Romance and the Fate of Equestria

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Seven

Beneath a starry night sky, Celestia sat on Kolassa's muzzle, while the other three goddesses were flying above the cherry forest in a grid pattern, scouting.

"'Oh my us'," Celestia said quietly to herself.

"What was that?"

"Did you say 'oh my us' back there?" Celestia said, turning to face Kolassa with a raised eyebrow.

She laughed. "Yes, I did. Some folks say 'oh my goddesses', so I said 'oh my us'."

Celestia chuckled. "You're such a goofball."

"Yeah," Kolassa agreed. "It's a relatively new, weird thing I picked up, the goofball thing. I used to be somepony you could take seriously, I dunno what happened to me."

The others returned all at once, hovering in front of Kolassa's head, Luna bearing the damaged husk of Song Li's helmet. "Song Li, I found your mask," she said, offering it up to her.

Song Li's six eyes blinked at the mask. "Oh. Ah, no thank you. My armor heals itself. Why don't you go ahead and keep that as a souvenir?"

"Oh?" said Luna, turning the mask's face toward herself with interest. "Why, thank you! I like it. I will do that." She observed Song Li, noting that all the damage to her armor was repaired, but her shaggy face remained unmasked. "Is something wrong? Why haven't you repaired your mask?"

"I'm… fine," Song Li said simply. "For now. My… dear friends." She looked around at them. "Is that going over your… never mind."

Luna smiled. "I get it. So nice to see your face at last."

Song Li smiled back.

"A wise decision for you," said Okapiopteryx, nodding to her. "Seems apt after all we've been through. So… at this stage in our quest, great leader Celestia, what is the next thing we do?"

Celestia beamed at Okapiopteryx, accepting the compliment with a slow, respectful nod. "I haven't really thought about it," she said. "But since you ask, I think our next course of action… would be to go back home as five best friends and be in touch with each other more often."

"What?" Luna exclaimed. "Truly? Our journey is over?"

"I think so," said Celestia. "It's time to go back and run our countries like we're supposed to. We took down the treasure hoard, that was the crux of their plan. They're still out there, yes, but they'll need some time to regroup. And when they do, the world's countries will need their goddesses on their thrones, not off on an adventure."

Song Li gasped, and tears filled her many eyes. "By the stars, I'm going to miss you all so much."

Celestia instantly took to the air and pulled Song Li into a comforting hug. "We will be apart," she said. "But we will contact each other as often as we possibly can. I won't let a day go by without reaching out to each and every one of you." She kissed Song Li on the cheek.

"Ow," Song Li said softly. "That was my eye."

Celestia winced. "Sorry."

They looked at each other silently for a moment, one of Song Li's eyes squinting from the pain, and Celestia slowly realizing she had eyeball fluid on her lips.

Wiping her mouth, she said, "And we will meet again. We won't even have time to have missed each other."

"Ah, it'll be nice to be home," said Kolassa. "I'd better sweep every town in the desert to make sure they all know I'm back, so they all get to see me."

"It's that time, while our streak is still hot," said Okapiopteryx. "We shall face her again, like it or not. You will be pleased to learn, of what I can confirm: Mitgaeard's jawline is her weak spot."

"Really?" Celestia said in surprise. "How very interesting. We can definitely use that… later. We'll be meeting her again… later."

"So it's really happening," Luna whispered. "It's over."

"It was a really good time," Celestia said solemnly.

Subconsciously, the four of them had drifted closer to Kolassa's face, and they entered a huge group hug, this flying mass of them coming to lean against Kolassa, right between her eyes. She closed her eyes peacefully, smiling.

"Well, let's not tarry any longer," Celestia finally said after they all disentangled themselves from the hug. "Let's return to our homes… where we belong."

"Farewell, my friends," said Song Li. She gave all of them a good long look. When it was over, her mask re-materialized over her face and she shot herself off into the sky, Okapiopteryx following suit, both of them gaining altitude as they flew off in two different directions.

Luna cradled the mask Song Li had give her, toying with it a bit. Meanwhile, Celestia gently touched Kolassa's face with a single hoof, right where they had all been leaning. "Besties?" she said softly.

"Until the flames of our everlasting lives snuff out," Kolassa promised. "Maybe even after that."

She was gone in a giant cloud of sand, which passed over the moon as it blew off to the north, against the wind.

Alone with Luna, Celestia smiled in no particular direction, blind in the dark. "Let's go home, little sister."

"Mm-hmm," Luna agreed.

They flew toward the moon together, touching hooves so they could stay together.

"We'll get home before any of the others do," said Luna. "We'll travel by moon! We should arrive in Equestria just in time for you to raise the sun there."

"Yes, we shall," Celestia said delightedly.

"Wait, hold on!" said Luna, halting Celestia and staring out into the forest. "Down there in the trees, do you see that?"

Celestia stared derisively at Luna… or rather, over Luna's head.

"Eh, stupid question of mine, I suppose," Luna said awkwardly. "Come, I'll show you. We must take it home with us."

"What?" Celestia said in alarm. "What is it?"

Luna pulled Celestia through the air, slowly making their way down to the ground.

"What's there?" said Celestia, panic creeping into her voice as they touched down. "Something's moving! What's out there? And where are we?"

"Calm yourself, sister," Luna said soothingly. "Light it all up."

Celestia lit her horn, making it as bright as day in a twenty-foot radius, and she could see what Luna saw. The creature quickly skittered out into the shadows, but not before Celestia gasped in delight. "Oh! Hello there…"

"We're not going to hurt you," Luna called. "Please… step into the light so we can get a good look at you."

"Yes, please," Celestia urged. "Forgive us for judging you by your looks, but… we're very interested in getting to know you."

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Endnotes

I've made a plan. It's been slightly over a week since my last update. I've arranged all of the upcoming chapter clusters—as you might know, when I post new chapters I do two or three at once—and I've figured out that if I can do one cluster a week, I'll have Part Three finished by the first week of 2017. It's probably not going to happen exactly that way, life being what it is, but I'll try. Either way, I won't let myself neglect this story for months at a time anymore.