//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 "Ragnarok" // Story: Equestria Noir Season 2 Case 8 "Hammer of Thunder" // by Jacoboby1 //------------------------------// Chapter 3 “Ragnarok” The whole room was filled with a stunned silence at this revelation. Baldur orchestrated the mistletoe smuggling, because he wanted to die…? Thor looked on Frezil, the proud alicorn’s voice was shaking for the first time since I’ve known him. “You mean to say, Baldur wanted to die?” Frezil looked down and said, “About a week ago, I came into his room to give him ice berries, like every night. Then, I came inside to find him crying.” “Crying?” I asked. This totally contrasted with the feeling I got off Baldur. He seemed so happy and full of life. Why would he consider suicide? “I asked him what was wrong,” Frezil explained, then looked at Thor. “You remember that mare who died of sickness? The one that Baldur was visiting?” “Yes,” Thor answered. “He was always fond of the subjects. The mare was a friend of his, she died of cancer about a month ago.” Frezil closed her eyes, “Lord Baldur went to visit her grave today, he saw how many graves there were, and it terrified him how many of the names he could put a face too.” “It was all too much for him?” I asked. Frezil looked at me and said, “How would you feel if you saw all those friends get buried and suddenly you realize the sheer amount?” “You are defending his actions!?” Thor yelled. Frezil shrank at the sight of the angry alicorn. “Lord Thor, you don’t understand I…” “You sought to aid in this insane endeavor!” Thor yelled louder, I noticed his eyes were glowing white, like every alicorn I’ve seen when their fury reaches a certain point. “No son of Odin would ever consider the coward’s way out! If this is a trick I hope you find it humorous! Because both of your friends blood is on yo-” “Thor that’s enough.” I said, getting between them, my silver eyes not giving an inch. “Stand aside, Private!” Thor ordered, I noticed his magic was wrapping around the hammer at his side. “I don’t wish to use Mjolnir, but if you stand in my way-” “You and Voidera are friends aren’t you?” I asked. That stopped him. “I don’t know exactly what you owe him, but I can tell it’s a big debt that has yet to be repaid,” I said, standing my ground despite my legs feeling like jelly before the massive alicorn. “If nothing else, then listen to your friend’s student. There is more to this than what is apparent. You need to calm down, no king should let his temper cloud his judgement.” Suddenly, I watched the hammer, which was being held up by Thor’s magic, fall to the ground like a ton of bricks, making a loud clang! on the floor. Thor looked down at the hammer, and sighed, his eyes returning to normal. He looked down at me, and then at the hammer. His magic lifted the hammer up and he put it on his back. “I, need some time, I will let you continue the investigation, Private Eye.” He said, and then walked out. I watched Thor leave, looking at him...I couldn’t help but feel a kindred spirit. I can’t count how many times I acted like that when Tailspin was in jeopardy. Honestly I don’t know what I’d do if I heard something like that about him. I turned to Frezil, she looked totally shocked. “Here I thought only Lady Sif could convince Thor to stand down.” She said. “Trust me,” I said, offering a hoof to help her up. “I’ve faced worse. Now, could you point me to Baldur’s room?” _________________________________________________________ Frezil pointed me in the right direction to get to Baldur’s room. Man, this castle is so confusing I was lucky I didn’t get totally lost. I knocked on the door when I got to it. “Come in,” I heard Baldur say. The room was large, yet homey. A large bed, covered with a green quilt, lovingly stitched. All around the room were shelves, covered in mementos of past friends. There were a lot of little tchotchkes, all apparently with some meaning to Baldur. The floor was a golden wood, and waxed until it shown, the furniture was all hoof or wing carved in the popular Cloud Kingdom motifs of twining patterns, and basket-weave, with some draconic heads. Hand-made rag-rugs, done in intricate patterns, were on the floor, keeping it from being too cold. The Alicorn himself was sitting in front of two pictures, I recognized Spearhead and Morning Star. He looked back on me and smiled somberly, “Oh, detective, how goes the investigation?” he asked. “Baldur,” I said, walking over, “Frezil told me that, you asked her to get the mistletoe.” Baldur’s eyes blinked and he turned to me. “Why would she say such a thing?” He asked. “She knows what it will do to me! One prick would be the death of me!” I blinked, something was definitely wrong here. I decided to approach things indirectly, “Baldur, Frezil got the mistletoe for you, because she believed you were saddened by the loss of so many friends.” Baldur’s face turned fully somber, he nodded slowly. “Tis true, there are times in my immortal life I feel the strain of losing so many good friends.” he said. “Have you talked to Thor about it?” I asked. Baldur shook his head, “I didn’t want to worry him. Thor is the only family I have left, plus he has a kingdom to run, I didn’t want my troubles causing him grief,” He said, looking down. “By not telling him, you only caused trouble later,” I said. Baldur sighed and nodded, “It is, hard to talk to Thor. Back before the cataclysm I was simply the little brother he was forced to look after when father couldn’t. I was never a warrior like my father, I was unlike Thor in every way,” He said, his eyes reminiscing. “Yet, it took a cataclysm to allow us to come together like this.” “Maybe you should try and talk with Thor more often,” I suggested. “He’s an Alicorn too, he’s probably lost just as many friends as you have.” Baldur nodded and said, “You are right. It was terribly selfish of me to wallow in self pity, when my brother is holding up so well.” “It’s a mask isn’t it?” I asked. “The whole, being so full of life thing.” Baldur nodded again. “It is, in truth even I suffer episodes of grief and depression about losing so many I treasure. But, I would never ask Frezil to aid me in suicide.” “Which leaves me with another question.” I said, “Where were you last night? When the murder happened?” Baldur understood my meaning judging by the look on his face, he said, “I was here, asleep. My guards can vouch that I never left my room all night.” “That’s all I needed to hear.” I said. “I’ll figure out who did this, and then we’ll put this whole matter to rest.” “I, should go find my brother.” Baldur said, walking towards the door. “I imagine he didn’t take the news well.” “Yeah, I was almost squashed by that hammer of his.” I said. Baldur smiled, “Mjolnir, that is it’s name.” “Memouw?” I said, trying to pronounce the strange weapon. “Me-yol-nir.” Baldur enunciated. “It is Thor’s weapon, forged from the remains of a dying star. Only those who are worthy may wield it. Brother has wielded it for as long as I can remember.” “Speaking of which, you should go talk to him.” I said, “I’ll find Frezil and get some questions answered.” “Are you sure you can find your way back?” Baldur asked. “Don’t worry, I got this.” ________________________________________________________ Ten minutes later… WHERE THE HELL AM I!!?!? I got myself completely turned around in this place! Next thing I know I’m walking down a set of stairs! Who the hell designed this place! I’m gonna find that architect and give him a piece of my… ..mind… I saw I was standing in a large open chamber. All along the walls were paintings and murals. All of them depicted Alicorns battling against some really freaky looking monsters. Wait… There was a detail about these monsters that stood out, despite being of various shapes and sizes, they all had the same green eyes Sombra had...that...I had.. I shook the thought off and saw another mural. It depicted an Alicorn wielding Mjolnir as it fought against what looked like a massive wolf. I then saw another alicorn on the ground in the mural, judging by the detail of his robes he had to have been royalty, he was also missing an eye jewel. I then looked behind the wolf, I saw...Discord?! Discord was there, there was no mistaking the bizarre body. He was pointing the wolf towards the warrior. I noticed...there was another Alicorn behind Discord, this one shrouded in a dark cloak. “You are too curious for your own good,” I heard an all too familiar female voice say. I turned around to find that Sif was standing before me, she was looking as cross as ever. “Sif, sorry I got lost.” I said, trying to salvage the situation. Sif retained her cross face and said, “Why Voidera sent you to us, I will never understand. Then again, I hardly trusted that dragonspawn in the first place.” I don’t think you trust anypony, Sif, but that’s just my opinion. “Care to explain what I’m seeing?” I asked, pointing behind me. Sif looked up at the mural, and for the first time since I’ve known her, a different face showed. Not one of anger or mistrust, but of pain. She walked to the mural and put a hoof on one of the carvings of an alicorn warrior. “This, was Ragnarok, one of the last battles the Alicorn Army ever fought.” “Ragnarok?” I asked. “It means doom in our language,” Sif said. “Fifteen hundred years ago, we Alicorns were at war with the forces of Discord. This was our final assault on his fortress, which we found thanks to Voidera and Celestia, as well as Thor.” There was a war against Discord? No wonder he’s kept on a short leash nowadays. “My father in law, Odin, was a vassal in service to King Lunard,” Sif explained. “He answered the call to fight, but we were betrayed by one of our own. An Alicorn named Olympus was poisoned by Discord’s promises to restore his broken body. He sold us out by teaching Discord how to summon creatures of the void, the wolf you see before you, is Fenrir, a being from the dark recesses of the nether.” “It... killed Odin?” I guessed. “Yes, it did,” Sif said sadly. “It was a long battle, I thought that victory would come to my King, but, another betrayed us as well.” “Who wa-” “We do not speak his name here,” Sif said bitterly. “He is a filthy traitor to our people and should be treated as such. After Odin fell due to that bastard’s treachery, Thor took up Mjolnir and slew Fenrir before our very eyes. It was through that we managed to achieve victory.” “But why mistrust me?” I asked. “Simple,” She said, slowly turning to me. “I know your heritage, child of Prometheus.” “How did yo-” “Celestia informed my husband of it,” Sif explained. “And my husband keeps nothing from me.” Out of true love or fear of bodily harm…? “So, you don’t trust me, because of the sins of my ancestor, when it’s obvious that I’m not, and never will be, him?” I asked. Sif simply narrowed her eyes. “Trust is earned never given. If you want to prove that you are worthy of my trust, then act. Don’t ask for Voidera to vouch for you, your own merits are what will earn you a place in this world. Those that don’t understand that, won’t remain in this world long.” With that, the alicorn queen walked away. But she stopped first and said, “If you want to know where I was during the murder, I was in my room, awaiting my husband to return,” she continued on after giving her alibi. I get where she’s coming from, but that doesn’t make it any less, frustrating. Geez, I think I opened a can of worms. Just what is going on here? Baldur wanted to commit suicide, then he didn’t? Sif doesn’t trust me because of some guy named Olympus who lived over a thousand years ago? Geez, I bet Voidera is laughing his tail off back home. One of these days I’m going to sock that smug little grin off him… I punched the mural out of frustration, and felt where I hit push in. A small compartment opened and I gazed inside. There was a small box hidden in said compartment. My curiosity got the better of me and I pulled it out, and wiped the dust off. The markings were written in ancient runes I didn’t recognize. I’m pretty sure Twilight could’ve translated if she were here. But, I guess I just had to open it and find out for myself what it is. I opened it and saw...a picture. It looked like one of the most realistically done paintings I’ve ever seen. It depicted three young alicorns, all male by the looks of them. They couldn’t have been older than Tailspin at the time. One of them was Thor, though with a much shorter haircut. Baldur looked like a brown variation of Tailspin, just charmingly adorable. But...the last one, I haven’t seen before… By contrast to Thor he was rather skinny, with green coat and a long black mane. His eyes were green and there was an air of intelligence behind them. The three of them seemed close… Just who is this guy...and why did he seem so...lost? ______________________________________________________ Perspective:??? So, this is what that Dragonspawn sends… This will be most interesting indeed… Let’s see how this plays out… Brother...