The air was light and wispy, gently billowing in the wind with emotions of peace and clarity. Flowers dancing in the wind, as if they were responding to a song being sung by a saintly and divine maiden who sang high above the winds with a soft and melodic voice. The gentle summer breeze that brought promise of autumn, the walls of spring to be torn down and the seas of endless green to be replaced with reds, oranges, and yellows. A peaceful feeling falling upon one of the wise sovereigns of Equestria, Princess Celestia.

She stood atop her balcony feeling the forefront of the winds that breathed on her from the east. The wind almost telling her that it was the wind that carved the path of the sun. She held her deep violet eyes closed as she felt the calming winds rustle through her coat and wings. For so long she had remained cooped up in the castle. While yes, it was ventilated in the castle because of the stone used to build it. It just felt rather warm in the most recent days.

Celestia unfolded her wings, slowly opening at full length. The wind softly rustling the air in between her feathers. A deep serenity filled the age old princess, many years of stress washing away like the tide of the sea. So many pains. So many regrets. Finally gone away on the wind. A good feeling and a state of mind Celestia had not been in for decades. The only sound she heard was the rise and fall of air rising in her nose and leaving it as well.

Seemingly as the stress left her she heard a voice she had not heard in little over a thousand years, the spirant and murmurous toned voice of her sister, "A peaceful day. One could say that this day is beyond comprehension."

Celestia tucked her wings back to her body, folding to fit her slender and lithe form. The white alicorn turned and met the gaze of her sister. Celestia drew out a well laborious sigh and replied, "Yet why do I have the sneaking suspicion that it is not as peaceful as we perceive it to be."

Celestia gave a thoughtful gaze to her sister who was leaning agains the threshold into Celestia's bedchambers on her hind hooves, her forehooves crossed over her regalia. Luna replied, "If you are referring to your dream..."

Her voice grew distant and trailed off into the cool near autumn air. Celestia dreaded as she remembered back to her dream,

The air was still and calm. A deadly silence overtaking the bleak and almost bare countryside. At the mouth of a large opening in the mountains to the west of Equestria. The tall standing sentinel mountains bared down heavily upon Ocean Breeze. It was not like her to terry long after the fall of day. She was very jittery when it came to the night.

Not that she disrespected Princess Luna in any way it was just she was so used to not having the Princess of the Night around that it became almost second nature to fear her. And upon this night was no exception. For the pale maiden moon glowed like a beacon in the night. Stars rippling and twinkling like the waves of the sea. She could now understand why Luna controlled the sea as well. The stars moving like waves almost put Ocean Breeze in a trance.

The sea. Just saying the word made her feel calm. Oh how she missed the sea. She had visited her family in Ponyville to help cheer them up from the poverty they were going through. The sweet salty air, the ocean spray glistening on her coat as it touched her. She could feel the trickles of the sea on her cheeks now. The sea longing for its protector. Ocean Breeze was born a few years after Celestia's student, Sunset Shimmer, went missing. Ocean was born and her abilities were to help calm the seas as its mother was now on the moon, unable to calm the winds on the sea or its tides. Celestia came upon her and asked her if she could live with her for a while. Ocean accepted and they went around the world calming the various seas, like a sister reassuring their sibling.

But now, she was only tasked with protecting them, calming rivers and lakes here and there that Luna had forgotten to take care of. But now she was the protector of the waters of Equis.

She stopped at the mouth of the valley that opened up in front of her. She said to herself, "Okay Ocean...you have gone through this pass times before. This one should be no different than those countless times before."

Her words did not reassure her. She lifted her hooves with great weight and trudged on into the valley. The tall mountains like walls of blackness, looming over her. Her short range of perception only causing her fear to rise. The chill of the night filling her bones, cutting deep inside of her. She jumped as she heard the rustle of leaves next to her. Her pace slow and unsteady.

A light and ominous fog filled the midnight valley. She froze in fear as she heard an echoing voice,
Is it safe? Am I alone? Can I return home?

She saw in the distance a tall form standing up straight, like a pony on it's hind legs. Ocean could not identify what it was but cold rolled off if it from the openings in the form's long jet black cloak and tunic. The edges frayed and torn from constant wearing. It's face hidden behind a wall of black shadows. Fear overtook Ocean and she asked the form timidly and shakily, "I-I'm sorry...I did not see you there..."

It stared at Ocean Breeze with a soulless and lifeless gaze, filling her soul with dread. A cold breeze rushed up her spine as the form said,I can assure you...it is not safe to wander the night alone.

The shadows on the form's face disappeared and what she saw was something unlike anything she had seen before. The skull of a unicorn. With glowing ice blue eyes, sunken and lifeless. Its decayed face set on Ocean Breeze. It lifted itself to a hover...wait a hover? Yeah, the unicorn was hovering. The torn flaps of the cloak billowed up revealing no bottom part of the body. The pony pulled down its hood and revealed the bare and cracked skull of a pony.

It lifted its forehoof and its horn lit an ominous blue glow and Ocean Breeze slowly moved towards the pony against her own will. She struggled against the pony's strong magic. She tried screaming but the fear that was imparting onto her only increased, strangulating her vocal chords. Once she was at the base of the floating skeleton pony she felt a telekinetic grip strangle her neck. She rose in the air and stared right into the pony's lifeless eyes. The cold voice spoke to her once more,
Are you strong enough to be a servant of the damned?

Ocean Breeze felt her lifeforce being sucked away by the pony just staring at her. The undead pony grunted and said,
No. Just another lamb to the slaughter.

Her vocal chords recovered just in time as she felt her life being sucked away by his spell. Her chest seizing and the air being sucked form her lungs. Her muscles slowly decaying away. As her vision slowly closed and her soul being devoured she heard the voice say,
Taking this world will be easier than I had expected.

Celestia blinked as she returned back to reality. Celestia responded in a woeful tone, "I fear that it does. I cannot shake the feeling of unease that it has upon me. I am haunted by it through all hours of the day."

Luna gave out a sigh and replied, "I know. But this does not mean anything solid yet..."

"What do you mean? This was no mere nightmare Luna, this was a vision!" Celestia said in harsh tone that quickly died.

Luna replied, "Even if it was, we would not know where to find whoever this pony is. I know the Dreamscape, I wish I could tell you that it was something other than a nightmare I really do but that is all it is. A nightmare."

Celestia leaned against the railing and said after a sigh, "We could at least investigate, to truly know whether this is an actual dream."

Celestia looked at her sister. Her light blue mane resting calmly on the right side of her face. She thought for a long while until she responded, "Alright. I guess we should investigate further. Have the guards reported anything strange lately?"

"Not anything exceptional," Celestia replied with a gentle shake of her head, "Thievery charges here and some assault charges there. Again nothing overly important was reported...however..."

Celestia glided past her sister, who followed her out the room. As they wandered through the halls of the castle Celestia said, "There have been some messages sent to me about some strange noises at Ponyville."

"Where were these noises coming from?"

"The cemetery."

"The cemetery?" Luna said raising an eyebrow, "Strange noises from the cemetery? What kind of noises?"

They stepped into the library and went into a back room where the princesses could read privately. It was also used for the princesses to conduct day to day or night to night operations they wanted to keep a secret from the public. But...it was also where Celestia indulged herself with her greatest shame...cake.

She quickly flung a half eaten piece of cake into the waste basket and said, "Ahem...well."

With her magic she sifted through the various papers that laid out on the mahogany desk. Celestia sat in the comfortable leather chair and skimmed over the pages. Finally she found what she was looking for and said, "Various letters from the citizens say that they sound like distant wails. Emanating from chambers deep within the catacombs below the cemetery."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Luna said, "Let's go find out what are causing those wails."

It had been a silent flight as the two Alicorn sisters made their way to the Ponyville cemetery. Luna was all for silence but this silence was unsettling and set a weight on her shoulders. She still blamed herself for what she did and she deserves her isolation from the rest of Equestria. It was so much ingrained in her for being alone on the moon for so long.

They landed on the soft mid afternoon grass. The sun high in the sky and it beaming pale red and yellow rays down upon her and her sister, giving them grim auras. Luna looked to the sun and found that it's light dimmer and easier to look at. Luna asked her sister without taking her eyes off the sun, "Did you make the sun dimmer?"

Luna finally looked to her sister who knit an eyebrow and replied, "No."

Luna looked back to the sun and said, "Hmm...strange."

They stood in the center of the Ponyville cemetery, where the ponies of old were buried. For countless millennia cemeteries were looked at as places of eternal rest and of eternal peace. But now, now they were given the brands of creepy and unclean. Equestria had changed much over the millennia Luna was gone and it was not for the good. Luna stated to her sister as she scanned the wrought iron fence on the outside perimeter of the cemetery, "I still think that you should not have informed your faithful student with that information."

Luna could tell that her sister rolled her eyes at her as she said, "If something were to happen to us somepony needs to know where we have gone."

They stood there for a good few minutes until they finally decided to walk around. The dead grass crunching under Luna's hooves. Luna felt the magic deep within the earth. Luna remembered back to a lesson of magic that her mentor had taught her. In life as in death, the ponies of Equestria give off a certain magical energy that reacts to the soil and plants around them. While it is a passive trait amongst many that wield magic, it can become a primary trait to some. Like Pegasi can control the weather of the sky, earth ponies and some unicorns can control the earth. This is a very rare trait and is often never seen for thousands of years. Luna could feel the magic the dead were giving off. And it was not pleasant. They were giving warnings to all who try to seek answers.

Luna heard Celestia shudder, warranting her attention. Luna shrugged her shoulders and asked, "What?"

Celestia drew out an agitated sigh and replied, "The sooner we leave here the better. I do not find it pleasant in this place."

Luna cracked a crooked smile and remarked, "Tia are you scared?"

Celestia responded adamantly, "No! No, I am not scared. I merely do not wish to disturb the dead."

Luna kept her smile and said, "You just keep telling yourself that when we go into the mausoleum."

Celestia stopped in her tracks with fear on her face as she said, "Wait. We have to go down there?"

Luna grunted in agitation and said, "By the love of Tartarus. Tia, you are a centuries old being and you are scared of going in the dark?"

"I am not frightened by the dark," Celestia said in defense, "I am merely jittery when I am around dead things."

Luna facehooved. Never in all of Luna's years of age has she ever thought she would see the day where Celestia was scared of something. Usually it would have been Luna being scared of something. Spiders. Shadows. You name it. But Celestia being scared of the dead. Of all the things to be scared of Luna guessed that it made sense. The dead are never really a lively bunch.

Luna looked at the mausoleum and said, "Do you want me to hold your hoof Tia?"

Celestia growled at her sister's remark, making the dark midnight mare smile. Luna now had ammunition against her sister. Luna now knew what she was going to dress up as on Nightmare Night.

All jokes and jests aside the air billowed eerily against Luna as she looked on to the mausoleum. The stone cut building seemed to stare back at her. The cool air rushed and froze on Luna's dark blue coat almost sinking into her skin. Where a normal filly would be shaking in her hooves-much like her sister right now-Luna had no fear of the dead. What was there to fear? They eternally rested, there was nothing exceptionally scary about it.

Luna stepped at the top of a set of stone stairs that lead down a few feet and then stop and to the left another set leading down further, hidden behind the corner, the faintest of glows from the torches lit the dark and damp stone stairwell. Luna looked over at her sister and said, "Are you sure you will be fine going down there?"

The only answer was a nod, she looked too fear stricken to actually vocally answer. Luna rolled her eyes at her sister. How many times have they faced an unseen horror and nearly escaped the jaws of death. Many and numerous. Yet she squeals when she sees a dead pony. It made little sense to her. She was quickly taken away from her thoughts when she heard a distant scream.

It was muffled and sounded like it came from the mausoleum. It was a wail of despair. To be safe Luna activated a spell, her horn lighting up in blue light. She had cast an infrared spell, trying to sense the presence of any ponies nearby. Whether living or undead. Luna sensed no immediate threats or ponies. But she did sense the feelings of the dead that reside under the mausoleum. A cold feeling of stirring awake. Her horn stopped its glow and she said, "Strange."

"What?" Celestia asked.

Luna offered a quick response as she stared at the mausoleum, "There are no magical signatures, living or otherwise. But, something has the spirits of this place...awakening. Something inside the mausoleum."

Luna advanced down into the mausoleum with the purpose of wanting to know what stirred the dead. What kind of monster disturbs the dead? Her hoof falls echoed slightly off the stone walls. Once she came to the bottom she stepped out and onto stone flooring. Luna looked around, there was a large clearing in front of her and it split off to the left, to the right and straight ahead. She again could not sense anything but the whispers of the dead that remained their, their calls distant and almost unable to be heard. Luna looked behind her and saw her sister step next to her. She still seemed a bit at unease but still in tact and able to make decisions.

They exchanged glances at each other as they suspected that they were caught at a dead lead. But but as they were getting ready to leave they began to feel light headed. Celestia went out like a light. But since Luna was still adjusting to Equestria's oxygen Luna did not go out so quickly. Luna leaned on one of her hooves, propping her up. Her vision hazed but still able to see somewhat. She heard a high pitched and sharp voice declare, "Good news everyone! I have perfected a near instantaneous sleeping agent!"

Luna looked to the source of the voice and saw a decaying pony with spiked up mane wearing a lab coat. Goggles were in place where eyes were supposed to be. Most of his flesh was already decayed. The pony leaned down and said, "Oh my! It appears that my sleeping agent was not as effective on this one! Sludge! Would you please be so kind as to offer your assistance to this one! If our experiments go well these will prove to be perfect specimen!"

"Okai!" Answered who Luna suspected was named Sludge. She looked and saw a poorly stitched together pony made from similar body parts but overall did not look well fit together. Sludge loomed over Luna and lifted a hoof and said, "Night Night pony!"

Author's Note

Can you believe that it has been an entire year since I have joined this site! Man. We have come a long way from that first fic that I wrote. Through good times and bad times. I felt that maybe I should do something extra special! But at the moment all that I can give you is this, a new update for Ashes to Ashes. A little sneak peek at the arc that I have planned. This is all the information that I can give away so far, so no asking about it in the comments.

See you guys next chapter!
~Sylus~