Hopes Final Words
Fanfiction by: Dddrgn
PART 1: It all Begins...
Darkness... Cold... Twilight Sparkle sprinted as quickly as she could, the pitch black air blinding. As she ran, Twilight couldn't help but wonder why she was running, but a fear she could not explain crept over her skin, compelling her to run. The faster Twilight went, the more she felt the need to run. Faster, faster she ran into the nothing, the blank, the black. Suddenly a joy filled her, she LOVED it, the fear was amazing! The fear was like a drug that she could never let go of.
"What is this place..." whispered the pony in a still voice. Twilight took a deep breath of the pitch air, then nothing...
"T..w.willliiighttttt...". Spike's voice echoed loudly in Twilight's ear. The noise began to clear as she slowly blinked open her eyes.
"Twilight!!! Are you okay?". Twilight Sparkle stiffly rose from her bed, eyes wide and unblinking. What was that? "Twilight?" A confused Spike collected himself from being thrown on the floor from the bed. Twilight entered an extremely dusty corner of her library, staring with envy at the
Crimson and black books sitting on the shelves, never removed since they had first been placed.
"What are you doing twilight?!" Exclaimed Spike. "You told me that we can NEVER touch those books, Princess Celestia wanted you to have them, but not to actually READ them!" Twilight Turned to Spike, her horn glowing an eery, black glow. Spike lifted into the air and was tossed across the room, and the dragon let out a scream. In a cold, monotonous voice, Twilight chuckled
"I'm busy Spike, do you even know what kind of power these books hold? The only reason Princess Celestia doesn't want me to read them is so I WON'T be as powerful as she is! She want's all the power for herself! She has probably read these books hundreds of times. You know why? Because she wants complete power! I'll show her!" Spike Struggled to his feet again, bruised from the powerful
throw.
"What is wrong with you Twilight! You've never doubted the Princess even once! She watches out for us!"
"let's just say I see more... clearly now, Spike..." Said Twilight with a slight grin.
Twilight turned back to the grim book, and Spike scrambled to the exit, slipping out the door. Once outside, Spike looked to the floor, worried.
"What is going on with her? I need to talk to someone, and quick!" Sprinting as quickly as he possibly could, Spike moved with purpose, ignoring passing shadows. Something needed to be done, and Spike knew just the pony to talk to. An enormous boom erupted from the door, rapidly and hectically repeating.
"Oh who could that be at this hour?" muttered Rarity. She slowly crept out of bed, throwing on an elegant purple robe, and headed towards the door.
"Spike!?" she exclaimed in surprise as she cracked open the door.
"Rarity, Rarity, Somethings wrong with Twilight! I need you right now!" Spike Screamed, throwing himself on the ground.
"Can't it wait until morning? I need my beauty sleep if I want to look divine in the morning!" came the reply.
"But rarity, it's 9:00 in the morning! And Twilight isn't acting herself! Please come help me!"
"She probably just has a cold" groaned Rarity, "she will be fine after a day or two in bed."
"NO NO NO, She's not sick rarity! please come!"
"Alright already!" muttered Rarity, "But I assure you that nothing is wrong!" Spike grabbed Rarity by the hoof and dragged her back to the library, running up to the window.
"See, look!" whispered Spike, wiping fog off the window with his hand. Rarity glared through the window, watching Twilight focused, putting everything into a large crimson and black book.
"Twilight is always reading like that Spike" Yawned Rarity "Don't worry, she's just studying her magic like she does every day".
"But Rar-" Spike pleaded, but Rarity had already began to head home. "But... I thought that her, the most beautiful pony of them all would know what to do!" Said spike. "oh well, I'm sure that Applejack will know what to do!"
"Applejack!!!! Applejack!!!" Echoed Spike's voice through the orchard. "What does that li'l dragon want now?" muttered Applejack, just finishing collecting apples after working all night.
"APPLEJACK!!" Came Spike's voice even louder.
"Ah'm right here Spike" Applejack said calmly from behind him. Spike Shot into the air and with lighting speed ran behind a tree.
"Keep your head on Sugarcube, It's just me, now what is it that you want?" Applejack questioned.
"Twilight has gone crazy and is reading this HUGE red book that Princess Celestia told her to never read ever, and She's acting all creepy, and she's not being herself, please come and help her!" Spike gasped.
"whoa whoa, hold your horses Spike, I'm sure that there is a reasonable explanation for this". "No, you wan't listen to me applejack!" came Spike's response.
"No Spike, you listen to me! I wan't you to go home and talk to Twilight, see what's going on. There has to be a good reason for whatever it is that she's doing, alright?"
"But-"
"no buts, go home" Applejack said, entering her barn sleepily. "Good night" The door slammed shut loudly, inches from spike's face.
"Seriously?!" Spike exclaimed "Why won't anypony listen to me?" he wondered aloud to himself. Lowering his head, Spike began walking slowly away from AppleJacks' barn,
trying to find out what to do. After a few minutes of walking, it hit him.
"Pinkie Pie will believe me, just like when she thought we all hated her!" Quickening his pace, he made a path straight to SugarCube Corner, hoping Pinkie would be awake. Spike slammed the door open, and Pinkie turned to him with wide eyes, a tray of cupcakes in her hooves.
"HEY SPIKE HOW'S IT GOING?!?" she yelled loudly "Want to try one of my cupcakes?? I made them with a secret ingredient!"
"Not now Pinkie, something's wrong with Twilight!" Spike explained. "She is reading this book that Celestia told her not too, and she won't listen to me and is tlaking funny and..." Spike continued. "Oooh really?" Pinkie asked "Something sounds fishy!? Maybe she has been possessed by a ghost, I hear ghosts are mean little things, taking over people and making them do weird stuff... OOOOOR maybe she tried eating those cupcakes that AppleJack made, those were baked bads! Sounds suspicous, let's go check it out!" Pinkie Sprinted out the door as fast as her hooves would take her, and Spike quickly jumped on her back.
"Off to the treebrary!" Spike exclaimed. Upon arriving at the treebrary, the duo creeped up to the window, wiping frost off the glass. Inside, lay the black book, but Twilight was nowhere to be found. It was as if the entire treebrary had been redecorated, all over the room were strange, magical looking items that Spike had never seen before. Suddenly, twilight came into view, her her eyes blood red instead of Purple. She was darker looking than before, purple, yet somehow black at the same time, and her pupils had been reduced to black snake-like slits.
"hmmm... just as I though!" Pinkie said. "She probably ate those cupcakes, and they TURNED HER EVIL!"
"I don't know what happened" Spike replied "But she is definitely not acting normal" They crept around the treebrary, hoping to find a way to sneak in without being noticed.
"oooh yeah, good thing I brought this!" Pinkie whispered as she pulled out a small trampoline. "Why did you bring that?" spike asked.
"Oh, well I thought after we were done being detectives, we could play trampoline! I just love trampolines!” Came the reply as pinkie hopped onto the trampoline and started hopping, eventually silently landing on the balcony.
"now you try!" she yelled to Spike, her voice echoing loudly. Pinkie watched as Spike pulled himself onto the small trampoline and began bouncing up and down, gaining height with each jump. After a few seconds of jumping, Spike managed to land next to Pinkie in a pile, crashing into the floor. "Silly Spike, your supposed to land ON your feet, not under them!" Pinkie giggled as Spike scrambled to stand up again.
"now let's see what Twilight is up too..." Spike whispered, crouching near the window. Pinkie tiptoed on her hind legs towards the window, eyes open wide. This was Pinkie's idea of a good detective game! Spying on people and sneaking around all night! As they leered through the window, twilight walked into the main room of the treebrary, right into their view. Hidden in the shadows, Pinkie and Spike were completely hidden to the normal eye, but they weren't sure if Twilight's eyes were normal anymore, the Red slits that they had become suggested otherwise. Twilight Slowly set the Red book down on a pedestal, as if the book was a baby that she was gently setting to sleep. She was careful with every move, making sure absolutely nothing could happen to the book. It sat in it's place, eerily different than the rest of it's surroundings. Twilight took a step back from the book, and her horn started to glow a Blood red, her eyes squinting downwards, focused but wild, and her mouth started moving as if she was chanting a lullaby. Suddenly, with a flash, Twilight had disappeared, leaving Spike and Pinkie glaring, mouths open wide.
What had they gotten into.
Part 2: Nightmare Moon's Awakening
Twilight reappeared just outside of Canterlot, the night breeze flowing through her mane and down her spine. She took a deep breath of the dew flavored air, the excitement stinging her from the inside out. This was it, what her entire plan depended on. Twilight took a small moment to make sure her mane was perfect and that she was ready. If this didn't work, her entire plan failed.
Each step that she took echoed silently through the empty streets of Canterlot. Twilight had picked the perfect night for this mission, nobody would come out tonight, they were all too busy recovering from the Grand Galloping Gala the previous night. The city was so quiet that you could hear the slightest breath, the smallest gasp. Twilight slowly made her way towards the large glimmering castle that stood before her... Somewhere in there was her target, and she would not let it slip away from her. It was too crucial to her mission.
Using a basic illusion spell that wouldn't fool a filly during the day, she managed to slip her way inside the enormous castle, her new senses driving her mad. Ever since what she thought of as "the opening", Twilight had learned that she possessed extreme senses of smell, sight, and hearing. Even a butterfly's wings sounded like the roar of a dragon when she wanted it to.
She made her way up the stairs, down a memorized path. She didn't have any doubt to where she needed to go. After what seemed like hours even though it was less than minutes, she reached her destination. A large wooden door, with a moon seemingly embedded into the grain stood before her. Before the opening, she would have stopped to behold the door, but that was a waste of her time now. The door squeaked open, revealing the large room before her. Moonlight dimly lit the room with a faint, eery glow.
Everything seemed like a dream, a bit unreal even within its own reality. Against the far wall lay a small bed, supporting a tiny figure under it's pastel blue covers. Twilight's eyes narrowed sweetly as she slid gracefully towards Luna, this would be perfect.
As Twilight neared, Luna began to stir, rising up from her bed. She turned and saw Twilight immediately, and she began to back away.
"What are you doing here... Twilight Sparkle?" she muttered. Twilight closed in on luna gently, "Just enjoying the view... the moon is very beautiful tonight you know..." Twilight walked a small circle around Luna, examining her from head to toe. She was a beautiful pony, it was such a shame she had to do this. Luna shivered as she stood, helpless, being homed in on by the larger pony, her lip quivering with fear and her eyes downcast.
"No need to be afraid, Luna," Twilight said soothingly, her voice like a harp. "Things are going to be alright as long as you don't fear." She nuzzled Luna softly as she circled, always getting closer and closer.
"Bu-b...buu...but..." The small pony managed to whisper, suddenly beginning to sob.
"Now, now," Twilight said softly, "See, this is why I am here Luna, to give you back everything you had". Twilight calmly kissed Luna on the cheek, wrapping her hooves around the smaller pony. " You see, you've lost everything. Your sister controls both the sun and your beautiful moon! What kind of world is this where you can't even control your own moon?"
Luna's eyes gave some recognition to what Twilight was saying, now following her intently. Twilight slowly lay Luna back down on the small turquoise bed, and lay next to her, stroking her soft, sleek mane.
"Now, we wouldn't want you to let your sister keep that, would we? She just wants all the power; she doesn't care about either one of us." Luna began to respond, but Twilight cut her off . "No... don't worry about anything. I will take care of it all."
Luna's eyes glimmered, staring deeply into Twilight's. Luna leaned in and kissed Twilight passionately, her head spinning from the thought of what was going on. Ideas planted silently by Twilight swirled in Luna's head, spinning into a web.
Twilight broke the kiss first, looking into Luna's Dreamy eyes. Luna was ready.
"Luna, Celestia wants to take away everything you have, she thinks she is better than you. I am going to put an end to this, I am going to restore you to your previous self, and I will give you all the power in the world. Everything will be yours for the taking." Luna curled close to Twilight, oblivious to what was really going on. Wrapping her hooves around Luna, Twilight nibbled Luna's ear, holding her as closely as she could, this prize could not be let go. Twilight kissed Luna one last time, a seemingly endless kiss to Luna.
Releasing Luna, Twilight slid out of the bed and stood up.
"Now, I can give you back everything you once had, all your power will be yours again. What do you say?" Twilight's eyes glinted red faintly, she was running out of time. Standing up, everything still in a haze to her, Luna nodded.
"Do it." Twilight's eyes suddenly flashed, red, glowing brightly, her horn shining a dark light.
Luna began to rise into the air with relative ease, startled by the sudden motion. Three radiant bursts emitted from Twilight's horn, flying in a perfect triangle towards Luna. They began to spin and circle the small pony, becoming increasingly bright until Luna could no longer be seen. Suddenly, the bursts exploded like fireworks, revealing a tall, dark figure where Luna once was. Nightmare moon silently landed on the floor, as if she had been there the entire time.
Nightmare Moon bowed before Twilight elegantly, the only pony who truly deserved her respect.
"Now, how is it that I may serve you, my master?" she said in a voice like silk. Twilight only smirked. It was time.
~ ~
Spike and Pinkie watched through the small window in awe; Twilight had just disappeared with a crimson flash, right before their eyes. Both of them stepped back, unable to speak. Spike shook his head wildly, trying to clear his mind, trying to wrap himself around what had just happened, trying to make some sense of this. Pinkie was still Staring when she shot into the air laughing.
"Well that was one amazing magic trick! Twilight really HAS been practicing! We should head inside and see if we can find her and tell her how amazing that trick was and..." Pinkie rambled on. "PINKIE" Spike interrupted, " that was no magic trick. Something is wrong with Twilight. Didn't you see that, she disappeared in a flash of red! We need to head inside, maybe there will be some hints towards what is going on".
"Okey Dokey Lokey!" Pinkie said excitedly, bouncing through the window as Spike held it open. Entering the upper floor of the treebrary, Spike immediately noticed a dramatic change in the room. What used to be a large room decorated with books covering every wall was now an empty, hollow cave. The walls had been stripped bare, the bookcases missing. Everything Twilight had known and loved, gone, enveloped in her madness. In the middle of the room, the book stood alone on it's pedestal, It's black and Crimson cover somehow shining with an eery glow. Walking slowly towards the large book, Spike and Pinkie couldn't help but cringe at the sight of the thing. It's cover looked as if it was made of dyed skin, and it somehow seemed alive.
As Spike began to pull the book open, he could feel it throbbing, breathing beneath his scales. Flipping open the cover of the book, Spike closed his eyes, looking away quickly, expecting something horrible to pop out of the book. After a few seconds of flinching in silence, Spike squinted open his eyes, half expecting to be greeted with horrors panted all over the dreaded book. Looking down, Spike shrieked with surprise. The book was Blank! rapidly turning each page, he looked for something, anything that could tell him what was going on, but was always given the same answer - nothing. Giggling loudly, pinkie started staring at the book closely.
"Well this is silly!" she exclaimed " Why would anyone want to read a Blank book?! ooooooooh! maybe there's invisible ink! I know just what to do!" the pink pony reached into her book, pulling out a glass of milk, then calmly dumped it onto the book, soaking the pages to a pulp. "hmm... OOOH yeah, the milk was supposed to be used as the INK." the pony muttered, frowning for a quick second. "Oh well! Now can we go play trampoline? huh huh huh?" Spike looked at the happy pony with a flabbergasted expression on his face, his mouth gaping open.
"Why in Celestia's name would you pour Milk on the book?! What would make you ever think that was a good idea?!" he exclaimed loudly, waving his arms rapidly at his sides. "Now we will never know what the book says!" Spike froze as a door opened behind him, making a loud creaking noise as the rusted hinges ground against each other.
The Violet pony stepped into the library, analyzing her surroundings with Her Crimson eyes. She immediately noticed Spike and Pinkie, but gave them no attention, going about her business as if they did not exist. Spike stood completely still, his heart pounding inside his throat, while pinkie hopped circles around him, rambling on about the big adventure they were on and how much fun
she had been having. Spike added together everything that had happened in his mind. None of this made sense, after all that had happened, why would Twilight just ignore them? Why would she be so obsessed with this blank book, and why in Equestria did Twilight look so much darker than normal...
As Spike stood frozen, contemplating what was happening, a strange smell began to spread through the room. It was sweet, yet bitter at the same time. It wrapped around Spike like a blanket, his eyes beginning to droop. It was so inviting, so wonderful, but horrible at the same time. Spike fell to the ground from pure exhaustion, twilight appearing in front of him as his eyes closed.
"Good night Spike" Echoed her voice through Spike's subconscious.
--
"TWILIGHT!" Spike screamed, jumping up from the floor, scales soaked in sweat. Taking a quick look around, Spike found himself in a small cage hanging from the ceiling of Twilight's library, Pinkie in another larger cage to his immediate left, passed out. Spike glared out of the cage downwards, his vision still fuzzy from the involuntary nap he had just taken. Two figures stood directly below him, speaking in hushed tones. One of them he recognized to be twilight, but the other he could not quite make out. It was a tall, very dark pony, all shades of blue and black. He was too far away to hear clearly what they were saying, but he could barely make out their voices, menacing and grim. His mind worked slowly, groggy and not able to process at it's normal speed. After a few minutes of sitting on the cold metal floor of the cage, it hit Spike like a slap on the face.
"Nightmare moon?!" he exclaimed, eyes popping out of his skull. "But she can't be back... Twilight beat her with the elements of harmony. How could she be ba..." Spike didn't finish his sentence, realizing that Twilight had brought her back. The only question was how. Spike watched as the two ponies beneath him were surrounded in a cloud-like, purple fog. It spread throughout the entire room, barely stopping before the bottom of the cage. The fog compressed together in an instant, molding into the shape of a pony, fleshing out quickly. The gas solidified beneath spike, Creating a solid, deep black Unicorn, no features were distinguishable on the figure that Spike could make out, and it stood in the room, emanating an empty coldness from it. Turning to Pinkie's cage, Spike tried to reach over to wake up the pink ponies cage, stretching his small arm as far as it could go, trying to do anything to wake her up.
Despite his efforts, Pinkie lay asleep in her cage, giggling and mumbling to herself. Spike could barely hold himself up, the shock of everything he had just seen making his knees feel like jelly, buckling underneath his weight. Around him, the world began to spin, growing more and more fuzzy until everything was black.
--
Everything was going smoothly. Twilight had temporarily disposed of that pathetic dragon and annoying pink pony, and nothing else would step in her way.
" you see Nightmare, we can summon as many of these as we need" Twilight said, calmly motioning to the featureless black unicorn that stood before them. "With an army of these shadows under our control, we cannot be stopped! You shall have everything you have ever desired, and you shall be rewarded greatly for your work." Nightmare moon stood next to twilight, gazing upon the creature Twilight had just created, and nodded silently.
“ They are near impossible to destroy, as they are made out of pure shadow. Arrows and other conventional weapons will disintegrate on contact” Twilight explained, marveling at her own work. She truly was ingenious... “ Just one of these lovely creatures can easily take down an entire battalion of Royal Guards.” she said, smoothing her mane.
“Of course, my queen” Replied Nightmare Moon, bowing her head slightly. “ But, what about that wretched sister of mine, Celestia?”
“ah...” Twilight said, turning and gently nuzzling Nightmare Moon. “ We will dispose of her in due time, my dear. It will not be a problem, your revenge is guaranteed.” Walking slowly over to a map of Equestria, Twilight paused carefully before speaking. “ First, we have to pay our favorite old town a visit...”
To be continued...
Hopes Final Words
Fanfiction by: Dddrgn
Chapter 2
PART 3: The beginning of the end
Rarity trotted down the road, grinning as Fluttershy struggled to keep up with her.
“Come along Fluttershy, We simply cannot be late for our lunch with Applejack!” said the unicorn, turning her head back towards the mellow Pegasus. The sun hung low in the sky, casting a warm yet dim light into Ponyville, shadows spread from every house and shop into the street. Fluttershy looked up to Rarity Apologetically and began to quicken her pace, weaving her way around the shadows whenever possible, as if each and every one of them was some dark creature ready to vaporize her.
“Are you absolutely sure about this lunch?” Fluttershy said, still lagging behind Rarity despite her best efforts to catch up.
“Whatever do you mean Fluttershy?” came the response. “Applejack is our friend; of course we should have lunch with her!” A muffled sobbing noise emitted from behind her, coaxing Rarity to turn around. Fluttershy wiped her eyes clean with her hooves and cleared her nose with a loud snort, blinking several times to gain better focus.
“It’s just… We haven’t seen Twilight, Spike or Pinkie for two days.” Her voice shuddered and became nothing more than a whisper at the mention of their friends. A white hoof wrapped itself around Fluttershy and pulled her close, a soft Purple mane brushed against her cheek.
“I know how you feel Fluttershy; this is exactly why we are going to meet Applejack. If anyone can find them, it’s us, don’t you think?” The Pegasus took a moment to contemplate what she was being told, eyes flittering from the glowing clouds in the cyan sky down to the trees and other plant-life around her. The shadows cast all around her seemed brightly edged, almost unnatural in many ways. Fluttershy did her best to ignore this; no matter how much it stood out in her mind, there was no way it could be important. A nudge on her shoulder coaxed Fluttershy into walking again, although she only began gradually.
“I guess so, but I still don’t like any of this. I’m scared that something awful happened to them, maybe even something horrendous!” A small shiver ran down her spine, causing a temporary moment of paralysis. Rarity looked caringly into Fluttershy’s eyes, grinning reassuringly.
“You always seem to jump to conclusions too quickly dear, we simply cannot forget the fact that everyone has been extremely busy these past few days. Ponyville is in some kind of rampage, spring cleaning, moving, everything. There isn’t anypony who isn’t preparing in some way for the Festival!” Fluttershy nodded knowingly, this was a special time of year after all. Spring was turning into summer, which meant that the Summer Sun Festival was coming very soon, and even though Manehattan was the location this year instead of Ponyville, it was extremely anticipated all around Equestria.
Fluttershy grinned gingerly, somewhat reassured but still doubtful about the condition of her best friends. “Well, that is that best guess we have then, that they were just too wrapped up in preparations to even come outside to eat”.
The two friends weaved their way through the crowd of ponies as they neared their destination, a small, cheap but well taken care of restaurant. The casual furniture and warm lights gave the place a kind of homey, welcoming feel that attracted the attention of ponies all over Ponyville, next to Sugarcube Corner, it was the number one place to go if you wanted to meet somepony. An orange pony with a cowboy hat atop her straw colored mane grinned widely and waved through the window towards Fluttershy and Rarity, motioning for them to come inside the small building; they responded without hesitation, forcing their way through the bustling crowd and inside.
Inside the restaurant the air was stuffy and compressed, despite the many fans that circulated air from the inside through special vents to the outside, as if the windows were sealed shut and could not be opened. The aroma of extremely simple yet fantastic meals spread through the room, immediately seizing the two friends and pulling them in closer in a welcoming embrace. Dust bunnies and dimmed lights decorated the room, plain, but for some reason it managed to attract attention.
“Fluttershy, Rarity, over here yall!” Applejack yelled across the room despite several odd looks from passerby’s. Pointing towards the seats in front of her, Applejack sighed happily; her friends were here and now everything could be figured out. Seating themselves across the table from Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy exchanged glances, silently deciding who would express their concern for their missing friends.
“I love the new hat Applejack” Rarity started, “is it for the summer sun festival”? The cowpony pulled the hat off and took a quick glance at it, handing it over to Rarity for inspection.
“yep, it’s mah special spring apple bucking hat! That’s just what I was doin’ for I came here for lunch with you girls.” Rarity traced the patterns and designs along the fabric of the hat delicately, grinning widely at the chance to think about anything fashion-related.
“It’s simply divine Applejack” Rarity cooed, handing back the hat. As the two continued on rambling about where she managed to obtain the hat, Fluttershy sat silently tapping her hoof nervously against the mahogany surface of the table. Playing with her mane, Fluttershy started a whisper of a sentence only to be interrupted by Rarity.
“Now, you must show me where you got that amazing hat my dear!” Rarity said, eyes wide, staring at the hat. “Now I could probably make time on tue-“
“GIRLS!” Fluttershy screamed, and then curled into a ball. “Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so loud, it’s just that Twilight has been telling me to be more assertive and…” she trailed off, muttering to herself. Fluttershy quickly glanced side to side, and then began to uncurl herself. “I mean… We are here for a reason, right? I’m sure that your hat is absolutely lovely Applejack, but I’m worried about Twilight, Pinkie and Spike, I haven’t seen them for the past two days.” Applejack gave a nod of approval, waving her hoof to get the attention of a nearby waitress.
“Three hay shakes please” she said, then turned her attention back towards Fluttershy. “Ah’ know, I guess we just don’t want to think about that kind of stuff right now. Anyway, to business.” The waitress walked over to the table and placed a hay shake in front of each pony without a word, brushed her apron, then trotted away to serve other ponies inhabiting the small room. “Rarity” Applejack said, turning to the white unicorn. “Ya said something about Spike visiting you in the night, telling you that something was wrong with Twi?” The unicorn nodded, remembering very clearly what had happened.
“Yes, Spike came to me looking like a mess, his scales were out of place; don’t even get me started on the amount of mud he had on him, dulled the cute shine that his scales normally have. Anyhow, more to the point, he told me that Twilight was not acting herself, so after quite a bit of begging, I went to the library with him. Of course, when we got there, Twilight was reading as usual. It’s not odd for her to stay up all night sucked into a book, you know her, so I went back home.”
“Seems fairly reasonable” Applejack said, scratching her head lightly. “But Spike would never waste his time running around town to each of us in the middle of the night if everything was alright. I understand that all of us were too tired to focus, so we just let it go, but it seems like at this point there is much more going on than we expected.” Fluttershy sat silently, looking back and forth as her friends conversed, unsure of what to say, because everything that crossed her mind was already being said. Even so, speaking her mind was something that she would never normally do, not in front of a group of other ponies, it was against her nature.
“It seems that we need to list the possibilities of what could have happened, then go through and test each one?” Rarity started, “We already know that it could be centered on what Spike was telling us about Twilight, but that is the only lead I see at this point”. Applejack stopped for a second, rubbing her hooves together.
“Ah’ think I recall Spike saying something about a book?” she said, looking Rarity in the eye. “he said that Twi’ was reading something that the princess had forbidden… it doesn’t sound like her at all”.
“If the Princess forbids her to read it, why would she of all ponies read it? She always obsesses over the rules, it can be rather annoying to tell the truth” Rarity started. “But… maybe at this point we should ask the princess what is going on? What the book is?”
“Sounds like a solid plan to me… how bout’ you Fluttershy?” said Applejack, directing her attention towards the timid yellow Pegasus. Fluttershy sat up from where she had been cowering, attempting to stay out of the conversation, and forced a small grin onto her face.
“I’m sure it sounds… fine…” she began in a hushed voice, but slowly growing louder. “I mean, if there is any chance that the Princess knows what is going on, we should go see her, right? I mean, if it’s what you guys think, I have no doubt…”
“It’s settled then!” Rarity said, taking a sip of her hay shake. “As soon as possible we will make our way to Canterlot; hopefully we can have an audience with the princess.” Rarity’s eyes began to flash, going wide. “Ooh Canterlot, the fabulosity, the important ponies, the beauty, exquisite food and style, I can’t wait!” Rarity said with a squeal of excitement.
--
The pastel purple pony watched a large black orb float in the sky just above her, powered by the combined power of both her and Nightmare Moon. The orb began to lose its form and separate into a mist, combining with the normal air around it. The mist began to form into separate balls in the air and shot towards the ground, compressing and beginning to flow like a liquid. Each ball formed into the shape of a tar black pony, each with no face.
“Nightmare” Twilight said demandingly. “Go see that the rest of the preparations have gone as planned; I will personally escort the minions for now”. With a silent nod, the mare of darkness flew into the air in compliance with the order. As distance was made between them, she could just make out a flash of red from Twilight’s eyes.
“Now…” Twilight began, grinning as her shadow army grew before her. “Finally my dreams are about to be realized.” With a crimson flash from her horn, an order was given, and the army began to disperse around Ponyville, breaking apart and reforming at their destination to wreak chaos. A handful of the shadows broke into pieces, constructing a platform beneath their master’s feet. The platform eerily began to rise into the air, giving Twilight an aerial view of the destruction.
“Go my minions!” Twilight said, “Leave none of them alive!”
--
Nightmare Moon found herself just outside the outskirts of Ponyville, where masses of shadows gathered into an enormous cloud surrounding the town. The mare of Darkness looked up deeply into the sky, marveling at the power of the creatures as they formed a crystalline structure, completely blacking out the sky. Her master had insisted that this precaution be taken just in case a certain few might attempt an escape, something that was not part of the plan. From the outside of the structure, all appeared normal; a masquerade of sorts to keep that mosquito Celestia away from the situation.
A circle would be formed for the first phase of the attack, slowly moving together and crushing anything that came into its path. From there they would continue to work their way in, until nothing survived.
“At least”, thought Nightmare, “That’s how it’s supposed to go”. Nightmare Moon knew her place; her mission had been given separately to her, an honor that she should revere, at least as much as she was going to love the annihilation of these pathetic sun-loving ponies.
Nightmare took one final glance around her, enough to convince her that things were going to work out as planned, and spread her reptilian wings widely and soared into the night sky. In an instant, her body diffused into smoke, and whisked away towards Canterlot.
To Be Continued…
Hopes Final Words
Fanfiction by: Dddrgn
Chapter 3
Part 4: Who has been missing?
A small tuft of clouds drifted slowly in the sky, connecting with more of itself as it floated. Slowly, a shadow began to move over the white cloud, disturbing its drowsy inhabitants. Rainbow Dash rolled onto her side, letting out a sleepy yawn at the minor annoyance. Reaching her hoof up to her nose to repel an itch, she curled into a ball and wrapped her wings around herself like a blanket. Dreams of spectacular feats and gleaming blue outfits began to slowly fade from her mind as she awoke.
“Typical” she thought, stretching out her lean limbs. “Just as I’m about to be accepted as one of the Wonderbolts, again!” Rainbow Dash’s eyes flittered open, only to reveal fairly fuzzy and unclear surroundings. Blinking a few times, she stood up on her perch to get a view of what might have broken her perfect dream. Glancing at various objects around her, Rainbow Dash was completely unable to find anything that might tell her why things were not as bright as they should have been… things just seemed less vivid.
“Oh well…” she muttered, as long as she was unable to sleep, she might as well prepare for the real day that she becomes a Wonderbolt. Tiptoeing to the edge of the weightless cloud, she spread her hooves out to each side of her, standing on her hind legs. Taking one exhilarating breath, she stepped into a free-fall, increasing in speed with the help of gravity alone. As the ground quickly approached, her wings spread, catching her weight and adding some lift, allowing for the vertical movement of her fall to become horizontal.
Rainbow Dash angled and soared upwards, velocity beating gravity at its own game. Squinting her eyes against the blasting wind, she pulled backwards into a loop, stomach towards the sky as her speed increased. Out of the loop, Rainbow Dash flew towards the Everfree Forest, weaving between trees, just barely making it out of the way of each one as she flew. Satisfied with herself that she was still fighting fit, the cyan pony rose out of the forest and landed on a cloud she visited often, it gave her a perfect view of the town, as well as a nice warm spot in the sun to sleep.
“What the…” Rainbow muttered to herself, gazing towards Ponyville. Something was odd; the town seemed normal, but empty. As far as she could tell, it was completely abandoned. She flew down to the ground to begin her inspection of the town that had been called home by so many ponies, only to find it completely unrecognizable. Everywhere she went, she could remember who she would see, where they lived and worked, but always found the same, cold, empty space. As she began to look more closely at her surroundings, Rainbow noticed that things were out of place, left in the middle of the street as if some sort of apocalypse had happened. It’s as if there was some sort of struggle, then everyone just disappeared.
She wandered slowly to Sugarcube Corner, hoping for the large pink bakery to bring her a smile in the midst of this dismal scene, it was always one of her favorite places in this little earth pony town. Her eyes widened as she approached the building, the normally cheery and pink bakery was now splattered a crimson red, and the windows were shattered and then boarded up over the top. Surrounding the building in a circle was a mound of dirt, piled up to eye level with the Pegasus.
Slowly reaching out with her hoof, Rainbow began to dig at the dirt, both eager and terrified to find out what lay underneath. At the slightest touch, the mound began to crumble, wearing away as Rainbow dug.
“Why would anybody…” she began, interrupted as the mound fell away, revealing what looked something like a hoof. She dug deeper and more erratically, and froze at the sight. Cheerliee’s body lay directly underneath her, a large incision running down the underside, stomach bulging outwards. A large chunk of her neck hung from just a flap of skin, blood dyeing her coat crimson red. The Pegasus took a few steps back in shock, curling her wings tightly to her side, unable to speak. Her gaze shifted to the rest of the pile, and she began to quiver rapidly, mind barely able to process what was directly in front of her.
“A… mass g..g..grave?” she stuttered, closing her eyes tightly, hoping all of this was some sort of dream, or even just a cruel joke. Cheerilee would stand up any second now, and laugh at how she had managed to beat Rainbow at her own game, she had to. Opening her eyes slowly and hopefully, Rainbow’s wings sagged as the reality sunk in. Everypony she knew and cared for was dead. There was nothing she could do. She made her way towards Sugarcube Corner, the once happy home of that insane maniac Pinkie Pie, dragging her hooves until small trails lead the way behind her, scarring the black ground.
Her head rose, facing the wooden door, eyes glazed over and unaware. The door slowly began to glow red, beginning to open. The inside of the building was devoured in darkness, but for a reason unaware even to the Pegasus, she continued her way forwards. A single pair of eyes began to emanate a strange aura inside, and a single horn slammed the door as the Pegasus unwillingly entered the structure.
--
Part 5: The end of an Empire
Nightmare Moon crept stealthily towards the entrance gates of Canterlot, her goal was close, too close. A trio of royal guards stood at ease in the night, joking and laughing around a bon-fire, remembering good times. Choosing her hoofsteps carefully, Nightmare closed in, keeping to the shadows as a precaution – one mistake and they would set off the alarm. She went over her available options, listing them through her mind rapidly; killing them would be a mistake, Nightmare knew full well the spells that Celestia cast on each member of the Royal Guard – if one of them went down, the rest would know about it in seconds. What she needed was a distraction, or better yet...
Nightmare grinned as the she began to manipulate the shadows with her magic, slowly swirling them up her hooves, as if they were waves crashing, covering her entire body. The shadows continued to form together, smoothing out until the illusion was complete – and she was completely unrecognizable. The guards squinted as she subtly approached, and then gave a grin of delight.
“Princess Luna,” they said warmly, opening the gate to allow her entrance. “You know you shouldn’t be out of the City, you need to watch over the night.”
“I am fully capable of performing my duties from outside of the city when I desire” came the response as she trotted past the guards, making her way into the City. After the gates closed behind her, Nightmare let out an annoyed gag, would she really have to put on this bothersome display the entire time she walked to the castle. She tried to remind herself of her mission, and of its extreme importance, she had to get to the castle, and this was the safest way – she was no good to her mistress if she was a dead mare, was she? Nightmare Moon trotted on despite her disgust at having to maintain the figure of her past self, continuing past Joe’s Donuts and what seemed like countless residential buildings until she reached the entrance to what used to be her home, and where her current target lay unaware of the danger that was approaching.
To her right and left lay some rather decorative hedges, which looped backwards and extended towards the labyrinth, the only break where the side of the castle broke into a dome, with windows revealing the garden where the highest class ponies would hold their so called “garden parties”. Immediately inside, would be Celestia’s throne room, but she would stash herself away in a much more secure place, her locked chambers on the upstairs portion of the castle, so this was where Nightmare needed to go.
Every step up the staircase that led to her sister’s demise felt like a heartbeat, a soft echo relaying off the walls, inside of her, every time becoming softer and softer, driving her mad, adrenaline pumping through her as she continued upwards. Her mistress would allow no mistakes, one slip-up would be futile, she had to hold the excitement inside or she could be subject to the same kind of fate she was about to unleash. Nightmare managed to calm herself and steady her heartbeat as she reached the top of the staircase, and she looked ahead with pride – in minutes her mission would be complete and her mistress would finally be pleased with her.
The door that stood in front of her appeared to be a glowing beacon of sorts, a sign of a change for the better. The door would be easy enough for her to get past, it would be locked with a spell only those of the royal family can reverse – so she would have no problem. Nightmare Moon’s horn glowed gently and the large white door began to creak open silently, revealing an exquisitely decorated room. To each side were two large windows, each covered with long silk drapery that hung down towards the carpet. Pillars also stood on either side, making their way towards the end of the room, where a crevice was embedded into the wall, a curtain blocking off Nightmare’s view of her sister’s bed. To her right, between two windows stood a rather ancient desk, a pile of letters piled sloppily upon its wooden surface.
Nightmare Moon squinted at the sight, the room was bright somehow even when it in the middle of the night, it was as if the windows continued to emanate light of their own accord. She took a deep, silent breath and strode forward through the room, attention focused on the brightly colored bed. Nightmare stopped as she reached a close enough proximity for her plan to be put into action. Her eyes softened as she glared upon the sleeping face of Celestia, free from the problems of the conscious world.
“Good night, my sister” she whispered, eyes and horn beginning to glow simultaneously, generating the appearance of a strange blue substance. It floated as if air, forming the vague shape of a blade, then hesitated as Nightmare took one last look at her older sister. The blade dissipated on contact with Celestia’s body, immediately scarring her body with a symbol of the moon, which swelled, enveloping her entire physical form. Blue flames grew out the middle, disintegrating her from the inside out, slowly but surely leaving nothing but her skeleton as evidence that she existed. Nightmare Moon smirked and began to walk away, chuckling at how easy her mission had been all along.
