With a sigh Thor drove the head of Mjolnir into the open palm of his free hand, barely registering the impact of a weapon that could break worlds. Alone the god of thunder sat in a crater near the edge of Ponyville, a crater caused by his arrival when he first defended the town from the wrath of the titans. Yet for Thor the titans had been a simple task, whereas the problem that currently plagued the gods mind was not.

"You've been sitting there staring at your hammer for a long time."

The voice of Autumn Breeze snapped Thor free from his thoughts, getting him to look over at the young filly who was chasing numerous insects that had also taken up residence in the crater. Thor found her interesting. Not only had she had to will to summon him, but she also seemed to know what on within Thor's mind. She was a strange one.

"Aye, I have been speaking with Mjolnir about what to do next," Thor revealed as he flipped over the hammer and read the inscription upon the back of his oldest friend once more.

"You...talk to your hammer?" Autumn asked with a nervous smile, which only grew when Thor nodded. "Does...the hammer speak back?"

"Somedays, yes. Today does not seem to be one of those days," Thor said with a small sigh as he swung the hammer and flipped it over in his hand, before his eyes faded and he returned to his thoughts. For a time he stayed like that, before he broke himself free of his thoughts and smiled at the filly. "Forgive me for my silence, but my thoughts are jumbled."

"What's got you so bothered?" Autumn asked as she scooted next to Thor and sat down, tiny compared to the massive frame of the god. "Wait, is this about that weirdo god that made a scene the other day? Because I'm fairly certain after what you did to him he would never come near you again."

"Reading my mind again, young filly? Thou should be careful, the thoughts of a god can drive a mortal mad," Thor warned her with a smile before he placed Mjolnir upon the ground and rested his hand upon its handle. "But indeed, your words rings true. Toraxo and his actions have bothered me."

"Why? You punched him into a building. You practically knocked him out with a punch. He would probably still be circling the planet if you had used your hammer," Autumn pointed out and Thor found himself laughing at her words.

"Nay young one, he would have left the planet's gravity and would be on his way to the stars had I used Mjolnir," Thor corrected with a laugh, yet the dark thoughts stole the merriness from his expression. "But it is his words and actions that have me bothered. To me his is of no threat, but he did not threaten me. He threatened you and your mother."

"Okay, so did the titans. You dealt with them and you'll deal with him," Autumn added, but Thor shook his head.

"Gods are rarely told no. And when they are, those that told them no generally do not survive the next encounter," Thor told the young filly. "Both you and your mother did more than that. You both insulted him. And in all my thousands of lifetimes, I have never found a god that will stand for being disrespected. Even I have to use all of my will to control myself when I am insulted. And Toraxo is not me."

"Well maybe if he started working out he could try to be," Autumn suggested with a smirk.

"You jest, young one, but Toraxo strikes me as a vengeful god, not a forgiving god," Thor said with an experts knowledge, feeling the weight of Mjolnir once more and fearing that he was going to have to use it soon. "And he made a point to single out you. To threaten thee. The one that called me here. My first, and so far only, friend who is a pony."

"What are you talking about, everypony here loves you!" Autumn said with a beaming smile. Thor smiled in reply, but his smile held a weight to it.

"Aye, they love me, but there fear me. Though I cannot blame them, if those four are how your gods act," Thor admitted with a grim look. "The Ambassadors are not sure of me, your mother respects me, but does not wish to get close to me. I am making ground with the princess of the sun, but for the time being you are the only one I can speak to who does not fear me."

"You saved me, Thor. You saved all of us. You didn't have to, but you did. That makes you a friend in my book," Autumn comforted Thor, who nodded gratefully. "But is that why you wanted me to hang out with you for a while? So that Toraxo doesn't come after me?"

"Aye."

"But what about those who need your help? If you're with me you can't help others, can you?" Autumn asked.

"For the time being, there are no prayers that require my aid. Some ponies would be greatly relieved, but their problems are ones they can handle," Thor told Autumn, who raised an eyebrow.

"But that won't always be the case, can it?" Autumn asked with a knowing look, getting Thor to chuckle.

"Nay, I suppose it won't. But I will not let Toraxo claim your life, as he indicated he wishes to do."

"Then why don't you get another god to look after me?" Autumn questioned. "That way you've got one looking out for us and you can still go off and save those that need you. Also, aren't you looking for an actual god to take your place in Equestria? Well this way you can find one that can fill your spot."

"Another god..." Thor asked himself, placing a hand on his chin and thinking about what she had said for a few moments, before giving Autumn a curious glance. "You are far wiser than you appear, are you not?"

Autumn's response was to smile cheekily before she started to chase after a butterfly. Thor thought about her idea for a while longer, thinking of a certain god in particular that he was willing to test, before a flash of violet light appeared in front of him and a moment later Thor found his crater filled with the Ambassadors of Harmony.

"Princess Twilight and friends. To what do I owe this visit?" Thor asked as he rose to his feet, smiling down at them.

"We're here because of Rainbow Dash," Twilight admitted as she flashed a look at Dash, who smirked before she flexed a bit, showing of muscle that Thor did not remember seeing before. "Ever since the castle incident, she's been doing nothing but working out. Seems she took offense to the fact that she couldn't even budge your hammer. Also Celestia say's that I should spend time getting to know the real you. But mostly we're here because Dash is upset she couldn't lift your hammer."

"Which is plumb foolish, if ya consider the fact that it's a weapon wielded by a god," Applejack pointed out with a nasty look at Dash. "If Thor is strong enough to punch another god through a wall, his strength has to be far beyond us. His hammer has to weigh a ton."

"But as I said, it doesn't matter how much it weighed, Dash should have still be able to budge it," Twilight pointed out. "And if it far too heavy for us, then it would have cracked the floor of the throne room. That flooring they use cracks pretty easily. Ask Spike when he dropped a chest onto it, the stuff practically splintered."

"Then how come you couldn't move it with yer magic?" Applejack shot back, silencing Twilight. "Yer magic is strong enough to move the heavens, yet ya can't pick up a hammer?"

"Friends, friends, there is no need to argue," Thor cut in before the six could start fighting with one another. "Both Twilight and Applejack are correct. My hammer is heavy, but mortals are capable of lifting it. Of course, it is impossible to move for one such as yourself, Twilight."

"And why is that?"

"Because the hammer cannot be lifted by just anyone. There is an enchantment upon Mjolnir, an enchantment that makes it so that only those that the hammer finds worthy can lift it," Thor explained as he flipped the hammer over, showing the six the inscription on the back. "That is why you could not lift it with your magic, Twilight."

"So wait, only one who is worthy of that chunk of...I mean, majestic weapon can wield it?" Rarity asked with a look of disgust at the massive cinderblock. "So, how does a pony know whether they are worthy or not?"

"You try to pick it up."

As Thor said this he placed Mjolnir head first onto the ground in the center of the crater, motioning for the ponies to step up. Rainbow Dash pushed herself past all of her friends and grabbed hold of the handle, pulling with all of her new muscle against the weight of the hammer.

"This...isn't...possible!" Rainbow Dash roared in an exasperated voice as she finally gave up straining against the hammer. "This thing weighs just as much as it did weeks ago. And I've done nothing but lift ever since then! How is there no difference?!"

"Simple, Dash. Ye are not worthy," Thor said with a chuckle, crossing his arms with interest as he watched the others try their hooves.

Applejack tried her hoof next, yanking on the handle of the hammer with all of her might. She was even more muscular than Rainbow Dash, but even all of the extra muscle couldn't aid the farmpony in so much as budging the hammer. AJ tried one last pull before she shrugged and gave up.

"Alright, ah'll admit it. The thing's heavy," Applejack surrendered.

Pinkie leapt forward next and grabbed hold of the hammers handle, pulling slightly before she looked down at the hammer with an annoyed expression.

"Alright mister, you have been laying down for too long! Today you are going to get up and move!"

"Is she trying to motivate the hammer to try and move?" Autumn asked with disbelief as Pinkie started blowing a whistle at Mjolnir.

"Aye, it seems she is. To be fair to her, no one has tried to move Mjolnir like that before," Thor admitted with a small smile, though he could already see how this was going to end for the remaining ponies.

Eventually Pinkie gave up and allowed Rarity to give it a shot. Rarity glanced down at the handle of the hammer, before she lowered his nose and sniffed it. She let out a gurgling sound before she gingerly touched the handle, pulling once before she let go and started to sanitize her hoof.

Pinkie pushed Fluttershy forward and motioned for her to try. Fluttershy glanced at the hammer like it was about to lash out at her at any second. She gingerly approached the hammer, poking it once with her hoof before hiding behind her mane, waiting for the lightning. When the hammer did nothing, she poked at it once more. A moment passed before Fluttershy backed off, not wanting to push her luck any further.

Finally it was Twilight's turn and all of the eyes were upon her as she walked up to the hammer, gazing down at it like it was a problem that she needed to solve. She stared at the side of it before glancing over to the side, studying it from every side possible. Then she reached for the handle.

"Ye will not be able to lift it," Thor said before she even had the chance to try.

"Why not?" Twilight asked with some offense.

"I can tell."

Twilight flared her nostrils before she strained against the hammer, unable to lift it with her hooves. She then narrowed her eyes and her horn began to glow, shaking the ground beneath her friends as her power shook the air. A purple light covered Mjolnir as Twilight encased it in her magic, before with all of her magical might she strained against the hammer. Yet even though she could move the heavens, the hammer didn't even twitch.

"That's quite the enchantment," Twilight admitted after a few seconds of trying, not needing to go on any longer to know that it was not going to move. "So Thor, what does it take to be worthy of the hammer? Because if none of us are worthy to lift it, then I doubt anypony in this land can."

"It is simple Twilight," Thor replied as he walked to the hammer and scooped it up into his hands, spinning it once with a smile. "You must be worthy of being Thor."

{([])}

"For so long the ponies been seen as rulers of this land," Janis said to himself as he stared at a circle carved into an ebony floor, a circle filled with inscriptions and a language that had been lost to all except for the divine. "Not just by the ponies, but the beings that also reside upon Equis. But they have gods, while those foolish ponies do not. Little do my subjects know that if war broke out between the world that Equestria would be the first to fall."

"Or it would have been, had not that infernal god of thunder arrived," Sinaj whispered in a fury as cold as the grave. "And now not only are the scales tipped in favor of the ponies once more, but they have been far more off-balance than ever, even when Faust was still in power."

"You would think that disposing of a lands goddess would make it weaker, yet somehow the ponies remain strong," Janis spat in reply, before letting out a small sigh and glancing around the chamber. It was made of an ebony material, yet from the way it sparkled and shone like the stars one would never believe it to be a room of darkness. Then Janis raised his head towards the heavens, where a single hole filled with the power of the stars and heavens resided, a light that filled the room with a comforting glow.

"But Thor cannot stay here forever. We know that there is another world that depends on him. Soon he will be a problem no longer," Sinaj said in a comforting tone, one that soothed the flames with Janis. "As once he is gone, Equestria will go back to being the weak, godless land that it once was. And then we can finally change things."

"Yet what if..."

"They do not know where this chamber is. That secret vanished with Faust," Sinaj finished before his other half could finish speaking. "And without access to this chamber, Thor shall be the only god that Equestria will ever have protecting them again. And that is something we can both agree on."

Janis nodded and vanished in half, leaving the chamber empty once more. That was until one of the shadows started to move and a black beast slowly materialized from the wall. It glanced around the chamber once, before turning its eyes to a piece of paper ripped from a text as old as the gods. A page with an exact image of the room upon it.

"Found..."