Hope's Final Words

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…