Beyond My Grave: Exhumed

by AnnEldest

Dead Memories

Something plummeted from the sky over the old Canterlot cemetery, screaming all the while as it flailed its limbs in every direction. There was no time for the purple and green comet to comprehend the unnaturally soft landing.

“What took ya?” Discord asked.

“Why didn’t you teleport me?” Spike asked, as he stood up from the mattress that had materialized beneath him.

“Even I can’t predict how this magic’s gonna work. You were just unlucky enough to be catapulted while I blinked into this place.”

A pillow hit Discord directly in his face. Before he could say anything, Spike crawled off the mattress to the ground.

“Where’s Princess Luna,” he asked.

“This way,” Discord said, as he floated down the path.

Spike followed him all the way through the graveyard, until they reached a grimy headstone by an unguarded cliff. Once they were both there, Spike took off his backpack and started unpacking the components that he had brought along.

“Do you have everything?” Discord asked.

“Yeah. Chalk,” Spike said, as he sprinkled a circle. “Something that belongs to Princess Luna,” he said, placing it in the center of the chalk. “Mirror,” he kept that in the pack, “Lavender,” he kept that in his claw. And finally, he took his spellbook out of the pack and started reading. His eyes darted frantically across the page, until he memorized the process. “Okay. Get in the circle.”

Discord and Spike both stepped into the circle, back to back.

“Are you sure this will work?” Discord asked over his shoulder.

“Don’t look at me. You can’t look at any living for this to work,” Spike said.

Discord did as he was told and looked ahead into the distance. Behind him, Spike blew his fire onto the lavender, creating a strong fragrance. Next, he placed one claw into his palm that held the lavender and dug it deep and hard enough to draw blood. The blood mingled with the burning lavender, turning the smoke into a sickening black color and making it churn and billow in thick clouds instead of the white wisps as before.

“Vatta…Laratus…Norom…” Spike said.

Discord saw that nothing had happened. Again, Spike chanted the words. And again, over and over with varying grades of conviction. As the moments carried on, Discord began to doubt the efficacy of the spell. Until he noticed some other scent that mingled with the lavender. A sharp, pungent odor like rotten eggs and gunpowder. With it, the ground where the chalk was sprinkled started to smoke. He wanted to ask if this was what was supposed to happen, but stopped himself from looking. In the distance, something appeared in the sky. A rolling stormcloud that rumbled with red lightning, and low, eerie thunderclaps. Within, some other shape appeared in the clouds.

A massive, horned head reared up, baring its fangs for all to see and shining its orange eyes at Discord. Enormous forelegs seemed to burst from the clouds and meld back in as the storm roared toward him.

Discord closed his eyes, unsure if what he was seeing was real or not. Anything to get the spell to work. The overpowering smell mixed with the sounds of the storm. Weightlessness overtook Discord, as he suddenly couldn’t tell if his eyes were opened or closed. And in another moment, he landed on the ground.

“Spike?” Discord called.

“Right here.”

Discord turned to the direction he heard Spike’s voice, and saw the little dragon there, even though the world around them was completely blacked out.

“Where are we?” Spike wondered.

“I have no damn clue,” Discord muttered.

Spike continued to read his spellbook, looking for some way to guide them. But, Discord saw something else in the darkness. Two white orbs that crackled with red lightning that were growing ever closer.

---

In a tiny, wooden bed, Luna sat with her sketchbook open. She scribbled across the page, not even in the mood to doodle, much less make a coherent picture. The day had only begun, and it was already looking bleak. Her precious older sister had been hurried out of the house to go to some big, important thing that Luna couldn’t understand. All she knew was it was for somepony who was supposed to do something big and special, to show how big and special that pony was. And that she wasn’t invited to go along.

The sun shone through the round window, onto the bed across from her own. The white sheets seemed to glow brightly under their shine, emphasizing the suns that were printed across the blanket. As for her own dark blanket with the little stars and moons, not a bit of light seemed to reach it. Luna turned back to her sketchbook, trying hard to block out the light that was trying to intrude on her, but it was no good. The glare of gold and white persisted in the corner of her vision, until Luna slammed her book shut and threw her pencil to the floor.

Too many things reminded her of her sister there. Luna rolled off her bed onto the polished wood floor, then walked to the stairs. She made sure to avoid the one stair that squeaked as she descended, then quietly walked to the kitchen door. Making sure she made no noise, she peered in. Nopony was there. Just the chipped countertop that was loaded with the mess from everypony else’s breakfast. Once she was sure nopony else would notice her, she set to work quietly making her breakfast. The first thing that she got was a stool, so that she could reach the countertop.

Luna climbed up to the top of the stool and looked over what mess was left for her. Classic Celestia. Clutter up the counter so that nopony else could use it. It was a sure sign that she was the one who had made breakfast that morning. After some searching she was able to find the pan that she needed, and found it was still slightly greasy from whatever her sister had used it for. Next, she took the bowl of apples from the other side of the counter and picked up the knife she needed to slice them.

“Luna?”

Luna almost jumped when she heard the voice call to her. When she looked over, there was a stallion with a white coat and a golden mane sitting at the dining room table. Set before him was a plate of blueberry pancakes.

“You know your mother and I don’t like you to use the knives by yourself,” he said.

“But, Celestia gets to!” Luna protested.

“Celestia’s old enough to do it on her own. Besides, we already have pancakes made. Come on over and have some.”

Luna had so looked forward to caramelized apples with cinnamon. But since she never got to do what she wanted when her family was around, she sulked over to the table where she climbed into her chair.

“I know. How cruel of me to make you have blueberry pancakes for breakfast,” the stallion said. His joke hadn’t gone over so well, as Luna sat before her empty plate, not even touching the pancakes. The stallion flared up his magic, and levitated a stack of pancakes over to Luna. “Well, don’t wait up. Blueberries don’t stay ripe forever.”

For several seconds, Luna looked at her plate, but didn’t eat a thing.

“Celestia’s gone to her ceremony thing, hasn’t she?” she finally said.

The stallion put down the bite of pancakes that he was about to eat and scooted closer to Luna.

“Sweetie, the thing you need to understand about that is that nopony expected this kind of thing to happen. Not even Starswirl saw this coming. It’s something that’s going to change all of our lives. And, to be completely honest, I don’t know if even I’m going to be able to handle it. I mean, who would have expected Celestia of all ponies to ascend?”

He must have sounded prouder than he meant to, because Luna’s face took a sudden sour turn.

“Why don’t we just eat breakfast?” the stallion said. He scooted back over to his spot at the table and took a bite of his pancakes. “Mm! Luna, you’ve got to try these pancakes your mother made. They’re probably the best she’s done yet.”

“Celestia made them. ”

“Is that right?” the stallion asked. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. She always wanted to be like her mother. Here, try a bite.”

Luna shook her head.

“Maybe later. I’m not very hungry now.”

“Okay. More for me,” the stallion said.

The rest of breakfast was spent with that bitter conversation Luna had those many centuries ago. She had always known her parents favored her precious, perfect older sister. Even when she left a mess on the counter, they always turned a blind eye and cleaned it up themselves. Luna? They always scolded her and made her clean it up herself. After Luna left the breakfast table, she holed herself up in her room again, and kept her head beneath her pillow, muffling her tears.

Nopony came to see her at all for the rest of that day. She remained there, still as a stone, thinking about the wonderful things that her parents would have to say about Celestia once she came home. All the new reasons that they would have to compare her to her sister and all the great things she would have to aspire to match.

Very suddenly, Luna noticed the shadows on the wall. Looking out her window, she saw that the sun had gone down almost completely. Her mind went back to that terrible exchange she had at breakfast. Even though she didn’t appreciate the comparisons to her sister, amends could always be made with her parents. Not wanting to hold any grudge, Luna walked back downstairs.

“Poppa?” she called.

There was no answer. Odd for that time of day. With her sister and mother out of the house, there was no way that her father would be gone.

“Poppa, where are you?”

She opened the front door and looked out into the yard. Her father was nowhere to be seen. Around to the back, and he still wasn’t there.

Beyond the backyard, there was a forest. A deep, dark forest that led to who knew where. Oftentimes, she and her father would walk down the forest path, but only to the crossroads. After that, they always turned around and went back the way they came, back to their home. As a rule, Luna was never allowed to go there by herself. But, she knew that was where her father had gone. There was nowhere else for him to have gone. Luna walked toward the treeline, ready to find her father and make things right.

“Poppa?” she called. “Poppa, I’m here!”

Luna walked down the forest path, and the sun slowly disappeared beneath the horizon. She looked all around herself, seeing the curious eyes of a hundred forest creatures watching her from every nook and cranny. By that time, she had stopped calling for her father, fearing that some unknown beast would be drawn to her shouts. Instead, she listened for any sign of him. Movement on the trail ahead of her. The sound of his hooves. But, nothing came. She could only hear the sounds of the things beyond the path, waiting until the sun disappeared to take her away from the light forever.

The bushes on the trail ahead rustled.

“Poppa? Is that you?” Luna whispered.

There was no answer, and the bushes only rustled louder. Luna slowly backpedaled from the bushes, until the horror within it burst forth. It was small, with a pale white face and a mouth filled with sharp fangs. It crawled along a branch, until Luna was able to see it perfectly.

“Oh. Hello, Mr. Possum,” Luna said to the little animal.

The possum looked at Luna curiously, then hung from its tail and looked at her from side to side.

Luna giggled at the sight of it, wondering if maybe her parents would allow her to have one as a pet. If such things were allowed to be kept, that is.

The possum suddenly scampered into the bushes, and the sounds of its movement disappeared entirely. Luna almost peered in after it, until a sudden fog rolled over her. She looked left and right, suddenly unable to tell which direction she had come from. The forest had become all the same to her. Without knowing which way she was going, Luna remembered that she only needed to go back if she reached the crossroads. Since she hadn’t reached them yet, she would be alright no matter which way she went. Trusting her instincts Luna walked on. And it seemed that her trust had paid off.

Somewhere ahead of her, she could see a shadow in the fog. The silhouette of a stallion who was walking away from herself. The moment she saw him, Luna started trotting as fast as she could to catch him up, calling out to him to stop. The stallion kept walking, as if he hadn’t heard her at all, until he disappeared into the mists.

“Poppa! Wait! Don’t go!” Luna called out to him.

She was left alone now. Her own father didn’t want to talk to her. And for just one moment, Luna didn’t want to live anymore.

A sound from somewhere made Luna turn her head. Had her father come back? It seemed he had not, as the sounds of a filly sobbing reached her ears. And it was coming from off the path. It went against every rule she knew to stray from the forest path, but if somepony was hurt, she was the only one who was able to help at that moment.

Luna walked off the trail and followed the sounds, down to a vast lake that she had never known existed before. There, sitting on a fallen log was a filly with a silver mane. As delicately as she could, Luna approached the crying filly.

“Filly?” she began, “Why are you crying?

Everything became a blur after that. Luna spoke to the filly and offered to help her home. They walked together through the woods, the filly always a few steps behind her. And then, she saw it.

There was another shadow through the fog up ahead. Something the exact size of a grown stallion. But, it was all wrong. It was long, thin, and held in the air as if by some thread. Luna walked closer, growing more and more apprehensive at the sight. She stepped in something wet, and looked at her hoof. It was covered in something thick and red. Her heart began to race as she looked up. There the stallion hung from the tree, his white coat and golden mane streaming with red, hanging from a vicious hook that impaled his neck. The wind blew, swinging his body to the side, revealing his wide open eyes. He looked at Luna, calling to her. Begging her to save him.

There was nothing Luna could do but scream.

Author's Note:

This chapter got a huge fix.

Till Next Time!!!