The Headstone On The Hill
By Wildprince15
It was a bleak night for Ponyville.
The skies roared with barely contained fury, as if the gods were all bickering among-st themselves upon their almighty thrones. Darkness blanketed the area, rain crashed down from the clouds, pelting the rooftops of ponies homes and casting a curtain over the entire place, and bright flashes of white stole away the sight of all who dared to peer out of a window.
Off in the distance, a group of figures trudged toward from the town, as if they too, were somehow affected by the dark, foreboding mood that had settled there.
They all wore black, even the figure in front, who barely lifted his head as he trotted, almost painfully slow, toward a certain spot.
The ponies behind them dared not shift a single muscle the wrong way, lest they drop what the four of them were carrying.
As they passed by, several ponies backed away, making room for the group.
The figure in front turned their head to look at them all. They could see the expressions on the ponies faces as they trotted.
Some were sad, some had tears in their eyes, and some were outright sobbing. Even more were horrified, or dared not even look, while others had dumbstruck expressions, as if they didn't believe what they were seeing.
And those who were not busy staring up at the large, rectangular, black box, were busy staring at him.
He was used to it by now. Most ponies stared at him when he appeared. But when he looked up at them, they dared not make eye contact.
Some even glared at him, or gave him disgusted looks. Heck, some even ran away screaming.
He just looked forward, tipped his hat down, and kept trotting along.
His destination was always the same. It never changed. He knew it like the back of his hoof.
He knew it so well he could walk to it and back, blindfolded and spun.
It was his job after all.
When he finally made it to the designated area, he looked up.
There it was, its weather beaten stone frame not able to protect it from the merciless elements of nature. Age had done it in, and it was not done yet. It wouldn't be for a long time.
There before him sat the entrance to the Ponyville Graveyard, its signpost now rusted and dirty due to the neverending flow of time. It made him feel...nostalgic.
He smiled grimly. "Hello, old friend. Long time no see."
With that said, he made his way inside, followed closely by the ponies carrying the box.
He took a moment to have a look around, taking in all the headstones around him. All these ponies he never met, and would never meet. He wondered who they were before they died, what they were like during their days on this planet.
Were they happy with the life they had lived? Or did they die regretting something that they feel they should've done?
How were they doing, up there? Were they happy? Sad? Did they go to heaven? Tartarus?
He chuckled to himself. Here he was, worrying over dead ponies. How silly he must look. Be he supposed it was only natural.
He did bury them, after all.
He continued onward, looking now for an undisturbed section of land.
Surprisingly, it was only when he found himself outside the graveyard that he found one. A single little area of land just big enough to fit the item his men were carrying. It seemed to be just right for it.
'This'll do just fine.' He thought.
He turned to his men, saying in an aged, tired, yet somehow still commanding tone, "Set it down here!"
His men complied, setting the box down gently behind him, allowing the others to finally see that the box they had been carrying was indeed, a coffin. This plot of land, a grave.
He looked at the plot of land before him. He studied it, examined it, perused every inch of its damp, slightly muddy surface.
And then he began to drift off into his thoughts. Off into a memory that he both dreaded and treasured in equal measure.
He was like that for a while before he felt a hoof on his shoulder.
He turned to see one of his men who had been holding the coffin. He had a concerned look on his face.
"Sir? It...it's time."
The old pony looked at his pallbearer for a moment, before sighing and looking forward again.
"I know, alright?" He sighed again. "...I know."
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do. He never really could shake that habit of his.
He then grabbed the shovel he carried with him in his magic and began digging.
He dug, and he dug, and he dug, and he kept digging. It was all he knew. Ever since that day. He didn't even pause to see if he was almost done. He would know without even checking.
When the deed was done, he sparked his magic and gently picked up the Coffin, not daring to disturb the body inside. He levitated it over the grave, and lowered it in.
And as he finished the burial, just before the last clump of dirt was thrown back into the hole, a single, solitary raindrop landed on the coffin, as if marking the coffin in its finality.
An old unicorn stallion lay upon his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Long gone are his work clothes, black at all times for his job. Long gone are his pallbearers, so diligent and hard working despite the nature of the work they do. They really were good ponies.
Now, there was just him. And he had somewhere to go.
He sat up, dragged himself out of bed once more, and made his way out of his house. He looked up at the moon, its rays shining down upon the town for all to witness. Unfortunately, not many were awake at this time, and could not share in its splendor.
'Midnight really is beautiful...'
He looked forward, tipped his hat downward, and made his way back. Back to the graveyard. Back to that one place.
He didn't even stop to stare at the signpost this time. Nor did he stop to look up and see where he was going.
He didn't need to. He knew exactly where he was going.
As he made his way through the graveyard, out the exit, and up the hill that stood at the very back, he finally looked up.
There it was. The headstone. His headstone. The only headstone erected that was not in the graveyard. The only headstone that was so high above the others. The headstone that was no longer alone. The headstone... that gave him his cutie mark.
The slums of Manehattan made up your typical run of the mill backwater area, full of dark alleyways, dark corners and even darker secrets.
crime lined the streets, stallion punks, when they weren't robbing and killing, were smoking and drinking in those dark alleyways, patiently waiting for some poor soul to wander into the lion's den so they could do more robbing and killing. Maybe even hit on a passing mare or two.
One little colt was unfortunate enough to wander into one of these alleyways on his own.
His frantic galloping was put to an abrupt stop by one of the thugs, who was subsequently joined by the the other two.
"What do you three want?" was all the colt said. The grocery bag he held in his magic fell free of its grip. He didn't have time for this. He needed to get home.
"Well, look who we have here. If it isn't our little friend, Dark Heart. Got anymore money for us today?"
The thugs all laughed, and Dark Heart simply said, "No."
"Aww, what's with the cold response? We're all friends here. Surely you have something you could give us. After all, we are best friends, are we not? Come on now..."
"I'm not your friend and I never will be! Now, I'm busy! Let me pa-...!"
SMACK
A stinging sensation filled Dark Heart's face and tears welled up in his eyes as he felt a heat rise in his cheek. He glared at the thugs as they trotted up to him, surrounding him.
"Looks like little Dark Heart has some fight in him." said the lead thug. "Maybe we should teach him a lesson about standing up to his betters."
They all laughed at that, and trotted a little closer to him.
Dark Heart glared harder, but took a step back. "I-I'm warning you! I'm a unicorn! I know magic! I'll seriously hurt you if you don't let me by!"
The lead Thug laughed. "So what you're a unicorn. So am I. And I doubt you know any magic that could hurt us. And even if you did, you're too scared to use it."
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes, you are. You're shaking so hard right now i'm surprised you haven't pissed yourself." The lead thug stepped a little closer, prompting the other two to do the same.
"I'm serious, you know! I'll use my levitation on you!"
The lead thug's muzzle was now mere inches from Dark Heart's own. "What, you mean like this?"
He then used his own levitation to choke Dark Heart, lifting him up into the air and slamming him against a wall.
"Gack! Ugh, ack!" Dark Heart struggled against the slowly tightening hold of the levitation on his neck. But that was soon stopped as well, as he was lifted from the wall, only to be smacked into it muzzle first again and again.
The lead thug laughed. "Haha! Where's all tat bravado now, you little bastard! This is what you get for not knowing your place! You're just an easy target for us to exploit! You understand!"
While he was ranting, the lead thug bashed Dark Heart's head against the wall over and over. When he finally stopped, he brought him over to inspect him.
"Answer me when i'm talking to you, you little piss ant." He released his hold on Dark Heart's neck, dropping him unceremoniously to the ground.
After a hard coughing fit, Dark Heart looked up at the bullies. One of his eyes was blackened and blood shot, the other, puffy and swollen. His nose looked broken, blood dripping from it like a leaky faucet. He had a cut on his right cheek, and some of his teeth were missing. Even so, he still spoke.
"P-please...I...need to go... right away, I have to get home right now. I'll give you whatever you want I swear. Just...let me go home first."
The lead thug looked at his prey, and considered what he said. "Hmmm...You'll give us whatever we want huh? I suppose we could let you go. On one condition."
"What's the condition?! I'll do whatever just let me go!"
"Alright, alright, hold your apples, I'm thinkin'!"
The thug put a hoof to his chin. "Hmmm...Yeah! Yeah, that'll work! How about you steal for us from now on. Be our little gopher."
Dark Hearts eyes widened. "St-steal for you?!"
"What's the matter, Dark? You don't wanna get past us? I thought you said you'd do anything."
"I-i know I said I would but...stealing is..!"
"Hahh..." The lead thug yawned audibly. "I guess you don't want to get past us then. What a shame."
"No no wait! I'll...i'll do it!"
"Its dangerous you know? You aren't afraid you might get caught?"
"Whatever, I don't care! Just let me go!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa there, Dark Heart! I'll let you go. Here." The lead thug and his crew moved out of the way and made a path for him to trot through.
"Go on ahead. See you tomorrow night, Gopher Heart!"
The thugs all laughed as Dark Heart walked past them, keeping his head on a swivel to check if they were deceiving him.
Unfortunately, he didn't look down.
The third thug, who he thought was the least likely to do anything, kicked out a hoof and clipped him, making him trip and land on his face. He landed hard, and his already hurt nose spilled more blood as he stood up, all to the sound of more laughter at his expense.
He ignored them and continued trotting, only to be picked up by his neck again in the lead thug's magic and brought up to face him.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
Dark Heart just managed to force out, "But I thought you said-"
"Did you really think I was just gonna let you go after talking all that trash you little shit? Geez, you really are dumb."
All the thugs laughed again as Dark Heart was brought up again, and slammed into the wall yet again, this time hitting the back of his head making him pass out.
The bullies laughed some more, and were about to leave the alleyway when they spotted something.
"Hey boss, what's that?" said the third thug.
"Looks like he spilled a bag of groceries." said the second thug.
"Lets go check it out, see if we can raid his stuff." said the third thug.
"Good idea. Let's do that then."
With eager anticipation, the three thugs descended upon the bag, and began looting it.
"Aww, man! The only thing in here is food. No bits or valuables at all!" said the second thug.
"Duh, dumbass. Its a grocery bag. You said so yourself."
"Oh, ehehe, right."
The lead thug looked back in the bag, and just as he was about to give up, a white lid caught his sight. "Hold up, I think I found something!"
He lit his horn and pulled out a white bottle.
"What do you think it is, boss?" said the third thug.
"Is it drugs?" Said the second thug.
The lead thug looked at the bottle carefully before letting out a disappointed grunt. "No drugs. Just some pills. Let's go guys."
With that, they through the pills away and left, leaving Dark Heart unconscious and bleeding, in the alleyway out in the rain.
Dark Heart woke up a few hours later to find that the thugs were gone.
"Good. at least I can finally go home."
He looked for the bag. When he found it, he trotted up to it and picked it up in his magic.
'At least nothing got out of it.' He thought
That is until he saw the jumble of items on the ground. Food was everywhere. It littered the ground around him. But he didn't care about all that. There was only one thing he cared about.
"The pills..."
He quickly searched for them. 'As long as those are okay...'
It didn't take him long to find them, and what he saw, made his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. 'No....'
The pill bottle was open and the pills inside strewn all across the ground.
"No!" He yelled. "NO!"
He quickly scooped the pills and put them back into the bottle. he threw them into the soaked bag, that had long since torn up, and ran for home, mentally screaming,
"It'll be okay, it'll be okay, it'll be okay..."
When he finally made it home, he swung the door open and ran up the stairs to his Grandmother's room, dropping eeverything but the pills, including the bag itself.
he flung her door open and rushed to her bedside. "Grandmother?!"
He looked at her and waited. No answer.
"No!"
He quickly checked her pulse, listened for her heartbeat, did chest compression, CPR, anything to make her wake up and talk to him.
He did this a couple more times before he realized.
'Wait! The pills!'
He quickly grabbed them and poured a few of them out, not even bothering to use his magic in his panic. They were wet, and dirty, and felt grimy in his hooves.
He quickly washed them in the sink and rushed back to his grandmother's beside.
"Here, Grandmother. Take these." he said, popping two of the pills into her mouth and closing it to help her swallow.
But the telltale gulping sound didn't come. His eyes went wide. Then they teared up, and with one final yell of,
"NOOOOOO!" He began to sob, throwing himself onto his grandmother's lifeless body and bawling his eyes out.
When he was done, he didn't move. He didn't speak, he didn't sniffle, and he didn't move. Hell, he didn't even blink. He couldn't. He dared not to.
Because blinking, let alone any reaction, he felt, would do nothing but confirm the fact that his Grandmother was dead. She was gone. She had died right in front of him, and he could do nothing to stop it.
No, he could've done something. 'If it wasn't for those worthless thugs...' He thought, his thoughts turning dark. 'She wouldn't have had to...my grandmother wouldn't have had to...'
Finally, he cried some more, mourning his loss with silent, shaking sobs of grief.
As the old pony reminisced, he felt a single tear roll down his cheek. He also felt a wing drape around his shoulders.
He looked up to see the princess of the night, Luna, at his side.
"I see you are in mourning. Tonight is a fitting night for such a thing, given the funeral and all. Did you not come?"
"No, I didn't." was all he said.
"Why is that?"
He did not answer, and Luna used her wing to bring him closer to her.
When he felt ready, he spoke. "After that day, I searched high and low through all of Manehattan, but I couldn't find a single company to hold the funeral under."
He laughed. "I don't know what made me think I could persuade them. We were a poor family after all. No one cares about the poor in that hellhole."
Luna spoke up next. "Ah. I know of the story of which you speak. You have told me before. That is the reason you left Manehattan and came to live in Ponyville, correct?"
"Yeah... It was the only place I could hold a proper funeral. I nearly begged and pleaded to bury her myself though."
"You were a sad sight indeed, that night."
"Yep. But I still got to bury her."
"Indeed, old friend. It is quite a funny thing that both your name, you job, and your cutie mark portray such a grim thing as death, is it not? but that is why I chose you to work as an undertaker. No one knows death as well as you do."
" Hahahahaha! I suppose you have a point there, Luna. It is how I got my name."
"Hmm... I do believe you never answered my question. Why is it that you didn't come to the funeral?"
Now he looked up at Luna, giving her a look that told of years upon years of old age. "You wouldn't show up to watch your own funeral, would you?"
Luna thought about that for a moment. "...No, I suppose not. But I am Death. And one sees quite a bit of that very thing when tasked with this job. Now come along, Grave Digger. I'm sure you are growing weary of this plane of existence."
"You got that right, Princess. Don't worry about me. I'm right behind you."
With that said, Luna began to walk off into the distance, Grave Digger close behind. When they had gotten right about near where the portal to the spirit world was, he stopped.
"Whatever is the matter, my old friend? You wish to stay in this world just a bit longer?"
"Nope. That's not it. I just got one thing I need to say before I cross over to the other side."
Luna thought on this once more. "Hm... very well."
Luna offered him a smile, which he returned. He walked back to the headstone and placed a bouquet of flowers on the grave before coming back. He turned and gave it one final look before saying,
"I'm coming, Grandmother. Wait for me."
And so, he stepped into the great beyond with Luna, never to be seen again.
