//------------------------------// // Interlude : A Disquiet Follows The Soul // Story: The Long Road Home // by Nightwatcher //------------------------------// Luna’s eyes snapped open with a gasp, a horrifyingly familiar pitch black room greeting her. ‘No..... That thing is gone, dead, I can’t be here!’ Her body involuntarily rose to a standing position, her eyes moving to a point despite her vain attempts to control her body. What felt like fire made its way from the tip of her tail, racing along her her spine, then along and out of her horn, making her writhe in pain the whole way. The ball of dark blue fire that was corrugated at her horn shot of into the dark room, leaving a black scorch on her horn. The ball of magical fire casting light around the room as it flew, revealing that the never ending floor was carpeted in an innumerable amount of burnt and charred bones from some unknown animal. The ball of fire slammed into the ground, sending out a plume of bones and dust. Instead of the light dieing with the flame as it naturally have done, it went flying up into the air and grew in intensity until it looked as though the sun was hanging placidly in the sky. She felt a dull thump reverberate through the room, as her head involuntarily turned a dull roar made itself known at the tail end of her hearing. With her new viewpoint she could see a new from moving slowly towards her. A Human she guessed, as it shared Vigils form....only bigger. It was also clad in some kind of dull-green armor, heavy looking metal plates on top of what looked like black muscle. A odd symbol on the left part of it’s chest, two separate runes whose meaning eluded her. The first was two small circles on top of each other, the next rune was separated by short dash, it took the form of a simple small vertical line. Her gut wrenched as it slowly walked ever closer, the dull thumps of its footfalls rocking her to her core, then the Humans body began to change. The Human was slowly pot-marked with dozens of holes, the body jerking slightly as each one appeared, blood seeping out of every hole leaving behind thin trails as the blood made its way down its body. A massive hole in its midsection suddenly appeared, the Human falling to a knee before getting up and continuing its march to her. Then only a few feet from her the Human’s head jerked violently, a large piece of it’s helmet shattering off. The Human’s head snapped back to her, half of the helmet falling away, revealing a charred, bloody face with parts of bone showing. A turquoise colored eye with a slitted, dragon-esk, pupil stared back at her through the broken helmet. The rest of the Human’s helmet fell away, revealing a another turquoise colored eye. She found herself able to move once more of her own accord and she attempted to run, only to find that a number of the skeletons scattered about had grabbed onto her legs holding her to the spot. Something slammed into her chest and she felt a burning pain, looking down she found a large knife buried to the hilt in her body, her own blood covering the hilt and splattered on parts of the forearm of the Human. The Human’s other hand flashed up and grabbed a hold of her, the Human letting out a raging animalistic roar right into her face. Splattering her face with a mix of spittle and blood. The roar was odd though, like thousands of voices all screaming at once. Then, abruptly, everything vanished, a familiar laugh sounding out at the edge of her hearing. ‘Nightmare.’ ’Hahaha....... You’ve grown soft little Luna, I did not have to dig far to find this..... dream of yours locked away...... Then again you didn’t lock this away, they did, just like they did me, just like they did everything that didn’t fit to their ‘plans’. They treat us like toys, little Luna.’ Luna assumed that the ‘They’ that Nightmare was referring to was the Human, or Humans, though she knew nothing of what the specter was talking about other then that. One thing Luna did know was that Nightmare shouldn't be talking, the Elements had destroyed her completely. ‘The Elements destroyed you-’ ’You think their ‘Elements’ could do away with me? They couldn't kill a me, only look me away. Now, I’m free of their bindings and I’m going to rip them to shreds, revenge for what they did to us, and you’re going to help me do it little Luna.’ ‘No! I listened to you once, never again!’ ’I knew you'd say that, little Luna, but once you’ve see what they did to us you’ll realise what they really are. You think I’m a monster, you think I’m a manipulator, but they’re much worse than I’ Before she could voice a rebuke she felt herself beginning to wake up, as she did Nightmare’s presence receding into the back of her mind. :~: Luna’s world was bathed in an annoyingly bright light, the light framing a familiar form. “Sister?” She croaked, her throat feeling like a desert. “Yes Luna, it’s me.” Celestia said. The events of the dream rushed to the forefront of her mind as she shot up, “Sister, it’s Nightmare! It’s back!” “I know Luna.....” Celestia said in a low tone. “What..... You know? How....” Her words dieing on her lips as she gazed around the room. Gone was Vigils temple like chamber, replaced with a large room with white walls, the floor and ceiling the same immaculate white as the walls. She looked at herself, holding a hoof in front of her face, her mind reeling at how..... detailed it looked. She looked over Celestia finding her to have the same dream like visage. “We have....... much to talk about Luna.” Celestia said.