With a thin smile Thor closed the door to the bed chambers, allowing Autumn Breeze a chance for rest she so desperately needed. He knew that with her mother by her side there would be no need for Thor to look out for her at the moment. For he also knew that he had far greater things to worry about.
Once the door was closed Thor turned to see Celestia and Luna standing behind him, looks on their faces that even a god of thunder couldn't read. "If the both of you have something that thee wish to say to me, speak now. Thor does not like to be kept waiting."
"Thor...we need to talk. About what happened at the changeling empire," Luna began in a tone that was filled with rage and pain, even though she was trying her best to control the emotion. "Word has spread like wildfire and all in every nation knows what you have done. What we thought to be...impossible. You killed a god."
"Aye. I did."
"...that's it?" Celestia asked with disbelief in her voice, unable to believe that was all the answer Thor could muster. "You fly into a friendly nation, call out their deity and then...decapitate him and all you have to say is that you did it."
"I regret that killing Toraxo is what it came to. I do not regret my actions," Thor replied in a strong tone, one that got both of the princesses to back away from Thor. "Toraxo made it clear that he would have allowed Autumn to die, for no other reason to get back at her and me. He would not willing retake the curse. He could not. So to save the life of the pony who called me here, I slayed a monster that called himself a god. I wish I did not have to slay him. I am not sad that I did."
Celestia and Luna shared a worried glance with each other, one that was not lost on the god of thunder. But at that moment he found that he had other things on his mind. He turned and walked away from the princesses, who followed after him with expressions telling Thor that the conversation was not over.
"Thor..." Celestia tried to start again, but before she could Thor spun towards her and pointed Mjolnir at her. For a long moment both sisters stared in fear at the hammer, one which had slain a god, before Thor sighed and flipped the hammer so that the head was facing down.
"I know that you doubt my actions Celestia, but had I done something truly evil, truly selfish and cruel, then you would be wielding this hammer," Thor told Celestia, who frowned as she stared at the hammer for a moment before sighing in resignation. Luna looked between the two of them, wondering what Thor was talking about. "I did what I had to do to save a life. That is sometimes all even a god can do. Now then, let us talk about what else the two of you have to say."
"We can't get anything by you, can we? We have to talk about what your actions have wrought," Luna began with a sigh. "Whether or not your actions were just, you have slain a god of a foreign nation. A nation that we were trying very hard to form a lasting relationship with. Not only that, now all of the other nations are terrified of us. Are terrified of the power of Equestria."
"Why would that be?"
"Because in terms of magical power, ponies have always been better at the magical arts than the rest of the world. Giving us an edge against other nations," Celestia explained. "The only thing the other nations had to comfort themselves is that if we ever attacked, Faust forbid, then their gods would repel us. And now you have shown to the world that you are beyond their gods. That you can kill that which they thought unbeatable."
"That is...fair, I suppose," Thor muttered to himself, starting to realize the unintended consequences of his actions. "But surely they have heard that Toraxo was killing a filly, one that had done nothing wrong? What I did was not an action of murder or godly rage, but that of one trying to save the life of an innocent."
"They've probably heard about it. But from what we have heard, they do not care," Luna revealed to Thor, who sighed with frustration before removing his helmet and rubbing his hand through his hair. "Without their god to keep their home together, the land of the changelings is in catastrophe! Earthquakes plague their land, disease is tearing through their people and it is taking all of their magical efforts to keep their nation from falling apart. Their nation is falling down around them and they're terrified. Of you"
"Then let them be terrified. I will deal with their problems soon. We have other matters to discuss," Thor said to change the conversation, before looking at Celestia. "How are you and your allies coming on finding the location of the alter?"
"We have made little to no progress...why do you ask?" Celestia answered in a nervous tone.
"Because after striking down Toraxo, I have a feeling that our foe will be moving up their plans to find the alter of your goddess," Thor revealed, getting the princesses to groan with frustration. "I need to meet with Discord and see if he has discovered anything of importance. Forgive me, princesses of the heavens, but I must go."
Thor spun his hammer and threw it into the heavens, yanking himself into the sky and sailing across the airspace of Equestria. He was glad to be away from the princesses and their stares. The questions he could handle. The looks he gave him not so much. But even as he sailed through the clouds a small part of his wondered if they were right. Had he gone too far?
'Toraxo left you no other choice, Thor,' Thor thought to himself as he shook his head, banishing the other thoughts of doubt from his mind. 'You did all you could. The princesses have yet to learn that even gods have their limits. Even though we pretend we don't.'
It was with a small sense of relief that Thor landed on the outskirts of a volcano, a location that Mjolnir had led Thor to on its own. And as Thor walked up to the god of chaos, he could see why the hammer would bring him there. Discord glanced over his shoulder at Thor's arrival, before he went back to whatever it was he had been doing.
"I am surprised to see you here," Thor said to Discord as he raised a hand in greeting.
"But not as I am to see you. After what you did I'm surprised you're not at Canterlot doing damage control," Discord muttered as Thor sat down beside him, glancing down at Mjolnir as Thor rested it beside the god. "Celestia's known to throw a hissy fit whenever somepony says a naughty word. I can't imagine how she's reacting to you killing somepony, even if they were a god."
"Her fear of me prevents her from speaking her full mind. I am sad that the fear of me is still there," Thor admitted with a sigh as he gazed at the volcano peak. "I do not wish to be a god that is feared. I wish to be respected, but as one respects a friend or a mentor. Not as a god of doom."
"Well after what you did to Toraxo's head, you're probably going to be seen as the latter," Discord bluntly replied to Thor, who smirked at the gods honesty.
"Discord, as one god to another, did I make the correct choice?" Thor asked Discord, who raised an eyebrow at Thor's question. "Was killing Toraxo the only solution to the problem? Or was I blinded by my own dislike of Toraxo, which in turn led me to being blind to other alternatives? Was my choice of actions incorrect?"
"...that's a hard call to make, Thor. Maybe there was another option. Maybe you could have broken his curse a different way," Discord began with a shrug. "Or maybe that other way would have taken too long. Or maybe it only works half the time and then a mother has lost her foal. I wouldn't know. I tend to avoid situations like this. As for whether or not Toraxo deserved to have his head smashed in...well, let's just say I won't miss him."
"Heh, for a god of chaos and deception, you can be brutally honest when you wish to," Thor replied with a smirk.
"Sometimes you have to be. Ponies here can be...stubborn in there ways and will only hear the truth they like," Discord replied. "And sometimes when you burst their little bubbles they panic and scream and do everything else except dealing with the issue. They're also incredibly forgetful. Like with you smashing Toraxo's head in. Nearly all of Equestria is asking how did a god as "dangerous and deadly" as you get to be god. When they were the ones who voted for you to become one."
"In times of danger, people and ponies tend to gather around those that can currently protect them, instead of those that should protect them," Thor wisely said, though it was more from experience with mortals than wisdom. "They were lucky I was the god that came to this land. There are many within the heavens that would take advantage of a race such as them."
"I wouldn't underestimate them. Yeah they can be thickheaded and annoying beyond belief, but you haven't seem them at their lowest. That's when they band together and find a way to overcome any obstacle in their path," Discord said with a small smile.
"I wouldn't know. I have not been around long enough to know that about them. But you have," Thor said in a quiet tone, one that made Discord turn his gaze towards the god of thunder with a curious expression. "You should be the god of this world, Discord. You know these lands, these gods, this world. But more importantly you know the ponies and what makes them...them. You would be a far better deity than I currently am. Perhaps you would have handle Toraxo differently."
"Still trying to get me to be a real god, huh? It's situations like this that turn me away from being a full fledged deity," Discord replied. "I can't handle all of the pressure or the prayers or the constant begging me to fix all of their problems. I'm not that kind of god. I wasn't...built that way."
"It matters not how others created you to be, but what you yourself choose to be," Thor told Discord, who rolled his eyes at the cheesy line. "Ye may roll your eyes, but the words remain true. I have fought alongside many beings created to be weapons of death and destruction, yet who choose to be more. You were created to be a god of chaos, of anarchy and madness, yet you have rejected who you were created to be. You just need a little aid in finding the god you wish to be."
"You really won't let this go, will you?" Discord asked Thor, who shook his head with a smile. "Why? Why do you care so much about the god I become?"
"Because I have seen far too many gods lose themselves, lose who they wished to be in who they were expected to be. All while I did nothing," Thor revealed with a sad look in his eyes as he stared off towards the heavens. "And then Gor the god butcher showed us what we really were, when our titles and aura was stripped away from us. We were cowards, bullies and monsters. We were not any better than those we ruled over. We had become so consumed with ourselves, that we forgot about those we were supposed to be the deities of. And we paid in blood."
"So what I am saying Discord is that for far too long gods have only cared about themselves. Not about the mortals they ruled over and certainly not the other gods around them. And that is why we were butchered," Thor summed up, while Discord tried to wonder what kind of being could butcher gods. "So I try to aid my divine brethren whenever I can, even if they do not believe they should be. Forgive me if I seem stubborn, but I have seen the cost of gods not caring."
Discord gazed over at Thor as the god of thunder stared at the heavens, no longer sure what to make of the god of thunder. He had rarely ever heard of a god caring about others, much less caring about other gods. It had taken a thousand years in stone and a best friend who was an Ambassador of Harmony for him to start caring.
'Yet he speaks of a god butcher, someone that took deities and butchered them. It seems that he learned how to care from a far harder teacher than me,' Discord thought to himself with a bit of a sad sigh. 'Maybe...I could give it a try. For Thor. After all, what have I got to lose? Maybe he'll be able to help. It would take an act of god and he's the only one that seems to care.'
Discord opened his mouth to talk to Thor, but at that moment Thor sprung to his feet and called Mjolnir to his hand. Discord snapped his head towards the sky, where Thor was glaring, only for his eyes to go wide when he saw what was descending towards them.
A being that had thousands of blue scales was descending from the clouds, blocking out the sun and casting blue reflections across the land. The sharp face of the dragon god was covered in a white beard, while his eyes and antlers on his head crackled with power. The dragon god let out a deep rumble that shook the whole planet, but Thor was the one being on the planet that did not shake.
"Greetings, Shelor. I hope that this is a friendly visit," Thor greeted in a thunderous tone, one that rumbled the sky above the dragon. "For if it is not, I ask thee that you leave now. I do not wish to fight two gods in just as many days."
"I am afraid it is the latter, god of thunder," Shelor replied with a blue fire crackling in his maw, one that burned the air around the two gods of Equestria. "I have no issue with your striking down Toraxo. I have heard what he did and I will not mourn his passing. But my nation is afraid of you and they have prayed that you are slain. And much like you, I answer the prayers of my nation."
"You cannot slay me, Shelor. You know that," Thor said as he pointed Mjolnir towards the deity.
"Perhaps. But you are a young god, god of thunder. And there is much an old god like myself can still teach you," Shelor replied.
"So be it. Very well then, Shelor. I shall battle with you," Thor said. "But when you fall, all of the world will see what it means to do battle with the son of Odin."