No Hope Left

When the birds fall silent,

And the trees withhold all their wisdom,

A demon, older than time itself will be shown.

It is probably with you now.

Silence.

The castle is in the midst of chaos.

Spike is desperately trying to explain what exactly happened two nights ago to the Princess's, and the Princess's are getting more and more worried. You can tell by the way that they slowly parade around the room, wanting to do SOMETHING, but not having that option to. Police ponies run about the room, slipping paperwork and death forms into binders. Starlight is sitting on her haunches in the hall crying, directly by the room that Twilight had collapsed in a bloody mess, twitching, giggling in a fit of hysterics.

Now that I have gathered enough courage to take a step into the castle, I'm seriously thinking about going home. Back to my cottage, where all my animals can comfort me, and I can just go to sleep in hopes that Twilight is okay.

Not that I don't think Twilight should have to suffer. I came here to help find out what exactly is going on, get my friend back, and go on a picnic with the others as soon as I get the chance. Because, honestly, I am scared as Tartarous of what lurks behind that door. I mean, who isn't? Princess Celestia herself is afraid to even go near that door.

I shuffle to my friends, concerned.

"Hey Flutters, sorry, we were in the middle of a meeting. Okay, so at the moment Twilight is in THAT room-" Rainbow Dash pointed to a door that was someplace that was off to the side- "and we have to standby in the event she has gone crazy." She explains.

"Uh, ah'm awful sorry ta interrupt, but that doesn't sound like a very important role for her best friends to be doin'. I reckon we aught' ta just walk in and talk ta her." Applejack comments. "She ain't gonna' hurt us, we're her closest friends!" She reasons.

"This is just dreadful, simply unpleasant! We could give her some green herbal tea, and have a civilized conversation over some muffins..." Rarity pitches in.

I highly doubt muffins are going to solve this issue.

Now, normally I would have totally agreed with Rarity, but there is something not right in this picture. Something's...

Missing...

"I say that we should throw her a 'BE HAPPY' Party! It's your party, be happy, it's a party, be happy..." Pinkie Pie yells over her bickering peers.

My gaze shifts from my friends and see poor Starlight desperately pleading with a police pony to let her in the room. I glance over my flank, and sigh, as my friends continue their seemingly endless argument. I begin to make my way to her, to possibly comfort her somewhat. It has been two days since anypony has even heard Twilight, much less seen her. Of course Starlight would be scared for her mentor.

"Please, I swear I won't let her out... I-I just need to make sure she's okay, she was so nice to me you see, an-" Starlight rambles on, as her eyes scan the floor.

The police pony lifts up his hoof, asking for her silence. "I'm sorry ma'm, we are doing our best. Your, uh, mom, she'll be okay." The royal guard says tiredly.

"For the last time she's my MENTOR, not my m-" Starlight is once more interrupted, as I enter the conversation.

"Please let me handle this. Thank you for handling her." I put a hoof on the guard's chest, staring at Starlight.

"Uh, ma'm, I-" He starts.

"Sh... No, I can handle this." I turn to Starlight as the guard leaves, confused. "Hey, Twilight will be okay. She's an Alicorn, she has been through worse than a defect spell." I reason with her.

"...But what if it isn't a spell?" Starlight asks.

I open my mouth to answer, but the room has fallen silent. Everypony stares at us, as I desperately try to answer her question.

But... What if it isn't a spell?

"What else could it be? It had to be a spell. It was in the Royal Library's prohibited area, and only dark spells and illegal spells were in there. The princesses said so." I reason, not sure of myself.

Starlight looks over to the princesses, who have stopped trotting about the room. The princesses share the glance, but quickly return to their devices.

"I think there was a book in there. A book that sure as Tartarous wasn't a spell book." Starlight mutters.

"What? Why?" I look to Starlight, who seems to be lost in thought.

"Because there are things, things ponies are still trying to explain. We are terrified of those things. Like, uh, that weird underground lab filled with chemicals of the prehistoric age. Radiation levels in some areas of Equus, those are a bit higher than usual. We don't know why. There might have been a civilization before us that waged war against another, and they killed each other with an astronomical amount of force. That's our best bet. The ponies before us, or whatever they were, they blew eachother to oblivion. That's what most of our scientists are saying." Starlight rambles.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I ask.

"It has to do with EVERYTHING, Fluttershy. The things before us left us little artifacts, little signs they existed. That we weren't the first. They might have not even known about magic, they might have used a completely different method. Perhaps what Twilight was studying, maybe that was what one of those things were. And what I just told you, Fluttershy, is way better than whatever the princesses would have told you. Even if it's just a theory...-" Starlight shot a glance back at Luna and Celestia, "-I'd say it's a very plausible one. And I'm gonna' find out what's going on in that room...-" Starlight turned back to me, a serious expression plastered on her face, "- Even if that means risking my life. For Twilight."

I sit down in bewilderment. I had only meant to comfort her, but got caught up in a huge theory instead. I was very confused, trying to piece together what exactly it was that she said. I sort of get the basic idea of it, but still...

If it isn't a spell, what's going on in that room?

Suddenly, Celestia clears her throat and begins to shout into the crowd. "Okay Everypony, I need you all to leave the scene. The only ponies that will be of assistance to this case are the Elements, Luna and I, and the few Officers I have selected as my guards. Anypony who remains on the scene will be taken into custody for disobeying Royal order. Good day." Celestia closed her eyes, probably trying to size up the situation.

I stand to my hooves, unsure of myself, and make my way to where my friends are waiting.

The princesses have finally finished their discussion, and are waiting for us to approach them.

As we arrive, they calmly begin to give us our instructions.

"Okay. As we all know, Twilight is in that spare room off to the side. Spike told us that she had asked him to barricade the door, and then went quiet. He had waited by the door, listening, for about ten minutes. He heard nothing, and came to retrieve us. However, when he returned, he found that the door was splintered in many places, and that some of the things he used as a barricade for the door had fallen off of their pile. This gives the indication that Twilight was alive, perhaps is, but we are clueless as to how to handle the situation. We have little in the terms of information, so the only thing we can do at the moment is wait. And listen." Celestia observes us, hoping one of us has something to say, probably.

We don't.

The Princesses, along with my group, move behind a blockade near the door. I'm not quite sure what the princesses want us to do. I mean, I understand that they want us to make sure that Twilight hasn't gone crazy, but after that? I already know that my friends and I aren't going to be able to stop her.

Surely, the Princesses must know that.

I sigh, and lay on the floor. I really need some sleep, the last few days have been quite crazy. I haven't got any sleep, despite my daily four hours. And, honestly, I haven't had much privacy to do anything normal at home, either.

Just as I begin to close my eyes, frightened and hurried yells are being thrown about the room.

"Lock that door! Don't let either pony out! Barricade it, but keep it closed!" Celestia yells, and I stand quickly.

"I knew that you would come save me, Starlight..." Twilight's voice was barely audible through the door, but all the ponies could hear her, as we strained our ears carefully, taking note of . Her voice sounded raspy, as if she had come down with the common cold in the past few days. A chill ran down my spine, and my fur stood on end.

Something was WRONG.

"Twilight, I can't see anything in here... Are you okay? Hungry, maybe? Gosh, they must have nearly starved you to death..." Starlight's voice echos through the nearly empty hall, giving off an eerie impression of evil, as if there was a dark cave we were all looming about in.

There wasn't an answer.

A shiver ran down my spine, as I felt Rarity softly hug me for some sort of comfort.

"Oh dear." She whispered softly, as my teeth chattered.

"I have something to show you, Starlight. Come closer. Please? You can trust me right? I'm your mentor, remember?" Celestia moved for the door and began yelling instructions.

"No, Starlight. Stay away from her!" She ordered.

"Oh no." A whisper was uttered, as a brief flash of light was seen under the door. I began to breathe heavily, as fear coursed through my body. The fear. The fear of the unknown, it was here.

"Starlight, stay away from her!" Celestia hissed, worriedly glancing at the door. The guards had moved far away from the door to a safe distance, and were watching with a very worried expression.

"OH GOOOOOD, YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS GOOOOOOD..." Starlight began to moan behind the door as Luna and Celestia shared a glance. God? What the hay is that?

"Starlight, what's going on in there? Is Twilight hurting you?" Celestia persisted.

A bright throbbing light was the response, and it pulsed like a strobe light on Nightmare Night during one of the many parties.

...

And then nothing.

"Well, it was fun, but I'm going home." I begin to trot away, and am stopped by the remainder of my friends. I'm not trying to abandon Twilight or anything, but HOLY CRAP that was horrifying.

"Fluttershy, we can't give up on Twily'. You're the element of Kindness, and you've been friends with her for over six years now. What kind of friend would leave another friend?" Rainbow Dash asked, flashing off her loyalty.

"..." I know what I want to say, but want to avoid an argument. So of course, I stick with my usual 'keep quiet' attribute. No need to argue wth the one who has apparently taken charge of the situation.

Silently, we watch the door. Waiting. Of course, nothing happens.

"Okay, so this isn't going to work. Starlight is still in there, Twilight is still in there, and we have basically accomplished nothing, except for losing another pony in the room. We need to do something, and it has got to be something that works. What we need, is a plan." I complain.

"Fluttershy has a point. Nothing is going to be accomplished if we sit here on our flanks doing nothing. We need to get somepony in there, somepony who can get out also. That will be our main priority right now." Rainbow admits.

Silently, I sigh, as all eyes look to me.

"I don't want to go in there. Heck to the mother bucking no." I answer, as straight up as possible.

"Nopony wants to go in there. But you have to. You can be kind to her, show her the way. And then, we can escort you out! No problem!" Pinkie Pie giggles, bouncing around. How can she be happy at a time like this? This is crazy!"

"..." I don't want to argue. I just want this to be over, and go home. So.

I agree to do it.