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// Hopeless 
// Story: Daring Do and the Night Shifter 
// by Derpyx0 
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	Spark looked at Daring Do and Rabbit and saw the same state of shock on their faces, they had figured it out too. Ricardo pulled out a shiny diamond that took the shape of a key, The diamond key! Spark remembered. The small glaze of the moon soon rested upon the giant hole in the roof, letting its light come across the door with symbols, resting upon a small keyhole in the middle.

''And so it is written that on the night of a full moon,in just the right place, its light will rest on the certain place where the key must be put.'' Ricardo walked over to the door with a great smile on his face, the cause of which was of his greatest success finally coming together. Spark knew there was no way out of this now, for the first time in his life... Spark gave up. There was nothing he could do now, Daring Do couldn't come up with a way out of this, and Spark's powers wouldn't come back to him. It was Hopeless.

As Ricardo was just placing the key inside, a trumpet could be heard from outside. Every pony turned their heads, including Ricardo, which distracted him from placing the key. A shadow pony ran outside to see what was going on, and when he was out of distance, you could hear a yell, and the shadow pony was flung across the hallway. Ricardo ran over and grabbed the injured shadow pony by the scruff and held him against the wall. ''What happened?!'' Ricardo growled.

''The- the Tribe of Tall, Mountains- there back....'' He said weakly.

Ricardo muttered angrily, then turned to the others, letting the shadow pony go. ''Well?!'' He spat. ''What are you waiting for?! GET THEM!!!'' All of the shadow ponies turned towards the door and charged, leaving two behind. ''You two!'' Ricardo growled. ''Guard those troublemakers!'' He pointed towards Spark and Daring Do. As the two shadow ponies made sure they wouldn't escape, Ricardo shoved the key inside the keyhole. 

In a flash of brilliant light the door slowly opened. Spark had to block his eyes from going blind, but when he opened them again, he saw the opened door, which swirled with different colors every second. Spark gasped. The bad guy, for once was actually going to win! Ricardo smiled, his bat-like teeth glowing in the moonlight. ''WHAT IS YOR WISH? A huge voice growled, obviously the door itself. 

Rabbit yelled at Spark, trying to put herself over the sound of the door, ''Spark! Its your turn now! You need to find a way out of here!'' Suddenly, a burning sensation enveloped Spark, making him howl in pain. ''Whats going on?'' Spark asked, ''Why all of a sudden does everything hurt?!'' Rabbit gasped. ''Oh no!'' She said. ''The door must be giving the DeathStrokes power! We need to get you out of here!''

Spark coughed roughly, and when he looked down, he saw blood. Now he understood, since the door had so much power emmiting from it, it was fueling the DeathStrokes, and if it had enough power, it could kill him. Spark coughed again, sending shivers all over. One of the guards noticed this, and smiled coldly. ''Awww, too weak to fight back?'' He laughed. The guard came closer to the cage door tauntingly. ''The hero's all beaten up? Too bad.'' Spark then devised a quick plan, and suddenly punched the guard through the bars. Fortunately, the other shadow pony didn't notice.

Spark pulled the guard's unconscious body towards him and took the keys from him. As he unlocked the cage, the other guard noticed the click. ''Hey!'' he yelled. '' What are you doing out?'' Spark hit him hard in the stomach, sending him backwards. Daring Do smiled. ''Nice to see you better.'' She said smartly. Spark just rolled his eyes, and let her out of the steel cage.

Ricardo turned around, only to be tackled by pony with a silver-gray eye and another amber eye. ''Argg! Get off me!'' Ricardo yelled. ''I need to fulfill the destiny of equestria!'' Ricardo struggled and threw Spark off of him. Daring Do stepped in and Ricardo instantly threw a punch at her. Daring moved too slowly though, she fell backwards, hitting the ground with an unsettling smack. 
Spark glared at him and charged him full force. Ricardo dodged out of the way just in time and grabbed something strange off the ground. Spark ignored it and ran at him again, ramming his hooves against Ricardo's side. Ricardo fell to the ground, then quickly turned onto his side, facing Spark with an evil smile on his face. ''Your crazy ideas end now Ricardo,'' he said as he approached a battered Ricardo. ''Now it ends...''

Spark raised his hooves for the final blow, and was storming down upon him until he felt an unbearable pain in his stomach. 

''For you maybe.....'' Ricardo whispered into his ear.

Spark looked down and saw a large piece of DeathStroke.... lodged inside him.
Spark stepped back slowly, the pain slowly retreating from his body. He collapsed, when a wave of calmness spreading over him.

Is this what it is like to die.......?