Beyond My Grave: Nightlight

by AnnEldest

A Fur-ific Storm Ahead

The icy grey sky restlessly grumbled. The thick blacked clouds were dragged down by the heavy rain which was held in its delicate frame. The clouds which struggled to withstand the burden of the weight which the rain held, soon gave in. The rain poured down over the desert with a roar. The sound of emptiness was disrupted by the loud gregarious boom of thunder.

“It’s kinda weird to see such a storm in the deserts,” Spike said as he stared out the wind.

“We’ve been having them quite often recently,” the grey cat answered. “No coincidence, I assume.”

“You think it has something to do with the Fallen?” Luna asked.

“I do.”

“By the way, what’s your name? I didn’t catch it before.”

The gray cat chuckled. “I guess I never said that before. My name is Stellar.”

“So what? You’re part of the Guardians too?” Big Mac asked.

“Yes, of course.”

“I know this may come out sounding naive but like why are you involved with this kind of stuff? What do you Guardians have to do with the supernatural?”

“You see, just as your young Alicorn Princess and her friends do, we protect people as well. Just from a different kind of threat. They protect Equestria from threats of the living. Us Guardians protect them from the dead and creatures that were never alive, to begin with. When creatures manage to escape from the Nethers, we are there to stop them and put them back before causing any harm.”

“So are you like immortals, alive or what?” Luna spoke this time.

“It’s not that simple,” he said. “What makes us special isn’t that we are living beings that are very powerful. It’s also not that we are not alive.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s that we're kinda both. It’s hard to explain but it’s that we are in both, your world and theirs.”

They all looked at him, confused. He laughed.

“They always give the same look every time,” Shira laughed. Arch only smirked.

“I told you it's hard to explain. But think of it like this wherein two places at the same time. We're not just walking in this world but we're also in the other.”

“So you can see them and they can see you?” Luna tried clarifying.

He nodded. “If we choose to, yes.”

“So you're like psychics then?”

He scoffed a little. “Not exactly. Psychics can’t go into the Nethers on their own as we can.”

“But you can still see them like psychics,” she pointed out.

“True but unlike them when we are seeing them we’re in the Nethers. You can just see us while we're in there just as they can see us while we're here. Understand?” His voice was much sterner and slightly annoyed. It was clear that this was not the first time they were misunderstood like this.

“Yeah, understand.” Luna didn’t understand why he was getting mad.

“Good.”

“Why do you seem annoyed at that?” Luna snapped.

“I don’t think he meant it like that,” Spike jumped in.

“I think he did. What do you have against them?” She raised her voice a little at him making it clear to him that this was personal.

“We have nothing against them. We just don't necessarily agree with their practices is all. What we do is to protect people. Living or dead, we do it to help. We don't expect to get anything out of it. But for them, it's all a game. They publicize it and use it for fame. They failed to show people what this is really about. They don't show them the real threats out there. They only show people what they want to hear. they hide the truth from them. And half of the time they don't actually go out and stop these threats. They leave it to us to fix the problems.”

Luna felt a burn in the back of her throat. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She didn't want to believe it.

“I’m guessing you’re not a fan of Shredder than?” Discord asked.

“Nope.” Big Mac answered for Stellar who nodded his head.

“They're not all like that,” Luna defended.

“Yeah well enough of them are.”

“Well, they're not afraid to tell people who they are. They take whatever is thrown at them. Some may think you’re cowards for hiding behind them,” she growled at him.

He was about to snap back before Capper butted in. “You have to excuse the princess here. She takes this stuff very personally.”

“I can see that but why?”

“What do you think?” Capper asked back. “What other reason could she have?”

The realization then followed the Guardians there as their eyes soon widened. Shira leaned over to Arch and whispered something to him to which he shook his head. Stellar looked at Luna in disbelief.

“You're a psychic?”

“Like I said, not all of my kind do this to gain something.” She then turned to Arch and Shira. “I’m a lot more useful than you think.” And she left it at that.

“Let’s just get that chest thing or whatever it is,” Capper suggested.

“Yeah, we got a ride so it shouldn’t take too long,” Discord added.

They all then got into the wagon and made their way for the chest.

“Hey,” Discord whispered to Luna. “Don’t worry about what he said. It’ll be okay. “

Luna said nothing. She tried staying away from everyone. She was not in the mood to speak. Discord took this as a hint to not mess with her and just let her calm herself down. Everyone stayed quiet for the rest of the way there.

Even when night fell, the rain continued to pour. However, it was much calmer and light compared to what it was in the day. It set a somewhat peaceful mood in the atmosphere. Luna didn't mind the rain when it was like this. She used to fly a lot in the rain. Despite her usually getting soaking wet, it was calming to her. Just to hear how it fell onto the ground.

She knew she shouldn’t have taken it to heart but she couldn’t help but be angry. It was hard enough for her to accept this but knowing even the ones on her side had a problem against her, it just made it worse.

She kept looking up as it continued to rain. Her ears perked up when she heard someone walking next to her. Stellar sat down next to her and watched the rain with her.

“You like being alone?” He simply asked.

“Sometimes. It helps me think.” Luna knew she always had a problem of being always from everyone.

“Well, what are you thinking about now?”

“Just some personal things.” She didn’t want to go into details.

“Like what?” He pushed on.

“Look, forgive me if this sounds harsh but I would rather not tell my life story to a stranger.”

He smirked as he kept staring up at the cloudy night sky. “My Apologies. You seemed tense and I thought that I could help you.”

She shook her head. “I'm afraid there is no way anyone could help me with this.” He knew what she meant.

“You might be surprised. I guarantee you that none of us asked for this. If it was up to us none of us would be in this mess. We do this because we know we have to because if we don't no one else would. But that doesn't mean that we wanted this for ourselves,” He spoke with a gentle and calm demeanor. It wasn't the first time she was told this. However, it didn't make her feel like they could understand.

"I know where you're going with this. There's just so much more that no one knows about. There's so much more to the story than I’m not willing to share with anyone.”

“How bad was it for you?”

“R-really bad. More than what I can express in words. It almost killed me.” Her voice cracked a little as she tried not to cry. “I was forced to face a lot of this alone.”

“Is that why you're here?” She lifted her head a little in confusion. “So you won't have to be alone?

“That's part of it. I'm also trying not to run away from this. I can't hide. Not anymore,” she explained.

“So what do you plan on doing with your gift?”

Luna flinched at that. “I wouldn’t go that far to say it's a gift. I'm trying to accept what I am and try to use my powers the best way I can. I don't know how I'm going to do that yet but I guess that's why I'm here. To figure that out.”

“I still think your decision is unwise but I can respect it. I see what you're trying to do. My only hope is that you can accomplish it and still be alive to learn something from it,” he joked.

She laughed as her mind went back to the countless times that she and her friends nearly died from this life. “They haven't killed us yet so I have more hope than I probably should.”

“There’s one thing we can agree on at least.”

“I’ll take it,” she laughed. “At this point, my only real threat is my sister.”

“About that, does she know about any of this?”

“You mean does she know I'm psychic? And in that regard no she doesn't.”

“I don't get it. Why are you afraid that you feel like but you must hide this part of yourself from the world?” He asked her.

“It's the world that made me feel like I had to. There are the ones who shamed me for being like this.” Her voice sounded slightly sharper this time she spoke.

“They didn't accept you?” He asked.

“I I wouldn't say that since they didn't know. I didn't know at the time. It's more that they chose to hide from it and not try to understand nor see what this really was. My power I mean.”

“I don't understand how you do it. How do you go out to save all these people and not be afraid of what you're facing or what they could do if they knew what you were?”

“Who said that we weren't afraid, Princess Luna? It's not about being afraid. It's about being able to do it even when you are afraid,” He explained himself to her.

“Then tell me. How can I do it without letting fear stop me?” Her voice sounded pleading as if she was begging for an answer.

“The first thing you have to do is stop being afraid of yourself. Then stop being afraid of what has been done to you. No matter how bad it was.”

She covered her face with both hooves. “It's so hard to do that though. They did so so much to me.”

“Who’s they?” He leaned closer to her and whispered.

She hesitated to respond. These were things that she had troubles even talking to Discord about. “To be honest, I don't know what I saw. Sometimes I thought there were monsters other times I thought they were spirits and now I wonder if they were just demons.”

“What did they look like?”

“Most of them look like you and me. Alive and normal.” She thought about Silver Blitz and her father. “That's how it started out. I would see and speak to random ponies I saw and everypony else around me said that I was speaking to nothing.”

Stellar stayed quiet and was very patient as he listened to Luna spoke. He knew now that she was more comfortable with speaking to him. Just as he planned.

“I used to see my father a lot after he died. I would speak to him and I didn't know if it was actually him. Sometimes I would yell at him and tell him to leave me alone and other times I would hug him and cry and beg him to help me then ask him why he wasn’t with us anymore. The doctors said that it was just a coping mechanism that I was using to grieve.” Her eyes started to water as she held back tears. She took a deep breath before continuing.

“It started out normal. I could look away and pretend they weren't there and convince everyone that I was always fine. But then it got worse. They got more aggressive with me. They wouldn't leave me alone. Then there was one particular spirit that started harassing me every night; give me the same nightmares and attack me. But just like everything else, my sister and our mentor couldn't see it. They couldn't see what I saw so they didn’t believe me.”

Stellar noticed Luna’s hooves shaking as she twitched a little. Her breath was shaky and she was breathing more heavily now. it was like she forgot who she was talking to as she was staring out into the empty land. Her eyes filled with fear.

“I found out later that he was a murderer that I met once when he was alive. He was getting power from some demon to harass me. They knew that I had no one to go to so they could do anything they wanted to me. He stopped tormenting me after a while. I don’t know why he stopped. I didn’t see him for a very long time but then he came back. My friends helped me stop him but the damage was already done.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, my sister along with everyone else thought I was crazy. They forced me to see a therapist and take medication and try to get me to admit that I wasn't seeing things that were real. I knew with every ounce of my body that this wasn't in my head. My sister and I would get into fights all the time. I….” She closed her eyes as she thought of something to herself, debating if she should say what she wanted to say next. “I thought about doing some fucked up shit, thinking it would stop it. Nothing worked so I ended up convincing myself otherwise just so everyone else would stop saying I was crazy.”

She looked over to him with a cold stare this time. “That is why I’m afraid,” she spat.

He said nothing to her. His only response was just crossing his arms and continuing to look out to the desert. The rain has stopped at this point so only silence could be heard.

“Well?” She snapped. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“There's nothing I can say,” He bluntly stated. “I get it. What you went through was awful. And what made it worse is that you were betrayed by those who said that would help you. I understand that it hurts. I understand why you want to be here and I understand why you don't want to tell them who you really are. I see that you’re different.”

“So what do I do?” She asked.

“I think you being here is one thing you can do. It definitely shows that you are not afraid or at least not letting it stop you. It's a good start.” He gave a light-hearted smile.

“I know I let a lot on you but thanks for listening. I guess it did help a little,” she admitted.

“No problem.”

“I hope you understand more about us or at least me.”

“A little," he confessed. "Though, I just have something I need to ask. That demon you mentioned. The one that helped that murderous spirit. Do you happen to know who it was?”

Luna laughed mockingly as she scoffed. “More than I would like. Shader is his name.”

“Shader?”

“Why? You know him?” Luna asked.

“More than I would like,” he joked. “I must say I'm surprised though. He doesn't usually mess with the living unless they're very important to him.”

“Well, I must have been.” She started to remember some of the things he told her back when she and Discord were trapped in Barry Tart’s house.

Stellar saw this. “What is it?”

“Actually, he told me that there was so much more I didn't understand. That there was something bigger going on and I didn't know. He said that he needed my powers to get free.”

“Free from what?” He asked carefully.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged.

“You had dreams about him?”

“I know one distinctive dream I had of him but it really wasn't that big of a deal. I mean for a while I had some weird dreams where I heard 2 voices fighting over me, telling me to follow them and said that my time was coming or that I needed to wake up but I never understood what they meant.”

Stellar leaned in closer to her and looked up and down at her body as if he was examining her for something. She shifted a little to the side as she was getting uncomfortable by this. He then leaned back but still kept staring at her weirdly.

“Princess Luna, did Shadder say anything else to you that stood out?”

She thought to herself for a moment when something came to mind. “He called me his Angel Of Darkness.”

Their journey continued as they made their way deeper into the guardian’s land. Spike still took great notice of how destroyed the land was. For a place of divine creatures and protectors, their home was one only of the womb of war. After another great length of riding in the car, they finally reach their destination. A large mountain with two large statues of armored felons beside a large archway.

Stellar told Luna to stop before entering the temple. He stepped out of the cart and slowly walked up to the Arch. He turned back to the car and cupped his paws around his mouth. “Only Capper and Discord!” He yelled out.

“What did he say?” Discord asked as he turned to Arch.

“He only wants you two,” Arch replied as he pointed to the Discord and the cat next to him.

“Why only us?” Capper asked.

“Well I guess we’ll, you will find out.”

The two made their way out of the cart and followed Steller into the temple. Inside laid a display of large statues of icons and divine creatures. Capper and Discord stood in awe of the grander design of the palace. Stellar led the two to a small room that was lit up but a single flame. A large bowl in the center of the room that was illuminated with a bright purple flame was their only source of light.

Stellar looked down at the bowl and then back at Capper. “Well, this is it,” He whispered. “All of the secrets of the Fallen are said to reside here.”

Discord leaned over and stared into the bowl. He saw that among the flames there was a large golden chest. “That’s it?”

“Yup,” Stellar smiled. “We’ve been trying to get to it for weeks now, but we found out pretty quickly that it wasn’t going to be possible without him.”

“What do I have to do?” Capper asked

“The flames won’t extinguish for anything that’s not wielding that sword.” Stellar stepped back as he pointed to the chest. “The fate of pretty much everything could quite possibly depend on opening that chest.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Discord asked. “Let's open it already!?”

Capper stepped forward and drew his sword from his back. He looked up at Stellar before he reached out towards the flame. “Well here goes nothing.”

---

“What happened!?” Luna yelled out into the heavy rain.

Discord came running out as he sheltered from the bombardment of water. “There seems to be a complication.”

“With what,” Luna asked as she moved under Discord’s umbrella.

“He tried to open the chest but apparently he can’t.”

“Umm, what,” Luna gasped.

“Ya, I really don’t know what happened, and honestly neither does Stellar.” Discord looked back to the temple and sighed. “There was this purple fire that prevented anyone from touching the chest and Capper was supposed to be able to extinguish it, but he instead burnt his entire arm.”

“Oh, shit,” Luna gasped. “Is he alright?”

“Ya, he’s fine. Stellar stayed back with him while I came out.”

Luna sighed as she leaned back against the cart. He took a deep breath as she stared at the ground. “So what are we going to do then?” She asked as she looked up at him.

“Well, I actually have an idea about that.” Discord ran past Luna and into the cart; she was quick to pursue him.

“Wait, Discord what are we going to do?”

Discord went to the back where everyone was either laying on the ground or asleep on one of the seats. Spike sat up as he yawned. “Spike?”

“Heeyyyy,” Spike yawned. “Did you open the chest thingy or whatever?”

“Ya about that,” Discord chucked.

“What?’ Spike asked as he rubbed his eyes.

“Do you still have that ritual we did a few days ago?”

“Ritual?” Spike whispered as he leaned back in his seat. “Oh ya, I still have the stuff we used.”

“Good cause that took way too much time and painstaking effort.” Big Mac said as he sat up.

“Well, I need it, like right now.”

Spike blinked a couple of times before he looked up at the draconequus. “Why?”

Discord smiled at the question. “Let’s just say we’re going to need two things: one of the Fallen and the Mooti Mootu.”

Author's Note:

One down, three more to go. We are getting close to the end.

Till Next Time!!!