Chapters Chapter Three: Faraway
“Jötunheim!” hissed Sin, as she and Antares rolled his eyes even as grinned in spite of himself at his sister. “Jötunheim! We're going to Jötunheim! We're going to the home of the fucking giants!”
“I know, Sin, but tell the whole world, why don't you?” Antares asked wryly as he returned his attention to his packs, ensuring that his equipment was securely packed before he fastened them shut, muttering: “Okay, that's enough gear to camp comfortably for a week. Not that we really need the food, but it's nice to have a snack now and then.”
“Hey, I need the food!” Sin complained immediately, and then she picked up her own pack and simply flung it into a rift that opened beside her, Antares wincing before the portal slammed shut and Innocence grinned as she pointedly poked the silver bracelet she was wearing. “And you said this was dumb.”
“It is dumb. I can't wait for your pocket dimension to blow up and kill us both.” Antares said dryly, and then he shook his head as he picked up the cloak he'd been supplied with, looking critically over it as he added wryly: “Also we're going to be horses in a world where horses don't talk. I don't think these cloaks are going to do a lot of good.”
Innocence snorted, then she flicked her horn, her own cloak sizzling with magic energies before it neatly dropped itself over her body, the mare sniffing disdainfully beneath the cowl that covered her head. “You're just jealous because I look cooler than you.”
“Everyone's going to think you're a dragon. What am I going to be to them, half a centaur?” Antares asked pessimistically as he slipped into his own cloak, before both ponies looked up from the table as Nistle floated carelessly by.
“The portal to Jötunheim will be open in a few moments. We recommend you finish your preparations now.” it said gently, and then it soared past the two to the other side of the room, where a portal ring was crackling ominously with energy being fed down into it from two coils of wire that fed down from the ceiling.
Antares and Innocence looked at each other, and then the stallion rose a hoof and asked lamely: “Can I go home and get my shield, please? We're not all like Sin, just. Summoning stuff out of the air. I don't have the magic points for that.”
“No.” Nistle said pleasantly, before the shapeless creature turned its head and clicked its tongue, and Antares blinked in surprise as a rack of weapons appeared with a crackle of dark energy in thin air. “But you may choose what you desire from here.”
Sin huffed, crossing her forelegs and mumbling: “I could totally do that, I just don't want to.”
Antares ignored his sister as he studied the rack quickly, then grabbed a silver buckler off the rack, knocking his hoof against it before he shrugged and slipped it onto his back, smiling slightly when it magically bonded itself to his cloak. “It'll work for now. Thanks uh... kiddo.”
“We are seventy years old.” Nistle corrected, in a strangely-kind voice, before it gestured towards the portal, twisting upon itself bizarrely before regaining pony shape as it floated towards the glowing ring. “Your portal awaits.”
Antares and Innocence traded looks, then slung their packs on as the portal ring rumbled and crackled before a whirling vortex of energy formed inside it. It crackled and sizzled, then suddenly rippled before almost solidifying into not a hole in reality, but what was more like an open window, both siblings marveling as they looked through the ring at blue skies above a gorgeous forest, and grass so green and bright it almost hurt his eyes to look at...
“Wait, I thought the Jötnar were from iceworld?” Innocence said with a frown, looking back over her shoulder, and then she and Antares both squawked as Nistle picked them up with magic and calmly carried them through the portal, both ponies wincing and flailing wildly as they felt energy sizzle over them before they were dropped gently to the ground.
They flailed their way to their feet, then glared at the creature floating in front of a strange, blurry-edged window into Underdark, the demon smiling at them as it said: “There were many Jötnar once, of many races, many creeds, fathers and mothers of Gods and others. Now, they are all gone.
“This is origin. This is birthplace. The realm of giants. The giants are scattered and few now, but their kindred and their descendants still wander, of all races.” Nistle paused, as if to say more, but then the creature merely smiled before it wisped suddenly, quickly backwards through the hole in reality, and this sizzled before it snapped shut with a last bang of energy, leaving the two siblings standing alone in a grassy, green field beneath an alien blue sky.
“Well, bye!” Innocence shouted at the air, and Antares slowly turned to look at her as the mare huffed sulkily before grumbling: “Everyone's a dickhead.”
“Everyone.” Antares agreed after a moment, and then he ran a hoof through the grass: thick, large blades, so vibrantly, painfully green. He looked up, and saw the sky above was so clear that he could make out stars, sparkling beyond the ether, and the horizon was so sharp that he felt like he could reach out and touch it if he wanted to.
“Weird place.” he remarked, and then he closed his eyes, clicking his tongue as Innocence stared around as if she had just realized where they were, where they actually were.
“Holy shit we're in Jötunheim!” she blurted.
“Yes, thank you, Sin. Shut up.” Antares said gently as he dug his hooves into the ground, and Innocence huffed at him grouchily. “This world talks a little weird. I mean, I guess that's not a surprise, we're in the land of giants-”
“Jötunheim!”
“Jötunheim.” agreed Antares, and then he said in a quieter voice as he lowered his head: “But I can still hear the voice of nature a little... and Mutt and Dad obviously have real distinct energy signatures. They're... northeast.”
“Hey, uh.” Innocence rose a claw, and Antares opened an eye to look at her mildly. “Why don't we just find Mimir or whatever? They'll obviously show up there at some point, if they aren't there already. We get two jobs done at once.”
Antares tilted his head back and forth, and then he said finally: “Got a feeling.”
Innocence scowled at this, then echoed: “You have a feeling.”
“Got a feeling.” Antares confirmed, and then he looked towards the forest, muttering: “Yeah. Got a feeling. Mutt's never hard to find. But that's not the test.”
Innocence scowled deeper at this, then she groaned before complaining: “Why can't our family just ever tell us anything normally?”
The stallion shrugged, then answered mildly: “Because we're not normal. Come on, grumpybuns, let's walk. Or would you rather go home and sulk in bed?”
“Yeah, yeah, I'm coming.” Innocence huffed, and then she paused as she fell in beside her brother, glancing at the bright blue sky before she asked: “So is it day here, or is this their night? Because either way... it's freaking bright.”
“Sorry, lady evil, I'm sure Mom will send us somewhere darker and more suiting of your black aura next time.” Antares paused, then added mildly: “At least it's breezy. Nice weather. Cool and comfortable. I could get used to this.”
Innocence snorted, then shouldered him firmly as she grumbled: “The fate of the world is at stake here-”
“No, uh, no. It's not, for once. It's just the fate of Mutt and Dad, and who really cares about them?” Antares said mildly, and Innocence nodded thoughtfully after a moment. “No, this is just going to be our whirlwind adventure, the one that Thorn isn't cool enough to come along on.”
The mare grunted at this, complaining: “He still should be here, though. I mean, I don't like him and he's lame and boring but if he was here I'd look so much cooler by comparison.”
Antares grinned at this, teasing: “Hey, don't worry your pretty little head, Sin, I'll do my best not to show you up too much.”
Innocence rolled her eyes and shoved him roughly, and then she sniffed the air, her horn giving a faint thrum as she muttered: “Well, looks like your first chance to do that's coming up pretty soon. Something alive is out there.”
“Something alive is everywhere, Sin, all of this is alive, you know.” Antares said seriously, nodding several times before he paused and added before his sister could swear at him: “Although, yes, there's some very big alives heading this way and uh...”
He reached out and gently grasped Innocence, pulling her carefully to the side, and she scowled at him before looking sharply up as she heard something moving through the grasses a moment before a tall quadruped pranced past.
A dozen more followed it, leaping and dancing to either side of Sin and Antares as the stallion grinned despite himself at the alien gazelle that stampeded by. They vanished quickly across the field, a few undulating calls echoing through the air around them, and Sin whistled a little before she said: “So those weren't intelligent, right? It'll be fine if I eat one, right?”
Antares rolled his eyes with a snort of amusement, then said finally: “From what little I know about Jötunheim-”
“You know nothing, I'm the smart person here, me!” Innocence interrupted with a huff, and then she tilted her head up and recited haughtily: “Jötunheim is chiefly populated by creatures of animal intelligence, as well as nomadic and settled tribes chiefly reliant on magic over technology. Refugees from other worlds have been detected here, living largely in bands and fortified camps.”
“So you actually read that report, huh?” Antares asked mildly, and Innocence shrugged.
“Paged through the good parts. Memorized a few graphs. Looked at some pretty colors. Got the gist of it.” Innocence answered, and then she said thoughtfully: “Would be a lot more helpful if we could actually get some kind of map, though...”
“Yeah, we can take a trip to whatever town's closest, definitely.” Antares answered as he dug his hooves against the earth, starting to reach out, to feel out the presence of life, of people, the vibrancy of-
Sin smacked the back of his head, making him wince and flinch, and then she cheerfully pointed her glowing horn forwards, saying mildly: “A hundred miles or so in that direction. Got a lock on some kind of magic energy, definitely feels like a big crystal block generator or something.”
“Glad I'm so needed.” Antares said drolly, but Innocence only grinned at him.
“Hey, I warned you that I'm gonna be the best.” Innocence said comfortably, and then she pranced ahead of him, whistling loudly, and her brother rolled his eyes as he let her take the lead and obligingly followed along in her wake.
They entered a lush forest, the two loitering a little to marvel at the sights, the sounds, the strangeness that filled the overgrowth. Massive, bizarre fruits hung from stout, leafless trees, and birdsong filled the air as small animals leapt and cavorted through the brush that covered the earth and the treetops high above.
If they hadn't been on some kind of mission at the moment, Antares would have loved to spend a few hours just wandering around, laying in the grass, turning over rocks and climbing up trees. Nature here was alive and wonderful and vibrant, the sense of teeming life amplified by the magical energy that thrived in the earth, the trees, sizzled through the air itself.
He grinned as not a bird, but a snake with wings shot by overhead, flashing brilliant plumage that was almost as iridescent as its glowing scales. It whipped through the branches of a gnarled old tree, knocking a few leaves loose as it passed and disturbing several not-quite-birds with too big eyes and painfully-bright feathers that screeched and squawked as they soared into the air.
“Jötunheim.” Sin muttered to herself, and she shook her head before wincing as another flying snake passed by, complaining: “Why are you grinning at these things? When I make flying snakes, it's morally wrong , but when we see them here-”
“There's a difference between natural weird animals and sewing wings on animals. Weirdo.” Antares replied mildly, and Innocence huffed. “Actually I don't think you've ever made any flying snakes, have you? You made that uh... bug-bear once. That was awful.”
“That was cool!” Sin defended. “It was a bug! With the head of a bear!”
“It was a bear with the head of a bug and it was abominable.” Antares only had to half-mock the shiver he gave before he added almost grudgingly: “Gotta admit. When I was younger, I would have been a lot... harder on you for the whole. Evil necromancy alchemy body-fooling thingy.”
Innocence snorted, and Antares smiled and shrugged before he said finally: “I guess growing up helps. Not feeling like I know everything, like I can absolutely judge good and evil, helps. Knowing that bodies are... only our wrappers, helps.”
“My wrapper is super sexy, though.” Innocence said helpfully, and Antares gave her a mild look before the mare nodded and smiled a little. “Hey, you wear a dead animal every day, you know. I think that's worse than trying to make something alive out of them.”
“I wouldn't exactly go that far but okay, points for trying.” Antares said wryly, shaking his head before he said finally: “We're pretty much opposites. Good guy bad girl. But we're on the same side, and we're basically each other's best friend, and-”
Sin blew a raspberry at him, and Antares gave her an amused look as the mare whined: “Now you're making it weird! Stop making it weird, Tarry.” She paused, then allowed her eyes to drift away as she mumbled: “Even if... I get what you mean, yeah.”
They walked through the gorgeous forest in silence for a few moments, and then Innocence asked abruptly: “How's Prestige?”
Antares groaned loudly, and Innocence grinned at him as she teased: “Hey, this would have been a fun little mission to invite her along, right?”
“Oh, yeah, great, sure, with you here too? Weird incest fantasies, again?” Antares complained, but when Innocence refused to take the bait, Antares stopped, groaned, grabbed wildly at his head, and then he huffed and squeezed on either side of his skull, mumbling: “We're fine.”
“Wow. Convincing.” Innocence deadpanned.
“I mean, we are!” Antares almost whined, straightening quickly, and then he sighed and grumbled, dropping his head as he and Innocence walked onward. “We... we are. It's just been really hard. I just... I just can't live in Heaven. It sucks up there. It's boring and I hate it and I guess... maybe I'm kind of jealous, too. Prestige is a captain in the the New Valkyries and I'm a noble and a diplomat and a 'you're not allowed to touch that.'
“I mean, I tried! For like... ten years, okay, I know that's not actually very long in the grand scheme of things. But she seems... happier up there without me. I know that's a shitty thing to think, and the talking through nothing but letters and calls and stuff sucks but...” Antares shrugged a bit, mumbling: “Every time we were able to get a few months together it would be wild and passionate for three weeks and then we'd just ignore each other between spats of arguing. She's still-
“A racist bitch.” supplied Innocence, and Antares gave her an amused look.
“You weren't even a thought back then, Sin, you have no idea how bad Prestige used to be.” Antares smiled wryly, admitting after a moment: “Even if she can still be kind of racist, yes. But she tries.”
“Hey, I try too, and no one ever lets me off the hook! Mudfucks.” Sin grumbled, and Antares rolled his eyes and bodychecked her lightly.
“That's because you're a lot meaner and have a far worse mouth than any of us. You really got that from Mutt.” Antares said wryly, and then he bit his lip before he asked almost impulsively: “What would you do?”
Innocence hesitated, and then she shrugged a bit and looked ahead, saying finally: “I dunno. I mean, if you love someone you should be with them, right? That's the way it works. But I can't give you the answer because I know the world's more complicated than that.
“I... I mean, I don't see myself ever being with anyone, you know?” Innocence shrugged again as Antares smiled a little at her. “I like sex. I like having friends and people I can trust and do stuff with. But I don't want to have a family... you guys are all my family. At the end of the day I still really hope one day, I can just... be with my family again.”
The mare halted and licked her lips, and Antares stopped, looking at her softly. “But I don't want a boyfriend, or a husband, or a partner.” She paused, then looked thoughtful as she meditated: “Maybe someone I could just use for sex or two. What would you call that? A dude-slut. Except oh wait, all dudes are sluts, pretty much, am I right or am I right?”
“I hate you.” Antares said kindly, and Innocence grinned at him.
“Shut up, slut.” she retorted, and then she asked curiously: “Would you bang someone other than Prestige? I mean, if you had permission or she would never find out or whatever?”
“Yeah, totally, absolutely.” Antares blustered, looking awkwardly away, and Innocence snorted in amusement before the stallion mumbled: “I mean... okay, no, probably not. I find lots of ponies attractive but... Prestige... Prestige is the only one I want to-”
“Sausage the buns!” Innocence loudly licked her lips and waggled her eyebrows.
Antares closed his eyes as if pained, finishing gently: “Be intimate with.”
“Loser.” Innocence huffed, and then the two turned and walked onward in silence for a little while.
Finally, Innocence broke it with a quiet: “You are a really good guy and you two love each other a whole lot, Antares. You two will figure it out if you belong each other. I'm sure she's not banging too many guys while you're gone.”
“Yeah, girls, probably, but that's hot so it's totally fine.” Antares quipped, and Innocence snorted in amusement before the stallion mumbled: “Horses of Heaven how am I supposed to compete with other Valkyries?”
“I dunno, your dick, I guess?” Sin said blandly, and Antares gave her a sour look before he hurried ahead, and Innocence grinned as she trotted after him and called cheerfully: “Although if they're anything like Mutt plenty of them probably have bigger dicks than you do too!”
“La la la not listening la la la!” Antares shouted loudly as he hurried through the underbrush, then winced and skidded to a stop, reaching out to catch Innocence before she could plow into him and knock them both down the short, dusty embankment they stood on the edge of.
A creek burbled happily by below, but that wasn't what had caught Antares' attention: rather, it was the glowing metal orb sailing by that caught his eye, the stallion scowling at this before it suddenly turned to face him, a crystalline eye on the front studying him with synthetic interest.
“Hi, Thorn!” Antares said loudly, and Innocence waved wildly even as she glowered. “I thought you had a different mission?”
The orb was silent, and Antares frowned a bit before both he and Innocence blinked in surprise as it shot suddenly straight up into the air and vanished over the treetops, Antares saying slowly after a moment: “Suddenly, uh, I don't think that was Thorn.”
“Oh, sure, fine, leave me with the sidekick line.” Innocence grumbled, and then she screwed up her face and shoved a claw into a nostril as she rambled: “Duh, duhr, gee, but who could possibly have Clockwork technology? Gorsh, it must be Thorn, that's just unpossible!”
The stallion ignored his sister as he muttered: “Demons would probably have modified that... could be Orex, could be remnants of Loki's goons, could be some part of Decretum that hasn't gotten the message yet that Thorn's in charge now. But the real question is the motivation. What would any of them be doing here?”
Innocence shrugged and asked mildly: “When is the bad guy's motivation ever really anything more than 'screw with the good guys?'”
“I guess you'd know, being a practicing bad guy and all.” Antares replied, and Innocence scowled at him before the stallion hopped down the embankment, jumping the narrow creek with a flap of his wings to neatly land on the opposite bank. He frowned a bit as he rose his head, sniffing at the air before he muttered: “What is that?”
Innocence teleported down beside him in an unnecessary display of power, sniffing the air as she walked past before she said with some surprise: “That's a phase drop.”
“You can smell that?” Antares asked incredulously, and Innocence nodded seriously before she cleared her throat and pointed, the stallion frowning as he walked forwards before he grimaced at the sight of the empty canister on the other side of several trees. “Oh.”
“Yep.” Innocence trotted quickly into the clearing that had been torn by the metal capsule presumably falling from the sky, the scaled mare whistling loudly as she approached and poked it a few times. Antares was a little more careful, surveying the area around them quickly before he strode around the edge of the clearing, noting the broken branches and burnt earth around the open pod. “I think this pretty much confirms Orex.”
“Pretty much.” Antares had to agree: he was the only person apart from Thorn who used phase drop technology, and this unmarked capsule was little more than a windowless metal can with a hatch that had been popped loose. There was no cushioning, nor any sign of life support. “Why would he drop a golem instead of doing his teleport trick thing, though?”
Innocence shrugged, saying mildly as she stuck her head in through the open hatch: “I dunno, but Thorn puts that dumb logo on everything. Unless that bastard really is trying to sneakily beat us to the punch.” She scowled, leaning back grumpily. “Hey, what if he is?”
“Well, all the more reason for us to hurry up and find Mutt and Dad.” Antares answered, and Innocence grunted in agreement before she stepped back, the stallion adding mildly: “I mean, hey, at least this means it won't be boring. Imagine if this really had just been one big nature walk.”
Sin blew a loud raspberry, then hesitated for a moment, looking almost longingly at the large fallen capsule before she grumbled: “I guess it's too big to stick in my pocket dimension.”
Antares rolled his eyes in amusement, then turned and walked onward, Innocence lingering for a few moments before she hurried after her brother.
As little as Antares liked to admit it, he was starting to feel apprehensive. Luna and Scrivener somehow being 'missing' was weird enough, as was being sent to Jötunheim of all places to chase after them, but he felt like things were much more complicated than anyone had let on, especially if Orex was involved now.
Still, there wasn't a whole lot they could do but keep moving forward. Whether they found Scrivy and Luna or Mimir at the end of the trail, he felt either way they'd get their answers then.
Besides, they'd both been through a lot over their long lives. At the end of the day, just how bad could Jötunheim possibly be?
Chapter Four: Village
Innocence peered down at the small village sprawled below them, just past the edge of the forest. It looked busy down there, filled with all sorts of weird-looking creatures that trundled back and forth. A lot of the outer buildings weren't much more than huts or cabins, but the inner structures were stonework, and there were tall guardtowers and carefully-placed pillars covered in runic scrawl that emanated a warning sense of magic to the mare.
“They're fortified magically.” Innocence paused, glancing up at the darkening sky. “I bet once night falls, they put up a shield. And uh, it's just about night, so...”
“Yeah. We can spend the night in the weird village. I mean, if they'll let us.” Antares said, and Innocence grunted. “They look... mostly bipedal? I did definitely see someone talking to a small dragon or something too, though.”
“Mostly bipedal.” agreed a third voice, and Innocence and Antares both winced before they creakily looked back over their shoulders at a strange little figure sitting in a treebranch, smiling politely down at them. He was dressed in thick cloth and had a heavy scarf wrapped around his neck, a bag hanging in his lap, clearly bipedal, but short, and squat, much of his skin covered in thick, rough hair. His eyes were bright and cheerful, his nose fat and red, his face, oddly enough, one of the only hairless parts of his body.
“Holy fucking shit are you a human?” Innocence blurted out, and the man's eyebrows rose before he guffawed loudly and shook his head.
He smiled pleasantly at them, drawing a small dagger as he reached into a pouch and pulled out some kind of fruit, starting to peel it as he answered cheerfully: “Heavens no! I'm a groundling, good friends: there are no men left in these parts. Once upon a time, this land was full of humans, oh, certainly: most of those louts wandered in from Asgard, or so I heard, causing great commotions on their quests for this, or that, or what here thing. Their lot always seemed to be looking for trouble when they weren't enjoying the revels of the Golden Halls.
“But after Valthrudnir – I reckon you must know of Valthrudnir – burned Asgard and destroyed the elf-realms, the humans that survived Ragnarok fled. The Big Folk hunted humans for sport and the fae folk wouldn't accept humans into their midst, so the humans just kept walking. Gord knows where they are now.
“Still.” The groundling paused long enough to take a bit and smile at them before he hopped down from the treebranch, landing with a silent thud, and Antares and Innocence both stared down at this small, squat man-thing that didn't even come up to their shoulders. “We would right welcome them here if they were any good, as we'd be happy to right welcome you so long as you promise not to cause trouble! It seems like all our realms are all mixed up these days. Two hundred years ago, my Da would have been flabbergasted to see a good right groundling like I was raised to be breakin' bread with kobolds and elves and the like, but much has changed since Asgard rose back up, and the new age has begun.”
Antares smiled despite himself at this, and then he asked curiously: “So what, things are only just now starting to return to normal here?'
“What's normal?” asked the groundling with a grin, and Innocence grunted and shrugged as Antares snorted in amusement. “If it's ta what they once were... nah. If it's ta somethin' maybe a little bit better than we had afore, then sure, I can see that.”
The groundling paused, then shrugged as he tossed his dagger in the air before holstering it neatly and reaching up to firmly grasp Antares' muzzle, making him scowl before his eyes widened as the groundling noted: “You ain't quite so large as the last two that made it through here, but I do hope that also means you won't be quite so much trouble, either.”
“Wait, wait, you saw two-”
“Oh aye, but we can talk about that in town. I'd rather be cozy inside than stuck outside once the night falls, if you ken.” the groundling said, before he clucked his tongue and snapped his fingers, apologizing: “Ah, but where are my manners! I'm Donnedown Deepburrow, at your service. And let me welcome you to Furrowfall.”
“Well, uh, thanks for that.” Antares paused, then he nudged his sister firmly before wincing as she bodychecked him back, and he sighed and introduced: “My name is Antares Mīrus, and this is Innocence Sparkle. We're uh. Ponies, I guess.”
“Well, it's very nice to meet you ponies, sir.” The groundling bowed to them politely, then slipped past and skidded quickly down the dusty hill to the edge of the forest, waving a hand and calling cheerfully: “Oi, they're a friendly lot, Sticky, so don't be stickin' 'em.”
“I am filled with confidence.” Antares said wryly, and Innocence snorted in amusement before the two slid down the steep embankment and past the few trees between them and the outskirts of the village, the mare looking around with interest as Antares kept his eyes more forward.
The groundling smiled benevolently as a lumbering hulk huffed his way to the edge of the village: he was twice their height and probably three times their width, not fat quite so much as simply incredibly thick. His horned features were bovid, his body rough and hairy, a tree-sized axe cradled easily over one shoulder as he huffed down at them before grumbling: “You said that about the last two, too.”
“Well, sure, and I wasn't the one who went antagonizing them, was I?” pointed out the groundling, before he turned and smiled at the two ponies. “This here be Sticky, head o' the village militia. He's a right grump, but he's not all bad.”
Sticky grunted, and Innocence pursed her lips as she peered up at him before she asked curiously: “Are you a minotaur? You look like a fuzzy minotaur. Like a mammoth. A mammothtaur.”
The fuzzy minotaur scowled at them, and Antares grinned awkwardly as he gave a little wave before he said: “Please excuse my sister. She was dropped on her head a lot as a kid. So yeah, hey, you saw guys like us pass through here? Was one of them blue, kind of flowy mane, the other was black, had big metal claws?”
“Like these?” Innocence held up her own claws as they gleamed with magic before her heavy Talons appeared on them, Sticky wincing as Donnedown cocked an eyebrow in surprise. “That looks like a 'yes' to me!”
“Aye, they passed through here, and left a hole in Sticky's pride, too.” the groundling said cheerfully as he absently reached out to poke at one of Sin's claws. “Quite the trick! I bet the dwarves would love to see these, too, they were all a-flutter over the big stallion's.”
“Yeah, the Nibelung always did love trying to take the claws right off Dad. Funny, since those were literally built into his forelegs and all.” Antares grinned, and Donnedown smiled back at him with interest.
“Ah, so you're looking for your parents, are you?” The groundling chuckled. “Well, I'm not sure if that will make poor Sticky here more or less inclined to help you-”
“I don't have to help them at all.” Sticky grumbled, and then he gestured quickly over his shoulder, saying grouchily: “Why don't you bring 'em to MacTavish? Sun's going down and the wards will be up soon.”
“Fair, fair. Come along, you two, then. We'll have a sit down together in the tavern and you can tell me more about what it is you're after. Suspect you'll probably want lodgings for the night anyway, unless you fancy being mistaken for a valiant steed.”
“I am a valiant steed. Just without the steeding.” Antares said agreeably, before he nodded and followed as the groundling walked quickly into the village, leading the two down a dirt path past Sticky as the minotaur scowled moodily after them.
Donnedown smiled and nodded to people as they passed, and Antares did his best to greet the curious and suspicious looks he got while Sin just ogled everything in her inimitable manner. He was admittedly amazed at the difference in people they passed: little bipedal scaly dragon things, the wolf-pig dwarves, tall and slender humanoids with sharp ears and sharper-still eyes, and plenty of other fairer and fouler creatures.
“I love how new so many of these races are to me. Which, you know, is pretty weird to me, considering all the time I've spent in the Vale of Valhalla and all.” Antares said cheerfully, but Donnedown smiled at this.
“Well, Asgard is for Asgardians, lad! Jötunheim, however...” Donnedown shrugged. “Not many giants left, not more than a handful, no sir. So slowly, other races have been coming out of hiding, poking their heads up here and there... but slow, and careful like, eh? No need to rush, after all. The better we all be safe.
“And of course, Mister Antares, I can see that you're certainly no fool. Some of us belong here and some of us don't, or at least didn't at first. Refugees, and escapees, and all that and more.” Donnedown smiled as he waved at a group of groundlings lounging around what looked like a well with a Nibelung, who was half-asleep in his armor and cradling an axe against his chest, one of the two large tusks that protruded from his lupine jaws capped. The groundlings cheerfully raised their flagons and called greetings to Donnedown in return, which stirred the Nibelung dwarf awake with a snort, and he straightened and awkwardly saluted as he righted his helmet on his head. “But we'll figure things out, I reckon, one way or another. Until then, though, we just don't want no trouble.”
“I feel like you might know more about us than you're letting on, Donnedown.” Antares said mildly as Sin cocked her head, and the groundling chuckled.
“Know? No, not quite, sir, no sir. But I would be lying to say that I don't have certain suspicions. Not as if we haven't heard tall tales of Valhalla an' all.” answered the groundling genially, before he gestured with his head towards the open doors of a crowded tavern.
They paused to let several small, drunken scaly things cheerfully lurch their way out, and then Donnedown strode in with Antares and Innocence in tow, the groundling calling: “Draw up a round, Bones, for me and my friends!”
The tall, skinny creature behind the bar scowled a little, but nodded after a moment as he deftly went to work. Antares and Innocence sidled their way up to the bar, the stallion not quite daring to test the strength of the wooden stools, but Innocence cheerfully dropping her rump in one as she leaned to the side, half-lidding her eyes as she almost leaned into a half-drunk dwarf and said throatily: “Hi.”
The stallion smiled across at the bartender as he spun around, quickly serving out two flagons and a smaller glass of some darker substance. The creature surveyed them moodily, dark skinned, with a strange, bald, bony skull and yellow eyes that lacked any pupil, his mouth a thin, lipless line that didn't move as he said calmly: “Ale for the groundling and the lady, the house special for the boy. It is rude to stare.”
“So you're telepathic... empathic, too, I'm guessing? Except your emotions are different-”
“You know what I am. Yes, I cannot gaze deep enough in your mind see all that you think, but I can see enough on the top levels, the knowledge summoned by your senses. You know what I am. You do not know my name, but you know what I am.”
Antares shrugged, then he picked up the glass and studied it mildly for a few moments before he sipped curiously, and wrinkled his muzzle up at the horrible, bitter taste of it. He grimaced, then looked up at the mindreader, which studied him intently before it said almost abruptly: “Your parents passed through two nights ago. They stayed a time, then left. They were in search of something; not so in-search they could be bothered to make haste.”
“Huh.” Antares mused, as he sipped at his disgusting liquor again, then he wrinkled up his muzzle and mumbled: “Wow that's foul. Uh-”
“No, I do not know. Their minds were like hers. A roil of chaos and instinct, miasmatic and foul.” the mindreader said with a gesture towards Sin, who grinned as she rested her chin on a claw and winked cheerfully at him. “Awful.”
“Hey look, we agree on something.” Antares said mildly, and then he took another sip of his disgusting drink before he wheezed loudly and squeezed the glass slowly as he peered into it. “What the hell am I drinking, anyway?”
“Oh, the bitters. Right fine stuff that is. Will fix what ails you, if it don't kill you, o'course.” Donnedown said cheerfully as he held up his own flagon of ale, ridiculously oversized for the little groundling's hands. Not that he seemed to be complaining about that. “That must mean Bones must either really likes you, or wants you dead!”
“Wonderful.” Antares said dryly, and then he cocked an eyebrow at the mindreader curiously, knowing he didn't even have to ask.
“We may barter. Supplies are more valuable for our settlement than money. Coin is different across all realms, but an apple will always be an apple.” Bones said with a shrug of his shoulders before he picked up a bottle and strode down the bar to serve another patron.
“I can make apples into oranges! Literally!” Innocence bragged, and then she leaned over towards Antares as the stool creaked in agony beneath her rump. “What uh... what do we have to bargain with?”
Antares mused for a moment, then he opened one of his satchels and reached back to dig through it before he grimaced as he removed a crystal ball with a clawed base, asking wryly: “How about this? A scrying orb. Donnedown, hey, what do you think?”
The groundling shrugged, sipping at his flagon before he said thoughtfully: “Not a terrible trade. I suppose Bones might have some use for it. Eh, Bones, scrying thingy?”
Bones rose a hand and wiggled it back and forth without looking at them, and the groundling grunted before he said helpfully: “Well, I can give you some coins for it, would probably fetch a fine price at the city. But not out here, and of course you'll be needing the room.”
“Horses of Heaven you're an asshole.” Antares groaned, realizing what Donnedown was suggesting even without the wink the groundling gave him, and then he sighed and slid the crystal orb towards him. “Fine. Here. Is this enough for the night?”
Donnedown chuckled as he swept up the orb, tossing it in the air and weighing it idly before he said cheerfully: “And I'll be a generous lad and even throw in the drinks!”
Antares smiled wryly at the groundling, who winked again as he shoved the orb beneath his cloak and likely into some kind of hidden pocket of holding before he leaned back in his stool, saying pointedly: “But one night, I'm afraid, that's about all this will afford.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. We'll clear out of town tomorrow morning.” Antares paused, then asked curiously: “What's this about a city, though? You were just saying-”
“O'course.” Donnedown shrugged, leaning back against the bar and clearly happy to talk more. “It's only been in these last few decades that new villages and new peoples have been settling, but the tribes and nomads and the great cities have always been here. Many of these cities were built by the giants themselves, less out of generosity and more as a place to quarter their, shall we say, 'encouraged laborers.' But as the giants killed each other, and grew feebler and fewer and farther-between, many of these cities were shorn up, expanded, and new protections added to keep out their former employers.”
Antares nodded as Innocence cocked her head with interest, and Donnedown smiled as he continued cheerfully: “ Nowadays they're all a-flutter and a-flurry with activity! Quite a nice place to wander around for a time if you happen to be in the area: good for finding information, too. People come from far and wide to sell things in the city and share what interesting tidbits they can. Some of them even claim to know the way to Yggdrasil itself.”
Antares nodded again, thoughtfully, as he and Innocence traded looks, and then the stallion asked: “So Yggdrasil is here?”
“They say Yggdrasil exists in every dimension, and that its roots and branches can be called to extend into worlds here, there, and beyond our own.” Donnedown paused, then shrugged as he said amiably: “I have no idea how true that is, but it's certainly a heck of a tree. Stands so tall you can see it from a thousand miles away, they say.”
“Then Jötunheim is flat.” Innocence said mildly, and both Antares and Donnedown looked at her curiously as the mare took a sip of her flagon, then belched, before explaining pompously: “The curvature of Midgard means that when you're standing on the earth in a relatively flat location, the horizon is roughly five and a half klicks away. That's like a mile. Two miles? No, uh... shit, three miles. Okay, that's three miles.
“So even if you were standing on top of a tower and Yggdrasil stretched way up into space or whatever, Jötunheim would basically have to be flat for you to be able to see it from like thousands of miles away. Also I'd expect we'd be able to see it from here if that was true.” Sin said very proudly, and Donnedown huffed.
“Well, you're quite a fun one, ain't you?” the groundling complained. “Okay, perhaps it's a bit of an exaggeration, but I'm allowed a turn of phrase, ain't I? Besides, no one but the foolish dares to get close to the World Tree: Yggdrasil stands past Giant's Reach, and is guarded zealously by the Sons of Mimir, the last tribe of the Jötnar .”
“Cool. Sounds like we're in for a swell time.” Antares said mildly, and Innocence huffed and looked pointedly at the stallion.
“You're the one who didn't want this to just be a day trip.” she pointed out.
Antares rolled his eyes, then countered: “Because you're not already trying to pick fights.”
Innocence huffed at this, whining: “I'm not! I was testing the water. I mean, what do I know, maybe Jötunheim actually is flat, and we do have thousands of miles to Yggdrasil, and I'd like to know ahead of time if any of those things are true so that I can plan accordingly.”
Antares shrugged, then looked at the groundling, who shrugged amiably as well. “It's never really concerned me whether the world is flat or round, to be honest. All I care is that if I put one foot in front of the other, eventually I get to where I'm going.”
“The world is round.” Bones cut in, and the three momentary companions all groaned and complained before the mindreader said pointedly: “It grows late.”
“Aye, yes. Alright, I should pretend to be useful for a few more minutes. Call if you need anything. I'll see you lot in the morning.” Donnedown said as he hopped off the stool, bowing once before quickly taking his leave.
Innocence and Antares looked at each other, and then the stallion shrugged before he picked up the awful swill he'd been served and gulped it back in one drink. He grimaced and wheezed, then shook his head before asking: “Why did you serve me this anyway?”
“Because I knew you would drink it.” answered the mindreader, and Antares huffed as Innocence grinned widely before she winced and half-fell off her stool as something cracked beneath her heavy rump.
She hurriedly stood up, clearing her throat before she awkwardly tapped on the counter, but the mindreader only looked at her for a moment before answering: “We will provide a meal. You may have a drink then.”
“What, you're rationing me?” Innocence whined, then she huffed before complaining: “There better be a goddamn mini-bar upstairs.”
“There is no mini-bar. Furthermore, the rooms we have upstairs may not be adequate for your size.” Bones paused, then glanced up, and a dwarf that had previously been snoring at a table grunted in surprise before he hopped quickly out of his seat, wincing and slapping at his face before he stared lamely at the two equines. “Ruff, please show them to their room.”
Ruff grinned lamely: he was naked apart from an apron, his shaggy fur dirty and bedecked here and there with bits of hay, his tusks sticking awkwardly out to either side of his face, his beady little eyes kind but more than a touch dumb.
Antares smiles at him, then reached up and caught Innocence by the head, making her squawk. The dwarf stared, but the stallion quickly said cheerfully: “Don't mind us, we're just tired and want to go to bed. Isn't that right, sis?”
“I hate you.” Innocence grumbled, and then she sighed and nodded, even as she peered at the dwarf pointedly before she muttered in a low voice to her brother: “Just let me zap his brain a little. Just a little.”
“Yes, that's a very good idea, let's go to bed right now. Long day tomorrow.” Antares said loudly, and the dwarf nodded rapidly as he turned and hurried out the door, Antares adding in a mutter as he half-dragged his sister along: “Just this once, can you not be a dick?”
“You ask me not to be a dick like all the time, it's never 'just this once.'” complained Innocence.
“Fine, then just this once on Jötunheim?” Antares wheedled, and Innocence puffed out her cheeks, but then she nodded with a grumble. “Thank you, Sin.”
“Just for this village.” she warned, and Antares sighed, nodding reluctantly. “Good.”
“Good.” he grumbled back.
They shouldered each other as they followed the dwarf down a short alley to the rear of the tavern, and Innocence immediately groaned as they crossed a cobblestone courtyard towards a set of open stables. Antares was admittedly a little fascinated at the sight of the horses: tall and curious, ears twitching and tails switching, their eyes rolling back to stare curiously at the newcomers as Innocence complained: “There are absolutely takebacks if we get put in a stall.”
“Sorry, sorry! Room, room!” the dwarf stuttered, gesturing past the stalls, and Innocence pursed her lips as she strode to a neat little double door, pushing it open and peering into... well, it was definitely a renovated stall space, and the smell of manure and dust wafted through the wallboards, but there were large beds, a table to eat at, and cushions they could sit on. Altogether, not entirely unpleasant, and large enough for the two of them.
“Okay.” Innocence said grudgingly, and Antares smiled before he reached back and pulled a coin out of his satchel, tossing it to the Nibelung, who lit up with joy before he nodded violently several times, then took off at a run.
Innocence paused, then asked slowly: “Where did you get that?”
“Hmm?” Antares glanced at her, feigning innocence before he grinned when she swung her horn at him, answering: “Oh, from one of the drunk dwarves. Just wanted to get a look at their coins, see if we'll be able to use the money Mom gave us at all.”
“Mom gave us money, too? What are we, like, five?” Innocence halted, then tossed one of her packs off and dug quickly through it before she looked up and glared at him. “Hey, where's mine? I want an allowance too!”
“You're not old enough.” Antares retorted, and Innocence blew a raspberry at him before the stallion threw off his own packs and continued: “They're just coins, though. No mint or anything. I'm guessing they have standard sizes and weights but I have no idea how that correlates to their value or anything.”
Innocence only grunted, then she picked up one of his packs with magic as the stallion tossed off his cloak and walked over to collapse in a bed with a wheeze, absently starting to rifle through his things as she muttered: “I mean it looked to me like people barter for everything, anyway. Bet that groundhog or whatever he called himself isn't going to sell that scrying orb for money, but for food and stuff. Mom's gonna be pissed about that, too.”
“I doubt it. They're a dime a dozen in Helheim.” Antares said mildly, waving a hoof absently as he rolled on his back, legs kicking idly at the air before he muttered: “I think this mattress is just stuffed with straw. I don't want to imagine how many bugs I'm probably lying on. This is terrible.”
“Then sleep on the floor, I'll sleep on bugs.” Innocence huffed as she pulled a small cloth sack roughly the size of a changepurse out of the satchel, untying this and shoving almost her entire foreleg into the deceptively-deep bag. She yanked a large gemstone loose, musing to herself as she turned this back and forth in her claw. “You don't think they'd like these?”
Antares shrugged, saying after a moment: “Probably use them for trade in the city, but out here, what are they going to do with them? Sell them to merchants, I guess.”
“Well, that groundhog guy seemed okay with that.” huffed Sin, before she added crankily as she tossed the gemstone back in their money bag: “Also we're totally being watched right now. I hope you know that.”
“You know if you learned even a little bit of old demonic or something we could be secret chat friends and we wouldn't have to just hope they aren't actually able to hear us or anything.” Antares said blandly as he put his forehooves behind his head and stared at the ceiling, and Innocence huffed again before she quickly sketched a rune on the floor.
It glowed bright, eerie blue, then began to slowly fade, Innocence complaining: “I can just do this, too, and it's less suspicious. It'll blur our voices for ten minutes until the magic eats itself. Now come on, tell me what's up, I'm not stupid.”
Antares smiled a bit, and then he sat up and said finally: “Just worried. I'm realizing Mutt and Dad have been gone for longer than I thought, and it sounds almost like they left a clue here on purpose. It makes me think my whole 'this is a test' theory isn't just me being paranoid.”
“As if we haven't done enough tests in our lives.” grumbled Sin, before she bit her lip and nodded hesitantly. “I don't think Momma lied to us. But I don't think she told the whole truth, either. Which super sucks, to be honest. I don't like when Momma doesn't tell us stuff.”
“She hasn't told us lots of stuff. She can't, Sin, she's in charge of Helheim now.” Antares shrugged, softening a little as he looked over at his sister, who grumbled as she scratched grouchily at the floor. “I know. Responsibility. It all sucks. But hey, look on the bright side, you're second for the throne and I'll definitely be happy to turn it over to you.”
“Great. Thanks.” Innocence said acerbically, and then she scowled and mumbled: “Better not ever have to rule Helheim. I don't want that. I can definitely kick everyone's ass in Helheim but that shouldn't mean I have to be the boss of it.”
Antares snorted in amusement, then he said mildly: “Don't worry, Sin. I'm pretty sure that none of us are ever going to be king or queen of anything. Just like Sleipnir still isn't anything but a glorified messenger boy himself.”
“And neither is Aunt Freya, I know.” Innocence said, and Antares snorted again. “What?”
“I mean... you're right. It's just funny to think about. When Freya was Celestia, well... she was in charge of pretty much everything, and you could tell at the end of the day, that was where she felt she belonged, whether she wanted it or not.” Antares paused, then shrugged a bit. “Now she's a lot more laid-back. I mean, I think it'd be cool if she was less murdery, too, but hey, it's a start.”
Innocence grunted, then hesitated before asking finally: “You think we should go to the city, right?”
“That's definitely our next stop. We'll get information there, then start moving towards Yggdrasil unless we hear that Mutt and Dad went somewhere else.” Antares halted, then rubbed at his head slowly as he muttered: “Something just still feels weird about all this. Off.”
“Gosh we're only in the land of the giants chasing our soul-bound super-dead parents who apparently vanished on an excursion to Yggdrasil. What could be weird?” Innocence griped as she went back to digging through Antares' bag for a moment before she pulled out a small ration box, sniffing at it before complaining: “Apples!”
“Hey, I didn't have the time to make jerky. You'll have to live with not everything being meat somehow.” Antares retorted. He heard Innocence yank open the ration box, and without looking, he reached up and caught the apple when she flung it at him childishly before she stuffed her face into the pre-cooked dumplings, grumbling under her breath.
He took a bite of the apple, chewing meditatively as he let himself lay back on the straw mattress, and then he said finally: “City next. Yggdrasil after that. We'll negotiate and punch everything we have to. And find Mutt and Dad along the way.”
“Yeah. What could go wrong?” Innocence asked through a mouthful of dumpling, and Antares couldn't help but sigh, knowing that even as sarcastic as she was, his sister had a fair point.
He just hoped that they found Luna and Scrivener sooner rather than later.
Chapter Five: Machine
It wasn't actually a terrible night: Antares was happy to stay in, read, and eat the strange salad that the dwarf dropped off for them, while Innocence went out and prowled around the town, spying on people, poking the horses, and testing the magical shield that protected the village. She was very interested to see their defenses weren't entirely unnecessary: there were definitely unpleasant things lurking in the dark outside the village that she was unable to help herself from taking a closer look at.
She came back with a few trophies, ignoring Antares eye-roll: a skull, a bizarre-looking dagger, some corpse remains that she kept herself busy experimenting on for the rest of the night. At some point, Sticky the fuzzy minotaur showed up to yell at them, but he was clearly cowed by the fact that Innocence had both managed to harmlessly pass through their barrier, and kill some of the monsters on the other side of it.
Their plan was to leave before breakfast, but Donnedown was waiting for them outside, and invited them inside for a 'quick nip.' It lost them an hour to food and conversation: not that Antares really minded, but it did annoy him that the genial groundling was trying to get so much information out of them. Okay, to be more accurate, the way Donnedown went about getting information annoyed him because they kept going off on rambling tangents about meaningless things, like favorite foods and the best parts of the day and too-much-information about the things Innocence liked to do with her claws.
He couldn't say it was boring, either, though, or that they didn't get plenty of out Donnedown in return: more than enough to give Antares an idea of what route they should take to the city of Banding, and what they should expect after that.
Banding was two days' journey roughly northwest: if they really wanted to go the direct route to Yggdrasil, they would be better off going northeast, but something told Antares it would be better to check out the nearest 'city' to get a better sense of what they were in for first. Plus it sounded to him like his parents had gone that way...
That didn't make sense.
Luna and Scrivener were known for being unpredictable, and Mutt in particular could be rude and difficult and perhaps even unprofessional. But it wasn't like either of them to run off to party or ignore what they had been sent to do, especially not when they were fulfilling a favor to their mutual soulmate, the third and most important part of their strange trinity.
They walked along a game trail, Antares musing to himself as Innocence trampled along behind him, her cloak fluttering around her body, swinging a stick carelessly back and forth through the air with telekinesis and absently poking now and then at the weird fauna they passed. He had rolled up his own cloak and stored it in a satchel, but he had wrapped his forelegs in magic-infused cloth for a bit of extra support and a 'just in case' measure, because he had this uncomfortable feeling that they were being watched.
Did this have something to do with why Luna and Scrivener had apparently gone traipsing off across Jötunheim instead of directly to their target?
No, Antares didn't think so. Maybe their zigzagging through the land of the giants was what had drawn the ire of this thing now currently tracking them, but Luna never ran from a fight and if Morgan had been worried about something else getting to Mimir first, then she would have just dropped Luna and Scrivener right at the base of Yggdrasil.
Well, even if this was completely unrelated, at least a fight would take his mind off things.
Antares meditated as he looked around, noting they had entered an area with younger trees spread further apart, pillars of wood stretching up towards the sky, their reaching branches not quite managing to touch one-another, leaving the canopy of leaves above staggered and broken, through which jagged beams of light shimmered. Travelers along this path had worn the grass down and packed the earth, and the stallion slowed to a halt, tilting his head back and starting calmly: “So, I think it's time that-”
Sin's stick whapped painfully across his rump, the stallion squawking and leaping forwards, and the mare winced and blurted: “Sorry!”
“Goddammit, Sin!” Antares snapped, rubbing at his rump before he scowled as he set himself, while Innocence whistled awkwardly as she looked quickly away, half-hiding the stick behind herself. “Great. Way to ruin the moment.”
“I didn't do it on purpose!” Sin whined, before she huffed and mumbled: “Big baby.”
“You're a baby.”
“I am the baby!” Sin shouted, and then she stomped her front claws wildly against the ground before she yelled: “Get out here and fight us, you stupidhead! We know you're there!”
“Cool. Fine, yeah, steal my moment, too. Eat a dick, Sin.” Antares grumbled.
“Not yours!” Sin said triumphantly, and then she huffed as she looked around, hearing only the caw of birds, and the occasional almost mocking call of an animal in the distance. “Besides, like. It's a lot less cool when the bad guy doesn't leap in to fight you or whatever even when you scream get out here and fight goddammit! ”
Sin's roar of challenge went unanswered apart from a few animal squawks, and then she groaned and looked almost pleadingly at Antares, who shrugged and said finally: “I mean, I can't really just make the bad guys appear, Sin, as much as I'd like to. Would make a lot of things way simpler. We could just skip right to the end of the movie.”
“I don't like movies.” Sin complained, and Antares rolled his eyes in amusement before he clicked his tongue, and the mare grinned as her horn gleamed before she snapped it sharply at Antares, sending a blast of black flame at him.
He slammed a hoof into this as it glowed bright white, and the magic missile was redirected, zipping past Sin's shoulder and smashing into the base of a narrow tree, the whoosh of black flames that breathed past searing plants and driving a shape out of hiding.
Innocence immediately tried to snare this with telekinesis, then gritted her teeth in surprise when her magic refused to catch on the creature, like she was trying to grab something impervious. For a moment, they were in stalemate, Antares and Innocence both studying the shape as it stood in the shadows of the burned trees, ignoring the weak flames that nibbled at the plant life around it.
It shifted backwards, and Antares grinned as he called derisively: “Okay, fine, catch up later then, huh? But if you don't want to play, you better do a better job of hiding next time.”
The figure's attention refocused on them, then spoke to them in a monotone, so flat that Antares could barely distinguish that it was feminine: “You will be given no further warnings. Do not attempt to violate my mission.”
“Oh, like this?” Sin stomped a hoof, and the earth beneath the creature erupted, launching it forwards into the clearing. But before she could cackle at the expected face-flop, it gracefully caught itself on two front hooves, then flipped its body sharply forwards, landing neatly only a few feet away from them.
It was an earth pony mare, her coat a stark and metallic chrome yellow, her eyes neon, painful blue. Her mane was long and gorgeous, flowing to one side of her face in thick dark waves, and she was tall, and strong, and yet peculiarly... designed .
“Replicant?” Antares asked curiously, but the mare didn't react to this.
“Antares Mīrus. Innocence Sparkle. I have been ordered to avoid engagement unless absolutely necessary-”
“Engage this!” Innocence shouted, leaping forwards and slamming a fist into the mare's face, but the mare didn't so much as flinch and Innocence's claw cracked loudly, her eyes bulging before she leapt backwards with a howl of: “Fuck! Fuck fuck fuckity fuck that fucking hurts!”
Her eyes watered as she rubbed slowly at her claw, then she glared furiously at the mare, who didn't smile, didn't blink, didn't react as she said: “You are advised to retreat. Failure to do so will be met with force. My mission takes priority, and will be completed at all costs.”
Innocence began to snarl, then yelped when Antares grabbed her and shoved her to the side, a moment before the mare shot through the space where she had been a moment before with such violence that she tore a wound in the earth when she stomped a hoof down, continuing to fly forwards even as she spun around on the axle of her leg and launched herself in a long kick at Sin.
Antares slipped in front of his sister, gritting his teeth as he blocked the kick with his forelegs before cursing, nearly knocked onto his back as the synthetic pony kicked smoothly off him. She flipped and landed neatly, surveying them for a moment as Antares glared back at her, steadying himself as he muttered: “Take this one seriously. I'm guessing this is our drop-in.”
Innocence grumbled, but nodded quickly before she snapped her horn out, and the earth pony mare maybe gave the slightest scowl of disapproval as a bubble of magic formed around her before hefting her into the air and shrinking just enough to stop her from moving her limbs freely. The spherical prison gleamed as a smile quirked at Sin's muzzle before she bragged: “Like this seriously?”
Antares began to open his muzzle, then winced when the earth pony simply flexed, shattering the prison around her before she dropped to the ground, energy sparking across her body fruitlessly as Sin flinched from the magical recoil. “Uh. More seriously.”
The mare was surveying them callously, and Antares grimaced as Innocence ground her teeth together before she bucked her satchel bags off and muttered: “I'm gonna do it.”
“Don't even think about it.” Antares mumbled back.
“I'm gonna do it!”
“No, Sin.”
“I'm gonna fuckin' do it!”
“Sin-”
“Here it comes!” Innocence roared as she slammed her claws into the ground, dark mire immediately spreading out in a pool around her and making Antares wince as he leapt hastily to the side, and the earth pony mare immediately rushed forwards in that moment of vulnerability-
Innocence grinned a moment before the mare crashed through her, the scaly unicorn shattering like glass: there was perhaps the slightest hint of surprise on the earth pony's face as she staggered forwards before grimacing as her hooves became caught in the sticky gunk, a moment before Innocence blasted out of the ground behind her and slammed gauntlet-covered claws down into the mare's back-
“Shit! Robot!” Innocence snarled, then she yanked her claws downwards, peeling synthetic coat from the back of a metal shell before she squawked when the mechanical mare ripped her hind legs free from the muck and drove them into the unicorn's belly.
Sin crashed to the ground and rolled several times with a wheeze, landing in a sprawl with her legs in the air as she groaned, before she mumbled as the machine-mare continued to tear herself loose from the slime: “Think I might actually have to Wyrm it up if this keeps up...”
“Let's not attract more attention to ourselves than we have to. But I need to see what we're dealing with. Think you can do that?” Antares asked as he set himself, and Innocence grunted as she rolled up to her claws.
The mechanical pony was still surveying them, clearly not hindered at all by the ribbons of coat that hung from its torn-open back to reveal the glint of armory metal beneath. It studied them callously, and didn't so much as flinch when Innocence snapped her horn forwards, sending a blast of black flames washing over the creature, dark fire greedily catching and consuming whatever it could in a matter of moments before whiffing out into toxic black smoke.
The smoke cleared, and revealed the pony still standing, unmoving, unflinching. Her eyes were the same, pitiless cold blue lights that glared into them from a featureless steel face that all the same moved strangely, as if the metal were somehow alive.
Her body was much the same: there were only a few thin lines here and there were metal plates were segmented or joined, and her joints were protected by what looked like steel caps beneath which was flexible black mesh, muffling the noise of complex machinery moving beneath it.
“Oh great. We've got a roided-up Worker Drone on our hooves.” Antares said pessimistically, before he paused and corrected: “Upgraded? Modded? I don't know. What's the robot equivalent of steroids?”
The machine's eyes hardened, which told Antares this wasn't entirely a machine: that it didn't just understand he was being derisive, that he was creating a response that wasn't purely logical. Was there a soul under that hard steel shell? Was there a heart beating in that machine?
“My analysis is complete.” the robot stated, like a warning, and it gave them a moment to process this before it attacked.
It was next to them in a flash, slamming into Antares and seizing him before flinging him backwards into the puddle of mire Innocence had created, sending him splashing through the slog with a curse of disgust. The robot leapt at Sin next, but the mare managed to catch her aggressor, gritting her teeth as her gauntlets squealed against the steel of the machine's features, feeling metal shifting beneath her claws as she growled: “What the hell are you?”
The mechanical mare didn't answer, instead twisting suddenly and slamming a hoof up under Innocence's chin, sending her flying into the air with a squawk before one of her legs was seized and she was yanked through the air like a doll, slammed face-first into the ground on her belly. Before she could get up, the robot leapt onto her back, shoving both hooves down into her and making the unicorn hiss, then howl in agony as electricity surged across her jittering body.
Antares lunged forwards, but the robot didn't even look at him as she gracefully spun on the axle of her forehooves, swinging a hindleg in a wide arc towards the stallion. He blocked on instinct, realizing too late what a terrible idea that was as electricity surged across his body from the gentle tap, making him gasp and flinch.
The robot took advantage of this opening to kick her other leg out hard, slamming into the end of his muzzle and knocking him backwards in a fine spray of blood before she sprung off Innocence and stomped both hooves into Antare's stomach before he could even hit the ground, crushing him into the earth with a gargle as drool and blood burst from his jaws. His eyes bulged, uncomprehending for a moment before the robot sprung forwards off him to try and finish Innocence, but the scaled mare rolled herself out of the way before she shoved up to her hooves-
The robot slammed into her side and knocked her over before grabbing her: no flash, no hesitation, just a quick, hard grapple, holding her down as electricity pumped across her body. Except Innocence gave a grin as her body began to glow, the magic she had insulated herself with absorbing the lightning before she quickly slammed one of her rear hooves hard up into the robot's underbelly.
It connected with a dull, useless thunk, the robot's eyes sharpening before she pressed harder down, and Innocence wheezed in pain as she managed out: “You... work out, huh?”
“No.” the robot answered, before emitting a shockwave of lightning from its body that drove Antares staggering backwards with a wheeze of pain. “Warning. Lethal force will be authorized.”
“Thorn! Thorn you mother fucker! ” Innocence shouted angrily, and the robot seemed to have an odd sense of recognition that gave it a moment of vulnerability before Innocence suddenly phased downward into a puddle of muck precisely her shape and size, a moment before that mire hardened into crystal, trapping the robot's claws.
Innocence reappeared in a flash of light a moment later with a roar, slamming a claw into the face of machine as it glowed white, and the robot's mechanical workings gave a squall of outrage as its head twisted to the side in a spray of silver fluid and metal shrapnel.
It tore itself loose from the crystal and leapt backwards, only for Antares to intercept it in midair, slamming both rear hooves into the robot's back and sending it crashing downwards, straight into a blast of magic from Innocence.
The robot was knocked spinning wildly out of control across the field before it crashed down on its face and rolled violently to a stop against the base of a tree. It sparked and fizzled as Antares landed with a short flap of his wings besides Innocence, the stallion grimacing as Sin grumbled: “Yeah, yeah, I get it. That metal or whatever's coating it diffuses my magic. So babydoll, are you from the Clockwork Empire after all?”
The machine straightened, a few crackles traveling through its body before it looked up with a face that was broken and battered, and yet Antares couldn't help but narrow his eyes as he saw the dented, broken cheek and missing plate of skull were slowly filling themselves in, as strange ripples traveled across the features of the robot. It was almost like it was... healing itself.
Did robots 'heal,' or did you just fix them?
What were they dealing with here?
“I am not a servant of the Clockwork Empire. I have no nation and no home. My purpose is my own.” the robot answered, and then it suddenly stomped its forehooves into the earth, and Antares and Innocence both winced at the flash of light that filled the air.
In the few moments it took for them to be able to see again, the robot had fled, vanishing into the forest without a trace. Antares and Innocence were left looking dumbly around before they shared glances, and the mare grimaced before she tapped at her horn and mumbled: “Things that negate magic aren't fair.”
“I'm more worried about what she implied. Or it implied. Or whatever it is implied, I'm worried about the implications.” Antares said after a moment, shaking his head quickly before he rubbed at his eyes. What they had just fought bothered him: not the part where they'd nearly gotten their asses kicked by a robot – that was, strangely enough, not all that unusual – but rather the fact that he could piss it off, he could read its movements, and it felt like a living being.
Was this one of Thorn's experiments, or a past creation by Valthrudnir that had been unsealed by that hapless nincompoop Orex?
What the hell was it doing here, and what did it want?
Antares scowled, then he half-turned, nearly falling over as he reached back into his satchel and dug wildly through it. Innocence, meanwhile, let her gauntlets vanish as she plodded over to some of that silvery liquid that had spilled in place of the creature's blood, leaning down and sniffing it for a moment before she touched it and carefully wiggled a claw through it, watching the way it separated at her touch, then pooled itself back together, even defying the slope of the earth to do so.
“This stuff is definitely liquid metal, like the stuff used to put those bug soldiers of Decretum together.” Innocence paused, then leaned down and spat loudly a few times into the goop, but when her spittle only dripped across it, she added helpfully: “Looks like it's higher quality stuff, though. It's not being disrupted by other liquids. I mean, I can pee in it if you want me to be really sure but-”
“Thorn Blackfeather.” Antares said loudly, and Innocence cocked her head in surprise as she realized Antares was holding a small round gemstone, communication symbols across its surface flaring to life before the stone glowed bright.
A moment later, a small, illusionary image of Thorn Blackfeather flared to life above the stone, the stallion scowling at them as he asked: “What is it? I have a meeting in ten minutes.”
“We just ran into a robot. Did you send a killer robot after Mutt and Dad?” asked Antares waspishly, and Thorn looked at him for a few moments before the slightest of smiles bridged his muzzle as he quirked an eyebrow, which just made Antares scowl deeper. “Listen, you... you cocky cock, I'll-”
“Antares, as amusing as this is to me, why would I send a 'killer robot' rather than Muse, or Rex Prox Danzsöngr, or any of the other more-than-capable options that come before 'killer robot?'” Thorn asked, and Antares huffed before the stallion inquired: “Replicant, Dogmatist, or-”
“It was a robot!” Antares and Innocence both shouted at almost the same time, as the scaly mare shouldered her way in front of the image beside her brother. “Hey, it was also made of liquid metal! Or at least it was partly liquid metal. It had liquid metal! I punched it and made it bleed liquid metal!”
“It is not 'liquid metal,' it is...” Thorn sighed as Innocence growled, then he muttered: “Yes. Fine. 'Liquid metal;' I assume this was not a chimera-class war drone?”
“I did not get my ass kicked by a bug thing.” Antares huffed.
“I didn't get my ass kicked at all!” Innocence added, and when Antares gave her a pointed look, she huffed and muttered: “Hey, we totally won that fight. I won that fight for us. The fact my magic wouldn't work meant it was cheating, too. It was cheating and I still beat the snot out of it.”
“Really?” Thorn glanced away from the screen, and Antares could tell he was either running calculations or checking his database... probably both . “I need more information.”
“Well, it looked like a mare at first. It looked like a robot pony, well beyond your usual Replicant or Dogmatist. It...” Antares mused. “Huh. It didn't drop its name, or what she was doing here, or anything like that. She... er, it... it was weird.”
Thorn nodded, then started: “Do you require-”
“If you even finish that sentence I will jump through that communication stone just to shove your head up your ass.” Innocence threatened. “We don't need your help, whether it's Auntie Swan or more killer robots. If you're gonna send me killer robots then send them to my house so I can play with them at my leisure.”
Thorn looked at her for a few moments through the communicator, and then he returned his eyes to Antares, saying bluntly: “If you do not require anything further and you don't want any help, then I don't know why you contacted me.”
“Hey, can't it be just to see your handsome face, hear your darling voice?” Antares asked sweetly, and Thorn looked at him moodily before the stallion winked, then quickly flipped the crystal over, closing the connection.
He scowled a little as he squeezed the stone moodily, and Innocence cocked an eyebrow at him as she said: “We could have at least told him to send us some stuff. Like a car or motorcycles or guns or something.”
Antares only grunted, and Sin hesitated before she asked in a quieter voice: “So what's got you so mad, huh?”
“Just a bad feeling, that's all. Thorn can be kind of a dickhead, after all.” Antares said with a hint of moodiness, and then he shook his head and tossed the communication stone in the air a few times, muttering: “Unmarked drop module drops a robot who says she's not representing any nation. Mutt and Dad are here somewhere, but not where they should be. We got dropped a thousand miles-”
“Not literally!”
“-away from Yggdrasil.” Antares' features puckered a little as he put it together as best he could in his head, then muttered: “But what role are we playing? If it's not a test, are we bait? Or what?”
“Looks like we've got a mystery on our hooves.” Sin intoned, waving her claws in the air, and then she smiled and awkwardly reached up to pat her brother's face firmly, Antares blinking and wincing, then scowling at her before she said lamely: “It'll be okay?”
Antares looked at her for a few moments, then he sighed and opened his forelegs, and Sin opened her own, the two scooting awkwardly towards one-another and embracing carefully for a few moments before they almost violently shoved themselves apart.
Then Sin grinned, and Antares rolled his eyes and shook his head before he said almost grudgingly: “Thanks for... you know.”
“Yeah, I know.” Sin said with a grin, and then she winked and asked: “So time to get on the road again? Because there's really no place to go but forward. And don't worry, big brother, I'll protect you from the scary death robots.”
Antares smiled wryly, then he absently rubbed at his stomach before he frowned a little. He probed the injured area harder as he glanced down at himself, but as clear as the bruising was, it didn't feel all that tender or injured.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, you're not that badly hurt. It's the energy concentration in the air. Jötunheim isn't a mortal realm, it's a magic realm connected to Asgard.” Sin informed. “I'm pretty sure that means if you die here, it's like dying in Helheim or Asgard; you're kaput for good. But it also means we get the same benefits as in the Vale of Valhalla.”
“So we'll heal faster and it'll be harder to die. Fantastic.” Antares paused, then asked curiously: “You think it affects that robot?”
“Do machines have electric souls?” Sin asked wryly, and then she shook her head before trotting quickly around the clearing, picking up her satchel bags and absently healing the mire-filled wounds in the earth as she passed them.
Antares put his communication stone away, then shifted his saddlebags to a more comfortable position before he pressed his hooves down into the earth and closed his eyes, breathing deeply as he felt out what nature around them was saying, and got a sense of where to go next.
The city was still a day's journey away. But if they made a quick march, there was...
A piercing shape filled his mind, cold and dark, and Antares flinched a bit before he opened his eyes to see Sin frowning uneasily at him, and the stallion smiled briefly as he muttered: “Due north. Think there's something waiting for us.”
“Oh, sure, no spoilers.” Sin said sardonically, and then she huffed as the stallion winked before striding past her, grumbling as she hurried up to his side and muttered: “You're a real jerkass, you know that?”
Antares only shrugged, and they walked on together: down the game trails, through trees and out of forest and over great, high slopes, in this space between civilizations. They walked on beneath beautiful, clear skies, and the constellations of diamond stars that shone alongside the sun through that glassy blue ephemera.
As the sun began to set and new stars swam across the sky, Antares and Innocence found themselves striding up a lonely, flat-topped mound in the middle of a vast plain, the tallest of a pimpling of hills that disrupted the otherwise flat fields. Antares smiled as they reached the top of it, and Innocence whistled to herself as they discovered the ruins of a campsite, marked by a tall, imposing obelisk of black crystal.
Innocence immediately hurried forwards and touched this, shivering for a moment as her claws squeezed into it before she rested her head against it, murmuring quietly: “Daddy.”
Antares joined her, touching the spire of black gemstone, closing his eyes as he felt the pulse that ran through it: not all darkness and power, but also a father's love, and dedication. He felt the memories that had been trapped in this crystal, heard laughter resonate through it, saw the flash of his mother's eyes, her careless grin...
Then he let his hoof drop, and he shook his head before murmuring: “Dumbasses.”
“Super dumbasses.” Sin agreed as she stepped back from the pillar, studying it for a moment before simply smiling and flicking her claws to either side, and the pole of crystal dissolved into motes of dark energy that floated harmlessly into the air, releasing an almost-invisible thrum of power.
Innocence rose her head, meditated for a moment... then grinned as she felt a thrum in response. Antares couldn't feel the magic vibration, but he saw Sin's eyes light up, and he smiled as he asked: “So they're here, huh?”
Sin nodded firmly, answering: “I bet they're waiting for us in that city ahead. I don't know why or what they're doing, but it feels like they're that way.” Sin pointed in what Antares guessed was probably the direction of the city. “Are we going?”
“No. We'll make camp here tonight.” Antares answered with a brief shake of his head. “I want to get a better sense of what the nights here are like, and make sure we're not going to just spend all night fighting off zombies or something.”
“Lame. I'll just take them all over.” Innocence wiggled her claws, but then she rolled her eyes as Antares gave her a mild look. “Fine, fine. Do you want me to set up wards?”
“Just the basics.” Antares answered, and Sin grunted as the stallion shrugged off his bags and added: “I'll get to setting up camp while you do that. You want to eat tonight?”
“Snack time!” Sin agreed, and Antares smiled despite himself before he shrugged amiably and went to work, as his sibling did the same.
A few hours later found them sitting in front of a roaring blue fire, the eternal flames dancing and twisting carelessly over a single wooden log Antares carried just for this purpose. They were quiet, Sin wrapped in a blanket and sipping hot chocolate from a mug, Antares tossing a bottle of cider he wasn't drinking back and forth between his forehooves.
He looked at the little tent he had set up: bigger inside than outside, like pretty much everything else they had. He smiled briefly, then murmured: “We're pretty lucky.”
“Yeah.” Sin agreed almost reluctantly. “And I hate it.”
“Me too.”
Sin was quiet for a moment, then asked finally: “You think this is about making us earn our keep and not just abuse our superpowers?”
“No, that's dumb.” Antares smiled slightly, glancing over at his sister with a shrug. “Part of me says this is a test, but if Thorn's involved somehow...”
“Yeah, he doesn't usually do the whole 'help Mutt with her dumb ideas' thing.” Sin paused, then added with relish: “Except for Mutt's birthday gift last year. That was everything I ever could have dreamed. That was an early birthday gift for everyone .”
“My name is Thorn Blackfeather, and I am here to put a stop to you, Mother .” Antares recited, as he made mechanical gestures with his forelegs, and Sin snorted laughter before the stallion relaxed with a grin. “That was a lot of fun. I don't know why we can't do things like that more often.”
“I mean, Mutt did basically 'attack' another world and we went in to stop her. Sort of.” Innocence rolled her eyes, saying wryly: “God I hope there's a parallel me out there somewhere. And a parallel you! As long as they're as fun as Darklady Luna Nightmoon and Her Holiness Celestina Celeste Sunbless of the Third Age.”
Antares and Sin shared a laugh, then they both settled back, staring into the blue flames for a time before the stallion said quietly: “Tell me I'm paranoid.”
“I can't, because you're usually annoyingly right.” Sin answered with a brief smile, and then she shook her head and murmured: “But I'm definitely open to the idea of hoping that for once you're wrong, and this isn't a prelude to something bad happening. Because if everyone's working together without telling us anything...”
“Something bad's happened, and they either want us ready... or they don't want us to interfere.” Antares quieted, then he shook his head and murmured: “I hate being the good guy sometimes.”
“Hey, at least you are a good guy! I'm supposed to be bad bitch number one, ooh, the evil bad sister.” Innocence snorted, then smiled briefly as she shook her head and murmured: “Instead, here I am. Because they know that fucking Thorn will get the job done, but you and me?”
“We'll turn it into another rotworld fiasco.” Antares said with a small smile in return.
Innocence nodded, and Antares could tell by the way she tightened up that she felt they had done the right thing there. Hell, he did too: they had done what was right , but maybe not what was good, or in the best interests of what they had been supposed to be doing.
They had been asked by their mother to help Thorn evacuate a group of ponies from a dying world. Of course they'd been eager to help, and they'd arrived with every intent of saving as many people as possible.
Why was the world dying? What was causing it? Those questions hadn't really been answered, but ultimately hadn't mattered, either. Sin and Antares had both just wanted to help.
They found out on descent that the world wasn't really dying , but rather the destabilization caused years ago by the destruction of World Without End meant that some of the worlds had slipped from their eternal tethers, and a few of them, like this one, had 'sunk' towards Helheim.
They descended on a mortal world that had been bathed in demonic energies, causing massive distortions in the laws of physics, turning mortals into demons and half-demons, causing insanity in a world that had been structured and quiet and peaceful, an almost-perfect copy of the Core World that held all their worlds together, that was now a cracked funhouse mirror reflection, a parody, an insult of what it had once been.
And Thorn's soldiers had already been there, culling and killing the 'affected,' those Thorn had decreed in his callous, unflinching way were 'too far gone to save,' while other Kirin were herding 'pure' ponies through enormous portals and onto refugee transports for 'appropriate resettlement.'
That had been bad enough, but some of the ponies – those who showed more than a trace amount of corruption in their bodies, or failed one of a dozen other arcane sniff tests – were being sent over to a quarantine zone, where they were told they would be 'kept safe.' Antares had understood instantly.
They were saving the 'worthy' ponies, and Thorn was just going to leave the rest of them to die.
He'd been so mad.
And yet even when he'd been yelling at Thorn, he'd understood.
Limited resources. An entire world to save, rotting into oblivion as it sank into a sea of Hell's chaos and corruption. Worsening tremors and unpredictable chaos events.
But being logical and correct didn't mean it was right .
So he had threatened, begged, and wheedled as much as he could. And when Thorn refused to budge, he'd snuck Innocence into the quarantine zone and had her open a portal to Looking Glass World. And while the Kirin were trying to stop her, he'd stolen one of the transport ships and zoomed off to try and save as many people in the 'too dangerous' areas as possible.
He nearly crashed the ship into a fortified camp the survivors had built, and evacuated every person he could: some of them were demons, some of them glowed strangely, some of them were downright assholes, but all of them were people who just wanted to escape this hellhole, and he was the person to do it.
He was barely able to cut ahead of another transport in line and essentially crashed the transport in the mire just outside of Imperia. Of course, after that it hadn't been long before Thorn's enormous Clockwork Titans had arrested him and dragged him to join Sin and Thorn.
Thorn had scolded them for wasting time and resources and putting lives at risk, but it had been halfhearted, because, contrary to what most ponies believed, he did have a heart in there somewhere.
But duty superseded his heart, as Antares and Sin both clearly saw when they watched on a monitor with horror as the rotting world had been annihilated by what Thorn called a 'planet cracker' bomb.
Thorn had destroyed a planet, because that was what he, Helheim, and Asgard had all agreed was the only possible thing they could do. Because if it had continued to sink through reality, the entire dying planet could have fallen on a slice of Helheim and caused immense, incalculable devastation.
So they had acted, long before that could happen, with some vague, brief gestures towards 'saving innocent lives.'
After that, Antares and Innocence hadn't really talked to Thorn or the rest of their family for a few weeks, and instead focused on helping the ponies who had arrived in Looking Glass World resettle, helping them find homes, work, begin a new life here and leave the horrors they had experienced behind.
It made it harder to treat all of this philosophy of right and wrong, good and evil, as an academic discussion, however, when you were standing there with actual ponies rather than facts and figures and soulless numbers.
“Hey.” Innocence said quietly, interrupting his moody thoughts, and Antares glanced at her as the mare smiled a little. “If being too good of a good guy is your worst quality, then... you could be worse off.”
“Yeah. But it sucks for you, bad girl.” Antares said, smiling back after a moment with a small nod.
Innocence shrugged, then turned back to the fire, and the two gazed into the eternal, dancing flames in silence, neither knowing what to say, but neither having to speak to understand that no matter what happened, at least they would always have each other.
Chapter Six: Family
The night was uneventful, and it only took them a few minutes to pack up in the morning. They made their way down from their high, safe hilltop and through the mounds and knolls beyond into sprawling fields, dotted here and there with copses of tenacious, stringy trees.
They found themselves on a road before long, and they even began to pass little homes here and there: farmsteads mostly, although there was the occasional guard tower or barracks as well. Not that it looked like this place was heavily militarized or occupied: from what Antares saw when they passed the militia, they were mostly civilians and farmers who were looking out for one-another, whether it was from bandits, monsters, or natural disasters.
They reached the outskirts of the city of Banding after a good ten hours of travel, and Antares had to admit, it was a pretty impressive sight. Even Innocence stopped whining as they approached the great outer walls, the mare whistling as she asked: “That's overkill, right?”
Antares eyed the wall: from the dwarves standing guard outside the tremendously-tall, ajar doors beyond the massive, open portcullis, he eyeballed the height of the outer wall at a little over half a mile tall. “I mean, probably? I don't think the Jötnar were actually giants, like, giant giants.”
“Otherwise how would Valthrudnir have had sex with Hecate, right?” Innocence asked plainly, and Antares snorted in amusement, then coughed a few times as he looked awkwardly away.
“Yes, that's exactly what I'm thinking of. I mean, hey, for all I know, earth giants are like a mile tall and actually do grind bones to make their bread. But I don't think they're actually that big, no.” Antares mused for a moment as people passed back and forth around them, some giving them curious looks, others only going quickly on their way. He paused as he rose his head a little, then smiled despite himself as he realized... “We're back in society.”
“No shit.” Innocence snorted in amusement, glancing around herself: the road leading to the doors was wide and filled with people of all shapes and sizes. Quite a few people were just wandering stalls that had been set up along either side of the road and along the face of the wall... although Sin noted that several patrolling guards were starting to take an interest in the cloaked dragon and the talking unicorn with the shiny crystal wings. “Uh. We better look natural.”
“We're absolutely not natural.” Antares said mildly, but then he nodded and sauntered towards the city entrance, Innocence trotting up beside him and letting the stallion smile his way past a patrol of guards.
There were quite a few dwarves here, Innocence noted, as well as tall, graceful humanoids she identified as likely being elves. She noted a smattering of other races as well, but these two were the most prominent, with the dwarves largely being soldiers and merchants hawking goods, and the elves browsing in groups and a few dressed like rangers patrolling here and there, silent and watchful.
A scaly little creature hurried towards her, with a face like the bastard child of a rat and dragon, peering up at her with dumb little eyes before it held its hands up insistently as its long tail snapped back and forth anxiously behind it. Innocence paused and scowled down at the urchin, before the creature whined: “Food! Money! Food-money!”
“Oi, get, you!” a dwarf shouted, and the creature squeaked and scampered quickly off. Innocence cocked an eyebrow as she looked over her shoulder, but the dwarf only gestured grumpily for them to keep going. “Don't feed them kobolds. Only makes 'em expect more handouts.”
“Yeah. Right.” Innocence glowered a little, and then she sighed when Antares looked at her pointedly. The mare nodded grouchily, then followed along behind him: but she could feel the elves' eyes on her too, sharper than the dwarves, who had already turned their attention back to whatever it was they had been gossiping about.
They approached the open doors, and joined the line leading into the tunnel, Antares whistling a little at the length of the passage through the massive wall: it had to be almost a thousand feet, the corridor lit by eternal flames that burned in the jaws of enormous metal skulls mounted along the walls.
“Those are pretty weird.” Innocence said, and Antares shrugged as he glanced up at them, smiling slightly as he allowed his acuity to put together the answer for him.
“Sure. I'm guessing this was originally a slave passage, though. It would make the architecture make a lot more sense...” Antares paused, saying mildly: “I'm guessing you sensed the rune lines we walked over, but did you notice that there's dropgates in the ceiling, too?”
“Gee, I care a lot about any of this.” Innocence said dryly, although she was grudgingly interested. “What about those Nibelung out there? They looked weird. Less piggy.”
“I don't think those are technically Nibelung anymore. I guess they're just dwarves, several generations out of Niflheim.”Antares shrugged, looking thoughtful. “I mean, we know that when they spend too long in Helheim, Nibelung get all angry and weird and bastardy. I guess if they spent a lot of time in an Asgardian-neighboring environment, they'd get a lot... well, like what we just saw. Especially if they were born here.”
Sin nodded agreeably, and they walked on until they emerged into the streets of the city, Sin whistling a little as Antares grinned. It was a crowded, clustered metropolis of stone and wood buildings, a reclaimed slum that had been transformed into a sanctuary community: ugly square buildings with rusted bars across the windows had open wooden stalls in front of them, and tall, zigzag wooden structures built atop them, ropes and clanking walkways crisscrossing between the lopsided structures.
They headed down the street, and Antares smiled at the graffiti that softened the hard stone face of a wall, while Innocence watched curiously as a giggling drove of children ran out of the yawning doors of a building and across the street... and yes, there were definitely dwarf children in the mix of rabble.
A tall, scaly creature chased after them, a lot like a larger version of the kobolds they had seen before but somehow a bit more civilized, probably due to the clothing it was wearing. Since the folk working nearby started laughing, Antares felt this was probably a regular occurrence, the stallion smiling despite himself before Innocence said mildly: “This is weird.”
“Yep.” Antares agreed. “So do you have a lock on Mutt or Dad yet?”
“Oh, but wouldn't that be cheating? Gosh, Antares, I was just going to ask how we were going to find Mutt and Dad, if we were going to start asking around or maybe we'd just go to the closest tavern to get hints about our epic quest.” Innocence said drolly.
Antares looked at her mildly, then he paused before saying thoughtfully, as he started quickly down the busy street: “Actually, that's not a bad idea.”
Innocence frowned as she hurried after him, cocking her head curiously, but Antares only hummed along down the street, letting his instincts guide him even as the mare complained: “Seriously I can find them in like two minutes.”
“Bet I can find them even faster.” Antares replied casually, and Innocence glowered at him before wincing and scrambling after her brother when he carelessly twisted to the side and crossed in front of a wagon being pulled by some massive yak-thing, the driver shouting at them in irritation as they passed.
They went down a narrower side street, Antares glancing at the signage they passed before he twisted on his hooves and followed a set of stairs next to a stone monolith upward: Innocence would have walked right by it if she wasn't following her brother's tail. He crossed the stone bridge above partway, then grinned as he hopped off the long arch and landed on a low walkway with a clatter of wood, getting a few odd looks and some giggles from a gang of kids watching from a balcony above.
Innocence grumbled as she teleported behind her brother, grabbing at him uselessly, but Antares hopped gracefully across to another high walkway and trotted quickly along it, grinning wider as he looked through the barred windows of the stone tower this wooden highpath ran along the side of, saying cheerfully: “This is pretty neat. This looks like a public cafeteria or something...”
Innocence peered through one of the windows, noting the tables below, the people milling around, before she huffed when Antares leapt into air, flapping his wings once as he crossed to another bridge and peered through a crack in a wooden wall. “And this looks like an armory.” He paused, then peered over the edge of the bridge, looking down at the group of dwarves below that were arguing loudly in armor. “Barracks, of course.”
Innocence appeared in a flash of magic beside Antares, looking at him grumpily, and the stallion glanced up at her before he grinned as he said: “So we're near the entrance, we passed over a market district, here's a barracks, and next door is where the soldiers go to eat. Now where do the soldiers go to get drunk?”
Innocence scowled at him, then winced when Antares simply let himself drop off the walkway, the stallion landing next to the soldiers some thirty feet below with a thud and a puff of dust, the dwarves yelping and falling all over each other as the stallion grinned at them before he winked and said cheerfully: “Beautiful day!”
With that, he strolled quickly away as Innocence rolled her eyes and followed along on the walkway above, muttering: “How the fuck do you do that and not get arrested?”
Antares looked back at his sister and winked, and she shouted angrily at him from above, but the stallion ignored her as he turned his eyes forwards and said easily to himself: “Practice. Well, that and my million-dollar smile, Sin.”
Antares smiled and winked at one of the tall kobold-things, and the scaly creature stared at him, then tripped dumbly over its own robes and fell in a puff to the street. Antares kept walking, clearing his throat awkwardly as he strolled onward before his eyes shifted to a building down the street, and he smiled slightly as Innocence appeared beside him with a scowl and she grumbled: “Okay.”
“Okay?” Antares asked innocently.
“Okay okay okay! Okay. You were right. You found them. But how? And don't say magic eyes, I'll shove your head up your ass if you say magic eyes.” Innocence threatened.
“Magic eyes.” Antares answered immediately, and then he ducked away when the mare slashed her horn at him angrily before she chased him towards the tavern.
They stumbled through the doors together and crashed into a heap, nearly knocking a dwarf sprawling and surprising several of the patrons near the entrance, but as the two awkwardly picked themselves up off the floor, they were greeted by a cheerful: “My children! 'Tis wonderful to see thee here!”
Antares and Innocence flailed at each other, then hopped quickly to their hooves, grinning as they approached the bar, where their beloved Móðer, Luna Brynhild, sat comfortably back in a stool awaiting them, a glass of ale in one hoof, a wide, happy grin on her features and mischief gleaming in her sharp green eyes.
She was a tall, athletic mare, with a darkest blue coat, and a mane and tail that flowed like starlight, glowing with exotic constellations. Her horn was sharp crystalline blue, not alicorn like theirs, but rather soulstone, a tiara of bony thorns framing this.
Her body was protected by a black breastplate, gorgeously embossed with a rose motif, and her neck was embraced by a thick collar with a silver clasp, inset in which was a black pearl engraved with a rose. Black roses... that was kind of their parents' motif.
Luna took a deep drink of ale, belched loudly, then tossed the flagon back on the bar as she hopped down and strode towards her children. She embraced them both fiercely, smiling warmly as they hugged her tightly back and she murmured: “'Tis good to see thee both. My heart swells for it. But why art thou here? Did thou miss us?”
“Well...” Antares paused, then he asked curiously: “Hey, where's Dad? And uh, I mean... how are you here?”
Luna grinned widely at this, turning and heading back to the bar to hop into her stool, spinning childishly around once with a giggle before she snatched up her flagon and leaned back on the bar, the bartender nervously slipping away as the mare bragged loudly: “'Tis a genius invention of Morgan! We have magic badges that permit us travel wherever we so please!”
“Oh, good, you're filly scouts now.” Antares said mildly, and then he grinned and ducked away when Luna huffed and flung a handful of peanut shells from the bar at him.
“Idiot. Nay, I am sure thy cleverer sister can tell thee. And if Thorn can't, then Innocence will no doubt figure it out!” Luna declared, then laughed at her own joke as Antares and Sin both traded looks and eye-rolls. “Now, enough nonsense, enough. 'Tis wonderful to see thee both. Are thou here to assist?”
“Actually uh... Momma sent us to find you and Daddy because she fell out of contact with you.” Innocence said, and Luna blinked in surprise and frowned as she reached up and tapped absently on her crystalline spire.
Luna puckered up her lips, then screwed up her face, and then she huffed and mumbled: “Well. 'Tis strange. We were just speaking the other day... perhaps the magic of the badge fades faster than we had anticipated. Still, it seems strong enough that Scrivy and I can complete our duties, so go and tell thy worrywart mother that we are fine, and we shall see her soon.”
“Right.” Antares said wryly: his powers of acuity didn't work quite as well on his family, but Luna still put out dozens of tells when she wasn't telling the whole truth about something, including the very obvious way she wrinkled up her snout. “Gosh, we'll just be on our way then... but hey, you know, since we're here already, we might, oh, I don't know, wander pointlessly around for a few days before actually completing our very simple objective, since for absolutely no reason we were dropped like a thousand miles away from our perceived destination.”
Luna looked at him mildly for a few moments, then she hopped out of her seat and bopped him with her horn, Antares wincing a bit before the sapphire mare grumbled: “Shut up, smart boy.”
Antares shrugged and looked at her pointedly, and Luna chewed moodily at her lip before she grumbled and nodded grouchily. “Thou hast a point. Do not let it go to thy stupid fat head.”
Antares snorted, then he gestured mildly across the tavern, and Luna grumbled before she swiped her flagon off the bar. Antares nudged Innocence, and Sin nodded as she hurried after Luna, while the stallion turned back to the bar and said: “Two more flagons of ale, thanks. Also, did you see my Dad? The guy who was with her.”
“The stinking creature?” asked the kobold-like creature behind the counter. “He left some time ago. The demon stayed to wait for you.”
Antares looked at the tall creature for a moment, noting the spines on its forehead and that hung down from its shoulders – forcing it to wear its robes almost like a shoulderless dress – and then he clicked his tongue before he asked curiously: “Are you guys kobolds too, or...”
“Now I see the resemblance.” the barkeep said irritably, before he sighed and rolled his big yellow eyes, grumbling: “We are silber. Better than kobolds. Smarter.”
“Still stuck working a crappy service job, though, huh?” Antares said mildly, and the silber scowled at him as he slammed two flagons down on the counter and poured a smattering of ale into either one, the stallion clearing his throat as he daintily took these with magic, then reached out with a hoof to lamely tap the silber's bottle. “Uh. Power to the people. Bye.”
He turned and hurried off towards the far table that Luna had occupied, sliding into his seat and smiling slightly at Sin wheedling: “-so you know, let us help you.”
“Yeah, let us help you.” Antares said mildly as he slid a flagon over to Innocence, and the unicorn swept this up and slurped at it loudly as the stallion smiled over at Luna. “Or, you know, don't, but at least let us have some fun with this. Hell, we'll make it a game.”
Luna perked up at this, immediately turning her full attention to her son, and Antares grinned as he leaned on the table and rested his chin on a hoof, saying mildly: “I mean, unless you're scared, that is. I totally understand that. We'd absolutely kick your ass, Mutt, Sin and I are way cooler than you and Dad.”
Luna huffed, and Innocence coughed before she said awkwardly: “I mean... well, you know, we're not... it's like comparing apples and oranges! You're an apple. We're... oranges. It's just a different kind of... level of... cool.”
“Sin!” Luna huffed loudly, looking injured as she clutched at her chest. “Thou cuts me to the quick! Wretched betrayer, how dare thee say I am not 'cool' enough for thee!”
“Well, like, you know!” Sin rambled, and then she blushed and smiled lamely as she said awkwardly: “You're cooler than Dad?”
“Oh, grand, I am cooler than the poet.” Luna grumbled, and then she whined: “How can thou be so cruel to thy Mutt? I was always thy favorite parent!”
“And you still are!” Sin encouraged, and then she cleared her throat as she looked off to the side and mumbled: “I could just, you know, kick your ass.”
Luna's eyes widened and her muzzle wrinkled up horribly, and then she seized the table and attempted to fling it off to one side, but Antares cleared his throat as he quickly caught the other side of it and stopped it from doing more than bouncing on the spot, flagons jouncing and giggling but thankfully not overturning. “Hey now, there's no need for-”
“Innocence Sparkle, compared to me thou art still but a little filly, and I would take great pleasure in bending thee over and spanking thy perfect ass that thou inherited from thy father!” Luna threatened, and Sin huffed as she immediately slammed her claws into the other side of the table, leaning over it and glaring back at the mare.
“Oh yeah? Well, I'm right here, old nag, and if you wanna try it you're more than welcome to!” Innocence shot back, and Luna's eyes flared as her mane burst into blue flames. They leaned across the table towards one-another, quite a few of the folk in the tavern watching awkwardly as magic energy sparked around the horns of the two and they glared into one-another's eyes. “The only time you'll even see my perfect ass is when my perfect ass sits on your dumb ugly face!”
They both snarled, then leaned forwards, their heads butting together, their horns sparking as spire ground against spire. They leaned down on the groaning table, and Antares slowly took a sip from his flagon as he wondered if he should bother defusing the situation or just excuse himself from the bar so he didn't get dragged into their fight before he smiled at the sight of a familiar figure. “Oh, hey Dad!”
Both Luna and Innocence looked dumbly to the side, cheeks smacking painfully together as Scrivener Blooms poked his head into the bar, then immediately gave Luna a flat look. The sapphire mare grinned widely at him, forgetting instantly about her fight with her daughter as she pranced out of her seat and let Innocence splat to the table with a squawk, the winged unicorn hopping up to her husband to kiss him on the cheek before she said cheerfully: “Scrivy! The children are here!”
“Hey guys.” Scrivener greeted with a smile, striding towards them: he was a massive earth pony, with strange, scaly patches here and there across his body, his mane and tail shaggy and white, his eyes dark and deep. Bony pistons stuck out of either side of his spine, and his forelegs ended not in hooves, but gauntlets that had been fused to his body, claws of living metal nervously shifting against the ground before he wheezed when Innocence plowed into him and hugged him firmly.
Antares hopped out of his seat, heading around the table to pry Innocence off her father, then trade a quick hug with the stallion himself. Then he stepped back with a grin, winking as he poked his bare, scarred chest, teasing: “Hey, Mutt's supposed to be the dumb one here.”
“Aye, that is true, but I do like my Scrivener in as little as possible. Ready for me at a moment's notice.” Luna said with relish as she smiled at her husband, and Innocence and Antares both made childish faces and disgusted noises. “Oh shush, both of thee. Now, Scrivy, what hast thou found?”
The four of them returned to the table, and as Scrivener sat, Antares' eyes noted a small gemstone pin on the stallion's chest. It was sharp, bright blue, leafed in gold, and he detected a strange magic and eerie sense of familiarity from it.
Scrivener glanced at his son, then smiled as he followed his eyes, reaching up to gently touch the pin on his chest as he said: “Oh, this? This is what Luna was talking, her uh... 'merit badge-'”
“Shut up, Scrivy.” Luna huffed and bopped the stallion with her horn, then she nodded firmly several times as she patted her own chest and happily bragged: “Yes, mine is just like Scrivener's, only better. They contain fragments of life force, mixed together, so that we may step apart.”
“They drain, though. They're like soul batteries, basically. So after so long we'll have to go back to uh...” Scrivener awkwardly looked around the tavern, then cleared his throat and said: “You know where.”
“Helheim!” Luna almost shouted cheerfully, then she beat her sharp, curved forehooves in a tattoo happily against the table, saying with relish: “Oh, it is good to be out of the ice, though, wonderful indeed! 'Tis so dismal down there, boring and stupid. But admittedly it makes it hard to acknowledge the passing of days... we are so used to time in Underdark, where 'tis all a mishmash... it has been thousands of years since we have seen thee last, and yet to thee...”
Luna softened, smiling radiantly at her children, vulnerable and honest for a moment as she murmured: “I am so proud of both of thee and 'tis so good to see thee.”
Antares blushed a bit, and Innocence smiled warmly before she shrugged a little and replied shyly: “I'm... I'm really happy to see you too, Mutt. You and Dad both. You look good.”
“We are good. We are better than good.” Luna said proudly, and then she slammed a hoof against the table and said firmly: “But enough! I shan't be distracted by thy frippery-frappery! We still have much time before we must return to our gilded prison and we shall make full use of it!”
Scrivener touched his badge nervously, saying in a lower, more careful voice: “But if we can't contact Twilight and she's having trouble-”
“Morgan! Millennia, poet, thousands upon thousands of heaping years, and thou still cannot call her by her proper name! Fie on thee!” Luna paused in her vociferation, chewing at her cheek for a moment before she agreed in a moodier voice: “Although, yes, yes, perhaps thou has a point. 'Twould be very bad for us should we return to Helheim with nothing. Morgan may make us sit in the corner again, or worse.”
Scrivener sighed, and Antares studied the two, frowning slightly before he asked curiously: “So you really are here to find Mimir?”
“Well, yes, of course!” Luna looked surprised, then huffed, complaining: “Oh, thou thinks I am incapable, is that so? Or that I am as given to intrigue and folly as wretched Freya, or Tauros, or worst of all thy wicked little brother Thorn? Nay, we are here to seek out Mimir. It just so happens that... we may perhaps have other tasks as well.”
Antares knew his mother was exceptionally good at being evasive, but she was terrible when it came to lying. He had learned a lot about manipulating ponies from her, which was why he didn't fall for the easy callout and instead only smiled and nodded, saying: “Well, we'd be happy to join you on your epic quest, then.”
“Well, by all means, if thou thinks thou can withstand the sight of thy parents indulging the basest and most primal of natural acts repeatedly every single night.” Luna retorted, and Scrivener winced, but Antares only grinned as he leaned forwards.
“Hey, I once had to travel with the twincest-is-best twins for a week. I can handle anything after that.” Antares retorted with a mock shiver.
Luna huffed, then poked at him with her horn, complaining: “Oh, fie on thee, they are... affectionate, that is all! 'Tis the nature of the Allelois. A good brother and sister. And also they are both dead as well as demons so they will not be making babies, so it is fine.”
Scrivener slapped his forehead, and Luna said reasonably: “Well, 'tis the reason 'tis not so gross if the siblings are of the same mold, is it not? There shan't be a baby and thus no awkward explaining to the dewy-eyed thing that thy mother is also thy aunt or uncle or whatnot, whatever 'twas who put it there.”
“Thanks, Mutt.” Antares said dryly, and then he sighed and rubbed at his face, knowing that Luna was just trying to bait him away from the main topic. “Don't worry, Sin and I can set up a sound barrier. An opaque sound barrier.”
“So strong and solid it shall not break even should I batter thy father with mine mightiest of battering rams upon it? That thou shan't hear the squeaking and squealing-”
Antares narrowed his eyes, then interjected quietly but firmly: “What are you hiding?”
Luna winced at the interruption, then started haughtily: “'Tis rude to interrupt thy Móðer -”
“I'll kick your ass.” Innocence threatened, and when Luna huffed and turned to glare at her, she added in a lower voice: “But we can handle it, you know? Whatever's going on, Mutt. Don't leave us in the dark.”
Luna wrinkled up her snout and whined a little in her throat, then she groaned and covered her face, mumbling: “Fie. Fie on all of thee. Including thou, poet, thy thoughts only worsen mine own.” The mare huffed and flailed at the stallion as he smiled awkwardly, and then Luna hesitated before she nodded with a grumble. Fine. Fine, but only because I am no plotter nor schemer like Morgan or Thorn or wretched Freya.
“There is...” Luna hesitated, then said in a lower voice: “There has been much discussion as to the fate of the realms: how best to moderate the flow of souls, and what communication, if any, the mortal plane should have with the otherworlds, and vice-versa. We are here partly simply to be out of Morgan's way, and we are also here to seek both counsel and answers of our own.”
“We've been tracking weakpoints in reality and possible portal locations. We know for a fact that there are several portals between Jötunheim and the mortal realm, and Helheim as well.” Scrivener explained, as he reached up and squeezed Luna's shoulder gently with a claw. “We're... trying to figure out what would be best to do. I mean, not us, but Morgan, Tauros, and Thorn...”
“Separation.” Antares said without grasping what it meant, but the reaction of his parents told him everything he needed to know, the stallion frowning as he said slowly: “Hard borders again. Three leaders for three realms.”
“Levels of reality.” Scrivener corrected awkwardly, although it came out to just the same, didn't it? A Heaven, a Hell, a mortal world... and nothing in between. And the implication that... “Things have to return to some kind of natural order-”
“Yeah, so let's make Thorn boss of the entire mortal level of reality, and Tauros can definitely look after Jötunheim and whatever else Asgard is connected to, too.” Antares said acerbically, earning a scowl from Luna as Scrivener grimaced. “Who died and made you guys the king?”
“Odin. And then Hel.” Luna retorted with a huff before she whined: “And what would thou have us do? Allow souls to flit freely back and forth as they so please? Allow more portals to be built so we may once again tear the fabric of reality and invite in the Void? Shut down Clockwork World and allow all these worlds their autonomy to die as they please?”
Antares shrugged, replying pointedly: “And our family basically being in charge of everything is better? Because I'm not stupid, I know that Freya isn't shy about muscling Tauros into doing stuff for her, and he knows he needs her. He doesn't quite have his dad's tact but he sure did inherit his mom's temper and bad decision making skills.”
“He is a good prince, though. And he agrees with us, and yes, Freya agrees with us.” Luna half-defended, half-admitted. “The realms were not meant to be traveled through-”
“Except by Valkyries. And Gods. And all the other 'higher beings.'” Antares interrupted.
“-by mortals.” Luna glared at him, hammering a hoof against the table. “And we must ensure there is a balance!”
“That's not what bothers me.” Antares said quietly, his gaze locked with his Móðer's. “It's this creeping feeling that there's more to it than that. You're inferring there's going to be some kind of takeover, because you sure don't seem to be asking permission.”
Luna snorted at this, replying grumpily: “Oh, a thousand pardons, Antares, I shall ensure to ask the giants and the goblins what they think of our plan to stabilize the universe. 'Tis not as if we are already essentially three realms-”
“But Helheim has never exerted influence over Muspellheim, any more than Asgard has had any right to exert influence over Jötunheim.” Antares stated bluntly, and Luna threw her forelegs up in frustration at being interrupted again... or maybe it was just disgust at being seen through again. “I don't want to see you guys fuck up. I love you. Don't be bad guys, okay?”
Luna softened at this as Scrivener smiled faintly, and there was silence for a few moments before the sapphire mare reached out her hooves. Sharp, cloven, and blade-like, yet all the same gentle and careful as she took the hoof and claw of her son and daughter, looking back and forth between them before she said quietly: “I love both of thee very much. I cannot claim to be a good pony, and Helheim has worsened my faults and rusted my better nature. But for all that I am, I shall never be thy enemy, thy villain, or thy devil. I shall always be thy Móðer , and I promise that never, ever, shall I raise a hoof against thee.”
Luna paused, and then a smile quirked her mouth as she firmly gripped both her children's forelegs and nearly yanked them onto the table as she leaned forwards and added cheerfully: “Unless thou art asking for it, in which case I shall pummel thee both into mush.”
“Thanks, Mutt.” Antares snorted and yanked his leg loose as Innocence smiled despite herself, squeezing her Móðer's limb before she sat back as well. Son studied Móðer and father, then bit his lip-
“Well, Antares, if thou wants answers so badly, why not make a game of it?” Luna suddenly said, and Antares frowned before the sapphire mare grinned as she sat back in her seat comfortably. “Mimir knows all. For the eye he took from Odin sees all across the realms. There are no secrets, no untruths, no illusions that Mimir cannot see through.”
Antares cocked his head at this as Innocence leaned forwards with interest, and Luna said mildly: “'Tis well known that those who survive the ascent to Mimir will be permitted the answer to any one question. Two if he is in a good mood. I am sure with all thy loathsome foppish airs thou would be able to get at least three good answers from him, Antares.
“Therefore, I propose a race!” Luna rapped her hoof on the table and winked at her son with a wide, cocky grin. “We shall see who reaches Mimir first, traveling only by hoof across Jötunheim! If thou should reach him, thou shall have the chance to ask thy questions. Ah, but if I should reach him, Antares...”
She narrowed her eyes to slits, leaning towards him, and Antares scowled at his mother before he turned beet-red as she threatened: “I shall ask him how frequently thou masturbates, and if thy thoughts are of Prestige or other mares! Or stallions!”
“Goddammit, Mutt!” Antares shouted, then he cleared his throat and shrank a bit in his seat as quite a few pairs of eyes from across the tavern turned to stare at them.
Luna grinned down at him, taunting him, looking very proud of herself, and even before she opened her stupid mouth he could hear her- “Fine. Fine, you win. Whoever gets to Mimir first gets to ask him the questions. And the other side has to fill in any blanks.”
“Very well.” Luna thrust a hoof towards Antares, and the stallion hesitated, trading a look with Innocence before he scowled when their beloved Mutt teased: “What? Cold hooves already?”
Antares hesitated only a moment longer before he swore under his breath as he took his mother's hoof, pumping it once before he sighed and muttered: “I'm going to regret this.”
Chapter Seven: Roast
“I already regret this.”
Innocence scowled at Antares as they followed a beaten dirt road away from Banding. Luna had dragged Antares and Innocence out on a pretense of 'shopping' and then abandoned them in a crowded market district to cheat a head start on their race, and they had lost more than an hour just figuring out how to escape the complicated labyrinth of a metropolis.
“Then why did you even agree to it in the first place? You're dumb.” Innocence complained, and Antares weighed his answers before he sighed and decided to be honest with his sister.
“Because they weren't going to tell us what we wanted to know anyway.” he said finally, and Innocence frowned at him. “Hey, special eyes or no, I know all of our parents' delaying tactics. Mutt was using every last one of hers and it wasn't like Dad was telling us anything either. And I think... maybe Luna was trying to throw us a bone with this test.”
“Yeah, but she's going to win. Because she's a cheater, if nothing else. She's probably already flying there as we speak.” Innocence said grouchily, and Antares smiled wryly.
“I mean, maybe.” He paused, then muttered: “I mean, yeah, she's gonna cheat and rationalize her cheating and be a dick, that's Mutt. But I don't think she's just gonna fly or teleport there, either, that would be too obvious and hurt her pride too much. She'll cheat just enough that she can convince herself we still could have totally won if she just wasn't so darn good.
“More than that, though, I think she and Dad actually are doing something else up here. Something that...” Antares thought about their current predicament, then said slowly: “That we might be giving them unwitting cover for. Drawing fire and interest from other parties.”
Innocence nodded slowly, then said gently: “You're a crazy person.”
Antares shrugged and replied mildly: “I mean, totally, yeah. But even if I sound crazy and paranoid, does that mean I'm wrong?”
His sister grunted moodily, and then she sighed and shook her head, mumbling: “Probably not. So where are we headed?”
“As far as we can push.” Antares hesitated, looking up at the darkening sky before he muttered: “Going to be night soon, though. It seems like day lasts a little longer here than on the mortal world, but the night sure moves in fast. We better find a place to camp, preferably off the road and with at least a little bit of protection.”
His sister nodded after a moment, then she cleared her throat awkwardly and said in that tiny, defiant voice that told him she was being serious: “I... don't think Mutt's a bad guy, though.”
Antares paused, then turned and smiled at his sister, saying gently: “I don't either. That doesn't mean we're not gonna end up fighting them, I'm gonna be realistic. But you know if we do end up on opposite sides, Mutt's only gonna be proud of you when you kick her ass, right?”
“Yeah. I know.” Innocence mumbled after a moment, and then she sighed and nodded again. “I just hope we don't have to. I'd rather beat up Thorn than Mutt.”
“Can't always get what you want.” Antares intoned wryly, and then he straightened and looked back and forth before he gestured at his sister to follow as he veered off the road. “Come on, I think I see a decent place to camp.”
Innocence grunted, then dawdled along in her brother's wake as he headed towards a smattering of wild crops in the distance. They pushed past these, Innocence absently grabbing an ear of corn from one of the stalks before she applied heat to it through magic, rapidly drying it before the kernals began to pop loudly beneath the skin.
Antares found them a nice little campsite on the other side of the corn, and Innocence munched loudly on popcorn as she watched him quickly set up the tent and lay out a fire pit. The stallion finished as the last of the light bled out of the sky, his eyes glowering at her through the formless night as he asked: “Are you going to help at all?”
Innocence grunted as she finished the last of her snack, then she flung the chewed-on cob at Antares, who deflected it with a pointed look. “Fine, fine. So impatient. I'm just gonna set up the flames tonight.”
“And an alarm ward. Please.” Antares added, and Innocence groaned before the stallion said dryly: “Fine, if you want to get dragged off into the darkness-”
“Hey, they're not gonna eat or molest me, I'm too evil. You're the good guy, Antares, you should go hide in the tent.” Sin retorted as she flicked her horn, blue flames bursting to life in the firepit. Then she sighed and said finally: “Go sleep.”
Antares blinked, and Innocence grumbled and glanced away awkwardly as she muttered: “Look. I know you're tired and you're probably just as frustrated as I am, if not more so. I know um... fighting Mutt and Dad hits a sore spot for you...” Her eyes shifted, lingering on the X-shaped scarring across her brother's chest, before she sighed and complained: “Stop making it hard for me to be nice to you! Just go to bed goddammit, I'll stay up and keep watch.”
They glared at each other for a moment, and then Antares smiled a little despite himself before he shook his head, saying finally: “I guess you're right, Sin. I'll sleep for a few hours, you have an orgy with the darkness for a few hours, or whatever.”
“You're the one who apparently masturbates so furiously even Mimir watches it.” Innocence retorted, and Antares gave the mare a flat look before the mare flipped him off. “Get.”
Antares made a rude gesture in return, then smiled before he quickly turned and headed into the tent. He stayed awake long enough to roll out a sleeping pad, but it was barely a minute after he laid down that he fell asleep.
He woke up a few hours later: too short for a normal pony, but he wasn't really a normal pony. He also didn't usually sleep like that, but... the stress and frustration of it all, he guessed his brain had been desperate to escape from it and his body willing to comply.
He yawned as he emerged from the tent and walked over to sit by his sister. He smiled and nodded at her, then gratefully accepted a popped corn cob when she offered it to him, the stallion biting into the dry snack and crunching it slowly between his teeth.
“Needs butter.”
“Yeah. And salt.”
The rest of the night passed in quiet: Innocence napped on and off, and Antares spent a lot of time thinking, and a little bit of time writing in a notebook about their journey so far. When morning came, they packed up, and headed back to the road without incident: a nice change of pace from the struggles Antares was used to.
They traveled north by hoof for three days, only taking the occasional break and stopping in the safest place they could find each night. Antares guessed they had probably covered several hundred miles in the last few days: they kept up a quick march, and the terrain was largely favorable to travel, even as roads gave away to trails, then to nothing but wild, untamed nature bereft of civilization.
They were in a beautiful world, and Antares just wished they had more time to linger. But they had places to be and wagers to win, so they weren't able to afford much time to just enjoy the scenery... although that didn't stop Sin from taking little breaks now and then to stop and snap pictures with the camera she had brought, or from straying off the path and finding trouble every now and then, and simply teleporting to Antares when she was done with whatever mischief she had been up to.
Sometimes he wished he was able to abuse magic like his sister could.
But on the other hoof, Sin wandering off gave him the chance to run. He would gallop through the fields and up hard slopes, leaping across ravines and fearlessly drive across rushing rivers, going out of his way to find difficult terrain: the harder the obstacle, the better.
He liked to challenge his body, and the focus of his mind. He kept his packs over his wings as he climbed sheer and jagged cliff faces, thrilling in the knowledge that if he fell, he fell: nothing would catch him on the way down, not even his own wings.
It meant that the third night was spent on top of a particularly-strange shaped tower of rock that Antares had climbed up, and Innocence had simply teleported on top of. He didn't bother to set up the tent, only tossing out their bedrolls to lay on beneath the stars, a small blue fire flickering and casting eerie light across the top of the tower of mossy rock.
They were above the treetops, and the stars were so bright that it felt like if Antares flew up into that darklit firmament, he could snatch one of them and bring it back down to take home as a souvenir, as easily as stealing a glittering gemstone from the bed of a river. He smiled despite himself at the thought, staring up at the stars, wondering if these constellations ever changed; if that was really the darkness of space beyond, or just some vast sphere that embraced this entire realm, keeping it safe and hidden from the chaos and the Void.
“If every parallel world exists on the mortal plane, shouldn't we be able to fly to them through space?” Innocence asked curiously. “Do they all have their own solar system? And what about Heaven and Hell? I know they're both shielded inside their own dimensions, but are those dimensions really apart, or are they like worlds too, or if you flew far enough through space, would you eventually reach some kind of border to one or the other? Some place where two different realms, two different realities converge, and maybe you could travel through it, and come out somewhere entirely different?”
“Spheres within spheres, capsules inside capsules.” Antares said, and then he smiled a bit. “I bet the barrier between worlds would be sticky, though. Hard to travel through. Too gross to touch, rather than dangerous. I can think of a lot more ponies who would be stopped by 'eww gross' rather than 'oh no it might kill me.' That's probably why no one has found out.”
Innocence snorted, then said proudly: “Well, when I finally grow up, I'm gonna be a cosmonaut, and I'm gonna fly through space until I find the answer!”
Antares couldn't help but laugh, and Innocence grinned at him until he relaxed and smiled at her, saying finally: “I'm glad you're my sister.”
“Oh, fuck off.” Innocence said with a blush, glancing away and rubbing at her face, and then she nodded once before murmuring: “Me too. I still... feel like I don't deserve it some days.”
“Don't worry. That's just 'cause you're dumb.” Antares answered, and Innocence huffed, but couldn't hide her smile of gratitude all the same.
The night passed, and day came, as it always did: Innocence and Antares hopped off the tall stone column, the mare using magic to hover to the ground, Antares diving headlong towards the treeline and only using his wings to slow himself down at the last moment, sharply gliding across the sea of leaves, then dropping neatly between several branches and sliding down the trunk of an old, leaning oak and back to the ground below.
They took their time a little more today, enjoying the walk through the forest. There was more of a sense of magic here: the colors were brighter, the animals seemed to speak and act in community with each other, the air itself seemed to sparkle as whispers and giggles filtered through the trees around them.
Nature chorused happily around them, ceding eventually into an actual song, music floating through the trees and luring the two ponies forward. Innocence peered curiously out from beneath her hood as Antares smiled despite himself, the two beckoned through the trees to a meadow that was ringed with large, round stones, where strange humanoids cavorted and danced.
They were tall and thin, graceful and perfect in their movements: they had skin like polished stone, and long, beautiful hair tied back in complex braids and woven knots. They were sharp-eyed, with tall, pointed ears, and their clothing was richly-ornamented with beaten charms, and yet they moved so fluidly, so perfectly, that no metal ever jangled, no bell ever rang out unless the wearer made it.
Elves.
Before either of the ponies realized they had been lured to an opening in the trees, an elf appeared in front of them as if from thin air, smiling and bowing deeply as he invited: “Please, come in, join us!”
“I mean, okay.” Innocence said cheerfully, and then she hopped easily into the clearing as the elf slipped to the side. Antares rolled his eyes, but followed after his sister, noting the way the music swelled and the air itself seemed to laugh, vibrating with the energy and the excitement of the fae-folk.
Innocence hopped happily over to a log to sit, and she grinned as an elf immediately slipped in and offered her a bottle of wine, the mare winking as she snatched it and popped the cork off. “Now hey, these guys know how to party!”
“They do party hardy.” Antares agreed as he sat beside his sister, smiling slightly and accepting his own bottle of wine. He let the music flow through him as he leaned back, holding the bottle easily in one hoof, watching the elves caper and dance, listening to the songs that filled the air as the musicians leapt to and fro without missing a note or beat, as the stories the crowd of elves were telling rose and fell in perfect time with the music, as the whole meadow laughed and swam with the energies, the magic of the fae...
Innocence giggled as she took a deep swig of her wine, breathing out fumes of grape and alcohol as her eyes shone with bedazzled delight. And it was hard to resist: they were perfect in their structured chaos, never too loud, never too quiet, always pushing, pushing, pushing, as more elves offered food and friendliness, as they encouraged them to drink and eat and revel with them to the point that Antares was stomping his hoof and Innocence was cheerfully swinging her bottle back and forth as wine dribbled down her face, mixing with the crumbs from the food she'd shoved into her mouth-
She grinned at him, and Antares winked before he suddenly spun his bottle around and smashed it on the log, and the dancing and singing and joy shattered with the glass, the air becoming calm and cool and still as the emotionless elves glared at him from every angle.
Antares yawned loudly as Innocence huffed grouchily, guzzling from her own bottle before she scowled when an elf calmly snatched it away, graceful and brisk and perfect . They moved with not just supernatural delicacy, but mechanical precision as their dancing lines broke neatly into a standing audience that surveyed the two ponies from all sides with merciless calculation.
“You have intruded upon our territory.” an elf said as he emerged from the crowd like a ghost. He was clad in a cloak that flowed over golden armor, his autumnal hair braided back in ponytail, his eyes cool and ruthless as they seemed to read every last detail of the two ponies. His hands pressed together as if to pray at level with his waist, and for all his emotionlessness, Antares could read the flex in them, looking for an excuse, wanting a reason to draw the sword from its scabbard at his side. “And you compound the insult by spoiling our grace.”
“We're just passing through. We're heading to Yggdrasil.” Antares said with a smile, then he whistled at Sin as he shook the broken bottle, and the mare grumbled before she leaned over, horn glowing and rapidly restoring the shattered object to pristine condition. “Sorry about the bottle. Didn't want you guys to rob and-or molest us, though.”
The stallion spun the empty wine bottle once, then he offered it to the elf: another swept in immediately, moving soundlessly, and gracefully plucked it loose from Antares' hoof before retreating just as quickly. Antares didn't bother to look in the direction the elf had come from: he knew by now it would have vanished into the trees, where the other warriors were waiting.
“Our charge is not to guard Yggdrasil. I do not care what your business is there. But you have imposed yourselves upon us and we require a tribute before we may allow you to pass. And perhaps recompense for your mockery of our kindness.” the elf said, calm, cold, unfair and unflinching.
Sin growled in frustration, but Antares only grinned as he popped to his hooves. He felt more than heard the bows nocking in the trees around the clearing, not allowing his eyes to shift away from the elf leader's as he said pointedly: “This seems a little different from the old stories I've heard about you guys. You invited us in, you tried to get us drunk, you're pretty mad at us now-”
“We do not experience anger like you do, cretin.” the elf dismissed with distaste, looking down at the stallion with a disdainful eye. “Not that your servant kind is blessed to have such 'emotions,' in any event. I see that even after thousands of years of being released into the wilds by Odin, you still breed yourselves as pack animals, and meat stock.”
“Oh, hey, great idea!” Antares said enthusiastically, grinning even wider as he winked at the elf. “I challenge you to a flyting ! Whoever gets mad first loses, basically. If we win, you let us pass. If we lose, our lives are forfeit.”
“We will kill you and eat you both.” the elf said, and Antares wasn't entirely sure the elf was bluffing.
“I mean, okay, cool, yes, you could do that if you win, although I don't think that's what I would do to me if I won.” Antares said carefully, before he added quickly: “And like I don't want to kill you or eat you. I definitely don't want to eat you, guy.”
“Do you speak for you both, horse, or does your broodmare speak for herself?” asked the elf.
Innocence snorted and stomped her claws angrily at this, snapping: “Hey, I can speak for myself, thank you!”
“Very well. Then as you shall both speak for yourselves, every elf present shall speak for himself or herself as well.” stated the elf, and Antares groaned as Innocence huffed.
“Fine.” she grumbled, then scowled when Antares firmly bodychecked her, complaining as she shouldered him back: “I'm not gonna screw up!”
“So if one shows anger, all lose?” asked the elf, almost curiously, taunting them with how little he cared. Or rather, trying to.
Antares smiled kindly at the elf, nodding once as he invited: “Don't worry, guy, tell you what. If you don't feel confident about your guys not losing their tempers, we'll definitely be more than happy to out-insult all of you. All at once or one at a time, bring 'em on!”
“Arrogant.” the elf said, and then he added, with the faintest hint of distaste: “No. I am certain my men will find your words as meaningless as I do.”
“And women!” Antares said helpfully.
“Yeah, and women!” Innocence flexed a foreleg and posed for a moment, glaring at the elves. “Bitches will give you stitches! Uh. Verbally, in this case. Yeah!”
Antares smiled his goofy smile, and the elf blinked slowly before he sighed and gestured at them. “You may proceed.”
The stallion nodded, then clicked his tongue and nudged: “You agree to the rules of the flyting, right?”
The elf scowled almost imperceptibly and repeated: “You may proceed.”
Antares nodded helpfully, then stepped forwards and thrust his hoof out as he said calmly and courteously in Asgardian: “Thus are we bound, thus are we readied, so shall it be as we have set forth .”
The elf seemed taken aback by this, tilting his head slightly before his lips spread in a thin smile as he answered in a dialect similar enough for Antares to get the gist of it: “Thus promised, so agreed. I accept your challenge, your rules, and your prize. Let us begin .”
The humanoid slid forwards smoothly and simply tapped Antares' horn with his finger, the unicorn wincing and crossing his eyes to look dumbly up at his spire before he dropped his hoof and complained: “Wow, okay, sure. Just do that then, huh? Too good to shake my hoof?”
But he had felt the sizzle of magic, the weight that settled in the clearing, and he saw the way the other elves looked on intently, as their leader answered dismissively: “You are cattle. And you will be treated as such.”
“Uh, hello? We're horses , not cows, we have one stomach and we don't make hamburgers.” Innocence said plaintively. “And you sure as shit aren't touching my tits for milk.”
“You're not pregnant so you're not lactating anyway.” Antares said before he could stop himself.
Innocence huffed, then frowned, then asked uneasily: “Wait. Are cows... always pregnant?”
“How do you think they produce milk?” Antares asked, and Innocence stared at him with horror.
“I'm drinking pregnant milk! Cow milk is pregnant milk?” Innocence shouted, then she spat loudly several times, jumping off the log and spinning around in a circle as she grabbed wildly at her wine-stained muzzle.
The elves all stared, the elf leader holding out a hand to stop his soldiers from stabbing the mare even as he surveyed them with contempt, and Antares winced as he awkwardly reached into the spinning mess of scaly mare and gently caught her by the shoulder, squeezing it gently as he said pointedly: “We can worry about that later.”
“No! I'm worrying about it now!” Sin whined, and then she scowled at her brother, grumbling: “This is all your fault.”
“How is this my fault?” Antares snapped, and then he awkwardly cleared his throat as his sister glared at him before he gently patted her on the head and said finally: “Let's argue about this after we yell at the elves. Let's yell at the elves. You'll feel better.”
“Okay.” Innocence grumbled, and then she huffed and blew a bit of her mane out of her face, asking grouchily as she flicked her hood back: “How do we do this?”
“The rules are set. The game is made. I ask nothing further from domestics. Only that when you lose you do so with what little dignity your kind can afford.” the elf said, and Innocence huffed as Antares shrugged. “You may proceed.”
“Thanks, buddy. I'll go first then. It's like this, Sin, just listen.” Antares cleared his throat loudly, then looked at the elves and recited in a chipper voice: “You're such proud and glib and pretty creatures, so smooth and fair! Your armor is so polished, and you all have such great hair! You must spend all your time preening, safe and... secure.”
Antares stopped, scowled, then muttered: “Shit, this rhyming stuff is hard.”
“Oh, I get it!” Innocence said brightly, but as she opened her mouth, a spear was sharply leveled at her face, the mare wincing as the elf leader quirked a smile.
“We take turns.” he said, soft and inarguable, and then he looked at Antares and replied calmly, smoothly: “I will not ask for rhyme or prose from a beast that spends most of its time in the mud. Nor do I expect fancy or metaphor, because I know your small brain cannot grasp them. As you have proven, even the basest form of poetry escapes your empty skull, sucked out the holes in your head by the vacuum of knowledge inside.”
“Wow, harsh.” Antares said mildly, and then he sighed when Innocence growled loudly at him as the elf with the spear relaxed and stepped back. “Ugh, fine, go ahead. Don't embarrass me.”
“Fuck you don't embarrass yourself.” Innocence huffed, then she looked up at the elf before grunting as she stood up on her hind hooves, thrusting her foreclaws out and shouting: “Why don't you sit down, boys and girls, while we ponies from the mortal world, remind you of your place hiding out of sight, because you know you could never put up a fight, against us heroes from the mortal coil, because you pussies have never had to toil, away your lives in the dirt and sleet, so go on, get out of here, just skeet!”
Innocence crossed her forelegs and nodded firmly, then she dropped to the ground, looking extremely proud of herself as Antares slowly dragged a hoof down his face with a look of pain, and the elf leader slowly cocked his head to the side before the mare shouted: “Represent!”
“Oh for the love of god, Sin...”
“So the newt proves she is more worthless than her sibling. A truly incredible display of lack of wit, of lack of rhythm, or rhyme or point. Unless, perhaps, you take pleasure and victory in being useless; then I must applaud you on your unmatchable uselessness.”
“Thanks! I'm awesome!” Innocence said proudly, and Antares frowned slightly as he slowly cocked his head towards her.
“Hey, that's my line.”
“Nuh-uh!” Innocence blew a raspberry at him, and Antares sighed and rolled his eyes. “Now come on, let's rap!”
“We're not 'rapping,' Sin. Look, listen, I'll try and be clearer this time about what we're doing here.” Antares said, before he turned his eyes to the elf lord and said in a bolder voice: “So a dandy elf would tell us of uselessness, with his frippered locks and his armor that has never seen battle, with his unmended cloak and his entourage of grinning fools, elves cloistered in their alfheim far from the home they abandoned, sneaking like rats into the giant's land while the giant strode boldly into theirs?”
The elf's lip curled slightly, and Innocence brightened a little as she started: “Oh, I think I get it, we-”
“Leave it to an animal to bark at what he doesn't understand. Pathetic mongrel, sniveling his way through life, wearing scars so proudly on his chest that the wise eye sees speaks of defeat, not honor. And ironic, that someone who could not save the ones he loved most would taunt us about the world we had to leave behind. Perhaps we won't kill you when you lose. That would be an act of mercy, for a pathetic wretch like you.”
Antares' eyes widened slightly at this, and then he whistled a bit before Innocence stepped forwards, cracking her claws as she said: “Don't worry, Antares. I got this.”
The mare cleared her throat loudly, then grinned before she suddenly stomped forwards, elves immediately raising their spears in warning, but the mare didn't so much as flinch as she glared up at the elf in front and shouted: “I'm gonna suck your eyeballs out of your head, then tongue-kiss them down your throat so you can watch me ram my claw up your ass and pull you inside out by the stomach!”
There was silence for a few moments following this, even Antares rendered speechless, and his sister grinned as she asked: “So does that mean I win?”
“No.” the elf said with disgust, and then he continued contemptibly: “Whoremother, you-”
“I'm not a mom.” Innocence interrupted.
“Wait, that's the part of the statement you take an issue with?” Antares questioned.
“Yeah! It's the not true part-”
“So you are a whore?”
“No! I just like prostitutes.”
“But you don't like mothers.”
“I don't like the idea of being a mother. I could probably be a whore. I mean not all the time. But I could be a sex worker.”
“Assuming ponies would pay you.” Antares muttered, and Innocence glowered at him.
“Hey! So many ponies want to have sex with me! I'm super hot!” Innocence retorted.
The elf cleared his throat, and the two ponies winced as spears and arrows encircled them from all sides, aiming sharply at them as the elf leader said in a cool, deadly voice: “We are not finished. Unless you have decided to forfeit.”
Antares shrugged, and Innocence blew a raspberry loudly at the elf.
The elf narrowed his eyes at this as he said in a low, cruel voice: “Failures. Both of you. A broodmare and a blustering tot. Children, here to try and complete an adult's work; neither of you aware of what footsteps you follow in, or the heights that you aspire to reach. You are both wretched works of depravity and I will no longer simple my words for your empty ears; you deserve nothing but scorn and contempt, to be treated as the wretched and worthless dregs you are, rusted chains that can bear no weight, useless tools that have lost their shine and edge, yammering prattlers that have lost all sense of do and duty and would prefer to try and cock like the crow.
“What say you to this, children? Your derision is meaningless to me. All paths lead to the cliff, horses; tumble down. Follow in your ancestor's hoofsteps and kill yourselves before we do.”
Antares yawned loudly at the elf leader, then he smiled at him and said kindly: “I think you've done very well for yourself here, with the limited resources you clearly have. It looks like you've gone to great lengths to protect your people, bringing them out here to the last place that Valthrudnir would ever look for you, away from even the remotest part of civilization, probably keeping yourselves alive by robbing the occasional passerby and using your elf magic to grow food and tame animals.
“I really envy this kind of life. It must be quiet.” Antares gave another big smile. “How far you've come. You should pat yourselves on the back! All you need now is to establish a nice little village here and you could live just like they do in Banding or Furrowfall.”
The elf leader's hand clasped in front of him, tightening as he looked coldly down at the equine, Antares smiling his childish smile up at him as Innocence frowned, before the elf said contemptibly: “I didn't hear an insult, child. Do you forfeit?”
“Oh, I don't forfeit. And I guess it doesn't surprise me you didn't hear an insult. Your warriors might have, though.” Antares paused, then added: “Or would have. If you had any left, that was.”
Bows creaked. Spears shivered and then stiffened, nettling in around them. The elf lord narrowed his eyes dangerously, then gave a thin smile.
“Perhaps you are right.” he said.
Antares continued to smile even as his wings flexed, lightly tapping Sin's side, and the mare readied herself as the elves hemmed in tighter, before the elf leader said contemptibly: “I almost forgot. I promised to allow my men to speak as well.”
Spears stabbed sharply in and arrows flew from all sides, but Antares wrapped himself in his crystalline wings with a wince, the appendages glowing with magic and deflecting the attacks as Innocence vanished in a blink of magic. She reappeared on the other side of the field, but it was less than a second before a volley of arrows hailed down on her, the scaled mare cursing as she created a barrier of black stone and ducked behind it out of the storm of missiles, swearing as she grabbed an arrow that had managed to tear into her shoulder. “Poison!”
Antares bounced himself into the air with a platform of white energy, then flapped his wings hard, sending out a flash of light that stunned and surprised the elves below. He shot to the side, zigzagging between arrows and several blasts of magic that were shot into the sky after him, before the stallion neatly flipped his body, shielding himself with his wings as he dropped behind the barrier Sin had created.
The mare grumbled as she ripped the arrow loose from her shoulder, her dark blood rapidly filling the wound and sealing into new flesh as the stallion asked: “You okay?”
“Panacea for blood, remember? Worry about yourself. I'm too cool for it to hurt me but it'll probably kill you.” Innocence said mildly, and then she squeaked and covered her head as several magic mortars landed behind them, tearing up the earth as they exploded with tremendous destructive power.
She blinked a few times, then scowled as she realized Antares was hugging her, the stallion's wings wrapped around them both. She pummeled his chest with her claws, then kicked him off and jumped up to lean over the barrier, shouting furiously: “Why don't you eat on someone your own size?”
She snapped her horn out, sending a massive surge of lightning towards the elves: several of the warriors were pounded to the ground by the intense blast of chain lighting, but the magic users leapt to the front, channeling a barrier that deflected the attack. Innocence huffed as she slipped back down behind the barrier, then scowled as Antares asked dryly: “Eat your own size?”
“Shut up I was thinking of two different things. Go do something useful.” Innocence grumbled, and Antares shrugged before he almost absently reached up and caught an arrow a moment before it could sink into Innocence's skull, the mare squawking and staring at the arrowhead only a few inches from her eye.
“Sure.” he said blandly, then leapt into the air as Innocence blinked out of reality. The stallion shot towards the treeline, where elves were calmly waiting in ambush as they nocked arrows and prepared their weapons.
Antares suddenly veered upwards, narrowly avoiding an arrow, slicing his horn through a treebranch above before he spun around and kicked it hard, sending it rocketing into the face of an elf that had just leapt out of hiding with a dagger. The humanoid flipped violently all the way to the ground, landing in a broken sprawl, but the rest of the ambushers didn't so much as flinch as they fired arrows and soundlessly, gracefully leapt through the trees at the stallion.
They were perfect and poised, and utterly unprepared as the stallion crashed into one of the elves like a ton of bricks, knocking the humanoid flat before he could react and kicking off him to launch himself straight at an archer.
The archer fired, and Antares grinned as he twisted himself out of the way and caught the arrow between his teeth, winking at the stupefied elf a moment before he slammed into him and smashed a hoof into his face.
He skidded around in a half-circle, then spat the arrow out and looked at the three remaining, declaring: “My name is Antares Mīrus, and I-”
One of the elves flung a dagger at him, and Antares flinched as this sank into his shoulder, stumbling back a step before he howled: “Who the hell does that?”
The two elf archers fired a flurry of arrows at him, but Antares deflected them with a wing before he ripped the dagger free from his shoulder with telekinesis and flung it quickly back. The elf that had flung it leapt forwards and caught it in midair before attempting to drive it into Antares' face, but the stallion lunged into the attack, his horn gleaming as he deflected the dagger, then rapidly fenced the elf assassin backwards before he blew a loud raspberry as he blasted the elf off his feet with a tremendous surge of ivory magic.
One archer slipped sideways as the other leapt over the rocketing body of his companion, and fired another arrow at Antares: the stallion deflected this with his horn, then leapt upwards and slammed an uppercut into the elf's gut with such force that the humanoid was launched into the trees above, and fell free of the branches in a crumpled heap a moment later. Antares snorted, then without looking, ducked under an arrow that sank into the ground behind him, the stallion saying wryly: “That's not gonna work, pal. Try leaving.”
The elf looked at him from his perch in a tree, cool and calm, and then the archer turned and vanished into the canopy. Antares wasn't sure if he was actually gone or not, but either way, he had other things to focus on for the moment.
He turned and headed back into the meadow, and grimaced as he saw Innocence slinging spells wildly at the elves, shouting furiously the entire time she did so, pelting the humanoids with every element imaginable and then some. The elves were stoic in their resistance, but Innocence was rapidly overpowering them: she had all the rage of her Móðer and all the talents of her mother, as terrible and relentless as a wildfire.
Antares whistled, and Innocence huffed as she looked at him, pausing in her assault on the elves before she grumbled and flicked her horn, sending one last blue fireball rocketing into an elven archer and knocking him crashing out of the meadow. The stallion flapped his wings, landing gently beside her and leaning in as he said mildly: “We should be trying to restrain ourselves. They're humanoids. They're fragile.”
“He hit me!” Innocence whined, pointing at a scrape on her face. “So I hit him back!”
Antares drew his eyes over the meadow, covered in burns, crumpled bodies, and blackened chunks of crystal, and he couldn't help but note: “It looks like you hit all of them back.”
She huffed again, then glared at the little knot of elves that remained at the edge of the field. The elf leader grimaced as he walked forwards, two warriors with massive shields on either side of him and two mages muttering chants behind him, although they all seemed aware that their counterspells weren't going to be very effective against the mare.
“What are you?” the elf asked with disgust: no fear, no anger, just more derision and distaste. They had certainly mastered the art of condescension even in the face of death, Antares had to give them that.
“Ponies.” Antares answered with a shrug, before he said positively: “Hey, though, you didn't die!”
“Neither did you.” The elf leader moved fluidly, sharply, lunging forwards as his sword flashed out in a deadly instant-
Antares caught the strike against his own horn, his eyes narrowed, the two glaring at each other before spire and sword flashed, metal and alicorn clashing violently as the two dueled for supremacy. The stallion moved with grace as the elf hacked and cut at his horn, then, when he realized his shining sword could make no purchase against the material of the unicorn's horn, he twisted his sword and cut downward-
Antares gracefully deflected the blade away from his face, winking up at the elf before he teased: “Hey, don't cheat.”
The elf stabbed forwards, then slapped his sword in: he fenced with the blade held stiffly vertical, trying to open an opportunity to hack down into the stallion's face, but Antares gracefully defeated every attempt, his eyes gleaming, his smile never leaving his face before he suddenly slapped the elf's sword aside and leaned in to slash across his body, the elf lord leaping backwards a second too late, then looking down at the cut across his breastplate with shock.
He trembled with rage, then looked up and snarled, vain features becoming ugly with his anger as he shouted: “How dare you!”
“Hey, guess that means I won. You're definitely mad. Big mad.” Antares said mildly, and the elf roared before he sharply flung his sword at the stallion's face, but Antares deflected this straight up into the air, then he winked before squawking when Innocence leapfrogged him and caught the blade as it fell, the mare landing with a grin and posing with the sword held above her head like a trophy.
The remaining elves and the few that had managed to pick themselves up immediately moved forwards, but the elf leader snarled, seizing the shield from one of his bodyguards before he spun and flung it angrily to the ground,startling the rest of his band. He stood, long arms hanging limp, hair disheveled, eyes glowing in frustration before he ground his teeth together, then dropped his head and growled: “Get out of here.”
“Well, thank you for your hospitality and-”
“Leave!” the elf shouted furiously, straightening, a flush of anger and humiliation in his cheeks as he clenched his hands into fists, and Antares cleared his throat loudly as he turned and trotted quickly out of the alfheim.
Innocence blew a loud raspberry at the elves, then tucked the sword into the straps of her pack and hurried off after her brother. She was followed out by several flung instruments and a last volley of curses from the elf lord, the mare hurrying up beside her brother to whisper: “Are they gonna follow us?”
“Nah. We made our point and the elves can't break a promise. I mean. Mostly.” Antares said after a moment. “We'll take a few extra precautions maybe, just in case, but... I think we're good.”
“We're better than good. We're pretty fuckin' awesome.” Innocence said with a grin, nudging her brother firmly, and Antares smiled despite himself with a roll of his eyes.
“We're something.” he half-agreed, and then he said mildly: “Although you know it would have been better not to set the meadow on fire. I'm gone for five minutes and you're back to your evil ways.”
“Fuck you, I don't pull my punches for no weirdo jerkdorks.” Innocence said proudly, before she yanked the sword loose from where she'd bound it, grinning as she waved it back and forth using telekinesis. “And also I got a sword out of it. I don't think he got pissed just because of you, Tarry. I think he got pissed because us domesticated whores got the better of his whole-ass brigade so badly.”
Antares sighed, but knew that his sister probably had a point. All the same... “Just be careful next time...” He paused and peered at her, frowning slightly before he asked slowly: “Unless you wanted to draw that robot in.”
Innocence shrugged innocently, and Antares sighed again, but couldn't really scold her.
After all, it wasn't like it was the worst idea Sin had ever had.
Chapter Eight: Frustration
Antares and Innocence soon left the fae-enchanted forest behind, and the land they entered next quickly became barren and hostile. They stopped at the foot of a mountain pass to finally tend to their injuries and damaged equipment, resting for a few hours, but as twilight began to fall, the two decided to ascend a little and see if they could find a safer place to rest on higher ground.
The natural pass up the mountain led them to a plateau, and Antares couldn't help but whistle a little at the sight of a massive stone wall painted by flickering flames near the sundowned horizon... and perhaps, beyond that, framed in the red sky, a stretch of grasping branches.
But it was too dark to see more than an outline, that vanished completely as night quickly fell, the stars offering no hints. The wall near the horizon, however, they could both still clearly see.
“So that's probably Giant's Reach. Which means we're almost there... maybe two days of travel.” Antares said after a moment, looking thoughtfully into the distance. “That's... pretty high security, though. I mean, medieval-level high security, but all the same...”
Innocence grunted in agreement: the entire wall was lit up almost as bright as day by torchlight that seemed unnaturally powerful, and she could see a lot of movement down there. What she couldn't see was any way to get past the wall: it looked solid all the way across, which meant... “We're gonna have to fly over it, aren't we?”
“Not necessarily.” Antares muttered as he tossed off his pack, and he dug through it for a few moments before pulling out a set of binoculars. He peered through these, scanning the wall before he clicked his tongue and said: “There.”
Innocence looked at him moodily, then snatched the binoculars from the stallion when he offered them and peered through, scanning back and forth until she noted what he'd been looking at, complaining immediately: “Oh good, there's barred windows and arrow slots. We can get shot while trying to squeeze inside.”
“It means we can get inside the wall.” Antares said pointedly. “And that means there's definitely doors.”
“Probably on the other side! And trapdoors up top.” Innocence huffed, then scanned across the front of the wall and groused as she locked on a figure in armor: “I see a minotaur patrol. He's got a big-ass axe. He doesn't look very friendly.”
She raised her gaze and scanned along the battlements, noting the pattern of high merlons and crenels, the elaborate hoardings and the occasional gatehouse, topped with massive, ominous-looking orbs of crystal, the mare muttering: “Oh great. Magical anti-air artillery. Guess we're not flying over either unless we want to get zapped out of the sky. There's not a lot of guys on patrol up top, though...”
“Okay, so maybe climbing over is our best bet, then.” Antares said mildly, and Innocence huffed at him.
“So now my ideas are good?” she complained, then she looked back through the binoculars and muttered: “There's weird humanoid guys down there too. They're large and ugly-looking, skin's really bad, like permanent sunburn-looking, super gross. I can't tell if he's wearing furs or he's just really hairy.”
Antares motioned for the binoculars, and Innocence passed them after a moment more of peering at the weird, large, ugly thing. It only took the stallion a moment to identify the savage-looking thing that Innocence had locked on, the stallion muttering: “Orcling. It's half-orc and half... minotaur, I'd guess.”
“Why do humanoids have to fuck each other all the time?” Innocence asked plaintively, and Antares cleared his throat loudly. “No, seriously. Half-orc, half-elf, they're all weird hybrids. You never hear about half-ponies.”
“Uh, Sin?” Antares dropped his head towards her pointedly.
Innocence glanced down at her claws, then huffed and hugged herself, grumbling: “I'm not half-anything. I'm... all-special.”
“You certainly are.” Antares sighed and smiled wryly, then he shook his head and put the binoculars away, muttering: “We'll... figure out how to get across there once it comes to that. Hey, for all we know, they might not be hostile.”
“Oh, yeah, they look super friendly to me.” Innocence grumbled as she automatically went about the process of setting protective wards around their campsite.
Antares was almost tempted to try and push a little further up the mountain, but even he wasn't stupid or cocky enough to think that he wasn't going to get stabbed if there was anything out there waiting in the dark for them. At least the plateau wasn't at ground level, and they were camping to one side of it, near a jagged ridge of stone.
He had already been stabbed once today, thank you very much.
The stallion absently reached up and touched the patched wound on his shoulder as he surveyed the tent, and then he turned and gestured at Innocence, saying: “Go get some sleep. You'll need your energy for tomorrow.”
“Make me something to eat!” Innocence whined, and Antares couldn't help but smile before he sighed and nodded.
“I spoil you, kiddo.”
Still, he was glad for the distraction.
He cooked meat dumplings for them, and they sat around the campfire afterwards, talking, bragging to each other, making up tall tales about the day they had literally just lived through. Thirty elves became a hundred in Innocence's retelling, and Antares retorted that he had clearly come to her rescue just in the nick of time to protect her from the evils of the elf king.
But mostly they just enjoyed each other's company, and the food, and the fact that they were here, still alive, still working their way towards Yggdrasil, which Antares could swear was waiting just beyond the edge of the horizon.
Innocence retired with only a little fretting to the tent, once Antares reassured her that if any elves attacked, he'd wake her up right away. Of course, that was easier said than done, since within ten minutes Innocence was snoring like a bear and he knew that he could literally hit her with the frying pan and she would barely stir.
He smiled despite himself as he finished searing the pan clean, watching as the blue flame dissolved every last speck of meat and grease. The smell was wonderful, delicious enough that he hoped it didn't attract any of the local wildlife...
His eyes flicked up to the edge of the ring of wards encircling the camp, and he studied the entity standing there, watching him silently. He didn't bother to pretend he hadn't seen it, or that he didn't realize it was watching him: instead, he sighed as he set the pan aside on a rock, and then he climbed to his hooves and cracked his back, saying mildly: “I already hit my quota for ass-kicking today. I'm gonna have to charge you extra if you want a fight.”
“I am currently in observation mode. I do not wish to engage in combat.” the mechanical mare stated, and Antares smiled slightly as he walked to the edge of the circle, his horn lighting up bright enough to let him get a good look at the mare... and he couldn't help but whistle as he noted she had somehow fully repaired herself, fake outer skin and all.
She frowned at him, and Antares cocked an eyebrow, not sensing any hostility from the robot this time before she stated: “You will not be permitted to reach Yggdrasil.”
“By...” Antares looked curiously at the mare, because somehow, from the way she said that, he got the feeling it wasn't exactly a direct threat.
“I will stop you if necessary. But current data simulations show that Anorthite and Ilmenite will reach the target first, as planned.” the mare-machine said calmly.
Antares frowned: those were obviously codenames. That brought a question to mind, but Antares resisted asking it for now, instead questioning: “So why are you here? It's super creepy to just watch us hang out, you know.”
“Caution, and safety.” answered the mare-bot. “Observing you allows me to adjust and update my data models regarding your behaviors. Remaining within a proximate distance also ensures that any hostiles that may be tracking my data signature will be distracted by your biorhythms.”
“Cool, cool. We're bait. Glad we can keep you safe, why don't you step inside and warm up by the fire?” Antares asked dryly, gesturing moodily at the blue flames in the distance.
The mare-bot studied him for a moment, then said: “Sarcasm.”
“Yeah. So uh... what are you?” Antares asked bluntly.
“Classified.”
“I mean, I know you're a robot and all-”
“Classified.”
“And you were definitely made by someone who has knowledge of Clockwork World-”
“Classified.”
“Whether it's Thorn or Valthrudnir-”
“Classified.”
“That doesn't matter.” Antares stopped, looked moodily at the mare for a moment, then said plaintively: “Lady, I just want to know what to call you. I don't want your... blueprint or whatever. I just want a name. Can you give me a name?”
The mechanical mare looked at him for a few moments, then said: “Classified.”
Antares groaned and slapped his forehead, dragging a hoof down over his face as he mumbled: “I guess I shouldn't have expected anything else from-”
“But you may refer to me as Six.”
Antares uncovered his eyes, blinking in surprise before he leaned towards her curiously and asked a little overeagerly: “And you're a pony? Like a robot pony, you're a-”
“I am an android. All information beyond that is classified.” answered Six, and the android shifted backwards when Antares leaned towards her with interest. “Do not engage. Retaliation will be immediate and-”
“What? No! I don't want to fight you. I kinda want to poke you but then I bet Prestige would get mad at me. And you look like you would, too.” Antares quickly walked in a circle around the mare, leaving and reentering the ward, both purely because he was kind of amazed at how realistic the mare's body was and how much her body language told him, and because he wanted to test a theory that was proven right as he walked back in front of the mare and into the safety of the warding ring, smiling at her with renewed interest. “You know, for someone who doesn't want to fight, you sure fought us hard before.”
“Hostility will not be tolerated.” answered the android.
“Oh, Sin is hostile to me all the time and I tolerate it just swell! Hey, do you recognize slang? Or weird word use? Like if I say 'Sin is a bitch' followed by 'Sin is bitchin',” do you understand that one of those is offensive and the other's not?”
The android simply stared at him for a few moments, then answered: “I am capable of learning.”
“Cool.” Antares smiled, then asked: “Your mission-”
“Classified.”
“I know, I know, classified, but I'm not actually asking about your mission, Six. I was going to ask that if we stay out of your way, will you stay out of ours?”
The android looked at him, expressing the faintest, strangest hint of emotion before it said almost reluctantly: “Yes.”
“Awesome. You wanna come sit by the fire?” Antares asked, and the mechanical mare stared at him as the stallion grinned before he scrabbled quickly at the ground, then pried one of Sin's crystallized runes carefully up with telekinesis. The moment it was lifted free, the entire warding ring fizzled out, and the stallion looked up at the android cheerfully as he ushered: “Come, come, come on, sit down with me for a bit.”
He scurried around and attempted to nudge Six forwards, but the mare-bot immediately neatly scissored her rear legs up and locked them around his throat, Antares wheezing loudly as the android warned: “Hostility will not be-”
“Overreaction!” Antares wildly slammed his hoof against one of her ankles, then he glared at her as he complained: “My marefriend will get really mad if she sees us like this, so please let go and please let's just go sit!”
The android surveyed him calmly for a moment, then loosened her grip and dropped neatly back to the ground. She continued to watch him as Antares looked at her, and then he pointedly rose a hoof, wiggled it, and then reached out and poked her several times in the rump. “Forward, please. Also, see? Touching. But not bad touching.”
“Contact is unwarranted. Please do not touch me.” the android stated, and Antares huffed, but dropped his hoof. Then he squinted at her pointedly, and the mare-bot tilted her head slowly. “Query: what are you trying to accomplish?”
“I'm pushing you. With my mind.” Antares said seriously.
“This is false. There is no magic or psionic force present.”
“Horses of Heaven.” Antares sighed and rolled his eyes, then he walked past the android before simply gesturing her to follow, and after a moment, the mechanical mare finally did so.
He sat on the other side of the fire, absently spinning the rune he'd lifted from the ward, and the mare lingered at the edge of the firelight, surveying their campsite before she stated: “You prepared a meal earlier. A large portion of this meal was meat.”
“It tastes good.” Antares said with a shrug, and when Six only continued to look at him from her strange, stiff standing position at the edge of the fire, he smiled and said: “I know you're uh... what did you say, not a member of any nation or whatever... but I've met a few ponies like you before from Clockwork World, and I bet you're gonna lecture me about nutritional value and natural order and stuff.”
“No.” Six surprised him by saying. “Where did you acquire it?”
“Sin hunted a few deer in Looking Glass World. They haven't developed at all like they have in some worlds-”
“Is this morally correct?” Antares frowned and cocked his head as Six asked: “Should a being of superior intelligence and will be permitted to exercise such a level of power over its inferior? You have killed and eaten another living creature for pleasure. A being of a tribe that, while not as evolved as you, has shown promise of evolution in other worlds.”
Antares shifted a bit, and Six said: “I have made you uncomfortable.”
“Well, not you. The argument, sure.” Antares hesitated, then said: “I don't know. I don't have all the answers. I know that they don't have the same uplifted level of consciousness as we do, but they do have emotions... perhaps wants, and desires, even if they're much more basic and primitive than ours.
“I don't really give it a lot of thought.” Antares admitted with a shrug and a smile. “I can justify it a lot of ways, but ultimately, I guess I'm not going to change and I don't feel what I'm doing is entirely wrong.”
“A culling can be necessary. It is better to use the remains than waste them.” Six said, and Antares winced a bit, earning a curious look from the android.
He chewed at his lip, then said finally: “Sometimes there's no 'greater good.' There's just 'wrong' and 'more wrong.' You deal with the cards you're dealt, but...”
He broke off, looking at the rune he was still twiddling with telekinesis, and then he put this down before he smiled over at the android and said: “You don't seem so bad, Six. Just don't turn out too much like Thorn.”
The android tilted her head, then turned her eyes up as Innocence emerged from the tent with a loud yawn, smacking her lips and looking tiredly at the two. She stumbled over to the campfire, then paused beside her brother, looking at him as he waved a hoof at her, before she slowly turned her eyes to the android, staring at it for a few moments before she shouted furiously and leapt over the firepit at her.
She slammed her claw into Six's face, then squawked and danced backwards, shaking her foreleg wildly as she howled: “What the shit are you doing here? Oh god dammit that hurts.”
Six looked nonplussed as Innocence danced angrily in a little circle, while Antares introduced politely: “Six, this is Sin, you may remember her from the last time she broke her claw on your face. Sin, this is Six. Play nice.”
“No.” Sin grumbled, and then she huffily spun and dropped on her rump, suckling quietly on her throbbing claw as she glowered at the android.
“Hostility will not be tolerated.” Six stated.
“Eat shit.” Sin huffed.
“Fecal matter has no nutritional value.”
“Yeah, well... neither do you!” Sin retorted, then she winced when Antares bounced a pebble off her head, whining: “She started it!”
“No, you did.” Antares corrected, before he tossed her the rune he'd pried out of the ground, and Sin grumbled and took it, slouching off to repair the ward. “We're super friendly. Really.”
“Your behavior is largely erratic.” remarked the android.
“Your face is erratic!” Sin shouted, a moment before she plugged the rune back in, then grimaced a little as she looked out into the darkness as the ward sizzled back to life. “Creepers up there”
Antares cocked his head, and Sin looked moodily up through the darkness, seeing the creatures wandering above more through magic than her senses before she shook her head and returned to the fireside. “Phantasms or specters or something, I dunno.”
“Wights.” corrected the android, and Sin scowled as Six explained: “Photon readings indicate-”
“Oh here we go.” Sin muttered.
The android simply looked at her, and Innocence gestured several times grumpily at the android, complaining: “You're as bad as Thorn. You're going to tell us about 'readings' and 'measurements' and 'historical data' and 'Sin magic can't solve everything' and look, lady, I don't tell you your job, so don't tell me mine.”
Six tilted her head slightly, and the scaled mare huffed and added: “Why are you here, anyway? Are you like, spying on us?”
“Spying indicates deception. I am observing. Analyzing. Learning.” Six answered.
“Spy.” Innocence narrowed her eyes. “Thorn's the spy. Thorn's watching us through your creepy eyes, I know it.”
Antares cleared his throat awkwardly, and Six studied the mare for a moment before she stated: “Thorn Blackfeather is your sibling.”
“He's a douche!” Sin snapped, and Antares snorted in amusement.
“You do not like him?” Six questioned, and there was an odd hint of concern in her voice. Not for them or Thorn, but rather...
Antares looked at her, studied her with interest: normally his acuity didn't work very well on mechanical things, but whatever an 'android' was... she definitely had something in there. Whether her emotions were preprogrammed or not, she was also learning, making decisions, figuring things out on her own...
“Well... no.” Sin mumbled. “He's cool. He's an asshole. But he's the only other brother I have as far as I'm concerned. I mean. Full-brother. The demons are all... half-siblings. So I just have to do half as much for them because they're all dumb. Even Nistle.”
Six nodded slowly, then said: “I am fond of Nistle.”
“He's cool. She's cool. Whatever the hell it is, they are cool. They is so fuckin' weird to use for a single person.” Innocence complained. “I don't like it.”
“You don't like anything.” Antares said, before he asked curiously: “What do you like about Nistle?”
Six looked at them for a moment, then made a strange whirring noise before she said shortly: “Classified.”
And with that, the android spun around and ran to the edge of the cliff, leaping off it and vanishing into the darkness. Innocence shouted in frustration after the robot, but Antares only sat by the fire, musing over what had been confirmed before he said without bothering to raise his voice: “She wasn't sent by Thorn. She was sent by Morgan.”
Innocence immediately halted in her tantrum, blinking before she turned and looked at her brother, then groaned and slapped her forehead, muttering: “Of course. Nistle. How the hell else would she know about Nistle? And even Thorn doesn't... I mean, he couldn't put a soul in a robot like that, but... but...”
She shivered, not wanting to imagine it, but Antares only smiled briefly before he nodded slowly and murmured: “That's what it seems like. Clockwork-level technology, but a bound soul inside that mechanical frame. And we're helping test her efficacy.”
Innocence ground her teeth together, then she shouted: “Mom! Momma, I wanna talk to you!”
The flames stirred, and the night grew darker, but there was nothing else: nothing but a sense of being watched, silently, as Antares sat back, and Innocence stomped back and forth before she growled: “Okay, fine. Don't come out! But I... Momma, how could you? I don't care about the soul tampering, I don't care about what we're really doing here, but...”
Sin slumped her shoulders, mumbling: “How could you lie to us?”
Antares smiled a little, walking over and silently reaching up to wrap a foreleg around his sister, and she rubbed at her face before she grumbled: “I'm... I'm not crying. I'm not sad. I'm just mad. Shut up.”
Antares nodded, saying softly: “I know Sin, I know. Your evil heart is broken.”
“Shut up.” Sin rubbed at her face, then huffed a few times before she looked up and almost glowered at Antares. “You know what? They wanna play games? Fine. We can cheat too. We're going through Giant's Reach tomorrow. We're doing it my way.”
“I feel like I'm going to regret agreeing to this, but I also hate seeing you cry like a little girl, so...”
Innocence huffed and headbutted the stallion several times, then dropped her head, and the two simply sat with each other for a little while, reflecting in silence that nothing could ever be easy.
Giant's Reach was both the last bastion of defense before Yggdrasil, and a hard border that protected and suppressed the territory of the earth giants beyond, the final protectors of the World Tree, but also barbarians, nomads, and infrequently tyrants when they managed to cross their own defensive perimeter.
The towering, forty-foot walls, lit by eternal ragefire, were staffed by outlaws: criminals and slaves who had no rights, and who had either been sent here or chosen to live in this quasi-exile as soldiers, keeping the earth giants under watch and assisting in the protection of Yggdrasil from both obvious threats and meddlesome tourists. The only way to pass through Giant's Reach was with the approval of Jötunheim's only true authority, its apathetic rulers, the storm giants.
Giant's Reach had suffered precious few breaches over the countless years it had stood: its walls had resisted armies and gods, Jötnar and monsters. Armed not just with silvered weapons, but thunder-orbs provided by the storm giants, they could generate an all-but-impassable barrier of lightning to further fortify the barrier of stone and steel, and ensure that anyone trying to simply fly over the defenses would be zapped out of the sky.
They had nothing to fear, except perhaps a few earth giants deciding to leave for a day trip and crawling over the wall before enough of a group could mass to push them back.
So when they heard the roar, guards turned curiously towards the wasteland, but no one paid any heed to what it might be until one of the minotaurs outside the wall yelled: “Something's coming!”
Guards leaned between and over battlements, trying to see what was rushing towards them in the distance before eyes widened as another roar echoed through the air, shaking the very stone foundations of their fortifications. Soldiers rushed to activate the thunder-orbs, but even as they crackled with static and lightning lashed through the air in front of the wall, the great black dragon rushing towards them didn't so much as hesitate in its charge.
The beast howled, a goliath not of flesh, but black crystal, with eyes that glowed like blue spotlights and mighty pistons pumping across its back. It smashed into the barrier of lightning, then writhed in fury as electricity coursed violently over it, the guards roaring and shouting along the wall and for a moment, feeling hope and relief-
The black-crystal dragon slammed a claw forwards, dragging itself through the almost-solid barrier of flashing light and magic, seeming to grin as its entire body began to glow brightly with magic. It snarled and hissed as guards stared in horror and disbelief, before one of the guards howled to retreat as he recognized too late what was happening.
The supercharged construct tore through the barrier, smashing into the wall and ignoring the arrows the bounced pointlessly off its gemstone body, the axes and maces that hacked and clanked against its crystalline form as the beast scrabbled quickly upwards, then leapt over the top of the wall and pounced on top of one of the massive, boulder-sized thunder orbs. It clung to it, body beginning to vibrate violently as ivory light started to glow through black crystal, and then a mocking voice sing-songed through the crystal dragon's jaws: “Tick-tick boom!”
The guards had a moment longer to stare or try and flee, and then all they knew was white light and sound so loud it silenced the world, bodies and ancient stone flung in all direction as the overcharged dragon detonated both itself and the thunder-orb beneath it. The explosion shook Giant's Reach for miles, knocking soldiers sprawling, obliterating stone and ancient steelwork and scarring the earth for hundreds of feet.
Innocence huffed as she led Antares forwards into the smoldering wreckage that was left behind, the stallion wincing a little and awkwardly mumbling: “Sorry... um, sorry...” to the scattered, confused, and injured soldiers that were sprawled across the ruins, the stallion grimacing as they passed several that had been crushed beneath a pile of heavy stone slabs. “Uh. Maybe you could have gone easier on them?”
“Nope.” Innocence grumped as they headed to the breach her bomb had blasted in the wall: the edges of the few stones that stuck out of the cratered earth had melted like wax, and fragments of the crystalline dragon that were embedded in the ground here and there sizzled and crackled with unfathomable energy.
Antares carefully avoided both of these things while Innocence simply knocked debris carelessly out of her path with telekinesis, not so much as looking at the terrified soldiered clustered past melted barricades and crumbled walls as they passed through what had once been interior wall, and was now nothing but a blasted wound in Giant's Reach.
It was like walking through a small spot of Muspellheim, and once they reached the other side, Antares politely cleared his throat before he gestured at the obliterated forty feet of wall behind them and said kindly: “We are not doing it your way again. Ever.”
“Spoilsport.” Sin huffed, then glowered as shouting began to rise in the air around them: the soldiers who had just been stunned by the blast were crawling out of their stupor, and reinforcements were quickly moving in from both sides, angry soldiers yelling at them as Innocence grimaced and began to run, calling: “Time to go!”
Antares had to agree, calling one last awkward 'sorry!' before he bolted off after his sibling: voices roared at them and several arrows were shot sloppily after them, but the equines had the advantage of speed: that, and it seemed like as they sped away from the wall, something else caught the attention of the soldiers that were swarming in to try and protect the gap in their bulwark.
Innocence flagged after twenty minutes, wheezing loudly as she slowed rapidly to a halt, groaning as she almost fell against a nearby tree as they stopped beside a stream. Antares skidded to a stop as well, meditating on where they were before he frowned a little, then suddenly leapt up into the tree, hopping neatly up the thick branches until he reached the top of the pine, the thin trunk bending with his weight as he hung off it and whistled quietly at the sight of the goliath in the distance. “Hey Sin. Float up here.”
Innocence grumbled, but jumped into the air and flew quickly upwards before she frowned in surprise, floating a little higher than Antares was as she followed his gaze: just over the horizon, great, massive branches stretched towards the sky, reaching miles upon miles outwards from its massive trunk.
“That tree could contain a city.” Innocence muttered, and then she squawked when Antares jumped onto her back, flailing her arms wildly as her magic sputtered around her body and she sailed awkwardly to the ground, Antares hopping off just before she landed in a thump on her face.
“Yeah.” he agreed, then he smiled over his shoulder at her as Innocence scowled at him from the earth. “Hey, we're almost there. And all thanks to you, little miss murder.”
“Little miss murder magic , thank you very much.” Innocence said primly as she popped to her claws, sniffing disdainfully before she strutted past Antares in the direction of the World Tree. “So what are you waiting for?”
“Nothing at all.” Antares said with a wry smile, and he followed quickly after the mare after one last check over his shoulder, all too aware that they couldn't afford to waste any time.
Yggdrasil, and Mimir, awaited ahead, and their rivals were close behind.
Chapter Nine: Storm
They had to move more carefully during the day than Antares would have liked: at first they had just galloped through the trees, but that had led them to nearly run headlong into a snoozing earth giant.
The giant had been a great, ugly beast that seemed like it was more rock and bark than it was living thing: it had stodgy, thick legs and big, swinging arms that looked like stretched wood. It was overgrown with moss and mushrooms, flat face nearly buried in the mud of the river it had sprawled out beside, one arm stretched up the riverbank, nearly as long as its humongous body.
It was naked, but there was a massive, primitive spiked club carelessly dropped nearby that looked like a small tree with several broken, rusted swordblades and spears and metal pipes jammed wildly along its length. Antares couldn't help but almost marvel over this for a moment before hurrying after his sister past the snoozing goliath: he couldn't imagine the kind of damage a monster the size of a house could do with a tree covered in bits of sword.
They moved on, quieter, more carefully, and it was a good thing they did: they were barely able to sneak carefully through the tall grasses along a drainage ditch that had been carved in the earth at the bottom of a humongous field that earth giants plodded carefully through, tending to thin, bizarre trees that grew massive fruit that should have been too heavy for their gangly, leafless branches, as well as smaller, stouter trees that produced what Innocence identified as a much more enticing substance, at least to her: ambrosia, the fruit of the gods, which could be used to concoct all manner of elixirs and potions.
She stared at one of these fat, pumpkin-sized berries, then grinned as Antares winced before the mare vanished from the spot. The grasses whispered as an invisible shape disturbed them, and Antares hissed in frustration as he stuck his head through the tall grasses, whispering furiously: “Don't do it!”
“I'm gonna do it!” Innocence whispered loudly back from beneath her glammer, hurrying across the field to the closest ambrosia tree: she leapt onto the trunk and scrabbled quickly up to a branch, light flickering and bending around her body before she blinked onto a berry, then squawked as it tore loose and they both fell to the ground, the mare half-flipping and thumping loudly down on her back with the ambrosia clutched to her stomach.
She groaned, then winced as she heard thundering footfalls approaching: but by the time the giant reached the end of the row and leaned curiously down, all it saw was some grasses rustling in the distance as some small animals or bugs hurried quickly away.
Innocence cackled, the ambrosia safely tucked away into her portable pocket dimension, back in full visibility, covered in dirt and smeared with juice as she proclaimed: “I am the best!”
“You're the worst.” Antares grumbled, and then he questioned: “What are you even going to do with that, anyway?”
“Eat it.” Innocence shrugged. “Make pancakes. Powerful pancakes!”
“You're the worst.”
They continued onward, pushing hard where it seemed safe to, darting across grassy fields and trying to keep under some kind of cover. The further they pushed, the more giants they encountered: some tending fields, some repairing vast, strange structures, and at least one working at an immense forge carved in the side of a humongous mound that Antares couldn't tell had been carved from natural, jagged stone, or if the giants had built the hill themselves out of slabs of rock.
They pushed as far as they could, but Antares started to get a little more uncomfortable as they passed what was clearly a warning totem: a massive pole jutting from the earth in the center of a field, topped with an immense skull. A dragon... or something even worse, Antares thought, judging by its elongated grin and the remaining, cracked horn.
“Never seen a dragon with a face like that. Don't think I'd want to, either.” Innocence muttered.
“A wyrm of some kind. Probably an extinct species...” Antares murmured as they hurried through the field, before he frowned, then suddenly grabbed his sister and hauled her quickly over to a sprawl of shrub, the mare squawking, then quieting at the look on her brother's face and instead following his gaze.
She was shocked to see several giants plodding towards them in the distance: but even as they drew close, she could barely hear their footsteps, or feel the reverberations of their passage. These goliaths of living stone and wood moved almost soundlessly, their bodies covered in animal pelts and scaly hides that seemed less like armor and more like symbols of rank and status.
But they were all armed, as well, and as primitive as their stonework weapons looked, these weren't makeshift like the giant with the club earlier: one had a humongous stone axe with a blade scrawled with runes, another carried a heavy staff topped with a massive, thrumming crystal.
The patrol passed by, and Antares grimaced before he muttered: “Well, the good news is that Mutt and Dad are gonna be slowed down by them. The bad news is that this looks like a scouting unit, and I'm starting to think they take defending Yggdrasil a lot more seriously than we might have thought.”
Innocence grumbled, but didn't have any argument for him: they moved quickly on instead, pushing as far as they could. But as twilight began to fall, they were stopped not only by the encroaching darkness, but the fact they ended up reaching a massive fortification, a fortress made of logs and slabs of rock and living, ancient trees that stretched to the sky, their mighty branches supporting immense platforms that were further shored up by log supports and coils of vine thicker than Antares' body.
The giants patrolled the fortifications ceaselessly, and while Innocence figured out where they could possibly camp – and if they'd have to just settle for withdrawing from this monstrosity for now – Antares took a quick look around the edge of the immense structure.
This fort was as large as a castle, if not a small city, and the giants had it locked down extremely tightly. As night fell, gemstone lanterns hung off branches and hammered into the walls glimmered to life, casting everything outside the walls in light of all different colors: it was painful to Antares' eyes, leaving him to wonder if the giants saw things differently or if they were just used to it and didn't care about filtering the glow produced by the gemstones.
Some of the moss and the mushrooms growing out of the trees was also phosphorescent, he noted, turning the shadows of huge bugs crawling over them into leering monsters. And yes, the bugs were another problem Antares wasn't too keen on: beetles almost as big as him, humongous centipedes that could devour a pony whole, giant spiders that lurked in treetops and caught flies the size of boulders in their massive webs.
The giants didn't seem to mind the bugs at all: then again, most of them were thirty to forty feet tall and made out of rock, so the bugs were like, well, bugs to them. All the same, it was creepy watching several beetles crawl all over one of the stone giants standing outside an immense gate, not twitching even as they frittered their way underneath the animal-skin tunic he wore.
“These guys are weird.” Antares muttered, and then he shook his head before turning to hurry back towards Innocence, sensing her out with his magic.
Sin had managed to find a niche in the outer wall of the fortress, camped in a crooked little space between two warped logs. Antares joined her by the little blue fire she had made, the mare grumbling: “It's not great, but we should be safe here.”
It was cramped and dirty and Sin had definitely burnt a few bugs to death to secure the area, but all the same Antares couldn't help but smile as he said: “It's fine, Sin. So what do you think?”
“It's too big to go around, isn't it?” Innocence asked morbidly, and Antares nodded. “Great. Then we'll scamper through like rats.”
“I mean, at least it shouldn't be too hard to get through, right?” Antares said unhelpfully, and Innocence gave him a dry look before the stallion asked: “Can they track us at all?”
“Their magic is... primal, earthy, like... well, I guess probably just like what you'd expect.” Sin shrugged. “They aren't looking for us so I don't super know for sure, but they don't seem to have a real passive sense for magic and they aren't like, trying to keep anyone out .”
“That's what got me, too. They're a little apprehensive... I saw some tenseness in the giants on guard duty and the patrol that passed by me. But they're looking out for something big, not someone like us.” Antares paused and then knocked on one of the massive logs, calculating in his head: “So the wall averages at least eighty feet high. It stretched further than I can see in the dark in either direction. It's kind of circular, but that seems more like an engineering accident than anything else. I saw a few even bigger gaps than this one in the walls, but they don't really seem to care all that much about them.”
“Dumbasses.” Innocence huffed.
“Maybe not.” Antares shrugged, saying pointedly: “I mean, we're especially badass. We're like aliens with cosmic powers level badass compared to most of what we've come across so far.”
“True. We did kill like a thousand elves.”
“Like a thousand.” Antares agreed solemnly. “They probably suspect Jötnar or a dragon or something before they suspect us.”
“I mean I am kind of a dragon. Tyrant Wyrms are kind of dragons.” Innocence said helpfully.
“Yeah, exactly.” Antares nestled himself against the cramped wall with a grunt, then winked at her as he said. “So as long as we keep quiet and move carefully, I think we'll be just fine.”
It was a terrible prediction to make, but Antares wasn't especially worried about slipping through the giants' fortress without being detected: he was more worried about what was going to happen after the fact. Yggdrasil was close now, and he had the feeling this was only the first of ever-tightening defenses they were going to encounter.
The night was interrupted by one strange event: a sudden storm rolled in, and the earth giants became extremely agitated. It was enough that Innocence went off to scout what was going on, and after just half an hour, she hurried back to their little hidey-hole and hissed: “Gotta go!”
“What did you do?” Antares asked, but Innocence only shook her head hurriedly before she gestured at him wildly, barely giving him enough time to throw on his satchels before, to his surprise, she led him quickly into the fortress, and not away from it.
They hurried alongside the outer wall, sticking in the shadows, staying low in the grasses and weeds to avoid detection from several pacing giants. Once the coast was clear, Innocence bolted across the dirt path to the inner wall, Antares following quickly to a thin gap between a log and a massive tree that they were able to painfully squeeze through to enter a guard barracks.
It stank of soil and sweat, Antares grimacing as they hurried past empty cots and discarded blankets. He didn't want to admit how apprehensive it made him to see all these empty beds: what had happened to put every giant in the fortress on alert?
“Are you going to tell me what happened or what?” Antares grumbled as they stopped in an archway, and Innocence bit her lip as she leaned out before wincing and ducking quickly back into the doorway, pushing Antares around the edge as a giant came thundering down the hall.
He thankfully stormed past, and Innocence wheezed before she looked at her brother and said awkwardly: “Storm giant.”
“Oh.” That explained the thunderstorm. And... “Oh no. He's miffed about what you did at Giant's Reach, isn't he?”
“Oh, way to blame it all on me, Tarry. Some big brother you are.” Innocence huffed, then checked the hall before she darted across it, and Antares followed her quickly to another room, wondering if this was what it felt like to be a rat. “He's definitely way more sensitive to magic than the giants and I think he might have seen me while I was sneaking around the fortress.”
“So why exactly are we moving towards him, then?” Antares asked waspishly as they hurried through a dark room full of inscrutable shapes. He groaned when they reached the far side and Innocence lit up her horn just enough for him to watch as she crawled into a thin gap, the stallion dropping on his belly and wiggling carefully forwards as he mumbled: “This is what I get.”
He emerged next to his sister in an ugly strand of bushes, in what Antares first mistook to be a courtyard of some kind. But then Innocence grasped him and carefully pulled him through the wiry plant life, and when he was able to poke his head out, he realized that while this was overgrown with wildlife, all of that abundant life was centered around and growing towards a massive orb in the center of the courtyard, the enormous sphere of cracked crystal thrumming with life-giving power, wrapped in vines and ivy and blossoming flowers.
“Ah.” Antares said, as Innocence grasped him and quickly pulled him towards the crystal. She led him through the tall grasses and weeds into the dipped earth that surrounded the massive, life-giving stone, and they skidded down into a crater, Antares unable to help but groan in disgust as they ended up in stinking, mossy soil beneath the enormous stone platform that held the stone in the air.
“This is basically the stone giant's food supply. They must regenerate from the luminous energy it gives off.” Innocence informed, and Antares looked at her moodily as they lay in the muck underneath the gemstone, the stallion doing his damnedest to ignore the fact he definitely felt something crawling over one of his hind legs. “Don't worry. I drove off most of the bugs.”
“Then what do I feel crawling on me?” Antares hissed, and Innocence winced as she looked back over her shoulder before she squeaked at the sight of the millipede that hurried busily by.
The siblings traded looks, then they both shuddered before Innocence said awkwardly: “Look. We'll just hide here until the storm giant goes away. He won't be able to detect our magic beneath this big energy orb thing. Then we can get the hell out of here.”
Antares grumbled under his breath, before he muttered: “Why are these huge magic orbs always on some kind of pedestal like this?”
“I don't know, maybe because if you plant the life-giving magic orb in the ground it causes stuff to grow wildly all around it and then you're cutting down weeds every time you want to use it?” Innocence grumbled back, shouldering her brother roughly. “It's already making all the flora in here grow out of control. Imagine what it would do if they hadn't salted the earth and put it up on a platform!”
“Calm down, thunder-panties. It was just a question.” Antares grumbled, and the two grouchily shoved at each other before they both settled into the muck to wait.
After an hour or so, they were disturbed by a growing sense of sizzling static in the air. The two ponies slowly looked up from their hundredth game of tic-tac-toe to stare out from beneath the plate of stone they were hiding under at the sight of massive, sandaled feet and the edge of stainless robes lingering at the edge of the crater.
Antares and Innocence huddled together, the mare whispering: “Maybe he's just uh... getting a snack?”
“I uh. I don't think so.” Antares mumbled back as one of the taloned toes tapped slowly. “But maybe if we're real quiet he'll just go away?”
There were a few more moments of silent, frustrated static, before a voice growled down to them, echoing painfully in their ears: “I know you're down there. What are you doing here? Why did you destroy Giant's Reach?”
The two looked at each other, and then Antares cleared his throat before he said awkwardly: “Um. Hi there, um... hi. I'm gonna come out. Please uh... please don't squish me.”
“That will depend entirely on your answers.” growled the storm giant, and Antares winced before he sighed and crawled quickly to the gap, nervously sliding out, then staring dumbly up at the sixty foot tall goliath that towered over him, its thunderbird head and sharp avian eyes glaring down into his very soul, beak clacking in distaste at the sight of the pony.
“Wow you're big.”
The storm giant didn't look amused, crossing his arms as he slowly tapped a foot, and Antares winced at the wind that idle gesture of irritation produced before the pony waved lamely and said: “Hi. I'm Antares Mīrus. I'm uh... trying to get to Mimir. Preferably before my parents do. Mutt, and Dad, I call them. I call Mutt 'Mutt' because it's short for Móðer , because she's my Móðer . She's my mother, too, but I have a mother too, so we call her Móðer to make it more distinct. I have three parents.”
The storm giant slowly rubbed the base of his beak with two fingers, and then he asked irritably: “Where is the magic user?”
“Oh, that's my sister! Hey, uh... Sin, uh. The giant... sorry, I didn't get your name?” Antares grinned and gestured helplessly up at the storm giant with a hoof, but the goliath only glared back at him in response. “Uh... the storm giant would like to have a word with you.”
Innocence wiggled her way out from under the platform, then she winced at the size of the giant before she visibly psyched herself up, puffed out her cheeks, and blustered out a threat: “I'll fuck you up. I fucked up that big-ass wall and I'll fuck you up too.”
The storm giant sighed in exasperation as Antares gave a wheezy laugh before he quickly put his sister in a chokehold, making her squawk and flail as he grinned lamely up at the storm giant and said hurriedly: “She's a real kidder! You know that Valkyrie sense of humor, she got it from Mutt! Ha ha... ha.”
“Of course. Midgard horses. Odin's ponies.” The storm giant looked distastefully between the two, before he leaned down. “Troublemakers.”
“I mean... yeah.” Antares admitted.
The storm giant studied them for a few moments, then said contemptibly: “What would make troublemakers feel as if they deserve an audience with Mimir? Especially after destroying a vital part of Yggdrasil's protection?”
“I mean... vital? I dunno about that...” Antares mumbled, and when the storm giant glowered at him, the stallion dropped Sin as he spread his forelegs and argued: “A wall is great and all but it's still only a wall! Just like this is... basically a wall of giants. We're really dumb and we were able to get in just fine. I imagine you're smart enough to know that if someone smart wanted to get in-”
“There are defenses ahead as well. But the smart ones are generally too smart to come this way at all, or even think that Yggdrasil is worth their time. None travel to Mimir any longer. He will not give answers to anyone who makes the journey, pony. Any more than Yggdrasil will bear fruit for all those who reach its leafy boughs.”
“I think he'll answer our questions, though.” Antares said, and then he hesitated before asking: “Is Yggdrasil in danger?”
The storm giant eyed him moodily, then non-answered: “Yggdrasil is always in danger.”
“I can be mystical too, you know.” Innocence grumbled, then she badly imitated the storm giant as she waved her head back and forth: “Great trees attract a thousand parasites! Hum-hum-hum, I am big old wise giant I can say anything and no one will ever backtalk me because I am too scary, hum hum hum I am smart.”
Antares stared at Innocence, and Innocence huffed before her brother turned a lame smile to the giant and said awkwardly: “Please don't squish us together.”
“But if you are gonna try and squish us, we're a team!” Innocence declared. “And you'll have to squish us both!”
“Nope.” Antares immediately said, and Innocence gasped and stared at him with a hurt expression. “Hell no. You did this to yourself. You can get squished. You'll be fine. You've survived worse.”
“Oh, fuck you, you-”
“Enough!” the storm giant thundered, glaring between the two of them, and both ponies winced and looked awkwardly up at him in the static-riddled silence that followed.
The goliath rumbled as he closed his eyes and brushed a hand over his feathered scalp, and then he said in a low, irritated voice: “There is movement all across Jötunheim. I am not blind to it: the renewal of Asgard and the empowerment of the mortals has had consequences for our realm. We are not innocent in this. The storm giants have chosen not to act, and we must pay the price for that.
“Tell me, travelers. Tell me why I should let you go. Why you are not responsible for the lives you took at the Giant's Denial. Why you choose to sneak and fight your way past the earth giant guardians, and why now, only after you are caught, do you beg for safe passage from one of Jötunheim's lords.”
Innocence glared up at the storm giant, and Antares let his smile fall away, straightened as he answered clearly: “We are responsible for our actions. For all of them. And we will continue to be responsible whether you allow us to pass or not: we will do whatever is necessary to reach Yggdrasil, and Mimir.”
“Are you threatening me?” the storm giant asked in a low, dangerous voice, as thunder rumbled through the clouds above.
“No. I am answering your question.” Antares replied evenly. “We'll go through you if we have to. And you know as well as I do that there was no way any of these people, giants or otherwise, were going to ever let two ponies from Midgard get safe passage all the way to Yggdrasil. So we did what had to be done. And I think your concern isn't really about us, or what we did: I think you're worried about someone else.”
The storm giant measured Antares with his eyes, his gaze cold and heavy, but there was a tell there: Antares weighed it silently, then said quietly: “We aren't the threat. And if we get there first, maybe we can stop whatever is. It's... kind of our thing.”
He gave a small smile, and Innocence nodded firmly before she added brazenly: “Or we can just kick your ass and be on our way, too, so uh... flock off, feather face.”
“Wow you did not just say that. What are you, twelve?”
“You know, I'm the only person here offering quality contributions right now-”
“Oh, well, excuse me all to hell for thinking that it was better idea to negotiate rather than bluff and threaten-”
“Hey, it's not a bluff, I'll totally-”
The storm giant glared at them, and a blast of lighting hammered down between the ponies, making them both squawk and leap hurriedly to either side. Innocence huffed and Antares smiled in apology, but before either of them could say anything, the giant spoke:
“I am neither intimidated nor amused by you arrogant lower lifeforms. I will not let you pass because of threats, or promises...”
“But you are letting us pass.” Antares said, absently reaching up to cover Innocence's muzzle before she could spout off and ruin this narrow chance they had to get through unscathed.
The storm giant looked at them for a few moments, then he knelt, slowly, leaning far, far down, until his beak was hovering just above them, his head turning so one sharp orange eye glared down into Antares' own. “I am. And do not mistake me, this is not because I care whether Mimir lives, or dies. But Yggdrasil is the root of all realms, and those who are called there are never called without reason, and never allowed to reach it unless it was meant to be.”
“Wow, nice excuse.” Antares said before he could stop himself, and then he winced when the giant snorted sizzling fog over him.
“Inevitability is not an excuse, and it is not as comforting as you seem to think it is. Inevitability only means that even the greatest of the Jötnar will inevitably fail, when destiny so wills it, and fall to the chosen among you worms.”
Antares grimaced a little as he wiped awkwardly at himself, and Innocence shifted as she visibly did her best not to yell anything stupid at the goliath. And after a moment, the storm giant straightened slightly before he simply snapped his fingers, a surging ring of energy whirling into being and opening window into another dark part of the world. “So here is my answer, horse. Go through the portal to new unknowns, or stay where you are, and we'll what a hundred stone giants have to say about destiny and Yggdrasil.”
“I uh. I bet that would be very poetic, but I get the message. Come on, Sin. Let's go.” Antares nodded awkwardly at the storm giant, heading quickly for the portal, and he hesitated only long enough to toss the storm giant a lame 'thank you' before he stepped through.
Innocence paused in front of the portal, then loudly blew a raspberry up at the storm giant before she hopped through as well, landing on the other side and squawking as it slammed close behind her close enough to clip the hairs of her tail. She hopped forwards, then danced around in frustration as the reek of singed hair filled the air, while Antares was already looking at the stars as he sank his hooves into the ground, muttering: “Really. Well, that's an interesting turn of events...”
He paused, then absently kicked Sin to get her attention before he glanced back at her and said: “We're on the other side of Yggdrasil. Probably a little further away than we were before, distance-wise, and the terrain here is obviously a lot harsher...”
Antares absently lit up his horn, tracing the light it created back and forth through the rocky wasteland, nothing but dirt and sand and jagged stone slabs. “But that might actually work to our advantage. I don't feel any presence of giants near here.”
Innocence grunted, then she licked one of her claws before reaching up and firmly squeezing Antares' horn, making him wince as his magic died out with a sizzle. He scowled as the mare's eyes closed in the darkness, feeling her own magic thrumming outwards, invisible but powerful as she muttered: “Yeah. No lifeforms for a few miles around, at least. But something nasty is definitely out there, hunting around, you dumbass, and it got a whiff of us when you put up your magic.”
“Do we move or do we set up camp?” Antares asked, and Innocence paused before she flicked her horn, creating a dim blue flame that silently whirled around them before it floated over to a jagged chunk of stone that jutted from the earth a short distance away.
They made their way towards this, and Antares winced a bit as he realized it was a massive charnel stone, half-covered in dust and stained with the ashes of those who had been burned upon it. A few lumps stood out of the ground here and there nearby, forming dirty mounds and ashen piles, and Antares mumbled: “Oh no I don't want to camp here.”
“Dead people are nice. It's the ones who don't want to stay dead that you gotta worry about.” Innocence muttered as she half-shoved Antares towards one side of the dune of sand and debris that had overspilled the shattered stone table. “Besides, I don't want to think about running into a literal giant wight in the darkness.”
“Yeah. Okay.” Antares sighed, blowing his mane back out of his face before he simply sat back and let Innocence quickly set up a warding circle.
Soon, they were resting in the safety of a blue bonfire, the runes faintly thrumming beneath them: they were silent, napping on and off in shifts for a little while before they ended up just sitting side -by-side together, Innocence wrapped in a blanket and Antares mending the damage their cloaks had taken over the long journey.
“We're gonna be okay, yeah?” Innocence asked quietly.
“Yeah.” Antares answered without hesitation, giving a small smile. “And yes, I know what you're really asking, and... hey. Maybe we were wrong. That storm giant seemed pretty concerned about Yggdrasil. As concerned as I imagine a storm giant can be, anyway...”
“What if it's Mutt he's concerned about?” Innocence murmured, half-hiding her face beneath the blanket.
Antares softened, then he smiled a little before he said quietly: “You're not worried about that. You're worried about Morgan. About Twilight.”
“About Mom.” Innocence was silent, her eyes glimmering beneath the cowl of the blanket over her head. “It's fine if Luna's a bad guy. Mutt can be a bad guy all day because she'd never be any good at it. But... but Mom would be a really good bad guy. Mom would be a really scary bad guy. And I don't...”
She quieted again, then smiled a little from beneath the blanket, murmuring: “Remember when I was a stupid dumb idiot all those years ago? And I was all like 'ho ho ho you could never be as good at being bad as me' and stuff and I always just thought I got all my super-coolness from Luna?
“I wish sometimes I was still as dumb as a bug in a rug and thought Twilight was turned into a Lich on accident, that it wasn't something she ever accepted, that she really didn't have to try hard to be nice and she was just a big soft baby all the way down. I wish I didn't understand how... I've got all this passion and I'm like a firecracker and pop, pow! Off I go, but just as fast my mood spins around. That I know I got from Mutt, however that works.
“Twilight's not like that. Twilight... remembers everything. Plans and details every last thing. She figures out things, logically...” She quieted. “But not all the time. Sometimes she does things just to make the ponies she loves happy. Sometimes she does things to protect them. Mom is one of those few people who can turn her emotions off, or do what emotions tell her to in a heartbeat, whatever she decides fits the moment better.
“I was just a selfish brat. Now I'm just a selfish bitch fumbling her way towards the greater good. I can kill without really thinking all that hard about it. A few people, at least.” Innocence stared into the flames, and she heard the screams, watched as the rotworld they had failed to save shattered apart, heard her own shout of furious, disbelieving denial mixing with Antares' cry of disbelief. “But Mom could order her own son to destroy an entire world, and never flinch.”
There was silence for a few moments, and then Antares finally murmured: “You really mixed up that metaphor.”
“Yeah. But it still worked.” Sin answered, and then she sighed and dropped her head on her brother's shoulder, and Antares gently wrapped a foreleg around her as they settled into silence, with nothing but the crackling of eternal flame to give them comfort in the darkness of this long, cold night.
Chapter Ten: Yggdrasil
“There it is.”
Innocence joined Antares at the edge of the cliff, the mare whistling at the sight of the magnificent tree that was now only ten or so miles away. It towered to the skies, clouds breaking against its leafy branches like foaming waves, the diurnal stars seeming to cluster around it rather than above, as if the treetop stretched beyond the roof of this realm.
Antares wasn't so much enthralled by the great, massive tangle of branches and leaves above, as he was with the complex root system below: they stretched out around the base of the tree, humping up here and curling over themselves there, sinking down into the earth, pushing back out of the soil miles away. They twisted over and around one-another like a mass of eels, a wild, strangely-alive catacomb of slithering wood and furrowed earth.
The stallion chewed at his lip as he gazed across at Yggdrasil, the World Tree: this cliff had a steep as hell drop, maybe half a mile to the river below, and Yggdrasil sat in the middle of a deep, enormous, miles-wide dip in the earth, and yet he guessed they were barely above its root system. He wondered briefly if this was what Luna and Scrivener had seen years ago, when they had told him about meeting the Norns at the Well of Urd-
“Last one there's a rotten egg!” Innocence shouted as she leapt off the cliff, and Antares stared dumbly as the mare blasted off through the sky with magic, cackling loudly as she streaked off towards Yggdrasil like a black comet.
“You bitch!” Antares shouted after a moment of stunned silence, and then he swore as he turned and carefully started to scrabble down the cliff wall, managing to just lower himself down the edge of the jagged rock wall before he mumbled: “Oh fuck it, Mutt's gonna cheat too anyway.”
He let himself drop loose, corkscrewing around in a circle and kicking hard off a platform of white energy that appeared beneath his hooves, launching himself away from the cliff wall as his wings spread and flapped powerfully, sending him hurtling through the skies in the wake of his sister. He grinned despite himself as he flew after her before diving sharply down towards the ground, hitting the field at a full gallop and giving a last hard flap of his crystalline wings to propel himself forwards as he called: “I got four hooves to kick your ass four times as hard!”
“Yeah well I got four claws to... shut up!” Innocence shouted back as she dropped out of the sky to whiz above the field Antares was blasting across. She rolled upside down in front of him, flipping him off with both front claws and a grin, but then stared when Antares winked at her before she turned too late to see the treeline she was shooting straight towards, squawking a moment before she slammed painfully through a cluster of branches and went flipping wildly out of control into a tree trunk with what could only be described as a horrible fart of black magic.
The stallion grinned as he shot past his stunned sibling, zigzagging through the line of trees before he burst out the other side and charged through a field beyond. He raced past a small camp of stone giants clustered around a bonfire, only one of them glancing up curiously at the shape that shot by before shrugging and returning to polishing his weapon.
Ahead, Antares could see what he suspected was the last of the defensive perimeter that surrounded Yggdrasil: lines of runes had been carved in the earth, stretching between pillars of rock topped with crystal that thrummed with powerful magic. Stone giants stood, calm and silent, ready with their weapons of carved gemstone for any intruder that might try and slip past this final line of security only miles from Yggdrasil's base.
But they didn't expect a stallion who barely came up to their squat shins to simply gallop in, grinning as he leapt upwards and bounced himself higher with a platform of white energy, then a hard flap of his wings, hitting one of the massive gemstone pillars and charging straight up the rugged length of stone before he flung himself towards the sky, arcing neatly overtop the thrumming gemstone on top.
He landed a moment later on the other side of the pillar, spinning around and posing neatly as two stone giants turned to stare at him, before the stallion cleared his throat and said awkwardly: “Uh. Sorry, guys.”
A moment later, a black comet slammed into the face of one of the earth giants with enough force to knock it sprawling over the line of runes. The world rattled with the force of the giant's impact, the massive warrior groaning before Innocence hopped off his face, and without bothering to look, flicked her horn sharply as she released a pulse of magic.
The pulse resonated with the orb atop the pillar, which crackled with power before thrumming to life, and the line of runes immediately lit up, the stone giant that was unfortunately laying across them immediately cursing in pain and spasming as electricity ripped across his body, setting the pelts that decorated his humongous form on fire and supercharging his gemstone sword. He dragged himself quickly free of the border of runes, wheezing in pain as a stone giant on the other side shouted a warning, but other giants were already coming to see what had happened as more pillars activated around the perimeter.
The stone giant rumbled as he slowly stood up, and Antares cleared his throat as he absently warded off Innocence's useless pummeling, saying pointedly: “We should go.”
Innocence grumbled, then jumped on Antares, half-choking him as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck before she snapped: “Well, get going, then!”
As the giant leaned forwards to stomp them, Antares stumbled towards Yggdrasil, then leapt into a sprint, galloping away and vanishing into the weeds as the giant stared dumbly after them. The other stone giants were uselessly clustered at the line of runes, glaring through at their companion, who finally turned and then spread his arms with a dumb shrug, a few small fires still aimlessly burning on his rocky body.
Antares ran, and Innocence cackled as they leapt over a ledge, then began the long descent down the gentle slope towards Yggdrasil itself. It was a matter of minutes before Antares began to slow as they began to pass between immense roots, and under arches of natural, twisted woodwork, Innocence hopping off her brother's back as she muttered: “Holy shit.”
“Yeah.” Antares agreed as they made their way through the natural path formed by the root system, the stallion saying quietly: “That magic is incredible. That...”
“Weight.” Innocence said, and Antares nodded: that was the right word for it. A weight; not a pressure, bearing down on them, but just a heaviness lurking in the air, like all the realms were suspended above them here, and if disturbed, could come crashing down at any moment.
Antares had expected... a feeling of hallowed ground, or like they were trespassing somewhere they shouldn't be. Instead, he felt welcomed, as the massive roots of the tree seemed to shift ahead to form a path, calling them onward and upward as the stallion murmured: “It wants us here.”
“Weird. Must be lonely being a tree, I guess.” Innocence said, and Antares smiled despite himself as they worked their way slowly, steadily upwards.
They eventually found themselves on a dusty plateau, where massive roots had wrapped around one-another and twisted back against the base of the tree, forming a sort of living barrier. Antares noted that there was a lot of other overgrowth here as well that wasn't from Yggdrasil itself: Innocence didn't seem to sense or see it, but the stallion could tell some of these growths were parasitic, alien plant life that was feeding off the roots of Yggdrasil.
Innocence paused, then narrowed her eyes as her head turned towards the mass of growth around Yggdrasil's base, the mare clicking her tongue as she felt a strange magic. She snorted, her horn gleaming as her cloak fluttered around her body before she quickly shrugged off her satchels, then slammed her claws down as they glowed white and her metallic gauntlets formed around them, shouting: “Hey, fuckface! Why don't you come out and play?”
“Rude.” teased a voice, and a moment later a stallion's head poked up with a cheerful grin and a wink at them. “Hi there!”
“Hi!” Antares greeted back, smiling up at the stallion as Innocence glowered and arched her back like a cat, magic fuming along her horn. “I feel like we've met. Have we met?”
The stallion chuckled as he pulled himself up on top of the mass of vines and tendrils, his dark eyes glimmering with mischief. His mane was dirty blonde, darker at the roots of his short, spiky hair, his eyes plain brown, his runty body an unremarkable tone somewhere between common yellow and commoner-still chestnut. He looked like your average horse who was trying to dress himself up fancy in his too-big trenchcoat and his punk piercings, the stallion sticking out his tongue and biting the tongue stud he had with a wink as he posed, and a blast of fireworks went off on either side of him.
Then he leapt down from the roots and posed on the plateau, grinning as he tilted his head back and said cheerfully: “Not in this lifetime, but maybe the last! My name's Locke Laufey, but my friends call me-”
“Loki.” Innocence whispered.
The stallion grinned, leaning forwards, possibly trying to look menacing before he blinked and stared as Antares and Innocence traded looks, then cackled and danced around in a little circle, shouting and cheering. Locke stared for a few moments, then cleared his throat loudly before he waved a hoof awkwardly, saying lamely: “Uh. Hi. Guys? Excuse me, but uh... guys?”
Innocence and Antares spun to a halt, both grinning widely as Antares reached back and pulled out his buckler, locking it on his foreleg, while Innocence flung her cloak to the side, her sibilant body flexing as she bared her teeth. “Oh, this is gonna be good.”
“Mutt's gonna be so mad when she finds out we kicked Loki's ass all by ourselves.” Antares relished, flexing his body as he readied himself, and Loki huffed at them and pasted an injured look on his face.
“Hey, don't you wanna hear my evil plan or-”
Innocence lunged forwards and slammed a fist into Locke's face, the stallion's eyes bulging as he was launched backwards to slam into the massive root behind him. He blinked rapidly and rubbed at his bloody jaw, mouthing wordlessly before he glared at Innocence and snapped: “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Innocence winked, then flipped him off before she suddenly leaned forwards and snapped her horn towards him, but the stallion swore as he vanished backwards into the root, her magic tearing against the plant and sending up a spray of sap a moment before the stallion phased out of the top of the root system, shouting in frustration: “Goddammit I have planned this monologue for months, let me have my god damn moment!”
Innocence slashed her horn out, but Locke only huffed as the magic simply passed harmlessly through him, the stallion tapping a hoof against the root as he said pointedly: “Hey. Hey, I'm asking politely here-”
The mare growled as she vanished from the spot, but even as she reappeared in midair, a massive, living vine was already slashing out, smashing into Innocence and knocking her out of the sky to crash down into the earth with a painful thump. Mutant overgrowth lashed out in all directions, and Antares thought he caught sight of something rotten beneath the corrupted root.
He deflected several lashes of vine with his shield, then leapt back beside Innocence as Locke grouchily rubbed at his chin above, then spat to the side several times before he mumbled: “Now I gotta get back in character. Okay, okay, you got this. One-two-three, Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers, Sally sells sea shells south by the sea shore...”
Locke straightened, then posed on the edge of the vines, saying nonchalantly: “Now that we've established dominance, let me tell you-”
“About my new best friend!” Antares sang in a horrible off-key voice.
Locke's features curdled as he flicked a hoof moodily, a rock shooting off the ground and banging loudly into Antares' shield before he continued irritably: “Let me tell you how lucky you are to be here. To bear witness to the burning of the-”
“Orphanage!” Antares called, and then he deflected two vicious tendrils as Innocence snorted dazedly from where she was still laying prone.
“World Tree! The burning of the World Tree, I'm gonna set Yggdrasil on fire!” Locke shouted, and then he groaned and rubbed at his temples moodily for a moment before he cleared his throat and continued: “Nonsense aside, I know precisely what my precursor attempted to do. His plan was folly from the very beginning, and worse, along the way he lost the thread of his own-”
“Carpet!”
“His own tapestry . Why waste all that time and effort dismantling worlds or penetrating the core when we can simply set all the worlds on fire... with one little match.” Locke flicked his hoof, a match appearing in it and bursting into flame, and Antares immediately clapped childishly.
The stallion above blinked, staring dumbly down at the unicorn as he called: “Now do the thing where you eat it but you don't actually eat it and you pull the lit match out of somewhere else, like uh... Sin! Sin volunteers!”
“Fuck you.” Innocence grumbled from where she was laying on the ground, head propped up in a gauntlet, claws of her other talon tapping slowly against the earth. “Are you done, dude? Also, just so we're clear, like... you know this tree isn't going to actually burn, right?”
“Of course. Hence the chokeroot I've carefully cultivated. All I've had to do is sit back, relax, and watch as it slowly saps all the nutrients from Yggdrasil, slow, gradual, and unstoppable.” Locke grinned, tossing the match carelessly away as he pointedly tapped the root beneath him, which shuddered and groaned as if in pain. “No one can stop this now. Chokeroot is a parasitic life form that-”
“Dude I know what chokeroot is. I lived in Asgard for ten years and I took a gardening class with a hobby group to occupy myself. We learned all about chokeroot and floral arrangement and natural tending.” Antares grumbled, and when Locke cocked an eyebrow at him, he cleared his throat and added lamely: “I mean. Between all the awesome sex with my marefriend. I'm straight.”
“Uh huh.” Locke tapped the root beneath him again, saying easily: “Then you know that once chokeroot gets to a certain depth inside a tree, any tree, the only thing you can do to stop the infection from spreading is cut it down.”
Antares shrugged, then he said blandly: “My guy, you're standing on what looks like a single prominence. Unless there's like a dozen more of them all over the tree you're definitely still in the early stages of infection.”
Locke huffed, retorting: “All the infection has to do is-”
Innocence groaned, slumping on the ground as she mumbled: “Not this again. Tarry, I'm not explaining science again.”
Locke frowned, and Antares said helpfully: “We have this dumb guy named Orex who we fight sometimes. I mean, okay, we fought him once because Thorn won't let us join his... oh shit, wait, I didn't introduce myself. Uh. Hi, I'm Antares. Antares Mīrus.”
Antares trotted to the tree and clambered awkwardly up the vines as Locke stared down at him dumbly, before the black stallion reached up with a grin, offering his hoof as he hung loosely off the edge of the mess of roots. Locke lamely took it, shaking it awkwardly once before Antares let go and pointed back at his sister as she finally sat up. “That's Innocence Sparkle. Thorn is our brother. He's not here right now.”
“He's a dick!” Innocence shouted.
“Yeah, I mean, well... kinda?” Antares rested his forelegs on the giant root, looking meditatively up at Locke as he carelessly kicked his lower limbs against the knot of organic growth. “He's got a lot on his plate. He's super important in his world, like the capital-B Boss. So you know. Hard.”
“Hard.” Locke echoed, and then he leaned down and asked mildly: “Do you really think you can deceive the prince of lies?”
“That's um... that's the devil.” Antares said delicately even as a thick coil of vine wrapped itself around his waist, but the stallion didn't resist even as he was hefted into the air as Locke glowered up at him. “Aren't you more the king of mischief type?”
“Oh that sounds so gauche.” Locke flicked his hoof over his shoulder, then he said meditatively, as the vine squeezed slowly around Antares and made him wince. “And by the way, I'm not blind or stupid. I know what the little hybrid is doing.”
“Motherfucker what did you say?” Innocence shouted, and then in a flash she vanished and reappeared in front of Locke, making him wince back in shock before he squeaked when she seized him by the collar of his trenchcoat, stopping him from phasing away as she snarled: “Why don't you just come out and say halfbreed, huh? You got a problem with halfbreeds like me, you punk-ass bitch?”
Locke winced as he grasped her wrist before he suddenly gasped and looked over Innocence's shoulder, and the mare blinked dumbly and looked back at nothing for a moment before she squawked when the stallion shoved himself loose and phase down into the tree root, grinning as he leapt out of the ground-
Dark, sticky strings seized around him, and Locke squawked before Innocence leapt quickly down, slashing through the vine holding Antares: as the stallion fell loose, he twisted his body around to land with the grace of a cat in front of Locke, Innocence slamming down on his other side as the trickster swore in frustration, yanking grouchily at the tendrils of dark mire binding him before he suddenly grinned at the two and said teasingly: “Hey. I warned you that I knew what you were up to, halfbreed girl.”
He burst apart into sparks and fireworks, Innocence swearing and Antares cursing as he leapt behind his sister and narrowly blocked a blast of magic before the root of Yggdrasil shattered in a disgusting splash of sap and infected matter, a monstrous shape plowing through as Locke said cheerfully: “Oh, I almost forgot to introduce my little pet!”
Antares and Innocence both leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding the claws of the monster that lurched after them, the stinking dragon-beast snarling and drooling foam as a single visible eye rolled wildly in its head. It gnashed its teeth, then coughed and spasmed as it dragged itself after the ponies, a gurgling mess of parasitic plant-life, tumorous growths pulsing along scales that petrified into bark in places.
Half-dragon, half-plant, the once glorious dragon Nidhogg groaned and snorted, drooling and vapid as Locke posed atop the beast's crown, its skull thickly overgrown with rancid plant life, small saplings and chunks of petrified wood sticking out of its marshy features.
It wasn't rotting: it was painfully, clearly alive, but obviously driven more by the chokeroot that had infested it and Locke's magic than it was by its own functions. It groaned and wheezed, staggering back and forth before flopping down rather than standing, breathing out noxious fumes as it struggled to keep its head raised, Locke saying cheerfully from atop the monster: “Good use for an old pain in the ass, huh?”
“So we get to kill Loki and Nidhogg. Cool.” Innocence grumbled as she readied herself, and then she frowned when Antares put his foreleg out, stopping her from advancing.
“Remember when Thorn took down that Black Wolf?” Antares asked mildly, and Innocence grinned before she nodded shortly. “Let's do it.”
“Try and keep up.” Innocence retorted, and then she leapt straight at the jaws of the dragon before she squawked, narrowly shielding herself with a barrier of magic when the dragon breathed a blast of stinking fumes at her.
“Spores!” Antares shouted, flapping his wings hard as his horn glowed brightly before a crackle of white magic traveled across both his crystalline wings. He leapt to the air-
Locke stomped on him from above, then whistled loudly as he hopped backwards through the air, vines lashing out from the mass of organic around the shattered root and seizing both him and Antares. Locke was yanked up to safety with a grin, while Antares was slammed face-first down into the ground again and again until the stallion finally managed to slice his crystalline wings outwards, hacking himself loose from the thick vines.
He dropped towards the ground, then flapped his wings sharply as his instincts warned him a moment before he would have impacted about the wooden stakes that exploded upwards out of the earth, the stallion twisting his body out of the way and kicking hard off one of the spears of wood to launch himself away from impalement and towards Nidhogg.
A portal flashed into existence, and Antares winced as his rear hooves passed through this for a moment before he flapped his wings hard and yanked his legs loose, just before the portal slammed shut. It gave Nidhogg more than enough time to turn away from harrying Innocence to bite at Antares instead, the stallion grimacing as he twisted out of the way of the massive maw before he dropped on top of it and lunged forwards to slam a hoof into the one rolling eye of the misshapen beast.
The dragon howled, head twitching downwards, the organic that had grown across its face writhing before it gurgled as black blades of crystal shot into it from below, Innocence gritting her teeth as she channeled her Panacea directly up the chutes she had punched into its body.
The dragon-beast gurgled and squealed, head snapping back and forth as foam flew from its jaws before it vomited ichor as it attempted to yank free of the black crystal. Locke cursed as he appeared beside Innocence, then squawked in pain when she simply blasted him away with telekinesis without looking at him, growling: “Take a number and wait your turn, pal!”
“I like to cut!” Locke growled as he leapt backwards through a portal, and a second appeared on the other side of Innocence, the stallion launching out of this in a streak at the mare before he squeaked when he slammed face-first into a magic barrier, before he gargled in pain when it sealed around him in an orb, leaving him crushed in a spherical prison.
Innocence dribbled the magic ball that she had trapped Locke inside of against the plateau, withdrawing backwards before she flung him quickly at Nidhogg. And on instinct, the monstrous dragon turned and chomped down on the ball, crushing it and its contents with a sickening crack as black ooze dribbled from its jaws and its bruised eye filled with an eerie blue light, the monster rumbling-
Antares smashed both front hooves down into the creature's forehead as he gritted his teeth and channeled all the magic he could downwards, and a thrum of force ripped through the body of the dragon before it gurgled, then exhaled loudly. Slowly, the beast crumpled to the ground as Antares leapt gracefully backwards, landing by his sister with a smile as white veins traveled visibly through the beast and the parasitic tendrils attached to it, before they rapidly turned gray and began to flake and collapse.
Nidhogg, the dragon scavenger, rotted along with the remains of the roots that had consumed him. Antares and Innocence surveyed their handiwork for a moment, and then Antares clicked his tongue before he said mildly: “Way too easy. I hope that wasn't what you actually had in mind, 'cause uh. We've gotten really good at the ol' double-negation.”
Locke snorted contemptibly, and then he appeared in a flicker of light on top of the rotting hulk of dragon, grimacing in disgust as he wiped blood from his face before growling: “So that's the trick, is it? The same essence as the Tyrant Wyrm. You're dangerous, halfbreed.”
“And you're about to die, dumbass.” Innocence growled, but Locke only grinned.
“What's the first rule of magic?” he asked, and Antares frowned before his eyes widened as the shard of Loki rose a hoof and smiled. “Misdirection.”
He looked up too late, realizing where the real threat was coming from a moment before the wrath of ravens came streaking down, screaming and shrieking as the flock ripped past the two, Innocence swearing in frustration and shock as her magic simply bounced off the enchanted birds. She was driven back several steps as Antares ran forwards with his shield over his face, slamming his way through the cawing murder before he gasped when Locke seized him from behind.
Antares felt the life being sapped from his body, trembling and gasping as he fell to his knees, clenching his eyes shut as Locke growled: “You two morons told me everything I needed to know when you killed that husk of a dragon. Come on, a kid could have murdered that thing, did you really think-”
Locke clicked his tongue, grinning as he flicked a hoof backwards, a thick vine tearing out of the earth and constricting Innocence, hefting her into the air as the cawing birds greedily circled tightly around her, pecking at her unprotected face and tearing at her hide as Locke teased: “Ah ah ah, you didn't think that was going to work, did you?”
“Hey shithead, guess what my special talent is?” Innocence growled, and Locke scowled at her a moment before a large wooden root shot out of the ground beneath him and hammered home into his crotch.
He flinched with a wheezed, eyes bulging as he lost concentration, and Antares immediately half-spun and slammed the edge of his shield into the stallion's face, sending him crashing backwards before he flicked his horn sharply at Innocence. The mare winced as the blast of white magic hammered into the root, searing her painfully but blasting apart the root, the birds scattering with disgust as their easy meal was stolen from them.
Innocence leapt out of the murder of birds, flicking her horn back over her shoulder to send out a thrum of pure force that dissuaded the rest of the flock from divebombing her again as Locke growled in frustration and picked himself off the ground, wiping slowly at his bloody muzzle. “I tried to make this easy on you...”
Power thrummed through the air as the earth trembled around them and Yggdrasil groaned as if in pain, Locke slowly floating into the air as energy steamed off the stallion's body. His dirty trenchchoat burst into flames, rapidly charring away to nothing as the fragmentary murder of ravens came whistling back, circling quickly around him as his voice echoed: “But sure. We can do this the hard way.”
Antares set himself as Innocence charged her body with magic, the mare growling: “The hell is this?”
“When Loki was defeated, most of his powers drained away to the Void. But a little bit escaped to the ether, drawn to his still-living shards of soul.” Locke's eyes glowed as he spread his forelegs, a multicolored aura thrumming violently to life around him. “And it's amazing what touch of primordial power can-”
“Made you talk!” Innocence shouted before she slammed her claws into the ground, and Locke winced as the earth beneath him exploded: but even as he flinched, the cawing mass of birds shot towards them and Antares grimaced as he leapt forwards and blocked the bird-shaped malignancy with his shield.
The flock swarmed around him, and Antares swore as the birds pecked and clawed at him, except they weren't really birds at all ,were they? They were shards of chaos captured and captivated by the primordial power Locke was attempting to wield, utterly immune to magic and-
A bird suddenly transformed into a thin, featureless black sword that stabbed viciously down through Antares' shoulder, making him hiss in pain as he staggered backwards before another bird transformed into a spinning sawblade that nearly ripped through his shield even as he slapped it aside. He cursed, but retaliated with several blasts of magic, knowing that even his purification was useless, but the energy output would be enough to keep the chaos creatures distracted.
Innocence didn't have time to thank her brother: only to act as she slipped out from behind him and ran in a quick arc towards Locke, her horn glowing blackly with energy before a massive vine slammed down from the mass of organic behind the stallion. Locke grinned, but his nose was already bleeding from his weak equine body attempting to channel such monumental power. “Nice try babe-”
Innocence exploded out the other side of the enormous organic, shredding it to pieces as she grinned, but her victory was cut short as Locke intercepted her with a massive fireball that blasted her out of the sky, sending her crashing painfully to the ground and skidding roughly on her back across the earth before she gasped in pain as a coffin of rock sealed tightly around her.
Locke scowled as he held his hooves out, eyes narrowing as he crushed down on Innocence while his shards of chaos pelted and wore down Antares, the stallion growling as a bit of blood dribbled from his jaws: “There. Look what you made me do. This is so messy and disgusting and brutal and I hate it, I really do... just.. crushing the life out of you...”
Innocence charged her body with magic as Panacea bled out of her scales and hardened into armor, gritting her teeth in pain as stone and rock crushed in around her. She forced herself not to breathe, pushing outwards with magic and telekinesis as she struggled against the immense force bearing down around her.
Antares shoved his way out of the mass of chaos, snarling as he yanked his shield loose and flung it at Locke, but Locke grinned as he simply deflected this with a look before whistling loudly, the mass of chaos behind Antares seizing together and transforming into a massive pair of jaws that launched at the stallion-
A shape slammed down into the mass of chaos before it could devour the black stallion, Antares grinning before both he and Locke stared in disbelief as a massive laser of energy charred through the chaos energy like it was paper, the mass of writhing discord shrieking and bursting apart to flee in terror.
Six turned around, calm and emotionless, the false skin covering the front of her body hanging in tatters as a crystal gleamed brightly in her naked metal chest, the android saying calmly: “Warning. Lethal force has been authorized and limiters have been reduced to level one.”
“Oh as if I'm-”
A blast of concentrated energy shot out of Six's chest, and Locke swore as he narrowly dodged this, wincing as the beam of plasma sheared a trench through the root of Yggdrasil behind him. It cut towards him, and Locke cursed as he countered with his own beam of elemental power, gritting his teeth as he snarled: “No last second saviors!”
Antares charged forwards, and Locke flicked his head, massive vines tearing out of the organic and lashing towards the stallion. Antares leapt into these and allowed himself to get caught, gritting his teeth in pain as thorns and tendrils crushed into him, before he grinned as Innocence blasted her way loose from her stone coffin, leaping into the air and shedding the black crystal armoring her body into blades of shrapnel she sent hurtling at the stallion.
Locke howled as the dark gemstone harried across his body before he thrust his hooves out, negating the beam of plasma: he realized too late, however, that Six had allowed him to push her back, the mare emotionlessly flying backwards as only the reverberations of his magic hit her before she flicked her horn carelessly to the side, slicing Antares loose from the vines.
Innocence grinned as Antares leapt forwards: Locke twisted to meet him, only to realize too late that the shrapnel had been a distraction, misdirection, as the shards buried in the earth behind and around him exploded and shoved him forwards, off-balance.
He gasped, the energy around his body flickering out, his body trembling as Antares' horn buried through his chest. He gritted his teeth, reaching up to grasp the stallion's head, and then he gave a quivering grin as he leaned against him, whispering: “Got me with my own trick.”
“Misdirection.” Antares muttered, before he twisted his horn and yanked it loose, and Locke gasped as he fell forwards. But he never hit the ground, trembling for a moment as he whispered:
“Let me go.”
“No.” Antares said, as he shifted the stallion gently around before slowly, carefully setting him down on his back, asking quietly: “You going to tell us what you were doing here, really?”
Locke grinned up at Antares, his eyes tired, blood running from his face before he whispered: “Setting the stage, my friend. And dying a glorious death.”
Locke winked, then settled, silently, to the earth, his last task complete, the final shard of Loki leaving eagerly to join its siblings in the eternal Void.
Chapter Eleven: Mimir
“So we kicked Loki's ass, saved the entire universe, and it looks like we beat Mutt and Dad here, too.”
Antares sighed and smiled despite himself at Innocence, who huffed as she stepped away from Yggdrasil, shaking her hooves out as she complained: “What, it's true! Anyway, that's the last of it. I think we got all the chokeroot.”
“Even if we didn't, it won't grow enough on its own to be a threat to Yggdrasil. There's plenty already down here by the roots. Locke was using Nidhogg to trundle it around and the powers of the primordials to amplify it, but... I don't think we have to worry about that anymore.”
Antares paused, glancing back towards the plateau where they had buried Locke's body, and then he looked up curiously as Six asked: “So now you will head to Mimir?”
“Yeah. Uh... thanks, by the way. Your magic is scary.” Antares said with a small smile, offering a hoof.
Six only looked at his hoof for a moment, and then she shrugged and dropped it. But her hoof reached up and touched her own chest almost delicately, pressing against the metal plate that had slid closed over her crystal core. “It is not magic. The chaos particles are capable of vibrating at a frequency that disrupts magical effects. I generated plasma-”
“Yeah, yeah, particles, electrons, you're very cool.” grumped Innocence, before she scowled as she jutted her chin out and leaned towards the mare, asking grouchily: “Are we gonna have to kick your ass now or are you gonna let us get to Mimir?”
“My mission is complete.” Six said simply, and Antares saw her shift, preparing to leave... except then she hesitated.
He cocked his head, reaching up to quickly cover Sin's muzzle so she wouldn't spoil the moment as he asked: “What is it?”
Six looked at him for a moment, then shook her head and stated: “Classified.”
With that, the android leapt backwards, twisting neatly around in midair before she ran off down one of the larger roots of Yggdrasil, leaving Antares and Innocence alone at the base of the massive tree. Sin groaned, then slapped Antares' hoof away, grumbling: “I hate this place. I hate these people. I hate everyone and everything. Let's finish this and get out of here.”
Antares smiled a bit, and then he patted Yggdrasil's mighty trunk gently before he rested a hoof against it, closing his eyes... and there it was. Just there, in his mind, the tree showing him the way with a voice of not just nature, but the cosmos, a voice that had spoken destiny and seen a thousand futures and a thousand more pasts...
He shivered a bit as he nearly fell over, stumbling backwards and rubbing slowly at his head with a wheeze, and Innocence cocked her head as she asked with the faintest hint of concern: “You uh... not going to puss out on me now, right?”
“I'm fine.” Antares smiled at his sister, who huffed grouchily at him before he gestured with his head for her to follow, and the mare strode after him even as she scowled a little.
“You know, Mutt and Dad are gonna be here any second...”
“Yeah, but we're literally right around the corner. There's a trick, see.” Antares said as he drew his eyes along the wall of Yggdrasil, paying more attention to the trunk of the tree than the path of roots beneath his hooves. “You gotta know the secret knock, because Mimir technically isn't in Jötunheim at all. Remember, Morgan told us herself: Mimir withdrew from the Nine Worlds.”
They reached a space where Yggdrasil was bare of bark, and Antares smiled as he stroked over the naked wood before his horn gleamed as he leaned forwards, using it to etch several runes as he murmured: “But Yggdrasil's roots can reach anywhere.”
The World Tree rumbled, and then Antares leaned back and glanced over his shoulder as a root stretched upwards, into the air, forming a natural stair to the sky. The stallion grinned as he spun around and hopped onto this, following its ramping path upwards.
Innocence rolled her eyes, opened her mouth, and then simply gaped when Antares vanished from sight, staring dumbly at the thin air where the stallion had popped out of existence before she scrambled hurriedly after him, shouting: “What the fucking fuck is this shit?”
She leapt the root, then blinked in surprise as she passed through what she could only describe as a seam in reality, neatly coming out of the invisible tear and landing on a set of stone steps. Innocence blinked, looking dumbly back over her shoulder and down a long, curling stone staircase that dipped into what she first mistook for fog, but realized as they parted briefly, were clouds.
These stone stairs were jagged and broken, clinging to the wall of some kind of massive pillar that stuck out at a lopsided angle in thin sky. Innocence bit her lip as she awkwardly made her way up the stone stairs, looking up at an island floating eerily above, then down for a moment, at the ground angled below, gravity somehow not tugging her down into emptiness. She breathed slowly for a moment, then shook her head quickly out before she mumbled: “This is weird even by my standards.”
She followed the curling staircase up and around the pillar, until she found herself surrounded by brickwork and invading – invaded? – earth that had suffused what she supposed had once been a tower. A tower that had been launched like a rocket into buttcheek of a floating island...
She grinned, but it was nervous as she reached the top of the tower, and stepped out through a shattered brick wall onto an island... one, she saw, of many that floated nakedly through the air, in complete defiance of sanity and gravity, above an unknown world miles below.
Innocence strode across the weedy, dusty surface of the island to where Antares was standing and waiting with a smile outside a dirty, collapsed shrine. Once it looked as if there had been a scrying pool in front of it: now it was just a dirty wading pool, overgrown with strange flowers and luminous algae.
The shrine had likely once been beautiful, but paint had peeled, varnish had faded, and ancient wood had rotted away. The timbers had not withstood the test of time, breaking here, warping there; tapestries had torn and been eaten away by moths and insects, and spiders had replaced them.
But within, cradled by overgrowth and roots, was the head of a giant. A head, sallow and overgrown with moss and life, skin so old it had become bark. All the same, the head breathed, slow and sure, as if in contemplation of all the years that had passed since this withered hulk had been placed here-
“I came here. Of my own will.” Old Mimir said, exhaling dust and time, and Innocence blinked as Antares bowed his head politely. “Don't feign manners, boy. You're not here to visit an old man. You're here to whittle answers out of questions, and to prove yourself to the last person in all the realms you should worry about securing the approvals of.”
Mimir snorted, and demurred: “And to avoid embarrassment. Fie on you, horse. Slap your belly less and you won't have to worry about the same of it.”
“Eat a dick.” Antares blushed, then he shook his head and said quietly: “But yeah. We need-”
“You need, you need, you need.” Mimir's eyes opened, heavy and half-blind, like darkened, warped glass. He studied them, then meditated after a moment: “Yes, perhaps you do need, after all.”
Antares frowned as Innocence cocked her head, and Mimir sighed before he said tiredly: “Yes, my time in these realms is coming to an end. Ask your questions. Ask wisely. You will not have another chance.”
“You're dying?” Innocence asked dubiously, before she cleared her throat and added awkwardly: “That's not a question, by the way! Also how many questions do I get? Not a real question, just a... question about the questions but not-”
Mimir groaned and rolled his eyes, exhaling dust before he muttered: “I have been here for thousands of years. Long have I lived this existence, once cherished, until the time came to part with the realms, and I came here with what little power I had unto myself. Now, here I lay, as dusty and forgotten as the rest of the Vanir.”
“You were Vanir once?” Antares asked curiously, and Mimir smiled briefly.
“Freya is the only Vanir left now. A mare's body suits her better than a woman's ever did. The Vanir lived long before the Aesir. I suppose it is only right that the Vanir will die out before them, too.”
Antares frowned, and Mimir said: “Thor. Thor is cursed to live. He has outlived his offspring, and he shall outlive even his own usefulness. Poor, wretched Thor. In the end, rage will bring him home.”
“Uh huh.” Antares said slowly, looking uneasily at Mimir: there was no lie-
“I cannot lie, child. Not because of any vow or promise, but I am too old to.” Mimir chuckled, more to himself than them, then said: “Enough. Ask your questions. The Valkyrie is coming.”
Antares bit his lip, and then he started to grin, but it froze on his face as Mimir said softly: “Now is not the time for your camaraderie or your optimism or your childish heroics. This is not where things end. This is not where your family goes on and into the good sunset. This is where the sun rises on a scorched realm, and you must decide if you will hide in the shadows, or you will burn, like all the rest, beneath its pitiless light.”
“We don't hide.” Innocence said quietly.
“Then ask your question.” Mimir replied.
Antares closed his eyes and thought for a few moments, and then he grimaced as he looked up and asked the only question he could think of: “How do I save everyone?”
“You don't. You cannot. You will be fortunate to save yourself.”
“How can I save everyone?” Antares pressed sharply, and Innocence frowned uneasily.
“Turn back time.” Mimir derided. “And make it so they were never born. Perhaps, so that you too were never born.”
“How can I save everyone?”
Mimir was silent for a moment, and then he said quietly: “Do precisely what you are told. Never question, never fight. Then, perhaps, you will save them all. Except, of course, for yourself.”
Antares understood, looking down silently for a moment before he bit his lip, then he asked quietly: “Why?”
“Because that is the way it must be. Because that is the world you were left with.” Mimir answered, and Antares snorted in disgust as he closed his eyes.
Innocence shook her head, then bared her teeth before she shouted: “Fuck that! No, then we just change it, because it's our goddamn world and we don't have to live this way, with everything always ending up shit! Fuck you, Mimir: we're gonna change things, and it's gonna work out okay, and we're gonna save everyone along the way!”
Silence followed, punctuated only by the sound of her growling breaths, until Mimir chuckled quietly and said softly: “Perhaps you will fail. But at least now I can finally agree with Odin that you deserve the chance to try and pick up where our kind left off.”
Sin huffed and grumbled as she rubbed at her face, and Antares smiled a little before he asked: “Why the hell do you watch people jerk off?”
Mimir laughed at this, and then he answered wryly: “I have far better things to watch than you pleasure yourself, horse. No, my eye of wisdom sees through time and space, sees past, present, and future all at once. It is not that I wish to see or know; it is that I see you, as you are, as you were, as you must be, all at once, every moment of your life. Including those best kept in the privacy of your own home.”
Antares huffed, then Innocence asked grouchily: “Hey, what does that mean? You like... look at someone and you know all their secrets? That's creepy, dude. Don't look at people's secrets.”
“Then keep them secret.” Mimir retorted, before he said after a moment: “The Valkyrie approaches.”
“How do you know that if you only know what you see by looking at people?” Innocence asked irritably.
“Easily. Without even needing to look into the world, I merely have to look at her children, and they tell me everything I would ever need to know.” Mimir answered, and Innocence huffed as Antares smiled a little despite himself. “Truth is loud. Louder than lies, louder than disbelief. Truth makes itself known. That is all you must listen for.”
Innocence grunted, before both she and Antares looked up as a thundering of hooves filled the air, a moment before Luna blasted into reality through a portal, skidding to a stop before she winced at the sight of her two children. She grinned lamely as Scrivener came trudging through the portal behind her, before he winced at the sight of the two others, saying lamely: “This was Luna's fault.”
“Oh shut up, foul traitor!” Luna snapped, flicking her horn grumpily to summon a massive fist of blue flame and ice: a vulgar show of incredible power, not at all a trifling use of her abilities, as the huge fist of frost and fire flicked Scrivener over like a bug before it sharply veered around and flipped off Antares. “And that is for thee, foul cheat! Thou must have cheated, cheater!”
“I'd say you're projecting, but you did just literally portal into here in front of us, so this isn't even really gaslighting, this is just Luna got caught with her hoof in the cookie jar again and is frantically trying to figure out a way to blame Dad for it.” Antares said mildly, and then he grinned and dodged backwards when the huge fist slapped out and tried to smack him. “Hey, put those away.”
“I will put thee away. I will put thee back in my womb and poop thee out right this time!” Luna threatened, and Antares winced as Innocence stuck out her tongue with a noise of disgust. “Oh shush, both of thee. Thou art both my children and old enough to give a proper spanking if I so desire.”
Her summoned fist waggled a finger at them pointedly, and Antares and Innocence traded looks before Luna winced as Mimir said: “The boy sees your anxiety better than I do, Valkyrie. Stop lying. You insult both his love for you and his heart.”
Luna sighed, slumping for a moment before she grumbled, chewed at her lip, then awkwardly looked at her son as her hand made a placating gesture, the mare asking almost meekly: “Hast thou... asked thy question?”
“And I know my answer, too.” Antares said softly, and then he smiled a little as he walked over to his mother and silently embraced her, Luna closing her eyes and dropping her head against his shoulder as she hugged him fiercely back. “I love you, Mom. I'm not gonna let you be the bad guy. Not even if you want to.”
Luna smiled a little bit, holding her son close, breathing quietly as she kept him tight to her form before she murmured: “Stupid child. It is a parent's duty to protect their children, and take on troubles so that their children do not have to... even once they are old, and feeble. That duty never changes. Oh, but you would be so cruel as to not even let me die before thee, wouldn't thee?”
“Probably, if I had my way.” Antares admitted, and Luna huffed as she shoved him gently backwards before she finally dismissed her floating fist, shaking her head with a quiet chuckle.
“Stupid child.”
“Well, it's not just Antares who's stupid, you know. I don't want you to die either.” Innocence grumbled as she bulled forwards, shoving her brother aside to plow into her Móðer , and Luna caught her and hugged her firmly as she buried her head against her chest. “I don't want to lose you or Dad or even Momma. Even if you're all stupid liars.”
Scrivener smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head, while Luna doted on her daughter, gently stroking her mane back as she soothed: “We shall not lie any more to thee, dear. On that, thou hast my promise.”
Luna paused, then looked up and asked wryly: “Mimir, as we have been asked to lay our cards upon the table, tell me thus: how many worlds remain in peril?”
“All of them. But I know you speak of the rotting worlds, the ones too close to Hell, or too close to Heaven.” Mimir paused, then said meditatively: “Seven. Seven more remain, jilted loose from the chain of realms by the destruction of the linchpin, World Without End. Other worlds drift, but may yet be secured... but that is too far in the future for even my gaze to penetrate.”
Luna nodded slowly, then she sighed a little before she looked between her children and smiled briefly, saying quietly: “And what of Loki?”
“The truth, or the shards?” asked Mimir. “For your children defeated the final shard of Loki only minutes ago.”
“Oh, fie and damnation!” Luna groaned, hammering at her head before she grumbled: “Some use that stupid robot of Thorn's was...”
“So Six was sent by you!” Antares paused, then frowned as Luna looked at him dumbly. “Sort of? Wait, she's not yours?”
“Six? Oh! The ander-droid, 'tis wondrous, is it not?” Luna gushed, clapping her hooves together childishly. “Thorn built it for us, to scout the way for us. 'Tis an... a what is it, Scrivy?”
“Thorn called it an artificial intelligence: he said that this 'AI' would learn and adapt just like a real pony could. He said this would be a good test run for it, if Morgan agreed. I guess she must have gotten worried and sent it after us.” Scrivener rubbed at his head and smiled awkwardly. “We really lost track of time.”
Antares groaned: that explained a lot. All the same, he felt a strange misgiving, before he winced when Innocence asked bluntly: “You didn't put a soul in a robot?”
“Sin!” Luna chided. “Thou insults me! As if I would put a soul in a robot. Or at least a robot as boring as that mare is. The ander-droid is not fun. Thorn programmed her to be very unfun.”
“We beat her up too.” Innocence said cheerfully, and smiled when Luna patted her proudly on the head.
“Good, although I am jealous, too. The ander-droid was supposed to find Loki for us and it seems thou pummeled both of them instead!” Luna chuckled, shaking her head before she looked at Mimir, and Antares saw the hesitation, the flash of understanding in her eyes, before she said kindly: “Come. Tell us more. I have all the time in the world for my daughter.”
Innocence allowed herself to be pulled around and away, and Antares smiled faintly before he looked at his father as Scrivener approached. They looked at each other, and Antares chuckled a little before he said softly: “We're both kind of freaks, huh?”
“At least your wings are useful.” Scrivener smiled briefly, and then he said quietly: “I'm sorry.”
“Hey. Don't be.” Antares shrugged a bit, looking at Mimir's head, but the giant had closed his eyes and left the conversation: all that was left was him and his father, standing awkwardly here, and Antares bit his lip before he muttered: “I... I hate that I'm powerless to change things.”
“You're not.” Scrivener said quietly, before he reached up and gently squeezed his son's shoulder, looking down into his eyes as he said softly: “For someone who can see so deeply into people, you sure seem to be good at missing how much you affect them. Now come on, Antares.”
“I can't save everyone, can I?” Antares asked, and Scrivener smiled.
“Why should you?” he asked, and Antares frowned, and his father shrugged as he said softly: “Sometimes you should let people save you . And sometimes, you have to let people take responsibility, or face the consequences of their actions. Otherwise you're not saving anyone. You're just stopping people from hurting themselves, from doing what you think is wrong... no matter how right they think they are.”
There was silence for a few moments, and then Antares nodded briefly before he dropped his head and mumbled: “Life is dumb.”
“And complicated.” Scrivener agreed, before he gently pushed his son towards Luna and Innocence, who were both smiling and waiting by a portal.
Antares took one last look back at Mimir... but he knew he had nothing left to say. So instead, he only smiled briefly and waved over his shoulder, then turned his eyes forwards as he followed his mother, his sister, and his father into the portal.
The portal crackled out of existence, leaving Mimir alone... but only for a moment before the shadows roiled, and a mare formed out of them, striding towards the head and standing silently in front of the fallen giant.
An eye creaked open, and Mimir smiled as Morgan bowed her head politely before she said softly: “It's an honor to meet you.”
“Is it?” Mimir questioned as he studied her, before he chuckled as another portal opened and a stallion swept through with a mechanical mare in tow, his eyes flicking for a moment to his own prosthetic limb as it crackled faintly with electricity. “Ah. But here we have the man of the hour.”
“Stallion.” Thorn Blackfeather corrected.
“It is just that sort of thing, Thorn Blackfeather, that will cause you to lose your way. You cannot cling to every minor detail and correct every imperfection. Sometimes, you must just accept.” Mimir paused, then said in a softer voice: “Your brother will never understand just how like him you are. What differs is your dedication, your determination, your unbreakable will... your arrogance.”
Thorn smiled briefly, then nodded as he and Morgan stood before Mimir, the great old giant studying them with his tired eyes before he said abruptly: “You know the truth.”
“Only because you just confirmed it.” Morgan smiled at the old, withered god-head. “I don't know how involved Loki and Hel were in this whole thing, and I don't know if this is what Odin meant to happen. But the Old Gods are gone, and we've replaced them with our own.”
“As you have also replaced the laws of this universe with your own interpretations. Helheim and Asgard and all the realms between the lowest low and the highest-on-high bow to the wills and rulings of you and yours.” Mimir said. “So much power, held and coveted by a precious few fortunate enough to be able to upend reality itself according to their whims.”
Morgan and Thorn were silent, before Mimir said quietly: “Your decisions have been made, as has mine. You know what must be done.”
Morgan bit her lip, but Thorn only nodded, resolute and unflinching. “I understand.”
“So do I. But...” And for a moment, it wasn't Morgan Heldottir, Queen of Helheim that stood before Mimir, but only Twilight Sparkle, questioning for the thousandth time her readiness, her ability, her worthiness before this mighty task. “Does it have to be this way? Can't we-”
Mimir chuckled softly, and then he murmured: “Your mother loved you very much, and I can see why, little one. How much have you seen? How much have you done? How have you remained so pure, so inviolate, in the face of so much pain and hardship and heartache?”
Morgan smiled faintly, glancing away, and Thorn stepped forwards as he said gently, not only to Mimir, but to his mother as well: “Because our intentions are not good, but rather to set things right. We are ready and willing to do whatever is necessary to set things right.”
“So were the Jötnar , and so were the Aesir after them. To do the right thing, Odin murdered the giants, and to fix the imperfection of the universe, Valthrudnir murdered Odin and all his gods, and then turned his eyes to your worlds. All to fix them. All to set things right, as he saw it.”
“Valthrudnir's ends were pure. His means were not. His greatest flaw, perhaps, was his inability or his refusal to recognize that.” Thorn answered. “We will not fail in that regard. We will accept consequences. We will weigh the benefit of the end against the cruelty of the means. We will carry the burden of our empathy and our understanding. We will do what must be done.”
His silent companion looked at him, and Morgan gazed at her son with both love and sorrow, and Mimir chuckled before he asked: “Alchemist, architect, animator... do you understand that you are already responsible for a generation of life you will never be able to witness, guide, or apologize to?”
“Then I'm glad I have more faith in the future generation than I do in myself.” Thorn replied.
Mimir chuckled again, then said softly: “Have faith, boy. I see greatness in your future.”
Thorn smiled briefly, then he glanced at Morgan. She hesitated, then nodded to him before dissolving into nothing but shadows that faded quickly from sight, and Thorn approached Mimir as the giant sighed, the great old head settling into the debris of his shrine as he murmured: “Even I have lost track of how much time has passed since last I slept. How much time has passed since I walked the green earth and touched the blue sky above, since I last felt sand and wash and waves. Even I cannot help but yearn for it... and wish for just one day more, where I strode through Vanaheim...”
Mimir settled, as Thorn stood before him, close enough that those great lips could have kissed him, that dusty breath washed across his body with every slow, calm exhale, as eyes fluttered closed, and the great old god relaxed...
And in a single moment, Thorn did what needed to be done.
Epilogue: Cycles
Jötunheim had been pretty fun. Antares and Innocence were even able to enjoy a day and a half with Luna and Scrivener afterwards, exploring Yggdrasil, wrestling stone giants, then zigzagging wildly back and forth across marvelous, untamed lands all day and night, having the time of their lives.
Then Luna and Scrivener had been called back to duty by Morgan, and Antares and Innocence had been left to explore Jötunheim on their own for a few days, revisiting places they hadn't been able to fully enjoy, and making the most of their time in this weird and wonderful realm.
Although the nights got cold, and lonely, and they spent too much time questioning themselves, the people they loved, and whether or not they could really make any of this okay.
But goddammit, one way or the other, Antares was determined to make things work out okay. Not just for him, not just for his family, but everyone he could possibly save: he wasn't going to let himself be left out of the loop any longer, and come hell or high water, he was going to help his parents and brother solve the problem of the drifting, rotting worlds whether they liked it or not.
Sin was pretty smart, after all. And he was pretty good with his hooves. That had to count for something, right?
After a week of wasting time and accomplishing absolutely nothing, they managed to find their way to a ferry across the Stjarna Flow, the ephemeral river that separated Asgard from Jötunheim. Prestige was already waiting for them at the port where they disembarked, and as always, seeing her washed away Antares' anxiety and frustration, and reminded him of why he fought so hard not just for his friends and family, but for the purity of simply doing the right thing.
Another week spent with his marefriend, his girl, his not-wife, where he talked with her and made love to her and maybe cried a little, too. A week that Innocence spent tooling around Asgard, poking her nose in where it didn't belong and raiding Valhalla's libraries and spying on dignitaries.
And when the week was over, Antares and Innocence left – or were kicked out, depending on how you looked at it – and were sent back home by dimensional rift in spite of the fact that a hundred years ago overuse of, rifts were what had caused such a weakening in reality that Loki had been able to put his plans into motion in the first place.
Antares lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling as the house wandered slowly through the Everfree Forest, in a world that no longer really felt like home, where he couldn't do anything to help, where he felt as if he had retired. He lay naked, his crystalline wings outstretched, his front hooves behind his head as he thought about how he was still such a goddamn child: all these promises that he was going to leap into action and save the world...
And here he was, laying in bed, doing nothing.
It was made worse by the fact that he knew something was happening out there. And worse than worse because he knew this was partly his own fault. Why hadn't he made a snit in Heaven and gotten himself sent to Clockwork World instead? Why hadn't he demanded to talk to Thorn through a scrying mirror or something? Why had he just... let himself be sent home?
He was still the same person he'd always been, and that was why, he supposed. Good at talking a big game. Terrible at standing up to his own family.
He hated that. And he regretted not fighting harder... not fighting at all to at least find out what was up, because he knew if they were left to their own devices, Thorn and his parents would do what they felt had to be done. They would do what was correct, and what was safest for the universe, without giving a second thought to what that meant for the people caught in the crossfire.
Even if that included everything he loved.
Amazing that Mutt had been the one to teach him all those years ago that there was no shame in cheating your way out of a shitty deal, only for her to try and 'nobly sacrifice herself' in one way or another again and again over the years.
But he got the feeling that a lot of parents were terrible at taking their own goddamn advice.
He just wished, perhaps uncharitably, that Thorn would be a worse son, so maybe his dumbass parents would just give up and try to live long happy lives for once, fixing everything they could, instead of trying to take responsibility for everything they couldn't. They had done enough for this universe, after all.
It wasn't their fault things were broken.
And it wasn't fair to Thorn, who after a century was still trying to make up some imagined mistake, who behind that big beefy tough guy facade was a little kid trying to make his Mom proud.
Horses of Heaven, they were all such dumbasses .
Antares closed his eyes... then opened one curiously as he heard a hammering at his door before Innocence shouted: “Yo, Tarry! Stop jerking off and get out here!”
Antares absently made the bed rock and whined loudly: “But I'm almost done my third-”
Innocence blasted the door open with telekinesis, Antares staring as Innocence grinned at him, and then the stallion remarked moodily: “If I had actually been touching myself-”
“I would have been embarrassed for you. Hellbutts, Antares, three times in one day? I know you don't have much of a fuse but you've only been up here for an hour...”
The stallion glowered at her, then asked grumpily: “What do you want?”
Innocence only winked, then spun around and trotted off, and Antares groaned before he mumbled under his breath as he hopped out of bed and followed sulkily after her.
He frowned, his curiosity getting the better of his annoyance as he headed down to the den and found Innocence waiting for him, a sheet of paper rolled out over the floor, covered in mystical symbols she had sloppily painted over it. He stopped outside of this, and Innocence gestured at him impatiently from where she stood inside, complaining: “Come on, come on, get in here, give me your damn hooves.”
“I'm going to regret this.” Antares muttered, stepping into the ring and grimacing as he awkwardly let Innocence grab his front hooves in her claws, and he opened his mouth-
The entire world became a bleeding mess of color and sound, Antares squawking and throwing himself against Innocence to cling to her in shock as the mare cackled as they seemed to rocket through space and time together before suddenly coming to a halt. For a moment, they seemed to be rising through the vast cosmos together, Innocence grinning proudly, Antares staring in disbelief and confusion as Morgan passed slowly by them in the opposite direction, smiling, serene, upside-down...
Upside down?
Then everything went streaking by again for a moment, Antares staring wide-eyed at the cacophony that filled his vision before they were suddenly... in the sky?
In a hazy sky, of reds and blacks, floating above a dark world made of neon lights and endlessly churning machinery.
A clockwork world.
The Clockwork World, Decretum.
Antares stared in awe, and Innocence said cheerfully: “I figured it out! I'm badass! I combined a scrying spell I stole out of Heaven's archives with a bit of astral projection magic, and... voila! You can let go now. Just don't step out of the magic circle. It'll suck.”
Antares winced as he realized he was clinging to his sister, then he cleared his throat and hurriedly straightened, brushing at himself as he said awkwardly: “Just uh... was keeping you. Safe. Yeah. Safe. Don't ever tell anyone about that. For uh, your own sake. I'll kill you.”
“I'll kill you!” Sin shot back, then she leaned to the side, careful not to pass over the glowing orange line that neatly encircled them. “I think once I have enough time to figure this out, I can actually phase us anywhere we want to go. Fucking dimensional phasing! That'll show that asshole Thorn, I can do anything his technology can, but better!”
Innocence grinned, and Antares looked at her and smiled a little, saying before he could stop himself: “You're pretty amazing, baby sister.”
Innocence blushed and smiled honestly for a moment, before she frowned when Antares asked hesitantly: “Did you see Mom?”
“Huh?” Innocence stared at him, and then she spun lazily in a circle, looking quickly around before shrugging and saying: “I don't see her anywhere. Did you see her?”
Antares thought for a moment of what he had seen: how their eyes had met for that fleeting moment, that knowing smile of a mother, that mix of indulgence, and encouragement, and hope that he had felt from her. He chuckled a little at the bizarre thought that crossed his mind, then shook his head and said softly: “Let's worry about that later, my head is still spinning. For now...”
Antares grinned, winking at Innocence. “Let's see what Thorn is up to, then let's scare the hell out of him.”
“I mean, we can't do that yet, but we totally will be able to.” Innocence said positively. “But we can definitely spy on him. Figure out what that dumbass is doing.”
“And figure out how to help him, whether he likes it or not.” He paused, then added at the pointed look his sister gave him: “But our way. Because Thorn doesn't need help with a lot of things, no, but I think he could use a little bit of brotherly wisdom, and sisterly...”
“Buttkicking.” Innocence supplied.
“Buttkicking.” Antares agreed with a slight smile.
With that, the two turned their eyes towards the city, and their dedication to showing Thorn that anything was possible, and that they were ready to fight both beside and against him to prove they could save the realms, and everyone in it.
Including Luna and Scrivener, whether they liked it or not.
Better to try and fail at the impossible,
Then never try at all.
Author's Note
Back into the 99 Worlds Universe, for one last romp with the Weird Kids. This is, what, story 16/17 in main series lore? So my apologies to anyone jumping in right here. It'll be weird. But the journey should still be fun.
Siblings
Chapter One: Siblings
“Yo, Sin! Breakfast!”
The messy mass of blankets on the bed wiggled a little as a grumble escaped the clothy chrysalis, the creature hidden inside that comfortable womb trying to curl herself up tighter in the grips of her little sanctuary.
Not that it did much good, as a hoof pounded at her door and the most obnoxious stallion in the entire world sang cheerily: “Get up, get up, get out of bed, get up, get up, you muffin-head, you gotta get up, you gotta get up, you gotta get up and-”
“Tarry, I'll murder you.” groaned the mare as she shoved her head up, a scaly snout poking out from beneath the layers of covers.
The stallion chuckled behind the door, then he hammered a quick tattoo against it before she heard his hooves moving away as he teased: “Well, you won't be killing anyone if you stay in bed all day! You also won't be getting any bacon.”
“Bacon. I'll get bacon. I'll get all the bacon I want.” mumbled the mare as she sank down for a moment into the blankets. She wiggled uselessly in her cocoon, then slowly worked her way to the edge of her bed before she squawked as she spilled off the side and flopped loudly to the floor, knocking several books and trinkets rolling across her messy room.
Her head shoved out of the mess of blankets with a huff, blowing a bit of her blue mane out of her amethyst eyes. She was a unicorn, of sorts, from the tall, curved horn that gleamed like a blade sticking out of her head: but her features were almost reptilian, with dark, deep purple scales covering her visible body.
She sniffled as she stood up and stretched with a yawn, her long blue tail flicking behind her pony-like haunches, her long, draconic claws cracking and clicking as she pressed them down against the floor. On her flank, a stylized golden sickle with a cross-shaped handle gleamed brightly against her taut dark coat.
She was slender, beautiful, almost felid in her strange mix of pony and draconic beast, but the moment she attempted to take a step forwards the entire house seemed to shake and she ended up falling in a sprawl on her face with a squawk, ruining any pretense of natural grace as she scowled before her eyes watched as several pencils rolled by, and the creaking in her perked ears told her the cabin was definitely on the move.
She popped up to her hooves, shaking herself briskly out before she stepped towards the window, flinging the curtains open with telekinesis. She scowled out at the scenery: gray skies above, and a sea of treetops slowly passing by below, as their cabin creaked and groaned as it strode its way across the Everfree Forest on its spindly stilt-legs.
“I wonder where we're going...” she murmured, as she reached up and absently squeezed her necklace in a claw: she rubbed along one edge of the black star, then over the metal, lightning-shaped shard in the face of that piece of onyx, feeling a funny little premonition. She had been getting those a lot more these days. Usually these feelings turned out to be nothing, but...
The mare clucked her tongue, then turned and shook herself out before she wildly slapped at her own face, then blew a snort. Well, there was nothing to do but have breakfast. She could ask her dumbass brother where his dumb ass had told their cabin to go after she ate.
She flung open the door and headed down the hall to the den: a fire was cheerily burning away in the fireplace, and her brother was already sitting at the couch with his hooves up on the table and a plate floating in front of him.
He grinned and winked at her: he was a handsome black unicorn with a messy white mane he had let grow out over the last few years, and bright blue-green eyes, that could be as deep and dark as the ocean one moment, and bright as jade the next. He was athletic, his body covered in scars from combat and bad decisions.
The weirdest thing about him, however, was the set of crystalline wings he had: souvenirs from a time long past now, as flexible as cloth and more mobile and malleable than real wings would have been.
She flicked her horn at him as she walked past, but he easily deflected her telekinetic slap with a twist of his own spire, winking at her as he teased: “Gotta be faster than that, Innocence Sparkle.”
“I'll kick your ass after I'm done eating, Antares Mīrus.” grumbled the mare, swinging her horn grouchily back and forth as she strode into their crowded little kitchen. It was in an eternal state of mess, the sink loaded with dirty plates, the stove dressed with a sheen of grease, odds and ends scattered across the uneven countertops.
One hundred, two hundred years old, and they were still just messy teenagers. No wonder their parents had always been so weird.
“Do you think we'll ever stop being like, horny dumb kids?” asked Sin as she scraped bacon out of a tray onto her plate.
“I know I'm hot, but you're my sister and incest is totally wrong. You don't wanna end up like Wheels McGee, do you?” Antares asked loudly, and Innocence rolled her eyes.
“Believe me, I'm never going to be horny for you, asshole. I'm not into... well, I guess I am into girls.” Innocence poked several pancakes onto her plate, then proceeded to cover these liberally with syrup as she poured herself coffee at the same time. “But not girls like you.”
“Ouch. You got me so hard, Sin. I'm dying from that seven-thousand degree burn.” Antares said wryly as he slumped to the side in the couch, at the same time floating his empty plate to the table.
“Fuck you.”
“Fuck you too.” Antares huffed.
“Fucking your fucking face you facefucked motherfucker.” Innocence loudly retorted, then she grabbed a loose spoon from the counter and flung it vaguely in his direction.
It bounced off the back of the couch, and Antares scowled as he leaned up and pointedly picked up the silverware with telekinesis, waggling it as he said mildly: “Language is one thing, but we don't resort to violence over namecalling in this house, missy.”
“Eat me.”
“Incest is-”
Innocence groaned loudly, marching over to the divider and dropping her plate loudly on an open section of countertop as she stabbed a fork angrily into her pancakes, and then she paused before she asked curiously: “So where are we going?”
Antares blinked, scratching his temple with the butt of the spoon before he asked honestly: “What do you mean?”
Innocence stared at him, and Antares stared back at her before he said slowly: “You didn't set the route before you went to bed last night?”
“No, I got home and just went to bed.” Innocence answered, before she grimaced, grabbing a mug of coffee and taking a deep gulp from it before dropping it next to her plate and muttering: “Guess I better go check on that.”
“Yeah, uh, please.” Antares said delicately, and then he grimaced as Sin nodded curtly before vanishing from the spot, the stallion rubbing at his head before he sighed and hopped to his hooves with a grimace, muttering: “Guess I should check on navigation...”
Innocence, meanwhile, reappeared in a puff of magic on a balcony on the roof of the cabin: the trapdoor under her claws was still secured and the door in front of her that lead into the little steering compartment was untampered with. So that meant someone had either set a destination from the orb inside the cabin, or...
Innocence paused, then leapt up, landing on the roof of the little square compartment on top of the cabin so she could get a better look at where they were headed. The log cabin groaned and grumbled as it swayed a little on every step of its eight long stilts, resembling a tipsy spider more than anything else as it stalked across the Everfree Forest, the treetops swaying like waves as the long legs of the walking house stepped carefully between branches and trunks.
She peered off into the horizon, then shrugged a bit before pursing her lips and vanishing from the spot. She reappeared in the kitchen, still almost pouting as Antares called: “Yeah, it doesn't look like...”
He paused as he reached the end of the hall and peered around the corner into the kitchen at her, and then he said mildly: “A bird is going to poop on your lip.”
“Oh, shut up.” Innocence huffed. “And yes. I know. The house is being summoned. Which means it's either Momma or Aunt Freya.”
“Or any number of other people who have nothing better to do than bother us.” Antares remarked, and Innocence snorted. “Hey, it's true. Like, literally nothing has happened for the last century or so.”
Innocence shrugged as she returned to her pancakes, while Antares leaned on the living room side of the divider, idly stealing a piece of bacon with telekinesis as he said wryly: “I almost miss the days where stuff happened, you know? I mean, I know that's stupid. We went through a lot together. But there was good as well as, well...”
“Shit.” Sin supplied.
“Yes. Shit.” Antares agreed after a moment. “There was a lot of that. Some of it sucked ass. Some of it even sucked the stuff that comes from asses, one might say.”
“Shit.”
“Yes, Sin, thank you.” Antares said drolly. “But at least things were interesting and didn't feel so...”
“Purposeless.” Sin said, and Antares smiled a little, softening a bit as he looked at her, but Sin only smiled in return and shrugged, saying quietly: “Hey, it sucks but it's true. Don't get me wrong. I like our lives. I'm comfortable being the Witch of the Woods, and I'd much rather live out here, wandering around and helping people out when we're needed, than try to live in Ponyville or even Subterra. They just... don't feel like home anymore.”
“The world's moved on.” Antares shrugged. “Even Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom moved out of Ponyville for Subterra, and I feel like sooner or later they're going to move out of there, too. It's all old memories and folk tales now.”
Innocence grunted, muttering: “Can't believe so many of our demon friends abandoned us to go to Helheim. We got dumped for our parents, Antares. Dumped, for them!”
“I mean, Burning Desire was friends with Mom and Dad and Mutt before you even existed.” Antares pointed out, and Innocence scowled at him horribly. “And like, they always called me 'Prince of the Night' and you 'weird demon baby' but-”
Innocence huffed and swung her horn at him, but Antares parried with his own, the two fencing sharply for a few moments over the plate of pancakes before Innocence squawked when Antares nimbly leapt backwards and swept the dish of food with him. Innocence flailed violently over the countertop at him, but Antares only smiled smugly as he took a bite out of a pancake, then scowled down at himself when he dripped syrup down his chin and chest, grumbling: “Horses of Heaven, Sin, did you want some pancake with your syrup or what?”
“Ugh, that's lame. You're lame.” Sin groaned as she flopped over the countertop, banging her horn against it firmly several times, and then she sighed a little as she mumbled: “I guess it's just... hard to believe everything's changed so much. One moment we were kids, the next we were fighting angels, and then we were, you know, all grown up, having fun...”
She pushed herself up, grumbling and flicking at some crumbs: “And then Clinker was old, and then he died. Ponyville basically became Pony City, Equestria formally became a republic, bad stuff stopped happening and I put legs on the house.”
“You put legs on the house. That is by far the biggest and most serious thing that has happened to us, yes.” Antares agreed solemnly as he finished up the last of the pancakes, and then he winked as he put the plate down, saying cheerfully: “But hey, at least even if our lives are boring, they're not as bad as baby brother's, right?”
“I was supposed to be the baby, forever.” Innocence said morosely as she crossed her forelegs under her head and sulked on them. “Now our dumb parents have like ten more dumb babies who get to be babier than me.”
“Well, I mean, most of them are technically demons and all, so they age faster and that means really you're younger and definitely more of a baby than them.” Antares said helpfully, but Innocence just swatted at him grouchily. “Okay, okay, fine. Beardy brother?”
“Divorcee brother.” Innocence grumbled, and then she rose her head and complained: “I liked Moonflower. He should stay with Moonflower. Not girls. Girls are stupid. He got married twice and it didn't work out with either of them so he and Moonflower should just go back to touching each other's butts and boy-bits.”
Antares coughed loudly, and Innocence huffed at him before her older brother said kindly: “Moonflower and Thorn have a lot to work out between them. Even if you would prefer them-”
“Yes, I would.” Innocence said staunchly. “Hellbutts, Tarry, if I had Moonflower I would bang his ass senseless every day. I would bang him twice every day. I would bang him like a drum in a drumming contest where you have to bang a drum as hard as you can as many times as you can as fast as you can.”
“Not every pony has your libido, Sin, you poor, sweet, sick mare.” Antares said wryly, and Innocence sniffed and preened.
“Well, I'm sure even a sexy-less gelding like you would definitely want the butt-touch-time with Moonflower. You can't tell me you don't think he's handsome. I know you're like ninety percent gay. I've seen your dildos.” Innocence said pointedly, waggling her eyebrows at him.
Antares blushed and huffed, flailing back at her and complaining: “Those aren't mine , they're for Prestige, and all the hot marefriends she brings over to have hot mare-on-mare-on-stallion totally straight orgies with me.”
“Is a threesome an orgy or is it just a threesome?” Sin questioned, and Antares looked honestly stumped by this question for a moment before she added wryly: “If stuff goes in your butt you like it in the butt and that's pretty gay.”
“Not if there's no balls touching.” Antares retorted snidely, and then he flailed at her, Innocence huffing and slapping her claws wildly back at him. “God, you're as bad as Móðer , by the way. Sulking one minute and giving me too much information about my own sex life the next. You need pills. Or sterilization. Or both.”
Innocence huffed, then winced as the cabin around them creaked loudly as it swayed to a stop. The two stared at each other for a moment, and then Innocence shrugged before she bounded around the counter and headed down the hall to the front door.
She banged it open, peering through the open door into empty air some ten feet above the treetops, and below those, what looked like a field surrounding a small pond. She narrowed her eyes at this, then squawked loudly as Antares firmly shoved her out into the empty sky with a cheerful: “Alley-oop!”
Innocence fell towards the treetops, then flailed at the air as her horn glowed, magic encasing her body and lifting her sharply upwards, the mare flying up to hover at level with the open doorway and scowl at him moodily.
Antares only grinned and winked, tossing a wave to her before he hopped out of the cabin and dropped past the trees to the small field, landing with a flex of his legs and taking a slow breath as he felt a familiar presence.
He looked up with a smile, rolling his head on his shoulders as he faced the water, watching without fear or surprise as a shadow slid its way out of the pond and rose up in the shape of a winged unicorn. It roiled with darkness as it stretched slowly out, before two violet lights flickered into being in its head, the mare's shade saying softly: “Sorry for the lack of warning. But it sounds like you and your sister are interested in having a little bit of adventure anyway.”
“Hey Mom.” Antares said cheerfully, and then he squawked when Innocence dropped down on top of him and stomped him flat into the earth.
“Hi Momma!” she greeted loudly, as the shadows of the creature seemed to twist with entertainment.
“Hello, Antares. Hello, Innocence.” the living shadow said gently, and then she gestured behind herself with a wing, saying softly: “I've already prepped this reflecting pool for you to use. When the moon rises tonight, use Incantation 32: it should take you directly to Underdark.”
“You got it, Momma!” Innocence chirped, and then she grinned and peered down at the stallion beneath her claws as he scowled and propped his face on his hooves, watching as the shadowy effigy of their mother broke apart and faded quickly out. “See? I told you so.”
“You told me nothing. Now get off me, Sin, you're heavy.” Antares grumbled, and Sin huffed before hopping off her brother and yanking him into the air with magic, the stallion wincing as he was dropped awkwardly on his hooves with a sour look at his sister. “You're just all kinds of helpful today, huh?”
“Yeah-huh.” Sin agreed, and then she said helpfully: “I could also just move the moon into the sky and skip right to night.”
“No, we'll get yelled at by the Nibelung if you do that. It won't kill us to wait until evening.” Antares shrugged, then he said wryly: “Although I guess to be fair, it's been a long time since anyone's actually yelled at us. We're sort of overdue.”
“Okay, one moon coming right up.” Sin said brightly, before she scowled when Antares reached up and gently grasped her horn, suffocating the glow that had begun to form around it.
“No, that's not an invitation.” he said delicately, before shaking his head and continuing: “We should probably prep, anyway. Mom doesn't ever ask us to do anything. And uh... do you even know... incantation whatsit?”
“Thirty-two!” Innocence said promptly, looking up at Antares smugly as she recited: “It's not a spell number but a reference to the angular distance between-”
“Yeah, yeah, you're real smart, kiddo.” Antares patted Innocence condescendingly on the head, and she huffed and swung her horn wildly at him, but the stallion simply leaned backwards before he pointed out: “Even if you know it that doesn't mean you know it know it, you know?”
“I know. But I do know it know it, which you should know, because I am the best in the whole wide world and all the other worlds, too.” retorted Innocence with a huff.
Antares rolled his eyes in amusement, and then he spread his wings, flapping those eerily flexible appendages once before he hopped into the air and lazily flew back towards the door of the cabin. “Well, you bone up on your magic and I'm gonna-”
“Bone yourself!” Sin shouted, then she cackled as Antares rolled his eyes.
He landed in the doorway, replying wryly: “No, Sin, and I really do wish you'd stop with your sick sexual fantasies about me. I'll get our stuff ready and see how much of your armor I can repair before we have to go. Because some other mare hasn't fixed it herself yet.”
Sin huffed loudly at this, retorting: “Well it wasn't my fault someone picked a fight with one of Thorn's bitchkyries.”
Antares looked at her mildly, and Innocence cleared her throat as she rolled her eyes to the side, mumbling: “Okay maybe it was a little bit my fault but not really. They're bitches. Bitchkyries. Not valkyries. I'm a valkyrie.”
“You're a something.” Antares said wryly, and then he turned around and headed into the cabin, closing the door behind himself with a flick of a horn. After all, if Sin wanted inside, she could just as easily teleport in as fly her magical ass back up.
He headed to the door next to Sin's room, letting himself into a magically-enlarged workshop filled with a chaotic jumble of tools, equipment, and quarter-completed projects he would one day half-ass half of to at least half-completion.
He whistled to himself as he headed to a workbench, where several bludgeoned and broken pieces of black armor sat amid the disarray. He picked up the dented helmet he had been working on last, his smile softening as he tilted it back and forth, surveying the little work he had managed so far: he wished he had a hoof's worth of the talent his uncle did.
Regrets. He put on a good face, but he had a lot more these days, and he was listless, and had nothing to drive him, and he loved this place and hated how it reminded him that his whole life was like this now: a jumble of unfinished projects that he was never going to get done, a thousand plans he'd had and things he wanted to do and now...
Antares studied the damaged helmet, and then he sighed and put ti down on the table, closing his eyes and lowering his head. He breathed for a moment, then tapped his horn against it quietly before he picked up a small hammer with magic, muttering: “Well, better late than never.”
Antares worked inside, and Innocence worked outside, using magic to trace runes in the ground that she filled with a dark, oily substance that bled from her claws and rapidly crystallized: it was the stuff that powered her thaumaturgy, the literal and metaphorical blood in her veins, her Panacea.
She was the daughter of a Lich and a Tyrant Wyrm, two of the most notorious and dangerous horrors of their universe, and she was basically made out of dark magic and poison. She was an immortal prodigy, unparalleled, omnipotent!
Last week she had tripped going down the stairs and rolled all the way to the bottom and hit her head so hard her horn had gotten stuck in the wall. First she had blasted herself loose in anger, then she had regretted what she'd done so badly she had nearly cried like a baby, and then she'd laughed like a hyena until Antares had gently shushed her and helped her fix the wall.
Also she had three parents and she apparently had inherited the absolute worst qualities of all three of them, but especially her Móðer's .
Sin snorted, muttering: “Heroes of the ages! Conquerors of the Underworld! Pretty decent people! How did they end up with us?”
She used magic to slice another rune-shape in the earth, filling it with her black essence and hardening it with barely an idle thought. The black crystal gleamed with potent energies, ready to be activated at a moment's notice.
She studied the runes for a moment, smiling wryly at them before she declared: “Some of these are actually my own creation, you know, incorporating declarative angles and natterackt optimization so the quantum weight corresponds and contrasts with the dimensions of the rune.”
Sin flicked her sharp horn, then hopped sideways as she quickly carved another shape in the ground and filled it with dark essence that spilled down from her claws in long, living tendrils, pooling in the wounded earth before it popped loose and floated eerily of its own accord a few feet above the ground as Sin lectured to no one in particular: “Runecrafting is an ancient earth pony art frequently overlooked by 'natural' casters such as unicorns, but remains a subject of study in Helheim and Niflheim due to its varied applications and silent deployment.
“Runes can be used to set traps, focus magic, create protective wards, or for a multitude of other purposes both benign and foul.” Innocence continued as the black rune glowed before inky darkness streamed in all directions off the rune, forming into smoky copies that solidified into hard crystal after a moment. “Runes, unlike magic, can safely amplify themselves with minimal risk of overheat or energy corrosion; if such events do occur, damage can easily be minimized, or creative runelayers can even set multiple layers of runes to not just disperse, but recycle or store accumulated energies for later spellcasting or ward use.”
Innocence flicked her horn, and the rest of the crystallized runes in the earth tore themselves free from their cradles, spinning wildly before they rapidly rearranged themselves into a circle that orbited slowly around the mare, sizzling with magical energy. “Weight and size of runes can also affect the channeling consistency, allowing for better and steadier moderation of magic than by naturalcast focus. This means everything from protective barriers to amplification can be better measured...”
Sin flicked her horn again with a grin, the runes shooting into the air before slamming down into the ground around the field, and the massive rune circle she had laid sparked with magic before a hum began to build as the mare said cheerfully: “And by adjusting distance, we adjust modulation, allowing for precise tampering with metamagic fields to complexify magic readings and tamper with extrinsic study by foreign entities.”
The mare looked very proud of herself for a moment, then flailed her forelegs wildly as a gentle wind passed across her and a voice murmured in her ear: “That's very good, Innocence.”
Innocence blushed and covered her face for a few seconds, then mumbled as she peeked between her claws: “Thank you, Momma. Don't you have a dimension to run or something?”
A quiet laugh filtered through the air before the presence faded, but Innocence was pretty sure that it was really still there, all the same. Her mother was an incredible spellcaster who made her look like she was still a baby who couldn't do anything but electrocute herself or blink uncontrollably around the house.
And to think, once upon a time she had actually thought she was better than her Momma. Now she knew she'd be lucky if she could one day be half as skilled as Morgan Heldóttir.
It really sucked that here she was, more than a century old and all she wanted was to show her mom how smart she was and how much she had grown up.
She sighed, then dragged a claw slowly through the ground before she muttered: “Well, nothing to do but wait now.” She paused, then her horn gleamed as she tilted her head to the side, saying clearly: “Hey, Tarry. I set up an isolation ward in the field so we should basically be invisible. Remind me to turn on the house alarm before we go, otherwise we're uh, all ready for tonight, so I'm gonna hop to Canterlot and buy some groceries because someone didn't pick up food yesterday.”
“That would have been you, Sin, because yesterday I was out collecting reagents and alchemy garbage for you that you're never going to use.” Antares replied pointedly inside his workshop as he carefully removed broken shards of crystal from leather insulation. “You were the one who said she was going to Canterlot.”
“For a burger! I even brought you a burger back!” whined Innocence's voice, right in his damn ear. “You're the one who makes all the food and whines when I don't get the right stuff, so it's your fault for not getting stuff!”
Antares rolled his eyes in amusement more than exasperation, correcting: “You brought me half a burger because you ate half of it on the way back. And I only complain when you bring back weird-ass stuff, like imitation pony meat. That's gross, Sin. That's gross and weird.”
Sin huffed before the sense of her magic faded from the air, and Antares gave a wry smile as he refocused on his current project.
Well, at least things would never be boring between the two of them.
Chapter Two: Reunion
The moon shone above, an imperfect face pockmarked by time and circumstance. Innocence and Antares stood beneath its pallid glow, studying its reflection in the water of the pond, crystalline fragments glinting like stars beneath the water.
“You ready to go all the way to Hell?” Innocence asked in a low voice that would probably have been more menacing if not for the way she screwed up her face and wiggled her foreclaws at him.
“I mean, it'll probably be less annoying than you.” Antares said reasonably, and Sin scowled at him before the stallion nodded and added meditatively: “On the other hand, we'll probably run into a bunch of the Dumb Kids.”
“I hate the Dumb Kids.” Innocence grumbled.
Antares shrugged, then reasoned: “Well, they're still our brothers and sisters and they deserve a chance, if only because Mom and Dad and Mutt love them.” Antares paused, then promptly ruined his facade of reasonableness by adding: “But what really matters is that we can prove we're the better kids by beating them up.”
“Let's beat 'em up!” Innocence shouted, thrusting her forelegs into the air, and then her horn gleamed before she snapped it down, sending a blast of magic into the pond.
The water splashed upwards as a glow suffused the pool, and as the ripples settled, the face of the pond almost seemed to solidify, its reflection imperfect: it mirrored only a glowing white circle, and the rest of the water was almost opaque black in how dark it had become.
Innocence grinned, then without hesitating, she jumped forwards, half-flipping herself... then squawking and flailing wildly as instead of neatly curling into a dive, she bellyflopped down on the white reflection of the moon and splashed painfully into the pond. But she barely made the water ripple as she vanished into it... or rather, through the portal it had become.
Antares rolled his eyes in amusement, and then he leapt forwards and dove into the pond, vanishing through the moon's reflection and immediately finding himself hurtling through naked, cold air, streaking out of a swirling, black and red sky towards a massive, sprawling mansion that rested in the grips of a niveous hinterland below.
Even as he spread his wings to control his flight downward, he felt something deeper than magic grasp him, something more arcane and powerful: it was like the dimension itself slowed his fall, loosened the bonds of gravity while gently encouraging his body to shift through the air. He landed with barely a thump in a wintry courtyard, where Sin was grumpily brushing herself off before she looked up and complained: “Dumb Kids!”
Antares idly tested the heated bricks beneath his hooves, looking across the small courtyard at the ornate double doors leading into the mansion, and then he remarked: “No, those are just Destroyers.”
'Just' Destroyers: pure Wrath demons with literal armor hide, draconic, bestial, and five times his size, standing on either side of the door and scowling grumpily at them. They were members of the Helherlið , the most elite of Helheim's forces, who were tasked with guarding its most sacred places.
Antares and Innocence loitered their way towards the door, Antares as always unable to stop himself from looking around at the marvelous architecture of this little world: the wrought iron fences laced with icy flowers, the rolling hills of snow in the distance, the great crags and jagged cliffs that stretched their way up to the whirling maelstrom so near above.
Underdark: the deepest heart of darkness, the little soul that governed the greater dimension of Helheim itself. You could walk across the entirety of this tiny universe in a few hours, probably cover every inch of the pocket dimension in a matter of days... although it would change, according to the whims of its rulers, although it would never stretch beyond a greatest distance, never fill beyond a preset depth.
Antares, for whatever reason, found all this more fascinating than Sin did: admittedly that was probably partly because Sin actually understood the magical mathematics of this place, whereas for Antares it all might as well be as unknowable and alien as the deepest part of the darkest sea.
Sin, meanwhile, was peering distrustfully at the demons, but Antares only grinned as he greeted: “Hey Tearclaw! Hey Vasso! How are you two doing?”
Both Destroyers stared at him for a moment, then traded looks before the larger of the two shrugged awkwardly and the smaller one cleared his throat. “Prince Antares. Princess Innocence. Welcome to-”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, skip the speech.” Innocence huffed as she stalked up to one of the Destroyers, peering up at him moodily. He scowled back down at her, then grimaced before squeaking in surprise when she hefted him with telekinesis, staring in shock as Sin mumbled: “Antimagic runes, deny aura, dilution patterning. Not bad. Not great , but not bad.”
She dropped the Destroyer, who only continued to stare at her before the mare sniffed and marched past, headbutting the double doors open and striding into the entry hall beyond with a loud: “Momma! Antares and I are here!”
“Sorry guys, guess I gotta get back to babysitting. Say hi to the kids for me.” Antares excused himself with a wink, then strode past and flicked the doors closed behind him before he glared at Sin, who huffed and glowered back as she stomped her claws against the silken red carpet underfoot.
“They're just demon servants.” she complained.
“That's evil talk. And worse, bitch talk. Don't be an evil bitch, you can be one of the two but not both.” Antares reprimanded.
Sin groaned and flung herself against the ground, and Antares paused as he drew his eyes through the massive entrance hall, noting that there had been a few changes since he'd been here last. The suits of armor that had decorated the halls had all been removed, and the staircase that had once led to the basement levels had been covered up, or perhaps had somehow ceased entirely to exist.
Then again, this mansion could change based on its occupants' moods...
Innocence's eyes flicked up from where she was laying prone as a door opened, a tall, leather-winged stallion striding through to look at them with calm, practiced disdain. He was dressed in a perfect, pristine suit that clung to his powerful body, his eyes respectful even if distant as he greeted: “Lord Antares. Lady Innocence. Queen Morgan awaits you in the cradle. Shall I take you there?”
“Hey, Caliginos.” Antares greeted cheerfully, and then he kicked Innocence a few times until she rolled to her claws with a grumble. “Just tell us how to get there. Looks like the place has been remodeled a little since we were here last.”
“Yes, sir. A necessary precaution.” Caliginos said, and Antares' eyes narrowed slightly at this. “A lift in the rear of the west wing still exists. It waits to be used, then it shall cease to be.”
“Cool.” Antares said lamely, and Caliginos nodded solemnly before he strode across the hall and vanished through another door. “Well, uh. Good talk.”
Innocence grumbled, then shook herself quickly before she headed to the door that the demonic butler had entered through, muttering: “Literally could just say 'we got an elevator for you,' but no, have to be all mysterious and shit.”
“Language.” Antares said mildly, before he added: “Also, we're literally in Hell. You gotta let them have some mystique, otherwise what's the point?”
Innocence snorted as they shouldered through another door into a long gallery, and then she immediately scowled as a voice teased: “Yes, dear, just because you don't have any style doesn't mean the rest of us have to live our lives so stodgily.”
“Hey girlfriend.” Innocence said sourly, with an exaggerated tilt of her head and a monotone drag of her vowels. “What's up with the twincest twins?”
The gorgeous mare on the other side of the gallery smiled as she stepped out from behind the wheelchair in which a stallion rested: she was pale white, with a long, flowing black mane that spilled almost to her ankles, her dark emerald eyes sly and unforgiving. She bowed her head slowly, but the unicorn never took her eyes off them even as she lowered her head almost to the floor, saying softly: “Oh, my brother and I are very fine... it's a pleasure to see you two again, we've been so eager to...”
“To spend some quality time together.” intoned the stallion in the wheelchair, his smile not reaching his tired, sleepless eyes as his lanky, helpless frame leaned back in his seat, absently smoothing the blanket in his lap. He was gaunt, his dark mane cut short, but they had the same pale coat, the same black mane, the same merciless aura.
The only real difference was their horns: hers was blade-like, black and edged with white, and his was a piercing spire, that looked like it was made of bone rather than alicorn. They both emanated a toxic, earthy magic, and Innocence pursed her lips for a moment before she asked blatantly: “Are we gonna fight or are we just gonna stand around here talking?”
“Shouldn't we at least pretend to make nice?” teased the other mare with a wide, false smile.
“Okay, okay. Hello, Countess Sibyl Nisus, Count Augur Nisus. It is very nice to see you today. How are you? That's great!” Antares said without pausing and without forcing more than a modicum of cheerfulness to his voice. “Cool, we're going to go see Mom.”
The twins traded amused looks before Sibyl said kindly, as she reached up and gently squeezed her brother's shoulder: “There's no need to be rude, Antares Mīrus. You should stay a while. Chat. Have tea. Time moves differently here in Underdark. You don't need to rush about your business. Our parents can wait.”
“Be that as it may, it would be rude to keep our mother waiting.” Antares said tactfully.
“Yeah so why don't you fuck off before I shove your collective heads up your collective asses?” Innocence added rudely, and the twins scowled at her, which only encouraged her to scowl back and grumble: “Well, you're being shitheads, and shit goes in the butt.”
“Oh my God.” Antares groaned and dropped his face in a hoof before he mumbled: “Can I please just leave you here to get your ass kicked while I go and talk to Mom?”
“Oh, but siblings should love and protect each other. A big brother has a duty to his little sister, wouldn't you say?” asked Augur almost pleasantly, before he gave a grin as his shape seemed to flicker, the facade falling away for a moment as his horn gleamed menacingly. “You don't want to abandon your brotherly duty, do you?”
“I mean, kinda, yeah.” Antares said blandly with a shrug, and Innocence shot him a venomous look-
Sibyl snapped her horn sharply out, and Antares and Innocence flinched as a flash banged through the gallery, blinding and deafening the two. Antares swore as Innocence shouted a volley of curses before she grunted in pain when a blast of force slammed into her and knocked her skidding away from her brother.
She immediately created a shield, and a monstrified stallion smashed into the other side of this: a sickly, swamp-green beast that grinned at her, black veins pulsing through his features and too-long, too thin body as his bone-like horn thrummed with toxic light, vile breath rasping against her shield as he shoved sharp hooves into her magic and growled: “Ready for round two?”
Innocence responded by snapping her horn upwards, exploding her shield in a massive concussive shockwave that sent the demonic unicorn skidding backwards with a wince. “Bring it on, bitch!”
Antares snorted, then absently tilted his head to the side, an arrow of magic shooting by as his eyes flicked up to lock onto the caster: a demonic mare, the same rotten color as the stallion, her bladed horn brimming with ill light and her eyes smoldering with dark energy. Black veins pulsed through her body as she smiled at him with a mouth of curving teeth, her long, oily hair whipping around her like living tendrils as she teased: “I won't blame you if you run away.”
“Unfortunately, I think that I would.” Antares said drolly, before he quickstepped backwards, narrowly avoiding a surge of black spikes that ripped out of the floor before they launched themselves at him one after the other, the unicorn parrying each and every attack even as he called: “Hey, I'm still open to talking things out, no need to go all Envy demon on me!”
The demonic mare smiled before she vanished from the spot, reappearing in a blast of noxious smoke above Antares, but he immediately created a white wall of energy that the mare crashed into before it flung her backwards like a trampoline, the stallion grimacing as he hurried back a few steps to avoid inhaling any of the toxic fumes.
Her twin, meanwhile, grinned as he dodged back and forth, his body becoming sticky, shadowy gunk that zigged and zagged its way through Innocence's blasts of magic as he closed in on her. His sickly body flexed with supernatural strength as poison drool dripped from his jaws before he roared and pounced-
Innocence drew her head back as her horn glowed violently, and then she suddenly winked and instead half-flipped backwards, snapping her horn out upside-down at a faint, dark disturbance in the air, and the clone diving at her exploded into black goop as the real demon was blasted out from beneath his illusory cover, howling in frustration more than pain as he was knocked rolling down the gallery before he blinked quickly to his hooves with a snarl of frustration.
Innocence landed with a loud thump on her back, then she snorted as she stretched her forelegs out to either side, asking grouchily: “You really didn't think your slime bullshit was going to work on me more than once, did you, fucknut?”
“Language.” the demon scolded, and Innocence promptly flipped him off with both foreclaws, the stallion narrowing his eyes before he growled: “Classless amateur.”
“Amateur... classlessness!” Innocence shot back lamely, and then she rolled quickly onto her belly before her eyes narrowed as the stallion gave a gurgling snarl.
He leaned forwards and spat several rotund black balls of slime at her, and Innocence grimaced as she deflected this quickly one after the other with sharp slashes of blue flame, searing the gunk out of existence before the blades of burning magic smashed one after the other into the transformed Augur and drove him backwards with a hiss of pain.
He glared at her through scalded features, blue flames dancing and hissing over his body before he shook himself quickly, then charged forwards with a snarl. Innocence glared back at him, magic crackling around her body as she sent a blast of lightning at him, but it crackled harmlessly across skin that almost gleamed like rubber, the mare realizing with disgust that he had coated himself in his toxic sludge.
Her eyes narrowed as she snapped her horn forwards and hammered him with telekinesis, but she saw his skin almost dent inwards before the blast of force slid its way past him, grinding a trench through his body that knocked him off-balance but barely impeding his charge. She swore under her breath before she leapt backwards, swinging a claw out and unleashing a wave of black shards at the grinning demon... oh shit!
They tore through black sludge like a shotgun blast, but of course it was just a distraction, a copy that collapsed into goop as Augur snapped out of invisibility and dove at her with a roar-
“Eat it!” Innocence snarled as she leapt forwards, slamming a fist forwards as it glowed brightly before slamming into the stallion's face with a meaty crunch. Augur's eyes bulged as he flew bonelessly backwards with a gurgle, hitting the ground hard and skidding to a stop several feet away in a dazed heap, his muzzle visibly cocked and broken.
Innocence only grinned as she flexed her claw, now girded in a heavy bladed steel gauntlet of gleaming black and white metals, eerily flexible, eerily alive: a Talon, designed to amplify her natural abilities, both armor and arm.
“Overkill.” Antares observed as Sibyl broke away from the fight with him to hiss at Innocence furiously, snapping several blasts of magic at the mare. But Innocence made a show of yawning and stretching, completely ignoring the noxious, demonic magic that uselessly arched around her before Antares trotted quickly up to the distracted demon-mare, and before she could turn her eyes back to him, he hopped gracefully in the air, then slammed his head into hers hard enough to make him wince, but sent the mare crumpling to the ground in a dazed heap.
The twins both breathed raggedly as Sibyl's eyes fluttered, and Augur snarled slowly as his jaw gradually healed. They began to push themselves up as Antares and Innocence stepped back and readied themselves, but then all four were distracted by a quiet clapping, followed by a droll voice noting: “I suppose this is still the way our family prefers to say hello.”
Antares and Innocence both looked up with grins at the stallion who strode calmly, silently towards them: a tall, barrel-chested unicorn, broad and strong, with a beautiful blue coat and a white mane and matching, neatly-groomed beard. He was younger than either of them, but his face was older, worn by responsibility, grizzled by restraint; his one dark eye studied them meditatively, but not without love, Antares thought.
His lips curled in the thinnest of smiles as he bowed his head slightly towards them, idly adjusting the half-cape that flowed over the right side of his body, hiding his prosthetic foreleg from view. Not because he was ashamed of it, Antares knew, but because Thorn's whole life was playing politics, and outside of Decretum, most ponies and demons got real nervous when they saw high-end cybernetics like Thorn's.
“Still weirds me out that you're a robot.” Antares said blandly.
“I am not a robot.” Thorn said pettishly, giving that slight scowl that always delighted Antares. “I have a prosthetic limb. I don't even qualify as cybernetic under Clockwork Empire standards.”
“Robot!” Innocence shouted, and then she waved her claw wildly until the gauntlet vanished off it so she could bounce towards him, glaring up at him as Thorn grimaced and leaned back a little, then winced when she reached up and poked his eyepatch several times. “I know you got an eye under there too, robot, a robot eye! Also why do you still have the old symbol of Grandma on there?”
“Because.” Thorn said simply, and he gave a slight smile as Innocence huffed at him before she glared as her horn sparked. But Thorn's own horn gleamed in response, the ring that decorated its base lighting up with his magic, and Innocence huffed again as her magic was neatly dispelled before it had even fully formed.
Then she grudgingly, awkwardly rose her forelegs and slowly wiggled in to half-hug him, half-pat his shoulders, grumbling: “Hi.”
“Hello.” Thorn said, gently hugging her back with one foreleg, and then he smiled over at Antares as the stallion approached, before wincing only slightly as Antares flung himself onto his little brother in a tight hug, Thorn patting him on the back as he muttered: “This is why you get into fights everywhere you go.”
“I know. It's fun!” Antares said cheerfully as he hopped backwards, and without missing a beat, he grabbed Sibyl before she could stab him with her horn and hauled her quickly forwards in a half-friendly, half-warning chokehold. “Look! Thorn's here!”
“We see that.” growled Augur as he walked towards them, grimacing as painful clicks came from his muzzle as his bones fused and healed, his eyes glaring holes in Antares as he growled: “Let go of my sister.”
“Fine, fine. Only 'cause you asked so nicely.” Antares allowed Sibyl to yank herself out of his grip, and the toxic twins both scowled at him before Augur snorted and brushed past, Sibyl striding quickly behind him as Antares called loudly: “Happy to do this again any time! You know where to find us!”
“Next time we won't be playing.” Augur grumbled, but it was a toothless threat as the stallion sat back in his wheelchair, grimacing as the toxic colors faded from his body and he lost his tone and mass, slumping with a soft breath. His sister immediately started to fuss over him as her own demonic characteristics vanished, picking up his blanket from where it had fallen to wrap it around her sibling and kissing his forehead as she murmured soft reassurances to him.
“Gross.” Innocence said loudly, and Antares gave her an amused look as Thorn merely cocked an eyebrow at her, while the twins both shot her scathing looks. “Hey, I don't care what you guys do in private, but don't start boning in front of us.”
“Oh, don't worry, I wouldn't want to make you jealous.” retorted Sibyl scathingly, and then she paused before leaning down and firmly kissing her brother, who smiled as he returned it, and Innocence made a gagging noise that abruptly cut off when the sibling's kiss broke so Sibyl could add conversationally: “Maybe all this feigned disgust is just because you miss fucking mommy and daddy so much. Gymbr taught you all about love , isn't that right?”
Innocence's eyes narrowed dangerously as her horn crackled with malign magic, but Thorn quickly and efficiently defused the situation as he said pleasantly: “My siblings have an important meeting with Queen Morgan. If there's nothing else, we'll be on our way, and I recommend that you go on yours.”
The ring around Thorn's horn gave a menacing gleam that both of the twins visibly flinched at before Augur mumbled and Sibyl quickly pushed him on, keeping her head down as they hurried past. Innocence and Antares both watched them go, but before either of them could open their mouths, Thorn caught the shoulders of either of his siblings, simply squeezing them pointedly before he let them go once the twins had vanished through the other side of the gallery.
“I hate them.” Innocence said plaintively.
“You do not, and they don't hate you. We're of different cultures, but the same blood runs through our veins, including all our parents' best and worst quirks.” Thorn said, before he turned and headed to the exit, and Antares and Innocence traded looks before shrugging and following him.
His siblings hurried up to either side of him as he led them through the labyrinth of corridors, both Innocence and Antares peering at their younger brother curiously, but the stallion pointedly ignoring them until they finally reached a rear room, the unicorn unlocking the door with a flick of his horn and inviting them to step inside. “This is where I leave you.”
“What?” Innocence blurted, unable to hide her pout. “I mean... I don't care, I hate you and stuff, but um. Hey, you have to come see Momma too, you jerkass!”
“I already did.” Thorn said bluntly, and both Innocence and Antares stopped and stared as Thorn hesitated, but then said almost grudgingly: “I have been asked to attend to a different matter. And please remember that I am the chief administrator of the Clockwork Empire. Queen Morgan is my mother, but also Queen of Helheim. I must be more... subtle in providing aid than you are.”
“Oh, so you mean we're better than you?” Antares said with a roguish grin and a pose, and Thorn sighed, but the slightest of smiles quirked at his lips.
“Yes, if that's the way you want to look at it, fine.” Thorn said, and Innocence immediately preened as Antares winked and flexed.
The one-eyed unicorn looked between his siblings, and then he sighed and turned away, saying dryly over his shoulder: “Don't be late. Take the elevator straight down, and Nistle will meet you at the bottom and take you to the cradle.”
Sin and Antares both groaned loudly, but Thorn was already walking away, Innocence huffing before she shouted: “She's the only person less fun than you are!”
“He.” Antares said automatically.
“It.” Innocence grumbled, and stuck out her tongue.
“Them?” Antares supplied helpfully, and then he yelped when Innocence slung him into the room, sending him staggering across protective runes with a huff.
He paused, grimacing a bit as he glanced around: this concrete box was filled with runes that shifted like snakes over the walls, almost hissing as they constantly whirled and transformed: even he was smart enough to see that any interruption would cause a massive power surge that would likely flash-fry or explode anything inside the room. This was heavy security, all to defend a simple elevator with a wrought-iron curtain.
Antares smiled wryly as he pulled this back, and then he frowned as he looked into the empty lift cabin. Innocence cocked her head curiously as she walked in, and Antares licked his lips before he joined her, pulling the simple lever to go down.
The elevator clicked and clanked as it descended, Innocence continuing to scowl at Antares as he didn't speak for a few moments as he processed what that bad feeling in his gut was. Then, without looking at her, he asked quietly: “Where's Mutt?”
Innocence frowned, then blinked, raising her head quickly. The two were silent as the elevator rolled to a halt at the bottom level with a screech, and the metal gate that blocked them in was gently drawn back by a strange, ephemeral black figure, neither mare nor stallion, the strange, unseeable-yet-there phantasm saying softly: “Yes. Come with us. We shall bring you to your answers.”
Antares and Innocence traded looks, and then Sin tried to summon up her usual bravado as they stepped into a cool metal hall: the path to the cradle was through a massive, sprawling facility that, like the mansion above, was subject to the whims and fancies of the owner, but its facade was always mechanical, industrial, filled with complex laboratories and far-reaching facilities where demons and golems worked night and day on all manner of research and experiment. “Hey, you uh... gender... queer.”
“Hello, Innocence Sparkle. The pleasure is ours, if not yours, we assure you.” said the phantasm as it floated eerily through a doorway and out onto a metal walkway that overlooked a massive production facility below, where automatons were being endlessly produced along enormous, machine-operated conveyor belts. “And Antares Mīrus. How are you, brother?”
“Good, uh... sibling. Siblings? Persons.” Antares answered awkwardly, and the strange, glowing eyes of the phantasm seemed to smile as the creature looked back over its shoulder at him: amorphous and ever-changing, it was like smoke and slime, like ink and oil, slathered over the vague frame of a pony, but which kept pulling itself apart, spreading beyond its lines, overflowing its limitations.
“We are us. Call us what you will, we do not care.” Nistleheart of the Endless Mist said softly, and then the creature smiled, a mouth forming in that darkness, bilious strings dripping from its maw as it faced forwards and lazily rolled through the air. “Come, come. To the Queen Mother.”
All they could really do was follow: both Antares and Innocence knew from experience there was no point in trying to piss off Nistle or probe their odd sibling for information, so they just followed obligingly. The creature led them all the way to the Great Doors: one of the few unchanging things in this expansive facility, the last defense before the very heart of both home and dimension.
Nistle opened them with just a gesture, and the two unicorns walked through into a massive, partitioned hallway. They walked down the center of this, past enormous, looming statues, Innocence staring overhead at the empty garden that grew along the rooftop, beneath a thin magical veil. Once upon a time there had been an endless party of spirits and specters there, but after Hel had died, the party had finally ended, and those restless ghosts had moved on...
The siblings reached the end of the hall, and stepped onto soft grass. They left behind a world of steel and metal and walked over a gentle, sloping lawn towards the front of a small, familiar cabin, Antares smiling briefly at the old memories this place brought up as he knocked on the door before impulsively calling as he opened it: “Hey Mom! I'm home!”
The facade of memory opened into a sterile white room: the moment Innocence and Antares stepped inside, the door slammed shut behind them, sealing them in. They traded looks, then walked forwards, passing through a curtain into the next room: just as bright and eternal, just as cold and beautiful, with polished marble floors, high, domed steel ceilings, and countless monitors mounted on the walls and floating eerily through the air.
And in the center of it all was their mother, laying back in a cold, curved sarcophagus, an eternal cradle which hovered eerily in the air, massive wires and tubes anchoring it to the floor below. It hummed softly, the crimson coffin-cushions inside the cradle spotless and shaped to gently grip the body of the pony within, the mare who rested with her eyes closed, and the massive crystal embedded in the center of her chest gleaming with incomprehensible power.
Her eyes opened, gorgeous and amethyst, and she smiled tenderly at her children as she sat up with a yawn, the countless monitors with their countless displays all immediately pausing their feeds as the mare gently slipped out of the cradle. She stood, tall and majestic, her coat gorgeous purple, her strong wings edged in black, her horn proud and tall. Her mane and tail were like living, beautiful darkness, both with a single streak of purest light glowing through those smoky expanses.
“Antares. Innocence. It's been too long since I've seen either of you with my own eyes.” she said softly, and then she smiled and reached up to touch her Promise: a collar of black leather, tight around her throat, secured with an ornate clasp in the shape of a lunar lily. “If only Scrivy and Luna were here to see you too.”
“Mom I... wait, what?” Antares frowned, blinking in surprise, but Morgan Heldóttir – in another life, Twilight Sparkle – tut-tutted and opened her forelegs pointedly, and Antares couldn't help but smile a bit as he sighed and walked forwards-
Innocence bodychecked him out of the way, then charged into her mother's embrace, and Morgan laughed and hugged her daughter tightly. Antares huffed, and Innocence looked over her shoulder at him and blew a raspberry. “I'm the baby!”
“Sure, Sin, sure, you're the baby.” Antares said wryly as his eyes returned to his mother, but admittedly her behavior did a lot to relieve him, even if... “You, Mutt, and Dad are all soulbound. How uh... how can they be missing?”
Morgan smiled at him as she opened her other foreleg, and Antares rolled his eyes but smiled despite himself as he walked forwards, hugging her tightly. The large mare nestled them both close for a moment, the crystal dome that stood out of her chest thrumming with her love before she allowed them to slip away, gazing tenderly between her children before she returned her eyes to Antares and answered: “I'm... becoming accustomed to acting as Queen. But Scrivy and Luna are still... adventurers, more than rulers. So we devised a way that we could all be apart, even across dimensions. We've been testing it out, and it helps those two blow off steam and they feel more like they're able to help out.” She softened, smiling gently. “Even if they help more than they've ever really appreciated just by being here with me.
“We were sent a message a few days ago. A warning, from the only person who can see further and deeper than Heaven or Hell.” Morgan continued in a quieter voice, and Antares frowned as Innocence cocked her head. “Mimir, who still watches from Yggdrasil. Luna interpreted it as... asking for help, even if it seemed to me like he was saying the opposite...”
“Wait, Mimir? I thought he was gone, like the rest of the Aesir.” Antares asked in surprise, but Morgan shook her head with a small smile.
“No. He only... withdrew from the Nine Worlds. Your parents went to find him, but...” Twilight sighed, saying wryly: “Well, you know Luna and Scrivy. I'm sure they ran into some kind of trouble along the way, and... I can't dedicate the time and effort to finding them that I'd like to, with all of Helheim to look after.”
“You want us to find them.” Antares said after a moment, his eyes widening, before he cleared his throat and said as casually as he could through the excitement already filling his veins: “I mean, I'm sure we could, you know, try and work it into our very busy schedules, we're very busy, busy, you know, but I guess that maybe if you asked nicely we could probably-”
“Well if you're too busy I can always ask Thorn-”
“We'll do it, we'll do it better, too!” Innocence shouted immediately, almost leaping into her mother, and Morgan blinked and leaned backwards before the scaled mare cleared her throat awkwardly and asked lamely: “So um. Where are they, anyway?”
Morgan smiled at them, and answered with one word:
“Jötunheim.”
