Valhalla?

by Kumei

Building Bridges

Author's Note:

I've been informed that I "... have a lot of paragraphs with more than 2 line breaks..." that "...won't show up properly on the site to let [my] readers choose between indented and spaced paragraphs." I don't know which type works better and I'm not fixing it.
/shrug.

Thunk

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"So, why are you really here?" a little pegasus asked.

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"Buildin' a house." Came the succinct answer.

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Thwack! Crick crick crick crikrikrikrikrakrakraKRAKRAKRASSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!

"No you're not!" the orange filly exclaimed, "You're chopping down trees, in the Everfree Forest!"

A grunt. "Need wood to build. Plenty of trees, no ponies getting caught beneath 'em. Yet."

The little filly shrunk slightly beneath a harsh gaze, and suddenly found something to look at in the damp dirt.

Thunk

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"Why don't you keep staying at Miss Fluttershy's cottage? Or you could live in the Apple Families barn! The loft's real cozy, and you work there every day anyway!"

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"Better for me. Better for them."

Thwack! Crick crick crick crikrikrikrikrakrakraKRAKRAKRASSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!

"Now hey, what's wrong with Fluttershy's house? Or the farm? They not good enough for you?!"

Thunk

"Nothing wrong with 'em. I don't wish to disturb them, be obliged to 'em, be an inconvenience to 'em."

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"Oh, okay..."

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Thwack! Crick crick crick crikrikrikrikrakrakraKRAKRAKRASSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!

A drawn out sigh, "Why did y' follow me out here anyway? What about yer folks?"

There was a soft sound, lost to the wind. "Don't worry about them, I've... eh... got a lot of freedom with what I get to do, yeah. So! How's about I help you chop this wood and help you out?" the filly quickly changed the subject.

There was a loud noise, it could have been a bark, "Rarely've I seen one so young actually handle an ax, fewer still without hands."

"Hey! I'm stronger than I look, y'know! Eek!" The filly jumped back from a hatchet which embedded itself just a foot away from where she had been standing. "What they hay was that for? You could've hurt somepony!"

There was a dismissive sort of noise, "I didn't, though. Yer thinkin' to help? There's yer ax. We're going to chop these trees into sections and load 'em in that cart."

Thunk

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"Nnngh!" The filly took the handle in her muzzle, doing what she could to hide her strain while she lifted it. There was a soft flapping noise as her wings absently beat with the strain.

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---

"Ehm, Mr. Sigfrid?" The filly piped up, almost startling herself by her own voice. "Th... thank you..."

Sigfrid stopped and turned, a gentle expression coloring his face. "What was that, little one?"

"EEP! Erm, I was just saying I-I'll race you to the Golden Oaks!" She blurted, wings buzzing with a childish fury as she sped ahead of the large creature.

"Ye takin' off when I'm still haulin' the last load, are ye? I'll make it a fair chase yet!"

With surprising fluidity, the mountain of flesh shrugged off the harness and took merry chase to a little orange and violet blur, whizzing ahead on her little scooter, weaving between the townponies and some carts, whooping madly as she slowly opened distance to Sigfrid. She spared a look back and stuck her tongue out, blowing a raspberry just before she took the final turn before the home stretch. Her victory nearly in hoof, she put everything she could into flapping her little wings--

CrrcRRAASSSHHHH!

Hearing the commotion up ahead, Sigfrid slid around the corner, avoiding becoming a destructive participant in an upturned hay cart with several colored limbs poking through the hay, now under the cart. With a shrug, he flipped the cart away and began digging through the hay, grabbing a hoof in each huge paw of his, lifting the orange and violet filly out of the...

"EEEH! It's got me!"

"It's got me, too! Git it off!"

"Mph MnmnMMmph!"

The massive man stared at the two shrieking filly-shaped banshees in his hands, both upside down, one a coat of soft white and a two colored mane, the other a yellow coated pony with a large bow hanging out of her hair. He set the two down, hoping to assuage their fears before pulling Scootaloo out of the hay.

"Mphooey! What the hay just happened?" The young pegasus asked, confused but appearing unhurt. The other two fillies began snickering to themselves, outwardly trying not to guffaw. "Hey! What's so funny you two?" The pegasus demanded, trying to be taken serious despite a growing smile playing on her lips and odd bits of hay poking from her cropped mane.

The two fillies glanced at each other before a noise which was trying to be a cough expunged itself from the yellow fillies muzzle. "Eh, heh, I guess It's not, really? It's funny that you're takin' it so seriously, though! Ah'm Apple Bloom, and this here's, uh, Sweetie Bot-"

"It's Sweetie Belle! Jeez, I told you! Anyway, we both found out that we got invited to Diamond Tiara's cuteceñera, and since we're both... You are too! Ohmigosh! We should all go together!"

"Wait, Diamond Tiara? Why are we going to her cuteceñera party? She's so mean! And now that she's got her cutie mark, she's gonna be even worse!"

"Well, maybe now that she's got her Cutie Mark, she'll be less mean! I mean, maybe she was just upset that she didn't have it yet? She invited us to her party, she could have changed y'know."

"Psh, yeah right! She's probably just inviting fillies like us to flaunt her dumb cutie mark, especially over us Blank Flanks!"

Before the conversation could go much further, Sigfrid chimed in, "Pardon th' interruption, What's a 'cutie mark'?"

Three muzzles dropped, practically clanging off the sidewalk while three little fillies stammered trying to figure out if the man was serious. "Really?" Apple Bloom started, " It is the de-fining feature of a grown-up pony! It shows every pony what yer good at! And everypony in our class 'sides us has one..."

Sigfrid looked up at the late afternoon sky in contemplation. After a moment or two he did a quick turn around, making a show of looking at himself. "Huh, well I guess I ain't a 'grown-up pony' either, am I?" After a dry laugh he continued, "Look, lasses, ye'll find yerselves sooner'n ye think. Now, run about now, Scootie thanks fer th' help." And without another word, turned and left to strap back in and haul his lumber to the other side of town.

As he walked past, the orange filly called out, "It's Scootaloo! And you're welcome!" before giving one last glance at the wagon and resigning herself to the party.

---

The stream was practically buzzing with activity as Sigfrid settled on a tree stump near a pile of logs and other wooden fixtures that were beginning to resemble a cottage. He took a pull from his water skin while he looked out at the horizon, fiery oranges and playful pinks dancing across the sky as the sun set. After what seemed an eternity, the sun had set. Sigfrid remembered what he had been told about the sun, about how their princess pushed the sun through the sky, raising it from horizon to horizon. It seemed about as reasonable as the wolves who chased the sun and moon of his world, he figured. A few more minutes passed before he finally heaved a sigh and got to his feet, a veritable mountain in motion to the small critters gathered around his soon-to-be abode.

Sigfrid gave the beams a firm pat and, satisfied they weren't going anywhere, and made his way back to Fluttershy's cabin. He had to admit, as much an inconvenience as he knew he must have been, the pink-maned mare made every effort to hide the inconvenience of housing such an alien creature to this world.

---

The sun was just peaking over the horizon as Sigfrid opened the door to Fluttershy's cabin and nearly tripped over the bundled up form of Scootaloo. Cursing softly to himself, Sigfrid took a look at the pegasus, watching as her lithe form stirred slightly under her cover, opening a bleary eye to the pink and grey world around her. "M-momm-" The squeaky voice cut off as the violet eyes cleared up. "Erm, h-Hey there, Sigfrid! Funny se-seeing you here! I was just, uhh, y'know..."

The filly was silenced by a raised eyebrow. "Ye must've jes got here, then. It's real early fer one of yer age ta be about, it's no wonder ye fell asleep. What can I do for ye?"

A moment later, the filly caught up and laughed nervously. "Er, yeah, I guess I should've waited a bit before coming over, h-heh." She put her light blanket into her bag, "Well, I was wondering, if I could help out with your house some more today?" The filly blurted the sentence out like she expected something to explode.

Another raised eyebrow. "Later, I think, right now I'm off ta Sweet Apple Acres ta do mah part fer the day. Don't ye got school anyhow?" Scootaloo looked a little sheepish at that. "Y-yeah I do, but-" "No buts! What would yer parents say about their filly skippin' school jes to help out some strange creature in the middle o'nowhere?" Sigfrid's expression softened, somewhat. "Tell ye what, I'll be done at tha farm, or thereabouts anyhow, by the time yer out of class, so jes drop by then an' we can get started, how's that?" Another moment passed before Scootaloo put a smile on that very nearly reached her eyes and agreed, scampering off in what Sigfrid could only assume was the direction of the schoolhouse.

The huge man gave a look to the sun, still barely peeking over the treeline in the distance, and set off towards the farm. He had a feeling this was going to be a very long day.

---

The sun was still high in the sky, only recently beginning its journey towards the West horizon, when Sigfrid finished his daily work on the farm. As he was getting ready to set off from the farm, he watched as Scootaloo trotted up and hailed him. "Mister Sigfrid! I know I asked to help out with your house but there's a new unicorn in town and she says she's the most powerful unicorn in Equestria! I, er, well I wondered if maybe you wanted to go see? With me?" Sigfrid smiled, and after a moment shrugged his broad shoulders. "Alright, Scootie, should be interestin' at least." He left his not meager hope that this unicorn might be able to help him get home unsaid as the pair set off.

"So, lass, how did yer friends little party go?"

"It... well it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Diamond Tiara, as expected, just used it as an excuse to make fun of us blank flanks. We had to stand up together and eventually Twilight stood up for us. It was pretty embarrassing."

"Ah. Well, ye can't be so quick to find yerself, ye wouldn't want to stop too early thinkin' ye had yerself right from the gate! Yer whole life is a journey to define ye, an the day ye start-"
"MOUSTACHE!"

Sigfrid reeled as a little purple and green blur streaked past. "Well ye get ma point, now let's watch yer powerful unicorn." The filly nodded as the two pushed a bit through the crowd as a blue pony wearing a tall purple hat and a matching cape strode confidently on the stage.

"Well, well, well, it seems we have some neighsayers in the audience! Who is so ignorant to challenge the magical ability, of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Do they not know, they are in the presence of the most powerful unicorn, in Equestria?!" The blue pony was practically shouting at the crowd. A few seconds passed, and this Trixie saw fit to set some more fancy magic around her stage, a grand display to be sure, and Rainbow Dash zipped up to the stage.

"So, 'Great and Powerful' Trixie, what makes you think you're so Awesome anyway?" The pegasus asked, hovering a short distance from Trixie. Trixie laughed to herself before responding, matter-of-factly, "Why, Only the Great and Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish the dreaded Ursa Major!" This statement was met with a shocked gasp from the audience, and a blast of fanfare from the stage.

Sigfrid leaned down a ways as the spectacle continued, "What's an Ursa Major?"

Scootaloo looked up, mouth open just a little, "What do you mean, 'What's an Ursa Major'? It's only one of the biggest and strongest Star Beasts in all Equestria! They're as big as a mountain, louder than thunder and their swaths of destruction are like earthquakes! Or, at least that's what Miss Cheerilee says."

"Ah, they're just big, bad beasties then?"

"Er, I suppose so, but they're made up of magic! I think. You'd have to ask Twilight or Cheerilee about it, I kinda woke up part way through that lesson..."

"Well, if it's such a feat to vanquish one, might be she's strong as she says supposin' she's tellin' the truth."

"Mm, d'you think she'd lie about that, though?"

"Aye, I've seen her type, lots of flashes, lots of noise, but in the end they usually wind up more bark than bite."

"Trrixie is undoubtedly the best in Ponyville!" There was silence in the crowd for a second. "What, don't believe the Great and Powerful Trixie? Mhmhm, well, I challenge you, Ponyvillians: Anything you can do, I can do better! Any takers? Any one? Or is Trixie destined to be the Greatest Equine who has ever lived!" There was more fanfare and theatrics as the crowd began murmuring softly, ponies wondering who would step up to face the magician.

After a couple of Twilight's friends gave an attempt, Rainbow Dash being hurtled off in a spinning, sprawling mess and Rarity running off after her hair had gone green and somewhat beehivish, Sigfrid stood up and walked onto the stage.

"Oh, looks like the Frreak has come to challenge the Great and Powerful Trrixie! Is this what you've come to? Well then, creature, name your challenge!" The blue magician smirked on.

"Ah, that'd jes be a little game I grew up on, I can't remember the name of it but ye'll pick up the rules right quick I reckon." With that said, the massive man lifted his hand and thrust his massive fist into the Great and Powerful snout, knocking her clean off her own stage, shortly before he was encapsulated in a rather familiar shade of purple bubble as the whole crowd made excited noises, evidently split on whether they were happy for the spectacle or terrified of the senseless violence.

An hour and a long talking to about how violence never solves anything later, The mountain of a man was released from his bubble prison. "Please, Sigfrid," Twilight pleaded, "We're trying to help you. If you go around punching everypony who's a little obnoxious and arrogant you'll never make it through the Grand Galloping Gala, which I remind you is NOT that far ahead of us!"

"Alright, Twilight. In ma defense, she said any challenge-"

"She meant magical challenge!"

"Well maybe she should've made that more clear, is what I'm sayin'. Yer sure she's still breathin'?"

At this, Twilight's expression softened and looked behind Sigfrid to the makeshift tent they'd set up to treat Trixie, doubling as an easy way to keep other ponies from snooping and getting in the way. "Yes, no permanent damage and we'll have her fixed up in no time. Remember, we're not built the same as you are, ponies, especially unicorns, aren't meant to take a hit from a minotaur, let alone whatever you are."

Sigfrid nodded. He started to say something, then decided against it. and stretched his limbs a bit. "Well, I guess I should get goin', I should make some way on ma cabin, I figure. Good luck with tha healin'." Twilight gave him one final nod before he walked his way back to his little cabin site, making a bit of progress here and there. He didn't need a whole lot more done, some planks for the floor, glass for the windows, the roof and some furniture were all he needed. He nodded to himself and started back to Fluttershy's cottage about the time that the reds of sunset started staining the western skies. All in all, not a bad day at all.

---

There were screams. Howls of a beast echoed through the still sleepy town. Panic was beginning to overtake the town as the great creature took chunks out of almost every building it passed. Two unicorns were pestering another battered, recovering unicorn, something about a means of redemption, a way to prove herself. Trixie looked out of her mobile stage at the translucent beast thundering down one of the village streets. Trixie took off running, screaming the whole while, not bothering with her cape or hat, with the two others in tow.

Eventually the trio came to a dead end. "Great and Powerful Trixie, you've got to vanquish the Ursa!" The more rotund of Trixies little entourage cried, "Yeah! Vanquish so we can watch!" called the taller one. "It took a lot of trouble to get that thing here!" the short one continued.

"Wait. You brought this here? Are you out of your little pony MINDS?" Trixie exclaimed, trying to focus on something besides her imminent demise. The short one was about to call something else out when the Ursa silenced him with a roar. "C'mon, you're the Great and Powerful Trixie, remember? You vanquished an Ursa Major!" called the tall one, Snails, she thought. She took a gulp and stared and the enormous blue beast, almost all her focus simply on not shaking or running. "A-all right. Here goes!" Her horn lit up, and a rope trick and some lightning later the creature was rather less than amused, and worse, unfazed. "Uh oh..." Trixie whimpered as the beast raised a massive paw, ready to smush the three ponies flat. It roared once more. This is it, Trixie, Trixie thought, This is how it ends. She felt the ground shake and she opened her eyes to see the Ursa was no longer looking at her, and she could seen the moonlight glinting off something just behind it's shoulder, though it was hard to tell through the oozing mist surrounding it. She glanced over across the plaza to where the Ursa was looking and saw the same vicious brute that assaulted her earlier charging the creature, what looked like an axe whirling in its strange digited forelimb.

"Run! Git out o'here!" Sigfrid called to the three cowering ponies, "I'll keep 'er busy!" He didn't spare another look at the trio as the massive bear, easily twice his height or more, glared almost more with annoyance at the axe buried deeply just behind its foreleg. This would not be as easy as the wooden wolves, Sigfrid figured, raising his axe and pushing the enormous paw off course so it wouldn't crush him.

The man took a swipe at the paw he had just redirected, scoring a hit the Ursa barely seemed to register. A thick, starry haze oozed out of the wound, and Sigfrid very quickly found something else to worry about as the beast continued forward, swinging another massive paw at him, forcing him back to avoid it. "All right, ye beastie, I'll show ye yet why they called me Bjoernskinn!" He gave his own roar as he lept over the other forelimb and ducked beneath the great bear's torso, grabbing his other axe and rolling away. He popped up and turned quickly, axes at the ready.

The Ursa took even less kindly to the axe being removed than it took to taking the axe, evident by its own roar and the greater flow of foggy ichor seeping from the wound. The massive bear took another swipe with its uninjured paw, and with a short dash and a generous nudge with one of his axes Sigfrid avoided the blow and took the opportunity to give two quick swipes of his own, opening two shallow gashes just above the joint. For his troubles he was knocked back as the same paw swung backwards and lifted the man from his feet, sending him back-first into one of the buildings. "Oh ye like it rough, then?" Sigfrid shouted, mostly to himself as he got back to his feet, "Well I ken a thing 'r two about playin' rough!" He charged again, rolling underneath the Ursa's paw and popping up to sink both of his axes into the back of it's leg. He wrenched them free in time to avoid being flung away again by ducking back underneath the massive torso.

He came out the other side of the torso and gave another quick swipe, adding another shallow gash to that leg before he jumped backward a ways, having a harder time seeing the slightly luminescent creature through the thickening starry haze that had slowly been filling the plaza. He caught a glint of one of the claws just in time to get an axe up, pushing the paw to crash to his side and he gave a hearty upward swipe, digging deep into the backside of the shoulder of this leg and only adding to the spray of hazy ichor in the air, but he was met for his trouble with a loud cry of pain. He smiled, yanking the axe back out just in time to get swatted again. He crashed into another building across the way, landing in a heap. He got back to his feet, reasonably sure he had broken a rib or two again, and gave another yell as he charged the beast again. Sigfrid swatted an incoming paw away and buried an axe into the chest of the beast, and, unable to pull it out in time, left it in as he rolled underneath the leg which was still planted on the ground before the Ursa got another swipe at him.

The Ursa bellowed again, evidently feeling the last strike, and lashed out in a frenzy that tossed Sigfrid across the plaza yet again. As it moved to press it's attack, the wind picked up. There was something interesting about the wind, hard to place, a strange oscillation, when a melody started to be carried by the wind. The man managed to get himself upright again and his axe in position to push another swipe wide, though it seemed the beast was maybe not as forceful with the attack as it should have been. Curious, Sigfrid declined to make another attack, allowing the Ursa to make one more flagging attack before it succumbed to the tune, visibly calming and actually beginning to doze. Amazed, Sigfrid looked around and saw Twilight, horn glowing brighter than he'd ever seen a unicorn's horn glow, evidently struggling with whatever she was doing.

A few seconds later, the man saw what she was doing as a large shape enveloped in her magic approached, the Ursa also glowed, rising into the sky and meeting with what appeared to be a makeshift bottle, which it clutched greedily and sucked on the top of, before being carried off into the distance towards the Everfree Forest. Twilight's horn flared the whole while, and the pony was evidently under a lot of stress under the load. Finally, after almost a minute, she let her horn's glow die down, and she almost collapsed but for the battered Sigfrid catching her. "That was amazing, Twilight!" Came the cry of the small dragon, "and an excellent use of number 16! So it really is possible to vanquish an Ursa Major!"

The purple unicorn smiled a little sheepishly, "Well, that's actually what I was reading up on just before you got me! the only reason I was able to take care of it was because it was still just an Ursa Minor!" There was a gasp from all the ponies who had come out to the commotion. "Wait yer little hindquarters, tha' was still jes' a little cub?" The unicorn nodded. "Ach, now I feel a little bad about it."

Twilight smiled somberly, "You helped other ponies to escape, and kept the Ursa's attention for long enough that I could cast my spell! It may take a while to scrub this weird mist out of everything, and you may have to stay in bed for a couple days, but you saved ponies. I may not agree with the means, but in the end it's clear you only meant to help, so thank you." Sigfrid smiled in spite of himself.

A few minutes later, nopony could fine either hide or hair of Trixie, and it was evident she got as many of her things as she could and left. They had, however managed to corner the two unicorns responsible for bringing the Ursa into town, Snips and Snails, who prostrated in front of Twilight, announcing that they were ready for any punishment deemed necessary. Once they were set to their task of cleaning up the aftermath, everypony began to walk home. "Sigfrid?" The purple unicorn called out. "You should rest up at my house. Fluttershy is great at treating minor injuries, but I think you probably need a bit more than a minor healing, and it'll be best if somepony with healing magic watched over you." The man nodded, adrenaline wearing off and his whole everything beginning to ache in varying degrees. Sigfrid followed Twilight to the library, let her cast some spell and found himself rapidly losing consciousness.