"So, tell me. How do you feel about all of this, Polka-dot?"

The red pegasus looked at Regelius with an annoyed face.

"Why do you have to call me that every bucking time I see you?" The pegasus asked. "It was funny the first time, about ten years ago.."

The sun was rising slowly outside as the red pegasus known as No-Hope observed Regelius from his seat by the open fireplace. There was no need for a
fire, and the only light came from the sunrise. Regelius was standing by the window and watching the sun, as he did every morning.

"Because your red coat and white mane remind me of polka dots." Regelius answered him truthfully with a chuckle. "Besides, your real name isn't the
most flattering anyway."

"I can agree with that." No-Hope replied. "But still Regelius, you're an ass."

"At least mine isn't blank."

No-Hope went silent. Regelius won this battle, as usual. His name really did fit him perfectly. No cutie mark, untalented, ugly. A complete shame.

"She did a good job this morning, as always." Regelius sighed as he turned away from the rising sun.

He walked through the room, over to an old oak cabinet. The top part of it was covered by a couple of glass doors, each engraved with a different cutie
mark. On the left door: A black rose. On the right door: a red rose. When Regelius was a young colt, most ponies had always joked around about
his parents cutie marks, calling it odd that they both had a rose. But they themselves said it made perfect sense, since their marks were just a testament
to the fact that they were made for each other. Whenever little Reg asked his parents about how they got their marks, the answer was always the same.

That they got them the day they met.

And he had always loved listening to their storys of their earlier lifes, and how they met. He frowned as he opened the cabinet doors, revealing the several
different flasks, bottles and glasses inside of it.

"Want a glass of cider?" He asked No-Hope without turning around as he grabbed a bottle from the shelf.

"You know I don't drink." No-Hope answered quickly.

"No, but I'm gonna keep on asking until you come to your senses and drink like a real stallion." Reg replied. They both cuckled a bit at his words.

He poured a glass for himself, the amber fluid filling it almost to the brim. He closed the cabinet once again, glancing at the cutie marks one last time.
This cabinet was all he had left of his parents. The only thing they left him when they passed several years ago. And once he himself died, he would pass
it on. If he got any foals, that is. Otherwise, he'd probably give it to his closest friend, the red pegasus behind him.

Oftentimes, Regelius missed his parents. He wanted to see them again, to just talk to them, tell them about his life. But they where long gone now.
And he didn't even remember their faces anymore. He took a sip of the sweet cider, feeling a calming sensation course through him as he swallowed it
down.

"Anyway, I think I should tell you why I asked you to come here.." Regelius said, clearing his throat.

"I'm guessing it's because you want an excuse to drink." No-Hope said with a smile.

"I have something to confess." Regelius said after a few moments of silence. "For a long time, I've had.. feelings.. for a certain pony."

"If it's me you're talking about, I'd rather sleep with the statue of Discord." No-Hope answered Regelius confession jokingly.

"Come on, this is serious." Regelius said back to him in a cold voice. "I need your support in this."

"Allright, tell me. It's Celestia, right?" No-Hope responded quickly.

"How did you.." Regelius began.

"We've been friends for ten years now, Reg, I know you."

Regelius sat himself down in a chair in front of No-Hope, looking at him with a somewhat sad face.

"So.. I'm thinking it's time to tell her. What do you think?" He asked before taking another sip from the glass.

"I say go for it." No-Hope answered with a smile. "What's the worst thing that could happen?"

"Oh, I can think of a lot of things.." Regelius said, answering the pegasus smile with a sad smile of his own.

"Still, I think you should tell her. Unless she's allready figured it out that is. I mean, look at me, I never told Twilight.." No-Hope added.

The pegasus had always felt himself drawn to the violet unicorn, and during the time they spent together in court, he grew even more fond of her.
But he never dared to admit it to her, and then she dissapeared off to Ponyville. Just another failure adding to his name.

"Speaking of Twilight, have you been to see her yet?" Regelius asked. "I'm sure she would apprectiate seeing you again after all this time.."

No-Hope frowned at Regelius words.

"I want to, but.." he began. "I'm scared. Scared of what she'll look like, of what have become of her.."

"I don't blame you." Regelius answered him. "It's horrible seeing her with nothing but a broken stump of her horn left.."

"Don't remind me." The pegasus said, turning his head away from Regelius, and instead looked at the fireplace.

"Sorry." Regelius responded in an apologetic tone. "Tell you what, how about we both make our choice right here, right now?"

"What do you mean?" No-Hope asked without looking at him.

"Let's make our choice. I'll tell the princess about my feelings, and you give Twilight your support. Like you said, what's the worst thing that could happen?"

"But what if Twilight doesn't want to see me? Or if she doesn't even recognise me?"

"Hope, listen.. it doesn't matter. As long as you show her that you will be by her side, I'm sure she'll come around. She really needs somepony right now,
and maybe you could get the chance to correct your earlier mistake of not telling her what you felt."

"But what if she just laughs in my face? Turns me down?"

"She won't, as long as you stay truthfull." Regelius answered the pegasus with a smile, swallowing down the last of his cider.

No-Hope remained quiet for a while, until he eventually got up from his seat, nodded to Regelius without saying a word, then went for the door.

"You can do it, Hope." Regelius said as the pegasus opened the door.

As the pegasus closed the door behind him, Regelius got up and trotted over to the cabinet again. As he reached out to open it, he looked at the cutie
marks on the glass with a guilty face.

"I'm sorry, mom and dad." He said quietly as he opened the cabinet. "But if I'm going to tell Celestia.. I need another drink. Or two."

"Princess!"

A voice reached Celestias ears as she closed the doors to her bedchambers. As she turned around, she was surprised to see No-Hope rushing towards her.
He flew across the corridor towards her, a few feet off the floor, his wings flapping like crazy. He opened his mouth again to speak as he approached her,
but he lost control of his wings for a split second and slammed hard into the wall to his right instead. Celestia hurried to help him back on his hooves.

"I'm sorry, princess.. No hope, you know?"

"Don't let that name of yours wear you down, dear." Celestia answered with a reasuring voice. "Now, was there something you wished to ask me?"

"Oh yes!" No-Hope exhaled as he finaly got up from the floor. "I.. I just wanted to ask if I could see Twilight.."

He was expecting the princess to either say no or question why, but a big smile spread across his face as she nodded at his question.

"Of course, just don't mention Spike.. and don't tell her about Luna and Dust.." Celestia whispered the last sentence as she leaned close to his ears.

"Don't worry, I just want to talk to her again.." No-Hope said with a somewhat shy voice. "It's been so long.."

Celestia nodded again, pointing a hoof towards the doors she just closed. No-Hope didn't answer her, only walked right past her to the doors. The princess
smiled as the young pegasus passed her. At least he tried to make things right, despite being such a failure. One should admire a pony for doing something
like that.

"Oh, Cele-princess!" She heard No-Hope call out her name as she started trotting down the hall.

She turned around once again, and saw the red pegasus peeking his head out through the door.

"Could you.. Could you go and talk to Reg? I think he's looking for you."

"I will, Hope." Celestia said with another nod. "Thanks for telling me. Now, get back to Twilight."

No-Hope smiled at her words and closed the door, and Celestia made her way through the castle towards Regelius chambers.
A lot of ponies in the castle had questioned her decision to let No-Hope into the court, for obvious reasons. Everypony knew about his failures
and mistakes, and the fact that he, despite being around 25 years old, still had not received his cutie mark. True, for a while, Celestia herself pondered if it
had really been such a good decision.

But as the time went on, No-Hope had still proven his usefulness. Even though he failed at basicly everything he attemped and was young and naive,
he still had a remarkable skill for tactics and remembering information. Perhaps, with a few years training and growing, he could lead the royal guards.
And maybe finaly earn his cutie mark as well. It was a good thing he'd become such good friends with Regelius. Old Silver-tounge could probably
learn the pegasus a lot about patience.

Of course Celestia knew about No-Hopes hidden feelings towards Twilight. Such a thing is easy to spot, if you know where to look for it. And he wasn't
too great at hiding them either.

As the princess approached the door to Regelius chamber, she cleared her throat and knocked on the door. A voice on the other side groaned and told her
to enter.

"Regelius?" She said as she slowly entered the room. "Hope told me you wanted a word with me?"

She found Regelius slouched down in a chair by the fireplace. He looked deeply troubled, his head resting against his chest, a frown on his face and an
half-empty glass of cider by his side.

"Is something troubling you?" Celestia asked as she sat herself down in a chair in front of him.

"No, not really." The stallion answered quickly, seemingly uninterested in the princess words.

"Is there anything you need?" Celestia tried again.

"A hug would be nice.." Regelius mumbled, adding a few more words that Celestia couldn't make out.

"Reg. You're drunk." She replied.

"Only a little." Regelius answered, and waved a hoof at her, hitting the glass with cider as he did. "I can still think, I think.. And my silver tounge feels like
it's turned into gold instead."

"And what does that mean, Reg?" Celestia said with a smile.

"That I can speak my mind freely, Celestia." The drunken stallion responded. "And speak freely I will. Out of my mind, that is.."

Regelius moved himself out of the chair, staggering to his hooves and blinking his eyes a bit too much as he tried to focus. Celestia observed him in silence
as he went through the room, stopping by one of the windows close to his bed.

"You really enjoy the view, don't you?" Celestia asked as she walked over to him.

Regelius nodded slowly.

"You know, I watch the sunrise from here every morning.." The stallion mumbled. "It's a good way to start the day. Almost as good as waking up to a loved
one."

"Yes, the sun is at its most beautiful in the mornings." Celestia replied. "I'm sure a lot of ponies share this opinion."

Regelius nodded again, and then instantly put a hoof to his forehead.

"I think you've had enough." Celestia said to him with a smile.

Regelius didn't answer her, but she could see a smal smile spread across his lips. After a few moments, he removed his hoof from his face, and opened
his mouth to speak. But then he closed it again.

"Reg, something is troubling you, anypony could see that."

"I have feelings for you, princess." Regelius interupted her mid-sentence." I'm sorry."

Celestia looked at him with raised eyebrows. The stallion stared blankly out through the window, but his eyes twitched, looking at her, then quickly turning
back.

"At least, now you know." Regelius whispered.

"I.. I don't know what to say." Celestia responded, taken back by his sudden confession.

"I rendered the princess speechless. Good on you, Reg." The stallion said, adding a quiet chuckle. "I'm sorry, forget I said anything."

"No need to apologise, Reg." Celestia said back to him with another smile. "Truthfully, I have suspected this for quite some time."

"Hope said the same thing.. Is it that obvious..?" Regelius asked her in a low voice.

"He's your best friend, Reg. Of course he would notice something like this."

Regelius didn't answer. His eyes had focused on something outside the window, and the drunken blurryness covering his vision seemed to have vanished.
He blinked his eyes a few times, as if to make sure that he was seeing what he thought. Then he looked at Celestia.

"Do you see that..?" He began, giving the princess a sign to move closer. "Up there, in the clouds.."

He moved to the side, and Celestia took his place. At first, she didn't see anything except the towers and spires of the castle, but as she looked closer she
could see.. something, a figure, far up in the clouds. A figure that seemed to have wings, and it was getting closer.

"What is it, princess?" Regelius asked her.

"I'm not sure. Come on, we need to get closer."

Without waiting for the stallion, Celestia hurried across the room and out unto the balcony. From here, she could see clearer, and as the figure came closer..

"Reg.." Celestia said in a cold voice. "You should get back inside.."

Her face had taken on a worried expression, and her eyes narrowed. As Regelius opened his mouth to ask her why, he was quickly quieted by the princess
masive wings spreading out, one of them hitting him acros the face. Without another word, Celestia pushed herself from the floor, taking to the skies
towards the figure in the sky.

When the figure came closer, and Regelius could see as well what it was, his eyebrows raised, his jaw dropped. And his monocle fell to the floor.

No-Hope carefully closed the door behind him. It was dark in Celestias bedchambers as the curtains had been pulled over the windows, and the only light
came from a small candle flickering on a table next to the bed. In the warm light of the candle, the pegasus clearly saw the shape of a pony, seemingly
asleep under the bedsheets, with its back turned to him.

He walked up to the bed as quietly as he could, so that he wouldn't disturb the poor mare. And he still wasn't sure if he wanted to see her. See her.. broken.

"Twilight..?" He whispered as he came closer. "It's.. It's me, Hope.."

She didn't answer. Slowly, No-Hope moved closer, walking around the bed. As he came round the side, he saw her face. Those big, purple eyes, staring at
him. An unkept, rugged mane, and in her forehead.. nothing. Just a jagged stump.

"What do you want?" Twilight whispered.

No-Hope felt something inside him strain as he heard her voice. It wasn't the voice he remembered, not the happy, silky voice he grew to love. It was a
rough, horrible voice. The sound of somepony whos spirit has been shattered.

"Do you remember me..?" No-Hope asked as he sat down on the floor next to the bed.

"Of course." Twilight whispered back to him.

A cracked shard in the mirror of hope. A distorted image of sanity.

"I-uh.. came to see you. I was worried, so I thought I might.. you know." No-Hope stuttered out his words as he watched her sad eyes.

"Oh. Worried." Twilight said without changing her face. "Why do you care?"

"Well, because I.. I do. I care. And I just.. wanted you to know that. That I care, I mean."

"Great. You care. Thanks for letting me know."

Twilight rolled around to her right, turning her back against the pegasus. After a few more moments of silence, he sighed. Slowly he got up from his seat.
This wasn't the kind of meeting he'd been hoping for. He had been expecting maybe mockery or something, not.. this. Complete rejection, bitterness,
resentment. Yet still so indifferent to it all. He felt his heart sink, and so did his hope.

"I'll leave you alone then.." He said as he started walking towards the door. "I'm sorry if I bothered you.."

But as he raised his hoof to push open the door, he heard a noice. A weak, quiet whimper. And for some reason, it made his heart sink even further down.
He remembered something he'd read in a book once, in the library.. "This is how the world will end: not with a bang, but with a whimper."
He didn't remember who had said it or in what book he'd seen it, but right now, those words filled his entire world.
That's how Twilight will end, with a whimper.

He turned around and looked back at the bed again. He couldn't see her faces since she had it under the blankets, but he clearly saw her body shiver slightly.

"Go ahead, leave me.." He heard Twilights voice from under the blankets, thick with tears.

"Nono, Twi, no, don't cry.." No-Hope stuttered as he quickly made his way back to her. "Do you want me to stay..?"

Twilight nodded quickly.

"Okay then, I'll stay." The pegasus said, sitting himself down next to her on the bed. "It's just so.. strange, you know. Seeing you for the first time after
three years.. I'll never forget the day you left for Ponyville. Seeing my best friend disapear like that.. I wanted to fly after you, but Celestia stopped me,
said they needed me here. So I stayed, saw you leave.. I'll never forget it."

"I was afraid of leaving. I'll admit that." Twilight answered him after a few moments of silence. "In truth, I didn't want to leave my best friend either."

"You could have just said no." No-Hope answered bluntly.

"No." Twilight mumbled from under the blankets.

"Not to me, to Celes.. Oh. Sorry."

"But I made new friends." Twilight continued. "And I.. forgot about you."

"I never forgot you." The pegasus answered in a low voice. "Every day, I hoped to see you again. But you never came. And that tore me apart, Twi, it really
did. And it wasn't until almost a year later that I understood why."

"Please, don't say something like 'I love you', because even if you did, I don't care." Twilight muttered.

No-Hope felt his heart sink again. All the way down to the bottom.

"Haha, of course not.. Why would I say something like that?" He said, doing his best to fake a laughter.

"Love is overrated." Twillight replied. "And anypony that belives in it is a fool."

No-Hope did his best to hold back his tears. Luckily, Twilight still had her back against him and couldn't see it. But part of him wished she would turn
around and see, understand.. And just mock him for it, instead.

"You know what happened to me." Twilight continued. "I got friends, and I loved them all. And love got my horn broken and Spike.. That man, he told me
he'd.. killed Rarity. Somepony I loved. And he killed her, and was going to kill me. He said that then nothing would stand in his way of getting to Celestia
as well.."

"What he did wasn't your fault.. He chose to do those things himself." No-Hope countered back.

"Yes, it was my fault. If I had never left, I would have never met Rarity and the others. And then I would still be a unicorn and Spike would be here with me."

"You still have me.." No-Hope muttered, quickly adding "But you can't blame yourself Twi, how could you know this would happen?"

"I should have known!" Twilight suddenly spat out, angered. In an instant she threw the blankets of her and spun around, stared into No-Hopes teary eyes.
"It's all my fault! I got Spike killed and, and.. and.. why are you crying, Hope?"

The pegasus wanted to tell her right away. Wanted to reveal how he felt. But he lied instead, affraid that his confession would just cause more trouble.

"Because.. 'cus.. Your horn!" He finaly managed to get out. "And everything else. I wish there was something I could do for you."

"There's nothing you can do." Twilight said with a calmer voice, laying down in bed again. "Unless you can turn back time or kill that man, you're pretty
useless.."

No-Hope wiped his tears and sighed.

Useless.