//------------------------------// // Revenge is Everlasting // Story: Dying Embers // by MrSpartan //------------------------------// It was nighttime. The stars shone like diamonds and the moon, majestic and full, had been raised over all the land. As Ponyville and its citizens began preparing for bed, happy and content, not too far away, just in the edge of the infamous Everfree forest, the pony responsible for the beautiful night trotted quietly. She had a deep blue flowing mane and tail, with stars that seemed to sparkle in them as they would in the night sky. She wore a strange black metal plate around her neck with the symbol of a crescent moon on it, just like the mark that adorned her flank. Luna normally resided in her nation's capitol, Canterlot, with her sister Celestia, but lately at night she had taken to nightly walks on an unused path she had recently found. It led past the ancient ruins of a castle, where the nightmare moon incidant had been successfully resolved with aid of the Elements of Harmony.There was a strange glen with an old worn tablet with writing in a language even Luna, despite being thousands of years old, could not decipher. She found the glen had all the traits she found so interesting about the Everfree Forest. It held a sense of ancientness to it that was rare for Luna to experience; with her age, nothing ever seemed that way to her anymore. It also possessed a strange, dark mystery to it that she felt she related with, even after her purification by the elements. She was headed there now along the few remaining cobblestones on that old path. As she reached it, she stared at the lone tablet sitting upright in its spot at the center of the glen. Princess Luna happily kneeled down onto the grass next to it as the moonlight filtered through the leafy canopy of the forest down upon her. After about thirty minutes she felt an uncomfortable chill on the back of her neck. The forest had gone quite. That’s strange. The only time it’s ever quite in this forest is when a powerful predator nears, yet I am not nearly deep enough for it to be a manticore or hydra. There was no telltale howling of timberwolves either. She still felt like something was watching her however, so she turned away from the tablet shouting, “If thou art smart, thou shalt show thyself immediately or leave, lest you anger the Princess of the Night There was no response. The Princess wondered if perhaps it was simply her mind playing tricks, but she could still sense something skulking around in the shadows. Losing her patience, she cast a spell of starlight. What she saw both shocked and disgusted her. Half hidden behind a tree was something Luna had never seen before. It stood on two legs and wore clothes over most of its body, but that wasn’t the shocking part. What was, was that this thing’s body was sickeningly skinny, as if it were starving to death. Its left hand was like a monkey’s paw, but less hairy while it’s right was a skeletal version of the same thing with a black ring with a blood red ruby affixed to its center on its middle finger bone. Its face had a slight fullness the rest of its body didn’t but had clearly seen better days. The entire left side of its jawbone and cheekbone were exposed. It had a nose like an ape, instead of a muzzle, and its brown eyes were smaller than those of a pony. Its eyes had a pain in them that, had Luna not been alive so long as to be able to read others, would have gone entirely unnoticed. Its mane was the color of blackest midnight and long and straight like the members of a famous pony band, Ponallica, that Luna once saw in an older magazine. However, it was thin, unkempt and hanging in tangled strands. It had no facial hair as far as Luna could see. It wore loose trousers and a simple shirt that hung off its body. Both of them were black. It had a weathered, black trench coat with numerous tears and moth eaten holes in it. “Hello there,” it muttered. Its voice indicated it was male. Luna was almost speechless “Who…what art thou?” The creature ignored her as it stepped past her, causing Luna to flinch to the side with a look of fear on her face. She wasn’t one to be scared of much, but this thing wasn’t natural. She could sense the dark arcane aura around him. He went up to the tablet protruding from the ground. He kneeled down as he read aloud the words- “Here lies the remains of Sir Illitheous and his wife Naivara 32 and children Paelias 10, Mika 4.” Luna, despite the unnerving situation, found herself holding back a tear. “This is a grave?!” she exclaimed in shock. He seemed to ignore her question, but this time he turned around to face her with his back to the grave marker. “Princess Luna,” its voice now cold with not a trace of emotion in it “listen and listen well. I want your sister to get this message,” he said, the forest and sky darkening. “She thinks herself safe, that she is infallible. She won’t think so when the armies of man return to her doorstep and claim what is rightfully ours as we burn the empire she and both your parents built atop the bodies of our dead. Tell her,” The wind suddenly picked up and was blowing furiously as lightning flashed above and thunder cracked menacingly around them. “Tell her that humanity has returned!” Just then lightning struck. The half dead figure was nowhere to be seen the next instant. Luna found herself flying as fast as she could back to the castle in Canterlot. She had to tell Celestia!