"Okay, Celestia, just remember to smile. These visits don't last forever. Just have him here, say your pleasantries, and then he'll be gone. No problem...no problem...no problem..."
Celestia kept telling herself that, over and over again, and it was clear to any who would have heard her that she was trying desperately to try and feel something other than dismay at this day. Luna, for instance, was just such a person, and after shaking her head at her sister's words, walked beside her.
"You know, you can just say you don't want this to happen, Tia."
Celestia sighed.
"No, Luna. It is the duty of all chief deities to host visitors of other realms. I will not shirk that responsibility...however unwanted it may be."
She forced a smile to her younger sibling.
"Besides, I've endured him before, so I'm fairly certain I can do so again."
Luna rolled her eyes.
"Very well, if that's what you want."
Then, the two sisters looked on in silence as, far away, they could see a gathering of dark clouds on the horizon. The grim looks of seriousness they bore indicated that this was indeed part of events, and Luna cast her sister one final look of concern.
"Do you...want me here?"
Celestia shook her head.
"No. Having two women here would only make him worse."
Luna gave a dry chortle.
"No debate on that one. I'll be with Tantabus if you need me."
With that, the Goddess of the Moon vanished in a flash of light, leaving Celestia all to herself. She watched as the clouds drew nearer and nearer, and a rumbling could be heard right along with them. Celestia's eyes narrowed as, after all that waiting, the clouds burst, sending down a might bolt of lightning, which struck just a stone's throw away from the part of the cloud she was standing on. She did not shield her eyes from it, instead watching as the light faded. When it was over, that spot was now occupied by what appeared to be a man of some sort. He was muscular, though much of that was covered in a clean white toga, and as he stood tall, he stroked a long grey and curly beard, grinning widely to her.
"Tia! So good to see you again!"
Another forced smile from Celestia.
"Zeus, how...wonderful to see you too," she replied through gritted teeth.
The God chuckled, striding confidently towards her.
"How about a hug?"
Celestia arched an eyebrow.
"Only if you promise not to use it as an opportunity to pinch my posterior...again."
A hearty laugh from the other deity, and he sighed soon afterwards.
"Ah, Celestia, as serious as ever."
Celestia glanced away.
"One of us has to be," she muttered under her breath.
Looking back to Zeus, she smiled as well as she could.
"How is your dear wife?"
Zeus grimaced as he glanced away from her, staring down at the mortal world below.
"Oh, you know how it is. She keeps getting on my case. And it's always the same thing, over and over again!"
Celestia folded her arms.
"I take it you got another mortal woman pregnant?"
Zeus pointed an accusing finger to her.
"Hey, I've refrained from that for a whole week already! What more can people ask of me?!"
He grumbled.
"Honestly, it's as if the universe is trying to make me think it was a bad idea to marry my sister!"
Celestia's eyebrow was as high as it could be.
"Heaven forbid!" she remarked sarcastically.
But Zeus simply shrugged, regaining his big grin and looking to her in earnest once more.
"So, how's things on your end? Anything interesting happen lately?"
Celestia giggled, though it was admittedly a genuine one this time.
"Oh, just the usual antics, I fear. We did have a few hiccups here and there with Sombra last week, but nothing we weren't able to handle."
Another shrug from Zeus.
"You know, you lot over here have it way better than what things are like on my end. You should've seen some of the stuff I have to put up with!"
He looked down to the Earth again.
"There was this one kid, Bellero-something. He actually tried to fly up to Mount Olympus! Seriously, the nerve of some of those mortals! So I had to throw him back down again. You know, keep the mortals from getting too uppity?"
He paused, then shrugged.
"I mean, yes, he was technically my brother Poseidon's son, but hey, when has blood ever stopped me from putting my foot down with people?"
Celestia gave him a deadpan look.
"Never, apparently."
Zeus cast her a sly glance.
"Speaking of blood, how's yours?"
Celestia gave an honest smile here.
"Sunset? Oh, she's doing wonderfully. She and Twilight actually decided to try a relationship with one another since the last time you came over."
Zeus seemed genuinely curious about that.
"Really? Well, glad to hear things are working out for her."
Then, after a moment of thinking, he twiddled his thumbs.
"Although, if things don't work out for the two of them, there's always...you know..."
Celestia frowned deeply to his remark.
"Zeus, you are not here to try and seduce my daughter, or anyone else for that matter."
She pointed straight down to the mortal world, specifically the massive ocean that lay directly beneath their cloud.
"The last time you did that, Adagio gave birth to her biggest child yet. That creature still spends most of its time sinking ships!"
Zeus placed his hands on his hips and puffed his chest out with pride.
"Ah, good to know Junior's keeping busy."
Celestia shook her head, but said nothing before Zeus started talking again.
"You know, I never did understand why you never try to get together with anyone."
Slowly, Celestia looked away, staring out into the horizon.
"I...cannot. One lover was enough for me."
Zeus, for the first time during this visit of his, softened in his expression.
"Celestia...how long has it been since Sunset's Father passed?"
The Sun Goddess glanced down just slightly.
"Many years. Mortal he may have been, but he was no less special to me."
A small but loving smile crept onto her lips.
"I wish Sunset could have known him...but those below only live for so long. I will carry his memory with me forever."
Though a thoughtful silence followed, but Celestia was not so overwhelmed by it as to be unable to throw a knowing smirk to her visiting counterpart.
"So do not think me some grieving widow desperate for affection, Zeus. Besides, when you've known as many lovers as you have, will it really kill you to not have one in particular?"
Zeus stood there, pondering that question.
"Huh...don't know. Never met a woman I couldn't bed before."
Celestia raised an eyebrow again.
"Except, most of the ones you've met in this realm of course."
Though most in his own domain would have likely suffered for such a remark, here it only caused the Lord of Thunder to bellow out a loud laugh.
"Haha, oh Tia! It's moments like this that remind me why I enjoy coming to your realm so much!"
As before, Celestia spoke under her breath.
"At least one of us enjoys these visits."
Then, before saying anything else, Zeus looked away from her, walking to the very edge of the cloud.
"This has been nice, but I think that'll be all for now. Besides, I saw this cute little number back home called Alcmene that I've just been dying to introduce myself to."
He tapped his chin.
"I might need to make myself look like her husband before I do though."
Celestia blinked, then looked on as he smiled to her and gave a little wave. With no further words, there was another bolt of lightning, and just like that, the head of the Greek Pantheon was gone, back to his own realm. Celestia stood there for the longest time, though she did hear the sound of her sister walking beside her. The two stood in silence for a while, but after almost a full ten minutes, Luna finally asked the obvious question.
"So...vacation?"
Taking a deep breath, Celestia then sighed.
"Yes. But first, I need to take a nice, long bath. A lady can only speak to that God for so long before feeling unclean."
HA!
9691044
Seconded
Better to deal with the Greeks and not the Aztecs. The stories I've read from Aztec mythology... it's terrifying...
Oh and I bet it'd be a hilarious interaction between Tia/Luna and Thor/Loki!
I found this far funnier than I probably should have.
Ewww, Zeus & Adagio did it!?
Greek mythology in a nutshell:
Zeus: I’m going to stick my dick in it.
Everyone else: Don’t stick your dick in it.
Zeus: ToO lAtE!
9691057
The four previous apocalypses of Azetec myth can be summed up as "GODDAMMIT, TEZCALIPOCA!!!"
Excellent job on having the actual Zeus visiting Celestia. LOVED the compare and contrast. Exactly the right mix of "funny" AND "explains a lot". And, yeah, Tia, I DO NOT blame you for feeling dirty. In this day and age, Zeus would be a (VERY well-deserved) target of the "Me, Too" movement. And, the worst part is, as bad as Zeus and (MOST of) the other Greek Gods are, as other reviewers have said, there actually ARE pantheons that are FAR worse.
But, at any rate, splendid job on the exchanges and characterizations in this latest installment in this story series.
wait, so was that zeus' kid that showed up at the end of chapter 6?
Oh. Him.
To be fair, it's not like there were a lot of other options at the time. And Hades married his niece and that worked out just fine. It's almost like being unfaithful to the goddess of marriage has consequences.
Lovely little crossover. Zeus was very clearly here for a booty call. At least Tia kept any such potential disasters from realizing themselves.
9691057
The sisters interacting with the original murderhoboes? Heck yes!
DA^%!!! He's on a dry streak
9691057
I forget was it the Aztec gods or Mayan gods? Who drowned their first attempt at making mortals because they were too perfect and they wanted servants not equals.
Ugggh, Zeus.
If Sunset's dad was mortal, shouldn't she be a demigod rather than a full deity?
And can't they just go visit him in Sombra's realm?
9691768
personal I want her dad to end being one of Zeus's son cause that would be funny,
9691842
ew gross
9691898
not all of his kids are bad, it also mean she be full goddess
Zeus + Tia = shenanigans. Reminds me of that one story where Celestia and Luna move into Olympus and eventually ponify it completely.
9691768
To be fair, Hercules was ALSO a demigod that eventually got promoted to FULL god at some point in his adult life. It IS rather possible that Sunset could have done something heroic enough to earn a promotion to full god (much to the pleasure of both Celestia AND Twilight [the former because it means she is NOT going to have to go through the pain of outliving her daughter and the latter because it means they quite literally have all the time in the world for their duties AND each other]).
9692158
Interesting idea. Wonder what her Labors were...
9692173
Pretty sure they'd be this universe's Eq Girls events, making Twilight kind of an Anti-Hera.
9692372
Hey yeah, that's a great idea! Archery would remain more or less the same but a bit more dangerous, chariots instead of motorcycles, some sort of scavenger hunt/quest...
Wow... Just, wow.
And yeah, the really sad thing is that there are legitimately worse deities out there that Celestia could have had to meet with.
Hmm. Wonder if we'll see some other representatives from other pantheons at some point? Norse myth is an obvious choice... but what about others?
9691758
Most likely Mayan.
However the two do get confused with each other often so it's easy to get many things wrong with them.
9691057
Well, if it was a sibling meet up according to actual Norse mythology, it would be Odin and Loki, not Thor. Marvel swapped up a surprising amount of things from my favorite Mythology. Seriously, Hel being Loki's elder is seriously weird to me
Gotta love Zeus.
9691768
Different rules for different pantheons I guess.
Hey, do you mind if I adopt this series cannon and add on with Yoruba, Rasta, and other African faiths to expand this universe?