A God Among Ponies

Once again, Celestia's sun graced the sky with its presence, painting the sky above in a gentle blue light. Luna's moon had gracefully left the sky in order to make room for the orb of light and warmth.

Twilight always enjoyed to watch this, almost holy performance, each time she was in Canterlot. Of course, she had loved to watch it ever since she was a little filly, but with princess Luna back, and her taking over the duties of the moon, the event had somehow become more beautiful. It was like everything had a certain grace to it now, a cosmic dance that very few understood, or appreciated.

To witness this change in the sky, one had to be up early, and if Twilight was being honest, she could use some more rest after the celebration last night. Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of her brother's marriage to princess Cadance, the princess of love. It also marked the day when they had driven off a large changeling invasion force, which only added to the reason to celebrate.

However, the party had made Twilight wonder. If her brother could marry an alicorn princess, then, why hadn't Celestia or Luna ever married? There were plenty of suitors, she had experienced a lot of confessions of love towards Celestia when she was her student, and she imagined some would have tried to approach Luna after her return.

Had no pony during their reign captured their fancy or interest?

Celestia had always been polite when rejecting a confession, being as gentle as possible, but still with a hint of amusement. Twilight suspected it was because she saw them more as foals, and not as stallions, or mares for that matter, whenever some would confess as well.

She would just have to ask them that during breakfast, maybe there would be something for her to learn.

A few hours later, Twilight met up with her friends. All of them were in high spirits after last night's party, and Twilight found herself in high spirits as well. It was not often they came to Canterlot, but when they did, they always made an event out of it. Taking a few days to enjoy the city, and what it had to offer.

Discord was nowhere to be seen at this time. He was probably still snoozing somewhere, which suited Twilight just fine. Even if he was redeemed, thanks to Fluttershy, she had still not grown completely comfortable with having him around. But hopefully time would remedy that.

When they entered the dining room, they were greeted by Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor, and Cadance. Twilight and her five friends joined them at the table, filling their plates with delicious breakfast. It was quite a surprise to see Luna up at this time, but she had actually been sleeping the night before, allowing herself a night off, only attending to the most urgent of business, so she was good to spend some time with her family and friends.

Cadance was busy talking to Celestia and Luna, thanking them for the beautiful party. The mood was good, and some of the other girls discussed what to do for the day. Twilight was still thinking about the whole marriage thing, wondering if the only reason Cadance could marry was because she was the princess of love? Well, it was worth finding out.

"Excuse me, princess Celestia?" Twilight called politely, getting her attention.

"Yes Twilight?"

"Well princess, I have just been wondering something."

Celestia tilted her head, giving her the caring eyes only a mentor and at times, mother figure, could give. "Oh? And what is that?"

"Well you see, ever since my brother got married to Cadance, I've been wondering-"

Suddenly a poof of smoke appeared behind them, and Discord himself stood behind her, dressed in a white toga and holding a tiny bow with an heart shaped arrow. "If she could marry a special pony herself!" He finished for her, before firing the arrow at nothing, yet a far away yelp could be heard.

"What?!" Twilight blushed and looked at Discord. "No! That's not it!"

Most chuckled, but a few, like Luna did not care much for Discord's sense of humor. Celestia giggled behind a hoof and then smiled. "Please, do go on Twilight."

Twilight sighed, rolling her eyes at Discord. "Well, I was wondering why neither you or Luna have ever married?" The table went silent, for her friends, her brother and Cadance it was simple interest in the subject, but for Luna, it was something else.

All sorts of expressions chased one another across her face, going from shocked, to confused, to outraged. She looked to her sister. "Celestia, what is this supposed to mean? You did not tell them?"

Celestia tried to remain calm, but the glare from her sister made her hang her head in what Twilight could only describe as shame. "Lulu, you know that-"

"I admit, we were confused when we didn't see any statues, or any mementos... Why is this?" Luna asked, sounding rather upset, which confused every pony in here.

Cadance raised an eyebrow. "Auntie, what are you talking about? What mementos? Statues of who?"

Luna looked at Cadance. "Of our husband!"

It was like time itself stood still, no sound was made, and it was so silent one could probably hear a needle fall to the floor. Celestia hung her head in shame, and Luna looked sternly at her sister. "What is the meaning of this, sister of mine?"

"Lulu, times have changed and.." She sighed, and for the second time in her life, Twilight saw regret in her mentor's eyes. The first time was when she reunited with Luna, regretting what had happened to them one thousand years ago.

"Times have changed?" Luna looked confused, but still outraged. "He is our husband, and yet we have seen nothing. Does this mean you have forgotten, or stopped to love him?"

Now it was Celestia's turn to look outraged and she looked at her sister with a mix of anger and sadness. "Never!"

Silence once again. After some time Celestia sighed. "It is a long story, and an old one.. To understand why there is almost nothing left, I think it would be fair to tell them the whole story first, Luna."

Luna clearly wanted an explanation now, but relented. "Fine.."

Breakfast couldn't continue, the curiosity of the guests had outgrown their hunger. So, ordering a few light refreshments, Celestia took all of them into a large room. Here they could speak in comfort, but moreover, the room was one Twilight or the others, including Luna, had never been in before.

It reminded them all of a museum, filled with what looked like ancient artifacts, ranging from flags, clothes, stones, tapestries, weapons, armor, and so much more.

Twilight was in awe, so were the others. "Princess Celestia, this is amazing, I've never seen anything like this. I didn't know this room existed." Well, of course she knew of the room, as in, she had passed the door, but it had always been locked, and since she never saw her mentor entering it, or leaving it, she never paid any attention to it.

Luna didn't speak, her mood had changed from outrage, to, sadness and disappointment. She didn't walk with the group, but instead, followed a path of her own. Looking at the many objects, not with excitement, but remembrance. It was clear that whatever stories these items held, Luna knew them all, and they held great meaning to her, and clearly to Celestia as well.

"Hey look! It's Discord!" Pinkie Pie shouted.

Twilight and the others quickly made their way over to her, their interests peaked. Coming over to her, they were amazed to see an old and dusty tapestry, but just like Pinkie said, there was a figure sewn into it, and that figure did indeed look like Discord.

Using her magic, Twilight carefully unfolded the tapestry to it's full length and height, revealing the full picture. To her amazement, it depicted what looked like a very old throne room, at least, it was not in any style she knew. On the throne sat the two sisters, Celestia and Luna. They were looking down at a bowing Discord, who seemed to be introducing himself to them in a very, respectful way? Yeah... That didn't sound like Discord...

But that paled in comparison to the fourth figure depicted. A tall creature could be seen, standing behind the princesses, on two legs no less. He was dressed in some sort of clothing, looking angry, and held what looked like a big hammer towards Discord.

The creature was not like anything any of them had seen before, it didn't have horns, multiple legs or arms, no tail or wings, nothing really. Yet, he was standing right behind the princesses, symbolizing his importance. Glancing up at Discord, who had finally reappeared after vanishing by the mention of Celestia's and Luna's husband. His expression was hard to read, but it was as serious as Twilight had ever seen it.

Then it clicked for Twilight, this creature, was THAT, Celestia's and Luna's husband? No, that couldn't be true, surely there was some other explanation.

"I never liked this tapestry.." Luna said from behind the group, breaking the silence that had built up. They all turned their heads to look at her, and they saw Celestia stood right beside her, a sad expression on her face. "He was not always angry.."

"Quite a lot, though.." Discord replied, with no teasing tone in his voice, more like it dripped with poison.

With that, Twilight knew she needed answers, more so than before as this clearly had unknown history written all over it. But also, she was concerned, Luna was clearly upset, and Celestia looked guilty as she had ever seen her. Putting the tapestry back, she turned to them.

"Princess, what is all this?" Twilight asked, looking concerned and eager at the same time.

Without a word, Celestia turned and walked towards a more open area, Luna walking beside her. She made it clear she wanted them to follow, and so the group did so. Discord however seemed to follow the group, and even then it was still a few feet behind them.

The area was like a small half circle built into the wall, thick red curtains hung from it, but Twilight could see light trying to get through, hinting that there were windows on the other side. There were a few couches in this half circle, and it had to be a place for studying or reading.

Celestia waited until every pony had found a place to sit, and when they did, she used her magic to pull on some rope. With a gentle tug, the curtains moved to the side, revealing big and tall windows, bathing the large room in sunlight. They all squint their eyes for a moment, getting used to the sudden bright light that now illuminated the room.

When all had recovered, they looked to Celestia. She looked thoughtful, as if she didn't know where to begin her tale. Cadance had a worried expression on her face, and looked like she was about to move closer to her aunt, maybe in an attempt to comfort her. Luna however shook her head, letting Celestia gather her thoughts.

After a moment, Celestia looked to them, and spoke. "Before I begin, you should know, the world as you know it was a lot different back in those days.. More violent, more, chaotic.."

Many of them glanced at Discord, but he seemed to try and look like he wasn't interested. Cadance frowned, then looked at Celestia again. "Auntie, all of this stuff." She gestured with a hoof. "When did all of this take place, I don't recognize any of it.."

Luna was the one to respond this time. "Almost ten thousand years ago.." The shock was clear on all their faces, and it was hard to tell which of them was most shocked by this news, but Twilight was the one to break the silence when her mind finally recovered.

"B-but, you were, and you are..." She looked from Luna to Celestia.

Her mentor let out a sigh. "We were still quite young back in those days.. I was.." She paused, taking a moment to remember. "About 22.. Luna was 19.." The room was silent, and it was like their minds tried to comprehend how far back that really was.

They all realized what this meant, it meant all of this happened before their kind was united, before Equestria, before the unification, before Discord even..

Luna spoke up again. "It was dark times, back then there were dark creatures roaming the world. Their only goal was to conquer, to kill, and to take... To them, we ponies and many other races were nothing but animals.." That sent a shiver through every pony's body. "They had many names, trolls, ogres, orcs, giants, Jotnars.. They came in all sorts of forms, all of them terrifying and bloodthirsty..."

Celestia nodded, remembering the terrible era they had lived through. "The world was being thrown into chaos, we were drowning in darkness, mistrust and blood.. Our father wanted to unite all the tribes, wanting to take a stand against them. As his daughters, we were sent to speak with a local village of earth ponies, but sad to say, they didn't want to hear us.. So they sent us back to our father."

"The road was dangerous." Luna continued. "And on our way back, we were ambushed, and death seemed to be near that cold misty morning."

"It was then that we met him." Celestia said, affection and warmth entering her voice. "Sent by the gods, he came to us in our moment of distress.."

Everypony in the room looked at the two sisters with intense focus, hanging on every word. "Who?" One dared to ask.

Luna smiled. "Our future husband."

Celestia joined her sister in a smile. "Thor.."