Hope's Final Words

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.

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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.