//------------------------------// // The Cold Light of Day // Story: A Glimmer of Hope // by Gordon Pasha //------------------------------// Radiant Hope and Starlight Glimmer did, in fact, reappear in the town, in an alley some blocks away. Ponies in armor were posted all around, in greater numbers than before. However, they were mostly worn out by the night’s events, so, by being careful, moving slowly through the alleyways, using every nook and cranny, and hiding in the shadows, they were slowly able to make their way to the outskirts. By dawn, they had made it out of town completely and were in the woods beyond. “Do you think we lost them?” Starlight said. “I think so, but let’s just get past that bridge there,” Hope said. “Then we can rest.” “Rest, that sounds good,” Starlight said. Hope noticed that, with every step, Starlight seemed to be gritting her teeth and suppressing a moan. The light of the sun was rising over the trees and Hope could get her first good look at Starlight since the previous night. She saw that much of Starlight’s body was singed black. “You’re hurt!” Hope said. “It’s nothing,” Starlight responded, “A few of Twilight’s blasts just made it too close for comfort. That’s all. I’ll be fine.” “You’re not fine! You’re in pain! Sit down and let me take care of it.” They were not past the bridge, but on it. Hope led Starlight to one of the posts and made her lean against it. Hope put down Sombra’s horn and began to concentrate. Starlight, meanwhile, looked around at where they were. The bridge was out in the open, and it was surrounded by forests. The paths leading to and from it were both on hills with steep inclines. In short, a pony could see them, could sneak up on them, before they were even aware of it. This was perhaps the worst place to stop. But Starlight could no longer hide how much pain she was in and it was evident to both mares that she would no longer be able to walk soon without proper treatment. “Why didn’t you say that you were hurt last night?” Hope asked. “You didn’t ask,” Starlight said. “I didn’t ask because I thought you were fine. If I had known you were hurt, I wouldn’t have made you climb and crawl through all those alleyways.” Starlight looked up to the sky as Hope’s horn began to glow. “That’s precisely why I didn’t tell you. We needed to get out of there and to do that, we had to keep moving. Stopping to heal me might have just got us caught.” Radiant Hope did not respond. She knew Starlight was right. “How long do you think it’s going to take?” Starlight asked. “A few minutes,” Hope responded. Starlight was alarmed. “A few minutes?” “What? That’s pretty good, given that I’m functioning on next to zero sleep and don’t have that much energy to put into it in the first place. You’re still going to feel a little sore, but it’s the best I can do until I get a nap.” Starlight shrugged. Hope had a point. “Why did you come back for me?” Starlight said. “You didn’t have to.” “We have an agreement,” Hope said. “I wasn’t about to let you down.” “You know that, if it had been reversed, I’d have left you in a heartbeat.” “I know.” Starlight looked at Hope for a moment. She could see that the magic was having an effect. Hope’s eyelids had come halfway down her eyes. She looked almost punch-drunk. Starlight would not have been surprised if she passed out there and then. “You’re putting a lot of energy into this, aren’t you?” Starlight said. “As much as I have left,” Hope said. “You don’t need to. I think I can manage for a while.” Starlight tried to stand on her own. Immediately, she fell back against the post. “No, you can’t.” Hope tried to guide Starlight back to the post even though she was already leaning against it. “You got hurt more than you want to admit. Twilight is a much more of a challenge than I think you want to admit.” Starlight smiled smugly. “Maybe. But she’s going to be feeling some of my shots this morning.” Hope did not answer. She just saw to her work. From the looks of her, Starlight could lose her at any moment. “What are you playing at, Hope?” Starlight asked, wanting to get the question in while Hope was still conscious. “What do you mean?” Hope responded, sounding as though she was half-asleep. “I don’t understand why you saved me. I haven’t been so nice to you.” “I thought you said we were friends.” “You and I both know I was lying through my teeth. I’ve been using you. And you know it. You’ve always known it. So why didn’t you just take the opportunity to be rid of me once and for all?” Hope began to wobble around like a prizefighter hit one too many times. “Maybe it’s because I felt responsible, in a way. I was the one who didn’t think Dr. Fie had it in him to contact the authorities. I was the one who told you not to worry when he disappeared. And I’m the one who hasn’t been completely honest about….” Hope nearly fell over. Starlight quickly grabbed hold of her. “You haven’t been honest about what, Hope?” Starlight said. “What have you been hiding?” Hope seemed to recover herself a little. “Or maybe it’s because you were right about the two of us being so much alike.” Hope’s horn lit up again, but Starlight immediately moved out of the way. “That’s enough for now,” she said. “I feel much better.” Which she did, to an extent. But Hope was right about the soreness. Starlight could not believe how right Hope had been about the soreness. “Besides, anymore and I’m going to have to be carrying you from now on.” “Oh, you’d probably just ditch me. You said so, yourself.” Starlight shook her head. “But you saved me, so I guess I owe you a favor. And we do have an agreement to fulfill.” Hope nodded. “Let’s get out of here.” Hope picked up Sombra’s horn and leaned on Starlight. Starlight grimaced. She did not like being near that horn. Now, she was a rational pony, and it was just a dead piece of bone, but there was still something about it. It gave her a chill whenever she got too close. Starlight wondered if Hope was out of it enough for her to take the horn away and chuck it over the bridge. On the other hoof, Hope would probably jump to alert straight out of the deepest sleep if Sombra’s name was so much as mentioned. But that hoof made her uncomfortable. Not as uncomfortable as Hope did by unintentionally putting all her weight on Starlight’s still-bruised shoulder, but still. Starlight knew she would just have to bear up with it, for now. “Wait, what about Dr. Fie?” Hope said, suddenly. “Where is he, anyway?” Starlight said. “I haven’t seen him all night.” “We got separated,” Hope said. “He got down an alleyway, but I came back for you. I thought we’d meet up with him, but we never did.” Starlight shrugged. “Well, he’s probably escaped by now. Gone off to who-knows-where. Or they caught him and he’s trying to bargain our lives for his again.” “Yeah, something like that,” Hope said. “That’s our Dr. Fie!” Suddenly, there was a squeak from up ahead. Both Starlight and Hope braced themselves, expecting to see the authorities coming from around the bend up ahead. But then they saw a figure crawling up from the trench below the path. A very familiar figure. “Oh, thank Celestia!” Dr. Fie said as he approached them, looking dirty and disheveled, but otherwise fine, with a satchel around one shoulder. “When we got separated, I feared that you two girls had been captured! I made my way to this bridge, figuring that, if you did indeed make it, you would come here. I set up a look-out in that trench, certain that my steely and unfailing gaze would pick up anypony that approached. But then — I swear that it must have been the exhaustion from the incredible exertion of last night — I… I… fell asleep….” “Give me one reason I shouldn’t fry you,” Starlight said. Dr. Fie shifted back a little. “Oh, madam, you’re not still angry about last night, are you?” Starlight gave a false smile. “No, of course I’m not angry that you sold us out.” The smile disappeared. “I’m furious.” “I think you’re forgetting something,” Dr. Fie responded. “It wasn’t me that attacked you. It was the princesses and their lackeys.” “They only found us because you told them where to find us.” Dr. Fie looked as though Starlight had just said something incredibly insulting about his mother. “So, somehow that makes me responsible?” Starlight’s eyes narrowed. “How can you even deny it?” Dr. Fie’s eyes also narrowed. “No action at a distance, madam.” Starlight growled and her horn began to spark. “I’ll show you action at a distance. I say it’s all your fault, no matter how you got it done.” Dr. Fie began rubbing his hooves nervously. “But you must understand. You coerced me into being here. I never wanted any part in this. But I was a good sport. I went along without so much as the smallest complaint. But a pony can only take so much. You cannot blame me if, in a small moment of weakness — if you can even call it weakness — I saw an opportunity to extricate myself from this whole sordid business and took it.” “Fine,” Starlight said. “I can understand that you wanted to get away. You wanted to go back to your happy life in Seaddle. If I could go back to how life was before Twilight Sparkle, I would do anything I had to. But you didn’t just try to escape. You tried to get us caught!” “For a reward!” Hope added, in a giddy sort of tone that suggested she was dangerously short of energy. “Oh, there was a reward involved, was there?” Starlight said. “So it wasn’t even to protect your own skin. It was just simple greed!” “Oh, madam, be serious!” Dr. Fie chided. “Do you really think you have the right to lecture me, after you have been nothing but callous and cruel? Why should I owe any loyalty to you in the first place?” “Not to me, maybe,” Starlight said, “but what about Hope here?” “What about her?” “You sold her out just as much as you sold me out.” “You’d have done the same thing.” “If I had friends, I wouldn’t sell them out for money, I can tell you that.” “The only friends you can get, madam, are the ones you force into it. It’s what you did at your town and it’s what you’ve done with Hope and I!” Starlight smiled wickedly. “We’ll never be friends, doctor. Make no mistake about that.” The doctor gave a sharp nod of his head. “That is the only thing you’ve ever said that I approve of!” “But it doesn’t answer the question, ‘Why should I keep you around?’” Starlight said. “Why don’t I just shoot you dead and roll you back into that ditch?” Dr. Fie’s eyes filled with fear. His hooves began to shake and he swallowed hard. “Because… because… dear Hope here would never let you do that!” Little snores came from the vicinity of Starlight’s neck. She and the doctor looked to see Hope, her head on Starlight’s shoulder, fast asleep. Starlight wiped away a bit of drool that had landed on her foreleg and gave Dr. Fie a smug, satisfied look. “You were saying?” she said. Dr. Fie backed away from Starlight. “Come now, madam, you don’t want to do anything rash! We are civilized ponies, after all! We don’t simply shoot each other dead and drop one another in ditches! It’s not done!” Starlight’s horn began to glow turquoise. “Any last words, doctor?” “No, please,” Dr. Fie said, on the verge of tears. “Please! Haven’t I suffered enough?” Starlight’s smile widened as Dr. Fie cowered in front of her. He held the satchel in front of him in a desperate attempt to shield his face. The glow disappeared from Starlight’s horn. “Wait. What is that?” Dr. Fie lowered the satchel and looked at it. “What, are you blind as well as insane? It’s a brown bag for carrying things in!” Starlight sneered. “I know that, you buffoon! Why do you have it, and what’s in it?” “Oh. Oh!” Dr. Fie said as he opened the satchel and started to levitate items out. “During last night’s confusion, I may have acquired certain necessities. Food, water, hot chocolate, that sort of thing. I may have forgotten to pay for any of it. The whole night is a blur.” “It’s not a whole lot, but if we’re careful, it could last us until we get to someplace where we can get more supplies,” Starlight said. Dr. Fie nodded as he put everything back. A hesitant smile began forming on his face. “Does this mean… you’ll keep me around? You won’t ‘shoot me dead’ as you so eloquently put it?” Starlight almost chuckled. Then she looked to Hope, still asleep on her shoulder. “If I got rid of him now, I’d never hear the end of it,” she said to herself. Then she waved Dr. Fie over. He came, hesitantly, but he came. She gently pushed Hope off of herself and onto Dr. Fie. “Fine, I’ll let you live a little while longer,” Starlight said, “but you’re carrying her!” As Starlight lobbed Hope off of her and onto Dr. Fie, Sombra’s horn fell from when Hope was cradling it. It hit the ground with a clank. “What’s that?” Dr. Fie asked, curious. Starlight looked at the horn. She went over to grab it, but she shivered again. “It’s Hope’s,” she said. “You’ll have to talk to her about it. But since she’s your responsibility now, catch.” Starlight lifted up the horn with her magic — and even that was too much like touching it for her comfort — and tossed it to Dr. Fie. He caught it in his hoof. And he too shivered. A chill wind whipped through the forest behind them, screeching and screaming and almost sounding like a deep, cold voice. ”Hope.” The first thing Hope felt as she regained consciousness was motion. Initially, while she was still in the strange realm of sleep, all that she felt was a little up-and-down motion, as though she were on a ship gently rocking upon a gentle ocean. But oceans are rarely gentle for long, and as sleep faded, she felt more motion. It was not gentle at all. It was jerky and sharp, sometimes quick and sometimes slow. And it was moving upward. And she heard a voice. Half asleep, she was not able to make out what it said. She could not even tell if it was a voice from her surroundings or the last remaining fragment on some forgotten dream. And then it became clearer. “Oh, that I should have to be the one to carry this burden! Me, with my delicate back! I think I shall never hold up under the strain!” Hope knew now that it was definitely not a dream. “The deal was, you carry her and I don’t throw you down the nearest ravine,” came Starlight’s voice from up ahead. Dr. Fie continued, “Yes, I know. But she is so heavy! I don’t even know why! She eats so little, the girl’s practically a waif!” “Then you should have no problem,” Starlight said. “Also, ask me if I care.” “Do you care, madam?” “No, you twit.” “Oh, dear me, dear me,” Dr. Fie whined. Hope became cognizant of where she was. She was on Dr. Fie’s back. The doctor, for all his complaints, did not seem to be weakening under the strain. He occasionally stopped to catch his breath, but otherwise, was fine. Hope wasn’t so sure about herself. She opened her eyes to see the gravel on the ground of some wooded trail. Looking to either side of her, she saw both of her front hooves hanging down beside her head. She felt her long tail sweeping like a broom across the ground. It was tremendously uncomfortable. Hope wondered how she had slept so well like this. The amazing thing, though, was that Hope felt herself once more drifting to sleep. She wanted to fight it — if only to give Dr. Fie a break from his exertions — but it felt so inviting. As though she could not resist if she wanted to. Hope was used to that feeling, but not in the form of sleep. When next she awoke, Hope opened her eyes to see a rock-ceiling above her. Another cave. She could smell a fire and could feel the heat. Starlight had managed to get one up and going already, then. Or, more likely, she had made Dr. Fie do it. The floor was not exactly soft, but it was smooth. Hope furtively looked around. The cave was larger than the ones they had been staying in so far and the pale orange light the fire threw onto the walls made it seem almost homey. Radiant Hope stretched and rolled into a position that was half-sitting, half-laying. Immediately, as sense and feeling came back to her, she patted her hoofs in the snow. ”Where is it? “If you’re looking for the horn, it’s safe. Don’t worry.” She saw the fire, a surprisingly large fire given how few logs were feeding it. And she saw Starlight Glimmer on the other side of the fire. Starlight was levitating a small pot. She caught Hope’s incredulous look. “Would I lie to you?” she asked. “Okay, don’t answer that. But you can trust me on this one. I can show you where it is once I’ve finished.” “What are you doing?” Hope asked. “Trying to make hot chocolate,” Starlight said. “Where did you get hot chocolate from?” “The good doctor provided it. Seems he picked up a few things while fleeing for his life back in town. It’s almost done.” “How are we going to drink it?” Starlight gave Hope a knowing look and levitated up a couple of wooden cups. “Dr. Fie took all this?” Hope said. “Seems your doctor has quite the sticky hooves. He claims that it’s anxiety-induced kleptomania.” “Well, he is a doctor, so he would know about these things,” Hope said. Hope and Starlight exchanged amused smiles. “Where is he?” Hope asked. She looked around but did not see him anywhere in the cave. “Oh, we’re not rid of him that easily,” Starlight said, gesturing behind her with her hoof. “I made him go stand outside in the cold.” “That seems a little harsh.” “It’s what he gets for betraying us.” “He betrays us so he has to go stand out in the cold?” Hope seemed about to burst out laughing. “I take it back; that actually seems rather tame for you, Starlight.” “I wanted to kill him, but I knew it would upset you,” Starlight responded. “No, I bet you wouldn’t really do it,” Hope said. “You’re too nice a pony.” Starlight smiled. “I am nice. When I founded my town, I made niceness a requirement. Everypony always wore such big, happy smiles.” Then her face darkened as she stole a glance at Dr. Fie. “But all ponies, even the nicest ones, have their limits.” “You didn’t leave me behind, either,” Hope said. Starlight looked at the pot and stirred it with a twig. “I do still need your healing magic. You weren’t kidding about me being sore afterward.” “I didn’t get to finish,” Hope said. “I can do that once I’m sure I’m up to it.” “You’re just holding out for hot chocolate,” Starlight said. “Maybe. It’s been over a thousand years since I’ve had it.” “What did you eat in that shadow prison for all those years?” Starlight asked. “I don’t know why I ask. It just popped into my head and I’m curious.” “Something about the prison of shadows kept me from needing to eat much, in the same way it kept me from aging,” Hope said. “But I did eat sometimes. Mostly some plants that grow down there.” “And how did they taste?” “Pretty bad.” Hope stuck out her tongue at the memory. “But what about you? In your town, what did you eat, if it was out in the desert?” “Muffins, mostly.” “How were they?” “Pretty bad.” Hope and Starlight both started laughing. “I’m glad to hear you’re so amused in there,” Dr. Fie called in from outside. “If I have to endure the unbearable burden of this freezing cold, at least somepony is warm and happy!” “Oh, be quiet!” Starlight yelled back at him. Turning back to Hope, now with that motherly smile once more upon her face, she said, “Hot chocolate’s ready!” Starlight lifted up two cups and poured hot chocolate in each one. She kept one by herself and floated one over to Hope. “By the way, do you think you can help me improve my teleportation?” Starlight asked. “I think you’ve got a better range with it than Twilight does. I could really use that against her.” Hope decided not to dignify that with a response. She took a sip of hot chocolate and then stopped. Hope pulled the cup away as her eyes drifted toward the entrance of the cave. “Oh, no,” Starlight said. Hope looked to her with pleading eyes. “But it must be so cold out there! And he is the one who got us the hot chocolate in the first place.” “Hope, doesn’t matter to you at all that he just betrayed us?” “Should we really hold it too much against him, though?” “Let me think. Hmm, let’s see...” Starlight made a mock-thinking pose with her hoof on her chin. “Oh, wait, yes!” Hope tried to deflect Starlight’s sharp gaze by glancing once more out of the cave. “I just don’t think we should leave him out there by himself to freeze.” “That is exactly what we should do. I thought about freezing him myself earlier, but chances are his mouth would still somehow keep moving.” Hope brought back her sad, pleading look. “Please, Starlight. Just this once.” Starlight sighed as she began to pour a third cup. “Well, okay. Just this once.” Hope quickly grasped the two cups with the magic from her horn and stood up. She made her way toward the entrance. All the while, she was aware that Starlight’s disapproving eyes were watching her. Hope looked back, thinking briefly that she could somehow persuade Starlight. But Starlight was ready for her. Looking at Hope and then out at the figure of Dr. Fie in the cold, Starlight said, “Even after everything that happened with the Umbrum, you never did stop believing in fairies, did you, Hope?” “Why do you ask?” Starlight raised her brows a bit. “Never mind.” As Radiant Hope stepped out into the cold, with the two hot chocolates beside her, she thought of Sombra’s horn. The chill wind began to blow and she once more thought she heard the deeper notes of Sombra’s voice. Maybe I should go back for it. But then she shook it off. Hope decided that, this once, she might as well trust Starlight. If she was lying and the horn was gone, there was nothing Hope could do now. And besides, for once, she did not want to think too much of Sombra. Hope was surprised to find that the ground outside was covered in snow. While it was winter, and snow was not unusual, she had thought that the whole forest had been clear earlier. There, in the middle of the snow, sitting on his haunches with his forelegs wrapped around him, was Dr. Fie. He was looking out over the forest and did not notice her approach. “I brought you some hot chocolate, doctor,” Hope said. It was as though someone had just resuscitated the good doctor. He practically sprang to Hope’s side. Quickly taking one of the cups, he downed a massive gulp. “Oh, thank you, dear girl!” Dr. Fie said. “You could not imagine the incredible misery I have been forced to endure by that conceited cockatrice in there! Oh, I fear that had you not arrived when you did, I should have been frozen to the bone!” “Where did the snow come from?” Hope asked. “I didn’t see any earlier.” “There wasn’t,” Dr. Fie said. “But then, after Starlight had me standing out here for half an hour, some clumsy pegasus clod came and dumped snow over the whole area. I should like to know whose idea it was to dump snow at one in the afternoon! I think, when we get out of this, I shall write a very long letter to the head of the weather department in Cloudsdale expressing my dissatisfaction with the way he allows his underlings to behave in any willy-nilly way they want.” “I think the head of the weather department is a mare.” “That explains it.” “Oh, doctor….” "After all the suffering I have already endured, that I should have to face this too! And me still wounded!" "They're just little cuts. I can heal you quickly." Hope's horn glowed, and the doctor was healed. Dr. Fie looked over his forelegs, where the cuts in his coat revealed his uncut forelegs. "Hmm, so much for 'Physician, heal thyself!'" Dr. Fie and Radiant Hope both took sips of cocoa. Hope could tell that, despite the warming effect of the beverage, Dr. Fie was getting increasingly agitated. He was doing that fidgeting thing he did that he thought nopony ever noticed. “What is it, doctor?” Hope said. “Oh, nothing,” Dr. Fie said. “It’s nothing at all. What would make you ask? Well, actually, there is one thing I’m curious about.” Dr. Fie curious about something other than himself? This was an interesting development. “Is there something you want to ask me?” Hope said. Dr. Fie looked down at the swirling cocoa in his cup, as though he was ashamed to meet Hope’s eyes. But Dr. Fie was never ashamed of anything. He was utterly shameless. Or so Hope had always thought. Dr. Fie took another sip of his cocoa and said. “But why?” “Why what?” “Why did you bring me this? After I… after I made my arrangements with the government pony… the ones that could have proven so disastrous for you….” “After you betrayed us, you mean?” “Hope, please! ‘Betray’ is such a loaded word! But I’m sure we’re talking about the same incident, so I’ll let it pass on this occasion. Why, after I ‘betrayed’ you, are you still looking out for me? I could understand in town. That was all the heat of the moment. But now?” Hope took a sip of her cocoa. Then she smiled at Dr. Fie. “I suppose that, after the things I’ve done, I figure, who am I to judge you?” Dr. Fie nodded and returned to his cocoa. “You’re the only one who has never judged me,” Hope said. “I mean, aside from the fact that you think you’re better than all ponies—” “Only because I am.” “—and you’ve brought up what I did quite often. But I never felt like you were judging me for it. Everypony else who knows my story, even when they didn’t say anything, I always felt like they were judging me. Like they were asking themselves, ‘How could a pony like her do the things she’s done?’ But not you. You never seemed to care.” “I didn’t know,” Dr. Fie said. “I didn’t know you felt that way.” “I’ve never talked about it before.” Hope took a long sip of her cocoa. “I’m fond of you,” Dr. Fie said. “You do know that, don’t you, dear girl?” “Mmm-hmm,” Hope said from behind her cup. “I worry sometimes that you don’t know that. I know it doesn’t seem like it all the time, especially not now. How hard it must be for you to believe it after everything that’s just happened. But I am fond of you.” Hope said nothing. Dr. Fie began to fidget some more. “It’s true that I haven’t been fond of many ponies in my life,” Dr. Fie said. “I find most ponies to be quite tedious and hopelessly misinformed at best. Complete ninnies at worst. I look at them all with disdain. At least, I did until you showed up on my doorstep. Suddenly, everything changed. Oh, I’m not blind to your little moods and I suppose I can’t blame you for them. But, suddenly, when you started working at the hospital, the whole place seemed like it was filled with light.” Hope cast a sad, incredulous glance at Dr. Fie. “Doctor, I don’t have any light in me, not anymore,” Hope said. “I did once, but after what I did—” “Hang what you did, Hope!” Dr. Fie said, with so much vigor that Hope nearly dropped her cocoa. “I’m sorry, dear girl, but it’s just that—” “Dr. Fie, you said it yourself. I’m a monster.” “You are not a monster, Hope! I was wrong. Mark this down as a red-letter day, because Dr. Fiddly Fie admits that he was wrong about something! The first, and I should think, the last time it shall ever happen in all my life!” “Princess Luna thinks I’m a monster.” “Oh, pish-posh! Who is Princess Luna to judge, after all she’s done, hmm? Nightmare Moon twice tried to throw Equestria into darkness. But she can pronounce other ponies monsters with a flick of her hoof? It’s good to be the princess sometimes, I suppose. That was the real benefit you missed out on with that line, Hope. Getting to judge others while not being judged yourself.” Hope shook her head. “Princess Luna has gone through a lot of guilt over what she did. Everypony knows how she’s struggled to forgive herself. But even after all that, even after coming to terms with what she’s done, she looked me in the eye and I could see, she only saw a monster in me. She must think that I’ve done so much worse than she ever did, if even she can’t understand me. I’m sorry, doctor, but if she thinks I’m a monster, if even she can’t overlook what I’ve done, then I must be one.” Dr. Fie stamped his hoof, causing snow to fly all around. “No, Hope, listen to me! What you did, the things you did, I’m not the pony to absolve you of them. I can’t explain them and I’m certain I don’t understand them. But what I do understand, what you need to understand is that, however far you fell, however bad those things were, they did not make you a monster.” “You act like you know me,” Hope said. “There were a thousand years that you weren’t there for.” “But I do know you, Hope,” Dr. Fie said. “Maybe I don’t know all the particulars of your life. But I know this; you are a pony of light. I can see it every day. If you don’t believe me, just look at yourself! You’re a crystal pony. You reflect light.“ Hope smiled wistfully. “Maybe I did once. But my coat hasn’t done anything like that for a while now.” Dr. Fie guffawed softly and raised those defined eyebrows of his. “Look at yourself, dear girl.” Hope looked down at her body. This time she did drop her cup. It landed snuggly in the snow, only spilling a small bit of cocoa. “You see,” Dr. Fie said, “you’re reflecting the light of the sun right now. You are still a receptacle of light. Any pony who shines with so much light could never be a monster.” Hope looked herself all over. Her body was no longer a dull purple but a bright, vibrant lavender. Her mane and her tail, the color of the blue sky above, practically gleamed silver in the light of the sun’s rays. And every bit of her was made up of translucent, glowing crystal. Hope wiped crystalline tears from her eyes. They sparkled as they disappeared into the afternoon air. “Thank you, doctor,” she said. “I’m going to try and get a message to Stirring,” Starlight said as she joined them outside. “It’s obvious that we can’t keep going like we are. I wouldn’t be surprised if Twilight had search parties combing this whole area. But Stirring should be in Las Pegasus by now. Maybe he knows of a way to get us there without alerting Twilight or her stooges.” Dr. Fie nodded. “Yes. We don’t need any more run-ins with our government. Not when there are so many other things that want us dead. Like those Umbrum. And the timberwolves. Especially the timberwolves.” “It’s only two Umbrum, and from what I saw, they’re very weak,” Starlight said. Hope bit her lip. She looked anxiously to Dr. Fie, certain that, being Dr. Fie, he would have to open his big mouth. “Only two Umbrum, madam?” Dr. Fie said. “I could have sworn there were at least three of them last night, and they all looked far from weak.” Hope braced herself. “What?” Starlight yelled. She quickly turned a burning glare on Hope. “You encountered the Umbrum last night, and you never bothered to tell me?” “There wasn’t really time,” Hope said in a small, apologetic voice. This did nothing to cool Starlight’s wrath. “There wasn’t time? We spent all night dodging Twilight’s goons, and you couldn’t find a single moment to slip in that, oh yeah, there are at least three Umbrum on our trail?” “There may have been ten Umbrum,” Dr. Fie said. “It was dark, so it was hard to tell.” “Ten? Ten! Ten!” This seemed to be the only word Starlight was capable of uttering clearly. Maybe it was time to start telling the truth. Hope took in a deep breath and said, “No, Starlight, it wasn’t ten. There are only three. I’m sure of it.” “How do you know, Hope?” Starlight said. “Have you been in... communication with them?” “Of course, Fie was fearless that night,” Dr. Fie chimed in. “The fifteen Umbrum did their best, but there was no frightening this stout heart!” Hope lowered her head. “A little. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Starlight.” “Sorry? You’re sorry? You’ve been talking with them this whole time and you’re sorry? What else did they tell you, Hope? What else are you hiding?” Hope looked away. “It wasn’t the whole time. Only twice, really.” “Just tell me one thing," Starlight said. "When you said you didn’t know what they want from you, was it a lie? Were you lying to me then?” “Fiddly Fie has been around far too long for the presence of a mere twenty-five shadow creatures to daunt him much,” Dr. Fie said. Starlight waited for Hope to answer. She did not. “It was a lie!” Starlight said. “You know what they want! You know what they’re planning!” “I know... some things,” Hope said reluctantly. There was a flash of turquoise and Starlight was gone. In an instant, she was back. She was also carrying Sombra’s horn. She threw it at Hope’s hooves. “And what about this, Hope?” Starlight yelled. “Is this also just a memento or is it part of their plan too? Or your plan, should I say?” “The others were all scared stiff,” Dr. Fie said, “so I immediately took charge of the situation, putting to good use the fighting skills and tactics I refined during my time in the armed forces. It’s like riding a bike, you know; you never forget it. Those fifty Umbrum never stood a chance. I had struck at all one-hundred of them before they even knew what was happening!” Hope scooped the horn up into her forelegs. “At least your teleportation range is getting better.” “Don’t change the subject,” Starlight snapped. “And to think, I was almost beginning to trust you!” Hope remained calm. “You still can, Starlight. I haven’t kept anything from you that you needed to know.” “Oh, I soon had those five-hundred Umbrum on the run, alright!” Dr. Fie said. “The whole thousand of them could not flee fast enough after that first taste of my daring battle-prowess.” “Well, hail the conquering hero!” Starlight bellowed at the doctor. “I’ve got my hooves full with one liar! Why can’t you just shut up, just for a little bit? Do you really love the sound of your own voice that much?” “It is one of the most pleasing sounds known to pony ears,” Dr. Fie said. “In fact, it has often been compared to the harps and the singing of the heavenly choir. Mostly by me. Actually, exclusively by me. But I am a doctor, so I know about these things.” “Maybe if you would just be quiet for a little while, you could listen and learn some things,” Starlight said. “Like, didn’t you even notice me throwing that horn at Hope? Do you know what that is? That’s Sombra’s horn. Hope has been carrying it around since we left Seaddle, right? Are you okay with that?” “Sombra’s horn?” Dr. Fie shook all over in evident disgust. “Keep it away from me! Whatever dark power is in there, I don’t want any part of it! Dr. Fiddly Fie is an upstanding individual.” “You see, Hope?” Starlight said, motions to Dr. Fie. “Don’t you think that’s something he needed to know? He had to carry it while you were knocked out, after all.” Dr. Fie waved his hoof in Starlight’s face. “Now hold on, madam. I will concede that it is deeply troubling that dear Hope has become morbidly attached to that item, which is something you would never see from me.” “Because you don’t take things you shouldn’t all the time, doctor?” Hope said quietly. “Now, that’s not fair, dear girl. You know I have anxiety-induced kleptomania. It’s a genuine medical condition! I diagnosed it myself!” Dr. Fie turned back to Starlight. “But as I was saying, madam, as I recall, it was you who forced me to carry that hideous relic of terror, and Hope on my back, to boot! To you belongs all the blame.” Starlight’s nostrils flared. “You’re still going to take her side over mine? After everything’s she’s been hiding? She’s endangering our lives! I’m the one who can save them!” “Because your leadership has been absolutely sterling so far, hmm?” Dr. Fie responded with a smug grin. Starlight screamed and put her hooves to Dr. Fie’s throat, ready to push him down and strangle him again. Dr. Fie did his best to resist, but it was of little use. Hope tried to leap in between and separate them. “Starlight, stop!” Hope said. “You’re letting your emotions get the better of you.” Suddenly, Starlight ceased trying to wrap her forelegs around Dr. Fie’s neck. She smiled. “You’re right, Hope,” she said. “I shouldn’t be taking my anger out on poor Dr. Fie here.” “The first sensible thing I’ve heard you say, madam,” Dr. Fie responded as he brushed himself off. “No, I should be taking it out on you!” Starlight tackled Hope, taking her to the ground. With all her might, she began to choke the crystal pony. Dr. Fie looked on, his hoof at his mouth in dread. “Starlight…. please….” Hope gasped. “What are you trying to do?” Starlight said. “Are you in league with the Umbrum after all? Is that how you intend to get Sombra back?” Dr. Fie hovered nervously over them. “Well, you know, the dear girl can’t speak if you’re holding her throat like that.” Starlight ignored him. “Tell me, Hope! Was that your plan all along? You still want to save Sombra and the Umbrum? How thick are you? Didn’t you learn anything from the first time?” “Now, that’s uncalled for,” Dr. Fie said. “Who among us hasn’t released a species of eldritch abominations intent on plunging the world into darkness from time to time? That is a natural part of life.” Starlight stopped choking Hope to look at Dr. Fie. “Are you seriously saying you’ve done it too?” “I did have a life before I met the two of you,” Dr. Fie responded. “This conversation got too surreal too quickly,” Starlight said as she returned to choking Hope. Dr. Fie began to bite his hoof as Starlight began to pound Hope’s head against the snow. “Oh, dear me, dear me, I should do something!” Looking around, he saw a mound of snow. Lifting up a part of it with his horn, he magically patted it down into a perfect snowball. Then he looked to Starlight. Maybe a quick drop of snow would cool her temper down. Dr. Fie considered throwing the snowball, but realized that, with his aim, it would probably either fall short or overshoot the two struggling mares completely. He thought for a moment and had an idea. Dr. Fie closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on teleporting himself. If this worked right — for a loose definition of right — the snowball would disappear instead and reappear over Starlight’s head. And she would never know he did it. Dr. Fie concentrated all his mental efforts into the attempt. The snowball dropped to the mound from whence it had come. Instead a nearby rock began to glow purple. It disappeared and reappeared over Starlight’s head. Dr. Fie opened his eyes and looked on with pride at his spell working so well. That pride soon turned to horror as he noticed the rock. The rock fell, hitting Starlight clearly on the head. She fell on top of Hope. Hope wriggled her way free from underneath, leaving Starlight lying face-down in the snow. “I didn’t mean to do that,” Dr. Fie said. “She’s not dead, is she?” Hope, her throat too sore to talk for a moment, shook her head. “Unconscious….” She hoarsely croaked. “Pity, that would have been a preferable outcome,” Dr. Fie said. “Now she’ll probably buck me off the nearest precipice when she wakes up.” Hope’s voice was returning. “That was new,” she said. “You’ve never done something like that for me before.” “What are you talking about, dear girl,” Dr. Fie said, regaining his usual bravado. “Fiddly Fie is the very soul of gallantry! Whereever a lady is threatened by some maniac mare who likes applying chokeholds, there you will find me coming to the rescue. Never fear—” “Radiant Hope!” came a voice from high above them, interrupting Dr. Fie. The doctor looked up with a mixture of apprehension and gall. Radiant Hope did not need to look up. “Oh, not you again!” Dr. Fie said as he caught sight of the blue-coated, long-bearded lunatic standing on the top of the cave. “Radiant Hope, failing again!” the pony taunted. “Radiant Hope, failed princess. Failed empress. Failed friend!” “Oh, enough of that, you!” Dr. Fie said. He began to make a shooing gesture with his hooves. “Get along now! Go! Shoo! Scat!” The lunatic merely aped Dr. Fie’s gesture back at him. “Oh, fiddly-fie, fiddly-fie! Such a funny name for such a funny pony.” “Now, see here,” Dr. Fie said. “I’ll have you know that mine is a very distinguished name! Why, some of the greatest ponies in the history of Equestria have born the name of my family! Case in point, myself.” “Oh, fiddly-fie!” the lunatic said again, now with a fiendish laugh. “The doctor, stuck in his bubble. Will he make the sky give way? And will he become the pillar of light he tells her she is? Hope won’t save him. Poor doctor. Poor, poor doctor.” “Oh, this is so tedious,” Dr. Fie said. “It makes one wonder why lobotomies fell out of fashion.” “The doctor thinks he’s a healer, but he’s not,” said the lunatic. “Just like Radiant Hope. She couldn’t heal Sombra. She couldn’t heal anypony.” “Do you have to keep taunting me?” Hope said. “What do you want? What do you want from me?” “I want you to be the pony you’re supposed to be,” responded the mad-pony. “Be a radiant hope for once. Do not let ponies get hurt around you.” “I don’t let ponies get hurt when I’m around,” Hope said. “Well, except for a certain one,” Dr. Fie said, gesturing toward Starlight. “I didn’t know you were going to hit her with a rock!” Hope said to the doctor. Starlight Glimmer was slowly getting up and rubbing her head. “Who hit me with a rock?” Dr. Fie let out a squeak and pointed his hoof up to the mad-pony. “He did. Just came along and dropped a stone right on your head.” “Why?” Starlight said as stood up fully. “He’s mad, madam! There is no reason to his actions!” “Reason to my actions there is!” shouted the pony. “You see,” Dr. Fie said, “he’s so insane he can’t even form sentences properly.” Looking up to the blue pony, he said, “I’m sorry, but that was pitiful, dear boy.” “Why do you call me ‘dear boy’?” the lunatic said. “I am older than you are! I am older than all of you! I am older than the sun and the moon! And when the sun and the moon perish, I still shall be! I am Starswirl the Bearded! Fear my power!” “Starswirl?” Starlight said, as she focused her still-blurry vision on the blue unicorn. “Is he still keeping that up?” “Starlight Glimmer plays naïve,” the faux Starswirl said. “But she’s intrigued. She too knows of Starswirl and she’s looking for something, something of mine. She’ll find it, but I’ll not give it to her! Oh, woe to Equestria on the day she does! Then the sun is blotted, ponies shall raise sword and axe, and the world shall come to its ruin!” “Look, I don’t care who you are or think you are,” Starlight said. “But following us around like this, appearing on top of caves and at the edge of glades, it’s getting old! Can you please just leave us in peace?” She may have asked politely, but Starlight was willing to back up what she said. Her horn began to glow. “You do like to shoot things, don’t you?” Dr. Fie said. “My father was a colonel,” Starlight responded. “So was I,” Dr. Fie said. “That doesn’t mean I enjoy such a barbarous means of settling disputes.” “You prefer to get someone else to settle them for you.” “No action at a distance.” “I shall go, I shall go,” said the faux Starswirl. “I have said to the doctor and to Starlight Glimmer what I had to say. But I must still speak to Radiant Hope.” Starlight and Dr. Fie looked to Hope, who just gave an “I-don’t-know” kind of look. “Still haven’t got the point, Radiant Hope?” he said, his voice harsh and grating. Hope held up Sombra’s horn. “I think I got it.” “You still don’t know anything,” said the lunatic. “Hope is gone! Hope is gone! Hope is gone! We have no hope. No hope. No Hope for Sombra. May you destroy each other. All darkness shall burn under the dome of fire. Equestria doesn’t need you.“ “Are you just saying that to taunt me again?” Hope said. “You’ve done it before and I think I got the message. You don’t like me very much.” “It is not about me liking you,” said the lunatic. “I say that Equestria does not depend upon you. It does not need Radiant Hope. It does need the pony you are.” “I know, I know, you think I should have been a princess,” Hope said. Even she was growing tired of the refrain. “Who cares what you are. What matters is the Hope that could have been. The Hope that still could be.” “How many ways can I say that that was far too long ago?” “Past is present. Present is future. Fate is character. Up is down.” “Mareclitus,” Dr. Fie noted. "What is this? What do you think I could be?" Hope asked. "And why does any of this have to do with Sombra? He’s lost, I know it. And I don’t know what I’m supposed to be without him. But I’m trying." The mad-pony let out another laugh. "What you and Sombra could have been.... What I could have been.... In another life and another world.... Then shall rise up the boar, and the boar shall sharpen his tusks against the tree where perches the eagle and the eagle's brood. The eagle shall fall. But no pony shall know what happens to the boar." "Please," Hope said, "Please, stop. I made my choice." “No, you haven't, not yet! But this may be your last chance, Hope. What choose you?” “I can’t be a princess,” Hope said. “I don't want to be. I just want to stop the Umbrum.” “Think you, then, that I still ramble about princesses? Do you think that that is what it is all about?” Hope shook her head. “Isn’t that what you’re trying to say? I don’t understand what other choice I could make!” The lunatic let out a loud laugh, a laugh that seemed to join with a sudden blast of wind that nearly knocked all three ponies below off balance. “Then strike out her name, record one lost soul more, One task more declined, one more footpath untrod, One more devil’s-triumph and sorrow for angels, One more wrong done to pony, one more insult to God!” After saying these words, the lunatic let out another chilling laugh. And then, in a voice strangely quiet, strangely somber, he added, “I shall die three times.” There was another sharp gust of wind, sharp enough that it stung the eyes of the three and made them avert their gaze. When they looked back, the lunatic was gone. “This day is just getting too weird,” Starlight said. Looking to the doctor, she said, “Okay, I’m going to write a message and you’ll send it to Stirring in Las Pegasus.” “How am I supposed to do that?” Dr. Fie said. “I don’t even know where he is in the city.” “I’m sure you could just concentrate on him and you’ll find him.” “Find him, indeed! You think it is just that simple to whisk a message from the middle of the wilderness to the middle of the city? We’re still far off from Las Pegasus and the energy required would be too much even for a stallion of my boundless capabilities.” Dr. Fie finished with a flourish of the hoof. “It’s just a little message,” Starlight said. “I’m sure you’ll manage.” “And what should I do?” Hope asked. Starlight nodded her head in disgust. “Live up to your name. Hope. Hope that I don’t end up in a strangling mood again.” Hope watched Starlight walk down the slope, looking for a loose piece of bark. “I really hate my name sometimes,” she said. Dr. Fie came up beside her. “Give her time, dear girl. She won’t stay mad at you for long. She knows she’d have probably done the same thing if she were you.” “That doesn’t seem to count for much, sometimes,” Hope said. “I shouldn’t have lied to her. But I knew she’d be useful for getting me to Las Pegasus and I didn’t want her to go back on getting me there. And lying just came so easily.” “Why do you want to get to Las Pegasus at all?” Dr. Fie said. “The Umbrum will be there.” Dr. Fie did his best to contain a spasm of panic. He failed, for the most part. But he tried to put on a calm voice, for Hope’s sake. “The Umbrum will be there? Then why in Celestia’s name would you want to go anywhere near that accursed city? Shouldn’t we be going the other way?” “I have to do this,” Hope said. “It will be the only way to stop the Umbrum.” Dr. Fie shook his head and let out a sigh. “Oh, Hope, if this is your way of redeeming yourself for the past, don’t you know it won’t work? All this suffering of yours, it comes from wanting to hold on to things. Things like this. If you’d just learn to let them go—” Hope looked down at Sombra’s horn. “I know, I know. But it’s so hard....” “It’s always going to be hard, child,” responded Dr. Fie, putting his hoof on her shoulder. “But you have me. You have....” He looked back toward the direction Starlight had gone in. “Well, you have me.” Hope held Sombra’s horn up to the light. For a moment, she thought she saw a flicker of purple light run up and down it. “I hope that’s true, but I have a feeling this is something I’m going to have to confront alone. It’s what I had to do. It’s the only way.” “But why is it the only way? How are you going to stop the Umbrum? I have a feeling that there is much that you’re still not making us privy to.” Hope glanced knowingly at the good doctor. Dr. Fie shrugged. “Well, it is your secret to keep, I suppose. I would just like to know what I’m getting into if I’m expected to put my life on the line in that death-trap of a tourist-trap.” “You could get away,” Hope said. “What?” “Starlight needs you to send Stirring another message, but after that, you could escape. She might even be willing to let you go. Now that she knows I’ve got other reasons for going to Las Pegasus, she won’t need to keep you.” Dr. Fie’s expression turned glum. “Oh, so she’ll finally have the opportunity to shoot a laser beam through my head. Thank you, dear girl, that makes my day so much brighter.” “I don’t think Starlight will do that. But even if she does, you could get away before she has a chance. I could help you. I don’t know what the Umbrum are planning, and there’s no reason you have to risk your life. You could go back to Seaddle, back to how things were.” “Without you, Hope, there is no ‘how things were.’” Dr. Fie sunk down onto his haunches and stared gloomily into the distance. “Besides, you two could never survive without my guiding hoof. And I’m a wanted pony in Seaddle anyway. Staying here might be the best option I have.” Hope smiled a little. “Well, I would miss you, I suppose.” “I suppose you would,” Dr. Fie said. Raising his hoof, he continued, more to himself than to Hope, “‘Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more!’ How I’m going to regret this decision….” How would the trio reach Las Pegasus? Read on.