A Glimmer of Hope: The Beginning

by Mewrilah


Heroes Don't Die

“Now this is cool,” Nick thought aloud as he looked at an exact copy of himself, who smiled and nodded.
 
“Just remember the more you divide, the weaker we get,” his clone cautioned. “There is strength in numbers, but committing yourself to too many things is never good.”
 
“How do I recall you back?”
 
“Simple, call us back, either aloud or in your mind.”
 
“How many clones can I create?”
 
“As many as your magic can support. And unlike with other ‘clones’ we only act on your command. No rebellious ‘Why are you in charge?’ attitude. After-all, our survival depends on you.”
 
“What about if I get possessed?”
 
“I-I don’t know the answer to that one,”  the clone admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
 
“How did you know all the answers to my other questions if technically, you are me?”
 
“Don’t worry about it. Just know that we’ll have your back. You’ll understand more when we face the hydra again tonight.”
 
*Sigh* “Alright. Back to me you go.”
 
The clone nodded once more and phased into Nick, who felt the energy used to create the clone return to him. Now that he knew what his earned power was, he returned back to his preparation.
 
Twilight had already given him a map of Equestria, indicating where the entrance to Tartarus was. By paw it would take around a day to get to a cave in the mountains west of Ponyville. Who knew how long it would take him to navigate the underground once he got there?
 
Supposedly Tartarus was not just one location but several, each cluster of cells separated by an expansive labyrinth. After Tirek had escaped once, Celestia had ordered the labyrinth be created, as apparently Cerberus and the cage Tirek was contained in were not enough. It was surprising none of the other prisoners escaped. The Tree never stated explicitly, but if there were other prisoners, would he have to put them down as well?
 
“I’ll just wing it like I’ve been doing this whole time,” he rubbed his temples, packing the map back into his satchel. Today had been taxing, both mentally and physically. He already finished packing for the journey and just wanted to sleep. “Might as well get this encounter over with.”
 
Nick crawled into bed, instantly falling asleep. The environment for his final battle with the hydra began to form. For his last two encounters, Nick usually fought his defeated foes  in a barren environment, similar to when he passed out. This “battleground” gave him deja vu, appearing as the swamp he just defeated the hydra in. Every detail: texture, color, smell, sound, were all present. The only thing missing? The hydra itself.
 
The wolf groaned as he realized he needed to play hide and seek once again. But at least this time he had some help. He visualized three copies of himself, and as the clone had told him earlier, they appeared in an instant.
 
Damn, do I look good.
 
You better believe it.
 
Why else do you think the princesses fancy us?

 Way better than using a mirror, right?
 
They all laughed.
 
“Alright boys. Ready to take down a hydra?”
 
“Let’s do it!” they cheered in unison.
 
“Ok, we’ll use the buddy system. You two go down that hole. Me and the other clone will go down this one. If we get lucky, both of you will find the hydra and I can just call you back and resummon you. If not, be ready for us when we surface,” the original Nick explained.
 
“You got it boss!” the two clones replied, saluting before diving in.
 
Nick turned to the remaining clone.
 
“You ready?”
 
“With you all the way.”
 
Nodding, Nick took the lead as he plunged into the hole.

 Let’s finish this.
 


 
“What a day,” Twilight flopped onto the bed next to her equally tired marefriend.
 
“You said it,” Luna groaned, but not too tired to grab Twilight and nuzzle her mane.”But it’s done. The Crystal Heart has been restored, once again shielding the Crystal Empire from the Frozen North. Flurry Heart has had her Crystalling, and Sunburst will be her mentor. And, Nick didn’t need to use our necklace and is fast asleep.”
 
Then mention of their wolfriend brought a smile to Twilight’s muzzle.
 
“Can we visit him?”
 
“I don’t see why not. I’m sure he’ll be just as glad to see us as we would him.”  
 
It didn’t take them long to fall asleep and in an instant were teleported to Nick’s “dream”.
 
“Where are we?” Luna asked, having been around Equestria several times and confused as to why she didn’t recognize this place. Maybe it was somewhere on Earth?
 
“I think we’re in the Everfree Forest,” Twilight responded, taking another look at their surroundings. “Specifically, the bog where we were attacked by the hydra.”
 
As she finished speaking, a shockwave buffeted the mares.
 
“What was that?” they asked each other in unison. They looked around for whatever could cause such an impact, but as everything settled once again they still didn’t know.
 
“Could that have been the hydra?” Luna asked in awe. Not many creatures could produce such force, and in her opinion she’d choose the hydra over a dragon any day.
 
In response to her question, a loud bellow resonated off in the distance. However, it was too hard to discern what type of creature made it, only that it was loud and angry. They both remembered that this was Nick’s dream, and that roar was probably provoked by the wolf.
 
“NICK!”
 
As if on instinct, both mares took off, speeding towards the roar. The hydra was the first thing to come into view, due to its massive size. As they drew closer, they spotted the only thing that was important right now, Nick.
 
“Nick, watch out!” Twilight yelled, flapping her wings harder to get to his side.
 
*SMACK*
 
Both princesses hit some invisible barrier like bugs on a windshield.
 
They grumbled out their slight pain, shaking it off quickly once the hydra roared again. They used experimental punches, kicks and blasts of magic, but nothing seemed to have an effect. Calling out to the wolf was also futile, he didn’t acknowledge their presence, focused solely on his foe.
 
“Luna, what’s happening? Why would there be a barrier in somepony’s dream?”
 
“I don’t think we’re in Nick’s dream, Twilight,” Luna pondered, closing her eyes to get a better feel of the magic that surrounded them. “If anything, the magic radiating here feels like that of when Nick was unconscious after his fight with the timberwolves. This may be a memory of earlier today, but that doesn’t make sense. Why would his unconscious choose a memory instead of dreaming about the encounter?”
 
“Can Nick still get hurt in a memory?” Twilight worried, glancing at their wolfriend who was assuming a battle stance.
 
“Yes and no. If Nick was injured earlier in today’s battle, then we will see it here. But to his physical body he won’t suffer any additional damage. Also as memories are not perfect, this scene may be altered and show us details that simply did not happen. Whatever is keeping this memory in place has more control than I do. We must wait until hopefully it ends.”
 
“And if it doesn’t?”
 
“We’ll have to ‘wake’ him up. Although, that in itself can be just as dangerous.”
 


 
Earlier
 
“Any luck?”
 
“Nope.”
 
“Why is this hydra so hard to find?”
 
“We’ve spent at least 20 minutes down there. Where could it possibly be hiding?”
 
As a collective, Nick and his clones thought of how they could draw the hydra out of hiding. Searching was taking too long. They couldn’t use bait as they didn’t know where it would look for food.
 
“What if I disturb the water?” Nick asked the others. “I’ll need all my magic to create a ball of magic large enough to penetrate deep into the caves, but that may cause the hydra to appear.”
 
His clones nodded in agreement and phased back into the wolf. Nick closed his eyes and started charging his attack. He learned from Starlight that spells are more powerful when emotion is added to them, so naturally he thought of his mares. How they probably had a great time seeing their niece, or how happy they would be when they finally got to see each other again.
 
Unintentionally, having these warm, fond memories caused him to levitate slowly upwards. The ball of energy continued to grow at a steady rate. His thoughts took a sharp turn however, when he thought about how his death would impact Twilight and Luna. It started withhow would he die? Would he have time to apologize to Twilight and Luna, telling them this was the only way they could truly live in harmony? Or would he die right as the last villain fell, as his link to the darkness would be severed?
 
Fear, as it turns out, weakens the user’s control over magic and for Nick this was too true. He felt the projectile start to vibrate in his grasp, and as he opened his eyes it was released, hitting the surface of the water and displacing it all. The blast created a shockwave that knocked the wolf backwards. As he sat himself back up, he heard the all too familiar sound of the hydra.
 
From the hole, the heads emerged, a couple more than the hydra he’d previously fought. He may never know where the hydra came from, but now it was time to end this. He summoned two clones and would have bursted out laughing at the reactions his marefriends had, if he knew they were watching.
 
“Since when could Nick simply make copies of himself?” Twilight mused. “I thought the only way to do that was through that underground lake Pinkie knew about?”
 
“It might be his power gained from defeating the hydra,” Luna guessed. “Like how he gained regenerative powers from the timberwolves.”
 
“So we could get our own Nick?” Twilight said the first thing that came to mind, unintentionally lightening the mood.
 
A smile formed on Luna’s lips. “Tired of sharing one wolf?”
 
Twilight’s expression changed back to one of horror. “I-I didn’t mean it like that!” When an even bigger smile appeared on Luna’s face, Twilight realized her marefriend was just teasing her.
 
“I agree with you Twilight,” Luna spoke, glad to see the younger alicorn had calmed down a bit. “While I do enjoy our moments together as a herd, there are times that I want to be a little selfish and have Nick all to myself. We should ask him after this is over.”  

Satisfied with their understanding and with growing interest of their wolfriend’s safety, they returned their focus to the battle at hand. It appeared Nick was issuing out battle orders to his clones.
 
“Alright, you will be a diversion. Use any magic or ideas you come up with to keep the heads busy while the other clone and I sever and cauterize the wounds. If the situation calls for it, be ready to change roles.”
 
“Got it!”
 
All three turned to face the hydra, who just like the princesses was just as perplexed at its prey dividing. Taking this to their advantage, Nick and his clone teleported away, leaving the “bait” clone with the hydra. He steeled himself, crouching low to the ground.
 
“Alright ugly! Let’s tango!”
 
With that, the clone raised a paw, conjuring a huge ball of fire and lobbing it directly at the hydra’s chest. Just like before, the hydra proved to be fire resistant, but still vulnerable to the impact of the force, to which it toppled backwards. When it finally managed to right itself up, the clone was gone. Each head looked in a different direction, trying to determine where the wolf could have gone.
 
Another resounding fireball brought its attention behind it.
 
“Come on! You gotta be faster than that if you want to eat tonight!” the clone taunted.
 
The creature let out a bellowing roar, before charging the wolf, trampling trees and underbrush in its rage. Little did it know that Nick and his clone had levitated up behind it and were closing in behind one of the outermost heads. Nick had already summoned his aetherial sword and brought it horizontally across the neck, to his relief, lopping off the head.
 
“Now!” he signaled to the clone accompanying him and with a quick flick of his paw cauterized the wound. The beast shrieked in pain, leaving another gap for the two to slice another head off. The hydra, quickly realizing that yielding to its pain would only lead to more pain and eventually death, swung its whole body around, letting its limbs flail, hoping to knock the attackers out of the air. The pair retreated back, the hydra now focusing on them. The clone now behind the hydra jumped up and tried to slash at a head, but didn’t have enough power. The hydra barely noticed it, still enraged at the Nick and his clone.
 
I need some more power here!
 
Can I just transfer my power like that?
 
There’s no time, just do it!
 
With the other clone covering him, Nick closed his eyes and felt a similar feeling to creating another clone. He opened his eyes to see the clone leaping up and slicing off a head followed by an enormous fire blast. Three down, three to go. The hydra, instead of focusing on the culprit, used its three remaining heads to focus on each wolf, not letting any out of sight.
 
What do we do now?
 
We need to attack them all at once. I’ll give the other clone another third of my power. We’ll need to time this perfectly or it’ll catch on.
 
The wolves circled around the hydra, the heads following their “assigned” wolf.
 
“What are they doing?” Twilight asked, heart racing. Seeing Nick in this state, fighting for his life, was exhilarating and barbaric at the same time. She was beginning to understand though, ever since Nick arrived she saw that not everything could be solved with just friendship. It was the optimal solution, but if they were to rid Equestria of this darkness another approach would have to be taken.
 
“It looks as though Nick’s planning a concerted attack, either in steps or simultaneously we’ll see,” Luna replied, equally as engrossed. The battle had brought back memories of the battles her sister and her fought, both together and against each other. She felt herself well with pride nonetheless, her and Twilight’s training had paid off. Not only that, but Nick was proving to be a formidable hero, a hero that would free them from the evil that hid in the shadows.
 
You two ready?
 
Yep!
 
Now!
 
All three had formed a triangle around the hydra and rushed the creature, which retaliated and shot its heads out at each wolf. According to plan, each wolf let the head get extremely close to themselves, causing Luna and Twilight to cry out. Right as the jaws began to close, each wolf teleported through the beast, appearing on the opposite side. In unison, they attacked the remaining heads, taking away its last defenses.
 
Thanks for the help boys. I’ll handle it from here.
 
Merging back into one, Nick summoned his aetherial sword and slashed at the body. As he did, Luna and Twilight noticed black smoke radiating off of him. When he struck the final blow, an explosion of light shot up and stuck the wolf. Twilight and Luna beat harder on the barrier but slowly stopped as the light faded away. Nick stood there unscathed, but still had the dark smoke surrounding him. It had grown thicker as well.

It’s about time you finished off that beast Sombra’s words echoed in the swamp.
 
“What do you want now, Sombra!?” Nick called out.
 
“Nothing. At least not now,” the king of darkness replied, chuckling heartily. “Can’t I congratulate a friend on a job well done?”
 
“I. Am. Not. Your. Friend,” Nick growled, spitting out each word.
 
“Well for everything you’ve done for us, I’d beg to differ.”
 
“Everything I did, every choice I made was to become stronger so I can rid this world of evil.”
 
“So courting Princess Twilight and Luna also was to defeat me?”
 
“Leave them out of this! This is just between the darkness and I.”
 
“Kind of hard to do that, now that you have bonds to them. How did they react to you being possessed by me?”
 
“If anything, our love is stronger because of it. So I guess I have you to thank for that. I’m having a hard time believing that all you came here for was a celebration.”
 
“Your persistence will get you far Nick. Yes, you’re right. I came to deliver a message from the darkness itself.”
 
He’s not the leader? Nick, Twilight and Luna all thought simultaneously.
 
“You flatter me,” answered Sombra. “No, unfortunately I’m just a pawn in this game. Well maybe more of a knight, but anyways, I come with a message as well as an offer. As you know, the stronger you get, the stronger the darkness as a whole does as well. My ‘master’ has a proposition. Leave Tirek, Chrysalis and myself be, and he’ll spare everything you love. Don’t, and they’ll destroy everything.”
 
“That’s your offer?”
 
“No that’s their offer. My offer is better.”
 
Nick paused before responding. “I’m listening.”
 
“Join forces with me. You can get rid of Tirek and Chrysalis so they are out of the way. Then together we can overthrow the darkness and you’ll have control over Equestria. You can make sure it keeps it's happy, friendly atmosphere and not have to worry about throwing your life away for a hopeless cause.”
 
“So I get Equestria while you get everything else? Hardly sounds fair.”
 
“Ah, but it is. After what those ponies did to me, it’s a fair payment. My offer stands till we meet again.”
 
With that, the smoke around Nick dissipated, as well as the barrier.
 
“Nick!”
 
The wolf turned to see both princesses flying towards him.
 
“Girls. How long were you there?”
 
Ignoring his question they asked him their own.
 
“What are you thinking, trying to make a deal with Sombra?” Luna asked first. “He’s not to be trusted and what type of  deal is that, selling out Equus just to save Equestria?”
 
“How can you make copies of yourself?” Twilight added.
 
“First of all, glad to see you two as well,” Nick replied, trying to lighten the mood. It was slightly successful, earning a group hug before the mares turned back into their “you’re not getting out of this” expressions. “The clones are my power from the hydra, just like my regeneration. To answer an unasked question, from the manticore I got poison. I was not making any deals with Sombra. Just entertaining his queries so he is not on the offensive. Through that, we learned there is something even controlling him. I would never sell out an entire world just to save one country.”
 
“Nonetheless, we need to accompany you when you go to face each villain. We’ll take the first train back from the Crystal Empire tomorrow,” Luna stated.
 
“There’s no need for that,” Nick insisted. “I’ve done this much on my own. You both should take this time to prepare. We know there’s more to the darkness than we had assumed, so we’ll need to prepare Equestria for conflict to break out. Ridding the final villains will just use resources best used elsewhere.”
 
“Why are you so insistent that we don’t come with you Nick?” Twilight asked, a tinge of pain in her voice. “We’re a herd now. We’re supposed to stick together.”
 
The only way to answer that question was with the truth, something Nick had concealed ever since he arrived in Equestria. By now he was tired of keeping such a big secret, and wasn’t sure if he was still protecting Luna and Twilight by not telling them. He looked at both mares, seeing past their exterior expressions. They truly did want to help him, not that he didn’t believe them when they said as much, but he could see, feel their burning desire to lift some burden off his shoulders.
 
Sighing, Nick decided he had no other choice.
 
“Because I am expendable,” he replied, ears flat against his head.
 
“What? How could you say such a thing about yourself?” Twilight replied, disheartened by his response.
 
“That’s my role in saving Equestria. One of the first things the Tree of Harmony told me before I accepted this quest. That there would be the chance I could be killed at any point in my journey. If that is so, I can’t risk putting the both of you in such a dangerous position. Equestria needs you both. Once this is over, I’ll just be another inhabitant. I don’t even know what I’ll do when this is over.”
 
All three were silent for a moment, before Luna spoke up.
 
“Well hopefully you’ll continue to love us.”
 
“I would never consider stopping, but Luna please, there’s noth-”
 
Luna held a hoof up. “No. I refuse to believe that you are just a soldier in this fight. I’m not sure if Twilight noticed as well, but when we first met there was something about you that I had never felt before, something special. From what I’ve seen tonight, you fighting the hydra again, something nopony has tried, you are no ordinary soldier. You are the hero we need to end the darkness that plagues this world, and heroes don’t die.”
 
“But-”
 
“Luna’s right Nick,” Twilight interrupted. “You are special. Aside from Starlight and myself, I’ve never seen anypony master magic as fast as you have, and you came from a world without any magic, making the feat that more impressive. The Tree of Harmony, although we don’t fully understand it, always puts us on the right path.”
 
Nick saw that nothing he could say would change their minds. He understood their blind love though, that it's so easy to think that you could never lose those that are closest to you. But that was what was different between Equestria and Earth, losing everything you love is entirely possible. Sure he had shown them through his memories, but showing is different that experiencing, something he wished they didn’t have to do.
 
“Alright girls, you’ve convinced me,” Nick smiled, hugging them both tightly, knowing this might be the last time he’d do this. They spent the rest of the night talking about their day, how both were hectic and full of action. As the night began to wane, they all bid their farewells, Luna and Twilight telling Nick that they’ll see him in the afternoon. He held each tightly, kissing them deeply and telling them he loved them both. Once they popped out of his “dream”, Nick woke up. He got out of bed and grabbed his bag full of supplies. As he reached the doors to the castle, he looked back one more time at his “home”, probably the last time he would see it.
 
I’m sorry Luna and Twilight, but in this story, the hero dies.