The Mask of Despair and the Face of Hope

by Wings of Black Glass

The Curse of Despair

Golden sunlight streamed through breaks in the clouds as I sped towards the white triangular structure. From above Sable and Spike were just tiny spots of black and purple respectively. I swooped down to land, beaming, but my smile faded when I saw Sable’s expression. He’d nearly curled into a ball, holding his head between his hooves, eyes wide. Spike was kneeling beside him, one claw on the Unicorn’s shoulder.

“Sable, are you hurt?” Neon blue eyes glanced up at me when I landed, he made to respond, but his mouth worked uselessly. Spike answered for him.

“He just collapsed a minute ago; I don’t know what’s wrong.” That would be about the same time I dismantled the curse.

“Good news Sable, I found Despair’s curse and dispelled it!”

“What.” He found his voice; something hardened within it. Slowly he stood, his wings scraping, his eyes narrowing. Electric charge built in the air.

“He was manipulating the entire town’s memory with an enchantment on the Alicorn statue. Your parents will remember you again!”

“What?!” He snarled, voice exploding with anger. Lightning spilled out of his eyes and sparked off his horn. Spike backed away in a hurry, hiding behind my legs. This is not what I expected.

“But… I don’t understand.”

“Why would you do that!?” His voice boomed, magnified by magic. He lowered his head, wings and legs tensing as if to fight. “Didn’t you think it through?!” Only once before had I seen him this absolutely furious, the night we discovered his secret.

“You can have your family back! I thought…”

“No, you didn’t!” He advanced, magic sizzled in the air. “You didn’t consider what that spell really did!” What was he talking about? “It must have been terrible for them, not to know what they lost. So, of course, you just had to fix it!” Was he mocking me? “Oh yes. It was horrible what was done to them, a violation of the most private kind.” He was shouting, louder and more violent now than I had ever heard him before. “Whole lifetimes taken, stolen, minds warped against their will.”

“Yes, but…”

“Now you’ve done it to them again!” I had no response. “They were happy here, ignorant yes, but happy! Life was peaceful, better for them not knowing what was missing! Can you even begin to imagine what they lost this time?” With one wing he pointed accusingly at me. “Another lifetime stolen, forced upon them because you thought you knew better?”

“I… I…” He continued to advance, and I fell back, the three of us passed beyond the edge of the observatory to where we could be seen from his parents' home. Out the corner of my eye, I spotted several ponies run out of the cottage.

“And what about me? Did you consider what this would do to me? My only real memory of my parents is when I stood here, right here.” His hoof dug a hole where he jabbed hard into the ground. “And watched them die!” Tears streamed down his face, unchecked. He thrust a wing towards the cottage without looking away from me. “Oh look, there they are! What do I have in common with them now? Nothing!”

“But, Despair’s curse…” With a furious roar, he cut me off.

“Think! I know you could see it! You saw the color of the flash in their eyes, same as I!” Despair’s cruel smile and hateful laughter come unbidden to my mind. “It wasn’t Despair that did this to them!” Fluttershy, Softwear, and Early Grey galloped up the hillside, just out of Sable’s view. “It was me!”

“Sable! Are you alright?” His parents called out to him. Reflexively he rounded on them, lightning arcing forth and tracing a scar line across the ground and observatory wall. They gasped, shocked their own son would attack them. Everypony was stunned, even Sable. For just a short moment he locked eyes with his parents, apologetic, a million unsaid words between them. Then he reared, throwing his glass wings wide and readied to leap into the air, static building anew around him.

I was no prescient; I couldn’t see the future any more than any random pony. But in that instant, I could see how it would all have ended. Sable would vanish, teleporting into the distance. With nothing left to lose, he would undoubtedly flee, would never return here or to Ponyville. If he ran now, he would just disappear into the wide world, no matter how hard I would look I wouldn’t find him. I would never see him again.

Just as his spell completed I tackled into him, lightning and thunder cracked, my nerves ignited in pain for the flash. Grey clouds surrounded us, the ground now far below. My arms and legs were locked around him, refusing to let him go. Wind ripped at us, mane and coat and tail all tangling, and we spun in an uncontrolled descent.

“Get off!” He kicked at me, tried to push me away.

“No! Don’t go!” Again he tried to teleport, this time without me. Before he could cast I buffeted his face with my wings, disrupting his concentration. “I’m not letting you run away from this!” Neither one of us could get any air under our wings; the spin was too much. We burst through the clouds, plummeting. I heard the others below, screaming our names.

“The fall will kill you!” Even then I noted that his thoughts were for me, not himself.

“Save us! I know you can!”

“Let me go!” My grasp was lost as power exploded between us. For just an instant we were held aloft by the magic burst, eyes locked. The wind caught beneath Sable’s wings; he snapped away. Then I tumbled, alone.

Despite knowing I could easily rescue myself, I let gravity take over, and closed my eyes. The Sable Stardust I knew would never hurt me. I trusted him, no matter how much he might have hated himself. Tears were swept away by the winds as I fell headfirst. He’d come back. Still, I fell.

“Come back, Sable, and save me.” It was just a whisper, there was no way he could have heard me. Thunder clapped, right beneath me. I let a faint smile come to my lips as Sable wrapped his arms around me. I opened my eyes to see his agony-ridden and tear streaked face. Magic tingled, Sable slowing us as we reached the ground. Very gently he set me down, his wings dragging on the dirt before he collapsed beside me.

“I’m sorry.” He choked it out, barely able to speak. “I’m sorry.” Voices called his name, Sable’s parents rushing to us. I backed away as they embraced their lost child. “I’m so sorry.” At last he broke down wholly, regressing to just a little lost foal crying out in pain for his parents.

“That was really dumb.” Spike reprimanded me, Fluttershy clearly agreed even though it was also apparent they were both relieved I was alright.

“Yes, but it was worth it.”

---

“It was Sable who cast the curse? But… why?”

“That’s utterly appalling. To do it to his own parents!”

“Wait… this means the curse still affects them in real life, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, that’s correct. I… don’t know what we should do about that.”

“Cure them, obviously.”

“Is that such a good idea? Didn’t you just hear what he did?”

“But… why did he go insane like that?”

“Because, he saw what he did as a cruel and horrible thing, and he saw what I did as the same thing. From his perspective, he violated them, and it broke him to face it.”