bitter words, crossed swords
here in wraeclast, death is but a hurdle, not everything stays dead
The battle had been long and arduous, the sisters attacks being deftly dodged by these meddlesome exiles, but the sisters were fighting a losing battle, each time they missed or failed to strike down one of the exiles, they answered with a white hot fire ball, or a piercing arrow that froze them too the bone.
"You would think that they would give up by now!!!" The solar one growled, deflecting a cascade of ice off her shield.
"You know mortals, their spirit is not so easily broken, especially when there is more then one." The lunar one replied, cutting a lightning infused arrow inhalf with her crescent blades.
They didn't have much time too talk though, because soon the ranger was charging up a arrow that glowed blood red, heating up the air with its power, she fire before either sister was ready for the attack, catching the solar monarch in the gut as she was thrown back into her sister, before the arrow exploded, sending white on pain up both sisters spines as their bodies were rent apart, but instead of blood and guts, their ruined bodies were turning to ash, leaving only their godly armour behind.
***
Sin sat above the spectacle deep in though when the two sisters were reassembled behind him.
"I see your bodies were saved just in time." Sin sighed as he turned towards them.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" The solar deity raged, while her sister just sat there aloof.
"Calm yourself solaris, I wasn't planning on saving you, but my brother thought that spending a couple thousand years in limbo wasn't gonna help you two any." Sin sighed.
"What made your brother decide that we were worth saving, what about the brine king, he was cast down and then absorbed by you." The lunar deity said.
"There won't be one as wicked as the brine king should the ocean ever need a god, humanity will make sure of that, you should know that lunaris, since you've been bested by them" sin pointed out smugly, lunaris only pouted in response.
"Still, you and your dear brother aren't exactly the most celebrated pair, so what made you listen to him?" Solaris asked
"Nature, even one so twisted as wraeclast, hates a void, and killing two powerful goddesses who carry celestial bodies on their back, would leave a void for something worst then kitava to emerge."
The sisters recoiled in disgust at that name, they like any other being knew about the eternal maw, and his twisted followers, they thought that innocence drove him to the edges of creation.
"I hate to say this but we'll help, we'll help drive kitava and his ilk back into the void!!!" Solaris and Lunaris said at the same time
"Hahahahahhaa, no," sin laughed before continuing ," your little war you two fought with each other only deepened the resentment humanity had towards you, so showing up too fight kitava would force them to fight you, besides, my chosen exiles are plenty capable to bring down kitava."
"Then why save us if you do not wish too have us participate?"
"You two are going to a place where you can learn compassion for mortals, and learn how to be better gods, also ill be watching you two, if you return to old habits, ill be forced to intervene and send you both to limbo, got it?" Sin warned ominously
Both sisters gulped as they nodded in agreement, they knew that sin's collective power far exceeded theirs by comparison.
***
Celestia sat in her court with a expression of complete neutrality as a snobby Noble sat in front of her trying to reason with her that she should convince the apple family of giving up their land to this nobles family, but Celestia knew that the land in question, that she gave to them no less, would be defended by the apples no matter how much money was offered.
"Please Princess Celestia, a few hundred thousand bits could sway even the most devout man, so I humbly request that you personally, oversee the trade." The snobbish man requested, sure that the bit size would sway even Celestia
Celestia smiled, as this was her favorite part, though bored, she always relished the opportunity to gloat about her faithful student.
"Hmm, that is alot of bits, but do you know where sweet apple acres is?" Celestia asked leaning forward
"Uhhh, isnt near that pea-town named ponyville?" The noble answered, careful to not call it a peasant city
"Thats right, and do you know who founded that town?"
"Uuh, wasnt it the apple family who settled there first?"
"Correct again, now where does my faithful student and her friends live, the women who brought down and reformed discord, helped in the defeat of chrysalis, helped defend the crystal empire, and finally defeated Tirek, and spike who is a hero of the crystal empire."
"They.... uhh, live in ponyville?" He asked in a questioning tone, confused with what this had to do with him buying sweet apple acres
"Correct, now do you think that PRINCESS twilight sparkle, would idly stand by and let you take the land I GAVE, to the apple family, away?"
"Uh, your her mentor, obviously you can explain the value of the bits I'm investing"
Celestia, who almost always had a mask of complete calm, broke it to form a smile so sweet it could give someone cavities, but anyone who knew Celestia, that smile was filled with poison
"Perhaps i miss spoke, PRINCESS twilight sparkle, element of magic, friends with applejack, element of honesty, heroes of equestria, and the Crystal empire, who i might add, also has a gifted student, who is good friends with Thorax, king of the changlings," Celestia gave a small breath, " and lastly, but most importantly, spike hero of the crystal empire, close personal friend of thorax and ember, queen of the dragons, these things weren't handed out like candy, nor are they to be swept aside for something as substantial as bits, so I ask you, how much is sweet apple acres?"
"P-priceless you majesty." The man said as he quickly left the room
Celestia sighed inwardly loudly as she contemplated the fact that no matter how many times they saved equestria, they were still treated like their possessions could be bought and sold, but her musing were cut short when loud crack echoed in the audience chamber, and a blue portal hung in the center.
***
Sin reached forward, grasping the edges of reality and pulled rending them asunder, to reveal a brightly lit court on the other side.
"Before you go though, i can't let you show up looking like that" sin said as he willed magic tunics onto them, replacing the bare ribbons they had been wearing earlier.
"Those were ancient ceremonial ribbons." Solaris grumbled, only to be surprised when she felt the weight of her shield and spear on her back, the same look of surprise was on lunaris' face when she felt her crescent swords hung on her back.
***
Celestia watched the portal with trepidation as two smokey hands reached out grabbed the edge and pulled the entity through, she was astonished to see that it didn't just look like smoke, his body was made of smoke and ash, and after gaining his foot he turned and bowed to celestia.
"hello princess..." he trailed off realizing that he didn't actually know her name
"my name is Celestia, ruler of this land called equestria, raiser of the sun." she said bearing her full title
"ah well met, but i come with a request" sin graciously replied
Celestia actually blinked in surprise before quickly replacing it with neutrality, it was a rare opportunity for a being other then a pony to ask her for anything.
"what is your request?"
"I simply ask that you let these two," Sin gestured to the two women behind him, " stay in your lands, where they can learn the lessons your kind here have managed to teach through countless ages."
For the first time, Celestia's mouth hung open in complete amazement, she was astounded by the fact that the lessons of friendship could cross not just the lands near and far in her world, but carried over.
"Before i accept i must ask from what lands do you hail?" Celestia asked
Sin didn't know how to answer this, he wasn't sure if telling the truth would be in his favor, but he decided that lying would only result in disaster, so he told the truth
"we are no danger to your majesty, but we hail from a land of nightmares and monsters, these two were struck down by my exiles because their feud grew large enough to endanger a group of survivors that made a nearby ruin their home"
Celestia raised an eyebrow, for this story hit very close to home, but she waited to pass judgement for now as a new thought came to mind.
"survivors, dont your people have anyone to guard them?" this got a reaction celestia wasn't expecting, a flash of regret, and then sorrow
"No, they dont, humanity in my world must face the evil alone, no thanks to my worthless brother, his hand also plays in their suffering, hence why I chose the two exiles to fight for humanity, after they cast down my brother, after words i place him in a vessel that would temper his ego and cool his wrath."
"hmm, you wont mind me consulting some of my own worlds leaders would you?"
"not at all, proceed if you will, we have all the time in the world"
Celestia wasted no time writing a quick letter to twilight, before sending it with magic, then she sent out a quick magic pulse causing a sleepy, but awake Luna to enter the with a flash throne room, causing both lunaris and Solaris to double take when they saw her cutie mark, before Solaris looked up at Celestia with realization on her face, understanding why Sin choose this world to put them in.
Twilight wasted no time teleporting to the Castle, from ponyville no less, but that didn't matter as the two goddesses seeking a home in their world were busy crafting magic of their own, harmless spells, simply to find where the mages of this world got their magic, no sooner had they let the magic loose then the three princesses glowed a faint red and blue haze, it didn't go unnoticed as the three princesses stared at the them, along side a glaring Sin.
"I told you two to behave, i told you two not to do anything to offend them, and you two fools cast magic on them?!" Sin growled out between where his teeth should have been
"We were simply curious as too where they got their magic from, it didn't do anything to them." Lunaris defended
"It's fine, we sensed no malice in the spell, but warn us next time." Celestia said
Soon though she turned from then and looked too twilight who had quills and parchment ready, and Luna who said nothing but regarded the Sisters with curiosity, but that look was replaced with a business like mask as she turned towards her own sister, a few quick words were said between them as celestia looked up.
"You three are going to stand in this meeting, since we know nothing about you." celestia said as she brought a few chairs to sit in the middle of the now empty room, the nobility having fled when the portal first opened, they said nothing as they sat.
"First , we must ask thee what thy names are." Luna asked in old dialect, not sure how modern they are
"My name is Solaris," she said before pointing at the lunar one," and that is my traitorous twin sister, Lunaris, dont mind anything she says"
All eyes turned on Lunaris, whose face and hands itched to show her dear sister the what for, but since they were only alive because of sin's begrudging good will, she calmed the fury rising.
"Indeed I am her twin sister, but unlike her im not the worthless traitor, her crimes far out weigh the ones im accused of, in fact Sin should have saved only one of us, leave the other to her fate."
Solaris glowed with hate, but said nothing as Celestia, Luna and Twilight looked between each other.
"You said that you two are sisters, why do you hate each other so much?" Twilight asked, genuinely curious as too what put a wedge to a very similar set of sisters.
"i can answer that, Tangmazu, a trickster in my world sowed hate and strife, turning these two against against one another.... millions of lives lost......... for a feud they cant even remember why they started fighting, so when I rose, i put them too sleep" Sin explained sadly, his wings drooping, his head hung in sorrow
Luna and Celestia looked at each other in shock, the tale frighteningly similar to theirs, and bother sisters nodded their heads, knowing their answer, before turning to Sin.
"we'll allow them to reside in our world until they have learned, but first i think its time you knew something about us." Celestia said as she brought them to the First and last fight she would have with nightmare moon, starting from her transformation, to banishing her to the moon.
"So, your sister became evil, how did she escape, and how did you defeat her?"
"after I banished her to the moon, it took 1000 years for the seal too weaken, since I lost my connection to the elements of harmony."
"okay, but how did Nightmare moon return to being just Luna?"
"I did, me and my friends managed to take up the mantle of the elements of harmony, we've used them to defeat many enemies of Equestria, in fact look at the windows." Twilight explained, as they looked at the windows, each one of them depicting the major defeat of every villain, the first being nightmare moon.
"so you've had many wars?" Sin asked as the two sisters examined the one with the strange animal
"we've almost had a few, the worst we've had was when the clans were warring bringing wendigos too our lands, but thanks too the efforts of the three second in commands, the power of their friendship manifested into a force that destroyed the wendigos in this land, but it didn't destroy them forever, if history is ever forgotten, the wendigos will return and turn Equestria into a frozen wasteland."
"but what about those others?"
"we were there to stop them before they gained any foot hold in our world, one almost got through, but I was able to out smart her once, my own student defeated her the second time though."
"who is this and what sorcery did you do to him, why transfigure his body so?" Lunaris asked
"ah, discord, we didn't do that, hes the spirit of chaos, capable of doing anything he wants, with out rhyme or reason, and we turned him too stone, using the elements, only to release him and reform him."
"ah, so what about the others?"
"well, you already know nightmare moon, and discord, but King sombra was literally destroyed when my assistant delivered the crystal heart, Queen Chrysalis almost succeeded in over throwing Celestia, but she screwed up by leaving me alive, she returned again and kidnapped all the most loved people in Equestria, but she was defeated again by my student and her friends, one of them being a changeling his self, but a forgotten changeling secret allowed him to over throw Chrysalis."
"changeling?"
"they were people who needed too feed on the love of others, usually draining their life force because before their hunger was never ending under Chrysalis' rule, but Thorax's discovery allowed him to evolve past that, and now due to their evolution, they dont need those tactics to survive."
With that Sin felt that the sister may actually have a chance at regaining their place in wraeclast, but he wasn't sure how long or even if these people could hope to curb the sisters arrogance, let alone teach them compassion, but he'll do something that he never thought he would, he would put his faith in a god, or three gods, he trusted that they would be able to reform the sisters, he knew they would change once he left.
"just so you know, the sisters attitude will change for the worst when i leave, they only listen now because if they returned to their old habits, i would put them in limbo, but for now i bid you goodbye, i have to go guide my exiles in their quest."
with that Sin reached out and quietly opened a portal back to wraeclast, the present smell of death and corruption was sour, and made him sad that he was walking away from a world he once dreamed wraeclast could be, and a little jealous that the goddesses could live in this world, hoping that they could take the lessons to heart and not taint it with the evil wraeclast had been cultivating for the entirety of time.
