//------------------------------// // A Pawfect Day // Story: Beyond My Grave: Nightlight // by AnnEldest //------------------------------// Endless hours of darkness had finally ended and was finally met by light. The squad walked into the light for the first time in what felt like forever. Their armor was stained with black blood and guts. The gray cat looked at a panel on his wrist. The panel showed the layout of an underground facility. He swiped past it and checked it off. He looked at all the other things that were checked out. There were dozens of places on the map that was glowing and hadn't been crossed off. He sighed as he closed the panel. He looked out into the distant sun. They had a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. They hauled their luggage miles across the open desert. The scorching sun seemed to not affect the animals. They pushed on through the tortuous paths. Of course, there were some things far more horrific than the weather. The pink armored cat dragged on, staring at the sand. They had a long way to their destination and there wasn't much to occupy the time. She followed the streaks in the sand. Her gaze was interrupted by a strange mark in the sand. She looked up at it as she froze in her tracks. The mark was a footprint stained by black dust. She walked up to it and ran you paw across it. She then realized that they were all in danger. Another cat with a purple-tinted armor noticed she was staring at something. He walked over to her and looked at whatever had her attention. As soon as he saw the black stain he too froze. It was sizzling ever so slightly in the sunlight. The sand began to move around the two cats. It began to sink in and the two cats knew what was happening. Something was coming to the surface Shira had journeyed through the torturous desert. Her throat grasped for every drop of saliva it could. Her breath was hard, raspy, and dry. Every drop of moisture had withered away. She tried to keep track of how long she was walking for, but her efforts went to waste. She had no idea what time had passed and she didn't even know what time of the day it was. The sand had soaked into her fur making it feel like sandpaper. Every inch of your skin itched and burned. Her breaths were long and steady; each scorched like dragons breath. She looked up at the merciless sun that hung directly above her. The day was still young and the sun's ruin wouldn't end any time soon. She looked out into the distance to see a glorious sight. The desert was an ocean of tan sand that bleached even the skies, so to see any other color was the sight of paradise. The stain of green in the distance was the greatest gift he could've received. She sprinted towards the Celestial terrain. She has never run so fast in her life. Her paws were met by the soft feeling of green grass. She gasped a little at the magnificent sight of vegetation. Plants needed one thing that she urged for above all, water. The sweet sound of gushing water renewed her strength. She ran over to the river and dived right into it. Water dripped from her fur as she gulped down as much water as she could. She sat soaked on the warm grass. She pulled out a map that showed a large desert on it. A recognizable windmill marked the middle of it. She searched around it until she came across a large land with a peculiar name. In big bold letters, it read "Equestria". She was in the land of Equestria. She sighed at the thought of being in a land full of nothing but ponies. Friendship and Magic was their go-to model While hers was more shoot-first-ask-questions-later. At last, the choice was not hers, he had to find him, And Equestria was the place he was at. She ventured on Ready to face the foreign land. Small pieces of metal flew across the desert. Black creatures came out from underneath the sand screeching on the way out. Their skin sizzled as the sun bombarded them with rays. The squad was held up behind large pillars and rocks. Their weapons were hot as they shot one after another. The gray cat unloaded every piece of metal his gun could shoot. His gun clicked as it ran out of ammo. He took the clip out and quickly threw it aside. He took one out of his belt and it took the old one's place. He aimed at the group of monsters that charged at them. The monsters laid dead on the ground. Their blood sizzled away with the sun. The squad checked each corpse to make sure they were all dead. The gray cat walked up to one of them and turned it over. Its black rotting teeth hung out of its mouth. It truly was a vile beast. It took quite a bit to put them down but they had trained to the point that they could easily take one on. Their true power lived in the sheer number of them. They were pack hunters and never strayed too far from their groups. Where there was one you would always find more. Their claws were long and they had a large spike that came out of the knuckles. The cat's armor could off most of their attacks but repeated blows from them would cause the armor to break. They had taken out dozens of them back in the facility, but to see them willing go out into broad daylight was unusual. The sunlight didn't kill them but it hurt them. The darkness was their domain and they stuck to it. While they could survive the light, it severely weakened their armor. In the dark, only armor-piercing weapons could effectively take them down. The gray cat opened his panel and looked up at the sun. Daylight wouldn't last forever and that meant their job would be of much greater difficulty. He motioned to them to continue. He walked towards his destination and the other instinctively followed. Shira had never met a pony before. She had heard of them but never really thought what it would be like to meet one. She had heard that they were simpler creatures that didn't fight much. They were a weaker species that preferred kindness and generosity. Of course, she so heard that they were obsessively friendly. "Friendship was magic" that was the model for a pony. She now walked among them as one of them. The air was much cleaner in Equestria and the atmosphere was definitely "friendlier" than the last land. Things in the desert were harsh and it was every creature for themselves. In Equestria everyone was friendly and ponies greeted each other. Shira tried her best to keep her distance. She kept away from the cities as she knew she would stick out from the crowd. I'm the desert carrying a weapon was normal, but in Equestria, it would have terrified anyone who saw it. She still carried the item, the very thing she had gone there for. A single item that had put her on someone's hit list. So many creatures now wanted her dead, and she could do nothing but run. She walked along keeping to the forest and herself. She looked at her wrist and pulled out a panel. It lit up and it popped up a picture of another cat with a name next to it. She needed to find it before someone or something else found her. The sun was dropping down past the horizon and the moon would soon take its place. The dark was a terrible time to travel and she was far more vulnerable. She needed to find a place to settle down and rest. Her legs ached and she was hungry. She was far too week to hunt and even if she wasn't she still couldn't. In Equestria hunting down other creatures was mostly unheard, of as far as she knew. She wandered around in the woods until she was for sure she didn't leave behind a trail. She found a large tree and climbed up it. The trees in Equestria were far larger than the ones she was used to. Her home wasn't in the desert but her home still didn't have many large trees. The forests I'm Equestria were large and full of life. Their trees were thick and strong. They stood like large mountains that wouldn't bow to no one. Even the grass seemed more alive and swayed peacefully with the wind instead of against it. She took out a large rope and tied it around her clock and the item she carried. She threw the rope over a large branch and let her stuff hang. She laid down and let all the tension ooze from her body. It kind of hurt and her joints eased but the pain was soothing. Her spin decompressed and her arms and legs cracked. She stretched them out and her joints cracked even more. It was far louder than she had expected. She giggled a little as it brought back certain memories. She did miss home, but she had no choice. She had to find the cat that the item belonged to. Only he could help them end the ruin of darkness. Green eyes once again pierced the darkened sky as blue and gray fur blew in the air. The clocked cat stood staring at the approaching moon. He loved the night, the silent darkness. Hunting was clocked and covered by the ruin of the moon. His job was made easy by the ocean of darkness. He walked through the tortuous desert trying his best to follow the trail. He was caught in a sand storm which made tracking incredibly difficult. He didn't stop though, he pushed on through the deadly storm. He ran as fast as he could as if the storm did not affect him. His fearless eyes lit a clear path in front of him. He couldn't see, but the image in his head guided him through the night. He wanted to stop just for a little break but he knew he couldn't for the enemy not take a break. He had to carry on through the harshest of conditions; he could not stop no matter what was thrown his way. He had looked at a map just before his journey looked him out into the bear desert. He knew where he was heading. It was a distant land that he had only heard stories of. He had never seen it with his own eyes but he knew cats who had. They spoke of ponies and how friendly they were. A place where everyone was treated with kindness and creatures got along. It was also spoken of the great magic that laid there. The magic that oozed from ponies and even the plants themselves. Their magic and power lived in the unity of them as a species. A land of great magic and kind creatures in the known land of Equestria.