It wasn’t even midnight, and Princess Luna’s personal library had already been thoroughly raided.
“Are you seeing this!? She’s got issue zero of the original run of Power Ponies! Nopony in Equestria’s seen this for almost seventy years!” Spike said, holding up the rare treasure.
“Look at all this other stuff. Neighmesis the Warlock. Colto Maltese. Lone Mare and Foal. Her ass is huge, but she has good taste,” Discord said.
“I’ve never heard of those. Any good?” Spike asked, as he leafed through the comic he held.
“They’d only be appreciated by those of refined taste,” Discord said, holding up a glass of brandy and fixing a monocle he suddenly was wearing.
“I’m gonna have to come back and ask if I can borrow some of these,” Spike said, before putting down the comic and going back to the mountain of reading he had.
Of all the places to look, Princess Luna’s private library was probably going to be the best bet they had so far. Once Luna had returned from her banishment to the moon, her sister tried to fill her in on everything that she had missed out on. With such a repertoire of history at their disposal, they were sure to find something there. Although they had to sift through the huge collection of comics to find them.
Anything that even sounded like it was related to magic, the two of them flipped through it. Any book of particular note was placed in a spot near the middle of the table, while the rest were put aside. So far, that spot in the middle was bare.
“So, what does Princess Luna know about all this?” Spike wondered.
“About as much as we do. That is, after I filled her in. Seems like she was just dealing with this on her own terms all this time,” Discord answered.
“Sounds rough. Why didn’t she tell anypony about it?”
“My guess is that she did. But, who would’ve believed that she was being stalked by things like what we’ve seen?”
Spike thought about what Discord had just said. For as long as he had known Luna, she was always a little bit on edge, and seemed too stiff to be the kind of pony who would enjoy Power Ponies. Maybe, there was a reason she had always seemed so unnerving and standoffish. It would explain a lot. Yet, there was no time to reflect. He had to stay in the moment and find the answers he sought.
The moon seemed frozen in the sky over the rusted gates of the cemetery. Two figures stood before the entrance, gazing at the path beyond. This was their rubicon. And they were about to cross it.
Misty stared wide-eyed at the cemetery beyond the gates, frozen as if she had recalled something terrible that she had forgotten for many, many years.
“Misty?”
“Wh–” Misty jumped when she heard Luna’s voice.
“Are you alright? If you’re feeling anxious, then–”
“No. I’m alright. It’s just this place. I’m getting some really, really strong feelings from it,” Misty said.
“Feelings?” Luna wondered.
“Yeah. There’s a lot of really bad stuff in there. Like, stuff that doesn’t want us in there with it. I think it hates us just for being out here at the gates,” Misty said. She looked back through the gates at the graves beyond. “It’s been forever since I’ve been here. I don’t even know if grandma will like that I’ve been gone so long without visiting her.”
“I wouldn’t worry. I’ve found a great number of families have been happy to see one another after a long time. I’m sure that would be true even in death,” Luna said. She turned slowly back to the gates, “Though, I’ve yet to see such a thing.”
Misty managed a weak smile, as she and Luna reached for the gates. Whether it was the weakness of the hinges or some power not their own, they couldn’t tell as the gates opened seemingly on their own. They both exchanged a wary glance and walked through the gates.
The cemetery was as quiet as the night that Luna had first entered it. The stones were as still as ever. The ground was undisturbed by demons crawling from it. And the air was untainted by the smell of sulfur. Luna tried to remember the way to where she had found Discord. She tried following the path the same as she had done before, but found the cemetery seemed so different without the cover of fog over it. The hill with the stairs wasn’t even visible to her.
Misty seemed equally lost, the way that she was looking at every headstone they passed. All the time, she had the same expression of quiet concentration, as if she were trying to listen to one voice over a hundred others in a crowded room. She encountered a path that crossed the one she was on. Either way that she looked didn’t look like the right way. But, there was something else that drew her toward the right. Something familiar that she remembered from her childhood.
“Princess. It’s this way,” Misty said.
“You’ve remembered the way?” Luna asked.
“No. But, there’s something telling me to go this way. I don’t know what it is. But, I don’t think it wants to hurt us.”
After what she had experienced, Luna didn’t know if she could have trusted anything in that cemetery. But, Misty was the one who could sense such things more clearly than herself. Putting her trust in the griffin, Luna followed her down the path. In time, she found herself back at the stairs that led to the upper level of the cemetery. She placed one hoof on the steps, and noticed the swinging light at the top of it.
It was Misty who climbed the steps first. She quickly ascended the steps, eager to reach the top. Luna watched as she stopped at the last step and looked around. When she joined Misty at the top, she saw nothing. The breeze picked up and Misty gathered her coat closer to her body. She looked in the direction of the breeze, and finally found what they were looking for. There, by its lonely little cliffside was the grave of Dusty.
There was no sign of the old griffin who once looked after the dead. Just what was left of her that laid in the ground. Misty looked all around, nearby and off into the distance beyond the cliffs.
“Is anypony here?” Luna asked.
“No. I can’t feel her. It’s like she just disappeared,” Misty answered.
Luna looked around, feeling suddenly anxious for the disappearance of the one friend who could have helped her in that place. The last time any friends abandoned her, she was hunted by the demons who dwelt there. She looked for any mysterious lights, and turned her nose up to smell for any sulfur.
The feathers on Misty’s wings began to prickle, and a cold chill ran down her back. She turned around, and found that the cliff she was just looking at was now behind her, and the steps were gone. She noticed Luna inching closer to the edge of the cliff as she looked around a sign of trouble.
“Princess! Stop!” Misty yelled.
Luna’s back hoof slipped off the edge of the cliff. She looked over her shoulder and saw an endless void covered with fog. When she caught herself, she rejoined Misty by the grave and looked around herself, finding that they were suddenly on an island in the middle of a sea of fog.
“What is this?!” Misty said.
“I’m so sorry I brought you into this. This has been happening to me all my life,” Luna said.
“What!?”
“It was never this bad before. I’ve always been able to find a way out, but I can’t do anything with this wing!”
Misty tried flapping her own wings, and found that she was unable to get any lift. She ran around the edges of the island, trying to find any way off. It was no use. She and Luna were trapped there, with only the grave for company.
From within the fog, a hellish red light began to shine. Dimly at first, it began to glow as bright as the sun. The ground at the edge of the island fell away into the void, and the bones of at least a hundred dead filed out to arrange themselves into a staircase that reached down into the heart of that evil light. From within, there came another light. One that was smaller, dimmer, and swung back and forth as it came closer to the two on the island.
Luna’s heart quickened. She thought she knew what was coming, and stepped back with Misty, who waited with her breath paralyzed. The light appeared at the top of the stairs, and in moments an elderly griffin with a lantern appeared at the top.
“Dusty,” Luna said.
“I am,” the old griffin answered. “I see you’ve met my granddaughter. Hello, Misty. It’s good to see you again.”
Misty stared in the direction of her grandmother, uttering not a word. She stood frozen to the spot, unable to free her voice.
“Misty? Will you not answer your grandmother?” Luna asked.
“She’s not being rude. She simply can’t see or hear me,” Dusty answered. “She’s always been that way, ever since she was a chick. It was why I shared what I knew about the story of Anathema and Cunning Fire.”
“Cunning Fire?” Luna asked.
“Yes. Her friend who began this whole mess. Or, at least who was once believed to have done so. Even by myself.”
“What really happened that day? When this town died?”
Dusty said nothing, her face becoming a stone mask. She stared blankly for many moments, her lantern flickering as it hung from her harness.
“It’s not my place to say for certain. But, there are others who can. Others who even the dead fear to cross,” she said.
“Who are they? Where can the living find them?” Luna asked.
Dusty looked over her shoulder to the steps behind herself, and her lantern flickered out.
Misty looked in the direction of her grandmother, and her knees began to shake. There was fear all around her, and she could feel something cold and evil that was very nearby.
“There is only one path to take for the answers you seek,” Dusty said.
Luna walked closer to the edge of the steps and looked down. The bones of the dead reached down, deep into the hellish light that laid sunken at the bottom of the foggy abyss. Wherever that was, whatever was down there, it was going to lead to the truth that she so desperately sought. And with it, the way out of her terrible life.
Misty watched, silently shaking her head as Luna looked back at her.
“What’s down there?” Luna asked.
“It’s not for the living to be told. Only to be seen with their own eyes when their time comes. My time has long passed. And I fear that I cannot linger any longer in the world of the living. You’re going to need to rely on one another if you wish to find the truth. Please, Princess, take care of my granddaughter,” Dusty replied.
Luna watched as she began to see Misty through her grandmother’s image. Misty began to walk forth, and reached out to her grandmother. Dusty turned around and smiled sweetly. She could convey no words to Misty. She didn’t need to. Anything that she could have said was nothing compared to what Misty would have felt from her. Dusty raised a withered talon and touched it to Misty’s, making it pass right through hers. Misty tried to walk forward, but walked right through her grandmother, who walked to her own grave and disappeared in a burst of smoke, which was absorbed into the soil.
Misty’s heart pounded up into her throat, and she began to cry.
“Misty? Are you alright?” Luna asked.
“I…I’m fine. It’s just I…I never felt anything like that before. Not from anypony living…”
Luna allowed Misty a moment to collect herself, before the griffin walked to her side to look over the skeletal path before them. They exchanged a worried glance, and Luna was allowed to take the first step down into the unknown.
They descended into the depths, where the hellish light began to fade the further they went, until even the bones beneath them were only gray silhouettes. All else was lost to the mists, taken away from the familiarity of sight and sound. After what felt like forever, they finally touched what felt as close to ground as they could understand it. It was coarse, grainy, and moved loosely beneath the steps of the travelers, who stayed as close to one another as they could.
“Ouch!” Luna yelped when Misty bumped her injured wing.
“Sorry,” Misty said.
“Think nothing of it. But, try to stay close. We don’t know what we’ll find down here.”
The fog began to clear, and they found something that they never would have expected. There was the mouth of a large cave, rocks hanging from its opening like the fangs of a fierce beast. They walked inside, and the depths of the cave illuminated with that hellish light. Before them, there was a gate. A large, red, twisted portal that terminated in sharp skewers that were only turned inward. At the top of the gate was an arch, which read the inscription: Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.
The gates opened on their own, and the light from the depths flickered ominously. Misty shivered violently when what must have been all the fear and anguish that ever was washed over her. But, there was no turning back. Not for her or for Luna, who could hear the laments of the lost, faltering little by little. Their voices lingering in the evil beyond, waiting for deliverance.
They crossed through the gates, and the way behind them was lost to the mists.