A/N: Special thanks to Nethalar, D48, and evowizard25 in particular for your more in-depth reviews last chapter, but thanks to everyone who let me know how much they enjoyed it! Also to thewaffler for having a fun name! I hope that you continue to do so and let me know what you think about it, as the more you let me know about what you enjoy the more I can make the story fit that!
Luna and Loki had spent much time wandering throughout the hallways of the castle, Luna explaining just about every room they passed to him as she was quite the expert on them. After all, there were few other places she could roam freely in Canterlot without somepony reacting in fear.
Their time spent idly in the castle was not spent freeing Blueblood from his predicament, which the two had agreed to leave behind in search of something more interesting.
Luna had almost brought Loki to the very last room she intended to show off, her own, when the sight of Loki wincing and the sound of him grunting caught her off guard. Loki’s legs buckled for a moment before straightening out, the prince having caught himself.
“Is something the matter?” Luna questioned, worried about her guest’s health. He had been living in the Everfree Forest too long in her opinion, so it was possible something was now ailing him.
Loki did his best to hide his previous expression of pain and play it off as something trivial, “Nothing of the sort, only a mild migraine,” after a moment he briefly winced again and asked, “Would you mind excusing me for now? I wish to go clear my head.”
Wishing to see him better, Luna found herself absently nodding, “Of course. We will see you tomorrow?”
The indifferent shrug was all she needed as Loki departed.
It did not take Celestia long to find Luna again once word spread that her visitor was gone, and it was not with a gleeful face that she did so.
She had not wished to impose herself on her sister during what was quite possibly the first time she ever brought somepony back to visit their home. But a talk needed to be had, and now that she could speak in privacy with her sister she would.
Celestia knocked a hoof on the open door to Luna’s room, her eyes focusing on the blue mare within who was tending to her mane with a brush. Luna paused her task to turn and look at Celestia, her own face the complete opposite of her elder sister's with a bright grin on it.
Good company would do that to you, even after it left.
"Hello, sister."
Celestia narrowed her eyes at her sister, unsure about how to approach the issue she was faced with, “Hello Luna, what is this that I hear of you and your guest humiliating Blueblood?”
The mention of the insufferable stallion brought Luna to rolling her eyes and scoffing, turning back to her own mirror and tending to her ethereal mane once more, “He must learn to lighten up.”
No "I'm sorry" or "I promise it will never happen again". That made Celestia's already unamused mouth turn to a full scowl. She honestly expected better from her own sister.
“That is all you have to say?”
Luna's eyes rolled, but she did not meet her sister's disapproving glare as the night princess snarked, “Oh, we are sorry, is playing a prank with Philomena on an animal caretaker better than putting a deplorable stallion in his place?”
“Luna, we must do our best to act as examples to our subjects,” Celestia paused before adding in a more hushed tone, “And Fluttershy really ought to have known more about a Phoenix.”
The younger sibling groaned as she used her magic to put her brush down. She did not want to deal with Celestia the moodkiller right now, and when Luna turned to face her she made that absolutely clear with her facial expression, “If you want me to stop aggravating that foal, remove him from our premises. I have no time for his entitled and spoiled ways. His ancestor may have deserved their place amongst us, may have, but he has no right to act as if he is any better than any of our other subjects.”
Knowing a lost battle when she saw one, Celestia decided to move on to the real issue she came to discuss, “We will discuss this another time, but there is a more important matter Luna. This ‘Loki’ you brought here.”
That brought a smile back to Luna's face. Her first friend made outside of Celestia's circle, and one that was quickly growing on her for some weird reason, “What of him? Is he not the interesting stallion I said him to be?”
“Too interesting. You may think me inexperienced, Luna, but I have been putting these one thousand years to good use. I know you can tell he is not in his true form. What is he, and what are his intentions here? Do you even know?”
Luna quickly found herself on the defensive again, only this time for the sake of somepony else, “Those are not of your concern, sister. If you wish to ask him yourself go ahead, for it is not my place to say,” a thought came across the blue mare's mind to turn the tables, and the now grinning mare took it, “Jealous?”
From the doorway Celestia found her face growing a bit hotter as her normally stoic face faltered. Jealous? No. Disappointed and miffed? Yes.
“From the reports our guards have given, your guest was quite belittling and his magic brought harm to Blueblood. While I have little tolerance for him, I will not allow such blatant disrespect to be shown in our castle. Such juvenile behavior-”
Celestia's diatribe was cut off by her sister jabbing a hoof in her direction, Luna's voice increasing to a volume not all too dissimilar to the old Canterlot voice. “Thou know nothing, so keep thy mouth still sister. Insulting our friend for some small fun we had together is crossing the line.”
The elder sister found herself lost for words as she considered what Luna said, soon realizing her own emotions on the matter had gotten in the way of her actually giving Luna's guest a chance, “I apologize, Luna. I am just worried that yet another powerful being has entered our land that we have no control over. If his shapeshifted form reveals anything, he is quite a powerful creature. I am worried for our fellow pony, and for you. I need not remind you of the last time a powerful shapeshifter entered our land.”
Luna decided to not inform Celestia that Loki was locked out in a way of his true form, quite sure that entertaining the topic would make Celestia only more curious. As such, Luna decided to laugh off her sister's concerns and instead address the other issue, “You jest. I have spent quite some time with my new companion and I have no doubt we have nothing to worry from him.”
Celestia approached Luna and placed a hoof on her shoulder, “Just be careful Luna. I do not want to see you hurt.”
Luna smiled up to her, genuinely glad to see that Celestia did care for her even after all they had been through, “Thank you for your sentiment, Tia.”
Returning the smile, Celestia nodded to Luna and removed her hoof, “I will be issuing an order for those who encountered your guest to keep quiet on the matter. It will not do to have ponies questioning the sudden arrival of yet another Alicorn. I myself am quite caught off guard and unsure how to react, so I care not to think of how the general populace might react.”
“A wise decision, although I do not see what the big deal is,” Luna never could understand what about Alicorns got ponies so riled up.
Celestia bit her lip as she considered something mentally, “Luna, how powerful is this friend of yours?”
“I would say he is below even you in terms of raw magical talent and far below my own potential, but he is quite skilled and has a great variety to his talents.”
Relief flooded the white mare's face, “Thank you for being so honest. If this is the case then at least we can keep him in check if need be.”
Luna was quite grateful Celestia was oblivious as ever in this case. While not having exactly lied, Luna had only told the truth about the here and now Loki who was having trouble accessing his magic. In the form of an Alicorn Luna had no doubt Loki would unlock even greater magic than he had in his original form.
Luna giggled to Celestia's confusion, “Have the years made you paranoid, Tia?”
The elder sibling shook her head somberly, “No, just wary. First we had to deal with Discord and Sombra...I had you with me then, but these past 1,000 years have been difficult for me to handle all alone. It is the reason I started grooming students and worthy ponies of sharing the title of princess. Such a burden is too hard to bear alone.”
Luna brought a hoof over to Celestia and rubbed it against her sister's leg, “We understand,” she smirked before continuing, “Know, however, that we fully intend to continue our meetings with our newfound friend. His unfamiliarity with this world puts us at ease, as we are not the only stranger to this place anymore.”
Celestia found herself smiling too again, genuinely glad that Luna had found a friend even if he was a bit of a degenerate and a bad influence, “There must be something more than his ignorance from what you have said.”
She received a roll of the eyes and a scoff, “He has a brother who always was perceived as better than him, and he was shunned by others for simply being different.”
“I would laugh if it were not inappropriate to do so,” Celestia took a large breath in before deciding on something, “Well, Luna, if you wish to make this visitor feel at home in Equestria I will not stop you.”
Luna's tongue found its way out of her mouth briefly, “As if you could. Remind me why you turned to the elements of Harmony to defeat me?”
Not about to let Luna have all of the fun with verbal jabs, Celestia stood to her full height and laughed, “I suppose I always was the more physically orientated one, little sister, where you were the one more gifted in magic.”
Their height difference irked Luna, who had always been larger in their teen years only to be stunted now at this size, “Hey, I was still growing until I was trapped in a form not my own.”
The mention of the Nightmare form made by the moon's shadow creatures made Celestia grimace, “I cannot even imagine how horrible it must have been to have those shadow beings control you all that time.”
“And I care too much about you to let you know," Luna replied softly, her eyes falling to the floor. While not under their complete control, they had influenced her and shared her body for quite some time...even for that kind of power Luna swore to never share her body with any such beings again. There were other ways to grow stronger after all, many of which did not include such drawbacks.
“That reminds me of something mother would say back when we were young,” Celestia lamented, memories of their departed parent streaming through her mind.
Luna still could not lift her eyes from the ground, “You take much after her.”
Celestia lowered her neck so that her head was next to her sister's, at which point she rubbed her cheek against her dear sister's, “A coat is not all that one can take after.”
“Oh really? At least you resemble her in both appearance and mannerisms.”
“She never would have wanted us to squabble like we do.”
Luna found herself chuckling at their shared history, “But she would not have been surprised.”
With that, for all of their differences and their past issues, the two found themselves embracing one another gently. They were, and always would be, sisters and not even a thousand years and envy would change that.
However, Luna still was not about to let Celestia know that her fur was slowly turning more and more pink, courtesy of Loki. Pink looked quite dreadful on her sister, but the change amused Luna too much to tell her sister just yet. They were having a moment after all, and since Loki was not there Celestia would be hard pressed to blame him in the end.
Luna would take the fall for this when the time came, but the inevitable look on her sister's face made her think it quite worth it.
“Cutie Mark Crusader adventurers!”
Late one night in the Everfree Forest three fillies found themselves bumbling about, turning over about every rock and inspecting every tree they could find.
Of which there were many.
The three fillies, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, seemed to not care about the forest's suppose danger when deciding to go and find their beloved Cutie Marks in it. And they knew about the dangers, as their families warned them about the forest and forbid them from going in it unattended. Thus why they were there late at night, as they had hatched a plan to sneak out and have fun.
Their fun was quite short-lived, as the forest's relative silence was interrupted by a howl of sorts.
“Did you hear that?” the small white filly named Sweetie Belle questioned, the sudden noise having unnerved her.
Her friend Scootaloo scoffed, not having heard the noise due to having had her head inside the opening of a tree at the time, “What, you scared?”
The howl repeated and Sweetie Belle squeaked in terror, instantly regretting coming to the Everfree Forest without her sister Rarity.
“Okay, you had to hear that!” she exclaimed fearfully, quickly dodging behind her friend Apple Bloom.
Said friend rolled her eyes as she spoke with a twang, “Probably just sum animal-”
A voice the three could barely make out interrupted Apple Bloom, the trio not able to discern where it originated from or from whom it came.
“Intimidation will not do you any favors.”
Their attempts to listen in were quickly halted when Scootaloo found herself now looking right at a fearsome creature with menacing teeth and claws where none had been before.
“Timberwolf.”
Her friends were facing the other way and did not see the threatening creature, “What?”
It's snarl answered their question, with the three fillies quickly bolting away from the beast and towards the way they had come.
“Rarity!” “Rainbow Dash!” “Applejack!” they cried out simultaneously, not even noticing that the monster had not given them chase. For long, at least. The beast now stood in place completely frozen, its regenerative qualities doing it no good in its immobile form.
From nearby Loki shook his head in distaste. Whatever did children think they were doing out here? Sure, he had done some reckless things with Thor when they were younger, but they at least were capable of fending for themselves to some degree. These fillies could do nothing of the sort, and this was no place for them.
“Not going to take credit?”
Loki found himself in the company of another once again, Luna shifting out of the shadows nearby him to stand by his side. Was she implying something?
He feigned ignorance, “Whatever do you mean?”
The princess of that time of day gave a hearty laugh as she observed the frozen Timberwolf, “Given your haughtiness, I was quite sure you would reveal yourself to the fillies and let them know of how you saved them,” Luna calmed her laughter and grinned at her friend, who she noticed had quite oddly had a light blue fur instead of his regular green one, "Am I not right?"
Loki did not feel in the mood to do as she said, although he could not deny it would not be all too out of character for him to hold it over someone else that they owed him, “I do not know what you speak of.”
Sensing that the conversation was not going to continue much farther, Luna decided to change the topic, “Care to continue your lessons?”
“Of course,” the two left the woods by Loki's adopted castle and approached the ruins of the old palace, “However…”
Now in the courtyard of the ruins, Luna found herself faced with a makeshift table with a variety of objects lined up upon it. The sight confused the princess as she tried to make sense of it.
Loki only smiled, “Luna, consider this an intervention.”
“Intervention?” Luna questioned, observing the various things there. She could see a marble, a child's toy, a very large rock, a chair, and finally a bowling ball. What these things had to do with their lesson Luna did not know, but apparently Loki did have a plan for them.
“I do not deny that your ability to speak in a modern context has marginally improved, but it is quite irritating to have to translate everything you say,” Loki stated seriously, although a comical smile found itself upon his face.
Nodding to the objects, Luna decided to clear up their purpose, “What are these for though?”
Loki too looked at the objects, “Every time you mistakenly use the wrong word, one will be flung at you by my enchantment. It will start from the lightest," glancing at the marble, Loki's smile grew, "Consider it some extra practice I have placed upon myself”
The prospect of having a bowling ball lobbed at her was not very appealing to the night princess who was quite sure she would get to that point in no time at all, “Is this not a...crude way of teaching a lesson?”
“An effective one, however. Care to try?” Loki asked, offering her an out if she did not want to partake.
“We-” Luna felt herself wince as a marble crashed into her forehead between her eyes, “-I most certainly will attempt this game of yours. It may be amusing.”
Pleased that she had corrected herself, Loki nodded to her, “That’s better.”
Luna rubbed a hoof to the spot on her head she was quite sure would have a mark the next morning underneath the fur, “Have you been practicing your power outside of our meetings?”
The once again green Alicorn shrugged, “Here and there. A pink furred being who is a shared acquaintance of ours just bit into a cake with fake snakes inside of it today. Small tricks like that are still in my power, but I long to command greater powers like my transformation once again.”
“You can still control shadows, yes? W-" Luna quickly corrected herself before anything else could fly at her, "I know from experience that they are not all too dissimilar, so we can focus on that to help you relearn your old magics.”
“A good a plan as any I suppose.”
Luna managed to only get hit by the toy the entire rest of the night as the duo practiced their arcane talent, much to her relief and Loki's approval.
He did not, however, approve of the welt on his side she gave him for pegging her between the eyes again with yet another object.
A/N: Warning, there be plot ahead! Now that everything is set up we will be getting to the story's meat, and I hope you all will enjoy it!
Anyways, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! If you did please let me know what you liked in the comment boxes below! Seriously, every bit I hear from you helps this college student get motivated both in life and in writing!
"What fun is there in making sense?" - Discord
It's good.
Celestia really needs a hobby or something...
Well it's good to see the sisters together again and that Luna at least knows that her big sister is still there for her. {It was very touching.}
CMC? *facepalm* Why are they so stupid together? Apart their fine, but together? They cause more chaos then Discord.
And the game that Loki made...I love it. It fits especially well with his personality and his god-attribute.
Keep up the good work.
3492540 That's the thing about siblings. They can argue and hate on one another all they want, but many will still be there for one another in the end.
And the CMC seem to collectively lose a a third of their intelligence for every one of them that is nearby, adding up to a total of 0% left when all are present and dipping below that when Babs is involved. And why yes, they do cause more chaos than Discord because they actually caused Discord as well in the show's present time.
As for the game, I actually have heard a real life example of it when a speech teacher became fed up with his student inserting words into his sentences where they did not belong. Different objects were used, but I think the idea still holds for Loki
Thank you for commenting, and I hope you enjoy next chapter where there be plot!
...and no, not THAT kind of plot.
Great chapter showing Celestia giving some of the sibling care and love. Too bad we did not get to see Pinkie's reaction to the snake, probably jumped too high and broke the sealing while screaming. Is Loki's migraine a sign of something bigger to come or just him being tired? Wouldn't Celsetia think something along the lines of repopulating the alicorn race or something? Because he is the only male as far as we know.
3494142 Loki's migraine falls under the law of "conservation of detail". I bring it up because it will specifically have an impact later on in some way! Like I said at the chapter end, there be plot ahead!
And Celestia sees Loki as a shapeshifter first and Alicorn second, not all too unlike a Changeling so she is not honed in on his male side. Luna, however, doesn't really care since she too is a shapeshifter...
Do you know of Sleipnir by any chance?
3494467 Why yes, I do know of Sleipnir. In fact I asked you earlier if he would be making an appearance or a reference. Why do you ask?
3494580 Exactly
This was another good chapter, although it was once again setup so there is not a whole lot to say until the plot gets going next chapter. The scene between Celestia and Luna was sweet, although it really makes me wonder what Celestia's opinion of Loki is because it is vague to the point that I do not think she really knows what to make of him. The bit with Loki not revealing himself to the CMC is also very interesting and could be an early sign of character growth, although it is far too early to tell at this point.
My only major comment is that I am glad to see you are using Blueblood as a minor gag and plot device instead of a character because his portrayal in the last chapter would have been a very bad place to start from if you had any intent of making him a real character.
3496511 You are quite correct in that Celestia has no idea what to make of Loki, although she is concerned for that very reason.
Even Luna could see that Loki not acting haughty towards the CMC about saving them was a bit out of place for him, since he is so confident.
Also, I would never give Blueblood the honor of appearing as a major character.
As for next chapter, I have a feeling you'll enjoy quite a bit...
3494467
Loki turned into a stallion, rutted a mare, who gave birth to an eight legged horse named Sleipnir. Then Loki proceded to give Sleipnir to Odin as a gift.
3498467 Yes
3498789 Funny, Loki in the Marvel universe hasn't done that so we don't have Sleipnir yet from this Loki...but Loki IS a horse at the moment, so who knows what will happen?
3497570 I am looking forwards to next chapter, although I think you are selling Blueblood short. His characterization in the show is so flat that it can be easily written off as an act to keep others at a distance which gives authors a lot of leeway to invent reasons. You could go with something simple like him hating all the nobility shit he is roped into because he is a prince while he really wants to go tromping around the Everfree because his cutie mark would be fitting on an explorer (it is not all that different from Daring Do's), but the real fun starts when you get crazy and make him a secret agent or something.
3500651 Sorry, but I don't care about Blueblood in the slightest and I am treating him exactly how he deserves given his canon portrayal. Honestly don't know why it matters that much. There are simply pompous jerks in existence, and he is one of them.
Bottom line, I don't care about Blueblood.
3500801 So long as he does not make a reappearance that is fine. My problem stems from trying to keep him in the same cardboard cutout pompous asshole persona while simultaneously making him a significant part of the story, and that is more a case of making him too flat to be believable as a character than anything else. Everyone in the real world has motives and feelings even if they are a shallow scumbag, so there is no such thing as a one-dimensional asshole like the canon portrayal of Blueblood in the real world. There may be people that are close, but if you spend any time dealing with them you will see more little details that make them more than the stereotype.
3502547 This comment made my day
You too have my attention! Please, do go on!
3500912 Knowing people in real life who are actually Blueblood personified, I know that not everyone has depth to them. I went to a boarding school for three years where such people thrived (even if it wasn't the norm), and I have encountered others not to dissimilar in my other life experiences. I'd like to think everyone has an interesting story as to why they are the way they are...but sadly that is not the case. Some jerks are just jerks because they can and want to be jerks.
Gotta say this, finally got around to seeing Thor for the first time today and it does add a good deal to an already great fic. It was weird to see a film of this type to focus on making a sympathetic villain in Loki considering that the other films leading up to and including the Avengers had sub par antagonists (Iron Monger/Micky Rourke, Abomination, Red Skull/Hydra and the aliens). I honesty don't know why I put it off for so long as it's directed by one of my favorite directors/actors Kenneth Branagh, which honestly felt odd having a Shakespearean director and actor take a shot at directing a comic book adaptation, but oddly enough it works.
Why Branagh kicks ass.
3504720 I'm glad that you enjoy the story more now that you've seen the first Thor film! It really does add a good deal of context, although I'm trying to explain things enough to not have it as required material. The new Thor movie, Thor The Dark World, would be another good watch although this story itself takes place before The Avengers and after the first Thor movie.
And yes, Loki by far surpasses the other antagonists of the Marvel universe and I think there is a specific reason to that. Loki has something many people can relate to: anyone who has ever been passed over for someone else, been emotionally neglected, felt less loved by a parent, lied to by a loved one, or been put in a place of jealousy can sympathize with how Loki is. This is in comparison to a villain like Red Skull who is evil because he is evil and wants to kill just about everything to prove it. Not many people can relate to that, and as such he is a less effective villain as the audience cares little about him any which way.
And yes, a Shakespearean actor/director is a bit odd by normal standards, but given that Asgard is quite hammy it fits perfectly for them. Loki's actor Tom Hiddleston is no stranger to Shakespeare either.
Thanks for commenting again, and I hope to hear from you again next chapter!
3498789
static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/6/69852/3312586-lex-luthor-wrong1.jpg
Loki rutted a stallion, not a mare. And he was the one who gave birth. Frankly, it was probably awkward for all involved.
3783458 Gonna be less awkward this time around
3500912 If that's how you feel, try Sleipnir's Big Adventure.
It has Douchebag Blueblood taken under the wing of Sleipnir(modified from original, of course) and taken on a journey that makes him steadily more likeable. With badass action sequences. No offence.
*Mystery donkey nods and pulls head back through Pinkie's Fourth Wall Escape Port(patent pending)*
not care about the forest's suppose danger
It's snarl answered
"Consider it some extra practice I have placed upon myself”
1. Supposed.
2. Its.
3. Forgot your comma at the end.
She just tricked sun butt into thinking she could take loki on in a fight and made her assume she would be on her side in one sentence.