Hunting Hope 13

>Hope's eyes squeezed shut as she falteringly began to play, rough fingers fluttering over the bronze pipes as she puffed out the first few notes.

>A rough note, jarring and unpleasant, tore forth, before finally smoothing to a single pure note.

>Hope shuddered, eyes still closed as she focused again on the melody buried deep within her brain.

The song that had kept her going all this time.

>A flow of notes, some deep and sorrowful, others lilting and joyous, flowed from her heart and into the pipes, pausing only momentarily to warm the ancient metal before flinging themselves into the world.

>Although wordless, the song rose and fell with an unnatural power, the notes and inflections telling a tale of their own, while Hope forgot the world around her and was lost inside the flurry of sound.

>First was a rush of noise, with one strong snippet of tune weaving amongst discordant notes and flurries of sound, somehow noise yet meaningful.

>In her mind's eye, Hope remembered anon's story of his arrival to this world from his own, a monstrous, confusing place made up of machines and concrete... before he had been torn away in a moment.

>The noise came to a climactic rush, somehow sounding as if coming from dozens of instruments rather than just the one small set of pipes, then dropped suddenly to a single withering note.

>But now another orchestra seemed to manifest, Hope's lungs and hands working in a sweaty blur as a world of wonder was formed in her heart, along with a soulful ache of loss.

>The notes again calmed, the original strain returning, but stronger, bolder, brighter than before.

Again, however, the sorrowful pall fell over the song, as emotions once again tore at Hope and treasured memories racked her.

>Suddenly, a loud humming echoed around her as a new light accosted her closed eyelids.

>Something was happening outside, in the real world. Hope stopped playing, raising a hand to cover her eyes as she squinted out at reality once again.

Around her, the world had changed.

 

A few minutes ago:

 

>The six ponies listened in awe as the strange creature played her music.

>Complex and evocative, emotions stirred in each pony as they, too, remembered their pasts and the fires in their hearts were rekindled.

>Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity all wept, hugging each other.

>Rainbow Dash and Applejack stood tall and proud, yet Applejack's eyes streamed and Dash's lip quivered.

>Twilight herself was lost entirely to visions of her past.

>Her horn sparked and glowed with a tumultuous kaleidoscope of color, but she saw none of that as she stared up at the sky through the purple shield.

>She remembered all the years of uncertainty, confusion, fear.

>Oh, she had been raised as the princess' student, called a genius and praised for her hard work and achievements.

>But as the song played it's melancholy path, Twilight saw years of panicked effort, the twisted combination of the self-important egoism of a genius who knows it, and a scared filly who feared it was all a lie.

>Surely, she couldn't be the pony that lesser beings dreamed to be. She only saw her mistakes, her foolish, stupid mistakes, as her spells went wrong, her plans awry.

>The cactus, her father. The ruined laboratory. Her power had been terrifying for a filly to wield, and what's more she knew that there were none to ask for help or explanation.

Lucky her friends had appeared, as if by magic, when they had.

They had no doubt saved her from herself.

>The song came to a crescendo, and at that exact moment the brilliant light from the overhead sun blinded Twilight and pulled her from her revelation.

Wait, sun?!

>Twilight blinked furiously, trying to regain her vision as she whipper her head around the campsite.

Her spell had failed, and Hope was nowhere to be seen.

 

 

 

Glad to be back! I hope this version of Twilight's character is acceptable to you all, and the fact that the entire chapter was describing a song that nobody can hear... come to think of it, that might have been a really crummy thing to do.

 

Er, hope y'all like it, anyways!