LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES

Forest of Feyr, 1,396 years ago

Luna trudged down a dirt path, meeting Ragnarok and Xanadu at the edge of a forest. All three carried heavy saddlebags.

"Ladies," she said coldly.

Ragnarok's pink eyes and Xanadu's orange turned to her. "Luna?" Ragnarok exclaimed in surprise. "Look at you, all grown up. What brings you here?"

"Celestia invited me," Luna said, somewhat bitterly. "Something about sharing in an adventure?"

"Oooooh, silvery," Xanadu remarked, noting the silver light illuminating Luna's body.

"Tia invited you?" Ragnarok muttered, tilting her head. "I just… that's surprising, because I was under the impression you two didn't get along."

Luna flinched. "Well… we don't. But now's as good a time as any to reconnect. She is, after all, still my sister. I can't let her embark on a dangerous journey with so much between us still unsaid."

Ragnarok nodded. "I can certainly understand that. You look good, kid."

Luna was about the same height as Ragnarok and Xanadu; this fact, combined with her age and her noticeably underdeveloped wings and horn, seemed to be a sure sign that she would someday soon be a towering vision like her sister.

The pale pink mare with the golden aura was waiting just inside the forest, her friends and sister joining up.

"Hey, Tia, look who showed up," Ragnarok said brightly.

"Ah, Lulu," Celestia said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Now, take it easy, girls, I know what you're thinking: My little sister? But she's weak and useless…"

"We weren't thinking that," said Xanadu, puzzled.

"Oh," Celestia said dismissively. "Okay, maybe that was just me who thought that. But take a look at this—Lulu, flash 'em your cutie mark."

Luna's lip thinned, but she turned to the side, displaying the mark of a moon against a black night sky.

"You see? The moon," Celestia said smugly. "You know what that means, don't you? It means her destiny is to be almost as special as me. Almost." She laughed. "But enough of that. If we're all stocked up on supplies, let's get this show on the road."

The four immortals trekked into the gray-and-yellow foliage of the Forest of Feyr. The statuesque mare, her pink mane magically flowing like calm ocean waves and her aura brightening the forest, led the way with her head held high and a strut in her step. The gray mare with the wavy mane of blue-and-white and her body crackling with pink lightning, and the charcoal-colored one with orange hair and surrounded by dark green sparks, followed behind her side by side. The periwinkle teenager with the pale blue mane and her teal eyes downcast in seething resentment took up the rear.

Ragnarok and Xanadu slowed their pace to walk alongside Luna.

"I'm sorry about her," Ragnarok whispered. "Listen, I know there's been a lot of bad blood between us and you, but… well, I hope that as long as we're on this mission, we can be friends. At the very least, maybe we can get along better than you do with your sister."

"That should be easy," Xanadu mused. "I mean, hard. No, easy. Wait… she doesn't get along with Tia, so getting along with us better than her would be… easy. Yeah."

Ragnarok rolled her eyes. "Stop talking before you give yourself an aneurysm, Xanadu. Anyway, Luna… let's try to get along here, mkay?"

Luna frowned. "'Bad blood' doesn't begin to cover it, my dear Ragnarok. You've tormented me all my life. Such a minor gesture of friendship will not be sufficient."

"Look," Ragnarok said tersely, "we were stupid fillies doing stupid stuff. Let's try to be adults about this. We're going to be adventuring together, don't you want to know we have each other's backs?"

"And Celestia tormented you too," Xanadu pointed out. "At least we're trying to make amends. She's… not."

"Well said," Ragnarok said, nodding slowly. "So, Luna, come on—are we a team here or aren't we?"

Luna stared straight ahead as they walked for a few seconds.

"Fine," she finally said. "Stars know that if I were in trouble, I would want help from you. So, yes, you can count on me. But we are far from being friends, ladies."

"Ease up on the chit-chat back there," Celestia called. "Come on, we're on an adventure."

"You got it, Tia!" Ragnarok called. She patted Luna on the rump. "Good work on the cutie mark, girl. It's beautiful."

"Oh, yes!" Xanadu said eagerly. "I've never seen one quite like it, the way it goes all the way down your leg…"

"Mmmm, very much," Ragnarok agreed, examining the mark. "That is unusual. It's eye-catching in a very sexy way… have you started getting looks yet?"

Luna blushed. "I… I'm not sure."

"Hmm, hold on a moment," Celestia said, stopping in her tracks and looking up into a tree. "Is there someone there?"

"Aw, crap," said a voice in the tree.

Celestia shot at the tree with a blast of golden magic, and a six-inch-tall white stallion fell out from his hiding place among the leaves.

"And what do we have here?" Celestia wondered.

"Well, that went well," he muttered. The silver-maned pony fluttered up to her eye level on his multicolored wings. "Hello, ladies. Don't mind me. I'm just a guy trying not to make a mess of things, don't you know."

The others caught up to Celestia and stared at the tiny pony curiously. "Who are you?" Celestia demanded.

He sighed. "Fork. I'm a pixie pony. Boy, I've had to introduce myself a lot more than I thought I would. Stealth isn't my thing, apparently. Oh, well, as long as I've got you here…"

He raised his hooves, propping the square sapphire on his bracelet between them. "Why don't you ladies tell me where you're going?"

"We," Celestia said pompously, "are on our way to Ironbridge, to depose the vicious dragon who has held the city under his power for years."

"Very nice," Fork began to say, but was undercut by Celestia, who continued her speech in a grandiose and self-important tone.

"Yes, the ponies of Ironbridge have suffered long enough! The legendary Scraggle, the black ruby wyrm, has reigned unopposed through fear and violence. Are none brave enough? Powerful enough? Not until today. We shall defeat him!"

"Oooh, and how do you intend to do that?" Fork said with fascination.

"Oh, little of this, little of that," Celestia said casually. "Don't really have a plan, but with me and my girls here being who we are, we don't need one." She scooped up Luna in her arms, her golden aura blending together with Luna's silver one. "We're very, very special, you see."

"That's it?" Fork said blankly. "…All right then. Thanks for sharing. Off you go."

He returned to the tree, and the four young mares continued down the path.

"This doesn't make any sense," Fork muttered to himself. "They just left Ribbondale, but they're going straight to Ironbridge from there? Before they ever even—OH MY GODDESSES! That's not good! That can't happen!"

He fluttered after them, taking a position in front of Celestia's face once again. "Hang on a minute, you're just leaving home and going straight out to fight Scraggle? Without getting the Elements of Harmony first?"

"Elements of Harmony?" Celestia repeated. "Of course we won't have the Elements of Harmony. They've been lost for centuries."

"Oh… really?" Fork said blankly. "But—but you have heard of them!"

"Of course. Everypony has."

"But you don't have any idea where they are?"

"Again, no."

Fork furrowed his brow. "Then how in the world do you expect to defeat…?" His eyes widened. "Could it be that…? Oh. Okay. I see. That's the way it is." He made eye contact with Celestia solemnly. "What if I told you that I know exactly where the Elements of Harmony are?"

Celestia shrugged. "I'd say that I don't really have a reason to trust you."

"You trust me enough to tell me where you're going and why, but not enough to take my advice?" Fork pressed.

"What's the worst you could do?" Celestia countered. "Tell Scraggle we're coming? All the better. Accepting your aid is something else altogether. I've never even heard of a 'pixie pony' before."

"No, of course you haven't," Fork muttered. "And that certainly does sound like what I've come to expect from you, but… but the Elements…"

"We don't need some hokey fairy-tale artifacts to defeat Scraggle," Celestia said, smirking. She frowned. "What did you mean, you've come to expect from me—?"

"No, no, no, yes you do!" Fork said frantically. "You must find them! If you face Scraggle without them… well, that's not even worth considering. You will die. You will die. And I don't want you ladies to die! You need the Elements of Harmony to defeat Scraggle."

Celestia scowled at his pleading expression. "And you know where we can find them?"

"I know precisely the place where you're going to pick them up."

Celestia glanced at the other three, then turned back to Fork and nodded. "All right, tell us where we get them."

"Ha-ha, now we're cookin'!" Fork said jovially.

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

Fork watched the four ponies fly off into the distance, going south instead of west as they'd planned, and at his own urging, flying over the Forest of Feyr rather than walking through it.

"I get it now," he muttered to himself. "I thought I had to stay out of sight, that the slightest bit of interference from me would ruin everything. But… it can't be ruined, not by me. That's not how this thing works. In fact, not only am I harmless, but I'm the only thing taking them where they need to go. I'm an integral part of each of their stories. …Remarkable."

He held up his sapphire and spoke to it. "You know what that means, don't you? It means I can do whatever I want, no consequences!" He laughed. "Oh, baby, I'm going to enjoy this journey even more than I thought!"

His horn sparked with sky-blue energy, and he vanished in a large puff of magic, still laughing hysterically.