A Glimmer of Hope

by Gordon Pasha

Redemption

The three turned to see Swift Strike standing there, his horn pointed toward them, his stance making him seem even lower to the ground than usual. A number of EIS ponies were on either side of him.

"I knew it!" Swift Strike said. "I knew the two of you were up to no good! And here I find the two of you, getting all buddy-buddy with King Sombra himself! That's enough to get you all sent to Tartarus a thousand times over!"

“Okay, let’s get a few things straight,” Starlight said. “One: We only just ran into Sombra. And he isn’t... bad anymore, I guess? And two: We just saved all those ponies from that explosion and a watery grave! You’d really arrest us after what we did?”

“A likely story,” Swift Strike said. “You’ll excuse me if I have trouble believing it, coming as it does from one of the foremost liars in Equestria.”

“One of?” Starlight said in a huff. “Only one of? Not, ‘the foremost liar in Equestria?’”

“I don’t think you’re helping our case,” Sombra said.

“And I suppose you’re an expert on staying on the right side of the law?” Starlight responded.

“It sounds like Dr. Fie rubbed off on you a little,” Hope said.

“Hm, now there’s a terrifying thought,” Starlight said.

“Yes, where is the good doctor?” Swift Strike asked. “Last I knew, he was your accomplice. Where is he? Did you dispose of him once he was no longer useful?”

“Don’t talk about Dr. Fie like that!” Hope said. “He gave his life to save everypony. He’s a hero!”

“Please,” Swift Strike answered. “So he died. That’s no hero. The real heroes are the ponies who work from the shadows to counter the threats most of Equestria will never know existed. Ponies like me.”

Hope stepped forward. “You’re no hero! You did nothing! Equestria was in danger and you didn’t help at all! Without Dr. Fie, the Umbrum would have conquered the world!”

Starlight grabbed Hope and pulled her back. “No, Hope, no. I know, I know. But he’s just trying to provoke you. Don’t give in. Don’t let him do it.”

“Come on, little traitor,” Swift Strike said. “I’d be glad to add resisting arrest to your charges.”

“I wasn’t going to hurt him,” Hope said to Starlight.

“I know,” Starlight responded. “Not that I’d blame you if you wanted to buck him into the ocean. It just wouldn’t look good. We don’t want to give them any more reasons to charge us.”

“You’re right,” Hope said, drawing back. She glared at Swift Strike.

“So, the Umbrum were here,” Swift Strike said. “Very interesting. And I suppose you want me to believe that you were just here by chance? Taking in the sights, were we? And you three just happened to run into the Umbrum, because everypony comes to Las Pegasus sooner or later.”

“I don’t think I like this pony,” Sombra said. “He’s annoying.”

“Understatement of the century,” Starlight responded.

“Ah, yes, King Sombra,” Swift Strike said. “And I suppose it’s also a coincidence that you happened to be here when your people all of a sudden showed up?”

An EIS pony whispered something to Swift Strike. “No, let him go on,” Swift Strike said. “I find their increasingly convoluted story amusing. Let’s see how it turns out. I expect we’ll get time-travel too before it’s all over.”

As Hope watched all of this unfold, she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She recognized the touch. It was Sombra.

“I’m sorry, Hope,” he whispered.

“Sorry for what?” she asked.

“For the Umbrum. For Dr. Fie. For everything.”

Sombra pushed Starlight out of the way.

“Hey!” she snapped.

Sombra ignored her. He just took several large but slow steps toward Swift Strike. All the EIS unicorns braced themselves and their horns began to glow.

“Sombra, what are you doing?” Hope asked in alarm.

Sombra smiled over his shoulder. “You’ve done so much to fix things, Hope. Now it’s my turn to try.”

He stopped walking after having gotten halfway to Swift Strike. He raised his hooves to signify that he was not a danger and would not come any closer.

“I confess,” Sombra said. “I was the one who brought the Umbrum here. I am the one who is ultimately responsible for the sinking of this ship. I confess to all of it.”

“Sombra, no!” Hope shouted. She tried to get to him. Starlight pulled her back. She used all of her strength to try and break free, but given how much energy she had already expended, her strength was not enough to break free from Starlight’s grip.

“Calm down, calm down,” Starlight whispered.

“I can’t let Sombra do this,” Hope said. “I wanted to save everypony I care about. I already lost Dr. Fie. I can’t lose anypony else.”

“Well, you’re not losing me,” Starlight said. “Whatever happens, you won’t lose me.”

“So, you admit to everything, Sombra?” Swift Strike said, his usually subdued voice filled with glee. “You admit that the three of you worked together to bring back the Umbrum and turn them loose on Equestria?”

“No,” Sombra said. “Only I did that. It was all me. Hope and Starlight had no role in it. In fact, they came here to stop me. I am ready to accept any punishment, for I most definitely deserve it. But they’re innocent. They should go free. I am willing to confess to everything if you promise that they will go free.”

Swift put his hoof to his chin in an exaggerated ‘thinking’ gesture. Hope could tell that he was mocking Sombra. She grit her teeth. She knew that Starlight was right; Swift Strike wanted a rise out of them. She knew also that she should not give it to him. But he was making it extremely difficult.

“I’m sorry, but I would hardly describe Radiant Hope and Starlight Glimmer as ‘innocent,’” Swift Strike said. “No, I think all of you will go down together.”

Sombra was flabbergasted. “But if I say that only I did it—”

“I’ll find a way to make it stick on all of you. Don’t worry. Living in the darkness has its advantages.”

Hope could hold back no longer. She felt as though she had just enough magic for a single spell. But it was the only spell she needed.

There was a pop of blue light directly in front of Swift Strike. Hope appeared there, staring daggers at him. Swift did not seem troubled though. If anything, he only became more amused.

“Hope, what are you doing?” Sombra asked upset.

“Listening to my anger,” Hope responded.

Swift Strike signaled his unicorns to be ready to strike. Hope saw it, but she did not care.

“Why do you hate us so much?” Hope asked Swift. “Why is this so personal to you! None of us ever tried to pick a fight with you. We’re just trying to live our lives and do the best we can for other ponies. How is arresting us going to help?”

“My, my, you’ve got quite the temper, Miss Hope,” Swift Strike said in an almost infantile tone of voice. “Do you want to do something about it?”

Swift took a few steps back and sat on his haunches. He spread out his forelegs beside him.

“Come on, then,” he said. “I’ll make it easy for you. Please, give my ponies a reason to hit you with twenty taser spells. I’d love to see you flopping on the ground like a big scaly fish. I need more humor in my life.”

“Hope, don’t do it,” Starlight said.

Hope looked over her shoulder at Starlight and Sombra, who were both watching her with concern. Then she looked at Swift Strike. He raised his brows and his smile grew wider.

Hope shook her head. “Swift Strike, I know you pride yourself on working in the shadows. But I’ve worked from the shadows too, and I know you can’t live there forever. I hope someday you can find your way back to the light.”

“Come on, you guys,” she said to Starlight and Sombra. “You know me. I just wanted to get some things off of my chest. What did you really think I was going to do?”

Starlight and Sombra exchanged looks of relief.

“You did just what we hoped you would, Hope,” Starlight said.

“I knew you couldn’t do it,” Swift said. “I knew you didn’t have any real courage.”

Hope smirked. “Besides, being like he is will be punishment enough. Dr. Fie once told me about something called small stallion syndrome. Unfortunately, I think he’s got a terminal case.”

Sombra and Starlight snickered a little. Hope heard, over her shoulder, a quite different reaction from Swift Strike. He beat his hooves against the pier and snarled.

“Stop right there, Radiant Hope!” he barked.

“Now it’s your turn to make me,” Hope said. She continued walking without looking back.

Swift let out a growl. “That’s it! Agents, move in on my count! These three think they can just walk all over the law. They forget that it is the princesses who decide whether they are good ponies or not.”

“No,” Hope said quietly.

“The princesses have decided!”

The EIS agents, formerly so focused on their targets, forgot them entirely. Instead, several of them pointed upward and they all began to talk excitedly. In the midst of them, Princesses Luna and Twilight Sparkle made touchdown, having descended from the sky.

“Twilight!” Starlight practically spat. She began to storm over toward the Princess of Friendship. It was Hope’s turn to stop her from making a mistake. Hope latched onto Starlight and held her back.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Starlight snapped. “She’s there! She’s right there! How’s my chance to—”

“Your chance to what, Starlight?” Hope asked. “You said you wanted to be a better pony. What would a better pony do?”

Hope felt Starlight’s muscles relax as she stopped struggling against her. Hope knew her words had gotten through.

“Princesses!” Swift ran to them and offered a very low, very obsequious bow. “I was just apprehending these dangerous fugitives on your behalf!”

“On our behalf?” Luna said, casting a cold glance on everything around her. “Did we not instruct you to no longer involve yourself in this case?”

“I know,” Swift said, “but I was making a citizen’s arrest! I just happened to be walking along... I was just... erm... enjoying the sights, when I saw them carrying out their nefarious plot over here. I was in just the right place at the right time to apprehend them. It was... coincidence.”

“Then why have you co-opted the agents we sent?” Twilight said. “Swift, you weren’t supposed to get yourself involved again.”

“I ask for your forgiveness, Majesties, but I had to do it,” Swift said. “These are dangerous fugitives and someone had to stop them! Look at what they’ve gone and done. They blew up that boat and tried to kill all these ponies!”

“It’s a ship, actually,” Twilight said. “Boats are much smaller.”

“We know the circumstances of what happened,” Luna said. “A certain Dr. Fiddly Fie sent us a message explaining everything. He said that they were evacuating everyone and that destroying the ship was a necessity in order to stop the Umbrum from attacking the city.”

Luna then looked over to the water where the Empress had once been. “And, if I may say so, good riddance. That ship always made me uneasy.”

“But it was a historical monument,” Twilight said sadly.

“Yes, but it was haunted,” Luna said. “And I’ve always been afraid of ghosts.”

“And all the spells and memorabilia we lost from the exhibition….” Twilight said. “It’ll set Starswirl scholarship back a thousand years!”

“After seeing what one of those spells can do, I think it might be for the best,” Luna replied. “Starswirl was always too clever a pony for his own good.” She raised her brow as she turned to Swift Strike, “And, might I add, he was not the only one.”

“But, Majesties—” Swift began to protest.

“I grow weary of this,” Luna said. “Swift Strike, stand down.”

“But—”

“I said, stand down!” Luna’s booming voice shook the pier itself. Even the redoubtable Swift Strike seemed unnerved. Finally, he was silent.

Twilight approached Swift Strike. “Dr. Fie explained in his message that he and Radiant Hope were coerced into joining Starlight Glimmer and that Hope’s only concern was stopping the Umbrum before they destroyed Equestria.”

“Figures he’d make me the villain of the story,” Starlight said under her breath.

“That’s our Dr. Fie,” Hope responded. “I miss him already.”

“I do too,” Starlight said.

“Nor is that all,” Luna added. “A pony named Stirring Words also sent us a letter last night and offered his own account of this affair. In the main, it concurs with Dr. Fie’s testimony. In light of this new information, we have decided that Radiant Hope and Dr. Fiddly Fie are no longer fugitives.”

“No, you can’t do that!” Swift protested. “You can’t just let them go! Not after I worked so hard to catch them!”

“Do you not understand what princesses are?” Luna asked. “Do you think it is your place to order us around?”

"No, of course not, Your Majesty," Swift Strike said. "But I do feel that I must speak up when my princesses are making a mistake. Because, if you really think Radiant Hope is so innocent, how do you explain King Sombra?"

Swift pointed toward the other end of the pier. Sombra had separated himself from everyone in the commotion and was standing alone, looking down at the dark waters.

The eyes of both princesses grew round. "King Sombra!" they shouted together.

Whatever Sombra had been thinking over, this was enough to shake him out of it. He looked up and saw everypony looking at him. He began to walk toward the others. The EIS ponies tensed up again and prepared to fire. Luna waved them down.

“I mean you no harm, princesses,” Sombra said. “I no longer blame any of you for what happened to me. I accept that I made my own choices. One of them led to the terrible events of this past night. For that, I am ready to face whatever consequences you deem suitable.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked. “How did you cause all this?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Hope said. “The important thing is that Sombra has overcome his darkness tonight. He won’t threaten Equestria ever again.”

“Hope, please,” Sombra said, putting his foreleg around her. “I need to do this. You were the one who overcame my darkness. But I need to do something on my own to try to fix my mistakes.” Looking to Luna and Twilight, he said, “You see, princesses, it was I who—”

Starlight jumped in front of him. “What matters is that the Umbrum are gone. We got rid of them. They won’t harm anypony any time soon. And Sombra was there. He helped.”

“But I didn’t really do anything,” Sombra whispered.

“Shh,” Starlight whispered back. “They don’t have to know that.”

Luna leaned her head toward Twilight. “Do you think he really is redeemed?” she asked quietly.

“He looks different,” Twilight answered, also quietly. “I’m willing to give him a second chance.”

Princess Luna nodded and spoke normally again. "Very well. You have caused us much harm in the past, Sombra. Nopony knows this better than I. But I was recently reminded that all of us have made mistakes and done things we later came to regret. Perhaps, as my sister so often says, there is a time to be merciful. And now, after you have played your part in saving Equestria from the Umbrum, we wouldn't think of preventing you and Radiant Hope from starting a new life together."

“But I was the one who gladly put Equestria in danger.” Sombra whispered to Hope. “Shouldn’t we confess it all to them?”

Hope elbowed him. “Not on your life.”

Sombra stiffened up so that the princesses would not notice. He smiled. "Thank you, Your Majesty”

“So, they're all no longer fugitives,” Starlight said, taking a few steps forward. “But what about me?”

“Under the circumstances, given your role in saving Equestria, we may be tempted to offer you a full pardon as well,” Luna said.

Twilight bit her lip.

“A full pardon?” Starlight asked.

“Yes,” Luna responded. “You merely have to promise to renounce any ill-will toward any princess of this realm and you shall receive a pardon.”

She stole a glance at Twilight. “And does our Princess of Friendship also agree to this pardon?”

“If Princess Luna thinks it’s for the best, so do I,” Twilight said, in a tone of voice which suggested otherwise.

The princess and the unicorn just stared at each other. Tension filled the air. Everypony waited breathlessly. Nopony needed to say it, but all of them were waiting for one of the two rivals to make the first violent move.

Hope did not like where this was going. She felt as though Starlight was slipping away from her again. She knew she had to do something. She came up beside Starlight.

“You seem like you’re having trouble deciding,” Hope said quietly.

“I am,” Starlight responded, lowering her voice to keep the princesses from hearing.

“You wanted to be a better pony. You won’t get there by holding onto your grudge.”

Starlight let out a little huff. “I know you’re right, Hope. But I’m just having so much trouble.”

“Then I’ll help you.” Hope offered Starlight her hoof.

Starlight glanced at Hope’s hoof. She lifted her own to take it. But then she saw Twilight again out of the corner of her eye. Starlight pulled her hoof back.

“Starlight, please,” Hope said. “You said you wouldn’t leave me. Now you don’t have to. But you have to make the choice. Please choose to stay with me.”

Starlight again moved to take Hope’s hoof. But again, she saw Twilight, who seemed to grow more suspicious with each moment of hesitation.

Starlight shook her head and lowered her hoof. “I’m sorry, Hope. But I can’t forgive her.”

Starlight’s horn began to glow. She was either going to attack Twilight or teleport out of there. Either way, Hope knew it would be bad. She knew she could not allow it.

Hope grabbed Starlight’s shoulders and turned her around. Now they were standing face to face.

"Starlight, you said you didn’t want rage and anger to define you anymore," Hope said.

“I know, Hope, but we were in the middle of a battle for our lives,” Starlight said. “It was easy to say I wasn’t going to be the pony I used to be when I thought I probably wasn’t going to survive. But now, out here... with Twilight... it’s much harder to actually do.”

“Starlight, I don’t want you to be a different pony,” Hope said. “I want you to be you. But you said you wanted to be more like me.”

"You... you heard that?"

Hope nodded. "I heard everything. But think about it. Would I do this? Would I keep bearing a grudge, after everything?”

“You don’t bear grudges,” Starlight said quietly, refusing to meet Hope’s gaze. “But you don’t understand. I can’t just be like you. I can’t be nearly as good.”

Hope’s grip on Starlight tightened. She brought her face in closer to Starlight’s. Their horns were nearly crossing. This practically forced Starlight to look Hope in the eye.

“Listen to me, Starlight,” Hope said. “You can be good. You can be as good as me. It's a choice, that's all. You just have to make the choice.”

Starlight once more cast her eyes downward. Her apparently limitless store of confidence had reached its limit. As it all evaporated, Hope saw a very different kind of pony. Maybe, she thought, I’m finally seeing the real Starlight Glimmer.

“I don’t know if I can,” Starlight said.

Hope’s answer was kind but firm. “You can, Starlight. I believe in you.”

Hope once more offered her hoof. Starlight looked long and hard at it. Then she looked long and hard at Twilight Sparkle. Then she looked back to Hope. Starlight smiled.

“So,” Hope asked, “what’s your answer?”

Starlight opened her mouth to say something. But just then, a breeze picked up. The warm morning wind reached down toward the waters below. From somewhere amongst them, it snatched something up and brought it up to the pier. This single remnant of last night’s destruction fluttered and glided upon the wind over all of the ponies' heads. It was a scroll.

“Is that....” Sombra began, his jaw dropping.

“The time spell!” Hope finished, her eyes growing wide.

“How does it keep managing to survive?” Sombra asked. “Is it indestructible?”

She looked to Starlight, terrified of what her friend might do now that her long-sought prize was once more within reach.

Starlight’s eyes lit up. She would not turn them from the scroll. It was directly overhead now. Her smile grew wider.

A turquoise flame appeared along the edges of the scroll. No longer protected by temporal displacement, the paper ignited easily. The flame spread, reducing the whole scroll to ash in a manner of seconds.

“Not indestructible, then,” Sombra remarked.

Everypony looked to Starlight. She had a smug grin on her face and a horn still releasing smoke.

“Finally managed to destroy that blasted thing,” she said. “Honestly. time travel is more trouble than it’s worth.”

The ashes from the scroll rose high into the air. They grew more and more distant until they were impossible to make out against the lightening vault of the sky. From somewhere beyond the clouds, a bubble appeared and burst in a silent, harmless supernova. Grey shards of stone rained down from the nova, looking like little comets, and disappeared somewhere beyond the horizon.

“Thank you, Princess Amore,” Sombra whispered as he watched it.

Hope heard him. “Princess Amore?” she asked.

Sombra did not answer her. He just looked up at the nova and smiled.

Starlight approached Twilight. “A full pardon sounds awfully good. Fine, I accept your conditions. And I'm sorry for the bad things I’ve done. You know, with my town.”

“I remember, Starlight.”

“And I’m sorry for wanting to go back in time and keep you from ever meeting any of your friends.”

“It’s no prob—” Twilight’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, what?”

“It’s not important,” Starlight said sheepishly. “I just want to ask, can you ever forgive me?"

Twilight’s look of confusion disappeared. It was immediately replaced by a warm smile. "Of course, I can, Starlight! As long as you're ready to embrace true friendship, why wouldn’t I?"

Sombra walked up beside Hope. “She really does live by her ‘Princess of Friendship’ title, doesn’t she? It’s actually rather impressive.”

Hope shrugged. “I guess, if princesses are your thing. They’re not mine.”

Sombra gave Hope a surprised look. “Since when?”

Hope offered a calm, confident glance of her own. “Since I realized I’m not the type of pony who follows straight lines.”

Starlight looked over her shoulder to Hope and Sombra. “I think I’m finally beginning to understand what true friendship means.” She then turned back to Twilight. “But we’ll have to agree to disagree — peacefully — about whether cutie marks are bad or not.”

“I think I can live with that,” Twilight said.

Starlight and Twilight shook hooves. But then Starlight pushed Twilight to the ground and fell on top of her.

“What are you doing?" Twilight said. "I thought we were friends now!"

"We are," Starlight answered. "That's why I'm saving your life!"

A beam of yellow light shot over their heads.

"You can't be friends with her, Your Majesty!" Swift Strike protested, smoke rising from his horn. "She is your sworn enemy! You've said so yourself, multiple times! You can't just forgive her! It may be a trick!"

Twilight wriggled out from under Starlight and stood before Swift. "It may be, but I wouldn't be the Princess of Friendship if I didn't give it a try."

"Oh, come on!" Swift said. "That title is just nonsense! You can't be princess of a concept! Don't tell me you take it seriously!"

Twilight nodded, not bothering to conceal her annoyance. "Uh-huh. There’s nothing I take more seriously than friendship. Except maybe studying. Studying and being fired upon by a pony of the EIS.”

“As I see it,” Princess Luna said, gaining altogether too much satisfaction from this. “Such actions would be considered grounds for treason."

Swift Strike took a few steps back. He looked confused, as though he could barely even comprehend the words being said, to say nothing of their import.

"Treason? Me?” he sputtered. “How could I... How could I commit treason? I have always been your most loyal subject!"

"Recent events have done much to suggest otherwise," Luna observed.

Swift Strike looked nervously from Twilight to Luna and back again. "But... everything I've done... I did it all for you! For you and the greater glory of Equestria!"

Twilight approached. "Was it all for us? Or was it merely to satisfy your own need for power? How much haven't you told us, Swift? Not just about this case, but about everything? Please, Swift, don’t make this difficult. Whatever you’ve done, whatever you’re hiding, we can try to work through it."

Swift’s anxiety suddenly disappeared. It was replaced by anger.

“You want to know everything?” he asked. “You? Celestia’s sheltered little pet? Do you really think that living in that little backwater of Ponyville has prepared you to walk in the darkness like I do? Because the darkness is where the real struggle to save this realm is fought, and nothing in your books is going to prepare you for it.”

Twilight could only shake her head. “What happened to you, Swift?”

“Let me try,” Hope said, stepping forward. “Swift, I can understand what you’re going through. And I know something about walking in the darkness. But trust me, no matter how dark it seems, you can still find the light inside yourself.”

“The light... inside myself?” Swift Strike muttered. “Thank you, Hope. That gives me a wonderful idea.”

His horn lit up. Before anypony had a chance to react, he launched a large bolt of magic at the princesses. They both dodged out of the way. EIS agents gathered around them, some to protect them from further attacks, others simply to make sure they were unharmed.

While they were all thus preoccupied, Swift Strike made a break for it.

As the princesses were helped to their hooves, Twilight gave Hope a stern look.

“What?” Hope asked. “That was totally not what I meant when I said, ‘find the light inside you.’”

Luna dusted herself off. Locking eyes on the rogue agent, she proclaimed in her loudest voice. "Subjects, after him!"

The agents pursued Swift Strike. But he was already too far ahead and even the shaking of the pier caused by Luna’s voice did not hinder him. He lived up to his name and was a very swift pony. The others, even the pegasi, did not seem to have a chance of catching up.

That is, until Twilight Sparkle lit up her horn.

In a flash, she appeared before Swift, causing him to halt in his tracks so abruptly that he nearly collided with her.

"It's over, Swift," she said. "Please just accept it and things will go much easier for all of us. I'll try to be as lenient to you as I can. I admit, Princess Luna probably won’t forget this, but I’m confident that if you cooperate, we can save your job. It might mean a reassignment to Fillydelphia, but....”

“Fillydelphia!” Swift Strike screamed in terror. “No, not Fillydelphia! Princess, I don’t want to hurt you. But I will, if it means I don’t have to go back to Fillydelphia.”

Swift Strike’s horn began to glow.

"It’s just a possibility, Swift," Twilight said, trying to calm him down.

The yellow aura around Swift’s horn began to grow stronger. “No. If there’s even a chance of... of Fillydelphia... I’d rather be a traitor.”

Twilight sighed as her own horn lit up. “If this is how it has to be. I’m sorry, Swift.”

It seemed inevitable that a battle would break out. They were both skilled wielders of magic and a duel between them would necessarily be hard-fought. And despite Twilight’s prodigious aptitude for magic, her triumph was by no means guaranteed. Swift Strike was crafty and devious. He would no doubt use any opportunity he could to even the odds. This was bound to be dangerous, for Twilight and for everypony else on the pier.

Swift pulled his head back, ready to strike. Twilight began to ready a deflecting spell. The battle was about to commence.

And then, a giant clump of snow fell from the skies. Both ponies disappeared underneath it as it hit the pier. Twilight and Swift Strike were completely buried within several feet of crisp, white snow. It each of them quite a while to dig their way out. Finally, with a mighty gasp, Twilight burst through the top of the heap. By then, EIS agents had the snow-pile surrounded. Swift Strike was swiftly apprehended.

Princess Luna fluttered over.

“Thanks, guys!” Twilight yelled angrily into the night sky, where a couple of weather-pegasi were speeding away as quickly as possible. “Nice job on the new snow-schedules!”

“’Tis your own fault,” Luna said. “'Downsizing the Cloudsdale weather department will make things so much more efficient,' you said. 'Bringing in new management will revitalize the weather industry,' you said.”

“Yeah, I don’t need the I told you so’s tonight, Luna,” Twilight said.

Luna shrugged and flew away.

---

Radiant Hope sat at the edge of the pier, looking out toward the water in the glow of morning. The smokestacks of the doomed liner still had not completely sunk beneath the waves, and their silhouettes were still visible against the dark water. Hope tried to ignore them.

Sombra stood behind her, looking on sadly.

Luna flew over.

"What are you two still doing out here?" Luna asked. “I could understand if my glorious night had not yet passed — since I did rather excel myself again last night, if I do say so — but it has. And besides, you’re both soaking wet and should not be out in this cold.”

"I know," Sombra said, "but I can't get her to go in. She doesn’t seem to hear anything I have to say. I don't even know what to say. I feel like I’m so much to blame for this, and I just can’t find the words to make her feel better."

"Leave it to me," Luna responded. "I will speak with her. There are some things I need to say."

Sombra nodded and backed off. Luna walked to the edge of the pier and sat down beside Hope.

“Where’s Starlight and Twilight?” Hope asked.

“They've gone to talk things out," Luna said. "Twilight wants to help Starlight make peace with all the ponies she's hurt over the years."

“Good,” Hope said. “Starlight is a good pony and I know she wants to make right by the ponies she's wronged. She was just confused before."

“We often are,” Luna said. “It is so easy to let our worse instincts take over and forget about the light that is inside of us.”

Hope nodded. “I’ve learned first-hoof how hard it can be to believe there’s still light inside of you.

Luna put her wing around Hope. She bent her head down. Her voice grew gentler. “And it is especially easy to judge others and forget that they too have light inside of them.”

“He gave up his life for me,” Hope said quietly, looking out toward the water.

“What was that?”

“Dr. Fie. He was my friend. He gave up his life so that I could survive.”

Luna thought for a moment. Finally, she nodded. “Oh, yes, him. My sister and I met him once, during a royal visit to Seaddle. Nasty little pony, as I remember.”

Hope grimaced.

Luna quickly added. “But I suppose that every pony has his good qualities.”

“I know. I just learned it too late,” Hope responded. “All my life, I’ve been taken advantage of. I came to believe that nopony would ever really care about me. And he cared enough to sacrifice himself.”

“It’s hard to find ponies who are willing to care about you, Hope,” Luna said. “Especially after what you’ve done. I know from experience how hard it is. But they are out there. Not just Sombra, but there are others. You cannot let yourself think that you are unlovable, that you do not deserve love. There’s always somepony who cares for you.”

Hope shook her head. “They kept telling me that I’m a monster, that anypony who gets close to me gets hurt. That I bring darkness with me and hurt the ponies I care about. I cared about Dr. Fie and then I lost him. I keep thinking, if only I had never released the Umbrum.... If only I had been the one to die—”

“Dr. Fie made his own choice, Hope,” Luna said. “You didn’t bring about his death. He made the choice to die so that you could live. For him to do that, you must have been very special to him. You didn’t hurt him, Hope. If anything, I would venture to say that you saved him.” Luna looked over her shoulder at Sombra. “And it seems you make a habit of saving ponies.”

“It seems I do,” Hope said, looking out at the ocean, gleaming in the sunlight. “I know it’s just life. We can’t save everypony. We just have to save the ones we can.”

“But it doesn’t make it easier,” Luna said.

Hope shook her head. “No, it doesn’t.”

They sat in silence, watching the play of the waves below.

Finally, Hope spoke. “Princess, may I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Do you ever… do you ever wonder if you’re still a monster?”

“Every day. Most of the time, I try not to think about it. But the question is always there. And I don’t know if I’ll ever have the answer.”

“I know how that feels,” Hope responded. “How do you live with it?”

“I have ponies who depend upon me. My sister and my subjects both need me. I have responsibilities to fulfill. And, whatever I am, I must fulfill them. As I see it, the only way to let go, to be free, is to live now with as much wisdom and understanding as you can, to focus and be aware of what you can do today. You need to strive, often mightily, to do and say what is right, and to always want to do it, and live your life as to only bring healing and not harm.”

“That sounds hard.”

“It is. And, to be honest, it is not always possible. But it is trying which counts, I think.”

“I see,” Hope said quietly.

“And what about you?” Luna asked. “How do you handle it?”

“It’s never been something I’ve been good at,” Hope responded. “At least, not until today. I tried to make up for that by vowing to never let another pony lose their life because of me. But today, a pony made the choice to give his life so that I might live. I don’t know what I am, but I can’t let his sacrifice be in vain. I cannot heal him now, but I can do what he wanted me to do. I have to live. I have to build a life for myself. It’s the only thing I can do for him now.”

Luna nodded. “Good. Now you are beginning to understand.”

---

What would Hope, Sombra, and Starlight do with their new lives?

Read on.