The black Alicorn stallion with red stripes on his legs, face, and back walked along the dunes of the desert that the shadow tribe called home, his wife by his side, and his filly fast asleep on his back.
They were heading back towards the village after a long visit in Equestria. They would still be able to make it back before sunset if they didn’t dally but they kept up a brisk pace nonetheless.
The blue Alicorn mare turned to her husband and smiled. “I don’t think I’ve seen Aina enjoy herself that much before. We should arrange to stay longer next time.”
The stallion smiled back at his wife. “I’ll see what I can arrange with Elder Fatalis. I might even be able to arrange a transfer to Equestria. I mean, who wants to raise their filly in a desert?”
She nodded in agreement. “Tyranthiam, I think that’s the second best idea you’ve ever had.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Only second? What was the first?”
She nuzzled him. “Marrying me you doofus.”
He face hoofed. “Right, of course...”
They kept walking along the sand dunes towards home. Shino (His wife) glanced towards the sun, a worried look on her face.
“You’re certain we’ll make it before sundown? I would really rather not have to deal with any sand wraiths with Aina here.”
Tyranthiam followed her gaze. “We still have time. We could run if you’d like.”
She shook her head. “No, that’s alright. I don’t want to wake Aina.”
“Alright.”
They walked along in silence as the shadows began to engulf the desert and the air began to cool. They could see the lights of the village in the distance and they quickened their pace.
The sun was slowly fading behind the dunes, soon the sand wraiths would emerge from the sand and begin their hunt.
Suddenly, Tyranthiam tripped over something and fell to the ground with a gasp. Shino stopped and rushed to his side. Aina woke with a start and looked around with a shocked look on her face.
“Tyranthiam! Aina! Are you alright? Did you trip?”
Tyranthiam attempted to get to his hooves but something was holding onto his leg. He looked down and his eyes widened to see a skeletal hand grasping his leg.
He turned to his wife. “Take Aina and run! Hurry!!!” He shouted.
Knowing the severity of the situation she quickly wrapped her daughter in her magic and placed her on her back. She went to leave but hesitated.
“Don’t worry about me! Just get to the...” His eyes widened as he looked past his wife and daughter and saw five sand wraiths emerge from the sand.
Their front halves were skeletal. Their heads were similar to a pony’s skull but with razor sharp teeth and glowing red eyes. Their skeletal arms ended in five digit hands with claws on the end of each finger. Their lower halves were jet black and looked like they were made from the very shadows. They hard strong muscular legs that were good for running, making them that much more deadly.
“SHINO!!! FLY!!! GET OUT OF HERE!!!”
She turned around and noticed the sand wraiths. She spread her wings and leapt into the air, only to have one of the sand wraiths grab her leg with its claws and drag her down harshly.
She struck the sand and the air was forced out of her lungs. Her filly rolled a couple of feet away. When she stopped she was frozen with fear as two of the sand wraiths approached her.
“DON’T YOU TOUCH HER!!!” He bucked his hind leg and snapped the wraiths arm off and charged at the two that were closing in on his daughter only to be pounced on by three more that emerged from the sand.
They held his limbs and his head so he couldn’t move and pointed his face towards his family who were now overwhelmed by other wraiths.
His wife was now struggling to keep the wraiths off of her in an attempt to reach her daughter but the beasts simply swatted her with their claws and leaving deep gashes in her flesh.
He turned towards his daughter still struggling to get free and his eyes went wide. One of the wraiths had his daughters limp body in its jaws and was walking away.
“NO! NOOOOOO!!!!” His eyes glowed and blood red energy formed around his horn as he sent a shockwave in all directions sending the sand wraiths flying. He charged his horn again and there was a flash of light as all three Alicorns vanished.
The wraiths let out irritated snarls when they discovered their prey had escaped and began to walk away in search of something else.
Tyranthiam and his family appeared in the middle of the village. The last thing he remembered before passing out were several figures rushing towards him and then, darkness.
***
Tyranthiam opened his eyes slowly and noticed that he was lying in a bed. His entire body ached and found it difficult to move.
“Hey there Tytho... how are you feeling?”
He turned his head to see a gray pegasus with a blue mane sitting next to his bed. He recognized her instantly. She was an old friend that he had grown up with.
“Aura? Where am I?” He asked groggily.
“In the hospital... You took quite a beating we were worried you weren’t going to make it.”
After a moment his eyes went wide and he sat up sharply sending pain through his entire body.
“Where’s Shino!? Where’s Aina!?”
Aura’s head drooped sadly. “Shino’s alive but... they don’t think she’ll make it. Her injuries were extensive. As for Aina...”
She placed a hoof on his shoulder, tears flowing from her eyes.
“I’m so sorry Tytho...”
Tyranthiam’s face was fixed with a look of utter shock. His eyes began to water.
“No... no it’s not true...” He jumped to his hooves and ran out the door into the hallway.
“Wait! You need to stay in bed! TYTHO!”
He approached the first member of the hospital staff he could find.
“Where’s my wife!? Where’s Shino!?” The nurse backed away nervously.
“Sir I think you should return to your room.”
“WHERE IS SHE!!!???”
The nurse gulped and pointed her hoof down the corridor. He took off at full gallop.
After asking several more nurses and doctors he finally reached the room Shino was in. He burst through the door and stopped dead in his tracks.
His wife lay motionless on the hospital bed and the doctor lifted the sheets and covered her head shaking his head sadly.
“No...”
The doctor only then noticed Tyranthiam. He walked over to the stunned Alicorn and placed a sympathetic hoof on his shoulder.
“I am very sorry for your loss Tyranthiam. We did our best but her injuries were far too severe.” The doctor looked towards the bed then back to Tyranthiam.
“I’ll give you a few minutes alone. And again... I am truly sorry for your loss...”
With that the doctor left the room and closed the door.
Tyranthiam slowly approached the bed and pulled the sheet down to see Shino’s face. He looked at his wife’s beautiful face for a moment then fell to the ground and broke into sobs.
Suddenly he felt a pair of hooves wrap around him.
“I’m so sorry Tytho... I’m so so sorry...”
When he had calmed down he slowly made his way back to his room and lay down and shut his eyes, Aura never leaving his side.
***
Several days later, a simple funeral was help for Shino and Aina. Tyranthiam’s injuries had healed quickly thanks to the skilled healers and his own inborn healing abilities.
After the funeral ended he left and headed towards the desert.
As he neared the gate Aura rushed in front of him. “Hold on a minute Tytho, where do you think you’re going? The sun’ll be down soon.”
“Exactly...”
He spread his black leathery wings and flew over Aura and over the gate and flew towards the vast desert.
He circled in the air and waited as the sun slowly disappeared behind the dunes. When he was satisfied that it was dark enough he began to increase his range and searched for sand wraiths. After a few moments, he saw the red pinpricks that were their eyes and he dove towards them.
The sand wraiths for their part didn’t notice him. Their prey was usually on the ground, and since they couldn’t fly they normally had no reason to look up. A way of thinking that would prove fatal.
Tyranthiam landed with his front hooves on the first wraiths neck, snapping it. It fell to the ground and began to spasm as its nerve endings began dying off. The other two turned and were momentarily stunned. Prey didn’t usually attack first so they were momentarily unsure what to do.
This proved to be another fatal mistake on their part as Tyranthiam charge his magic and blasted the two remaining wraiths to pieces. He stood there growling angrily as pieces of smoldering sand wraith rained down on him.
Three sand wraiths emerged behind him and attempted to pounce on him but they simply struck sand as Tyranthiam vanished in a burst of dark energy. He reappeared in the air, his bright yellow eyes glowed brightly and his pupils went to slits. He charged his magic again for another blast. Black energy began to build at the tip of his horn. He released the built up energy and the beam gave off a ‘vuuummmmm’ as it struck the group of sand wraiths almost instantly reducing them to piles of smoldering bones and flesh.
Realizing that they were under attack, some of the nearby sand wraiths began howling in an attempt to alert the rest of their kin that they were needed. Soon the dunes were almost completely overrun as hundreds of the foul beasts emerged from the sand.
Sadly, they were a tad inexperienced when it came to facing a pissed off dark Alicorn, which they soon discovered when Tyranthiam slammed hooves first into the ground releasing a shockwave of dark energy reducing the nearby wraiths to ashes.
Their target now within their range of attack the sand wraiths charged towards their attacker.
Tyranthiam smiled darkly as a black scythe materialized before him. He levitated it with his magic and began cutting the charging sand wraiths to pieces.
The dunes were soon red with blood and pieces of sand wraith were scattered all around him. Despite his obvious power and rage the sand wraiths just kept coming.
He was fine with that.
Three wraiths pounced towards him and he swung his scythe at them, and they were easily cut in half. Blood rained down on him and he kept up his attack as more began rushing towards him.
Tyranthiam’s strength was beginning to fade, he would inevitably fall to them, but he didn’t care. If he was to die, he would drag as many of the bastards with him as he could.
One of the wraiths finally landed a strike on his side and he cried out in pain as he brought his scythe around and cut off the wraiths head.
Soon though, he began taking more hits and his swings were beginning to slow down. Soon they practically piled on top of him.
He closed his eyes and waited for the end.
...
...
...
After waiting for a few moments he opened his eyes. The sand wraiths were all completely still for a moment and then suddenly they all turned to sand. He was, of course, buried beneath a large amount of sand.
Oddly enough though he felt the weight of the sand lighten and soon he was being levitated above the ground.
He looked up at the sky, the moon was still out, but it wasn’t its characteristic bluish white. It was blood red. He suddenly felt a sharp burning sensation on his flank. He looked back to see that his cutie mark was being consumed by black flames and in its place was the image of a red crescent moon. He then fell to the ground with a thud.
He looked up and saw a jet black Alicorn with glowing red eyes standing in front of him. His mane, wings, and tail had the color and consistency of black smoke, and a black crystal shaped like a crescent moon hung from a black chain around his neck.
Tyranthiam bowed his head low.
“Elder Atrox Fatalis... Why are you here? What’s going on?”
The dark Alicorns voice was like a whisper that pierced ones very soul. “You are to become my pupil Tyranthiam. You have felt the rage and sorrow that comes with great loss. It is that pain that makes you strong. And it is that same pain that will make you strong enough to destroy the dark god Grenth.”
Tyranthiam looked up with a stunned look on his face. “Grenth? But he’s locked in the vault of shadows. Nothing can escape the vault. Can they?”
“While it is true that I designed the vault to be impregnable... that won’t stop him or the other demons locked within from trying... not to mention the Lich Queen and her undead horde who still roam the land.”
“But... how can I defeat a dark god? You yourself were only able to imprison him!”
Fatalis gazed at the red moon. “Do you remember the old prophecy? When Blood Moon rises the God of Death’s shackles shall break and he shall rise from the depths of the abyss and rain destruction upon the land. The age of harmony will end and the age of despair shall begin unless he who bathes the desert in the blood of the undead receives the mark of the Blood Moon upon his flank.”
He turned to Tyranthiam. “Tell me... what do you see on your flank?”
Tyranthiam turned to see the red crescent moon that had replaced his cutie mark. “Oh...”
Fatalis smiled. “I will take you back to the village. Rest, let your wounds heal and when you are ready I shall take you on as my pupil and teach you how to fight like a true harbinger of darkness.”
He turned to leave but stopped. “Let us be off... Tyranthiam Blood Moon.”
To be continued...
