“So I guess you and your sister are pretty close,” Nick said, it was now his turn to ask a question. “I mean, coordinating the rising and setting of the sun and moon doesn’t sound like a simple task to me.”
“It was a little difficult at first,” the blue alicorn replied. “We argued about how long a day should be, how long should the night last, and how much time we wanted to spend attending our subjects. Eventually we set up a schedule, splitting the time in half between us, which was fair. However, I grew jealous of my sister’s endearment from our subjects. The only feelings they had for me were fear. Even now, I still don’t have the same endearment from them as my sister does.”
Several years had passed since she was saved by the Elements of Harmony, but her subjects still distrusted her. She couldn’t blame them though, there was a lot of harm she caused as Nightmare Moon. A tear ran down her cheek, but she felt something warm brush against it. Nick had taken his paw and wiped the tear off for her. Normally it was frowned upon to touch royalty, especially a complete stranger. However she also knew that Nick didn’t know that, and was merely trying to cheer her up. Therefore she would allow him to continue.
“That’s ridiculous,” Nick said trying to comfort her, “How could nopony realize the beauty of night? The moon and stars the only source of light, yet gazing upon them, a pony can get lost in their beauty. The same couldn’t be said for the sun, that blinds you when you glance at it. There’s cool night breezes, peace and serenity, a time to rest from a busy day. You also make sure that nopony loses sleep from their nightmares. I don’t know if my opinion makes much of a difference, but I appreciate what you do Princess Luna.”
She was a beautiful mare. Her teal eyes shined in the moonlight. Her fur was soft and cool to the touch. He loved her voice, it was as melodious as Celestia’s but there was a bit of hesitation in it. Nick always had a soft spot for unconfident girls. Maybe it was also sympathy, he knew how it felt to be unwanted and looked at as an outcast.
Am I really feeling attracted to her? I just met her. Not only that, she’s a horse, I’m not supposed to feel like that towards an animal. No, she’s not an animal, she’s sapient, able to convey her feelings. Not only that, she’s a princess of this land. Still does that make it any better?
I’ve never heard such kind words since Twilight helped me transition back to being a princess. I know that my sister has tried to give me confidence, but I guess hearing it from a complete stranger has more effect.
Secretly she had developed a fondness for the purple alicorn, one that was further than just friendship. She was kind, smart and had a cute personality. She brushed off aside any hopes of a romantic relationship, as Twilight didn’t seem to be into mares. But now here was this wolf, who knew nothing about her, and was trying to console her.
He’s just being polite, that’s all. Nothing more, nothing less.
“I know what it’s like to have sibling issues, except mine were never solved,” Nick added, his voice trailing off from remembering a painful memory from his past. He and his brother had gotten along a well as siblings usually do. They got on each other’s nerves but still had the other’s back. He could consider him one of few close friends. That was until his parents died in a car crash.
His brother was a few years older than him, therefore he was given everything in their will. Nick assumed that he would split it with him, but greed causes men to do selfish things. He’d never heard from his brother again after the funeral. With no one to help him through the grieving process, Nick had turned a cold shoulder to the world. If his brother, related in blood, would betray him, how could he trust complete strangers?
“Why not?” Luna inquired, sensing pain in his voice. “You don’t have to tell me, but it’s better you discuss your problems than holding them in.” She knew had she spoken to her sister about her jealousy, Nightmare Moon may never had come to pass.
“It’s ok Princess, that’s all in the past now,” Nick shook his head, faking a smile to convince the mare next to him that he was alright. “It’s getting pretty late, I’m sure your sister will be waking up soon.” Stretching, he stood up and offered the alicorn a paw. She gratefully took it and he helped her up.
“I guess you’re right,” she sighed, wishing she could spend more time talking to him. She was fascinated by his description of the human world, despite him saying he’d rather live in Equestria. She found some other similarities between him and her as well, like how he never had any friends growing up, and he liked to keep to himself. There was the fact he loved the night, as he stated marvelously before.
“I really enjoyed our chat. It’s been awhile since I’ve really spoken to anypony in such a relaxed setting. Mostly it’s either important diplomatic meetings or when there’s a threat to Equestria. Feel free to stop by the castle at night, or if you want to just meet in a dream, all you have to do is call and I’ll be there.”
Nick nodded. It must be tough, not only being a princess, but also one that doesn’t feel loved. It wouldn’t hurt to be nice to her, my death probably won’t mean much.
“I enjoyed our chat as well Princess Luna, I hope we’ll get to do this sometime soon,” he replied.
Having exchanged farewells, Nick was once again alone, sitting on the shore watching the waves roll in. After this meeting with Luna, he felt more determined to become strong enough to defeat the darkness, and wouldn’t stop until all of Equestria was safe from its grasp.
He closed his eyes, allowing the sound of the waves to soothe him into a deep slumber.
Celestia’s rays filled the castle, gently waking up the slumbering wolf. With a loud yawn, he jumped off the throne and took a big stretch.
“Breakfast time,” he muttered as his stomach growled, reminding him of the most important meal of the day. Using his claws, he sliced up the rest of the strawberries along with some apples into bite sized pieces. He hungrily gobbled them up. They tasted good, but still he wished he could have a decent meal. Something nice and hot, like pancakes and sausage or waffles and bacon.
Maybe today I’ll go looking for some more food, find some wild spices, herbs and vegetables to give these meals some flavor.
First things first though. He needed to find a way to sneak into Ponyville. Perhaps I can just walk into town and they’ll all accept me. He laughed at such an outrageous thought. “Oh well,” he sighed. “Either I can convince them I mean no harm, or I’m on my own in my quest.” He left the castle, heading towards his destination.
Twilight had woken up around 7 that morning, as she usually did so she could get a head start on the day. She had a new lesson in friendship for Starlight to go through, and couldn’t wait to begin.
“Starlight!” she called out, knocking on her new student’s door. “It’s time to start your first lesson!”
On the other side she heard a grumble and some rustling. “Come on sleepy head, we’ve got no time to waste, this lesson will take most of the day and I want to make sure we have enough time to do everything on my list,” she continued, opening up the door.
The room was filled with light when she opened the door. The pony in bed grabbed the sheets and pulled them over her head.
“Ugh, 5 more minutes,” the unicorn grumbled.
“No can do,” Twilight replied, levitating the sheets off of Starlight. “Like I said we have a busy day ahead of us and we can’t afford any delays.”
Seeing her “teacher” wasn’t going to leave, Starlight gave in. “Alright, I’ll get ready. Can I at least have some privacy while I do that?” she asked, getting up from the bed.
“Of course!” Twilight replied. “I’ll give you your 5 minutes to get ready. After that we’ll head into town for your first lesson. Spike packed you breakfast as well.”
After a bit more grumbling from Starlight, all three headed out of the castle. “You’ll love today’s lesson!” Twilight squealed with excitement. “We’re going to meet everypony in Ponyville and you’ll have to learn something about them. After lunch, I’ll test you to see what you remembered. The whole goal of this is to teach you to listen to others and care about what they like. This is one of the stepping stones in making a new friend!”
Starlight rolled her eyes. While she was thankful for Twilight forgiving all she had done in the past and giving her the chance to make up for it, Twilight could be demanding at times. This was one of those times. Ponyville had twice the population of her village, and even then it took her a few months to know all the ponies that lived there.
“This’ll be fun.”
Nick was now on the outskirts of the forest. A few more minutes of walking and he would be in Ponyville. As soon as a pony spots me, there’s going to be a panic. Maybe that’ll help get Princess Twilight’s attention, assuming she doesn’t attack me on the spot. I’ll be able to reason with her before she beats me into a pulp, right?
“Well, if they capture me, maybe they’ll take me to Celestia. Then she’ll be able to help me out. If I knew I was going to meet ponies anyway, I might’ve accepted her offer to stay in the castle. At least I wouldn’t have to search for my next meal.”
The first few minutes in town, he was lucky. Nopony was in the immediate area, which could mean he might be able to sneak to Twilight’s castle without too much suspicion. “I can’t believe my luck. This is going a lot smoother than imagined.”
Nick spoke too soon as a light green pegasus saw him and flew away screaming. “So much for sneaking to the castle,” he sighed, and proceeded to go deeper into town. No need for secrecy now. As he looked around, he couldn’t help but smile. Ponyville was a quaint little town. It was a mix of modern housing and rustic buildings. The ponies seemed happy here, that was until they saw him and ran in horror. He didn’t even get a chance to try and tell them he meant no harm, they were out of sight in an instant.
As he approached what seemed to be the center of town, he saw Applejack behind her stand, bending down to grab something. For whatever reason, she was too busy to hear the screams of her fellow ponies. She could bring him to Twilight, that is, if she didn’t run away as well. When she stood back up, she was confused as to where everypony went. “Where’d they all-” she was cut off as she saw him, her expression changing to one of shock. As he approached her, she started to back away. Then she shook her head and frowned at him. “Ah don’t know what yer doing here,” she said a warning tone. “But ya better best be leaving. Ya won’t be getting any meals here.”
“Meals? What are you talking abou-... What?! Why would I want to eat a pony?!” he exclaimed, hurt that she would accuse him of wanting to eat any of them. Then again he was a wolf, so she couldn’t know that. “I’m not here to eat anypony. I need to speak with Princess Twilight, it’s urgent.”
Applejack’s jaw dropped. The wolf just spoke to her. “Ya can talk?”
“Yeah? I’m not a timberwolf,” he scoffed, causing Applejack to just stare at him some more. “I also know your name’s Applejack, Element of Honesty. I’m Nick, the Element of Hope.”
That last part snapped her out of her stupor. “The Element of Hope? What in tarnation are you talking about?! According to Princess Celestia, we were the only Elements. Also how do ya know who ah am? Ya better start explaining wolf, or else yer gonna have a few broken bones.”
“It’s a long story,” Nick replied, backing up a bit. “All I know is that I woke up in the Everfree Forest and was immediately chased by timberwolves. I was able to lose them, and ended up finding the Tree of Harmony. It spoke to me and told me that I was summoned to help fight the darkness, which is apparently all the villains you and your friends faced in the past. The Tree showed you and all of your friends to me. Which is why I need Princess Twilight’s help. I can use magic, but am not very good at it. Hopefully she can help me master it. I know it’s a lot to take in, but it’s the truth.”
Applejack scratched her chin with a hoof. It was a lot of information to accept. He was even claiming that the Tree of Harmony talked to him. While she didn’t know much about the magic behind being an Element, she definitely knew that the Tree of Harmony never once spoke to her, her friends or even the princesses for that matter. Why would it talk this wolf now?
She wasn’t sure what to think. Either he was a really good liar or he was telling the truth. He also hadn’t attacked her, which obviously was a good sign, but maybe he was waiting for an opportunity.
Not getting an answer, Nick decided he was wasting his time. “I’ll take that as a no,” he sighed, turning away from her. “Sorry to have sent everypony into a stampede. You can tell them they don’t have to worry about me anymore. I’ll just head back to the Forest and plan on how to defeat Tirek, Chrysalis and Sombra by myself.”
“What do ya mean defeat those three?” Applejack asked, causing Nick to stop. “They’ve already been defeated by my friends and I. How can they come back?”
“I’m not too sure,” Nick replied turning to face her. “All I know is that the Tree of Harmony told me they will come back, and if my dream I had last night is any indication of the future, they’re going to join forces. Which is why I need Princess Twilight’s help, no all of the Elements’ help if we are going to defeat them once and for all. Does this mean you’ll take me to her?”
Applejack thought about it again. He didn’t seem like he was lying, which in that case, he needed to meet with Twilight ASAP. His story seemed too far fetched, the villains they defeated coming back for revenge. It was plausible for them to return, save Sombra, who was obliterated by the Crystal Heart. Still it seemed best to take the risk that he wasn’t lying, they had difficulty defeating each villain by themselves, let alone as a combined force. Somehow this wolf knew how to not only defeat them, but make sure they don’t come back.
“Fine, ah’ll take ya to see Twilight,” she sighed, hoping she was making the right decision. “But if ya so much as look tha wrong way, I’m gonna buck ya back into tha Everfree Forest, wolf.”
Nick gulped and nodded his head. Seeing the way she could knock down apples by bucking a tree, he didn’t want to get on her bad side. Then again, that didn’t give her the right to just ignore his name. “It’s Nick,” he replied, not wanting to press his luck any further. “Lead the way.”
When Twilight, Starlight and Spike arrived in town, they were surprised to see it was empty. “Where is everypony?” Twilight asked, a little nervous that nopony was around.
“Maybe Pinkie’s throwing a party at Sugarcube Corner?” Spike guessed.
“That can’t be it,” Twilight shook her head. “If Pinkie was throwing a party, we’d know. Let’s look around, maybe somepony can tell us what happened.”
They walked further towards the town center. If something did happen, it was odd that nopony was looking for Twilight. She was a princess and one of the Elements of Harmony. She could solve whatever problem occurred. She saw all her friends, save Applejack near town hall. They were relieved to see her approach and met her halfway.
“Thank goodness you’re here,” Rarity greeted them. “There seems to be a situation ahoof.”
“What exactly is this situation?” Twilight asked her, dying to know what happened.
“Well, according to some of the townsponies, a wolf has wandered into town. Not a timberwolf, but an actually wolf. I thought it was preposterous, real wolves are nothing but myth. Surely they were mistaken.”
Rarity was partially right, wolves did exist in Equestria long before it was founded, according to her history books. After Princess Celestia and Luna ascended into alicorns, they mysteriously vanished. If there was a real wolf in town, there had to be a logical reason. She noticed that Applejack hadn’t shown up yet. “Have you seen Applejack?” Twilight asked, her concerns growing. Her friends shook their heads.
“I would assume she’s at her stall,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Although when I checked, she wasn’t there. That’s also where the wolf was last seen. You don’t think…”
“No, Applejack’s too tough to get beaten by a wolf,” Twilight answered. “Maybe she decided to confront it. If so, we need to find her before it’s too late.”
“No need to worry y’all, ah’m right here,” the earth pony called from behind them. They were all relieved to see her, but that relief was short lived as they saw the wolf following her.
“Applejack, behind you!” Rainbow Dash cried out, launching herself at the wolf. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it!”
Realizing what was going to happen, Nick started to panic. Great, now what am I going to do? Hang on, I can use that shield spell. Hopefully it works this time. He had only a few seconds to conjure it up as Rainbow Dash was quickly closing the gap between them. What happened next surprised him. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline he was feeling, as it took almost no time to place the shield up. That was all he was able to do as the cyan pegasus smashed through the shield. While she was slowed down, the force of impact sent him flying back a few feet.
The wolf can use magic?! How is that even possible? This is no time to let curiosity get the better of me, we need to take care of it while we can.
“Come on girls!” Twilight told her friends. “Let’s get it while it’s down!”
Applejack quickly ran in front of them. “Stop! Ah was never in any danger in tha first place. This wolf’s an Element of Harmony!”
Her friends stopped and gave her confused looks. “Whatever are you talking about dear?” Rarity asked. “How can that wolf be an Element of Harmony? And what do you mean by you were never in any danger? It was following you.”
Nick had managed to recover and decided to intervene. “That’s because I asked her to take me to Princess Twilight. I need her help. Actually I need all of your help.”
The mares’ jaws dropped in unison. The wolf had just spoken to them. Seeing he had their attention, Nick continued.
“I’m sorry for the whole panic, but I didn’t know how to get to you. Applejack is speaking the truth. My name is Nick, and I’m the Element of Hope. I was just surprised as you all are when I found out. Yesterday I woke up in the Everfree Forest, only to be chased by a pack of timberwolves. After losing them, I came upon the Tree of Harmony. It clarified exactly how I got there as well as show me each one of you. It told me that the darkness is growing, taking the form of all the villains you’ve defeated in the past. If my dream that I had was a glimpse of the future, they are planning on joining forces to take over Equestria. In order to stop them, I need to defeat creatures in the Everfree Forest and gain their abilities with this gem. That’s why I need your help, Princess Twilight. I don’t quite know how to control my magic, let alone use it properly. I was hoping you could teach me how to control and use it.”
He looked at all of them, who were still gawking at him. “I know it’s a lot to accept, but it’s the truth. If you don’t believe me, take me to Princess Celestia, she’ll confirm all I told you.”
Twilight was the first to recover after hearing her former mentor’s name. “Princess Celestia met with you?”
Nick nodded his head. “She actually aided me in coming here. I didn’t know at the time, but she gave me this gem which was linked to the Tree of Harmony. That’s how the Tree summoned me to the Forest. Like I said before, I’ll happily go with you to see Princess Celestia. She might explain things better.”
The group huddled up, with Rainbow Dash keeping an eye on Nick.
“What do you think girls? Can we trust him?” Twilight asked her friends.
“Ah do,” Applejack replied. “When we talked, ah was a little suspicious at first, but ah saw he was telling the truth. If he meant any harm, he woulda attacked me on the spot, not bring him to where ah had backup.”
“He seems like a nice wolf,” Fluttershy added. “He’s acted nothing like a timberwolf, in fact quite the opposite. If what he’s saying is true, he’ll need all the help he can get.”
“I say we don’t trust him,” Rainbow Dash spoke. “That shield he put up sure felt like he knew what he was doing. He could be working for Tirek, trying to trick us into trusting him.”
Twilight took her friends thoughts into consideration. They all had good points. She was also curious about Nick. If the wolves mysteriously banished, how did Princess Celestia find him? Why a wolf of all things? Still he made the effort to meet her and ask for her help. Eventually her curiosity got the better of her. She felt that if he was under her watch, not only could she make sure Nick wasn’t going to betray them, she also could learn more about wolves.
“Ok, I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia to see if you are telling the truth. That means for now we’re going to trust you,” she announced, sending a wave of relief through Nick. “However, as soon as you break that trust, you’ll wish you hadn’t.”
“Fair enough,” Nick replied, glad he was finally able to get through to them. “What about my magic training?”
“That’s feasible,” Twilight replied, “I’ll just have to make some adjustments to my schedule. We can start right away if you’re ready.”
“What about my lesson?” Starlight asked, both happy she might not have to meet everypony in town, but at the same time frustrated she had to wake up early to begin with.
“You can still do it Starlight,” Twilight replied. “Spike knows what to do, he’ll help you out. After today, your lessons can be in the mornings and I’ll teach Nick in the afternoons.”
Not quite happy with that answer, Starlight nodded and left with Spike. “Now that that’s settled, you can follow me to my castle. We’ll start your lessons there. Do the rest of you mind telling everypony that the situation is under control?”
Her friends nodded. “Perfect. I’ll tell you what Princess Celestia tells me when she writes back.”
The group dispersed, leaving Twilight and Nick alone. “Alright, now if you’ll follow me, uh…”
“Nick,” the wolf replied. “Lead the way princess.”
“Nick,” Twilight said to herself. Such an odd name. Maybe that’s more common for wolves. Deciding she would have plenty of time to ask questions later, she led him back to her castle.