Cold air permeated the cavern. Few come near the domain it is so isolated, so foreboding. No light enters, and no light may escape. Spires of black reach up, supporting the prison’s ceiling, making sure the occupant is not crushed. This, is where the rat arrives, having scavenged for so long that it would deny its natural instincts, just for a chance to eat.
It scurried along the cold, hard floor, sniffing at the rocks that it passed by. Another cold draft passed through the hole it came in. With such a small entrance, the rat had to wonder how anything had gotten in before it to eat any of the leaves or berries it may find. With its continued search though, it found no such thing. No leaves, no grass, and not even dirt to nestle into.
All it found was bone.
Bones of various creatures who had come before it. Come, searching for food just like the rat, and starved there. The rat did not know this as he saw the carcass of a fellow mouse. He simply assumed a predator had arrived, and this was what was left. It still saddened him, but also filled him with determination to not stop searching.
His claws filled the air with their soft sound as he leapt, bounded, and ran through the cavern. Something about this place made the pain in his stomach become worse, and he found himself desperately needing any sort of food. He even thought that if his mouse brother had had any meat left, he might try to be like one of their predators. It disgusted him, but anything was better than this awful hunger.
Soon though, he entered the final part of the chamber, where light was to be found. Two circles illuminated the ground with soft light, one of blue, one of white. Something about them helped put off the pain, if not for just a moment, and he thanked them for it. He spent another moment viewing them, taking in the intricate lines and thinking about how beautiful the shifting light was within them.
The thing within the two circles then decided to move, and the rat could only feel his pain grow and grow while looking upon the creature. It put one hoof besides the rat, slamming it down upon the ground as it found itself awoken by something. The creature blinked a few times, trying to pinpoint the energy. Pinpoint what had awoken it from its slumber.
The rat did not care though. It was looking at the flesh that was on the hoof, barely clinging to the exposed bone underneath. Its reservations were gone, the pain in its core being all that it knew, and it skittered over the symbols. The creature’s head swiveled down, its four hooves now planted firmly as the rat came close.
It waited, and once the rat was on, futilely nibbling on the skin, he raised the hoof to his face. The rat ignored the beast’s gaze, even as the light of the symbols bounced off of the exposed part of its skull. The creature was considering what to do, to call it meal, or friend, when a tremor passed through the cave. A rock from above came down, and smashed into the beast’s head.
It came back up, none of the rest of its body having moved with the blow, and it could hear the pitter patter of shards of bone hitting the ground. It didn’t deserve the injury. Didn’t deserve the insult. It was supposed to be the strongest being there was, and yet a simple rock could still hurt it, even after all this time.
At least he had just recieved a way to repair himself.
The creature lowered his hoof, his jaw slowly moving as the crunching of bones filled the air, and no rat found the ground again. The hole that had appeared in his skull slowly mended itself, closing the gap as the crunching became softer, and softer. Finally, the beast swallowed, its magic only allowing the soul of the rat to continue to exist, and even that was consumed by the soul within the creature.
The pony shook his head, feeling a few tendrils of hair come down over its face. A faint green glowed from within the two empty sockets it called eyes, and some skin came back around its teeth. The runes closer to the beast flared, and a blast of lunar magic came up, searing both the flesh and the strands of mane from it. The symbols had long ago lost their ability to completely keep him down, letting flesh cling to the monster, and some of its arcane powers to still exist.
It lowered its head, its magic soon resonating from its body; fishing for power, and answers. In response, it heard exactly what it had been waiting for.
‘A being, come out of the darkness after hundreds of years, will be given the chance to live. However, just as life will be shown to her, so must nature show death within the first year. When both sides have shown their might, her choice must be made; To accept what she is, or to fight what no soul has beaten. The end result will favor death, or life, and Equestria will have to follow that path with which she chooses.’
A cackle left the beast as it reared up, and brought its hooves crashing down upon the ground, its power being released in a colossal wave, overcoming most that it met. Stone cracked, bones broke, and spires shook. As the darkness faded around it, the creature noted that only the last ring of white runes remained, and even they were now faded. A smile split his jaw.
“By the end of your year, deary, I will have you, and I will break you.”