The Only Hope

by GloryOfTheRainWings

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Sad
Length: 3689

The Cutie Mark Crusaders have had many adventures together, being there for one another through thick and thin. As they grew older, they grew more apart. But when Equestria is in danger, will they be able to come together and save the day?

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo have always been there for one another. But, after earning their cutie marks, finding jobs to handle, and living their own lives, it seems the Cutie Mark Crusaders have truly split up. After years of little communication between the three, their former friendship is nearly at a loss.

Until disaster strikes.

Something strange is happening across Equestria, and as far as they know, the three former crusaders are the only ones unaffected by what could be some sort of spell. Unable to find answers, the three must try to band together once more and learn what's going on. But with ponies after them at every turn, will they be able to succeed? And will rising tensions among the three keep them from their task?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-05-18 11:00:04 UTC

Prologue

Darkness.

That’s all there was.

Faint hoofsteps echoed in the empty space, hesitant and broken. Fear radiated from everywhere but nowhere all at once, and the aforementioned hoofsteps came to an abrupt stop.

“I’ve had just about enough of this,” someone suddenly said, and a bright light quickly appeared, resting on the tip of what seemed like a horn. The light traveled to reveal the rest of the creature to which the horn belonged— a pale lavender alicorn with a taught expression and a soft, newly groomed purple and pink mane and tail. Laid on her back rested two feathery wings, folded neatly against her sides. Upon her flank was a strange marking, something that looked like a pink six-pointed star with a white six-pointed star behind it, and five smaller white six-pointed stars surrounding it. Her sparkling violet eyes were wide, but not with terror. It was more like a strange curiosity— something that wasn’t usually felt in the dark place she was in. Her eyes scanned the area around her, and she was quite confused when she couldn’t seem to come to any conclusion regarding where she was, or why she was where she was. “I must be dreaming,” she decided finally, a satisfied smile appearing on her face, which fell quickly. “But where in the name of Celestia am I supposed to be?” She looked around again, and craned her neck to see above her. “Princess Luna?” She called loudly. “Are you here?”

No answer.

“Princess Luna?”

Still no answer.

Suddenly growing restless, the alicorn stomped her hooves nervously as she tried to brighten the light from her horn. The glimmering light source expanded immediately, and right as it did, a chilling shriek pierced the darkness untouched by her horn's glow. The alicorn’s eyes widened in shock, and she raced over to where she heard the scream, only to find something that sent her heart plummeting to the same darkness she was trapped in.

Because what was in front of her was something she never thought she'd see.

“No!” She cried. “Princess Luna!”

Before her lay a dark figure, similar to the alicorn herself, looking up at her with pained eyes. A starry blue mane and tail was spreading across the ground quickly, expanding into a blue fog. Her blue fur looked much darker than usual. Above this new alicorn, who was indeed Princess Luna, hovered another figure. This one, however, was much different. It remained in darkness, unrecognizable for a moment, and Luna took the opportunity to speak.

“Twilight Sparkle…” she whimpered softly, her voice hoarse. “Thou must get out of here...”

The purple alicorn, Twilight, shook her head. “No, Princess Luna. I will not leave you alone,” she said determinedly.

Luna reached her hoof out pleadingly. “Twilight Sparkle, please—“

“That’s enough, Luna,” a new voice broke in, interrupting the princess. Twilight immediately recognized it, relaxing right away.

“Discord!” She sighed in relief. “Thank Celestia you’re here. Princess Luna—“

The creature appeared from the shadows and held up a clawed hand, silencing Twilight. Confused, she closed her mouth, and didn’t continue.

“Look who’s decided to join the party!” Discord trilled gleefully. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Discord was a dragonequus—a mix of various creatures. He had a gray horse-like head and a brown-furred body, breaking off into a spiny amaranth tail, tipped at the end with a white tuft of fur. Two horns sat atop his head—one blue ram horn and one white deer horn. His mane was dark grey and short, and a thick, white goatee rested on his chin, matched with equally thick white eyebrows. He had four different animal limbs: one lion hand, an eagle talon, a dragon foot, and a deer leg. On his back were two mismatched wings that belonged to a purple dragon and a blue-feathered bird. And to complete the look, creepy red eyes locked with Twilight’s.

Twilight wrinkled her brow. "You've been... waiting for me?" She was quite confused now. Discord was on their side ever since Fluttershy, her pegasus friend, helped him become good. He had been using his magic of chaos to help balance harmony. "What for?"

Discord laughed. "Oh, Twilight, don't you see?" After a silent pause, he frowned. "No?"

No reply.

Discord grinned widely. "Well, let me enlighten you!"

The dragonequus' eyes flashed dangerously, and Twilight took a shocked step back. She shot an alarmed glance towards Luna, who's eyes were wide with fear.

"Twilight Sparkle, thou must leave at once! We will be alright!" Luna cried.

The purple alicorn started backing away, sensing how serious Luna's warning had been, but suddenly, she froze in place, unable to walk. Discord swooped down towards her and landed in front of her.

"Going somewhere?" He asked. "But, dear Twilight, the fun's only just begun!"

Twilight gritted her teeth. "What happened, Discord? What's going on?" She refused to back down. Her purple eyes flashed with defiance.

Discord used his taloned hand to grab her chin. "Twilight Sparkle," he began mockingly. "A princess. We all saw it coming, right? I certainly did. So much power, so much responsibility. How will you ever do it all yourself? Well, don't worry, my dear," His eyes flashed again, and this time, Twilight saw a hint of green and purple in the irises. Discord's voice suddenly changed drastically, to one the Twilight recognized, but never thought she'd hear again. "You won't have to."

Twilight’s eyes widened in shock and fear, and she felt her heart stop for a moment. “It couldn’t be…” she trailed off incredulously. “How did you…?”

Discord grinned evilly. “Survive?” He asked tauntingly. “Quite simple, actually. I’m virtually indestructible.”

“Wh-what…? But, you’re not an alicorn…!”

“Oh, Twilight, you have so much to learn. And you should be grateful I’ve decided to allow you to be my valued pupil,” Discord, or what looked like him, tutted disapprovingly.

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Valued pupil? I am only Celestia’s valued pupil. You think I should be grateful that you’ve decided to invade my dreams, hurt a princess, and control my friend?” She roared. “You, sir, are horribly wrong.”

The light from the alicorn’s horn disappeared so quickly that there was no lingering glow, just complete blackness for a moment. Then, the horn reappeared, a pink aura surrounding it. As the aura grew brighter, the scene was revealed again, and Discord’s eyes flashed green and purple once more, the evil grin leaving his face. He looked extremely confused for a moment, but the dumbfounded look was quickly wiped away as the malicious smile returned.

“You think you can defeat me that easily?” He cackled. “Oh, spare me, please,” he continued, sarcasm dripping from his voice like sweet honey. He held out his talons, balling them into a fist. Purple and green flames erupted from the gold claws, and as Discord tightened his fist, the flames grew, licking into the black sky.

Twilight gasped and dropped to the ground, trembling. Beads of sweat poured down her face, and her wings snapped to her sides, suddenly weighing her down like cement blocks. Her horn started to emanate pink sparks, which slowly turned to black and purple. Tears began to flow from her tightly shut eyes, and her breathing was quick and choppy.

“Twilight!” Luna screamed.

The purple alicorn could barely hear the princess of the night. Her blood was pounding too loud in her ears, rendering her hearing nearly useless. It was an effort to pry open her eyes to look at what was no longer Discord— just something that looked like him. The dragonequus’ eyes flashed in delight.

“This is glorious!” He cried happily, looking at his flaming fist. “With the chaos spirit’s powers of disharmony and my dark magic, I can do anything!” He paused, and his eyes narrowed, a sinister smile forming on his face. “I think it’s now time for the rest of our guests to arrive!”

Six figures appeared on the black ground in front of Discord.

There were five ponies and one baby dragon. The looks on their faces were ones that were bewildered and slightly exhausted. Around each of the ponies' necks were dazzling medallions. The dragon was the first to spot the purple alicorn princess.

“Twilight!” He shrieked, trying to run over to her. He was abruptly stopped when he crashed into an unseen force. His cry attracted the five ponies attention, and they all let out their own gasps and shrieks. They followed the lead of the dragon, trying to get to Twilight, but to no avail. Fresh tears began to flow from the purple alicorn’s eyes, and she tried desperately to reach to them, her friends, but she couldn’t move. Only her eyes could portray the amount of pain she was in. She knew what would be happening soon, and she wanted to be sick at the thought. She wanted to scream to her friends to run, to somehow escape, but she knew there was no possible way. After so many victorious battles against countless evils, they had finally lost.

She had finally lost.

“Twilight!” A tomboyish voice with a country tang to it called loudly. The other four ponies started calling out to her.

“Twilight! What’s happening?” A wail pierced the darkness, sounding terrified.

“Something’s happened to her!” Another voice with an English accent cried, horrified.

A high-pitched scream pierced the air, the owner a light pink earth pony with a fluffy pink mane. She was starting up at Discord. The others turned to her, and seeing what she was looking at, all let out a gasp.

“D-Discord?” A yellow pegasus who had called out to Twilight the second time, asked incredulously. “What’s going on?”

“It’s his fault!” An angered, raspy voice accused, which belonged to a cyan pegasus, who flew up to look Discord straight in the face. “What have you done to Twilight?” She demanded.

“Distance, Rainbow Dash,” Discord warned, shaking his head disapprovingly. “This will not do. You all clearly haven’t discovered the true potential of chaos when it merges with darkness. Maybe it’s time for a little lesson,” he said.

“W-what?” Rainbow Dash looked back at her friends in confusion.

“You six—“ he gestured to the five ponies and Twilight, who was still looking up at him through squinted eyes, “—are the Elements of Harmony. All powerful, able to destroy any evil through the powers of friendship, and right at the top in Equestria, some of the most powerful beings to exist, next to the princesses, of course.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and landed softly on the ground. “Yeah, we know. We get told it, like, every day.”

Discord scoffed. “Well, what you don’t know is how easily you can be manipulated.”

It was silent for a moment as the others tried to comprehend what was meant by this. They were in fact the bearers or harmony— and they should be untouchable, invincible. The country pony spoke what they were all thinking.

“What in the hay is that supposed to mean?”

Discord tutted disapprovingly, shaking his head and speaking with mock-astonishment. “What? Applejack, do you mean to say that Celestia didn’t tell you?” He looked over at the young princess, who was still trembling. “Maybe you should ask your ‘friend,’” he snickered.

All eyes turned to Twilight. It was an effort to lift her head, and even when she did, she didn’t want to look at her friends. She didn’t want to look at anything. Her cheeks were stained with tears, and her horn was still sparking dangerously. She was no longer a pretty alicorn, graceful and elegant. She was now tattered and wrecked. But that wasn’t why she didn’t want to look at her friends.

She didn’t want to meet their gazes because she was ashamed.

“What is he talking about?” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “If there was something we should know, Twilight would tell us—“ she broke off as she noticed the alicorn’s expression. Her confident air withered as a look of shock landed on her face.

“T-Twilight?” The yellow mare whispered fearfully, her eyes widening. It seemed she didn’t want to believe what she was hearing.

Discord broke into a toothy smile as the others slowly realized that their friend had kept a secret from them. “Oh, now, look at this,” he said mockingly. “Twilight, how could you do this to your friends?  Especially dear Fluttershy?” He said the name with such hate that it made the yellow pegasus, the owner of the name, cringe.

Applejack bit her lip, trying to hold back tears. “You… you lied to us?” She turned away from the purple alicorn, not even wanting to see her. Fluttershy crumpled and began to cry, and the pink earth pony beside her seemed to deflate at this news, her bouncy mane straightening out and her bright coat fading slightly.

“You didn’t trust us?” Pinkie Pie squeaked, her voice faltering. A white unicorn with a purple mane, who had remained silent throughout this whole thing, finally decided to speak, but it wasn’t to any of her friends. She turned to Discord and stomped her hoof on the ground.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here, mister, but I don’t like it,” she warned. “You’d better let us go right now, or somepony’s going to get hurt.”

Discord rolled his eyes. “Oh, Rarity.  The only pony who’s going to get hurt here,” he began, tightening his flaming balled fist, “is you.”

Rarity immediately collapsed, and the young purple dragon emerged from behind the yellow pegasus, running towards her. “Rarity!” He cried.

“No, Spikey-Wikey! It's too dangerous!” Rarity wailed, but it was too late.  Discord focused his gaze onto him, and he fell to the ground as well, writhing in pain. One by one, the ponies started to collapse, until Discord was the only one left standing. Princess Luna looked up at the dragonequus, hate shining in her eyes.

“You shall not get away with this!” She insisted.

Discord shook his head. “Look around you, Luna,” he said, motioning towards the whole group his lion paw. “I already have.”

With that, the dragonequus snapped his claws, and Luna gasped as her foggy mane suddenly stopped expanding.  There was a glimmer of hope in her eyes as she wondered if this monster would let her go.  What seemed to be Discord just laughed as he noticed the spark.  “Oh, Luna, you didn't really think I'd let you get away, did you?”  He tutted.  “You could be of so much use to me.  And you will be of so much use to me.”  His eyes flashed yet again, more powerful than ever, and Luna screamed in horror as the fog that was once her mane snapped towards her and engulfed her.

“No, please!” Her muffled cries could barely be heard as her voice warped and changed.  “I will never help you!”

“You say that now,” Discord shot back, “but I'm afraid you don't have a choice.”

Twilight lifted her eyes to watch, trying to figure out what was happening.  She flinched as Luna let out a bloodcurdling scream that echoed in the blackness, and she mustered all her power to try and get over to the princess.  With the binding spell she'd been under not focused as much on her due to the fact that Luna was 'Discord's' main target, she managed to move her hoof.  Right as she did that, the rest of her body suddenly broke free of the spell, and she began to race towards where Luna was screaming.

“Twilight!”

The purple alicorn whipped around when she heard her name.  It was Rarity.  She looked hopeful, the only one who hadn't betrayed her element yet.  She'd lost almost all her friends to the dark magic.  Applejack was hurt at her dishonesty, and had started to doubt her.  Rainbow had lost her loyalty to Twilight after the princess had committed what seemed to be a treacherous betrayal.  Fluttershy had no kindness left to give her friend the benefit of the doubt.  Pinkie Pie was too upset to object to any claim made.  Spike was just too naïve to understand. Only Rarity, who's element was generosity, did not seem phased, because while she was generous to others, she didn't need to be generous in order to have hope in her friend.

“Twilight, I know that something isn't right,” the unicorn continued in her British accent.  “I won't stop believing in you.  Whatever you did, I know you did it to protect us.  And I know that whatever you're going to do next will be for the same reason.”

Twilight nodded thankfully and ignited her horn, turning back to go help Princess Luna.  She steeled herself as Discord turned and looked at her will evil eyes, but to her shock, he didn't do anything.  He simply looked at her and grinned triumphantly.

Seizing the opportunity, Twilight's horn grew brighter as she prepared to cast a spell.  Suddenly, she gasped as she felt a gut-wrenching pain in her stomach.  It almost seemed like someone had pulled her heart right out of her chest.  The light in her horn fizzled out, her magic blocked along with it.  She was lifted into the air, a light blue aura surrounding her.  Confused and panicked, Twilight looked desperately towards Luna, hoping her friend could help her.  Her breath was forced into her throat when all she saw was a dark blue fog where the princess should have been.  Two glowing blue eyes suddenly appeared in the smoke, the pupils constricting into a snake-like shape.  A long, black leg, embellished with armored finery, emerged from the cloudy blackness.  An eerie cackle echoed in the empty space, filling Twilight's ears and shaking her to the core.  A dark shape finally revealed itself as the fog parted and formed into a starry, dark blue mane.  Sharp teeth glinted as the armored figure continued to cackle, and her serpentine eyes shot towards Twilight, who was still caught in her magic.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Nightmare Moon said, rolling around the name on her tongue.  “Oh, it's been so long, Twilight Sparkle.” She said the name the second time with such distaste that it sent shivers up her spine.  “Did you miss me?”

“No,” Twilight shot back in a vain attempt to stand up to the dark alicorn.

Nightmare Moon cackled again.  “Oh, Twilight, within minutes, you'll be so happy that I have returned.  You and I are going to be the best of friends.”  Her eyes narrowed as she grinned.  “Isn't that lovely?”

Twilight couldn't take it. “Luna! I know you're in there.  Please, you have to fight this!  Don't let him control you!”

“Luna is gone,” Nightmare Moon spat.  “And soon, you will be, too.”

“Twilight Sparkle will no longer be a name that people will think of as good,” Discord elaborated. “Before long, your name will be said with such bile that even I will be seen as a figure of glory!”

The purple alicorn's stomach wrenched as she realized this was the time she had been dreading since right after she'd shortly arrived in this dark place.  Her greatest enemies were going to turn her into one of them.  Not only that— her friends would be doomed to the same fate.

“Let's begin the transformation, shall we?” Discord cackled.  “Oh, Chryssie would love this! It really is too bad that her whereabouts have been uncharted.  How delightful it would have been could she have joined us!”

Twilight gritted her teeth.  “Go ahead, then.  Do you worst.”

Discord looked stunned for a moment.  “What?”

“Do it.  I know I can't beat you.  You've won.  What more do you want?” Twilight asked with a heavy heart.  She decided to try one more thing.  “I really thought we were friends, Discord.”

The spark that she had hoped to see in those red and yellow eyes wasn't there.  She felt her heart plummet to the bottom of her stomach.  He was practically gone.

“Oh, but Twilight, we are friends!  Or, at least, we will be.  You see, we have big plans for you, Miss Sparkle.  And I just know that we're all going to get along swimmingly.” Discord's voice morphed again on the last word.  He lifted his lion paw and purple and blue flames erupted from it once more.  “But first, I want you to see your friends gain some new loyalties.”  He snapped his other fingers and five ponies and one dragon appeared in front of her, floating just like she was.  The necklaces around the ponies' necks seemed to be what was holding them up, and they struggled as they tried to unlatch the chains, but it was no use.

Discord tightened his fist, and like a chain reaction, the pendants in the lavalieres were engulfed in the same fire that covered Discord's fist.  The small purple dragon was set aflame in a spot right around his heart, where his source of magic was located.  Twilight felt her head begin to hurt as she could only watch her friends change before her eyes.  Their glittering pupils glossed over before flashing a sickening green and purple, just like the one Twilight and seen in Discord's eyes.  They were all suddenly enveloped in a bright white light, causing Twilight to squint.

Discord tore his focus from them and turned to her once more.  “Our little cookies will be baked within a matter of minutes,” he chuckled.  “Now, it's time for the cake to go into the oven.”

Twilight's Element of Harmony appeared next to Discord.  It floated peacefully next to him, not even aware of the dark magic it was about to consume against its will.  Discord held out his paw and touched it, and Twilight screamed, feeling dark magic rushing through her veins.  She had only felt it once before in Sombra's crystal palace, and the pain she had felt then was nothing compared to this.  Discord seemed to revel in her pain, and he took the crown in his grasp, spreading dark magic over it's entire surface.  Twilight watched in horror as her crown morphed and changed, taking on sharper edges and a much darker color.  It was almost as if she could feel the same changes happening inside of her.  The dark magic was taking over her entire being, and she couldn't do anything to stop it.  Darkness had begun to creep into the edges of her vision, and she knew it wouldn't be long before wouldn't be able to think for herself.  Only one thought could rush through her mind.

Please, Twilight thought. Keep them safe. They're all that matters now.

Then everything went black.