Chapter Fourteen: Shepherds Of The Dead
~BlackRoseRaven
Luna and Scrivener Blooms pushed onwards through the Gray Mountains, joined by more spirits as they roved through deep valleys and along steep, rocky passes. The spirits behind them kept in time, following loyally and never hesitating: the Pales didn’t stumble over rocks or cracks, were unfettered by venting steam or rasping, chilling wind, and small gaps and short walls they could simply blink over, vanishing from sight to reappear some twenty feet away in a single moment’s time.
The Khlōros garnered the attention of other things as well, however, which only made them push harder to travel quick even while Luna kept a sharp watch, sometimes running in front of the earth pony, at other times flying above. Grimm hissed and lurked around the edges of the convoy of spirits, hating the silent melody because it hinted at giving peace to suffering souls and stealing away their prizes, and while the insubstantial beasts of shadow couldn’t directly attack them, they were all too glad to cause distractions by stirring up nearby beasts, attempting to cause avalanches of snow, ice, and stone by shoving rocks down the mountainside, and screaming from high vantage points awful, hideous shrieks that ripped through the veil of reality and made both Luna and Scrivener wince.
The effect of the Khlōros, however, also made the creatures visible to Luna’s eyes… and with a single well-placed blast of her blue fire, the ghastly crow-specters would be sent squealing. Normal fire might hold no threat to them, but Luna’s night-tinged magic was more than sufficient to char the very spirits of the foul entities. After a few of the monsters had been incinerated, the Grimm had finally made themselves scarce and relented in their attacks… Luna had only been glad that the foul beasts had never managed to provoke anything larger than a Velite Drake out of hiding and into attacking them.
After six hours of hard travel, Scrivener’s muscles aching and Luna gritting her teeth as she paced beside him and ignored her own flagging stamina, they finally reached the pass that would lead them out of the Gray Mountains and back into the snowy fields. It was a greater relief than either could say: even if they couldn’t afford to take a break yet, they would be able to slow their pace all the same, and it was like a weight had been lifted from their bodies as they made their way down to the frost-speckled tundra with the ominous peaks left at their back.
Luna and Scrivener both glanced back, past the pack of ghosts following behind them… and both stared in horror at what they saw. Standing there, at the very border of the Gray Mountain, was some indescribable monstrosity that had likely been tailing them the entire time, perhaps the very source of that weight and pressure they had both felt. A torpedo-shaped head, multiple arms, a handful of eyes that looked as if they had been shoved by an angry child into its clay-like features… and yet it only stood there, as if there was some invisible barrier that kept it trapped inside the surreal world of the mountains.
It leaned forwards, tentacles writhing around its face as jaws hidden beneath the flexing appendages clacked as it reached a hand towards them… and Scrivener winced as Luna shook her head, whispering: “Such things lurk in the Mountains that were never meant to see the light of day… things of nature’s scorn, mockeries made by pedantic gods… sad and twisted creature, return to thy hovel. We are neither prey nor enemy… take relief that soon, this world and thy sufferance shall end.”
The terrible monstrosity stared after them… and then it simply faded slowly out of existence as if it had only been a trick of the light, and a chill ran down Scrivy’s spine before he glanced towards Luna and muttered: “Let’s get out of here. I have a bad feeling that there’s worse creatures than that on the move… and that whether the Gray Mountains are beyond normal reality or some kind of terrible prison and pit for… for failures of creation and evolution alike, that cage is going to break open before this world ends.”
“Let us hope not, Scrivener Blooms. I wish for the last days of this planet to be peaceful, even for the demons and accursed of Helheim that lurk throughout it… if the gaol of the Gray Mountains shatters wide, then we may have no choice but to flee across the Bifrost and wish a quick death to this world.” Luna muttered in response, even as she turned and began to run… and Scrivener ran beside her, no longer feeling his aches or pains as adrenaline pulsed through his veins and his chilled blood, doing his best not to glance back for fear that somehow, that thing would be lurking behind them, waiting eagerly to strike.
Instead of passing into North Neigh, the two went through the tundra, moving alongside the fencing and through the dunes of ice and snow. Elementals leaned curiously over broken defenses and watched past half-collapsed walls as they passed, and as they ran, more Pales flickered quietly into being around them, Scrivener looking back and forth despite himself for any sign of Tia Belle… but he knew she wasn’t there. He knew that she was gone… and for some reason, it left a splinter in his heart to think that somewhere inside of her had been regret for how she had treated him, remorse, perhaps even something more…
He lowered his head forwards, swallowing a bit as they pushed onwards, and Luna gazed at him silently… but she knew better than to speak. She could feel him pushing through the emotions, and they were like a jumble of blocks that needed to be carefully pulled apart… and the winged unicorn knew by now when not to rush her husband on certain subjects. All the same, her emotions traveled to him, kissed his thoughts, shielded him in her mental embrace… and the earth pony smiled faintly as he whispered: “I don’t know where she’s gone now, Luna. But I do honestly hope… it’s not Helheim. Bramblethorn I hope ends up somewhere… somewhere nasty, but I… I was never hugged by either of my parents before. Maybe in death it was a little late… but better late than never at all, right?”
Luna nodded to him, leaning towards the male as her ethereal mane flickered backwards, and she murmured quietly: “Whether she loved thee or not, Scrivener Blooms… at the end, she recognized thee. Saw some value in thee… and the way she looked at thee…”
“I’m gonna start crying again if we talk about it too much, Luna.” Scrivener smiled faintly all the same, however, closing his eyes tightly as a shudder passed through him before he shook his head firmly and looked ahead, pretending it was the chilling wind and the sheer cold that was making his eyes ache. “Let’s just keep pushing forwards. We have a long way to go.”
Luna nodded firmly at this as she looked ahead herself… and pushed onwards by love and sorrow, hope and determination, they continued forwards. Their hooves beat against the frosted earth as they charged onwards, ignoring curious Ice Elementals as they finally reached the highway beyond North Neigh and pushed steadily south, into the tattered forest, both knowing they should slow down, both aching in body and heart, but neither wanting to stop as they kept themselves moving at a steady, firm beat, their hearts pulsing in time, their breath rasping in and out as they pushed themselves beyond their limits.
The result was that when the two reached the snowy desert beyond the road through the gnarled and tattered forest, the two staggered to a halt and half-collapsed against one another, wheezing for breath as their armor clanked together, throats dry and painful, eyes clenched shut as tears from the exertion, the cold wind, and the wild emotions that had driven them onwards for hours they couldn’t even count froze over their cheeks. Scrivener Blooms cursed under his breath weakly as Luna arched her back with a grimace, her ephemeral mane and tail both sparking, flickering for a few moments before she leaned forwards and shoved her quaking front hooves against the ground, their bodies rippling with aches and soreness as the Pales silently formed a thick circle around them and the Khlōros collar continued to hum its ghostly resonance.
“We need to rest, Scrivy. I do not understand how thou art even still on thy hooves, wretched stubborn beetle, when my body aches as badly as it does and thou should ache all the worse…” Luna muttered, leaning forwards with a grimace before she snorted as Scrivener slowly laid down on his stomach, shivering as he coughed a few times and lowered his head forwards into the snow. “And thus my point is proven true.”
“Shut up, Luna.” Scrivener mumbled from the snow, and then he twitched a bit, his leathery wings giving an awkward flap before he groaned and mumbled: “Oh hell, you left my wings on…”
Luna only grumbled in response to this, replying flatly: “And thou shalt keep them for the entire journey. I am too tired to dispel them… either the polymorph will fade naturally or the Bifrost will do the job for me.”
Scrivener mumbled to himself, and then he winced as he slowly forced himself up to a sitting position, breathing hard as the Khlōros burned quietly around its neck, still emanating its phantasmal harmony, still drawing the eyes and attention of the Pales. “Twenty minutes?”
“Thirty. It has been a long time since we have done such a march… and even if we slow our pace, even if we have the advantage of needing neither food nor rest, neither of us are invincible.” Luna hesitated, and then she added quietly: “And I believe that… we are safe from the Black Wolves of Hell. We would have felt their presence and movement… I only hope that they have not succeeded yet in digging their Alpha free from the ruin.”
Scrivener nodded slowly, and he and Luna leaned against one another as the winged unicorn dropped her head against the side of his neck, her horn gently brushing through his mane as she murmured in a quieter voice: “Thou does not need to push so hard, Scrivy. Nor does thou need to feel such guilt… we are both… we have both made mistakes.”
“Yeah. I know, Luna, I do, I just…” Scrivener laughed a bit, looking down awkwardly as he slid a foreleg around her, pulling her closer and both used to the staring Pales by now, that watched them silently… but were more interested in the melody of the Khlōros than they were in the two ponies. Perhaps they weren’t even truly aware of them… only that they were being led onwards by the enchanting song of the collar of the dead. “I trust you. I love you. I… understand you.”
“And that last… that is the most precious gift of all.” Luna smiled faintly, burying her face deeper against the side of his neck before she sighed softly and straightened slightly, gazing at him silently as he turned towards her, their eyes locking before she reached up and adjusted his glasses for him. “Oh, look at thee, thou art a mess. A jumble, in fact, Scrivener Blooms. Honestly, what would thou do without me?”
“Well, I’d be dead, for one thing.” Scrivener said blandly, and Luna rolled her eyes before she headbutted him, making the earth pony wince back a bit before the winged unicorn simply grumbled and rested with her head firmly pushed against his. “You’d probably have somepony more handsome, too. Well, knowing you, Twilight, and you’d probably corrupt her into having some menagerie of armored ‘bodyguards’ at your beck and call…”
Luna snorted at this, leaning back and saying indignantly: “Oh, so this is what thou thinks of me? Rude and ungrateful creature!” She paused meditatively, looking up and muttering musingly as she rubbed a hoof under her jaw: “Still, ‘tis a fun idea all the same. I only wish I had the power by which to make the Moon Blessed real, or at least there were loyal ponies still around whom we could enlist as so-called ‘bodyguards…’”
Scrivener glowered at her, and Luna grinned back, winking at him as she leaned forwards and replied kindly: “Two stallions and two mares, would it not be perfect? Amazonians for thee and handsome Adonis-like figures for myself. Unless thou wanted to trade, of course.”
The earth pony only replied with a sigh, rubbing slowly at his face and muttering disconsolately: “This is why ponies got so weirded out around us, Luna. On the one hoof, you’re hyper-protective and we’re both obviously codependent. On the other, you gleefully take any and all chances to come up with new ‘adventurous fantasies,’ as you put it. I’m going to make you sit in the corner of shame at this rate.”
“’Tis no such thing, and thou cannot, anyway. I am older, wiser, and most importantly, far bigger and stronger than thee.” Luna retorted, and Scrivener opened his mouth, but couldn’t find a decent response before he winced when the winged unicorn added mildly: “Furthermore, if thou art so resistant to the idea, then I can just take all the bodyguards for my own self and my own ‘protection…’”
“Okay, okay, you win.” Scrivener rolled his eyes, and then he flailed a bit when Luna kicked some snow at him, grumbling and muttering: “You’re evil though, Luna, so we’re clear on that. You and Nightmare Moon both, and I don’t know which is worse.”
Luna smiled at this, then she leaned forwards and kissed his cheek quietly, and Scrivener sighed but relaxed visibly as they looked at each other… and there was a strange, visible lightening between them, as they studied one another and traded emotions back and forth, the weight of the world seeming to shift off their shoulders.
They rested together for another twenty minutes, sipping a bit of water from a canteen before refilling it by straining snow through a simple sieve, and then the two were once more on their way. Instead of heading towards the barrens, however, they instead set course to go around them… and after some three hours of travel, they reached the far eastern edge of the burning wastes, stepping from snow to gravel and mire and rock, entering into a wasteland that all the same was far-less-hostile than the magma floes and hellish hinterland to the west.
The two ponies had to pick their course carefully all the same, however, with Luna taking the lead and her spear floating ready at her side as Scrivener Blooms kept looking nervously back and forth. Every so often, some hideous centipede or serpentine, mutated worm would slither its way out of one of the holes in the rocks, eager to try and prey upon the few living things that dared the stony gorge, and the winged unicorn had to be fast to drive the beasts back down into their burrows. A few vicious stabs of her spear would deter the worms, who would retreat with shrieks… but the centipedes had to be slain and torn almost into pieces in order to get them to cease the attack, and they liked to try and pincer in pairs, the size of anacondas and covered in carapaces as hard as metal.
It made for slow going: with both the wildlife and the terrain against them and dark clouds beginning to brew in the sky, even their slow march was proving draining. Finally, Scrivener Blooms took to the air, flying slowly and low over the rocky barren with Luna coasting beside him, and the Pales thankfully continued to follow the pull of the Khlōros without any event. It was awkward and a little painful for the earth pony, but all the same it was safer and better than trying to pick his way over a seemingly-endless stretch of sharpened rock, and now they didn’t have to worry nearly as much about the predatory insects that somehow managed to live out here in these barrens.
They had to pass through a narrow gorge, shepherding the Pales down an ugly slope that looked as if it was made of jutting spikes and blades, passing a massive, crumbled skeleton of a dragon that was covered in silken webs and had become a nest of enormous arachnids that glared balefully at them as they passed, but thankfully, there was little of event: at the bottom of the gorge, there was a narrow river of slag and magma, but it was narrow enough that the Pales simply blinked over it… or strode over the surface, bothered by neither heat nor the semi-liquidity of the lava that was so hot it made both living ponies sweat just to be within twenty feet of it, and had ached unbelievably to pass low over.
They had set down on the other side to let their wings rest as they guided the Pales up a long, dusty rock ramp… and as if the broken world had taken pity on them, when they emerged from the rocky gorge they found themselves standing on a straight, ghostly stretch of empty land, a frosty border visible in the distance and a faint snowfall beyond this. They had almost reached the edge of the barrens, and Scrivener Blooms sighed in relief before he grimaced as the Khlōros hissed quietly against his neck, charring him for a moment as he muttered: “Damned thing…”
“Is it draining thy energy? Strange… usually we are much further along before it replenishes its magic through vital force.” Luna said quietly… and then she and Scrivener both paused before looking over their shoulders at the vast congregation of Pales, some stragglers even all the way on the other side of the gorge still… yet all the same, still following the call of the collar, still wandering silently after them, enraptured by the melancholic song of the strange supernatural device. “Although… today, we draw more souls than I had ever expected to find as well…”
“Yeah.” Scrivener murmured quietly, then he shook his head slowly and glanced ahead over the stained tundra, saying softly: “Let’s keep moving then, Luna. But we should probably rest once we manage to reach the Northedge Strait.”
“Aye, I agree with thee for once, Scrivener Blooms.” Luna gave him a bit of a smile, nodding slowly, and the male nodded back before the two resumed their journey forwards, calmly striding side-by-side over the tundra with the mass of Pales following silently behind them after the call of the Khlōros.
Luna guided them through the corrupted wilderness, and although they ran into a band of Nibelung, the wolf-pigs fled with yelps of terror: understandable, since it wasn’t simply Luna and Scrivener Blooms they were faced with, but the two were leading an army of ghostly Pales that flickered in and out of reality, passing through rocks and gnarled trees as they marched silently onwards, and all while that strange, near-silent music thrummed through the air.
They reached the banks of the Northedge Strait after hours of travel, slowed by slush and heavy snow and the tiredness beginning to set into their muscles from their marathon march, and they halted for an hour to rest and recuperate together. The next part of the journey would likely be the hardest point: Luna would harden the ice with magic as they crossed the river, but it was a long trek, and the winged unicorn knew it would be draining… and made all the more difficult by the fact the river itself might attempt to claim them as prey.
Malicious things lived in these frozen waters, made the strait itself vicious and almost sentient… but by hardening the ice as they moved, it would hopefully give them a narrow area of safety and make their presence less-detectable to the things that lurked below. One way or the other, however, they needed to cross… and from there, they still had to make the journey all the way back to the tundra outside of Ponyville, where they could summon the Bifrost.
“Assuming the Bifrost has regenerated… ‘twill be a great joke indeed to try and call upon the rainbow bridge, only to find that it not yet in serviceable condition.” Luna muttered, shaking her head slowly before she glanced towards Scrivy as the male snorted in entertainment and carefully stood up, cracking his back loudly as Luna stretched her wings and flapped them once before they settled against her sides. “To think, I used to regularly journey across entire countries with Sleipnir and Celestia. ‘Twas… different, though. We were better prepared, our marches not so fast, and most of all the world was beautiful, not in this state of decay and ruin… it saps our strength, I know.”
Scrivener smiled a bit at this, nodding slowly in agreement before he absently rubbed at his chest, saying vindictively: “I’m almost hoping that nasty weather is a corruption storm. Might do us some good.”
“Depraved beetle. But what does that make me, when I hope that thou art right?” Luna gave him an entertained look, and the male grunted in response with a shrug, which earned him a roll of her eyes as she nudged him with her shoulder. “Foolish fool.”
The earth pony snorted in entertainment at this, nudging her back and replying mildly: “That sounds like one of my lines, Luna, so let me use one of yours, thou undignified and most maleficent strumpet.”
Luna huffed at this, rearing her head back indignantly. “Awful creature, how dare thee! Did I not fear for the Khlōros I would bash thee roundly and rudely upside thy upstart head!” She paused, then huffed and started forwards, flicking her horn and making the ice crackle as it darkened visibly where it hardened, becoming more akin to rock than ice as she added grudgingly: “’Tis not fair. Thou can insult me in a multitude of dialects and I still struggle with the accursed slang of the accursed ‘modern’ tongue. In Looking Glass World, we should fill the heads of all these Pales with the language of mine own time, and then thou can be the odd pony out.”
“Aren’t I usually the odd pony out anyway?” Scrivener pointed out as he followed behind her with a smile, trying to ignore the fact for the moment that a congregation of spirits were following silently behind them, and Luna laughed quietly as she shook her head, gazing over her shoulder at him with entertainment.
“Aye, perhaps that is true, but thou knows what I mean. Wretched cur. Besides, that I speak like this is the fault of Celestia, and to a lesser extent, Sleipnir. Except that Sleipnir spoke mainly in exclamations and boorish remarks that would frustrate sister endlessly.” She smiled a little as she turned her eyes back ahead, flicking her horn again as they neared the end of the path of darkened ice, and the lane immediately spread further forwards, forming another stretch of thick, rock-solid frost. “It… saddens me some days that we cannot disrupt the cycle of life and death completely, selfish and… childish… as I know that must sound, Scrivy. Some days even now I want my brother back, or to be able to visit him freely… ‘tis no wonder Odin keeps Valhalla’s entrance so secret and so hidden.”
“Well, one day we’ll die and we’ll all get to hang out together then.” Scrivener said mildly, and Luna snorted laughter as she shook her head with a wide grin as the earth pony added dryly: “This is me being positive, by the way. Or comforting. Or at least trying to be both. Do I get points for trying or does my blatant disregard for the sanctity of anything cost me all those?”
Luna only rolled her eyes in entertainment, however, giving her head another shake before she glanced up towards the sky as there was a crackle of thunder in the distance, the clouds roiling through the violet sea overhead seeming to almost glow as she murmured: “It looks like thou may be right after all, Scrivy… let us only hope the storm does not stir up whatever lurks in these foul depths beneath our hooves.”
The weather, however, held off as they crossed the Northedge Strait: although the ruins of Charger’s Crossing were barely visible to the west, and it was perhaps even a little narrower here than it had been at the bridge, a fierce wind kicked up that made moving difficult, and it was worsened by the fact that around them, the ice rose up in vicious blades and spikes. The Pales paid this no heed, walking calmly through these piercing stalagmites of frost as if they didn’t exist as they followed after the two ponies, and they disregarded the ice shattering beneath their ethereal hooves and the clawed hands that grabbed wildly at pony and Pale alike with the same calm disconnection.
Luna and Scrivy weren’t so lucky: thankfully, the ice pillars and spikes couldn’t rip out of the ice that Luna solidified with her magic, but soon enough whatever forces wanted them dead began to angle the blades of ice whenever they emerged from the river, and the two had to move quickly to avoid being speared or sliced by the twisting frost. Worse yet were the claws: they were able to tear through the less-solid ice like it was only paper in a great burst of water and snow, snatching viciously at them whenever they drew too close to the edge of their solid bridge of dark blue rock-ice.
They only stopped when Luna managed to stab her spear down through the mottled, fish-scaled hand of one of the creatures, shrieks rising up from the ice as it had jerked wildly and blue blood spread over the ice, rapidly hardening into frost… and then Scrivener had stepped forwards with his teeth grit, half-driven by Luna’s battle experience and half by his own anger and stomped savagely down on the elbow, cracking the joint with an awful crunch. The pain for the creature had been excruciating enough it had leapt upwards, and a hideous fish-beast had surfaced through the softer ice, ugly, pickerel-like features contorted with pain and fury as it grabbed wildly at them with its other arm, gills flexing in its neck as it screamed at them in a piercing, garbled language.
Scrivener staggered back, and Luna met its other webbed claw with her horn, slicing into its soft flesh and knocking its limb wide as it squealed before Luna flicked her horn upwards and sent a blast of lightning shocking into the creature, and it had fallen still and silent, gills twitching once as it shivered against the ice before Luna tore her spear free and gently used the weapon to shovel it backwards. The fish-beast had sunk into the water, and Scrivener had shivered a bit as mournful howls had sounded around them, the ice contorting into strange bumps and ridges and alien shapes, but no longer attacking them as the winged unicorn muttered: “Merfolk. They are not beautiful as the modern legends once described them… they are hideous, greedy, and cruel. But they are also cowards… ‘tis Helheim’s influence that must drive them to hunt so ferociously instead of remaining in their deep lairs and undersea kingdoms. Or perhaps there is simply no other food left to hunt, and they suffer as much beneath the waves as the world does above the tide…”
It was a grueling two hours, crossing the water: at some point, the Merfolk attempted another attack against them with the ice, but it was halfhearted and lasted for only a few minutes before they simply stopped, realizing their ploy wouldn’t work against the two: whenever Luna or Scrivener couldn’t avoid one of the ice spikes, after all, Luna simply used magic to either warp the ice in a different direction or shatter it before it could reach them. Every now and then, a silhouette of the creatures would pass near the thinner ice, but that was all until they finally reached the other bank… and once there, Luna called a halt to rest and dropped on her haunches as her spear buried into the ground beside her, her horn sparking faintly as her mane shivered around her body. Scrivener took the moment to slide behind her, quietly rubbing at her shoulders and along the bases of her wings to help her relax as she murmured: “We are… perhaps halfway there, Scrivener Blooms. But I must recharge a little after using so much magic… and thou should take the break we have to compose a letter to Pinkamena. It has been… I know not. Twelve, fifteen hours of relentless travel? Perhaps more, perhaps less. And we have at least twenty or thirty more ahead of us.”
She stopped, then glanced quietly towards the earth pony, hesitating for a moment before she asked tentatively as she met his eyes: “Thy mind… how holds it?”
“In my skull, unless you’re talking about the other one.” Scrivener replied with a bit of a smile, and Luna sighed in exasperation… but at the same time, there was a faint glimmer of relief in her eyes, too, as the male laughed a little and held his hooves up before she could hit him. “It’s… I’m okay, Luna, I can say that honestly, and… it’s nice to be able to be honest about it, too. I think… I’m actually too tired to see things right now.”
He stopped, hesitated… and when Luna cocked her head and leaned towards him, the male shook his head quickly before murmuring embarrassedly as he rubbed at his face: “Something… else feels different, too, though, to be honest. It’s been a while since we pushed ourselves so hard… and I feel strange. My body hurts, I can feel our heartbeat pounding away, my throat feels like sandpaper and a lot of me is whining for a nap, even though I know I don’t really need to sleep anymore. But beneath it, I feel…”
He looked down, then shook his head slowly and beat a hoof quietly against his breast, looking thoughtfully up at Luna. “I feel strong. I feel like… I’m growing and adapting. And on the one hand I’m worried, on the other, I wonder if maybe my body is naturally adjusting to the corruption, maybe all this… everything… is helping in some weird way to work that poison through my system. Wouldn’t that be a laugh, though? Lazy poet saves himself from becoming a monster by getting off his flank and exercising instead of sitting around all day moping and writing whiny poetry.”
Luna gave the earth pony a faint smile at this, shaking her head slowly and saying softly: “Oft, Scrivener Blooms, the way thou behaves makes me think that no matter how fiercely I can beat thee, ‘tis nothing compared to the damage thou art willing to lay upon thyself.” She paused as Scrivener blushed a bit, then added finally: “But… if it is true, and thou art gaining strength for one reason or another… I do not think it is something that we must worry on if the visions are not bothering thee, especially as we are amidst such a congregation of spirits.”
She stopped, glancing moodily back and forth at the countless Pales that surrounded them, staring at them, enchanted by the whispering melody of the collar… and then Scrivener and Luna traded a look before the winged unicorn muttered: “I only wish that we could speak to them, Scrivy. It saddens me that they can only see and hear those whom they… connected with, so to speak, over their lives. And while some of them see us as well as the collar, I know most of them… do not. Most of them would not understand us if we tried to explain to them what we were doing… they are not like Fluttershy’s poor father, seeking help from every source he could, whom Sol Seraph could not see only because of her own… monstrousness.”
Scrivener nodded a bit, and then he shook his head and reached up to touch the glowing collar of eldritch-green bone. “I know, Luna. I think a lot about… how strange things are. Our country, our whole world, though, has become merely an extension of Helheim…” He hesitated, shaking his head slowly as he murmured: “I try not to let the thoughts overwhelm me, though, or I’ll start… trying to make friends with Phooka and demons, and that won’t turn out well.”
“I do not know, Scrivy, I would rather have a Phooka for a friend than the ponies of the Royal Courts, any day of the week. I do not hope they are suffering in Helheim, for I did not hate them that much… but all the same, I also do not hope they end up with their old, snobbish lives back in full order once we reach Looking Glass World.” Luna said meditatively, and Scrivener Blooms smiled despite himself as he turned, and he and Luna rested back to back, leathery wings and feathered, stronger, larger ailerons pushing gently against one-another’s as their metal-covered spines grind together quietly. “Monsters make for fine friends, daydreamer. Thou and I both should testify to that.”
“If I say you’re less of a monster than I am, you’ll hit me. If I say you’re more of a monster than I am, you’ll hit me. Why is it, Luna, that you always say things that we both know will end up with me being hit in response?” Scrivener asked mildly, leaning his head back to gently knock the back of his helmed skull against hers, and Luna snorted in amusement as she bumped her head firmly back against his own. “I’m just glad we haven’t attracted any demons.”
“Only because thou has developed a sick fascination with them. Not like Ignominious, thankfully, but thou studies them as I would study…” Luna paused thoughtfully, looking up and rubbing absently at her haunch before she grinned a bit at the dark sky overhead. “As I would study a particularly-handsome soldier of an army we were at odds with in the past. Warily, but with hope and curiosity, wanting to pull it apart and find out what makes it tick and more importantly bring it-”
“Okay, enough.” Scrivener grumbled, and Luna laughed and bumped back against him teasingly before he added flatly: “Also, I don’t really want to sleep with a demon, thank you. I am curious, though, to learn more about how Helheim works… and Pinkamena doesn’t exactly answer most questions all that willingly. Plus you get really irritable when I start talking too much to her and paying more attention to her than you.”
Luna grumbled at this, flicking some snow absently upwards with a front hoof before she grumbled: “’Tis not my fault thou has developed a fetish for the praying mantis. And think not I will save thee when she decides to eat thy head, Scrivener Blooms, ungrateful beetle.”
The male smiled despite himself as he reached back and gently touched her hoof with his own, and she closed her eyes, tangling their forelimbs together and squeezing his hoof gently as he said softly: “But it just interests me. I mean, yes, plenty of them have tried to eat us when we come across them, or get into our heads… but others just kind of look at us, or even try to engage us in very awkward conversation, or just plain ignore us. Besides, I’m a poet. What’s more poetic than Hell?”
“Oh, quiet, Scrivy, thou art not a poet. Thou art a word-murderer, sick and sadistic, and I think sometimes thou feasts upon the tears of ponies and their tattered psyches as hungrily as any demon does. Perhaps that is why thou art so fascinated, thou feels a kinship with them.” Luna retorted, and Scrivener grinned… then it faded slightly as he looked upwards in surprised thought, as if struck by an epiphany, and behind him, Luna frowned at the feeling of the male’s mind descending into deep thought as she said moodily: “I was not serious, Scrivener Bloom. Even if the idea that thou feeds upon misery explains so much about thy disposition.”
“Oh, shut up, Luna, you know that’s not what I’m thinking about.” Scrivener replied grouchily, and the winged unicorn snorted in entertainment as their hooves squeezed absently together and they pressed a bit firmer back-to-back, before the male said softly: “But maybe I do see a kinship with them. Transformed souls, most of whom were once mortal, serving awful purposes and often darker masters, yet perhaps not beyond… reason, redemption. And the ones not insane or animal or broken… perhaps they too serve some ultimate purpose…”
“Oh, Scrivener Blooms, thou art putting too much thought into things again.” Luna smiled a bit, leaning back against him as she said softly: “Things are merely what they are, ‘tis all, and ‘tis truly that simple. Besides, we shan’t relax at this rate if thou keeps speaking of such wicked things. Not unless some demon of sloth wanders along and puts us both to sleep.”
“Alright, alright, I’ll try not to even think too loudly about it then, Luna. I’ll just… close my eyes, and be with you.” Scrivener replied quietly, and the winged unicorn gave a soft smile as they pressed firmer back to back, both leaning their heads back so the rears of their skulls touched, tangled forelimbs squeezing gently together as they both thought of the other in the darkness of their closed lids.
And in the darkness, an image formed, of the two locked together in tight embrace, leaning against each other front-to-front, forelimbs intertwined around one another’s unarmored bodies. Their foreheads pressed together, unicorn and earth pony, and they breathed softly in time before Luna kissed his forehead gingerly.
A flicker, and a moment later, it was Nightmare Moon with enormous, half-wyrm Scrivener, bodies pressing together in an ivory spotlight amidst the shadows as they curled themselves closer to one-another, the rose-laced, black pearl necklace sandwiched gently between bodies painted with darkness before Nightmare Moon looked up… and Scrivener was surprised as he gazed into her eyes, the slit-like, dark pupils that gazed sorrowfully at him telling him that this wasn’t just Luna… this was truly her Nightmare Moon side.
Silently, they studied one another… and then she reached up and slid her hooves against his shoulders, whispering softly: “It is difficult and painful for us to admit… but we made a mistake, beloved. We enraptured guiltless Luna into almost forcing a change upon you, because we desire you to be strong… we desire to prove our affection and our love to you, through gifts that we thought you were too shy to ever ask for yourself.
“But we understand now that you must not be rushed. We shall not goad Luna, we shall not force anything upon you… but know that we are here for you. The path you choose is the path we will walk together with you.” Nightmare Moon leaned forwards, kissing the pony side of his face tenderly, and then the Wyrm side with just as much affection as she leaned back, smiling softly. “There is no you or I… there is only us, there has only ever been ‘us’ since our souls were bound together. Do not forget it. Do not feel embarrassment, or the need to try and hide away. We are together in this, and all things.”
And then Nightmare Moon slipped backwards, eyes half-lidding before she burst apart into blue mist, and Scrivener grimaced a bit as he rubbed slowly at his face for a moment… then he winced as something shook him firmly by the shoulder before Luna’s voice said quietly in his ear: “Daydreamer, awaken now. Thou hast gone and dozed off… and something strange has happened.”
“Oh, wonderful. I slept and things got weird, that’s nice.” Scrivener mumbled tiredly as he shifted awkwardly… and realized he was laying on the ground on his stomach, yawning a bit as he carefully looked up and rubbed absently at his face… then winced a bit with a curse under his breath as he looked up and saw the horde of Pales around them. “I forgot what we were doing… why-”
“Because I also fell asleep for some twenty minutes.” Luna admitted grouchily after a moment, and Scrivener snorted in amusement as he carefully stood up and stretched with a wince, his sore muscles complaining as they flexed and ached beneath his armor before he looked tiredly over at the winged unicorn as she added softly: “But once I saw what was happening… I figured it was better to let thee rest and observe.”
Scrivener cocked his head, and Luna only smiled at him before she leaned towards him insistently, and the male sighed before meeting her eyes, trading memories with her… and then rearing back in surprise at what he saw and heard.
While he’d slept, the Khlōros had become stronger, the glow brighter and the melody clearer, voices singing a melancholy hymn of the dead that made the Pales sway slowly on the spot and had attracted more spirits into the immense herd. And when Scrivener opened his eyes as these memories flashed out, he looked slowly back and forth, realizing that there were so many Pales clustered around them now it was almost as if they had merged into one massive, flowing white entity… and Scrivener shook his head in slow amazement as he muttered: “Holy hell. So when I slept…”
“Aye, but we do not know how the Khlōros truly works. Perhaps we should have dragged Pollen along on this endeavor… the Velite, closest to death and yet not at all without life, may be able to make the Khlōros sing at its loudest.” Luna replied quietly, and then she shook her head slowly before glancing awkwardly at the male. “And I… Nightmare Moon…”
“It’s okay, Luna. Don’t worry about it.” Scrivener shook his head as he grimaced a bit, rubbing slowly at one front leg and muttering: “I feel stiff, though… and the weather…”
“Still holds. There has been some thunder, but…” Luna glanced warily up at the dark clouds overhead before she muttered: “’Tis impossible to predict anything in this world, though, Scrivener Blooms. Every time we attempt to do so it leads only to folly and frustration.”
Scrivy smiled a bit despite himself at this… and then he looked up in surprise as Luna shook her head and added quietly: “But let us push onwards, and we shall rest again in another few hours, perhaps for a longer hiatus if we can find a safe lair. We can put off writing that letter to Pinkamena until we are closer, as the march is perhaps taking a harsher toll on us than I had expected at first.”
“I can feel how eager you are to get across the Bifrost, Luna, I know we’re not going to be having any big periods of rest in the near future.” Scrivener replied dryly, and Luna snorted in entertainment as she rolled her shoulders absently before starting forwards, and the male smiled a little as he turned to follow her, the cloud of Pales parting silently for them and the enormous herd of spirits falling into step after the two.
The earth pony couldn’t help but look quietly over his shoulder at the enormous congregation as they continued onwards, silent as he tried to estimate how many there must be for them to form a crowd so thick… and he laughed a little, shaking his head slowly as he murmured: “How many there must be… oh ye countless shades that follow in my wake, hear me but speak not to my lost and sorrow-filled mind…”
“Quote not poetry at the ghosts, Scrivy, ‘tis rude.” Luna chastised gently over her shoulder, and Scrivener smiled despite himself as he looked up after her, the female’s ethereal mane whispering backwards as he laughed a little. “Come, let us set the pace a little faster. Thou should be able to handle an easy canter, with all the hot air that fills thy lungs and head.”
Scrivy smiled a bit despite himself at her heckling, shaking his head as the strange green collar thrummed around his neck, and for the next few hours the two traveled in quiet, trading thoughts more than they did words. And as they strode onwards, a black rain began to fall, and this wasn’t just in Scrivener’s head as lightning cracked in strange shapes through the sky above and dark droplets fell around and over their bodies.
But they weren’t afraid this time… if anything, they welcomed the corruption storm, as Luna’s mane sizzled quietly with energy, the stars pulsing brighter as Scrivener’s body flexed and he felt himself relaxing, felt new strength bursting through his being. And behind them, the Pales became almost solid, colors flickering through their bodies as life and vitality sparked in their eyes, drawn ever onwards by the Khlōros and yet at the same time, able to better recognize and understand what was going on as they pushed through the storm.
The black rain drove them onwards, and they only stopped to rest once for fifteen minutes when they came across a band of Velite and Nibelung hurrying through the melted snow through the dark rain, the dwarves yelling angrily as they covered their heads and the Velites all-but-sparking with electricity as they sought cover.
Luna and Scrivy went ignored, half-concealed by the black rain, while the enormous flock of Pales the Nibelung panicked at the sight of and the Velites hissed at in fear and anger for these souls that were one step closer to finding peace than the skeletons would ever be. The war band was large, but disoriented and panicked beneath the corruption rain as they sought shelter, and it wasn’t long before the wolf-pigs and Velites finally passed… and after a few minutes of waiting for a straggler or two chasing after the band to go by, the two ponies continued onwards, barely noticing the rain anymore even as visions danced through Scrivener’s head and Luna felt like her body had been electrified, like her Valkyrie spirit was rising up and giving her new strength from the days of old.
They traveled until the storm ended… and as the clouds finally dissipated above and the last of the droplets fell through the air, Scrivener and Luna slowed their pace along the desolate tundra, striding slowly through puddles of dark liquid. They had managed to find their way back to the main road at some point… but that was less interesting than the fact that above, the aging sun had set and given away to a beautiful, starry night, the two ponies gazing upwards at this rare show of miraculous radiance as bright lights twinkled in the velvety curtain and twists of beautiful light stretched back and forth through the skies.
The rare sight of the aurora grew brighter, and it was enough to make both Luna and Scrivener halt as a single large piece of the broken moon floated through the sky, vaguely crescent-shaped, surrounded by glittering ivory shards of the moon’s shattered porcelain surface. They stared up at this, and behind them, the Pales massed, seeming to relax, seeming to gaze upwards as well as if the corruption storm had granted them a little more sanity, a little more recognizance of the world around themselves.
The aurora shimmered and glowed through the skies, and Scrivener Blooms and Luna both stared with fascination at this, the trail of multicolored lights snaking back and forth along the moon and throughout the stars as Luna murmured softly: “We’re being called home, my beloved. The Vale of Valhalla… it urges us on, it beckons to us.”
“Warriors, called home to rest…” Scrivener closed his eyes and smiled a bit, and the two leaned together quietly, armor gleaming faintly, polished by the rainstorm of corruption that had ended only so recently. “But we have to be gracious hosts before we can go home, right?”
“Aye, Scrivy, thou speaks far too true.” Luna grinned wryly, looking over at him for a moment as the male smiled back at her… and for a moment, reality seemed to flicker in both their eyes, Luna gazing at the distorted self cloistered in Scrivener’s subconscious, and Scrivener Blooms seeing the glowing eyes and black coat of Luna’s passionate darkness.
Then they only saw one-another once more… but both smiled hesitantly, charcoal earth pony and deep sapphire winged unicorn leaning together, cyan and chestnut irises locking before they traded a quiet, gentle kiss for a short moment… then pulled slowly back and nodded to one-another, the female saying quietly: “Then as we are both feeling well… let us push onwards. Beneath the blessing of the lunar lights…”
Scrivener laughed quietly and nodded firmly, and Luna smiled encouragingly before she turned, striding through the darkness that covered their apocalypse-ravaged world, safer here in the deep den of night than beneath the blinding, murderous sun of the almost-endless days that ravaged the dead planet for months at a time.
The Khlōros continued to hum its ghostly resonance as they ran onwards, both able to see easily in the shadows even as Luna gave the occasional faint smile up towards the shattered moon in the sky. It was a ghastly omen, especially for her… but all the same, the moon had not been completely destroyed. Pieces of it still remained… and she wondered if that made it more of a symbol of what she had survived rather than some wicked portent of what was to come.
Scrivener Blooms, meanwhile, found his attention staying mostly to the ground as he caught wisps of movement here and there in the darkness. In the shadows around them, drawn perhaps by the collar – or maybe it was only because they were alive, perhaps the only two living ponies left in all of Equestria, if not the mangled world – were the shapes of equines with glowing eyes, running and staring at them with envy and curiosity, black horses with smoky manes that flickered out of reality when they caught Scrivener Blooms looking at them.
Nightmares: Horses of Helheim, somewhere between living dead and demon, feeding off fear and emotion and just as easily slain by both. They looked similar to Phooka and the strange shades that they saw prowling here and there, but Nightmares were tied to the darkness and could only make themselves known in the safety of shadows… and these strange entities had gone from feared haunts of Equestria to the prey of much-more-vicious demons. They could defend themselves with magic to a point, but their powers were next-to-useless against demons and even Velites.
And now they ran alongside them… and Scrivener thought that he caught flickers of other creatures as well that all the same looked to them with sorrow and curiosity and jealousy more than they did outright hatred. Their enormous herd of Pales was flanked on either side by a convoy of demons… but Luna only shook her head, eyes still studying the stars and the broken moon as she murmured: “It is of no importance. Demons can hurt the Pales, but even the most aggressive demon would hesitate with so many spirits in such close proximity, and the Khlōros ringing through the air with us at the herd’s head. Certainly, a Pale is much like an ant compared to a snarling demon… but no matter how fierce and large the predator, a swarm of countless ants will all the same devour the single creature that opposes them.”
Scrivener Blooms nodded slowly as Luna shook her head again, and the two journeyed in silence for several hours, even as more shadowy creatures flocked to either side of their group… until finally, the winged unicorn called for a halt, and the two slowed gradually before coming to a stop near a copse of warped and gnarled trees, Luna sitting down on her haunches and closing her eyes as Scrivener looked towards her, then smiled a bit at what she was doing.
As the Pales gathered behind them into one formless, enormous group, the creatures that had been stalking them – or escorting them, in their strange way – hesitantly slithered through the tundra past weeds and rocks and around patches of ice and frost and trees… before a great series of cries went up as Luna snapped her horn suddenly upwards and a burst of blue light bathed the area, revealing the shapes of cowering, shadowy entities as the winged unicorn leapt to her hooves and shouted in an echoing, powerful voice that rang through the cold, still night for miles around: “And what dares to cling to our coattails so, what sniveling creatures have barnacled themselves to our caravan in this, dark and glorious night, the bringer of beauty to even this collapsed world?”
Yells and babbling went up, and then Luna snapped her horn briskly upwards, and there was a sharp crack of thunder and a single powerful flash through the air, several of the creatures shrieking and fleeing as others simply dropped low… and for a moment, silence prevailed before hesitantly, a Nightmare almost slithered forwards towards them, leaning up as its eyes glowed red and its smoky mane swirled backwards, dark, polished body flexing as it whispered: “Sister, we are your humble servants…”
“Oh, sister, is it? I recall that thy kind tried to manipulate me into freeing Nightmare Moon, in the thought that she would bring darkness over Equestria… well, look upon the works of true monsters, foolish knave.” Luna retorted disgustedly, leaning back and shaking her head slowly. “Prattle and flattery will do naught but anger me, creature. I have had more than one run-in with thy kind and never does it end pleasantly.”
“This is different!” the Nightmare pleaded, leaning up and wincing as it looked back and forth, and other creatures hesitantly walked forwards as Scrivener gazed back and forth: not with fear, but with fascination for these entities of darkness and the way they seemed to be looking at them… for help, of all things. “The fools, the fools destroyed everything! They were like a virus, but we were not like them… oh yes, my kind, all of us here, prey upon mortals as well as beasts and anything else, but never did we try to destroy or hunt them all towards extinction… what meaning is there in this ultimate victory Helheim was tricked into taking now that it means all of us will die, that this realm will collapse? Helheim has no more victims and thus must cannibalize itself… but we’ve heard rumors there’s another layer of reality. We’ve felt the energies… seen such sights… please take us with you. We will be your loyal servants… we will prey only upon those you permit us to…”
“Please.” murmured another creature as it slipped forwards: a demon, with large ram’s horns twisting out of its skull, its amber eyes glowing, its features skull like… yet terribly afraid as it flexed large claws against the ground, thin and dog-like body trembling. “Not all of us are only stupid, raging animals. Our emotions may be different, but not so alien that you cannot empathize with me and I with you…”
Luna snorted at this, looking at the strange demon as Scrivener frowned a bit and tilted his head, and then the earth pony asked before he could stop himself: “And just what are you, anyway?”
“I am an Esurience.” the creature replied quietly, looking hesitantly towards Scrivener Blooms, backing up slightly almost as if afraid… but when the earth pony gestured for the creature to go on, it swallowed before explaining nervously: “I bring hunger and greed to those I bond myself to, however long or short that lasts. It is parasitic and symbiotic: the more of my hunger I push into a mortal, the less I feel myself… but the strong are able to turn that greed into a drive for self-improvement, not validation through selfishness. And whether positive or negative… their emotions, their psyche, their actions feed my spirit and strengthen me.”
“The creature is honest, at least, and that is a start… even if it seeks to defend its own actions far too quickly. But why would I bring demons into a world that I am already sure has its share?” Luna asked distastefully, returning her eyes to the Nightmare, and the darkness-touched creature dropped low, groveling before her as the winged unicorn leaned back in disgust. “Oh cease. Hateful entities, I would almost rather thy lot of craven cowards brought battle to my doorstep than this pathetic whimpering and whining.”
The creatures of darkness looked back and forth as Scrivy winced a bit despite himself, before he felt a chill run down his spine as another Nightmare slipped up beside him, stroking a hoof along his back and whispering into his ear: “Do not think we come blindly to you both… our kind cannot move freely around in the long and awful days of this apocalypse-riddled world, but we still watch with interest in the shadows and the silence what our beloved sister and her handsome consort are up to…”
“Step away from Scrivener Blooms, Nightmare, or I will bludgeon thee to death with thine own limbs.” Luna growled, her eyes glowing faint ivory as she glared towards the creature that had slipped up by Scrivy, and the Nightmare immediately quailed back into the shadows before Luna shook her head in disgust as Scrivener winced a bit, feeling the hell-horse’s words echoing through his mind with unnatural charisma. “Traitorous curs. Attempt to influence us again and I will destroy the entire lot of thee. Furthermore, I have no time for pleasant and extended conversation, and while I would delight in handsome servants, most of thee fall rather short on the ‘handsome’ half of that category.”
There were mumbles back and forth between the cluster of shadowy creatures as they writhed uncertainly, forming an awkward semicircle before the Nightmare that had first addressed them finally stood and wheedled: “We’ll pledge ourselves to you, please! Anything to escape this world, anything not to suffer and die at the hands of the demons that are so far bent and deluded they have decided that if the world must burn and break, they will rip and tear apart everyone else in it first!”
“I make no promises.” Luna said coldly, and the winged unicorn started forwards, Scrivener looking at her with surprise even as he fell into pace beside her, and the dark entities scattered to either side to avoid being stampeded by the ponies and the horde of Pales. It wasn’t the sudden start that had surprised him, however, or even the veiled sympathy Luna felt for these creatures she held as strange kindred to herself however she might treat them… it was the way she was wrestling with herself over what to do with them, and the fact that already, she was leaning towards trying to save even these creatures of shadow if they could.
Not that he had decided anything himself… and he couldn’t help but smile as the sprinted forwards, and Luna glowered at him moodily, muttering: “Do not get used to it, poet… perhaps thou art… rubbing off on me more than I had thought at first. Besides, if this night does not last, then these demons will have to flee back beneath the ground and will not accompany us. They may never accompany us across the Bifrost… but if they are certain and serious…”
“I think what gets me is the fact that… you don’t even want more than their word of honor. That you know…” Scrivener hesitated, looking across at her as he quieted, and the two traded an awkward laugh before he asked finally: “Are we going to bring evil as well as good into the world?”
“Have we not already, Scrivener Blooms? I was fairly certain we more and more qualify as evil creatures, after all.” Luna replied with a faint smile… and Scrivener was unable to stop himself from smiling back in return even as strange thoughts rattled through his mind, as unidentifiable emotions twisted through his heart and soul as he wrestled with what they were doing… and wondered if good intentions would pave the road to Hell all over again, or if the presence of darkness was all that gave the world balance and worth.