The hall was lined with Viking warriors, stallions and mares brandishing their weapons carefully. Each one prepared to fight to the last stallion before their earls and chief. There sat Thunder Wing, earl of clan Scylfing to the South, Ironhide of clan Lotthbrook to the East, and Ice Veins of clan Amaranth to the West. Bone Breaker of clan Duntrot sat at the right hoof of chief Brynhoof the Great at the head of the long table. As all was in place, the great doors swung open to reveal a host of noble Pegasi trotting across the threshold. He stood almost as tall as Brynhoof himself, with his sky blue mane and white coat shining as the flames reflected against it. The Roman commander beckoned for a host of uniformed Pegasi to join him around the table, just opposite of the great chiefs. With a graceful bow he removed his helmet and bade the others do the same. As he sat, the others did so as well, when an older pony joined him at his side. The commander spoke something in a strange language, and prompted the pony to write it down in a small book laid before him.

"His eminence requests to know who is chief." The old unicorn translated. "He wishes to negotiate with only the most regal of ponies."

"I am chief Brynhoof. Patriarch of clan Volsuung. My daughter is lady Spectrum Dancer, and my son to be, mighty Fjord Runner." The Pegasus stallion spoke. "By my right as chief, you will speak in our native tongue and treat my people fairly." He said with authority. The commander chuckled as he moved his hoof in front of his translator.

"Very well, chief, we shall respect your customs. Soldiers! Lay down your arms!" He bellowed as his stallions obeyed. "Shall we negotiate, then?"

"Hurricane, have ya ever heard of a 'Roman Eagle?'" The great brown pegasus Ironhide spake from across the long table. "It was a little invention by my grandfather, you see. When your kind came here before the clans found peace, they seemed mighty proud of their little golden bird. So proud, that they would put it up on one of our most sacred temples to our god, Freyr." He got up and slowly paced around the table to one of the Roman soldiers. Eerily he crept up behind them and raised upon his hind-legs, resting his upper body between the two shaking stallions. "So, what we did..." He began. "We'd capture a few of the weaker ones, tie 'em to planks, and rip their lungs through their back and replace each and every godsdamn eagle on their homes with a very terrified, screaming colt." He laughed, though he was the only one who found it funny as the soldiers began to turn pale from fear. Ironhide chuckled as he made his way back to his seat. "Just something to think about." He grinned as he took his place at the table.

"Forgive him, sir. He's a little eccentric. The old stallion still clings to the old ways." An icy-blue mare. Ice Veins, said in a cold voice. "You may speak, now." Ironhide glared at his fellow earl in disgust.

"Very well, I won't pretend to have not heard that, but if I may begin." He rolled out a piece of parchment. "As you may have known, we were never fully able to take the Celtic islands to the West a hundred years ago. Since then, our Empire has been failing, and we have reached a most troubling predicament." Commander Hurricane began, but Thunder Wing raised his hoof in protest.

"Commander, if you seek asylum, why not simply take a hold in the new kingdom of Equestria to the South? You helped to found it, you have every right to make your homestead there."

"Believe me I know what I had done, but I will not share land with the lowest of Earth ponies, or Epona forbid those blasphemous unicorns." Commander Hurricane despised anything to do with magic, and held little respect for the Earth ponies who farmed the land. "I understand that you are like those ponies we failed to defeat, so we wish to join forces. All we ask is for a share of your land and bounty, and perhaps a few serfs wouldn't hurt..."

"You would have us give you slaves? I assure you, no child of mine will become a thrall to a foreigner, nor grandchild and so on. But..." Brynhoof began, scratching his beard with his hoof. "Perhaps you can earn your keep here, and gain those 'serfs' you desire." He smiled as the other ponies shook their heads in agreement. Even Fjord and Grace were pleased with the idea.

"There is a kingdom to the west, where your stallions failed to take all those years ago. If you would don our armor and our customs, and go with a raiding party..."

"This is maddening, you will simply have my father killed overseas and claim he died in battle!" A young colt stood up, his face scarred by blades. He was the only son of Commander Hurricane, Zephyrwind. The chief nodded and turned to him.

"Very well, if that is the case then I will have you send your son. And on my honor, and the honor of our clan he will not be betrayed." Chief Brynhoof declared. "But, to make it fair, send your best soldier as well." An old, burly Pegasus stood up from his seat. Towering over Fjord, though not as thick with muscle, he was the strongest of the Roman soldiers.

"Storm Worthy, will you take this task?" Commander Hurricane asked, and the Pegasus nodded in agreement, though when he went to sit back down he gazed at Grace Wing from across the room.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Fjord asked his sister, who stood at his side. "He looking at your with lust, my sister?" She shook her head.

"I have one request, my chief." Bone Break said. "I wish for my children to lead the raid, Fjord Runner and Grace Wing." He said with pride. This struck them both as a surprise. He was showing pride for Grace, despite his constant belittling of her, he was asking that she be put in charge for once.

"Very well, what say you, Commander Hurricane? Will you hear my conditions now?" Commander Hurricane nodded. Your people are to be allowed to live within our villages, on the condition that they submit themselves to our laws. You will not take slaves, and you will construct a temple to our gods. Do you agree?"

Commander Hurricane nodded and passed the parchment to his scribe, who began to write. Within a few minutes, the document was finished and placed before the company.

"Let it be known that upon this day, the Roman Empire of Pegasi do hereby ally themselves with the Pegasi of the northern clans. Upon completion of their task of a raid to the isles, the Roman Pegasi will be admitted full rights and opportunities of the people of the North, on the condition that no slaves are taken and that our customs are respected. Should you agree to this alliance, sign..."

There was a large, blank portion of the contract. Each pony signed the document before it was carried away by the unicorn thrall that stood beside chief Brynhoof, to the disgust of Commander Hurricane.

"You have one day to prepare for the raid, be ready to leave before the sun sets." Bone Breaker said to the two Romans.

"Do you have to leave?" Spectrum Dancer kissed her lover on the cheek as she pressed herself against him. "I wish to be with you a little while longer." Fjord smiled softly as he kissed her back, taking her in his forelegs.

"Perhaps tonight, we could..." He smiled as he eyed her up and down. "Before I leave, of course." She blushed as she nodded in agreement.

"Once will not hurt, but after tonight I wish to wait until our wedding night." She said sternly. "I have waited this long, but after tonight my lust for you should be slated for the time being, and we will have a proper wedding night, my love." She smiled as she turned around to brush her tail against his snout.

"Go ahead, brother." Grace Wing laughed. "Find comfort in your bride to be, I must find a group of stallions worthy of this voyage, and some to keep those Romans under control." She flew off towards the guard house. Fjord beamed as he pushed Spectrum Dancer towards their home.

The crowd roared in delight as the Celtic stallion raised his head to meet them. With barely a bead of sweat upon his brow, Fjord Runner had bested the Wonderbolt's second in command. Not surprising, since he had been the son of a powerful war chief and a steward of the weather. Indeed, Fjord had been flying well before he could gallop, though he preferred to mix the two in races and the like.

"You know what you must do now, Soarin'." Fjord said to a panting Wonderbolt, now drenched in sweat. He expected him to be meek and defeated, but Soarin' only laughed as he raised his head to meet the stallion.

"You were awesome, dude! You sure I can't convince you to join us in our show today?" He beamed in delight. Fjord was taken aback by this as he never expected the loser of the race to be happy. He simply smiled and held his hoof out in a gesture of friendship, and Soarin' returned the favor.

"Alright, everypony. That was some race, huh? Stick around and we'll be ready to dazzle you in just a moment." Spitfire proclaimed through the megaphone before turning to the Nordic pony with a look of disgust. "You trying to upstage us, you newbie? Think I can't take you on?" Spitfire practically growled at him, but Fjord didn't back away from her.

"I have no business with you, mare." He said sternly, but only further ignited the fiery pegasus' anger.

"Mare?! Oh, sorry you big, strong stallion. Shall I prepare you a sandwich? Wash your clothes? Maybe have your children while I'm at it? Look at you, think you're superior just because you're a boy. I want to race you, I dare you to even try. Go ahead, treat me like one of the mares from where YOU live!" Soarin' and one other Wonderbolt were practically having to hold Spitfire back as she jerked towards him. Rainbow Dash lept from her seat to try and calm down the situation, not wanting to see the stallion in more trouble than he was already in. She half-expected Spitfire to tear into him before she even touched the cloud-floor.

"Clearly you don't know our mares. If you thought I beat your companion badly, one should look for a replacement in my sister." He laughed as Rainbow Dash blushed embarressed. She had rushed down here to defend him, but he knew just what to say and how to take care of himself. Spitfire only blushed madly as her fellow Wonderbolts began to laugh as well.

"What the hell is so funny?!" She asked her teammates as she nearly took Soarin's head off with a sharp turn of her foreleg as she wheeled around.

"I only called you mare because I did not know your name, I apologize if I offended you in any way." He placed his hoof upon her shoulder. "For one's own knowledge, our mares are hardly treated any differently than the ones here. A bit more subordinate, but no less important." Spitfire nodded with some form of understanding, and allowed a faint smile to cross her lips.

"Sorry for the outburst, just kinda rubbed me the wrong way. We cool?" She extended her hoof, expecting a brohoof. Fjord only cocked his head to the side curiously.

"Lady Dash!" Fjord suddenly jumped as he turned towards the blue mare and smiled. "I was hoping I would see you again, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." She said as she rubbed the back of her neck with her foreleg. "I saw the race, you were really awesome!" She moved closer to him. "I've never seen anypony fly like that before, you were amazing." Fjord only smiled as he flared his wings as though to brag. "Hey, after the show, do you mind if we maybe go somewhere private? I kinda want to talk to you." She said as she blushed slightly.

The library was quiet, even for today. Twilight Sparkle had given them access to the entire treehouse for the day in order to do research. While a princess of Equestria, the eggheaded alicorn was incredibly curious. Rainbow Dash was more than willing to accept the task of learning more about the stallion.

"So, Fjord..." Rainbow Dash broke the silence. "Can I ask a personal question?" The Nordic stallion looked up from a piece of parchment, seeming curious about what it was before he tossed it to the ground. "How does one carve upon these things? One touch would scratch it."

"It's a scroll, you use a quill to write on it, not a... whatever that is." She pointed towards the chisel in his mouth. "Would you put that down?" She motioned at him as he picked up Twilight's telescope effortlessly. He looked into the device, and a second later he jolted backwards into the wall.

"By the ancestors!" He exclaimed. "The great sun is coming down upon us! The time of Hati and Skoll has come!" He drew his ancient blade from his sheathe and took a battle stance. "To arms, Lady Dash! Ragnarock is upon us!" Rainbow Dash face-hoofed the mother of all face-hooves as she put her hooves on his shoulders in an effort to calm him down.

"That's a telescope. It's used to view things very far away, dude." She sighed as he sheathed his weapon, disappointed.

"So much I don't understand..." He sighed as he dropped his sword to the ground. Rainbow Dash only looked at him and felt the same feeling she had felt when she first met him. His handsome features, his blonde mane and beautiful coat, they were a thing of beauty and power. Yet for all that, the stallion had a look of sheer pain in his eyes. Rainbow couldn't bring herself to look away, something about him seemed to draw her attention. He was handsome, very handsome, and he was from a time that ponies knew next to nothing about in Equestria. So much mystery surrounded Fjord Runner, and yet at times he seemed happy around her.

"When we first met, you kissed me. Why?" Rainbow Dash broke the silence. "I mean, a great powerful warrior meets a defenseless, and yes I actually use that word because I doubt I could take you, and halfway attractive mare alone in a cave..." She went on, "And you just kiss me like you'd known me or that I was your girlfriend or something." It wasn't like it was her first kiss, she had that about a year or two ago, but it was the fact that she had actually somewhat enjoyed it. The stallion smirked slightly and looked her in the eyes.

"Because, Lady Dash, I'm not like ponies you may have met. I do have standards, and you meet every last one of them." He said boldly as she smiled. "Beautiful, strong, agile, witty, and must I mention your eyes? You remind me so much of..." He trailed off as the smile faded from Rainbow's face.

"I look just like your wife, don't I?" She said as he meekly nodded. "It's cool, I mean I'm not sure if I'm the marriage type, but I wouldn't mind hanging with ya a bit. Sorry about Spitfire by the way."

"Spitfire's a little protective of her 'close' friends. You kicked her boyfriend's flank easily and I guess the way you talked to her and made it like you were cooler than him got her steamed. You freaking won the crowd, dude. I have never seen a stadium in Cloudsdale cheer that loud since I was a filly." She laughed. "But anyway, I loved watching you kick Soarin's flank, made my day."

"A handsome stallion destroys my ex-boyfriend in a race? You better believe I'm happy." She grinned sheepishly, but then looked around almost ashamed.

"Kind of, more unofficial than anything. Dating the co-captain and then ex of the one and only Spitfire wasn't all it was cracked up to be. He wanted sex, and I wanted a relationship. To make a long and painful story short, once Spitfire came calling, he was right back with her and I was left a used and broken-hearted-" Fjord ran his hoof through her mane and brushed it as she sobbed softly. "You know, until you I hadn't even looked at a stallion in THAT way." She giggled as she rubbed her eyes.

"Yeah, but I mean you probably wouldn't want a non-virgin since you claimed you were waiting for marriage before I found you." Rainbow sighed.

"We of the North don't think like that. If it helps..." He turned to face Rainbow Dash and looked straight into her eyes and ran his hoof through her rainbow mane again.

"I would be honored to be your..." She closed her eyes as he moved in closer. This was it, she thought to herself as she felt her heart race and his breath soft and warm against her mouth. This was the moment when she would trust another stallion, and she felt ready. She wanted nothing more than to just melt in his arms and see where the evening took them. His lips moved closer and closer to hers until-

"Twilight?! You in here?!" The door burst open as a purple dragon came inside, holding a package and a letter attached.

"Dragon! Prepare to fall!" The stallion whipped around and drew his sword, knocking Rainbow to the ground.

Rainbow Dash and the Nordic Pegasus

by MrTyreste

A Spark