Chapters Prologue: A Journey Through Fate And Fear
Author's Note
So here it is, the fourth story of the Hope Series. I hope you enjoy it. Also, please be sure to hit the like button, it really helps my moral.
PS: Just so you know, the chapters will come out fairly slow as I have to work on My Journey as well. To be honest, its starting to wear me down. However the chapters will be longer In the future.
PPS: Just so you know, I am going to be leaving here in these notes the songs that inspired me to write each chapter.
Prologue: A Journey Through Fate And Fear
In this life, we all have fears to defeat, mine is fear itself.
-Charlie Gondaver
It has been so long since I entered this country of Equestria. Though I had many a problem in the beginning I have managed through it all and have finally made it so that I have friends in this world known as Equus. And I will hold onto those friends for all they are worth to me, and they are worth more than my life is to me. So I will hold onto them, and pray they hold onto me.
I approached the gates of Canterlot. The reason for this being that the Princesses wanted to have a conversation with me of some kind. I did not know the full extent of their want, actually I pretty much knew nothing at all, but the fact that the other Elements were suppose to arrive around the same time and for the same reason as I was, was enough to send me there in a hurry.
The guards opened the gates for me and I gave a curt nod in return and headed inside the city of Canterlot. I walked up the street while getting gazes of all kinds from the populace. Even after so many years of me being here they still seemed to be quite afraid of me. However none of this bothered me as I just kept walking up the path.
Soon enough I was within the castle and was heading to the throne room where the meeting was suppose to take place. I reached the throne room and the guards once again opened the door for me easily. To my surprise the other Elements had made it here before me, which was mostly not the case given that I always was quick to get places. But I shoved that thought out of my brain as I approached the table that they had set up for this meeting. I gave and returned greetings to the ponies there and we got down to business rather quickly.
"So, might I ask why you asked me to be here, is there some kind of emergency?" I asked.
Celestia sighed and answered: "Indeed there is, there was a threat mad against Equestria not one week ago, we have no knowledge however as to who it is at this moment."
I nodded and said: "But that still doesn't answer the question as why I am here, shouldn't the Elements of Harmony be able to defeat the threat?" I asked?
Luna nodded and spoke: "We fear that the Elements of Harmony may not be enough to defeat this threat." Luna finished with a disturbed look on her face.
"So you need my Element to help defeat it?" I asked.
Celestia replied: "Indeed, we fear however that even that might not be enough to stop it, that is why very soon we are going to be evacuating the city." She said in a sorrowful tone
"So be it." I said and stood up from the table and, without hesitation I grabbed the orb out of my pocket. It glowed brightly in my hand and I closed my eyes as It began to rattle in my hands. Soon enough it began to shake my whole body rather violently. I then opened my eyes and what I saw was not friendly.
Awhile back I discovered that the orb could let me see into the future somewhat, however, I rarely used this gift do to the fact that the orb had to drain some of my body's energy for the act. But my body would replenish after awhile.
I gazed through the orbs' view and what greeted me was a burning city and cries for help. I looked down upon the city of canterlot and I saw bodies strewn through it. Some were hung up on the lampposts, their necks barley even able to keep their bodies up. Some were gored apart, their organs strewn all over the floor and their eyes poked out. The city was covered in blood, but that was not the worst of it all. I looked down and saw one singled pony alive, the stallion was struggling to keep his body up ad then, all of the sudden a dark cloud of shadow came from the ally ways and covered the body of the stallion. The cloud brought his body and hung it up on the last available lamp post in that area, his neck was impaled easily onto the tip of the lamp.
Then the shadow turned its way towards me and floated up so quickly that I barley had time to raise my hand up to try and defend myself. However the shadow just past over me and went to the throne room. I followed it and what greeted me was a horror not even the outside bloodbath could compare to. The two princesses were inside the throne room with several guards surrounding them. Blood covered everything, the windows, the walls, the floor, even the ponies. The shadow charged and I heard screams of pain and saw more blood and then the sight disappeared.
Celestia watched as the Element of Hope came back into the real world, a look of horror on his face before he began to puke his guts out. This worried Celestia since it was not easy to get Charlie to puke. Whatever he must have seen must have frightened him. Once he was done puking Celestia asked: "What did you see?" she asked this in a eager and fearful voice.
The Element of Hope sighed and looked up at her. "How long is very soon?"
I held onto the coffee mug and drank slowly, the warmth of the drink filling my mouth every time I did. Celestia had pushed the evacuation to tomorrow to try and beat the shadow in a race that only time would tell who won, and time was running out. They had ordered all the guards to prepare for the fight of their lives, though I already knew that they wouldn't stand a chance. I tried to tell the princess this but she did not heed it.
So I just sat there drinking my coffee as chaos sprung throughout the castle. I put down the coffee mug and picked up the orb. I then stood up and faced the fear crazed ponies. They were all to busy to look at me in return so instead I forced their eyes. I raised my hand containing the orb up into the air and then brought my fist to meet the ground. I cracked the hard marble floor and got the attention of the ponies. "I'm going to go get my club." I said as I used the orb to teleport out of the throne room into my house.
There on the wall was the weapon that I had not used in quite some time, not since the fight with fear. I grabbed my club and then teleported back into the throne room. That was another thing I didn't use the orb to much for was teleporting as it also used some of my body's energy. I stood still as I tried to get rid of my light head. Soon enough my head became clear once more and I brought my club to the table where I placed it down.
I then turned to the croud who had their eyes on me since I had came back and simply said: "I never fight a war without my club."
They had no idea what was coming, I told them about it but they once again did not heed my words. And I fear they will pay the price for that. Though there is hope, there always will be, as long as the world lives, and maybe, even beyond that. I smiled and once again took the orb out of my pocket. Thoughts of the past swarmed my head as the orb pumped memories into my brain. Thoughts of my past life back on Earth and my caging in the beginning of my journey, the fight with fear, and the friends I have made within the time I have been here. There were still those who did not trust me, even those who wanted me dead. But mistrust and misunderstandings are a part of life, for both Humans and Ponies. And that's the way it will always be.
And with that, I picked up my club and held the orb tight in the grasp of my hand. I began to feel light as my body left the ground. The orb wanted to show me something, and I would gladly listen. Flashes of light went into my mind as I waited patiently for the message that was coming soon. And indeed it did. Soon I found myself in a field of great beauty. Flowers of every color were covering the earth for miles in every directions. The sun was shining brighter than ever on this world. But then a dark cloud came over head and covered the light from the sun. The flowers withered away and died, the ground became black and rotten. The smell of death was clear in the air. Then, it all stopped. I was back in the throne room and everypony was staring at me once again as I tried to gain back some breath.
I looked up at Celestia and said: "We don't have till tomorrow." When I said this fear was clearly growing on her face. "EVACUATE THE CITY, DO IT NOW!" I shouted as I picked up my club once more and ran out the room. I then went over to a window and upon opening it I saw it, in the distance. A black cloud was moving ever so slowly towards the city. My eyes went wide as I saw the face within the cloud. Fears face...
We stood a small distance away from Fear as he smiled wickedly at me. The Princesses had successfully evacuated all the populace from the city and they were now on their way to the safe haven. It was me, the Elements of Harmony, and the three princesses, along with Shining armor and the whole army of Equestria. But something in my heart knew that this would be a hard fought battle.
So without further ado, I lifted my club and released a beam of light that the orb pumped through it towards Fear. But the beam unfortunately did nothing to the cloud of shadow as I watched it dodge the beam easily. I looked around and everyone including the princesses were frozen in fear. "HOLD YOUR GROUND, YOU WILL SHOW NO FEAR !" And with that, I charged forward, the light from the orb began to grow brighter an brighter as I got closer and closer to my destination.
I reach the cloud of shadow and leaped into the air, where I then proceeded to smash the club into Fear. However, this once again did nothing and I found myself face first into the hard cobble road of Canterlot. I was in a daze and, before I knew it, I was lifted up by Fear and tossed into a side building, the speed of the throw wound up smashing me through the wall. Dust from the smashed wall filled the room I now inhabited, I coughed greatly as I tried to get the dust out of my mouth and lungs.
However I pushed past all of that and found myself pushed to my feet by the orb, I picked up my club and held the orb tightly in my grasp. Fear was currently being occupied by the Princesses and their magical attacks, it appeared that they were the only ones who were able to push past the Fear besides myself. It was then I took my chance. I charged Fear, the light from the orb covering my body so bright that it would appear to have been a star had fallen on Earth.
I reached Fear and lifted my arm, delivering a powerful punch that knocked Fear to the ground. I then jumped up and smashed my club into the beast. I heard a scream of pain and then Fear pushed me off and got back up where it then began to roar with both rage and pain. It then proceeded to charge me while taking on the magical blasts from the Princesses. I stared face to face with Fear as it launched a beam of black cloud towards me. I countered the attack with the Orb as I pointed my hand forwards and launched a bright beam from my hand that was holding the Orb. The two beams struck each other but in the end, Hope was the victor. I watched as the Orbs blast started to push the other beam back towards Fear.
Shining Armor stared at the battle in front of him. For whatever reason, he could not move. All he could do was stare at the battle with Fear in his heart. But something in the back of his mind screamed at him to fight, for his soldiers, for his leaders, for his country. Shining blinked and shook his head in frustration as he pushed the the fear out of his mind and then proceeded to line himself up with his rulers and also begin a barrage of magical blasts to help in whatever way he could with the Human's battle.
Twilight gazed out at the battle, for whatever reason she and her friends were not effected by the Fear that had effected everypony else. They were still waiting for the order from Celestia to use the elements. She could not figure out why she was not just suppose to use them right away but she would put faith into her ruler. Applejack and Rainbow would not shut up about how they should help the Human in it's battle but Twilight stood firm and kept reminding them of their duty to answer the call when they were called. However, something deep within Twilight kept shouting out that they needed to use the Elements. But she would not heed it, not yet anyways.
I was knocked back a good ten feet from Fear with a wicked punch that it gave me. I shook my head to try and clear the stars from my eyes, but it was to no avail as I was forced to push past it. I stood up and prepared for the next attack that Fear would undoubtedly deliver to me. I watched as the cloud of shadow charged me once again, it threw a punch that would have knocked me down the the cobble streets once more but I was prepared for it as I grabbed its arm and twisted. Fear gave another scream of pain as I broke its arm, I then lifted my other arm and released a beam of light that came from the Orb. The beam knocked Fear back into a building. I wiped the blood from my mouth and spit out a tooth that Fear had knocked out of me.
I raised my hand and then brought it down to the ground where it created a shield as what I had expected to happen, happened. Fear had launched a beam of its own towards me from the building, however, it was easily broken by my shield. I heard a loud shriek of rage as Fear jumped out of the building that reached me in so little time that I could not prepare for it. Fear then proceeded to to beat upon the shield, I was groaning from the strain that Fear was putting on me and eventually, I broke.
Celestia saw the shield of Charlies' break and it was then that she knew what she must do. Their magical blasts were doing nothing to the beast of shadow that Charlie called Fear. So there was only one option left. Harmony.
Celestia teleported up to the top of the mountain where the Elements of Harmony waited. "Twilight, it is time." Celestia said as she then teleported back to the fray of long ranged battle. Twilight gave a nod after Celestia had left and then she and her friends proceeded to use their power.
All I saw were stars as Fear kept on delivering punch after punch. But then, all of the sudden, a bright rainbow colored light filled my vision as I saw Fear get blasted back far down the road. I got to my feet and spit a boat load of blood out my mouth, and a couple more teeth. I stood tall once more as I gazed down the road to where Fear had gotten blasted back. I knew what had happened of course. Celestia had called upon the Elements of Harmony. However, they told me that when you get hit by the rainbow beam that comes from the Elements you get turned to stone, this did not happen to Fear however.
I looked in horror as Fear got back up from the blast. But I shook the Fear out of my mind. I charged once again towards Fear while it was still dazed. I jumped on top of Fear and began to beat the creature of shadow. I threw punch after punch into Fear's head and facial area. This continued on and on for a good two minutes or more, however, I knew I could not continue this much longer. It was then that I lifted my hand one last time, I had lost a lot of blood and could not manage much more, so I did what I could. The Orb glowed brightly in my hand and pulsed through me enough energy to where I threw a punch so hard that Fear no longer had a head and all that remained was a limp dark body and black ooze that leaked out of the area that its head should have been in.
I rolled over, while taking deep breaths to try and get as much air as possible into my burning lungs. However, none of that mattered a whole lot then as my vision was slowly growing darker. I coughed up some more blood as it had accord to me that I must have had a broken rib or two. But I didn't care. I smiled weakly as I saw Celestia and Luna enter my vision, they had fear written all over their faces and I simply spoke: "Don't be afraid, I will be alright, Don't you fear anything this day, there has been to much of that already." And, with that said, I slipped into the cold grasp of unconsciousness.
Author's Note
Welp, here's the other song
Chapter 2: A Heart Of Fear
I awoke to the sound of a loud beeping noise near my left ear. I knew almost immediately where I was, and so with that in mind I made the effort to open my eyes, which, in the end was a terrible mistake. The moment I opened my eyes I was greeted with a bright light and a searing pain in my temple. I shut my eyes swiftly began to massage my temples to try and cool down the pain.
"Doctor, I think he's awake." I heard someone say. The voice sounded... Afraid? why would she be afraid?
"Very good, I shall go and retrieve the Princesses and the Elements." A male voice stated.
I heard the sound of hooves slowly leaving the room. And I tried once again to open my eyes. This time however, I was successful in the endeavor as my eyes slowly opened to the room. I would not have been able to open my eyes if the lights had been dimmed, but the ponies must have been thinking to turn the lights down for me. I looked around and spotted a nurse in the corner of the room, for whatever reason she seemed to be frightened. This puzzled me greatly so I asked why.
"Tell me, what has you afraid?" I asked the nurse. In return she gave me an uncertain look, and that fear was still clear in her eyes. I got out of bed and pulled out all the things that were attached to me. I smiled at the young nurse and slowly approached her. It was then that she flipped out and galloped out of the room. I sighed and sat back down on the bed. "Fear still has a grasp." I said. Even doing such a small activity like standing gave me a headache and so I rested my head and closed my eyes.
It didn't take to long for the Princesses and the Elements to enter the room along with a doctor. I sat up and gazed at my friends. "So, how you all doing?" I asked, they all just stared at me, mouths agape. "What?" I asked.
"The doctor said that you lost a lot of blood. He said you should still be asleep." Twilight said as she trotted up next to me. She then teleported a small box out of nowhere and handed it to me. I took it and gave a curt not in response. I opened the box and found exactly what I was expecting to find: The Orb. The Orb began to glow when I reached my hand down to it. I picked it up and its effects were immediate. Energy pulsed though me and my eyes widened to the point where It looked like they were going to fall out. I held onto the Orb tightly and soon enough, the energy stopped and I collapsed back onto the bed, exhausted.
I shook my head in defiance and got out of the bed. As expected, my body was perfectly fine, nothing but scares were able to be seen on me. I turned to them and smiled. "Well then, that was interesting." I said.
It had been some time since the second fight with Fear and I was spending my time in the beautiful city of Canterlot. Most of the ponies had moved back into the city and were thanking me ferociously. Twilight kept pestering me about how she wanted to use the Orb for healing purposes, I just denied it saying that the Orb would only work for me. However, one thing kept bothering me throughout my stay, that Nurse, the one that was so frightened of me. I kept feeling like I should have done something then and there but instead I just let her be. Until now. It has been festering within me for to long now and I need to give my heart a break.
So I contacted Celestia and asked her to see if she could find me any information about that nurse, and she did.
I was standing on the porch of her home and I knocked on the door. It was well past work hours so she should be home, and she was. She opened the door and the immediately closed it on my face. I pulled out the Orb from my pocket and touched the door knob with it. Soon enough the knob cracked and broke off, I pushed against the door and it opened easily, there, in the corner was the mare. Her coat was a dark brown and her cutie mark appeared to be a Band-Aid and a bottle of some kind of ointment. Her mane was a rather pretty looking dark purple similar to Rarities but, different in its own way.
I approached the mare and dropped to one knee. "P-please, j-just leave me be, p-please." She insisted but I did not heed it. Instead I grabbed the mare and pulled her into a tight embrace. She squirmed and tried to get away from me but I held on tight. I reached down and pulled out the Orb and raised it in front of her. Her eyes locked onto it immediately and she froze, her face paled as I brought the Orb closer to its destination. I touched the tip of her nose and the Orb glowed brightly. I watched as the orb began to shine light all over her body and soon enough, it seized. I light stopped and what I held in my arms was nothing but a sleeping mare. I smiled and picked her up.
I brought her to her bedroom and placed her down on the bed. I pulled the sheets over and gave her mane a single stroke. She sighed contently and I left the building that night.
That smile never left my face.
Author's Note
Sorry if this chapter seems off in anyway from the others. When I wrote this I was extremely tired. (And still am.) But anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Heres the song that inspired me.
