A heartbeat.
Another.
Many others.
A chill, the wind was blowing in the endless plains with a sky as grey as the soul of the hunters, a white mare with a rainbow mane, in her eyes there is confusion.
“Where am I?” The mare asked, her golden regalia twinkled and sang with the wind, a hum was heard from afar a dread was felt, from the inside.
“Your time has come.” A voice stated.
“Ready or not!” An ancient and malevolent voice added.
“Who’s there?” The mare asked panicking. A portal made out of pure shadow opened in front of her, from it the dread came and from the dred arrived the hunters. A lone white figure of a lamb exited the portal, in her hand a bow was held, a lone mask hid her face. She drowned the place in a sense of calm, the wind stopped.
The portal awaited for her to pass and then returned as it should be, a wolf made out of smoke and sins, black as the heart of the ones he devoured in countless years, for the sin they committed was to defy death.
“Who are you?” The mare asked, her voice trembling her wings fluttering and her legs readying.
“You are soon to depart.” The lamb said in a calm tone.
“I asked you a question.” The mare replied annoyed by this creature rudeness.
“We are the waking, we are the end. Now, will you accept, or shall the hunt start?” The lamb said.
“Accept? Accept what?” The mare asked.
“Accept, to go easily.” The lamb said with patience.
“NO! Struggle, flee, RUN if you can!” The wolf snapped with vigor.
“I will not accept anything from you!” The mare said gathering her strength and courage.
“Dear wolf.” The lamb said.
“What is mine to take little lamb?” The wolf asked with eagerness.
“Everything.” The wind roared in disgust for another soul was fleeing covering the planes with fear and cowardice. The mare ran.
She didn’t even noticed that her mindless run was making her run inside of a forest, the trees were stoned and ancient as the world, they saw countless lives and will see countless more, this one though was peculiar. In their time they saw very few gods in their embrace. Although they knew they will see them all.
The mare ran mindlessly through the increasingly heavy branches of the trees, she couldn’t fly because the trees were too strong for her to break, so she ran. The dread was with her. From the shadows the wolf attacked, the mare screamed in fear and repelled the hunter with a glowing ray of sun bathing the forest in a white hot light. The wind howled and screamed at her.
The heartbeats increased.
“Her heart beats faster.”
“She knows.”
The mare ran again deeper into the forest, the darkness of the sunless forest threatened to swallow her whole, and she knew it. The wolf stalked and attacked whenever he pleased, the mare used everything she could to stop him but to no avail, the last attack costed her a quart of her right wing, blood spilled in the dead ground feeding the grass the red nectar. The infinite forest watched as the mare struggled and ran from the wolf, the forest wasn’t evil, it was only interested. The darkness was growing the wolf was coming,
Faster
The mare used every last gram of strength in her legs and ran faster into the deep black darkness that coated the entire forest, branches wounded her sides, rocks threatened to make her fall. The dark threatened to make her lose the way, the wolf was there.
The mare found herself in a prison with the resemblance of a forest, there was no escape in her eyes everything was trying to get her caught, the strange creature was hunting her and she didn’t know what was happening. In her run she tripped and fell on the ground, she stood up and looked around her, there she saw a strange tree. It wasn’t made of stone but of something else, the tree was alive but with strange red leaves. On the trunk there was a name but she couldn’t read it, there was also something else, on the lowest branch hung the corpse of a creature, a bipedal creature, bigger than anything she ever saw with a powerful musculature and with a strange armor and a giant weapon in his hand.
“What…” She asked herself, then the corpse talked and said only a few things.
“I… Do not… bleed.” The corpse said and a strange black substance oozed from him staining the ground under him.
“Sion… One day we will end this mockery.” The voice of the lamb said from the forest. “Your hunt is not over dear wolf.”
Celestia felt the wolf and ran away from the tree leaving the corpse behind, she had to go away, she had to flee, she had to go.
Faster
The mare continued to run, her heart was clenched with an iron grasp, terror was crawling in her bones and her entire being was coming to the realization that there was no hope, the forest grew scarcer, the vegetation was yelding and the plains were in sight once more. Maybe not all hope is lost.
Finally the forest ended and the mare found herself in a plain once again, in front of her an endless maze of fog and images, a memento to all that ran. She decided to try her luck there instead of returning inside the forest, the cursed fog trapped her in a maze of lost souls. The cold was chilling and the fear was growing, the accursed images of who dared to defy death passed in front of her eyes, they laughed and screamed and danced and fled. All subjects to the terror and unquestionable rule of death.
“How is this possible?” The mare asked. A heartbeat.
“Time to…” The lamb.
“End this.” The wolf.
The mare now caught and unable to flee turned around to fight. “Do you know who I am?” She screamed confident that with her name something would have changed.
“We know your name.”
“We always known it, Celestia.”
“What do you want from me?” Celestia asked trembling. Another heartbeat.
“Your time has come, we are here to claim you.” The lamb said.
“Willingly or not!” The wolf shouted biting Celestia’s leg making her scream in pain.
“You chose to run.”
“Those who runs from death, stood still in life.” The lamb said, the wind kicked in with renewed strength bending the trees and the grass, the once proud mane of Celestia lays defeated on her body, unable to sustain the strength of the wind.
“Please, I have so much to do!” Celestia screamed. Another.
“They know we’ll come,” The wolf proclaimed.
“And yet, they are never prepared.” The lamb finished.
“Do you think they forgot us?” The wolf asked.
“They will remember us soon.” The lamb promised.
“No! I refuse to die, this is not my destiny I’m the immortal princess of the sun!” Celestia screamed and her body lit with flames, the ground burned and the wind screamed. Celestia casted a powerful spell which blasted the hunters away from her and then healed her leg. Celestia resumed running once again.
With no other choice she navigated through the infinite fog labyrinth there she saw countless creatures, many of which she never saw before in her long life, but there was no time to waste she had to flee.
With the sky no longer occupied by the trees Celestia shook her wings and took flight, only for the wind to remind her why the sky is not her friend. She plummeted to the ground shaken by the sheer strength of the wind, she stood there for a second and nothing more but she tried to find her Sun, only to find nothing. The clouds completely drowned the Sun in their merciless movements.
Tears were going down on Celestia’s face, but she took courage and stood up once again. The dread returned.
“No…” She muttered, the shadows around her molded and moved to create the so familiar masked face of the wolf.
“This one has strong legs!” The wolf shouted in glee. “Good….”
Celestia ran away from the wolf with him on her tracks, the first sign of her demise was the demise of her Sun, the second was the demise of light. An impossible darkness crawled from all angles closing on her, the wind screamed at her, the ground refused her leaving her with pointed rocks and holes, all around her the message that this world was giving her was simple and plain.
“DIE!”
“The wolf struck once again biting her hind legs making her fall, the wolf then bit off her front leg leaving her bloodied and defeated on the ground. The ancient blood was spilled once again and the ground greedly took it, a heartbeat.
Tears were running wildly on Celestia’s face she had no hope to run she couldn’t fight either, the wolf crawled on her and put his maw on her tender neck, her vision started to blur the nothingness was coming.
“Will you now accept?” The lamb said sitting on the ground in front of her. Celestia only nodded and asked a question.
“Will it hurt?” She asked, her voice trembling.
“No, never again.” The lamb promised and readied her arrow pointing it to Celestia’s chest where her heart was.
A heartbeat.
Another one. The sound of a string.
Another one. The sound of the air moved from its place.
A sound.
Silence.
Celestia woke up in her room, in front of her there was her sister coated in blood and with the signs of a powerful dark spell in her eyes.
“SISTER!” She shouted happily.
“I thought- I thought you were lost.” She said crying and hugging her sister.
“Luna? What happened?” She asked.
“An assassin, someone tried to kill you and almost succeeded. I had to use forbidden spells and incantations to bring you back. I’m sorry.” She said crying.
“Do not be my dear sister. I’m here now I won’t leave you again I promise.” Though when she said those words, a hum was heard from distance. A heartbeat, her heart. A dread grew in her soul.
“They forgot us already?”
In the heart of the forest, a tree sprouted to life. Its leaves as red as the blood of the fallen, its roots as deep as the magic that created it. On its bark a single name was engraved.
Celestia. On the lowest branch, a single mare hung from a rope despair was visible on her face as well as an insatiable hunger, she could only whisper for all her strength was lost with her life.
“My ponies… I’m hungry… Do not die… remain forever.” The mare whispered crying blood and wishing she had done the deal oh so many years before.
“We will soon remind them.”
“Do others come back?”
“Those who do…”
A far darker feeling entered Celestia’s soul, a disease a pestilence, a punishment. To those who dared defy death the sentence was malleable, this time it decided to struck in her soul, so from now on the mare will seek the eternal rest, though her motivation and methods will be frowned upon, herself will be the cause of pain, of her friends, subjects, love and blood. The nagging feel of emptiness will leave only a husk in its passing leaving her numb of mortality, leaving her devoid of sentiments, friends, lovers and blood. All will fall from her actions. Then and only then when everything will not be anymore. She will come back for the hunt.
“...Wish they hadn’t.”
Author's Note
The little one shot is now rewritten I hope you will find it good and spooky see ya!
Edited by: No one if there are errors please let me know
