The Last Hope

The Last Hope Ch1

Chapter 1

Rainbow Dash woke up in the middle of the night, terrified eyes surveyed the room. She was in her bedroom. Not that horrible place the "voice" called her dreams. She tried to go back to sleep, within an hour, she succeeded. Not caring about the voice, or the nightmares. She just wanted peace.

She woke up that morning, her magenta eyes slowly opening to the safety of light. Realizing that it was day, she hopped out of bed to make some breakfast.

The clock read 9:37 AM. Rainbow Dash was happy that she hadn't missed even half of that day, even after the mostly restless night.

"I can't repeat last night"

she said to herself, hoping she was right. Tank was making his slow way to the table so that he could also get something to eat. Slowly he walked, slowly he blinked, slowly he smiled, but quickly and knowingly his mind worked, probably the quickest part of his body. He took note of Rainbow Dash's state of discomfort. Trying to be a good friend, he waddled over to her, and nuzzled her hoof, trying to comfort her.

"Was it in vein?"

He thought. Being able to think in the pony language while still not being able to speak it had it's pros, and... Cons.

"I.. I don't know how these dreams... No... Nightmares, started, Tank. I don't know how to deal with them either, they feel so real, but I know they're not."

She said, voice slightly trembling.

"I just want them to go away."

Tank could see his plan worked. He had shown that loving gesture to get Rainbow to share her feelings and concerns with him. He was proud that he could be of some use as what he called "a good friend".

After the both of them had breakfast, Rainbow went into town. Flying from her cloudhouse, she could see no one. The entirety of Ponyville was completely deserted. The barren wasteland was almost too plain for even a tumbleweed. No noises, no living things, nothing.

"What's going on?"

She thought to herself. Then she saw it. All of the buildings... some scorched, others plainly abandoned. There was an Erie feeling crossing over Ponyville. It was slowly, but surely, what could only be described as "creeping up on you without making a noise"

  Rainbow panicked, not knowing what to do. Ponyville was empty, and was on the verge of being considered abandoned. The only logical thing she could think to do is go to Twilights castle and see if she could get some information. So, off to Twilight's she went.

Trotting through Ponyville instead of flying, just in case there were any ponies that she would've missed if she was airborne, she finally got to Princess Twilight's castle. The new building looked ruined and run down as the rest of the town did. She walked through the door, and found her jaw drop lower than it ever had before. Her sudden surprise wasn't due to happiness or joy, it was due to dread and horror. The castle was completely trashed, with blood coating the walls. Corpses of the royal guard were sprawled across the floor. There were five of them, each killed in a different way. The most gruesome, being the one to the far left. He had multiple stab wounds and was decapitated. Rainbow trudged out the front doors and proceeded to bear her breakfast on the ground before her. She flew as fast as she could to Carousel Boutique, in which she found in the same state. SugarCube corner... Sweet apple acres... Even Fluttershy's cottage. None of her friends were anywhere to be seen, and all of their homes.... Destroyed..... That's when she noticed a heavy fog rolling in.

"Was that scheduled for today?"

She thought to herself.

"What happened? Where are my friends?"

She went to the only place she thought she was remotely safe; home. When she got there, tank was hiding in his shell under the couch. Rainbow didn't notice him at first, but then she checked when she didn't find him anywhere else.

"What's wrong tank?"

She asked. One, green foot came from the shell, and pointed towards the stairs, then quickly retracted back into the tortoise's shell when a loud "BANG!" echoed throughout the house. It came from upstairs. Rainbow didn't want to find out what it was that made that noise, but if she was going to find any clues about what happened overnight, she had to.

Tip-hoofing upstairs, she was met with another jaw dropping sight of horror, all five of her friends were in her house, nearly covered in blood and whatever else they picked up while dragging themselves there.

"How did you get up here?!?"

"KILL ALL UNWORTHY"

They chanted in unison about four times.

Rainbow didn't realize that they had seen her.

"Guys?"

She asked, her voice squeaking. The Five broken elements turned around and looked at her with the largest, most disturbing and most painful looking smiles she had ever seen. When she saw their faces, she cringed, and her ears dropped.

"guys? What are you doing? Are you okay?"

Not a single answer from any of them. They just stood there, staring at her. Rainbow Dash didn't know what to do, but she thought of a plan, a choice. She had made up her mind, run downstairs, grab Tank and her laptop and get out of there. And, she did just that. They flew for what seemed like an eternity to Rainbow Dash, but was barley minutes considering she was flying at over 150 Miles Per Hour. The two of them reached a cave, in between Canterlot and The Griffon Empire. It was a small cave, nothing had been there for quite some time, so she didn't worry about anything lurking in the shadows. She was terrified. She hadn't been in such a situation, EVER.

She was tired, so she went to sleep. The "nightmares" last night, were warning her of something tragic that was going to happen to her today, she didn't listen, she was scared of the voice, the voice didn't know why. When she fell asleep, the voice asked:

"It happened like I said it would, didn't it?"

"Y-yes"

Rainbow responded.

"Was it as I said it would be?"

"Yes"

responded Rainbow, again.

"And-"

The voice was cut off by the cracking voice of the terrified and confused Pegasus.

"YES! Okay, you called it, it happened. Now that you are right, aren't you going to kill me or something?"

She said, slightly angered the voice was trying to get her to say it won.

"What?"

The voice said, slightly confused, but understanding why she said that.

"No. I'm not like that. Was that what you thought I was going to do this whole time?" It chuckled.

"Yeah, it seemed like you were trying to kill me or something"

The speedster said.

"Sorry if I came off like that, I have that affect on ponies sometimes."

The voice laughed nervously, as a pony would while scratching the back of their head awkwardly.

"I.. I'm here to help. Not to harm. You probably need my help anyways, after all, the only other one you've got now is that tortoise of yours. He's a good little guy by the way."

The voice said, sounding very impressed.

"T-thanks"

Rainbow responded, her voice devoid of any emotion.

"By the way, my name is Darkness. I'm a disembodied voice that travels around in ponies minds that are in grave danger, and walks them through how I think to get out of their, ahem... bad situation."

"Darkness?"

Rainbow asked.

"Correct! And I really can't hurt you anyways, I'm only a voice. By the way, if you're wondering, I'm a male."

Darkness said, sounding plainly offended. At what, Rainbow wasn't sure, as she hadn't said a word about it.

"So, do you know what happened to them?"

Rainbow said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Sorry, no. But boy, I wish I did! It seems like your friends have simply gone insane. Any remote truth to that you think?"

Rainbow nodded.

"Yeah, I honestly think so. I wish I could've talked some sense into them though"

the Pegasus replied.

"Maybe you should find out?"

Darkness said.

"WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO??"

Rainbow shouted angrily, Darkness was surprised by the sudden outburst of anger.

"Woah woah woah, I wasn't trying to make demands, just give recommendations."

Darkness said, apologetic as ever.

"I.. I'm sorry... I'm just scared..."

The Pegasus admitted.

"Worth the risk?"

He asked.

"Not at all" Rainbow replied.

"Remember, your choice. Now, wake up, Rainbow Dash, they don't sleep."

just then, she woke up, in the middle of the night, she could make out the entrance of the cave, but just barely.

"Wow, that was so surreal"

she silently said to herself.

"But I know it wasn't real, and I need to stay strong if I'm going to survive. "Darkness" as he called himself, sounded friendly, not like last night."

She looked back, at her tail, and Tank was laying on it, sleeping like a foal.

"What are we going to do tank?"

Just then, the tortoise popped his head out of his shell, gave Rainbow an empathetic look, then smiled. Rainbow smiled too.

"I love you buddy"

she said to her green friend. Tank had the heart of a lover and he would try to comfort his best friend.