No Glimmer of Hope

by UniqueSKD

First published

Starlight Glimmer escaped the Mane Six through the mountain tunnels. But she never came back out...

Read the sequel here! A SOMBRA END

Starlight Glimmer ran into the tunnels of the snowy mountains after narrowly evading capture at the hooves of the ponies she had tried to teach her ideals of true friendship and harmony to before they turned against her.

It is in these tunnels she ran into. It is these tunnels that she will remain. Forever.

Done as a personal challenge to write a quick Season 5-based fanfic in half an hour. I hope I did good.

You're at the edge of the knife, hanging from the end of your rope, so just accept the inevitable cause' you've no glimmer of hope...

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Kur no bek, un dorvah. Greeting, oh dear Starlight Glimmer.

"What on - who's there? Are you one of the townsfolk? Show yourself!"

I am not behind that stalagmite, Starlight Glimmer. Dohvren krah nui.

"First you run me out of the town I made for you ungrateful lowlifes because of the ridiculous philosophy of that princess, and now you're mocking me with a stupid game of hide-and-seek? Either crawl out from wherever you're hiding, or get lost!"

Kee kee ku ku ku hur. I assure you, I am not one of those poor ponies you deceived, dear Starlight Glimmer.

"Then you're one of the outsiders, right? You fools already took my perfect society away. You won't take me as well!"

Wrong again, Starlight Glimmer. But then being wrong is so expected of you. It befits you like an ugly dress, and both suit you so well. Novek dul krah dahk.

"Enough! If you're not one of those ungrateful traitors or one of those outsiders, who are you then?"

Hmm...so many names have I been called, and I have been called many things. But for you, my dear Starlight Glimmer, I'll go ahead and ask that you call me...Truth. Because I can see it in all who set hoof into my mountains, no matter how hard they try to bury it within themselves. Deesik dislok no gat.

"How do you know my name if you're not one of -"

It is my gift. It is my power. It is, how you say, my 'special talent', if you will. Kee kee kee ku ku ku hur hur.

"Urrrgh! Please, if you're not going to show yourself, then at least refrain from saying that hideous word to me! That damn alicorn preached it so much I thought I was going to vomit!"

Oh, but of course. How careless of me to forget. Durn suva no ko no gahk. It slipped my mind for a second that you detested words whose meanings you lacked entirely. Kee kee kee ku ku ku hur hur.

"I beg your pardon? What was that supposed to mean? And what's that language you keep speaking in?"

Durn zorbek dun la grak. You know what I mean. Or perhaps during the one day you've spent wandering my abode, you've already forgotten your failure?

"If you mean the society that I made for those ponies, then it was not failure at all. It was treason, damn it! It was heresy brought upon those misguided urchins by a deluded princess and those other wretched ponies!"

Kee kee kee kee kee ku ku ku ku ku hur hur hur!

"What the? Are...are you laughing? Is that what that sound is?"

Oh what a jest you make, dear Starlight Glimmer! Amusing indeed! That you would think yourself a savior to those ponies! Deen no ku ru, mose no griff!

"How...how dare you! You dare mock me for the righteous cause I dedicated myself to? You dare laugh at the freedom I was giving to those ponies? When those ponies came to my town, they had nothing! Just meaningless marks on their backsides that spoke of lies and false dreams! Cutie marks make them think they are better than everypony else, that nopony else is their equal! If no pony has a cutie mark, than no pony can claim to be superior or inferior to the other! I took away their cutie marks, and the evils they carried in them, and I created a perfect society! A society where nopony felt left out! A society where everypony could go out each day and feel like they truly belonged somewhere in the world! That bucking whorse of a princess and her friends didn't help those back-stabbing excuses for ponies! They didn't create true friendship, or true harmonyI DID!

KEE KEE KEE KEE KEE KEE KEE KU KU KU KU KU KU KU HUR HUR HUR HUR HUR HUR!

"Shut up! Stop laughing at me! Why do you laugh at my flawless logic!?"

Kee kee kee ku ku ku hur hur hur! I laugh because I have never witnessed such a poor attempt to hide one's lies in all my life! Kee kee kee ku ku ku hur hur!

"Wha-what!?"

You wanted to give those ponies freedom? From what? Themselves? Gru dova suva, no naak grul! Your 'perfect society' is a civilization built upon deceit and lies! The very sins YOU claim cutie marks to represent! Never was there another such as you more blind to the irony of their so-called cause! You sought to take away the 'evil' through acts of your own evil! You would build a world where nopony was truly alive and free, just mindless puppets whose lives and fates were strung to your hooves, to do with as you pleased! Sentient thinking animals reduced to nothing more than toys to play with, simple minds to fill to the brim with empty promises!

"B-but-!"

And you speak of these cutie marks as bringing nothing but pain and misery? Then why, oh 'wise' and 'all-knowing' Starlight Glimmer, would you hold on tightly to your own cutie mark? Why in all of creation would you, the savior to those poor souls who wandered the earth without feeling of purpose and acceptance, wish to remain branded with a symbol she deemed a mark of shame? If all cutie marks are nothing but a symbol of evil, then what did that make you, hmm? There were some who ventured into my mountain before, who called me a monster. But looking at you, and that horrendous evil mark! Why, you must be even more vile and despicable than I! Perhaps I should be the one to cower and shiver in your presence! Kee kee kee kee kee kee ku ku ku hur hur hur! Oh please, Starlight Glimmer, whose mark makes the Devil himself seem a jolly fellow! Oh please do not hurt me! KEE KEE KEE KEE KEE KU KU KU HUR!

"Sh...shut...it's not, I mean, I...I..."

But the best part of all of this? You actually believe that YOU created something close to the concept of harmony and friendship? Your infallible order rested upon making ponies believe they weren't special! That friendship stemmed from being part of a group of mindless creatures incapable of thinking for themselves! Unable to have dreams and aspirations in life and taking a chance to fulfill those ambitions! You actually believed that all ponies would be better off living a dull and bland existence, where they grew into old wrinkly stallions and mares who looked back on the life they lived, and found no beauty, no wonderful cherishing memory to take reflect upon as they counted down the final seconds of their life in this world? Even a prison cell offers more of life and freedom than what your 'perfect world' would promise!

"St...stop...it...please...!"

Why, whatever is the matter my dear Starlight Glimmer? Does the truth behind your philosophy hurt you? But you seemed so blood-bound to your ideals not so long ago? Are you...gasp...are you starting to doubt your own ideals? The near-biblical true way of life that you so persistently forced upon others? Tsk tsk tsk, Starlight Glimmer. If you cannot even defend your beliefs, then your cause has been but a waste of time. For yourself and for those poor souls who you deceived with your terrible lies and false dreams.

"I...I only...w-wanted..."

Yes, I know. You wanted a world where only YOU was the only important pony alive. Where words like 'special' and 'talented' and 'amazing' only described yourself and not anypony else. You wanted to create a world where everypony entered the world, lived their lives, and then died having never accomplished anything in their time on this earth, because they would never have had a special talent to give them purpose in life. To give them something to dream about and work hard to fulfill, knowing that even if they don't succeed they can at least live on with the knowledge that they took a dare instead of wandering around with hideous false smiles plastered on their faces, wasting away inside until something akin to an empty colorless void remained.

Maybe cutie marks are evil then, Starlight Glimmer. Because yours certainly reeks of sin. Grell dor no kuravas. How can you possibly return to the world outside my mountains, armed with the truth you've learned here? That you're a monster worse than anything Equestria has or will face for years to come?

"..."

But worry not, Starlight Glimmer. After all, there is ONE thing you can do to make sure that the world will never suffer the fate of a meaningless existence. Dovun grall kek nuva...

"...what...what's that?"

CRACK!

You can end your own. Noh vaak la rahl. Kee kee kee kee kee ku ku ku ku ku hur hur hur hur...