In the alicorn kingdom of Asgard, the story of the first Hearts and Hooves Day played out. We all know how the story ends. A dragon came. A kingdom fell. And Chaos reigned.
There's an old story about the first Hearts and Hooves Day. It took place long ago, in the lost kingdom of Asgard. It begins with a lonely prince brewing a love poison for a beautiful princess, and it ends with the war that wiped out the alicorns. It's the story of Loki and Baldur, the story of Sleipnir, and the story of how a dragon came, a kingdom fell, and Chaos reigned.
The silent battlefield smelled of warm ash, and the drifting smoke was so thick that Odin had to clear it away with his wings as he moved through. The brawny stallion's single remaining eye watered beneath his hood as he led a company of his fellow alicorns behind him, marching across the blackened earth like a funeral procession. Draped in burned robes and scorched armour, a severed head hanging by its mane from his side, he passed through an endless expanse of the dead and dying.
Some of the dead were alicorns of his own army, every one as grey as the ash around them, just like Odin himself. Others were shadowy creatures of darkness, or deformed monstrosities. Some were translucent equines, their icy corpses slowly melting away, while still others were bizarre chimeras, born of unnatural combinations of various animals. Further afield were corpses of even stranger beings – trees with legs and faces, bipedal monsters with stone skin, and cyclopic squid-creatures bleeding streaks of glowing green.
So many armies had clashed on this site. Yet in the end it was the alicorns that stood victorious.
Odin's eye lingered on a single chimera lying in the path ahead. It was a hybrid of a pony and a dragon, sporting the former's chest and face, as well as stature, but the latter's legs, tail, and hindquarters. The chimera, already struggling to get up on his feet, snarled when he saw them approaching. His claws reached out for a nearby sword, buried in the ash, but Odin's horn lit up first, bubbling with black and green alicorn magic.
Quick as a flash, he drew his enchanted spear, Gungnir, and struck the chimera's head with the blunt end. The chimera slumped to the ground, and Odin walked on past, barely breaking stride.
"Do the carrion not know that the battle is done?" he muttered.
The line of alicorns marched onward into the endless wasteland. All the way, Odin's focus remained on a distant landmark – a crystal tree which loomed over the battlefield, its branches forming the image of a star. Although it too was covered in a layer of ash and soot, it still stood resplendent against the otherwise desolate landscape, light shining off its cool blue surface.
Eventually, Odin and his followers came to rest in its shadow. Silence fell as they bowed, together.
"Mighty Yggdrasil..." he said, removing his hood as ash fell from his mane. "Mother... thy guidance won us this day. The invaders are destroyed. Thy will is done."
From behind Odin's procession, four alicorns emerged, carrying two corpses. With a nod, Odin bid them to lay their charges before Yggdrasil, and they rested the bodies upon her roots. One was a female chimera, bizarre even by the standards of the others, with a feline body, serpentine neck, and many mismatched arms and wings. The other was simply a black alicorn stallion, unique in colouration among their kind, his bloodied armour a mirror to Odin's own.
"Behold," said Odin, "Bestla, the Spirit of Chaos, and Borr, the Lord of Order. We present these conquests to thee. Have we served thee well, Mother?"
A quiet chiming emanated from the tree. Yggdrasil spoke without words, but in their hearts the alicorns felt her meaning clearly.
I am not Order. I am not a master to be served. T'was I that gave ye the means, but your liberty was earned by your own choices. My will is only that ye have the freedom to make those choices, and the wisdom to make them well. Your creator is dead, and you are his slaves no longer. His armies, and the hordes of Discord, will no longer menace this realm. Now, just as I gave you the gift of heart, so too do I give you Asgard. I will always be here to guide you should you have need of it, but henceforth, the alicorns must forge their own destiny.
Odin stood tall, but his followers remained prostrate. Licking his dried lips, he considered his next words, eyes turned to the ground.
"These ponies... they choose to follow me. They say that... since I led them into battle, I should be king. I should wear the crown. Is it right of us to have another king? Would I... become just like our father? Another tyrant of order?"
Yggdrasil glowed with a gentle light, prompting Odin to look back up.
Order would say that there must always be a king, 'tis true. But 'tis Discord who would tell thee to never have one, who would have you live in anarchy. I am neither. I am Harmony, and I stand for balance. Learn from thy father, Borr, and lead thy people as thou believest thou must. Learn from Bestla, and remember that individuals must be free to live as they choose. Above all, learn from me, and treat thy subjects with kindness. Compassion shall prevent thee from being another tyrant. Love is what shall redeem us.
Odin took a deep breath.
"But am I ready?" he asked. "I know not what awaits us. Do I have the wisdom to guide these ponies? Will my legacy be greatness? Or failure?"
There is wisdom in knowing thy limitations. There have been many kings who could have been great, were it not for their own arrogance, but that is not a flaw that thou possesseth. Thou hast the wisdom to question thyself, and seek good counsel before acting, and that is already more than most. Thy true test is whether thou wilt let thy doubts consumeth thee, or temper thee into something stronger.
"Thou speakest truly, mother." Odin nodded. "I shall endeavour to always seek wisdom and good counsel."
Please present thy companion to me.
Odin hesitated, before looking down to the severed head hanging from his side. As gently as he could, he unhooked its mane from his armour, and floated it before Yggdrasil upon a cloud of roiling darkness.
The stallion's head closed its milky white eyes and nodded, as if in approximation of a bow.
Mimir, thou lost much this day. Thy life, thy body, the eternal rest that should have been thine, had the necromancer not stolen it from thee. Yet here thou remainest, alive and free, if not whole. If thou desirest, I can end thy suffering... But, if thou yet hast the will to linger, I would grant thee a boon – the knowledge to be Odin's guiding hoof. Thou wouldst drink deep of my well, and share all that thou tasteth, for the good of Asgard, and all ponykind. Tell me, is this thy wish?
"Mother..." Mimir's voice echoed hauntingly, like many voices speaking in unison. "Thou dost me a great honour. If 'tis thy desire, I shall serve."
Then our compact is made.
A beam of blinding white light shot from the star in the centre of the tree, straight into Mimir's horn. The black and green cloud of Odin's magic bled away, and a white light now suspended the head in the air. When Yggdrasil's light finally dimmed, Mimir's head still floated, suspended in a wispy white glow coming from his own horn, and shining behind his eyes.
I have given to Mimir the gift of prophecy, said Yggdrasil. He shall be the eye thou lost, looking towards the future, to quell thy doubts and prepare thee for whatever may come. If 'tis good counsel thou seekest, thou wilt find none better.
Odin knelt again.
"Thou dost a great kindness give us, mighty Yggdrasil. On behalf of all alicorns... nay, all ponies, I give thee our thanks, and pledge to be the king that my ponies deserve. I vow to uphold thine example, not out of the blind obedience of Order, but because I believe in the path thou hast shown us. I will lead Asgard to the greatness that it deserves. And on my honour, blood will never spill upon thy roots again."
"Aye," Mimir agreed. "I too pledge to serve well and long, for the good of our people."
Prosperity upon thee and thy kingdom, Odin of Asgard. The road to victory was not bloodless, but my faith in thee was well-placed. Go now, and take thy throne, my lord.
Odin rose to his hooves and turned around, his soldiers also rising as he faced them. Mimir's disembodied head floated by his side, white light pouring from his eyes, and horn thrumming with power. Odin looked over his weary followers, with their scorched clothes and dented armour. Ash and blood covered them, and few lacked for scars or deformities.
Yet, every single one of them smiled at him in that moment.
Together, in perfect harmony, they gripped their spears by hoof and horn, and rhythmically drummed them against the earth. They started slowly, and built into a crescendo. Odin grinned, stepping forward, and when the drumming of their spears was at its most rapid, he drew Gungnir and raised it high. His weapon ignited with a brilliant flame, and Odin's warriors all cheered.
"Hail, Odin, King of Asgard!" declared one of the warrior mares in front.
"HAIL, ODIN, KING OF ASGARD!" the others chorused.
And upon that ashen field, the true kingdom of the alicorns was born.
It wasn't often that Loki had the chance to leave the city. Not that he didn't want to, but his work kept him preoccupied, and Odin did not suffer idleness when he still had duties to fulfil. It had been a relief when his elder brother had asked him to come out with them to the fields of Vígríðr for support. Their cart trundled along a dirt road, earthy petrichor wafting from the grass after the previous night's rain.
Lounging across his side of the cart, Loki twisted his head about to take in the sights. Trees and bushes and hills occasionally dotted the vibrant green landscape along the way, many of them relatively recent additions by the residents. Vígríðr had been the site of a devastating battle generations ago, and these were the settlers' attempts at instilling some homely charm to the countryside.
The golden city was far behind them now, while off in the distance to his left Loki could see the crystal Rainbow Bridge, the Bifrost, rising up over the fields towards the Midgard portal. Further ahead along the road, humble homesteads of wood and straw lined the path, where some of the few alicorns who had chosen to live outside of Valhalla had settled.
Loki looked over to his big brother. The great grey mass of an alicorn sat still on the other side of the cart, head bowed, hooves tapping nervously together. Strands of a long red mane fell beside his face, matching the short red beard around his muzzle. Loki leaned over, and snapped his eagle claws in front of him, causing Thor to look up.
"What?" he said brusquely.
Loki lay back, arms behind his head, his draconic tail dangling off the back of the cart.
"Just wanting to see if anypony was still in there," he said with a grin. "Thou hast been moping like an old widowed maid since we left Valhalla."
"I am not moping, Loki. I am contemplating." Thor's deep baritone almost seemed to make the cart shake. "I was not prepared for this news... nor for this responsibility."
"Pfft." Loki waved his paw. "What responsibility? Thou hast no obligation."
"Honor obliges me. I cannot simply ignore them." Thor shook his head and looked to the floor of the cart. "I must make this right. Somehow."
Loki rolled his eyes and snapped his claws again. A ball of yarn appeared between his hands, which he began unravelling and tying in knots between his fingers.
"I fail to see how marriage is the answer to that," he remarked.
"Those girls deserve a father. Their mothers deserve a provider. I only regret that I can marry but one of them."
"I'll bet thou dost," Loki said with a smirk. "But all this is presuming that either of them will even want to marry thee. They may not be too fond of thee after thou rannest off and left them with their needy little bundles of misery. And what is this about only marrying one of them, anyway? Thou art a prince! What is stopping thee?"
"Monogamy is the law of Asgard," said another, slightly less booming voice towards the back of the cart. "One stallion to one mare. That is the order of things."
Loki levelled a disdainful look at his other brother. He was smaller than Thor, browner, his mane shorter, and his beard longer, but his eyes were the same deep blue, and they looked back at Loki with a cold indifference.
"T'was thou that wrote the law that way, Tyr," he said with a sneer. "Monogamy is a crock of thine own design that thou art trying to justify in hindsight."
"Society requires order, Loki. Many species are naturally monogamous. 'Tis only logical for alicorn law to follow natural law."
"Should we really be appealing to nature when writing such laws?" Loki drawled, tossing his yarn aside. "None of us here are natural. Alicorns were the twisted experiments of a tyrannical despot, and draconequui were created by a mad chaos goddess for her own entertainment. If we only did what was natural to us, we would be locked in mortal combat as we speak."
Tyr sighed. "Every conversation with thee feels like mortal combat, Loki."
"Could the both of you please cease?" called a mare's chiding, dulcet voice. "Many cares weigh upon our brother, which we are here to help him bear. He does not need his siblings bickering like shrews adding to his burden!"
Loki leaned out of the cart, towards the tall white mare pulling them along. She looked back over her shoulder at him, golden locks tumbling around her face, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.
"Bickering? Me?" Loki held his lion paw to his heart, feigning offense. "I would never! We were merely having a spirited debate on morality, law, and nature!"
"A debate ye have had too many times," Thor sighed, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead.
"Fine, fine," Loki said, waving his hands. "Have it thy way, Baldur. I know when I am not wanted."
He slumped back in the cart, defeated. Tyr's mouth curled into a subtle smile, provoking a scowl from Loki. Baldur nodded primly and turned her eyes back to the road.
They were coming close to the village now. Along the road, between the houses, alicorns busied themselves with their menial tasks. A blacksmith crafted horseshoes at his humble forge. A gardener raked the soil that she intended to plant her vegetables in. A housewife hung her washing upon a clothesline, while a pair of foals pranced in circles about her hooves.
As Baldur pulled their cart through the little town, a few of the residents turned to glance their way, eyes lingering suspiciously upon Loki, or going wide when they recognised his siblings. Some whispered to each other and pointed, and Loki sat up and spread his arms wide to bask in their bewilderment.
"It's the princes," he heard one of the villagers say.
"The children of Odin..."
"That's Thor!" called one, loudly.
"Princess Baldur!"
"Is that Loki?"
Loki shot a mischievous grin to their adoring public.
The cart came to a stop when several of the villagers crowded around, blocking the path. They fawned over Baldur, heaping admiration on the mare, who smiled and blushed as she greeted each of them. Two teenaged fillies on the other side of the cart squealed and cried when Thor briefly acknowledged them with a small smile of his own. Tyr just smouldered quietly to himself, looking annoyed to have gone unacknowledged.
Eventually, Baldur was able to talk the villagers into letting them pass, and they carried on through, leaving the small gathering behind them. Once they were away, she let out a small sigh.
"We must be close now," she said. "Dost thou recognise the houses?"
"Aye," said Thor, crossing his hooves over his chest and hunching. "Last one on the left, with the smoking chimney. We shall see her first."
There was a mare in the garden when they pulled up, a white mare with a dark red mane, leaning over her fence to get a better look at her approaching guests. Loki noticed her cutie mark, a quill and inkpot, and judged that she was probably some manner of amateur playwright or novelist. Her eyes went wide when they settled on Thor. The cart came to a stop, and Thor grimly rose and stepped off the back.
He circled around slowly, his eyes only reluctantly meeting the mare's.
"...Hello, Járnsaxa," he said, his deep rumbling voice almost quiet for once.
She took a moment to respond, seemingly lost for words.
"Hello," she mumbled back. She spoke in the tongue of the Midgard tribes rather than her native Alicornish, as was the custom of the young.
Baldur unhitched herself from the cart, and Tyr carefully stepped off as well, minding not to dip his brass foreleg in the muddy puddle next to them. Loki did not bother to get off, and stayed lounging in the cart, while Thor coughed awkwardly to break the silence.
"My mother, Freya, discovered recently, while she did walk in dreams... that I had left thee with child after our last encounter. I am... deeply sorry. I swear, I never knew. I wish now to make it right, for thee, and for thy child. Our child. If thou wilt let me."
Járnsaxa looked down and scraped her hoof against the dirt.
"I never thought to come find thee and ask," she said. "I thought thou wouldst find us beneath thee. That we would be too lowly for thine attention."
"Nay," said Thor, slowly shaking his head. "Never."
There was a tense silence, as neither pony seemed to know what to say.
"...Is she here?" Thor finally asked.
"Aye," said Járnsaxa, looking up and smiling. "She should be just—"
Right on cue, the door to her house flew open, and a small white alicorn filly emerged into the garden, saddlebags at her side, a sunhat on her head, and a butterfly net clutched in her mouth. She grinned around the net's handle and trotted out, almost right past them, before her mother reached down and stopped her.
"Celestia, where art thou going?"
Loki noted with interest how the filly's mane was a bright pink, despite both her parents being redheads. It seemed to be a trend among the alicorns. The first Asgardians had all been grey, as their tyrannical forefather had designed them, but each generation since had grown more garishly colourful than the last. Perhaps, in time, the alicorns would be as bright and vibrant as the ponies of Midgard. It was an interesting thought.
Celestia spat out her net.
"I was just going out to play with Luna. I shall be back before supper."
"Thou weren't going to sneak across the Bifrost to the Canterlot Hills again, wert thou?" Járnsaxa said with a stern note. "Heimdall the Bridgekeeper hath complained to me more than once of thine antics."
Celestia fidgeted. "Nay..."
Loki smiled. Foals did cause their parents such chaos.
His smile caught the filly's attention. She blinked when she noticed him, and looked to each of the others in turn.
"Mother, who are they?" she whispered.
Járnsaxa cleared her throat.
"Thor, this is Skinfaxi, or Celestia." Járnsaxa led her closer to Thor. "Celestia, dearest... This is thy father, the prince."
Celestia blinked, staring up at the towering stallion with wide eyes.
"Art thou really?" she asked, voice full of awe and wonder.
"I am." Thor smiled down at her, before crouching to her level. "I did not know of thee until recently. Thy grandmother, Queen Freya, discovered thee whilst dream-walking. I am so very sorry to have left ye both without a father for so long, but I vow to never leave thee again."
Celestia took a tiny step forward, seemingly unsure of herself. Then she rushed in and tackled Thor with both hooves, burying her head in his bushy beard. He grunted in surprise, then hesitantly lifted a hoof to stroke her mane, eyes misting slightly.
"Awww," Baldur cooed.
Tyr smiled warmly.
Loki mimed gagging in the background, unnoticed by everyone.
When they broke apart, Thor placed his hooves on his daughter's shoulders, and held her while he looked into her eyes.
"I understand that thy mother told thee of me, growing up? And that thou knowest of thy sister as well?"
Celestia nodded.
"She told me that my father was the prince of Asgard, and that Luna was my little sister, but that we have different mothers," she said. "And she told me that we could not tell anypony. But, um... Me and Luna still like to play princesses sometimes..."
Thor smiled. "Well, I would very much like to meet thy little sister as well."
"Um..." Celestia looked down for a moment and bit her lip. "She's... probably waiting at the creek right now."
Járnsaxa frowned.
"That would be the creek beneath the Bifrost, I take it?" Thor chuckled. "Very well. We shall go there next, after I have spoken to her mother as well."
"Sif is not at home today," said Járnsaxa. "She went to Valhalla for market. Luna stayed with us last night."
"Oh. That is... disappointing. I had hoped to speak with the both of you on a matter..."
"It shall have to wait," Baldur declared. "We have come all this way. Thou canst hardly leave without speaking to both daughters."
"Aye, that is so. We shall proceed to the creek, then."
A short while later, they were back in the cart again. Baldur pulled them towards the distant Rainbow Bridge, with Celestia and her mother now joining the group. The filly sat between her parents, together taking up one side of the cart, while Tyr squeezed on towards the back, as Loki had refused to make room on his side.
Celestia stared at him as they traveled along, eyes dancing with a child's curiosity.
"What art thou?" she finally asked a little way into the journey.
"Whatever dost thou mean?" Loki asked, feigning ignorance.
"I mean thou art not a pony. What art thou?"
"Not a pony? Of course I am! I was born an alicorn just like thee!"
"T-Thou wast?"
"Of course!"
"Then... why art thou...?"
"Like this? Oh, I had an accident a few years back. Dost thou see my brother there?"
Tyr scowled as Loki gestured in his direction.
"Well, thou mayest have noticed that he is missing a foreleg. T'was bitten off on an adventure in Midgard, when he bound the great direwolf, Fenrir! Something similar happened to me... Only I lost mine fighting an ancient dragon! And he didn't just bite off my legs, he bit off everything! But when I came back home and asked the smith to make me some new legs just like my brother's, he didn't have any metal left! So I had to improvise.
"I took my tail here from the dragon I fought. I took my forelegs from a nasty griffon bandit, but I got the hind and forelegs mixed up. One of my hind legs came from another dragon, the other came from a nefarious goat priest, and I found other bits and pieces all over. Like these bat wings!"
Loki flapped his bat wings, showing off the only symmetrical parts of his body aside from his eyes.
"I even replaced my head," he finished. "Took it from a Midgardian horse, though of course I made some alterations..."
"Thou canst not replace thy head!" Celestia said accusingly.
"Nay? Then why does it come off?"
Loki removed his own head and dangled it in front of her. Celestia let out an ear-piercing scream and covered her eyes.
"Loki, that's quite enough!" Thor roared.
Tyr reached over and slapped Loki's disembodied face, spinning his head around until it floated back onto his neck.
"Ow," he said, putting a paw to his cheek.
Járnsaxa held her daughter close and shot Loki a furious glare.
"Ignore my fool brother," said Tyr, as the filly peeked out between her mother's wings. "He is a draconequus, one of the Jotun people, adopted by our father, Odin. They are part dragon, part pony. Loki here grew more parts, because he is a vile degenerate who experiments with dangerous chaos sorcery."
Loki crossed his arms and pouted. "I liked my story better."
Celestia calmed down the longer they traveled. But she avoided Loki's gaze, and instead asked her father all sorts of questions about life in Valhalla and the royal palace, what it was like to be a prince, and begged for tales of his various heroics. Finally back in his comfort zone, Thor's usual confidence returned as he recounted one of his many stories of defeating the Midgard Serpent. He even drew his magic hammer and swung it around mid-story to illustrate.
"And so, I brought down Mjolnir, and sent the foul serpent flying with a single mighty swing!" he boasted. "The fiend crashed upon the mountain, and the shockwave was felt from Griffonia to the Valley of Eden! I called down my thunder, and prepared to finish him, but at the last second, the coward opened a portal, and fled back to Svartalfheim with his tail between his legs!"
"I thought snakes did not have legs?" Celestia asked curiously.
"Jörmungandr is no mere snake, little one," said Tyr. "He is one of the two World Serpents, the last survivors of an ancient race which existed since before the stars themselves. It is said that he gorges upon time itself, and that he once served the Dark Lord Borr before Odin laid him low."
"...And he hath legs?"
Loki laughed, while Tyr let out a sigh.
"Aye, he hath legs."
"Who is the other World Serpent?" asked Celestia.
"Surtr," Thor said darkly. "The more reclusive of the two. He served the Spirit of Chaos, and fought against Jörmungandr in the Great War. Some say he rules over the chaos demons of Muspelheim. Others say he resides within Jotunheim's great rift, known as the Nexus."
"And some say he haunts Asgard, hiding in the dark places under thy bed or in thy closet!" said Loki, wiggling his fingers. "They say he comes out at night, and gobbles up good little fillies who are too well-behaved and always listen to their parents!"
"Loki," Baldur said with a dangerous inflection.
Loki leaned back and groaned.
"Why am I cursed with dullard alicorns for brothers and sisters? My kingdom for a pony who can take a joke!"
"Thou hast no kingdom," said Tyr. "Nor any claim to the throne."
"And thou hast no leg to stand on," Loki retorted. "Nor any claim to this seat!"
Tyr's brass foreleg appeared in Loki's arms, and he kicked his brother off the back of the cart, shoving him into the mud.
"LOKI!" Thor shouted.
Loki was too busy laughing to listen, and didn't stop laughing even as a field of blue magic yanked him off the cart as well, and a pair of hooves began pummeling him into the ground. Two more fields, Thor's identical blue and the golden yellow of Baldur's, eventually broke them apart. Loki was still in hysterics, even as rainbow-coloured blood dripped from his broken nose.
"That is enough!" said Baldur, glaring at them both.
"He started it!" Tyr snarled. "He always starts it!"
"Thou art a hundred and twelve!" said Baldur. "Act thine age!"
Tyr smouldered, while Baldur turned her glare on Loki next.
"I'm not even sorry!" he giggled.
Celestia stared on in bewilderment, while Járnsaxa slowly turned to Thor.
"...Is it... always like this?" she whispered.
"Aye," he answered without hesitation. "Every single day."
Eventually, despite Loki's numerous derailments, they arrived at the creek that ran beneath the crystal bridge of the Bifrost. In the shade of a willow tree beside the water, sitting on the grass, a midnight blue filly with a lighter blue mane traced circles in the dirt with a stick. She was smaller than her big sister, and bore little resemblance to her for the most part, but when she looked up at their approach and squinted suspiciously at them, Loki immediately saw her father's eyes.
The cart stopped a short way from the tree. Luna got up and walked over to meet them as they climbed out.
"Celly, why is thy mother here?" Loki heard her whisper. "Who are they? What is happening?"
Celestia didn't answer, only beamed a gap-toothed smile as she stood under Thor's wing. Thor cleared his throat and stepped forward.
"Hello... Luna," he said carefully. "I... had hoped to make this introduction with thy mother present, but I was told she is not at home."
"She went out for market day," said Luna, still giving him an uncertain look.
"...Right." Thor shuffled awkwardly. "Well... Nothing else for it, then. I am Thor. I am thy... father."
Luna blinked, but her frown did not go away. She pursed her lips and tilted her head, eyes running up and down the stallion, as if examining him again in a new light.
"Thou art my father?" she repeated.
"...Aye."
Luna was silent, contemplating. She stared up at him, and Loki leaned eagerly over the edge of the cart, literally on the edge of his seat.
"May I see thy hammer?" she finally asked.
Thor blinked, then broke into a grin. "Of course!"
He drew Mjolnir from his belt, and twirled the hammer in the air before floating it down to her.
Luna ran her hoof over the fine steelwork, tracing the intricate runes carved into the head, and the wood patterns and colourful gems that lined the handle. When she pressed a yellow gem in the middle, the hammer sparked with electricity, startling her.
"Careful," Thor chuckled. "Mjolnir is not to be handled lightly."
Luna touched it again, and met her father's eyes with a lingering look. He smiled, and let go of the hammer, letting it fall to the grass. Luna's horn sparked, and her face visibly strained as she hefted it with her own magic. They all watched as Luna gave it a few experimental swings.
"Thou likest that, dost thee?" said Thor, amused. "I recall when I was thine age—"
Luna smashed Mjolnir into his leg, and Thor let out a scream as he dropped to one knee.
Loki burst into hysterical laughter.
"That's for leaving and making mother sad!" Luna shouted, before running in and smashing his other knee. "'Tis what thou deservest!"
She went for a third strike, but Tyr's magic snatched the hammer out of her grasp before she could, and Járnsaxa was soon next to the filly, physically restraining her.
"Luna, nay!" She scolded. "That is not what thy mother would want!"
"Lu-Luna, w-why didst thou do that?" Celestia stammered, staring in wide-eyed horror.
Luna huffed, turning her nose up, while Loki continued to cackle like a lunatic, rolling off the cart and pounding the grass with a fist as he struggled to breathe. Baldur was soon at Thor's side, running her healing magic over him as he writhed on the ground, gasping, forelegs curled up against himself.
"Art thou alright, brother?" she said, placing a hoof under his head.
Thor's seething became a series of short, coughing breaths, which grew louder and more frequent, gradually building into a pained, stuttering chuckle. Soon he was laughing openly with Loki, loud and boisterous, even as Tyr and Baldur stared at them both like they'd gone insane. Even Luna gave them a wide-eyed look.
With a pained grunt between his laughter, Thor forced himself to stand again, supported by Baldur as she continued to run her magic over him. Tyr passed Mjolnir over, which Thor placed back on his belt. He took a staggered step towards Luna, who broke away from Járnsaxa's hold and stepped back, as if anticipating reprisal. Loki stopped giggling as he sat up to watch the confrontation, while Luna stood her ground, meeting Thor's gaze with a steely look in her eyes.
He smiled back weakly. "Perhaps I did deserve that."
Luna relaxed, expression going blank, like she didn't know what to say.
"I commend thy boldness," Thor said approvingly. "Thou'rt a fierce one. I suspect thou shalt make a fine warrior one day, with the right guidance."
Suddenly, Luna could meet his gaze no longer, staring at the ground instead. Thor reached down, placing a hoof under her chin, and forced her to look up at him again.
"Wouldst thou like me to teach thee?" he asked.
Luna glared at him. "Only if I can practice on thee."
Thor laughed at her impudence, joined by Loki once again. Even Baldur let out a demure little giggle this time, though Tyr was as unamused as ever.
"Very well," he said. "What was thy birth name?"
"Hrímfaxi," she answered.
"Hmm." Thor nodded. "Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi. Good names. Good Asgardian names. But I suspect thou dost prefer Luna?"
Luna nodded.
"Very well then." Thor turned back to the cart, but looked over his shoulder at her. "Come, Luna. Let us return to Valhalla and find thy mother. There is much to be said and done."
