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Chapter 9-The Way Things Are
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Novis stood upon the brink, unable to move as he stared out into the valley. The moon had diverted its course to block the face of the sun, slowly eclipsing just shy above the mountain range in the distance. A hot, dry wind was carried before him, blasting past his body as his gaze was cast on everything in sight, and upon the wind, a dark, harsh voice spoke that pricked the hairs on the back of his neck.
Failure.
Everything that casted a shadow within the valley, was dead. Volcanic rock flowed from the mountain tops, falling like rivers into the once flowering fields, and the smoke that rose from its summits choked out the skyline with its smoldering ash. A fire broken out in the once mighty forests, to the point that only a few trees, charcoaled black by the firestorm, stood here and there from the ground.
Their blood is upon your hands.
The ground beneath his hooves began to shake violently, forcing him back from the ledge to stare at the soil. Out from the ground, cold, decaying hooves reached out from the rock, pawing at him for sweat release. The bodies of ponies long dead rose up from the ground leathered skin falling from their bare bones as they crawled painfully towards him, horrid cries echoing from deep within their bodies in desperate need for help that he couldn't hope to give.
Novis turned to escape the pleading gazes of their ghostly faces. This had never been what he wanted, why couldn't they accept that? There had been nothing for him to do to stop it, why couldn't he accept that?
He was escaping from this madness, but was now faced with something more horrifying. Sitting in front of him, a little filly waited silently, staring at him with cold, dead eyes. Those eyes; terrifying, ungodly, and glowing yellow in a background of black. She screamed, but it was an unnatural sound, like a phantom in a nightmare world. He watched the little girl scream, and in horror saw her tiny body burst into flames, while the scent of burning fur punctured his nostrils.
Failure.