WARNING: This solitary chapter is rated M. Proceed with caution.
LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES
Forest of Feyr, 1,396 years ago
"Celestia, watch out!" Luna cried.
Celestia turned her head and jumped back in surprise as something stepped out of the wall.
The four young mares were exploring the depths of the ancient temple Fork had directed them to. There was a single entrance, and a positive labyrinth of narrow hallways and staircases, all lit by silver stars spaced along the walls.
Two of these walls opened now, one on either side, and out stepped a pair of white marble statues, statues of a macrauchenia dressed in white lace.
The statues beheld the group, Celestia in front and the others huddled behind her in the cramped corridor, then casually began walking toward them.
"Temple guardians!" Celestia said eagerly. "How exciting! I bet Stellaris herself put them here to ward off intruders."
"That's fascinating," Luna said dryly, "but I think they're going to try to kill you."
"Well, of course they are," Celestia said cheerfully.
She shot a beam of gold out of her horn and into a statue's chest. The statue kept walking, and didn't seem the slightest bit damaged by the destructive beam.
"Impervious to magic," Celestia noted, somewhat deflated. "All right, good to know."
She lowered her head and jammed her horn itself into the statue's chest. She successfully pierced the stone, and the guardian faltered.
"There we go, that did it," she said, jerking her head around to increase the damage and throw the guardian's balance off.
Luna thought for a moment, then set her horn aglow with midnight-blue magic. The spell covered her wings, causing her primary feathers to sprout into sharp blades. She flapped once, producing the scrape of metal on metal.
Celestia, still throwing around the first statue, spotted these wing-blades out of the corner of her eye. "Oh yeah," she said. "Do it, Lulu."
Luna flapped again. "Don't call me Lulu."
The other Stellaris statue was upon her, rearing up onto its hind legs to attack with its front hooves. Luna crossed her wings in front of her face to block the attack, then spun around, the wing-blades slicing through the marble of the statue with incredible ease, slicing it into multiple pieces.
With another spin, Luna aimed a heavy kick at the statue being impaled by Celestia. It shattered into chunks, and Celestia quickly lifted her head, stretching her neck from side to side.
"Only Annihilara can call me Lulu," Luna concluded.
"Duly noted," Ragnarok muttered nervously as the blades changed back into Luna's normal feathers.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
In a central chamber deep within the bowels of the temple, the quartet found themselves walking on an impossibly old and decayed carpet that ran down the middle of the chamber, a path from one end to another.
On the far wall, the silver stars lit up a pedestal, upon which stood six stone spheres.
"That's them!" Celestia squealed. "Those must be the Elements of Harmony!"
She abruptly started into a gallop, but her path was blocked: more statues of Stellaris, these ones larger and taller, towering over even Celestia. They circled around the group, running at high speeds, unlike the slowly shuffling guardians they had previously encountered.
Two of them starting closing in around Celestia, while four others herded Luna, Ragnarok, and Xanadu into a small space.
"Stay calm, girls," Luna said brusquely. She kicked one in the side as it passed. "They are immune to conventional magic, it seems…" She zapped one with a beam just to make sure; nothing happened. "But a physical attack augmented by magic should do just fine. Like so."
A marble pillar along the sides of the room was quickly wrapped in Luna's magic and flew across the room, hung above one of the marble guardians for a moment, then came crashing down to the ground, shattering both pillar and statue into little chunks.
"Whoa," Ragnarok exclaimed. "All right, then…"
She zapped the ceiling with pink lightning; chunks began falling on the guardians, not really damaging them much.
Luna rolled her eyes. "All right, that's a good start, I suppose."
She lifted all the chunks off the floor and began flying them around the battle at unbelievable speed, riddling the two speedy guardians with holes until they collapsed to the floor.
Xanadu gaped. "Luna, how did you get so powerful?"
Luna shrugged. "I've practiced magic eight hours a day for, oh, the past year. Why?"
"Oh, nothing," Xanadu muttered.
"Tia!" Ragnarok cried out.
They whirled toward Celestia, still pinned between the two guardians, one of which reared up and struck Celestia across the face twice with its two front hooves.
"Sister!" Luna called to her. She rushed to Celestia's aid, her hooves and wings beating frantically. She rammed into the rearing statue head-first with immense force, shattering it to bits with that single blow.
Celestia dizzily shook her head. Her nose was bleeding and she had a black eye. She lifted one of her huge wings to half-heartedly shove away the one remaining statue.
Luna took note of her sister's injuries and flew into a blind rage, lunging at the guardian with only her hooves and horn, punching and slashing with tears streaking down her face.
"Hmm…" Celestia said quietly. Her horn lit up, and conjured up a bunch of stone disks. The edges of these disks were sun-gold and covered in blades. These blades began spinning like circular saws, and Celestia was clearly awaiting the moment to hurl them all at the guardian.
Luna, grappling with the statue, saw what she was about to do. Her eyes widened. "No! Celestia, don't—"
The six disks sped wildly toward Luna and the statue. Luna shrieked and dove out of the way, her limbs entangled with the statue's, which tumbled down on top of her. Luna growled and speared the statue through the head with her horn. It continued to struggle, so she pulled away and speared it again through the chest. She rolled the unmoving statue off of her body and stood up, spotting the disks buried in the wall just behind her.
"Are you insane?" she snarled at Celestia. "That could have killed me!"
"It could also have killed the guardian," Celestia said brightly.
"It didn't even damage the guardian!"
"Well, it didn't damage you either, so stop your bellyaching," Celestia retorted. "It's called a calculated risk."
"I fail to see how it was a risk to you," said Luna through gritted teeth. "It was all calculation. The risk was to me."
"That sounds about right, yes," Celestia agreed, turning around to walk toward the Elements of Harmony.
Luna scowled after her. "I hate you," she said flatly. "So much."
Celestia stopped in her tracks, then turned toward Luna and swooped down upon her, getting her face as close to her sister's as she possibly could. After a few seconds of glaring at each other, Celestia finally spoke.
"Try to imagine how much I care what you think," she whispered.
She started toward the Elements again, Luna stomping along at her side.
"And by the way, no need to thank me for being the only competent pony on this team," Luna snapped. "It's my pleasure, really."
"I'm sure it is," Celestia said cordially.
The two of them stood in front of the pedestal, where five stone orbs sat in a circle, a sixth in the middle of them.
"Here we go," Celestia muttered. "I think I just need to touch them." She raised a hoof.
Luna batted Celestia's hoof aside with her own. "I'll touch them, thank you."
"Step aside and let me do it," Celestia snarled, shoving her sister.
"They're mine!"
Both of them touched the nearest orb at the same time. That orb shattered, as did the other four in the circle. Within the orbs were small gems, floating in midair and spinning rapidly: gems of green, gold, pale blue, violet, and red. The orb in the center didn't shatter, but its stone surface became white and glowed: it was a giant pearl.
The six Elements floated up into the air and began spinning around Celestia and Luna, leaving behind rainbow trails that surrounded the two sisters, leaving them trapped within an orb of flashing light and color.
The orb floated toward Ragnarok and Xanadu, and vanished just above them. Celestia and Luna gently fluttered to the ground alongside the other two, looking around.
The Elements were floating above their heads, the gems orbiting around the pearl.
"Did you see?" Celestia giggled gleefully. "They did it! They bound themselves to me!"
Luna scoffed. "They're obviously bound to me, sister. Look at how they float…"
"They're bound to both of you, you childish nincompoops!" Ragnarok snapped. "They're floating above both of you. Now that that's settled, let's just get the hell to Ironbridge and defeat Scraggle already. Can we do that? Thanks."
As they started out of the temple, Xanadu looked to Ragnarok in concern. "Ragnarok, I thought you were looking forward to this."
"I was," Ragnarok sneered. "That was before I had to travel with these two. Bickering all the time. They've sucked all the fun and glory out of it. I just want it to be over."
Xanadu gazed up at the Elements, floating above the spot directly between Luna and Celestia. "What are the Elements of Harmony?" she whispered. "Where did they come from?"
"No one knows, Xanadu," Celestia said over her shoulder. "The stories say that Queen Stellaris was the one who found them and hid them—and looking at what was guarding them, I don't doubt it—but according to legend, even she never learned the answer to those questions."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
All eyes were on the four young immortals as they trotted down the black-paved streets of Ironbridge. The inhabitants of this village were earth ponies, and most of them had the filthy, sun-starved appearance of miners.
They peered out of their dusty iron dwellings and muttered to each other, as much at the beauty and glamour of the strangers as at the Elements of Harmony.
"Hehe, look at all this," Celestia giggled. "I've never seen earth ponies before. How cute! They look so vulnerable and childlike without any wings or horns. Aww, and they're all staring. They must think we're goddesses!"
"Yes, except for the ones on this street, who heard you say that, and must think we're idiots," Luna hissed.
"Whatever. We need to find the town square, at the dead center."
They found it promptly, as dreary and dead as the rest of the city, with an ancient fountain that probably hadn't had any water in it for years.
"Here we are," Celestia said, grinning broadly. "Let's stick together. Top of the fountain, come on."
The four of them fluttered to the top of the fountain. Celestia cast a quick spell and cleared her throat.
"SCRAGGLE!" she bellowed, in a voice that shook the entire city. "Hear me, o black ruby wyrm! Your wicked hold over the city of Ironbridge ends today! We are valiant adventurers from Ribbondale, here to destroy you!"
"What the hell?" Ragnarok demanded.
"You like it?" said Celestia, her voice abruptly back to normal. "Just a little spell I invented. I call it 'The Voice'." She coughed a second time, and resumed the magically amplified shout: "Come out and face us, if you dare, o Scraggle!"
"So," Luna said casually, "do you plan to feed me to the dragon directly, or do you have a more subtle plan for making sure I die in this battle?"
"Will you let that go?" Celestia retorted, smacking the back of her head. "We're on as soon as he comes out. He can't turn down a challenge like that."
They waited about half a minute. Suddenly, he rose out of the sinister forest just outside the city: an immense, glittering black dragon.
He swooped over the city on skinny silver wings, circling overhead, doing an entire lap around the city before diving toward the town center.
He landed with a heavy thud that rattled the city, his head down. Unusually for a dragon, he had no hind legs; his hindquarters consisted entirely of a thick tail, lined with spikes and ending in a pair of hooked horns. His claws were curved sickles, and on the back of his head and neck was a silver sail similar to his wings.
Scraggle lifted his head to look at the four ponies. His eyes were red, with slits for pupils. His lips were as jagged and serrated as his teeth, and from the corners of his mouth grew a pair of forward-swept silver horns.
The dragon chuckled in a raspy but thunderous voice, smoke puffing out of his nostrils as he did so. "Shiiiiit, man," he said. "It's been a long-ass fuckin' time since bitches fuckin' dared to challenge my shit. Fuck yeah!"
Xanadu looked a bit pale and queasy. "Oh, wow…" she remarked.
"Easy, you'll be fine," Ragnarok whispered soothingly.
Celestia and Luna spread their wings and floated off the fountain, approaching Scraggle, the Elements still floating above them. Scraggle didn't hesitate, unleashing a jet of black fire upon them. Reflexively, both Celestia and Luna erected magical shields, which mixed together into a single arcane wall of swirling silver and gold, matching the auras around their bodies rather than the magic produced by their horns. The fire was extinguished as soon as it touched this joint shield.
Scraggle leaned back, looking impressed. "No fucking kidding? Shit, I guess it's your turn now. Fuckin' dazzle me."
Celestia and Luna nodded; swirling rainbows of energy began flowing from the Elements. Pure white light radiated from the central pearl, as well as from the two sisters' hearts and eyes.
Far more rapidly than it had appeared, the magic vanished. The Elements still hung above their heads, but other than that, it was as if the dramatic display of the magic's energy building up had never happened.
Scraggle grinned. "Shit happens, doesn't it? My fuckin' turn again, ya fat, meaty bitches."
He lunged out with a hand, clasping Celestia and Luna in his fist. They began firing beams of magic at him, but they reflected off of his black, gemlike scales. In his other hand, he snatched Ragnarok and Xanadu, and looked over the four girls with his menacing red-eyed glare.
"All right," Scraggle rasped decisively. "Get the fuck outta my neighborhood. Come back when your shit works and you have an actual chance to fuck me up, you fuckin' fuck-damned plump-assed pieces of shit."
With a length of rope snatched off the heavy saddlebag of one of the natives, he tied the four ponies together. He then spread his wings and launched himself up into the air, scanning the forest outside Ironbridge before tossing the group in the direction of the deep woods.
They sailed through the air in an arc, screaming and struggling, until Celestia managed to free her wings, stabilizing and slowing their fall so that they hit the forest floor, not quite gently, but without any injuries.
Celestia was the first on her hooves, and she quickly confronted her sister.
"I knew they wouldn't work!" she snarled. "Didn't you hear that they were bound to both of us? If it was just me, they would have worked perfectly, but noooo, I have to share the ancient magical artifacts with a weak-willed twerp!"
"Oh, yes, it's my fault," Luna growled in return, standing up. "Nothing could ever possibly be your fault, could it? Well, hear this: you're an empty-headed bimbo with no talent for magic, who's skated by on bullying and intimidation! That's not going to fly, I hope you know, now that you're in the real world. You will not survive!"
"Nice speech, you little rat, how long have you been rehearsing that one?"
"If you had a brain in your head, you'd have left the Elements to me and me alone!"
"ENOUGH!" Ragnarok bellowed.
All eyes turned to her in surprise.
"I've just about had enough of this!" she snarled, shoving Celestia and Luna down onto their rumps. "You idiots! You know why it didn't work? Because they're the Elements of freaking Harmony, that's why! You two aren't exactly embodying their precepts!"
She huffed and pointed a hoof accusingly at the two sisters. "Honesty! Kindness! Loyalty! When's the last time you two showed a speck of any of those things towards each other? Look at that huge pearl floating above your heads, not daring to show favor to one of you or the other, longing to be wielded by both of you. You do know what that pearl represents, don't you?"
"Of course," said Celestia. "Magic."
"Friendship," Ragnarok corrected harshly.
"…I'm pretty sure it's magic," Celestia said condescendingly.
"You know damn well what I mean, Tia," said Ragnarok, suddenly calm. "You two might be sisters, but you sure as hell aren't friends. You never have been. That's why the Elements didn't work. And they won't work until you just kill all this absurd vitriol between you two and start working in harmony."
Celestia and Luna glanced at each other, then turned away just as quickly.
"I'm just… I'm sick of you two," Ragnarok rambled on. "I've had enough. Come on, Xanadu, let's let them sort out their differences in private for a while." She turned away.
Xanadu followed hesitantly. "Um… where are we going?"
"I don't know, we'll forage for food or something." Ragnarok turned back to the two sisters. "You two had better be friends by the time we get back. Not for my sake, do it for the ponies in that town who have spent their lives being controlled by that evil bastard Scraggle."
"I mean, his filthy mouth alone," said Xanadu, shuddering. "Think of the children!"
"They'll never be free if we can't get the Elements to work," Ragnarok stated. "No pressure, though."
Ragnarok and Xanadu disappeared into the depths of the Forest of Feyr.
Still sitting down, Celestia and Luna determinedly looked away from each other, both of them huffing heavily.
Luna glanced at her sister out of the corner of her eye, and slowly began scooting along the ground toward her. In a few moments, they were touching, though still not looking at one another.
"So, are we doing this or not?" Celestia finally said.
"That depends on you, sister," Luna replied curtly. "This isn't going to work unless we make a real breakthrough. No shortcuts or temporary truces here. We need to actually become friends."
Celestia snorted. "That'll be hell's own task."
"Indeed," Luna replied. She was silent for a moment, then said, "I don't hate you."
Celestia finally turned to look at her. "That's… good. I'm glad."
"…You understand, I hope, why I would say I hate you?"
"Yes," Celestia muttered. "I've been bullying and tormenting you all your life. Nothing wrong with a little bit of hate after that. It's just healthy."
Luna turned around, and the two sisters were at last looking into each other's eyes. "Well, that's a good place to start. Why have you done that?"
Celestia blinked slowly. "To push you away, of course," she said, as if it was obvious. "A better question would be, why did you keep coming back?"
"Because you're my sister," Luna said, aghast.
They were silent for a moment, then quickly looked away again.
"It was…" Celestia mumbled. "You know, after Father left… it's not his fault, of course…"
"Yes it is," Luna countered.
"Okay, so it is, but this is really between us, Luna."
"…As you wish."
"What I became… I didn't want you to end up like me," said Celestia.
Luna brightened. "Oh…"
"No," Celestia added hastily, hanging her head in shame. "I meant that I didn't want anypony else to be as popular and impressive as me."
Luna pondered. "You viewed me as a threat."
"Still do. You're practically taking over my adventuring party."
Both sisters chuckled, sitting back to back, looking down at their own hooves in the dirt.
"I did want to be like you," Luna admitted. "Always, I've… looked up to you. Very much."
Celestia turned around again. "You… really? That's… well, that's very surprising. I thought you were the one who had me really figured out."
"Oh, but I did," Luna said, standing up to truly face her sister. "I knew what you were: stone cold. I wanted to be that so very much. And… well, it all worked out. There's a certain toughness about me, that I think can be easily chalked up to—"
"No, no, no, no," Celestia interrupted, also standing. "I know what you're going to say, and no. You're not tough because of the way I pushed you around, that's nonsense. I didn't make you tough. You made you tough. A lesser pony would have cracked under my abuse. Not you. I'm very glad you didn't… because you're a truly incredible filly, you know. I envy you. I wish I had as much heart as you." Golden tears dripped from her eyes and down onto the forest floor. "That's why I… I…"
"Shh," Luna urged, running a hoof through her sister's magically flowing hair. "Look… whatever you did, I never stopped believing in you. I know you're not a bad pony. You're not destined to be bad. You have the resolve of a hero. You and I, we still have a chance at this."
Celestia glanced in the direction of Ironbridge. "To be heroes?"
"To be sisters," Luna corrected gently.
Celestia looked down at her little sister. "You really believe in me?"
"I do. I truly do."
The elder sister bent down to Luna's eye level, her eyes brimming with even more tears. "I love you, little sister. I wonder if I've ever said that to you… I should have said it every day for, oh, I don't even know how long…"
Luna pressed her head against her sister's, their horns crossing, her eyes shut tight. "And I love you. This will always be so."
The Elements of Harmony started humming audibly, sparkling and glowing above the sisters' heads. They gazed up at the gems and pearl, their shining tears still trickling down their faces.
"Do you think…?" Luna muttered.
"I… I certainly hope so," Celestia choked out, her chest still heaving with sobs. The sisters smiled at each other. "Oh, I do look forward to our first act as true sisters being something amazing!"
"I couldn't agree more," said Luna. "Shall we round up the girls? Or just wait for them to come back?"
"No, no, let's get them now," Celestia said excitedly. "I just can't wait to face this enemy with you, little sister!"
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Celestia, Luna, Ragnarok, and Xanadu marched down the streets of Ironbridge once again. Scraggle awaited them right where they had left him, just outside the town center, his body taking up an entire street, drumming his claws on the street's metal surface.
"Back already?" he rumbled, seeming pleasantly surprised. "Shit. What's it been, fuckin'… half an hour? All right, fuck it, let's fuckin' rumble."
"By the stars," Xanadu squeaked, looking on the verge of passing out.
Ragnarok smacked Celestia on the rump. "My two girls here are gonna wash out your mouth, wyrm."
The rainbow sparkles and white light appeared again, faster and stronger than before, lifting Celestia and Luna clear off the ground. Scraggle had barely a second to go wide-eyed in surprise before a huge rainbow-colored beam shot out of the elements and blasted him in the chest. He flipped into the air and landed upon the fountain in the town square, flattening it.
The magic faded away, and the six Elements clattered to the ground. Luna and Celestia glanced at them briefly before advancing on Scraggle.
"What the fruit just happened?" Scraggle said wearily. "What the fruit… the 'fruit'? Did I just say that?" He blinked rapidly. "Shoot… dang it… NOOOO! COME ON! NO! What the HECK did you wwwwwitches do to me?"
Celestia's horn glowed yellow and she made a slicing motion with her head. A golden line of magic sped across Scraggle's throat, leaving him with a deep cut right across his jugular vein. He went limp and glassy-eyed, clearly dead.
"You killed him?" Luna whispered.
"Of course," said Celestia.
"Well, that hardly seemed necessary…" Luna muttered.
Ragnarok and Xanadu approached, carrying the Elements along in their magic.
"They fell to the ground," said Ragnarok. "Do you think they're burned out or something?"
Luna shook her head. "Oh, I'm sure they'll come back when we need them…"
The ponies of Ironbridge peered out of their homes and began flocking out, to the sight of the four immortals standing beside Scraggle's corpse.
Somepony's hooves began clacking against the metal streets over and over. Others joined in, and soon the applause was deafening, the girls being lost in a sea of admiring earth ponies.
"Oh!" Luna squealed. "Sister, we did it! We're heroes!" She leaned against Celestia, nuzzling her.
Celestia blinked in surprise, then leaned down toward her sister with a smile. "Listen, Luna… bonding with you in the forest like that… that was really great. Made me feel like a little kid again."
"Oh, I know!" Luna agreed eagerly. "And we—"
"Shh," Celestia interrupted. "Yes, it was nice. But come on… we both know that we only did it to activate the Elements. So… you know. You can stop touching me now."
Luna backed away in shock. "No," she whispered. "No! You were faking it? You can't have been! That's impossible! The Elements wouldn't have worked if you hadn't meant it!"
"Well, they worked," Celestia said simply. "And it's all over now. So I'd appreciate it if you fluttered off and stopped soaking up my glory."
Luna fumed. "You fool! It's a lie! I know we made a genuine breakthrough together! You're in some sort of weird denial that I can't even—"
"I really don't care. Go away."
Luna tried to speak again, but no sound would come out of her mouth. Confused and devastated, she took to the air and flew off to the outskirts of the city, silver tears dripping from her face.
She found herself at the bridge that gave Ironbridge its name; a menacing and ominous black iron pathway spanning an immensely wide river. She landed on the riverbank, and walked along until she was underneath the bridge. There in the cold and damp shade, she curled up in the mud and allowed herself to weep freely, her sobs echoing against the metal over her head.