Beyond My Grave: Exhumed

by AnnEldest

Run Like Hell

Fog drifted through the graveyard in waves, leaving small patches of clear ground. As it rolled on, Luna was revealed, sitting on a tombstone. She tapped her hoof against the stone, waiting for Discord to reveal himself. But, after so long, she began to realize that he may have truly gone away. However he did it, she wished that she could have followed him. She had tried using her magic to clear the fog, to fly away, and even to teleport back home. But, nothing worked. For all she could tell, it had simply gone away.

Whatever the case, Luna decided simply to leave without Discord. Whatever he was hiding, she would be able to drag it out of him some other time. Likely in the far future. Putting the frustrations of the night behind herself, Luna started walking back down the path to the cemetery gates. After her first step, she realized something crucial. Discord had stopped before the very headstone that she had been sitting on. She couldn’t think of anypony who he could be mourning. As far as she knew, he had no friends ever. Even the ones he had now seemed to only tolerate his presence.

The gnawing curiosity made her turn around to examine the headstone before she left. The closer she got, she found that the stone was filthy from ages of neglect. As if the caretaker of the cemetery had deliberately passed over that grave, and told all of his successors to do so. Luna knelt down and reached a hoof out to wipe away the ages of grime and dust that had built up, slowly revealing the time-worn inscription on its surface.

Dusty

A friend, sister, mother, and wife

You will be missed and loved always

“Dusty?” Luna whispered to herself.

Whoever she was, Luna could think of no relationship that she ever could have had to somepony like Discord. Unless she too had been like Fluttershy and gotten the naive notion that the god of chaos was only doing what was in his nature, and couldn’t be blamed for treating reality as his plaything. Perhaps it was because of that which made Discord visit that grave. For Luna knew that losing a friend felt like losing a part of yourself. For as few friends that Discord had, it may have been particularly painful.

Luna recalled a time when Fluttershy had told her that Discord had been sleepwalking. In her experiences, sleepwalking was a sign of subconscious anguish or nightmares. She remembered how she thought it was the silliest thing she ever heard. What would scare the god of chaos? Even after exploring his dreams, she was unable to figure that out. For all she could gather after that harrowing experience, all she could think was that there was a small part of him that didn’t want to be Discord. Luna glanced back to the headstone, wondering if this mysterious Dusty was key to that dissimilar part of Discord.

The wind picked up, blowing a thicker layer of fog forth from somewhere beyond. Luna gasped quietly when the headstone was enveloped by the mists and disappeared before her eyes. Reaching out a hoof, she was relieved to find that it truly was still there. And with a quiet sigh, her mind was made up to leave that dreary place.

The walk down the path was just as lonesome as the way to find Discord. Cautiously, Luna stepped around where she remembered the stairs being, and found them without much difficulty. Slowly, she began to descend those steps, before she saw the light.

Through the fog, there came a light that drifted toward her. A small, yet bright light that swished back and forth like a cobra entranced by a charmer’s flute. With the light came the steps of something else. Something that moved with the light. And the closer it came, Luna saw that it was embedded in a darker shadow. A small, familiar shape that trudged toward her on weakened legs. In a moment, the lunar princess was faced with an elderly griffin who wore a long, heavy coat on her back and a lantern around her neck.

The griffin stopped before Luna, silently appraising the princess, before a tiny smile appeared on her beak.

“It’s not often the dead in this corner of the cemetery have visitors. Is there somepony here from long ago that you’ve come to pay your respects to?” the griffin asked in a low, cracking voice.

“No. I…came with a friend who did,” Luna answered.

“I see. Then I wish your friend the best. I always love it when these graves get visitors, but it’s such a terrible thing to have to do.”

“Indeed. I know quite well what that’s like,” Luna said. “You’ll excuse me. I must be going. My friend seems to have gone on without me.”

“What a terrible thing to do. And on a night like this?” the griffin said. She turned around and beckoned Luna after her, “Come along. I’ll take you to the gates.”

Luna hesitated to follow, feeling that there was something off about the old griffin. The sight of the caretaker’s light disappearing into the fog made up her mind for her, and Luna quickly caught her up. Even then when she had somepony to accompany her, Luna felt a twinge of unease. Everywhere she looked, she could still see the things moving in the fog. Things that she had a strong notion that the caretaker had no idea about.

“What is it that you see?” the caretaker asked.

“What? Erm…I don’t see much of anything. Not through this fog, at least,” Luna said, trying not to sound nervous.

“Do the headstones make you uneasy?”

Luna looked around herself, and saw some of the sculptures that had been made on the graves. Mares and stallions who danced hoof in hoof. Winged beasts that loomed over the graves, warding off intruders. Statues of things that were worshiped from longer ago than Luna could remember. Each casting a shadow that distorted itself through the fog.

“No. I don’t fear death,” Luna said.

“Is that so? That wasn’t what I meant, but you must be a very brave mare to not fear such a thing,” the caretaker said.

“I simply can’t fear what will never come.”

The caretaker stopped walking and turned to face Luna, the light of her lantern casting devilish shadows across her face.

“Then, you would know that it’s not death to fear, but the dead,” she said.

Luna tried not to shiver, but the words of the griffin chilled her to her core.

“How– How do you mean?” Luna asked.

“Because sometimes, the dead come back to torment the living.”

Luna shivered again and choked a gasp that tried to escape her throat.

“I don’t mean that the dead crawl from the ground to make us join them. But, the memories that they leave behind. Oftentimes, when a creature dies they leave behind all of the regrets and memories and dreams that they had in life. What was left behind is then taken on by those the dead loved the most, and remains unfulfilled and unresolved.”

The words of the griffin repeated over and over in Luna’s head. There was something in there that she knew she could find, like a lost keepsake beneath a pile of junk. But the pang of worry in her mind kept her from discovering anything.

“Let’s keep going. We can’t let the worries of the dead become yours,” the caretaker said.

Luna silently agreed. And just as she began to continue on her way, she froze mid step when the sounds of a filly crying reached her ears. She looked around for the source of the sound, but saw nothing through the fog.

“Wait here for me. There’s something that I must see to,” Luna hastily said, before trotting off the path.

“Make sure it’s done quickly, or else you might never find your way back,” the griffin called, before she was engulfed by the fog.

Luna wove her way through the headstones, knowing that the sounds of the sobs were coming from that direction.

“Hello!” Luna called out, but heard no answer. “Where are you?”

The sobbing continued, but sounded quieter.

“You don’t have to hide from me. I’m…I’m here to help you. Please. Let me see where you are,” Luna bade the unseen filly.

The sobbing grew fainter, and a sudden foul smell reached her nose. The unmistakable smell of sulfur grew ever more overpowering with each passing second, until it made Luna’s eyes water. She covered her nose and leaned against one of the large headstones with the statue of a hideous winged creature atop it. Coughing loudly, she wiped her eyes, clearing her vision. Before her, she saw something rise in front of her. It was no wisp of fog. It was something denser than the fog. Heavier. And it flowed upward.

Looking down, Luna saw that the ground beneath her hooves was producing those drifting vapors. With them, lights began to appear between the blades of grass, as though millions of hot coals were pushing their way up through the soil. She jumped from the grave, and watched as the lights from the earth grew brighter, and the plumes of smoke became larger until the ground before the grave fell inward into a hole that opened up.

From the glowing hole in the ground, Luna watched as shadows began to dance along its walls, and a viciously cloven hoof rose forth. What followed it was something straight from Luna’s nightmares. It looked like a pony, but it wasn’t a pony. It was far too large, seeming to have outgrown the skin that was pulled hideously back from every extremity. It towered over Luna, baring its overgrown fangs, growling viciously as it fixed its tiny, red eyes on her.

She would have flown away. She would have gone for help. She would have cast that vile thing back into the pit that it crawled from. As she was, Luna was unable to do any of that. Not about to let herself be eaten by the nightmarish thing, she turned and ran from it, just as the grave next to her started smoking.

“Caretaker!” Luna called out, looking desperately for the light of the griffin’s lantern. No matter where she looked, she could find no trace of the light or the griffin who carried it.

The only light that appeared was two red dots.

Luna allowed herself to trip and fall beneath a swipe of those vicious hooves. She rolled to her side and avoided being stepped on by another one of the demons.

She scrambled to her hooves, realizing then that the fog was filling with the eyes of the demons. The way out was quickly disappearing. Luna turned down the way where the eyes were the fewest and ran as fast as she could.

The sounds of the things behind her thundered across the foggy ground. Whether they were keeping pace or far behind her, Luna didn’t dare to look. She stopped herself from running when she nearly ran into the point of a lance that was held by one of the statues.

A low growl came from her side.

Luna staggered when a cloven hoof sliced through her shoulder. She yelped loudly, and dodged another attack from the demon. Taking the time allowed to her, she pushed the monster backward and heard a sickening sound as the back of its head was pierced by the lance. Still it thrashed, angrily reaching for Luna, unable to escape from its entrapment.

Two more of the demons arrived, quickly closing in on the lunar princess.

Luna backed away from them, and found herself on the steps of a mausoleum.

The first demon pounced upon her.

Luna moved and allowed it to smash face first into the steps with a gut-churning crunch. For good measure, she stomped the back of its head, making the thing bellow in agony.

The second demon had wised up and only tried to slash her with its hooves. Luna took only the edge of one of its hooves across her face and fell onto the banister beside the steps, nudging a marble bust. She grabbed the bust and swung it at the demon’s head, breaking it in two. As the demon recoiled, Luna took the broken head and bludgeoned it until the red light of the beast’s eyes dimmed to nothingness.

A heavy weight crashed onto Luna as one of the demons pinned her to the ground. She tried with all her might to hold off the jaws of the beast as the edged closer to her face. Beyond the jaws, she could see more eyes of the demons closing in. Beyond those, she saw another light. The light of a lantern, waving side to side.

With a newfound vigor, Luna took the broken marble bust that laid next to her head and jammed it into the demon’s mouth, stuffing it in deeply until she heard its jaws crack. Even then, she didn’t stop until the thing was choking on it.

Luna slipped out from under the demon as it tore its own throat apart to relieve itself. And she ran toward the light, into the midst of the other devilish eyes of the fog. She ran, paying no mind to them. She could see the things reaching for her. Trying to get her.

A rush of pain shot through Luna’s body as the jaws of one of the monsters chomped down on her wing. Before it ever had a hold on her, she tore it from the jagged teeth, leaving it only a mouthful of feathers and blood.

Flames began erupting from the graves. With them came that horrid smell and the growls of the demons. But the light of the waving lantern was all Luna cared about. And she was growing ever closer to it.

“Lu-naaaaa!” a low, guttural voice called behind her. And it was joined by many others.

Luna lowered her head to block out the voices that chanted her name. She squinted, and then opened her eyes just enough to see the waving lantern dim into nothingness. As soon as it had, the gates of the cemetery appeared through the fog. It was the most welcome sight in the world. Luna threw herself at the gates, pulled them open and slammed them shut behind her.

The world went silent. Luna dared to look through the bars of the gates, and saw the world as it should have been. The fog had thinned greatly. The demons had gone. The graves were undisturbed. Even the smell of sulfur was gone.

Luna leaned her head against the bars and managed a quiet laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

Luna jumped and turned around, finding Discord there behind her. She saw as his face quickly changed to one she had never seen him wear before.

“Are you okay? What happened to your wing?” he asked.

“You didn’t see?” Luna wheezed.

“See what?”

“Them. What just happened. The…The…I need to get help,” Luna said, realizing then just how much pain she was in.

“Okay! Take it easy there, cowmare. Let’s get you to a hospital, or something. Just try not to overdo it,” Discord said, as he bent down to offer Luna his shoulder.

Luna allowed Discord to carry much of her weight, and the two made their long trek back to Canterlot.

Author's Note:

This was one of the harder chapters to fix. I wanted to make Dusty more interesting as a character. Hopefully, I did that. As Always:

Till Next Time!!!!