LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES

Ironbridge, 1,369 years ago

"Ah, what a glorious night!" Luna proclaimed, her silver-lined body illuminating the streets of Ironbridge as her teal eyes gazed up at the stars.

She turned, embarrassed, to her companion, brushing a hoof through her short blue hair. "Erm… not to toot my own horn."

The stallion chuckled. He was an immortal, deep blue with a silver streak in his light blue mane and tail. His cutie mark was a star-headed magic wand and a golden comet crossing to form an X; silver sparkles and golden comets orbited around him as his aura. His eyes were a piercing hot pink.

"That's all right, Luna," he said. "It's no sin to simply enjoy your own works."

"I'm a bit of a prideful personality, I admit," Luna said wistfully, looking up at the stars again. "It's something of a plague, my crippling need for attention. I'm trying to settle it down a bit, talk about the nighttime less and just try to make some simple contributions to the community of Ironbridge. As much as I can while… exercising some level of humility."

"Well, you have done good by the community," said the stallion. "And you've shown humility."

A tiny grin twitched at the corners of Luna's mouth. "Oh, I've shown excellent humility. Perhaps the best and greatest humility that's ever been seen."

They shared a laugh at that, and Luna looked over the stallion curiously. "Why did you ask to see me here, Witchlight?"

Witchlight shrugged. "You've been living in my town for a while, doing a lot of charity work. I wanted to get to know you better."

She tilted her head. "New ponies move to Ironbridge all the time. Do you take the time to acquaint yourself with each of them as well?"

He smiled. "Well… no."

She smiled back. "Well, my dear Witchlight, I've been hoping to get to know you better too."

Her eyes danced over his wings, his chest, and his hindquarters before she abruptly looked away. Once her eyes were off him, he allowed himself to examine her cutie mark, the way the pattern of the night sky danced all the way down her leg…

He looked at the sky, at the swirling patterns and delicate art of the stars and clouds. "So," he said, "how long have you been tasked with taking care of the night?"

"I… just over twenty years," Luna mumbled.

"Wow," said Witchlight. "You scarcely even look like you're twenty years old."

She chuckled. "Yes, well, that would be the Elements of Harmony. My sister and I found them when I was just sixteen. They bound themselves to us, and we've hardly aged since."

He looked concerned. "You don't age?"

"We do. But slowly. At a quarter the normal pace, so it's said. We may live several centuries."

"Remarkable," Witchlight whispered.

"I… don't care much for pondering the implications," said Luna.

"I understand," said Witchlight. He promptly looked away from her, then looked back to find her staring at him unashamedly. "Where are you from, originally?" he said conversationally.

"Ribbondale," she answered quietly.

"Ah, I thought so. And what brought you to Ironbridge?"

"There were many memories in Ribbondale that I wanted to escape from," said Luna, looking hard at the ground. "Memories of my sister, my cousin. It was too much pain. But for Ironbridge, I have some memories that are fonder, memories of being a hero and bonding with my sister. It was… too good to last, of course, but still, it happened, and anyway Ironbridge is such a lovely town…"

"Hmm," said Witchlight. "Surely it can't be as magnificent as Ribbondale?"

"Ribbondale was… nothing," Luna said bitterly.

"Hmm. Well, I'd still like to see it someday…"

Luna gazed at him sadly. "Perhaps I'll show it to you."

He smiled gently. "I like that idea."

"It… is a pleasant thought," Luna admitted. She attempted a smile at him, then looked away.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was a cloudy day, and Luna flew over the town center of Ironbridge to clear a few holes in the clouds, enjoying the feel of handling the clouds with her bare hooves rather than using magic.

Something caught her eye in her peripheral vision—a glint of gold in the dull gray foliage of the Forest of Feyr. Instantly curious, she flew in that direction, finding the source: a huge pale pink pony with a flowing mane and a golden aura, standing in a forest clearing with Witchlight. As Luna watched, Celestia and Witchlight leaned in for a kiss.

She stumbled in mid-air, tumbling through the tree tops and landing less-than-elegantly on her hooves, marching forward, trying to look and sound confrontational but quivering weakly.

"Celestia?" she squeaked. "And W… Witchlight… you… why are you kissing my sister?"

Witchlight stared blankly. "Luna? Um… Celestia and I have been courting for months. She's your sister?"

"You admit freely that you've been seeing her behind my back?" Luna snapped. "And you didn't tell him who you are?" she added to Celestia.

"What do you mean behind your…?" Witchlight began, before straightening in surprise and turning on Celestia himself. "You're the hero of Ironbridge and most of the pony nation and you never told me?"

"You couldn't have figured that out on your own?" Luna demanded. "She can't go out in public without being recognized."

"We don't see each other in public," Celestia said quietly. "I wouldn't want my fame to interfere with my relationship…"

Luna's lips curled up in a snarl. "Do you know what I'd give to be recognized in public even once? I. Think. You. Do. And YOU!" she roared at Witchlight. "I thought you were courting me."

He looked stunned.

"Looks like that's news to him," Celestia noted. "I'm sorry your imaginary romance with my special stallion has been broken up." She walked over to Luna and whispered in her ear. "Why don't you go cry under the bridge like you did last time you got burned here, eh twerp?"

A jet of magic from Luna's horn hit Celestia in the chest, knocking her backward and into a tree, which split in two.

Celestia got to her hooves, shaking splinters out of her mane. "Well spoken," she said. "Allow me to offer this as a rebuttal."

Just the tip of her horn glowed gold, and from it grew a pair of blades made of pure golden energy, which spun around a few times before hurling toward Luna. She erected a magical shield which deflected the blades back to Celestia. She caught them in a golden whip which extended from her horn.

With a toss of her head, Celestia spun the blades in an arc which came down on Luna from above, piercing her magic shield and hitting her in the back, causing her legs to collapse. A silver and gold shockwave spread out from the point of impact.

Luna stood up and cast a spell to produce wing-blades from her primary feathers. She lunged at Celestia to slice at her, her metal feathers scraping together noisily. Celestia blocked the wing-blades with a levitating golden sword, then conjured a spinning barrier of such swords which orbited around her, searing and slicing nearby trees.

Luna's horn glowed and began spinning like a drill, scraping and buzzing against the spinning swords, cutting through them with vicious screeching noises until Celestia only had one golden sword remaining. She conjured up a shield to go along with it, and Luna leapt back and stood on her hind legs, summoning a pair of silver whips extending from her front hooves to wield in tandem with her wing-blades. She snapped her wrists, spinning the whips around several times, kicking up earth from the forest floor and sending branches and bits of bark flying everywhere.

Celestia cut Luna's whips with a scything slash of golden light that left a huge burn scar in the dirt beneath their hooves, and Luna responded with a spear of silver that broke the sound barrier before slamming Celestia's chest.

After the dust cleared, both of the sisters had a single bleeding wound and were charging at each other, their horns locked together as their muscles quivered, their horns sparked and their bodies pulsated with magic, flattening the surrounding forest.

A tiny black dot appeared where their horns were touching and expanded into a large circle of darkness, tossing them both backwards.

Black tendrils wrapped around their hind legs, lifting them up into the air and dangling them upside-down, face-to-face with the gruesome red-eyed, fanged, and expressionless face of Annihilara.

"Annihilara," Celestia said in horror. She blasted the shadow in the face with a beam of golden light, burning a hole through her head.

Annihilara's face immediately reconstructed itself, and she coldly commented, "That. Hurt."

"Lara," Luna cried, wriggling against the tendril that held her up. "…It's been years. Where have you been?"

"Around, Lulu," Annihilara replied. "Just… around. I didn't intend to see you two again so soon, but I… noticed something… which I thought I should call your attention to."

"What?" Luna said eagerly.

"You two fools might want to know that you killed Witchlight." Annihilara dropped them, and they hit the ground hard, too stunned by that proclamation to open their wings.

On the ground alongside them was Witchlight, laying on his side, his eyes wide open and blank.

"NO!" Celestia cried out, face-to-face with him.

"What?" Luna shrieked, scrambling to stand. "How? How did this happen?"

Annihilara hovered in front of them, her face on a tiny black cloud. "I felt him die, as I feel everypony who dies," she said. "I saw his last memories, of you two volleying powerful spells at each other, and him dying in the crossfire."

"Which one of us did this?" Celestia choked out as she stood up slowly. With no answer forthcoming, she raised her head and glared at Annihilara, snarling, "Which of us did this, Annihilara? Me or her?"

"I couldn't tell you," said Annihilara. "It happened so quickly. It was impossible to see."

"What have we done?" Luna whispered, leaning down and stroking the dead body's hair. "I'm so sorry."

"You want to really apologize to him?" Annihilara whispered.

"What?" Luna whispered.

"What?" Celestia demanded harshly.

The black cloud began shaping itself into Annihilara's towering black-and-gray physical body. "I've been experimenting with my capabilities over the years," she said. Her cutie mark formed, which appeared to cause her physical pain. "I can call up the spirits of the dead. They don't like being back in the real world; it scares them, panic attacks start setting in after a matter of minutes, but until then, they are them, the same ponies they were in life, but at peace, stripped clean of all pretenses."

"But you can't bring him… all the way back?" Celestia said slowly.

"I'm afraid not," said Annihilara. "Death is… insurmountable. But as I have the power to give you a few extra minutes with him in light of the horrible thing you've both just done, I feel some responsibility to do so."

She held up a hoof, and directly above Witchlight's body, the spirit appeared, a somewhat transparent but otherwise perfect reproduction of him, standing in a relaxed pose and with his eyes closed.

"Witchlight," said Luna, her voice cracking.

His eyes opened suddenly, and he leapt back in horror. "AUGH! Luna?"

"I am… so sorry," she sobbed. "It was… it was an accident."

"I know," he said stiffly.

"I'm so sorry," she said again.

"I know. It's okay," he said as quickly as he could.

Celestia knelt down before him. "Witchlight, can you ever forgive me?" she said, in an uncharacteristically gentle tone. "I am so far beyond sorry. I will…" She stopped talking for a moment as her entire body was wracked with huge sobs, then she continued. "For the rest of my life, I will be the mare who killed you. I'll never be able to see myself any other way."

Witchlight quivered, glancing around fearfully. "What is happening? Let me go! Let me go back!"

"As you wish," Annihilara whispered. The ghost slowly disappeared, as if eroded away by wind and sand.

"But… but I didn't hear whether or not he forgave me," Celestia peeped.

"And you weren't going to hear that," said Annihilara. "He was beyond rational thought. Did you see that? Guy started freaking out immediately. What a lightweight! I've never seen such a weak soul. He's probably better off dead."

"Don't say that," Celestia said sharply. "He was not weak. He was an amazing pony. And he was… mine," she finished in a feathery whisper.

Luna stared at Celestia with interest. "Celestia… I had thought… in fact, I'd have sworn on my life that you were only with him… to hurt me. But you genuinely cared for him all along, didn't you? It would appear I've horribly misjudged you, my sister. I am sorry."

Celestia glared at her. "You're damn right you're sorry," she sneered, before taking to the air and flying straight up, teleporting away in a burst of sunlight.

"I'm such a fool," Luna said glumly.

"Maybe," said Annihilara. "But you're a good fool."

Luna stared up at her. "Tell me again where you've been all this time?" she said softly.

"Traveling the world," said Annihilara. "Or, most of it, anyway. Slowly. Thinking about why I'm not dead, and why I… kind of am dead." She sighed. "I think I'll still need a couple of decades to figure it out. I'm gonna… go back to my thoughts now."

"Cousin, please stay with me," Luna said frantically. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, but I'm not exactly casual company who can walk down the street with you."

"I want you to stay anyway."

Annihilara stared, her static face absolutely inscrutable apart from subtle movements of her toothy jaws. "I can't, Lulu," she finally said.

"Why?" Luna pleaded.

"I just can't," she said simply. "I want to, but I don't want to. You know? I need to sort out my existential… stuff."

Luna hung her head. "Fine. Take care." She reached out with a hoof and touched Witchlight's, which was already getting cold.

"I'm sorry," Annihilara whispered. She dissolved into nothing. Luna remained there, unmoving, still tenderly stroking Witchlight's body.