87. Horn Mountain

POOKA VILLAGE, VALENTINE, ASGARD

"Ugh…" Twilight rolled over in bed, unable to keep her eyes closed any longer. She placed her feet on the floor, standing. "How long was I out?" she wondered out loud…quietly.

There were no timepieces on the wall to let her know what time she'd awoken. She suspected that here, she didn't have the luxury of waking up at exactly dawn as the Islands of the Blessed had provided. She quietly moved into the hallway, taking a look around at who else was still asleep.

The first thing Twilight did was check to make sure Loki was still sound asleep in his bed. He was. That would buy her at least a few more minutes without him wreaking havoc, at least. She was well aware this was a different Loki than the one she'd faced down in the last conflict, but all the same, she wasn't sure how much he was capable of.

She then took inventory of everyone else. The only two missing from their beds were Thor and Sif. However, as Twilight's eyes alit on Rarity's bed, she noticed Rarity moving beneath the bedcovers. She watched a while longer to see if Rarity was just tossing in her sleep or if she, too, was waking up. Rarity eventually slid out of the bed, standing. She locked eyes with Twilight, then padded out into the hall.

"Would you happen to know what time it is?" she asked in a whisper, her hands moving up to her hair to try and smooth out where it had gotten mussed during sleep.

Twilight raised a hand. "Lemme get that." She flicked her wrist, and Rarity's hair curled out into its usual style. "I don't know how long we slept," she admitted. "Thor, Sif, you, and I are the only ones awake."

"Where do you suppose those two went?" Rarity asked.

"I don't know," Twilight replied. "Probably downstairs."

"Perhaps we should go," Rarity suggested, "so we don't disturb anypony else."

Twilight nodded, then turned to move down the hall. Rarity followed. The pair located the stairs, walking all the way down to the first floor. They walked into the lobby, where a different Pooka, one the color of lilac with black curls atop her head, ran the register desk. She looked up when Twilight and Rarity approached.

"Hi," Twilight greeted. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. I signed in the guest book last night. Um…we're looking for a couple of our friends who we think came down here. Thor and Sif?"

The Pooka nodded. "They went into the lounge." She gestured to a door at the other end of the lobby. "They're the only ones there."

"Thank you," Twilight replied.

"Er…do you happen to know what time it is?" Rarity asked.

"It's around 1:00 in the afternoon," the Pooka answered.

"That long - !" Rarity gasped.

"Come on," Twilight beckoned, moving toward the lounge.

They opened the door to find Thor and Sif seated at a long table in a small room. The table was covered in a sky blue cloth, and at its center was a basket full of fruit that resembled apples, but much plumper and shinier.

"I will admit," Thor said, "it is a strange occurrence. But not one that would happen without reason."

"And what reason would that be?" Sif asked.

"I do not kn – " Thor noticed Rarity and Twilight entering. "You are awake," he greeted.

"Looks like the four of us are the only ones," Twilight replied.

"Might we have a seat?" Rarity inquired.

After a short silence, Sif said, "I do not see why not…"

Twilight and Rarity took their seats at the table. "Try a napple," Thor offered, indicating the basket.

Twilight and Rarity each obliged, biting into the napples to find them even juicier than ordinary apples.

Then no one spoke. They looked around at the blue walls, they nibbled on napples, they looked at each other, but not a word was said.

When Rarity could no longer stand the silence, she said, "If you don't mind my saying so, Sif, I do quite admire the way you've combined form and function in that ensemble. And with such stunning crimson, too!"

"Thank you," Sif replied, a little confused.

Thor sighed. "I believe we all know this is a rather odd circumstance."

"Yeah," Twilight replied.

"If you will, please tell me," Thor implored. "What is it that makes you desire our friendship so?"

"Well…" Twilight answered, "When I study magic, I do a lot of reading. And I've come across so many stories about you, Thor. Your epic quests, the way you can control thunder…you've kind of been like a celebrity to me. Getting to actually meet you is…well…it's stunning. I really admire what they wrote about you, so I hoped that if we ever did meet…well…you'd like me."

It wasn't a lie at all. It was the feelings that had come into play when she had first met him in New York.

"I…am flattered," Thor replied, caught off guard. "Rest assured, Twilight Sparkle, I currently have no reason to dislike you."

"Even after that whole thing in the forest when I had to put up the wall?" Twilight pressed, hoping.

"You only were attempting to keep peace," Thor pointed out. "As for the young bard…I still do not like the words he said about my father. However, it seems fate has put us in each other's paths. I am not sure it would be wise to fight fate at this moment."

"Though if we are given any reason to distrust thee…" Sif added sternly.

"I understand." Twilight nodded.

"We shan't break your trust," Rarity promised.

Eventually, the others filed into the lounge in groups. Thorgil, Gwendolyn, and Oswald. Jack and Pinkie Pie. Loki, Fluttershy, and Volstagg. Hogun, Fandral, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack.

"Want an apple?" Twilight offered up to Applejack, holding out a fruit.

"Huh." Applejack bit into it. "Gosh! That's delicious! This ain't like any other apple I ever – "

"Napple," Gwendolyn corrected.

"What now?" Applejack was confused.

"Not an apple," Gwendolyn told her. "A napple."

"What's the difference?" Applejack asked. "Looks like an apple to me. Got the same insides."

"But did thou not just sayest that it tasted different from any apple you knew?" Volstagg pointed out.

"Not THAT different," Applejack argued. "It's an apple!"

"Right." Thor nodded. "It is a napple."

"Yeah – " Applejack cut herself off. "Wait. Did you say 'an apple' or – "

"Are we going to waste our day on this?" Hogun grunted.

"We should find Velvet and Cornelius," Gwendolyn suggested, "and see what they thought of our idea last night."

"It really was a good idea, Napplejack," Loki emphasized.

Applejack was taken back, not expecting compliments from Loki of all present. "Well…gee, thanks, I – WAIT, DID YOU JUST CALL ME – "

By that time, Loki was already on his way out the lounge door.

...

Outside Cornelius and Velvet's mansion, several Pookas were at work around a large wooden cart. Most were wrapping up several freshly cooked dishes and settling them in the cart, which was divided in half in the interior. Velvet and Cornelius each led smaller groups in the act of what looked like potionmaking. Velvet's group was busy combining a clear liquid contained in several rounded bottles with diced-up pieces of a vegetable that resembled a habanero pepper, only much larger and deeper red, in order to make a light blue potion that was stored in the bottles. Cornelius' group was doing the same with the liquid and a vegetable that looked like a turnip, only double the size; this yielded a liquid of orange. The orange concoction was placed in the half of the cart that held hot dishes, such as omelettes and stews. The blue was set adjacently to the desserts on the other side.

"What's going on?" Jack asked.

"We thought about Applejack's idea," Velvet replied, "and it has a lot of merit."

"We're going to give it a shot," Cornelius went on.

"And by 'you,' you mean…" Thor pressed.

"The two of us," Velvet answered, "at least. But anyone else who wants to join us can. I know you probably have other things to do."

"Other things?" Thor scoffed. "The Vanaheim dragon is slain. We need a new quest."

"And seein' as it was kinda my idea," Applejack added, "I was kinda thinkin'…maybe we could come along too."

"Journeying over Asgard?" Thorgil chimed in. "I wouldn't miss that quest for anything!"

"I think you can count all sixteen of us in," Twilight laughed.

"Eighteen, with us," Cornelius pointed out.

"Velvet…" Thor said suddenly. "Might I have a word? Gwendolyn, Sif, Loki…thou as well."

"All right." Velvet was confused, but when Thor beckoned, she left behind her work and followed him. Gwendolyn, Loki, and Sif trailed behind.

Twilight didn't like seeing that at all. She knew that Thor was gathering his nearest and dearest in order to gossip about the "newcomers" of his party. That was the only explanation that came to her mind. However, she knew that trying to interrupt it would be ultimately worse than letting them talk. She decided to turn her focus to the strange process the Pookas were doing in the glass bottles. "What's that?" she asked.

"This is simple alchemy," Cornelius told her. He held up one of the bottles of clear liquid. "This is a base material for synthesis. Adding different ingredients produces different results. Habaneristos create coolers: potions that cool down whatever they touch. Not freeze, mind you. And putting a turny in the material creates a warmer."

"Turnies? Habaneristos?" Applejack shook her head. "Y'all couldn't just call 'em turnips an' habaneros?"

"But they're not ordinary turnips or habaneros," Cornelius argued. "They're from the mandrake family of plants. And you couldn't make a warmer or cooler out of an average vegetable."

"So answer me this," Applejack pressed. "Why does the HOT pepper make the COOL potion?"

"I…I'm not exactly sure," Cornelius admitted.

"Stop nitpicking, Napplejack!" Fandral laughed.

Applejack muttered something under her breath that contained the words "Loki" and "if I get my hooves on him."

"It really is a simple form of alchemy," Twilight observed. "Actually, it sounds a little closer to the art of potionmaking, but the fact that you only have to combine two ingredients does suggest there's more to it than an ordinary potion. So what are they for?"

"To preserve the food," Cornelius explained. "The warmers will keep the hot food steaming hot when it's unwrapped, no matter where we take the cart. The coolers will keep the desserts nice and cold to the palate and stop the fruit from spoiling."

"Where were you planning on going first?" Volstagg inquired.

"Well, Velvet and I had actually discussed taking the cart to expeditioners on Winterhorn Ridge first," Cornelius answered. "It will be the greatest challenge in terms of travel. We can't take a cart this large through any portal. The journey will have to be entirely on foot. Once that is out of the way, we can focus on easier journeys." He resumed combining the turnies with the alchemical base material, synthesizing more warmers. "These warmers will help regulate our temperature as we climb. It works better than a coat, truly. I'll be sure to make enough for all of us."

Some distance away, Thor addressed Velvet, Gwendolyn, Sif, and Loki. "Are you certain the Midgardians and the Element bearers will be able to keep pace with us?" he asked in concern. "They will be much more fragile than we. They may slow us down…or even die."

"I still think we should give them the chance," Gwendolyn volunteered.

"I tend to agree with Thor on this issue," Sif contributed. "It would be much easier to go through with this mission were it regulated to we native Asgardians."

"We would make short work of it," Loki agreed.

Velvet hung her head. "That is what the other Asgardians say of the Pookas," she pointed out rather sadly. "That we slow down greater undertakings. That we are better suited for staying in our kitchens and cooking. They do not believe that any of us could take up a sword or chain the way Cornelius and I have."

"We did not mean it like that," Sif said hurriedly. "We only meant…" She faltered.

"Even Asgardian Pookas are stronger than they," Loki supplied.

"How will we know unless we give them the chance?" Gwendolyn asked.

"The Element bearers will have an advantage," Thor thought out loud. "But the two bards…"

"Even we do not have bards among us," Gwendolyn argued. "Midgardians they may be, but they have abilities even we do not."

"When did you become so sympathetic to Midgardians?" Loki asked.

"My first impressions have been wrong before," Gwendolyn reminded him. "About Oswald. About Velvet. Perhaps they will surprise us in the same manner."

"Well…it is a low-risk mission," Sif conceded. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt too much to have them along."

"I too say we should let them come with us and see how they fare," Velvet agreed.

Thor and Loki looked to each other then.

"It isn't often done, if at all," Thor muttered.

"I know," Loki replied. "But they may be useful allies to us on this day."

"I had thought the same, once Velvet and Gwendolyn said their pieces."

"Besides, the one with the deep pink curls likes my sense of humor. Another attribute our usual expedition party seems to lack."

"I suppose the best course of action…"

"Is to let them come with us?"

"Yes."

The five returned to the cart, where Cornelius was passing out warmers. "You're just in time!" the Pooka prince announced, handing a warmer out to each of them. "Our first stop will be Winterhorn Ridge as planned. There will certainly be expeditioners there who have come into possession of the Ariel coins."

Velvet nodded. "It is the shortest distance to travel, though a long way up. After that, it makes the most sense to pass back through this village and restock, then proceed through Ringford, past Volkenon, through Titania, and finally to Ragnanival. After climbing up and down Horn Mountain, it will likely be necessary to replace the warmers at least."

The cart had two prongs out front, as though ready for a horse to be strapped to it to pull the vehicle forward (Rainbow Dash desperately hoped this wouldn't be the case). Thor walked forward to take hold of one of the prongs. "I shall carry the load," he announced.

"Hold up there." Applejack took the other prong, hoisting it over her shoulder. "I been pullin' these things since I was a filly. I insist on takin' part of it."

"We shall take care of the horses you rode here," one of the Pookas reassured Thor as he placed a blanket over the full cart. "We shall also send word to King Odin of your departure."

"Well, if everypony's ready…" Twilight said.

"Then let's go make some sales!" Applejack concluded.

...

WINTERHORN RIDGE, ASGARD

Mount Horn seemed to touch the sky itself if its peak was viewed from its base. Its lower sections were made up of paths through rocky base in moderate temperature, but it was easy to see that higher up, every surface was capped with snow.

"Have your warmers ready," Oswald suggested. "I don't think I need to tell you these mountains are cold." He looked up to the peak wistfully. "I have not been here since my defeat of the dragons."

"Think not on it," Gwendolyn implored of him. "I know it still conflicts you."

"It was in the past," Oswald asserted. "This journey begins anew."

The party of eighteen began to climb, setting the cart on one of the rocky paths. Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Thor, Loki, Sif, Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun, Gwendolyn, Oswald, Jack, Thorgil, Velvet, and Cornelius moved upward almost as one.

"What I wouldn't give for a spear," Thorgil lamented. "We're sure to need one."

"I assure you, we have that covered," Sif told her. "And Gwendolyn in particular wields our spear."

After that, a deep silence settled over the traveling party, broken only by the rattling of the cart's wheels and the blustering of an occasionally chilly wind through the otherwise temperate climate.

Rarity let out a deep groan after a while. "I am NOT making this entire climb up the mountain in absolute silence."

"Could we pass the time with tales of bloody battles and great heroism?" Thorgil suggested.

"Or maybe now's the time to finally tell me about that big incident you all kept dancing around last night because it was a 'long story,'" Twilight added. "It looks like we've got plenty of mountain for telling it."

"I suppose we may as well," Thor relented. "Mind you, it will not sound as good as a bard's tale, for none of us have drunk from Mimir's well. You have already heard of the Crystallization Cauldron and the war for it that cursed Valentine. The wars for it only continued. My father was in possession of the Cauldron, but was soon challenged by Queen Elfaria of the faeries of Ringford. This was the war that nearly led to the end of Asgard."

"A set of prophecies existed," Velvet continued, "detailing five great events that would lead to Asgard's destruction. As the war for the Cauldron continued, it seemed that most of these events would come to pass. My grandfather Valentine rose from the dead as a hogboon, a spirit bent on revenge, driven by his anger. It was he who spurred most of this chain of events, though many others contributed. Especially…my twin brother Ingway." Velvet paused a moment. When she picked the story back up, her tone was subdued. "Ingway was always bitter. Toward our mother, who he believed hated us. To our birth father Odin, who would never recognize him as a son. To Cornelius, who he did not see as a fit match for me. It was Ingway who transformed Cornelius into a Pooka, thinking that would separate us. But nothing ever could. He didn't understand that."

Cornelius gently took Velvet's small, furry hand into his own.

Velvet gave him a sincere smile, and she was able to continue the story at a louder tone, with more energy. "Ingway tried to protect me, but his anger blinded him. Soon he acted in ways that he thought were beneficial to both of us, and he could not see that I hated how bitter he was becoming and how destructive his plans to halt Armageddon were. He allied himself with three wizards, former colleagues of Odin, who also bore a grudge to our father. The curse he placed on Cornelius not only separated him from me, but more importantly to Ingway, it allowed him to pose as Cornelius and take a dark secret from Cornelius' family's throne. Cornelius knows this part of the story better than I."

Cornelius nodded. "My family possessed a great secret of dark magic," he picked up. "The Darkova. It allowed an ordinary man or woman to transform into a monstrous beast, a gigantic hound with three heads, capable of great destruction."

"Like Cerberus!" Pinkie Pie interrupted.

Cornelius nodded. "Yes. Like Cerberus. The Darkova was hidden by the royal family of Titania for generations. The last Titanian by blood to use it was my grandfather, King Gallon, who became trapped in Niflheim in the Darkova state. When I was transformed, it was Gallon who bequeathed upon me his Psypher sword.

"However, this part of the story is about Ingway, not I. Ingway attempted to use the form of the Darkova to murder Odin, but he failed. The three wizards took him under their control by force, turning him into a war weapon on Asgard. I was left with no choice but to fight him and…" He breathed deeply. "I slayed him. He returned to human form before his passing. I could tell that he felt regret for his actions, but it was…too late for him."

"It was then that I realized that the prophecies of Armageddon were coming true," Velvet explained. "I am sure Ingway realized the same. The first event in the chain spoke of a six-eyed beast…what Ingway became when he transformed into the Darkova hellhound. Five horrors would ravage Asgard, and all would be lost if they were not defeated by the exact warriors spoken of in legend. Little did we know that those warriors were Gwendolyn, Oswald, Cornelius, myself, and the faerie princess Mercedes."

"She was queen by then," Oswald corrected. "When Elfaria perished, there was no one else to take the throne."

"By a miracle, the end was averted," Velvet went on. "We acted in accordance with the prophecies without even thinking about it or knowing what we were supposed to do. When Cornelius killed Ingway, it was the first step toward salvation."

"I still pity him to this day," Cornelius admitted. "I wish there could have been some other way."

"After all he did?" Jack asked. "Wouldn't you be afraid that he would continue to destroy and betray?"

"I suppose there would be that fear," Cornelius conceded, "but all the same…I feel as though the end he met was something even he did not deserve. I could sense that his heart was corrupted, but not beyond hope. Besides, I know not what I would have done were I him, living in a world where I were surrounded by hate and abandonment. I suppose now we will never know. "

As explanations came out, the party had moved further and further up the mountain. The party had entered snowy territory; the sun caused the snow below to glitter with all colors of the rainbow. The chill in the air had increased dramatically, and still more snowflakes were falling. "I think we should drink from our warmers," Gwendolyn suggested. "Soon, the cold will be dangerous."

"I could stand this chill for much longer," Thor boasted, though he took out his warmer anyway. "Loki, brother, you should probably drink soon. You're becoming so cold, you seem to begin to turn blue!" he teased.

"Very humorous," Loki retorted, taking a swig of the orange liquid. If there had been any vestiges of the telltale color blue in his complexion, they faded once he was warmed.

The others all drank from their own bottles. Applejack was surprised at the warmer's effect. It did taste, she noted, like the juice of a turnip, but when it trickled down her throat, her entire body was filled with a warmth, as though she had just spent several hours lazing before a blazing hearth. It made her feel much more comfortable than a coat would have.

Twilight hoped she would soon be able to come across some Ariels on her own. She wanted to have the base materials and turnies on hand for her own stock (and, as she thought about it, the habaneristos would probably be useful as well), but she wanted to pay accordingly.

"To continue with our story," Cornelius said, "Gallon found himself able to rebel against Hel and take over Niflheim. He returned to Asgard then with an army of the dead…and it was Oswald who faced him, so he should tell this tale."

"I suppose most would have found the sight horrifying," Oswald began. "Gallon had been trapped in the form of the Darkova in the realm of the dead, but he had also decayed to a skeletal state. To slay him, I struck right through his bones at his exposed heart."

Fluttershy gave a whimper; Rarity put a comforting hand upon her shoulder.

"I found it upon myself to slay Gallon," Oswald went on. "But he told me only one of Titanian blood could do so. I could not let his words stall me. At the moment, it was only I who stood between him and the rest of Asgard. To our surprise, I was able to kill him, and at first, we did not understand why. But then, with his dying words, he was able to reveal to me that my father was the brother of Cornelius' father. He and I are blood cousins. I was a direct descendant of Gallon, and Titanian blood flows in my veins. With Gallon felled, Hel could once again take control of Niflheim."

"In the meantime," Velvet said, "Valentine had set a terrible plan into motion. He used the Cauldron to awaken Jörmungandr, the serpent that circles Midgard, and give him new power."

"My child," Loki contributed. "For those who were wondering."

"Of course the giant serpent is your child," Fandral remarked.

"Ingway had hoped to use the Darkova form to stop the Cauldron before it could have been used on Jörmungandr," Velvet said, "but by that time, the wizards had already – "

The party rounded a corner, and the story was immediately put on hold. At first, over the clear, snowy plateau ahead, there were only a few of them: bright blue creatures hovering in the air, shaped like snowflakes with beady black eyes and sharp teeth, each the size of a Pooka.

"What are they?" Fluttershy asked.

"I don't think they're friendly," Jack said warily.

The first of them rushed forward, nipping at Applejack's shoulder with its tiny teeth. She gave a yelp, dropping her prong of the cart, and the snowflake creature ran into her head-on, causing an encasement of ice to form around her from the waist down and root her to the ground.

Thor drew Mjolnir, quickly smashing the ice around Applejack. "Quickly!" he commanded, pointing the hammer at the snowflakes. "Before more arrive and freeze us all!"

Once it was clear the snowflakes were not, in fact, friendly, weapons were drawn. First the Asgardians went into the fray. Thor launched Mjolnir into several of them (Fluttershy still squeaked in dismay – nasty as the snowflakes were, they were still small creatures); Loki and Gwendolyn slashed at them with spears; Oswald, Cornelius, Sif, Volstagg, and Hogun ran in with blades gleaming to cut them down; Sif drew a bow and fired from a distance.

It was soon clear their advance alone was not going to be enough. For every snowflake felled, two more descended, falling from the air with the ordinary snow.

"All right, ladies," Applejack said, summoning her whip. "Let's go!"

She, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity joined the charge. The whip cracked upon snowflakes, causing them to lose energy and drop to the ground. Rainbow Dash let loose upon them with the sword, gleaming rainbow with each strike. Fluttershy charged snowflake after snowflake with her katana. Rarity stood alongside Sif, loosing arrows that tired the creatures in one shot.

Pinkie Pie, guns in hand, was ready to join the fight when Twilight put a hand on her shoulder. "Wait!" Twilight cried, so Pinkie waited.

Twilight then turned to Jack and Thorgil, beckoning Pinkie to join their conference. "What we need is a fire," Twilight stated. "I think if it gets too hot around here, those snow creatures will leave us alone. Between the four of us, we should be able to surround them."

"Good idea," Jack replied.

"Thorgil, you have to go over there." Twilight pointed out a space just outside where the flurry of battle was taking place. "Jack, over there." Another corner. "Pinkie Pie, you go over there." A space on the other side of the battle plain. "And I'll take the last end so we make sort of a box. I'll send up a signal flare, and that's when we all call up the fire at the same time, like Taliesin showed us. We just want it to surround them like a fence, got it?"

"Got it!" Pinkie, Jack, and Thorgil chorused.

"Now GO!" Twilight yelled, turning and running through the battlefield, Pinkie Pie in pursuit.

Jack and Thorgil split up, moving to opposite ends of their side of the plateau and watching as Twilight and Pinkie headed for the other side. The two kept close to each other until they reached the middle of the plain, at which point they split up. Snowflakes descended upon both of them, teeth snapping. Pinkie Pie was forced to draw pistols and open fire on them, causing them to drop to sleep; Twilight's staff materialized in her hands, and the star that topped it blazed with fire, causing the snowflakes to hiss and retreat. This pleased Twilight; it indicated her strategy was about to work. She hit her mark, noticing that Pinkie had hit hers.

Twilight first drew her wand, sending up a flare of red sparks. When she was confident that Jack, Thorgil, and Pinkie had seen it, she dismissed the wand, planted the base of the staff into the ground, and reached downward with her mind.

Four consciousnesses pierced the life force at the same time.

The fire roared into being all around the plateau, forming a ring that crossed before the points marked by Jack, Thorgil, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight. The light cast an orange glow over the entire battlefield. The snowflakes let out a great hiss en masse, dispersing. It was clear that even the proximity to the flames was causing them to melt ever so slightly; droplets of water beaded down their skin. They flew over the wall of flame and away, toward the mountain and away from it, some straight back up.

"I don't believe it…" Thor watched as the snowflakes fled.

"WE'RE ALL CLEAR!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

The fire quickly died, leaving no trace but a great circle on the ground where the snow was cleared out. The falling snow – true snow, of course, inanimate – threatened to soon cover even that.

"I am beginning to think," Thor said softly, and Sif and Loki leaned in to hear his words better, "that I misspoke when I thought they would slow us down."

"That was very clever!" Cornelius congratulated, walking towards Jack and Thorgil.

"What were those things anyway?" Jack asked, perplexed.

"Just one of the many dangers on Horn Mountain," Cornelius answered.

Weapons were put away quickly. No more snowflakes seemed determined to enter the battlefield at that time. Thor and Applejack took the cart back up and resumed their climb.

"You were saying something about the Cauldron," Jack reminded Velvet.

"Yes." Velvet nodded. "I went to battle against the Cauldron itself. Valentine had sabotaged it so that it was draining the Phozons, the very life force, out of Asgard. It was killing the world itself by absorbing them. I had to destroy the Cauldron. I did not have the ring Titrel, the only artifact that could truly control it, but I could damage it from the outside. So I did until it stopped absorbing Phozons. But by that time…too much damage had already been done."

"While she fought the Cauldron," Gwendolyn picked up, "Valentine took Jörmungandr to ride through the skies. The serpent's breath carved destruction into the land, killing hundreds at a time. It was I who climbed the serpent's back and fought him into submission. I discovered that Valentine had driven Jörmungandr mad by implanting his crown onto one of the dragon's horns. That crown contained a twisted magic. I severed the horn and removed the crown, and Jörmungandr retreated, stopping his attack. My wings…they were ripped from me in that battle. I fell from the sky, and I believed that would be my last moment. But Oswald…he saved me."

"I took her to the Cauldron," Oswald continued, "but we were both weary, weak. We fell unconscious. We didn't know what Velvet had done to the Cauldron until we awoke. We – "

He stopped. A look of consternation crossed his face.

"What is wrong?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Be careful," Oswald cautioned.

It shimmered into view from nowhere: a giant black and translucent mass, towering in a squarish shape, about twenty feet high and half as wide. Two crude tendrils of darkness formed rudimentary arms. Its more striking features, however, were its eyes and teeth: eyes that burned with hate and great square teeth that were ready to crush. It swept toward the party, sweeping out one of its great arms.

"I don't think that one's friendly either," Pinkie Pie pointed out as the creature let out an animalistic roar.

Oswald was the first to charge it, striking at it with his red-tinted sword. The blade connected, but this only seemed to anger the giant shadow more. Gwendolyn was hot on his heels, stabbing into the creature with her spear, and Thor, having let go of the cart, darted behind it, launching Mjolnir. The creature slid out from between them all, continuing its advance.

Applejack then let go of the cart and rushed forward, whip drawn. Rarity, Pinkie, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash followed, wielding bow, pistols, staff, and sword. Fluttershy moved to follow, but first, she gave a glance backward, and saw the cart slowly begin to roll back down the slope.

"THE CART!" Fluttershy yelled.

The wheels picked up speed, and the cart accelerated its descent. Fluttershy rushed after it, grabbing one of the front prongs and trying to drag it back up. Her feet strained to dig into the ground, but the heavy cart threatened to pull Fluttershy down with it. She kept struggling to keep it from rolling away, sweat breaking out over her forehead. She closed her eyes, slamming her eyelids shut tight with the strain.

Then the load became a lot easier, and she found she was actually able to pull the cart up. Surprised, Fluttershy opened her eyes. To her right, Thorgil had grabbed the other prong of the cart, hauling it back up the mountain. Below, Jack had run around to the back of the cart, shoving it from there. Slowly but effectively, the three worked to bring the cart back up to where the others battled the shadow creature.

Twilight sent a wave of ice at the creature in hopes of stalling it, recalling how the living snowflakes had done so to Applejack not long earlier. The ice encased its lower half, but as the shadow struggled, the ice began to crack. Rarity loosed an arrow right at the creature's head; it lodged between the monster's teeth, and when those teeth gnashed, the arrow snapped in half with an audible CRACK before disappearing in a small glimmer of sparks. Determined, Rarity strung another arrow.

Pinkie Pie cut in front of her, firing a barrage of sparks from her pistols; these caught the creature at point-blank range just as it broke free of the ice. It slowed down then, its movements seeming as though the air around it had suddenly become very thick honey. Rainbow Dash darted across the front of the creature, dealing a slash with her sword; the rainbow shockwave slowed it even more. This gave Applejack and Velvet the opportunity to cast whip and chain at the shadow, wrapping it up and binding its arms to its sides.

The shadow barely had enough energy to struggle against its bonds. Taking note of its vulnerability, Twilight and Loki moved forward at the same time. Twilight, surprised, shot a look at Loki, one that conveyed more disgust than she meant to show. Loki returned the glance, at first surprised at the look Twilight was giving him, afterward shifting immediately to a mischievous grin as he held out a gilded spear. They nodded at each other, then fired twin plasma bolts, one bright blue and one magenta, toward the great shadow.

The blasts of magic collided with the beast, and it cried out, a deep roar that resounded against the sky. It collapsed in on itself, disappearing from view, and Twilight wondered – worried – if she'd taken part in destroying it entirely. Then a dark, circular shadow flickered from beneath where Velvet's meteor hammer and Applejack's whip lay dormant on the snow. The shadow slid over the snowy plain and down the side of the mountain, over a cliff and out of sight.

There was, for a while, no sound but the heavy breathing of those who had either taken part in battling the creature or saving the cart. Then Thor looked to Twilight and gave her an honest "Thank you. You are quite capable in battle, I see."

"Well…I'm not THAT good…" Twilight blushed from the praise.

"Oh, don't tell me you're falling for my brother." Loki, noticing Twilight's blush, rolled his eyes as he spoke teasingly. "I thought everyone knew I was the better looking one."

"RIGHT!" Pinkie Pie chorused without thinking, then clapped her hands over her mouth in horror.

"She gets it," Loki said, motioning casually to Pinkie with a shrug.

"We saved your cart, by the way," Jack grunted, annoyed that he, Thorgil, and Fluttershy had not yet received praise for rescuing the item that had brought them up the mountain in the first place.

"Good show!" Volstagg congratulated, clapping Jack hard on the shoulder so hard Jack stumbled forward. "We wouldn't have wanted to waste all that delicious fare on the mountain path!"

Jack allowed himself to be glad that he'd received a compliment from an Asgardian. He realized he was growing more attached to this group by the minute, for better or for worse. It was still battle after battle, blades and chains and violence, with them…but then again, had his own life not been frought with every foe from dragons to draugr?

"I wish I'd had a spear," Thorgil grunted.

"But without that cart," Cornelius reminded her, "we'd have nothing to help gather the coins. What you did was just as important if not more than helping defeat the Revenant."

Thorgil was satisfied then. "Yeah!"

"A Revenant?" Twilight repeated. "That's what that thing was?"

"Yes," Oswald told her. "And had there not been this many of us here to face it, I shudder to think what would have become of any of us."

"What's a Revenant?" Applejack asked.

"It is a cruel creature, not natural to the life force," Oswald answered. "In the old tongues, they call it an enemy – "

"An Echthros," Twilight supplied.

"Yes." Oswald was slightly taken aback. "An Echthros. A Revenant is a twisted soul, warped by magic. I once wielded a cursed blade, the Belderiver, a Psypher like the others. It was given to me by the man I called father. What he did not tell me is that he had given the Belderiver to countless others before me, and its power came with a great curse. All those who had come before me and fallen to its dark power left the mortal plane and became Revenants, hungry only for destruction. What we fought was once a man like me, but one who forgot everything but a lust for battle and blood."

"You were almost…one of those," Rarity reiterated, a shiver running through her skeleton.

"Now wait a second," Applejack interrupted. "Wouldn't that make your dad hundreds of years old, to make that many Revenants?"

"He was a faerie of Ringford," Oswald answered. "His name was Melvin. A relative of Queen Elfaria. When she was killed in the Cauldron war, he sought to usurp the throne from her daughter Mercedes, and he thought to use me as a tool in order to gain that power. He treated me like a son for years…but it was nothing but lies. Lies to turn me into the next wielder."

"I'm so sorry," Fluttershy said sympathetically.

"It is in the past," Oswald said gruffly. "He is dead and gone, and the curse of the Belderiver with him. As for Mercedes, that brings us to the last part of our story."

Applejack and Thor picked up the cart again, and the group resumed the climb.

"Of Mercedes' story, we have only hearsay," Thor admitted. "The testimonies of a few witnesses, for she and the one she fought were both killed in the same battle. Onyx, the Vulcan king of Muspelheim, believed the battle of Armageddon to be his chance to seize power. He lusted for more territory."

"That was not all he lusted for," Gwendolyn said indignantly.

"I would not let him touch you then," Oswald reassured her, "and should he somehow be alive, I would not let him touch you now."

"The prophecy stated that Yggdrassil itself would defeat Onyx," Thor went on. "More specifically, it mentioned the 'World Tree.' Onyx, without full knowledge of Yggdrassil or its meaning, believed he could avert his fate by destroying every tree in Asgard. As Gallon's undead claimed countless lives, Jörmungandr ravaged the land, the Cauldron sucked the life from the very planet, and Ingway transformed into a weapon of war used against his will, Onyx declared war on the very foliage, stamping out and burning down every tree in sight. He burned down all of Ringford, land of the faeries, and most died by his fearsome claws. Mercedes took it upon herself to fight him, not knowing of the prophecy…only believing, as Oswald did of Gallon, that she was not the one meant to destroy him. Mercedes and Onyx dueled to the death, each giving the other the killing blow. Upon her death, Mercedes, as most faeries do, spoke aloud her true name, giving it back to the life force. Her true name was Yggdrassil, marking her as the one meant to stop Onyx from his rampage."

"Those are the events that led to what was nearly the end of Asgard," Velvet picked up. "Most were killed. Even Thor and Loki, whom you see before you, died…and were later regenerated, as gods are. Even Odin was slain and sent to live amongst the dead of Valhalla for a time."

"I am sure that news pleases Jack," Fandral broke in.

Jack shook his head. "I don't believe in his way. I didn't wish him to be horribly murdered!"

Thor flinched in surprise to hear this, ultimately pleased.

Velvet went on. "At the end, there were only Gwendolyn, Oswald, Cornelius, and I before the Cauldron that had done so much damage. We did not know if there were other survivors. But we all believed that Asgard itself had reached its end. Ragnarok."

"I could have told you it wasn't," Thor said rather haughtily. "A different and much older prophecy outlines the events of true Ragnarok. Were it the end of days, I would have fought Jörmungandr, and Loki and Heimdall would have dealt each other the killing blow."

Twilight and Thorgil nodded, each being familiar with the story of Ragnarok.

"Gwendolyn and Oswald collapsed from the strain of their battles," Velvet related. "That left Cornelius and I by the Cauldron. I truly believed hope was lost, for the life force was gone from the planet itself. Then something wonderful occurred to me. Our Psyphers…they were made in Niflheim, but they were forged of Phozons and built to contain and manipulate them. There was life force in those very crystals! There were only four…Odin's mace was shattered by Mercedes' crossbow, and Mercedes' bow was never recovered…but it was all we had. A chance we had to take. Still, I could not have used them to power the Cauldron and return what was lost if not for a miracle. To this day, I can only attribute it to fate that the unconscious Gwendolyn was wearing the ring Titrel, the ring that controlled the Cauldron."

"Oswald had given it to me as a token of his love," Gwendolyn explained.

"And I first retrieved it from a dragon after Odin ordered me to battle it, not telling me of the ring's existence and hoping that I would be able to procure it for him without wanting it for my own," Oswald added.

"That all these things came together in this order was no accident," Velvet insisted. "I gathered our Psyphers and wore the ring. When I placed the Psyphers in the Cauldron, willing the ring to start the device, the crystals dissolved, becoming pure Phozons. The Cauldron returned the life force to Asgard. It was a planet burned and torn, a planet whose population had been decimated, but because of that, it would live. After that, I shut the Cauldron down, and it never shall awaken again, no matter who wields Titrel. There was only one cost."

"With magic, there always is," Twilight recalled.

"Using that Cauldron would cause me to suffer the same fate of the other Valentinans," Velvet explained. "It transformed me into a Pooka. But it was such a small price to pay."

"A small price!" Fandral huffed. "I heard tell of what you looked like as a woman, and I find it nothing short of disappointing that you sacrificed THAT!"

"Are you implying that my wife is not beautiful as she is?" Cornelius growled.

"Er…" Fandral was at a loss, realizing he'd walked right into a metaphorical minefield.

"That is our story," Velvet concluded.

"Wow," Twilight remarked. "I'm glad at least you all turned out okay."

"LOOKLOOKLOOK!" Pinkie Pie cried, pointing ahead. "I SEE THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAAAIIIIN!"

"We've reached the summit!" Gwendolyn cried.

"And look!" Rarity announced. "People!"

"They must be travelers," Cornelius observed.

There were about five, at least visible; a large tent had been pitched, indicating that there may have been more inside. The five, three men and two women, were dressed in brightly colored coats with hoods. They'd scraped out an area free of snow and built a fire there, huddling around it.

Their attentions were caught when they beheld the cart coming into view. "Look!" one of the women cried. All five turned their gazes toward the cart, and two more female faces appeared at the tent flap.

"Art thou merchants?" one of the men asked.

"I do not think so," another said softly. "I believe they are the royalty of Asgard…though with a few friends."

"Aye," Thor confirmed, "but today, we are also merchants. We bring food from the Pooka Village."

"Only one Ariel coin per dish!" Loki added.

"We have Ariel coins!" one of the women in the tent said excitedly, shrugging on a coat and walking out; her companion followed suit.

"Well, then, step right up!" Applejack beckoned, taking the blanket off the cart. The warmers had done their job well on the food; a small cloud of steam escaped the hot half of the cart when the covering was removed.

Eagerly, the traveling party handed over Ariel coins in exchange for piping hot soups and omelettes. All but one then sat down around the fire with what they had. One woman, however, held onto her dish, looking at one of the desserts that was uncovered in the cart.

"Is that a chocolate fondant?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes," Velvet answered.

The woman dug into her coat pockets. Turning up nothing but Titanian gold, she turned back to her party. "Do we have any more Ariels?" she called to them.

They rifled through their pockets. One of the men shook his head. "Nothing but Titanian gold," he answered.

"Oh…" She looked at the fondant wistfully.

Applejack looked to Velvet. Velvet knew what Applejack was thinking, and nodded. They knew they had gotten all of the Ariel coins they could out of the adventuring party.

"It's just one fondant," Applejack said. "We can take the gold coins for that one."

"Oh, thank you!" The woman handed over one piece of Titanian gold.

"Take something else as well," Cornelius encouraged. "One Titanian gold is twice the value of an Ariel coin."

Grateful, the customer also took a small mille-feuille from the top of the cart, and as she returned to the fire with the other six, she volunteered to split it with her friends.

"Horn Mountain," Pinkie Pie announced, "CHECK! Now let's go reload!"

Business having been done, the party of eighteen turned the cart to go back down the mountain.

"We have much time for more stories," Gwendolyn pointed out.

"What I am interested in is how the bearers of the Elements came to be here," Thor stated.

"Well," Twilight said, "that IS a long enough story to take us all the way down."

"Twilight?" Jack asked. "Would it be all right if…if I told some of it? I haven't composed an epic poem in some time, and I want to keep my skills intact."

"You can tell all of it that you remember," Twilight encouraged.

"Hey!" Thorgil broke in. "I want to tell it too! My stories are better than yours anyway!"

"We'll tell it together, then," Jack decided. He cleared his throat and paused, waiting for the right moment to begin. Then: "Not so long ago, 'cross the oceans of stars and the tides of time, was a jewel in the sky, a realm where all who trod its ground walked upon hooves…"

...

RINGFORD, ASGARD

The tale had been told, though it concluded after the part where the Starlight left Olympic Greece. Twilight was impressed with the poetic way in which Jack and Thorgil had described their adventures, though Thorgil seemed to have added in a few more battles than had actually happened, and while she respected that the six Equestrians didn't deal killing blows, she had added in a decapitation wherever she could, and in her version, far fewer of the Olympians and Titans survived than in reality, and Gothel had been run through the heart with a spear.

Gwendolyn had then insisted on hearing about Jack and Thorgil's lives, and they told that tale as briefly as they had when meeting the six Equestrians at the School of Bards. This took them all the way back to Valentine, where they replaced the purchased food with new and threw in fresh warmers and coolers. The goal on this trip was to empty the cart completely, and so it was filled up even fuller, the blanket covering a lump of packaged dishes that protruded from above the cart's lip.

The cart set out again, moving toward Ringford with the aim to make a circle around to Ragnanival.

"What is Ringford like?" Fluttershy asked.

"It was Oswald's home for a time," Thor reminded her. "Perhaps he should tell of it."

"Ringford is a place where I knew both beauty and treachery," Oswald described. "It was, after all, a home of faeries. Before Onyx ravaged it, its forests were even more beautiful than Elrit. Phozons would sparkle in the air. The palace shone like a beacon. Now it has been rebuilt. Its forest is as splendorous as before, and the palace repaired. The population has also increased."

"I can't wait to see it!" Pinkie chirped, bounding along.

The cart rolled into a deep forest, where the trees formed a canopy so thick, it gave the appearance of nighttime. After rolling over the bright green grass and rainbow flowers of Ringford, the cart eventually settled onto a great dirt pathway that had been carved out. Most of the surrounding trees had been broken, falling away from the road, but a few had fallen unfortunately right across the path, creating obstacles.

"This wasn't here before," Oswald said with concern.

As the cart moved forth, it was clear something was incredibly wrong. The party passed more and more broken trees, as though something had passed through with the intent to destroy the forest as Onyx once had. The trail of destruction eventually led right up to the Ringford palace, and it was clear that it too had been attacked. There were great gaps in the walls, as though some giant beast had punched right through.

A pink-haired faerie – in fact, the first one Oswald, Gwendolyn, Velvet, and Cornelius had met when surveying the damage to Ringford after the Cauldron war – was posted as sentinel at the gate. "HALT!" she cried upon sight of the cart.

"Eira," Oswald addressed.

"You," Eira replied, her voice sharp.

"What has happened here?" Oswald asked, shocked to see the damage.

"You do not know?" Eira raised a brow in suspicion. "I thought all of Asgard would be talking about it by now."

"We have been climbing up and down Horn Mountain all day," Thor explained. "We have not had the opportunity to hear gossip."

"Please, Eira," Gwendolyn pleaded. "Tell us what happened here."

"You may not believe it," Eira replied. "The Jötunns have apparently no more regard for our treaty of peace. A small army of them laid waste to Ringford this very afternoon."

...

· In Odin Sphere, there are several fruits and vegetables that are pretty much exactly the same as Earth fruits and vegetables, but the spelling is off by a little to make them exclusive to that world.

· The warmers and coolers are both products of the "alchemy" of OS and are used ingame to stop from taking freezing damage on Winterhorn Ridge or heat damage in the Volkenon Lava Pits.

· This should hopefully be the last exposition dump of THIS SIZE you get about Odin Sphere. Basically, I retold the final boss battle run.

· You may decide for yourself if Thor was just messing with Loki or if the cold was making him turn Jötunn blue.

· The snowflakes are canon enemies in OS.

· As are the Revenants, though I had Nidhogg explain these a couple chapters back.

· For now, I'm saying that the Cauldron is shut down permanently if only because I can't, at the moment, think of anything to do with it. It won't be playing a part in this storylet. Maybe I'll need it later. I don't know. We all know Discord can make "permanently gone" things come back.

· The party on Horn Mountain is a bunch of throwaway, nameless OCs.

· I did, however, finally get a chance to use Eira's name.