Five: The Best Laid Plans
Once Luna received the response from Twilight stating that the purple mare would be glad to play hostess to Luna, she was able to sleep easily that day, waking up in time to raise the moon. She bounced around the castle on the way to do her duty, so full of nervous energy that everypony noticed- including Celestia. “Sister, are you well? You seem to be shaking. Do you have a fever? Should I alert a doctor?” Luna shook her head.
“No, I am fine. Just a little excited, I guess. I wa s reading the latest Daring Doo book. Twilight Sparkle recommended it to me, and I just got to a very exciting part. I didn't want to put it down, but I have to raise the moon. I cannot wait to get back to it!”
“Really?” Celestia asked. Something seemed off about that, but she wasn't sure what. Luna liked Daring Doo books? She hadn't realized that. But Celestia was beginning to realize that she did not know a lot about her sister, especially since she'd returned from the moon. Luna had been an enigma back then, and she was still an enigma. But perhaps Luna really was a Daring Doo fanfilly, and was just anxious to get back to her book.
“Oh yes, I'm just at the part where Daring Doo is trapped in Ahuizotl's fortress and she is filling the chamber full of pirhanas up with water so that they will be able to eat her. It is dreadfully exciting.”
“Ah,” Celestia replied noncommittally. It shamed her somewhat to admit it, but Celestia did not particularly care for the Daring Doo books. Unlike the majority of the series' readers, Celestia knew that the stories were not, in fact, fiction, and that she found Daring Doo herself to be utterly unpleasant and intolerable to be around for any length of time. Of course, being the ruler of Equestria, she couldn't exactly vocalize those thoughts about one of her subjects, so to keep herself in check, she avoided any and all discussion of one Ms. Doo. “Well, in that case, I bid you goodnight, sister.”
“Have a restful sleep,” Luna replied, anxious to get her sister out of her mane so that she could move on to more important business... that business being a certain recently transplanted relative. Celestia lowered the sun, Luna raised the moon to take its place.
One change that Luna and Celestia had agreed to make upon the former's return from her lunar exile was that Night Court would only be held once a week, as there was less demand for it. In the past, Luna would have resented that, seeing it as an affront to her abilities in statecraft. Now, however, she saw it for what it was, really- a more efficient use of her time. Without having to sit around on a throne the whole night waiting for maybe one or two ponies to come request an audience with her (on a busy night), she was able to turn her attention to more pressing matters. Like catching up on the history she had missed, or going over the laws passed in her absence, or any number of things infinitely more interesting than just sitting around all night.
Of course, tonight she had en even more important task than usual. Tonight she would be informing a certain relative of her plans for his education in alicorn magic. Once Luna was certain that her sister had actually retired for the night, she headed down to the area of the castle where Loki was staying.
The alicorn stallion was, for his part, sitting in his room, fuming. Ever since that morning’s humiliating magic episode, he had spent the entire day attempting magic in this form. He could not understand what he was doing wrong- no matter what he tried, he was incapable of performing magic in this form. Briefly, he wondered if Odin had done something to block his powers, but he dismissed that thought. He could still feel his innate, natural magic inside of him, although it did feel different than normal. If he was forced to describe it, he would have to say that it felt less… malignant than usual. Which was disconcerting, but less disconcerting than the fact that he couldn’t use it, even for innocuous things. It was a disgrace! He’d never had this much trouble with magic, even when he’d been a child and still learning. Certainly there had been a few cases where he had blown things up, and a memorable incident where he’d turned a pair of trousers homicidal while trying to do a laundry spell, but at least something had happened in those cases!
Lost in his thoughts, he almost didn’t hear the hesitant, gentle knocking on his door. Once it registered, however, he called out: “come in!”
For the second time that day, his younger granddaughter entered the room. “What do you want?” Loki sighed, really hoping that she wasn’t here to pester him about magic again.
Luna was slightly taken aback by Loki’s dour demeanor, enough so that for a moment, she considered scrapping her plan and apologizing for intruding. But she gathered up her courage to address the stallion. She didn’t know how long he was going to be in Equestria, and if he was going to be here for any length of time, he was going to need to be able to use his natural alicorn magic. And it wasn’t like she could send him to Magic Kindergarten… something needed to be done.
“Are you still having difficulty with your magic?” Luna asked. Loki glowered at her.
“I do not see how that matters.”
“As you are an alicorn, magic is innate to you,” Luna replied, trying not to bristle at Loki’s combativeness. “If you do not use it periodically… well, I don’t really know what would happen, but it would likely be hazardous to your health. When I was… away, I tried to go for a while without using my magic, because there really wasn’t a reason to on the moon. By the third day, I was quite ill, and on the fifth day, my magical backup violently discharged itself from me- that’s where the biggest crater comes from.” It wasn’t a lie, not exactly. Luna did have a magical backup, and it did discharge itself so violently that it created an enormous crater, but the magic that had made her so ill wasn’t her natural magical baseline, but the corrupt energy from Nightmare Moon.
The explanation made sense to Loki, but he wasn’t happy about it. “If that is the case, it seems that I will die, now doesn’t it? I cannot do it, and I certainly will not be taught magic by my own grandchild.” The very idea was humiliating. If anything, he should be the one teaching her. But Luna shook her head.
“I understand that you are not comfortable with me teaching you. But I will not allow you to not learn to control your magic here. There is somepony else, somepony else who was not born as an alicorn either, who had to learn to control their power the same way you will have to. There are obvious differences between you and her- though she wasn’t born an alicorn she was always a pony. But like you, she had to deal with a sudden, drastic change in her magic. I have already written to her. She is expecting us tomorrow at 4:00 in the afternoon.”
“And if I refuse?”
“I can always order the guards to bring you with me,” Luna threatened. “You may be my grandfather and my elder, but I am still a princess of Equestria. I have been charged with seeing to your welfare while you are here. And you, despite all of the power you are said to have, cannot access it yet. I do apologize, grandfather, but if I do not have another choice, I will use everything at my disposal to see to your well-being.” Luna wasn’t entirely sure why she was acting so antagonistic. Her whole point in doing this was to help Loki, not piss him off. But he seemed so resistant to everything she tried, and she didn’t understand why. She thought they had gotten off to a good start. So why the sudden change?
Loki was surprised at Luna’s behavior. Of his two granddaughters, he had to admit he preferred the younger one. But he still wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, and after discovering that he couldn’t use magic, he was suspicious. He didn’t think the Allfather had done anything to his powers, but what if Celestia or Luna had? But if they had, would Luna be offering to help him? Or maybe Celestia had done something without Luna’s knowledge, or she had known and didn’t approve?
Family politics had always given Loki a headache.
“Who is this, that you will be taking me to see?” he asked, shelving those thoughts for the time being. Luna smiled, pleased that he was accepting the idea.
“Her name is Twilight Sparkle,” the mare replied.
“And you think she will be able to help me.”
“I think so,” Luna replied. “She wasn’t always an alicorn either, so maybe she will have some insights into your problem.”
“Very well,” Loki stated. “I will go with you.”
“Good,” Luna stated flatly. Then she added- “it is best if you speak of this to nopony. Celestia especially. She does not know of this, and I intend to keep it that way.”
That, Loki could understand perfectly. He’d kept many a plan secret from Thor in his lifetime. And if his suspicion was correct, and Luna was trying to help him through whatever limitations Celestia had placed on his powers, it was only logical. “Understood.”
“Meet me in the palace courtyard at 3:30 in the afternoon,” Luna ordered. “We will fly to where we are going. From what I have seen you do not have difficulty with flying, and if we were to take a royal carriage we would attract attention that we would not want.”
Loki hadn’t actually flown on purpose since he came to Equestria. Sure, he’d flown at both Luna and Celestia when they scared him, but that was more instinct that anything else, a primal part of his brain reacting to a perceived threat. But he had at least done it, which was more than he could say for his magic.
“Fine,” he said. Then, something else occurred to him: “Don’t you sleep during the daytime?”
“Technically I do not need to sleep at all,” Luna replied. “But yes, when I do choose to sleep, I do so in the daytime, so that I can perform my duties as the regent of the night.”
“I… see,” Loki replied. He’d never heard of any being that did not require sleep before. Luna grimaced.
“To be fair, I do get grouchy if I go for a week without sleep, but one day will not harm me. I will see you in the afternoon, grandfather.”
Around 3:30 the next afternoon, Loki stood in the palace garden, out of sight of any Royal Guard members. This was on purpose, as Luna had told him to be discreet about it, but also because he was interested in the plants and animals in this part of the garden. None of these plants or creatures existed on Asgard, or if they did, he’d never heard of them, and he hadn’t spent enough time on Midgard to know much about such things on that realm. He was examining a very strange hopping creature that seemed terrified of him, always hopping further and further away. Just as he was getting ready to go chase after the strange thing, he heard a soft rustle of wings behind him. He turned, to find Luna standing there.
“It is called a wallaroo,” she said, “and trying to get any closer to it is futile. They are not very friendly.”
“What is it doing in your garden?” Loki asked. Back in Asgard, critters weren’t generally allowed on the grounds of the royal palace, with several exceptions- the Allfather’s ravens, Huginn and Muninn, could often be seen flying about, and his mother’s pet cat was allowed run of the palace. Luna shrugged.
“Celestia thinks they’re funny,” she said. “Personally, I think they’re a nuisance, and a reminder of one of the worst things I did before I became Nightmare Moon.”
Loki didn’t press, although he was very curious as to what she meant by that.
“Are you ready to go?” the mare asked. “Since you don’t know the way, you will fly behind me. When we arrive, you will need to wait outside for a few minutes while I fully explain the situation to Twilight Sparkle. I did not do so in the letter I sent her, and she can be… somewhat high-strung. It would be best if I clear up any misconceptions she might have before she meets you.”
Loki wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that, but he could accept when he didn’t have much choice in the matter. “Very well.”
“Please, follow me. By flight it does not take long to get to where we are going.” The alicorn mare spread her wings and took off. Loki followed suit. It was a bit bumpy at first, being only the second time he’d flown since becoming a horse-thing, and the first time he’d done so on purpose. But, fortunately, he did not seem to have the same problems controlling his powerful wings as he did with his magic. Soon, he too was airborne, following his granddaughter/
Luna was right- by flight, it only took about half an hour to reach their destination- a small town a little ways south of Canterlot. The place Luna and he finally touched down at appeared to be a tree- a tree with windows.
“Please wait here,” Luna instructed. “I need to debrief Twilight on the situation, and I don’t want her to panic.”
And with that, the alicorn mare marched right up to the door in the tree, and knocked on it.
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*Starts praying* (probably in vain) please, tell me Twilight hasn't jumped to conclusions....
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Dude. Its Twilight. She probably has five different theories about how Luna is going Nightmare Moon again.
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I'm more curious what happens when Pinkie inevitably sees Loki....
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Yes, I agree. This shall be a humorous experience
oh this is going to be fun
static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_super/6/69852/3457826-tumblr_m77kxks5541rys4czo1_r1_500.gif
I wonder what Twilight's reaction to Loki will be... Ah well, it'll probably fun to watch anyway. Also, I wonder what kinds of mischief Loki can get into once he gets his magic back?
Well well, now isn't this interesting.
"Unlike the majority of the series' readers, Celestia knew that the stories were not, in fact, fiction, and that she found Daring Doo herself to be utterly unpleasant and intolerable to be around for any length of time."
There's a story idea here, and once I figure it out I'm going to write it.
Well, the plot's picked up at least. Any thoughts guys?
Steve Rogers: I spotted a few mistakes, but no one is perfect.
Falcon: Well, the action's picking up.
Hulk: Hulk happy family time bond hold better.
Would you recommend this to others?
Steve Rogers: Not to action fans or those expecting a big battle or flashy scenes. Maybe we will see it later, but so far there has been a definite lack of flair. It's more like Loki is trying to make the best of things, but shaking things up here and there would be nice.
How so?
Falcon: The story has been going on for a few days, right? No real progress has been made. It would be nice if maybe we had Thor popping in to see how his brother is doing.
Hulk: Why no Thor here?
I don't like him.
Why did you write Daring Do's name wrong?!
homicidal trousers? Gotta see that. Someone make a gif of kid loki chased by a pair of pants.
Welp. Now, let's see exactly how much Twilight overreacts.
A few remarks and corrections:
> I wa s reading the latest Daring Doo book.
"I [was] reading"
> Soon, he too was airborne, following his granddaughter/
End period is messed up.
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Because she's secretly Ditzy Doo's sister
Brief, not debrief. You debrief someone _after_ the mission to get information from them.
Well, will no pony notice the two alicorns in such a small town?
. not /
No, your thinking of Rainbow Dash. You remember her don't you? Twilight's friend. The only thing her and Luna have in common is the Element of Loyalty.