Raising Hope

by albutus

Chapter 3: Journal Entry two

17/9/167
Journal Entry Two
I don’t know why I started another journal. The last journal was a major factor in my leaving home. Could be that I am ready to move on. I had to go to sleep last night before finishing my journal entry. Waking this morning I found a finished wood carving of a Pegasi with a crooked wing. It seemed to be balancing on a log as it was about to fall off. Its good wing held aloft as the dead weight from its broken right wing offsetting its balance.
With yesterday’s meeting, I can finally achieve a few milestones for myself. I am closer to being able to support myself. I won’t be needing handouts nor other help from other ponies, instead I will be able to assist with the needy ponies around me. Another milestone would be surviving alone, as most ponies would crack by now with isolation. Most other ponies seek to allay their unfounded fears by being in close contact with other ponies.
I could use this journal to help me maintain a healthy forest around me. By taking careful notes of the foliage around me, such as types and health, I could theoretically have a life time of lumbering ahead of me.
. . . .
Hopeful cheerfully stepped out from his cave of a home before skipping down the shale slide. Upon his return from Withershire Siri met him at his workstation in order to persuade him to attend her daughter’s second birthday. More like black mail.
“You must come over, she will have the ‘absolute best birthday’ EVER” she said holding a hoof under his jaw. Quickly changing her mood she ruffled his mane before zipping away from the clearing. “Make sure to show up on time.”
He had only a few people that treated him with courtesy, so if a mother wanted him to show up, he might as well enjoy the company that sought him. After all what trouble could a two year old foal cause to his day? As a side note, he could collaborate with Braeburn to maneuver some of the more mature trees into the processing field. Might as well make the most profit from a trip he had to make anyway.

Breaking free from the fringes of the Everfree forest, Hopeful was greeted by a bowl depression towards the northeast of the well trod path. There he saw Braeburn with his massive body being held down by a giggling foal as she attempted to slay him. Fire streaked from her wings as she tried to smite him with her emphatah.
“Hiyah unkle ope.” Bonfire cried before accidentally throwing a spurt of flame in his direction. “Sowwy” she quickly clasped her wings to her sides and adopted a mournful expression.
“I’m ok” hopeful stated as he gingerly put out a flaming patch with a hind hoof. “It seems that you need more practice with your aim.”
“No pwatise.” She screeched before launching into flight, leaving behind a trail of flames. Doing a quick turnover she sped over the trees into a window carved out of the cliff wall.
“Thanks for saving my life,” Braeburn shook himself off after gaining his feet, “that little ‘terror’ seems to be intent of letting her emotions control her actions.” Draping a singed hoof across Hopeful's shoulders he continued on. “Seeing as how she has tapped into her empathy at such a young age, and well you are a unicorn,” he nudged hopefuls side knowingly, “we figure she could learn something from one that is practically bred to be in touch with their magic, to teach her how to ‘manipulate’ her emotions”.
“I don’t see where this is going “the unicorn deadpanned as he shrugged out from under the larger pony’s stature. “You know I have no capability of controlling magic, much less even assisting some other pony in their use of magic when they themselves are not unicorns?”
“And that is why we want you to teach her.” Braeburn said clasping both sides of the blue furred face in his hooves.
“BRAEBURN!! What did I say about lighting your daughter on Fire?!” A voice screamed before the front door burst off its hinges. A certain peeved Pegasus cut through the air to find her erring husband.
“And here I was just talking with Hopeful about her situation.” Braeburn replied while watching his mare land just short of them.
“Ah, I see you came early” Siri said while giving him a through look over, “but that does not mean you have an excuse for letting her run amuck before we can get her to control her outburst.” The creamy Pegasus surrounded her stallions head with her beige appendages, before roughly throwing him down upon his side. “Setting your daughter off has now put us back until we can get her calmed down.
“Uh, if I may?” Hopeful interjected, blue mane aquiver, “I could give it a shot in seeing what I can do to appease the situation. If I may that is?”
Siri trotted over, barely two or so inches taller then the unicorn himself, and scrutinized him intently before giving her grudging approval. “Just watch yourself, she seems to be heavily in touch with her magical side.” tossing a glance at her mate, who was just now picking himself up off the grassy tumbling matt., “ I’m pretty sure she gets it from his mothers side of the family, as there were no unicorns in my family.” She stated before taking off to do who knew what. “I’ll be back in time for the rest of the guest” she called before receding from sight.
* * * *
“The dark green unicorn, previously know as ‘Hopeful’, gathered up his strength before entering the dragons lair.”
Without fully understanding why, he had listened to Braeburn. Hopeful started to monologue the ‘exciting adventure’ as a way to mollify bonfire.
“I don wana pway”
“But I do.” Hopeful called up the stairs “Fearfully entering the fire breather's domain Sir Hopeful gathers up his-”
“Go away, you jus wana pwactise”
“Now you are sooooo not getting a story time from me.” He replied to the stubborn foal. “You want to have fun and play games, or will you tell uncle ‘Hope’ what is bothering you?” he hesitated at the landing on the stair before seeing movement in the darkened hallway
“Fine.” Bonfire said, calling up a tongue of flame per wingtip before heading into her room. “You can come in, and talk, if you like.”
Following the flickering light, Hopeful carefully placed one hoof in front of the other, wary of tripping in a dark environment where he couldn’t tell his hoofs from the floor. Turning around the bend he noticed the light was transferred to a hanging lantern most likely filled with coal oil. The little foal was sitting on a sparse bed, hewn from native rock, using chalk and slate to pass the time. Only slate drawings were present in her room, even the door was a form of thin shale.
“Wow, nice room you have all to yourself.” He murmured to the growing filly as he glanced at several of her drawings, most of them depicting life through the eyes of an untainted foal. “My mother, Setting Sun, made me share a room with my two older brothers.” Sitting down next to Bonfire he watched as she shaded in an area with blue chalk before using a feather tip to erase a small section before filling it in with another colour. “Those two brothers of mine never let me get away with anything, especially since I didn’t have a cutimark.”
“How did you get your cutimark?” She asked him while rolling onto her side to look at him. “You don’t have wings that go with your horn like your cutimark does.” Bonfire stated innocently.
Looking down at his flank his cream coloured Alicorn with blue wings sat there unhelpfully. “I don’t know why I got this one,” he started before bringing his gaze up to the child’s face, “But I plan to help as many in need as I can, like Princess Luna did, before she disappeared.” Reaching over he ruffled some of her mane before a lick of flame traveled up her mane and disappeared between her ears. “She was my inspiration and the reason why I got my cutimark.” Hopeful proudly told the awestruck foal before being wrapped in a tiny hug. A harmless soothing blue flame fed off of him in an aura around her frail body.
“What was Princess Luna like?” Bonfire asked after removing her face from his barrel to look up at him. “Mommy and Braeburn tell me not to listen too much when people in town talk about others.” She proudly stated. “Mommy didn’t like Luna that much, but she says it was not her fault and she shouldn’t have been sent to the moon.”
“And what does your mommy say about me?” Hopeful asked hoping for an innocent answer
“Mommy says that you have had your own set of issues.” pausing for a moment she mulled for a while before innocently asking, “What are issues unkle ope?” not waiting for an answer she single-mindedly carried on. “She says you seem to treat other pony’s fairy, and that I am supposed to give you a chance.” Sitting up Bonfire placed a hoof on his chest and proudly stated “But I am not supposed to sit around long enough for a roughly fin to talk to me, I need to get away and call for help loud enough for mommy to nowk him on his grass.”
“What does Siri say about leaving ponies when they come for your party?” Hopeful asked, trying to steer the child’s mind to his desired outcome. Wouldn’t she be upset with you if she found out that you were neglecting your guest?”
“What does neigh glec mean?”
“It means not watching and interacting with them,” seeing the confused expressions work its way up the foal’s face caused him to restate the previous comment, “To pretend they don’t exist, like the boogypony under beds and in closets.”
“There is not booger pony, I know, I haven’t seen him.” A self satisfied smirk filled her muzzle before her unicorn visitor face hoofed himself.
“What you are doing to your guest, that are here for the party, is how you got rid of the boogypony.” Hopeful explained slowly as realization dawned on her. “And your mother would not be happy that you got rid of the visitors out there that she gathered together for you.
. . .
“So how’d my little take it?” Braeburn ask, seeing as how Hopeful was not burnt and alone. “Is she going to. . ?“ Trailing off he saw his daughter meeting with some of the other children on her own. “If all she needed was a pep talk from you, we should have done this as soon as she got her cutimark.”
“Hey, don’t credit this on me, I just used some parental figure threats to get her to try meeting others.” Hopeful said while rubbing one fore leg against the other, “Look about this behavior training, thing, which Siri has me agreeing to.”
“What of it?” Braeburn waved a hoof dismissively turning toward the veggie grill for the adults. “I’m socially inept, Siri, is herself, and Bonfire is not going to spontaneously improve herself, by herself.” After shuffling some carrots and corncobs around he offered the thongs toward Hopeful, whom noticeably cringed at taking the utensil from another stallion’s mouth. Shrugging his shoulders Braeburn swapped places with Hopeful before attending to the food packets for the tykes. “The way I see it, you have traveled across Equestria, have experienced different behaviors, and interacted with more ponies in one month then Siri and I combined, here at Rickety Chance.
“But I am not a licenses practitioner, what if something I suggest, or even do, backfires and you have an out of control magically imbued daughter that is taken away for study.”
“Daddy, daddy, daddy.”
“What is it pumpkin?” Braeburn asked his daughter before closing both grills and giving his sole attention to her. “What did you do properly?”
“Waited till gwoneups stopp talking.” Bonfire exclaimed excitedly, bouncing in place while her brown and red mane took a life of its own. “Push Button said I don’t know to light a fire.” She adopted her best puppy dog eyes, bringing her golden irises to the limit “Can, I, Show, Him PWEEESE.” She ended with her tiny fore hooves on his chest while tucking her chin into the nook they created. A sure kill method for getting what she wanted out of him. “He says I can’t”
. . . .
Now that I think about it, there was too much that went on to finish on this page. I’ll finish writing what happened today in tomorrow’s section. While waiting for the sun’s final rays I had started on another carving, it seems to be of a changeling, but the rest of the piece is too much for one character. Maybe I should plan what these pieces look like, but half of the fun is finding out how they form.
His body posture seems to be wary, not like most of the ones that I have met in my travels. I could try to have some other characters poking out behind him as if the main piece is wood growth on a wood carving.
After finally looking up from the carving I have realized that time has flown by. The pitch black sky outside, and candle burned down past halfway mark. I have to force myself to put down my tools.
End of Entry Two
17/9/167