Chapter 11: A Call for an Alicorn

Hope: Day 3
Nightfall: Day Unknown

Nightfall’s POV (Alicorn Form)

I had woken up a lot later today which was around 11:00 AM, so I thought I’ll make myself useful and hope that Luna is alright from last night events.

After leaving my room, I headed to the throne room where Celestia is currently sitting peacefully. Luna would be asleep at the moment until seven tonight, then the sisters switch their shifts. Sometimes, Luna may get up a little early though.

As I arrived in the throne room, I stood in front of the Sun Princess, who currently had her eyes closed with a Sun Guard standing on both of her sides. She must have fallen asleep, while she has been resting her eyes. So I spoke, while trying not to make her jump, “Celestia…”

Her eyes opened, after blinking for a second or two and then spoke, “Sorry, I must have fallen asleep. There are no tasks available for you to do today, so you’re free to do what you want.”

I then thought, ‘I guess I could practise flying and do a bit of studying for today, or maybe have an explore around Canterlot.’ Before I was about to turn around to leave, I asked her, “Is Luna doing okay?”

Celestia replied, in her kind voice, “My sister’s fine… She did mention that she wanted to speak with you, tonight.”

I then thought, ‘I’m sure that she wants to talk about our relationship… Mentioning that I love her, must have been a bit unexpected for her.’

Then before I could say ‘Thank you.’ A letter magically appeared in front of her. She caught it and unwrapped it, with her magic, then started reading it. So I waited patiently for her to finish reading it…

After about nearly half a minute, she then spoke to me, naturally, “Nightfall, I think you better read it too.”

She brought the letter in front of me, with her gold glowing magic, which I grabbed with my own dark-blue magic and began reading it.

The letter read…

Dear Princess Celestia

I regret to inform you that our new friend, Hope, has decided to run out of Ponyville on his own to the Everfree Forest.

Rainbow Dash was unable to prevent him from leaving and she believes that there is something troubling him.

Fluttershy has told us that he went quiet, while heading to Ponyville with him to collect goods. And there was nothing wrong with him, the night before.

Me and my friends are in the library, in Ponyville, awaiting further instructions. I’m asking, if you could ask Nightfall to come and assist us.

Your Faithful Student
- Twilight Sparkle

After I finished reading the letter, I was actually quite surprised that he actually wondered off like that. I then looked at Celestia and she spoke, with seriousness in her voice, “I want you to meet Twilight in the Library and find out what has befallen your friend.”

I replied, “Send a reply that I’m on my way to help. Also, thank you for letting me know about Luna.”

I then left the throne room and walked to the nearest balcony. I spread my wings and then took flight to Ponyville. I knew that it was going to take a while, but I did thought about teleporting. I thought that it would actually tire me out a lot quickly, on such a long distance. Especially with my current level of experience with magic. So I flew all the way…

When I finally arrived after fifteen minutes of flying, I had to ask for directions to the Library, which took five minutes of walking around.

Once I finally arrived at the Library, I stood at the front door of the library and knocked. The door opened a few seconds later, with Twilight standing behind it. She spoke, while motioning me to come in, “I’m glad you’re here, Fluttershy has been worried sick about him.”

When I walked in, Twilight closed the door behind us and carried on speaking, “I didn’t tell Celestia this but, Hope actually hurt Rainbow Dash while she tried to stop him from leaving.”

I could only stand there, while being in shock. After a moment, I asked her with concern, “Is Rainbow Dash alright?”

She replied, calmly, “She’s okay. She’s waiting up stairs for us.”

Twilight then led us to the bedroom where the rainbow mane pegasus is resting, with all her friends surrounding her, including Trixie and Spike. Everypony looked towards me as I looked down towards Rainbow, who was awake on the bed with a bandage on her front-right hoof and one on her left wing.

I then asked Rainbow Dash, naturally, “Are you okay, he didn’t attack you deliberately did he?”

She replied, as tough as ever, “I’ll be fine.” She demonstrated by moving both her front-right hoof and left wing, without showing any signs of pain.

Rainbow carried on speaking, “I don’t know, he just got angry with me from stopping him from going into the forest. But I guess he was just trying to scare me.”

I then looked at Fluttershy and saw that she was sat down at the side of the bed that Dash is on. She looked like, she was about to emotionally break down into tears. She then spoke, while looking down sadly, “Why? Why would he do this? I thought he said he liked me.”

I then kneeled down near her and replied, to comfort her, “I’m sure he does. It just sounds like that there is something troubling him at the moment.”

Fluttershy looked up at me and then replied, “But why did he go alone without telling me?”

I replied, “He probably didn’t want to worry you, or there is something that he wants to find out on his own.”

Rarity then spoke, disapprovingly, with her eyes closed for a moment, “I still can’t believe he actually harmed Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight then spoke, “I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose. He was probably trying to scare Rainbow away like she said. It’s obvious that he’s upset about something.”

Pinkie then spoke, “I know, I know, when he returns, we should give him a PARTY! That will cheer him up.”

I replied, “I don’t think that’s a good idea Pinkie. He’s not really into them.”

Applejack then asked, "So, what are we going to do?"

The purple unicorn spoke, getting into action once again, "Well, the Everfree Forest isn’t safe for anypony on their own. Let’s all go look for him. He could be in trouble as we speak." Twilight then got up and then resumed her speech, "Come on, let’s all go and look for him."

Rainbow then spoke, while she looked around like she can’t be bothered, “Fine…”

The fashion unicorn also spoke, “I’ll help, only because you’re all going.”

Then we all left the room and then went outside the Library. Trixie even decided to join, however Spike was told by Twilight to look after the library while we are gone.

Before we started heading to our destination, I noticed that Trixie looked a bit unwell, so I asked, “Are you okay Trixie, you look a bit run down?”

She looked at me and replied, sounding a bit tired, “I’ll be fine. I’m coming to help as a way for repaying Twilight’s kindness for letting me stay.” I smiled and then we began our walk to the forest…

Hope’s POV

After walking around for a bit in the Everfree Forest, I managed to find a small river so I decided to follow it. It lead near an entrance to a large cave, so I thought, ‘I’ll rest inside it for a bit.’

As I entered the cave and sat on the floor, near the entrance, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I did to RD and Fluttershy. I then just went deep in thought to see if I could find a solution to my problems…