LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES
Everfree Forest, 703 years ago
Celestia stood in the ruins of Clovenshire Castle for the first time in over two hundred years. The pale pink princess now had four colors in her mane: the pink that had once been her only color was now joined by an equal measure of sea green, pale blue, and lavender.
She stood at the dais where the stone orbs of the Elements of Harmony had been kept. Five of them were still there, while the sixth, atop a pedestal, had plainly turned to rubble long ago.
She touched one of the orbs, and waited. "Nothing," she remarked. "I guess they don't belong to me anymore."
"Ow."
Celestia turned to see Annihilara. She recognized the exclamation of pain as the one Annihilara always made when she assumed her full pony form and her cutie mark manifested.
Celestia's retinue of armored pegasus soldiers went on their guard at the shadow's appearance, but Celestia quickly put them at ease by rushing up to Annihilara and hugging her tightly. "Lara!"
"Oh, Celestia," Annihilara chided. "What are you getting so huggy for? You saw me six months ago."
"Six months, yes…" Celestia mused. "Well, I resent the fact that that actually is a short amount of time to go by between our visits. Every few years or so for the past two and a half centuries is not nearly often enough to see the only remaining member of my family."
"I'm not the only member of your family," Annihilara objected. "What about the Canterlot elite? All the royalty and nobility?"
"Oh, please," Celestia said dismissively. "They're not family. They're… relatives." At the very mention of the word, she spat on the ground.
"Yeah, you've got a point there," Annihilara said. "Relatives suck."
Celestia chuckled. "So… what do you know about this Four-Winged Queen, Okapi-something, who's suddenly all the rage on the southern continent?"
"Okapiopteryx," Annihilara said with enthusiasm, clearly relishing the name. "A name that's both informative and bitchin'. It's got the 'okapi' and the 'pteryx' and a big old 'op' in the middle just to punch it up. And I know a great deal, actually. You wouldn't believe me if I told you half of her story."
"Oh? Do tell."
"Eh… I don't know if she'd be comfortable with me spilling all of her secrets before she has a chance to share them herself. She is a part of our peer group now, after all."
Celestia's eyes sparkled. "So she's coming?"
Annihilara shrugged. "Hey, I don't see why not."
Kolassa appeared overhead, gently making her way into the ruins, placing her hooves with the utmost care so as not to jostle anything. Celestia and Annihilara met her by one of the collapsed walls.
"Splendidly light on your hooves as always, Lady Kolassa," Celestia called up to her.
"Thank you. Is Queen Okapiopteryx down there with you?"
"No, it's just me and Lara," said Celestia. "Can't you tell?"
Kolassa shrugged. "I heard she was small. I thought maybe that meant too small for me to see. That's not such an out-there assumption…"
"And the accent is on the 'ka' and the 'op', not just the 'op'," Annihilara supplied.
"Good to know." Kolassa lowered herself down into a resting position, tucking her legs underneath her body. Four figures slid down Kolassa's shoulder and stood at attention by her side: a gemsbok, a horse, a pony, and, towering over all the others, a camel, all of them draped in red robes.
"Oh!" Celestia said in delight. "You brought yourself a little entourage."
"Well, it seems to be something of a tradition at these things," said Kolassa, nodding toward Celestia's guards. "I thought I may as well do it at least once. The people of the Whispering Desert have made leaps and bounds in the fields of alchemy and transmutation, and the large amount of new avenues which have been discovered and explored within the art forms are attributed to… well, me. That is to say, the effect my presence has had on the land. Something similar went on with Queen Okapiopteryx. Evidently, she has no magic powers of her own, but belief in her, the teachings of her religion, that brings some magic."
Annihilara giggled excitedly at the very notion.
Just then, a shimmering gate opened up nearby, a huge oval-shaped disk of silver sparkles. A ramp was pushed through it and lowered down to the ground. Down the ramp came pairs of priests and priestesses, two by two. Each was dressed in pale gray robes with blue-green trim, and each pair was representative of a different savannah species: zebras, wildebeests, and three different kinds of antelope of varying sizes. The ten priests stood at attention, and the tiny queen herself stepped through the gate, her four wings spread elegantly.
"How very… thematic," Celestia muttered, her eyes running over the five pairs.
"Uncontrollable urges can be such a pain," Okapiopteryx muttered suspiciously, casting her own eyes over the gathering. "Where they have taken me, could you please explain?"
"You are at the fourth Gathering of the Goddesses," Celestia said, walking up to her. "Every so often, when there's both great need in the world, and small need in each of our hearts for some company, magic brings all of the world's goddesses together, telling each of us when and where to show up."
Okapiopteryx tilted her head. "Oh? And have all of you travelled so far? For that matter, could you tell me who you are?"
"Oh!" Celestia said in surprise. "Well, this is Lady Kolassa, of the Whispering Desert to the far west. Over here is Princess Annihilara, my cousin… the goddess of death?" She turned uncertainly to see how Annihilara would react to that description, and she simply gave a small, approving nod. "Yes. And I am Princess Celestia. This is… well, this is my former kingdom, although it is technically within the borders of my current kingdom. Outside the forest, you'll find the rest of Equestria, which has been my domain for just over three hundred years."
"Celestia," Okapiopteryx said darkly, narrowing her eyes. "I once heard legends about you. The Mare in the Moon is your sister, is that true?"
Celestia nodded. Taking in the sight of the queen, she found herself full of admiration, and quickly made the decision that she would not show any vulnerability. Rather than give in to the sorrow that resulted whenever that story was brought up, she faked an innocent smile. "Oh, let's not talk about such sad times. I'm more eager to get to know you, my dear."
Okapiopteryx edged away, not trusting that false smile in the slightest.
"So hey, listen ladies…" said Annihilara. "Once I figured out when and where this Gathering would be, I showed up two weeks early and started preparing. Take a look at this."
A portion of her body flared up like some gigantic black tablecloth, which floated downward as if it were being draped over an invisible table. Once it had taken that shape, she pulled that portion of shadow back into her body, revealing an actual, huge banquet table piled high with all manner of food from every imaginable culture's unique cuisine.
"A nice little banquet for all of us!" Annihilara chirped. "To make a real social event out of this whole thing. Let's eat and enjoy ourselves a bit before we start talking about the issue that brought us here."
"Ah, yes, the… issue," Celestia said grimly. "But for now, yes, let us all feast together."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Three goddesses, and all of the representatives from each of their countries, were gathered around the table, enjoying the meal Annihilara had provided. Celestia wiped her mouth daintily with a napkin, while right next to her, Annihilara ravenously dug into a juicy pie of many different fruits.
"Annihilara, where do you live these days?" Celestia asked.
"I'm not telling you," she shot back, balancing a slice of mango on the tip of a long black tongue which she usually didn't possess, but didn't impair her speech at all. "You'd come find me and I'd have to move again. I don't wanna." She tossed the mango into the air, and her jaws shot out like a chameleon's tongue to snap it up before it started falling. "Although congratulations on your latest annexation! Equestria's borders are now coast-to-coast, is that right?"
"Pretty much," said Celestia. "There are a few coastal cities on either side that are still holding out, but public opinion seems to indicate that they want to be part of the kingdom. Independent city-states on this continent seem like they'll soon be a thing of the past. The sheer brotherhood of it just makes me glow."
Okapiopteryx, opposite them at the table, scoffed disdainfully into her food.
"What about you, my lady queen?" Celestia asked. "I understand that your kingdom spread coast-to-coast in only a few years. Sounds like you successfully out-peaced me."
In response, Okapiopteryx just sulked, not pleased at the comparison. Celestia frowned in confusion.
Overhead, Kolassa was gazing at the table and looking a bit morose.
"Does this offend you at all?" Annihilara asked.
"Nah," Kolassa said unconvincingly. "I don't need food. Even when I was mortal, I could meditate and get my subsistence from the energy of the universe. I didn't, but I could have. I don't think it's the kind of thing I'd ever do voluntarily, but, as with many things, my current circumstances make me glad that I can. I don't even want to do the math about how much I'd decimate the world's plant life if I had to eat."
She held up one of her hooves, and amused herself by creating a large, intricate flower out of floating grains of sand. "So!" she said, letting it dissolve. "Let's talk about the issue of the day: cults."
She stood up and began pacing around the huge, open room. "Strange cults have been increasing in prominence in all three of our nations, and perhaps elsewhere as well. Are they one united cult? Are they many? We don't know. All we know is that more and more of our citizens are disappearing, being taken in."
"If I may…" said Celestia, standing up and picking up the thread of the conversation. "Rumor has it that these cults revere the Old Gods, and are motivated by a desire to dethrone us, the goddesses of the present day. All tales have a shred of truth to them in this world; this could be a sign of the Old Gods' eventual return, whether or not they agree with the cults' malicious objectives."
Annihilara opened her mouth to speak, but stopped and shrank back in her seat instead.
"What is it, Lara?" Celestia said sharply.
She sighed. "I know far too many things to keep track of them all. I simply don't know if I know anything about this. I may never find out."
"Oh, that's all right," said Celestia, touching her reassuringly. "Keep thinking, keep searching your memory, and if you find anything, just let us know."
Annihilara sighed in relief as Celestia also started thoughtfully pacing.
"So, if I may open the floor to suggestions as to how the Gathering should deal with this…?" Kolassa said, letting the sentence hang.
"Perhaps we should go our own separate ways," said Okapiopteryx, glaring at Celestia. "Working together would leave our lands unattended for valuable days."
"Hrmm, that's true," said Celestia fretfully. "Well… here. Take this mirror." She magically summoned up a large, rectangular mirror with an intricate golden border carved in the shape of vines and flowers. "We three have used these mirrors for many years to contact each other in times of need."
She floated the mirror over to Okapiopteryx and left it hovering there. The queen stared at it apprehensively, struggling with the temptation to take it, weighing that temptation against her mistrust of Celestia. Finally, she accepted it without a word, grasping it between her bird feet.
"I do believe the queen is right," said Celestia, grinning at her with increased desperation for her approval. "We should investigate our own cases, separately, so as not to divert each others' attention from our individual obligations. We'll call each other for aid with the mirrors only if the situation calls for it."
Annihilara had drifted to the edge of the wrecked room.
"Lara?" said Celestia.
"Yes?"
"It would please me if you would return to Canterlot with me," Celestia said, coming up behind her and putting a hoof on her shoulder. "There's a very nice castle, you know. It's pretty much new."
"I know," Annihilara snapped. "Seen it. Been there."
"Well then?" Celestia said expectantly.
Annihilara sighed again and turned out. "For your sake, I must decline. But I promise I'll visit more often. Multiple times per year instead of… multiple years per time." She paused and considered her own words. "Hrmm, that actually made sense. And do feel free to call me with the scrying mirrors, any of you, if you uncover any clues about the cults and need my aid."
Celestia smiled. "Absolutely, cousin."
Annihilara turned into a wispy cloud of smoke which drifted away on the wind. Celestia turned uncertainly to the other two goddesses and their many mortal followers.
"So, this is it, then?" she said. "All of us flying solo?" She shrugged. "How… exciting."