//------------------------------// // Seven: Stand Up, Part Two // Story: Grandfather's Coming For A Visit // by GoesKaboom //------------------------------// “And I just don't know what we did to make Diamond Tiara hate us so much,” Sweetie Belle complained. “I mean, I barely ever spoke to her before she got her cutie mark, and then when she did she just kept going after us!” “Ah've known her for a long time, because her daddy does business with mah family,” Apple Bloom added. “Mr. Rich is a nice stallion but Diamond Tiara has always been super mean. She just got worse after she got her cutie mark.” “Sometimes, you cannot understand what motivates someone to behave the way they do,” Loki answered. “And it never worth your energy to attempt to figure it out, either. Perhaps it is simply easier to say that they are not worth engaging with.” “That seems... kind of mean,” Sweetie Belle said nervously. “I thought we were supposed to try to share the magic of friendship with everypony?” The magic of friendship? Loki thought to himself sarcastically. What in the Nine are these girls learning?! Instead of giving voice to that thought, however, he just said, “not everyone deserves the 'magic of friendship.'” “How can you say that?!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “Everypony deserves to have friends!” “And it sounds like this Diamond Tiara does have friends,” Loki explained patiently. “What I am saying is that you, specifically, do not have to go out of your way to try to befriend her. Do you remember how I told you about my older brother?” “The one that smashes everything?” Scootaloo asked eagerly. Loki chuckled. “Yes,the one that smashes everything. Well, at one point I had great respect for my brother, even though he was a complete dunderhead most of the time, with occasional moments of brilliance. But that did not mean my respect for Thor extended to his friends. One was a great big glutton who liked smashing things as much as my brother did, and then eating everything he could find. Another was very headstrong and foolish, always rushing in before he thought things through all the way. One barely every spoke and was brutally efficient at what he did. The last was a vapid, silly girl who fancied herself a warrior-” “Wait, why couldn't she be a warrior?” Scootaloo interrupted. “I never said she could not be a warrior,” Loki replied. “Indeed, in my homeland there are many female warriors, and this woman did go into battle alongside my brother and his friends, as well as myself. I merely meant that if she had been honest with herself, she only stuck around because she was mooning after my brother, not out of any true desire to defend our homeland. Of course, she would deny it if confronted about it, but it was obvious to everyone. Even old Hedwig who was mostly blind and completely crazy. She even once remarked on it to me. Of course, she also thought I was her long-deceased husband, but that just goes to show that Sif was being blatantly obvious if even the crazy old woman who thought a teenager was her husband could see it...” Loki shook himself out of his memories. He had no idea if old Hedwig even still lived, and memories of Asgard were not what he was here to focus on, so he cleared his throat. “Anyway. That's why she fancied herself as a warrior. You, on the other hand... I have no doubt that you would make a fine warrior maiden if that was what you wished.” Scootaloo preened, looking incredibly pleased with herself. “What I was saying is that while I greatly disliked my brother's friends, it didn't mean that they were entirely friendless. In fact, I am certain that they could not care less what I thought of them. And so, I do not particularly care whether or not they think they deserve my friendship, because they do not.” “I still think it's sad,” Sweetie Belle said resolutely. “Maybe if you had tried you would have been good friends!” “Would you want to be good friends with Diamond Tiara after everything she has done to you?” Loki asked, honestly curious. Ponies were still kind of a mystery to him- and if they were willing to become friends with, or at least attempt to become friends with, ponies who were cruel to them, then it was a commentary on how different they were from Aesir. Or, for that matter, Jotnar. “I... don't know,” Sweetie replied hesitantly. “Maybe?” “Well, Ah wouldn't,” Apple Bloom stated bluntly. “Even when we were foals she was a nasty piece of work.” “I'm with Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo agreed. “Diamond Tiara has been nothing but horrible to us since she met us. Why should we even want to try to be her friends?” “But Princess Twilight says that friendship is magic and we should be friendly to everypony,” Sweetie protested. “Nopony's sayin' we have to treat her the way she treated us,” Apple Bloom replied. “Just that we don't have to like her.” They were approaching the school playground, and the figures of two more small ponies were playing around on the playground equipment. Oddly, at least to Loki's eyes, they appeared to be wearing clothes. So far the only ponies he'd ever come across wearing clothes of any type were the Royal Guards, and their clothes were technically barding armor. Maybe that didn't count. “Is that them?” he asked. “Yep,” Scootaloo answered, a look of disgust twisting her facial features. “All three of you, listen to me very closely,” Loki said, grinning. “Here's what we're going to do...” Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were still laughing over their latest humiliation of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Did you see the look on Sweetie Belle's face when I tripped her?” Diamond Tiara cackled. Silver Spoon snickered. “Haha, yeah, she looked so dumb! Did you see the mud dripping off her muzzle?” “Yes, I did,” Diamond Tiara replied. “I was actually aiming to trip Apple Bloom but that stupid unicorn got in the way. At least one one those Cutie Mark Losers fell in the mud even if it wasn't the one I wanted.” “Yeah... about that...” a third voice interrupted. Both fillies looked up to see the exact ponies they had been making fun of standing in an aggressive triangular formation, with Sweetie Belle at the front. However, it was Scootaloo that had spoken. “You need to apologize to Sweetie for pushing her in the mud.” “No I don't,” Diamond Tiara sneered in response. “Ah really would, if Ah was you,” Apple Bloom added. “For yer own good.” “say you're sorry,” Scootaloo growled, “or we'll have to introduce you to our new friend.” “Your new friend?” Silver Spoon asked out of some morbid curiosity. Diamond Tiara shot her an annoyed look. “Of course they don't have a new friend! Nopony is dumb enough to want to make friends with a bunch of blank-flank losers like them. If you didn't want to get pushed in the mud you should have gotten out of my way! Now get lost before you have another mud bath.” “ENOUGH,” a loud male voice commanded. All five fillies looked up to see an absolutely enormous pegasus stallion descending from above like an avenging angel. He hit the ground with a loud thud, and straightened up, fixing a stern glare on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. It was about then that Silver Spoon realized the stallion was not a pegasus, but an alicorn. “This is our new friend, Prince Loki,” Scootaloo said proudly. “He's Princess Celestia's grandfather.” “G-grandfather?” Silver Spoon stammered, wishing she could take back every nasty comment she'd ever made to the Crusaders. If this stallion really was the grandfather of Princess Celestia, and he'd taken a liking to the three fillies, who knew what he would do? Silver Spoon suddenly had a very vivid mental image of herself and Diamond Tiara languishing on the moon. “Yes,” Loki replied. “Celestia and Luna are my son's daughters. I understand that you two are Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?” “Um... yes, sir,” Silver Spoon answered meekly. “And may I ask why you two feel entitled to harass these three?” The silver-colored Earth pony looked at the ground. Honestly? She didn't know why she always joined Diamond Tiara when her friend suggested picking on the the other fillies. Neither Apple Bloom nor Sweetie Belle had ever really done anything to deserve the torment, and Scootaloo never really instigated anything, it was always Diamond Tiara. Really, the more she thought about it, the worse she felt. The Cutie Mark Crusaders hadn't ever done anything to her, so why did she hate them? Diamond Tiara, on the other hand, had no compunction about standing up to the strange stallion. Instead of unleashing invective on him like she usually did with everypony else, however, she turned to creeping obsequiousness. “Oh, sir, you have to understand, they deserve everything I've ever done to them. They're awful!” Keeping his face purposely calm, Loki asked lightly, “Oh? Would you care to give me an example?” “Well... they're poor,” Diamond Tiara said confidently. “And they don't have their cutie marks, so they're useless.” “And what does having a cutie mark mean for usefulness?” Loki asked. “From what I know, a cutie mark only shows what a certain pony is especially good at- their 'special talent' as it was explained to me. Merely being good at something does not make you better than anyone else. I have already told the story of my brother to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but I believe you need to hear it as well. He was told from childhood that he was good at one specific thing. Now as an adult he is a complete idiot. Having a 'special talent' does not make you special. You would do well to realize that you are no better than anyone else.” Then, he got very, very close to Diamond Tiara's face, and said in a low voice, “you are very lucky that we are not in my homeland, mortal. There, you would face punishments that your tiny little mind could not even begin to comprehend for assaulting friends of the Prince. As I am but a guest in this land I will not give to you what you so richly deserve. However, know this, little pony- I will be watching you, and if you try anything again I will not hold back in the slightest.” Of course, most of that wasn't true. Back in Asgard, most Aesir would expect the prince to handle an incident involving one of his friends himself, and would look the other way unless he actually killed the perpetrator. They certainly wouldn't have gotten involved. And he had no intention of actually causing permanent damage to the small pony, since it would only delay his return to Asgard. Well, unless she really annoyed him. But Diamond Tiara didn't need to know that. “I... I understand,” she stammered out. “I'm sorry, okay? I won't do it again!” “See that you do not,” Loki replied sharply, before turning his attention back to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Would you kindly escort me back to where I met you? I assume my granddaughter will panic if I am away from there too long. She might think I have gone off to conquer this realm.” Before he left, however, he levitated a mud puddle over and dumped it on Diamond Tiara's head with his magic. “Now, fair is fair, do you not agree?” “Breathe, Twilight Sparkle! There is no need for you to panic!” Luna commanded, even though she was a step away from panic herself. “My grandfather has probably simply wandered off to go look at something. Ponyville is a fascinating place and he might have just seen something interesting.” Twilight looked flatly at the older alicorn. “Do you really believe that?” “...no.” “Do you know why he might have wandered off? Or maybe he ran into Pinkie Pie- you know how she can get sometimes...” Twilight wondered aloud, although clearly she was trying to force herself to remain calm. “I just don't understand! I told him to stay put!” Luna lamented. “He was brought to Equestria to better himself- maybe my sister was right and he is too far out of control to be helped. And Father- what will he think of me when he finds out I lost his parent? I am the worst grandfoal ever!” Luna was steadily getting herself more and more worked up, despite her original goal of remaining calm. She felt like a failure. She had failed to show Loki how to use his magic properly, and now she'd failed to keep track of him. Loki seemed to be able to fly well, or at least, he could fly without crashing into things randomly. He could be anywhere by now, and she had no idea what his intentions were. Because the older alicorn knew that Twilight could get agitated very easily, she had left out the more sordid bits of Loki's tale. Luna had told Twilight the basics- that Loki's home life had been troubled, that he acted out and got into trouble when he fell into the hands of malicious beings. But she had also left out the bits about Loki's attempt to take over a realm, and the murders he had committed. Not that the older mare thought that the younger could not handle the knowledge; rather, Luna wanted Twilight to meet Loki and make up her mind about him herself, without prejudging him based on what Luna had told her. But now it seemed like Luna's plans would have to be scrapped. Loki was out there somewhere doing... whatever it was he was doing, and while Luna had been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, she had to admit that his disappearing out into Equestria the second she turned her back was suspicious. And if Loki was planning to take over Equestria, then Luna might need Twilight's help to stop him. “Twilight...” she began, heart heavy, “there's something else I need to t-” “KYAHAHAHA! Come on, Mr. Loki, do that again!” a high-pitched, young-sounding voice cried. “That.... was... AWESOME!” another interrupted. Twilight and Luna both watched in amazement as the alicorn stallion in question approached the library in the air, holding three giggling fillies in his telekinesis as he flew. “Oh. I suppose you noticed I was gone then?” he asked, calm as could be. “Uh... yes. Grandfather, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, deciding that she was going to have words with him when they got back to Canterlot. “Twilight, this is Loki, my... grandfather.” “It's very nice to meet you, sir,” Twilight said politely. Loki, on the other hand, was looking at the purple alicorn in shock. “There's more of you...” he said, more to himself than to anyone else. “And they didn't tell me. YOU!” he howled, turning to a very surprised Luna. “How many more of you are there!?” “How many more of... what?” the befuddled mare asked. “The Allfather told me I only had two grandchildren! Clearly he lied to me! Tell me the truth- how many granddaughters do I have?!” To Be Continued