Knights
of the Everfree
Mistakes and Insanity:
It was several years later, in late winter. Lightning Shaker was now one of the Elite Royal Guards in Princess Celestia’s service. He now had sole responsibility for the care of the Everfree Forest, and those who enter it.
The snow had really piled up, the weather team had fought it, but a blizzard from the Everfree had pulled in and dumped a huge amount of snow all over the town, blanketing everything in a white stillness.
Everything was quiet; most ponies having retreated to their homes with cozy fires, Lightning however, had a reason for being outside right now. In the years since he first met Princess Celestia, many things had happened; Lightning had earned his cutie mark, twin lightning bolts arcing from a cloud, also his eventual 'knighthood' and post over the Everfree being the good things. However there were also bad things that happened; things Lightning Shaker would never be able to deal with fully.
The pegasus huffed and shook the snow off of himself as he continued his walk silently, contemplating what he was going to say to his friends when he got there. ‘How do I even begin to make up for this; for all the things I’ve screwed up?’ He wondered internally.
He turned down the road to the only part of Ponyville where all the residences were made of stone. Some of them were simple, others far more elaborate. Lightning often thought many of these were merely decoration, not actually fit to be the place where a pony rested itself. Lightning turned down the row he needed. It wasn’t long before he’d be where his friends were.
Lightning noticed a lone pony as he passed; an earth pony sitting out in the cold, her sleek body looking more as it belonged in Canterlot than Ponyville. She watched Lightning as he passed, her expression as cold as the air around him.
As he passed, Lightning kept a wary eye on the pony, but aside from the sneering glare, she said or did nothing. It was several more minutes before Lightning reached his destination, staring at the stone structure with dread. ‘Well, I’m here, might as well get on with this.’ He thought as he opened his saddlebags to take out the gifts he had brought.
With tears in his eyes, Lightning Shaker laid the gifts out around the graves of his friends. “I’m sorry you guys, I should have tried harder. If I had done more, been better, you would all still be with me, instead of here in this place.” He sat down in front of the graves, each branded with the cutie mark of the pony that rested beneath them.
Lightning sobbed as he sat before the graves, the cold a distant memory for him; a problem for later. “I miss all of you; I would do anything to be with you again. You are my family and I’m not sure how I’m going to go on alone. I’m so sorry.” He hung his head, letting out a shuddering breath.
Lightning didn’t notice that he was joined by the silent earth pony, who was now standing behind him. He felt a hoof on his back, and looked up to see the earth pony from before standing next to him, her dark blue coat dusted with snow and her purple mane hanging down over her face, both wet from the snow melting against her. The earth pony smiled at Lightning. She crooned in a soothing voice, “All the fault here is yours, you know, all of this.”
Lightning looked up at her, shocked. had he heard her right? “What do you mean, how do you know this is my fault, and who are you?” He asked.
The pony next to him began chuckling, which rapidly dissolved into insane laughter. “You don’t recognize me, my little pony?” She asked between laughs, as her mane and tail erupted into a fiery blaze, her cutie mark — which had been a simple heart — now had arcing flames coming off of it.
Lightning Shaker stood, his expression shocked. “You’re one of the nightmares! Why won’t you leave us alone?”
“I thought you knew us far more fondly than this!” She yelled as a maddened glee contorted her face. The heat the nightmare put off was now causing the snow around them to rapidly melt.
Lightning backed away from the nightmare. “What do you want? Isn’t it enough that I’m alone now?” He never quite shouted, too defeated for the effort.
The nightmare sneered at him. “You think you are alone? You will never be alone. WE WILL ALWAYS BE HERE!” Her voice started rising as she slowly stalked after the pegasus.
Lightning heard a sound and looked behind himself, seeing the other two nightmares from before coming up behind him He stopped backing up, looking for a place to run to, but the area was thick with graves. His only choice would be flight, but that was quickly cut off by one of the nightmares, this one had wings, and was hovering just above him. “I’ll just have to fight you, and if you won’t back down, I’ll have to kill you.” He said, crouching defensively.
“KILL US? FOAL, WE CAN’T DIE!” She screamed at him, the heat coming from her intensifying. He tried to dart past the first one, who was an earth pony, but was caught as her mane snaked out and wrapped around his neck. “LITTLE FOAL, YOU WILL BE WITH US FOREVER. WE WILL TORMENT YOU FOR ALL ETERNITY.” She began laughing as her mane tightened around Lightning’s neck, choking him and the heat searing his fur. Lightning’s vision blurred, and he could already see the blackness creeping into his vision as the nightmare's laughs grew louder. The last thing Lightning heard was the unearthly cry of the nightmare, a sound so loud it shook everything around them and echoed all the way to Canterlot and beyond.
Then everything was black.