I awoke to find myself in a hospital. I looked around seeing that I was alone in the room. I also noticed my back right hoof was in a cast. I still don’t remember what happened other than falling from a cloud. I laid my head back down against the pillow. I heard some ponies outside the door to my room. The voices were faint so I couldn’t tell who was talking at first.
“Are you sure she will be okay?”
“Yea I hope so. I don’t want her to miss my party that I’m throwing just for her!”
I knew that one…that was Pinkie Pie. She’s throwing a party for me, why would she do that? Who was she talking to though?
“Yea Pinks, no one ever misses your parties.”
“Don’t you be talkin’ like that to Pinkie Pie, I’m sure it was a good thing that she is throwing one just fer her.”
That accent sounds like Applejack. Who was that other pony that spoke just before her?
“Listen Applejack, that wasn't sarcasm, no one ever misses her parties, literally!”
Now I know who that was, it was Rainbow Dash. But what are they all doing here? Are they here just for me? No, that can’t be it, it must be something else. It just has to be for some other reason. Why would anyone care about someone who almost killed herself?
“Quiet down you three, you might as well just start yelling and wake her up.”
Who in Equestria was that? It sounded like something only Princess Celestia would say; everything except that last part. Come to think of it, whoever that was, she sounded like her. Did she actually come down to meet me?
The intercom noise sounded followed by an announcement, “Nurse Redheart, please report to room four. I repeat, Nurse Redheart, please report to room four.”
I wonder who could be in room four. I turned my head around to see a white board on the wall.
Patient: Night Runner
Doctor: Nurse Redheart
Diagnosis: Fractured right hind leg, fractured right shoulder blade
Room: #4
So I was in room number four. Just at that moment, that doctor opened to door. “Good morning Night Runner, how are you feeling today?”
“I think I am good. What is happened yesterday? Last I remember I was falling from a cloud.”
“Your friends here can explain that. They brought you here during the announcement from Mayor Mare.”
The pink pony burst into the room and dashed straight to the side of the bed. “Oh my gosh are you ok? I was wondering why you were falling from the cloud! It was a good thing that Twilight slowed you down with her magic! If she hadn’t been there, who knows what would have happened!” She spoke so fast I could barely make out anything she said. A violet colored pony walked into the room next to the pink pony.
“Hello there, I believe we have already met. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I remember seeing you in the Canterlot palace before. How are your leg and your shoulder?”
“You’re Lady Twilight Sparkle? I was expecting a more regal mare, most likely somepony from another royal family since I usually see you with Princess Celestia.”
“Oh no no no, I am just a simple unicorn. I was her student in magic school, which is probably why you see us two talking together. Still, how are your leg and shoulder?”
She kept referring to my shoulder, but I didn’t see a bandage there. “I feel just fine. This is the worst position for me to be in now. I’m supposed to be looking for her and now I’m stuck in a hospital bed. I need to find a way out of here to go look for her.” I knew they probably wouldn't know who I was talking about, but I said it anyway. I still needed to go find Princess Luna before anything drastic happens.
“Who are you looking for?”
I sighed before saying “Princess Luna” in an inaudible voice.
“I didn't catch what you…”
“I need to go searching for the missing Princess Luna!” It came out louder that I had thought it would. I had my head turned away from the two ponies standing there. I knew they would be surprised and shocked at the same time. When is that last time you heard a guard say that a princess was missing?
“None of us were expecting to hear that…” The orange earth pony, followed by the rainbow colored pegasus and the yellow pegasus came in, all with shocked faces.
“Yes, Lady Twilight, do you remember when Mayor Mare escorted me away from the crowd last night?”
“I do recall that happening.”
“She brought me behind the building and told me that Princess Luna had gone missing. From what she said, the search parties that she sent out had no success in finding any clues that could lead to her current actions.” My voice was shaky explaining all this to them. “Listen, I need your help to get out of this hospital. I am required by my promise to find and protect the princess. So can you any of you help me get out of this bed?” I sat up in bed only to have my shoulder burst into pain. I fell backwards onto the bed, grasping my shoulder with my left hoof.
“Nurse! Nurse! Come in quickly!” I heard the orange pony yell.
“What seems to be…oh no, did she tried to sit up in bed? Give me a moment. Listen Miss Night Runner, I need you to calm down. Please take your hoof away from you shoulder. I need a needle filled with anesthetic stat!”
Another nurse came in holding a tray in her mouth. Nurse Redheart took the needle and carefully injected my shoulder with it. I felt the pain slowly go away, along with my consciousness. Soon enough, I was back asleep.
I woke up later to see that it was night time now. My head sideways on the pillow and I was lying down on my stomach. My right hind leg was hanging in a cloth that was elevated above the bed. I saw a couple of tails from the corner of my eye. One was pink and the other was purple with a pink stripe through it. I tried to move my head, but it was very difficult for me.
“Twilight, she’s awake again.”
“Oh, hey Night, are you feeling any better?”
“Of course I’m not feeling better. I won’t be able to feel better unless I am standing next to Princess Luna again.”
“Can you put that off for just a minute and pay attention to yourself? Geez you guard ponies are stubborn.”
“Who said that? To you information, we have to be. It is the only way for us to be good enough guards for the princess. She may not want it, but it is for her own interests.”
The rainbow colored pony stepped in front of my line of sight blocking all the others. “Listen to yourself, you sound more stubborn then Trixie. Can’t you see that you have to take care of yourself or else you won’t be able to leave the hospital to go search for the princess, can’t you see what is happening now?”
She was right, I had to get heal so I could go searching for the princess. But of course, my stubbornness got the best of me. “I don’t care about myself! All I care about is Princess Luna’s safety! She saved my life already and this is was the only way I could think of to repay my debt to her! So I must get out of this bed this instant to go looking for her!” When I finished my rant, my shoulder began to hurt again. It wasn’t as serious as before, but bad enough.
“Listen to this mare; she can’t even take good advice when it is thrown on the ground in front of her. Fluttershy, can you talk some sense into her? Not that you’re better at talking to ponies like I am, but you just have a quieter tone than I do.” She stepped out of my sight and pushed the yellow pegasus into view.
She was shaking a bit. I could tell she was nervous. Did my yelling make her scared? I am supposed to care for the well-being of fellow ponies. I just gave a big sigh again. “Listen, I am sorry for yelling before. It’s just that I owe her my life for taking me in. Even though I was raised by the night guards, she always seemed to find a way to make time to talk to me, even if she was “banished” again.”
““Banished”, what do you mean by that?”
“She somehow pulls some pranks or jokes on the residents in the palace and Princess Celestia banishes her to her room. Every guard knows this cause it happens quite often.”
“Oh, well um…I hope you don’t mind me saying it but, you really should stay here until your leg and shoulder heal. I know you may not want it to be like this, but it is the only way for you to get better.” The way the pegasus said that made it seem more calming than the rainbow pony put it. I felt more relaxed talking to her. It was almost like I was talking to Princess Luna again. Soon as that thought came to mind, I turned it away from the other ponies. I heard a little gasp from the yellow pegasus. “Well, I hope you do get better soon. If you ever need someone to talk to, I guess you could have Nurse Redheart send me a letter for you.”
“Thank you all for being here. Is it alright if I ask to be alone for the rest of the night?”
“Sure, no problem. Come on girls; let’s let her have some time alone.”
I turned my head again and saw the pink pony pushing the others outside of the room. She had a lot of strength for such a small mare. At last, I was alone in the room. I still felt weird after talking with the pegasus, Fluttershy. Her tone was just like Princess Luna’s. It reminded me of my life with her before I became a Night Guard. It was relaxing to me, having her to talk to. She would bring me into her room just so we could talk about anything that came to mind. She even told me about a few of her pranks that she had thought up for the next day. All these thoughts of the past came to me then.
I remembered the first time I saw somepony die for the sake of the princess. I was brought along on a casual stroll to Ponyville one day. We walked around the shops, after having a greeting line which last like half an hour. Our main idea was to go to Sweet Apple Acres and Sugarcube Corner to buy some food a celebration that was coming up. It was a birthday for one of the Wonderbolts. He asked me to talk to the princesses about having it setup there. Then, there was the first kiss. It was from that same Wonderbolt who asked me about the celebration. Near the end of the party, he brought me out to the garden from the party room. He began to thank me for setting up the party for him. That was when he hugged and kissed me. My first kiss was something I would never forget. I was standing out there blushing for a while when Princess Luna came out and snapped me out of it. She saw what had happened and congratulated me.
I was then back to the hospital. Nurse Redheart was in dropping off a food plate. “Listen dear, if you have trouble eating your food because of your shoulder just press the red button on the other side of the bed. Also you should listen to your friends. They usually know what is best for another friend in need.” With that said, she walked out. Again, I was alone in the room, lying on the bed. I just had to wait till after my leg and shoulder healed then I could go back out and search for Princess Luna, how long could that take? I was in for a surprise. I called the medical pony back into my room with the button.
“Are you having trouble eating your food?”
“Can you tell me something Nurse Redheart…how long do you think I will be in the hospital?”
“We are not sure about that. Seeing as how bad your shoulder and leg are, I would say about a week or so, nothing serious.”
My eyes widened. Oh, was I in for a surprise. A week, I had to stay in this bed for a week or so? This sent my thoughts into terror. I kept it inside, but I knew it would come out eventually. “Thank you, also, can you help me with the food, it does seem like a problem not being able to use my right hoof.”
“Of course, anything for patient of this hospital.”
I took the final bites from my dinner and Nurse Redheart left me after wishing a good night. Before the door closed however, the yellow pegasus came walking in thanking the nurse. She turned to me to see me giving a stern expression. “I hope you don’t mind, but I came to visit you, just to check on how you were doing.”
“I don’t mind it at all. You know, you remind me of how Princess Luna used to talk to me. She always had this soft tone. Lately she has been speaking with a more professional tone. Is it okay if I tell you something? You cannot tell anypony else about it ok?”
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
“Do you promise not to tell anyone?”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” The same gesture from the pink pony; I was starting to understand what it meant now.
“A while ago before Princess Luna brought me and the Night Guard captain to Ponyville, she asked me a favor. She asked me to abandon her when she got into trouble during the investigation.” I paused for a moment to look at the pegasus. Her pupils shrank to small circles. She had her hoof covering her mouth and she was trembling a little. “I didn’t know what to say to her when she asked me this. The oath that we Night Guards swear to states that we cannot leave the princess’s side during any time of danger. It also says that we cannot disobey anything told to us from the princess herself. It was a complete contradiction. To this moment, I still have no idea what I am supposed to do. Should I go save her and follow the first part of the oath or should I follow her orders and abandon the princess at her time of need? Can you help me answer this question?”
The yellow pony was sitting in front of me with a blank expression. She stared at me which made me feel a little awkward. She shook her head a little and gave me a calm look that I only saw Princess Luna give me whenever she saw that I was stressed or troubled by something. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what to say. However, this sounds like a personal problem. I think that the best way to answer it is follow what you want to do."
I dwelled on her answer for a minute before looking up to her eyes. She does have Luna's eyes, which gave a sincere and calming atmosphere every time I looked into them. She reminded too much of Luna and the whole "disappearance" thing was getting to me again. "Miss Fluttershy, can I ask a favor of you?"
She looked at me in confusion. "What kind of favor are you talking about?"
I peered down to the floor for a second. I thought about whether I should ask her to or not, but it subsided by the look from her eyes. "Can you delivery a message to Princess Celestia?"
"I guess I can. I will have one sent right away and..."
"No, I want you to go there yourself, for me. I want you to delivery the letter by your hoof to Princess Celestia's hoof. Even if the guards tell you to stop, just keep walking to her. I am sure that the princess will understand who sent you."
"Well um...I will have to make sure that my animals are taken care of. But, isn't the trip there scary? I-I'm not sure if I c-can do it..."
"Don't worry Miss Fluttershy, I am positive that you will have enough courage to go there."
"W-why not ask Rainbow Dash to do it? I'm sure that she is way faster than I am."
"That's another reason to send you. I don't want Miss Rainbow to go there because she will give the guards the wrong idea. Just give Princess Celestia the same look as you gave me when you answered my question. That is how I know that she will know who sent you. After all, only us two ever got that look from Princess Luna..." My eyes began to drift away. Back into memories of the princess and I pulling pranks on some of the guards-stallions that were watching the halls during the day. When we got caught, she always gave a sad look to the guard or whoever caught us. But when she turned to me, she gave me that same look with her eyes. So sincere, so calming, made me feel like nothing could go wrong. Until she was then banished to her room by her sister. I shook my head to brush off those memories for a bit longer. "Miss Fluttershy, you must do what I told you. I want Princess Celestia to hear it from me instead of somepony else. Write this down...
Dear Princess Celestia,
Miss Fluttershy has been sent to you by me to explain that Princess Luna has gone missing. Please do not take this information too seriously. I would ask of you to remain calm for the time being. I also wish for you to send for me and have a few guards take me to Canterlot for a quick treatment for my injuries. The rest of the information will given to you by me. Also I will have a favor to ask of you when I am fully recovered. It must be discussed in private.
Guards-mare,
Night Runner of the Royal Night Guards
...did you get all of that down?"
"I think so, can you read it and see if I missed anything?"
She held the paper in front of me so that I could read it. As I skimmed through, I did not see anything left out. "Yes, you got everything written down. Please head off either tonight or tomorrow morning to delivery this message to Princess Celestia. And about your animals, go ask Twilight if she can help tend to your animal friends." After saying that, a bird popped its head out her mane.
"Oh um, yes she wanted to say hello to you as well. Go on little Snowball, go say hello to Night Runner."
The bird flew out of her hair and landed on my cheek. This bird did seem to love me. I wondered why she gave it the name Snowball. When I looked at it, it was scrunched up into a white ball, it did look like a snowball. I stared as it just sat there and looked at me. It shook its whole body and then fell asleep.
"I guess she wanted to be with you after all. I think she may want to be your pet. It's always common for anypony to have a pet. I just never saw you guards with one. Also, when I had any animal with me, they usually hid behind my mane when they saw you guards. You must be different than the others. Animals have a way of telling that."
I laughed a little to myself. "Thank you Miss Fluttershy. Can you please make sure that the letter gets to Princess Celestia by tomorrow. It is imperative that she receive this message from you."
"Don't worry, I will deliver it." She nodded her head a little and walked to the door.
Before she could walk out, I called to her. "Miss Fluttershy!"
"What is it Night?"
"If anypony asks where you are going, tell them that you have a letter to delivery to nopony special. No one must know of this letter unless the princess says so." My eyes had that determined look that I usually have. It was the look that usually makes the other guards back away from me. Miss Fluttershy didn't even move when she looked back at me. There was something about her that kept reminding me of Princess Luna.
"Don't worry Night Runner, I will deliver the letter right away."
Miss Fluttershy walked out the door and closed it. I turned my eyes to the bird that sat on my cheek. It was fast asleep. All I could do was smile and hope that she delivers the letter as quick as possible to Princess Celestia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I do hope that I can delivery this letter to the princess... she thought as she left the hospital entrance. Yes, I will deliver this letter. If it's for one of my friends, no matter how new she is, I must deliver this letter. I just hope that I don't get scared and fly back home. Fluttershy began to take off with the letter in mouth when a familiar voice called to her.
"Hey Fluttershy! Where are you going?" It was Rainbow Dash who flew right next to her. She stayed hovering there waiting for an answer.
"Well um..." She had no idea what to do now. The one thing she knew was that she couldn't tell Rainbow about what the letter said. "I am just going to deliver this letter to a friend of mine." her voice grew softer as she began to hide behind her mane.
"Oh okay. Do you want me to go with you? I am sure that your friend would be happy to see the fastest flyer in all of Equestria." Rainbow did a pose like she usually did when talking about herself. Fluttershy never minded the way she would do that. In fact, she was always interested in how Rainbow could do all the tricks that she showed her. "So hows about I go with you to meet your friend." Rainbow put her hoof around Fluttershy's neck and began to fly forward.
"Listen um..."
"I can't wait to meet your new friend. Does your she know the Wonderbolts? Oh that would be awesome if that pony did. I could ask her if she could get a meeting setup with them."
"But..."
"Although I haven't quite perfected my moves yet so maybe that will have to wait till later."
"But Rainbow I..."
"I guess I can still impress them with my awesome looks too."
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy finally got the rainbow pony's attention, only to shy away a little once again.
"What is it Flutters?"
She didn't know how to say what she was thinking without it seeming insulting to Rainbow. "Um...it was a letter from Night Runner. I have to go deliver it by myself. She said that nopony is supposed to go with me."
"Well, now your taking orders from her?! No one gives Fluttershy orders, not while I say so! Wait here for me."
"Wait Rainbow Dash..." But she was already inside the hospital. "Oh Fluttershy, you are such a loudmouth. I guess I better deliver the letter for now. Don't want to keep her waiting. I'm so sorry Rainbow Dash." she said as she flew off towards Canterlot castle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a moment, I was just falling asleep with the bird on my cheek. At that moment, the rainbow colored pony came barging in. She had an angry or a similar type face.
"So, you're giving orders to Fluttershy just because you think you're better than her, huh?!"
I raised an eyebrow to her question. "What do you mean? I never gave orders to the yellow pegasus..."
"Then why is she delivering a letter for you and why does she have to do it "alone"?"
"I thought I asked her not to tell anypony about that...doesn't matter."
The rainbow pegasus flew up next to me. I could feel wind blowing on my face from her wings. I also saw the little bird fly up and land in my mane. It began to crawl into it. I knew it was a bit scared. "You're scaring the bird..." I said with a straight face.
"The bird isn't part of the conversation. What is in that letter that you gave to Fluttershy that is so private that she has to deliver it by herself."
"That is for the two of us to know and for you not to know. If you don't mind now, I need to get some sleep and so does little Snowball here."
"Don't try to change the argument!"
"I'm not trying to change it, I was trying to end it so I can sleep. You should head back home too. You should get some sleep after racing here just to talk to me."
I watched as she got angrier with me. Her frustration was building up as she tensed her entire body. These types of interrogations are things I trained myself for. 'Do not ever give information about any promises that you kept.' Those words that me and Princess Luna said to each other echo in my head. I closed my eyes and saw her. My mind created an image of her to remind me of what happened yesterday. I opened my eyes to a sharp pain in my right shoulder. The rainbow pegasus grasped my body picking me up forward. "Listen here you...you...I don't even know what to call you. You do not tell Fluttershy what to do and send her off alone. Didn't you think that something might happen to her?!"
"Ahhhhhh!" All I could do was yell my heart out from the pain. Nurse Redheart came in and yelled at Rainbow Dash to let go of me. I opened my eyes for a quick look at hers. I saw that anger change to confusion and then to sorrow. She let go of me and I was lying on the bed again. As the other nurses began to do the needle thing again, Nurse Redheart was asking for Rainbow to leave. Before she could finish, I got a few words out. "Don't leave Rainbow Dash, I need to-to-to..."