A/N: Please leave a word in the reviews if you enjoyed this chapter for me to do the next chapter on. :)

~Corinne

It was getting later in the day, or night, or whatever it was outside, and everyone had gathered around the middle of the cave to hear tales of the war from James.

"So he volunteered and told me he was 19, but of course I could tell he was younger than that. I wanted him to be able to stay with his horse, but I don't think he understood the seriousness of soldiering." Freddie nodded in agreement. "Poor lad. I hope Joey gets back to him in the end."

Prince Hal looked thoughtful, like he was trying to recall something very important on the topic that had snagged his mind. Suddenly, his lips emerged into a sly smile, as he must have remembered. "Speaking of horses…." He was watching Loki closely, and saw him tense up. This just kept Hal going.

"Loki, didn't you have a, how shall I put this… 'close' relationship with one before?" The others looked at Loki in confusion. Magnus saw Loki slightly blush, then his face iced over again. Magnus started to put two and two together in his head, since he was the only other person who had studied Norse in there, and his mouth slightly dropped open, realizing what Hal was talking about.

"My past has nothing to do with any of you," Loki said through gritted teeth, pointing his deathly glare at Hal.

"Well, now that we're sharing stories, you might as well share this one." "Yes, Loki, we want to hear some more about you," said Freddie, smirking, contributing in any way he could to embarrass the god, "What went on with the horse?"

They all looked back to Loki. "I'm not sure I want to hear this…" said Scott with an uneasy smile. "Um, guys, if Loki doesn't want to talk about it, then, I think we should respect that," said Magnus. "Oh, now I really want to hear," said Freddie, grinning.

Magnus, knowing that there was no way Loki could get out of this explanation now, gave up.

Loki, also realizing this, sighed, and looked down, then up again. "There was a… horse by the name of Svaðilfari, who wanted to take over my home planet of Asgard…" he said reluctantly. "And?" said Hal eagerly.

"Oh do shut up! And, he was very strong and powerful, so there was virtually no way to his avert his attack. We needed someone to stall for protection and warriors to assemble." He cleared his throat, and swallowed. "So I, being the God of Mischief, was sent after the horse to distract it from fighting and, take its mind off, in a way, of destroying our world."

"There must be something else to the story," said Hal, pushing a little further. If looks could kill, Hal would be incinerated in a second. Seeing as he couldn't just stop there as Hal knew the whole story, Loki continued, starting to get embarrassed now. "And… so… I shape shifted into a horse as well. A mare actually."

"Then what happened next, Loki, tell us!" said Hal.

"Blasted, I'm getting there!" He gulped. "And so I…" he took a deep breath. "I seduced the evil horse to make him forget the attack." They all kinda groaned at the thought.

"So, the horse finally caught up with me." Loki looked as if it were quite gross to even recall, even now, and continued on disdainfully, "And, we…" "What?!" asked Bill, in awe, very absorbed in the story, "What did you guys do?!" Loki glared at him. "You don't get all the details! Just... we ended up…. producing offspring... or at least… I did. His name is Sleipnir. He's an eight legged horse." "Oh! I knew I didn't want to hear this," said Scott. Prince Hal laughed. Loki again shot him a look.

There was an awkward silence, then Magnus cracked a smile. Soon everyone was kind of giggling about the horse incident. That broke out in to full on laughter fits. Bill was just killing himself laughing on the ground, and even the quiet, contained Oakley was trying to hold back a smile.

Scott took a swig of gin from his flask, and came up and slapped him on the back. "Congratulations, old sport!" he said, finishing his sentence with laughter. Loki, even though he did have to admit it sounded kind of funny for him to give birth to a horse, shrunk down into his cape, and growled slightly at Hal, giving him a 'you will pay' look. Midgardians, he thought in annoyance.

For some reason, Magnus felt bad for him. He wiped the smile off his face. "Everyone, stop it! Loki told us his story, and we shouldn't mock him for something he did to help his home planet! I'm sure we've all done some pretty embarrassing things, too, hm?"

"Yeah, we sleep with horses everyday!" said Freddie, doubling over from laughter with Scott.

Oakley got up and joined Magnus. "I agree with Magnus. Loki deserves a little more respect." Hal suddenly looked down, ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry, old chap," he said, and sat down beside Loki. "Sometimes I let my inner immaturity slip out."

This was the first time Loki had ever felt like someone actually cared about his feelings. Well, some of them did anyway. They all finished their giggle fit, and sat back where they were before.

Loki's expression turned dead serious. "This never leaves the cave, understand?! You people and Thor are the only living creatures alive, except for the horse, who know about this," he looked each of them in the eye. "And if I hear word of this discussion anywhere throughout the nine realms, I will find you. You think you know pain? I'll make you wish for something as sweet as pain." That silenced everyone.

"Well, on that happy note," said Bill, "Why don't we play a game?!"