince and Princess whats-their-names, and my favorite little friend, Twilight…So good, so good to see you all!”

”Discord!” Shining shouts, getting low and ready to throw him out, or at least try.

“We’re a little busy here!”

”Well this is how you can UN-busy yourselves! I have this great idea to spice things up around here and the only thing all of you need to do is meet me on the roof facing the Griffon King-“

”Discord.”

Discord makes a sound akin to a rubber chicken being squeezed and poofs away his props before turning around. ”…Hello Mrs. S.” he says, pawing at his…paw.

Queen Sleipnir locks eyes with Discord even as he tries not to meet hers and looks him over.

Everyone else in the room watches the exchanged, astonished at how quickly and how completely the chaos spirit capitulated. As Discord prepares to open his mouth again, the Queen interrupts. “You’ve lost weight.”

”Oh…you know. Clean living, down here.” He says to make an excuse.

She grunts to him again and looks out the window. “I am meeting with your friends now. Leave, or I will call your mother.”

Discord’s eyes nearly pop out of his head as he turns back to all of you. “So sorry, my friends, but I just remembered that I have to…water my socks! Yes! So long!”

Discord snaps his fingers and manifests a knapsack over his shoulder before he winds up and zips out the window he came through. The last thing you hear from him is "You look loveley, Mrs. S!"

The Queen watches him go before she turns her attention back to you. She reads the room and offers a small explanation.

"I am acquainted with his mother. Continue."

She steps forward and signals for one of her sons, the bearded one, to follow. “The most pressing matter is the incursion from Tartarus and Asgard’s…intervention.” Anon shirks away from the Queen a bit, hoping not to be noticed. “We will begin there. Summon your warriors, I would speak of this in solitude.”

Celestia nods and looks down to you. “Twilight, can you take care of everypony not in this meeting?”

You nod your head; you could do with the air.

You quickly gather up your charges and head for the veranda, taking a deep breath once you see the sky again.
“Aaaahhh~…”

Anon chuckles next to you. “You learn to get used to her.”

“I’m not sure I want to…”

”Now you know how we feel.” Loki responds, walking past you out onto the deck.

At your other side, Baldur runs past you to the railing. “Wow! Look how far you can see! Haha! I can see all the way to the next city!”

You suppress a giggle.

“That would be Manehattan, one of the biggest ports in Equestria.”

”Aahh! What’s that?”

“The Everfree forest.”

”What’s that?”

“That’d be Galloping Gorge.”

”What’s that?”

“That-“

”-Is enough of that, please.” Anon finishes. You give him a questioning look, to which he answers, “This will keep up all day if you let it.”

”And night.” Loki answers, sitting at a table. “Though who knows how long we’ll be stuck behind Mother only to be ushered out like schoolyard hens.”

”But she’s not upset, we swear.” Anon chides, going over and sitting nest to her. Baldur notices and heads over as well.

”I have every right to be! Dragged halfway across the realm just to walk in after Mother and then be told to leave while she discusses important matters! I am a Princess of Asgard, why am I not allowed to take part in shaping it?”

”Because you act like a spoiled brat and whine too much. Have an apple.” Anon hands Loki an apple that she bites into, albeit with a snide look on her face.

You smile and sit across from them. “I see Anonymous has had no trouble fitting in.”

”He’s my best friend!” Baldur shouts.

”He’s VERY insistent on it.” Said friend responds.

”Though why do you call him that?” Loki asks.

“What?”

”Anonymous is just what they call me, Loki.” He says. “No-name is what all of YOU call me.”

“Which do you prefer?”

Anon shrugs with his palms to the sky.

You nod and help yourself to an apple. “I have to thank all of you again for what you did at the Tartarian Gate. Without all of you, I don’t know where Equestria would be.”

”On fire, more than likely.”

Anon elbows Loki to admonish her. “It wouldn’t kill you to be nice.”

”It very well might.”

”Not if I do it first.”

”I’d like to see you try, monkey-boy!”

Sparks fly between the two of them while Baldur digs apple seeds from his teeth.

“Is that normal for them?”

”Yesh.” He answers with a gulp. “Sister has a habit of bringing out the worst in people. Not me, though.”

”I will hex you to RAGNAROK, Baldur!”

”Yes, yes, I love you too, sister!”

The prince chuckles and looks to you. “Children, am I correct?”

”MOTHER!” Loki cries. “BALDUR IS HITTING ON THE MORTALS!”

Wait what?!

”Oh you little-!“ Baldur tries to leap across the table at Loki, but is held down by Anonymous. Loki’s horn sparks futilely in his armored hand as the two of them try to escape to beat each other.

Anon sighs as he holds them apart. “And people ask me if I’d prefer to have stayed dead…SIDDOWN!” Anon pushes the two of them back to their seats. “Enough! We’re guests here, behave yourselves!”

The two godlings stare at each other and turn away in unison.

”I will if Loki stops being a pain.”

”I will if Baldur keeps it in his pantaloons.”

“Are these two really gods?”

”Oh I promise Twi, they’re all just as crazy like this. I’ve had to learn to make due.”

Faaaaaantastic.

Just as Anon prepares to sit, someone else joins. “Is everything alright back here?” You look over to see who it was, but Anon is already out from behind the table heading over.

”Armor!” Shining smiles his brightest and embraces Anon’s hand with his hoof. ”You son of a-“

“Watch it, Anon.” you say.

Anonymous snickers and looks back to your brother, both trying to out-macho the other one.

”You know I can win.” Anonymous says.

”I know you THINK you can.” Armor retorts before releasing him.

“Is everything alright, Shining?”

The Prince-Captain returns to his serious persona and nods. “The private meeting is finished. The Queen wants everyone in the room for what comes next.”

”Finally…” Loki groans, tossing her apple core off the side of the veranda.

Back in the throne room, Queen Sleipnir stands before Celestia and Luna, having come down from their thrones. Overall, the air in the room was a tad bit more casual.

The Queen interrupts her conversation to address the five of you as you return. She does not look when she does. “Loki!”

The Asgardian Princess stops in her tracks. “What?”

”Apologize to your brother.”

Her cheeks immediately inflate in a rage. “Wha-Buh-How did you know about that?!”

”I know everything you whelp! Apologize, NOW!”

"But he was trying to make whooppy with the mortals!"

Whoopy?!

"He is old enough to have children! You were not! Apologize to him NOW!"

Loki groans aloud. “Fine!I’msorryBaldur! Are you happy now?!”

”Content. Join us.”

You walk next to Loki to try and get your mind off...THAT as she grumbles under her breath.

“Hehe, I remember what it was like being that age around my parents…”

”I assure you, living with my mother is different from anything you experienced.” She says.

“I don’t doubt it. But still! A respected magister at your age, you must know so much!”

Loki puffs herself up, making her helmet go up as high as it can go to add a few inches to her. “I am the wisest of all my siblings! I can’t count how often they come to me asking for my advice! No-name too! Even my parents!”

“Oh, how interesting! I handle lots of friendship problems with my friends and family too, I’d love to compare notes one day!”

Loki’s eyes snap open and she looks confused. “What.”

Anonymous leans down and whispers to her. “She says she wants to be friends with you, you doof.”

The Princess keeps her eyes focused forward as you all reach her mother before a small “Sure” escapes her lips.

“What was that?”

”I-I will allow this. Be greatful.”

You give her the warmest smile you can and make silent note to never let her and Trixie in the same room together.

The Queen clears her throat and turns to all of you.

”It has been decided.” She says.

Baldur is the first to speak. “Are…you going to leave us in suspense?”

The Queen shoots him a look before she continues, Baldur does the same thing Discord did and flattens his ears..

”In the past, Asgard has stood silent vigil over the realms of Midgard and beyond. From No-name’s interference, we three have determined that things will not get better on their own.”

Celestia and Luna step forward on either side of the Queen. “Tirek only got as far as he did because the locks on the gate somehow failed, that couldn’t have happened by accident.”

Anonymous crosses his arms and nods. “Someone wanted it to happen.”

”Indeed.” The Queen answers. “So it is, and so shall it be that Asgard will, from this day forward, go forth and defend our charges in Midgard from those in our realm that would mean them harm. Each of you, my children, will be called forth in the coming days.”

Baldur is nearly jumping out of his skin in excitement. “Does that mean I get to leave the palace!?”

The Queen sighs. “Yes, son.”

The son says nothing, but his smile only grows and his hopping intensifies.

”We will rely on the mortals for their aid in this endeavor, such control over their realm as they have already established.” Sleipnir states.

Celestia and Luna nod. “Canterlot will stand with you.”

”As will the Crystal Empire.” Cadence says. “We’ll do everything we can to keep everyone safe.”

”Here here!” Anon says.

”Aye.” States Tyr.

The Queen clenches her jaw and looks out one of the windows. “In return for our aid…I ask but one request of you mortals.”

Celestia and Luna look to each other, both clearly unprepared for that. “What would you ask of us, All-Mother…?”

You glance at the Queen’s eye, but quickly wish you hadn’t. The steely determination simmering from it could level a mountain and made your knees shake.

”The one responsible for sealing the gate to Tartarus is my eldest daughter. She has been living amongst your kind for nearly a year. I want to find where she is.”

Beyond the window, thunder cracks in the sky despite the sun shining. Next to you, Loki swallows a knot in her throat.

True Strength.

You open your eyes as the Bifrost deposits you beneath the trees of the Everfree Forest. The rainbow light seeped through your eyelids even when you squinted them shut. Time moves differently for forests and mountains. It’d been years since you last set foot in this place, but every inch of it was as you remembered like it hadn’t even been a day. Thoughts such as that wander into your head every so often. Would your life even register as a blip to the forest? Or would the entirety of your existence be to it as the flies currently in your face were to you.

You suppose that, considering your current divine company, you may have more impact on the forest than you realize. Queen Sleipnir was responsible for sending you down to Midgard this day with a quick and simply stated task.

”You are familiar with the mortal settlement Ponyville. Travel to it and return my wayward daughter to me.” She had commanded.

When you told her that Ponyville wasn’t exactly a small place, she at least gave you a name to go off of.

“Mmmmmjolna.”

You turn the name over your tongue for a bit, getting a feel for it and imagining what its owner may look like. If she was Sleipnir’s daughter and a wayward one at that while also, she believes, the one responsible for saving your ass at the Tartarian Gate, then that certainly colored your perception.

“Anyone mighty enough to do that is…what? Nine feet tall? Should be easy.”

You swing your arms and begin walking towards civilization. No weapon hangs from your hip and no armor straddles your chest this time, having told Heimdall to send you down close to the boarder. Close enough to avoid Timber Wolves but far enough from town to avoid making a spectacle.

However, a rustling of the bushes makes you momentarily regret that choice.

You drop low behind a fallen tree in the hopes of getting the jump on whatever creeps towards you, but quickly feel foolish as you see what it is.

Or rather, who they are.

”Ahm tellin’ ya, there aint no way we’re gonna see a magic wind cave with a pig-bear in it out here! All’a those rumors are just horse-apples!” a little filly states.

Another, oranger one jumps over her excitedly. “But Rumble says he SAW it out here! Saw it with his own two eyes and said it was knocking down trees to clear its home!”

A tiny white one trails behind the two. “Rumble Thunderlane’s brother?”

”Yeah!”

”How are you sure he didn’t just hear that from his older brother? Would YOU trust anything Thunderlane said?”

The three young fillies all look at each other silently for a moment before they begin giggling in unison. Recognizing the little crusaders, you stand up.

“Girls?”

For a moment they seem panicked at the surprise, thinking that whatever cryptid they were discussing might indeed be real, but their mouths turn to smiles at the sight of you.

”It’s Anon!” they exclaim.

In a second you’re mobbed by young girls. Applebloom tries to show you how tall she’s gotten, Scootaloo tries to show you how long she can hover for, and Sweetie Belle just wants you to look at her. It’s more chaotic than the battle of the Gate.

“Girls, GIRLS!”

The three of them freeze.

“It’s nice to see all of you, but one at a time. Please. I’m an old man.”

The girls all run in front of you and turn their smiles up.

”We haven’t seen you in f’r ever, Anonymous!”

”You’ve GOT to tell us all the adventures you’ve had with those god guys.” Sctootaloo exclaims.

”Yeah! Is that why you’re here now? Do you have some super special mission you gotta do?!” Sweetie asks.

They knew about the company you keep? Word travels fast. The questions begin to ramp up again so you raise both hands to quickly calm them.

“Hey, hey!”

They silently look up at you with expectant eyes. “I’m just here to…meet someone, girls. Just a social call.”

All three of the Crusaders groan in unified disappointment.

You cross your arms. “Don’t give me that. What are you three even doing out this far from town? And in the Everfree no less.”

Scootaloo dismissively waves a hoof at you. “Aw, you worry too much, Anon. We’re with our councilor!”

You blink. “Counciler?”

”Yeah!” Applebloom pipes up. “We’re in an after-school camp for young adventurous fillies, they let us go out WAY farther than our sisters do so long as we have a councilor with us watching us!”

”Do you want to meet her?” Sweetie asks. “She’s just over there.”

You follow the hoof she points to through a small copse of trees, but shake your head.

“Gotta find my friend, girls. Sorry. Business comes first.”

You shrug as they groan again, but pet their heads as you pass by on your way. They should be alright out here if they’re supervised.

“Be good! And don’t drive your councilor crazy!”

You leave the edge of the forest and make your way into town. The familiar buildings and sights of Ponyville greet your eyes as you approach. From here, you can even see some of the townsfolk in the distance.

Including one very very pink one.

That has now noticed you and is galloping towards you at full tilt.

“Uh oh…”

In all Equestria there is a saying. ”There is no party like a Pinkie Pie party because a Pinkie Pie party will go until the police break it up.”

You’re trying to escape that fate this time.

The entire block was now engulfed in a raucous party that echoed through the entire town. Ponies danced, laughed, and even got a dj to perform. You’d been forced to the head of no less than three conga lines. You’ve no idea how long the party lasted since Pinkie dragged you into a welcome back celebration that seemed to spring from nowhere. Minutes? Hours? Everything was a haze of cake and confetti.

Leaning back in the chair you borrowed, you rub your head. “Pinkie, if they ever let you in Valhalla, I think they’ll learn that eternal merriment can, in fact, be a bad thing…”

”Don’t be so down, Annie! It’s your super special “Welcome-back-we-thought-you-were-dead-but-you’re-really-not-and-secretly-helping-to-protect-Equestria-just-like-when-you-were-alive” party!

You spin one finger around. “Woo.”

The rolling storm in your stomach caused by the 18 cupcakes you were forced to eat at this thing causes you to reach for a beverage. Looking at what you grabbed, a super sugary chocolate shake, makes you put it back with a belch to release the pressure inside you. Pinkie, to her credit, was still going as she slide more treats into her Pattented Pinkie Portable Party Oven If Pinkie Pie was good at two things, it was knowing ponies and parties.

Hmm…

“Hey Pinkie, you know everypony, have you ever heard of someone named Mjolna?”

”Gesundheit, Annie.” Pinkie says.

“Very funny.”

Pinkie chokes a laugh back. “I know. What was her name again? Mee-yol-na?”

“There abouts.”

Pinkie thinks as hard as she can and taps her chin. “Mmmmmmnope. The name isn’t ringing any bells. Who is this pony, Annie?”

You sigh dejectedly, realizing you ate 18 cupcakes for nothing.

“She’s the daughter of a…friend. I’m here to find her and bring her home.”

A rare worried frown crosses Pinkie’s face. “Aw, that’s so sad, Annie. If she’s the daughter of your friend…family shouldn’t be apart.”

You feel your old friendship with Pinkie tugging at your heart strings as you remember that she herself is separated from her family, hearing this can’t be easy for her.

Best to change subject.

“How’s life, Pinkie?”

The dark clouds pushed away, Pinkie snaps back to her happy standard like taffee. “Aw, you know. Life is life. Workin’ at the shop, helping Twilight with some friendship problem, throwin’ parties.”

“How’re the twins?”

”Bigger EVERY day, Annie!” she happily exclaims. “I was worried about business at the shop when Mr and Mrs Cake have to take care of them in their Terrible Twos, we were able to sell out almost our ENTIRE stock of pastries after I got Sandy to help me!”

You nod slowly. “Friend of yours?”

Pinkie nods back, you hear a been in a tin can when she does.

That made you smile, honestly even after the confectionery nightmare earlier. You may be here on a divine mission, but you’d also wanted to see the town with your own eyes, make sure everyone was alright.

“Okay Pinkie, it was fun, but…”

You push yourself up and stretch “I really do need to find Mjolna, or at least someone who’s seen her. She’s in this town somewhere.”

”Oh oh!” Pinkie says, bouncing up and down. “You should DEFINITELY go ask Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres! Ever since Big Macintosh joined that acapella choir, she’s been putting up help wanted signs for farmhands! Maybe she’s seen your friend!”

It’s as good a lead as any. You give Pinkie a thumbs up.

“Thanks Pinkie. Keep your ears open in case she Mjolna comes here, okay?”

Pinkie waves to you as you walk away, you smell smoke as you go. “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a cupcake in my-AH! MY CREPES!”

The Everfree sits to the South of the town while Sweet Apple Acres lies more to the West. You head back to the center of town to escape Pinkie’s block party and then head along the road that takes you past the police station. You’re both amazed and relieved that the town finally got a real police station to handle problems.

“Maybe now they won’t need to call Royal Guard and a bunch of show fliers to save them.”

Really, Wonderbolts? Against Tirek? Come on.

As you approach the outer edge of town, the houses become slightly further apart. One of the houses has two brown asses milling about the front moving some groceries from the market inside.

Though you guess the polite term is donkey.

“Need a hand there, Matilda? I’d hate for someone to slip a disc.”

You hear Cranky snort before he even finishes turning around. “I’ll have you know that my disc is-“

”Oh calm down, Darling. Anonymous was just trying to be helpful.” The female donkey turns and smiles to you. “Thank you dear, I would love it.”

You pick up your pace down the road and scoop up the bags of food in your hands. You hear Cranky grumble, but he doesn’t turn down the help.

“Nice to see you haven’t changed much, Cranky.”

”Still sticking your nose in other’s business, aren’t you Anonymous?”

Cranky was fun in an “angry bulldog behind a fence” sort of way.

”Oh don’t my him, dear.” Matilda chimes as she ushers you inside her home with all the bags under your arms. Making two trips was for neophytes. ”He’s been particularly grumpy ever since he couldn’t get our new couch indoors.”

You glance over into the living room. Three bodies wide, rich red velvet, high back and positioned right by the bay window. It was a nice couch.

“Well, we all have those days.”

Matilda leads you to the kitchen where you deposit the groceries.

“How’d you get that beauty over there then?”

Cranky finally chimes in. “Eh, that Shores girl was wandering by and lent us a hand.”

“Who now?”

”A bit of a new girl in town.”

“A big girl from the sound of it.”

”What is it the kids say? Earth ponies strong?” Matilda shrugs. “Thank you for the help, Anonymous.”

Matilda hugs you and even Cranky offers a dour “Thank you.” After he rolls his eyes.

You wave to them both and head out the door, continuing to Sweet Apple Acres.

You hear Applejack before you see her, picking up the sharp THWOCK of steel horseshoes against bark as you enter the orchard.

Sure enough you find the farmpony deep inside her orchard with a cart filled with barrels of apples.

She doesn’t see you and so you watch for a moment.

“Does that hurt?”

AJ pauses and looks over her shoulder, growing a cocky smirk. “Naw, with how long I been doin’ this and these fancy horseshoes, barely feel a thing.”

You smile and stroll over.

”How about dyin’, s’that hurt?” she asks.

“I’ve had worse.”

”Like what?”

“Too many Pinkie Parties.”

The two of you share a laugh. Afterwards, you flex.

“Though these days, I’m not really feeling too much pain, even at my age. The golden apples they have up their make me feel like I could wrestle Big Macintosh any day of the week.”

AJ’s brow furrows a tad as she leans against her cart. “Aint better than my apples.”

“I don’t know, AJ…”

Her craftsman’s pride wounded; she points a hoof at you. “Prove it!”

You swing your leg back and give the tree she was working a resounding kick. From above you, the remaining apples in the tree fall to the ground as if they were pulled by a mighty force.

Applejack inspects your handiwork with a stern gaze.

”…Still couldn’t have tasted better than mine.”

“You’ve got me there.”

The two of you share another laugh together. Applejack takes her hat off and fans herself in the summer heat. “So what’re you here for, Anon? Gotta say you being back here at all is pretty odd. Twilight gave us the skinny on your uh…unique circumstances, but it’s still hard t’ believe.”

“Odd how?”

”Odd as in “crossin’ the boundaries of life and death where nopony should walk” odd.”

“I’m not exactly a pony.”

”Point stands.”

You shrug. “I don’t really know. I can’t remember how I “died”, even if I remember how I planned it, but I know that I can see and hear and talk to and touch everyone now so I might as well be alive.”

To prove a point, you reach out and tap Applejack’s nose with your finger. “Boop.”

She scrunches her noise and shakes her head out. “Don’t do that.”

“No promises.”

You snigger and loop your thumbs into your pockets. “I’m here looking for someone, the daughter of my new…boss, I guess. Has there been anyone knew in town?”

AJ mimics Pinkie Pie and taps her chin. “Let’s see, new? Not really. Folks don’t really move out all the way to Ponyville. Even with all the element bearers and the Tree of Harmony and Discord and the Princess of Friendship here, we’re still too far out for most folk to make a life.”

“Funny, I don’t exactly hear you complaining.”

”Keeps land prices down, f’nothing else.”

AJ sets her hoof down. “Near as I can figure, the newest face I know is Sandy Shores, she’s my repairpony.”

“Wait, who now?”

”Sandy Shores? Young girl, maybe…18 or 19 by my guess? Lives in a house off Unicorn Range with Quick Fix.”

“I thought Quick Fix was the repair pony!”

”Quick Fix has an engineering degree, Anon!”

Of course, how foolish of you.

“What’s she do?”

AJ gestures to the edge of the orchard. “Diamond Dogs busted up my fence a couple moons back, Sandy came ‘round to fix it up and even helped me chase ‘em off. Why?”

You stroke your chin.

“Just…hearing a lot about this girl today.”

”Aint surprised, she’s been a big help ‘round these parts.”

“Where is she now?”

AJ tilts her head a bit. “Probably off near the Everfree boundary with Apple Bloom and her friends? Sandy works part time as the councilor for that camp a’ hers.”

Sunuva!

You bid farewell to Applejack and hurry towards the place you came in at, apparently Heimdall was more accurate than you’d been led to believe.

You hightail it through the orchard and hop the fence back to the forest, relying on your sense of direction to take you back to the area you saw the girls at.

Sure enough it takes you less than ten minutes to hear the sounds of Apple Bloom urging her friends “Pull harder!” You peak through the brush.

“Girls!”

The three little fillies stop pulling on the strange looking plant that they’re tugging on in unison to look at you.

”Mister Anonymous?”

You realize your rush to get here was not their rush. “…Where’s your councilor?”

Scootaloo rolls her eyes. “This again? We told you, we’re fine! She’s watching us!”

“Yeah but can I meet her?”

The girls look to each other and shrug, who could understand what an old man wanted?

”Miss Sandy!” they call together.

”Coming girls!”

You size her up as she crosses through the treeline. Younger, about as young as AJ said, but larger than most of the earth ponies you’d seen. If you guessed, she’d come up to just under Mac’s height with a stocky build. Her mane was bright gold and seemed to catch the sunlight that creeps through the trees and hits her body, which contrasts with the smooth tan of her coat.

She seems nice by the big smile she wears and how the girls trot up to her. Were it not for one thing, you’d simple figure her to be a normal, if slightly bulky mare.

Were it not for the cutie mark of a familiar mallet on her flank.

”What’s up girls?” she asks “Who’s this?”

Sweetie Belle is the one to answer. “This is Mister Anonymous! He’s a friend of our sisters and helped protect Equestria and stuff.”

She chuckles. “And stuff?”

“I also have a lovely singing voice. Girls, can I talk to Miss Sandy alone for a minute?”

The four girls cock an eyebrow.

“It’s about the fence she fixed for Applejack.”

”Sandy” pats the girls on the back. “Why don’t you guys head off to the lake over yonder, alright? But stay within earshot!”

The Crusaders run off through the brush. “Okay Miss Sandy!”

”Sandy” watches the girls trot off before turning her attention back to you. ”So! What can I do for you, Anonymous?”

You decide to play it cool. “It’s just about the fence you helped Applejack fix…something about Diamond Dogs?”

She trots past you and examines a tree nearby. “Yeah, irritating little blighters. They knocked down a section of the fence along the western edge and even stuck around in the area while I was fixing it! I Applejack was around so she helped me chase them off.” Sandy pumps her hoof. “We showed them what’s what, I promise!”

You offer a simple smile. “I’m sure, I just wanted to know in case…you know, keeping an eye out.”

”I guess a guard’s work is never done?”

“Never ever. Even dead, I still serve.”

The two of you share a small chuckle.

“Your cutie mark, the hammer means you repair things?”

Sandy nods. “Yeah, that’s it. The lightning bolts are because I do it lightning fast!”

You nod your head and cross your arms as Sandy trots past you towards where the girls went. “Can’t hear them all too well…those three had better not have gotten lost!”

“We could always ask Heimdall to take a look.”

Sandy keeps her back to you.

“Failing that, ask the Queen to send her ravens out.”

”Sandy’s” shoulder’s fall and her stance and demeanor change with the wind.

”You know.” She starts, turning around and walking towards you. Her mane shines with a brighter golden glow now and she moves with a previously unforeseen grace. “I was having a really good day until you showed up, Mister Anonymous!”

“Oh really?”

”Yeah! I woke up early, the bakery had my favorite jelly doughnuts in stock and Miss Cake gave me an extra one TOTALLY for free. The weather was nice and Rumble couldn’t make it to camp today because his brother was sick which means I DON’T have to get hit on by Thunderlane today. I was looking forward to a nice quiet day with the girls, a nice days pay earned, and then maybe I’d go for a walk at night. But here you are.”

“Sorry to disappoint “Sandy”.”

”Yeah, whatever.” She says, rubbing the back of her head. “So you know my real name?”

“Mjolna? Yeah.”

”That’s the one.”

“Why the pseudonym?”

”Pot to kettle? Hello “Anonymous”.”

”I took it to, you know FIT IN? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a pretty studious resident in this town. I didn’t need her hearing about her new neighbor that she read about in books.”

You look at her and lean on a tree. “Fitting in, huh?”

”Uh, yeah? I like it down here, it’s nice and quiet. I’d like to blend with the townsfolk.”

Can’t fault her for that one, you loved it down here too. This daughter of Sleipnir was certainly different from the other one you’re used to.

“So, I have to ask. The Tartarian Gate, that was you?”

Mjolna sighs a bit. “Yeah, it was. The guard were marching just outside of town and scaring everyone. Once I heard the commotion and heard everypony praying just to survive, I stepped in.”

“You can hear prayers?”

”Gods can do a lot of things, alright?”

“Well, still, thanks for the assist. We wouldn’t be here having this conversation if not for you, you saved a lot of lives that day.”

”Yeah, welcome to my life. It really do be like that sometimes.”

You laugh. “What?”

Mjolna shrugs. “I don’t know, something the kids say.”

You shake your head. “Well, I’ve been sent here to tell you that your Mother wants you to return home.”

”Pass.” Mjolna says.

A pause hangs in the air as you chew that unexpected answer over.

“She’s…not really the type to take no for an answer.”

Mjolna looks over her shoulder and shrugs. “She better figure it out then. Trust me, she’s used to it from me.”

“That sounds like a story.”

Mjolna sucks air through her teeth and blows her mane from her face. “It’s why I was banished here…” The godling sits herself on the ground. “Long story made VERY short, Frost Giants killed my father. I wanted to go to Jotunhiem to find out why from the horse’s mouth.”

“I understand there are no Frost Giants.”

For a moment, a grim shadow crosses over Mjolna’s face that makes you think of Sleipnir. “Yeah. There aren’t.” Mjolna lets out another deep sigh before continuing. “I got into a fight with Mother about it, in anger, we came to blows. After it was done, I was banished here.”

You let out a low whistle.

“Takes a lot of guts to take a swing at your Mother.”

”Tch. So? I don’t care how old she is, I’m not letting that crone take the wheel on MY life and decide what I can and can’t do. If she deserves a welt, I’ll give her one.”

Now Mjolna reminds you of her Mother even more.

”Am I sad that I can’t see my family? Yes, of course. But it was the right thing to do, and I’d do it again.”

“Alright, alright, easy.” You raise your hands to calm her. “Look, I get it. But the Queen wouldn’t call for you or send me if she didn’t need you back. Whatever your Mother may be, a moron is not it.”

”True as that may be? I don’t CARE, Anonymous. A moron she might not be, but my Mother IS a pompous, posturing pain in my ass and the collective ass of everyone in the nine realms. I’m so over being her attack dog that she uses to strongarm other realms because I have a big hammer. Besides, I’m helping out around here.” She says, gesturing to where she sent the girls.

“Equestria was getting along fine without the gods for years down here, barring a few princesses. Your family needs you NOW.”

Mjolna keeps her eyes from yours and lets out a quick verbal space. “Yeah, well, I really like being “normal”, whatever that is, and this might be my only chance to do it. In Asgard I was the God of Thunder first, the scion of the crown second, and my Mother’s successor third. Here I’m just Sandy.”

“That doesn’t change the facts.”

”Well change can go to Hel. All I want to do is help, damn the politics.”

You sigh and rub your brow.

“So that’s it?”

Mjolna shrugs. “The only hero I’m interested in being right now is one to those three girls, sorry…”

Silence lingers in the air between the two of you before it’s torn asunder by a deafening roar and three high pitched filly-screams.

The two of you are running in that direction before either finish.

Music

The two of you break through the treeline where you heard the girls and indeed find them. Cowering in fear behind a rock as a truly colossal grizzly bear made of starilight roars with the ferocity of the black hole in its gullet at them.

“Ursa Major!”

”I see it!” Mjolna shouts from atop a rock she perched on.

The girls were a few hundred feet away and the Ursa, a good mile or two, but its massive gait could move it that distance in seconds if it wanted to.

As if in queue, the Ursa snarls and begins to charge towards the tiny ponies it spotted in its territory.

The girls cling to each other in sheer terror before they see you and Mjolna on the hill. “Help!” they cry.

An electricity moves through the air of the forest. ”Get to them.”

“Wha-“

The rock Mjolna stood upon explodes as she leaps off it with such force that she rockets through the Everfree towards the Ursa.

“Oh, damn!”

You waste no time and slide down the hill, dashing towards the Crusaders. “HANG ON, GIRLS!”

A mighty wind screams through the river clearing and turns into a squal. A barrage of debris is ejected from the forest at the Ursa, uprooted trees and massive stones that fly through the air and strike it in the head in an effort to discourage it. The beast slows from the assault but falls upon you just as you reach the girls.

Hands around the three fillies, time slows to an eternity as Mjolna shoots from the forest and body-checks the Ursa Major in the jaw, sending it soaring over the trees into the side of Everfree Mountain.

"Whoa!” Scootaloo shouts.

”HOLY CRAP!”

“Hey! Watch your language, Sweetie!” Mjolna lands in front of the four of you and cants her head to the hill. “Get to safety, I’ve got this!”

“It’s an Ursa Major!”

”And I am the God of Thunder!”

The Ursa rights itself from the impact it suffered and roars another challenge. Mjolna stops paying attention to you and leaps into the forest.

You scoop up the girls and run back the way you came from, hazarding a glance back only when Scootaloo cries “Look!”

Mjolna leaps through the forest like a gazelle, her mighty legs pushing her forward at a speed you’d never seen any pony reach on land, galloping or otherwise. The Ursa Major suffers an uppercut impact to the jaw as you reach the top of the hill. You stop and stare in amazement while the Crusaders jaws hit the dirt. The Ursa Major is pulled up the side of Everfree Mountain by a small dust cloud near its head, one you presume is Mjolna grabbing it with what you can only figure is her teeth.

At the peak of the crag, the Ursa is thrown down the slopes as a tremendous “GET LOST!” echoes among the trees. The Ursa roars all the way down the mountain and bounces when it hits the ground, sailing over the trees and impacting the river you’d just crossed.

You duck down and shield the girls from the falling debris with your body. Apple Bloom screaming in terror calls you to look over your shoulder.

The Ursa has sighted you once again, and dives towards the four of you with its jaws agape. You hold the girls close in an effort to trade your life for theirs perhaps, ready to die again if it was like this, but a crack of thunder and a sonic impact from beside you stop the Ursa in its tracks.

In all your years alive, through all the times you’d seen Twilight talk to Celestia, none of those moments combined could equal the number of stars in the eyes of the tree fillies in your arms as they watched their camp counselor with her hoof pressed into the snout of an Ursa Major that she stopped from eating them.

”Can you not hear?” Mjolna asks the beast. “I said. GET! LOST!”

Like you’d seen Applejack do earlier, Mjolna plants her hooves and rears back, bucking the Ursa Major in the mouth with both of her hind legs. Thunder cracks and the Ursa feels what it’s like to fly, shooting through the air like a bullet and soaring over Everfree Mountain on its way to the Badlands, now a problem for the Changelings.

Mjolna sets her legs down and smirks in the rain of water from the Ursa’s landing falls down on you all, content that she’d sent the threat away. Three gasps come from your arms as she turns her attention to her campers.

”Are you three okay? I was so worried! I’m sorry I took so long, but this is why I said stay close!”

The girls hear absolutely none of that and leap from your arms, mouths wide in excitement as they dance around Mjolna, unable to contain their glee.

Scootaloo just repeats “OMIGOSHOHMIGOSHOHMIGOSH.” While Applebloom tries to recount everything she just saw while catching her own breath.

Sweetie Belle spins while she bounces, exclaiming to the world “OUR COUNCILOR IS THE COOLEST COUNCILOR EVER!” Mjolna spins with them as they celebrate. “Easy! Easy! There’s no reason to-- I just had to keep you safe, I’m nothing-“

“Special?” you interrupt, falling on your ass. “Eh, agree to disagree, from what I just saw, but I’ll say this.”

You point a finger-pistol at her. “Who you are? What these girls love so much? That can never change, no matter what you do. You can do…extraordinary things, truly beyond my comprehension, but that doesn’t preclude you from being who you are or who you want to be.”

Mjolna laughs as the girls hug her but says nothing.

“Right now, Asgard is in need of the extraordinary things you can do. Your Mother has promised to help keep the peace down here in Midgard, and I can’t imagine she isn’t looking to include you in that.”

The godling pets Apple Bloom’s head. “Did she now…”

You see the thoughts cross Mjolna’s mind as the gears in her head turn. “I will…speak to her, but I want to continue living down here, in Equestria.” Mjolna looks at you. “If these three will accept me and what I can do, I want to at least try with the others.”

You shrug and smile. “My mission was just to get you to your Mother, that satisfies me just fine. Let’s get back to town so you can grab that magic mallet of yours and we can head out.”

Mjolna apologetically bares her teeth and averts her eyes from yours. Yeah…about that…”

When it Rains.

Music

It’s raining in Asgard.

Down in Midgard, most places considered rain and thunder an ill portent, signaling mudslides, flooded crops, and miserable times indoors. Asgard, however, always saw rain as a reason to celebrate, as it was a symbol of their beloved princess turned God of Thunder, especially when she just returned to the palace after an extended time banished.

With her return brings an end to the reign of Loki, sole Princess of Asgard.

You sigh and rest your head upon your hooves, looking down at the city from your balcony while hiding under the veranda so as not to get soaked.

No-name returned from Midgard with Mjolna in tow the evening prior and the rainy celebrations had persisted since then. Even from here you can hear every tavern in the city drinking their fill of mead and grog at the return of their princess. You hadn’t left your room.

You sneer as you think.

“Mjolna…”

You’d been adopted into the royal family as a newborn, and Mjolna was about two or so at that time, meaning you’d grown up sometimes literally in the shadow of the pride and joy of the realm. In your studies, your training, even speaking to the populace, you had always trailed behind your older sister. It was only in your studies of magic and sorcery that you were able to excel, she choosing to play the part of the dumb brute with that mallet of hers.

Your sneer deepens. You loathe that mallet.

No matter what you were doing, no matter what mischief you attempted to enact to brighten up your day, no matter what achievement you strove for, Mjolna and her self-named mallet had always been there to stop you growing up. Praise would be lavished on her while you were scolded and forced to sit under her hammer for hours as punishment.

Her mere PRESENCE stifles your own and now No-name was the one to bring her back here, to YOU.

“I met him first sister so GO AWAY!” you shout to yourself and your pet eels.

You will NOT hand over the sole living thing in this palace to give you the time of day in 15 years to her so easily!

Not counting Mother and Baldur. Baldur’s attention was annoying and attention from Mother was never good

You blow your mane out of your face and think, which you do best by talking to yourself.

It wasn’t weird at all.

“If No-name were here…at the very least I could have him aid me in slaying some rock troll or something…I know where a few of those still are.”

Unfortunately for you, No-name had been tricked into Mjolna’s returning revelries and had passed out in his room around sunrise. Another thing your sister took from you.

You look back to your bed where the box containing your half of the Palantir is hidden. “Without him here I can’t even peer through the amulet to spy on what Mjolna was doing now.

Another sigh and you try to think what No-name would suggest you do. You close your eyes and try to picture what the lumbering oaf would say to you.

He would stand before you, hands on his hips and chest out as far as he could put it before saying something like “HA! SITTING AROUND ALL DAY WON’T SEE YOU GET YOUR DREAMS DONE! LET’S GO RUN SIX MILES TO WARM UP FOR THE DAY! HAHA! FRIENDSHIP! YOUR MOM SUCKS!”

You open your eyes again.

“Or something like that…”

As your eyes drift over to the magical gateway you use as a door, you conclude that your image of No-name was right about at least two of those things. You hop to your hooves and done your robes, preparing to head out. You say a last word to your eels before you go.

“Drifter, Woody, I am leaving. Bite anyone dares who enters here.”

Maybe this time they will listen to you, Baldur was decidedly un-bitten the last time he barged in.

Your horseshoes clink against the metals of the stones floor as you make your way down from the tower where your room is kept. You first try to go find No-name in his room, but you hear his snoring from down the hall and quickly decide against that.

“I’d prefer not to kill him today.”

And Baldur was OUT of the question.

“Can’t even kill him if I tried…”

A rumble in the stones tells you that the storm outside is still ongoing, and heavy above the palace heights, meaning that your sister was more than likely close at hoof.

“Better to avoid her if I can help it…”

You continue to move through the palace as you think of a plan when the shadow of an approaching guard begins to round the corner. Princess though you were many were cautious at seeing you outside of your room, believing you to be up to something. Even if they’re right, it’s still annoying, so you extend your magic and shed your form as easily as one would a pair of saddlebags. By the time the guard can see you, all he sees is another of his comrades patrolling the halls.

Your brain tells you “make small talk to keep suspicion low!” as you pass him.

“…Nice weather today.”

The guard stops in his tracks and you can almost hear his neck strain to turn back to you. “It’s…raining?” he asks, confused.

STUPID BRAIN!

“Yyyyyyyyyyesss…” You turn back and give him an I’m-so-normal smile. “I like the rain?”

The guard sizes you up with his eyes, still visibly confused, before he turns back to his route. “Queens honor, friend.”

“Y-you too!”

A spark of genius goes through your mind. The quee-Mother! You could find her and whisper in her ear to maybe at least get Mjolna kicked out of the castle!

“There has to be something she did to make her angry! Everything makes her angry!”

You hurry along to the throne room and lose your disguise along the way.

The Throne Keep sits at the center of the Asgardian palace, with layers and layers of walls and other defenses insulating it from an outward attack so that Asgard’s symbol of power would stand in the face of any catastrophe short of Ragnarok.

A little known fact was that the palace was once just a single keep built by your forefathers in ages long past and that over time, additional keeps were built adjacent to it and absorbed into the central structure. The Throne had stood since the first founding of the Golden Realm and would stand until its last breath.

You think, anyway. The door was shut.

The doors tall enough for a frost giant, if any of them were around to use it, tower over you. You’ve never seen these doors closed, ever. Even when Mother entertained visiting dignitaries, the doors remain open in the event of an emergency.

You look to the guard on duty.

“You there!”

”Yes, Princess Loki?”

“The doors to the throne are closed, why?”

He straightens. “All-Mother Sleipnir has decreed that the doors are to be closed this day.”

“Why?”

”I do not know?”

You frown in disappointment. “Do you take your job so flagrantly that you will not even inquire as to why you are being ordered to do something like this? What if there’s an attack?!”

”Your highness.” He begins. You sense the unyieldingness in his eyes through his helmet. “What I take seriously is my life. If the All-Mother demands the doors be closed without another word, I obey Her.”

Your frown deepens, but his logic holds sound. No one argued with Mother, not even vicariously. “To Hel with you then.”

You leave the guard to his silent fate and travel up the hall bordering the throne. A slight hiccup was this, nothing more. A wry smile crosses your lips. For a sorcerer such as yourself, pushing your way through the atoms of the wall and into the throne was a simple matter.

You glance either way down the hall and, when you’re sure none are looking, slip through the space between realms and show that no barrier can keep you from entering this room.

Upon entering the world shakes and you wish you had stayed out.

”YOU. DID. WHAT?” the booming voice of your Mother calls, threatening to bring the palace down on your head.

“Eep!”

You quickly hide yourself behind one of the pillars nearby before you’re spotted.

Mother stands low on all eights with her face mere inches away form Mjolna’s. Sister looks confrontational too as she thrusts her own snout against Mother. She was, as ever, the only one stupid enough to do that. ”FIRST OFF. Say it! Don’t spray it, you old crone!”

You hear Mother snort from here.

”SECOND OFF, did I stutter or have you just gone as deaf as you are blind since I’ve been gone? I LOST. THE DAMN. HAMMER. I don’t have it anymore!”

WAIT SHE WHAT?? You instinctively look out again at hearing that. Mjolnir, the great mallet that means “Smasher of things” was a near beacon for Asgard in the hooves of Mjolna “she who smashes”. Its raw power and adaptability made it a superweapon in Asgard’s arsenal that kept enemies of the crown out for years.

If it was gone, that meant… You suddenly feel like you don’t want to be a part of this conversation and make for the wall to escape.

Your blood turns to ice as you hear “LOKI. DON’T MOVE.”

How the Hel did she know you were here?! You look up and see a single raven looking down at you from the throne. It caws at you. Stupid bird!

You have to act fast, but fast action often meant stupid action. “That’s alright Mother, I’ll just see myself o-“ A flash of magic envelops you and deposits you next to Mjolna, in the scornful gaze of your Mother “…-ut.” You manage to squeak.

”Stay still. Stay silent. This will be a lesson for you both.” Mother says.

Mjolna begins to protest, probably trying to get you out of her presence. “Oh Mother, don’t bring HER into this, she wasn-“

”SI. LENCE.” Mother demands, cutting even the brave Thunderer off. She whistles once and a pair of ravens, the one who spotted you and its twin, fly out the window. Mother thrusts her head close to the both of you. “Explain to me. How you lost. THE HAMMER.” She demands. ”NOW.”

A silence hangs in the throne room before Mjolna speaks. “…So, did you want me not to be silent now or-“

Mother shuts her up by headbutting her to the ground.

”OW!”

”DO NOT TOY WITH ME, YOU ARE STRONGER THAN THAT. WHERE IS THE HAMMER?”

“Sistershesshoutingnow!”

”Grrrr I told you I LOST IT!” Mjolna shouts as she stands up from being floored. “I intervened in the mortals attack on the Tartarian Gates and I COULDN’T FIND IT AFTERWARDS!”

”IT FLIES TO YOU WHEN YOU CALL IT, GIRL!”

”WELL IT DOESN’T NOW!” your sister shouts.

Mother grits her teeth and you can physically see the sparks of blue and gold lightning flying between them. You want to run before you’re obliterated, but a pair of ravens flying in through the window stay Mother’s wrath.

They land on her neck and caw quietly into her ear and just like that, she loses interest in Mjolna.

”Hmm? You have? You’re sure?” The birds flap their wings.

”Finally.”

The same flash of magic as before envelops all three of you.

Music

When the flash subsides, you, Mother, and Mjolna stand at the shore of a water blasted island. Titanic waves crash at the shore and the dark clouds, ripe with rain, hang overhead preparing to discharge themselves. A jagged castle rests nuzzled in a small range of mountains along a pathway that seems to be made of beaten bone.

”…Where are we?” Mjolna asks.

”South of Equestria. Where the hammer is.” Sleipnir begins walking along the path. “Follow me. Now.”

The ice in her voice freezes over the fire in Mjolna’s blood and you and your sister follow your Mother while lightning flashes in the clouds.

You can’t shake the feeling you’re being watched, probably because you are. Nerves secretly playing at you, you sneer at your sister.

“Not a day back and you RUIN my life again. Why am I being punished for your failure? How do you even LOSE a hammer like yours!?”

Mjolna rolls her eyes. “Nice to see you too, sister. Do I have another bastard nephew these days?”

Your own fury explodes from your heart in a way even Mother cannot tame “DO NOT. INSULT. MY SON!” you shout, grabbing at her. Mjolna uses her superior strength to push you down.

”I’m not! I love Svao! That doesn’t CHANGE how he was born, Loki!”

You seethe and pick yourself back up.

“See to it you CONTINUE to love him. Another word from your lips about him and I’ll turn your mane into melting cheese.”

”I’m shaking.” She retorts.

”Both of you, quiet.” Mother says. “We’re here.”

In the center of the island, in the shadow of the castle, the three of you stand amidst the battlements of an army. Massive bipedal beasts line the hills and metal walls woven into the ground itself. The armor adorning them crackles with a familiar blue energy that collects in sigils upon their bodies and shoulders. Through beady eyes of cold malice, they glare at you and growl.

You stay close to Mother, while Mjolna glares them down.

“Why are we here again…?” you ask.

Mother steps forward, stomping her hoof down and silencing the canyon. “I am Queen Sleipnir, All-Mother of Asgard. You have something that belongs to me, I would see it returned.”

The beastly soldiers look to one another and jostle their shoulders, then lean from their battlements and rush you at an unheard command.

”Heads up!” Mjolna says, snorting her nose and lowering her head.

”Hold.” Mother says.

As the enemy closes, they stop some hundred feet from you and encircle you in their stocky bodies, forming a wall of flesh and metal that surrounds you.

”Well, it’s rare our enemies walk straight up to our door.”

The wall of soldiers opens enough to let two creatures through, an armored unicorn with a shattered horn and some…gerbil thing in a smock. The creatures show deference to her as she approaches Mother, who composes herself as she does all her approach her. ”Now…Sleipnir was it? All-Mother of blah blah…somewhere or another. Commander Tempest Shadow. You’re in the territory of the Storm King now, I suggest you show the proper respect.”

”Hey-!” Mjolna starts, but Mother silences with a single stomp of her hoof.

”Consider my “respects” shown.” Mother says.

Tempest Shadow narrows her eyes. “Right. Why are you here again? Something we have of yours?”

”A hammer.” Mother answers. “Metal, wooden rod, inscriptions upon the side.”

Shadow’s eyes widen in recognition. “Ah, you mean the Holy Smiter? I wondered where that came from.”

“You mean you admit you have it?” you ask Tempest.

”Oh we do.” She answers. “The Storm Kingdom tend to take what we want. Our king found it laying in a field over in Equestria after the recent commotion at Tartarus and was able to move it by calling on the storm inside it.”

”Yeah! MY storm!” Mjolna shouts. “I unleashed that to save all those ponies when the gates were going down! Give it back!”

Tempest Shadow chuckles. “Haha…If you wanted to keep it so bad, you shouldn’t have thrown it like you did. We traveled inland to try and blindside the Equestrians while they were tied up at the gate, maybe take the Princesses hostage. Imagine our surprise when we found the Smiter in the ground after all that noise.”

Mjolna growls and digs her hooves in.

You just want to go home and get away from Mother when she had that look in her eye, and you’ll do whatever it takes to do that.

“They clearly it here, tell me where and I can grab it!” you whisper.

Mjolna sucks her teeth. “It’s…not on the island, I feel it out at sea.”

”The Storm King, taking it for a practice spin.” Tempest Shadow who apparently has excellent hearing says.

”Commander!” the little gerbil says, holding up a magical device. Shadow walks over to him and examines it, her eyes widening at what she sees. “Mother of mercy…you three have more magical energy than half the kingdom!” she exclaims. Shadow turns to her armored soldiers. “Present ARMS!”

From their armor, the soldiers produce small orbs that emit a noxious looking green smoke. It sets off your senses immediately.

“Mother, magic from thos-“

”Hush.”

The little gerbil next to her laughs as Tempest smugly remarks you all. “Any last words?”

”Just one.” Mother answers.

”Afraid that was two.” Shadow answers with a cruel turn of her head. “Fire!”

The hundred-fold armored guard throw their magical orbs in unison and rain a barrage of noxious magical fumes towards you. Mjolna tenses up to leap at them, you reach through the space between realms to get your knives to defend yourself, Mother stands still as a statue and all the orbs freeze in the air in a golden magical grip before being propelled away with such force that your eyes cannot track them.

”What!?” Tempest Shadow watches the orbs sail away and almost misses her and her gerbil being grabbed by the same golden glow. She pulls away as best she can, fighting Mother’s grip, but the Queen drags her through the acrid dirt until she sits before her.

Still holding the Commander tightly, Mother bends her neck down next to her ear.

”Last words…” she mumbles. The Commander’s eyes widen as Mother turns her cyclopean gaze to meet them.

”Megidolan.”

You clench your teeth as the sky opens.

To the south of Equestria, there was an island where the Storm King schemed.

It’s gone now; replaced by a hundred feet of land and the crashing waves that rushed in to fill the gap left by the force that just rained down from the heavens and pulverized the island. Rocks crash to the sea alongside the shattered remains of the castle that once covered the land, alongside the charred corpses of the monolithic Storm Guard under the command of Tempest Shadow.

The Commander watches in terror as the remains of the empire she served fall to the surface in bits no larger than her head while she and her gerbil remain safe under a shimmering hexagon of the same golden magic that binds them alongside you, Mother, and your sister.

”Wh-wha…?” she stammers out while the gerbil faints. Mother keeps her held still and stares, unblinking, into her soul. “You worship your usurper king as some kind of idol, little pony.” Mother releases Tempest and lowers her shield. “Perhaps it’s time you embraced a new deity.”

Words continue to fail Tempest Shadow. “How-“

”The All-Mother speaks; the world answers.” Mother explains to the shell-shocked soldier. You feel some faint kinship with that wide eyed and manic gaze when one first sees what Mother is capable of, you had been there more than once.

”You stole from your betters, whelp.” She says. “Now, once more, before I punish you again. Where. Is. My. HAMMER?”

The sky itself answers Her as thunder claps at your rear. ”FORGET YOUR HAMMER, WHERE’S MY ISLAND!?”

The four of you still conscious turn to face the noise. High in the sky, another biped covered in white fur and emanating lightning from his antlers grasps a sparking mallet in his hands.

The thief, it would seem.

”Tempest!” he roars “Where did my island go!?”

Tempest Shadow babbles nonsense between her liege and Mother, eyes darting between the two.

“You won’t be getting words from her any time soon! Just put down the hammer and give up, you can’t win here, Storm King!” you shout.

He grits his teeth as he spins the hammer, calling the lightning to him. “Oh I’ll put it down! RIGHT ON YOUR HEAD!” he cries before he falls from the sky, screaming murder and winding up for a strike.

You sigh, the fool. From the corner of your eye you see Mjolna tense up again for a confrontation. Poor thing, she must have forgotten.

“Don’t bother.”

”Huh?” your sister answers.

Behind the both of you, Mother glares at the attacking king. “Mjolnir, drop.”

The enchanted mallet is ripped from the hands of the Storm King and drops to the earth, landing with a thud next to Mjolna.

The storm King, now bereft of his weapon, blinks as he continues to fall towards the three of you. “…What?”

”Leviathan.” Mother’s voice echoes around you.

The crashing waves around the island coalesce from their waters into a polished silver trident made of the bones of a fish next to Mother’s head. You catch the eyes of the Storm King for just a moment before the trident erupts towards him, catching him in the chest and sending him away as fast as the orbs until you lose sight of him.

Tempest Shadow’s eye twitches as she watches her lord fly over the horizon. “…Where did he go?” she finally asks.

”Saddle Arabia.” Mother answers, casting her eye to look down at the former-Commander. “He went to Saddle Arabia at Mach nine.”

Mother walks past Tempest towards the hammer where Mjolna is already examining it. “In a day’s time, the natives of that land will find the sun-bleached bones of a creature they do not recognize, they will bury him and pray their deeds bring them good luck. That will be the end of the Storm King.”

Mjolna looks up to Mother the way she did as a girl as Mother nods towards the hammer. Mjolna leans down to grasp it in her mouth, but finds one of Mother’s hooves shoot out to hold it down.

”Mother?” she asks in a technique she somehow learned that allows her to still be understood with something in her mouth.

”Lose it again and I’ll make you get it by yourself.” The All-Mother answers.

Mjolna flashes her teeth incredulously. “Fine, whatever.”

Mother releases the hammer and lets Mjolna retrieve it before she turns her attention to you. “Loki, this is a lesson for you in keeping the things most precious to you safeguarded. Learn it well.”

“I will learn any lesson you want if we can get OUT of here!” you plead. “All this death is…offending my princessly sensibilities!”

Mother is silent for a moment before letting out a single, brief laugh that chills your body. “Very well.

The sky above you rolls and unleashes another torrent of energy, less destructive this time as a Bifrost tunnel forms some feet from you all.

Behind you, Tempest squeaks. “W-what about us?”

Mjolna looks over her shoulder and frowns a genuine frown of regret. “You stole my hammer…but…I’m sure the Equestrians will take you in like they did me. It…has to be better than here.” She says before she turns and gallops off into the Bifrost.

You hurry behind her with Mother taking up the rear. As you enter, you can hear Tempest Shadow’s final question and silently give thanks that you aren’t her.

”You destroyed the island and whipped up the sea! How will we get to Equestria?!” she cries.”

Mother pauses before crossing into the Bifrost and looks over her shoulder.

”Swim.”

Author's Note

Characters appearing in this chapter that aren't on the booru:

Divine Arms.

The halls of Asgard royal palace welcome those from all corners of the Nine Realms on their business to see the All-Mother. King Aspen of the Deer of Alfhiem was present not two days ago and the emissary of the Ever Burning Queen was seen all the way from Muspleheim. The Fog Lords of Niffleheim had been reported among the halls, but they were an ephemeral and transitory sort. One whom was not welcome in the Golden Realm it seems was No-Name, Lord of Drunks and King of the Functioning Alcoholics. At least not with these blasted golden halls being so bright.

You wordlessly groan as you make your way through the halls to the front of the palace, leaving breakfast behind before you threaten to vomit on the table.

The revelries for Princess Mjolna’s return were…more than you were used to and you were still feeling the effects a couple days later.

“Did that rock troll have two heads or…?”

Your hazy ponderings turn to stabbing white pain in your head the minute you reach the outdoors and a crack of thunder spikes through your skull.

Hands to your ears, you nearly drop to the floor and lean against a wall as the thunder pushes every conscious thought out of your head.

“God…d-dammit…” you mutter.

Your vision spins and the world inverts on its axis as someone lands on the ground next to you.

”Anon? Anonymous, are you okay?!” they call.

This was no time for your reputation, so you keep it simple.

“Hangover…thunder…head…”

”Oh crap!” she says. You see her reaching for something on her belt out of the corner of your eye before something cold and silver is placed to your lips.

”Drink this!”

You feel a burning liquid force its way down your throat before the world goes black.

The blackness blurs away at the edges of your vision as you slowly return to consciousness, finding Princess Mjolna standing over your head looking down on you. Concern plays in her eyes.

”Anon, are you alive?”

You cough. Your throat seemed dryer than the Badlands suddenly and your blood was on fire, but your mind was clear and focused.

“What was in that.” You gasp out.

Mjolna rolls her eyes and grimaces. “It’s…better if you don’t know, but it should have cleared your hangover!”

You cough a few more times and sit up on your way back to the living. You feel your blood pounding and your eyes bugging out a bit, but your mind registers everything it did not before. The blue of the sky, the soft clouds sliding by overhead, the golden light coming off the palace walls that no longer hurt to look at.

“…It seems it has.” You say.

”And you are most welcome for that!” the princess jovially answers.

Your heart begins to calm as you push yourself to your feet.

“So, is that it?”

You nod to the mallet on Mjolna’s belt. ”Mm?” she wonders, as if barely noticing it was there. “Oh, right…yeah, this is it.” The old birthright.

You’d seen the Mjolnir up close, but not in the possession of its master. Just by how she spoke, it seemed that the two were extensions of one another. Mjolna noticed Mjolnir like you would notice you had an arm.

“Looked bigger on the ground.”

Mjolna playfully hits your shoulder, amazingly not dislocating it.

“You didn’t have it when we returned here, what changed? And what are you wearing?”

Mjolna rubs her foreleg a bit. “Mother…found it and returned it.”

That wasn’t sinister at all.

”And I’m wearing a royal raiment you tool! A princess of Asgard has to look the part.”

“Ah. I just thought Loki was vain and liked to look important.”

”I mean yes, but…”

You and Mjolna share a laugh. You liked this feeling, she was easy to get along with in a different way from Baldur.

”So, what’s on your agenda for today, Anon?”

“I hadn’t given it much thought considering I couldn’t think.”

”Well-“ Mjolna starts, as the hammer on her hip flies up next to her head on an invisible string.” -how about you come take a look at what I can do with the proper tools? You saw me use my hooves, are you ready to see me when I’m REALLY showing off?”

You put your hands on your hips and puff your chest a bit. “I think I’d like to see you try and impress me, young lady.”

Fire flashes in Mjolna’s eyes. “Great! Come on, I know the perfect spot to-“

”No.” calls the voice of supreme authority.

Mjolna rolls her eyes and groans heavily, turning to face the Queen of Asgard that had appeared behind you both. “Here come the fun police, right on time.”

The Queen remains stoic. “That I allow you to speak to me in such a manner should be evidence of my limitless mercy.” As a punctuation point to that sentence, Mjolna’s hammer flies from her to Sleipnir and sits.

”Hey!” the daughter cries.

”Hush.” The mother responds with an added glare. The moments pause she buys is used to explain further. “You will accompany to the Vault where I will use the Twilight Anvil to alter the enchantment upon thine hammer to ensure the…mistake that resulted in you so carelessly losing it never occurs again.”

Mjolna scrapes her hoof on the ground. ”Don’t just take my hammer and do magic to it without asking!”

”I could take YOU down to the anvil and rectify the flaws in you, if you wish.”

The pause of the Queen’s threat silently sizzles between the two until Sleipnir turns and walks back inside the palace. “Come, the both of you.”

“Why do you need me?”

She doesn’t answer you, Mjolna does.

”Let’s just get this over with. It’s best not to fight her when she’s like this unless you want to be turned into a house plant.”

“Has that happened?”

”It has, and I was the one who had to water Baldur twice a day.”

Music

The Queen leads the two of you through the palace to the throne room and a three-cornered marking on the floor. She orders the room sealed before having you stand on it so you knew it was serious to some degree. A light not entirely unlike the Bifrost emanates up from the marking once Sleipnir stands upon it and you have the sensation of falling forever through a field of infinite refractions of yourself, though you know your legs have not moved. The spiral into the infinite stretches before you and warps your vision before depositing you at the top of a staircase from a triangular portal at your back.

You shake your head and snort.

“I think I may still be hungover…”

Mjolna laughs next to you. “Yeah! It’s like that your first time. You should see Pitios.”

”Do not wish for any to see the Prison of Angles, Mjolna.” Sleipnir calls ahead.

“Where are we?”

”See for yourself!” the princess says, extending her leg.

You look down the stairs into the room you now occupied to see it stretch out before you. A simple path lead deeper into the room from the stairwell with stone dais’ placed periodically along the sides. Above each dais rests a single weapon of immaculate design and beauty stretching out along the entire path.

“Where…are we?”

Mjolna hops down the stairs while Sleipnir continues her trek, you continue your stunned examination of the room.

Your eyes drink in the sights; Neighponese style longswords and glittering maces. Towering shields and scepters that spark with magic even now.

“This is amazing!”

Mjolna offers a giggle back to you. “Mother, if you don’t tell him, he’s just going to keep gushing.”

The All-Mother stops and looks back to you. “You are in my vault, where the royal Armiger rests. Each of these arms from the first to the last has brought peace and order to the Nine Realms through the destruction of our enemies. This is where the Gods keep our tools of war.”

You point to a shuriken the size of your own massive torso that seemed to be made of silver wings and polished moonlight.

“What’s that one?”

The Queen answers after pausing in her path, she glances over to you. “Ishtar. Once an angel ran across all creation from me and hid behind the sun, I had to pull it down to retrieve her and I made them both into that.”

“The SUN?”

Sleipnir shrugs. “I put it back.”

“Amazing…”

”The history of Midgard and our own is deeply intertwined, even if you are not wholly aware of it. The Argus you hunted, at the mountains you mortals call Celestial Ridge?”

You nod. “The ridge Canterlot is built on.”

Sleipnir nods to a towering war maul, blackened with use and adorned with metal fists as ornamentation on all sides. “In life, the colossus Asura rampaged across the lands, leaving mountains where he set his feet. That was one of the last before he was done away with.”

You picture the Celestial Ridge and imagine the size of such a creature.

“How?”

”Banished.” She says. “To an infernal realm where he was beset by demons for ten thousand years. When I returned to that place, I found him slain and his burning blood ignited the land. I stripped him of his golden flesh and forged it into a weapon in the fires he made.”

You glance over the collection of weapons, each seemingly once something that shaped the world you grew in and now serving as the final monument to those titanic creatures.”

“What about that one?”

You point to a greatsword taller than you were with jagged metal teeth running down one side like a chainsaw.

Again, Sleipnir answers. “Ragnar. A raging beast of a warrior from long ago ages past. He slew so many that the mortals believed him to be either divine or demonic. I grafted his teeth onto the blade after I fell him, they move when swung, the result of his anger I believe.”

That was LITERALLY the coolest thing you’ve ever heard.

You point to every other you can as you pass. The Neighponese sword, the towering shield, a dual sided blade.

“Those?!”

”Yamato, Arahabaki, Ardhanarishvara.” She replies.

You lack the words to formulate how you’re feeling.

“Gesundheit.”

Sleipnir meets eyes with you and lets out a single mirthful snort.

”Did you just make her laugh?!” Mjolna exclaims with her jaw dropping.

“You don’t understand, Princess.”

”Yes, I don’t.”

“You’ve used one weapon all your life, I’ve studied everything I can in mine! Seeing so many finely crafted pieces of storied arms here is…exhilarating.”

Mjolna stifles a giggle. “You sound like Tyr.”

”That would require your brother to enjoy things in his life, dear.”

Angels must be getting their wings because a joke was the last thing you ever expect to hear from the Queen, but Mjolna laughs all the same. All-Mother watches her daughter chuckle even though minutes ago she was quite literally threatening to pound her into a new shape with her own hammer.

You feel the closeness between the two, despite their conflicts, at least as close as the Queen could be.

”No-name’s enthusiasm for his craft is…appreciated. I relied upon it enough to drag you back here.”

”Only because you were too lazy to get me yourself.” daughter retorts.

”I deigned to reserve my strength for retrieving your hammer, fool girl.”

That insult doesn’t catch as the three of you continue to walk past a large intricate crossbow.

“How about that one.”

Sleipnir pauses and lets a small smile tug at her mouth. “Temperance.”

“What’s its story?”

”None.” She says to your surprise, turning back down the path. “It was a gift, from my oldest friend…”

As you reach what you presume is the center of the grand vault the three of you were in, you behold an anvil sculpted from the blackest moonlight upon a raised platform.

”Come, Mjolna. We shall reshape the enchantment upon the Uru and you may continue with your duties.”

”This won’t mess up my form, will it?”

”Not if you are as practiced as you should be.” You hear Sleipnir say as your foot catches something.

You glance down at what you tapped into. The tip of your foot rests on something solid, yet is clearly past the edge of the path you walk over the abyss at your feet.

“…What?”

Enough time around Twilight has made you at least somewhat aware of invisible paths, so you mentally calculate the trajectory of the unseen stone to where it would logically rest. At the edge, before the abyss, you see the shape of an outlined mass. Your foot moves forward to get closer and hopefully see what the shape is.

The darkness of the vault slowly recedes as you make your way closer, making out the edges of a guard and the sharp point of a blade in a sheathe. You feel almost hungover again as you move towards the hidden sword, as if it drew you towards it like the fresh air drew your unconscious mind for the promise of freedom from your vice-grip of a headache.

Just when you begin to make out some details, a great white coat steps in front of you and an ornate eyepatch meets your gaze.

”STOP.” Commands Sleipnir.

You stumble back. “Your Highness-!”

She steps forward, clearly upset. “Do you do this to all whose guests you are, No-name? Wander through their homes unpermitted to examine their private affairs?”

“I didn’t-“

”YOU WILL NOT. LOOK. AT THAT. BLADE. Is that understood?”

“I was drawn to-“

Fury sparks behind the All-Mother’s eye. ”Undraw thyself, warrior! The blade that sits upon that pedastal is never to be wielded again, by anyone. If you are “drawn” to it then perhaps Pitios is where you truly do belong-“

”Children, CHILDREN!”

Mjolna flanks you and pushes herself between you and her Mother, standing on her hind legs and keeping you both separated from each other with her forelegs. She looks to the Queen. "Mother. He does not know what you’re talking about, nor the source of your anger. Perhaps, if you inform him, he will understand.”

Sleipnir glares at her daughter and shifts her withering gaze to you, then snorts. A deafening silence fills the still air save for your own thundering heart. “You will hear this once and that will be the end of it.”

You nod. “Yes.”

Queen Sleipnir takes a long, deep breath. “It is Mistletain and it is locked away due to the danger it poses.”

“What danger is that?”

“If ever unsheathed, it will bring about the end of the world.” She says matter-of-factly.

“…How?”

”Anon-“ Mjolna starts.

”Because I once used it to end the world.” Sleipnir says. She continues speaking after that bombshell silenced you. “Magic is…a curious thing if enough believe in a thing, the thing will become what they believe.”

Sleipnir nods to the black blade. “This one grew beyond control. The old world was ended by its blade, now it hungers for the flesh of the new.”

Sleipnir ushers the two of you back to the central platform, the darkness overtaking Mistletain again.

“It’s hard to believe I’m standing among things so mighty…”

Each of these arms made Mjolnir look like a simple mallet.

”Power requires sacrifice, No-name. If one cannot offer it…it will be taken.”

You chew over the Queen’s words in your mind. To grow stronger, you had to sacrifice effort to work. To grow wiser, you sacrificed time to learn. In sacrificing your own life to save Equestria, you had been given a way to transcend the mortal coil and return mightier than ever before.

“Yes, I understand…” you say.

”Good.”

Queen Sleipnir climbs the platform to her anvil. “Because that is where you will next go.”

“Your Highness?”

A star erupts within the anvil as Sleipnir looks down at you. “This vault is filled, but not full. Over countless millennia, relics with a place here have been lost to the realms beyond, Midgard among them. By your actions have we begun policing the mortals, and so we must retrieve these artifacts before they may cause harm.

You think of the troublemakers and villains you’ve dealt with or seen over the years getting even one of the items in this room and the effects that could have on the home and ponies you love.

Heart fortified and Mjolna beside you wearing the same expression, you look up to the All-Mother.

“Where do I start?”

Magic Musings

Ponyville, the school of friendship. Inventory day.

“Magic gems.”

”Check.”

“Ancient scrolls.”

”Check…”

"Summoning catalysts.”

”Check, Twilight.”

“Saint Quartz crystals.”

Spike’s eyes go wide and he looks at you like he’d just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Oh…were those uh…not just out for whoever needed them? Hehe.”

“Spike!”

You trot over to him and give him scolding eyes. You knew you should have asked Glimmer for help.

“You can’t eat every gem you find laying around!”

”B-b-but! They were so shiny and they were just sitting right there and I-…” in time, he hangs his head and his shoulders slump. “I’m sorry Twilight.”

You sigh “It’s fine, I’ll just need to collect more.”

It was only a pile of THIRTY crystals.

Spike’s stomach rumbles up into his chest where he unleashes a gout of green flame accompanying a belch. “Heh, tasted good though!”

You roll your eyes

A tune plays through the castle on magical chimes, indicating someone at the front door.

You give Spike your best princess face. “You can make it up to me by getting the door.”

Spike gives you an exaggerated salute and heads out of the room. You sigh again, but a bit more contentedly this time and check off some items on your favorite list. You aren’t exactly mad at Spike per-se. You’d rather he occasionally scarf down some magical components than some of the behavior you’ve seen out of other dragons.

You hear the front door opening through the halls and Spike calling up to you. “Uh, Twilight! I think it’s for you!”

“Bring them in, Spike!”

”Yeah ok-HEY!” he calls.

You turn your attention to the door into the room as you hear someone’s metal horseshoes clinking against the floor.

“…Spike?”

Your horn sparks with magic at the possibility of an intruder, but she enters the room in her long scarf and gold horned helmet before your spell is prepared.

”You have the Friekugel here, right? Let me see it.”

-Loki PoV-

”Put me down!” the lizard in your magic shouts.

“Twilight, there was a pest at your front gate. Are you aware of it? I can let my son loose if you need them cleaned up.”

Twilight makes a strange face and hurries over, grabbing the rodent with her own magic. “Spike is my assistant and my friend! Put him down!”

Assistant? FRIEND?

Did this little mortal tame a dragon and nobody told you about it?! Stupid No-name! He’s supposed to tell you these things!

“Oh…”

You swallow and try to keep your cool.

“My mistake, Asgardians hunt lizards like this for…sport, yes.” You drop the reptile and bow your head a bit, your helmet almost slips off. “Please accept the apologies of the crown for this…faux pa.”

Twilight helps her servant to his feet with a concerned look, you keep bowing.

Buy it buy it buy it buy it buy it.

Eventually Twilight looks to you. You can’t let yourself screw this one up or else your only into Midgard would be broken. “What…brings you here, Loki?”

She bought it! Yes!

You let yourself have a small smile. “No-name tells me he returned the Friekugel here and left it with you? I’ve come to inspect it to…make sure it’s safe.”

And get a closer look at the magics inside it, but she doesn’t need know that.

”Is there a reason for it not to be safe?” Twilight asks.

“It’s an ancient weapon made of the bones of dragons, what would you wager?”

When trying to string someone along, it’s best to leave vague hints at threats if they don’t follow your line of thinking. Fear is an excellent motivator.

Twilight’s worried look returns. “…Spike, can you go get the key? I didn’t detect anything on the axe, but better safe than sorry if Loki’s here and feels it’s best.”

”Spike” gives you a sneer and goes to comply. “Yeah, one sec.”

Haha. Yes. It’s working.

Twilight takes you down to her cellar where the lizard sticks a key into a vast magical lock. You hear the gears and enchanted weights pulling aside beyond the steel. The gate slides open, revealing the relic placed carefully on a simple stand beyond it.

You admire the craftsmanship as you creep towards it. A blade of dull bone still so sharp it hurts to look at fastened to a strong metal grip, probably Adamantite like the doors to Tartarus. In the center rests a jewel, the eye through with Freikugel’s rage manifests.

“You said you examined it? What did you find?”

”Not much, I’m afraid. The axe was empowered in the hands of Precious but when we gave it some test swings, we could only get a few sparks.

Your mind races at connecting these dots. Sparkle wasn’t much for aggression.

“Who tried?”

”Me, Spike, and Rainbow Dash gave it a whack. Spike was the one who got a reaction from it.”

The lizard crosses its arms and looks at you smugly. “Try to contain your excitement.”

“That should be easy.”

”What I don’t understand…” Twilight begins. “Is why it effected the one holding it so intensely? Anonymous said that the Diamond Dog who had the axe was almost rabid and exhibited a level of physical power never before recorded.”

“A simple matter.”

With your magic, you tilt the axe a bit so you catch your reflection in the sheen of its metallic segments.

“The axe imitates the one it was made from and in doing so, creates anchors of aggression that align with Freikugel himself.”

You look to Twilight and her manservant.

“It reacted to him because he is, despite his looks, a dragon. He acts like a dragon, looks like a dragon, and has the same spiritual presence as a dragon. You mortal ponies are…essentially the opposite.”

Twilight taps her chin, intrigued at your words, and looks at herself in the axe as well. ”Hmm…That hypothesis is entirely dependent on old magic idol theory…”

You nearly stumble over your scarf turning so fast.

“WHAT.”

”Whoa! Careful now.”

You feel your eyes narrow and a gob smacked sneer part your lips. “What do you MEAN “theory”?”

Twilight tilts her head. “The…theory of idolts representing objects of power resonating with that same power?”

Your eye twitches.

”Is…that not a theory the gods agree with?” Twilight asks.

“Twilight Sparkle, next you’ll tell me you backwards mortals think gravity is simply a theory!”

Twilight turns her eyes away from you “Weeeeeeeeell…”

UHG.

You take a deep, calming breath as Mother occasionally taught you and carefully space out your words.

“I will explain this…only once…so ensure you have a way to remember.”

A broad smile parts Twilights lips. “Can you say it in another room?”

SOMEHOW you now found yourself standing at the front of a large lecture hall with a blackboard at your back and about a dozen other mortals sitting in the desks before you.

A bead of sweat forms beneath your helmet and you knees slightly shake seeing as many eyes turn to you as there were now. Most often that many eyes on you heralded some form of punishment hurtling towards you, and you did not like being the focus of attention to this many.

Damnable Midgard Princess! She tricked you!

Twilight walks before you and presents you to her class. “Students, today I’d like to welcome a guest lecturer. I’d like you to give her your undivided attention as she…clears a few things up.”

Your eye twitches again as all the students look to you even more expecting. Thoughts run through your mind, about how if you were any of your family that this would be easy, how they were truly divine while you were some orphan that was adopted in pretending at it.

You push those thoughts out with a small breath for confidence and lift your head. Pretending to be someone you weren’t was what you were best at.

“Who in attendance here knows what an idol is?” you ask.

One of a race you’re somewhat familiar with, a Changeling you believe, raises its hoof. “They’re representations of powerful things, right? Like how letters are representations of the words we use for our language.”

That answer surprised you, you didn’t expect anyone to know the answer to that.

“Right! Very good, you get credit for not being entirely hopeless.”

You take a few steps towards the class and float some chalk to Twilight.

“Sparkle here tells me that you believe the study of idols to simply be a “theory”. Well I am here from on high to tell you that it is more than that, it is the very underlying mechanism of the systems of magic themselves.”

You look to Twilight now.

“Draw for me the symbol of your monarch.”

As Twilight agrees to do so, you turn back to the class.

“However, what IS magic?”

All their hooves shoot up, you call on none of them.

“That was rhetorical! By Mother’s eye…”

You glance back at Twilight who finishes drawing the sun sigil that adorned the home of the other Princesses you met. “Done! I’ve got a lot of practice. I hope I got the curvature the right number of degrees…”

Yes…right. Back to the class.

“Magic is the art of telling a lie and having the world believe you.”

“Idol “theory” as you call it works so simply that even you mortals may grasp it. Simply put; an imitation of any subject or “idol” retains properties and attributes inherent to the source of that object.”

You gesture to the drawing. “Were this sigil an idol, one could use it to call upon the power of the sun, if appropriately used.”

You see some confused faces, so you prepare another example by dragging your horn through the air and creating glowing lines in the shape of a rune that bursts into flame.

“Behold! The Rune of Logi, God of Fire. No relation. To each of you, this is simply the rune one must call forth to conjure a spark of flame, but what you do NOT know is that this rune is, in its reality, the word Logi would speak to manifest his fire!”

The same Changeling opens her eyes wider. “I think I get it…! The magic was tether to his word and the rune is a representation of it, so it calls the same magic!”

“Once again the bug is correct! Why is she not the one teaching you?”

Twilight shrugs but has no answer, the Changeling’s classmates giggle like the simpletons they are.

“Runes, spells, magical items, leylines, blood magic, ritual sites and altars. Every single way in which you interact with magic traces back to the study of idols. It is no mere “theory”.”

Another, this time a gryphon, raises his talon. “What’s that make you or the princesses or Discord? I heard you guys were gods or something.”

”Or something” he says. You let that slide.

“We are, as simply put “apex idols”, the pinnacle of how such power manifests itself in your world. The source, in some case.”

Cases like Mother spending the last eternity killing or subjugating anyone that stood up to her and hoarding the power in Asgard. Not that you complained.

”So if we call on you for magic power…” he continues.

“I might choose to listen, if you carry my favor.” You give him a sly smile to put him in your place.

This time Twilight speaks up. “Can you hear prayers?”

“O-of course. All gods can.”

Not that you could. Not that you were a “god” like them.

Another student scratches her face. “I’m a bit confused…so what are the princesses?”

You answer her question by reaching between realms and pulling a pair of knives out, driving them into the wooden podium.

You step forward to quell any panic from brandishing a weapon.

“These knives are mine, their name is Nyx.”

Twilight examines them, ignoring the damage to the podium when there’s knowledge to be gained. “That’s a nice name, it almost sounds familiar…”

“It ought to. Nyx was the name of a primordial moon goddess, and a powerful one at that. She was slain, long before your tribes gathered under one banner, and formed into these blades through a process called Demiurgy.”

The students look to each other.

“In many young faiths, a demiurge is an artisan responsible for building the physical universe, a “creator”. The practice is adapted here, at the heights of idol magic, to permit the reforming of an idols power into a new shape. Your princesses are similar beings to what Nyx once was, before being slain.”

”Attuned to the moon and sun…” the changeling says. “And when you make an idol of one, you empower them both.”

“Twilight why ISN’T that one teaching? She understands, at least.”

”Wait, hang on.” The gryphon interrupts.

”If Nyx was a moon spirit, what does that make Luna?”

UHG.

“I said they were similar, yes? When Nyx was taken from the moon at the time of her death, there was a vacancy, one that your princess with the large behind filled, isn’t that right?”

The facts dawn on him, the age of his world and how those more powerful than him interacted with it.

”Oh.”

Yeah. “Oh.”

”How are idols empowered to be idols? Is it just age?” another student asks.

“Age plays a part in it, but it is more so than that, it is about faith.”

You pocket your knives away again and continue.

“Each idol you call upon has a story tied to it that has been passed down through hundreds of years by you or your ancestors or your ancestors’ ancestors. With each telling of the story, another hears it and associates that magic with whatever the story is about, like Logi and his word of fire, until it is ingrained into your culture.”

You turn and walk over towards Twilight.

“That is where the Friekugel comes in, Princess. Friekugel was a dragon of unmatched ferocity and power, an idol in his own right, and the axe made of his bones is a representation of it.”

Twilight perks up. “Making his power manifest through it into whomever found it!”

“Precisely.”

With a whip of your scarf, you exit towards the door. “Class dismissed!”

After leaving the class, each of Twilight’s students had a question for you, some even brought graphs.

You trip backwards through their questions until the day passes by and Twilight sends them all home. Now you were tired, your throat soar, and your mind fuzzy while Twilight walked you to the edge of town.

”I can’t believe you taught them the entire day!”

“I can’t believe you made me…I just came to see the axe…”

“Well all the students appreciate it. To think, learning from a bonafied god! It’s a once in a generation opportunity!”

Bonafied…

Though a thought quickly strikes your mind.

“Teachers…receive compensation, don’t they?”

”Would you like to be paid?”

You thrust your snout up.

“I believe it customary for a service rendered! Especially in a divine presence!”

Twilight simply chuckles. “Well, I left my coin purse at home. But I have a story you may be interested in, one from way back when I was a filly…”

“I am listening, I suppose…”

“It was back more years ago than I care to admit. I was a filly who, even though she didn’t know it, was about to be enrolled in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. I was studying in the park when I thought I’d heard something from the trees.”

You and Twilight cross over the bridge that exits the town.

”At first I was afraid that it was a bear, from the sound of the growling. Imagine my surprise when a two-legged hairless ape stumbled out of the bushes.”

Your attention is instantly grabbed, but you try not to make it seem like you’re desperate to know.

“No-name? Truly? THAT is how he ended up here?”

You’d nearly convinced yourself that he literally congealed in a gutter.

”Haha, yep! He was in rags and didn’t understand a word I said, but he looked at me like a lost animal.”

“He’s not one now?”

Twilight chuckles. “He was young then. Well, I’ve never seen him YOUNG, younger, a young adult. He was taken in by the crown and we kept in touch as I continued my studies.”

So No-name mysteriously appeared in Midgard, got himself associated with a young spellcaster, and began a life of smashing and slaying things for a living.

That sounded…honestly blander than you expected.

Also familiar.

For No-name’s boorishness, stupidity, and poor body odor, you’d noticed the speed at which he associated himself with virtually all of Asgard. He and Baldur are attached at the hip, Mjolna and Tyr respect him, Mother relies on him for services and even Vidar didn’t gore him when you came to visit. He even learned how to work with a Diamond Dog, which he was SUPPOSED to hate. The only member of your family that hadn’t taken a shine to him was Hermod, and good luck holding him down.

You find it impossible to ignore that the origins of the two of you were closely mirrored, yet in a few short months, No-name has become friendlier with your family than you have, despite more egregious acts of rebellion.

You sigh and look to the ground, your mask slipping around the mortal despite your efforts. Tears would not dirty your eyes, not around her, you’re sure you’d run out by now anyway.

“He is…charismatic, I guess…”

Twilight nods. “Yes. Anonymous was always good at making friends when he was alive down here, I like to think that it’s because he didn’t have any memory of where he came from or who he was when he came here, and that let him connect with just about everyone that he met.”

“Wait what? How?”

Twilight stops at the edge of the forest, pondering. “He’s the tabula rasa, the blank slate that everyone sees a bit of themselves in. His personality now is the result of everpony he’s ever met.” She smiles at you. “You just have to get passed all the yelling and bravado.”

Something past that, huh…

“Yes…well, I think I’ve had enough of Midgard for today. Until next we meet, Twilight Sparkle.”

You turn and head into the forest so Twilight doesn’t see your scheming face.

”Until next time, “teacher” Loki!” she calls behind you.

Now you duck behind a tree so Twilight doesn’t see your gagging face.

Buried Secrets.

Music

”No-naaaaaame!”

“Did you call me, Princess Loki? My ears are burning.”

”Yes well my EVERYTHING is burning! It’s too HOT!”

“It’s the Badlands, Princess! The name implies a land that is bad! Our next outing can be to “It’s-not-the-heat-it’s-the-humidity land!”

”UUUUHHHHHGGGGGGGG.”

Right, just complain, that helps.

Today found you and the princess trudging through the steps and sand of the Badlands south of Equestria, ranked number to on the list of “Worst places to walk with metal boots on” after the Bone Dry Desert and even then, just barely. Your spear today doubles as a walking stick to keep your balance while you lead the way, glancing over your shoulder at Loki.

”What?” she asks.

“Making sure you didn’t abandon me.”

”I thought about it.”

“Will you answer to the Queen if you do?”

”Oh be quiet.”

You shake your head and allow her request. Queen Sleipnir hurried the two of you down to Midgard earlier after telling you that a Changeling Hive nearby had exploded and that you were to retrieve something from the area.

When you asked what that was, you only got told “Don’t open it”.

Which paints SUCH a lovely picture.

Even more strange was that Heimdall wasn’t the one to send you down, the Queen herself directing the Bifrost at the edge of the Badlands and telling the two of you to hoof it and make sure you weren’t followed.

“I don’t like one bit of this…”

”That makes two of us.”

As the two of you walk, the countless rocks in your paths go from a flat brown to a sharp black, like someone had swung a hammer and broken the night sky over the land below.

”Look. These rocks are charred black.” Loki says.

“They’re not rocks.”

Experience tipped you off the minute you saw the sun shine off them. You swing your spear and lop the top off one of them, slicing it easily.

“Changeling chitin. A fast hardening substance the drones secrete to build and reinforce their hives. Brittle unless there’s a lot of it and upsettingly flame retardant.”

Loki looks around at the field of twinkling black obelisks stretching along the sands to a steel hill beyond the mesas. “Which makes these…”

“Evidence that there was once a Changeling hive here.”

You point to the hill with your spear “That was probably in the place that hill is now. Come on.” You press on forward and find Loki not complaining anymore.

At the top of the far-off mound of sand, you get a better view of the once Changeling hive. Fragments of chitin dot the landscape for miles from whatever caused the hove to explode, and one of the mesas a ways away has the central spire impaled into it. You don’t see any bodies, Changeling or otherwise, and sand already begins to flow into the crater to reclaim it

“The force needed to produce an explosion of this size would be…”

”Just short of colossal.” Loki finishes.

The wind howls behind you and you look to the sky, no clouds blocking the sun which means either it was another day in the desert, or that the explosion forced them away with an airburst, the wind only now coming back.

“Now like we can ask any natives.”

”I don’t believe even you would be stupid enough to live out here, No-name.”

“We need to get a closer look, come on.”

You hop off the lip of the crater and let yourself begin to slide down the dune. Loki helps behind you but follows along. You look to your side, seeing the princess of trickery struggle to maintain her balance.

You stifle a laugh. “Hold all four of your hooves together and let gravity do its work.”

”I am FINE.”

“Yes, clearly.”

”Loki knows enough about hives and holes to fill a library, No-name! Show respect!”

That reminds you of something.

“Hey!” you call to her. “What is it with you and Changelings? I know you’re connected to them.”

”I beg your pardon?”

“Don’t play dumb with me! Thorax! The Changeling that had a debt to you to get the Palantir crystal? You have dealings with them so what is it? Are you their matron saint? Their god? The shapeshifting made me curious…”

Loki rolls her eyes and adjusts her feet, sliding down to a bit of large chitin, a former hallway by its construction, still stuck in the sand where she can stand on to take refuge.

”Oh yes, of course! Because I may freely change my shape as they do, I MUST be their god! Just like all Zebra’s must speak in meter right?”

Wait, is that not true?

”If you MUST know…” Loki starts as you slide to the platform she found. “Yes, being a shapeshifter as they are makes it easier to coordinate them, we have similar modus operand.”

“You like sneaking into cities and staging a coup at royal weddings too?”

Loki sticks her tongue out “FAR too grandiose for a scheme. Revealing yourself before your master stroke? Amateur hour.”

“I’m sure you’d do SO much better.”

”I would, yes. Regardless, what is the old saying? Find the smile, teach the skill? Well I’m not a good smiler and the Changeling’s already have the skill I needed to act as my influence in Midgard.”

You cross your arms. “Influence, huh?”

”Yes, No-name. Contain your mistrust. I hear many secrets through the realms and yet until recently, I was locked away form Midgard. If not for my connections with the insects, we wouldn’t have the Palantir at all.”

“Mm…”

Loki rolls her eyes again. “Let me simply answer the question you’re too afraid to ask. No, I did not have anything to do with your little wedding invasion nor did I ever deal with your “Queen Chrysaswiss” or whatever. The tithe she sent to me always ended up falling to tatters. I only deal with independent agents, they’re much easier to manipulate.”

You’ve known Loki for a while now and felt a connection with the Princess others seemed not to have, you want to trust her…but you know her.

“Is that it?”

”Of course it is it, No-name. But it doesn’t matter now. Midgard is open to me and you are my proxy now.”

Right…Wait what.

”Along that line of thought…” Loki’s eyes blink open. “Aha! Do you have the jewel?”

“Eh?”

Loki begins bouncing up and down, excited at the prospect of magic. “The Palantir jewel, you clod! I have an idea!” You reach into the pocket you hide the magic opal in and hold it to her, letting it catch the golden rays of the sun. Loki smiles a sly smile and produces the Time-seeing amulet’s base from a space that shouldn’t exist and carefully puts the two together.

”Why spend hours rooting around for answers when we may simply peer through the past and see things as they happened?”

“I can think of a few reasons.”

”Are you going to act on them?”

You cross your arms and lean against the chitin wall of the hallway, letting that be your answer.

Loki smiles. “I knew I kept you for a reason.” With a click and a flash, the Palantir activates and a white fog rolls in at the corners of your eyes.

”Work faster you fools! Or I’ll feed you to something that can!”

You take an instinctive step backwards as a Changeling with all the markings of a queen materializes out of the fog. Taller, legs starting to split, and a sharper horn. You’d been familiarized with Chrysalis considering the threat she posed to the kingdom, but this wasn’t her.

Loki smugly leers at your trepidation at the illusion, you sneer back.

More Changelings appear around you from the fog, as well as your surroundings, one of the many passageways inside of a Changeling hive. The queen rears back and hisses as her drones move piles of earth and rock through the corridor like a line of ants. ”Move the earth, minions! The temple must be revealed!”

“Temple?”

Loki shushes you.

The queen of the past grins a wicked grin looking down at her subjects. “Soon the power sealed away from ages past will be MY power! We’ll see what that fool queen to the north thinks when I’M the one standing over a conquered Canterlot! And from there, the world!” The queen leans her head back and unleashes an ear-piercing cackle through the tunnel.

In the old adventure serials, this would be where the scene cuts, but the queen’s laughter is interrupted by a loud ringing that smothers her mirth and echoes through the entire hive, like a gong the size of a building being rung.

”Wha-“ escapes the queen’s mandibles before the ringing rapidly closes towards her, throwing workers and debris into the air as it tears through the hive like paper.

“Guh!”

What feels like a hoof to your chest knocks you out of the visions of the Palantir and sends you back a few steps. Loki laying on the ground rolling back and forth tells you she had a similar experience.

”Ow. Ow. Ow…”

“Nngh. Are you alright?”

”Stupid gem isn’t supposed to do that!” she says, pushing herself to her hooves.

“Whatever hit them must have hit even us…” You look around the gravesite crater “They were digging for something…and it sounds like they found it at the end.”

Squinting your eyes to combat the sun, you look to the lowest part of the crater at the very center. There, beneath the sands flowing into the hole, do you spot the slightest hint of chiseled stone casting a shadow beneath it.

“Hey, look.”

Loki follows your finger. “Is that a bug? It’s so small.”

“Like you’re one to talk. When this place exploded, the sands were disturbed and must have fallen into the bottom and buried that…whatever it is.”

”Well I’m not digging it out.” Loki says.

“Well I didn’t bring a shovel and only one of us has magic. So if you want to get home before you’re your Mother’s age, I’d start flexing my brain muscles." You hop off the bit of ruined hive you’re on and slide down the dune, leaving Loki to glare at you before following.

You reach the bit of carved stone, no higher than your hips but clearly artificial before Loki does. You kneel down to inspect its sides, but find that any symbols or sigils carved into the side have been worn away by the sands of time and the literal sand.

There is one thing you can figure out though.

“From the positioning here…this was one of the load bearing beams for a roof once.”

Loki joins you and rolls her eyes. “Oh, he’s an architect now?”

“I dabbled.”

”Well dabble yourself away so someone with a brain can take a loo-“ Loki ceases her chatter and looks down at the sand.

“What was that, O’ Brain-Haver Mi-“

”Shut up, No-name.” Loki commands. She tilts her head to the side and squints a bit. “There’s something beneath these sands.”

“The temple?”

”No…something older, with power inside it.” Loki’s horn sparks a glow as she reaches down below the sand.

“Careful…” you warn. “The bugs hit SOMETHING that made them blow up.”

”If you knew the depths of how careful I could be, you would be pushing those words back into your mou-LIGHTERTHANITHOUGHT.”

Loki shoots backwards and nearly falls over as a shining golden orb rockets from the ground in and escapes her grip before settling in the air.

You kneel and help Loki up, falling this many times a day would get her moody.

“You alright?”

”Stupid thing didn’t fight at all when it was pulled.”

Once Loki is upright, you take a look at what she pulled out. You squint through the golden light it emanates from its ethereal glow and the desert sun. It’s a bit bigger than your head, a solid gold urn wrapped in what look like equally golden leaves or wings. It floats maybe twelve feet from the ground and softly thrums a distinct chiming sound you can feel in your teeth.

“Loki, what is this?”

The princess keeps her eyes on the object and circles around it. “…A container of some kind, a powerful one. I can’t detect what’s inside…”

“Is it floating by magic?”

Loki rejoins you. “Partly…you see the extraneous bits on the sides? That is a golden fleece, a metal lighter than air but extremely strong.”

“Why’d whoever built this do that?”

Loki looks to the ground and gathers a small bit of sand, throwing it at the golden urn. The reaction she gets is immediate, with the urn’s melody increasing in pitch until you’re forced to cover your ears and a wave of pressure emanating off it that nearly blows you both back.

“DON’T do that again.”

”Gladly…” Loki says. “The urn must be enchanted with a defensive measure that repels any physical contact it experiences back…several hundred times fold, if that is what happens when you throw sand at it.”

You nod, understanding. “So they make it float because setting it on top of something would blow the place up.”

”Precisely. The Changelings must have struck it when they were digging down here and drawn an appropriate response.”

This was clearly what you were sent here for.

“Any ideas how we get it down?”

”Listen…”

You do as she says and listen to the quiet chime coming from the urn, its pitch is different now but you can clearly place the resonance of-

“The explosion from the vision.”

”Precisely.”

“What are you getting at?”

”Did you know that Loki has a highly tuned ear? It’s how I imitate the cadence and verbiage of those who’s forms I take.” Loki walks closer to you and strikes her hoof on your shield. “Sound travels in waves, No-name, especially in stone temples where this was once held. My hunch is that if we can produce the counter-wave to its own?”

“Then it’ll get through its defenses and we’ll be able to grab it.”

”By Mother’s beard, he can be taught! Present your shield to me, I need an instrument.”

You do as instructed and crouch down behind your shield a bit, Loki turns around and stands still save for slightly moving her flank from left to right.

”Let’s see…a bit high, but not too high, consider the shape of the crater aaaaaand…D flat!”

Loki shoots her hind legs out and strikes your shield slightly left of center, sending a resounding low note echoing through the crater. The urn freezes in the air as the sound washes over it and one by one, the pieces of the Golden Fleece fall to the ground, gently letting the urn down with each one that drops. Loki quickly engulfs it in a magical grip so you don’t get blown up.

“I’m impressed.”

”Good, you should be.”

You and Loki approach the urn and examine it. In place of a normal cap, you find that the urn is sealed with what appears to be gold hastily dripped down into a vague skull shape overtop of the urn.

“What do you suppose that’s about?”

”If I knew the answer, I’d tell you.”

“Should we call Heimdall? Get it back to your Mother?”

”Considering how we were sent here, I doubt that idiot even knows where we are. At the risk of inciting Mother, I’m afraid our safest bet is to make the trek back to where we arrived here and call Mother from there.”

You sigh. “Guess we’re not making it home for dinner.”

”I am going to need so many baths to get all this sweat and sand off me…”

You’re about to turn and head back up the dunes when something on the urn catches your eye.

“Loki?”

”Hmm?”

“Is that a crack?”

Music

The crack in the urn allows the contents to see you and shake its golden prison. Black tar begins to spill forth from the infinitesimal crack by the top of the urn, where the Changelings hit it no doubt, and breaks free of Loki’s magic.

The princess is thrown back by the rebound and lets the urn drop to the sand.

“Loki!”

You check to make sure she’s still in one piece before looking back at the urn. Tar spews from the crack like a geyser and forces the skull topper off, exploding outwards and engulfing the urn as the Fleece did, but swelling in size.

Oleaginous tentacles form at the end of the black mass of magic alongside a thick animalistic foreleg.

“Princess get up! We have a fight on our hands!”

You hear Loki groan as she gets to her hooves for the umpteenth time today. “Uhg…I can’t take you ANYWHERE, No-name!”

The tar creature pushes the skull from the urn to its “face” and roars at you, now as big as a Timber Alpha.

You brandish your spear in one hand and raise your shield to protect your torso with the other. “Come and get them!”

Loki rushes to your side as the beast leaps over you, leaving a thick black mud in its wake that washes over your boots and sticks to you. The princess nearly slips but finds her hoof sticking to the mud. “Eeeeewwww!”

“Ignore it, here it comes!”

You turn as quick as you can and block glancing attacks from its tentacles with your shield, retaliating with slashes from your spear.

”Let’s see if it likes this!” The princess shouts as she traces an orange rune in the air with her horn. “Logi! Consume my enemies!”

From the rune comes sparks that herald the arrival of flames. A dragon’s breath worth of fire shoots through the air at the creature and breaks upon its tar skin. Any normal animal, even of that size, would be wounded by such an attack. This one however jumps through it and swipes at the two of you, missing you by scant inches when you duck down.

”My magic doesn’t work!” Loki shouts, stating the obvious. You get a grip on your spear and jab it upwards into the stomach of the beast. Where she fails, you find success, poking holes in its carapace and letting the two of you jump to the side. You splash into the mud on the ground and wipe it off your face. Something told you that you didn’t want it in your mouth.

“Asgard steel does!”

Loki skids over the ever-expanding tar on the ground and faces the creature. Two small magical gateways open over her shoulders and throw a lance of light from each of them. The lances hit the tar-beast in the shoulder with a heavy impact, getting a roar of pain from it. You look up to see a pair of short swords sticking from the beast.

“Where’d those come from?”

“Mother’s Armiger! I can’t be expected to hold back against something that resists my magic!” she cries back, throwing two more weapons at it.

You slash one of the tendrils from its mane off and avoid it as it wriggles on the ground before being absorbed back into the tar.

“You’re stealing the Queen’s weapons!?”

”They’re small ones she won’t miss! Eep!” The tar creature rakes a paw through the ground and impacts Loki, who scatters into a haze of green light and reappears next to you. “And I’m BORROWING them!”

“Move!”

You shove Loki with all your might, sending her falling into the tar and sliding away just as the monster crashes down into the space she once occupied and shaking the earth, knocking you off your balance. If you ended up on your back this was over, it’d pounce on you and crush you flat, so you better improvise.

“Not today!”

You spin your spear around backwards and brace it beneath your armpit, driving it through the tar behind you and into the ground below to offer enough support to push yourself back up and catch the enemy off guard. Using your shield, you deliver a rapid succession of hits with either the broadside of the shield or the honed edge, carving away chunks of tar with each swipe.

No howls of pain get a chance to escape the monster as five more gateways open above its back, raining shortblades and knives down upon it from above. Whether by luck or divine providence, the Asgardian steel clearly has some effect on it and lets you escape its proximity.

“Nice work, Princess! It’s off balance!”

”I was aiming for you, oaf!”

“What.”

You catch Loki’s eyes across the battlefield, they were pinpricks of anger and she was gnashing her teeth. “You SHOVED ME!”

Oh for the love of-

The tar monster slowly turns itself and locks on to Loki, heaving like a cat with a hairball and opening the golden skull it wore for a face to begin emitting a yellow beam of energy. Loki turns sheet white as the oily tendrils on its back shrink away, reappearing at her hooves and wrapping around them before it begins to turn to aim it at her. You decide there’d be time to deal with the teenager later. No way with her level of physical activity she’d be able to shake those off in time.

“Hang on!”

You drop your shield into the tar, lest it weigh you down, and rush the tar beast with spear in both hands.

A dozen more gateways open around Loki and she screams in terror and determination as she throws hatchets, spears, and everything but the kitchen sink at the head of the beast to knock its aim off before the beam roasts her. You plant your spear in the ground again and press down, bending the deer-wood in the haft and leaping up, springing into the air when the tension released and soaring up over the top of the creature’s back.

”KILLITKILLITKILLITKILLITKILLITKILLIT!”

“I’mgoinggoinggoinggoinggoinggoing!”

You scoop up one of the swords Loki dropped onto the beast and jump in the air to both gain momentum and force yourself to commit as you drive the sword down. Sword pierces tar and sinks down so far into the monster that it goes up to your shoulder. There’s a yelp of pain as the air grows still and the beam of light shorts out, followed by a rush of air. The mask tilts and nearly melts off the creature’s face, attached by gooey strands of tar as the rest of its body oozes into itself bit by bit. The tar on the ground flows back into the creature through its legs, or perhaps the creature sinks back into the tar on the ground? The end result is the tar flowing back into the golden urn impaled at the end of the sword in your hand, the tip piercing through the crack in it and sealing it up.

Loki and you look to each other, covered in the black mud and panting.

“What…the Hel was that?”

”I have…no idea…” the princess answers.

You’re amazed you stabbed the right spot to seal the urn back up.

“Pretty lucky, huh?”

”Don’t touch me with that arm until you’ve washed a dozen times or lopped it off.” Loki says, ignoring you.

Teenagers.

You let the sword go, your entire arm covered in black tar, and let the urn rest in the sand. The moment you do, the sky opens with a crack of thunder and your eight-legged monarch stands before you both.

You’re too tired to do anything but look to her, but Loki instinctively shrieks backwards ”Mother we were just on our way back! Be patien-“

Loki gets no further. The urn and sword both envelop in a momentary golden glow before they explode off into the air faster than you could ever hope to see.

Loki, you, and Sleipnir all stay silent, albeit for different reasons. You’re the first to break the pause.

“…I guess you’re right princess, she DIDN’T need that sword.”

Mouth agape and gaze slowly turning down to her Mother, Loki quickly gets belligerent. ”Why…WHY!? WHY DID YOU DO THAT? WHY ARE WE EVEN HERE IF YOU WERE GOING TO DO THAT?! WHAT WAS THAT THING!? WHAT WAS IT MADE OF?? WHY ARE YOU BEING SO SECRETIVE!? WHY COULDN’T YOU HAVE DONE THIS YOURSELF?? AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

You get to your feet while Loki screams and go to the remnants of the urn. “Golden Fleece huh? I can probably do something with this…”

You retrieve your spear and shield and return just as Loki runs out of breath. Sleipnir seems content to let her daughter tire herself out. Her eye glances between Loki and you, sizing the both of you up to some standard only she knows and twisting her grimacing mouth.

”It was Etir, Loki.”

The princess stops her tantrum and lets fear into her eyes. “E-Etir? Here? On Midgard?”

“Not anymore, by the looks of it…” You look to the sky.

“Where did you send it?”

The Queen’s good eye looks to you. “The sun.”

You look back to the sky at the heavenly body that’s been oppressing you all day. “…Nice aim.”

Loki looks shell shocked. “E-etir here? Why didn’t I know about it? I know so much, I-“

”Loki.” The All-Mother lives to her name and puts a hoof of comfort on her daughters back. “This is the first I’ve found any of that vile substance since long before you were born, I intend for it to be the last. Calm yourself.”

Loki takes a deep breath and gets steady.

“What’s Etir.”

The Queen looks to you both again, scrutinizing you. ”Later, No-name. You have both done well today by my request and have earned my favor. Wash yourselves. Recuperate. Rest for the next day’s trials.”

”Let’s listen to her, No-name.” Loki says, getting to her hooves and still shaken by the revelation about whatever that substance was. “I want to go home…”

Curiosity burned within you, to know what you’d just risked your life for and what the gods were hiding, but if a one-eyed old mare could see a rattled teenager who’d nearly died, you could too.

You walk over to Loki and stand tall next to her. She needed the reassurance.

“At your side, your highness. Wherever you need me.”

”…Yes, see that you are.” She says.

Queen Sleipnir opens the sky for a Bifrost bridge before you and you slot these questions you have into the back of your mind for another day as you walk away from this haunted waste.

Author's Note

Fimfictions formatting fuckery messes up my chapter structure. >:/

Festive Fracas.

It was the night before Hearthswarming and in one corner of land, something strange was occurring that no one had planned. The colts and the fillies of Derbyshire nearby have spent each moment of night with an eye to the sky. They search and they search for a streak of red and jingling, the heralds that mark the coming of Krampus, the Hearthswarming King.

Each year it’s the same, a tale known by all, Krampus travels around bringing gifts to good ponies, the big and the small. But alas, each year, just like the last, the stamina of children at night begins to fade fast. As watchers for Krampus fall to dream one by one, their parents take them upstairs talking of the next day’s fun.

It was a practiced tradition near the forests of Derbyshire; nestled snugly next to the Crystal Empire.

With children asleep, they would get to work fast, placing gifts under tree like had been done for them in the past. Each year they’d not notice the odd gifts none could recall, perhaps a new hat for a colt or for a filly a doll. They simply sigh in contentment and let warm memories form, after all overbuying for children leaned towards the norm.

For mothers and fathers, once children themselves, had long stopped believing in tales of Krampus and his Hearthswarming elves.

But…

The Kingdom is different these days, with more myth and more wonder, and tonight was a night with the odd clap of thunder.

Perhaps if they’d bothered, looked through the fresh snow’s fleck, they’d spot you out in the trees with your foot on King Krampus’ neck.

Music

Queen in Valhalla, this guy was a mountain of muscle! It’s all you can do to keep your foot on his neck to push him down and stay standing yourself.

The King’s of Hearthswarming lays in the snow and dirt before you, having taking a blow to the head from one of your partners as you all try to subdue him from the rampage he was on as he crept closer to Derbyshire. Heimdall had come warning of an insane creature who would destroy the town if something wasn’t done, and that’d make a crappy gift.

You adjust your footing a bit.

“I need some help over her-“

His turquoise eyes cut through the dark of the night and lock onto you as his eyes snap open. In that moment you feel a deep and unnatural thought force its way into your head.

NAUGHTY.

Your body moves before your mind catches it, kicking off with your boots and propelling back on an invisible force an inch from the ground to safety as the hulking behemoth rises from the snow and snorts, leveling his horns at you even as they’re adorned with wreath leaves.

”INCOMING! OVER HERE, WIDE LOAD!”

A crack of thunder warns Krampus enough that he’s able to rear back and evade the sparking hammer that spins through the air before him.

Mjolna lands next to you in the snow. “That was some quick footwork I saw!”

“Thank the smithies.” You clink the pommel of your mace against the golden metal adorning your boots. “They were able to graft the Golden Fleece expertly.”

Mjolna calls her hammer back to her and catches it in her mouth. “Yeah, they do that. He looking like he’s slowing down?”

You stand up and smack your mace against your shield. You’d had to abandon more lethal means of combat once you saw what the rampaging beast was.

“No, but I learned he’s exceptionally strong.”

”Well hauling gifts in a sack’ll do that.”

The King shakes his head, stomping around and roaring as he knocks over trees with his massive horns and powerful frame

“King Krampus! Please! Contain yourself!”

”He keeps up this much noise and we’re gonna be caught!”

”I’ve seen to that!” a shadow speaks. Snow from the branches of trees flies off its perch and collects on King Krampus’ face, forming a perfect sphere on his head before a barrage of tiny stones fires up and finishes the head of the snowperson.

Loki materializes to your right and stands as tall as she can, trying to look imposing. “I’ve established a finite field around this area. Any noise we may should be directed back in so as to not scare the mortals.”

“Good, I don’t want to be the one who shows a bunch of kids what it’s like to beat up Krampus.”

”He might not be the one getting beat, look out!”

The head on Krampus the Snowperson explodes in a rageful cry as the King stomps his hooves, he takes a few steps towards you all and slams them down again, cracking the ground and sending forth a wage of magical energy that mixes with the snow. “MERRY ATTACK!”

“Move!”

Loki vanishes into the shadows and Mjolna takes to the sky, letting you dash away on a pad of air under your Fleece.

”We don’t want to fight you Krampus, but that doesn’t mean we won’t!” Mjolna says, touching down on a rock.

The King roars at her and charges, his horns glowing green and red. The princess easily evades as he smashes through the boulder and shakes his headache free. He stomps forward, his horns glowing a festive green and red as he whips them towards you and arcs blasts of kringle magic at you.

You try to track the blasts, but they go wide before sharply turning in to hit you from either side. No way you can get both.

”Have no fear, I am here! Get the green one!”

Your body obeys the new voice, turning to face the green blast of energy and swatting it into the snow where it explodes, the red energy pops behind you and is overpowered in a soft golden glow.

”Your work is meant to be done in a single night, dear fellow!” Baldur says, stepping forward “And dawn has come!”

“Thanks for the save.”

”My pleasure. Do we know why he’s like this? I thought King Krampus was meant to be a jolly old soul.”

“He is, we haven’t the foggiest why this happened.”

”It HAS to be a curse.” Loki says, coming out of a shadow. “The fool must have stumbled onto something.”

”Any clue why he’s so strong?” Mjolna asks on her way down from the sky.

”Holiday spirit.” Loki says dryly.

King Krampus lowers his head and breathes heavily, charging at you while the bells around his ankles chime in the wind.

“Well, let’s give him his seasons beatings! Baldur, cover me! Princesses, you go from the sides!”

”Tallyho!” Baldur shouts. He lowers his head and intensifies his glow, charging at Krampus.

You raise your shield and follow behind him.

The prince’s aura of invincibility shimmers against the freshly fallen snow and repels the attacks of the Kringle King, the exploding ornament balls that shoot from his beard, the eight foot candy canes that jut up from the ground, and a pelting of old fruitcake from the sky.

”You’ll have to do better than that!” he challenges.

Baldur leans forward and continues his charge, breaking through Krampus’ attacks until he’s right on top of you.

The following heartbeats happen slowly. Your mace reaches the apex of your backswing as you prepare to slam it into Krampus’s face, but you trip on something.

Or someone.

Baldur’s charge stops on a dime, the prince digging his legs into the ground and suddenly wanting to be anywhere but here. The sudden stop is too fast for you to correct against in the snow and so your momentum carries you into his ass and over his head into the snow. Using your last moments before you hit the ground, you see Baldur staring at Krampus’ beard as it sheds a torrent of holly leaves. Baldur’s eyes are transfixed on the bits of plant raining down and his pupils shrunken to the heads of pins, you could feel the fear coming from the invincible prince’s eyes.

You land in the snow like a sack of potatoes.

”Baldur, what the Hel?!”

”BACK! STAY AWAY!” he shouts.

You get yourself up and see Baldur’s hind legs shakily taking him back away from King Krampus.

The King shakes his head, raining more holly onto the ground as he trudges towards Baldur. The god of light backs himself into a tree that prevents any further escape as Krampus towers over him.

”DON’T TOUCH HIM!” you hear over your shoulder.

Like she’d done with the Ursa Major, Mjolna flies over your shoulder and impacts Krampus hammer first. The two go barreling through trees over a hill.

Loki wades through the snow after them. “No name, see to Baldur! I have to aid the idiot!”

“What’s going on!?”

”Just see to him!”

Loki hops through the snow and you crawl over to Baldur, who’s still shaking against the tree and panting heavily.
“Baldur, Baldur it’s me. Calm down.”

”Heh. H-hello No-name.”

You give the prince some room to breathe, recognizing combat fear.

“It’s all right its-- he’s gone. Take a deep breath and hold it for ten seconds.”

Baldur nods and listens to your instructions, puffing his cheeks out as he sucks in.

“Now slowly release it.”

Baldur exhales and steadies himself, his shaking stops.

“There…can you tell me what that was?”

Baldur chuckles. “No. I cannot. I know what it is, but I cannot.”

More secrets from the royal family.

You hear an unholy sound from over the hill and the shriek of a Loki, meaning now wasn’t the time to take care of this.

“Baldur, listen. I believe you when you show me this fear, but the battlefield isn’t someplace we can deal with it. What happens next will depend on your answer, so I’ll ask once. Can you still fight Krampus?”

Baldur takes several deep breaths and pushes himself to all fours, his back two legs still shaking. “I…am afraid, not something I feel very often.” He says. “But to be brave is not to never feel fear, but to overcome it! That is what I believe.” Baldur’s radiance returns, and he flashes his shining teeth to you. “Come! Let us see what has my sisters shouting so!”

”YOU KILLED HIM!” you hear Loki shout as you crest the hill. “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU KILLED HIM YOU STUPID CLOD!”

“Oh no.”

”HE’S NOT DEAD!” Mjolna shouts back. “HE’S JUST…not moving…”

“YOU BEAT THE INSIDES OUT OF HIM!”

”THOSE AREN’T ORGANS YOU LITTLE IDIOT!”

”YOU CLEARLY LIQUIFIED THEM!”

“What in your Mother’s Eye are you two arguing about over here?!” You stomp around a tree and find Mjolna and Loki nose to nose glaring at each other over the body of Krampus. Krampus’s eyes are rolled back into his head and his mouth open, and a large puddle of a beige liquid pooled around his body.

”Mjolna killed King Krampus and RUINED Hearthswarming!” Loki gets in first.

”I TOLD YOU HE’S NOT DEAD!”

"WHO WILL FIX TEENSY TIM'S WHOOPING COUGH NOW, MJOLNA?!"

You walk over and look at the King. “He LOOKS pretty dead. What did you do to him?”

Mjolna bites her bottom lip. “…I hit him in the stomach with my hammer.”

“How hard?”

”Eeeehhh…”

"Sister? Don’t most things you hit with your hammer die?”

”You’re not helping here, Baldur.”

A foul stench carries up through the air, everyone but Mjolna gags and it hits you.

“Oh lord we just killed Krampus.”

”That’s what I was TELLING HER!” Loki shouts, starting to lose her composure. “We need to do something now! Before the mortals find out and get their pitchforks!” The princess paces around looking to the ground to think, with her helmet sagging a bit over her eyes as it sometimes did. “We need to get the body away! Far away! We’ll need to chop it up and bury it in several different areas so no one finds it. Oh, are there any carnivorous animals here? We can feed him to them!”

”Loki!” Mjolna scolds. “We are not feeding the Krampus to any dire wolves!”

”You admit you killed him!”

”SHUT UP!”

The two sisters shoot sparks at each other from their eyes while their brother sniffs the death-liquid and recoils. “Surely nothing would want to eat something so repulsive!”

“It doesn’t look like any intestinal soup I know…but it sure smells like it.”

”Oh right, that reminds me.”

Mjolna bends her neck down to sniff the liquid and makes a face, then sticks her tongue out and dips the tip into it.

Loki’s cheeks immediately fill up and Baldur looks away. You join him to avoid seeing the horrid display.

”Eeeewwwwww! Sister, why would you-“

”This is eggnog.”

A silence hangs in the forest air as that settles into your ears.

“…What.”

”Eggnog, this is eggnog. About…forty different kinds of it, too.”

Mjolna smacks Krampus’s body with her hoof and gets a low groan from the Kringle King. “Muckle…damn…raindeer…” he groans.

”King Krampus is…drunk?” Baldur asks.

"Was drunk, I imagine." Mjolna corrects "Now he's just...really unhappy."

You look between the King and Mjolna, relieved that he’s alive but curious. “How could you tell it was eggnog.”

”Because I’m an alcoholic, No-name.”

Right, Norse pony.

You look down at the king again and ponder.

“…Kick him again, we need to learn more.”

After several bucks to the back, you and the other godlings put the situation together. King Krampus, on the eve of the holiday, had gotten into a massive argument with the reindeer who pulled his sleigh. Apparently, they wanted to unionize. The argument turned heated, as they often did, and Mrs Krampus had taken their side and thrown the King out of their home.

And so bereft of a sleigh, reindeer, or wife and with a kingdom’s full of deliveries to make, King Krampus decided to steal as much eggnog as he could and black out through the night.

Leaving you and your partners in a precarious situation, one you couldn’t let alone as a former Royal Guard with a duty to Equestria and its population.

It was up to you to save Hearthswarming.

Acting fast, you found Krampus’ crashed sleigh and put your resources to work.

”This is cruel and unusual punishment.” Mjolna says with the harness around her snout.

“Yeah well you’re the one who hit him and knocked him out so it only makes sense that you pull the sleigh.” You say.

You throw the bag of toys from nearby the sleigh into the back after collecting them all.

”And how come I have to do it too?! I can shapeshift! I can BE Krampus!” Loki screams.

“Because you’re the only one here with antlers on her helmet, Princess!”

Loki turns her gaze away from you and fumes while Mjolna laughs at her. “My hammer can keep us in the air, but what will you do in this scheme, No-name?”

“Drive and help with the gifts!” You grab the reigns and the massive list beneath the seat. “I stand out too much to be King Krampus, but I can read!”

”Astonishingly.” Loki snarks.

“We’ve already wasted enough time so it’ll have to be fast if we want to save the holiday! King Krampus, are you ready?” you call.

”Hoes hoes hoes! Jolly Jinglemas!” Baldur shouts, stepping from beyond a bush where he got changed. With the real King Krampus either asleep or in a coma, he wouldn’t need his cloak or the bell adorned wrappings he wore, and Baldur’s mane was JUST the right color.

“Climb in and get jolly, your highness! We have an entire kingdom to hit before sunrise!”

Baldur climbs in and smiles a big smile, putting more of his mane down below his chin to serve as a beard.

You grab the reigns just as Mjolna picks up her hammer and Loki resign herself to her fate. “On Thunder! On Mischief! On Sunlight and Sword!”

Mjolna does most of the pulling to get you into the air, putting Loki on the naughty list.

Music

Tales speak of one Hearthswarming Eve well past the midnight hour where gifts were delivered by a great divine power.

For King Krampus the Wise had far too much cheer after drinking his own weight in festive egg beer.

In his place stepped the Godlings, of Asgard on high, to make sure the holiday spirit stayed alive. They flew from the east to the west, over every sleepy town, delivering gifts so no child would frown on sleigh pulled by Mjolna the Strong and Loki the Clever, who both made No-name vow to keep this secret forever.

The Anonymous Man raced down the list good and quick, doing everything to copy King Krampus’ shtick.

And the Lord of all Lights, Prince Baldur the Brave, swallowed all mystery fear and did Hearthswarming save.

They raced from midnight to dawn on Krampus’s magic, delivering gifts to all ponies, the lucky and tragic.

At the hour of sunrise at the last stop on the list, Baldur took the last gift and said “Yes yes, I know the gist.” He snuck to the last house with his party outside, using the decorations and furniture to hide.

His fellows wanted to trust him, to believe the lord, but it wasn’t long before they heard shouting and “Honey, go get the sword!”

”We need a fast exit” was what No-name suggested, before the God-Prince was captured and later arrested. And so the Bifrost tore open with all of its might and across Equestria was heard “Happy Hearthswarming and to all a good night!”

Abyssal Priestesses.

Sunshine peaks through the leaves of the Yggdrasil through the open skylight above you. Although the World Tree extends beyond the clouds for miles above Asgard, it always seems to let the sun past it. Leaves from the great tree drift gently into the room and rest themselves on the surface of the bath water, intermingling with the soothing flower petals drifting across the surface of the water

And right past a mane of red bobbing its way around.

Baldur bursts from the bath gasping for air. “TIME!”

“Forty-seven seconds.”

Baldur pants and makes his way to the side of the bath to rest. “Guh…h-h-how do the fish do it.”

“So does that mean that suffocating is a way to hurt you?”

”I don’t know, I’ve never tried.”

You shrug. “Did it hurt?”

”It wasn’t fun, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Baldur rolls over upside down and does the backstroke through the pool.

“Why are you even here, Baldur? You can’t be hurt.”

”So you’d rather be here by yourself? How painfully boring. How is your wound?”

“Tingly. But it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

”I’m told that means it is working.”

In your latest journey, you’d been injured gravely. Your task was to search the Zebrican plains for a potion of immortality, stolen from the bottom of the underworld. During your search, one of Mjolna’s thunder cracks upset a heard of mammoths and you ended up poked through the gut dangling off one of their horns. Between your bouts of consciousness and once the panicking was done, you remember being returned to Asgard and told to get to “the pools”.

You lift your hand up and let some of the water dribble down.

“A healing spring, hmm? Wish we had these down below.”

”Can you imagine the chaos?” Baldur asks. “Mortals already through their lives away in all your wars and battles, imagine what would happen if you all knew you could just kill each other JUST enough so that you could make your way to a healing spring and recover.”

“Yeah imagine the immaturity that’d develop if you couldn’t suffer physical harm.”

You gather up some of the leaves nearby and throw them at Baldur.

“LOOK OUT! ANOTHER ATTACK OF GREENERY!”

The wet leaves cling to the Prince’s face as he floats past you, unamused. ”Ha-“ he spits a few by his mouth away. “Ha.”

You lean back against the wall of the bath “Will you tell me what had you so frightened during our tussle with King Krampus now?”

”No.” he responds.

“And why is that?”

“Because you keep bothering me about it?”

You’re about to kick Baldur in the head when the doors to the healing bath slam open.

”No-name, are you finished bleeding all over my palace floors ye-“

Baldur nearly shoots out of the water and throws his hooves down below his belt. “MOTHER!” he cries. “GET OUT! WE’RE INDECEN-“

Baldur’s head shoots back under the water just as fast as it shot out while his Mother approaches to a double-timed “clipclipclopclop”.

”Princes. Do not. Interrupt. Baldur.” the Queen declares as her son thrashes about. She leaves his head under for a bit before Baldur can burst from the water yet again. “I raised you better than that.”

“Hey, that was fifty whole seconds. A new record.”

Baldur spits and moves a strand of hair from his face. Sleipnir looks down at you. ”Your wound. Recovered?”

You let your hand drift down and tap the spot just below your belly button. You find it a bit stiff, like a cramped muscle, but don’t recoil from the touch.

“Sealed, Highness. A bit tender, but closed up, at the very least.”

”Good.” She replies. “Make yourself decent and don your armor, then come to the south veranda. Do not make me wait. Leave your sword behind.”

With that the Queen turns and goes to the door.

“Where are we going?”

”I must travel the roots of Yggdrasil beneath Midgard, you will accompany me.”

Beneath?

“What’s down there?”

”The Well of Urd.” She answers.

Baldur gasps next to you, calling your attention away just long enough for the Queen to give you the slip.

“Baldur? What’s the Well of Urd.”

”I…don’t know, No-name. Mother visits the well periodically, but NEVER takes another soul with her, nor speaks of what transpires on her visits to anyone.”

You look back to the door and narrow your eyes.

“Okay, but should I dress warm or cold?”

You decide that keeping the All Mother waiting is a really, really stupid idea, so you hurry back to your room and slip into your armor.

Your gaze lingers on your sword resting on the wall, the slight weight displacement on your hips making you feel naked without it, but leaving it behind was as direct an order as was to hurry, so you leave it where it lies.

“Next time, I promise.”

You make for the door to head out but get stopped by someone short in love with the color green.

”The walls talk. Tell me they’re lying.”

“Loki, please? Your Mother is waiting for me and she almost drowned your brother earlie-“

”ARE YOU GOING TO THE WELL OF URD OR NOT?”

“I guess! Now please!”

You try to slip past Loki, but she repositions herself to block you. You expect a verbal lashing, but instead she just purses her lips and begins to bend her knees over and over.

“Loki, you’re bouncing, stop.”

She continues to bounce, slightly humming to herself.

“Loki!”

No dice, she was unresponsive.

You reach out and grab ahold of the princess “HEY!”

The princess finally freezes.

“I’m feeling on edge about this already. You’re not helping matters.”

Loki takes a deep breath. “Apologies, No-name, but…you do not understand the gravity of the situation.”

“Sum it up in thirty words or less.”

Loki, practically beside herself like you saw Twilight act when the new encyclopedias came, looks you in the eye. “The Well is of the Primordial World! Set by the old gods and told to contain all the things the Nine Realms cannot hold!”

Let's see, two three four...

“Twenty-four, okay.”

Loki ignores you. Think of the knowledge that you may see peering into its waters. Tell me you have it!”

“Have…?”

”The stupid gem, No-name! This is no time to play as dumb as you are!”

You stand and pat your pocket, Loki reaches into a hole in the air and hands over her amulet piece, nearly drooling at the thought. ”I am giving you this so you can see all there is to see when Mother inevitably leaves you somewhere on this journey to go forward alone. You MUST take it and you MUST remember everything you see so you can tell me!”

“Loki I-“

”ANONYMOUS, PLEASE! There are few things I desire in this world more than the secrets of the Well of Urd! I have no idea why Mother is taking YOU out of everyone, but we cannot let this opportunity pass either of us by!”

So she could use your other name…

Loki’s face is etched with desire and longing so strong you feel nearly dwarfed by it. You hesitantly reach out and take the Palantir base, pocketing it.

“Alright, I’ll do this…but please, move. Your Mother will know something is the matter if I don’t hurry.”

Loki smiles an oddly earnest smile. “Thank you…No-name. From as far in my heart as it will let me dig. Now go! I need those secrets!”

You slide past her and head down the hall.

”Remember to take notes!”

-Later-

”Keep us steady, No-name. Right towards the center.”

“Yes, Highness.”

You maneuver the oar in your hands a bit and get your boat back on course.

Once meeting the All-Mother, the two of you walked into a dense mist collecting off the edge of the veranda. You emerged at the edge of a black lake, with waters still as glass, before a single small canoe that Sleipnir had wordlessly climbed into and instructed you to paddle.

You hear nothing. Not the wind, nor wilds, nor even the waves against the shore of the Well, and the Queen sits silently at the bow with lantern in grip keeping you on course. Still you can’t help but look anywhere else, towards the blackened constructions at the edge of the shore to the trees branches held in place amidst still air to the moon shining from behind clouds that do not move.

“Where…are we?” you ask the air, not expecting an answer.”

”Somewhere between.” The Queen says, to your surprise.

Sleipnir nods her chin to the far shore, where a twisting shaft of wood unrivaled in size rests on the shore, one end going below the surface of the water and the other snaking its way through the hills and beyond.

”In a space between spaces, betwixt the realms of the living and the realm of the dead.”

You continue to paddle.

”The Well of Urd…exists in perpetuation as it feeds Yggdrasil. All moments within happening simultaneously, endlessly, nourishing the World Tree eternally.” Sleipnir takes her eye off the waters and looks at the shores. “This place was beautiful, once…swans danced along the ripples and the grass smelled of dew.”

“Did something happen?”

The Queen focuses again. “Something always happens…there, the reflection of the moon, stop us on it exactly.”

“Aye.”

You maneuver the boat until it sits centered in the reflection of the moon and let it settle.

"I must ask you to do something else, no name.”

“What?”

”Do not shout.” She says, right as you notice your boat lowering and black water collecting at your boots.

Music

You open your eyes, but keep your breath hitched after about a minute holding both. Queen Sleipnir looks over the edge of your boat as it slowly descends through the air in a shaft of moonlight from the water’s surface above your head. The root of the World Tree from above descends with you like a second shadow, stretching out beneath the infinite blackness surrounding your shaft of light and going further down still. You wave your hand in front of your face and find it simply moving through empty air and with no small amount of hesitation, let the breath you’d been holding go.

“You could have warmed me…”

”You wouldn’t have believed me if I did, you were too afraid of drowning.” Sleipnir looks back at you. “Fear denies faith, No-name.”

“Mm…so…where are we now? Further, uh…betwixt?”

Sleipnir gently nods, looking below the boat again. “Betwixt…and beneath.”

You follow her gaze and see the two of your lowering onto another body of water, this one holding ripples in it from the less-still air. Come to think of it, you hear things flirting off in the shadows, like air passing over the gnarled bark of twisted trees.

”We are nearly there. Row is towards the guiding light and we’ll make our final destination.”

You REALLY don’t like anything “final” down here, but you comply.

“Yes…”

When the boat touches the water, you grab the oar and begin rowing again. Sleipnir keeps her gaze focused forward letting your thoughts remain to yourself. You see the orange guidelight the Queen spoke of in the distance, a dim orange ember from a lantern, no doubt. Keeping the boat steady was a simple matter and you soon found yourself more at peace with your surroundings.

Soon you feel your heartbeat fall in line with the gentle swaying of the boat, the rhythmic wind at your back, and the creaking of old timber. It’s a simple pattern you find meaning in, only stepping out of it when the wind at the back of your neck becomes warm and damp. You reach back to your nape on instinct and pat it, turning to look behind you in this unending darkness.

“What in-…”

The creaking wood grows louder as something in the darkness moves. No, it’s more accurate to say that the darkness itself moves. The soft shaft of moonlight behind you, your only way out of this place, was now a mere needle at your back but as bright as Luna’s Eye itself in this place of shadow.

The black expanse behind you shifts and grows stars as dark scales catch the faint hint of light from the moon while weaving through roots of the world. Pearls in the darkness open lids and turn to you as a blackened snout pierces through the shadow behind rows of glistening teeth. It’s size is truly massive as it slithers its neck directly towards your boat and shifts the very wind with its putrid breath escaping from its maw.

In all your years, for all the dragons you’ve helped deal with and all the horrors you’ve helped face, nothing causes a tight spear of fear to drop into your gut faster than this creature before you. As you see yourself reflected in its empty eyes, you stumble backwards in the boat into the Queen.

“H-H-H-“

The creature stops, still as a statue, as the Queen Sleipnir meets its gaze.

Your heart thunders in your ears in perpetuity as the three dead eyes meet one another and all the creaking in this place stops.

Eventually, something louder than anything before sounds.

”Go away.” The Queen says.

The serpent hisses low and long, sending a draft throughout all around you. You grip the sides of the boat with both hands as it turns its head upwards and creeps back into the shadows, vanishing from sight and bringing the clicking of wood back.

”Blind fool…”

“Wh-wha-“

”This place is where Nidhogg resides…as living is too kind a term for it. Between chewing on the roots of the World Tree, he gnaws upon the oathbreakers and thieves who drift down to this accursed realm on their way to Helheim. He will not harm you so long as I am here.”

“Wh-why?”

You hear a haughty grin in the Queen’s voice. “He’d choke. Sit yourself back and muster your courage, this old bat will row us the rest of the way.” Your eyes are fixed upwards as Sleipnir takes the oar, watching the twinkling scale-stares disappear into the blackness even while they leave their terror in their wake.

”We’re here.” Sleipnir says as the boat knocks against a simple wooden dock at the edge of a small mass of land.

You lower your hands from your face, steeling yourself again and looking past the All Mother.

“I’m ready.”

The dock serves as a front porch to small hovel the a hollowed-out husk of one of Yggdrassil’s many roots down here.

“…This is what we came here for?” you ask.

”Come…” the Queen says, tersly.

You follow her out of the boat and along the dock, she doesn’t stop as she throws the front door open and lets herself in.

“I must ask, do you not care at all for privacy?”

”I’m expected.” Is her only answer.

You follow her inside the hovel and find it empty. A fire burns in the hearth, tables and chairs are sat around, and spools of yarn sit among effigies of ponies and griffons and everything in between.

But no one greets you.

“Highne-“

”I want you to sit.”

Sleipnir turns to you from where she is, before a doorway further into the hovel that many of the lines of yarn go under. “And await my return.” The Queen looks back to the door with a stone-etched face. “You go no further this day.”

You feel your rear falling into a seat before you realize it.

“Just…sit and wait.”

”…Do as you will until I return, but do it here.” Sleipnir says, before opening the door and walking inside.

Moments pass, a few to know you aren’t being listened to, before you quickly dig out the pieces of Palantir, assemble them, and look deep into the soothsayer’s gem while the mist begins to overtake you.

Music

-Sleipnir PoV-

You feel something prick at the back of your neck, the feeling of being watched through time and space. The trinket in his pocket screamed like a newborn to your senses, and so you worked that much harder to mask its presence.

Now you do the same to him as you walk down the stairs beyond the door.

Your body aches with pain as you descend, from your withered joints to the runes carved in your teeth, as you suppress the hatred you feel for this place once more. You descend the stairway to a small grotto, hidden in this husk of the World, by following the trails of string. At the shores of a small pond of water black as the Well above, the twines dip inside and sink to the bottom, with a single strand of silver, threaded rope rising from the center of the water and up to the ceiling.

There, like every other time, you can see the blue sap of the Yggdrasil, more precious than any life that ever lived, softly glow and illuminate the smooth stone cavern as the silver string was gently yet firmly woven into it between the bark. You believe the wound was an old place that Nidhogg chewed on and left, possibly warded off when the chittering voices in the cavern began to echo through it.

”She’s here.”

”Of course, we called her.”

”I’m always afraid she won’t show.”

”It’s not like she can say no to us.”

You stomp your hoof. “I am here. Whisper not in the shade like children and appear before me if you make me go through all the effort of coming here.”

”My my…” one says.

”Who are even we to resist an order from the All Mother?”

The surface of the water begins to ripple.

Spoiler image

From the depths arise a trio of hippocampi, multicolored scales shimmering in the light of Yggdrassil’s blood.

”We come, as called. Great One.” The blue one says.

”Not that we didn’t plan to come up for air now anyway.” Says the purple one.

”Though who can say when we may go back to our work?” says the golden one, ushering her sisters beneath her hooves. You knew them as Wyrd, Veroandi, and Skuld; ministers of the Past, Present, and Future respectively. They have as many names as there are names to call, stretching from all corners of all realms. The Three Faces of Hekate, The Sisters, The Weavers, the Spinners, but collectively you call them-

”Great Norns.” You say, bowing your head. “I have come, as I heard your call through the Bark. Why do you seek me?”

This close, you push all but your surface thoughts down away, lest they find the thread connected to them.

The Three Sisters each grin in unison, floating around you in the air like fish in water. ”We have watched, Slippy, as we always do.” The gold says.

Wyrd flashes her purple teeth against the sheen of the sap. “We saw what you did at the Gate of Tartarus! The Asgardians and the Mortals, fighting side by side!”

”Yeah!” says the blue one “Way to go! It’s really impressive what you’re doing!”

The silence brought by Veroandi’s remark is only broken by your sigh. “Yes. Asgard intervened to save the mortals from opening Tartarus and sending the world into ruin. We would be more involved than we are now if anything escaped.”

Skuld flutters in front of your face. “Did it occur to you that perhaps we planned for the world to get ruined a bit?”

“No.”

”Why?”

“Because I know your plans.” You hiss.

All three of the sisters huddle close together before you and all grow the same wicked grin at the same time.

”Yes…you do, don’t you?”

Together they usher out a single strand from the twine going into the World Tree, a strand you were familiar with.

Skuld speaks. ”Look at you, O' One Eyed Mother. The fates have put so much work into you that we needed all five of your children to wrap everything together at the end!” A fire strikes at the end of one of the strands but is quickly put out. ”Whoops! Too early. Yours and your children’s story isn’t meant to end…just yet, is it.”

You keep your head low, but keep your single eye gazing at the snakes.

They pull the strand back further away from the fire, into the past. “And you know what would happen if you maybe…stepped out of the line again, right?”

“Stop.”

Voices from your past echo through the cave. ”Brother, come join me.” ”I will be all that I must be.” ”This is our world so it isn’t theirs.”

“Stop.”

”…And who might you be?” ”She is beautiful…” ”Keep. Up.”

“STOP!”

Finally, your words overpower the echoes and leave just you and the Norns “I know your plans and I know what you have in your hooves, do not take me for a fool! Simply tell me what you desire me here for so I may leave this place!”

”Are you giving us attitude!?” Skuld demands.

“Are you interested in becoming dinner? Which is faster? My spear from Asgard or you getting to that string.”

You could end this, right here and now if you just-

Skuld’s sisters look between you and the string, snarling their teeth before Skuld raises her hoof and laughs.

You grit your own teeth and pull back your lips as she gets closer.

”Slippy…you always make me smile…but I’d watch that mouth of yours, it’ll get you into trouble one day.” She reaches out and pats your check with her hoof, you restrain yourself from biting it off. "We wanted to call you here today to say we saw what you did and we...like it."

You blink twice. "Be that so?"

She chuckles again. "Indeed! Suddenly the mortal world is turned on its head and gods roam the lands alongside the fabled dead. It all has such a...poetic feel to it...before the penultimate spot on the thread, wouldn't you say?"

You stay silent.

"Yes, we like it...but it hasn’t upset anything major, so do be smart and don’t think bigger than you are “All-Mother” A Queen is nothing to a God, and both are nothing to US.”

Every muscle in your body urges you to either lunge forward and decapitate them or scream until their ears burst. But you know that so long as they have that string, anything you can do, they know you can do.

So you simply lower your head as they wish.

“As you say…Great Norn.”

”You can go.” Skuld says, taking back to the water with your thread in her mouth. Her sisters either make faces or wave at you like fools before joining her and leaving you alone to return up the stairs. No-name would still be there.

-Anon PoV-

You’d seen it all. Couldn’t make sense of half of it, but you’d seen it all.

The boat ride back is quiet, neither you nor Sleipnir having anything to say to one another after what you’d both just experienced.

Even Nidhogg didn’t approach you both as the shaft of moonlight carries you back to the world.

Finally, she speaks. “I desire you to not tell Baldur or Loki about what you saw.”

You thought she knew about the Palantir, but don’t have the energy to ask now.

“Why?”

”It is not their place, and they will worry. Tell them I…communed with water spirits to foresee calamity.”

“Another lie?”

”I'm known for it." She glances back at you. "You’d be frightened to know how much of our world is built on lies and myth.”

You think back to the cavern and what you saw, the mind races with wonder, and your mouth can’t keep up.

“Who were they?”

Sleipnir is silent.

”You treated them with...deference.”

Still, nothing.

After everything in the past few hours, your patience is short, so you turn your back to face her.

“Well!?”

”If I tell you.” She immediately begins. “Then you will know them as they are, and thus they would know you. Do you want that?”

You think to the things you’d seen in the cavern, the power they held over the most powerful.

“No…”

”Then sit down.”

You obey but hate feeling helpless. You risk speaking once more. “They look familiar.”

Sleipnir says nothing, but her eye turns slightly to see you.

“In a story Twilight told. Three Sirens, Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, Sonata Dusk, were ancient terrors that used their magic to terrorize Equestria. Starswirl the Bearded was said to have thrown them into another dimension.”

Sleipnir looks ahead as the boat appears again on the surface of the Well of Urd. “He missed.”

“Yeah…”

You grab the oar and take the two of you back towards the place you came from. “What do we do now, Your Highness?”

”What we can do, No-name. Continue.”

“But those creatures…what were they do-“

”Do not concern yourself with them now.” Sleipnir turns her eye to you. “Do not fear the past, do not dread the future. Focus on here, now, today. What can you do? What can we do?”

You feel at peace looking upon her steely gaze and find yourself firing up.

“What we have. Continue to travel around and find things that would disrupt harmony around the world, mostly magic artifacts and the like.”

”Indeed…and you will do something for me between these searches. You will learn the tale of the Frost Giants.”

“Highness, there are no Frost Giants.”

”So they say…” Sleipnir ponders as the boat reaches the shore. She steps off and heads back towards the mists, you follow. ”Tell me when next you travel to Midgard, No-name. I would accompany you.”

You nearly trip at that.

“My Queen…why?”

Sleipnir steps on a rock as she enters the mist, the rock explodes into dust and pebbles beneath her diamond hooves. “After today I find that I have some rage I wish to express.”

“Yes ma’am.”

You hurry along after the Queen and into the mists.

Author's Note

Messed around with some slightly different formatting things here in the hopes of improving readability, as well as more pictures because I think I found a place they can be permanently hosted. Let me know if you like it.

Direct Approach.

It’s a nice, brisk day in the Everfree Forest today so long as you ignore the argument next to you.

”Mother, I have to protest this.”

”So you have said many TIMES, Tyr.” Sleipnir says, walking out of the Bifrost. “Yet here I am despite them.”

The Queen and the General walk behind you as you lead them through the forest into town.

”Asgard is the lynch-pin for the Nine Realms and you are at the center of Asgard! If you leave then the balance of Yggdrassil WILL be disrupted!”

The Queen stops and rolls her eye at her son. “By my beard, you make it sound like the world will stop spinning if I stop looking. I am the All-Mother and if I wish to be on Midgard this day, so shall it be. Obey my commands and return to the city.”

The war god stomps his metal hoof-cap onto the dirt. “That isn’t good enough, Mother! The hill giants grow emboldened and the trolls will begin mating season any day now! Our defenses-“

”May be handled by our defenders today.” Sleipnir interrupts.

“Mother-!”

”Tyr.” She says, bending her neck down to look her son in the eyes. A silent moment passes non-verbally between them. “Despite what you believe, I trust Asgard in your hooves. Allow yourself to do the same.”

Tyr sighs and hangs his head after several heartbeats. “As you command, Mother…” He holds his capped hoof to his chest and trots back to the Bifrost. Sleipnir follows him and watches until he goes. It’s only when you find yourself in the presence of one god that you find the urge to speak.

“I understand that children can be…trying at times.” You say, trying to have any sympathy.

Like you knew the first thing about having kids, you weren’t genetically compatible with this entire planet.

She straightens up. “My son is, of all my children, the one closest in my hoofprints.” Sleipnir turns and trots past you, urging you to follow again. “The good and the bad.”

You walk with the queen past Zecora’s hut, looking inside and seeing it empty.

“His commitment to the crown is obvious, at least. That’s the best commander a guard can ask for.”

”He’s a prince, he should act like it.”

“Isn’t a prince meant to obey his queen?”

”You prefer your rulers to present their bellies to anyone who imposes on them?” the Queen asks as you both crunch through the snow. “Those with power over others must always be challenged by them, less they grow so fat on themselves that they become imperious.”

“…Surely you can see where that may seem hypocritical, coming from you.”

”The irony is not lost on me, No-name. But my children were gods before they were princes and princesses.” The winter wind blows through the trees and tosses some of the snow off its branches and the silence of the cold slowly cracks as the early risers in the forest come out of hibernation. “Above all other things, a god must become whatever they need to be to their flock, be that a guiding hand, a revolutionary, or a tyrant.”

“Which are you?”

Sleipnir looks down to you and pulls her mouth back to a wry grin that lets you see both rows of her teeth and the carvings upon them. “Me? I am all things…depending on your point of view.”

You exhale a laugh through your nostrils. “So, what is someone who wants to rebel against you before you grow full of yourself to do? You know more than anyone how dominating you can be.”

”Rebel harder.”

“Hardly fair when you’re rebelling against the ruler of everything.”

Sleipnir’s grin turns to a sneer. “What sort of fool believes life is fair?”

You both stop at the bridge into town when you reach it, so engrossed in discussion that you hadn’t noticed the commotion until getting close. Ponyville is a hive of activity as its citizenry move about in a unified canto, they wear different colored vests and carry out duties like knocking icicles off houses, shoveling snow, and dicing up ice on lakes. What’s more, they’re all singing.

The Queen looks over them like a mother who found her child eating the drapes.

”What manner of foul stupidity-“

“Is it Winter Wrap Up already?”

”You know what this IS?”

You slowly turn to the All-Mother. “Of course. In Equestria, the seasons are rotated manually. This is Winter Wrap Up, where everyone helps put away Winter so Spring can start, they do it when the food stores start running out.”

”And the singing?”

You shrug. “They always sing.”

You and the Queen look back into town where you spot a little purple dot to wave at.

“Oh look, there’s Twilight. She’ll probably need help, it’s good luck we came today.”

Sleipnir looks around the town again, where ponies bounce along with bunnies, sing along with birds, and build snow-stallions.

You hear her take a deep breath.

”FU-“

”Anon! Hey!”

“Hey Twilight!”

Twilight stands at the center of the town with a clipboard in her hooves, diligently keeping track of the duties everyone performed and what still needs getting done.

You wave to her as the two of your approach, Sleipnir grunts a greeting. ”Mortal.”

Twilight gives an awkward laugh and a bow, then leans closer to you. “IIiiiiis something the matter?”

“I don’t think she likes all the singing.”

Sleipnir pipes up. “If I were able to choose between being here on this day or the day of a massive asteroid impact, I’d choose the asteroid twice.”

“Pay her no mind. What’s the haps?”

”I wish I could say this is a normal Winter Wrap Up, but I’m struggling to keep us on schedule as it is. No one’s been able to find Discord and that’s left us shorthanded.”

“Wish I could say I’m surprised. For a manifestation of disorder, he can be quite predictable.”

”He has his good days and his bad.”

You flex both arms at Twilight. “Well, we can’t have winter wrapping up late, can we? Consider yourself in possession of two able bodied new workers.”

Twilight gives you a sympathetic look as her eyes drift to the monarch behind you. “Two…?”

You glance back at Sleipnir and silently plead with her. The Queen rolls her eye and sighs heavily. “Give me the list.”

Twilight smiles and floats the list over to her, Sleipnir reads the first line.

”Clear sky.”

Sleipnir stomps her frontmost right hoof against the ground and calls forth a crack of thunder. An barely visible power erupts upwards from her body and rockets into the atmosphere, sending ripples of force through the air that causes dust to kick and pegusi to tumble, but blows the clouds in the sky away for miles and miles. Every pony in Ponyville is left staring aghast at what happened, even as the welcome light of the winter sun shines on their faces.

”Next.” Says the queen.

You lean over to her. “Your Majesty…”

She sighs again, the deep yet quick sigh of someone nearing the end of their patience. ”What.”

You look around the square, everypony now tracing the literal act of god that clear the sky back to the only possible culprit.

“Perhaps lighten up a bit.”

Sleipnir’s eye twitches and you hear glass breaking somewhere far away.

”Hey Anon, did you pass by Zecora’s hut on the way here?”

You look over your shoulder to Twi, anything to get away from the withering gaze at your front. “Yeah? Why?”

Twilight rubs her chin. “She sent a letter saying she couldn’t be a part of Winter Wrap up because she was performing a ritual, something about warding off winter spirits. I’d hoped she’d be back home by now…”

You’d never heard of winter spirits being this far south.

The Queen’s ear now twitches in your direction. “Send me to the boarder.”

Twilight backs up a bit when Sleipnir approaches her. “B-beg pardon?”

”The edge of town, what duty do you have to fulfill near there?”

The flustered pony princess checks her list. “Well…there are animal dens to the south that still need clearing out.”

”It’ll do.”

Without another word, Sleipnir turns and makes her way towards the southern edge of town.

”Wait!” Twilight calls. “You need a vest!”

“No way those fit someone with eight legs.”

Sleipnir wordlessly floats two vests over to her and slips them both on.

“I stand corrected.”

-Sleipnir PoV-

The animal burrows outside Ponyville are host to a wide assortment of creatures that the populace now prance along with as they wake.

Bunnies, squirrels, birds.

Trios of snakes that hide in their burrow and hiss when you stick your snout in.

“Yes, show even less gratitude, that will help.”

You snatch the snakes in your magic and pull them out along with your head. They squirm in your grip as their kind are one to do, requiring you to bap them against the snow banks a few times.

“Honestly, things like you are what I find most offensive about the mortals claiming that I created all living things upon Equestria.”

You hold the snakes up, they lay limp and dazed, but alive. “As if I would make anything as vile as you.”

You let the wretches go to slither off into the world when the wind catches your ear.

”Yer pullin’ too hard!”

”I am not! You’re pulling too soft!”

You feel the vein in your head bulge at the sound of childish arguments you’ve heard a thousand times before, but you also feel your hooves walking in the direction of the noise to investigate.

A Mother’s work is never done.

You round the hill to find a trio of fillies forming a chain with their bodies and all pulling to get something out of a den in the ground. They all see you at approximately the same time and freeze like they were pulling treats from the pantry.

Again, it’s up to you to break the silence.

“Should I even bother asking.”

No, it turns out, you should not have, as now the three of them rush you and begin shouting over each other in an attempt to explain their situation. All your hear is noise in an attempt to garner your attention and sympathies, an unending TORRENT of aural assault that drives its spikes into your skull like it did when the children were young.

“ENOUGH.” You say, silencing them.

You look down, three pairs of sparkling youthful eyes look back at you awaiting an answer to why you shushed them.

“I am half blind. Not half deaf.”

All three inhale again trying to get their words out before their comrades and not realizing they all thought of the same idea.

“AND I ALSO DO NOT CARE ENOUGH TO HEAR.” You say.

With a small flex of your mind, you pull whatever was stuck out of the den they were pulling from, making a simple large stone blast out of the ground and land a bit away.

“…Was that it?”

”Yeah…” Applebloom nods.”

“WHAT were you DOING.”

”Helping bunnies!”

“Sweetie Belle, that is a rock, not a rabbit.”

Scootaloo scrunches her face. “Wait a minute, how do you know our names Mrs Slippy-near?”

“Because I know everything.”

One aspect of children you enjoyed was that you telling them that was all they needed to hear to accept it.

You needed not be omnipotent to know that leaving these three to their own devices was asking for more arguments and headaches and someone possibly getting eaten, so you keep yourself close by while they run around rousing animals from hibernation. The girls run about the fields, sticking their noses into more burrows and ringing small bells to rouse the rabbits out. Some of the little beasts take a liking to them, hopping along behind them as they go about their duties.

You suppose like attracts like.

Sweetie Belle giggles as they clear the most recent den. “This sort of reminds you of the old days, dontcha think?”

”You mean back when we were lookin’ for our Cutie Marks?” remarks Applebloom.

”A-huh!”

Scootaloo groans. “Don’t remind me. I get sore just thinking about all crazy stunts we did trying to find our special talents.”

It is Applebloom’s turn to laugh now as she presents her flank to the others. “It all worked out though, didn’t it? Looks like a beaut in the sunlight.” The girls all three press their rumps together and marvel at the marks on them.

“Hmph.”

Scootaloo rolls her eyes. “Alright, go ahead and say whatever you want to say, Queen Downer.”

Hitting children when you’re visiting Midgard would cause be impolite, but the filly clearly intended to intimidate you into silence by way of you being in an “uncomfortable situation” at being directly challenged.

You settle for teaching her not to leave such an opening.

“You three accept them then?”

You nod to their flanks.

“Those marks of a life decided?”

The girls look at themselves. “Uh, yeah?”

”Why wouldn’t we be?”

You feel your lips press into a snarl and force them back down. “A life lived that was decided by another is no life at all.”

You walk over to the girls, trying to appear as non-threatening as you can.

“Being judged by some…ephemeral force outside of your understanding. “Destiny”, “Fate”, call it what you will. The fact remains that those marks represent an aptitude, a life, being chosen for you rather than by you. I could never accept such a life.”

”Then why do you have one?” Scootaloo asks, pointing to a mark on your flank.

You think back to receiving that mark, the scalding pain and the dull ache that got lost in all the other dull aches over the many eons.

“That isn’t a Cutie Mark, it’s a brand, and I chose to receive it.”

The girls recoil slightly.

”When?” Applebloom asks.

“When I cut out my eye.”

Now the girls gag or stick out their tongues.

”Ah don’t know about alla that, Yer Majesty. But ah always looked at our Cutie Marks as…well…it’s sorta like us tellin’ us what it is we’re good at.”

You raise your good eyebrow.

”Cutie Marks don’t have’ta be somepony else deciding how you live yer life, they can be somethin’ that comes from inside you. We all got parts of ourselves we don’t know about, and findin’ those parts is what makes yer Cutie Mark appear! It’s like a…reflection in a mirror almost. Ya can’t see your mane out of place unless ya got somethin’ to look back on yerself with.”

Articulation aside, you mull that over inside your mind. “Who told you that?”

”Mah Granny!” Applebloom says proudly.

“Tell Granny that she could have done worse.”

No sooner do the words leave your lips that a savage and blood roar rips the air.

“Damn.” You say, looking to the sky.

The fillies at your hooves cower at the roar and hide between your legs, you shelter them readily. ”Wh-what was that?” ”Besides super loud!”

“Girls, stay here unless I tell you to move.” You follow the sound of the roar to the trees further into the forest. Once you heard Twilight mention winter spirits, you’d knew this would occur. You placed yourself here to keep the mortals safe, but these three just had to find themselves here as well.

As memory serves, they were the same ones Mjolna had to rescue. Perhaps they were just accident prone.

You see their yellow eyes flash between the trees, catching glints of the sunlight they try to avoid. Normally they wouldn’t be out this far in the light, but you had never been normal.

The girls must see them too, as they ask. “Wh-what those?!”

“Wendigo.”

Sweetie Belle jumps up in fright as the beasts begin to exit the trees, you take some steps forward, putting yourself between the girls and them. “Wendigo!? But they never come down here!”

“They’ve come for me.”

”What do you mean, yer majesty?”

“I offer something rare indeed, girls; my heartfelt apologies.”

You stomp your hoof and cause a crack of noise to frighten the beasts back a bit.

“We gods are not like you mortals, and to think as such is folly. The mightiest magics of your world are but footnotes in mine, and these beasts are what occurs when they commingle.”

”Just say it in English!” Scooatloo shouts.

“The magical energy I exert has drawn them here.”

The Wengido snarl at the treeline and rush closer, gliding upon the snow like birds upon the wind and smelling the magical pressure coming off you. You take some steps forward to meet the creatures.

“Mortals, stay put right there. You will be safe from them so long as I am between the two of you.”

”I hope you’ve got a plan!” Scootaloo yells.

You allow yourself a slight smirk. “Always…Ishtar!”

Music

In Equestria, the sun was moved across the sky by the magic of Princess Celestia, the immortal Princess of the Sun, who held control over it. This is how it has been for a thousand years. But the realm of Midgard had existed much longer than a mere millennium, and the sun holds a much more storied history than simply that.

Once the sun was the hiding spot for a seraphim, one who flew masterless and free across all the Nine Realms declaring her dominance and demanding jewels and adoration in return. When she flew through Asgard, not long after your ascension to the throne, you gave chase across the virginal skies of Midgard. You recall how she would dart and zip through the newly forming peaks of the primordial land, attempting to hide from your gaze and outrun you, eventually going all the way up to the sky to escape you, so sure she was that you could not follow.

Isthar was correct, of course, you could not fly to the sun. That was why you pulled the sun to the ground and her with it. With lash and chain, along might and power, you stripped off a portion of the star and bound it to the angel, transforming her and it into the it to the angel, transforming her and it into the spiraling weapon that rides on a solar ejection down to the surface and across the path of the Wendigo.

An arm goes flying as you catch it on the rebound and hold it in your grip next to your head. Either from the heat of the weapon or your own gut, you feel the mystical fire of old dredge itself back up.

“Come on.” You snarl.

The Wendigo charge and so do you.

Even in the form she now possessed, Ishtar was nearly impossible to control, which is why she most often materialized as a great spinning chakram with no discernable grip. Only through your magic can Ishtar be corralled, and even then she flies off when you let her.

Fortunately, that suits you fine. With a whip of your magic, you send Ishtar slicing through the air, leaving tracks of flame through it. The angelic weapon travels on a wide arc before taking a turn that would be impossible to make with a throw, looping through the air and returning to you.

“Be it desperation that drives you from your mountains or ignorance at what you will find here, I care not!”

You throw your weapon a short distance, cutting into a Wendigo with just the tips of its blades before it ricochets back.

“You will find no salvation at this place today! And so, BEGONE!”

You pull Ishtar back over your shoulder and release her to orbit around you when the Wendigo close in. The bladed star tears through the air, exploding an inferno into the air in its passing that catches many wendigo in its wake.

You feel that fire inside you.

“Haha! COME! SHOW ME WHAT PASSES FOR FURY AMONG YOUR MISBEGOTTEN KIND!”

Mere flames cannot harm you, and so you race through them to close the distance on the Wendigo. They slash at you with their chipped claws and try to bite at you with haggard fangs.

Even with a blind eye and millennia of rust in your muscles, these beasts pose no threat to you, however you do relish the opportunity to chase down an enemy and smite them without abandon once more.

Red pounds at the corner of your sight the harder you push. “HAHAHA! YES, COME AND FACE ME, DOGS!”

You hear a shout, but not the one you wanted.

You turn your good eye back and see the three mortals cowering as a Wendigo leaps its way over the fence and fall on them. They attempt to fizzle a spell of protection or flutter their wings to escape but cannot move fast enough.

You feel a feeling not felt in nearly twenty years, your heart sinking through your chest in the icy grip of true terror. Your mind moves without thinking, calling upon your authority as a God of Magic and tearing away the boundaries between seconds before your eye. You hate doing this above all other things, as it was the method of the witches in the cavern but find yourself peering through the rivers and streams of time at this moment all the same.

Acting normally, you were fast enough to save most of the children once the Wendigo landed. However, these girls were obviously closer than almost any in your family, and the loss of one would drastically affect the others.

You peer through the causeways of possibilities to see those effects and find rage in what you see. You see a breaking apart of friendships, children closing themselves off from the world for theirs was destroyed, eventual leaving of the home to hide from painful memories and travel to lands none of them are prepared to face. You see betrayal, heartache, misery, and lonely, quiet deaths in the future brought about by a shattered camaraderie. You see three unacceptable outcomes, so you reach through the world on a billion pricks of the needle to change those outcomes.

That was your right and your duty as All Mother of the Nine Realms.

You are the second fastest horse alive and contacting the first would take attoseconds you don’t have. With your mind you reach out through space to your Armiger vault to the dais in the central display.

“HELEL, COME!”

As quickly as light from the morning son casts itself across the land does the Lightbearing Blade streak from the sky and strike against the Wendigo, driving through it before its legs hit the ground. Dead before it even touched the ground, the Wendigo bursts at the seams, its body converting into salt that falls upon the earth, the only reminder that it ever existed.

“Deal with them.” You command your arms.

Ishtar and Helel pull themselves from the ground where they lay and return to the remaining Wendigo, you hurry yourself over to the fillies.

“Are you alright?”

”F-fine!” Applebloom shouts.

You feel your face frown. “That makes two apologies I owe you three, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.”

You bow your head to them and say nothing else. Behind you the sounds of Wendigo battling animated blades begins to die down.

The three girls crowd around your legs, where you told them it would be safe…until you lost yourself.

“Come, let us return you to the town…the rabbits here can wake themselves for a spell.”

One at a time you levitate the fillies onto your back before beginning the trot back to town. With a thought you send your weapons away, content that the Wendigo have been routed.

The walk back is silent until Scootaloo piques up. “I’ve never seen anyone fight like that.”

“…It is an older form, from when I was young. I had not…reveled in it in some time.”

”Is that why ya went further into the woods ta fight them Wendigos?”

”And left us all alone.” Sweetie Belle huffs.

“Something I’ll carry with me to the end of my days.”

Right next to everything else.

The girls silently giggle on your back. “I didn’t think gods could make mistakes, aren’t you meant to be perfect?”

“Oh I am far from perfect, little one. My mistakes are many, and they are as large as my statue suggest.” You glance back at them “Fortunate it is that this day was not one of them.”

Three little nods greet you.

“I must ask another favor of you three when we return.”

”What?”

“Don’t tell your guardians about this.”

-Anon PoV-

”And that is what happened in its entirety.” Sleipnir says.

You and Twilight share an aside glance, both of you seeming to detect what was up.

On the one hand, the Queen was an avowed liar who, despite keeping her face straight, looked guilty as sin.

On the other, calling her on it would at best lead to a demoralizing argument and at worst have you turned into a ficus.

”Girls?” Twilight asks.

“Anything to add?”

The three Cutie Mark Crusaders stand between Sleipnir’s long legs and each pop out to offer their take.

”Nope!”

”Some Wendigos showed up and she smashed ‘em!”

”Just like she said!”

”I do apologize for that.” Sleipnir says. “The Wendigo are always agitated during their mating season, it’s unexpected that they would come down this far.”

“…Unexpected.”

”Yes.”

“…For you.”

”…Surprise is one of the spices of life, No-name.”

“You hate surprises.”

”I also hate spice.”

You sigh and rub your head.

“Well, the girls are safe, so I suppose we can’t…really complain.”

”No.” Twilight says. “You have our thanks Your Majesty, but if I may offer a small piece of advice, from one ruler of magic to another.”

The Queen nods.

Twilight offers a wink and a grin. “In my time here, I’ve learned that you can’t accept all the blame for some things by yourself.”

”The Hel I can’t.” says the Queen.

The Winter Wrap-up Wrap-up continues to wind down as ponies celebrate a hard days work and the coming spring. You let the girls go be with their families and sit out front of Twilight’s swanking castle.

Though you miss the library.

Pinkie Pie works overtime at the oven in Sugarcube Corner to bake treats for everyone in town.

The All Mother chews one of the cupcakes with a stoney face.

”Needs salt.” She says.

Everyone contorts from an invisible chill up their spine.

”Oh help! Help! Twilight, you have to help!” you also hear from over your shoulder.

”Dishcord?” Twilight asks as the chaos sprite pops into existence next to your group.

”Oh thank heavens!” he shouts, grabbing Twilight by the cheeks and forcing the cake she had down. “We’ve got a problem Twilight. A big, big, BIG problem! Defcon one! Maximum Alert! The end of a twenty-two film saga and three billion bits at the box office despite opening in APRIL!”

You instinctively get to your feet.

“Twilight, he seems actually pretty worried.”

”You bet your sweet bippy I’m worried! I’m terrified!”

”At WHAT, Discord?!” Twilight asks.

Discord points up to the winter sky at the auroras and playing through the atmosphere and twinkling stars beyond. “It’s taken me all day to confirm it, but my ex is coming back! Cosmos!”

Discord goes on to explain everything about his ex, including her sadistic nature and terrifying power.

On your feet and alert now, you find your hands clenching for a weapon.

“Right, where is she now?”

Discord points to the sky again. “The stars! It wasn’t enough to throw her into the moon or the sun or something, her power had to be spread out along six stars separated by light years or else she’d put herself back together!”

”Which stars?” you hear Sleipnir ask.

Discord points to six stars that you do notice are twinkling brighter and more aggressively than any others in the sky, almost with a malicious intent to their light. “Those! The six stars of the Heart of All Worl-“

Six stars soon becomes five when the one at the lowest point in the constellation swells in size and pops, bathing the sky in the light of magical rays and causing the auroras in the sky to dance. Everypony in town claps their hooves in amazement at the seeming good luck at the stellar light show.

The other five stars dim immediately following the cosmic explosion, returning to just another piece in the night sky’s tapestry.

The three of you concerned about Cosmos and her return all wordlessly lower your eyes to the one in your company who wasn’t worried and still eats away at her cupcake.

”Next.” Says the queen.

Author's Note

I hate typing phonetic accents.
Ponies who done appear in this chapter:
|

Dust and Crypts.

It has been an eternity coming, but you successfully managed to do the impossible in Asgard. Securing time to be in your room, alone, in a small private bath.

You exhale all your gathered breath as you sink deeper into the water, listening to the songbirds and swallows chitter out past your balcony on the sunny day. Most of your days in your second life involved waking up to someone at your door, hurrying your way through a meal, and then being taken on to do some task or another.

Honestly, it wasn’t that much different from life in the royal guard, just the things you fought against were nastier. Even now, a lifetime later, your time in the guard feels like a familiar wound among hundreds of others that adorn your body like medals.

If you had asked anyone, they’d think it odd that your life hasn’t changed much even though you now live an after-life. You disagreed.

Peeking from the corner of your eye, you see your sword resting on a wooden chair where you had left it and breathe a sigh of comfort.

You received an education when you were found and expressed interest in being a guard, they could not have the defenders of Equestria being morons, and that education included some philosophy. With that knowledge, you would often turn your thoughts to yourself in your youth. Arriving as you did, you found yourself listless at times. No desires, no wishes, no loves that lasted or stood out to you. You had never wanted a family of your own and the thought of a quiet life seemed…irresponsible to you.

Yes, you may not be magic, there was not any pony around that could not do what you could do outside of count to five on their limbs; but you could do SOMETHING.

Another sword among a thousand, perhaps the sword that made a difference in someone’s life.

When you considered yourself like that, you had found yourself more at peace from the questions in your head. You sometimes wondered if that made you sad or not. Who you were or why you were here no longer mattered to you, as swords didn’t have a need for such things, only to attack their enemies and protect their allies. The trick, you learned, was in ensuring that you were wielded by the just.

You silently ponder if the current wielders of your blade would be considered just, you hope so.

A knock at your chamber door pushes those thoughts away.

“Come in,” you say with a sigh.

”No-name.” you hear as the door opens. “I have need of you today, gather yourself.”

“You’ll have to speak up, Lord Tyr, I’m wearing a towel.”

The often felt but rarely heard presence of the Lord-General of Asgard walks into your room with an uneven staccato from his prosthetic hoof. “I can see that…why is it on your head?”

You look up at the towel you have around your head despite the rest of you being uncovered “Keeps the hair out of my face.” You quip.

”Is that a common problem?”

“Just because something happens at all doesn’t mean I want it happening more often.”

The general grunts and takes a few steps. “Well make yourself decent, Mother calls for us.”

You suppress a groan at having your bath interrupted and begin scrubbing your limbs with the soap, intent on at least finishing it.

“Did she say what for?”

”She did not. Mother calls and we answer, that is the way of things.”

You scrub your back. “You’re the High-General of the city, does that bother you at all?”

Tyr offers a simple shrug. “I trust her appraisal of any journeys into Midgard we may make over mine.”

“A-huh. There a reason for that?”

Silence was his reply. Which meant “Yes, but I won’t answer you”. Fine.

“I take it from what you’ve said that we’ll be going down to Equestria and your Mother won’t say what for. Still, what is your appraisal of it?”

”Not complicated.” he says.

“Humor me.”

The general sighs and looks out your balcony. You use the time to get your legs. “Right away, calling the two of us stands out. It means it’s a situation that cannot have reinforcements thrown at it to solve like the Tartarian gate. She also commanded we bring our arms, but not which, indicating we’re to expect trouble, but nothing specific.”

“Aha. And I’d wager that her wanting the two of us means that it’s a military issue that involves working together with the Equestrians, since that’s the only thing you and I have in common.”

”You catch on quick.” The General says.

“It’s why I’ve lived this long.”

You toss the sponge you were using onto the balcony to dry in the sun.

“Alright, I’ll have to ask you to leave here, General. Unless you’re keen to have to see my butt.”

”I’ll pass.”

You dress yourself, don light armor, and strap your sword to your side to meet Tyr outside of your door.
The Prince turned High-General leads you through the halls of the palace out onto one of the walls, making your way to a small landing in the shadow of a watchtower.

“I swear, with each day I spend here, I learn about another part of this palace I didn’t know existed.”

”Imagine how we all feel.” The general retorts.

You and Tyr approach the landing to find the Queen standing among various bird cages, each with an inquisitive raven inside. The queen has one at the end of her hoof as she holds him up to her ear and listens to it whisper into it.

Odder still, she was smiling as she listened.

“Now I’ve seen everything…”

”I’m very old, No-name. I am permitted a hobby.”

”You’re a goddess of poetry, Mother.” Tyr says.

”And occasionally I would like to indulge in a hobby that is not most often associated with those who study the arts and suicidal playwrights, son.”

“I never guessed you for Falconry, your Highness.”

”Never. Dreadful birds, rife with disease. My ravens are far better.”

You look over the jet black birds in their cages or on the railing of the landing, several caw at you.

“A murder…wonderful.”

”An unkindness, No-name. A group of ravens is called an “Unkindness”. The Queen corrects.

“Yes, that’s MUCH better.”

”Well you were thinking of crows.”

Tyr clears his throat. “I’ve brought No-name and myself, Mother. What duty would you ask of us?”

Sleipnir gently puts the raven speaking to hers back in its gilded cage while she talks. “Raven whispers are not all that has been reaching my ears as of late; the mortals pray to us for guidance.”

“Guidance on what?”

”They have found something that they fear, and wish for their gods to rid them of it for their safety.”

“What is it?” you ask.

Sleipnir turns to the two of you “Were I to list all the things that the mortals ought to fear, we three would be here from now until Ragnarok comes. The two of you will travel to Midgard and investigate with them, determine what it could be, and share your findings with me. After that, we shall act.”

Tyr silently nods, you not the difference between the two’s actions. War gods seemed to come in many flavors.

”Take yourselves to the Bifrost, I have…politics to see to.” Says the Queen, layering venom onto the word “politics”.

”We will not fail you, Mother.”

“You can count on us.”

Music

You and Tyr flash down to Canterlot amid a town square. Apart from citizens turning their heads to see you arrive, no one gives you more attention than a train whistle coming in.

Tyr looks to either side, clearly noticing the calm.

“Don’t worry about it, Lord.” You begin walking down a street path towards the skydocks. “If you knew a third of the things this city has been through, you’d understand why they seem a bit jaded.”

The general follows behind you at a decent pace as you lead him through the Canterlot streets. You notice his head swiveling around, looking at buildings, street corners, and civilians.

“See something you like?”

His head turns back frontward. “ I didn’t see it before in our diplomatic visit. Peaceful city. Clean streets. Happy populace.”

“It would be difficult to see the real city when it’s all bowing to you, yes. There are a few problems here or there, but it’s a great place overall.”

”I find myself wondering what sets it apart from other places in Midgar.”

You wave to some of that very reason in golden armor as you pass by a street corner. “That would be the Royal Guard.”

The general doesn’t reply, so you take it upon yourself to deliver a civics lesson.

"The name implies a more militaristic approach than it really is, but the Royal Guard’s primary duty is to maintain the upkeep of Canterlot and her citizens. That’s done primarily through public outreach and public works. The Guard is the biggest employer of able-bodied ponies in the city and maybe a tenth of them actually make use of their combat training. Most end up helping the people out one district at a time or keeping their ear to the ground for a way to make the city better.”

”And those that see combat?”

“Generally have you request those stations, unless there’s an emergency or something.”

Like Changeling invasions.

”Mm…almost sounds close to a dictatorship.”

“You’re not the first outsider to say that, but you are the first with an ever-watching hyper-powerful ruler of a Mother as their head of state to say it.”

”Touche.”

“Is Canterlot perfect? No. It is the jewel of Equestria, and where there are jewels, there are thieves. But crime was down for years before I died and for the most part, the people recognize the effort being put in by the Guard and the Princesses and pay that effort back by doing what they can to help realize what those efforts are working for, them.”

”And the Royal Guard is lead by this Captain you’re taking us to see?”

“Despite our best efforts, yes.”

”Meaning?”

“Meaning that some years ago, Shining Armor married into royalty and became the crown prince of the Crystal Empire to the North. A few years later, he became a father, but he still devotes a hefty amount of his time to the Guard. He’ll work himself to death if that keeps up.”

”Is concern for one’s commander this customary in the Guard?”

“The guard respect Captain Armor for the efforts he made to keep the city safe and happy, but he’s a personal friend of mine as well.” You glance back to Tyr. “We trained together as kids.”

The general closes his eyes and nods. “Under Gaeus.”

“…Yeah.”

This wasn’t the time to ask about that.

“Come on, let’s get to the airship. I’d wager Shining is waiting to cast off already.”

Across the Royal Fleet, there was no ship that could match the Delphinus in speed. Her envelope that contained the gas needed to lift from the ground was made of a light, yet firm material from the east, and the rotary engines on her rear were of an experimental design. Combined with the best crew in the navy, the airship served as the fastest way for the Royal Guard to respond to any situation.

Which is why you knew this was the place you’d find Shining Armor waving at you from the deck.

”Ahoy there, Anon!”

You salute back. “Ahoy! Permission to come aboard!”

”Permission granted! Lower the ramp!” Shining calls to his deckhands.

A wooden ramp is lowered down to the two of you which you quickly ascend and shake Shining’s hoof when he meets you.

“You look good.”

”I always look good.” He says. Shining turns to Tyr and adopts a serious face, bowing to him. “General, thank you for honoring this request.”

A bit surprisingly, Tyr bows back. “It was my pleasure, Prince Armor. As Asgard’s ally and charges, the gods are happy to treat your prayers with the seriousness they deserve.”

“What’s the situation.”

”I’ll tell you on the way.” Shining turns back to the deck. “Raise the ramp! Cast us off at best speed and make way along the route we prepared! Every second counts!”

Both you and Tyr exchange a look, Shining’s haste arose questions.

”Walk with me.” He says.

Shining leads the two of you down into the ship, passing crew members and guards along the way.

”Exactly fifteen days ago, Professor A.K. Yearling was performing an archaeological survey of a collection of ruins, a mostly intact shrine that was revealed when a recent Parasprite swarm devoured the section of forest surrounding it.”

”Where was the ruin located?” Tyr asks.”

”Southwest of Stableside, on the lowest tip of the continent. Overlooking the ruins of Eternity’s Crossing.”

“What’s so important about this place that the egghead went snooping around?”

”Apart from the archaeological significance? It was an old world ruin, the purpose of why it exists has been lost to time, but the professor dated it back to a period before the alicorn Princesses were recorded.”

“I take it she found something?”

Shining stops at the stern of the ship, looking back to the two of you. “Professor Yearling reported finding a droplet of a vial of a droplet of a mysterious black sludge in a protective barrier, the same kind that seemed to match up with some, let’s say “disturbing” reports I received from the Badlands.”

You and Tyr both inhale sharply and look to each other.

”You were right to call to us.” The general says.

“Not to be a wet blanket here, but are we sure this professor’s claim is accurate?”

Shining nods grimly. “I debriefed her myself to confirm it. She claims that she found a droplet of tar-like sludge inside a barrier atop a golden saucer inside the ruins. When she attempted to prod the sludge with an instrument, it ate it and grew in size.”

Damn, that sounded right.

“Is she alright?” you ask.

”Imaginably shaken, but the only casualty reported was her instrument. She says the sludge and the general atmosphere of the ruins spooked her so bad that she ran out of there, even got the tomb raiders she was racing against to run.”

”Smart.” Says the general, rubbing his chin with his metal hoof-cap. “We need to presume there is more there, making this an extreme threat. Have your helmsman get us to the shrine as quick as they can, but to keep us at high altitude. We should observe before setting down.”

Shining nods. “You’re the expert here, the Delphinus and her crew are at your disposal, for the sake of Equestria.”

The Delphinus ate through sky like a starving pig ate through slop. You stand atop the deck watching the clouds go by and the earth below vanish beneath them. Thanks you either your trained ears or the golden fruit the gods have been feeding you, you detect the presence of another from behind, the cocksure click of his hooves and flutter of his wings telling you who came to visit.

”You know, you could at least stay dead each time you travel back to the afterlife. I’m going broke holding funerals for you every time.”

“Asgard isn’t the afterlife, not really. Just the front door to it. Looking to visit, Flash?”

Flash Sentry rests his hooves on the railing of the ship and watches with you. “Pass, thanks. I’ve still got stuff on my bucket list.”

“Chief among them?”

“Getting out of this chickenshit posting, for one.”

You nod your head. “Aaaahh…I get it, he’s still mad at you.”

Flash was a friend from a younger generation of royal guard, but a friend all the same. He’d become something of a younger brother or ward of some kind to Sunshine Smiles, of the Night Guard, after the two had been both chosen as the students to one of the Guard’s more…infamous members. The hard work you’d put in as a youth is what allowed Flash to maintain his cocky nature thanks to the stability Equestria was enjoying. You weren’t upset at him for it, he was living proof of all you and your comrades had done to keep the peace throughout the land.

He was still a brave idiot though, it seemed.

”It was one date.” He says.

“She’s his little sister, Flash.”

”Who is an adult now and also a Princess who can make her own decisions.”

“And before she was either of those, she was his little sister.”

Flash silently watches the clouds drift by, chewing his teeth. ”It was one date.”

“Yeah, but I bet you wish it was two.”

Music

When viewed from above, the shrine did not look like anything special. A pot shaped stone structure built into the cliff next to a connected watchtower made of the same grey stone with a churning sea some many meters below it.

It’s only when you step off the lifeboat onto the ashen ground upon which the shrine rests that you really notice how off it is. When your boot digs into the ground and sinks up to your ankle.

“…Guys, this isn’t dirt, it’s-“

”Dust.” Tyr says, finishing your sentence as he climbs out of the lifeboat as well.

Shining Armor hops out and turns back to the craft “Flash, take the boat up and circle around until you get my signal. I don’t want to risk our way out of here, but I’d like to leave fast if we have to.”

Flash Sentry salutes the captain. “Understood sir, maintaining holding pattern.”

You don’t watch Flash take off, but are glad that any princess related grudges are put away during work. You draw your sword and keep your eyes peeled on the shrine.

“What is it the flyboys say? Those who dare?”

The general glances around to the earth before the shrine, noting several dozen rounded stones placed halfway into the ground and only a faint pathway up towards it. “Stay behind me.” He says, marching forward.

You follow the general, staying in the middle of the pack, while Shining brings up the rear. You feel no wind upon your face, and the bits of greenery peeking from the ground barely move as you pass by, the entire cliffside almost frozen like a painting.

Shining is drawn to the ground. “It’s just…dust, as far as the eye can see…no dirt, no soil, nothing…”

“You both feel the…hush here, right?”

”No birds, no bugs, no small game…”

“You said Parasprites came through here?” Tyr asks.

”There was a forest…”

“And now…”

”Now the shrine is exposed and the wind itself fears to travel here.” Tyr says.

The three of you climb the hill to the shrine, watching for any unwelcome surprises but find…nothing waiting for you beyond an open door and clouds of black dust drifting out of its frame.

“Is that-“

”Ash.”

The three of you peer into the doorframe and find a sunken portion of the temple, with blackened stairs leading down on either side and weathered pedestals in the back, used for whatever this shrine’s purpose was back when it was still alive. Poking your head in through the door gives you an intense feeling of vertigo, like walking through a house that wasn’t yours, the feeling that you did not belong. Taking a few more steps inside kicks up more of the ash into the air, but the faint sunlight from the overcast sky at your rear illuminates some of the room through the clouds.

Namely the massive scorch marks traveling up all sides of the walls and out every window and door of the shrine.

“Did a bomb go off in here?”

”Whatever it was, it was at the center of the room.”

”Be on watch for fire giants…”

You and your party continue down the stairs into the center of the shrine, finding a few branching tunnels that lead into a basement of sorts carved into the mountain. Investigating these paths just lead you back to the central room, and each path held the same, just more dust and echoes.

“We’re getting nowhere here.”

”Both of you.” The general’s voice calls. “Come here now.”

Both Shining and you race up to pathway Tyr stood at the end of and look over his shoulder.

“What is it?”

”Have you found the slu-“

Tyr raises his prosthetic hoof to silence you both, and you get a look at what he’s watching so intently. Inside a small cove within the wall was a single golden saucer, no bigger than your fist, and in the center of that sauce was a bright orange flame. Peering closely at the source of the fire, you see a flat, bubbling oil of blackest pitch.

“Did…someone get here ahead of us?” you ask.

Tyr reaches his prosthetic hoof out, slowly, towards the flame as if to touch it, but he’s stopped by Shining Armor.

”Hold it.”

The Captain’s horn glows a rosy pink. “There’s an easier way.”

With a touch of magic, the captain reaches out to the golden plate. There’s a small spark along its surface as a countermeasure is triggered and with that, the flame goes out, leaving the steaming black goo in to sit in the center.

“Is it inert…?”

”I don’t sense anything from it…” Armor says.

”And yet we’re being this cautious.” Says Tyr.

The general reaches out with his own magic and lifts the saucer from its perch…producing an audible click of a pressure switch. Your face cringes as you prepare for the spikes to come out of the floor, but all that you hear is the whirring of some mechanism and a small coffin being ejected from the wall beneath the saucer’s perch.

Inside of the coffin rested a single golden urn, pristine in its craftsmanship and untethered by time, containing its chaotic bubbling mass still.

A silent pause resonates between the three of you as you contemplate the duress residing inside that urn until the general speaks.

”Signal the ship. We need to get back.”

“Are you sure you just want to LEAVE it in there?”

You follow behind the general with Shining as he leaves the shrine, marching back towards where the lifeboat landed to call it again.

Most notably NOT carrying the golden urn with him, having decided to leave it where it lay.

”What happened the last time someone touched one of those?” he asks.

You think back to the desert, the battle that followed, and the Changeling hive that was obliterated.

“…Point taken.”

Shining trots next to you. “We’ll call back to Canterlot and arrange for a team to secure the urn in a way that won’t provoke it. The Princesses will know what to do.”

”Form your team, but leave what comes next to us.” Tyr says. “No-name and I will report to Mother and determine what to do next.”

Shining eyes the general. You feel a buzzing in your pocket. “Any threat to Equestria needs to be investigated in depth.”

Tyr continues forward, not turning back as fog rolls in from the cliffsides.

“Uh, guys.”

”We of course have faith in you, Captain Armor. But these urns have shown to be the realm of Mother before, and our best course of action will come from her.”

The buzzing grows more intense as the fog gets closer. Shining opens his mouth to say some retort, but you grab him and rush forward, tackling Tyr to the dusty ground.

“DROP!”

The fog rushes over the three of you, bringing with it a great wind that hasn’t visited this place in a long time. The buzzing in your pocket, the Palantir that you always keep on you, won’t stop. Shining and Tyr look up with you as the fog gathered like it did whenever you looked into the past, but this time the shapes it made were hazy and incomplete.

You see a massive seven headed beast thrash about and swing its appendages at another that figure that darts between its legs while another that’s form seemed less complete than any other floats above it. Parts of the smaller figures flash and twist as they move among the larger one. There are leaps, spins, and twirls before the seven heads become six.

Then Five.

The apparition of the past is knocked against a mountain that no longer exists before being leapt upon by the entity on the ground. An ear-splitting roar escapes from the creature’s misty mouth and drives away the fog by force alone, banishing the visions from sight and finally causing the buzzing in your pocket to cease.

Your two companions watch where the foggy apparitions were with confusion, not believing their eyes.

”Something…awful happened here.” Shining remarks.

You can only wonder why it happened. The Palantir would only activate with the gem inside it, right? What triggered this partial vision? You sincerely hope that it wasn’t disturbing that urn, but your fears get the better of you, and so you speak before anyone else.

“Shining, get back to the ship and get back to Canterlot. Tyr, call Heimdall. I don’t think we can wait to go back the way we came.”

”Aye…”

You and the general march through the golden halls directly towards the throne room. The guard on duty straightens at his approach. “Sir!”

”Open them, now. I need to speak with her.”

The guard looks pensive under his helmet. “Sir, I-“

“The general said NOW!”

The guard straightens again and begins the process of opening the doors, you follow Tyr directly in, but bump into him when he stops just inside.

“What are you doing?” you ask.

”This is not a good time.” he answers.

“What the Hel do you mean ‘not a good time’?!”

Tyr nods towards the throne, you turn your gaze to it and see a familiar sight happening at the worst possible time. Loki hanging her head while Queen Sleipnir chews her out for something.

"You are almost fully grown, Loki. You know what is expected from us.”

”I’m not exactly ‘one of you’, am I, Mother?”

”BITE YOUR TONGUE.” The Queen fumes. The air in the throne grows heavy while Sleipnir collects herself slightly. “You know that untrue, Loki. You have been adopted into the royal family, which makes you a part of it. As a god and a royal of Asgard, you must obtain those who would worship you, you may only do that by doing deeds worthy of worship. Currently you have neither to your name.”

”I wonder why THAT could be…”

”Your attitude, mostly.” The Queen states flatly.

Loki stomps her hoof and leans forward. “MY ATTITUDE is because of who and what I am, Mother! The people of Asgard do not trust me like they do you! They would never see fit to worship one who they know isn’t one of them!”

”Then give them a reason to.” her mother simply states.

Loki makes that hunched over pose you know means she’s about to blow a gasket, but the Queen cuts her off “Whatever you’re to say Loki, swallow it. Are you not the God of Mischief? Do you not call yourself my daughter? Those who do both of these must do deeds that earn them the worship of the mortals, no exceptions. Even Hermod and Vidar have inspired as such.”

Alright, this was taking too long. You push past Tyr and walk further into the throne room. “Highness! I don’t mean to interrupt your talk with your daughter, but the Lord General and I have something urgent to report! If it will put an end to this now, I will volunteer to be the princesses first worshiper here and now!”

The Queen looks to you and lets out a single, uncharacteristic laugh. “Would you now? I don’t genuinely believe that you know what that entails.”

You cross your arms “I don’t care. This is important, Loki is my friend, and I can do it. End of story.”

Loki wordlessly gets off her rear and begins walking to the door, taking whatever chance to leave.

“Lady Loki, I-“

”Shut UP, No-name!” she snaps. “Do not embarrass me further.”

You receive a downright arctic shoulder from Loki as she trots past, the Queen and her brother watching her go. “Teenagers…so tiresome at times. No-name, Tyr, step forward and tell One-eye what you have found…”

You and Tyr spell out to the Queen exactly what you found. The shrine, the ashes, the urn, the visions, all of it. You didn’t exactly explain where the visions came from, but that wasn’t important.

The Queen’s good eye slightly glazes over as you explain everything, like one does when thinking of a long-held conversation. Tyr and you stand next to one another, silently waiting for Sleipnir’s response as she considers the facts.

”You were both right to leave the urn…touching them has never ended well.”

“So there’s more?”

”More than I’d like, I was never truly able to get all the Eitr.”

“What IS it, your highness?”

The Queen’s single eye shifts in its socket and looks you over.

”…It is the black breath of the Nidhogg, No-name. The poison that spews forth from the darkest depths and poisons the world.”

”Mother!” Tyr exclaims.

”Oh clam yourself, Tyr, he’s been beneath the lake.”

The general lowers his head and chews his teeth.

”You say that the Guard Captain wishes to take the urn to the Midgardian Princesses?”

You nod. “He says he wants any threats to Equestria investigated at length.”

Sleipnir taps a single hoof in contemplation. “I will trust the Sun and the Moon with this task. They may learn the seriousness of its threat and act accordingly.”

You and Tyr both nod.

”However.” The Queen begins. “I want it to be nowhere else. Take it from the world’s grave, return it to Canterlot, and watch over it as they learn of it.” The Queen continues. ”I am entrusting the both of you with this task, as there are none better suited for it. Oversee the transport, delivery, and anything that comes after until the mortals discover a way to eliminate it.”

You and Tyr raise your hands and hooves to your chest and salute.

“It will be done, your Highness.”

Your thoughts wander a bit. What did she call the shrine?

Author's Note

I'm not dead or sick, I was just busy with all the viral commotion and then helping someone with another project.

Spooky Scary Symbiotes.

You lean on the wall nearby the main doorway into Canterlot Castle. Unicorn crewmembers from the Delphinus carefully walk up the stairs, holding the urn of Etir in their magic, each of them holding down a corner of the spell. The walls line with guards and crossbows, preparing for the worst and your sword hand aches for the weapon on your hip.

“Even with all this, I’m worried.”

”You have every right to be.” Tyr says next to you.

“Is there a reason we can’t just throw this into the sun? Your mother did it to the last batch and that seemed to work out okay.”

Tyr breathes a deep breath. “If Mother disposed of the Etir that way last time, it was because she felt that the best thing to do. This time, she has declared that the best thing to do is allow it to be brought here.”

“You think that’s a good idea?”

”I think fear denies faith, No-name.”

You roll your eyes.

”Fear will trap us in a prison of inaction if we let it, and Mother has not lead Asgard astray in all her rule. I trust her judgment.”

“And I trust what I saw when this almost killed me in the desert. The only ones fearless in the world are fools, are you saying your Mother has no fear?”

”Hardly.” Tyr says flatly.

The two of you watch the urn get lead inside and follow it. Princess Luna and Celestia stand to meet it in the hall.

“Please tell me I don’t have to tell either of you how dangerous this substance is.”

”Please don’t tell us that you believe after Sombra’s horn, the remains of the Changeling’s spawning pools, and the trace amounts of countless fantastical beasts, you believe we would not take any precautions.” Luna chides.

“Call me paranoid.”

”Okay Paranoid.” Celestia says, looking at the urn with a critical eye.

You snort, making sure it’s loud enough to hear your displeasure.

”Anonymous…” Celestia continues. “I know you’re right to be worried about this, but unless it can affect someone through sight, then we have more than enough protection. The barriers we’ve placed around it could repel an Ursa Major, and have.”

“And if they don’t work?”

”Then I throw it into my magic mirror and take a hammer to it.”

You let out a deep sigh. “Not much of a choice of this is what the Queen ordered, I guess…”

”Now you know how we all feel.” Tyr says.

The two of you watch Celestia and Luna escort the unicorns to their magical laboratory, leaving you both to stand and think of all the ways this could go wrong.

You pass what feels like hours staring up at the clouds growing darker as the sun is set. Tyr busies himself by making patrols along the walls while Shining Armor and his men go through decontamination due to contact with the artifact.

From the corner of your eye, you catch him approaching.

“I don’t suppose…” You turn to face him “that they need our help, do you?”

”If they did, they’d have asked us.”

“If they’re able to ask and not up to their horns in trouble.”

The high general walks over to the edge of the wall where you stand and looks down at the city below. “For one who lived as a guard, you have a surprising lack of confidence in your superiors.”

“There isn’t a fighter alive who got to my age putting absolute faith in the orders they’re given.”

”Yet they still have to follow them.”

“I’m standing here, aren’t I?”

Tyr grunts and doesn’t meet your eye.

"It’s just…” You lean over the railing and let your shoulders sag. “I’ve served this kingdom for my entire adult life…bringing that crap into the heart of it worries me, even if the ones handling it are old enough to have seen it firsthand.”

”I very much doubt that.” You hear Tyr mutter. You cock an eyebrow and turn to him “What was that? Do you know something about the Etir that I don’t know? That the Princesses may need to.”

”Just follow your orders, No-name.”

“Maybe you didn’t hear me before, but sometimes I lived another day because I DIDN’T follow orders! I’d expect a war god to understand that on some occasions, leaders can have the wrong sense of things, even All-Mothers!”

”And why do you believe that I am in any more privileged of a position than you are!?” The general snaps back. Tyr snorts his frustration out and turns back to looking over at the city, locking his jaw as he works back his temper.

“…I apologize, prince.”

You look back over the city again. “I’d simply thought that, as one war god dealing with another, that you and your Mother-“

Tyr releases an uncharacteristic laugh. “You think she tells me anything.” He chuckles through his lips. “If only simply sharing a domain were enough to warrant that…”

“The Queen is not in talk with her highest general?”

”Not when he is her son. The trust that would normally have to be maintained through dialogue is simply there from my youth. I may be the closest to Mother out of my siblings, but she still keeps my at a distance on many things.”

Tyr’s eye shifts to the side to look at you. “Unlike you, it seems. I have never gone to the Well alongside her.”

Thinking back to what was beneath those waters, you eagerly change the subject.

“You’re…not missing much. I’m somewhat shocked that the All-Mother’s relationships with her children are so…”

”Inconsistent?”

“That’s a word for it.”

Tyr sighs a breath you feel has been held longer than the two of you have known each other. “It is the way it is…”

“Does it have to be?”

”If you think you can argue another case to her, be my guest.”

A silent moment passes between the two of you before dusk turns to dawn. In a flash, the side of the royal magister’s tower bursts from the inside out and lets howl a great concussion that shakes not only the city but the mountain its attached to. It’s all you can do to hang onto the battlements and plant your feet in the hopes of not being thrown over the side.

Neither you nor Tyr need to exchange another word between you, both just running towards the main gates.

Music

The two of you break through the castle gates and find the guards inside dazed or unconscious, having either been forced to the floor or against the walls. The ones who can stand look around in a fugue trying to figure out what happened. Unfortunately, you don’t have time to help them up.

“GET THESE DOORS AS OPEN AS THEY CAN AND KEEP THEM THERE! WE NEED TO GET EVERYONE OUT OF THE CASTLE, NOW!”

”S-sir?” one of them asks.

”JUST DO IT!” Tyr shouts.

The order of the war god is difficult to ignore, snapping the guard out of his trance. “S-sir!” >Tyr gallops forward and pushes the doors of the throne room open with his shoulder. The stairway behind the throne room lead to every corner of the castle, it was the fastest way to get anywhere in the castle. All you needed do was get past the thrones themselves and duck into the alcove where the stairway was.

”WAIT!” Tyr skids to a halt in front of you and holds his metal-capped hoof out, stopping you.

“What?!”

Tyr nods his chin towards a single droplet of viscous midnight hanging off the top of the chandelier in the center of the room; the moment he does, the droplet releases itself from the carved crystal and falls to the floor, expanding into a wide pool of Etir as sinister lightning strikes outside the windows.

From the pool, twin figures pull themselves out of the poison.

You recoil backwards as the corrupted forms of Equestria’s rulers drag themselves free of the puddle. Years of swearing to the crown, serving it, and protecting it make this a difficult sight to see. They drop Etir from their bodies and smile from mouths far too wide for them while hissing like serpents. Their movements jittering like bugs after you lift the stone they hide under and shine the sun onto them.

“This is horrible…what…happened to them??”

”The Etir wears them like puppets, taking root and steering their actions. It will try to assert more dominance over them until it can claim them as hosts.”

“How do we stop it?”

Tyr doesn’t answer, instead using his magic-hoof cap and extending it into a long broadsword. “I stay here and I keep their attention. While they stay here, you will get everyone out of the castle.”

“That doesn’t sound like a solution to the problem!”

”Well it is what we have presented to us! Until we find a way to win, we must find a way not to lose.”

Tyr lowers himself to a fighting stance as the two not-Princesses spread their wings and hiss at the two of you. “When I charge, get to the door. We won’t have much time after.”

“Tyr-“

”Good soldiers follow orders, No-name.”

You clench your fist and back away a few steps. Your duty was to the people of Canterlot as much as it was to the two in front of you.

“Fine, but if you die in here I’ll be mad as Hel.”

Tyr chuckles darkly. “Our fates are all written in the Weird…I cannot die this day.” He glances one last time at you before charging forward. “But that does not mean I intend to give these two the chance to try!”

Celestia has to leap back as Tyr slides across the floor, swinging his blade inches from her face. Using that same momentum, he slams his blade into the ground near Luna and forces her into the air. The corrupted sisters hiss in defiance at him, but the general leaps into the air before they can react in time. Landing on the chandelier, Tyr readies his sword and slashes at blasts of sunlight from the tip of Celestia’s horn, cleaving them in two and scorching the walls while Luna comes up underneath him, opening her gaping maw wide to bite him like a sand shark.

While not taking his eyes off Celestia, the general cleaves a beam of sunlight in twain and slices the chain holding the chandelier on the follow through, cutting it from the ceiling and dropping it on top of the corrupted Luna. The Etir Princess struggles under its weight while the general gallops across the floor, engaging her sister.

The young boy in you who wanted to be a guard after seeing how they fought was enthralled into petrification watching the war god move as he did, not wasting a single motion as he engaged the two most powerful beings in the kingdom in a deadly skirmish. A heartbeat later, you remember the situation and run out the throne room doors, slamming them shut behind you to seal the fighters inside.

“GO! GO! EVERYONE OUT, NOW!” you shout.

Servants and guards swarm past you like a mudslide and run out into the relative safety of the city. The walls of the castle at your back rumble and quake with the sounds of combat and it’s all you can do to not feel like the roof will collapse on you.

“MARES AND CHILDREN FIRST! IF YOU DON’T SEE SOMEONE WHO SHOULD BE HERE, SPEAK UP!”

”Sir!” one of the guards shouts. “Prince Blueblood and his entourage are trapped down that hall!”

“Go!”

You run past the guard down the hall he was pointing to, twisting, and turning through the corridors as cracks move up the walls from the impacts in the throne room. You hear cursing in a foreign tongue through the walls.

“Well at least he’s giving it his best…”

A rumble, crash, and a scream come from off the path you were running, but that you can’t ignore. You make a sharp right and race down the hall, finding a group of ponies backing away from an undulating tentacle of Etir that’s crashed through the wall in front of them.

“PRINCE BLUEBLOOD!”

”You there, guard! Do something!” the noble at the front of the group of loud and glitzy ponies shouts.

You draw your sword and a chill fills the hall.

“What do you THINK I’m doing here?”

”WASTING TIME WHEN YOU COULD BE HELPING ME!”

“I liked the you I met in the mountains better!”

You raise your sword over your head with both hands and bring it down on the tendril. At first it’s like cutting into a pile of lard, but as the cold air starts to seep down your wrist like fresh blood, the thick ink of the Etir slows and hardens until even the slightest twitch makes the obstruction shatter like fragile ice.

“Whoa!” You hold the sword up and inspect it, seeing faint glowing runes near the guard shimmer a cold blue. “Colder than I thought…”

You’re almost knocked off your feet when Blueblood and his entourage gallop past you.

"I’LL BUY YOU A KEEP, I’LL BUY YOU A TITLE, WHATEVER YOU WANT JUST SHOW ME THE WAY OUT!”

“THE DOOR IS THAT WAY, GAH!”

All but one of them are gone in a flash, with Blueblood shouting “THANK YOOOOoooooouuuu.” Echoing through the halls.

You walk up to the one who was left, face on the ground and flank in the air muttering something. He looked young, probably got swept up in the lifestyle his parents don’t even know about.

“Hey, come on, we have to get out of here. What are you doing?”

”Praying.” He says back quickly.

“What?”

”M-monsters came to the city, I saw them through the window after the shaking started. P-prince Blueblood says Equestria is favored by the Gods now, right? They have to c-come when we pray to them…”

You blink as you chew his words over.

“They…should, yes.”

As if on your approval, the boy goes back to muttering his barely audible prayer. You decide to call in reinforcements.

“Come, we need to get you out of here.”

You usher the youth out to the courtyard and fall to one knee, holding your hand to your heart.

How in the world was this meant to work?

“All-Mother in Asgard…I beseech your aid.”

You decide to just throw in as much flowery language that you’ve heard this family use as you can.

“The enemy you sent us to face, the Etir, has taken hold of the two most powerful things in this kingdom. Prince Tyr stands before them now, holding them at bay to protect those outside the castle, but I fear it may be too much for even one as mighty as he.”

You’ve never done this before, you really hope you aren’t messing it up.

“If something isn’t done, I fear Equestria and all of Midgard will get…swallowed up by it. I know you didn’t take me with you beneath the lake to simply let this happen, so once again I beg that you-“

The skies part, the clouds rumble, a shaft of light shines down at you before a rush of the rainbow bridge descending alights the entire city. You blink away the dots when the shaft leaves, seeing what it left behind.

”…Where is my sandwich?” Loki asks looking as if she was trying to put something in her mouth.

”Slow down! SLOW DOWN! QUIT PUSHING AND EXPLAIN IT TO ME AGAIN SLOWER!”

You reach down and scoop Loki up flank and all as you run back into the castle, you know from her embarrassed “Eep!” that a tongue lashing is coming, so you cut her off first.

“THE BLACK OOZE FROM THE DESERT IS BACK AND IT’S TAKEN OVER THE PRINCESSES AND IF WE DON’T DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT THEN EQUESTRIA IS GOING TO FALL AND YOUR MOTHER IS GOING TO BE PISSED!”

You feel like Loki only hears the last part of that when her eyes go wide. “Why didn’t you TELL ME THAT OUTSIDE!” Loki hops out of your hands as you kick the door to the throne room open. The corrupted princesses have mastered the use of their wings now, they flap in the air above the general and emit a constant chiming sound from their mouths.

The same chiming sound you and Loki know brought an end to a Changeling hive.

At the same time, the General is bleeding from a wound to his head and pushing himself up with his hoof.

“We don’t have much time!”

”Yes, I gathered that! Get my brother out of there!”

You draw your icy blade and look to the princesses, you could possibly freeze the Etir on them, but-

“I need an opening!”

”Must I do every-damn-thing!?” Loki seethes.

Loki removes her helmet and whips her hair like a drying dog would, flinging hundreds of tiny follicles into the room. With a pop and a poof, the hairs each individually explode into a copy of the mischievous goddess, filling the room with her and sending the corrupted Princesses on the defensive instinctually. They his and drip over the floor as the copies of Loki turn the room into chaos, each doing something different. Some walk into walls, others babble incoherently. Others look ready to fight and others simply float through the air on a whim.

Tyr barks out a single laugh. “Heh…seems that…even the Etir knows…we wouldn’t survive…more of you…”

”If you have enough blood for that wit of yours, then you have enough to fight, brother! Less sharp tongues, more sharp swords!” Loki shouts.

“Got him!”

You reach the General and pick him up similarly to Loki. He’s heavier by a wide margin, but you can still get him clear of the area. Not for long however, as the Princesses retaliate by sweeping their wings through the air, sending tendrils of Etir crashing into the copies and reverting them back into hair strands. What they don’t smash gets burnt away in beams of raw magical energy.

”If I keep this up I’ll go bald! We need to separate the Etir from its host! No-name, strike brothers’ hoof with your sword!” Loki shouts, dodging a tentacle.

You look at your ice blade, noting the same runes glowing on it again.

“Won’t that hurt him worse?!”

”THE METAL ONE YOU HALF-WIT!”

“Oh.”

You set the General down and grip your sword with both hands.

“Ready?”

Tyr wordlessly extends his metal-capped hoof, holding a wound on his stomach with the other. Like you did when you chopped the tentacle earlier, you raise your sword and bring it down atop the enchanted metal. The strike of enchanted steel on blessed Uru creates a resounding CLANNNNNGGGG through the throne room.

Rising above the clang is the bestial screams of the creatures taking control of the Princesses. Their heads reared back and jaws hung open with eyes bulging from sockets, they fall to the ground.

”Again!” Loki cries.

Faster this time, you bring your sword back and strike it against the prosthetic hoof. The clang echoes just as it did before, getting the same screams from the Princesses. You hack at the hoof-cap like you’re chopping down a tree, echoing the toll of metal on metal the entire time until a single shout causes you to stop.

”LOGI!”

A ring of orange runes carve into the air around Loki, spinning around her at an increasing speed before they each spew a torrent of flames. The flames wash over the Equestrian rulers while the Etir screams itself raw at being roasted alive.

"Take it easy! We don’t need them char broiled!”

”If they burnt that easily, then we wouldn’t allow them control over the SUN! HIT IT AGAIN! LOGI!”

More fire sprays towards the princesses as you strike Uru to steel one more time. With a final burst of fire, Loki’s magical assault combined with your sonic one forces the Etir from the Princess’s bodies into the form of an undulating miasma on the ground.

”Hh!” Tyr shoots up from where he lay and thrusts his metal hoof out. The cap of the hoof explodes outward trailed by a thick Uru chain. Through the fire you can see it wrap around the Princesses and with a great tug, Tyr pulls them out and over to the two of you.

You kneel down.

“They’re breathing…good.”

”Not done yet…!” Tyr says.

You look back and see the remains of the Etir rearing itself upward, somehow manifesting in greater mass despite no longer having a host body as it towers over you almost to the ceiling.

“It must have FED on them!”

”Get back!” Tyr shouts.

”ᛁᛇᚣᛇ!” you hear from the front of the room. A great wind howls from the door and the runes on your blade ignite to a fevered glow that blinds you from your doom for a split moment.

When you open your eyes back up, the Etir flood is encased in a thick layer of cobalt ice. You blink a few more times, clearly seeing the wrong thing and about to be eaten.

“…Huh? Tyr, what is this?”

Tyr says nothing, looking towards the direction of the wind where Loki is getting her helmet back on and keeping her back to you.

“Well?!”

Tyr opens his mouth to speak, but Loki turns back to the two of you quickly, looking not a hair different from normal. “It’s nothing, No-name.” Loki turns her eyes to her brother. “Isn’t that right, Tyr?”

Tyr is silent for a moment before letting his breath go. “Nothing at all…”

If you were going to press, you forget about it when the ponies at your feet stir.

”What…happens?” Luna wonders.

”Did anyone get the number of the train that ran me over…” Celestia asks.

“Easy you two, you’ve been through an ordeal.”

”Put me through one as well…” Tyr groans, leaning back on the stairs to the throne.

”Oh dear…sister, I fear we may have done something awful when we blacked out again.”

”Speak for yourself, sister…” Luna says.

”I would like to know what in Bor’s name happened.” Loki says, approaching. “We left the Etir in your care because we presumed you could handle it, were we wrong?”

The Princesses push themselves to their hooves with some help. “Taking precautions…”

”Almost had it behind the wards in the tower…”

”Then…this most curious chiming sound.”

You nod your head. “That’s consistent with what we’ve seen…

”Only we contained it!” Loki shouts. “Honestly…wait until Mother hears about this.”

You don’t feel like seeing a tiny princess dress down the two that you’d spent your life serving, so you learn in close and give Celestia a hint.

“Psst. Embarrass her, she’ll back off.”

The Princess blinks. “We must thank you, Princess.”

”Hahn?”

”If not for your intervention, my sister and I would have been…” ”Let us say ‘worse for wear’.” Luna finishes.

”Yes…but thanks to your quick efforts, the entity is contained. We may now go with a more secure option, taking it to an entirely separate magical realm where we hold further control in our study of it.”

”That should have been your FIRST plan.” Loki mutters.

Celestia smiles, having dialed her in, and offers a bow that Luna mirrors. ”We are in your debt, you have truly made a miracle today.”

“We grew hearing the stories of the old gods, but seeing what you did, I believe in them now. And you.” Luna says.

Loki clears her throat and turns away. “Yes! Yes…well…good…” She turns her body to match the direction of her head, keeping her back to you, and walking to the door.

You watch her go, doing everything she can to keep anyone from seeing her face.

“I think she likes you.”

The Princesses chuckle.

”Someone get me some damn bandages.” Tyr says.

Author's Note

I'm here, I'm here. Crazy times, aren't they? Stay safe out there.

Death Sentence.

A knock at the Ponyville Princess Castle-slash-library brings the local Princess to the door.

”Anon!” Twilight says. “What brings you down here?”

You kneel down and reciprocate the hug you get. “Hey Twilight, I came on a little fact-finding mission.”

Twilight blinks “Does Asgard need something we have?”

“This is more a personal job, Twilight.”

”Oh. Well, come on in! Let’s see if we have what you’re looking for.

Twilight ushers you inside and through the halls of her swanky castle.

”What can I interest you in? Ancient Mythozoology? Studies of swordsmanship in Neighpon? A refresher on Spontaneous Song and Dance classes?”

“Twi, if I literally ever have to live through another SSaD class, I may just die again.”

”Oh they weren’t that bad.”

“An entire lecture on Jazzhoofs is ‘that bad’.”

Twilight leads you into the library-slash observatory. All rooms in this castle were -slash library it seemed. “I’m here because I came to the realization that I’m smack dab in the middle of a mythology that I only have a rudimentary understanding of, I was hoping you could help me out.”

Twilight does that thing where she smiles super wide and claps her hooves together like a schoolgirl. ”Eeeeee! You’re JUST in luck! I was interested in our new counterparts myself so I requested the best resource I could find on them, an encyclopedia of their ancient poetry all the way from Gryphus!”

“That’s a long way, I’m surprised the Griffons even have the book.”

”Scholars believe that the area the Griffon Kingdoms make up was once the land that the Aesir came down to Equestria at. With recent events, they’ve grown even more interested in preserving that history! Come on, it’s over here!”

Twilight leads you to a quiet corner of the bookshelves and pulls an old leather-bound book from the wall. She blows the dust off it and hands it over to you.

Hmm. Prose…Something-or-Other, the title was faded. It was probably pretentious and stupid; all these titles of myths were.

“Thank you Twilight.”

”Anything for a friend!” she smiles. “And doubly anything for the pursuit of knowledge. I’d read with you, but I have some spirit summoning notes to go over with Spike.”

“It never ends, does it?”

”If they keep coming, I have to keep bottling them. I’ll just be in the other room.”

Twilight heads out and waves back to you. “Leave it out if you like what you read! I’ll look it over once you’re done!” You wave to her and set the book down on the table, opening it. The parchment inside is old and the text seemingly done by an even older penmanship.

You think back to your grammar classes to get you through this.

“Alright then, let’s see what we have here…”

Before there was anything, any earth or sky or life, there were three.

The fire-swept land of Muspelhim, homeland of the primordial fire.

Niflheim, the land of frozen mists and ice.

And Ginnungagap, the gaping abyss betwixt the two.

The primordial darkness, the perfected chaos of Ginnigagap, lay equidistant from both the lands of ice and fire, and as heat and rhyme kept in from these elemental bastions did form the first life.

Ymir, the oldest and most powerful of the giants and ancestor to all that would later be, formed of the ice droplets from Nifilheim melted by the heat of Muspleheim. The violence of Ymir’s birth was only rivaled by his own, and the ancient world suffered greatly in his shadow.

When Ymir slept, the other subsects of giant, hill, frost, and fire were birthed from his body: leaping forth from his legs or his back or the sweat of his glands. As the primordial ice and fire continued to meet in Ginnungagap, more beings emerged from the frost. Audumla, the Eternal Cow, the First Tribes, and eventually Buri, the first of the Aesir.

Buri, and his son Bor, intermingled with the giants and together birthed a new type of being into the primordial Equestria: Half-god, half-giant, the eight-legged god who took the name Othinus.

As more sprang from the Ginnugagap and Mimir’s violence continued, Othinus decreed that it would continue no longer. She struck down and murdered the giant Ymir, and from his body, formed the realm of Midgar. His blood became the oceans, and his flesh became the fields. His hair became the plants and his skull was made into the sky.

When the first murder was complete, Othinus took the throne of Asgard and declared herself Sleipnir: All Mother.

With the newly formed and fertilized Midgard, life began to grow and flourish into the world known today. All-Mother Sleipnir took to the sky, to her fortress of Asgard in the shadow of Yggdrassil and had many children who blah blah blah blah.

The tale spills off into many personal tales and accounts after that, tales of the All-Mother sacrificing her eye for knowledge and of Mjolna cross dressing to get a hammer back. You flip through the pages to get to where the notes start to coalesce again.

The end of the tales was marked by one word in deep, heavy writing: Ragnarok. You’d heard that word spoken before, the first time when you and Loki were in the caves of the Druids in the Griffon Kingdoms.

It was decreed by the Norns, eternal weavers of fate, that one day and ending would arrive.

A finbulvinter shall arrive, a winter to end all winters that seemingly comes from all directions and with such intensity that even the sun’s warmth fails. This winter will be as long as 3 normal winters, with not a single summer between for harvest. Mortal law will fall away as they become desperate for food and all of the Nine Realms will be consumed by a sheer struggle to survive. It will be an age of swords and axes; brother will slay brother, father will slay son, and son will slay father.

The wolves, Skoll and Hati, brood of Fenrir, will catch and devour the sun and the moon, blanketing all realms in the darkness that sat in the Ginnugagap as the starts go out in the sky, leaving naught but a black void in heaven. Yggdrassil will tremble under this weight and all trees will fall. Monsters will break free their bindings and prisons, from the Dread Wolf Fenrir to the cataclysmic Jormundgandr, flooding all the world.

From a boat made of hoof clippings of the dead will ride an army of giants lead by…

You blink and read over the passage again, trying to take it in and make sense of it.

Lead by the Aesir Loki, betrayer of her kind.

Even as you go over the passage again, you read on:

As Fenrir devours all land and Jormundgandr burns the sky with poison, and all a pretense to when the fire giants arrive.

Cracking the dome of the sky, lead by Surtr, most powerful fire giant of all, the legions of Muspelheim will march across the Bifrost to make war with Asgard as Heimdall blows deep the Gjallarhorn, announcing that the end of all things has come.

The passages you read next churn your stomach: Describing the grisly fates of all your friends as they fight against this horde of monsters, giants, and the ravenous dead. More grisly deaths dot the pages until, finally, the black beast Nidhoggr arrives at the battle and bathes all in his poison, sinking the world and returning it back to the chaos of the Ginugagapp.

Every muscle in you screams at this book. You flip back to the start, hoping you missed something that can tell you why this happens. What begins all this death? What starts the Filmbulvinters?

You reach where you read and notice something near the stitching, the smallest fragment of a torn page. You swear silently, angry someone had taken this knowledge from you, and lean in closer. If you were lucky…

Yes! There! The indentation of the quill had let some of the ink seep through the parchment to the page in the back. You can see through the paper if you hold it to the light and, if you squint, just make out the first word on it.

B-A-L-D-U-R

Your eyes open and you feel all the fire in you snuff out.

“No…”

Now even he was involved in it all.

As the fire inside smoldered, it was replaced by a pained churning of your stomach. You needed answers to these most unsettling passages, and you weren’t going to get them here.

“Thanks for the read Twi! Good book! I have to go!”

Back in Asgard, you find the Queen alone in a small garden overlooking the waterfalls of the palace, watching her two birds flit in the air. It took downright threats to get the guard to tell you where she was, threats you’d have to pay for later.
“ALL-MOTHER!” you call.

The Queen doesn’t even turn her head to see you, simply turning her good eye to finally notice you. “…That look, I’ve seen it before…in the reflections of the Well so long ago in my own face…”

The Queen whistles for her birds to land as you march up to her, but she speaks again before you can. “You know now.”

“The prophecy…Ragnarok, I—a book down below.”

Everything you read comes spilling out of you; from the ordering of the world to Loki betraying the other Aesir to the mystery about Baldur’s name in the parchment. The Queen responds to none of it until you finish, looking out to the sky beyond the city with a forlorn look in her one eye. “It was not like that…” she began. “Even then…when Mimir fell…I remember the sky. It was dark…and it was raining when we-“ The Queen remembers when she is and recollects herself in a moment, looking back to you. ”You needed not go down to Midgard to know of the tale of Ragnarok, No-name. All in Asgard know it well.” The Queen looks over the city below.

“And they all just DEAL WITH IT??”

”Not all of us.” She says.

Being here now, seeing the Queen address this literal apocalypse like it was the business of the day it…did something to you. Here in Asgard you were rejuvenated, but now you feel your age in your knees and buckle to the ground, hanging your head.

“How…can anything be done…against all that is told to come? How can anything be done? What’s the point?”

You feel the despair rising up in you higher, along with it comes panic and fear. You’re about to grab the Queen, shake her as hard as you can, and beg that she let you die again if this universal failure is all that awaits your second chance at life, but she smacks you with her hoof first.

”No-name. Calm yourself…take a deep breath.”

The Queen’s hoof reaches out and touches your chest, bringing a feeling of lightness and vertigo that draws what feels like all the breath in all the world into your lungs, so much that you cough and sputter.

The Queen kneels down and sits on her haunches, able to look you in the eye. ”You know now what you have always known, No-name…that someday, you will die. You knew it when you were among the mortals, did you not?”

“I did…I did…but this…”

”This…is more.” The Queen completes for you. “Aye…”

Music

“What…can be done? Can anything?”

The Queen is silent for a bit, looking out over the sun-kissed lands of Asgard decidedly not on fire from giants. “It is only a prophecy, No-name…not all of them can be correct. The morals prophesize the weather each day and how often are they ri-“

“I was in the well with you, I saw those three in the hut. They came up in the book…these Norns. If Ragnarok is decreed by those three, I wouldn’t feel like it was something I could ignore…”

The Queen narrows her eye. “Indeed…”

“Then please, Queen. What can be done? More than just for Equestria and Midgard, more than just because I must protect them, how can we save Asgard? How can we save EVERYTHING?”

”Tell me, No-name. Do you believe we can? Do you believe it is even possible to avert Ragnarok?”

The question pierces through your ears and makes your stomach clench up again. You remember what you read, the certainty of all that was written, and the deaths that these gods are supposed to endure while you wonder what part you could even play.

Then, you remember further back, back to the words Captain Gaeus said when you were still green and needed to fight off Diamond Dogs.

“I know I’d rather die finding out if I can than not.”

”Mm…” The Queen rises to her hooves again. “With what you have read and what you have seen beneath the well, you now know more than many…but not the entire picture.”

Clearly referring to herself.

“Can you tell me?”

"If I do, then I cannot believe what I must. Can you, No-name?” Sleipnir turns to you again. “Fear denies faith, No-name. Can your faith lie in believing that there is a way out of this trap?”

You feel your stomach tighten again as you stare into the Queen’s eye but…find the sensation lessened as you look into it. As the tightness abates and is replaced with a calm pool at the center of your spirit.

“I…believe that whatever you had done in the past, that you would not wish Ragnarok on the world, All-Mother.”

You put your fist to your chest. “I believe you…and offer myself to whatever you may attempt.”

”Return to your room, rest, recover your spirit. Spend the evening with Baldur or Loki or Mjolna, but do not allow this No-name who glazes at the floor to remain in my palace by sunrise.” You nod and raise your head. “And…speak not of Ragnarok to my children…They all know the parts they play in that fable more than any other, do not spread your anxiety to them.”

You think to the passage about Loki betraying everyone. “But Queen-“

”I NEED YOU…to remain silent on this, No-name.”

You feel your resolve swell and harden to steel, something about your disposition just made you respond to being given orders.

“Yes, highness.”

Sleipnir chews over something and turns back to you. “Your curiosity has put you at risk of falling to this fear of Armageddon, and so I will abate that fear…somewhat. Gather your friends and your amulet you pretend I cannot see, I have someplace I desire to send you in the coming days.”

”Uh…where, your grace?”

She rolls her eye. “You have the Palantir, do you not? Obviously, I intend to send you through time.”

You regret asking.

Author's Note

Something quick I wrote up so that everyone can be on the same page. Real chapter soon.

Windows to the Past.

Day one of your journey to accomplish the Queen’s quest.

It felt like many days since the two of you’d had your grim conversation on the battlements, but less than a week had passed. You look back on that night and cringe your face, disappointed in yourself. You’d never been the kind to give into despair, and that was the reason you were given this afterlife, if you had to guess. Seeing yourself so downtrodden and defeated spiritually upset you.

You were alive (technically), and so long as you were, you would fight whatever was coming.

Until you could fight no more.

You grip your fist in quiet determination as the three of you walk through the moist jungles to the south and the panting over your shoulder gets your attention again. More embarrassed now that you were so lost in your own head that you didn’t notice, you stop and turn back to your companions.

“Rover…do you need to rest?”

You see Rover’s cloak shift back and forth with his deep gulps of breath, the little pool of spittle from his tongue staining the fabric. “…No.” he says after a few puffs. Rover is a large dog, with no sweat glands, covered in thick fur, wrapped in a heavy cloak, carrying a massive sword on a stocky harness, in the middle of the jungle, at noon.

You are CRIMINALLY unconvinced.

”Oh no, I know that face!” Loki protests beneath the both of you. The tiny godling stomps her hoof. “We’ve been walking all day to reach the Temple of the Fallen Star and I’m not interested in being out here in the dead of night! He SAYS he’s fine so hop to it No-name!”

“Oh man.”

You bend down a bit to get closer to her face. “You’re right princess, no one here would EVER tell a lie to save face about anything, right?”

”Oh, shut up!”

“Make me.”

Before Loki can actually carry out that challenge, you stand up and point your thumb through the trees.

“I hear a river through there the way we came. You may not want to, Rover, but would you take the opportunity to cool off if the Princess and I rest by the shores of it?”

Rover pants for several more seconds and wipes his brow. “…Wouldn’t complain.”

Rover shrugs off his cloak, sword, and rigging the minute you get to the shore and wades in, paddling out to the center of the river and rubbing a white stone. The gentle rock turns to powder on his paws which turns to bubbles that he drags over his fur. You think you can see the steam come off him as you sit.

“Rover, what is that?”

”Is soap stone.”

“I thought soapstone was used for carving.”

”Well this soap stone used for making Rover not smell like wet dog after bath.”

The thought of that in the heat of the jungle enters your head. “Carry on then.”

”Hrmph.”

You sigh and put your hand to your ear.

“Do you hear that, friends? It is the call of the Grumpy Princess, I didn’t know they were native to these parts.”

You instantly choke with the twinge of magic in your mouth as a dozen tiny spiders spill out from between your lips.

”Feeling talkative any more, wise-ass?”

You rub your tongue with your glove to get the last of the little monsters off and spit. “Overreaction.”

”No, that was me being subdued. I could have turned you into one.”

You know you can’t win in a battle of magic with Loki, so you let her get the last word here.

“Temple of the Fallen Star…can’t say I’ve heard of it.”

”With good reason, if what Mother says is the truth.” Loki’s desire to be the smartest one in the room would always overpower any temper she had.
“I must say I’m surprised that she sent us out here to find it.”

Loki looks extremely annoyed for an instant. “I’m surprised that she was able to twist the existence of the Palantir out of you with so little effort, No-name.”

“Now, now Princess, she probably always knew about it.”

You lean back on the tree you’re on. “Still…’go out and take the amulet to these places that correspond with the swords I use’ feels out of left field.

”The Armiger are not ‘just swords’.”

Armiger…you know that term, the Queen used it when she took you down into the vaults. “Your mothers tools of war, right?”

”They are that…among other things.”

“I’m listening.”

Loki watches Rover wag his tail and shake his head in the water under the shade of the jungle. "The Nine Realms are host to many powerful things, both living and dead. Your monarchs for example.”

You nod “They are at that.”

”Great power is not easily banished from the world. Creatures and individuals of exceptional note leave echoes upon the land in their passing. Those echoes will wander if left alone, and gather again if ignored, like moss to a stone…unless that power is reshaped by a superior will.”

You cock an eyebrow. ”Have you ever wondered why you have never encountered any of the other gods spoken of by mortals, despite their legend?”

“…You’re saying your Mother killed them all and turned them into swords.”

”So crass…expected of a simpleton like you. No, they were not all murdered…some simply passed on, perhaps after having a deep connection to Mother in life. Each of the stories of the Armiger are different, and she has made each of them a part of herself. You can no more separate their legends from hers as you can separate your leg from your body.”

You chew her tale over. “Why would she want us to see them then?”

Loki rolls her eyes. “I’m sure I don’t KNOW, No-name. One minute I’m enjoying my evening in my room and the next I’m told that I’m to accompany you on a quest to learn about my Mother’s instruments of murder and also that she knows about the talisman I use to spy on people. You and she are such good friends now, why do YOU think she sent you out here?” Loki says with a pout.

You look up to the top of the tree and ponder.

The Queens weapons…apparently inseparable from her…and your conversation about Ragnarok and the like…

Hmm…she said she wanted to abate your fears and then sent you out looking for these places with the Palantir. Sleipnir clearly had some sort of plan in mind for you, something that had to do with the Norns under the Well of Urd who were always watching her. If what Loki said was accurate about her weapons being part of her…

Could learning about the histories of the weapons be the Queen’s way of telling you about herself?

Your thoughts don’t get any farther before a choking sound comes from the river. You look out and see Rover wrestling with an anaconda the length of a house.

“Oh farts!”

You jump to your feet and grab your sword, wading into the water.

-Later-

You press back against the hulking feline with your shield and all the might behind it, gritting your teeth as it pushes you back on the stone floor.

”Will you hurry up and kill that thing already!?” you hear Loki shout.

“I don’t even know what this THING is!”

”It’s a Werejaguar, stupid!”

The cat-man snarls its affirmative and swipes its claws at you. Blood trickles down your face and it tries to bite into your shield. No good, have to displace!

You tense up your legs until you feel the golden fleece around your boots tighten, letting you know the enchanted metal was ready to carry you a dozen feet away faster than the wind. You skid across the stone brick floor and level your shield before the Werejaguar collects its wits.

Despite a few slashes on its chest, it was barely wounded.

“Tch! Who knew cats were so good at staying alive?”

Loki hops along braziers hanging from the ceiling while throwing flechette from small rifts in the air down at a trio of jaguars leaping up trying to get to her. “Why is it you think I know anything about cats?!” she shouts, hopping to another perch when one jaguar gets too close.

”Eels! Snakes! Occasionally worms! These are things I know about! Not ca-AHH!”

The Princess recoils when one of the jaguars successfully grabs onto the brazier she’s on and begins swinging a club at her.

“Hang on!”

There you go making promises you don’t know how to keep again. Time becomes a crawl as you take stock of the situation.

Loki was a good dozen or more feet above you, far outside the distance you could jump. Your shield is heavy and seems warped from the bite of the werejaguar, meaning it wouldn’t fly right if you threw it. Speaking of werejaguars, the one you were fighting is now rushing towards you on all fours, no doubt to pounce on you and rip out your throat.

All this while the slamming sound towards the back of the room fills the hall.

”DO SOMETHING YOU IDIOT!”

You grip your sword and take a single step back, pulling back your arm and throwing the blade through the air. The blade cuts through the air and pierced the side of the jaguar attacking Loki, sending it to the ground with a loud yelp, leaving the one about to dive onto you. You clench your leg muscles again and scream ‘GO GO GO!’ in your mind to get the Fleece to become active again.

Before the jaguar falls on you, you make a quick dash to the right, going about half the distance of your previous retreat away from it.

This was nothing but a gamble, and you just hoped that you went enough distance both that the Fleece would have the power to carry you again and that you’d be going fast enough. You raise your shield and flex again, this time dashing back towards the werejaguar that stands where you once were, wondering where its pray went. It looks over to you just in time to catch your shield face first with the force of the golden fleece behind it.

You most definitely feel something crack under your shield when you send the big cat flying backwards, it hisses as blood runs down its snout and scrambles to get up.

Until it touches a loose brick in the floor that sinks down into the ground.

Nothing happens for a moment as you meet its eyes, then the bricks give way and the werejaguar falls out of view. You hear it roar for just a moment before the sound is cut off. You hazard a glance down, seeing the cat impaled on a collection of iron spikes at the bottom of the pit.

“…Just as planned! Yeah!”

”And they call ME the lord of lies!” Loki floats down to your side on her puffed out cape or some sort of magic, you can’t tell the difference. ”You didn’t plan a second of that!”

“I planned to succeed and that’s what happened!”

”That’s not how any of that WORKS!” Loki shouts through gritted teeth.

“It worked for me!”

”Less fighting more fighting!” you hear from the back of the room.

Rover ducks under the axe of one of the werejaguars and swings his sword to drive back the other two he was engaged with. He flicks his paw and throws some knives strapped to his chest at the two of them while the one with the axe swings back on the followthrough, forcing Rover to stop the axe from reaching his face by shielding himself with his forearm. The diamond dog yelps in pain as the axe digs into his flesh.

“He needs help, let’s go!”

Your feet are moving before the words finish leaving your mouth and almost before you register Loki shouting “You don’t have your weapon, you idiot!”

“There’s no time to get it, take the rear one!”

You hear Loki shout in frustration while you run to the back of the room. Rover had engaged the werejaguars atop a small ziggurat with a large golden wheel on top of it, perfectly aligned to catch the sun through a hole in the roof right in the center. The combatants dancing before it makes reading the hieroglyphs on it much harder. You hear Loki open rifts and entangle one of the jaguars from behind with chins while Rover runs through his friend, trusting you to take the one at his back.

You look around the outer walls of the room as you climb the stairs, leaving only seconds before you need to get the jaguar.

“Come on, come on-“

If that jaguar earlier fell into that spike pit then that must mean there would be more- There, out of the corner of your eye, you see a skull shaped sconce on the wall that was tilted a bit more than the others. You reach out with both hands and grab the jaguar by the shoulders before it can bury its axe in Rover’s back. With a mighty heavy, you throw the cat down the stairs so that it rolls across the ground and slams into the wall.

The werejaguar hisses as it gets up, not seeing that its impact has knocked the sconce to the side. Meaning it also didn’t see the line of darts fired from the other side of the room that impact it in the chest, killing it before it even hits the ground.

Rover winces and looks around, keeping his wounded limb close. “That all?”

“Loki?”

”Just a minute.”

You and Rover turn to see the werejaguar Loki engaged drag its claws on the ground as Loki pulls it into a rift with the chains she wrapped it in, the princess watches statically as the cat’s howl is cut short by the portal slamming shit.

Rover and you silently share a look.

“Princess are you o-ow, ow ow!”

Loki flails her slappy hooves at you which hurt more than normal because she keeps gold horseshoes on. “That was stupid you idiot! You had no weapon!”

“A warrior’s mind is the greatest weapon he can have!”

”No it’s not! Swords are!”

Rover slots his own giant blade onto his back and begins licking his wound. “Agree with princess, sword beat brain every time. Hel, Rover use sword to beat brains.”

You pull away to get some distance from Slappy McPrincessliar.

“Everyone’s a blasted critic.”

You look over the room of werejaguars that died defending this giant gold disc.

“What now?”

Loki looks under her coat where one of her pouches is violently shaking back and forth. She reaches in and retrieves the Palantir from it which shakes just as violently.

“How long has it been doing that?”

”How should I know? I was trying not to be kitty litter!”

“Litter isn’t what cats eat, Princess.”

”Oh shut u-AH!” Loki gets jerked by the magical time viewing amulet to the center of the room. When the two are in the direct sunlight, the force becomes too strong for Loki to maintain a hold on and the amulet floats up into the air.

The orange jewel in the center of the Palantir angles itself perfectly to catch all the sunlight from the hole in the ceiling and then, with a tweak, sharpens into a narrow beam of orange energy. The beam traces its way up the golden disc and causes it to glow the same color.

“Loki…”

"It’s not-“

Like the Palantir, the golden disc erupts in a stark white fog that pushes away the massacre at the temple.

You don’t feel your body. The sensation is remarkably similar to the one you felt after you died, when you were carried to the halls of Valhalla. You look over the jungle you were in from a view only the eyes of a bird can see and watch the sky spin backwards.

Faster and faster it goes, maddeningly so, centuries pass in the blink of an eye and the treescape beneath you changes like grass being blown by the wind.

It stops.

You can tell the air you see is still, even though you have no face to feel it. The sun hangs over the proto-jungle in the sky, just as it always ha-

There, cresting over a far mountain, another sun. It shown like the heavens above, resplendent and gold, and shot through the air across continents at a speed that would blister the wings of the wonderbolts.

Behind it races a silver streak, hot on its tail and inching closer.

Where the golden glow fled, great fires erupted in its wake. The silver streak following it doused some of the flames just by passing, but that they remained told you that it was not its concern. The streak gets closer to the glow, frightening it.

”Get away from me you beast!” you hear it shout.

The glow intensifies and splinters off parts of itself, golden gems that hang in the air for moments before exploding into a dazzling radiance of fire and light while the glow itself rockets up into the air so fast you can’t see it. You try to avert your gaze as well as you can without eyes, and when you can focus again you are atop a hill next to the silver streak.

Or rather, Her Royal Highness Silver Streak Sleipnir of Asgard.

However…the Queen looks different to how you normally see her. Her mouth not twisted into a scowl. Her mane, not as gray. Her eye, still fierce as it was but with a fire that rivaled the sun she stares into.

”Hiding there will not do you any good, Ishtar.”

No response comes.

”A hiding place may only work if I don’t know where it is…the mayhem you’ve caused in these lands for the sake of your vanity will end…NOW.”

Fragments of the sun break off and begin to fall to the earth, massive fireballs that incinerate kingdoms.

”And now you tip my hooves.” The queen says.

Sleipnir surrounds herself in the flashing images of the runes on her teeth. Complicated looking magical equations etch themselves into ground on sparks of light and the air excites with power. Three streaks of quicksilver burst from Sleipnir’s shadow and race through the air at blinding speed, impacting the coronal ejections in the literal blink of an eye and extending further, farther, out into the space beyond.

”Wha-?!”

Sleipnir adjusts her footing and braces herself as the sun begins to shine brighter.

You turn your attention to it and see that no, it’s not getting brighter. It’s getting closer.

The quicksilver bands strain in the All-Mother’s grip as the sun plummets towards the ground and you see the glowing golden light panicking as it does.

”ARE YOU INSANE! NEITHER ONE OF US WILL SURVIVE IF YOU PULL THE STAR DOWN! NOTHING WILL!”

The All-Mother of Asgard did not smile, never smiled, never as you’ve seen her. But the wide, full gummed grin she shines to the sky as she pulls the sun down in an apparent suicide move could break glass.

”THEN YOU’D BETTER COME OUT OF THERE, LITTLE ANGEL!”

The sun continues to fall rapidly until it seems to take up the entire sky, aiming to fall right on top of the All-Mother. The golden glow, Ishtar, ejects itself from the sun riding a solar flare and bares down onto the lonely jungle hilltop.

”OTHINUS!” she cries.

”ISHTAR!” shouts the Queen as the streaks of quicksilver return to her, cutting through the air in the natural conclusion of their arc and impacting the solar flare right before it strikes the queen.

Again the light is too bright to see through and you wish you had eyelids to close.

You feel pain though you have no body and sting though you have no face.

When the light fades, the sun is back in its original spot hanging in the sky. A four sided chakram the size of your torso stands embedded in the grass before Sleipnir, each blade being an immaculately carved feathered wing alongside a razor sharp blade, meeting in the middle at a sunburst effigy.

You see the Queen smirk before the vision begins to fade and the feeling of your body comes back one inch at a time.

You, Rover, and Loki wobble as you all come back to your senses. Rover gets down on all fours and whines.

”Stupid…magic…”

You take some deep breathes, getting the air back into your lungs and looking around, at the temple, amulet, the gold disk depicting a black wolf pulling the sun down from the sky.

“She said she pulled the sun down to get one of her weapons…I guess she wasn’t lying.”

”Demiurgy.” You hear Loki say. The Princess stairs down at the ground, oddly pensive. “It was…demiurgy. A practice so old and unused not because of its profanity or taboo, but because no one still exists who may perform it correctly.”

“What is it?”

Loki’s eyes narrow. “It is…an act of utter domination. To make your ruling over another beings spirit so absolute, so total, that you may dictate their physical form and bind them to it. You saw the vision, no-name. It is a way of turning angels and their like into a weapon you’d hold in your hooves.”

You go closer and kneel down. “I get the feeling you don’t like it.”

Loki gets that indignant puff of her cheeks. “I am no one’s knife to be wielded.”

You nod and pat her back, she lets you. “I understand, don’t worry. I’m sure if she wanted to do that to you, she already would have.”

”How comforting.” Loki says, dripping with gratitude.

”Queen want us find more of these?” Rover asks, wrapping his injured limb but keeping it close to his chest. He was clearly wounded.

You nod your head. “At least a few, but I have the feeling you’re about to tell us you’ll need help.”

Rover snorts through his nostrils. “Paw hurt. Rover can lift sword, but slower. Defense would be hard.”

You raise your palm to him.

“Worry not Rover, I think I know someone who can come along with us who is an expert in defense.”

”Oh no…” Loki groans.

Day Five of your journey.

You dive into cover behind a large bone protrusion just as the blast of icy magic creeps up your leg and encases it.

“Oh for the love of Pete!”

”Who in Hel’s name is Pete?” asks Princess Loki, hiding behind the rock and peeking out to fire a small knife from her rifts out over it.

“It’s just a figure of speech!”

You grab a rock and begin striking your foot to get the ice off. “How are the others??” you ask over the din of battle on the other side of the rock.

”How should I know?” demands the princess “I can’t see a thing in this snow! Why did we have to come here today when the weather is like this!”

“Loki it’s the middle of nowhere in the Tramplevanian Alps! It’s never NOT like this!”

”That’s hardly my fault!”

You finally break your leg out. “I tell you what is your fault! That I’m stuck out here without a weapon fighting-“

A shadow falls over the two of you. Both of you know that with moments to act, now wasn’t the time to argue. You both leap back, diving into snow as your assault crushes the massive rib bone you were hiding behind and roars a blizzard into the air.

”Why the Hel would an ICE BLADE be effective against FROST TROLLS, no name?!” Loki shouts, getting the attention of your massive assailant while you get to your feet.

At your age, you really shouldn’t ever expect any part of your life to be easy, but even you were a bit at the edge of your rope here. An uncharted valley hidden in the mountains near the Ibex Empire. Containing a MASSIVE dragon graveyard. That was now entirely populated by a tribe of frost trolls.

And you without your sword, though you didn’t exactly have an answer to Loki’s point.

”No-name!” you hear her chide as she pulls on the frost troll’s arms with a pair of chains. “I had to call in a ton of blackmail to get those things I gave you reforged to fit your gross ligaments so USE THEM AND HELP ME!”

You grunt and stuff your hands into a pair of dragon head ornamented cestus.

“Clear a path!”

You dash towards the beast, ice in your lungs making them sting, and cock your arm back as Loki gets out of the way. You do everything you were taught, using your momentum, waist, and shoulder to deliver a powerful punch…

Which the frost troll seems to barely feel.

“…LOKI!”

”CALL OUT IT’S NAME!” she cries back as the troll raises its arm.

You pull back your other arm and take a deep breath.

Music

“GERBERA!”

A loud BANG like a dragon’s roar echoes through the valley once you contact the troll, sending him reeling back on the shockwave.

“Whoof!”

You put some pepper in your hits but that amazed even you.

”It isn’t done, keep going!” Loki shouts.

You look and see that the troll is indeed getting up to its feet. With renewed confidence, you race towards it and grip your weapons tighter.

“Not so fast!”

You skid on the ice and deliver another powerful hit to the wrist of the troll, feeling something snap as you pass by and get underneath his chin to unleash an uppercut to his jaw. The troll rocks back, holding its jaw with both hands and leave his torso wide open. You dash forward and let loose a flurry of blows into his midsection. You bob and weave around his attempts to swat you away, counting the blows you land.

“One! Two! Threefourfivesixseveneightnineten!”

The eyes of your cestus alight and spread an orange flame from their mouths over your fists. The troll, upset at the assault he was weathering, cups both his hands together and raises them over his head to smash you into goo.

He drops his fist, you dash backwards and let it skirt past you, then kick off his thumbs and pull your own fist back.

“Go to HEL!”

Like the dragons surrounding you once did, an eruption of flame bursts forth from the mouth of your cestus and engulfs the head of the frost troll, it doesn’t even get time to shout before it hits the ground in a heap, lighting the area in its funeral pyre and making the ice collected along the bones of these ancient titans glisten in the moonlight.

You stare at your hands

“Princess I take back everything I ever said about these.”

”Hmph!” you hear over your shoulder. “As you should, No-name. I am ALWAYS right.”

You cock your eyebrow and look at her as the fires in your cestus die out.

“Always.”

”ALWAYS!”

You let her have that one and look out into the snow. You can see the fire reflected in the eyes of the frost trolls, too frightened to come near it and attack you.

“Well now…”

You bend your neck and crack it, igniting the flame in the mouths of your cestus again. “I think we stumbled onto something they don’t like, Princess.”

”Posture later, can you hear them?”

Both you and the trolls turn towards deeper in the blizzard, where the sound of someone striking a large slab of gold echoes through the night along with a cocksure. “Hah! Didn’t even feel it!”

The trolls look back to you.

“Don’t even try it.” You say it like you mean it, but what was the story of your life?

No one listens to Anonymous when it matters.

The trolls turn and run towards the sound, intent to help their brothers. “Loki we have to move!”

”I can see that you idiot!”

Loki and you give chase to do the same.

You trail behind the trolls a fair distance, them being more adept to navigating snowbanks than either of you. Along the way you pass even more dragon bones, each thicker than tree trunks, with skulls large enough to build a house in.
“Loki!” you pant out.

“What makes all these dragons come here to die?”

The tiny princess has to hop like a rabbit to get through the snow banks. ”Dragons are!” “Instinctually drawn!” “To power!” “If a large enough!” “Dragon died here!” “Then the others!” “Would find themselves!” “Drawn to this place too!” “At the end of their lives!” she says, bunny hopping through.

“So another instance of going somewhere just because you’re supposed to…”

”I suppose that compulsion reaches across the lines of species!”

The clanging intensifies and the two of you pick up the pace.

”Hah! Try again!” you hear, followed by the low roar of a troll getting wounded.

The metallic sound echoes out again alongside more jeers “Not even close!” before another troll tries out. You and Loki finally push through the snow to where the trolls you were chasing ran and found them surrounding the other two of your party, though not taking them yet.

Baldur stays low underneath Rover with his wings outstretched, watching the trolls in front of them while Rover watches behind, his injured paw still wrapped and held close to his chest while his other one hefted his massive sword.

Baldur glows with his usual incandescence and the trolls look away from him or block their own eyes. “Hah! And they call me ugly!...wait, I think I insulted myself…”

One of the trolls decides to do something about the light and comes up behind the two with a hammer.

“Look out!”

Baldur turns to see the troll approaching and stays low under Rover as the diamond dog gets into position. With a flick of his wingtip, Baldur contacts the hammer, which flies back as if it’d struck the side of a mountain with a golden sheen.

”Not a chance!” shouts Baldur to the troll.

”Wide open.” Remarks Rover as he thrusts his sword forward and pierces the troll’s chest while it’s still stunned. Rover pulls his sword from the corpse of the troll and lights the whole bloody thing on fire, casting harsh shadows into the night and frightening what remains as the flames reflect off Baldur’s armor alongside his own glow.

”We make a good team, friend!”

Rover gives a rare smile and rests his sword on his shoulder. “Never had job go this easy with smiling pony…pretty good.”

”And I’ve never met someone so good at conversation!”

You and Loki join the boys, having all put the pieces together. “They’re not used to the light up here.”

”Or the heat.” Rover says.”

”What say we light things up a bit for them.” Baldur remarks.

”And banish this BLASTED cold!” Loki shouts.

The four of you break and run towards the now frightened trolls.

After the battle, there’s just as much fire in this valley as there is snow and ice. You look at the cestus’ adorning your hands and smile at your reflection in the dragon’s eyes.

“Loki, do you mind if I keep these? They came in handy tonight.”

And another elementally powered weapon would be useful.

Loki looks over from where she warms her hooves on the body of a troll, her nose running. “Huh? Sure, keep them, we already warped them making them fir your ‘hands’…Baldur! Has any progress been made on finding…whatever the Hel it is we’re out here looking for?!”

”I don’t know, sister!” the prince calls back as he returns from his search with Rover. The prince may be invulnerable, but even he looked tired now as he slumped by the fire and lit the area with his sheen.

"The other trolls nearby are frightened off by our presence after we defeated their friends and keep their distance but this valley is LITTERED with the bones of these dragons! And those bones are so covered in ice and frost that it’s almost impossible to look in them! We don’t even know what we’re looking for!”

Baldur dramatically flails his body in frustration, casting the reflection of the fire off his armor around on the ice.

As he does, your pocket buzzes.

Which means-!

“Baldur, hold still!”

Baldur stops rolling around on his back with his legs frozen in the air as you get the Palantir out from your pocket. “Ah? No-name?”

“We’re doing…something right here” you say, moving around the campsite.

You look out over the ice and bone fields, the vibrating started when Baldur’s sheen started bouncing everywhere.

”No-name?” asks Loki.

You follow the glow of Baldur’s light with your eyes, watching it go up the skull of a truly massive dragon and alight its eyes with the light of the fire reflected off godly armor, catching the ice that’s collected in its eye sockets.

“No…wait.”

You look closer, that wasn’t ice.

“They’re crystals!”

The crystals punctuate your sentence for you and emit rays of light that the Palantir collects, exploding out another bank of illusionary fog.

You had no body again but this scene was drastically less cataclysmic then the last, no falling suns, anway.

You’re next to the Queen, standing still as a statue amidst a blizzard and wrapped in thick furs. She looks different than she did hunting the angel; she was more weathered, but not without a wisdom behind her eye.

Said eye looks ahead to the walls of the blizzard. She takes a breath.

”Golden Dragon of the Valley, I come to bargain.”

The winds of the blizzard are pushed away by a massive draconic head lifting itself from its rest on the side of a mountain. The massive snout of a serpentine dragon bares down on the Queen, its once golden scales now a muted yellow and its horns weathered and gnarled. It painfully opens its pink eyes and takes note of the visitor it has.

”All-Mother…” it says with a tired croak. “I knew of your ascension…forgive me for not attending.”

”There is nothing to forgive, Great Kohryu. My ascension to the throne was…unpleasant.”

”As are many…” the dragon begins. “When your father, and his father before him ascended, they did not visit me as you do. To concerned with their conquests and order.

The Queen averts her eye and looks down at the snow of the mountain. “I have had enough conflict for many lifetimes…I hope to never see it again.”

”You and I…both know…that to be a comforting lie…” the dragon wheezes.

Sleipnir closes her eye and swallows that before changing the subject.

”The order of Midgard is still my purpose for being here, great one. You-“

”I know…” he says. “You have come on the right day, I believe…I will soon venture into the sky, and my time in this earthly realm will reach its conclusion, as it does all things.”

”But.” The dragon closes his eyes and sighs, the heavy sigh of disappointment so vast that it can’t be spoken of. “But…my kind are not me…they seek not the path of peace, but of competition.”

”If one of them were to get your scales, your power…”

”Yes…” the dragon says. “I will not be responsible for such damage to this world that has been so gracious as to birth me into it to see its wonders…”

The dragon opens its eyes again and looks down to the Queen. “You would do this for me?”

This close, you see Sleipnir’s jaw lock behind her lips. “Yes.” She bites out. Sparks of golden light manifest in the air, birthing the Queen’s spear into the world. ”I will see to it that you leave this world as honorably as you lived in it, great one…and I will ensure that your scales and your power never enter the service of those who would see the world you love so dearly burn for nothing…Such is my charge.”

The dragon closes his eyes for the final time. “The crown…is heavy, All-Mother… I am ready.”

For but a moment, stillness sits in the valley.

As Gungnir explodes into the air and through the great golden dragon, its physical form immediately begins to dissipate into a million billion motes of golden light raining down over the snow. Sleipnir who had kept her head down and eye closed, finally lifts it and snaps her good eye open with a startling intensity. She stares at the air before her and the golden motes turn and flood towards that spot.

As the golden dragon Kohryu had broken apart, now did the golden blade Kohryu form. Like the noble creature it once was, the greatsword that forms out of the motes of light is massive, half again as tall as you were. The body forms of intricate scale wave that shifts and fades into an almost angelic pattern as the great dragon ancestor’s spirit became one with the Queen.

The lights fade, the sword rests in the air, and Sleipnir takes it in her magical grip without a word. From the last glimpse you see of her before the vision fades, you think she would have preferred the dragon over the sword.

Day Nine of your journey.

“FLOCK OFF FEATHERFACE!”

You loose the arrow knocked in your bow from your vantage point at the top of the ruined battlements and nail a direct shot on the winged terror before you. The harpy cries out as the arrow pierces its heart and falls down into the fog below. It’s death cries, however, call half a dozen more of its friends to you.

“Damn!”

You pivot and run, jumping down some stairs and running across the top of the wall.

”The last memory shard we’re looking for is in the ruins of Tambelon” they said.

”It’ll be safe” they said “What’s the worst that could happen there?”

“I’ve been eaten by spiders already I’m not trying to get eaten by harpies!”

You hear the flapping of their feathers and the heat of their breath on your back as you pick up your pace. You opted for a bow for this outing, remembering the songs about how tall Tambelon’s walls were and intent to do a little sniping, but bows were almost useless against foes that could chase you down this fast and melee weapons were entirely useless against razor sharp harpy talons.

“Worse than the gryphons-!”

Abandoned weapons littered the tops of the battlements, the remnants of some long-forgotten war. You may not be able to fend off six harpies with any of these, but one of them may buy you a few seconds to come up with a better plan. You scoop up a shield and turn just as one of the harpies lunges at you, digging its talons into the rain softened metal and tearing it away from you.

Okay, maybe just one second.

But that was all your luck needed.

Three bricks fly over your head and strike the harpy in the face. You knew that gryphon bones were hollow from basic training, and harpy bones were no different, cracking and shattering even as the bricks themselves explode into dust while the harpy falls to the floor, gurgling its last.

”GET INSIDE!” you hear Loki shout behind you.

You suck in two lungfulls of breath and run along the last stretch of the battlements and into another one of the raised towers on the wall, getting in just in time for Loki to slam a metal door shut when the harpies get through the cloud of dust.

”I told you to make one with a ROOF your perch!” she admonishes.

“I needed a clearer vantage point!”

You draw another arrow and fire it through the hole Loki made when she pulled a brick out. “I bagged more than you from that vantage point before they came after me!”

”Only because I had to drop what I was doing to keep you alive!” Loki shouts, slamming a table up to the window when one of the harpies sticks their talons in.

“Call us even for all the times I’ve had to cover for you!”

”OH GIVE ME A DAMN LIST!”

“I DON’T HAVE MY QUILL AND PARCHMENT RIGHT NOW!”

You fire through any opening you can, hitting a few of the winged terrors outside but already hearing more on their way

You also feel your quiver getting lighter.

“I don’t suppose you can pull more arrows out of those little gateways of yours.

Loki nearly trips. “DID YOU NOT GRAB A MAGICAL BOW?!”

This is news to you. “I wasn’t even aware there WERE MAGICAL BOWS TO GRAB!”

”IT’S A CITY AT THE EDGE OF A RAINBOW BRIDGE UNDER A GIANT TREE IN THE SKY AND YOU THINK BOWS THAT MAKE THEIR OWN ARROWS ARE OUT OF THE QUESTION?!”

“Well it sounds stupid when you say it like THAT!”

You fire an arrow, reach back for another, and find only empty leather to greet you.

“I’m out.”

”Fantastic!” Loki shouts “Now I get to die like cousin Hod did!”

“How did he die?”

”HE USED A BOW THAT RAN OUT OF ARROWS YOU TWIT! I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YO-“

”Stop shouting and duck!” you hear from outside.

There was no time, so you tackle Loki to the ground “Backup’s hear!”

The second the two of you are on the ground, everything above you gets ripped off its foundation.

The crumbling remains of the tower you were hiding in sails through the air along with the harpies that surrounded it, crashing into one of the central spires of the city and shaking it to its core. The spire wall crumbles at the force of the impact and, only having three sides to support it, falls to the ground as well.

The harpies still in the air after that are plastered by something flying too fast for their eyes to see and drop into the dust cloud below the walls with the rest of their flock.

Loki lets out a deep sigh beneath you as your savior lands on the wooden floor behind you.

”…Should I come back?” asks Mjolna, god of thunder. “Should I expect another nephew?”

”Sister, would you like to be cursed? I can make that happen for you.” Loki says, batting her hooves on your chest. “Get off of me, No-name.”

You roll your eyes and roll to the side. “I believe you have nothing to worry about prince-“

”Just Mjolna.”

“-nothing to worry about, Mjolna. Loki was JUST telling me how much she hated me.”

Loki groans and gets to her hooves. “No friend of the god of lies should be so gullible…” she says. “I do not hate you, No-name, despite how easy you make it at times.” Was her apology.

“Right back at you, princess.”

Mjolna offers a wry smile. “Welcome to my life.”

”Quiet.”

”DIDN’T even thank me for saving her hide from the harpies.” She continues.

Speaking of harpies, the screeches on the wind tell the three of you that they’re not done with you yet. All three of you are on alert as Mjolna catches her hammer in her mouth. “Do we know where they’re coming from?”

“They may be bigger, but harpies are dumber than gryphons. They have to have a nest nearby and if we can get rid of it, they’ll scatter like leaves.”

”They initially came from the south, I saw it when we first kicked up trouble.”

Mjolna hops onto the remains of one of the destroyed walls and looks out over Tambelon, seeing a swarm of the winged terrors round a spire and fly in your direction.

”You two get to the nest and take care of it! I’ll keep their attention off you!”

“Are you sure you can take them all?”

”Hah!” she laughs, letting her hammer sag and spinning it around. “Who the Hel do you think I am?”

The thunder god jumps off the tower and lets her hammer carry her into the murder of birds. A great impact rings out over the city with a clap of thunder that shakes the old stones and you watch the flock turn and fly away, several of their number already falling down. Mjolna throws her hammer after them and, with the swiftness you remember from the Everfree forest, gives chase after them by bouncing between old roofs or running along the side of the great walls of the city.

”Well, now she’s just showing off.” Loki remarks.

You had to scavenge some arrows from the surroundings, not easy considering the distance the harpies had to fall when they died.

Just as Loki had said, traveling south along the wall lead you towards a giant a small valley with black earth surrounding it. Nestled in the back of the pit in the ground was a tree stump of massive proportions, larger than even the keeps of Asgard’s wall.

And even from here you can see the piles of twigs, hair, and bones that were patched together on its remaining and hollowed out branches that the harpies took their refuge in.

When the subject of how you were to knock it down came up, Loki spoke without looking at you.

”I once learned of a spell that will allow us to destroy that tree, but it will depend entirely on how accurately you can shoot. I’ll be too busy concentrating to aim for you.” She said.

And that was how you ended up kneeling on the edge of a cliff trying to aim your last arrow so that it flew through two portals the size of dinner plates over two hundred feet away in the air.

“…You can’t make them ANY larger?”

”You can’t…aim…ANY better?” Loki grunts out as sweat rolls down her face. She has her eyes closed and is on her knees as runic sigils rotate in the air around her. The single glance you give her makes you remember that at least some degree of her attitude was warranted; she was truly a master class spellcaster, even if she made it look easy most of the time.

She was still a total brat, but you understand why. You’d probably be a brat if you could do half the things she did too.

“Okay…just hold it a bit longer then.”

”No…rush…”

You take a deep breath and focus, consciously trying to will your heart to slow down so its beating didn’t ruin your aim. You hear your old mentor’s voice in your mind, running you through your archery drills back when you were young.

Clock the wind on your skin, account for the pull.

For every hundred feet, adjust your aim by another knuckle on your fist.

Empty your mind of everything you hear, taste, or smell. Turn your senses off one by one until the only things you experience are the ones that help you with your shot.

And then when you’ve reduced your entire universe to just you, your bow, and your target…

“Re…LEASE!”

The string TWANG’S in your ear and the arrow sails through the air, passing through the first portal and coming out the other side untouched.

Except for the fact that the arrow was now on fire.

You tilt your head sideways in confusion.

The flaming arrow cuts through the wind and reaches the second portal, this time going through and vanishing from sight.

Seconds tick by and nothing happens.

“…”

Loki lets out the breath she was holding and pants. “Uhg…I hate doing that.”

“Uh…what exactly was it you did?”

Loki looks up so you do too.

You see the flaming arrow fall out of a golden portal over a thousand feet up. How can you see it? Because the flaming arrow had now grown to the size of a large bridge and was falling straight down onto the harpy’s nest.

It cuts the sky in half and the impact shakes the ground for a half mile. The iron head cleanly skewering the ancient trunk and the fire quickly engulfing the branches.

A moment passes between you and Loki at all the spectacle.

“…That’s a good trick.”

”Mm.” Loki nods. “I once read the scrolls of an ancient Ibex king who fought the colossal gods of his time with a pole that could stretch and grow. It took all my concentration but transmuting it for our purposes was simple for me.”

“I see…and the portals were so far because?”

”You try to do three complicated things at once.”

“Of course.”

Another moment passes between the two of you, but it’s Loki who speaks this time. “Don’t tell me you’re still mad about what happened at the tower…”

“No, it’s fine.”

You shift your weight. “If you hate me that much, I can avoid you. I’ll associate myself with your brother and everything you don’t like can be in one place, easy to avoid.”

Loki sighs and sits on her rump. ”How long have we known each other, No-name?”

“It certainly feels like longer than it is.”

You glance down at the littlest liar, she looked oddly tired. ”Then by now you have earned my gratitude. I…did not mean what I said back there, my sister…brings out the worst in me.”

“A-huh. And why should I believe a legendary liar."

”Because lies only work if you tell the truth sometimes.”

Against your better judgement, you ruminate on all that. Even further against it, you sit down next to her and pet her head once. To your amazement, she doesn’t buck you off.

“Why your sister?”

Loki blinks a few times to think. “She and I…we were brought up together, but we couldn’t be further apart. She was given a hammer, the responsibility, the praise, the glory. I worked hard for the magic I’m permitted to have, scorn, and punishment.”

“You know that you get at least some of that because of your attitude.”

”Was not one of your own princesses welcomed back after she nearly killed all of the mortals over the jealousy she felt to her sister?”

“Got me there…”

Loki sighs. “I am…the way that I am because my family has everything that I should desire, but they don’t want it. It’s like…starving and seeing a lifetime of food rotting in a ditch.”

“What you ‘should’ desire? Do you not want what they have?”

”I don’t know what I want.” She answers curtly, and you can tell that response is loaded with more than you could cover today.

You nod. “Start with what you feel you don’t want to lose; desire that and go from there.”

”More advice than I’ve gotten from them…” Loki says, rising to her hooves. “Well…I don’t desire to have you mad at me over a misunderstanding, so I offer my heartfelt apology.”

You stand and put your fists on your waist.

“I accept.”

”Which means you also accept the risk that if you tell a soul about this, I’ll light you on fire.”

“So business as usual.”

”Exactly.” Loki says, smugly. “Come on, let’s go see the tree. You and I both know that the fragment we want is down there.”

“We do?”

”Of course. It’s always been on top of the strangest thing in the area.”

As Loki predicted, the Palantir begins to react the minute you get into the smoke of the once great tree.

You blame her magic.

This time, however, the amulet reacted as it always had, by simply encasing the two of you in a dense white fog. You still felt your body, you still saw Loki next to you, but now shapes and figures moved among the pit, two in fact.

The tall one with eight legs was easy to place, but the equally sized one with the long tail next to her was unknown to you.

“Who the Hel’s that, she looks like a sea-“

”Shh!” Loki exclaims.

The figures speak.

”To think that even the a sacred ash tree could fall to this malice…disgusting.” One of them says in the voice of the Queen, although with a much more vibrant timber to it.

"I sense it goes far deeper than just this oak, my friend…this city will be home to dark sorceries in due time.”

”There you go trying to predict the future again…” the queen of the past remarks.

You think of all the trouble Tambelon gives and all the legends surrounding its former master.

“Well that didn’t age well…”

The eight-legged figure kneels down and scoops at the ground. “Ord, look…the mark of the Etir is here as well.”

”Surely he wouldn’t-“

”No, he would not.” She rises up. “This must be…something else, some other evil that we have not yet foreseen, perhaps it was the one that caused Vil to venture off in the first place.”

”Like some dark whisper?”

”Exactly like…something is very wrong.”

”I feel it too…come, let us return to the shrine.”

The two figures walk past you and you hear Loki suck in a lot of air while the fog fades.

When you can see her more clearly, you see that she looks like she was just caught stealing something, like a frightened child.

“Lo-“

”She had both eyes.”

You look between the princess and the space the figures were in a few times. You knew who she was talking about, anyone could.

“You’re SURE?”

”I SAW it, No-name. It was like they both looked right at me.” Loki shivers.

You look back towards the flaming tree and the smoke billowing into the sky, then at the Palantir in your hand.

“How OLD was that?”

Music

Back above the world in the shadow of Yggdrasil, No-name, Loki, and Mjolna return from the latest and last mission you sent them on.

You watch the three of them return into the palace for some much-needed rest from atop a high tower and silently wonder what they saw when they reached the Tree.

Would they learn what you needed them to just from what brief glimpse into the past that amulet could offer? Tempting them with stories of your gods-turned-weapons was a trick that would not work twice if they got frightened off, and you dared not send your ravens to peek around in the event THEY saw it.

Your socket beneath your patch stings at the thought, you have to push it away.

At the same time, the small piece of silver you kept hidden beneath your raiment twitched.

You knew what it meant, and you allowed the voice at the other end into your ears.

”I felt a surge of magic at in your realm in a place I wanted never to think of again, what do you know?”

“Hello to you as well, Ord.”

”Answer me, Sleipnir.”

You blow air from your nostrils. “Just…dealing with my children.”

”We both swore to let the deeds that place heralded rest in the ashes, along with everything that touched it.”

“Not everything burns that easily.”

”Then that would be on you, wouldn’t it?”

“Aye…”

You glance up to the setting sun. It was one of the only things across your life that was the same now as it was when you were younger, even after what you did to it to get Ishtar. Perhaps you should be friendlier to Celestia.

“You know how children can be, Ord. Endlessly inquisitive and attempting to hide knowledge from them will only make them seek it more. There were things I…wished for them to see.”

”I have never found hiding forbidden knowledge to be that difficult.”

“Yes, well I would like to see my children again in my life.”

The silver strand stills, and the voice is silent.

“I apologize.”

”We both made our choices.”

“But I don’t have to throw yours back at you.”

”What are you scheming?”

You laugh, even the voice on the other end of the strand wasn’t used to hearing that these days. “When have I ever answered that?”

”I believe the last time was before you gave up your eye.”

“Then you really ought to know better by now, shouldn’t you?”

Even as you say it, you can feel her tired smile.

“The ghosts of our past will ever haunt us, Ord…unless they are unearthed.”

”And you believe your children can bear that weight?”

“I have shaped them to from the moment they were born. I have to trust them now.”

”I almost wish I could share the feeling…”

“Is that desire I hear in your voice, O’ Queen of the Silver City?”

”I perish the thought, Battle Wolf.”

You chuckle, you remember that old name.

“Peace, that is all I scheme, Ord. Peace of land, peace of mind, and peace of body.”

”Says the God of War.”

“If you desire peace…”

”You fed me my share of war for a billion lifetimes.”

“Suit yourself.”

You begin down the stairs back into the palace. The other side of the link understands and the silver in your chest stops twitching.

Bleeding Gods.

You stand on the balcony of your room overlooking the city of Asgard. The apple in your hand crunches as you take a hearty bite out of it, refocusing your thoughts around the sharp taste and sighing.

“Back to it then…”

You return into your room and back to the desk kept in the corner. Upon the desk was a piece of parchment, curled at the edges from being rolled up and stuffed into the space behind a loose brick you’d found. Ink upon parchment swirled together at your touch to create a web of connected bubbles over time, as each piece of the puzzle the gods around you thought you too dim to notice was silently gathered into your hands. Let them keep thinking you a dullard, they wouldn’t be the first.

You start at the center, the biggest word circled and with the most branches stemming from it.

“Ragnarok…the end of the world…”

From the cave murals found in the Griffon kingdoms to Twilight’s book and the lecture All-Mother had given you, the doomsday prophecy seemed carved into every facet of every story you’d heard up here.

“All things must end…but why like that? Why together?”

You trace the lines from the center out to other, smaller circles that each still contain questions. What was the truth black ooze that you and Loki had been collecting? The Eitr. What exactly was the relationship the All-Mother had with the Sirens at the bottom of the Well of Urd? Even the fables knew them as the Norns and they were intrinsically tied to Ragnarok, but somehow, they were also the ones Starswirl the Bearded banished so long ago?

Moreover, what was the deal with the Queen’s children? Baldur had his mysterious aversion to pine trees, Mjolna held incredible power and an even greater adversarial relationship with her mother that no others held, Tyr beat the crap out of you when you first arrived and remained distance since, and even saying Loki’s name was enough to understand everything SHE was hiding. That doesn’t even mention the perpetually furious Vidar out on his farm or the mysterious “Hermod” that you’d yet to be formally introduced to.

All these things had one thing in common; the Queen you knew so little about. Beneath her bubble on the parchment rested a phrase you’d heard dozens of times since entering Asgard, one that burned in the back of your mind each day.

“But WHY are there no Frost Giants?”

Tales of the giants themselves reached all the way down to Midgard, stories of monsters that lived in the hills of the Crystal Empire or Gryphus or other equally frigid climes. How could there be such an incongruity between the myths recorded down below and the reality that you were told up here? Especially when the Queen was detailing that the book you’d read in Twilight’s library on Ragnarok was about as good as talking to her about it.

You’d heard talk of Jotunheim so you know that their ancient home exists, but never had you heard of anyone traveling to it. Over time you’ve seen antlered elves, stout dwarves, and ravenous flame spirits arrive in Asgard as diplomats, each with an attitude as icy as the mysterious giants, but never the creatures themselves.

Your eyes drift upward towards Queen’s bubble as you think. All these branches lead back to her, and she was as connected to the prophecy of Ragnarok as anyone else was. You think; She’d sent you and the others out searching for mystical visions through time of her slaying deities and monsters before any of her children were born, why? Was it her way of telling you about herself? If it was, you had no idea what it was for.

“If I knew more, then perhaps…”

Your eyes drift from her name to the names of each of her children connected to her.

“If any would know the Queen…it would be her children, wouldn’t it?”

You take the last bite of your apple and chew both it and that thought over. Right now, it was all you had to go on, so it was either have a series of uncomfortable talks with the Princess and Princesses of Asgard or give up here.

You gulp down the fruit as another thought enters your head. The Queen knew everything that happened in the palace and possibly beyond, she would notice if you went around asking questions.

Meaning first you’d have to find a way around her sight.

“Hmm…Loki may have a trick up her sleeve…”

She was as good a place to start as any.

”More.”

You sigh “Loki, I’m offering you my ice blade, the Golden Fleece AND my helmet. I don’t have much else I can give.”

”Well you better find something because that is not enough!” the princess says, striking her bed she lay on with her hoof. ”You come to my chambers and ask for an amulet that can hide you from Mother’s sight?? Do you know how DIFFICULT those are to create?”

Loki gestures grandly and frightens her pet eels. “I don’t see you finding any old hoof clippings from the Naglfar!”

“I really don’t know what that is.”

”IT’S-“

“And I don’t have the time to find out!”

Loki puffs up her cheeks. “You are STUNNINGLY bad at haggling!”

“Look, it’s important! I’m investigating something!”

”And what might that be!?”

She was getting annoyed; this would turn into a full blown argument if you raise your voice. Instead you sigh, take a mental step back, and keep yourself calm.

“What do you know about your Mother? Truly know, I mean.”

Loki makes a face. “Wh-what’s this about all of a sudden?!”

Oh no.

”Why would I know anything?! I avoid Mother whenever possible! Our relationship is one based on mutual avoidance and that works FINE for the both of us! She doesn’t have to see me and I don’t have to upset her! When she’s not upset at me, I’m not punished which is just FINE with me! I-“

“Loki!” You raise off your seat and spread your hands like you would to calm a wild goat, Loki silences herself. “Relax. You’re going to burst a blood vessel.”

Loki take some time to regain her composure while you take a seat again, sighing to yourself. “I’m sorry, I forget your situation sometimes. Being the youngest as well as adopted…”

”What?” Loki asks, tilting her head to the side.

Oh boy.

“Uh…well…” you begin. “Adoption, you know. Being in a family you aren’t born into. It must be hard on you.”

Loki goes “tch” dismissively and sneers. “Perhaps that may be the case on Midgard or other backwards realms, but you’ll not find such a practice in Asgard.”

Now it is your turn to tilt your head. “Beg pardon?”

”Our customs, No-name! In Asgard, you be considered a part of a family is to BELONG to it! Don’t think you can trick me with your mind games to improve your haggling position! I am Loki Sleipnirdottir! Princess of Asgard and heir to the throne!...Even if it’s last in line!” she boldly proclaims.

You take a few seconds to chew that over. “Hmm…I wasn’t aware of that.”

”I can’t see how. Why would I call my Mother or sister or brothers such if I didn’t see them that way?”

You click your tongue a bit befuddled, you hadn’t expected that kind of swerve. “I honestly can’t say. I apologize, Princess.”

”I magnanimously accept! For the grace of the Crown knows not any boundary that exists!”

“Don’t push it.”

Loki sticks out her tongue.

“What happened to your birth parents?”

Loki’s tongue goes back in her mouth and her face morphs to an almost disinterested one. ”They died.”

“How?”

”Not well.”

Right well that was a clue to shut up if you’d ever heard one. “Message received.”

”Mm.” Loki flips through the book she was reading and lights a candle without looking at it. “I’m told I’ve been at this palace since near the day I was born and have no memory of who birthed me. If you’re searching for information like that, you’ll need to ask one of my siblings.” She says as she turns the page. “Perhaps they can help you with your newfound creepy obsession with Mother.”

You let that slide in the presence of business.

“I’d need a way to avoid Her sight if I were to do that.”

Loki rolls her eyes and groans. “Fffffiiiiiiiiiiine, No-name, Fine. Your pathetic nature has scraped out some of my pity. I will allow you to BORROW one of my talismans, but I will demand it back!”

Loki points her book at you. “Any scratches and it comes out of your hide!”

“Alright, I get it! Thank you!”

”Hmph!”

“…Who would I even ask about this?”

”Well, Mjolna is the closest to me in terms of age…”

Later on, at the tavern in the lower city, Mjolna slams her ale stein onto the counter. “She’s a bitch, is that all you needed?”

“Uh…”

You clutch the amulet Loki had lent you in your pocket “I must admit, I’d hoped for a tad more when I came searching for you.”

Mjolna snorts and drinks again. “Alright. She’s a controlling, manipulative, cruel, aggressive, and egotistical bitch. How’s that?”

“Also a bit unhelpful?”

”Well if I keep talking about my mom, I’ll say something so nasty it’ll make you blush.”

From the first day you’d met Mjolna, you could tell she didn’t have the usual reverence for Sleipnir that was common in Asgard. The way she invoked her name was without weight or presence like even Loki had. It sort of reminded you of the way one would refer to a piece of refuse.

You begin to think this could be a waste of time. “Alright, I get it, fine. You don’t think highly of your mother, I’ll just-“

”WRONG!” Mjolna says, slamming the stein down again. Silence passes between the two of you as the once-wayward princess grinds her jaw. ”That’s wrong. I dislike my mother, sure, there’s a lot to dislike. But what do I THINK of her? Tch. Respect the Hel out of her…I have to.”

“Okay…That is a monumental contradiction.”

”Life’s full of little inconsistencies.” She snorts.

“Can you tell me why at least?”

Mjolna turns and spits into a plant, you make a mental note that the well-beloved teacher was a bit of a mean drunk. “Oh you bet I can. You may have found me on Midgard, but I grew up here, under the crown. Since I was little I had that old goat glaring down at me, telling me I was her heir, that I had a mountain of expectations to climb before I could walk.”

She finishes off her drink. “But I guess stubbornness is genetic because you know what? That’s exactly what I DID. All the pressure of the world and every challenge she made and I STILL rose to it, to where now I’m the only one in the whole Nine Realms who can lift her magic mallet.”

Mjolna kicks the hammer on the floor with her hoof. ”But it was never ENOUGH. It was always ‘more more more, I demand more from you’. Pteh…”

“The crown is…heavy.”

”Don’t I know it…” she says quietly. “So yeah, my mom’s awful, and the way she raised me was worse. But think low of her? I don’t think that’s possible.”

”How come?”

”Because across all of Asgard I’m considered the most powerful Aesir, but everything that I could do is barely a notch on mom’s teeth in comparison. I hold dominion over thunder, but she holds so much more than that. Really, you should look up a recording of her titles one day, the list is longer than you are tall.”

Two children down and you weren’t closer to learning enough about Sleipnir to satisfy your curiosity…that didn’t bode well. Perhaps it was time for a different tactic.

“I remember when we first met, you said that Frost Giants killed your father…”

Mjolna grumbles in a new way, not in anger but something else. “Yes…dad died…not well.”

Her choice of words makes you narrow your eyes. Drink and sadness made it clear to you that you weren’t going to get anything else out of her, but you don’t exactly want to anger the god of thunder.

You place ten hacksilver coins on the counter.

“Keep her in drink, barkeep. The tab is on me today.”

Mjolna laughs and gives you a wry smile. “Buying my forgiveness for ruining my day, No-name?”

“Yep.”

Why lie? This wasn’t Loki. “Enjoy your drinks princess, and please don’t smash me when we next meet.”

”If I do this right, I won’t even remember.” She says as her next drink comes.

You exit the tavern and grip the talisman again.

Mjolna was far too dour on her mother to question about this, you’d need to ask someone with a sunnier disposition.

And that left exactly one candidate.

You confirm from a steward that Baldur was practicing his swordplay in a nearby courtyard and you arrive just in time to catch him being slapped through the air and crushing a pile of crates.

“Oh lord.”

You make haste over to check on the prince and find him raising himself out of the wood and fruits expectantly unscathed. “One more time! I feel I’m getting the hang of this! Oh, hello No-name!”

“Enjoying the air, Prince?”

"I’m being taught swordplay!”

“How’s that going?”

”You can ask my teacher!” Baldur says gesturing behind you.

You look over your shoulder to Rover resting is blade on the ground. ”Throwing pony prince not get Rover head chopped off, right?”

“Let’s say ‘probably not’. Can the prince and I have some privacy? I need to talk about something important with him.”

Your outings with Baldur had been more known of late, so Rover didn’t resist in the slightest. “Rover be drinking out of fountain when you need him.” he says before walking off. Baldur gets himself out of the crates of fruit he squashed and sets his sword down. “Something to talk about? What questions can I answer?”

You almost laugh at how on-point that was. Your mind was a storm of unknowns that ensnared every one of your thoughts, you have no doubt you could keep Baldur here for an hour just reciting them all before he even got a chance to answer any.

You decide to settle. “What’s your mother like?”

Your attention is immediately piqued. Both of Sleipnir’s daughters reacted to that same question with some level of anger that you were asking it. However here, with her youngest son, you words cause a dark cloud to cover the courtyard. Baldur’s face dips a bit.

”Mother? What do you mean?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know how best to say it beyond just that, Baldur. You’ve known her for your entire life, how would you describe her having grown up with her?”

Baldur’s face falls more and he looks to the ground. The calm breeze that came through the courtyard and carried the scent of lilies is no longer. “Mother…complicated…I suppose ‘complicated’ would be the word I would use the most freely…”

“Meaning?”

Baldur laughs a sad, solitary laugh and looks upwards, past the palace spires and to the sky beyond. ”Do you ever recall those memories in the back of your mind, No-name, from when you were but a babe? The thoughts you were sure you had once upon a time but that have become so clouded by time that you barely make them out anymore?”

“I can’t say I do, Baldur. I was an adult when I arrived in Equestria, and an amnesiac at that.”

”Mm…” the prince mutters. “Even at my age, I still remember some of those earliest recollections…through these clouds, I remember a warmth as pure and potent as the setting sun soaking into my hide and behind it, my mother’s loving smile…” Baldur smiles a bit and blinks something in his eyes away. You hear him ask “Was it truly so long ago…?” beneath his breath. ”Whenever I seek to be the kind of prince I wish to be…I try to recall that warmth I felt once, and perhaps impart it onto others…”

The queen smiling was an odd enough sight but a warm one at that? That was decidedly new.

“All who have eyes can see that’s not the case now, Baldur…what happened?”

Baldur’s smile fades as another cloud rolls in; his eyes unfocus as he recalls something that you don’t have any answers about. ”Her heart froze over…”

Your eyes narrow.

“Frost giants do that, did they?”

”There are no frost giants, No-name.”

“There were within Mjolna’s lifetime, she says.”

You hear Baldur suck air through his teeth and see his eyes widen before he turns to you. The look the invincible god met your eyes with, one of downright fear and shock, reminded you of the night with Krampus.

”How much do you-“

“Enough to start demanding answers but not enough that asking three of you godlings has satisfied me.”

Baldur takes a step back from you like you’d just drawn your sword on him. Your first instinct is to calm your friend, it was no use prodding him with these questions if he never spoke to you again, but he wouldn’t let you.

”I cannot say anymore No-name.”

“Baldur you don’t-“

”PLEASE don’t think poorly of me it—I can’t say any more about—”

A tense moment passes between both of you before Baldur turns and runs into an adjacent hall.

“Dammit…”

You hear a dog slurping behind you. “Lessons over?”

You didn’t see any of that coming, but you bet someone who did might have answers.

From the courtyard down the bridge to the Keep of the Bifrost, you march. You push both doors open with all your might and find the battlement empty of all save the solitary watchpony overlooking the well that lead to the rainbow bridge.

Heimdall tears his gaze from his station and looks you in the eyes. Even here you feel the weight behind his eyes, like looking long into the Queen’s only there were two of them and they were colder.

”Go on, ask.” He says knowingly.

“I’m not asking. Let me into the realm of the frost giants. If I can’t get the answers I seek here, I’ll go there, you lot are clearly hiding something there.”

Heimdall waits a moment before responding. “That it? All done?”

“I’m not playing here, Heimdall!”

”And yet you come to my keep asking things so foolish that they could only be jests.”

“I-“

”You weren’t asking, I know. I am choosing to have heard you phrase it in a more respectful manner so that we don’t have an incident here.”

Your frustrations mount and your temper flares, you take a few steps towards the watchpony gripping your pocket to avoid any “incidents” being seen.

”I see that talisman as well.”

And then you stop in your tracks. Nuts.

Heimdall’s face contorts into a self-satisfied grin. “The Queen may perhaps be too busy to notice such a thing, but it is not beyond my sight.”

“Oh yeah, did you see this?”

You reach forward and grab one of the many maces on the many racks scattered around the keep, to protect from invaders more than likely.

Heimdall raises his eyebrow while you glare at him. ”Seriously?”

“If you’re desperate enough and can’t get what you need by asking…”

”All this over a scrap of paper you keep?”

You point the mace at Heimdall and assume a fighting stance.

“Just because you see everything doesn’t mean you know everything. You don’t know me, or what I’ve seen, or how far I’ll go to do something about it, which is a damn sight more than anyone in this city. So the next words out of your mouth better tell me you’re ready to protect that well or else you’re going to be losing some teeth.”

Heimdall appears unamused, but tilts his neck to the side and cracks several of his joints. “I’ve held watch on this gate for my entire life. You believe you can do what nearly all of Asgard’s enemies couldn’t?”

“Gotta try.”

You duck low and rush to the stairs at Heimdall’s side, sparing him a quick glance to assess the situation.

You wish you hadn’t.

The eyes of Heimdall the watchpony see all there is to see in the Nine Realms, so that no enemy of the crown can make an attack on Asgard His gaze is unyielding, his vision absolute, and his perception nearly infinitesimal. Unlike before, this time when you meet his eyes, you are overtaken with a profound sense of vertigo and yet you have difficulty looking away.

Images flash in your mind of everything that’s happening at this moment. You see Princess Celestia lowering the moon while a pair of elven children dance in an open field. Smoke billows from mountains as dwarves continue their craft and the fires of Muspleheim rage and cinder all they touch. The evening mists of Niflheim’s frost settle in and you see yourself dropping to your knees as the keep is approached by another.

You gasp and find you are indeed on your knees.

“A-“

”Careful now.” Heimdall says. “If I’d looked any harder, I might have killed you. Get some air back in your lungs before you do anything else stupid.”

You grit your teeth and take heavy breaths, feeling the ignition of your heart send fire into your limbs. After getting the runaround by everyone all day, you are more than a little cheesed off. You push yourself up with your mace, ready to make another go at your doomed charge before another voice cuts you off.

”Enough Heimdall, this fight is anything but fair.”

Wonderful…” you say, spitting the copper from your mouth. “Here comes the fun police…”

You turn to the door in time for High General Tyr to make his grand entrance into the keep. Normally the general was accompanied by his honor guard or at least a squire, but today finds him alone.

“My lord…”

You say that with an exaggerated flourish.

“You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t bow…your guard dog knocked the wind out of me.”

You hear Heimdall snort up the stairs. “Never heard that one before…”

”Stand down, No-name.” the lord orders. “Baldur came running to me at the Ulfiborg fretting, worried that you were sticking your snout where you have no business to.”

Tyr gives you a stern glare that’s probably melted the resolve of countless new recruits like the end of winter snow. “This is a direct order from your superior. Put the mace down, return to your quarters, and forget everything you spoke of today.”

You, however, are no raw recruit holding a weapon for the first time. “…I think I’ll lose respect for you if you honestly intended for that to work.”

Tyr snorts. “This is not for you to-“

“Oh please do COME OFF IT!”

Tyr recoils at your outburst which allows you to march up to him waving your mace.

“I have spent the ENTIRE day getting lead around like a lamb by every member of your family saying the exact same thing like you believe everyone who’d hear it is an idiot who can’t make the simplest connections!”

“Everyone who looks knows your line about the Frost Giants is a bold faced lie! Your own sister told me that the Giants killed her father when we first MET!”

Tyr’s eyebrows dip in anger but you don’t let him talk.

“That’s another thing! You ask her and Loki how their parents died, and you know what they BOTH say? ‘Not well’. Well General I happen to come from a realm where we teach our children such things like BASIC DEDUCTIVE REASONING so that when they hear the same answer from two different ponies about two seemingly unrelated deaths, they may think there’s some sort of correlation!”

You point up to the sky where the clouds have not left.

“Even Baldur is running scared from this conversation enough to drag you all the way down here to be useless in a new locale for once! I’ve been dragged from my afterlife by your family, done whatever you’ve asked of me for MONTHS, risked my second life and generally acted like a good soldier and now I am cashing that in! I DEMAND an answer for what in Hel’s name is going on here and how I related to it and if I can’t get it from you then I’ll get it from somewhere else!”

Tyr glares again. “You don’t get to DEMAND anything of us, No-name!”

“Did the Trio beneath the Tree tell you to say that?”

That may have been the wrong thing to say, in hindsight.

Both Tyr and Heimdall’s eyes widen like you just pulled your pants down. ”You-“

“I’ve been. And I know. Now start talking.”

The General doesn’t start talking, instead he starts shouting. “You…you are an OUTSIDER! That you’ve even dreamt of what you speak of is an insult to everyone in this city, to ME!”

“Then I take it this is a personal issue?”

The general grits his teeth and undoes his heavy cape, shifting the enchanted metal cap on the end of his hoof into a broadsword.

Fine! Violence is the only language these ponies understand anyway!

You and Tyr fought, once before, before you’d revealed yourself to Midgard. He had, as expected of a war god, handed you your rear.

But this time you were more than a little “cheesed off” some might say, and it carried your weapon arm well.

You whip your mace forward to block Tyr’s initial thrust with his blade.

“Touched a nerve, have I?!”

Your voice is mocking, but your mind is dreadfully cold. The bruises from your last fight are fresh in your mind, and the General was fueled by a fury you’d yet to place and using a bladed weapon with expert precision. He could fight an army if he kept that up.

Your only hope is to do this fast, before his superior stamina can overtake you, and hope that his temper can be picked apart with more words.

What would the old chief say?

“You can do better!”

Tyr’s pupils shrink as he snorts and rears back, flailing his hooves as ponies occasionally do.

Right there!

You can almost hear the Captain now. Your body follows his instructions on an instinctual level.

Distract and bait target.

When vulnerable press attack.

Heel kick to abdomen.

Weaken shoulder with mace strike.

Punish weakness.

Discombobulate with reverse roundhouse kick to the face.

Dazed, confused, he’ll attempt a wild overhead swing with his sword, which he does.

You use your superior height to catch the swing early and block with your mace. “Not today!”

Hooves above his head, impact jaw with armored knee.

Wound shoulder.

He finds himself against the wall and creates space.

Low on options, he charges.

Sidestep, then grab with free arm.

Push to wall.

Strike ribs.

Ears ringing, use momentary lapse to deliver heavy wind-up uppercut to jaw with mace.

The general flies over onto his back and your mace flies out of your hands striking what feels like solid steel. No matter.

Punish loss of footing with leaping punch to neck.

Straddle chest.

Pummel him. Pummel him. Pummel him.

Punching the General in the face felt like beating on a rock covered with flesh. You didn’t know how long you could keep at it, but that was not enough for you to even consider stopping.

You were going to get to the bottom of this even if it killed you.

The sound of your fists bouncing off Tyr’s jaw in a rapid one-two rhythm filled the keep and even Heimdall simply stood and watched in shock. “If! This! Is! The! Best! Asgard! Has! Then! It’s! No! Wonder! You! Needed! Me!”

Tyr tries to bring his hooves up to protect his head and begins to slip past you. You needed to finish him but standing up for more strength would let him compose himself.

“If you hate people finding out about your secrets so much then try not keeping them in the first blasted place!”

The general opens one eye, continuing to defend and never for a moment relenting. Whether due to your past frustrations with him or his pompous attitude, you start getting angrier.

“Come on Wolf-boy! What happened to the pony who floored me in front of all his minions to show off!”

”Wasn’t showing-!” Tyr starts to get out before you hit him again.

You think back to the last time the two of you fought and what lead to it.

“What is it then, huh? HUH?! What about me drives you to such fury! And why did it get worse when I told you about Captain Geaus!”

”My oh my…” you hear Heimdall say.

Through using his shoulder to block your assault, Tyr gives you a glare that could be ripped right from his mother herself. The fury behind that eye was not of the High-General, but of the one who muzzled the Dread-Wolf. It successfully gives you pause for a brief instant.

”You blinked!” Tyr says.

Looking down, you see that he’s angled his prosthetic metal hoof cap directly at your head. There’s a loud BANG as the cap fires off and impacts you in the jaw, sending you flying back off the General and onto the stone floor.

You groan and rub your jaw.

“Who…let that mammoth that hit me…in here?”

Rolling over and pushing yourself to your feet, you see that Tyr is already up and re-affixing his prosthetic hoof. He’s glaring a hole through the floor that he turns to direct at you, but keeps his mouth shut and remains still.

“…Nice to see I haven’t ruined your stupid face.”

”I’m amazed you still have a head, let alone a jaw.”

“Your mother has been forcing those golden apples you lot eat down my gullet every month. I guess they made me less fragile than you think of me?”

”You could only go up from what I thought.” He responds.

“Prince Charming over here…”

Another pregnant pause holds the keep.

”…My lord?” Heimdall asks from atop his dias.

Tyr is silent and still for a moment longer before he finally bites out a response. ”Fine.” Tyr stomps forward and strikes the ground with his metal limb. “Heimdall. As High-General and Crown Prince of Asgard, I command you to open the Bifrost to Jotunheim. Now.”

Heimdall contemplates his words. “You know what will happen, Lord.”

”Allow me to worry about that.” Tyr says.

”Very well, General…” the watchpony says before weaving his mystics upon the well.

Tyr turns his gaze to you and sneers.

”Wipe your mouth and leave your stolen mace here, No-name. The truth you seek will be your epitaph.”

Music

You and Tyr ride through the Bifrost on the back of his war chariot as soon as it arrives, letting his three goats pull you through the sky.

From how Tyr spat out the word “Jotunheim” as well as Heimdall’s recalcitrance, you’d prepared yourself for seeing something drastic and awful.

What you saw was not something you were prepared for.

This was…not a realm, and it sapped all the anger you’d thought you had from your recent fight.

The air hangs with a stillness and finality you had not believe could be. Mountains and ice stretch below you on the remains of what earth there once was here, traveling from where you arrived into the distance.

Looking down over the edge of the chariot, you drink in some of the apocalyptic view. Mountains risen around millennia old fortresses and battlements lie flattened into the ground or ripped from their roots. You see your first giant, a towering and frightening creature even from up with a wild mane and featureless eyes. An army of them stretches out along the path that extends before you, all frozen in an instant of fury and outrage.

At least the ones still in one piece, for there were just as many scattered limbs, torsos, and heads laying upon the ice.

No wind played against your skin in this world frozen in horror.

The sky above you, black as pitch with barley a single mote of light in it, like the stars themselves were afraid to look in its direction, was all around you.

There was no realm here.

“Tyr…what in the Hel happened here…”

The General stares ahead as he directs his carriage, face as hard as stone but eyes deep and full of regret. He sighs the sigh of one who doesn’t know where to begin his tale.

”You asked my siblings of how they view our mother…correct?”

You nod.

“I did…”

”What happened here…can only be understood with my answer to that question. So I ask that you bear with me.”

Just as you, Tyr seemed to has lost all his rage from the fight after laying eyes on Jotunheim, or perhaps it was simply the memories he was recalling.

”Once…long ago it feels now, I was the chosen heir of Asgard. After Vidarr had left, before Mjolna was born, I was being molded for the throne from my earliest memory…”

Tyr strikes his armor above his heart with his prosthetic. “I am my mother’s son, war is in my blood and it was what I was bred for, and yet she tempered me with countless lessons from diplomats, peace weavers, and kings.”

”Once…it was my destiny to follow in her footsteps, mend the wounds she could not, and finally bring peace to our Nine Realms…”

You remain silent and nod so he knows.

”I was not like my brothers and sisters, faith in Mother was all I knew growing up and always felt like the right thing to do.”

“What about-?” You nod towards his metal hoof cap, Tyr laughs as he looks into it.

”Ah…this old thing. The aftermath of binding Fenrir to his prison. He would only sit still enough if one of us kept our hoof in his mouth, which I volunteered for.”

“And then what?”

”Haha. He didn’t take kindly to seeing that we’d actually succeeded in trapping him afterwards.”

You nod. “Do you regret it?”

”Not for a moment, it needed to be done. Afterwards, when Mother saw what I’d given to stop the wolf, she congratulated my wisdom and declared me the God of Justice on the spot, for-“

“ ’Power requires sacrifice’, she’s fond of that phrase, isn’t she?”

”Mm.” Tyr’s tired smile at remembering better days fades a bit as he recalls. “Though…that began to change just a few years later, after Mjolna was born.”

”After she met Geaus.”

Your eyes widen.

“You mean-“

”He was your captain, wasn’t he? I recall you saying such when we last fought…”

You nod and glance to your feet, recalling the old timer. “Captain Geaus was the Royal Guard Captain before the current one, Shining Armor. He…trained the two of us as his apprentices while our counterparts were off with…somepony else.”

You downright shiver remembering her.

“I arrived in Equestria an adult with barely a brain in my skull, but the Captain looked past all that. He saw what I could do, how much I gave, and he let me try where others would have just let me wither. He shaped my entire life…my entire afterlife too, by the looks of it.”

”Mm..that sounds like him.” Tyr says, directing the carriage towards the only remaining mountain in Jotunheim.

”We met Geaus when he was brought to Valhalla, though Mother met him first. The Valkyries who brought him would take entire days to recount his heroic deeds that they saw upon his death.”

You nod again. “That adds up. The Captain sacrificed himself to stop a rampaging dragon from reaching a town when reinforcements were cut off. They ended up killing each other…”

”…Aye.”

Tyr turns the carriage.

”Mine, Hermod, and Baldur’s father is a powerful wizard, yes, but he is simply a consort to the Queen, albeit her head consort.” Tyr looks back to you. “I wager you know what happened to Vidarr’s father.”

You recall the vision at his farm and swallow the lump in your throat.

”Geaus…was different, from all of them. Even a passing glance at he and Mother would tell you that they were obviously in love.”

The Captain fell in love with the Queen? Even crazier he made her love him back? You try to imagine the Queen Sleipnir you know being in love with someone and it makes your head hurt.

“That sounds…like the plot of a crappy train station paperback I once read…”

Tyr lets out a deep throaty laugh. ”Indeed! But it was the truth!”

Tyr’s carriage approaches the tallest remaining mountain in the realm, and you see it is no mountain. You approach a palace, built of dark grey stones from the foot of the world until it scraped the heavens and frozen in eons of ice stretching over its surface.

Deep gouges in the ice and shattered black chains resting frozen in the cold herald more and more signs of Armageddon here, perhaps the worst of it. Shapes that were once frost giants are burnt into the wall in all corners of the ice castle, other corpses rest at the bottom of stairwells brought down by some force until it crushed them and an entire third of the palace looks to have been ripped from its foundation, exposing the tunnels beneath to what remains of the elements.

Tyr stops the carriage at the top of the palace and walks off it, locking eyes with a throne made of ice burnt black, the floor before it stained with frozen blood and slash marks.

Still though, the general walks reminiscing. ”Oh, that Geaus…if only he knew the effect he had, if only he knew of our history.”

You get off the carriage and follow him.

”Mjolna came along as fast as their marriage did, a culmination of their love for each other and, as I thought at the time, perhaps the first one of us who was truly unmarred by the past…For almost three years, Mother and the Nine Realms knew an astounding sense of peace…”

Tyr looks to the throne again and hardens his face.

”But…that all changed the day King Laufey and his Frost Giants began their march across Yggdrassil, intent on conquering all they could and freezing the rest. They marched on Alfhiem, Svartalheim, and even Asgard…would have made it to Midgard after had we not stopped them there.”

“Should I be thanking you?”

Tyr snears. “No, No-name. You should not for there is nothing worth thanking.”

“But you-“

"I remember that day better than any other day in my entire life…the day my demons I did not see caught up with me, when I failed to save this world…”

“…What happened?”

Tyr looks back at you and opens his mouth to tell you a tale.

-Some Time Ago…-

Music

“WITH ME MY BROTHERS! REDEEM THEM WITH SWORD AND FIRE!”

You slash your flaming sword through the chest of the frost giant before you and close one of your eyes to shield it from the blood spray that follows as he falls.

“HAH!”

”My prince!” you hear behind you, as one of your soldiers tries to get your attention. You turn back to look at him. “They attack from all sides!”

You grin. “Then we will meet them at each one!”

You breathe deep and let out the war call. “RALLY TO ME! WOLF BRIGADE, ATTACK!”

”Let’s go!” you hear them call. “Follow Prince Tyr!”

The Frost Giants believed today would be their greatest victory, but you and your soldiers would make it their worst defeat! None would penetrate the Golden Realm so long as you still drew breath!

The outer walls of Asgard were a mess, but you found yourself more than up to the task. There was some concern when you were taken to your post, some believed the All-Mother’s son being given a command was a sign of nepotism. You silenced them all when you sacrificed your hoof to Fenrir and here, at only your twentieth winter, would you show them why you were a God of War.

Giants spill forth from gateways at every corner of the walls, but most densely here where the boundary between realms is weakest.

Winged horrors and wendigo spirits dot the skies above Asgard, attempting to harass your soldiers but not counting on your archers. Ice as cold as King Laufey’s soul creeps its way over the walls to try and take your home from you, but still you would endure.

With your power and your might, you run along battlements and stairs, roofs and ladders, slaying the giants that dared force their way here from their accursed home. Dozens, hundreds, more fell by the edge of your blade. At the gates of the Bifrost keep, with giants ahead of you and your brothers at your back, there was nothing you couldn’t do.

“And that’s a thousand!”

The landmark giant you’d slain falls before you and lets you see the rest of his misbegotten kind behind him. You take a step back to regather and find yourself flank to flank with your brothers, encircled by foes.

”My Lord, they have us surrounded…”

“Hah! Fear denies faith, Bloodaxe! Give them none to chew on and keep your heart strong! We will not die this day!”

Your comrade quakes a bit behind his helmet. “What for, my lord? What should we have faith in now of all times?!”

In these crises, it was your duty as a prince to be a symbol for your people to look towards. Just as you prepare to respond, a rain of golden spears rains down from above.

“Hah! In that!”

As the torrent of spears cease, you look to the sky and see Queen Sleipnir descend in her gleaming golden armor. “Like chaff before the wind…” she muses.

“Mother!” you call out, stepping forward and getting her attention. “I could have taken them!”

The Queen laughs as she lands and pulls Gungnir from a corpse. “I have no doubt you could, my son, but I fear I would die of old age if I didn’t speed things along.”

“Hah!”

You approach the Queen and bow, as do your comrades.

“We are yours to command, All-Mother. What would you have us do?”

The Queen looks around at the battle and everything happening in Asgard. “Laufey overextends himself. Even now my ravens tell me that his marches into other realms are slowly losing their momentum. No doubt he’s focused the majority of his forces here, in Asgard.”

“A clever trick; dominate the Golden Realm and the blow to morale across Yggdrasil would be cataclysmic.”

”Well then, we’d better stop them here.”

A great roar shakes the city as one of Laufey’s mountain elementals lumbers towards the southern wall, the Queen strikes her spear pommel on the ground with a resounding CLANG.

”Hold, my son. Hold against this scum and make our home the rocks upon which the ocean waves may break. We will break Laufey’s back here and send his host back to Jotunheim with their tails between their legs.”

You stand and place your hoof over your heart. “I will not fail you, Mother.”

Your mother gives you a small but warm smile beneath her helmet. “You never have.” She says before running off through the air.

You turn back to your soldiers.

“Come brothers! The enemy wishes a challenge! Let us indulge them!”

Frost giants are larger than ponies, even gods. And unfortunately, there were a lot more of them than you had initially planned.

Your horseshoes skid into the ground past the palace gates as you push back against a giant with your shield.

“STAND TALL, BROTHERS! JUST A BIT LONGER AND WE HAVE THEM!”

”HOO! HOO!” your soldiers cry behind you as they add their might to your own to push the invaders back.

With lance and hammer and lash and magic, the Asgardians do push back the forces of Jotunheim. You fight with a fury that would cause Fenrir himself to cower, unleashing your divinity and focusing your berserker blood into killing intent.

“DRIVE THEM BACK! RID THE GOLDEN REALM OF THEIR FILTH FOREVER!”

You dive forward and thrust your sword arm through a giant’s belly, using your momentum to flip over his head and down his back before you throw what remains of him towards his comrades at the door, knocking them off balance.

“ATTACK!”

”My lord! A trio of giants push past the line!”

You spare a momentary glance to the side and indeed see the foot of a frost giant gleamed in gold push further into a palace hall. The urge to chase them down and skewer them riles up in you, but you recall Mother’s words on the bridge.

“HOLD THE LINE! OUR COMRADES HOLD THE PALACE PROPER; THEY WILL CATCH THEM!”

Your soldiers cheer after you and continue to press against the giants, driving them further back towards the gates. Did mere minutes pass in that time? Hours? None alive from that day have answers as they give themselves over to the battle fever.

You’re about to cut down one of the last giants in the hall when your soldier gets your attention.

”My lord!...What is that?!”

You look over your shoulder to where he called and see cracks forming on the supposedly impregnable walls of the palace, a great purple light seeping through and the temperature rising with it.

“EVERYONE DOWN NOW!”

You dive away from your quarry behind a pillar, giving him time to get back up. A few moments more and he would have crushed you, if not for what happened The wall at the center of the palace cracks and fragments before a flare of indigo flame, fueled by old magic explodes out from behind it. Your brothers, warned by your shout, take refuge behind any obstacle they can find as the hurricane force washes through the entire palace. The giants are not so fortunate, burning from flesh to ash to dust in seconds as the power washed over them and literally blew them out the front gates on a gust of wind.

Silence falls over Asgard. You look outside from your hiding place and see the skies clear, the walls bare, and legions of defenders confused.

”What was THAT?” one of your soldiers asks.

”T’was the Báleygr! The great flaming eye! I’m sure of it!” one of the elder ones called.

”You’re mad, old one! Only the Queen has that power and she has not unsealed in in eons!”

You take a deep breath and feel a tinge of fear at the bottom of your stomach. What each of them said was true. “Something’s wrong…"

You let your brothers continue defending the gate, there was something you needed to see. You race down the hall where you saw those giants go.

There were guards all over the palace, you were sure they could handle a few giants, but the thought burned its way into your brain all the same.

“Mother! MOTHER!”

You pick up the giant’s trail by following their hoofprints in the carpets, racing up the stairs while calculating where they were headed through the castle in your head. Evidence of general mayhem was scattered through the halls, but the hoofprints continued deeper and deeper with clear purpose in their step.

At this rate they were leading towards the room where Mother kept-

You double your pace, speeding through the halls and praying you weren’t too late.

“SISTER!”

You hear chattering and yelling ahead right by where your newborn sister’s room was, you instinctively shift your hoof to your blade as you round the corner.

“LEAVE HER BE YOU CUR-“

When your eyes drink in the scene, your words die in your throat.

The door to Mjolna’s chambers remained barred and secure, the three corpses of gold adorned frost giants laying in the hall meaning they did not reach her.

However, you saw they were joined by a fourth unmoving body.

A pony, of brilliant red coat and the silvered mane of age, clad in his own golden armor. And standing above him as unmoving as stone with her back to you; Queen Sleipnir.

Honor guard swarm around your Mother, securing the area and making reports to her that she barely reacts to. You can no longer feel anything below your knees, but you know you walk towards her regardless.

”All-Mother, we confirm that princess Mjolna is unharmed. She…hid under her bed when Ge-…when milord came to her to see that she was safe.”

Another inspecting the bodies stands. “The blood is still fresh, All-Mother. These giants were killed recently.”

You hear your Mother grunt in acknowledgement as you approach her from behind.

The guards continue to speak. “I can only deduce, Your Grace…that Milord intercepted these three before they could reach your daughter…but doing so cost him hi-“

”Enough.” She speaks, silencing everything.

The guards turn to you. “The Lord is here! Fall in!” and begin to gather at your back, expecting you to lead them from this moment.

But still you keep approaching the grisly scene, one heavy step at a time.

A pressure in your ears build up until you can no longer year save for an intense ringing and your own heartbeat.

“Mo-“

Your eyes lock with the body of your step-father, praying to any who might listen that he might take a breath or move or show another sign of life.

”Mother I-“

A quavering in the chest, a lock in every joint, and that cold feeling that makes your hairs stand on end when someone is watching you. These deaths, this tension, this fear in the air, the fact that your sister now must grow without a father; you knew you were to blame.

If anyone is speaking, you can’t hear them over your own breath picking up and the heartbeat thundering in your ears. If you’d sent even ONE of your soldiers he could have-

You choke at the Queen’s back.

“Moth-“

The All-Mother stomps one of her hooves and snaps your temporary deafness away. She slowly looks over her shoulder at you, causing you and the rest of the honor guard to gasp and step back, despite having fought for your lives through the entire day.

With the light of the Báleygr barely being kept back by her eyepatch, Mother’s single eye bores into the lot of you. In the place of the fire and exuberance you’d seen on the bridge now rested something that compels all who see it to abandon any hope they once had.

”Keep. Up.” She spits through gritted teeth.

And in a flash does she vanish.

-Anon PoV-

Music

Tyr continues to recant his dark tale.

He tells how he and every Asgardian defender was left in the lurch without a clue about what happened or where the Queen had gone. Tyr raced through the palace, searching for any sign of the All-Mother or where she’d gone, but everything came to him at once by every voice that could talk.

He was suddenly the highest-ranking pony in Asgard, after all.

It was discovered that the Queen’s entire armory had been stripped bare in an instant. At first it was believed that it could be the work of the frost giants, as raiding a vault of mythical weapons made the most tactical sense.

But Tyr knew where she had gone the moment he’d heard that. What the Queen did however, took sages from every other realm more than a year to piece together.

Sleipnir had arrived in Jotunheim in the span of a heartbeat, at the same place you and Tyr had arrived.

With two dead eyes burning hotter than the extinguished sun of Jotunheim and across hundreds of miles, she and King Laufey locked eyes from the top of his frozen fortress.

The king intended to mock the All-Mother, seeing himself great for bloodying her nose and unknowingly breaking her heart.

The fate of his realm was sealed before the air left his lungs when Gungnir went through his head.

You digest what Tyr says.

“The king was dead…and she didn’t stop?”

Tyr sighs. “Another would have risen to take his place…and in her rage, I doubt anyone could have convinced her otherwise…”

Tyr looks out over the blasted out remains of Jotunheim, now just a small disc of land. “…I have spent more time eating breakfast in the morning than it took to gather a force in Asgard and get ourselves here that day…the realm looks no different now than it did then…”

He gestures out and points to various scars inflicted on the land. “Landmasses ripped from their floors and thrown into the sun…legions and armies cut to ribbons by Armiger blades. She killed with lash or blade or magic from the moment she set hoof down on this world to make her way to this castle…”

”And in the end…the words you have heard for all this time are true.” Tyr closes his eyes. “There were no Frost Giants.”

You look out over the Realm-That-Was but say nothing, you can’t think of anything TO say.

”Jotunheim…” Tyr says for you. “The Queen, Geaus, Mjolna, Baldur…everything in Asgard that occurred after that day did so because I let three enemies run through our home unchallenged.”

“Baldur? What happened to him?”

Tyr lets out another long sigh and his tired eyes look through the past in his mind. No tears fall from his cheeks, you suspect because they were all used ages ago. “Mother…was never the same after that day. The warmth she had was smothered and she was colder, harsher, and bitter…like the Fimbulvinter itself. Shortly after the attack, before Baldur’s next birthday, she made Baldur invulnerable…despite him only being four years old at the time.”

“That sounds…rough.”

"It was not easy.” He says. “Mjolna, despite her age as well, was instantly chosen to be the next successor to the throne…”

“What about you?”

”I was told to defend the walls and ensure an attack such as that never occurred again, a posting I did not fight against to make up for what happened.”

“General…it was a battle, you couldn’t have known what would happen, the captain himself would-“

”Spare me, No-name.” Tyr interrupts. “You attempt to soothe an ego after twenty years of penance. There’s nothing left to calm.”

Tyr sighs again, his shoulders looking like they’re having trouble supporting the weight of his armor. ”You ask me, ‘Who is Sleipnir’? She is me, after a single mistake at the worst possible time.”

Tyr walks past you to his carriage. “This place steals the life from me whenever I visit…let us return to Asgard, it is getting late.”

Like he, you find you possess no will to resist him. “Yes, general…”

The two of you return through the Bifrost and find the keep holding it empty.

“…Now that’s unsettling. Where is Heimdall?”

”Dismissed, more than likely.” Tyr answers.

“For what?”

The General tiredly walks to the doors of the keep and pushes them open. Across the bridge connecting the keep to the rest of the palace, the two of you see Queen Sleipnir patiently standing next to a lit brazier with the night sky above her.

“Oh shhhhhhhoot.”

Tyr sighs what sounds like a final sigh and trudges along the bridge towards his mother. You follow along behind him trying to read what’s going on. Tyr looked like a walking corpse, clearly drained from the stress of traveling to Jotunheim and reliving the day it ended.

The Queen looked as hard and stony as ever, the light of the fire dancing in her good eye.

Prince and Queen lock eyes when he gets closer to her and he simply stares ahead in tired determination. “Mother.”

”Son.” She responds. “Did you have an eventful trip?”

She didn’t sound mad, that could very well be worse than if she was.

”No more than Jotunheim is normally this time of year.”

”So still a tomb then.”

”Yes…” Tyr answers solemnly.

”…Good.” The queen says, poking the fire with a stick.

Tyr grimaces at her words and you clench your fists but find it a bit harder after the day you’d had.

”Why go?” she asks.

“Because I was tired of getting the run-around."

The Queen acknowledges your interruption by stabbing at the fire again. “I was asking my son.”

Tyr swallows a rock and looks to his mother. “No-name…speaks the truth. He desired answers only seeing Jotunheim could provide. He…earned the right to see after besting me in personal combat.”

”Yes, I saw that.” The Queen answers, inspecting the edge of her stick. “You were baited by an emotional trap, a surprising thing at your age.”

“Wait, you saw THAT too?”

Sleipnir rolls her eye. “How many times will it take for everyone in my life to learn that no simple talisman haggled from a dark troll in a market untouched by sunlight is enough to seal MY sight?” she stabs the fire again. “I see every realm, especially my own, especially after that day…” She looks down to her son from her imposing height. “You did tell him, didn’t you?”

”I did.” Tyr says. “I believed he had a right to know as…you clearly favor him as your warrior over me.”

Wait, what?

Tyr continues. “You make a good choice. He is quick and strong in battle, and I can see Geaus’s instincts engraved into his very bones…at this point he could do all I could and more, better even, I think he’ll serve well as my replacement.”

“Replacement!?” you exclaim.

Tyr keeps his eyes locked with his mother. “I failed, countless suffered. I accept the responsibility for my choices and the punishment that comes wi-“

”Oh shut up.”

Sleipnir bends her neck down and places it alongside Tyr’s in the equine equivalent of an embrace you’d seen Twilight and Celestia do hundreds of times.

Both you and the general are stunned silent for an eternity at the suddenness of it.

”Are you finished?” Sleipnir asks.

Tyr’s jaw hangs open as he struggles for words. “I-Mother-But-“

”I’ll presume that means yes…” she says, withdrawing to her full height. She looks down at the High-General who had a manticore on his tongue. ”Tyr…On that day, many years ago, you set out to do something and you failed. There were unforeseen dire consequences for an untold number of souls.” She cants her head slightly like teachers do to fillies. “That makes you…exactly the same as everypony else.”

Tyr still fails to make words form. “I…am meant to be the god of war and justice…not…like everypony else?”

”Why?” his mother says curtly. “We are their gods, yes. Should they not see parts of themselves in us? Should we be so perfect as to be incomprehensible to them?” She goes back to stabbing her brazier. “We share a realm now, why should the mortals not see that we are like them in all the most important ways? No-name, would you like to worship those who told you that they were perfect?”

“I can’t say that I would…”

”Exactly.”

The queen turns back and looks Tyr over. “No matter what you did or did not do that day, Tyr…you are still my son. Still my son, still my prince…and still a fool.” She abandons her stick in the flames. “The day anyone could replace you to me is truly the day Ragnarok will take me without a fight.”

Tyr looks down at his hooves, a mix of adolescent embarrassment and elderly shame playing across his face. “But…Mjolna-she was groomed from then on to-“

”The day of the frost giant’s attack was the day I realized that you were not the one best suited to fulfill the duties the realm would ask of you, I ensured your sister was.”

Tyr looks up at his mother again. “What did I do that she did not?”

”For one?” his mother answers. “You held too much faith in me…and not enough in yourself.” The queen watches her stick burn to ash with her good eye again. “With the benefit of hindsight…I believe that my time with Geaus blinded me to the realities of our lives that I thought I’d figured out in my eons before I became a mother…that is not a lesson I’ll ever allow myself to forget again. Bliss is...an insidious mask over ones eyes.”

She glances over at Tyr again. “You are not responsible for what happened to Jotunheim, my son. I was the one who chose to go there that day, the frost giants slain by my hooves, not yours.” Her eye narrows in slight irritation. “Such a silly child, believing that you are responsible for the lives of all that live and that you can bear the weight of such a burden on your own.”

Tyr’s ingests his mothers words and falls flank first onto the stone, like he was both relieved of a weight and dragged down by his own fatigue at the same time. “…Thank you, Mother.”

”Mm.” she responds, looking to you. “And so what now, No-name? What now that you know why what I did what I did? Do you have more questions to fill out on your little hidden parchment?”

She knew about that too, huh? Well how’s this for a question.

“Just one. You took your last husband out of Valhalla, should I be concerned?”

”Uhg.” The Queen replies, rolling her eye. Even Tyr beside you chokes back a laugh at the absurdity of what you asked. “Do not flatter yourself, you are not remotely my type.”

“Sinfully beautiful?”

”Still breathing.” She says flatly.

You let yourself chuckle before a real question forms.

“…A mortal who could win the heart of not only a god, but the highest one in all the realms…what did that old codger do to catch your eye, All-Mother? One would think that such a love impossible for a war god such as yourself.”

The queen continues to watch the flame, though her expression softens an almost imperceptible amount. ”He knew all the words to all the songs sung in that hall before he’d even arrived…” she said wistfully.

You let out a breath you weren’t aware you’d been holding.

”No-name. Please help my son indoors and let him rest, I believe he needs it.”

“At once, Your Grace but…one final question.”

”Mm?”

“Why keep all this from me? Why go through all this trouble.”

A silence passes between just the two of you.

"It is late, boys. Go indoors.”

You could take the hint and considering the books worth of information you’d gotten already, decide to just take what you can get. You bend down and help the General up the stairs to recover, leaving the Queen and her motivations staring into the fire.

-Epilogue-

“It’s done.”

You drop the amulet you’d torn from King Laufey’s neck on the ground and walk past your retainer through the halls of Asgard.

”My Queen what-happened?!” he asks, no doubt noticing the ash and soot your armored covered with.

“I. Just. Told. You. It’s. Done.” You bite.

The advisor gulps and nods his head wordlessly.

You speed through the halls back to where…It happened. He's still there, unmoved from where he’d fallen, though the giants he slew were carted off.

”Prince Tyr…believed you would not wish to see those upon your return…but commanded that we were not to touch Milords body…”

“Mm.”

Dutiful boy.

You pick up your husband’s corpse and turn, taking him up the stairs of the palace. Many thoughts go through your mind, about visiting the only daughter you’d had together just beyond the doors or finding Tyr, but any more reminders of today were not what you desired.

And what you did could not be done out here.

Your advisor tails you all the way to the doors of your bedchambers. ”All-Mother about your return from Jotunheim-!”

“Deal with everything.”

”But-“

“The diplomatic fallout of today will be felt for years, we don’t need to start now. See to everything else and leave me be until I call for you.”

You would bear their accusations for plucking that realm from the sky another day, and why not? They were true. A murderous and violent race of schemers who were intent on dominating the nine realms at that very moment the Frost Giants were, but they were still now all gone, by your doing at that. The other lords of the other realms would only see that, not that Laufey had a habit of drinking the blood of his sons when they failed him in the past.

Concern plays at his face, but the advisor hurries himself away.

You carry Geaus’s corpse in through the doors of your chambers and slam them behind you.

The moment they are closed, you collapse to the ground.

Music

Pain.

Pain sweeps over your body, like a blanket in the night, and envelops you from your skin through your bones and down to your very heart.

You feel the same stabbing sensation you’d felt eons ago in the dried-out socket of an eye that sits beneath your patch, one mirrored in your good eye as well. It isn’t until you feel the liquid dribble down your cheeks that you remember the sensation.

“If any could get anything out of these old eyes…it was you, Geaus…”

Geaus…

You hang your head and try to sniff back the tears staining your coat like a child as the weight of everything in the last hour strikes you.

The grief you felt when you sensed Geaus’s demise giving way to the rage that unsealed Báleygr and drove you to Jotunheim, along with the long, lonely march back as Tyr and his host followed behind you after finding you on what remained of that ball of mud and frost. The blood on your hooves was long clean, but the stench still sat in your nostrils at the idea that you would do it all again for what they did, for taking the first light in your life since time immemorial and snuffing it out.

Your breath hitches, you feel like your soul is being ripped from your body.

Yet still, your hooves begin to push yourself up.

On the legs of a newborn, you force yourself off your rump. The aches between your bones, across your skin, within your teeth, and through your heart multiply but you force them away, the effort of it nearly tripping you again.

NO!

Your spear manifests itself in the air next to you, the ever-faithful companion you could still force yourself to look at that lets you brace yourself upon it to drive yourself to all eight legs.

Panting openly, you grab your husband and drag the two of you deeper into the chambers.

“Not…today…this will not be…the end…of this…”

Dragging Geaus was harder than dragging any sun down, you found, and you can only get him about halfway through the room. Looking down at him again causes the icy hand of grief to grip your heart once more.

With your magic, you reach down and close Geaus’s eyes. Despite all this, he still wore that blasted smile that first caught your eye, just as he always was.

“Damn fool…you probably died content that you were saving her, didn’t you?”

You reach down further and retrieve the golden amulet you set upon his neck the day you married. You see your tears still streaming down your face in the amulet’s reflection.

The pain of holding that amulet was nearly more than you could take, if not for what followed. You think on the pain, the pain of today, and all the other days, and every day that you did something horrible to keep these nine realms at peace. All the lifetimes of pain and where it would be going; how, if fate had its way, none of it would mean a thing.

You look out the window of your chambers, spying down into the room Mjolna slept in. From here, you see Baldur, your little light, doing his best to comfort your daughter after what had happened.

Still panting as your body tried to fight off the agony, your eye follows along the wall to a tapestry upon it. The tapestry was a deep green with golden trim, depicting the World Tree in the center as well as the brilliant light of Agard above it and three lights at its base representing the wells of knowledge.

However, the space directly beneath the tree had been left blank. Through agony and grief, your body begins to shake again. This time however, not from tears.

How you hate that blank space, what it was, what it would mean.

The hatred boils within you like an acid, straining your muscles and gritting your teeth for you. A new ache joined the countless others from your jaw as dribbles of blood crept down your jowls. Your anger only broils as you glare at the tapestry, the edges of it now catching alight and casting harsh shadows across the room.

The pains begin to fade as your thoughts transform into plans, long and complicated plans that were formed in part from your instinct already acted upon.

All the pains from this day back to the day you’d taken your own eye and before defined your life and everything you’d worked for.

And if fate had its way, then they would all amount to nothing in the end.

And so as the fire consumes the tapestry, another casualty of the frost giant’s attacks as the scribes would say, you steel your heart on a single, resolute truth.

That you will MAKE all this agony and suffering mean something.

By now the fire consumes what’s left of the tapestry and falls to the floor. As it does, you close your mouth and seal the wound you’d made. The last of your tears dry on your face and you harden your body and spirit for all that you now knew you had to do.

Even if it kills you.

Breather.

You lean your head against the back of a couch and let your eyes unfocus as they stare at a slowly rotating ceiling fan. A dull pain thrums behind your eyes as pinpricks of thought worm their way into and out of your brain. The after-effects of your encounter with the royal family, of your search into the Queen’s secrets and being taken to Jotunheim, still drown out everything they can. It got so bad that you couldn’t stay in Asgard, almost begging Heimdall to let you get away for a bit.

Which brought you here.

“Thanks for letting me decompress here, Twilight…”

A splash of purple in your peripheral vision talks to you. “It’s no problem, Anonymous. Though I’ve gotta say, I’ve haven’t seen you this out of it since I was a filly.”

Visions of frozen frost giants play in your head. “Just got a lot on my mind recently…”

Twilight takes a seat next to you. “Is there anything I can help with?” she asks.

A part of you wants to keep what you learned a secret, to shield her from the realities beyond Equestria.

Another part of you speaks without thinking. “When you have a problem you’re trying to unravel, but you reach a point where you don’t have any more leads and may even be afraid of what you might find, what do you do?”

Twilight swallows something, her fear perhaps, and thinks about your question. Princess or not, you often forgot how young Twilight actually was. She’s putting on a brave face to be able to talk about this with you.

”Well…” she begins. “I first ask if not knowing would be better or worse than things are now.”

You consider the prophecy of Ragnarok “It feels like something that I can’t ignore.”

”In that case you may have already done the right thing.” Twilight places a reassuring hoof on your back. “A change of scenery and a new perspective can help our brains work in different ways, maybe even ones that will give us the answers we need.” Twilight hops off the couch and walks to the door, levitating some saddlebags onto her. “Come on. I have some errands to run and some fresh air might be good for you!”

With no brain power to come up with a good excuse not to, you push yourself up and follow her.

Errands with Twilight were always one of two things: either relating to research or getting food. Today happened to be both. Twilight carries the few bags of provisions and you carry the six boxes of research materials on the reproductive cycles of jabberwocky in the Everfree for her. It wasn’t tiring for you; your armor was heavier, and the golden apples still coursed through you.

Thinking about the apples brought your mind back to your problems, but you thought on Twilight’s words about new perspective. You made an effort to try and look at the situation differently, but between the Queen, her children, the prophecy, the giants, the Norns, and yourself, it all got too jumbled up.

You needed a different perspective on your different perspective. “Twilight?”

”What’s up Anonymous?” she asks, inspecting a collection of serpent eye jewels.

“I’m sure by now you’ve become something of an expert into the legends of our mutual divine friends, right?”

Even behind her, you can see the Sparkle in the eye of Twilight. “I mean, I don’t like to brag!” she does that dorky snort thing she did when she was little. “But I HAVE brushed up here or there.”

“Can you give me a refresher course? Things have been hectic whenever I’ve been up there, and I haven’t had much time to go to the library.”

Twilight makes the same sound children make on Hearthswarming morning and gets the attention of the entire market.

”So, where do we even start?” Twilight wondered nearly floating her way down the road.

“Uh, the beginning?” you say following.

”Well, everything in the myths begins with Lady Sleipnir, or Othinus as she used to be called.”

“Wait, why did the Queen have a different name?”

“Oh it wasn’t uncommon back then for rulers to take on a new name when they ascended to the throne.”

Heh. “What should we call you now, Your Majesty?”

Twilight hip checks you and rolls her eyes. “ANYWAY, back when she was Othinus, daughter of Bor, the Queen traveled to Ginnugagap meaning the “gaping abyss” and slew the primeval giant Ymir from which the realm of Midgard that we live on was formed.”

“A primeval giant must have been huge, she killed one by herself?”

”The ancient texts don’t mention anyone else…” Twilight ponders.

You let Twilight continue. “Ginnugagap was said to lay between the fires of Muspelheim and the intense cold in Niffleheim, a place where the ice was melted into water and life could grow, and from that and venom from a river is where Ymir spawned.”

“Where’d the venom come from?”

Twilight shrugs. “One of histories mysteries…until I get more research done.”

The two of you continue to walk. “So she killed the giant and made the world?”

”Right, yes.” Twilight continues. “That’s what the surviving texts record. After slaying Ymir and sacrificing her eye for knowledge, Othinus ascended to the throne of Asgard and there was a period of “instability” in the cosmos.”

“…Come on, you can’t just say “instability” and refuse to elaborate.”

”Well, it’s true.” Twilight says. ”It’s no secret that there are tales of other cosmologies and mythologies in the world. Tartarus and Elysium, the Neighponese island guardians, the ancient Centaur deities and WHATEVER they did on Gallopfrey.”

“Something awful, I’m sure.” you say.

”There are as many stories about the origin of the world as there are different types of ponies out there, but the now-certifiable fact remains that one of them is true. My colleagues and I researching this can only conclude that, after the formation of the world and as the various deities of its ancient lifeforms began to manifest, that their territories and Authorities began to brush up against each other, and that those various other pantheons either faded away or, like you told me regarding the Queen’s weapons…”

“Became the victims of god-on-god violence?”

”That’s one way to put it…”

“So Othinus makes the world, ascends the throne, becomes Sleipnir and all-powerful, chases everyone else out, what’s after that?”

”Mostly individual stories about the gods as foretold by soothsayers, mostly fables and the like.”

“So…nothing about any grand climactic battles?”

”Nothing worth putting any stock in, why?”

She doesn’t know. Just as Loki said in the past, the records of Ragnarok were cleaned from the world almost entirely. For SOME reason or another. Whatever that could be.

You ponder that for a bit. The Queen said the Norns were the authors of Ragnarok in their way, and that she was resisting them. If you knew why the myths of it were hidden…it may lead you to an answer.

“…Thanks Twilight. I think talking to you has helped me get a bit of perspective.”

Twilight smiles back at you as the both of you approach the library. “I’m happy to help, Anonymous. It’s the least I could do.”

“For what?”

”For being my friend for all these years.”

Heh. Sweet kid…

”Oh. There was something I wanted to ask you.”

“Ask away, Princess.”

”It was a discrepancy in the texts and legends. You see, I was only able to find reference to five of the Queen’s children, could you give me some insight to-“

”NO-NAME! NO-NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!” the two of you hear alongside some rhythmic pounding. You round the corner and find Loki batting her hooves on the door of Twilight’s castle. “NO-NAME YOU COME OUT HERE THIS INSTANT OR I’LL-“

“LOKI!”

The godling turns her head and looks to the two of you mid tantrum.

“We were out. Side.”

Loki’s head darts between you and the castle. “But- I- You-…”

”O-oh.” She squeaks out. “That makes sense.” Loki takes a deep breath and marches over to you with a face-saving pomp in her step to change her tune. “No-name, it’s good you’re already down here. It saves us travel time.”

“Us?”

”Yes, us. I need your assistance! We need to find a seamstress who can create for us the most astounding garments the world has ever known!”

You and Twilight share a look between yourselves. “I might know someone. Why do we need them?”

”Because I have learned of a powerful magic potion in the possession of a pony who is having an ultra-high society gala in a few days’ time!”

“Okay…”

”And you and I are going to sneak in and steal it!” Loki exclaims.

Oh no.

Author's Note

I swear to dead I'm not god.

2021 was a hard year, but I got my shit together and was finally able to write again. I've had trouble keeping the legends of the source material and what I'm utilizing straight so consider this a definitive statement for the both of us.

<4 if you're still sticking with me.

Duality.

You stand leaning against the wall of the Bifrost Keep waiting. Your armor clanks as you shift your feet and rests heavy on your shoulders after how long you’ve been stuck wearing it. After you got back from your recent little “problem solving” adventure with Loki, the Queen had decreed that the Celestial Court was to be called to address things of their nature that needed to be handled.

No one was telling you what that was, but you had some suspicions; the Etir that nearly flooded the badlands and almost ate Celestia and Luna a while back, before you got wrapped up in all this Ragnarok stuff. Anything that could control them was bad news.

Hearing you think about them, you guess, the Bifrost opens in an eruption of rainbow light, letting the Sun and Moon into Asgard.

You bow “Great Skoll and Hati, we welcome you to the Realm Eternal an-“

”Please knock that off, Anonymous.” Luna says, walking towards you. Both of them had their more complicated royal regalia on, the things they reserved for state meetings "We always hated it when you did that back when you were alive.”

Celestia rolls her eyes. “Well met, Anonymous. I hope we’re not too late.”

You point your thumb back across the moat to the city proper where golden armored custodians stand shoulder to shoulder atop the ramparts and flying boats patrol the skies.

“Any longer and they’ll just fortify the place more. Come, I’ll walk you both in.” You turn and head down the bridge, the Celestial Sisters following you.

”Do you know who is attending, Anonymous?”

Let’s see, what other details have you covered today.

“Uh…There was the Arch-Druid of the Vanir, the Prince of the Deer, The Queen of the light elves came and an emissary of the dark elves showed up, had to keep the two of them from killing each other. The Quicksilver Emperor is in attendance, the Queen of the Skye, uh…”

”Is the Lightning Tsar here?” Celestia asks.

“The big mammoth guy? Yes, he’s in attendance. Any reason why you’re asking?”

”He owes me bits.”

Let’s see, who else. The ancient spirits of Zebrica, the Yak soothsayers, at least one Volcano Warband leader from Boardore, some normal looking pony in a trench-coat…”

Luna looks apprehensive. “So many haven’t gathered like this since Grogar…” she mutters.

”Or Discord.” Celestia responds.

“Just them? I’d have thought Tirek would have warranted a greater response.”

”Tch” Luna says. “He is all bluster, Tirek has a glass jaw and weaker knees.”

You chuckle.

Approaching the palace gates, you spot their eternal guardian Heimdall waiting by the doors.

“Hail, watchmen.”

He doesn’t greet you back, but does offer a bow. “Sun and Moon, we welcome you to Asgard.”

The sisters bow back with someone they’re less familiar with. “We are honored by the summons, Lord of the Watch.”

You fall in with Heimdall who’s been your boss for the day. “The keep is secure, you can close the Bifrost.”

”Already ahead of you…” Heimdall says, his eyes clouding over.

The lights from the Bifrost Keep signaling its activation dim and sputter out, sealing Asgard from Nine Realms. The legions of guards inside aside, no one wanted a repeat of the Frost Giants invading, you wager.

“Alright, then these two are the last.”

”Not quite.” Heimdall corrects.

You cock your eyebrow.

”We have one more arrival due.” he sayd.

“Then…should I return to the Keep? To meet them?”

”No.” Heimdall says, watching as silver sparks of power arc between the branches of the World Tree hanging above Asgard. “She will make her way here.”

Brilliant light descends from Yggdrasil and strikes the center of the courtyard before the entrance to the palace, everyone in attendance blocks their eyes as matter and mass are born of thought alone.

When the reaction dims, the final arrival waits in its place.

She stands as tall as the queen, folding a pair of tattered wings onto her back as the broken and reformed horn atop her head bobs in the wind they make. Through her mane of alabaster hair, she surveys the courtyard quickly, though you cannot see a pair of eyes behind them. The air fills with stillness, preserved in the moment of her arrival and stretched out to eternity.

Heimdall strikes his hoof on the ground. “Ordalia! Goddess of Order, Control, and Tranquility of the Silver City!”

The custodians and aids in the courtyard bow upon hearing her name, even Celestia and Luna do

“…Right, I’ll go get her over he-“

”No need.” Heimdall says, stopping you.

You almost wonder why before the palace doors fling open and Queen Sleipnir strides out, urging the attendants to bow once more in the presence of the two of them, but something was off.

The Queen was smiling, and there was an anima within her eye that you’d almost never seen.

She looked happy.
Which instantly made you, Celestia and Luna recoil as if you were about to be punched.
“Aw crap.”

”Well well, look what the manticore dragged out of her cave.” Queen Sleipnir says with way too much sass for the Queen of Asgard to be having.

More like Queen of Sassgard.

You instantly admonish yourself for thinking that.

”You know you’re one of the few that can.” Ordalia, Goddess of Order, Control, and Tranquility of the Silver City says, her voice sounding quiet, like the faintest touch upon a delicate harp.

”Though not one of the few who can stop you from stating the obvious.” The Queen says, approaching her final guest.

Many of the attendants and guardians had turned their attention away from the two, hoping to give them the grace of their pretend ignorance so they don’t get slapped, but you’re dumb enough to keep looking. You catch the two of them stand before each other and quickly knock their hooves together in a short and sudden gesture of something, ancient friendship? Eternal rivalry?

Did the Queen have friends? Were any of Her rivals still alive?

“Well that’s something you don’t see every afterlife…”

Heimdall grunts beside you and bows his head, urging you to do the same as the two Queens march up the stairs and into the palace, not even glancing your way as they discussed something between them, Celestia and Luna walking off in the same hurried motion as the doors slam shut.

“That’s a fine hello…”

"You sound spoiled by the Queen’s attention, No-name.” Heimdall says. You grimace and look down to him, but he just keeps his eyes trained on the horizon. “We guard the Realm Eternal, that is all. The goings on of that meeting are not ours to know.”

“You see everything and you’re not the least bit curious about one of the places you’re NOT able to see?”

Heimdall nods “Aye, I see all there is…which means I see enough to know better than to pry. If you’re that restless, go patrol the upper ramparts.

Well, now Heimdall’s position as the Queen’s gatekeeper made sense, they both had the same sense of humor.

Time does what it does and passes, you pass it by counting how many steps it takes to circle the entire palace but boredom gets its hands in you after you pass 15,000.

From up here you can hear the grand doors open, see the attendants of the Celestial Court let out into the courtyard. Like back on Equestria, now would be the time when they’d hobnob and talk amongst themselves about whatever was discussed, Celestia called this time the time when real diplomacy happens and stressed its importance, so you try to give it time to happen before you start clearing the place out.

What makes it difficult though is when it comes to you.

You’re just about to head into the watchtower that leads down to the ground when you are stopped in your tracks, seeing Queen Ordalia standing before the doorway and looking your direction. Well, “looking” may be the wrong word for it because at this distance you can glimpse that beneath her sight blockingly long mane, her eyes are even closed.

Still when you sidestep her gaze a bit, her head turns with you, locking the two of you in some awkward tango.

You sigh inwardly and just resolve to brush past her, letting the gods have their business for today after the icy reception you got from Heimdall.

However, as you go to pass her left, Ordalia speaks. ”I come up here because of how loud you’re thinking through the summit and you don’t even have the decency to speak? You have Sleipnir’s manners.”

You mentally bite your tongue at the idea of her reading your thoughts, only later realizing that it wouldn’t really matter, and right yourself.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, Your Highness. I’m simply on my rounds.”

”Do not feed me lies, Anonymous. I am superior at seeing them than you are at telling them.”

“How do you know my-“ You turn back towards the Queen and get a bit uneasy. Despite her eyes remaining closed and her hair blocking her sight, you still feel the all boring eyes of the Goddess of Order looking through you. It was further than the sensation one felt when the Queen was mad at you, like this cosmic gaze saw all you were and all you could become at once, some queer relation to her having both eyes but none at the same time perhaps.

Ordalia leans in closer to inspect you. “Aahh…so that is her plan for you…but why? What lies at the end of that road…why do this, Sleipnir…”

You feel the gaze intensify enough that it actually starts to make your skin feel uncomfortable. Instinctually, you wave your hand in front of your face like you would wave off a fly and break the Queen’s gaze.

“Enough, enough. What? What plans?”

Ordalia recomposes herself in the briefest of moments, as her name implied.

”I cannot say.” She responds.

“Can’t? Or won’t?”

”Both.”

"Great."

You chew your teeth a bit. “Did you come up here for more than to look at me and provide vague and unhelpful commentary, Highness?”

You were a part of Sassgard these days too.

”Did I?” she asks. “Are you going to ask your question that you’ve been thinking all this time, or are you going to continue to think of awful puns?”

You simmer just a tad. You hate dealing with telepaths, partly because they were often always right.

You DID have a question burning a hole in your brain.

“Was there a point to all this?”

You had served under the Celestial Sisters for many years, and seeing them as cautious as they were had the hair on your neck standing up.

Ordalia turns her absent-yet-ever-present gaze over the city beneath you. ”Fear denies Faith, mortal.”

Well that was maddeningly unhelp-wait

“Wait wait wait…I’ve…I’ve heard that before, from Loki, and Baldur too.”

”Yes.” Ordalia says.

“But that was before I knew about…what happened to the Queen, and the Frost Giants, and those things underneath-“

”Say no more.” Ordalia commands, you shut up.

A tense moment passes between the two of you. ”The Silver City…holds within it the greatest library to ever exist, I ensure that. I record all there is inside its halls, neatly, safely.”

“Okay…”

”But what Sleipnir speaks to beneath the surface of the waves…I do not record, for that would tether it to the world more.”

You look the Goddesses motionless face over. “…You’re afraid of them, like She is.”

Ordalia doesn’t answer, simply looking ahead.

”Fear denies Faith…we learned such long, long ago. Before the realms were like…this.”

“I don’t understand. What does that mean though? Everyone is afraid of something.”

”You are not some simple brute, Anonymous. Do not act as such.” She commands before settling. “…Faith, the core of any god, is the power to act on something that you believe even when you do not have evidence for it. To trust that something you cannot see is there, to believe another loves you as you do, or that you may live to see another sunrise.

You quietly consider the truth of her words. “That you may survive another battle, I understand…”

Your mind flashes back to the conflict with Tirek, but you push it away remembering Luna’s jab earlier.

”Indeed.” Ordalia says. “Yet, within all living things resides the undulating black slither of fear…gnawing at the back of our minds and eating away at our faith. It stands in opposite to the Gods, for if fear were to spread further than Faith in us could hold, it could drive all that is to the mania at the end of that fear.”

Undulating…black…

”…If there were something that could unify that fear, an individual or an idea, then they could be the antithesis of the gods themselves.”

“Wait. Hold on, you picked those words deliberately. Is this about that black mass? The Etir? Does it relate to this…primordial fear?”

Ordalia doesn’t even try to meet your eyes, remaining quiet.

“And…an idea to unify it, would the end of the world be something like that?”

Now she speaks. “All who are fear the end…or at least most of them do.”

The tension returns to the air, you feel you won’t get any more answers out of Ordalia about this.

"How…do you know the Queen?”

”Mm?”

The fear Ordalia spoke of bites at you as you jump to conclusions in your head, but you remember the hassle Captain Geaus put you through making sure you had the guts to follow orders.

Listening to the beat of your own heart, you remember his most important lesson; You were breathing. While you breathe, you stand. While you stand, you fight. While you fight, you can still win. That lesson carried you through the grief of his death as well as dozens of other close calls, Tirek included. Compared to that, this fear was nothing, and you knew it. You steel yourself.

“You can read my mind but couldn’t see that question coming? Really? Everyone in the courtyard saw how…different she acted around you.”

Ordalia looks to the sky almost wistfully. “Perhaps…she was like that, once…” She looks to the limbs of the Yggdrasil, watching the cosmic wind move the leaves. “We’ve known each other since we were young, young and stupid. Known each other since…things happened.”

“Old friend then?”

”Of a sort, aye.”

“You know I’ve been told what happened when the Frost Giants attacked, I don’t remember you there…”

Ordalia is quiet for a moment. “I was busy with my own problems. I told Sleipnir taking a husband was a risk she was not prepared for…just like having a son.”

Again you sense that you won’t get anything more out of her.

A gust of wind rushes over the ramparts and draws Ordalia’s sight beyond sight. She sees something in that wind that only she could see. “Ahh…that is what you need then, hmm Slippy?”

Wait, Slippy?

Ordalia shrugs her shoulders and turns, making for the door. “Enough, Anonymous. You will get no more from me. If you desire more insight, use the Palantir you keep hidden on you so.”

You grimace and follow the Goddess, trying to lighten the mood. “Does everyone have to know about the secret amulet I have now?”

Author's Note

I actually had this ready almost two months ago and just forgot to prosify it. Aint life just quacking crazy?

A Day of Sun.

Celestia’s light gently graces the spires of Asgard as it shakes off the umbral blanket of the night. At least, you think it’s Celestia’s light. You’d no idea if the sunlight in the realm of the Gods was under her purview or not. Gods and godlings stir from their slumber as the radiant light calls them to another day in the life of Asgard under the watchful eyes of stone-faced guardians manning the colossal boarder walls surrounding the city who kept sentry through the night.

Welcome here or not, you couldn’t help but feel some closer kinship to those on the wall then within it.

You twist your ankle and bend your elbow as the light traipses down the courtyard you were in. A trio of quick THOK’s ring out against the palace walls as you strike the training dummy with your newly obtained sword. You pivot with your shield raised, ensuring you keep your target ahead of it as you backstep into a thrust to its midsection, a strike which you follow up with a vertical slash and a bash of your shield to its face. You had learned that from your fight mentor back in Equestria, though Shining took to the maneuver easier than you did.

So focused were you on your drill, you almost didn’t feel the presence behind you. ”You rise early,” comes from the walkway above.

You cease your drill and look up, beholding the Queen of Asgard looking down at you with a single emerald eye. “Lady Sleipnir!” You fall to one knee and place your sword point against the ground as you had done in court.

“Your Grace.”

”Rise,” you hear from your side.

You climb to your feet, finding Sleipnir next to now you inspecting the dummy. “The noise you were making caused a servant to believe there was something afoot. Martial training is not often a task one does at dawn.”

“Truly? I find it one of the best times, myself. The silence of the early dawn makes it easier to concentrate on my form and offers a serenity to the drills.”

You watch as she circles around the dummy like a predator.

“Besides, at my age I think I’ve slept enough for a healthy lifetime. I’ll do the rest when I’m dead.”

”Well said.” Sleipnir circles around to your other side and shifts her monolith gaze to you. “…Adequate strikes. You are already comfortable with the blade.”

“Oh, aye.”

You spin your blade in your wrist and level it with your shoulder “The length and guard are similar to my blade during the Secret Invasion of the Changelings some time back, and the weight is distributed like our old training swords in the Guard, albeit heavier overall.”

With another flick, you slide the blade back into its sheath without looking thanks to decades of practice. “Your daughter has as much an eye for blades as she does for mischief.”

”Perhaps a day will come when you will behold her collection of knives,” Sleipnir says, turning from you and walking along the path to the door. ”Clean yourself. Morning meal will commence soon, after which Baldur will further acquaint you with the city itself.”

Well, that decided your business for the day then.

You half-nod, half-bow. “By your will, Your Grace.”

Breakfast in Asgard had amounted to more food than you had seen in your entire life. The occupants of the royal palace save Loki you had noticed, all gathered in a dining hall that stretched farther than the eye could see that was stuffed with game and fish and hay and a mountain of sausage that you had gorged yourself on. Luck was on your side that there were so many different species in Asgard. Griffons, toga’d minotar, Kirin with two horns, the odd dragon or two. You could never get such quantities of meat in Equestria without asking.

Baldur sat with you some distance away from his Mother. during breakfast and regaled you with the goings-on of the palace and how things worked the entire time, remarking that without Loki or his other family here, he had no one to talk to. Something you were now discussing with him as you walk along the path from the palace.

“Six children? That’s quite a bit, even for a God, Baldur.”

”You are telling me, friend.” He replies. “I could appreciate one, perhaps even two or three, but SIX? There are not enough hours in the day!”

“Mm. Tell me about them.”

That gets him talking as you pass through the battlement gate and into the city proper.

”Well, Loki you know, the youngest of us. The oldest Scion of Sleipnir is Vidar, fathered by Thjassi at the end of the war which established the High Court of the Nine Realms.”

“Which is?”

”Where the rulers of the good realms upon Yggdrasil convene to discuss policy, No-Name.”

“Ah.”

”Vidar is borne of giants, Hill Giants specifically, and was to signify the end of the long and bloody war Asgard waged against the Jötnar before the Court was raised. Mother formed a union with King Thjassi to ensure neither kingdom would raise arms against its heir.”

“A clever tactic. Did it work? Is King Thjassi here? I’ve never met a giant before.”

”No, Mother slew Thjassi the year after Vidar was born when Thjassi kidnapped Iduun, claiming her to be a “better trade”.”

You nod your head. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…”

”Hel, No-name. Only one L.”

“What?”

Baldur ignores you as he leads you through the city streets. The stones beneath your boots are smooth and weathered, but not dirty from scuffs at all. Buildings and archways and statues are carved of the same smooth stone and all things are confined in boarders of mighty gleaming brass.

”Vidar left Asgard many years ago after a…disagreement with Mother, shall we say. He farms now!”

You nod “Not a poor trade at all, one of the best ponies I ever knew was a farmer.”

”I bet they weren’t as grumpy as Vidar!”

You laugh. “What’s the difference?”

”Hahn?”

“Between giants. One was the father of your brother while your Mother made mention of Frost Giants when she brought me here yesterday.”

The only frost you find at that moment crosses over Baldur’s face. The normally smiling unicorn’s eyes fall half over his irises, and the corners of his mouth reverse course and turn down. His armor seems to hold slightly less shine to it. “There are no Frost Giants…” he says.

The walk becomes a funeral march as the two of you part through those in the City of the Gods simply aiming to live their lives, though you feel as though you must be radiating death thanks to your words.

“I’m sorry, Baldur.”

He glances over at you curiously.

“I clearly misspoke.”

Baldur’s mouth turns to a tired smile and his armor begins to glow again with a simple laugh. “Pay it no mind, my friend. Hardly a story, I’d say…”

“Are there others?” you ask, trying to change the subject.

”Hmmm…only the Fire Giants, but they and their lord Surtr are locked away in Muspelheim until Ragnarok comes.”

“Fire, eh…? I’d hate to be there during the summer.”

Baldur’s cheeks expand like a stick of dynamite went off in his mouth as he stifles a laugh. His eyes regain the life they held within them as he devolves into a snickering fit.

An infectious one at that that spreads to you.

”Keep going.”

”Well -pftahaha- after Vidar is Tyr, God of War, Justice, and the Lord Commander of Asgard’s defense.” Baldur says. He stops and points behind the two of you, past the palace and the city beyond it on the other side. “I’ll bite my tongue as I’m positive you’ll meet him soon enough, his station is the Wolfkeep on yonder wall, guarding our Northern border.”

“A war god? I think you a seer, Baldur, I would be very interested in meeting him.”

Baldur laughs once and keeps walking through the city, pointing out sights and greeting many along the way. A quick aside from him told you he knew almost none of their names for how little he got out, but he would greet them as if they were family.

”Where was I?” he ponders. “Ah yes, after Tyr is my older brother Hermod, the fastest horse alive save Mother Herself! A pious disciple of Ratatoskr is he, as well as Mother’s messenger between the Nine Realms.”

“A-huh. And this Ratatoskr is?”

”The magic squirrel who carries insults between Veofolnir at Yggdrasil’s peak and Nidhoggr at its roots.”

“Oh. Of course, how foolish of me to ask.”

”I know!”

You and Baldur share a laugh. “After Hermod came me! Little Baldur.”

“What about after you?”

Baldur stops in his tracks and looks at you.

“You said their were six, you plus Loki makes five so was there someone else after you?”

”Haha…Yes, yes, Mj-“ Baldur is cut off by a fearsome growl coming from several streets over. Both of your ears turn to it, but only your feet immediately take off running.

”No-name, wait!”

“No time! Come on!”

You don’t look back, but you hear Baldur’s horseshoes against the pavement behind you.

The two of you burst onto a scene from the legends of the gods around you. Before a golden gate fought a beast whom you were intimately familiar with, who’s lion man flapped in the wind made by its bat-like wings and covered for its scorpion tail that jabbed over its head towards a trio of wary guards in gleaming armor. Under its legs did it batter at the shield of a figure you couldn’t quite see due to its body nearly covering it.

“Manticore!”

”Blast it!” Baldur shouts running up next to you. “He must have gotten loose from the menagerie!”

“I’ll get it back, you get the one its after!”

You leap from your elevated position to the street below. You hear Baldur shout “Wait, No-name!” but time is of the essence and a coordinated strike not an option if you wanted to save that poor soul underneath it. You dash past the guards, amazed at their cowardice, and let out a mighty yell as you rush forward with your shield braced by both hands.

Your roar frightens the beast for a hairsbreadth of a second, all the time you need to slam your shield into its face and push it back. The manticore roars in rage with blood leaking from its nose, letting you step over the fallen prey it was going for and get your sword out. The manticore screams in rage at you and swipes with its claws. You dodge the left swipe and block the right, keeping your distance for-

Your arm moves before your body reacts, raising your blade and parrying the dripping poison tail of the manticore.

“Quick one, aren’t you!”

You swipe wide with your shield to force it back further and deflect another blow with your sword, this time riposting and dragging a crimson line across its shoulder. A roar of pain from the beast tells you that it’s not used to being hurt and forces it to open its mouth, presenting your opening. As you pull your blade back to drive it into the mouth of the beast as you did with the Timber Wolf, a streak of gold rushes past your side screaming “NOOOOO!” and deflects your weapon off invincible skin, then a heartbeat later you’re tackled to the ground by the very guards you ran past.

”Halt!” ”Do not move!” ”Stay away from the Prince!” they shout.

“Wait, prince?”

Someone’s hoof comes down on your mouth and silences you, but you can still see Baldur rush up and calm the rampaging Manticore with some pats on the cheek and soft words.

“Mfffmm mffm mfm fffmm mf mfffm mm?”

”What?” asks Baldur, signaling for the Guard to remove his hoof.

“Ptew. I said ‘Baldur, what the Hel is going on?’. What’s this about a Prince?”

Baldur nods and looks to the Manticore, now calmed. “My nephew, Svaolifari.”

Your eyes dart between the manticore and your friend several times. “Your nephew is a manticore.”

Baldur gives a slight smile. “It is different for gods.” He looks to the guards and offers the same warm smile. “Alright my friends, we are all well here. I think we may put this ugliness behind us. No need to alert his mother or cause a scene, simply a misunderstanding.”

You hear the guard look at each other. “By your will, Your Grace.”

The pressure on you lets up and they head back to their posts. You push yourself up as Baldur goes back to his oddly shaped nephew. Just them, your mind goes to the one the Manticore was after.

A glance to your right lets you see it, a dark furred shape getting up from underneath a battered tower shield.

“Hail fellow, are you-“

You stop as you recognize it.

He stands about as tall as you were in a mix mash of leather and mail armor, covering all but his head. His dark fur, now matted in places with Manticore drool, gets straightened by his pawed hand going down his face and letting slitted green eyes lock with yours. He snorts through his snout as he identifies you as well and the both of you go for your weapons, his being a large axe at his feet.

Baldur catches the sound on the wind and dashes between the two of you. ”Wait! Wait! What is this! No-name, explain yourself! Rover! What are you doing here?”

“Get away from him, Baldur, he’s dangerous!”

Baldur snorts. “None are a danger to me, only from me.”

He sounds like his Mother when he speaks like that.

The diamond dog snarls and lowers his axe slightly “Rover remembers you…packs talk about two-leg in pony town before Rover comes here.”

“Yeah, me. And how’d you end up here, friend?”

Rover spits onto the ground. “Fell through a hole.”

“This is the face I wear when I believe people who lie to me.”

”He isn’t lying No-name.” Baldur walks around your side and over to Rover who relaxes slightly around him. “Rover is known to all of us, arriving by some whim of fate during a battle Tyr took part in. Tyr credits Rover for aiding in his victory and thus, was he offered shelter in Asgard.” Baldur’s eye drifts to Rover, but he still wears a smile. “But not without the occasional brawl at yonder tavern.”

Rover turns his head away from Baldur and snorts, Baldur himself straightens. “Apologies, friend Rover. No-name only arrived yesterday, you can remember the shock of being here, can’t you?” Rover looks between Baldur and yourself and growls slightly before relaxing. “Fine.” He picks up his axe and battered shield and skulks down the road. “Don’t let it happen again, Pony Prince.”

”I’ll try!” Baldur calls out.

You sigh and relax yourself, sheathing your sword.

“That makes two sorry’s I owe you, my friend.”

Baldur responds by tilting his head back so he’s looking at you upside down. “I shall place it upon thy tab.” He says, then sticks his tongue out at you.

You laugh, Baldur does too, both of you sharing it in the small alley.

”Come, let us return my nephew to his home in the Menagerie and treat him for his injury.” Baldur rights himself and begins walking, Svaolifari prancing close next to him. “Along the way I shall tell you of the fight that drove Vidar from Asgard and how he threw a barn at the palace!”

That indeed sounded like a tale.

Helpful Hermit.

You step out of the Bifrost tunnel onto the steadily charring grass and wipe your boot on a root.

“You know, eventually, someone like Zecora who lives out here is going to get upset that we’re making so much noise and burning her land.”

"If she choose to live out here, that her fault.”

Your…traveling companion steps out of the tunnel wrapped in a heavy cloak. You’re tall, but he’s taller still on his hind legs as he adjusts a wrapped boardsword on his back.

“Your compassion is inspiring.”

”This the Everfree. No compassion here.” Rover says.

”You’re both too dour!”

Baldur gallops out as the Bifrost closes and prances around you. “All this talk about who we’ll offend or what we’ll break! We’re on a quest, my friends! Enjoy it a little!”

Silence passes between the three of you and Baldur is eager to fill it. “Or is this because of the history you told me about?”

You glance over. “I don’t get along with Diamond Dogs.”

”Rover get along worse with guards.”

You meet his green eyes and feel the weight of years of animosity between you both.

In life, you’d mopped up and chased out more Diamond Dogs hiding in caves forests and rivers than you could ever hope to count, and the animosity is shared with the Diamond Dogs. For as long as you can remember your time in Equestria, the Diamond Dogs have been outlaws, rebels and general pains in the ass. Which made Rover volunteering for this directive from the Queen extremely strange. You decide to keep an eye on him.

“Baldur, tell me about this axe we’re after.”

The prince hops enthusiastically as the three of you head towards the edge of the forest.

”Most gladly! We seek the Freikugel! An axe crafted after the first great dragon hunt out of one of the bones of their mightiest chiefs! Stolen by thieves during the war with Svarthalheim, it fell to Midgard where we now have its traces again! Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to track down the Freikugel in this area and return it to-YAH!”

Your hand is over your sword in a flash when you turn around to see what the noise was. Rover had his he was about to lose on Baldur’s shoulder and was holding him back, the surprise causing the Prince to yelp. Just as you begin to draw steel, Rover speaks.

”Careful.” He says, casting his head to a field of blue flowers on the forest floor. “Poison joke.”

”Huh?” Baldur looks down to the flowers and pulls his hoof back from touching them. “Eep. Wait, I’m invincible, they can’t hurt me.”

”Won’t hurt.” Rover says. “Will play a joke on you, make quest harder.”

”No-name?” Baldur asks.

You slowly slide your sword back into its sheathe and stand up again.

“…Poison Joke is no joke, Baldur. He’s right.”

The prince accepts your input and smiles. “Right! Thank you Rover! It’s a good thing he’s here, right No-name?”

“Fantastic, Baldur.”

Rover keeps his snout shut as the three of you hike to the edge of the forest, but you hear him bark right as town comes into view.

”Wait.”

You and Baldur turn to see Rover kneeling down near a pile of…what looks like animal droppings, he fetches a crystal vial from inside his cloak and scoops some of the pile of goo up into it, corking it shut.

You and Baldur both exclaim your disgust.

“You did NOT just do that.”

”What?” Rover asks standing.

“Picked up…whatever-poop!”

A low chuckle escapes the wraps around Rover’s head as he laughs at you. “What wrong, human? No like get dirty? Don’t worry, not poop.”

”What is it then?” Baldur inquires.

Rover pockets the brown liquid. “Rock sludge. Rare, useful. Think it will help.”

Baldur’s eye sparkle at the goo and you rub your face. “Come on, let’s get to the castle…”

The sooner the better.

At castle in the center of town, Twilight floats several texts of ancient lore around her head trying to help you.

”Uhhh…what did you say this was called again?”

”Freikugel!”

”…Gesundheit.” Twilight says, checking another tome. Baldur stands by her, eager to help however he can.

You and Rover, a bit more aware that there’s no way you could help being as out of your elements as you were, sit back against the wall.

As you have for two hours.

“Twilight, have you got ANY good news for me?”

”Well “good” is really subjective, Anon. I think I might have news, but if it’s good? Weeellllll…”

“I’ll take anything at this point, Twilight. I’ve counted the books on the walls seven times now.”

Twilight giggles. “Only seven?”

You groan.

Twilight floats a scroll over to you. “The axe shares its name with the dragon chief who its apparently made of. Based on my research, Chief Freikugel’s anger and aggression were notorious, and according to some old magical theory, that may increase the aggression of whomever is holding it as well, if they’re unprepared for it.”

”That sounds dangerous…” Baldur chimes.

“Where could it be, then?”

Rover wastes no time pulling the twig he was chewing from his mouth. “Diamond Dogs, more than likely.”

All eyes quickly turn to him

“The Dogs? Why?”

Rover pulls his cloak down and rubs his snout. “Diamond Dogs not stupid, smarter than ponies believe. Dogs are split into lots of different packs wherever they live, always fighting, as dogs do.”

That was for sure.

”If one dog had magic axe, he would be Top Dog. He could get lots of other dogs in his den and they would follow him. If he aggressive, dogs would be too.”

The other three of you in attendance think.

Twilight rubs her chin. “An aggressive leader of the Diamond Dogs…WOULD explain how often Applejack’s had to chase them off her orchard.”

”If Dogs that close, they going to get closer. Packs didn’t go near ponies when Rover was around, too much magic.”

You, Twi, and Baldur exchange glances. ”The Diamond Dogs are close here, in the rocklands to the south…”

“And if he’s right, they’ll keep coming.”

”What do we do?” asks Baldur.

You chew your teeth and stand up. “It’s a hunch, but it’s also all we have. If Fido here is right and whoever has this axe comes knocking, the Guard won’t be able to get here fast enough.”

Rover stands after you. “Know how to get in, we can get axe.”

The thought of siding with the Diamond Dog isn’t one you really enjoy, but…

”Thank you, Rover!”

Baldur zips over and takes Rover’s paw in both hooves, shaking it with gusto. “I know we can count on you to help us retrieve the axe!” He turns to you. “We cannot leave the village unprotected. If I remain to ward off any attack with the princess, can you and Rover infiltrate the Dogs den and retrieve the Friekugel?” Baldur flexes his legs and glows slightly. “I fear I’m not equipped for a stealth mission.”

You look to Rover again. The dog snorts at you, but doesn’t seem to have any anger in his eyes as he tugs his cloak up over his face

You were severely lacking in options here, so you guess it’s time to take the dog for a walk.

The Everfree Forest stretches around Ponyville to the west and the south, with the rocklands and quarries just past it. You and Rover leave the castle and pick up an accelerated pace towards it, crossing through the forest. You were you worried about some Everfree monster derailing your excursion along the way? Mildly, but watching Mjolna flatten to Ursa’s the last time you were here made you braver.

The toppled stone column of an old ruin is no obstacle for your trained body with the power of the golden apple flowing through it, letting you leap over it in a single bound. You’re off on a tear, intent to find these mutts, get the axe back, and keep Ponyville safe from whatever they have hatching. That makes Rover saying “Stop” hard.

You skid a bit on the vines covering the floor of the ruin and have to grab ahold of the ground.

“What?”

Rover pulls his cloak down a bit and sniffs at the air. His emerald eyes sharpen as he gets closer to one wall in particular and keeps sniffing.

“We don’t have time for this, Rover!”

”Yes we do, wait.”

“Any longer and we’re going to be up to our eyeballs in dogs ready to burn Ponyville down, we can’t let that HAPPEN!”

Rover stops sniffing and looks to you over his shoulder. “Bright-pony there, he protects them.”

“Baldur is…”

Baldur.

“He can’t keep them all safe from a colossal pack of dogs.

Rover sighs while seeming to needlessly paw at the wall he was at. “You have soft spot for ponies. Rover understands. Rover had soft spot for dogs once.”

“It isn’t a “soft spot”, we’re supposed to prote-“

”Soft spot lasted until Rover got bit in the neck by Mandragora plant and left by the dogs he was with then ended up in Pony sky-palace.” Rover says before tearing down a blanket of vines hanging off the wall, revealing a clawed out hole behind it that descends down into the shadows below the ground. Rover glares at you from behind his cloak with the silent bubbling anger one reserves for a hypocrite. You swallow your shame and walk over to him.

“…What is this?”

”Hidden tunnel. Dog dens use for fresh air and secret exit. Ponies know where front cave is, but not all the exits.”

For all your years of serving as a guard, you’d never even heard of tunnel systems like this being employed by the dogs. You glance up to look at Rover as he stares silently down the shaft and have to accept that you may not be the expert here. You fought dogs, but he lived with them.

“Can we use it to get in?”

”If quiet.”

You squat down and feel out the width of the tunnel. Just big enough for you to crawl in.

“Keep close behind me, then.”

Music

The reason you told Rover to stay behind you was because he was bulkier than you, meaning it’d slow you both down if he got stuck.

That’s what you told him.

The real reason is you didn’t want to crawl on your hands and knees with a Diamond Dog’s rear-end in your face.

“Watch out, more crystals up ahead.”

You gently place your gauntleted hand around some of the crystalline growths protruding from the floor of the tunnel as you proceed.

You hear Rover grunt in acknowledgement as he comes across the same ones.

“Why do Dogs even want gems anyway?”

”Shiny.” He says.

“Do you eat them? Like dragons?”

Rover grunts as the passage tightens a bit. “No. Just want the shine.”

“That’s stupid.”

Rover’s growl echoes through the tunnel. “Dumb ponies want their shiny coins. Even sky palace ponies have silver bits they hoard.”

You open your mouth to respond but find nothing comes to mind.

“You got me.”

Rover continues. “Gems mean good den, good den means smart or lucky dog, smart or lucky dogs have better packs.”

“Which kind of dog were you? Smart? Or lucky?”

Rover simmers a bit. “Rover just wanted a quiet life away from other packs. Small pack, no headaches.”

“So a smart one then.”

You crawl along a bit further until Rover grabs your ankle and stops you.

“Wh-“

You look back to see what’s wrong and find him with his finger to his mouth, then pointing further down the tunnel.

Straining your ears, you hear the barking conversation of other Diamond Dogs.

Rover and you sneak further down the tunnel to a small area where it opens up a bit into a hole in the floor. You put your hand in old spiders-web once you get there and are forced to rub it off on your shield.

“Euch…”

Rover wordlessly silences you with a paw on your shoulder, directing his attention to the three Dogs around a fire beneath you.

”Shouldn’t we move cart to the bottom of the mine by now?” one asks.

”Taking a break, nothing wrong with that.” Another responds.

”Boss not like that at all…”

”Boss can go sniff poop.”

”You wish Boss would sniff your poop.”

The bigger one snarls. “You be careful or I make you sniff my poop.”

Rover narrows his eyes.

“What?” you whisper.

”Dogs from two different packs…brought together.” He whispers back. “And look.”

Rover points just past the relaxing dogs to a mine cart loaded full of gems by the edge of a cliff, a bit further down is a makeshift pulley elevator, something significantly more advanced than you’d seen Dogs produce before.

“So this is what happens when lots of you get together.”

”Mm. Trouble. Why I didn’t do it.”

You look the dogs over and your eyes settle on the fire, sparking an idea in you.

“Cover your nose…maybe your mouth too.”

Rover smells what you reach into your pouch and grab and complies quickly.

The plant inside the little bombs you dropped into the fire the dogs were kindling had some scientific name, you’re sure. Perhaps you’d ask Twilight when you got back to town.

Rainbow Dash called them “liquid ass” in the past, which will do for the time being.

The fire bursts the seals on the bombs and releases the stunningly noxious fume into the air. The sensitive snouts of the Diamond Dogs inhale the particles and send them howling backwards in shock.

“Now!”

You and Rover drop from the ceiling and descend on the dogs, kicking or pushing them to the ground and getting their weapons away from them. The dogs yelp and whine as you push them into the ground.

”Intruders! Intru-gak!” the one underneath your fist cries, choking on the stink in the air.

“That’s it Fido, breathe deep.”

”This one not Fido.” Rover says, forcing his two down with his large arms.

You shoot Rover a look of displeasure before turning back to the Dog.

“I’ve got more where that came from. Tell me which of you has the magic axe and I won’t make you eat them.”

The dog gasps. “How you know about Precious and magic axe?!”

Rover snorts at the name. You look back.

“Friend of yours?”

”Know her. She’s a bitch.”

Great. Female Diamond Dogs were hassles.

The one under you squirms. “Stop talking about boss like that!”

You push him down again.

“Let’s make a deal. Tell me where Precious is and you won’t hear another word out of me.”

The dog glares up at you, so you waft a bit of the gas towards him. He whines in protest as his resolve melts away.

”Bottom of the mine! Stop stink-gas now, its digging into my nose!”

His comrades growl and bark at the snitch.

“Thank you for your service…”

You ponder what to do with him and already feel your hand going towards your sword. The Dog here is at the perfect angle for a stab through the back of the neck, like you’d done many times before. But…

The thought of the reluctant ally at your back who lead you through the secret entrance just the last hour stays your hand.

You sigh. “Dammit…”

You press down on the dogs neck with your knee and fight him as he flails around. Quickly his eyes roll back and he passes out, letting you let up.

You stand up and look back to Rover who’s already done the same to his dogs. The two of you nonverbally communicate with your gaze.

“We’ll need to bind them.”

”Mm.”

“Got anything?”

”No.”

“Well we’re gonna need some-“

Strands of white silk from the ceiling descend onto the dogs and stick to them. “Hey you’se need a hand there soldja guy? We got a couple.” You hear from above.

Familiar fear bubbles up from your gut as the tarantula terrors lower themselves from further up the hole you and Rover had come out of. They wrap the unconscious Diamond Dogs in their webs and pin them to the walls while their leader, too big to drop down, eyes the two of you.

”You guys got any ideear how late it is? Whataya doin’ way down here at this ouwwah?” You see his mustache curl into a smile. “Don’ tell me, sometin with dem mutts, eh?”

Rover looks back at you, hoping for perhaps some clarification as to what accent that spider has. He must see your face because he asks “What wrong?”

You swallow the stress lump in your throat.

“Spiders were how I ended up in Asgard, alright? So these ones are bringing back some…unpleasant memories.”

The spider hears that. “Ohhhhh you must mean Packie! That louse is the only udda nest ‘round these pahts. He’s a bum, I tell ya! Gahbage!”

That’s…comforting, you guess.

You take a breath and look up to him. “Yeah, we’re here to do something about the dogs.”

”Top dog has magic axe. We need it.”

The spider laughs and swats some of his underlings down the hole who skitter past you. “Ha! Mutts clearin’ out mutts. Will wundas neva end? Lemme tell you somethin’ pupp-o. These caves was mine before that bitch moved in and pushed me and my boys up to the attic with that STUPID magical axe’a hers! You wanna clear her outa here? Then you an’ me?” He points his legs at the two of you then himself. “Solid.”

“…Thank you?”

”Hey don’t sweat it! Hahaha!”

The underlings begin spinning strands of web and letting them drop over the edge of the cliff this makeshift camp was near. Their boss keeps talking.

”This mine is one big empty space and Big Bitch is down at the bottom! My boys’n I will lend a leg since yer doin’ us a service…but don’t go countin’ on it in the future!”

Rover walks over to one of the spiders and looks down into the bottom of the mine. “We won’t.”

Without another word, Rover grabs the line of webbing and lets himself start being lowed. You go grab the web produced by the second one and silently push down your revulsion.

“It’s fine…it’s just a bit of fabric, don’t think of it as a secretion…”

The spider servicing you makes an almost offended face while his boss skitters up the hole out. “Good luck boys! Give’re a pop for me, eh? Hahaha!”

The sounds of spiders fade into the ambiance of the mineshaft as you and Rover get lowered down. The strands of silk in your hands were a bit tough to grab, but they hadn’t given out yet.

Rover remains silent next to you as he kicks off a wall to slide down more.

“How old were those dogs?”

”Mm?” Rover looks over. “Pony years? Maybe two.”

“Mm…”

You felt a bit better letting young pups go, even if they might just end up back in your way eventually. They’d at least get the chance to live better.

“How old is Rover in pony years?”

”Eleven.” He says before hopping further down.

“Wow, you might even be older than me.”

”Mm.”

Silence falls again, but you try to push it way.

“Why’d you come down to do this mission, Rover? You avoid everyone in Asgard, they tell me.”

Rover sucks his teeth behind his cowl. “Pony guards pick fights. Rover just wants to be left alone, that all Rover ever wanted.” Rover continues to hop down, the floor getting ever closer. “But can’t live a life without doing stuff for others, need gems for food and silver bits even after Rover’s dead. Have to learn to use a sword, learn to fight, just to keep living after Rover already died.”

Rover spits. “All crock. Rover never prayed to ponies, don’t know why he’s stuck with them after he died.”

You slide down after him.

“If you’re called, there’s got to be a reason. Maybe you just haven’t met it yet.”

Rover heaves a long sigh. “Better tell it to hurry. Rover is too old for this poop anymore-“

A twirling missile from below arcs up and strikes the wall, momentarily radiating red lightning before the wall explodes outward and severs the lines you and Rover have.

You twist in freefall to try and land in a way that won’t break your legs, settling for impacting on your shield which you’re sure only just dislocated your shoulder. Rover lands in a heap next to you as rubble peppers your heads.

“What in-“

“Hey now! What we got here, pair of blighters come for a thrashin’?”

”Precious” is anything but. Standing on the top of a protruding stone at the floor of the mine and holding her arm out. Like you’d seen with Mjolna, the weapon that struck you off the side of the wall flings back to her and lands in her paw.

Unlike Mjolna, this sickly weapon of bone and wood thrums with an ethereal presence, radiating crimson lines of energy through itself just waiting to get out that go all the way down the hilt up the Diamond Dog’s arm. You look and see her heavy panting in time with the power, telling you they’re probably too close for comfort already.

”Come on then, get up, ya bastards!”

You both push yourself to your feet. Precious hops down from her rock, resting the Friekugel on her shoulder. “Come for me treasure? That’s a right mistake there, innit? You see what I did to that wall?”

Rover coughs and stands to his full height, letting his hood drop off him. “Don’t care why you’re doing this. Give Rover the axe, or he’s going to hurt you.”

You draw your sword from its sheath, the ice blade Loki gave you.

“If she’s anything like the other mine maniacs, she’s trying to “unify the dogs” or something.”

Precious hears that, then laughs heartily. “You thinkin’ I wanna LEAD this lot! I could find a better crew in the rocks ‘round here, least they listen! I scored this wicked axe off an old tomb or another and look how strong it made me! Now these idiots just follow me around, tryin’ ta put puppies in me or get walloped by me. They can hang around so long as they bring mummy her gemmies!”

You glance over to Rover.

“I stand corrected.”

”Mm.”

”You know?” Precious says “I think they might be a bit puckish. Dinner’s on, boys!”

Precious throws her head back and howls up into the mineshaft, a howl that’s quickly joined by every other voice it can find until it becomes nearly deafening, followed by the rapid advance of a stampede of Diamond Dog paws racing towards the passageway to your rear.

Rover turns to the noise coming from the passage and hisses. “Buy me a minute!”

“That’s all you get!”

You draw your blade along with the rime of winter and charge low at Precious while Rover digs his paw under his cloak. Ice trails through the air as your weapon clashes with Precious’ and you gasp when you see it up close. Energy wasn’t the only thing flowing from Freikugel into Precious, growths of bone from the weapons hilt were extruding from it and piercing into her skin as anchorage.

“What in the Hel are you doing?!”

”Heh, like it?” she asks. Precious pushes against the head of the axe and sends sparks of power up into your face, forcing you back. “I think it fits me!”

Clearly this dog was a few bones short of a pile.

”Maybe I’ll show you how I do it when me boys’re tearing you apart.”

”Boys can watch.” You hear Rover say behind you.

The friendly Diamond Dog produces a small vial of brown goop from his cloak and throws it behind him. It shatters against the top of the passageway and emits a sizzling sound with accompanying smoke as the gunk chews away at the foundation stone, bringing the ceiling of the only way into the arena down. The dogs almost through screech to a halt to avoid getting crushed.

With his other hand, Rover reaches for the greatsword on his back, more a slab of metal than a weapon now that you see it shed its wrappings, and lets it slam into the ground. Orange runes thrum to life on the blades body and you feel the temperature rise.

Precious laughs a howling laugh and takes a proper grip of the axe.

“I don’t think she’s willing to surrender.”

”They never are.”

You and Rover charge Precious.

Music

Within seconds you learn something you wish you’d known earlier. Rover is MUCH faster on his feet than his size would suggest.

Despite you being ahead of him, Rover is able to charge past you and meet Precious’s axe with his own blade. He follows with a flurry of strikes so wide you nearly need to duck his follow-through to avoid a beheading. Sparks and licks of flame break off the surface of Rover’s sword as it meets the Freikugel and singes its wielder. She pushes back and grins up at Rover. ”Get why ya wear a cape now.”

”Mhm.”

Another set of sparks from the weapon drives Rover back, but having seen it before prepares you. You charge in behind your shield to avoid the worst of the damage and slice at Precious’s chest, leaving chilling gashes at the edge of your blade.

”Grah! Smarts!”

“Mind if I cut i-ah crap.”

Precious grins a sadistic grin as she raises the Friekugel above her head with both arms. Sparks fly from the weapon when she brings it down in a strike that shakes the entire mine. The force of the attack disrupts your footing and pushes you back, leaving you open for an uppercut that cuts a line clean through your breastplate.

You suck in as much air as you can in momentary panic before hopping back and hazarding a glance down, seeing the clean cut and singed chainmail beneath letting you know how many centimeters your life was saved by. One of the slabs of stone kicked up by Precious’s attack has a flaming line cut through it as Rover pushes towards the top dog’s back. Her eyes wide with anticipation of the strike, she raises her axe. What she does not anticipate is Rover grabbing one of the large stones and slamming it into her head to send her flying into the wall.

Rover snorts in your direction. “Still alive?”

“Same to you, Fido.”

The Diamond Dog growls as sparks erupt from the dust where Precious landed.

Banter would have to wait; you needed a plan now and a Diamond Dog isn’t exactly an articulate ally.

You think run through everything you know as the dust starts to clear and settle on something.

“Get her attention!”

Rover finds that request not difficult in the slightest. Precious dashes out of the cloud of dust, empowered by the Freikugel and foaming at the mouth mad, towards Rover. The dog you’re not here to kill barely brings his blade up in time to deflect the oncoming attack, raining a shower of sparks and power raining down over the arena.

The lights and flashes illuminate the eyes of the Dogs watching from the levels above like rabbits in the torchlight after dusk. Precious’ underlings watch enraptured by their leader in her mindless fury swinging a glowing axe like a thing very probably possessed. Their nature to follow the strongest overpowering their desire to win, watching and waiting to see which dog would come out on top, their insane leader or the mysterious newcomer with the flaming sword.

Rover has experience over Precious, but the bitch has youth on her side. Her axe swings in fast and deadly arcs that only barely get deflected by an edge of Rover’s sword. Your ally grits his teeth as he’s pushed further back by the relentless assault of Precious until a single massive strike from above forces him back a good eight feet.

Rover pants as a trickle of blood runs down his head and Precious lets her jaw hang. ”GOTCHA!”

She rushes towards Rover just as you make your move that you pray works.

With a small leap, you angle your arctic blade downward and drive the tip into the stone at your feet. Ice explodes from your sword in a radius around you and rapidly expands far enough to get under Precious’s feet.

Paws not designed for traversing ice scrape and claw for purchase while her momentum continues her towards Rover. The Diamond Dog, catching on quickly, rotates his blade and thrusts it forward.

A startled yelp covers up the sound of a blade piercing through Precious’s body

Precious mouth hangs agape as tears well up near the corner of her eyes that look to the top of the mine. She futility paws at the blade sticking through her chest as the blood drains from both ends of her body onto the floor, its warmth rapidly melting the ice.

With her final breath, the former top dog sneers at the sky she can’t see.

”D-dammit…it was supposed to be…easy…” she says with a final cough.

As the light leaves Precious’s eyes, her grip on the Freikugel laxes until the axe clatters to the ground, the red jewel in its head dimming until it sits inert.

Rovers breath comes in rapid pants as he relaxes his blade arm, finally sure that the enemy is dead. With a deep, calming breath, he looks up to the pack that watches. Rover barks once, loud and sharp and echoing through the mine. The dogs each in turn drop their weapons or tools, get on all fours, and run for the exits.

You chuckle and pull your blade from the ground. “So…does that make you top dog now?”

Rover lets out the breath he’s holding and begins to try and pull his blade from Precious’s corpse. “No.”

“I see. You’re welcome for the assist.”

”Didn’t thank you.” Rover says, finally freeing his blade from Precious’s torso and looking down at her. “…How she like this? Stronger, faster, more vicious.”

You follow Rover’s eyes to the dead dog, now looking more pathetic than her jacket and attitude would suggest in the embrace of death.

“Power requires sacrifice…so they say. I suppose she couldn’t give enough for the axe.”

Rover nods grimly and re-sheathes his sword. The two of you examine the axe in closer detail, you see the gashes in Precious’s arm where the axe ripped its bone protrusions out as well.

“Euch…let’s not touch that. Give me your cloak.”

Rover poker-faces, but obliges and removes his shroud, beneath which he was wearing a simple tunic and armor rig.

Carefully, gently, you wrap the Freikugel in the cloak of Rover and heft it up upon your shoulder.

“I’ve had my fill of this place, you?”

Rover looks to his dead kin one final time and nods. “Too much. Let’s leave.”

“If we can find the entrance.” You say, walking in any direction.

”We call for spiders, they show us the way.”

“Wonderful, lead by spiders…we’ll be lucky to have this back to Twilight by sunrise.”

Rover gets grimmer. “You know she will be talking once she looks at it.”

“I’d rather that than have to deal with that bitch again, wouldn’t you?”

Rover is silent for a bit before responding. “Eeeeeehh…barely.”

Your laughter echoes through the mine system as the two of you search for a way home.

Author's Note

Phonetic accents are hard.

Fancy Disguise.

Less than an hour after Loki tracked you down and demanded to see a seamstress, you, her, and Twilight were at, where else, Rarity’s boutique that you never recalled the name of.

And it was your turn up in front of the mirrors first to get measured. Goody.

”Oh Anonymous.” Rarity says as she floats around you like a shark. “We MUST do something about your skin, it’s so filthy!”

“I live a very physically demanding life, Rarity, some dirt under my nails isn’t the worst of my worries.”

”Hmph!” she pouts. “Well it is simply not proper etiquette for a high society party to walk in smelling like a stable!”

“Hey, I take offense to that.”

You do NOT smell.

You glance in the mirror and spot Loki sitting next to Twilight behind you, giggling at how uncomfortable you are.

“Explain this to me again, yeah? Why are we going through all this rigamarole to get into a party full of ponies none of us know?”

”It’s not for the guests, No-name! It is for the potion!”

“WHAT potion?”

”That!...Will all be revealed in time!” she exclaims.

You make sure Loki can see your face, you are NOT amused. “I’ve never been to the Grand Galloping Gala and I REALLY can’t say I’m looking forward to it.”

Rarity gives a hoighty laugh. “Oh DO come now Anonymous, this isn’t the Gala! There’s just no WAY I could design garments for an event as prestigious as the Gala in just a few short days!”

”She’s right.” Twilight says. “This is just some sort of fancy-pancy high society party.”

You mean rich people went through all this more than once a year? And it could get WORSE than this? That thought alone is enough to make you wish you’d die again.

”Alright, I have what I need from you.” Rarity says.

Finally…

You step off her little stand thing and go to sit down as Loki jumps up. “I am next! Show me your skills, seamstress!” “WHY are you bringing me along for something you clearly need stealth for? It’s not like I blend in.”

”Because I just NEED you to be there to make sure it gets done, No-name, alright?!” Loki snaps.

The air in the room hangs silently for a minute after her outburst, you have to admit that you’re a bit shocked.

“…Alright, fine. Relax.”

Loki looks you in the eye and for a moment almost seems to be embarrassed, but quickly gets on the fitting stand and turns away from you. Twilight speaks. “Uh…Princess, can you tell us more about where we’re going?”

”The estate of some mortal noble I’ve been secretly using as an agent down here for a year or so. Now that we gods are out in the open and I have No-name, I no longer need him.”

“Who’s he?”

”His name is…Blue…something-or-other.”

Rarity unleashes an extremely un-ladylike groan. “PLEASE tell me you don’t mean THE Prince Blueblood.”

”Yes!” Loki says, nodding. “That’s it! I remember his name sounded like that.”

Rarity groans again, Twilight cringes.

“Something I’m missing?”

”Let’s just say the Prince and Rarity have had…a bad experience in the past.” Twilight says.

“Faaaaaaaaaaaantastic.”

Loki looks at her flank in the mirror. “This won’t make me look too big, will it?”

Just. Fantastic.

As Rarity promised, a few days later and you’re standing before a fancy estate tugging at the collar of your shirt and sweating it out in the warm weather. Before you, past the gates, you could see many ponies of clearly shall we say…”advanced” birth milling about and having astoundingly inane conversations with one another about astoundingly inane topics such as croquet, the stock market, and the outcome of the latest episode of Game of Thorns.

In short, everything that stupid people talked about, just with stuffy accents.

“None of these fools have had a hard day in their lives.”

To your sides come your compatriots; Princess Twilight Sparkle, who got you in here in the first place, Rarity, who actually knows her way around a social battlefield such as this, and “Brenda” who insisted on picking her own name and insisted it didn’t make her stand out.

Your eyes drift down. “Loki, that disguise isn’t going to work. No one has ever, in the history of Equestria, had a cutie mark that was just nine lines like that.”

”You wouldn’t get it, No-name. And shhhh! I told you my name is “Brenda”.”

Right. Your face must have betrayed something because “”Brenda” just puffed her cheeks and stomped away towards the party. “Oh why do I even waste my breath!”

“Something I said?”

You look down at Twilight and shrug, she shrugs back. ”Don’t ask me, she’s been acting strange since we started all this.”

You roll your eyes, all you wanted to do was get this done so you could go back to almost being smashed to paste by monsters and worrying about the apocalypse.

You know, normal things.

“Rarity, any advice before we get in here?”

Rarity takes a minute to answer you, or indeed notice you’re even there. “Hmm? Sorry darling, I’m just…using my observational skills to try and find our “dear” Prince Blueblood…uhg.” You’d never seen Rarity make that face before, like someone who stepped in slime. “I’d very much like to avoid being in the same room as him, if I can help it. It would also probably be a good idea to find a quick exit.”

You nod, she was speaking your language.

“Right, if we steal this potion and need to escape, it’d make tactical sense to know where the exits are.”

”Hmm?” Rarity says. ”Oh, no, I meant in the event that I end up hitting him.”

Later, inside the party…

“A-huh…nope, no, I can’t believe either that the tree was his real father and that the last book isn’t out yet…a-huh…”

The noble you’re talking to, some senator or councilmember or someone’s father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate or something just…keeps talking, keeps blabbing. It all sounds like a dying animal to you and you can’t make out a word of any of the dribble.

You’ve had several concussions over the years, felt your brain smash against the inside of your skull, and none of it quite compares to the mental damage this lady is doing to you.

Just as you’re about to scream, the lights in the room switch off, letting a pair of spotlights illuminate a large staircase. A voice speaks over the room from a speaker. “Hahaha. Everypony, put your hooves together for our host, our Prince, you know him! You love him! Prince BLUEBLOOD!”

Everyone claps as a very top-heavy pony, one with the golden locks of the sun, exits a curtain and basks in his adoring public. “Thank you! Thank you all for coming! All of you look lovely tonight!” As the clapping intensifies, you escape from your prison and make your way to Loki, who’s watching the descending prince and slightly prancing from one hoof to the other, like a cat waiting to be pet.

“Alright, he’s out. How do you want to pla-are you cold?”

Loki opens her mouth to talk and you can actually see her teeth chatter, even her lips look a bit blue. “N-n-n-no, No-name. J-just focus on the task at h-hand.”

“Loki, it’s summer, how can you be cold?”

”B-brenda!”

You begin to correct her when a gleam from the prince’s neck gets in your eye.

Looking, you see that dangling on his chest like an overripe gourd is a gold fitted amulet with a massive sky blue jewel in the center.

”There it is…” you hear Loki say.

Wait, what?

“I thought we were after a potion?”

”Th-that IS the potion, No-name! A simple spell can turn the it into a stone! Fool doesn’t even know he’s wearing what’s basically an amber around his neck.”

Okay, that’s about as good as anything else. You glance around the crowd as the prince continues to schmooze, clocking ponies with especially watchful eyes atop the staircase, by the windows, and on either side of the doors.

“There are guards everywhere… and we’ll need to separate him from it if we want to nab it without being see. How do you want to play this?”

”Maybe we can help?” you hear.

You and Loki turn to look, finding Twilight and Rarity behind you.

“You have a plan?”

"I’m not ALL book smarts, Anonymous! I’ve spent the last three days and the entire ride over here concocting a masterful plan!” she says, rubbing her hooves together. “Muhaha!”

Loki was a bad influence…

“Are you going to hypnotize them?”

”Nope!”

”Oh! Turn them into toads with your magic?” Rarity asks.

”Nuh-uh?”

”Melt them into goo?”

Everyone turns and gives Loki a look. ”…What? I’d p-put them b-b-back…”

”None of those!” Twilight exclaims, turning to Rarity.

”Then, darling, how on earth are you going to do to get him away from that necklace?” Rarity asks.

Twilight smiles at her friend.

Rarity just looks back, until a thought eventually dawns on her. “…No!”

Twilight just smiles wider.

”Absolutely not!”

And wider.

”NO!”

There are sparkles in here eyes now

”STOP!”

Twilight didn’t stop.

Minutes later you find yourself sneaking through one of the halls with your companions by your side following nothing but the trail of guards and “Brenda’s” “intuition”.

”You two need to hurry!” Twilight whisper-shouts. “I don’t know how long Rarity can suppress her reflex to vomit!”

What Twilight said was true, even you weren’t sure how long Rarity could last after the look of disgust she gave when Twilight suggested what she suggested.

Attempting to put on a seduction act for prince Blueblood to get him to take the amulet off and keep the act up long enough for you to retrieve it.

“Twilight, if you don’t calm down, they’ll hear us.” You whisper-shout back.

“And what do you mean ‘you two’? You’re here as well!”

”Both of you shut up! I can’t deal with you and this heat!” Loki whispers, sweating visibly.

“Oh NOW you’re aware what season it is?”

”SHHH!”

”Captain!” you hear a haughty voice call. Peering around the corner, the three of you see Blueblood down the hall approach one of the guards. He looks mighty pleased with himself.

”Highness?” the guard asks.

The prince flips his hair and plays a faux-bashful hoof at his chest. “Aha…one of my old flames has blown in with the wind and wants to…’reignite’ things, be a sport and watch the Blue Blood Gem for me until I finish up with her?”

“Nice name, you goon…”

”Shh!”

The guard salutes. “Of course, highness.”

Prince Blueblood enters into a door behind the guard with the amulet, you have to put your hand on Loki’s shoulder to stop her.

“No, let him come out. We want as few witnesses as we can.”

You shouldn’t need to tell her of anyone around that.

Prince Blueblood soon leaves the room, neck bare, and waves a hoof nonchalantly at the guard. “Don’t wait up! Aha!”

”Hang on Rarity…” you year Twilight say.

You loosen your tie and role your sleeves up.

“The picture on the wall just past him, make it drop.”

You don’t wait for a response and take off in a full sprint down the hall. Twilight gasps behind you and reaches out with her magic, causing a massive, framed painting of several ponies and cows, a Claud Moo-Niegh painting you think to drop to the floor. The guard reacts in shock to something that costs more than his house falling and nearly gets a call for help out before both your feet connect with his face after you launch into a double-drop kick.

You and the guard both scramble before you get him into a sleeper hold. “Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep.”

The guard fights for a bit, but he’s no match for decades of experience and a body supported by magic golden apples. The girls gallop up behind you and get the door open, you take the chance to drag the guard in with you.

It’s a veritable vault beyond the door, with ancient Cataphracti armors adorning the walls alongside old crossbows from the griffon kingdoms before they discovered black powder, tomes and relics line the sides of the room and in the back, at the end of a red carpet, the gemmed amulet rests on a dais.

Twilight squees at the fount of knowledge in here.

Loki sighs in relief. “Finally!”

The godling runs off towards the amulet, against your better judgment.

“Loki wait-!”

When she gets close, Princess Loki is lanced by several bolts of blue magic.

You cough your way through the smoke, the image of her being hit burned into your brain.

“LOKI!”

”Anonymous!” you hear Twilight call.

“Watch the guard!”

You push the guard’s sleeping body against the wall and rush into the vault.

“LOKI! ANSWER ME!”

You hear deep coughing on the other end of the room and race towards it, eventually running face first into something large, cool, and blue.

“Gah, what?”

”D-don’t look!”

Loki?

“What’s wrong with your…voice…”

The smoke from the magical trap clears and you aren’t very sure what you’re meant to be seeing. Loki was always short, but now she’s tall. She was taller than Celestia, taller than her Mother, taller almost than her brother. Her normally green coat was now a greyish shade of blue with a mane as dark as night hanging from her nape. Red, goat-like eyes look down at you with fear below two horns of eternal frost jutting from her head. When she sees you see her, all she can do is gasp and cover your face with a cool air.

You can put two and two together, you know what you’re seeing. You don’t know how or why, it should be impossible, but here it was before you.

“…A Frost Giant…”

”Don’t say it” you thought. “Don’t say ‘well you don’t have to worry about the DRESS making you look big’.”

”I SAID DON’T LOOK!” Loki shouts, her voice bellowing and deeper thanks to her new size.

“It’s hard to when you take up half the room!”

”SHUT UP!!”

”Princess Loki?!” you hear Twilight exclaim. Loki looks like she’s about to scream at being seen by Twilight.

This was, very obviously, bad. Loki’s state was causing her no small amount of distress, which was causing Twilight no small amount of distress. Hel, it was causing YOU no small amount of distress what with the whole “Seeing the Giants exterminated” thing you went through recently, but someone had to take the wheel here.

“Hey!”

Loki looks down at you, about to speak but you cut her off with your soldier-voice…and using your hands to clamp her mouth shut.

“You’ve been acting strange all night and now we know why, the cat’s out of the bag. I’m not sure whatever reason there is for it, but I know that if we lose our cool now, you’ll be explaining this to me at the bottom of a dungeon, and THEN your Mother will come get us and figure out what happened.”

That gets Loki-the-Giant’s attention, and you finally detect the first hint of her intelligence behind those strange eyes of hers.

“You clearly came in here with some sort of plan before you rushed ahead like an idiot, tell me what you need me to do to help you and then let’s do it and you can explain all…THIS later, alright?”

After some ragged breaths to get herself under control, Loki nods. You remove your hands.

”The amulet, get it and get that jewel off.” she says.

“What about the defensive spells?”

”They all hit ME. Do you think I look like this because of them? They would have killed me if I weren’t a master of magic! Their force was so great that they broke my ability to hide…THIS!”

Well, at least Loki was sounding more herself now.

You quickly grab the amulet off the dais and don’t burst into flames, which is a good start. With some bashing and prying, you manage to free the jewel from the hastily attached base.

“Got it!”

”Okay, now hold it to my horns!”

Loki bows her head down and to let you hold the blue amber to her horns, you feel the icy chill of Jotunheim seeping off of them and, to your alarm, the amulet starts to melt like ice left in the sun.

”You two need to hurry! He’s waking up!” Twilight calls.

“HANG ON!”

The amulet continues to paradoxically melt and now almost starts to run down your hand.

“Loki this-“

”-doesn’t make any sense! Yes! That’s why it’s called ‘mysticism’ and not ‘everyone-knows-what’s-going-one-icism’! Put it in my mouth!”

You drop the melting stone into Loki’s mouth where she quickly tilts her head up and back, letting the potion-turned-amulet-turning-potion drip down her throat. With an icy exhale that frosts the ceiling, Loki melts the remainder of the amulet and drinks of the potion you all came here for.

As quickly as she transformed, but nowhere near as explosively, Loki shifts. Her swollen body shrinks as the potion goes down her gullet, her icy blue skin returns to its “natural” shade, her horns recede into her head and her eyes right themselves. In moments, you’re back to looking at the littlest thorn-in-your-side.

Loki looks down at the floor forlornly and coughs, her mind clearing of the odd stupor she’s been in all night. ”Yuck…no one said it tasted like that.”

“Hey.”

Loki looks up to you, seeming exhausted.

“Are you okay?” is all you can ask.

Loki sighs and closes her eyes for a moment. “No, I’m not…but I am back to myself. We should get out of here as quickly as we can, I…don’t want to be here.”

You nod, looking to the door. Twilight is panicking at everything going on, but you quickly help her out by putting your knee on the guard’s neck and ensuring he dozes a bit longer.

“I’m not a wizard but I’m sure Blueblood either knows his necklace is stolen or soon will, even as distracting as Rarity can be. We need to find her and then somehow get through an entire party crowd without being seen.”

Loki laughs a true noblewoman’s laugh, the “Oh ho ho” kind. “No need to worry, No-name.”

“And why is that?”

With a flash, Loki assumes the form of one Prince Blueblood, she wordlessly opens the door and walks out into the party.

”Mares and Gentlecolts! I’ve come to say the Z-word!”

Oh no-

Within twenty minutes, the three of you are sitting in the back of a carriage fleeing the estate, Rarity hangs off the side, trying to induce vomiting after Blueblood apparently tried to prench-kiss her, and leaving the three of you to watch the chaos unfolding at your rear.

“I’ve never seen a building that big empty so fast.”

”Yeah…” Loki says.

Twilight chimes in “I thought there was going to be a riot!”

"Yeah…”

“Shame about the fire.”

”That one actually wasn’t me.” Loki says.

The three of you sit silently, the elephant in the room getting bigger.

"So-“

Loki belts out before you can finish. ”I’ve always been like that, No-name! Yes! Shock and surprise! Forget what you once knew! Your beloved Loki has, all this time, been a Frost Giant of Jotunheim!”

Okay, just getting right into it.

“Loki there ARE no Frost Giants.”

”And yet here I am.”

“But you’re a shapeshifter.”

”Uhg, don’t insult me.” She says. “An ignoramus like you can’t tell, but that wasn’t ‘shapeshifting’, it was transformation.”

“Is there a difference?”

”Mhm.” Twilight nods. “A pretty big academic one, actually.”

A-huh…

“So the potion?”

”Commissioned by me some years ago for this very eventuality. In the event that I was to…lose control, drinking it would empower me to get myself back into form.” Loki pouts and looks at the estate. “How one of my pawns got it, I’ll never know. Perhaps I tipped my hoof one time…”

Twilight perks in. “But still, this is fascinating. Even as a shapeshifter, there you need a potion to aid you in assuming normal pony form?”

Loki looks uncharacteristically sullen. “It suppresses my true nature…let’s me be who I am.” She watches the road at the end of the carriage. “I don’t lie when I say I don’t know…what the significance of my ‘true self’ is, you two, nor why there “aren’t” any of me. It’s just…always been this way since I was born. Perhaps it always will.”

You don’t know if Twilight can tell, but you put your hand in front of her stealthily. Loki was being self-reflective, that was enough to put you on guard. You can detect the library’s worth of what she’s not saying, but your recent experiences have taught you when to sometimes let sleeping Diamond Dogs lie.

“Loki, I can tell you want some…distance from this, and I’m willing to give it. But my last words on the matter are that I think you need to make sure your Mother knows about this, if nothing else so it doesn’t happen again.”

Loki looks to the sky, catching a pair of black birds just as they pass in front of the moon. “I’m sure She already does…” she says. “Uhg, enough. Let’s just…drop it and listen to your friend vomit…” Loki says, turning her head from you and Twilight.

You silently meet the godlings demands and take one last look back at the chateau.

You snap your fingers.

“Chateau Boutique, that’s it. Been bugging me for days…”

Author's Note

Rumors of my death were not greatly exaggerated. I did in fact die, but found it to be boring, so I stopped.