91. Of God, Time, Existence, and a Sheep

NEBULAPOLIS, RAGNANIVAL, ASGARD

That evening saw Thor, Loki, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Gwendolyn, Oswald, Cornelius, Velvet, Sif, Hogun, Fandral, and Volstagg gathered in the Ragnanival throne room, relating their tale of the incidents in Alfheim to Odin and Frigga.

"…All things considered," Thor concluded, "I believe our mission was a success. Emissaries from both the elven and hobgoblin armies should arrive soon."

"For that, I am glad," Odin stated. "In the meantime, no new raids have been reported."

"I suppose you'll be wanting us to head off to Notland next," Loki brought up.

"Indeed," Odin confirmed.

"But Notland is only there some of the time," Thorgil interrupted. "And since Jack and I were there not too long ago, it wouldn't be there NOW. It'd be gone!"

"If I want Notland to be where it generally is in Midgard," Odin asserted, "it shall be there. And it is there. The problem is that due to its transient nature, it is impossible to establish a connection from the Bifrost directly to Notland. We shall have to send you to the Midgardian oceans on a vessel that will sail to the domain of the fin-folk. The challenge shall be finding a vessel that is inconspicuous."

"Wait!" Thorgil cried. "You can see where anyone on Midgard is, right? Heimdall does that, doesn't he?"

"Yes…" Odin replied.

"Then don't use an Asgardian ship," Thorgil suggested. "Have him find a captain named Skakki. His ship will bring us right to Notland. It's done it before."

"Her brother by adoption," Jack whispered to Applejack. "He's the leader of Olaf One-Brow's crew."

"Where is the ship of this Skakki?" Odin inquired.

"I don't know," Thorgil admitted. "It could be anywhere. Northmen sail all over looking for plunder and adventure!"

"It is not worth the risk," Odin stated firmly. "Time is of the essence – "

"A few days would not hurt," Frigga interrupted. "We shall need time to settle diplomatic matters with the elves and hobgoblins. We all know it is not as simple as welcoming them into our army and expecting them to fall into line. Thorgil Olaf's Daughter, if your Skakki's ship is no more than a few days away from Notland, you are more than welcome to take it. If not, I implore you to consider an Asgardian mode of travel instead."

Thorgil nodded excitedly.

...

"I fear that the Midgardians will not react well to Pookas," Cornelius confessed as the group made its way once more across to the Bifrost.

"That's probably true," Twilight told him. She wasn't sure how similar 616th Midgard was to its future form – whether or not superhumans still composed a large part of its population – and all that aside, she couldn't remember seeing anything close to a Pooka in New York City.

"Loki," Cornelius asked, "I don't suppose you could use another glamour – "

"I don't think we'll need that," Fluttershy interrupted. "All we have to do is introduce you to people and let them know you're friendly. Even if they don't get it at first, there are a lot of us who can back you up."

"Besides," Loki pointed out, "should the people of Midgard discover our identities, I would think they'd be more fascinated by the presence of their gods. In which case, they'll have to react well to Pookas because we command it."

"I wouldn't be too sure," Jack warned him. "Lots of people there don't…believe you're the God worth listening to. Or in you at all."

"Well, we'll have to change their mind about that," Loki resolved.

"LOKI!" Thor, Twilight, and Sif snapped.

"We're there on business," Twilight insisted. "Not to push people around!"

"If our godhood does not speak for itself," Thor added, "now is not the time to convince the Midgardians of it."

"Especially to be cruel about it," Sif concluded.

"I don't believe it was called for to react as though I'm some sort of…tyrannical villain," Loki sighed.

"No one sees you that way," Gwendolyn reassured him.

Good for Gwendolyn, Twilight thought. She preferred not to have to shoulder the issue and lie out loud.

"Just you wait," Thorgil boasted. "Skakki's crew is the best of the best. They'll be able to get us back to Notland."

The group crossed into the great dome of the Bifrost. Once inside, they all turned to Heimdall. Pinkie was the first to speak, with an enthusiastic wave and a "Hi!"

"Odin wishes for you to travel to Midgard in order to reach Notland," Heimdall stated.

"Yeah," Twilight confirmed, "and actually, we kind of have a specific plan."

"Find somebody named Skakki," Thorgil told Heimdall.

"Please," Twilight interjected.

"He's a young man," Thorgil described. "Tall, with dark hair. He's the son of the dead berserker Olaf One-Brow and the wise woman Heide. He's taken over Olaf's crew."

Heimdall nodded. "I know of whom you speak. I see him and his ship docked but a few days' time from Notland – "

"YES!" Rainbow Dash cried.

" – in a small village known as Nancileigh in the East Anglian kingdom," Heimdall concluded.

"Home," Jack realized. "Why would Skakki go back to my village?"

"He's looking for me!" Thorgil realized excitedly. "That's where he found me the LAST time he thought I was dead! He wouldn't have given up on me!"

"Heimdall," Thor commanded, "send us to that village."

"If you please," Rarity added.

Heimdall nodded. "It shall be done."

Once again, the great dome crackled with electric energy. The shining tunnel opened itself again, this time leading to 616th Midgard.

"CANNONBAAAAAAAALL!" Pinkie Pie barreled to the front of the crowd, curling up to take a jump into the tunnel.

Volstagg laughed. "That one never runs out of fuel, does she?"

"Nnnnnope," Twilight replied with a smile.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Thorgil urged. "Come ON already!" She charged into the tunnel next.

"ONWARD!" Thor cried, and the remaining of the traveling party headed into the bridge of light.

...

NANCILEIGH, BRITAIN, 616TH MIDGARD

The sun was low in the sky over the small village, an unassuming port town laid out on flat ground at the edge of a thick hazel wood. In this town, farmers farmed, merchants sold, and woodcutters cut wood, adhering to a simple but time-tempered routine that continued their simple but largely comfortable lifestyle. In one particular home, a beekeeper kept her bees, and she noticed their behavior as erratic and excitable. That was how she knew that day would be no ordinary day.

Already, there had been the scare earlier that afternoon when the great wooden ship with the dragon-headed prow had docked at port. It was recognizable as a berserker ship. However, the crew that disembarked seemed quite calm for Northmen, and a few villagers even claimed to recognize them: several strong warriors. A feeble old man, a "skald," a Northman poet. A man who sported various ugly scars. A man taller and thicker than most, with grayish skin and orange hair, reminding many of the tales they'd heard of Jötunheim and its fearsome inhabitants. A woman and two girls, who, to the surprise of most villagers, were identifiable as the widowed Tanner family that had once lived in the village. And at the head of the group was a tall, broad-shouldered, and dark-haired man with eyes that signified an intense focus on all around him and a mind that processed all he saw with deliberation. This man was Skakki, son of Olaf One-Brow and the wise woman Heide.

"Do whatever you want," Skakki ordered the others, "but don't damage anything. We aren't here for berserking or plunder."

With that, he separated from the group. No one dared tell him that his quest was foolish, or that he was chasing a ghost. First of all, as "unrefined" as Northmen might have seemed to Saxons, they still knew better than to talk back to their captain, especially one as reliable and efficient as Skakki. Second, with the exception of the three Tanners, every single person aboard that ship was hoping he would find what he had come for.

Skakki proceeded to a small house: the home of Giles Crookleg and his wife, Alditha. He'd heard enough about Alditha in particular to know this was the place where he was required to go. He knocked upon the door.

It was Giles, a scowling brunette, who opened the door to look at him. There was more than a hint of Jack's looks in Giles. "Go away," Giles grunted.

Skakki put his hand on the door; Giles tried to slam the door shut, but Skakki's arm would not bend. "I wish to speak with your wife," he said. "Or, if your son happens to be here, that would be even better."

"Alditha has no business with you!" Giles shoved against the door.

"Giles." Alditha's voice was soft but stern. Upon hearing her entrance, Giles was caught off guard. "Let him in."

Giles gave an "Eh…" of confusion.

"It's all right," Alditha assured him.

Giles relented, though his scowl deepened as he let the door fall open. Skakki strode into the house to see its small, sparsely furnished interior. He also laid eyes on Alditha. Whatever feature Jack had that was missing from Giles could be found in her face. One didn't have to be altogether too observant to draw the connection that these were his parents.

"I know what you've come looking for," Alditha stated somberly.

"I get the feeling she isn't here," Skakki replied. If she had been, then Alditha would have told him right away.

"No," Alditha confirmed. "No one has seen her since the last voyage. Her or Jack. The last anyone heard of them, they were spotted in Bebba's Town during the onset of the flying venom."

That sent a chill through Skakki. "She couldn't have…died by the venom, could she?"

Alditha was silent.

"You know more," Skakki realized.

"Giles," Alditha commanded, "please leave us."

"You think I'm going to leave you with this ruffian?" Giles snapped. "Do you think I want to come back to find my wife's throat cut, or worse, her having been captured and dragged off to some – "

"I have no intention of that," Skakki promised.

"I shall remain unharmed," Alditha affirmed.

"I'm warning you," Giles growled. "If you harm a hair on her head – " Giving Skakki a sinister glare, he prowled out of the room.

"I feel as though he is listening in," Skakki admitted, "and I am not sure we should discuss what you know if he is."

"I am not concerned with that," said Alditha.

"What do you know?" Skakki asked softly.

Alditha responded in a tone equally as hushed: "Before your sister and my son set out on the voyage to Notland, I used farsight."

Skakki nodded. "Like my mother does." If one visited the right pockets of Britain, there would be gossip about Alditha the wise woman. She was not as powerful as Heide, or so the stories went, but Skakki still knew that she was worth asking a few questions.

"I saw the two of them in a small boat," Alditha related, "sailing beyond the setting sun."

"Beyond the setting sun?" Skakki repeated in disbelief.

"I do not know what lies there," Alditha stated, "but I know that is where they have gone, and I could tell that it would change them forever. This is no longer their home." She gave the slightest of melancholy sighs. "When they did not return, I turned again to farsight. I was unable to locate them. But I knew that the brother of Thorgil would be searching for her, and that he would come here."

"A year ago, my crew gave her up for dead," Skakki told Alditha. "But there was always a part of me that KNEW she was alive. We found her here. With your son, who had been on our ship before Olaf's death. It's rather funny, isn't it, how fate always seems to tie her to him? But I thought…if she were alive…this is where she would be."

"I wish I had more to give you," Alditha said sadly. "All I can offer is this. When I bid Jack farewell last, I had a feeling it would be for the last time. But the vision I had, of his voyage west with Thorgil…it did not seem to me that they were bound for sorrow. In fact, it was the opposite. I truly believe that wherever they are, it is in happiness."

"Thank you," Skakki said honestly. "My men will not bother you any longer. We will board our ship and take our leave. After all…my father wouldn't want us dallying around when there is plunder to be taken."

Alditha nodded. "You are a fine captain."

"That is not something I hear every day from Saxons."

"I would rather that your men did not pillage our land and destroy such places as the Holy Isle. But I have accepted that it is simply the way our lives are. I may wish you did not do what you did, but I know you are respectable at it."

"I…want to thank you again," Skakki said, turning to leave. He took the door in hand, prying it open, stepping over the frame. Then he turned back to Alditha. "I still believe she is alive. And if she is alive, so is your son. I hope we find them both."

Without waiting for a response from Alditha, Skakki stepped out of the house, letting the door swing shut behind him.

He gave a sigh of resignation, looking up to the sky and the setting sun. It was at that exact moment that it happened.

The beam of white light shot down from the sky like a bolt of lightning, striking out in the fields. As quickly as it had come, it was gone. Skakki flinched at its sudden appearance and disappearance. Something told him to investigate it, and instead of moving back to the dock as planned, the young captain bolted full speed toward the fields.

...

At the edge of the village, on a raised area that overlooked the rest of it and bordered the forest, was a larger home whose construction was unmistakably Roman, linking it to a far bygone area. A girl no older than fifteen cheerily made her way up the path to its door.

Her visage was indeed memorable. Most people in the village regarded her as "ugly," and were not afraid to say so to her face. She knew several hobgoblins, and the overwhelming sentiment she got from them was that she was truly beautiful…implying that her features reminded them more of a hobgoblin than of a human. She wasn't sure whether or not this rendered the compliment empty. The facts were simply these: half her otherwise pale face was covered with a shapeless, nearly crimson birthmark. Her eyes were small and her ears large. Her hair, the color of corn silk, was also as thin as corn silk. Underneath her arm, which appeared slender but was in fact hardened by years of hard work, she carried a ball sewn of cloth and some leather.

She approached the door of the Roman house and knocked enthusiastically. "Mr. and Mrs. Blewit!" she cried. "I'm here to watch Hazel!"

The door swung open to reveal a male hobgoblin. "Ah, Pega!" Mr. Blewit greeted. He turned back into the entryway. "HAZEL! PEGA IS HERE!"

"PEGA!" Hazel, the Blewits' daughter, charged down the hall to greet her babysitter. Though the two had gotten off to a rough start when first they met, they had finally reached a place of peace with each other.

Hazel was not a hobgoblin by biology, though she certainly considered herself one. She was the human girl that the hobgoblins had so long ago switched out with Lucy in order to anger Partholis: the true biological daughter of Giles and Alditha, and blood sister to Jack. However, unlike Lucy, who had always longed to return to the home she barely remembered she belonged in, Hazel had no inkling of life before the Hobgoblin Village and her adoptive family until Jack and Thorgil came along, and was a Blewit through and through. After their worlds had collided, and it had become apparent that Hazel was more than an average hobgoblin child, the Blewit family at large had drawn closer to the surface world, eventually settling down in the village Jack called home, particularly in the abandoned home of a Bard known in some circles as Dragon Tongue. Hazel would not accept Giles and Alditha as parents yet, but she remained in communication with them. Mr. and Mrs. Blewit finally accepted that they were truly "mudstruck" – a hobgoblin term for becoming enamored with Midgard and human culture.

As Hazel ran toward Pega, Pega was clearly able to see her resemblance to Jack. Jack, who'd gone missing after his last voyage, and who most of the villagers had pronounced dead. She truly missed him, and it was impossible for her to look at Hazel without thinking of him. Perhaps that was why it had become so easy for her to make peace with the girl.

"PEGA!" Hazel wrapped her arms around Pega's knees. Pega reached down and ruffled Hazel's hair. Hazel then took an interest in the ball that Pega held. "What's that?"

"Something I made for you," Pega answered.

"Thank you for doing this," Mrs. Blewit said gratefully, padding into the hallway. "We do love our Hazel, but we haven't gone on a nighttime walk together, just the two of us, in ages."

"I understand," Pega said with a nod.

Mr. and Mrs. Blewit then took their leave, and Pega remained behind with Hazel. "Come on outside," Pega told Hazel.

"Are we going to play with the ball?" Hazel asked excitedly.

Pega nodded, and Hazel made a screeching sound of joy.

...

Out in the yard of the Roman house, Pega and Hazel ran frantically back and forth kicking the ball to each other. "Where did you learn to play ball?" Hazel asked. "And where did you learn to MAKE a ball?"

"One of my owners used to play ball games all the time," Pega replied, thwacking the ball toward Hazel with her foot. "And another made me sew EVERYTHING."

Pega's life had been one of servitude, sold from owner to owner to do menial labor, rejected by owner after owner because of her "ugliness." Jack had ended all that when he purchased her and bequeathed her freedom. She'd come out of that life with a myriad of skills and even more stories.

Hazel caught the ball and kicked it back toward Pega. The bright flash in the sky caused Pega to miss the ball entirely.

"What is THAT?" Pega cried, pointing to where the white beam had flashed, the ball rolling aimlessly past her.

"I dunno," Hazel answered. "We should go find it!"

"Right," Pega agreed. "But you are not leaving my sight, you hear me?"

"I got it!"

Pega and Hazel set off briskly toward the fields where they had seen the Bifrost connect.

...

A tall, white-haired, aged man strode through the woods. As he himself had said, bards return to 616th Midgard many times. He did not plan on staying long, just on giving everything a once-over. It never hurt to be too observant.

He carried with him an item of interest: a large bell, wrapped and stored in a pack at his side. He had not yet found a safer place to store it than on his person.

He emerged from the wood just in time to see the white light of the Bifrost flash. "What does that one-eyed tyrant want now?" he muttered. Perhaps it was fate that had brought him back to Nancileigh, for a Bifrost connection to the realm was not something he would have wished to have missed.

...

The traveling party of eighteen was dropped out in the field beyond Nancileigh, an open expanse of green that was bathed in twilight.

"So this is your home," Applejack remarked to Jack.

"Yes," Jack replied. "I was beginning to think I would never see it again."

"We have to keep in mind that we are among Midgardians," Oswald stated. "Perhaps it would be best to pose as them for the time being."

At this, Gwendolyn nodded. Fandral and Volstagg burst into laughter. Hogun, Sif, Thor, and Loki looked as though Oswald had just suggested they lick the mud off their own boots.

"I don't think that will quite work for us," Cornelius said worriedly.

"And that's why we're sticking together," Twilight asserted.

"Hey, look!" Rainbow Dash pointed out over the field. "Somepony's coming!"

All turned to behold the sight of the tall man bolting toward the site where the Bifrost had struck. Thorgil was the first to recognize him. First, she gave an excited gasp. Then she charged toward him at an even greater speed than his until they collided. She leapt upon him, attempting to tackle him, but he wrestled her down, putting her in a light headlock, and ruffled her hair.

"SKAKKI!" Thorgil cried between laughter.

"LITTLE SISTER!" Skakki replied joyously. "I KNEW you weren't dead! Where WERE you?"

"You wouldn't BELIEVE the amazing things I've seen!" Thorgil gushed. "I've been on an adventure your crew could only ever DREAM about!" She struggled free of Skakki's grip, leading him back toward her friends. "This is Skakki," she introduced. "My brother."

Skakki regarded the group with interest. "They're a strange lot," he stated.

"EXCUSE YOU!" Rarity huffed.

"Purple hair?" Skakki commented. "Is that Elven?"

"I'd rather NOT be associated with that place for the time being," Rarity insisted.

"And they?" Skakki looked to Cornelius and Velvet. "What are they?"

"Pookas!" Thorgil answered. "Friendly ones who are good with weapons!"

"And…" When Skakki locked eyes with Thor, he lost the ability to speak temporarily. "Guh…ah…th…"

"Is he unwell?" Thor asked.

Thorgil shook her head. "I think he recognizes you."

"You're…you're Thor," Skakki stated, eyes wide with disbelief. "The god of thunder. Here. Little sister, am I dreaming this?"

"No," Thorgil told him, "but you might want to look at the one to his left."

Skakki did, and immediately took several steps backward. "THE GOD OF MISCHIEF? ARE YOU INSANE?"

"Ohhh, it is I," Loki told Skakki, "and you'd better treat me with the respect deserving of a god, or else – "

"LOKI," Thor, Twilight, and Gwendolyn snapped.

"Oh, come on, now, I'm only joking," Loki said quickly.

"Gods…women with strange hair…Pookas…" Skakki turned to Thorgil. "What HAVE you been doing?"

Before Thorgil could answer, a female voice called out, "JACK?"

Jack turned to see who had addressed him, and two came into view. "…PEGA? HAZEL?"

Hazel screeched happily before bounding toward Jack and leaping at his chest; he caught her and embraced her just in time to avoid a collision.

"Where HAVE you been?" Pega snapped. "Don't you know we've all been worried sick? Well, your father and I have. Your mother knows more than she's letting on about where you were, and I know it!"

"Hey!" Pinkie Pie realized. "You're Pega from Jack and Thorgil's stories!"

"WHAT have they been saying about me?" Pega asked sharply.

"That you helped them break the curse on Alfheim!" Pinkie Pie answered. "You're a hero!"

"Oh…" Pega blushed. "I don't know if I'd call myself a hero…but enough of that! WHERE have you been? Why didn't you come back until now? And WHO ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE?"

Before Jack could say anything, yet another newcomer's voice chimed in: a man clearing his throat. All present turned to see the elderly Bard surveying the scene.

"It's you…" Jack gasped.

"It is," the Bard said with a nod. "I had thought I better make sure things were going as usual here. However, it seems that they are most certainly not."

"Are you…the one they call Dragon Tongue?" Twilight asked.

"That's one name I have," the Bard confirmed.

"OHMYGOSH!" Twilight rushed forward, grabbing the Bard's right hand and shaking it enthusiastically. "This…is so…AWESOME! I've heard so much about you from Jack and Thorgil and Taliesin!"

"I suppose you're a bard in training," the Bard stated.

"How'd you know?" Twilight asked, dropping his hand. "Because I mentioned Taliesin?"

"That, yes," the Bard explained, "but I've also turned my farsight to the Isles from time to time. Apparently not frequently enough, though, because I've no idea how you've all ended up here…and I mean ALL of you." He let his eyes travel over the Asgardians. "I believe some explanations are in order."

"Well," Twilight resolved, "we've definitely got enough people to be able to tell the whole story."

...

By the time they were done explaining, the sun had fallen completely below the horizon. Velvet finished off the tale with "That is how we came to be here."

"Real gods!" Pega was astounded.

"She's so cute!" Hazel squeaked, pointing at Velvet.

"Velvet isn't just a PET you can call cute!" Cornelius snapped.

Velvet, however, responded, "It's all right. I'm sure I am 'cute'-looking from her perspective."

"So you want me to load you all up on my ship and sail BACK to Notland," Skakki stated. "Do you remember what happened LAST time we went there? It was nothing good!"

"Skakki Olaf's Son," the Bard chided, "the Nine Realms themselves are on the brink of war. I am perturbed that I did not know of this until now. If nothing is done to stop this, we may find ourselves with a problem on our hands that goes even beyond the haunting of a draugr."

"The way to stop it," Thor told the Bard, "is to stop the Jötunns."

"And have you tried talking to them about it?" the Bard asked. He then clicked his tongue. "Of course you haven't. That's how Odin does things: draw his sword first and ask questions later."

"In my father's defense," Gwendolyn said, "we were attacked first. The terms of our treaty were clear."

"If you say so," the Bard sighed. "All things considered, it is better that you try and reason with the Shoney than that you do not. Though I'm sure Jack has warned you that he can be utterly UNreasonable."

"The Shoney doesn't scare me!" Rainbow Dash declared. "We went through worse in Alfheim!"

"How am I supposed to tell my crew we're going back there?" Skakki asked in exasperation.

"If you can't convince them," the Bard insisted, "then I will!"

That quieted Skakki's concerns. Seeing this, Twilight wondered how much weight the Bard carried on 616th Midgard after all.

"It is imperative that you move as soon as possible!" the Bard added. "What are we all doing standing around in a field?"

"Is he trying to order me around?" Loki whispered to Thor, Gwendolyn, and Velvet.

"Let it go," Gwendolyn whispered in return. "He's only trying to point out how urgent this is!"

"But…" Jack protested. "We only JUST got back…and this is…"

"I think you know there are more important things," the Bard told him.

"Thorgil got to see HER family," Jack grumbled.

"Couldn't we just make one small stop at Jack's house?" Applejack asked. "Just for a few minutes? Listen. Family's one of the most important things in all the worlds to me. I like bein' out here on adventures, helpin' people out with my friends an' all, but there's ALWAYS a part of me that wants to go back home and see my own family. When we go back to our own world, you can bet that's the first place I'll be. Even if it's only for a few minutes. Now, Jack might not get the chance to come back here for a long time, and his family's RIGHT HERE. Please…can ya just let him say hi to them?"

The Bard sighed. "All right. For a few minutes. I suppose it wouldn't hurt much."

"Thank you!" Jack cried excitedly.

"I'm coming too," Thorgil insisted. "They always were too nice to me…" It almost sounded like a complaint.

"Think I'll tag along," Applejack suggested. "If y'all wanna stay on schedule, I'll keep track of the time. If that's all right with y'all."

"Of course," Jack answered.

"Then come on!" Thorgil took off at a run toward the village, and Jack and Applejack followed.

"Well," Skakki said to the rest of the crowd, "the ship's out at port. This way." Still in disbelief of all that had happened, he turned and began to lead the group.

Pega fell in step next to Thor and Loki. "Are you two the REAL gods of thunder and mischief?" she asked. "One of my owners knew ALL the stories about you, and he would never be quiet about telling them to me!"

"Aye, that we are," Thor confirmed.

"Out of curiosity," Loki asked, "which of us was your favorite?"

This earned him a cuff on the arm from Gwendolyn.

"I actually preferred the stories about Freya," Pega answered.

Thor and Loki's faces fell visibly.

Cornelius, in the meantime, was struggling with Hazel, who had decided she would spend the walk to port hugging him and stroking the soft fur on his ears.

...

When the next knock came at Giles' door, he practically threw it open in anger, expecting another unwelcome guest. However, the sight before him froze him. Then it warmed him. "Jack…"

Hearing the name of her son, Alditha rushed out into the hallway. Giles stood back, and in through the door came Jack, Thorgil, and Applejack.

"JACK!" Alditha rushed forth and embraced her son warmly.

"Mother…" Jack returned her embrace; then she let him go, and Giles put a hand on Jack's shoulder.

Thorgil watched, admittedly and reluctantly miffed that Giles and Alditha were giving Jack so much attention when she'd practically been their daughter as well for a fair amount of time. Just as she thought this, Alditha embraced her then. "HEY!" Thorgil cried, blushing. "Get off!"

Alditha let go with a smile. "Welcome back, Thorgil."

"We thought we'd lost you," Giles told Jack. "But now…now you've returned, and you can finally stop risking your life on those – "

"Father," Jack interrupted. "I've come to say goodbye. Thorgil and I both have."

"What…HOW?" Giles sputtered. "Your mother and I – Pega! – we've been worried sick, and now you're telling me you're leaving again? Are you going to risk your life on another foolish adventure?"

"Giles," Alditha warned.

"And who is THIS?" Giles pointed accusingly to Applejack. "The person who told you you had to leave?"

Before Applejack could say anything, Thorgil barked, "She's the one who got us able to see you two in the first place, so leave her alone!"

"Jack," Giles whimpered, "why do you have to do this to yourself? Why can't you just stay here, where you'll be safe?"

Jack shook his head. "It's not like that. If I stay here…there's more at stake than just our village, our farm."

"We've been on the adventure of a lifetime!" Thorgil gushed. "We've met gods, defeated elves, faced down Hell itself! We're heroes! But if we stay here, it's all going to fall to ruin!"

"I never thought I'd see the day a Northman would speak against ruin," Giles chided.

"GILES!" Alditha snapped. Giles flinched. Alditha had never taken that tone with him before.

Alditha turned her attention to Applejack. "Who are you?" she asked. Her tone was much less accusatory than Giles'.

"Me?" Applejack replied. "Well…I'm just a friend. I've been goin' along with Jack and Thorgil on their adventures. And I gotta tell ya, they're helpin' out with somethin' big. There are whole worlds in trouble here, and they're one of the things standin' between us and total chaos."

"And we're learning a lot," Jack added. "Things I could never have learned here."

Alditha nodded. "I know that your place is not here."

"Alditha…" Giles attempted.

"Go," Alditha said. "Wherever you must. With my blessing. And…thank you for coming here."

Giles sighed a sigh of defeat. "Jack…" he said softly. "Just become a man of worth. I know you're made of stronger things than I am. Thorgil…good luck."

"Please…I hope you're happy here," Jack replied.

"And you BETTER take good care of Pega!" Thorgil snapped. "I mean it! And Hazel, too!"

"We shall," Alditha vowed. "I wish she hadn't chosen tonight of all nights to leave. She'll be sad to have missed you."

"We've already seen her," Jack reassured his mother. "And I think she's waiting to see us off at the port."

"Speakin' of which, we should get goin'," Applejack insisted.

"I'll never forget you," Jack promised, his eyes suddenly growing moist. "I love you."

"…You weren't bad," Thorgil admitted. "But you better remember what I said about taking care of Pega, you hear?"

"We love both of you as well," Alditha replied. "Until we meet again, should that day come."

Giles, never one for long goodbyes, just gave a nod.

Applejack and Thorgil turned to leave. It took Jack a few more moments of lingering before he was able to follow. Then they made their way down to the port.

...

The traveling party, now plus Skakki, Pega, Hazel, and the Bard, made their way down to where the Northman ship was docked. The topic of discussion was arrangements for travel.

"Last time," Skakki recalled, "we could only take you so far before having to set the Bard, Jack, and Thorgil off in a coracle that went into the heart of Notland."

"And that is what you shall have to do again," the Bard confirmed. "Though what small vessel could hold eighteen, I am not sure."

"I can make a construct raft that will hold us up in the water," Twilight pointed out. "Watch!" She summoned her staff to her hand, letting magic emanate from it. Twilight paused and let a vaguely boat-shaped construct of magenta energy form before her. "See?" She then let it dissolve. "And when we don't need it, it's gone."

"Hmmmmmmm." The Bard took a sudden interest in Twilight's staff. "Your staff…"

"What about my staff?" Twilight snapped defensively.

"It's made of Eldritch metals," the Bard observed. "I don't like it. It's not something I'd feel safe relying on, and definitely not something I'd put in the hands of anyone younger."

"It hasn't let me down so far," Twilight defended. "I've already paid the price for it. I trust it!"

"A bard should have a good wooden staff," the Bard went on. "One that comes from the life force and is able to conduct it. One that has meaning. You don't just pick a staff up off the ground and suddenly have it mean something, you know."

"I didn't pick this one up off the ground," Twilight argued. "It was a gift. Admittedly, a gift that was used to try and trick me into exploding into a giant monster so my energy could be harvested, but I already figured that part out and dealt with it."

"I suppose there's no changing your mind," the Bard sighed. "I suppose if it hasn't failed you yet."

Twilight was miffed that every high-ranking bard she met seemed to have some sort of issue with her staff, but she knew better than to press further. "Everypony says you're incredibly powerful," she said. "And smart, too. I'm hoping that my studies can teach me more of the things you know."

"You'll be able to learn it if you're willing," the Bard assured her. "I already know the talent is in you. It's just a matter of figuring out how to use it."

"Thank you."

They reached the port, where the band of Northmen awaited. "Well, let's get this over with," Skakki said. He turned to his crew. "Men, there's been a change in plans. We're now headed back to Notland."

"AGAIN?" one of the taller men groaned.

"AND WHO ARE THEY?" the scarred man said in a voice much louder than the average tone. This startled the travelers, who were perplexed until they noticed that this man's ears were badly damaged, seemingly torn apart. His hearing had no doubt suffered as a consequence.

"They…are passengers with us," Skakki explained. He wasn't sure if it was wise to introduce Thor and Loki as they truly were.

While the majority of his men seemed not to have recognized them, the withering skald beheld the two gods with wide eyes. He blinked back his surprise, feeling as Skakki did that it was best to keep their identity under wraps until such time as the others simply figured it out. But he and Skakki exchanged nods. Skakki wasn't surprised. If anyone was going to recognize Thor and Loki, it would be the ship's skald.

"Well," Skakki suddenly corrected, "most of them are passengers with us." He pointed to Pega, then Hazel, then the Bard. "Those three aren't coming." He looked to the Bard. "I don't think."

"This is your voyage," the Bard stated. "I have my own business to attend to under the circumstances."

"THEY HAVE ODD HAIR," the scarred man commented, looking to Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash.

"So do I," the hulking orange-haired man pointed out rather indignantly.

"AND WHAT ARE THEY?" the scarred man asked, pointing to Cornelius and Velvet (the latter of whom had become the next subject for Hazel's cuddles, but was taking it far better than the former had).

"Pookas," Twilight supplied.

"They're really nice," Fluttershy added.

"We've got Schlaup on board," one of the other men laughed. "So what if we're taking on others who are a little strange? But Skakki, WHY is it so important we take them to Notland?"

"Because if we don't," Twilight stated, "the Nine Realms are in danger."

There was a pause. Then most of the crew began to laugh raucously, though the great orange-haired man bore a serious expression. Twilight was able to draw the parallels between him and the Jötunns she'd seen, and she wondered if there was a connection. More importantly, though, she could tell from his expression that he knew of the other realms and the chaos that could erupt between them at any moment. She appreciated this, especially when the others were all having a good laugh about it.

"It's NO LAUGHING MATTER!" the Bard snapped, and the crew fell silent. "You remember what happened when the draugr came crawling up to shore the last time you went to Notland? You're on the verge of THAT seeming like a summer day on the lakeshore."

"We'd best believe him," the elderly skald agreed. "You've seen what can happen when there's unrest between realms. You remember when we lost Thorgil to Alfheim."

"Speaking of which," a burly man asked, "I take it she wasn't here."

"Actually…she and Jack are coming to join us," Skakki explained.

This earned him a chorus of "WHAT?" from his crew.

"Oh, not THEM!" whined the elder of the two young sisters. Slightly younger than Jack, she was thin, almost rickety-seeming, with greasy blonde hair tied back into pigtail braids. Next to her, her younger sister, still a child, with a shock of red curls that burst chaotically about her face, stuck out her tongue in disgust.

"They're alive," Skakki explained. "Just like last time. Thought they were dead…they were off having a legendary adventure. And this is the LAST time I will believe Thorgil is actually dead until I see her corpse with my own eyes." He laughed. He then turned back to the traveling party. "And now, my crew." He gestured to two of the larger, more muscular men. "Sven the Vengeful. Eric the Rash." Next, the scarred man with the damaged ears. "Eric Pretty-Face." The elderly skald. "Rune." The tall, orange-haired man. "Schlaup Half-Troll."

"A HALF-TROLL?" Fandral blurted. "You're expecting us to share a ship with a JOTUNN?"

"Yeeeeees," Skakki replied, already growing frustrated at what he knew was to come.

"How do we know it won't kill us in our sleep, then?" Loki asked.

"YOU of all people shouldn't have to worry about being killed in your sleep by ANYTHING," Skakki snapped. "But to the point, Schlaup has been a trusted member of our crew for a long time…and he's my brother!"

This caused a stunned silence on one side of the line. On the other, Skakki was ever more frustrated; Sven, the Erics, and Rune looked about ready to take up arms; and Schlaup himself did not seem angry so much as generally upset, and he was beginning to shake.

"The brother of a half-troll," Thor muttered. "How can such a thing even be?"

"He's my half brother," Schlaup said by way of explanation. "And Thorgil is my half sister."

"Olaf One-Brow was a man of many women," Skakki clarified. "And one of those women was Queen Glamdis of the Jötunns."

"We began this entire quest to combat the Jötunns!" Cornelius argued. "We can't trust one of them!"

"YOU CAN TRUST HIM," Skakki growled. "Schlaup has NEVER let us down. Not all Jötunns are like your raiders, you know."

"But we're raiders in general," Sven pointed out.

"And it's the HALF-TROLL you're worried about?" Eric the Rash added.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Loki stated coolly. "I'm not sure we much want to travel with him on board."

Schlaup's trembling grew more furious, and his very outline and shape were starting to shift, suggesting that if he was pushed too far over the edge, he would become completely amorphous. "I'm not going to be left behind again!" he stated shakily.

"Again?" Gwendolyn asked. She was ignored.

"If we must travel with him," Volstagg stated, "we shan't travel at all. We have other means of getting to Notland."

"Do NOT speak of my brother that way," Skakki seethed.

"STOP!" Twilight crossed to the middle, holding out a hand to each side. "RIGHT NOW, before something happens that we're ALL going to regret!"

She paused a moment. No one seemed to be offering a rebuttal; all attention seemed to be focused on her. "We CAN'T judge Schlaup until we know him," Twilight said sternly. "We've only seen seven or eight Jötunns in the raids, and we know he wasn't one of them. All I know is that he's Thorgil and Skakki's brother. Thorgil trusts him! And I trust Thorgil! Do YOU wanna be the ones to tell her what you said about her brother? How you didn't trust someone that means a LOT to her?" Twilight then turned to face Skakki and Schlaup. "That…is how she sees you, isn't it?"

"Yes," Schlaup confirmed. "I love my sister, and my sister loves me!"

"If he was evil," Twilight went on, "Thorgil would have let us know. Now, THIS is our one ride to Notland. You can either act like stubborn FOALS and turn it down because of somepony you've never even met, or you can get your act together!"

This left another silence. Twilight could tell that Loki, Fandral, Sif, Oswald, Volstagg, Hogun, and Cornelius were all displeased with her statement. Thor, however, resigned. He stepped forward, around Twilight, looking Schlaup in the eye. "Schlaup Half-Troll," he addressed, "I…wish to apologize on behalf of my traveling companions. We have had unpleasant experiences when it comes to Jötunheim, and because of this, we have acted rashly. We did not mean to offend."

He truly did not like the idea of traveling on the same ship as a Jötunn. However, he knew that contributing to the conflict would only hinder the entire group and make bonds brittle. Peacemaking was the option that would allow them to progress. Odin and Frigga had taught Thor a thing or two about diplomacy.

Twilight stepped back in amongst her friends, and the Bard gave her a nod of approval.

"Thank you," Schlaup replied, and his trembling stopped, giving him once again a definite outline.

"Consider the apology accepted," Skakki told Thor, his anger abating as well, "though there had better be no repeat incident on board my ship."

Loki received Gwendolyn's elbow to his side, Sif's right shoulder smacking into his left shoulder, Velvet's foot pressed down onto his ankle, and a very frantic head-shaking from Pinkie Pie before he could complain about being "ordered around" by a Midgardian.

"There shall not be," Thor vowed.

"Well, then," Skakki said with a nod, "back to introductions." He turned to indicate a tall, scowling woman standing at Schlaup's side. "This is – "

He was interrupted when he spotted three figures, relievingly familiar, charging over the horizon. "It's the heroes of the hour!" Skakki cried upon seeing Jack, Thorgil, and Applejack hurry toward the crowd gathered on the shore.

"SISTER!" Schlaup cried, pushing through the throng and charging toward Thorgil.

"SCHLAUP!" Thorgil pounced on her half-brother, and the two began to wrestle just as Thorgil and Skakki had.

"It must run in the family," Rarity remarked.

"So what'd we miss?" Applejack asked as she fell into line.

"I was just about to introduce – " Skakki attempted.

"Oh, NO," Jack groaned, looking at the woman standing near Skakki.

"Is that any way to treat one of your elders?" the woman barked.

"Sorry, Mrs. Tanner," Jack muttered. "Though I suppose it's Mrs. Half-Troll now…"

"This is Ydgith Tanner, Schlaup's wife," Skakki explained. He sounded somewhat drained while doing this introduction. "And these are Ydgith's daughters and Schlaup's half daughters, Ymma – " He indicated the older girl with the blonde braid. "And Ythla." The younger.

"I don't understand," Jack said in disbelief. "I thought Schlaup had settled you down with a home where you could stay while he was away."

"He did give us a home," Ydgith confirmed. "But it gets so…claustrophobic."

"And boring," Ymma agreed. "We wanted to go along on the next voyage."

"On a RAID?" Jack was stunned.

"It's better than sitting around in that musty old hall!" Ymma moaned. "And our stepfather is a raider to begin with!"

"I didn't want to go," Ythla protested. "I hate boats. This is worse than home."

"They're almost worse than Lucy," Rainbow Dash whispered to Applejack.

"I get the feelin' they are worse than Lucy," Applejack replied. She raised her voice. "So, uh, how'd you and Schlaup meet an' all?"

Schlaup and Thorgil had rejoined the crowd by this point. "I loved her when I first saw her," Schlaup gushed.

"And I simply couldn't turn down a proposal of marriage from someone so…generous," Ydgith replied, her voice syrupy.

"Rich, she means," Thorgil hissed to Rainbow Dash. "My brother deserves much better than her, but he had his heart set."

"Oh…" Rainbow Dash wasn't sure how to respond, but she found it highly unfair that Thorgil had to see her brother married into a family that had left the impression they did on her.

"You'd better not steal anything from us," Thorgil warned Ymma.

"We wouldn't DREAM of it!" Ymma gasped as though offended.

"You've already stolen from us more times than we can count," Jack hissed.

"I've been keeping an eye," Skakki informed him. "We haven't had any incidents so far."

"And besides," Fandral pointed out, "we're traveling with L…with HIM!" He laughed, pointing to Loki. "We've already had to worry about being stolen from on this entire journey!"

"Oh, I am quite offended," Loki replied coyly, teasingly.

"So are we going to get introductions to them?" Eric the Rash asked.

"On board the ship," Skakki answered. "And whether or not they want to give their names is up to them. We're losing time."

"THEN LET'S GO!" Eric Pretty-Face charged up onto deck, followed by most of the crew (plus Tanners). Skakki and Rune remained on shore.

"I hadn't wanted to say it when the others were around," said Rune, "but this must be an important task indeed if two of the gods are coming on board our ship. And I assume that most of you aren't from this realm, either."

"There may very well be war between the Nine Realms," said Thor.

Rune nodded. "Then like it or not, Notland is where we are going." He turned to ascend to the dock; Thor, Loki, Sif, Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg, Cornelius, Gwendolyn, and Oswald followed.

"Bye bye, bunny," Hazel told Velvet.

"Take care," Velvet said softly, patting Hazel on the head before moving toward the ship.

Pega was suddenly overcome with the urge to hug both Jack and Thorgil tightly, and she acted upon it, pressing them both close. "You'd better come back," she told them, close to tears.

Jack said "We'll try" as Thorgil said "We will."

Jack next gave Hazel a hug goodbye, and Twilight approached the Bard yet again. "What are you going to do?" she asked.

"Pay Taliesin a visit," the Bard answered.

"Could…could you tell him that the bearers of the Elements of Harmony say hi?" Twilight requested.

"I shall," the Bard promised.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Skakki had boarded by that time, leaving only Jack, Thorgil, and Twilight. The three backed toward the ship, keeping their gazes on the Bard.

"We won't let you down," Twilight vowed, and Jack and Thorgil nodded.

They were the last to board, and then the ship shoved off as the Bard, Hazel, and Pega watched the boat begin to crawl over the dark waters of night.

"We should go," Pega announced. "The Blewits might be home at this hour, and I'll catch it for sure for keeping Hazel out this late." She looked up at the Bard. "Are you going to be all right?"

"Of course," the Bard told her.

"Are we really in so much danger?"

"I am afraid we may be, Pega."

"Well, is there anything I can do?"

"For now," the Bard instructed, "keep Hazel safe, and assist Giles and Alditha when you can. Trust in them…" He indicated the ship. "And I shall attend to a few matters of my own. Now, as you said, you shouldn't be keeping Hazel out this late. Run along!"

"Let's go," Pega told Hazel, who kept staring out at the retreating ship.

"…Okay." Hazel tore her eyes away from the vessel and set out after Pega toward the old Roman house.

The Bard took the opposite direction, walking down the shoreline. He was determined to get to the Islands of the Blessed. If nothing else, it might be better to stow the bell away there before the water got hot.

...

THE WATERS OF 616TH MIDGARD

The berserker ship creaked its way through the night beneath the glow of the stars. Quarters were close belowdeck, but space was found for everyone to sleep. Sleep, however, was not on the agenda, not even at that late hour. Instead, the crew gathered in a throng on the deck to tell stories of each's conquests and adventures, and for the most part, the traveling party integrated among them. Skakki did not have a tale of his own to open with, but in a celebratory spirit, he told of his father's death against the golden dragon that lived near Yggdrassil, embellishing Olaf's strength in his final moments. After that, Sven and Eric the Rash had a tale to tell about fending off a pack of wolves. Schlaup contributed a yarn concerning his slaying of a troll-bear, and Eric Pretty-Face recalled how he'd gotten each of his scars. Inspired, the Warriors Three soon joined in the conversation, telling of their quest to pet Fenris, though they managed to edit the tale so that Fenris was just another large wolf and they were three Midgardian warriors who had journeyed miles to find him. At Skakki's behest, no one on board had asked the name of any of the travelers.

"Then I split his head open with one swing," Hogun said, brandishing his sword.

"Even then, the beast kept trying to attack us, using what strength he had left in his broken body!" Volstagg added. "But I plunged my sword through his heart, and he bothered us no more!"

"We each plucked a fang from the wolf," Fandral concluded, "so that we could remember that day. And that is our tale."

"Funny…" Sif remarked teasingly. "I remember it going rather differently." She gave a slight laugh.

"Oh?" Eric the Rash asked her. "So what DID happen to those three?"

"I HAVE A STORY!" Pinkie Pie cried. She knew as well as Sif that the story of Fenris had been embellished, and she didn't want the Warriors Three to have the right to boast taken away from them when the tale was told all in fun (though Fluttershy had become a little queasy at some of the descriptions of the gore of Fenris, and Pinkie Pie didn't blame her one bit). "One time, Twilight and I led Cerberus back to the Underworld, and all we had was a rubber ball so we could play with him and stop him from attacking us!"

"I don't believe it," Sven laughed. "You're telling me you led a hound of Hell all the way back to Niflheim?"

Pinkie Pie shook her head. "Nope."

"Calling the falsehoods of your tale so early?" Sven was surprised.

"Noooooo," Pinkie corrected. "Cerberus isn't the guardian of NIFLHEIM, silly. We had to lead him back to the gates of Tartarus, which is a really scary place!"

"TELL US HOW YOU DID IT!" Eric Pretty-Face begged.

"Well," Pinkie began, "it all started on a day when Twilight was worried that something really bad was gonna happen. I was trying to help her figure out what it was, when all of a sudden, Cerberus comes BARRELING INTO TOWN AT TOP SPEED, LOOKING FOR ESCAPED SOULS TO SCOOP UP INTO HIS THREE MOUTHS!"

"Wait," Skakki interrupted. "Twilight is…"

"Here!" Twilight raised her hand. "That's me."

"Carry on," Skakki told Pinkie Pie.

"Anyway," Pinkie continued, "I remembered right away where I had a rubber ball hidden. I keep them stashed all over town in case of…"

Twilight's gaze wandered around the deck as the familiar tale was told. She'd already counted Ydgith, Ymma, and Ythla as absent; the sharing of stories was not in their interests, so they had gone down belowdecks to sleep. For the first time, however, Twilight also noticed that Jack was not with the group. Instead, he stood at the edge of the deck, looking out over the lapping waters. Twilight stealthily left the crowd, moving toward Jack. When she reached his side, she greeted, "Hey!"

"Hello," Jack replied. "I thought you would be having fun sharing your stories with the rest of them."

"I was," Twilight told him, "but I wanted to know what you were thinking all the way over here. Didn't you wanna join in? I mean, Thorgil's over there – "

"Why would that make a difference?" Jack asked quickly. Even in the dark, it was apparent he was blushing.

"Because you two are best friends," Twilight replied smoothly.

"Yes," Jack answered, calming down. "We are. But I decided just to let her have her fun. This is her family…not mine."

"So what WERE you thinking about?"

Jack sighed. "This is all so big. In the past, Thorgil and I have ended up with the fates of entire towns in our hands. Now, more than one world depends on us and our friends. I know she thinks it's a great adventure, but I'm still…afraid. The stories about heroes always talk about their great deeds. They hardly ever talk about how afraid they get of what might happen if they don't succeed. There isn't a story about how Thor nearly lost his sister to a half-troll queen, and had to fight a dragon and lose a friend in order to get her back. Or a story about Thor actually losing his sister to an elf-queen while trying to bring water back to the surface. Or a story about Loki being afraid of draugr. I've seen so many frightening things, but I still don't want to go back to Notland. I know the Shoney won't remember me or Thorgil fondly at all."

"That's just a part that they tend to leave out of the stories," Twilight reassured Jack. "Trust me. Everypony you've ever heard about in any of those epic poems has felt that way. You heard the way that everypony's bragging about slaying giant animals over there. I know at least three of them who are only telling the good parts and making up a better ending to theirs. I know that doesn't make you feel any less stressed, but you're not alone. And speaking of that, we're all here to help you out with this adventure. It's okay to be afraid, but we're going to face the Shoney TOGETHER. Trust me, if I can sit down to polite dinner with Discord, I can talk to the fin-folk king. Besides, Alfheim didn't turn out SO bad, did it?" She flashed Jack a smile. "You were pretty awesome blocking Nimüe's spell."

"I would have been dragged to Hell if not for you," Jack reminded her. "Thank you for saving me."

"Hey, it's what we do."

Jack turned his gaze upward to the stars. "There are parts that haven't been bad," he relented. "I NEVER thought I'd be able to call Thor and Loki friends. But I feel as though I can. And Thorgil…she's hard-headed and improper on a good day, but I truly do love…adventuring with her, even when it's difficult." He gave a sigh. "The other thing I worry…I told Odin long ago that his world was a leaf falling from Yggdrassil. The Bard often notices changes in our world and speaks of upheavals that are yet to happen. Right now…now, there are heroes like us to protect it. But I know it can't remain like this forever. What if, one day, things change so much that this…this all dies out? No more bards, no more knights…no more heroes. What will happen to this world then?"

Twilight deliberated on her response. She knew what she wanted to say. She just knew she had to be careful about how she said it. At last, she figured out how to say it safely. "I don't think heroes will ever go away," she began. "Or villains, for that matter. I do think changes will come, but it's only in what those heroes and villains will look like. Sometimes I like to…imagine up what might be coming in the future. And you know what I see for this realm?"

"What?"

"Well…imagine a knight with magical armor that lets him fly and cast spells. Or a warrior who's so strong, the only weapon he ever needs is an unbreakable shield. There might be a god with them, kind of like how Thor is with us. There might be a berserker who actually doubles in size or more when he's angry, and transforms into a different person capable of taking on an entire army. An archer with magic arrows and incredible aim. A Valkyrie who's fast and stealthy. That's one daydream, anyway."

"It sounds like it would make a fantastic story," Jack commented.

"Maybe someone will write it down," Twilight said with a shrug. "But there will always be heroes. Good might not always win, but it will always exist. And the life force of Yggdrassil will always be running through all of it. If nothing else, you can trust that."

Jack nodded, his spirits notably lifted. "Thank you, Twilight."

"Anytime. So…do you need to talk more? Do you maybe wanna come back and join the others?"

"I think I'll just stay here for a while and keep thinking, if that's all right with you," Jack told her. "You know, there was a time I hated boats."

"We come a long way," Twilight replied. "Well, you know where to find me." She turned to move back toward the crowd of boasting storytellers as Jack continued his pensive stare into the night.

...

BEBBA'S TOWN, 616TH MIDGARD

The sunrise illuminated the walls of St. Filian's monastery, an architectural masterwork of stone. Its chapel and cloisters towered, almost glittering in the light. Its courtyard, however, was certainly not a pleasure garden. In fact, it appeared to be the exact opposite. The plague known as "flying venom" had hit Bebba's Town hard, but thanks to a strict quarantine, it had spread no further than that city. During the time that the monks and nuns had been infirm – and the time during which their number had been reduced by a great percentage – the monastery had fallen into disrepair. Under its new management, the remaining members of the order had begun to put it all back together, but the courtyard was still overgrown with untrimmed plants, a few of which had died and turned brown and crackly. The ugly scar was still visible over the earth at the courtyard's center where once a gaping pit had led down into the bowels of the earth, a pit that Nimüe had used to suck all the water in Bebba's Town down into Alfheim.

It was through this neglected, overgrown, and walled-in landscape that the elven princess walked. Even after glamour had been dispelled from Alfheim, Ethne had retained her radiant beauty. The morning sun caught the gold of her hair, glimmering off. She was clothed in the modest habit of a nun, the same robes as worn by the other women of St. Filian's.

She took a moment to appreciate her solitude in the courtyard. She hadn't yet figured out how, completely, to feel as close to God as the other sisters did. After all, she had only arrived there from glamour-ridden Alfheim one year prior in hopes of altering her soul to be judged as those of mortals. At first, all she had really taken to was the idea that penance made one a better person, and it hadn't exactly worked out in her favor. She had been presented with the Rune of Protection, which she wore at that moment: a protective charm that guarded her life, even from herself, and reduced her desire to punish herself by a great percentage. With that out of the way, Ethne's eyes had turned to the sky, her mind trying to grasp at this great higher power that had put such inspiration into her fellows. A power that Partholis had never taught her about.

The closest she felt to God was there, in the courtyard, beneath the open sky. She looked up to the pastel dawn, searching in the clouds for a physical sign of that mysterious power that bound and observed all existence. When Ethne finally did cast her eyes downward, she was startled by the presence of the other in the courtyard, a woman dressed in far too much finery to be of the monastic order. It took her a moment to realize that the woman was an elf. It took her still longer to realize it was an elf she recognized.

"Nuala…?" Ethne said gingerly.

"Ethne." Nuala nodded, a sad smile across her face.

"What brings you here?" Ethne asked. "I have not seen or heard from you in years!"

Nuala closed her eyes, her smile growing slightly. "Only you, Ethne, would give such a greeting to one of the Dark Elves. That is why I have come to speak to you."

"Of what matter?" Ethne asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"There is a time of darkness coming," Nuala stated. "My brother has already attempted to speak to Lord Partholon of it, but as always, he turned to violence to convince him. Partholon spurned him for it. Had I been there…" She stopped, for Nuala was not entirely certain how she could have rectified the situation. She had felt it, though, when her brother received blows in the battle. "Ethne, my brother offered Partholon a chance to join us. I offer you the same chance. You cannot offer us the warriors that Partholon could, but you are an elven princess. You can offer aid. You may be able to reach your mother and her husband where my brother could not. And you will be safe."

"Safe from what?" Ethne asked.

"I cannot say," Nuala replied. "But you will be in danger should you remain in this realm. Ethne, please join my brother and me before the war comes. You may be a Light Elf, but you are an elf as I."

"But I left the life of the elves behind," Ethne said pleadingly. "I wished to live among humans. To gain a soul that would be judged as a human's. I am of Midgard now. I am no longer a princess of Alfheim. The blood that runs through my veins is only half elven to begin with!"

"You are no Midgardian," Nuala reminded her. "Anyone who looks at you can tell you that."

"Your brother hated the Midgardians," Ethne recalled. "I don't understand that hatred now that I've lived among them. They do not mean as much harm as he thinks!"

"Perhaps the ones you know," Nuala argued. She gave a sigh. "Perhaps this was futile. I wanted to give you a chance."

"I will not abandon St. Filian's!" Ethne was adamant.

"For your soul?" Nuala asked. "Does it matter that much to you!"

"Yes!" Ethne insisted. "But…more importantly…when Father Severus passed, we had to rebuild. My work is not done here. What would they do if I left?"

Nuala did not have a response. Then, after a long pause, she said once again, "I wanted to give you a chance."

She turned and stalked away; Ethne gave chase. Nuala left the courtyard, and Ethne assumed she had gone into the halls of St. Filian's, but by the time the former Light Elf princess rounded the corner, the Dark Elf princess had vanished.

...

The berserker ship docked at Bebba's Town closer to midday, as Skakki put it, "For a supply run."

"You don't mean…?" Jack had asked.

Skakki filled in the blanks. "There won't be any raids while you and your friends are on board. I already know that would be like stamping on a live hornet's nest. The men will be bored, but they'll learn to live with it until we drop you off. For now, we'll obtain food and clothing in the traditional way. With coin."

"And after you drop us off?" Jack asked with suspicion.

Skakki shrugged. "What you don't know won't kill you."

The crew all wanted to make for town in order to pick up the sundry essentials, especially the thoroughly bored Tanners. When everyone on the ship disembarked, however, Thorgil had other ideas.

"I want to stop by St. Filians to see how Wulfie is getting on," she announced.

"That's a good idea," Jack realized. "We could check in on Ethne!"

"Who's Wulfie?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Sister Wulfhilda," Thorgil answered. "She's one of the nuns at St. Filian's, and she's MUCH more fun than those stuffy old monks were that used to live there before the flying venom wiped them out!"

"Not that we're glad about that…" Jack quickly added.

"Mostly," Thorgil amended.

"What about Ethne?" Twilight inquired. "Who's that?"

"She was a daughter of Partholis," Jack explained. "She's a half-elf. The Bard was her father. When Thorgil, Pega, and I went down to Alfheim, we brought Ethne back with us. She wanted to come here to get a soul."

"To modify her soul to be judged as a human's, you mean," Sif corrected.

"When we left, she was rebuilding St. Filian's," Jack concluded.

"And was it EVER in need of repair," Thorgil groaned. "Father Severus was starving everyone to death to make them more pious! And people wonder why I don't worship their god! Anyway, Wulfie and Ethne were going to turn St. Filian's into someplace actually good for once."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Applejack commented. "'Sides, y'all know by now friends of yours are friends of ours. I say we should go."

"Me too," Twilight agreed. "I'd like to see this infamous St. Filian's from your stories."

"Count me in, too!" Rainbow Dash chimed in.

"Hmph…monasteries," Loki grunted. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather stay away from a building full of Midgardians who foolishly copy each other in the most boring pursuits in the hopes of being noticed by a God who doesn't even affect this realm as they know it."

"You know as well as I there is more to it than that," Thor chided, "but no one is forcing you to accompany the excursion to the monastery."

"I had actually planned to gather some supplies of my own," Gwendolyn stated, looking about to make sure that the crew of the ship had gotten out of earshot. "I brought seeds to plant and grow food, and alchemy materials to create phozons. We can stock up in a field outside town."

"Then that's where you'll find me," Loki decided.

"As you will me!" Fandral added. "The idea of food is more than a little appealing, wouldn't you say, Volstagg?"

"I'm practically starving!" Volstagg commented. Hogun gave a nod of affirmation.

"Well, you shouldn't eat everything we grow at once," Oswald warned. "We must save SOME."

"But we can eat some too, right?" Pinkie asked hopefully.

"I do find this particular brand of horticulture interesting," Rarity stated. "I hope you don't mind if I join in…even if only to help make sure that the Warriors Three don't eat all of our rations."

"I'll come too," Fluttershy decided.

"Brother?" Loki asked Thor.

Thor shook his head. "I truly am more interested in this Midgardian place of worship. I wish to see how they act there."

"Even if they don't believe in you?" Jack asked, a brow raised.

"That is the root of my curiosity," Thor admitted.

"Just as long as you don't, y'know, insult them for it," Twilight cautioned.

"I shall not," Thor promised.

"Then I, too, shall go," Sif decided. "I also wish to know what this Ethne makes of the current situation."

"So…uh…this whole monastery thing," Rainbow Dash brought up. "Since Thor is, y'know, real, doesn't that mean everybody there is wrong?"

"No," Thor replied. "The nature of godhood among the cosmos is complex. That is a story best saved for when we have much, much more time. For now, let us depart on our separate ways."

"What do you wish to do?" Cornelius asked Velvet.

"I wish to meet Jack and Thorgil's friends," Velvet answered. "I trust the others to bring back enough food for us all."

Cornelius laughed. "You trust Loki and the Warriors Three with our food?"

"Just enough," Velvet replied, amused.

"Which way is the quickest out of town?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Follow me!" Thorgil moved to the front of the group. "We'll take you as far as where the road splits and we have to go to St. Filian's, but I can point you to the field from there. Oh, and also, while you're outside town, don't touch any weird rocks. You might wake up ANOTHER hogboon." She gave Jack a knowing look.

"Well, how was I supposed to know?" Jack complained.

The group set off down the main road of Bebba's Town, which was much larger than Nancileigh, though by no means elaborate. The people they passed on the narrow streets were comprised largely of Saxons and a few Northmen, However, every now and again, the group would pass a person or a group of people with skin bearing distinct and intricate blue tattoos. "Picts," Thorgil whispered to Rainbow Dash and Sif when she caught them regarding a group of men with these markings.

Over the entire area loomed a great fortress, one with stone walls tinted pink in the sunlight. "What's up there?" Pinkie Pie asked. "It looks like fun!"

"For King Brutus, maybe," Thorgil snorted. "He's supposed to be ruling over this town, but he just shuts himself up in there and hosts parties without even looking at the people in this town twice. Whoever runs St. Filian's ends up being king more often than not."

"But if Brutus ignores everypony," Pinkie wondered, "then who gets invited to the parties?"

"I hear he calls the Lady of the Lake up there a lot," Thorgil answered. "You can probably guess he wants HER up there for." She put on a shrill voice, mocking Brutus. "Oh, Nimüe, you're almost the most beautiful creature in the world…except for me!"

Twilight shuddered. "Let's…not go over there. I don't wanna risk running into Nimüe again."

"Nor I," Jack agreed.

They reached a crossroads. Thorgil pointed down one path. "That will lead you out of town," she explained. "The other way goes to St. Filian's."

"We'll meet you back at port when we're finished," Gwendolyn announced before leading Oswald, Loki, the Warriors Three, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie on the path that led out of the city limits.

Thorgil, Jack, Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Velvet, Cornelius, Thor, and Sif took the opposite path.

...

Gwendolyn's contingent moved quite a fair way out of Bebba's Town, stopping when they found a field that was not only spacious and lush but also deserted; obviously, Gwendolyn wanted to keep the Asgardian alchemy and instantaneously growing trees away from prying Midgardian eyes. Once the group was certain that they were isolated, Gwendolyn removed several seeds from her bag.

"I have Muggle seeds," she explained, "mulberry seeds, grape seeds, a rosemile to produce more phozons, and – "

"A BARROMETT seed!" Volstagg cried happily upon seeing a round, dark brown seed come from Gwendolyn's bag. "THAT will hit the spot!"

Gwendolyn nodded. "I thought you might appreciate a Barromett." She knelt, laying the seeds on the ground and scooping a hole in the earth. Into this hole went the first Muggle seed.

The others got the picture. Oswald, Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun, Loki, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all knelt to the ground, scooping out handfuls of earth and planting the seeds.

"Erm…you wouldn't happen to have a trowel, would you?" Rarity asked.

With a sigh, Oswald handed Rarity his sword.

"Why, thank you!" Rarity dug a hole just big enough for a grape seed using the sword's point, then placed the seed, covered the hole, and returned the sword to its owner. "You know, I never did believe chivalry was dead."

Gwendolyn planted the rosemile seed last. The rosemile plant, tall and reedy and tufted with a mauve blossom, sprouted immediately out of the ground; a shower of phozons rained from the petals and fell onto the overturned earth where the other seeds were planted. Most sprouted, and vines and trees took shape, bearing the round, orange, pitted fruit called "Muggle"; luscious purple grapes; and small but appealingly crimson mulberries.

Half these fruits were harvested as soon as they had grown. Each of the Warriors Three plucked a Muggle off the newly sprouted trees and bit into the fruit hungrily. Loki took for himself a bunch of grapes and a mulberry.

"Psssst!" Pinkie Pie hissed; she too had a mulberry and was sandwiching it with a marshmallow between her fingers. "They go better with marshmallows!" She produced another marshmallow by simply flicking her hand in midair, then handed it to Loki.

Loki, curious, put the marshmallow and the mulberry in his mouth at the same time, chewing over the combination pensively. "That is quite delicious," he remarked. "Have you got another?"

Pinkie tossed another marshmallow, which he caught in midair before reaching for another mulberry only to have Rarity slap his wrist.

"We have to RATION them, remember?" Rarity scolded, and Oswald joined her in giving a dirty glare to everyone who wasn't Gwendolyn or Fluttershy. "No more eating!"

"All right," Fandral sighed.

"We shall refrain," Volstagg added.

"No more for us!" Pinkie Pie agreed.

"Please continue," Loki urged.

Gwendolyn moved to stand over one of the unsprouted seeds' location, taking from her bag a base material and a Turny for alchemy. Rarity and Oswald followed her, seemingly intently watching what she was doing. As they did so, Loki reached up into one of the trees and took a single grape off one of the bunches it had sprouted.

"I saw that," Rarity snapped.

The alchemical reaction produced enough phozons to sprout another Muggle tree, and the fruit was collected. Another grape tree and another mulberry plant had to be grown by alchemy, and finally, all that was left was the Barromett seed. Gwendolyn fused another vegetable to a base material, and the phozons sprinkled onto the earth, encouraging the growth of a small tree. When the tree had reached a height slightly taller than Gwendolyn herself, its fruit – round, white, and fuzzy – began to sprout.

Just watching this, the Warriors Three began to salivate. Fluttershy wondered what exactly could inspire this reaction.

The fruit kept growing, and as it did, it began to sprout other features that looked strikingly like hooved limbs. It unfolded, to the wonder of Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, into the shape of a tiny sheep. When the sheep reached a size where it was around knee-high to the surrounding observers, its weight caused it to break off the branch from which it had sprouted. It hit the ground, immediately catching balance on its hooves and bleating.

"WHAT was THAT?" Rarity cried, utterly baffled.

"It's a Barromett tree!" Volstagg explained. "Most trees produce fruit, but the Barromett is a magical tree that produces meat!"

"And what a miracle it is!" Fandral laughed. "I know I'm in the mood for mutton roasted over the fire!"

"We'll need to build a fire," Gwendolyn stated, raising her spear over the bleating sheep. "Oswald, could you perhaps?"

Fluttershy gasped.

Gwendolyn brought the spear down hard. And it was blocked immediately by the blade of Fluttershy's katana.

"Fluttershy!" Gwendolyn gasped, keeping the sheep in the corner of her vision; it was trotting around, and she worried it would get away. "Why did you – "

"That sheep was only JUST BORN!" Fluttershy growled. "You can't just kill it TEN MINUTES AFTER IT WAS BORN!"

"But that's what Barromett trees are for!" Fandral complained.

"Fluttershy!" Gwendolyn insisted. "The sheep will get away!"

"I hope it does!" Fluttershy snapped. "And you should be ashamed of yourself for trying to kill something so…so…so innocent right after it was born!"

Hogun drew his sword, moving to point it at the sheep. Fluttershy spun on him, pointing her blade at him irately, eyes wide. "DON'T YOU DARE!" Hogun was startled into dropping the sword's hilt.

Fluttershy then walked toward the sheep, which gave a soft "baa" at her approach. She knelt, stroking the top of its head. "You're adorable," she cooed at it. "I don't see how anypony could want to eat you."

"I do," Loki piped up. "I think it looks delicious."

"Fluttershy," Oswald attempted, "I know you refuse to eat the meat of other animals, but in order for us to, we must kill them."

"NOT THIS ONE!" Fluttershy snapped up at him. "Just look at him! He trusts you because you grew his tree! He doesn't think you could hurt him like that!"

"How is she getting all that?" Loki whispered to Pinkie Pie. "It's just a sheep."

"Reading animals is her special talent," Pinkie whispered back. "Just like throwing parties, making people laugh, spreading happiness, producing objects from thin air, and occasionally being genre savvy are mine."

"If you kill this sheep…I'll…I'll…" Fluttershy struggled to think of a threat. "I won't speak to whoever kills it ever again!"

"Perhaps we should leave this one alone," Hogun suggested, sheathing his sword. "It isn't worth it. We can find mutton elsewhere."

"If she doesn't end up abolishing the death of every sheep in the Nine Realms," Fandral grumbled.

"Hogun is right," Gwendolyn agreed. "There will be other places we can find meat. We will let this sheep go."

Fluttershy stood and stepped toward Gwendolyn; the sheep followed. "He wants to come with us!" Fluttershy gasped happily.

"He wants to tantalize us, you mean," Volstagg grumbled.

"What," Loki asked, "do you mean to keep it as a pet?"

"I do." Fluttershy nodded. "This poor little sheep needs someone to look after him."

"Now, Fluttershy," Rarity broke in, "I don't have any qualms with your protecting the sheep, but we certainly don't have room to raise a barn animal on our journey."

"I'll take care of him," Fluttershy insisted. "You wouldn't have to do anything."

"I suppose that makes it a little better…" Rarity mused. "But what do you expect us to do, bring him to Asgard? Or onto the battlefield? Or on the Starlight!"

"I'll figure out what to do with him when that time comes," Fluttershy decided. "Right now, he needs a name."

"Don't NAME him!" Fandral protested.

"If you're still carrying a torch for being able to eat this one for supper," Oswald told him, "I would douse it. Unless you want her to turn her sword on you."

"I think Barromett sounds like a nice name for him," Fluttershy decided. "After the tree he came from. What do you think?"

"I think it's rather silly," Volstagg commented.

"I was asking the sheep," Fluttershy informed Volstagg without even looking at him.

The sheep gave a happy-sounding bleat.

"Barromett it is!" Fluttershy cried happily.

"I don't believe this," Fandral groaned.

"That was all the seeds I had," Gwendolyn announced. "We should return to port."

"And be ready to inform both the other half of our traveling party and the Northman crew that we now have a pet sheep," Loki pointed out.

"And one who had better keep his bodily functions to himself and away from his teammates' good shoes," Rarity insisted.

As the group turned to move back toward the port, Fluttershy looked down to Barromett. "Don't worry," she reassured him. "They just need some time to get used to you."

Barromett bleated happily.

...

At the other end of Bebba's Town, the road tapered off into a quadrant where dwellings and shops were sparse in order to make room for the great monastery of St. Filian's. It came into view almost immediately as Thorgil, Jack, Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Sif, Thor, Velvet, and Cornelius found themselves on the direct path.

A large white cat padded across the road from the nearby lawn of green, stopping in the middle of the path to stretch and yawn. Jack, recognizing the cat, called out happily, "Pangur Ban!"

Pangur Ban sat up straight in the center of the road, sizing up the crowd before him. As his eyes flicked over Thor and Sif, he adopted an expression of surprise, but eventually returned his gaze back to Jack.

Jack was the only one who could hear his voice, one spoken wordlessly. I didn't think I'd be seeing you around here for a while, Pangur Ban commented.

"Well, I'm back," Jack replied.

"Is he speaking to that cat?" Sif asked softly.

"He's the only one who can," Thorgil replied. "But he still can't talk to birds," she added defensively.

"How is everything?" Jack asked Pangur Ban. "Is Ethne all right? What about Sister Wulfhilda? Brother Aiden?"

All are safe and hale, Pangur Ban related to Jack. They can explain things better themselves. They're all where you expect them to be.

"Thank you," Jack replied.

Though there is one more thing you should know, Pangur Ban interjected.

Jack regarded him with confusion.

This morning, Pangur Ban recalled, I sensed the presence of Dark magic around St. Filian's. More than usual. It's gone now, but it still struck me as fairly odd.

"I see…" Jack nodded.

Well, I won't keep you, Pangur Ban concluded. Goodness knows you've got your work cut out for you now that you're a true bard. Something cats don't have to worry about.

With that, Pangur Ban turned and stalked lazily away, back over the green grass.

"Who was that?" Twilight asked.

"Pangur Ban," Jack answered. "A bard who switched his own mind out with that of a cat, then decided he never wanted to change back. I assume the cat in his body is happy as well. He said that everyone at the monastery is well…but he also told me he sensed Darkness here. It's gone now, he said, but…"

"But it still means something WEIRD went on," Rainbow Dash deduced.

"Then let's GO!" Thorgil picked up her pace, and the others followed her to the gates of St. Filian's.

They entered the first courtyard, where it was clear that they stood out. The few nuns working in the small gardens regarded them all with curiosity, surveying their armor and manner of dress. Several contemplated approaching the strange group, asking what they were doing within monastic walls, but it was yet another Sister, over six feet tall and heavily muscled, who exited the chapel and spotted the group. "Thorgil!" she cried happily, approaching.

"WULFIE!" Thorgil yelled in response, running toward the nun and stopping a few inches short of touching her.

"I think that's the first person we've met in this realm who Thorgil DIDN'T tackle because she was happy to see them," Twilight whispered teasingly.

"How have you BEEN?" Thorgil gushed. "Please tell me you haven't been starving yourself or carrying more hot irons."

It was when Thorgil made that remark that everyone in her traveling party noticed Wulfhilda's right hand: burned and scarred, appearing almost dead. However, as the nun spoke to Thorgil, gestures included, it was apparent that her hand did retain a spectrum of motion.

"Oh, no, I'm far done with that," Wulfhilda reassured Thorgil. "Ethne and I have been working toward building St. Filian's into what it should have been from the very beginning: a place devoted to God and His work instead of the suffering or overindulgence of His worshipers. We all maintain our health so that we may properly devote ourselves. And I will die before I see another 'sinner' punished the way I was. Actually, Brother Aiden arrived yesterday, and we related to him the circumstances of the death of Father Severus during the outbreak of the flying venom. Aiden has devoted himself to our cause and is helping us to the best of his ability. But you, Thorgil! Where have you been? No doubt on amazing adventures! To be honest, a couple of us had worried for you and Jack when you left. We couldn't be certain you hadn't contracted the flying venom yourselves, but I told them all that the chances of that were slim."

"Actually…" Thorgil admitted. "We…we did."

Wulfhilda was struck with confusion. "Then…how are you standing before me? Did you heal that quickly?"

"Yes…?" Thorgil answered. "Jack and I…we're alive for sure, but I don't know if we're alive like you think of it. We belong to the Islands of the Blessed now."

Wulfhilda nodded. "In His care and grace. Then how have you returned here?"

"Like you said: an amazing adventure! We were called away to travel the realms and work out a war between – "

Jack coughed loudly, indicating that Thorgil was about to reveal too much.

" – well, let's just say it's a tale that would make Olaf One-Brow proud," Thorgil wrapped up.

"Would we be able to meet Ethne and Aiden?" Jack piped in. "It's been a while since we've spoken to them."

"Oh, of course!" Wulfhilda replied. "Though I must ask…who are your friends?"

"Er…" Jack was again at a loss.

"We're from sort of a faraway kingdom," Applejack broke in. "Jack and Thorgil met us all comin' out of the Islands of the Blessed. We're all real excited to meet their friends here."

"Our customs are a little…different," Twilight added. "We don't have monasteries like this where we come from."

"And…" Wulfhilda regarded Velvet and Cornelius with suspicion.

"We are under a terrible curse," Cornelius admitted. "Our true forms look more like what you see on the others. However…this is what we must look like now."

Wulfhilda nodded. "Far be it from us to deny guests. Come. I know where Brother Aiden and Lady Ethne can be found."

Wulfhilda led the group across the grounds and into a stone building. Twilight observed that St. Filian's was constructed with architectural patterns somewhat reminiscent of a castle or other royal dwelling, but on a smaller scale. She opened an oak door to reveal a small library beyond, and at one of the tables, Ethne was deep in conversation with a short, brown-robed monk.

"Ethne!" Thorgil called out.

"Brother Aiden!" Jack greeted.

Both looked up; Aiden was taken aback. "Jack? Well, this is a surprise!"

"And Thorgil, too!" Ethne gushed. "Come in, come in!"

Wulfhilda, Thorgil, Jack, Sif, Thor, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Velvet, and Cornelius crowded into the small library, and Wulfhilda closed the door behind her, sure that the conversation about to take place was best not heard by the masses.

"You've brought so many friends!" Ethne gushed. "Including two adorable Pookas and – " She gasped. "The THUNDER GOD!"

"ETHNE!" Jack and Thorgil shrieked. They had forgotten that as innocent and kind as Ethne was, she also had a bad habit of saying the most inopportune things at the wrong time.

"Thunder…god…?" Aiden was confused.

"Yes!" Ethne nodded. "Thor, the god of thunder and prince of Asgard!"

"Aye," Thor responded. "That is I."

"So much for keeping THAT one secret," Rainbow Dash groaned.

"I…do not understand," Aiden admitted. "There is no such thing as – "

"All you need to know is that we come from faraway lands," Sif told him. "Lands much different from this one."

"But she said – " Aiden sputtered on.

"Brother Aiden?" Twilight stepped forward. "I know this must all seem confusing. And knowing what I know, I don't know if we'll be able to explain it all right now. But would you be able to look past our…well, our differences, just accept our names, and speak with us?"

"I shall," Aiden relented. He knew Ethne was not a liar, but he was predisposed not to think of the pagan gods as physical entities. Such short statements as had been made in the last few minutes were difficult to reconcile, but his will to make peace won out, and he decided to ignore Ethne's labeling of the man in his presence as a god. Perhaps later, with a clearer mind and longer discussion with Ethne, he would be able to sort it all out. "Might I ask your name?"

"Twilight Sparkle," Twilight introduced.

Aiden nodded. "A little unorthodox, but it comes with a pleasant image. Might we know the others?"

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Sif, Cornelius, and Velvet's names came out. Aiden did not seem fazed by the Pookas; he had, of course, rubbed elbows with stranger creatures, Ethne included.

"It looks like since we left, St. Filian's has really turned around!" Thorgil commented with a broad smile. "This is the first time it hasn't sickened me!"

Aiden nodded. "Neither of the approaches that had been tried in the past were effective. When I arrived to find this place in the wake of the tragedy of the flying venom, I was quite pleased with the direction that Lady Ethne and Sister Wulfhilda had taken, and I was more than happy to follow it. The last luxuries from the old days – the golden chairs and whatnot – have been sold, and the money given back to Bebba's Town. The kitchens are now kept well stocked, and all of our order is well fed. We have also removed most of the instruments that Father Severus was fond of for dealing penance. Our devotion now is to study and worship, carried out by healthy brothers and sisters." He gave a warm smile toward Ethne. "As for Lady Ethne…there was some debate over her future. She and Wulfhilda had told me that there had been talk of a proposal of marriage between her and Brutus…but we all agreed, in the end, that was not the best option."

"He is good looking," Ethne mused, "but at the same time, he's rather rude. I don't mind, anyway. He seems to have more fun inviting Nimüe to his fortress for teatime. I wonder if he'll ever think about wooing her!"

"Something tells me he's thought about it," Wulfhilda said briskly. "Given all the…teatime he invites the Lady of the Lake over for."

"It was undeniable, however, that Ethne's contributions to St. Filian's are part of why it has been able to get back on its feet," Aiden complimented. "While she is not one of the monastic order yet, nothing of her current lifestyle conflicts with ours. We have let her stay here for as long as she desires."

"And I do hope I can become one of the Sisters someday!" Ethne chirped. "It can't be THAT difficult!"

This earned her a couple of flinches from Aiden and Wulfhilda. They did, however, give her soft smiles.

"I just still haven't figured out how to get to know God as well as the others do," Ethne remarked.

"He is difficult to know," Wulfhilda reassured her. "We work all our lives to get to know Him, but he is still a mystery to all of us."

"I felt closer this morning," Ethne recalled. "When I was out in the courtyard, looking up at the sky after sunrise – oh, and that reminds me! I had the strangest visitor today!"

Aiden and Wulfhilda exchanged worried glances. "A visitor?" Aiden repeated.

"Hang on," Twilight broke in. "That wouldn't have had anything to do with the Dark magic around here, would it?"

"What Dark magic?" Aiden asked, somewhat repulsed at the suggestion that such a thing was creeping around St. Filian's.

"Oh, Nuala would have come with Dark magic!" Ethne explained enthusiastically. "She is a Dark Elf, after all!"

"That sounds familiar," Rainbow Dash commented. "Didn't we already – "

"Yes," Thor recalled, "but it was a male Dark Elf, and his name was Nuada."

"That is Nuala's brother!" Ethne gushed. "They are twins, you know! And they have the most interesting connection!"

"What was Nuala doing, coming to talk to you here?" Twilight asked, though she had a feeling she knew the answer.

"She was acting odd," Ethne admitted. "She told me some sort of conflict was coming, and I should join her side. Apparently it was safer. But I couldn't leave Bebba's Town! Not now! She seemed very disappointed when I told her that. I know I made the right choice, but I don't like thinking that I made her so sad. That's no way for someone with a human soul to act, not at all!"

"Something weird is going on," Twilight mused. "That's twice now we've seen royalty from this splinter faction of Dark Elves coming to try and talk the Light Elves into allying with them."

"They must be in league with the Jötunns!" Thorgil theorized.

"It would seem to make sense," Sif confirmed. "After all, the Jötunns would have considered turning to the tribe of Svartalfheim, but they are all dead. If Laufey and Glamdis had ways of accessing realms outside of those connected by Yggdrassil – "

"I wouldn't put anything past Glamdis," Jack offered.

" – then of course they would have found the next group of Dark Elves that might have shared their concerns," Sif concluded. "And if that king swore peace, then the next place to turn would be the exiled children, Nuada and Nuala, who already harbored hatred."

"Nuala does not hate," Ethne insisted. "I have never known her to."

"But is she loyal to her brother to a fault?" Velvet guessed.

"They are very close!" Ethne answered. "I find it sweet how he dotes on her, and she him!"

"Then it may not matter if she has hatred," Velvet decided. "So long as she wishes to agree with the hatred of her brother."

"Something you avoided," Cornelius pointed out.

Velvet nodded. "It was never that I did not understand his hate. I…well, it is not relevant to speak of it."

"I don't know…" Twilight muttered. "Sif, your theory makes sense. A lot of it. But something just feels…off here. Like there's a missing piece."

"What sort of missing piece?" Sif inquired.

"I…don't know," Twilight admitted. "But that might be the key. I still feel like Discord has a claw in this somewhere, and if everything looks like it's wrapping up neatly and we've figured it out all on our own, that's the first clue that we actually haven't."

"Are you sure you aren't simply paranoid?" Cornelius suggested.

"It's a really strong feeling that the track we're on is wrong!" Twilight snapped. "Or…at least isn't COMPLETELY right."

"What do you suggest we do about it, then?" Thor asked. "Call off the war?"

"Maybe we should at least get Odin to investigate into what Nuada and Nuala have been doing before we march," Twilight suggested.

"Uh…not sure we should be bringin' up Odin right now," Applejack pointed out. Indeed, Brother Aiden's face betrayed that he was growing ever more perplexed.

"All right," Twilight sighed. "There's a time and a place to think of this, and it's not now."

"Might I offer a compromise at least?" Thor suggested. "After we return from Notland, we shall report immediately the dealings of these elven twins and spell out your suspicions."

Twilight nodded. "Thank you."

"If you do not mind," Thor brought up, "I am curious as to the goings-on in this monastery. I have heard several times that it is devoted to the worship of the great divine. How do you go about this worship?"

"Well…there are many ways," Aiden answered. "We study His word and His works. We pray to Him for guidance, though the answers do not come in the conventional way. We look to His saints for stories of inspiration and model our lives upon theirs. I take it you are not familiar with monastic orders?"

"Not at all," Sif confirmed.

"We must dress in these robes and habits," Aiden continued to explain. "We pray daily, and we must be celibate."

"What does that have to do with worship?" Sif wondered.

"Simply put, it removes a great distraction from God from our lives," Aiden answered.

"But it is possible to think about gods such as ourselves," Thor argued, "whilst still – "

Velvet cut him off: "I think your devotion is admirable."

"But why all dress the same?" Sif prodded. "I do not see what that has to do with worship either. Or is that what it has been revealed to you that your God wears?"

"No…" Aiden answered gingerly. "We do not know what He wears, if anything at all."

"Then you may as well dress in armor," Thor suggested.

"And take up arms?" Aiden was aghast. "That is the most forbidden of all. Members of the Order must be peaceful! We cannot harm or kill!"

"Even if you are being attacked?" Thor wondered out loud.

"And from what I hear," Sif added, "it seems that this monastery had done a lot of that beforehand."

Aiden sighed. "Father Severus…I respect and love him dearly. I owe him my life. But he was misguided, as were those who came before him. The old rule was penance. Those who had committed sin or wrongdoing were forced into punishment. And even for those who had not sinned, it was believed that suffering would make them better people and more valued in the eyes of God. A trap that Ethne fell prey to."

Ethne nodded. "He maimed poor Sister Wulfhilda's hand by making her carry hot irons after she accidentally poisoned someone with mushrooms! But everyone knows that mushrooms are difficult and deceptive things!"

Wulfhilda nodded. "It was a mistake, but a grave one I wish I had not made. There are days I believe that my hand was barely price enough to pay for it. But there is never a day when I believe that the order that was given to me for punishment was fair."

Twilight found herself trying desperately to find a thought to latch onto besides maimed hands and their associations.

Sif and Thor were not done with their interrogation: "We were not aware that the great divine had written anything down. What words do you have of His to study?"

"If the answers to your prayers do not come in the traditional way, why ask at all? How do you know when they have been answered?"

"Does the Order have political rank above the civilians?"

"Why must – "

"THAT IS ENOUGH," Velvet snapped. "Do you question how the tales of your heroics have spread through the realms, and who writes them down for the Midgardians? Do you question what the significance is of those who carve idols of you, even though this has no bearing on your daily life? Are there not prayers offered up to Odin that he does not answer? Are the saints not reminiscent of the great warrior heroes of the tales you were told as a child?"

"Saints are QUITE different from that," Aiden grumped.

"Brother Aiden has just demonstrated that he is willing to make great sacrifices for the force that we may very well call responsible for our very existence," Velvet went on. "These people have devoted themselves to peace, and their connection to the divine forces has led them away from lechery, greed, and violence."

There was a silence then. Velvet herself broke it: "Do you have a problem with what I have said?"

"No," Sif replied. "I believe this is just usually where Loki would say, 'So, basically, everything fun in life.'"

Thor and Cornelius nodded.

"Fair enough." Velvet shrugged. "While it is not a life I would choose, I find the life of the Order admirable. Your values have great merit."

"Not everyone in the Order is so devoted to them," Wulfhilda admitted. "There are those who abuse the faith and the power that comes with the Order. There are those who break the rules that have been laid, or use them for their own benefit."

"But there are black sheep in every flock," Aiden disclaimed.

"What about you?" Ethne asked, looking at Twilight. "What do you think? You do not seem to come from our realm or theirs. I don't know what realm's people have hair like that!"

"It's…complicated," Twilight admitted. "No, I'm not from around here, OR from Thor's land. But as for what I think of…all this?" She bit her lip. Then she blurted, "Honestly, I'm still having trouble getting used to the idea that in most realms, you can't just invite the one who raises the sun over for tea!"

"You claim to have had tea with GOD?" Aiden was flabbergasted.

"It's not exactly like that!" Twilight said quickly. "It's more complicated where I come from. Well, actually, I like to think it's simpler where I come from, but it would take a while to explain here. About the topic at hand, though?" She looked over to Jack. "There was actually something Jack said a while back that I really like. Can't these all just be different branches on Yggdrassil?"

"How so?" Aiden asked.

"I doubt we are ALL right," Sif added.

"But you are," Twilight insisted. "WE are. Just in different ways."

"I'm not certain that's possible," Aiden insisted.

"Nor am I," Thor admitted.

"I see where she is coming from…" Wulfhilda offered.

Velvet nodded. "As do I."

"Well, Jack said it first, a long time ago," Twilight reminded everyone present.

Jack looked downward. "And maybe I haven't done that well of a job of remembering it," he sighed. "Between Odin and the elves…"

"You had your reasons for what you thought about both of 'em," Applejack reminded him.

"Well, we can sit here all day and argue theology," Aiden concluded. "I am sure you have more pressing matters to return to."

"Thank you for seeing us," Jack said sincerely.

"Good to see this place is doing all right," Thorgil added cheerily. "At last!"

"And I thank thee for telling me your knowledge." Thor gave a nod.

"But we do have important business to get to," Applejack asserted. "I reckon Skakki and Gwendolyn are both done with their supply runs by now."

"It was nice meeting you!" Twilight said as she turned to leave and lead the others away.

"Keep up the good work!" Thorgil called back.

"Peace be with you on your journey," Aiden blessed.

On the way out, Thor pondered all he'd heard of the Christian monks and nuns. Even after Twilight had argued for coexistence and Velvet had pointed out the significance of the customs, he still couldn't make sense of it at all. Perhaps later, with a clearer mind and longer discussion, he would be able to sort it all out.

...

Skakki, Gwendolyn, and Twilight's subfactions converged upon the Bebba's Town port, the former two loaded down with baskets of food. As the latter group approached, Pinkie Pie was clearly heard saying, "But Rarity, Opalescence throws up hairballs on your stuff and makes messes all the time!"

"But Opalescence's messes are…well…they're contained!" Rarity whined. "And rather adorable!"

"What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"We have a new pet," Loki stated sullenly.

Barromett bleated.

...

THE WATERS OF 616TH MIDGARD

That night on the ship was spent in the usual way, with revelry and tall tales of boasts. Eventually, even the ship's regular crew tired, and they began to file belowdeck one by one.

At this time, Twilight thought to ask a question that had been nagging at her mind from earlier that day. She turned to Thor. "Hey…can I ask you something?"

"Whatever you wish," Thor assured her.

"Earlier, in the courtyard of St. Filians, before we went in to meet Aiden, Wulfhilda, and Ethne," Twilight recalled, "you said that all that stuff about God and gods was more complicated than what we'd said. I was wondering what you'd meant. I know we kind of beat the subject to death with Aiden, but it sounded like there was something else that you didn't have the chance to share."

"Aye," Thor replied. "But it is a long story indeed. One I may tell tonight after the others have retired, if thou art willing to wait awake and hear it. I would rather not tell it whilst Midgardian ears were still listening."

"I'd LOVE to!" Twilight practically screamed. This caused Eric the Rash, who was about to descend belowdecks, to give her a look, wondering what had made her cry out so; he eventually decided he didn't care and moved straight to bed. "Actually…just let me talk to Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack first," Twilight decided. "After everything we've been through, I think we could all get something out of hearing this."

"I believe you shall," Thor agreed.

Twilight motioned to each of the other Equestrians one by one, beckoning them to join her. "Thor wanted to tell me more about the things we were talking about earlier," she explained. "We'd just have to wait up until everypony else went to sleep. Apparently it's a long story."

"I'm good with that," Applejack said with a nod.

"I'm not even tired!" Pinkie Pie cried enthusiastically.

"Do you EVER get tired?" Rainbow Dash teased. "I'm in."

"I think I want to hear this," Fluttershy decided.

"But of course!" Rarity concluded.

Meanwhile, Thor spoke to the other Asgardians. "The bearers of the Elements of Harmony wish to hear more about the great divine and the cosmic order," he announced. "I am not sure how much I shall have to tell. Would you care to take part?"

"That boring old tale?" Fandral groaned. "We might as well sleep. That's what that story would put us to anyway."

"You know the story best," Gwendolyn reminded Thor. "You and Loki are the ones who have been there from the beginning. The rest of us have already heard it, and it might not be for the best if we attempted to tell it with you."

Thor gave a wary glance at Loki. Loki sighed dramatically. "I know, I know. You'd rather get this story told without interruption or mischief of any sort. I'm just going to go harmlessly down to sleep."

"Why don't I like the way he said that?" Fandral murmured.

The Asgardian contingent save for Thor turned to move downstairs as well. Jack and Thorgil, tired out for the day, had gone with Skakki. The only ones left on deck were Thor, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Barromett. The last of whom was busy exploring the ship's deck aimlessly and bleating at randomly encountered objects.

"I suppose the first thing to know is where to start," Thor mused. "To speak of the organization of the divine is to speak of the order of the many realms and how they came to be. What do you know of this?"

"Well," Twilight answered, "what we know so far is that all the worlds used to be one. A city called Atlantis was important then. And before that was some kind of giant chaos. That's…kind of it."

"I have no qualms about starting from the beginning, then," Thor related. "I have lived a long while and have seen what we call the cosmos go through many stages. And what I have not seen, I have heard about from Father and other storytellers. It is best that you know it all. However, it will take quite a while to tell."

"So basically, you're saying we should get comfortable," Rainbow Dash deduced.

Thor nodded. "Aye."

The six Equestrians sat down on the creaking wooden floor of the ship. Barromett loped over toward them, and when Fluttershy put a hand on his woolly back, the small sheep settled down by her. Thor himself did not sit. It was unbecoming of a prince of Asgard, he reasoned, to sit upon the floor of a Midgardian vessel.

"The first thing that is remembered," he began, "is the Age of Chaos. We do not know how it came into being. No one has recorded what came before it. It is here that speculation on the great divine so often occurs, and what creator, if any, molded the Chaos into being. It was a time when time and space as we know them did not act as such. There was no order in any of the laws of nature. There were orderly beings, but their order was twisted, taken to extremes, truly making them little better than beings of chaos. The beings that populated this age, we have come to know as the Old Ones. To us, they have strange and terrible powers, even compared to my father and the other gods of Asgard. But in their day, they were commonplace; they were civilians. They adhered to no order, no loyalty to each other. They did as they pleased within the infinite bounds of possibility. And because they all operated under the same conditions of chaos, conflict between them rose to little more than personal disagreements.

"But then there came new beings to existence. Beings who were smaller, less powerful. Gods, mortals, and those in between. The Old Ones saw them as little more than playthings, using them as toys for sport in the playing field that was the Chaos. So it came to pass that the Old Ones were regarded as a great evil, for they made constant torment out of the lives of those less powerful than they. And those less powerful began to desire order, even if they had not yet a full concept of what order was."

"I'm sorry," Twilight interrupted, "but I'm having a little trouble picturing this. What it even all LOOKED like."

"It is not something that can be pictured by most minds," Thor informed her. "Broken from all confines, the Chaos is something that can barely be conceived by minds of order. We can see and imagine its remnants, but not its true heart as it existed then."

"Don't tell me…" Rainbow Dash looked over at Pinkie Pie.

"What?" Pinkie was clueless.

"You can picture it perfectly, can't you?" Rainbow Dash asked her.

"Not PERFECTLY," Pinkie replied. "But I have a general idea."

"During the last of the Age of Chaos…" Thor trailed off. "I am not sure if it can be referred to as years, or as aeons. Those words would have meant nothing to the Old Ones. We only know it is the past because once order came, Chaos was what came before. But there was a last act to it, one in which Light and Darkness began to separate at the upper and lower ends of Chaos. Still, neither truly manifested order, not in the way that Light and Darkness do in these days. Some of the Old Ones gravitated to the Light, and others to the Darkness. But some remained in the purest Chaos, choosing neither Light nor Dark. To this day, these beings retain qualities of which of the three they chose to call home: the Light, the Darkness, or the Chaos between.

"To this day, there are vast, unexplored places in the cosmos. All the realms you ever could travel to still only make up a pittance of existence. And it is said that beyond what we have mapped and charted, far out and away, there are realms that adhere to a completely different sense of order than we know, and even expanses of Chaos as it was. But what is known and what is told is that the Age of Chaos ended when order finally did come in the form of a world. This world was formed by many gods together, each with his or her own story of how his or her part of it was created. This is the world you speak of when you say that all worlds once were one. When it came into being, the Old Ones were staved off, driven away from that world, or into enclosed recesses of it. Over time, they would begin to return, one by one, but never in the same capacity as they had done during the Age of Chaos."

"Which we're pretty sure Discord wants to bring back," Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"It seems an impossible feat," Thor admitted, "but for the Old Ones, much is possible that does not seem that way to us. If the Age of Chaos did return, though, it would be a time of strife and torment. No realm, no inhabitant would be safe as order would be stripped away. Death could come at any moment, or never at all, leaving us to fates worse. The realms we called home would be mangled beyond recognition, and we would be once more the toys of the Old Ones. I do not know whether it is preferable to be the game animals they hunt for sport, at least knowing that an end would come, or to be their cherished toys, alive and well but forced to undergo their games and withstand their whims."

"This all sounds much worse than what Discord does," Fluttershy squeaked.

"Actually," Twilight argued, "this sounds EXACTLY like what he does." She nodded toward Thor. "So…what was this world?"

"This world had two sides," Thor explained. "Some speculated it was more accurately two separate realms, but in reality, they were as the two faces of a coin, if one surface of a coin could be larger than the other. The larger of the two pieces is referred to today as the Lands of Legend. The Lands of Legend are where the gods made their reign. Magic was born there, and many of the great old stories you have heard tell of took place there. It was the birthplace of unicorns, of elves, of pegasi, of fin-folk, of faeries, of all great peoples. Its wonders seemed never to end, as its nations were nearly innumerable. It was speculated that it truly had no border, and I am not sure that it ever was charted to its edges."

"But you're a god," Rainbow Dash pointed out. "Wouldn't you know about that stuff?"

"This pantheon was only one among many," Thor reminded her. "There were also Zeus, Amaterasu, Anu, Nyame…we saw to our own lands. We did not interfere in each other's, with a few exceptions. And because of this, we never gained a scope outside of what each pantheon controlled. I only mapped what I was responsible for: the lands to which I brought thunder.

"As I said, the Lands of Legend were one side of this world, and you will hear others speak of it as though the world itself was only the Lands of Legend. However, it had another side: the Summer Country. This was a world devoid of magic, with only a fraction of the creatures beheld in the Lands of Legend, and so much smaller. It featured only seven continents in all. This Midgard is a mirror of it, and not the only one. The Summer Country and the Lands of Legend worked in a strange fashion. Tales from the Lands of Legend would bleed into the Summer Country, known only as stories, fictions, untruths. But these stories helped the people of the Summer Country to grow and civilize. The Lands of Legend were where stories occurred, and the Summer Country is where they were told.

"You had mentioned Atlantis. Atlantis was the first true central city of the Lands of Legend. Though it was only one city, it was also a nation, and a rather sizeable one. You could think of it as an empire. It was host to peoples and beings of all sorts, and was ruled by many kings and queens. Some say a finer city there never was. Others say that a darker city there never was, for its technologies birthed great advances in healing, in politics, in culture…but also in war. The greatest goods and the worst of evils both called Atlantis home. While the Lands of Legend were vast, and governments were plentiful, it could perhaps be said that Atlantis was the capital of these lands, for all governments turned their eyes to it. It was the meeting place for the kings and queens of other nations, and the host for councils. Its economy thrived, exporting its exotic goods and art to all nations while importing small pieces of culture from each. It is impossible to describe Atlantis' beauty to those who had not seen it intact. Even I must admit that Nebulapolis is second to the way Atlantis was. Would that you could have walked its busy streets, heard the conversations of its peoples, admired the arts of its culture." Thor paused for a moment in reflection.

When he spoke next, his tone had changed entirely, the awe and wonder drained from it. "There was another island nation encompassed in one city. One that did not gain the clout of Atlantis among the Lands of Legend. One, indeed, that many tried to forget the existence of altogether. It became a hiding place for the Old Ones that were not trapped or frightened away, and as more of those began to find ways out of their prisons or back to the Lands of Legend through space, they flocked to this city as its gods. They were welcomed and worshipped there, and they imposed both chaos and warped order on it. The mortals who dwelled on that island, those who pledged their lives and deaths to the Old Ones, became their toys as the lesser beings had during the Age of Chaos. I could not tell you if they remained loyal throughout or simply became so entrenched in the whims of the Old Ones that there was no way of escape. This island soon became twisted and impossible. Space and time did not behave there. And it turned its sights upon Atlantis, its people declaring war upon the great city. Though the Atlantean rulers had always been suspicious of this island as well, keeping it under observation. This warped island was known as R'lyeh.

"It eventually came to pass that after centuries of tension, Atlantis and R'lyeh went to war. We all had faith that Atlantis would come out victorious, for its magic and technology were greatly advanced, and it had the support of almost all gods, most of all Atlantis' own Ammu, goddess of the moon. We underestimated just how much power the Old Ones had. They most certainly supplemented the people of R'lyeh with new powers. However, long after the war ended, there was speculation. Speculation that the Old Ones had infiltrated Atlantis itself to cause its downfall.

"Whatever the cause, this war culminated in a great cataclysm. The heart of Atlantis was corrupted. Darkness overtook it, and it sank below the waves. Some of its people survived. Most were killed. A great shadow was cast over the Lands of Legend that day. Atlantis remained below the waters evermore. When the realms split into the numerous worlds we know today, because of Atlantis' size, it was spread throughout many realms, detaching in scattered pieces. There is one here, in this Midgard. Large enough to pass as a city, and one in which fin-folk – though not the fin-folk we seek to speak with – make homes. They are distant descendants of those who used to populate the Atlantis of old. But it is pitifully small in comparison, and does not contain the nation's heart. That is located in a different realm." Thor shook his head then. "But I get ahead of myself. There is more to be told of the Lands of Legend first.

"R'lyeh won the war against Atlantis, but at great cost. It was devastated, most of its people slaughtered in combat. After all, Atlanteans truly were great warriors, and one might call them ruthless. As a result, though R'lyeh remained above water, it eventually became a ghost of a nation, its impossible city populated by none save the Old Ones. And for one, it became a prison, when the worlds separated. The others all fled to other hiding places."

"Which one?" Fluttershy asked.

"A terrible one I dare not even name," Thor related. "He dwelled in the seas, calling them his domain, and exerted great and terrible power. He promised to lead those who worshipped him to a new age where they were free to engage in endless violence and debauchery. His followers became the naïve, the bloodthirsty, and the vengeful." He paused again. "Mostly fin-folk. Do not speak of this in Notland. It would lead to disaster."

"We won't," Twilight assured him. "We promise."

"Cross my heart and hope to fly!" Pinkie Pie began.

"STICK A CUPCAKE IN MY EYE!" the six Equestrians chorused happily.

Barromett punctuated the oath with a loud "Baaaaa-aaa!"

"I thank thee," Thor said with a nod. "And thou has proven thyselves trustworthy enough that I fear not a breaking of this promise. With that, I shall continue our tale.

"When Atlantis was destroyed, the power it had held politically had to go elsewhere. Eventually, there rose a young warrior king known as Arthur Pendragon, or 'Arthur, king of dragons.' He was not magical, though magic followed him everywhere. He was as the Midgardian people are, and I do not speak of bards. His powers lay not in magic but in his mind, his heart, and his sword. He rose in a kingdom known as Camelot, which was not half so beautiful as Atlantis, nor near as large, but one that was able to open its gates to many. Soon, Camelot brimmed with magic.

"Arthur was killed young, as so many great warriors are. Were he one of ours, his spirit surely would have found a home in Valhalla and joined the eternal battle. Upon his death, he was laid to rest on the magical isle of Avalon."

"AVALON!" Pinkie Pie screamed. "We've been there!"

"It must have been separated when the world broke apart," Twilight inferred.

"Aye, it exists to this day, as you well know," Thor confirmed. "The place of King Arthur's burial became the new center of the Lands of Legend as Camelot fell. And in time, that power moved away from Avalon and to the newly built city of Paralon. Generations passed, and though Arthur's bloodline had seemed to have vanished before Paralon was constructed, a lost descendant of his, Artus, was discovered, putting the kings of dragons once more at the center of power in the Lands of Legend. That bloodline maintained that status until the cataclysm came."

"The one that split the worlds apart," Twilight clarified.

"The very same," Thor confirmed. "There is a story told to children at bedtime that the cataclysm came about because of the Light. That the denizens of the Lands of Legend went to war over ownership of the Light that is the source of all Light magic, and because of this, the world split into many. But this is not true. No war could have done what happened that day. No…what happened was that time itself was broken.

"Around the time Artus Pendragon took the throne at Paralon, three heroes from the Summer Country, in an attempt to stop the frightful Winter King from establishing a dark dominion over the Lands of Legend, discovered the Keep of Time, where time itself was stored in a towering structure. Those three caused an accident that led to the Keep's destruction. The Keep was hastily rebuilt, but the damage had been done. The linear structure of Time would be forever wounded.

"After that came the paradoxes – "

"Wait," Twilight interrupted. "So…who were these three guys anyway? The ones that fractured time? I feel like that's kind of important. And what were they doing there from the Summer Country in the first place?"

"It was not unheard of for heroes of the Summer Country to end up on quests in the Lands of Legend," Thor related. "These three…John, kin of Tol. Jack, of Lewis. Charles, of William. They were needed to protect the Lands of Legend, and despite what was done to the Keep of Time, protect the Lands they did, time and time again. Their deeds of derring-do there inspired them to write tales of their own in the Summer Country: tales of what they encountered in the Lands of Legend. One must make no mistake: they truly were great men, outstanding amongst Midgardians.

"Yet what they had done to the Keep of Time set into motion a chain of events that would change the cosmos forever. Once time was no longer linear, paradoxes began. Paradoxes in time that could not co-exist on one world. As the timeline fractured, so it broke the world into many where each set of events could be contained. This is why many worlds are parallel: the same people who live on one live in another, yet drastically altered by a timeline that was changed. At last, linear time as we knew it could take no more, and the Lands of Legend and the Summer Country were both destroyed…only to be reborn as new worlds. A sizeable portion of the population did not die, but continued on, on these new worlds, fostering lines of descendants. Still other peoples sprang fully into being as their worlds were formed anew. Many worlds come completely from the Lands of Legend. Others come completely from the Summer Country, though for whatever reason, it has now been termed 'Earth.' And there are some that blend the two, such as this Midgard…a mirror of the Summer Country, whose mortals are not used to such things as magic, but which hosts a piece of Atlantis as well as Notland and ties to the Underworld."

"And that's not even if you count – " Rainbow Dash began.

Sensing that Rainbow Dash was about to say something about the superhumans of the 21st century, Twilight interrupted, "It's actually scary to think that something like that happened because of time paradoxes. I guess the lesson is to be careful when you're dealing with time travel."

"Thankfully, not something possible for most mortals," Thor replied.

Twilight made no measure to correct him. After all, Element bearers were hardly mortal anyway.

"An odd phenomenon began to take place on these newly born worlds," Thor went on. "Sequences of events that had happened to certain beings in the Lands of Legend began to replay themselves to their counterparts in the new worlds. Those of us gods who have survived the fracture of time have observed it, and we can tell when events that have happened before are happening again. All others, however, believe they are living out new events, for it is the first time that they have happened on that world. I have seen the great hero Heracles born in the Lands of Legend in the Olympians' domain, and after he perished as a god in the cataclysm, I heard tell of him reborn again as 'Hercules' on one of the new worlds. I have heard that Arthur, king of dragons, has reappeared in multiple realms to lead new Camelots to glory. It is almost as if…it is hard to put into words, but…"

"But it's like if a story was that important to tell in the Lands of Legend," Twilight realized, "it had to be told again in its own way on the new worlds."

"That is exactly the case!" Thor cried. "I had not known how to word it, but I can word it no better than that."

"So are there any stories YOU have to relive?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Aye," Thor said somberly. "A great many. Some of which trouble me more than others." He seemed suddenly to realize that he'd let something slip. "Though it is…of little consequence."

"If I didn't know better," Rarity pointed out, "I'd say you were about to mention something of the sort that was troubling you."

"I have no such trouble," Thor asserted. "Concern thyselves not with it."

"All right," Applejack relented. "We won't bother ya anymore about it. But if somethin's goin' on, I think we can all agree that your secret's safe with us."

There were nods all around, and one sheep bleat.

"And for that, I thank thee," Thor said with a nod of his own. "I have brought our story as far as it goes until the present day. To answer the questions posed earlier, we know not in what form the great divine comes. It may be a force that created the Chaos. It may be a force that created the gods. It may be one of the Old Ones. But there are mysteries even we gods do not know. That concludes our tale. I hope it was not too tedious."

"Not at all!" Rarity reassured the thunder god. "It was quite informative!"

"And it makes a lot of things make a LOT more sense now," Twilight stated, sounding almost relieved.

Applejack looked up to the heavens. "Kinda makes ya feel small, don't it?"

There was a moment of silence as they all looked up to the night sky, knowing the scope of what lay beyond its edges.

"Well…" Rainbow Dash yawned. "If the story's over, I think we should get to sleep."

"Thank you again for telling us how…well…basically how EVERYTHING works," Twilight told Thor, standing to look him in the eye.

Thor nodded politely. "It was my pleasure."

The others moved to stand. Then Thor said, "Wait."

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity froze.

"There is indeed something that concerns me in regards to the birth of the Nine Realms," Thor admitted. "In the days of Legend, I was wed. She was an Asgardian; a goddess of the earth. I loved her deeply, but she was destroyed in the fracture of time. I kept on without her, and eventually, though I never forgot her, I found happiness on my own. I no longer needed her. And there was no word of her for ages. However, after the Cauldron Wars ravaged Asgard and nearly caused its demise, I discovered that there is a counterpart to her alive to this day. She is the one I knew and loved…but at the same time, she is not. I know, when I look at her, that she and my beloved were one and the same, yet there are many differences. She is not a goddess in this day. And she was born anew, not regenerated. She has no knowledge of who she parallels. The name of this woman…and the name of the one I lost…is Sif."

Pinkie Pie gasped dramatically.

"Well, haven't you told her?" Rarity asked in shock.

Thor shook his head. "If she knew what the Sif of the Lands of Legend meant to me…I do not wish to give her the wrong idea. For Sif is a dear friend. I shall hardly find dearer. Yet I know not whether I truly could love her in the way I loved the Sif I knew. I fear that the predestined course of events shall have us wed…yet I do not find myself looking forward to that day. I…simply do not love her. And by the way that events have been laid, I feel as though I should."

"But you said there were differences in the timelines," Twilight argued. "Big ones. Maybe…maybe you're not meant to fall in love with Sif here." Her thoughts turned toward the Jane Foster of the distant future. "Maybe this time around, it's somepony else."

"Loki remained true to Sigyn after the worlds fractured," Thor recalled. "Yet…currently, Sigyn is dead, and shall remain that way indefinitely. Perhaps this time, things shall be different." He sighed. "Yet I dare not speak of this to Sif. For if it should somehow come to pass that she falls in love with me, and I do not return her affections…though perhaps it is all of no substance. There is yet time for my feelings to change."

"Just…do whatever feels right," Twilight advised.

"I shall," Thor vowed. "Do I understand correctly that this shall be spoken of to no one?"

"We shan't tell a soul!" Rarity promised.

"Your secret's safe with us!" Rainbow Dash crowed.

"Baaaa!" Barromett interjected.

"Then once more, I thank thee," Thor said with a smile. "It is now long past the hour when we should have slept. Let us retire."

The seven (or eight, if sheep are counted) moved belowdeck, seeking out sleeping quarters. Twilight turned a corner and her foot knocked into Fandral, who lay sleeping on the floor of the hallway. Volstagg and Hogun were also slumbering there, apparently finding the wooden floor comfortable enough to lose consciousness on at least, and all three appeared to be soaking wet. At Twilight's kick, Fandral groaned and rolled over, waking.

"What brings thee here?" Thor asked, perplexed.

"Loki…" Fandral grunted, annoyed. "Made a rain cloud that kept pouring in the room without filling it with water. Couldn't sleep. He thought it was hilarious and wouldn't make it go away."

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie peered into the adjacent room to see that its ceiling was overcast with gray clouds continually pouring raindrops downward, creating a percussive pitter-patter on the wooden floor while thoroughly soaking the bedclothes. When the drops hit a surface, they vanished so there was no water buildup.

Pinkie Pie couldn't help but giggle. Twilight and Rainbow Dash shot her dirty looks. "What?" Pinkie shrugged. "It's a good prank!"

"I got this." Rainbow Dash walked into the room, the rain dampening her clothing and hair, and her sword materialized in her hand. She raised it, touching the point of the blade to the clouds. The rain ceased, and the clouds were all absorbed into the blade, disappearing entirely.

Fandral nudged his companions awake. "Room's dry," he said groggily.

After Twilight and Rainbow Dash finished combining their magical abilities to dry out the bedclothes, they left the Warriors Three to their bedchamber, then moved on with Thor towards their own designated spaces.

...

Applejack awoke early the next morning. She had been sharing sleeping quarters with Rarity, as usual; her purple-haired roommate was deeply slumbering, and Applejack thought it impolite to wake her just yet. While Applejack wasn't quite sure what had awoken her, she found she was unable to fall asleep again, so she slipped out of bed and made her way to the deck.

It didn't strike her as to what was missing until she arrived at her destination, surveying the scene – no one else about but Skakki and Schlaup, tending to the rigging and steering, and the Tanner sisters gossiping about something at the edge of the ship – and taking in the blow of the misty morning sea wind over what skin of hers was exposed, feeling it on her neck.

Where a necklace should have been.

Applejack's hand flew to her neck in horror. Her apple-shaped amulet was gone. Panic coursed through her veins. It couldn't have gone far; after all, she was up and about. But she knew the urgency of finding the gem that contained her soul. At first, she was at a loss as to what to begin to do. She considered screaming to Skakki that she had lost something incredibly important.

When she looked up, however, it gave her a much better view of the Tanner sisters, discussing the objects in their hands, objects that sparkled in the sunlight.

Jack had accused them of stealing in the past.

Applejack darted toward the two girls, and sure enough, while Ymma and Ythla hastily hid two objects – one in the hands of each girl – behind their backs, the amulets of Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were clearly visible on the ship's deck.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOIN'?" Applejack screamed, reaching behind Ymma's back and ripping Pinkie Pie's amulet out of the girl's hands. "DON'T YOU KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THESE THINGS ARE? I THOUGHT YOU SAID THERE'D BE NO STEALIN'!"

"We…we didn't do this!" Ymma attempted to lie. "We just found them up here!"

"GIVE. THEM. BACK," Applejack seethed.

Ythla gave a "hmph" before taking Rarity's amulet out from behind her back. "I don't see why these are so important to you anyway," she said haughtily. "Ymma and I thought these gems would actually be valuable."

"But Ythla, we FOUND them!" Ymma tried desperately to get her sister to accept the pretense.

"But look at this!" Ythla eyed up Rarity's amulet, seeing the darkness that had slowly clouded the purple diamond-shaped jewel as Rarity had endured minor moments of suffering and grief. "It's got a flaw in it! I bet it's not even real! It's worthless!"

With the flick of a hand, Ythla Tanner tossed the amulet overboard.

"NO!" Applejack leapt, reaching out over the deck, but by then, the necklace was already out of her reach. She could do nothing but watch as Rarity's soul plummeted toward the depths of the ocean.

...

Chapter 91:

· For reference, the majority of this chapter was written with the song "Meadows of Heaven" by Nightwish playing in the background, though the "Atlantis: The Lost Tales" OST served as a backdrop for Thor's history of the cosmos. Take that as your music recommendation.

· Jack's village is never referred to as anything but "the village" in canon. I chose the name "Nancileigh" for it after Nancy Farmer. "-leigh" meant "a forest clearing" if I've done my research correctly, and the hazel wood is a prominent feature of the village.

· This was kind of my chance to showcase everything in the human realm of the Trolls Trilogy. (Though there was no point in visiting the court of Ivar the Boneless. There is one more stop scheduled before Notland that will put the last of the tour in place.)

· Pega and the Bard were originally planned to join the main hero party, but I counted up and I already had 18, which was a lot. (And now I've added a sheep. This was actually not in the plan. I thought of that entire scene on the fly.)

· The vision Alditha relates to Skakki is something she canonically saw through far-seeing.

· The Tanners aren't technically part of Skakki's crew, but I decided to have them come along to make for that lovely cliffhanger at the end of this chapter. Aren't I just cruel?

· Yes, Twilight did just describe the Avengers to Jack as her vision of "future heroes."

· I originally wanted something of more substance to happen in Bebba's Town, but couldn't think of anything. So it's kind of a more quiet visit. However, since it was a central locale in all three books, I couldn't leave it out.

· The imagery of Ethne and Nuala communicating had been in my head since I first began crafting this storylet.

· The Barromett seed comes from more of that Odin Sphere seed planting game mechanic. And yes, it grows trees with live sheep. (My friends and I were always super excited to get one of those in our inventory.)

· I think I'm using the Trolls Trilogy Pangur Ban as my definitive Pangur Ban. I'm not sure how you can beat the backstory of "used to be human, but got tempted into the life of a cat."

· "Islands of the Blessed" left a loose end about Ethne's fate, and it had been discussed whether or not she should marry Brutus. I decided that would be the WORST thing, and since she was already so tied to the convent, I thought I might as well make her try and go for a legit sisterhood.

· I tried my best to keep the religious debate even. I'm not trying to sway readers one way or another. My goal was to show what happens when beings of realms with radically different religions come into contact with each other and discuss theology, and perhaps inspire thought of how they can coexist.

· And this is where a lot of your questions about cosmology in EoH have hopefully been answered. I'm hoping that I don't change much of this structure; if I do, I can just pin Thor as an Unreliable Narrator later.

· The Age of Chaos is slightly Lovecraft-inspired.

· The splitting of Chaos into Light, Darkness, and pure Chaos is a concept from Bayonetta.

· To reiterate: the concept of the "one world" is something pulled from one scene of Kingdom Hearts and bolstered with a worldmap from the combined sources of the first two "Voyage of the Basset" books and "Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica."

· The name "Lands of Legend" comes from Voyage of the Basset.

· Earth as the Summer Country is an idea from CotIG. Basically, back then, you had earth, you had the land where all fictional stuff lived, and they were just two sides of the same coin.

· The idea of Atlantis, then Camelot, then Avalon, than Paralon being the central city is from CotIG.

· I had R'lyeh slated as the enemy nation of Atlantis for a while (and if you look back, you can spot Discord and co. making some veiled references to it). I've just come off reading a TON of Lovecraft, and that revisitation of "The Call of Cthulhu" just cemented my desire to use Atlantis vs. R'lyeh. (Though in Lovecraft's 'verse, Atlantis is a dark place as well.)

· No, I'm not telling you exactly how Atlantis sank yet. Partly because I want to save it for another Reveal. And partly because I'm actually still working out the specifics. There are at least two factors I know I want to hugely be a part of it, and both involve not R'lyeh warriors but actual Old Ones infiltrating.

· Atlantis being scattered into pieces is my solution to so many worlds having an Atlantis. I did NOT want Atlantis to be a parallel universe situation; it's too important to my cosmology. Camelots on different worlds, however, are going to be parallels.

· Yes, Cthulhu is the one imprisoned in R'lyeh. Though in the present timeline (insofar as there even is a standard "present timeline" in EoH), the events of "The Call of Cthulhu" have already happened, so he's not as asleep as you'd like him to be.

· Pulling aspects of "Dagon" and "The Shadow over Innsmouth" (I TOLD you I'd been reading too much Lovecraft) to make the fin-folk Cthulhu's chief worshippers. And don't expect me to drop those references when we get to Notland.

· Yep, the destruction of the Keep of Time in CotIG was the kickoff for why the worlds broke apart. It's all about parallel universes, timelines, paradoxes, and the Butterfly Effect. And I REALLY hope I explained it well enough in Thor's narrative, because I'm not sure how to put it into words any better.

· The three heroes are indeed J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. "Jack" Lewis, and Charles Williams, who take the roles of the heroes in CotIG.

· Stories repeat. That's why Medusa was able to see her own head in the Aegis. The Aegis holds the head of the Medusa from the Lands of Legend; she is a reborn parallel-world Medusa. Also, that's how Hades and Hera knew that Hercules was going to screw up big time; the tragic events of his myth haven't happened yet in Olympic Greece. (Nor have they in this story. But they're going to. With, of course, a nice "new timeline, new rules" twist or two.)

· And this is also my explanation for Sif. Sif Prime, the earth goddess, was destroyed with the Lands of Legend. And while I can see why Thor/Sif is a popular ship among fans, cartoonists, AND comic book artists, from what I know, I keep comin' right on back to Thor/Jane. And GAvillain, my consultant on all things Marvel, didn't express concerns with me utterly destroying Thor/Sif here. (Hopefully he's not reading this note and shaking his head.) I do acknowledge Sif - Thor for angst, though…and I do also have a backup ship for her in case I need it. One that will be satisfying both ways.

· And yes…I couldn't resist ending this chapter on quite a TERRIBLE cliffhanger!