The Scarlet Eventide

by Burningbloom78

Flint

The sky is red, the wind is perilous, and the sound of two friends closer than anything ran for their lives, galloping through the Forest of Darkness. Something terrible was chasing them, something that defies peace and order, and it was gaining on them quickly.

A young mare, age eighteen, was gasping as she ran for her life. A slightly older stallion, twenty-one, ran close behind her, urging the mare to keep running.

The mare began to feel dizzy and dropped to the ground from tripping over a branch, exhausted. The stallion grabbed one of her forelegs.

"Come on!" he exclaimed, fear overtaking his voice. "Setiya, you have to keep running, come on! Get up, Setiya! Get up!"

Setiya struggled to breathe. "I...I can't, Flint," she softly said, sweating. "He's coming to destroy us... I can't go on anymore."

Flint grabbed Setiya's face and looked her straight in the eyes. "You aren't going to die here, Setiya," he asserted, forcing her off the ground. "I will not let you die here, I won't allow it! We're almost out of the forest!"

As Setiya tried to walk, the two ponies heard the clattering of armor, the dragging of a metallic object, and felt the ground shake with monstrous footsteps. Flint and Setiya felt an eerie force pass through them as they shook in fear.

There, in the darkness, a pair of blood-red eyes shot out, and the breathing of a beast filled the ponies' ears. It was only a silhouette, but that's all it needed.

A mere shadow invokes such panic and dread that any in its presence would most likely meet their end.

Setiya started weeping. "He is here!" she cried out. "Flint...I don't know what to do!"

Flint bit his lip and pulled Setiya, forcing her to run with him. As they ran, the mysterious creature's mace formchanged into a long flail. He throws his metallic weapon at the ponies, barely missing, ripping through the trees asunder with a booming crash, causing Setiya to scream in terror.

"Don't look back or slow down!" Flint shouted. "If any of us stop, we're finished!"

The creature continued his relentless assault, destroying the environment around Setiya and Flint until they finally made it out of the forest, but only to stop dead in their tracks. Despair flowed through them as they reached the end of the road.

"A cliff!" Setiya yelled in anger. "What kind of cruel fate is this?!"

"We can't fight that thing," Flint said. "We have to escape."

"Escape to where?!" Setiya cried out, looking back at the forest. "It's getting closer, Flint... What should we do?!"

Flint was perturbed, running his hoof through his mane. He looked over the cliff and saw a town off in the far distance.

Perhaps there was still hope for the both of them. Their hope lay just beyond...and the ocean is their only obstacle, and Flint believed they could make it.

"Setiya," he said, "we may be able to swim to that town, and the waters below aren't rapid or violent. This could be our only chance."

Setiya was unsure, but she trusted her friend more than anypony else. "Okay, Flint. I'm ready."

Before Setiya jumped, she heard words echoing inside her distressed mind, Can you spare a life?

Setiya then heard the creature's weapon hit something followed by a grunt. When she turned around, Setiya's eyes widened in despair. Flint was impaled with a spear through the chest by the creature's weapon, and blood flowed out, dripping on the ground and staining it red.

The weapon lit up and its physical form changed into a flail that pulled Flint, retracting back to the creature on its own by use of unknown magic, and causing immeasurable amounts of pain to Flint as he yelled out in agony.

The creature, at the very end of the forest, still just a silhouette, stood quietly. It watched as Flint struggled hopelessly. Perhaps it enjoyed his strife.

Flint coughed up blood that sprayed across Setiya's face and front hooves, and she stared at Flint as he bled. Setiya staggered and nearly retched in disbelief.

Flint fought the weapon's pull, scraping at the ground to slow its retraction.

"Set...Setiya." Flint uttered under his lips. He used magic to lift something from his pouch. "Here...I was going to give you this..."

Flint opened the pouch and gave Setiya a small box. She was too shocked to open what was inside, so Flint did it for her and revealed it to be a beautiful ring tied to a lovely black string. Flint put the necklace around Setiya's neck.

"That took all my bits," he said wincing in pain. "I was going to propose to you... but it seems I won't get the chance..."

The creature pulled Flint closer to him as Setiya latched onto him desperately, trying to save her mate.

"Flint!" Setiya cried out. "Flint, no! Stay with me! Look at me, don't close your eyes! Don't go!"

Flint started to lose consciousness. "I love you," he declared with his final words. His horn flickered as he cast a magic bubble around Setiya, moving her to the edge of the cliff.

"Flint, please don't do this! Don't leave me here alone!" she shouted.

Setiya wailed from inside the bubble, striking it, not wanting to leave Flint behind. Once she was over the water, Flint's magic gave out and he jerked toward the creature into the forest as Setiya began to fall into the ocean.

She fell into the blue waters with a loud splash. She swam to the surface and gasped for air, and then she stared at the cliff where Flint dropped her.

"I'm... so sorry," Setiya mumbled in a distraught tone. "Forgive me..."

Setiya wept for Flint before swimming towards the town in the far distance. Hours went by and Setiya almost made it to the shore of the town, but she fell unconscious due to fatigue. The last thing she saw was two silhouettes eying her from the shore.