A Shadow

Igneous Rock Pie sat back, sipping his tea as he waited for his visitor. It was soon to be another meeting in the darkness of the night, as his companion would have it. Only the crackling of the fire broke the silence of his living room. Then a small snap of the logs as they shifted cast a shadow over the doorway, and he was there. Igneous Rock Pie calmly sipped his tea. This would have been the height of rudeness with anyone else, but this visitor was both unwelcome, and undeniable. "The hour thou callest upon me is late. My home can offer no comfort to the weary traveler in such a state."

Filthy Rich grinned wickedly as he entered the firelight. "And is that it, uncle? Are you finally denying me the hospitality of your home?"

Igneous Rock Pie set down his tea cup. "Nay. As I gave oath unto my beloved brother, I will never turn thee out from the hospitality of my home, the charity of my spirit, or the contents of my prayers."

Filthy Rich scoffed audibly as Igneous Rock Pie watched him calmly. "Oh, your beloved brother. I remember how father wheezed, and died like a pathetic animal." He drew his hoof across this throat, the shadow lingering there a little too long.

Though Igneous Rock Pie didn't rise to the bait, he couldn't let that go unchallenged. "My brother died a man of principle."

"He died penniless! He died with a shack and an empty quarry! If that's where principle gets you then I'm sure that you will die poor as well. But tell me, uncle, what of your daughters, and your wife?" The wicked grin that Filthy Rich gave him was nothing short of predatory. "Maybe I'll buy the farm after you die. Make them mine."

Though almost as implacable as his daughter Maud, Igneous Rich Pie had to break a small grin at that. "They are not bound by my oath to entertain you and your insults. They would recognize you for what you are in a moment and be rid of you in the same."

Filthy Rich out a hoof up to his ear. "Do you not hear it, uncle? That is the sound of progress. Your old superstition dies around your ears."

Igneous Rock Pie let his grin linger. "Doest thou not tire of thy mockery? Thou hath come here, once a year on the night of Nightmare Night, to vex me. What hast thou to show for all thine efforts?"

Filthy Rich sneered. "Very well, uncle. I have a simple request." Igneous Rock Pie simply stared, waiting. "Kick me out of your house."

"Never." The simple word was as hard as the granite that made up the mountain.

Filthy Rich laughed, throwing his head back, the shadow it case not that of any pony. "Really? You know every year you risk so much for a stallion who has cursed you half his life? You know, uncle, Filthy Rich truly hates you. How your primitive superstitions led father to die penniless."

Igneous nodded. "My brother died a man free from darkness. Which is more than I can say for my nephew."

Filthy Rich snarled slightly, his teeth sharp, sharper than any ponies should be. "There is no great treasure waiting for you beyond death. Why not live up and gain as I have? I can offer riches beyond measure, like I did to your nephew."

Igneous narrowed his eyes at Filthy Rich. "Thou cannot play thy puppetry while pretending that there is nothing beyond this world, creature."

The sound that came from Filthy Rich's throat should not have been able to come from a ponies throat. It was a growl even the most hostile dragon would have approved of. "You owe him nothing. You know the risks of having me in your home. I leave my presence here whenever I visit. Just kick me out, I will never darken your door again. And your farm will prosper. I will never come near you, or your family. Give me Filthy Rich, and I will retract all my "darkness" from what is yours."

Igneous Rock Pie leveled his gaze at the creature, the demon that took over his nephew once a year. From a foolish old bargain his nephew had made. The creature was more powerful than he could understand, possibly more powerful than Celestial herself. But it had rules, it worked in deals. "Do thy worst. Rage again, creature, and watch thy rage come to naught."

The creature, not Filthy Rich, just another being puppeting his body let out a scream that would have, and did, peel paint off of walls. As it loomed over Igneous Rock Pie, not growing in form, but it's wicked shadow enveloping the room, sliding up the walls, over the ceiling and the floor, even over the source of light that was the fire place. "I will destroy all that is yours!"

The great sound of beams cracking came, as the house was damaged. The creature could not destroy the house with Igneous Rock Pie in it, he couldn't risk harming Igneous Rock Pie, as per their deal. But he could destroy all else he touched. The creatures tendrils extended over the farm, shattering boulders, collapsing out buildings, and causing immeasurable financial harm. But he could not go beyond the property line. He could not get to the family Igneous Rock Pie had sent away for the night.

As the sun rose, Igneous Pie looked out over his destroyed fields, then looked down at the lingering, fading shadow. "Begone, the night is over, the dawn has come."

The shadow croaked in its hideous true voice. "Why...? You sacrifice so much for one who hates you, he will never know of this."

Igneous Rock Pie looked at the brilliant sun rise, and, straightening his back, remembered his beloved brother, and nephew, before greed overtook him, when Filthy Rich was an innocent child. "For we art kin."