Lonely Stalion Saga: from Everfreeby ShiroKusakabeChaptersThe Black FoalWalking BushesLightshowNew WorkThe Black FoalThe sun rose that morning, at the exact same hour that it raised every morning, and like every morning, its beams filtered through the cracks in the stone walls, shining directly on his eyes. “One of these days” Groaned Nightstar, promising himself that he would stuff the cracks, just to leave that work aside every day, Nighstar’s old castle main room wasn’t exactly well made, it was after all the very first room that he built back when he was just a foal, back when he just reached ponyville. He was still scared of the other ponies and found hard to trust them, so he chose one isolated corner, almost inside the eveerfree forest but not quite there to put his new home, and carried boulders during 2 days of no sleep just so he could be sure that he would safe, he was still scared about what happened back home, and wouldn’t be able to sleep other way. At the very beginning it was nothing more than a room that looked like it could collapse anytime, with a roof made of hay, but he though it could resist anything. Soon he discovered that maybe it could stop a manticore, but not the cold wind of the night, but as long as he stuffed the many cracks with hay, it would warm up quickly. During years he kept building his home, little by little he became better at it, every room, with less cracks and sturdier looking. He eventually fixed very one of the cracks, but the ones of the bad built first room didn’t stay like that for many time, so he just gave up about it. By when he reached adulthood, he had built what could only be considered a castle, although a small one, but it wasn’t pretty looking, not at all, he never had a very good hand for making things pretty, he just made them work; that and the fact that it was kind of secluded were the reasons why not many ponies knew or care about “ponyville castle”, and even those who knew didn’t want to get close, mainly because of its grumpy owner. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nightstar started that morning in the same bad mood that he started every morning, after all, for someone different like him, everyday was kind of bothersome. He cleaned his teeth, had breakfast, put on his cape, and made sure that his small crown (that kind of looked like a tiara) looked good on him; many ponies thought that his crown looked pretentious and even kind of stupid, but he had a good reason for using it even while sleeping, it was the thing that he most valued in the world. After getting ready, he walked out of the door and started to make his way to ponyville. Nightstar was a young colt; he had, after all, reached adulthood very recently. His Fur was a very dark grey, with a dark blue mane; it was hard to see that it was not black unless it was a very sunny day, and he didn’t like to hang out outside on very sunny days, so it was very hard to tell. As Nighstar walked across the streets of ponyville a he saw a fast moving pink blob that before he could even make what it was, was already inside his personal space. “hiya star!” said pinkie pie with a really wide smile “hadn’t see you in the whole week” “Well, I didn’t have a reason to come here in the whole week. By the way, any news that I should know?” answered the slightly Nightstar. “Umm… nope, nothing new, except rarity’s new collection! Oh, and I just invented a new kind of cupcake! Spicy banana cupcake! Want to try it?” “n-no thanks, I don’t like spicy things” “Okay then!, want any other kind then?” “Not right now, see you later” “Okay dokie lokie!” said pinkie pie before going away bouncing. “Always full of energy, uh?” murmured Nightstar, with a little smile. Pinkie pie presumed to be friends with everypony on ponyville, which of course included the solitary stallion. Nightstar on the other hand, had a very short list of three ponies that he considered “friends”, but pinkie had against all chances forced her way in there. Maybe it was all that happiness that she overflowed, to the point of being contagious, or the fact that she wasn’t your everyday pony; but even Nightstar became prey to her friendship charm, but that wasn’t enough to break the shell around Nightstar’s hearth. Nightstar went on with the things he had to do: returning some books to the library, buying some food, and a last stop in sugar cube corner for supplying sugary needs, after waving goodbye to pinkie pie, Nightstar started his way home, but on the way he saw something that picked up his attention. “Blank flank! Blank flank! No talent, just blank flank!” singed annoyingly two little fillies while picking on another and jumping around her. “Oh would ya just drop it already!” Yelled an annoyed Applebloom, but the other 2 fillies just wouldn’t stop their singing. “So, why is so funny being a blank flank?” The 2 fillies were startled by the last voice that they expected to hear. “Well, obviously because it means that you have no talent, you re’ a good for nothing!” answered tiara after recovering. “I see you got a tiara as cutie mark, care to explain what amazing talent that could be?” “It means, of course, that my special talent is looking good with jewelry” said proudly tiara. “… That’s the single most stupid thing that I have ever heard” was Nightstar unsympathetic answer. Diamond tiara looked back with indignation and Silver spoon was very surprised by Nightstar’s answer. “Now go away before I get angry” said Nightstar, and while diamond tiara prepared for a response, Nightstar gave them a menacing look that quickly send her and silver spoon running away. Applebloom saw happily the two scared fillies run away, but was quickly startled when Nighstar turned his head to her, Aplebloom froze; she had found scary that look that Nightstar gave to diamond tiara too, and was still a little scared. Nightstar noted her reaction, and just looked away and continued his way without saying another word. Aplebloom quickly recovered and ran in Nightstar’s direction. “Thanks” said Aplebloom. Nighstar stopped a moment and looked back… but said nothing and continued walking. Aplebloom hurried to his side. “Umm, I think I don’t know you, what is your name” “Nightstar” answered him without even looking at her. “Nighstar, uh? Are you new in here?” “I have been living here before you were even born, kid” “Then why I haven’t seen you before?” “I don’t know… do you also know everypony in here or what?” “Umm… no but I think that I would remember if I had see you before” “Well, that’s none of my business, now go back to do whatever you were doing before those fillies came” “What is your special talent?” Nightstar suddenly stopped and his expression became darker. “That’s… none of your business” said Nightstar before walking away. “His Talent Must be something worth of being kept secret… I must know what it is!” Though to herself Aplebloom, while she saw Nightstar walking away. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “So… why did you call us?” Said an impatient Scootaloo. “Because I know what to try next” “C’mon, tell us!” “Today we will be… Cutie Mark Crusaders Spies! Yay!” “AWESOME!” Walking Bushes“Ignore them Nightstar… just… just ignore them and they will get bored and go away” thought Nightstar in an effort to drive his mind away from the legged bush that kept following around. He had already hiding and suddenly running, but wherever he went the legged bush found him. The most annoying thing was that the bush became painfully obvious while it quickly chased him through the streets of ponyville. It was already getting on Nightstar nerves, but he didn’t want to make scene, even when he was arguably making one already as everypony saw him running away from a bush. “Seriously, can’t they even make a little effort?” though a seriously annoyed (and a little nervous) Nightstar “this has to stop now”. Nightstar was tired and ready to up the ante, so his horn started to charge and before you could say “muffin” he transported all the way from the plaza to the library. “Ha! That’ll teach them” Said proudly Nightstar. “Teach who?” Nightstar quickly turned around to see a purple unicorn standing in front of him. “Uhm, Nobody, Twilight. By the Way, did you found what I asked for?” “You asked for it just thirty minutes ago, but yes, I already found it, I was going to your home to give it to you” said Twilight while taking out a book from her saddlebag. “Thank you very mu… Oh! You got to be kidding me!” Yelled Nighstar when he saw the legged bush getting closer. “Sorry, What?” Answered Twilight. “Gotta go” Said the black unicorn grabbing the book just before sprinting to the opposite direction and leaving a dumfounded Twilight. The bush quickly caught up to him, and engaged once again on a pursuit through the streets of Ponyville. Nighstar’s horn shined once again, and once again he vanished, this time all the way to the front of his home. “Alright, there’s no way they followed me this ti… OH C’MON!” Nighstar Reaction was completely natural, given the fact that when he turned around. He saw a bush briefly walk just before staying still. “Let’s put an end to this” said Nighstar while heading to the unmoving bush. “Think he saw us?” “Nah, no way! We are masters of this spying thing” answered Scootaloo to Sweetie Belle, Just before a magic field took up the bush, leaving them exposed. “uhm… hi!” Said Aplebloom upon being found out, making a nervous grin at the same time that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “You! Why the hay are you following me around?!” “Sorry mister, but I really really wanted to know what kind of talent would have such an amazing pony” Nightstar’s angry expression suddenly softened and turned confused. Flattering? Admiration? Nobody had ever expressed that to him, not since he reached ponyville at least. “All of this is just because I putted on her place that spoiled filly? Cause I don’t see that as enough reason for stalking” Finally answered Nightstar. “Hey! It’s not stalking! Is spying” replied Scootaloo. “Well, that was amazing, but we had already seen what you did with the lightning before, and we thought that it was amazing! But nopony wanted to tell us where you lived, and I never saw you around” said Aplebloom. “You said that you never had seen me before” answered Nightstar “uhm, I lied” said Aplebloom just before putting on another innocent grin. Nightstar put on a look like he was just told a bad joke, and then he realized the fact that these fillies had already discovered his experimental spells. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From a long time ago Nightstar had been fascinated by the lightning that formed with each storm, and has started to research all kind of spells related to lightning during the night. He became able command lightning to fall down from any cloud, but that was just the beginning of his experiments; He researched all kind of possible uses for the lightning, including lighting, defense, and even cooking. His experiment reached their high point when he developed a spell for a lightning armor and another for lightning wings. At the beginning they seemed like good ideas, but no matter what he did, they resulted impractical at best and simply disastrous at worst. The Lightning armor seemed like a perfect protection, physical and magical alike, but it required a high level of focus to keep it on, it was unusable on any flammable surface, and whenever it went off, which could happen with the smallest lost of focus, it shot lightning everywhere. The lightning wings seemed like a huge improvement on the spell for those fragile glitter wings, they weren`t totally physical, which made them almost indestructible, and were capable of taking any kind of pony to an insane speed; but, like with the armor, there were problems too big to be ignored; The Wings had the instability characteristic of the lightning, and with them you moved like one, which meant that at best you move on an awkward zigzagging, and at worst you had no control whatsoever of where you were going; on top of that, it was really hard to stay still. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Mr. Star, are you ok?” Sweetie Belle’s voice made Nightstar come out of his deep thinking “You went out for a while, are you alright?” said Scootaloo. “Uhm, oh, yeah, I just was… thinking” replied Nightstar “By the way, why are you still here?” “Pftt... Because we wanted to know if you have some cool talent related to lightning or something, remember” answered a bored Scootaloo. “Yeah… no. now go. Away.” “We ain’t going anywhere until you spill the beans, what’s the problem rith talking about your talent” was Scootaloo answer “Argh, fine, here’s the deal, I will show you tonight how much I can do with lightning and you leave me alone, is that alright?” “Really? But remember, if you don’t we will be behind you until we know” said Aplebloom with a smile “Yeah, alright, alright, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye” “Was… was that a pinkie promise?” said a surprised sweetie belle. “We got a deal, go away, now!” “Fine, but remember, nobody breaks a pinkie promise” said sweetie belle while leaving with her friends. Nightstar got inside his home, breathed relieved, emptied his saddlebag on a table, and then thought about the three little fillies. “Just what I got myself into?” LightshowNightstar took the food from the table and went to the kitchen, when the voice of a certain gray pegasi greeted him. “Welcome Nightstar! I emptied your fridge” Nightstar let out a groan “How did you get inside, Derpy?” “Through the new window” Derpy said while eating the last muffin. “The what?” Nightstar eyes suddenly got wide, he had a bad feeling about this, so he ran upstairs and to his disgrace he found exactly what he didn’t want, gaping hole in the wall. Nightstar went down the stairs, with an almost grievous face, just to be greeted downstairs by another uninvited guest. “Hi, star! What’s up?” “Just how did you get inside?” “Derpy let me in” “Figures” Lyra was there too, sitting in an awkward position like usual. “So, what do you want?” Asked a deadpanning Nightstar. “Oh yeah, I came to return this” Lyra handed over a really old looking book to Nightstar “It was kind of weird, some of the things that were in it didn’t make too much sense, even though a lot of pages are lost, many of the things that we are supposed to already know are described very differently than what you would expect” Nightstar relaxed but got a bit serious upon subject “Yeah, it puzzles me too, I’m sure that if I found a more complete copy I would be able to make sense of some things… or maybe it would get just more confusing” “Well, let’s change the subject; are you really going to make a whole show for those fillies? Cause that would be really sweet of you” “SHUT UP! And don’t tell anypony! ANYPONY!” “Geez, what’s up with that mood? Though I'm surprised you haven’t kicked Derpy out yet” “I guess I'm just tired” “Tired? But it’s barely Noon!” “You'd be tired if a walking bush had chased you all the morning… while you were carrying food and a book” Suddenly, Derpy came out of the kitchen after finishing with the fridge “Did you say something about a show?” “*sigh* This is not my day” Murmured Nightstar. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Alright Derpy remember, you can come tonight but don’t tell anypony” “You can trust me star! I won’t tell anypony!” With those words Derpy flew away, leaving a very worried Nightstar. He didn’t really trust her, it wasn’t that she meant bad, but her memory wasn’t the most trustworthy thing. Then, just moments after disappearing on the horizon, the gray pegasi came back, Nightstar didn’t look surprised. “…” “Oh! Yeah! Here you go!” Derpy handed over to Nightstar a bunch of letters. “… Don’t tell anypony” And so, the gray pegasi flew away again. “Geez, she’s such a featherhead, it still amazes me the fact that she never mixes up the mail… even though she mixes up many other things” “Well, let her be, but you should trust her a bit more, that’s what friends do” Said Lyra while walking away. “Friends… I wonder about that” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Night fell and suddenly three different screams of mild pain started to sound outside. Nightstar thought that it was strange, so he went outside to check it out, and upon opening the door he was surprised to see three little fillies that he recognized each being pecked in the head by a crow. “Andrew, Robert, Dante, stop, they are my… guests I guess” upon hearing Nighstars voice the three crows stopped pecking the heads of the fillies and flew up to the lone tower of the castle while the three fillies rubbed their hurt heads. “Are… are those your pets?” asked Applebloom. “You really should teach them better” complained Scootaloo “Owowowowow” whined Sweetie Belle. “Kind of, I feed them and all, but they come and go as they please and I let them do so, it was three weeks ago the last time I saw them, and they are vey distrustful of strangers mainly because not many ponies come by” replied Nightstar. “Good Evening Nightstar” Lyra said as she approached. “Hey 'Star!” Said Derpy just before crashing into the wall, making another hole close to the one that Nightstar had repaired that afternoon. “I made sure that those walls could resist the attack of a manticore at least, I just don’t understand how can she break through them so easily without even hurting herself” “My bad!” “*sigh*” “Umm… I brought snacks” said Lyra. “Me too” Sweetie Belle added. “Let’s just get this over with" Nighstar said while showing a tired face. “Alright Mr. Star! Show us you’re Talent” replied Applebloom. Nightstar move away from the girls while they all (including a slightly concussed Derpy) sat closer together and looked at him. Nightstar closed his eyes and his horn started to glow, weakly at the start but slowly gaining strength. While his horn glowed, clouds started to gather on top of him in a spiral shape while turning gray; some clouds were attracted from the skies of Ponyville, and more came from the near Everfree Forest, eventually others seemed to come from thin air. While the clouds gathered the three crows flew from the roof of the small castle and settled on the heads of Lyra, Applebloom and Derpy. Lyra got a little nervous, Applebloom was paralyzed, afraid that the slightest bit of movement could unleash another rain of pecks, while Scootaloo and Sweetie belle moved away from Applebloom once the crow landed, Derpy didn’t seem notice. When enough clouds had been organized in a spiral pattern over Nightstar’s head, he opened his eyes and his horn stopped shining. Moments later, Nightstar’s body tensed and his horn suddenly glowed brighter than before, lightning fell from the sky hitting close to him. Then another and another one, suddenly there was Lightning falling all around. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were very scared, but excited at the same time; Lyra, and the crows, who had witnessed this before, were more relaxed, but still pretty scared; Derpy seemed very excited but didn’t show any sign of fear whatsoever. As the lightning and bolts fell down in a huge amount, the patron in which they felt started to look less random and more like it was tracing some kind of pattern. Then, the lightning stopped falling down and became considerably less intense, but now instead of falling down the now smaller bolts traced all kinds of patterns against the sky before going back to the clouds. Finally, the lightning stopped and the clouds started to disperse and dissolve, but just when it seemed like it was over, a last bolt surged from a cloud; but this bolt wasn’t like the others, it didn’t even look like lightning, it just stopped midair and it looked like it was an orb of light. The small group watching were simply amazed. Nightstar then brought it closer and spoke “This is a lightning ring, a really rare and almost never witnessed phenomena that seems to disobey the usual behavior of lightning” “Y-you didn’t do this when you showed me the whole lightning thing” said a Lyra that couldn’t believe what was seeing, even though the lightning ring was very small compared to the powerful bolts that rained down a few minutes ago, it was definitely more impressive, and beautiful. “I perfected the spell it not much ago, it is much harder to make than regular lightning and requires a more precise control, because it is NOT like regular lightning” replied Nightstar with an uncommon smile, a smile that showed pride. “It’s so… shiny…” said Derpy while her eyes lined up, like they do once a while, and focused on the lightning ring. “So what do you think, kids?” said Nightstar proudly and with a bit of undeniable happiness. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Applebloom just stared at it, speechless. Finally, Applebloom spoke: “This. Is. AMAZING!” Nightstar smiled once again; after all, even if he didn’t want to admit it, it made him happy to receive some honest praise. But while everyone was distracted, Derpy got closer and closer to the ring… “Derpy! No! Don’t touch it!” But it was already too late, as soon as a corner of Derpy’s hoof touched the ring, it dissolved and became a regular but powerful lightning that rant trough her body straight to the ground. Derpy fell unconscious. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Aww… my heaaaad” “Derpy! Thanks to Celestia that you are awake” Said Lyra, while everypony gathered around. As Derpy looked around she noticed that now she was in a bed, inside Nightstar’s castle. After the accident, Nightstar and Lyra checked her pulse and breath, She was still breathing and her pulse seemed normal, that, together with the fact that Derpy usually went through all kind of mishaps without doing herself any true damage, leaded Nighstar and Lyra to decide to carry her inside and watch her, instead of carry her all the way to Ponyville hospital which was in the opposite side of the town. “I will bring some water” Said Nightstar, he wasn’t used to take care of anyone and the whole situation had got him pretty worked up. He went downstairs and didn’t notice that Applebloom followed him there. After taking a glass of water Nightstar sighed, trying to relax, it was already pretty late and the night still didn’t seem to be over. “Hey” Applebloom spoke; Nightstar hadn’t yet noticed her and let out a small scream. “Ah, uh? Oh, it’s you kid, what do you want?” said Nightstar slightly annoyed. “My name is not “kid” is Applebloom” “Well, “Applebloom”, what do you want?” “Thanks alot for today” Applebloom answer took him by surprise, he wasn’t able to come up with an answer so he just remained silent and looked down, he grabbed the glass of water and went upstairs, leaving Applebloom alone in the kitchen. Applebloom wondered if she made him angry. When Nightstar got upstairs the scene looked exactly like when he left, Derpy was in bed, making a weird face while Lyra, Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle took care of her and talked. Then, Lyra spoke “Maybe she should spent the night here, I’m sure is nothing serious but it’s not a good idea to sent her home like this, and it's pretty late already. Girls why don’t you spent the night here? Nightstar has another two rooms and both have a double-bed” “What?! But, but…” Lyra gave Nightstar a look like that of a mother scolding a child. “Fine…” said Nightstar with a expression that denoted annoyance and discomfort “Now hear me girls, you room is the one in the tower, just take the stairs, Lyra since you were the one who came up with the idea, you will sleep here with Derpy” “That’s alright; I was going to take care of her tonight anyway” Nightstar leaved the room and went downstairs, to the "summer” room and after wrapping himself in the sheets, he soon fell asleep. New WorkOnce again the sun rose, but the direct light didn’t pass through the cracks, as Nightstar had repaired them last afternoon. What woke him up instead was the noise coming from the kitchen and the dining room. He was a bit annoyed by it, but inside it gave him a good, familiar feeling; it remembered him of back when he lived with his family, the family that he would never see ever again… “Crash!” The sound of a dish breaking made Nightstar come back to himself, now annoyed for real. He got out of the bed, and quickly put on his coat, still, making sure that it was properly putted, and then he slammed the door open. “What’s going on?” Said Nightstar with a slightly angry face. “Sorry, we were making sum breakfast, but Derpy tried to help” Answered Aplebloom “Sorry, My bad” Said derpy while standing next to a broken dish with a unfocused look, but with true regret. Meanwhile Lyra came inside the dining room again while holding a broom and a small shovel. “Did we wake you up? Sorry for the dish, but you already should know” Said Lyra, while cleaning out the broken pieces the dish. Nightstar let out a groan, followed by sigh. “Yeah, I think I can figure out what happened” he said while giving a quick look to Derpy, Derpy just smiled awkwardly while blushing. “What’s for breakfast anyway?” asked Nightstar. “Oh! We got Hotcakes!”Quickly replied Sweetie Belle. Nightstar didn’t say anything. “Oh C’mon! We are making you breakfast! You could say thanks, or at least put on a good face” said Lyra nagging at Nightstar. “You are eating my food, you know that I don`t have too much money, I can barely maintain myself” replied Nightstar in bad mood. “You live in a castle! You surely can be that broke if you had once money for buying a castle!” said Scootaloo. “I built this castle myself stone by stone, I never had too much money, I had to use mainly whatever I could get for free” “You seriously made this castle all by yourself?! That’s simply awesome! You gotta tell us about that!” “I built it carrying the stones with magic from not that far away since I was foal, end.” “C’mon! you have to tell us more!” “No, I don’t have to, the deal was that I showed you my abilities and then you would leave me alone” “I don’t remember saying that, I don’t think anyone of us said that” Nightstar gave Scootaloo a menacing look, one that was very scary, although not as bad as the one that he gave to Diamond Tiara before, Scotaloo was left shivering slightly, while Nightstar just went to take a couple of hotcakes form the kitchen. “Was that what you talked about?” said an still slightly scared Scotaloo “Yep, I wonder if Fluttershy and he learned it from the same place” replied Aplebloom. While Nightstar carried his dish to the table, Sweetie Belle approached him with a book on her hooves; Nightstar’s pupils shrunk when he noticed which book was. It was the one that he had taken fomr the library yesterday, the one that he didn’t want anyone but twilight (and just because it was inevitable) to know that he had in his possession, It was… “All about Cutie marks… could we please borrow it?” Said Sweetie Belle while putting on the cutest smile that she could. “No way!” Said Nightstar while levitating the book away from Sweetie Belle. “But, it’s just what we are looking for! We neeeeeed it, So pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaseeeeeeeee” Said Sweetie Belle, trying her best to convince him. “No, also, I borrowed it from the library, I just can’t hand it over to anyone” Replied Nightstar. “You borrowed it from the library? What for?” asked Sweetie Belle. “I, uh, got a job related to it” “A job? What’s your job anyway?” “Umm, I make private investigations, look, aren’t you supposed to be in school already anyway?” Sweetie Belle gasped “it’s true! Girls! We are gonna be late!” The three foals finished eating as fast they could, said good bye and went away running, due to the fact that school was going to start in the next five minutes, and Nightstar’s castle was like ten minutes away from it, they better hurried. Nightstar saw with a little smile the foals, running to their school. “Admit it. You Enjoyed it too” The words of Lyra pierced through Nightstar ears; it was really hard to admit, but he had indeed enjoyed last night; and even though he wouldn’t be able to take it if he had to go through it every day, he liked something about that chaotic breakfast; maybe this it was how it feels to have a family, he couldn’t know, he leaved his own family too long ago. “Nightstar, Nightstar!” yelled Lyra. “Eh, uh, What?” “You are dozing off again” “Sorry. What were you saying again?” “I was saying that you definitely enjoyed last night” Nighstar expression changed, he tensed up after hearing Lyra. “Im not going to lie; I did enjoy last night, although I can’t say the same from this morning” Lyra laughed, and Derpy smiled, her smile looking very wise even with the derpinf eyes. You could tell just by looking that a happy memory had popped on her mind; which one though, remained a mistery. After finishing the Breakfast, Nighstar Waved good bye to Lyra and Derpy; the light discussion that they had about last night had somehow made Nightstar relaxed instead of angry, and on top of that, it had made Nighstar smile. Nightstar still had that look of Relaxation on his face. While waving goodbye, Derpy noticed it, and she started to think about it. Nightstar didn’t smile very often, actually, seeing he smile more than once a day was very rare, and yet, he had a smile that just wouldn’t vanish in this moment. Finally, a idea popped on her brain; she might not be the smartest pony on the herd, but she knowed jus what had made Nightstar smile on the first place, and she was decided to make it part of his life. When the Gray pegasus stopped to think, and then turned back in Nightstar’s direction, Nightstar relaxed look started to become one of worry. He didn’t know what she could have in mind now, but it probably wasn’t something good. When Derpy approached him and started to tell him something, his look started to change slowly from worry to sheer incrudelity. “What?! No way! You can’t be serious!” “Please, I know it would be really good to you” “I’m all grown up, I think I know what’s good for me and that couldn’t possibly be good” “Just trust me in this one, I promise you that everything will be ok” Nightstar looked dierectly to Derpy’s unaligned, begging eyes, if those were the eyes of a random pony, he would get rid of them trough bucking if it was necessary; but those were still the eyes that he owed most, he couldn’ just say no. “I promise” said Derpy again, while letting out a weak smile. “Fine” Said Nightstar after giving up “I will do it. But only if they agree by THEMSELVES and you definitely can’t encourage them. “YAAAAAY” cheered up Derpy “You won’t regret it” Said while flying close to Lyra. “What was that about?” Asked Lyra to Derpy “I told him that he should take care of those fillies more often, and help them get their cutie marks; everypony know these fillies, their families could definitely use a hoof in taking care of them, and Nightstar could definitely use the extra money, and also it would be really good for him” replied Derpy WHAT?! You can’t be serious!” said a surprised Lyra “Yep, I’m totally serious” Said Derpy closing her eyes, crossing her front hooves and putting a prideful smile “It would be really good for him” “Nightstar can’t stand a regular mare, or stallion, or anypony, how is he going to take care of those three overactive fillies?!” “Believe me, it will be ok” “I really hope so; I don’t want to see “Stallion beheads three little fillies” on the headlines of the papers” “Oh c’mon, Nightstar might be the grumpiest grumpy, but he wouldn’t hurt anypony; and if my plan goes well, he will stop being so grumpy soon” said Derpy, before finally flying away with a smile, sure that she had one of the brighthiests plans of her life. “Oh for Celestia! I gotta make sure that those fillies don’t try to come back here” Lyra took up quickly to the town. Maybe she couldn’t change Derpy’s mind, and Nightstar would never retreat from a deal, especially one with Derpy of all ponies, but she still could discourage the CMC from even trying to come back to Nightstar’s castle, and it shouldn’t even be hard! After all, not many ponis would want to spend time with Nightstar, why would they? Maybe she didn’t even need to do anything. These thoughts made Lyra’s worries vanish while she approached the school; then it hit her, it didn’t make any sense for her to come here yet; the kids wouldn’t go out at least until 3:00 pm, and it was barely 10:00 am, she wouldn’t even be able to talk them until them. “Lyra? What are you doing? I thought that you would be home by now” Lyra’s thoughts were interrupted by her friend and roommate, Bon-Bon. Lyra wasn’t sure how to respond, she hadn’t take her in consideration for her plans, or anypony else for that matter. “Uh, oh, I’m… seeing the kids learn; yeah, isn’t it great how the future is being raised behind these walls” “You are acting weird… more than usual” Lyra let out a nervous smile. “Anyway, how was it?” “How was what?” Bon-Bon deadpanned. “The… whatever you were going to do with that Nightstar Guy” “Oh! That! Yeah, it was pretty good” replied Lyra while still smiling nervously. Bon-Bon looked at her suspiciously, like she definitely knew that something was up with Lyra, but she couldn’t put her hoof on what could it be. “Anyway, why won’t you come with me?” said Bon-Bon “I have some errands to do, and you could definitely give me a hoof… or a hand, like you say” “Uh, why don’t I better wait here?” Bon-Bon deadpanned and rolled her eyes “… No, you definitely are coming with me, now!” Bon-Bon carried away Lyra while she resisted, but not too much though, she couldn’t let Bon-Bon know what she was up to, or Bon-Bon would accuse her of being childish, just to begin. Maybe if she helped her, Bon-bon would let her go before the kids go out, so she stopped resisting and started to try to get done with her errands as soon as possible. Derpy flied happily across the town, she was sure that with this she would be able to finally “help” Nightstar; maybe Nightstar would always say otherwise, but he needed help, and she was the only one that knew, but Nightstar would never let her help him. But, this way, she wouldn’t be the one to help him, at least not directly, so maybe Nightstar wouldn’t put as much resistence and… -Dunk!- The sound of Derpy’s head and, well, the rest of her body, hitting against ponyville’s clocktower was very strong, it seemed like finally one of Derpy’s “favorite” spots to hit against had been reinforced, so for the first time Derpy suffered more damage than the tower, which by the way, came out undamaged. “Ugh! That sure hurt! Derpy, ya ok?” Applejack was the first to help Derpy out, followed by Rarity, who was with her. “My, my! You should definitely be more careful while you fly” said Rarity. “Or, ya know, at least do it whit yer eyes open” added Applejack. “Sorry, My bad” replied Derpy while Applejack and Rarity helped her get up. “Very well, take care dear” said Rarity before walking away “Yeah, don’t cha go crashing with more buildings, ya can’t hurt yourself, or the buildings” added Applejack “Thanks, I’ll be more careful” replied Derpy. She started to walk the opposite way, when it hit her (figuratively) she was precisely looking for them! Derpy turned back and ran to them. Rarity turned around and saw her coming and tried to evade the upcoming disaster… “Watch oooooo….” Derpy crashed against them, and the three fell to the ground in a small heap of pony. “I guess I forgot to tell ya, but try to not Crash into ponies either” said Applejack while Derpy and Rarity were over her. “Heh heh, Sorry, again” replied Derpy “My haaaaaair!!!” Screamed Rarity after noticing that her hair was a mess and was covered with dirt “I’m going to have to go to the Spa, I need an emergency hair treatment, if you excuse me” “Well, Derpy, did ya need anything” asked Applejack. “No… I mean, yes! I need to talk with you two about something” Applejack and Rarity exchanged a puzzled look, what could Derpy what from both of them? “Well, if we can help you with anything, then, by all means, just ask us” said Rarity. “You know, your little sisters are always getting in trouble, don’t they?” said Derpy with a misleading smile. “Yeah, they re, even when I would prefer to not admit it” Said Applejack. “Why? Did they do something?” asked Rarity. “Oh, no, no; they haven’t done anything, yet” replied Derpy still with the same weird expression “But, wouldn’t you want sometimes that there was somepony that could keep an eye on them? Just to make sure?” “Are you saying that we should get them a babysitter” replied a slightly irritated Applejack. “Oh, no, no! not a babysitter, but more like a… mmm… umm….” “A chaperone?” said Rarity. “Yeah! That! A chaperoni!” replied quickly Derpy. “And I know the perfect pony for the job!” said Derpy with a prideful smile. Applejack replied “You? Don’t take offense, but are you sure that you can…” “No! no, no, no! not me! I already got a job! I mean my good friend Nightstar, the poor guy has been jobless for quite a while, and I just know that he is perfect for this!” “Nightstar? Nightstar… Nightstar… who is him?” asked Applejack “You know, black coat, blue mane, lives in a castle…” replied Derpy “Him? I’m not sure…” “Well, in what concerns me, I’ll always thank some help with Sweetie Belle, She’s too overactive and I’m a busy mare, although I don’t think that concerns to me, you should go talk to my parents” said Rarity. “So it’s a yes?” asked Derpy expectanctly. “Are you sure he’s good at this?” asked Applejack. “Believe, he’s peeeerfect” replied Derpy. “Weeeeell…” said Applejack doubtful “Did I mention that it will be very cheap? Only 2 bits the hour, less than half than anyone else!” added Derpy “and also, he’s available the whole day”. “Well, that IS cheap, and if somepony is willing to take care of them by just that, then he must definitely need the money. Alright, I accept” said Applejack. “Mmm… I guess that it would be good to have someone have Sweetie Belle behave a little, if she wants to grow up to be a proper lady; im in too” added Rarity. “YES! Now I only have to talk to Scootaloo’s mom” said Derpy excitedly before flying away. Seconds later, she came back “you don’t happen to know who is she or where she lives do you?” “Alright! Thanks Lyra, you were very helpful, see you later” Bon-Bon waved good-bye, while Lyra hurried back to the school. Bon-Bon had a lot of errands, much more than Lyra thought or wanted, and it had taken quite a while to complete them all; when they were over, School was too. Lyra was hoping that they were still around the school, because if they weren’t, she didn’t have many chances of finding them before Derpy or Nightstar. By now Nightstar was probably out in Ponyville, wandering and looking for Derpy and/or the girls to see if he had to take the job after all; and Derpy… she could be very clumsy, but she still could Fly, which gave her an enormous advantage in finding them. If she didn’t gave reasons to the girls themselves to be against this, who knew what would happen, what was sure was that Nightstar wouldn’t be able to the stand the fillies too much time, and who knew what would happen them. She reached the school, and what a good luck! The girls were still there, talking about something, but that didn’t concern Lyra. “So, I think it’s actually…” “Hi Girls! How are you doing?” Lyra interrupted Aplebloom. “Umm… Hi miss Lyra! How are you?” greeted Aplebloom “I’m fine, thanks; I was thinking what you thought of Nightstar?” replied Lyra “Well, he was… umm…” “Wasn’t he scary?” “I guess, you could say so” “He knows how to scare just by with a look” added Lyra “Yeah, I kind of had realized” said Scootaloo. “But that’s not all, oh no, he has literally raised crows!” said Lyra in a bad attempt to spook the girls. “Yeah, my head still remember the pecks” replied Sweetie Belle. “But that’s actually nothing; you don’t want to know what he keeps on his basement…” “Hi Girls! I was looking for you!” The Voice of Derpy surprised Lyra, who both metaphorically and literally bit her tongue. “Hey! Hey! You won’t know just what I did” The three fillies just gave a puzzled look. “You are going to have a new chaperone!” said Derpy very excitedly. “What?” said Scootaloo who still didn’t understand. “I think she means Chaperone, it’s like a foalsitter” cleared Sweetie Belle. “What?! We don’t need a foalsitter!” exclaimed Scootaloo. “But that’s not the best part! You will never guess who is going to be your choperoni!” Said Derpy. Sweetie Belle and Aplebloom gave a puzzled look; Scotaloo deadpanned and arched an eyebrow. “Who?” She finally spouted. “That would be me” Said Nightstar with his typical expression, while joining the group. Nightstar arrive meant that it was already too late for Lyra to do anything, she could only see if her attempts to discourage the CMC had paid off. “Well, that’s surprising” said Sweetie Belle. Aplebloom and Scootaloo just stayed there, their eyes wide open, like trying to process it. Finally Aplebloom spoke “That would be… cool”. Upon hearing that last word, Lyra realized that her plan had failed. Then she realized that she looked at Nightstar, whose expression was very neutral and even a bit relaxed, like he didn’t mind after all, and realized that she had gotten worked up for anything; after all, what was the worst that could happen? Nightstar wasn’t that bad indeed, if he wasn’t able to take care of them after all, he would just not take care of them again after that day and that was it. Lyra felt like a fool for her stupid plan to stop Derpy’s weird plan. “So when do you start?” asked Aplebloom to Nightstar. “Right away, I think” “Cool! Let’s go!” said Aplebloom, while dragging away Nightstar and her friends. Derpy and Lyra stayed there, watching them walk away. Lyra looked at Nightstar expression, he didn’t look particularly happy, but neither he looked angry or anything; he just looked… neutral, and, for Nightstar, that was actyally a pretty good reaction to all this. “I told you that it would be alright” said Derpy, smiling. “Well, I guess that you were right” replied Lyra, while giving another smile and Watching Nightstar walk away with the three fillies. Meanwhile, Nightstar walked with the three excited fillies that jumped around him. “So, what are we going to do?” Said Aplebloom “I don’t know, what do you want to do? I’m a chaperone, not a foalsitter, so, for what I know, I’m just supposed to follow you around and make sure you don’t do anything dangerous or bad or, you know, that kind of stuff. And while weare on the subject, while there are obviously other rules that you kind of know already, in what respects to me, there are three rules: 1)We don’t talk about my past before I moved to ponyville 2)we don’t talk about my talent…” in that moment, Sweetie Belle raised her hoof “…and three, you can’t ask “why?” about rules 1 and 2” Sweetie Belle putted her hoof down. “Can we go to your castle?” asked Aplebloom. “I guess, but why?” replied Nightstar “Well, we want to see what is that you have on your basement that Lyra was talking about…”
The Black FoalThe sun rose that morning, at the exact same hour that it raised every morning, and like every morning, its beams filtered through the cracks in the stone walls, shining directly on his eyes. “One of these days” Groaned Nightstar, promising himself that he would stuff the cracks, just to leave that work aside every day, Nighstar’s old castle main room wasn’t exactly well made, it was after all the very first room that he built back when he was just a foal, back when he just reached ponyville. He was still scared of the other ponies and found hard to trust them, so he chose one isolated corner, almost inside the eveerfree forest but not quite there to put his new home, and carried boulders during 2 days of no sleep just so he could be sure that he would safe, he was still scared about what happened back home, and wouldn’t be able to sleep other way. At the very beginning it was nothing more than a room that looked like it could collapse anytime, with a roof made of hay, but he though it could resist anything. Soon he discovered that maybe it could stop a manticore, but not the cold wind of the night, but as long as he stuffed the many cracks with hay, it would warm up quickly. During years he kept building his home, little by little he became better at it, every room, with less cracks and sturdier looking. He eventually fixed very one of the cracks, but the ones of the bad built first room didn’t stay like that for many time, so he just gave up about it. By when he reached adulthood, he had built what could only be considered a castle, although a small one, but it wasn’t pretty looking, not at all, he never had a very good hand for making things pretty, he just made them work; that and the fact that it was kind of secluded were the reasons why not many ponies knew or care about “ponyville castle”, and even those who knew didn’t want to get close, mainly because of its grumpy owner. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nightstar started that morning in the same bad mood that he started every morning, after all, for someone different like him, everyday was kind of bothersome. He cleaned his teeth, had breakfast, put on his cape, and made sure that his small crown (that kind of looked like a tiara) looked good on him; many ponies thought that his crown looked pretentious and even kind of stupid, but he had a good reason for using it even while sleeping, it was the thing that he most valued in the world. After getting ready, he walked out of the door and started to make his way to ponyville. Nightstar was a young colt; he had, after all, reached adulthood very recently. His Fur was a very dark grey, with a dark blue mane; it was hard to see that it was not black unless it was a very sunny day, and he didn’t like to hang out outside on very sunny days, so it was very hard to tell. As Nighstar walked across the streets of ponyville a he saw a fast moving pink blob that before he could even make what it was, was already inside his personal space. “hiya star!” said pinkie pie with a really wide smile “hadn’t see you in the whole week” “Well, I didn’t have a reason to come here in the whole week. By the way, any news that I should know?” answered the slightly Nightstar. “Umm… nope, nothing new, except rarity’s new collection! Oh, and I just invented a new kind of cupcake! Spicy banana cupcake! Want to try it?” “n-no thanks, I don’t like spicy things” “Okay then!, want any other kind then?” “Not right now, see you later” “Okay dokie lokie!” said pinkie pie before going away bouncing. “Always full of energy, uh?” murmured Nightstar, with a little smile. Pinkie pie presumed to be friends with everypony on ponyville, which of course included the solitary stallion. Nightstar on the other hand, had a very short list of three ponies that he considered “friends”, but pinkie had against all chances forced her way in there. Maybe it was all that happiness that she overflowed, to the point of being contagious, or the fact that she wasn’t your everyday pony; but even Nightstar became prey to her friendship charm, but that wasn’t enough to break the shell around Nightstar’s hearth. Nightstar went on with the things he had to do: returning some books to the library, buying some food, and a last stop in sugar cube corner for supplying sugary needs, after waving goodbye to pinkie pie, Nightstar started his way home, but on the way he saw something that picked up his attention. “Blank flank! Blank flank! No talent, just blank flank!” singed annoyingly two little fillies while picking on another and jumping around her. “Oh would ya just drop it already!” Yelled an annoyed Applebloom, but the other 2 fillies just wouldn’t stop their singing. “So, why is so funny being a blank flank?” The 2 fillies were startled by the last voice that they expected to hear. “Well, obviously because it means that you have no talent, you re’ a good for nothing!” answered tiara after recovering. “I see you got a tiara as cutie mark, care to explain what amazing talent that could be?” “It means, of course, that my special talent is looking good with jewelry” said proudly tiara. “… That’s the single most stupid thing that I have ever heard” was Nightstar unsympathetic answer. Diamond tiara looked back with indignation and Silver spoon was very surprised by Nightstar’s answer. “Now go away before I get angry” said Nightstar, and while diamond tiara prepared for a response, Nightstar gave them a menacing look that quickly send her and silver spoon running away. Applebloom saw happily the two scared fillies run away, but was quickly startled when Nighstar turned his head to her, Aplebloom froze; she had found scary that look that Nightstar gave to diamond tiara too, and was still a little scared. Nightstar noted her reaction, and just looked away and continued his way without saying another word. Aplebloom quickly recovered and ran in Nightstar’s direction. “Thanks” said Aplebloom. Nighstar stopped a moment and looked back… but said nothing and continued walking. Aplebloom hurried to his side. “Umm, I think I don’t know you, what is your name” “Nightstar” answered him without even looking at her. “Nighstar, uh? Are you new in here?” “I have been living here before you were even born, kid” “Then why I haven’t seen you before?” “I don’t know… do you also know everypony in here or what?” “Umm… no but I think that I would remember if I had see you before” “Well, that’s none of my business, now go back to do whatever you were doing before those fillies came” “What is your special talent?” Nightstar suddenly stopped and his expression became darker. “That’s… none of your business” said Nightstar before walking away. “His Talent Must be something worth of being kept secret… I must know what it is!” Though to herself Aplebloom, while she saw Nightstar walking away. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “So… why did you call us?” Said an impatient Scootaloo. “Because I know what to try next” “C’mon, tell us!” “Today we will be… Cutie Mark Crusaders Spies! Yay!” “AWESOME!”
Walking Bushes“Ignore them Nightstar… just… just ignore them and they will get bored and go away” thought Nightstar in an effort to drive his mind away from the legged bush that kept following around. He had already hiding and suddenly running, but wherever he went the legged bush found him. The most annoying thing was that the bush became painfully obvious while it quickly chased him through the streets of ponyville. It was already getting on Nightstar nerves, but he didn’t want to make scene, even when he was arguably making one already as everypony saw him running away from a bush. “Seriously, can’t they even make a little effort?” though a seriously annoyed (and a little nervous) Nightstar “this has to stop now”. Nightstar was tired and ready to up the ante, so his horn started to charge and before you could say “muffin” he transported all the way from the plaza to the library. “Ha! That’ll teach them” Said proudly Nightstar. “Teach who?” Nightstar quickly turned around to see a purple unicorn standing in front of him. “Uhm, Nobody, Twilight. By the Way, did you found what I asked for?” “You asked for it just thirty minutes ago, but yes, I already found it, I was going to your home to give it to you” said Twilight while taking out a book from her saddlebag. “Thank you very mu… Oh! You got to be kidding me!” Yelled Nighstar when he saw the legged bush getting closer. “Sorry, What?” Answered Twilight. “Gotta go” Said the black unicorn grabbing the book just before sprinting to the opposite direction and leaving a dumfounded Twilight. The bush quickly caught up to him, and engaged once again on a pursuit through the streets of Ponyville. Nighstar’s horn shined once again, and once again he vanished, this time all the way to the front of his home. “Alright, there’s no way they followed me this ti… OH C’MON!” Nighstar Reaction was completely natural, given the fact that when he turned around. He saw a bush briefly walk just before staying still. “Let’s put an end to this” said Nighstar while heading to the unmoving bush. “Think he saw us?” “Nah, no way! We are masters of this spying thing” answered Scootaloo to Sweetie Belle, Just before a magic field took up the bush, leaving them exposed. “uhm… hi!” Said Aplebloom upon being found out, making a nervous grin at the same time that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “You! Why the hay are you following me around?!” “Sorry mister, but I really really wanted to know what kind of talent would have such an amazing pony” Nightstar’s angry expression suddenly softened and turned confused. Flattering? Admiration? Nobody had ever expressed that to him, not since he reached ponyville at least. “All of this is just because I putted on her place that spoiled filly? Cause I don’t see that as enough reason for stalking” Finally answered Nightstar. “Hey! It’s not stalking! Is spying” replied Scootaloo. “Well, that was amazing, but we had already seen what you did with the lightning before, and we thought that it was amazing! But nopony wanted to tell us where you lived, and I never saw you around” said Aplebloom. “You said that you never had seen me before” answered Nightstar “uhm, I lied” said Aplebloom just before putting on another innocent grin. Nightstar put on a look like he was just told a bad joke, and then he realized the fact that these fillies had already discovered his experimental spells. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From a long time ago Nightstar had been fascinated by the lightning that formed with each storm, and has started to research all kind of spells related to lightning during the night. He became able command lightning to fall down from any cloud, but that was just the beginning of his experiments; He researched all kind of possible uses for the lightning, including lighting, defense, and even cooking. His experiment reached their high point when he developed a spell for a lightning armor and another for lightning wings. At the beginning they seemed like good ideas, but no matter what he did, they resulted impractical at best and simply disastrous at worst. The Lightning armor seemed like a perfect protection, physical and magical alike, but it required a high level of focus to keep it on, it was unusable on any flammable surface, and whenever it went off, which could happen with the smallest lost of focus, it shot lightning everywhere. The lightning wings seemed like a huge improvement on the spell for those fragile glitter wings, they weren`t totally physical, which made them almost indestructible, and were capable of taking any kind of pony to an insane speed; but, like with the armor, there were problems too big to be ignored; The Wings had the instability characteristic of the lightning, and with them you moved like one, which meant that at best you move on an awkward zigzagging, and at worst you had no control whatsoever of where you were going; on top of that, it was really hard to stay still. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Mr. Star, are you ok?” Sweetie Belle’s voice made Nightstar come out of his deep thinking “You went out for a while, are you alright?” said Scootaloo. “Uhm, oh, yeah, I just was… thinking” replied Nightstar “By the way, why are you still here?” “Pftt... Because we wanted to know if you have some cool talent related to lightning or something, remember” answered a bored Scootaloo. “Yeah… no. now go. Away.” “We ain’t going anywhere until you spill the beans, what’s the problem rith talking about your talent” was Scootaloo answer “Argh, fine, here’s the deal, I will show you tonight how much I can do with lightning and you leave me alone, is that alright?” “Really? But remember, if you don’t we will be behind you until we know” said Aplebloom with a smile “Yeah, alright, alright, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye” “Was… was that a pinkie promise?” said a surprised sweetie belle. “We got a deal, go away, now!” “Fine, but remember, nobody breaks a pinkie promise” said sweetie belle while leaving with her friends. Nightstar got inside his home, breathed relieved, emptied his saddlebag on a table, and then thought about the three little fillies. “Just what I got myself into?”
LightshowNightstar took the food from the table and went to the kitchen, when the voice of a certain gray pegasi greeted him. “Welcome Nightstar! I emptied your fridge” Nightstar let out a groan “How did you get inside, Derpy?” “Through the new window” Derpy said while eating the last muffin. “The what?” Nightstar eyes suddenly got wide, he had a bad feeling about this, so he ran upstairs and to his disgrace he found exactly what he didn’t want, gaping hole in the wall. Nightstar went down the stairs, with an almost grievous face, just to be greeted downstairs by another uninvited guest. “Hi, star! What’s up?” “Just how did you get inside?” “Derpy let me in” “Figures” Lyra was there too, sitting in an awkward position like usual. “So, what do you want?” Asked a deadpanning Nightstar. “Oh yeah, I came to return this” Lyra handed over a really old looking book to Nightstar “It was kind of weird, some of the things that were in it didn’t make too much sense, even though a lot of pages are lost, many of the things that we are supposed to already know are described very differently than what you would expect” Nightstar relaxed but got a bit serious upon subject “Yeah, it puzzles me too, I’m sure that if I found a more complete copy I would be able to make sense of some things… or maybe it would get just more confusing” “Well, let’s change the subject; are you really going to make a whole show for those fillies? Cause that would be really sweet of you” “SHUT UP! And don’t tell anypony! ANYPONY!” “Geez, what’s up with that mood? Though I'm surprised you haven’t kicked Derpy out yet” “I guess I'm just tired” “Tired? But it’s barely Noon!” “You'd be tired if a walking bush had chased you all the morning… while you were carrying food and a book” Suddenly, Derpy came out of the kitchen after finishing with the fridge “Did you say something about a show?” “*sigh* This is not my day” Murmured Nightstar. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Alright Derpy remember, you can come tonight but don’t tell anypony” “You can trust me star! I won’t tell anypony!” With those words Derpy flew away, leaving a very worried Nightstar. He didn’t really trust her, it wasn’t that she meant bad, but her memory wasn’t the most trustworthy thing. Then, just moments after disappearing on the horizon, the gray pegasi came back, Nightstar didn’t look surprised. “…” “Oh! Yeah! Here you go!” Derpy handed over to Nightstar a bunch of letters. “… Don’t tell anypony” And so, the gray pegasi flew away again. “Geez, she’s such a featherhead, it still amazes me the fact that she never mixes up the mail… even though she mixes up many other things” “Well, let her be, but you should trust her a bit more, that’s what friends do” Said Lyra while walking away. “Friends… I wonder about that” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Night fell and suddenly three different screams of mild pain started to sound outside. Nightstar thought that it was strange, so he went outside to check it out, and upon opening the door he was surprised to see three little fillies that he recognized each being pecked in the head by a crow. “Andrew, Robert, Dante, stop, they are my… guests I guess” upon hearing Nighstars voice the three crows stopped pecking the heads of the fillies and flew up to the lone tower of the castle while the three fillies rubbed their hurt heads. “Are… are those your pets?” asked Applebloom. “You really should teach them better” complained Scootaloo “Owowowowow” whined Sweetie Belle. “Kind of, I feed them and all, but they come and go as they please and I let them do so, it was three weeks ago the last time I saw them, and they are vey distrustful of strangers mainly because not many ponies come by” replied Nightstar. “Good Evening Nightstar” Lyra said as she approached. “Hey 'Star!” Said Derpy just before crashing into the wall, making another hole close to the one that Nightstar had repaired that afternoon. “I made sure that those walls could resist the attack of a manticore at least, I just don’t understand how can she break through them so easily without even hurting herself” “My bad!” “*sigh*” “Umm… I brought snacks” said Lyra. “Me too” Sweetie Belle added. “Let’s just get this over with" Nighstar said while showing a tired face. “Alright Mr. Star! Show us you’re Talent” replied Applebloom. Nightstar move away from the girls while they all (including a slightly concussed Derpy) sat closer together and looked at him. Nightstar closed his eyes and his horn started to glow, weakly at the start but slowly gaining strength. While his horn glowed, clouds started to gather on top of him in a spiral shape while turning gray; some clouds were attracted from the skies of Ponyville, and more came from the near Everfree Forest, eventually others seemed to come from thin air. While the clouds gathered the three crows flew from the roof of the small castle and settled on the heads of Lyra, Applebloom and Derpy. Lyra got a little nervous, Applebloom was paralyzed, afraid that the slightest bit of movement could unleash another rain of pecks, while Scootaloo and Sweetie belle moved away from Applebloom once the crow landed, Derpy didn’t seem notice. When enough clouds had been organized in a spiral pattern over Nightstar’s head, he opened his eyes and his horn stopped shining. Moments later, Nightstar’s body tensed and his horn suddenly glowed brighter than before, lightning fell from the sky hitting close to him. Then another and another one, suddenly there was Lightning falling all around. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were very scared, but excited at the same time; Lyra, and the crows, who had witnessed this before, were more relaxed, but still pretty scared; Derpy seemed very excited but didn’t show any sign of fear whatsoever. As the lightning and bolts fell down in a huge amount, the patron in which they felt started to look less random and more like it was tracing some kind of pattern. Then, the lightning stopped falling down and became considerably less intense, but now instead of falling down the now smaller bolts traced all kinds of patterns against the sky before going back to the clouds. Finally, the lightning stopped and the clouds started to disperse and dissolve, but just when it seemed like it was over, a last bolt surged from a cloud; but this bolt wasn’t like the others, it didn’t even look like lightning, it just stopped midair and it looked like it was an orb of light. The small group watching were simply amazed. Nightstar then brought it closer and spoke “This is a lightning ring, a really rare and almost never witnessed phenomena that seems to disobey the usual behavior of lightning” “Y-you didn’t do this when you showed me the whole lightning thing” said a Lyra that couldn’t believe what was seeing, even though the lightning ring was very small compared to the powerful bolts that rained down a few minutes ago, it was definitely more impressive, and beautiful. “I perfected the spell it not much ago, it is much harder to make than regular lightning and requires a more precise control, because it is NOT like regular lightning” replied Nightstar with an uncommon smile, a smile that showed pride. “It’s so… shiny…” said Derpy while her eyes lined up, like they do once a while, and focused on the lightning ring. “So what do you think, kids?” said Nightstar proudly and with a bit of undeniable happiness. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Applebloom just stared at it, speechless. Finally, Applebloom spoke: “This. Is. AMAZING!” Nightstar smiled once again; after all, even if he didn’t want to admit it, it made him happy to receive some honest praise. But while everyone was distracted, Derpy got closer and closer to the ring… “Derpy! No! Don’t touch it!” But it was already too late, as soon as a corner of Derpy’s hoof touched the ring, it dissolved and became a regular but powerful lightning that rant trough her body straight to the ground. Derpy fell unconscious. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Aww… my heaaaad” “Derpy! Thanks to Celestia that you are awake” Said Lyra, while everypony gathered around. As Derpy looked around she noticed that now she was in a bed, inside Nightstar’s castle. After the accident, Nightstar and Lyra checked her pulse and breath, She was still breathing and her pulse seemed normal, that, together with the fact that Derpy usually went through all kind of mishaps without doing herself any true damage, leaded Nighstar and Lyra to decide to carry her inside and watch her, instead of carry her all the way to Ponyville hospital which was in the opposite side of the town. “I will bring some water” Said Nightstar, he wasn’t used to take care of anyone and the whole situation had got him pretty worked up. He went downstairs and didn’t notice that Applebloom followed him there. After taking a glass of water Nightstar sighed, trying to relax, it was already pretty late and the night still didn’t seem to be over. “Hey” Applebloom spoke; Nightstar hadn’t yet noticed her and let out a small scream. “Ah, uh? Oh, it’s you kid, what do you want?” said Nightstar slightly annoyed. “My name is not “kid” is Applebloom” “Well, “Applebloom”, what do you want?” “Thanks alot for today” Applebloom answer took him by surprise, he wasn’t able to come up with an answer so he just remained silent and looked down, he grabbed the glass of water and went upstairs, leaving Applebloom alone in the kitchen. Applebloom wondered if she made him angry. When Nightstar got upstairs the scene looked exactly like when he left, Derpy was in bed, making a weird face while Lyra, Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle took care of her and talked. Then, Lyra spoke “Maybe she should spent the night here, I’m sure is nothing serious but it’s not a good idea to sent her home like this, and it's pretty late already. Girls why don’t you spent the night here? Nightstar has another two rooms and both have a double-bed” “What?! But, but…” Lyra gave Nightstar a look like that of a mother scolding a child. “Fine…” said Nightstar with a expression that denoted annoyance and discomfort “Now hear me girls, you room is the one in the tower, just take the stairs, Lyra since you were the one who came up with the idea, you will sleep here with Derpy” “That’s alright; I was going to take care of her tonight anyway” Nightstar leaved the room and went downstairs, to the "summer” room and after wrapping himself in the sheets, he soon fell asleep.
New WorkOnce again the sun rose, but the direct light didn’t pass through the cracks, as Nightstar had repaired them last afternoon. What woke him up instead was the noise coming from the kitchen and the dining room. He was a bit annoyed by it, but inside it gave him a good, familiar feeling; it remembered him of back when he lived with his family, the family that he would never see ever again… “Crash!” The sound of a dish breaking made Nightstar come back to himself, now annoyed for real. He got out of the bed, and quickly put on his coat, still, making sure that it was properly putted, and then he slammed the door open. “What’s going on?” Said Nightstar with a slightly angry face. “Sorry, we were making sum breakfast, but Derpy tried to help” Answered Aplebloom “Sorry, My bad” Said derpy while standing next to a broken dish with a unfocused look, but with true regret. Meanwhile Lyra came inside the dining room again while holding a broom and a small shovel. “Did we wake you up? Sorry for the dish, but you already should know” Said Lyra, while cleaning out the broken pieces the dish. Nightstar let out a groan, followed by sigh. “Yeah, I think I can figure out what happened” he said while giving a quick look to Derpy, Derpy just smiled awkwardly while blushing. “What’s for breakfast anyway?” asked Nightstar. “Oh! We got Hotcakes!”Quickly replied Sweetie Belle. Nightstar didn’t say anything. “Oh C’mon! We are making you breakfast! You could say thanks, or at least put on a good face” said Lyra nagging at Nightstar. “You are eating my food, you know that I don`t have too much money, I can barely maintain myself” replied Nightstar in bad mood. “You live in a castle! You surely can be that broke if you had once money for buying a castle!” said Scootaloo. “I built this castle myself stone by stone, I never had too much money, I had to use mainly whatever I could get for free” “You seriously made this castle all by yourself?! That’s simply awesome! You gotta tell us about that!” “I built it carrying the stones with magic from not that far away since I was foal, end.” “C’mon! you have to tell us more!” “No, I don’t have to, the deal was that I showed you my abilities and then you would leave me alone” “I don’t remember saying that, I don’t think anyone of us said that” Nightstar gave Scootaloo a menacing look, one that was very scary, although not as bad as the one that he gave to Diamond Tiara before, Scotaloo was left shivering slightly, while Nightstar just went to take a couple of hotcakes form the kitchen. “Was that what you talked about?” said an still slightly scared Scotaloo “Yep, I wonder if Fluttershy and he learned it from the same place” replied Aplebloom. While Nightstar carried his dish to the table, Sweetie Belle approached him with a book on her hooves; Nightstar’s pupils shrunk when he noticed which book was. It was the one that he had taken fomr the library yesterday, the one that he didn’t want anyone but twilight (and just because it was inevitable) to know that he had in his possession, It was… “All about Cutie marks… could we please borrow it?” Said Sweetie Belle while putting on the cutest smile that she could. “No way!” Said Nightstar while levitating the book away from Sweetie Belle. “But, it’s just what we are looking for! We neeeeeed it, So pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaseeeeeeeee” Said Sweetie Belle, trying her best to convince him. “No, also, I borrowed it from the library, I just can’t hand it over to anyone” Replied Nightstar. “You borrowed it from the library? What for?” asked Sweetie Belle. “I, uh, got a job related to it” “A job? What’s your job anyway?” “Umm, I make private investigations, look, aren’t you supposed to be in school already anyway?” Sweetie Belle gasped “it’s true! Girls! We are gonna be late!” The three foals finished eating as fast they could, said good bye and went away running, due to the fact that school was going to start in the next five minutes, and Nightstar’s castle was like ten minutes away from it, they better hurried. Nightstar saw with a little smile the foals, running to their school. “Admit it. You Enjoyed it too” The words of Lyra pierced through Nightstar ears; it was really hard to admit, but he had indeed enjoyed last night; and even though he wouldn’t be able to take it if he had to go through it every day, he liked something about that chaotic breakfast; maybe this it was how it feels to have a family, he couldn’t know, he leaved his own family too long ago. “Nightstar, Nightstar!” yelled Lyra. “Eh, uh, What?” “You are dozing off again” “Sorry. What were you saying again?” “I was saying that you definitely enjoyed last night” Nighstar expression changed, he tensed up after hearing Lyra. “Im not going to lie; I did enjoy last night, although I can’t say the same from this morning” Lyra laughed, and Derpy smiled, her smile looking very wise even with the derpinf eyes. You could tell just by looking that a happy memory had popped on her mind; which one though, remained a mistery. After finishing the Breakfast, Nighstar Waved good bye to Lyra and Derpy; the light discussion that they had about last night had somehow made Nightstar relaxed instead of angry, and on top of that, it had made Nighstar smile. Nightstar still had that look of Relaxation on his face. While waving goodbye, Derpy noticed it, and she started to think about it. Nightstar didn’t smile very often, actually, seeing he smile more than once a day was very rare, and yet, he had a smile that just wouldn’t vanish in this moment. Finally, a idea popped on her brain; she might not be the smartest pony on the herd, but she knowed jus what had made Nightstar smile on the first place, and she was decided to make it part of his life. When the Gray pegasus stopped to think, and then turned back in Nightstar’s direction, Nightstar relaxed look started to become one of worry. He didn’t know what she could have in mind now, but it probably wasn’t something good. When Derpy approached him and started to tell him something, his look started to change slowly from worry to sheer incrudelity. “What?! No way! You can’t be serious!” “Please, I know it would be really good to you” “I’m all grown up, I think I know what’s good for me and that couldn’t possibly be good” “Just trust me in this one, I promise you that everything will be ok” Nightstar looked dierectly to Derpy’s unaligned, begging eyes, if those were the eyes of a random pony, he would get rid of them trough bucking if it was necessary; but those were still the eyes that he owed most, he couldn’ just say no. “I promise” said Derpy again, while letting out a weak smile. “Fine” Said Nightstar after giving up “I will do it. But only if they agree by THEMSELVES and you definitely can’t encourage them. “YAAAAAY” cheered up Derpy “You won’t regret it” Said while flying close to Lyra. “What was that about?” Asked Lyra to Derpy “I told him that he should take care of those fillies more often, and help them get their cutie marks; everypony know these fillies, their families could definitely use a hoof in taking care of them, and Nightstar could definitely use the extra money, and also it would be really good for him” replied Derpy WHAT?! You can’t be serious!” said a surprised Lyra “Yep, I’m totally serious” Said Derpy closing her eyes, crossing her front hooves and putting a prideful smile “It would be really good for him” “Nightstar can’t stand a regular mare, or stallion, or anypony, how is he going to take care of those three overactive fillies?!” “Believe me, it will be ok” “I really hope so; I don’t want to see “Stallion beheads three little fillies” on the headlines of the papers” “Oh c’mon, Nightstar might be the grumpiest grumpy, but he wouldn’t hurt anypony; and if my plan goes well, he will stop being so grumpy soon” said Derpy, before finally flying away with a smile, sure that she had one of the brighthiests plans of her life. “Oh for Celestia! I gotta make sure that those fillies don’t try to come back here” Lyra took up quickly to the town. Maybe she couldn’t change Derpy’s mind, and Nightstar would never retreat from a deal, especially one with Derpy of all ponies, but she still could discourage the CMC from even trying to come back to Nightstar’s castle, and it shouldn’t even be hard! After all, not many ponis would want to spend time with Nightstar, why would they? Maybe she didn’t even need to do anything. These thoughts made Lyra’s worries vanish while she approached the school; then it hit her, it didn’t make any sense for her to come here yet; the kids wouldn’t go out at least until 3:00 pm, and it was barely 10:00 am, she wouldn’t even be able to talk them until them. “Lyra? What are you doing? I thought that you would be home by now” Lyra’s thoughts were interrupted by her friend and roommate, Bon-Bon. Lyra wasn’t sure how to respond, she hadn’t take her in consideration for her plans, or anypony else for that matter. “Uh, oh, I’m… seeing the kids learn; yeah, isn’t it great how the future is being raised behind these walls” “You are acting weird… more than usual” Lyra let out a nervous smile. “Anyway, how was it?” “How was what?” Bon-Bon deadpanned. “The… whatever you were going to do with that Nightstar Guy” “Oh! That! Yeah, it was pretty good” replied Lyra while still smiling nervously. Bon-Bon looked at her suspiciously, like she definitely knew that something was up with Lyra, but she couldn’t put her hoof on what could it be. “Anyway, why won’t you come with me?” said Bon-Bon “I have some errands to do, and you could definitely give me a hoof… or a hand, like you say” “Uh, why don’t I better wait here?” Bon-Bon deadpanned and rolled her eyes “… No, you definitely are coming with me, now!” Bon-Bon carried away Lyra while she resisted, but not too much though, she couldn’t let Bon-Bon know what she was up to, or Bon-Bon would accuse her of being childish, just to begin. Maybe if she helped her, Bon-bon would let her go before the kids go out, so she stopped resisting and started to try to get done with her errands as soon as possible. Derpy flied happily across the town, she was sure that with this she would be able to finally “help” Nightstar; maybe Nightstar would always say otherwise, but he needed help, and she was the only one that knew, but Nightstar would never let her help him. But, this way, she wouldn’t be the one to help him, at least not directly, so maybe Nightstar wouldn’t put as much resistence and… -Dunk!- The sound of Derpy’s head and, well, the rest of her body, hitting against ponyville’s clocktower was very strong, it seemed like finally one of Derpy’s “favorite” spots to hit against had been reinforced, so for the first time Derpy suffered more damage than the tower, which by the way, came out undamaged. “Ugh! That sure hurt! Derpy, ya ok?” Applejack was the first to help Derpy out, followed by Rarity, who was with her. “My, my! You should definitely be more careful while you fly” said Rarity. “Or, ya know, at least do it whit yer eyes open” added Applejack. “Sorry, My bad” replied Derpy while Applejack and Rarity helped her get up. “Very well, take care dear” said Rarity before walking away “Yeah, don’t cha go crashing with more buildings, ya can’t hurt yourself, or the buildings” added Applejack “Thanks, I’ll be more careful” replied Derpy. She started to walk the opposite way, when it hit her (figuratively) she was precisely looking for them! Derpy turned back and ran to them. Rarity turned around and saw her coming and tried to evade the upcoming disaster… “Watch oooooo….” Derpy crashed against them, and the three fell to the ground in a small heap of pony. “I guess I forgot to tell ya, but try to not Crash into ponies either” said Applejack while Derpy and Rarity were over her. “Heh heh, Sorry, again” replied Derpy “My haaaaaair!!!” Screamed Rarity after noticing that her hair was a mess and was covered with dirt “I’m going to have to go to the Spa, I need an emergency hair treatment, if you excuse me” “Well, Derpy, did ya need anything” asked Applejack. “No… I mean, yes! I need to talk with you two about something” Applejack and Rarity exchanged a puzzled look, what could Derpy what from both of them? “Well, if we can help you with anything, then, by all means, just ask us” said Rarity. “You know, your little sisters are always getting in trouble, don’t they?” said Derpy with a misleading smile. “Yeah, they re, even when I would prefer to not admit it” Said Applejack. “Why? Did they do something?” asked Rarity. “Oh, no, no; they haven’t done anything, yet” replied Derpy still with the same weird expression “But, wouldn’t you want sometimes that there was somepony that could keep an eye on them? Just to make sure?” “Are you saying that we should get them a babysitter” replied a slightly irritated Applejack. “Oh, no, no! not a babysitter, but more like a… mmm… umm….” “A chaperone?” said Rarity. “Yeah! That! A chaperoni!” replied quickly Derpy. “And I know the perfect pony for the job!” said Derpy with a prideful smile. Applejack replied “You? Don’t take offense, but are you sure that you can…” “No! no, no, no! not me! I already got a job! I mean my good friend Nightstar, the poor guy has been jobless for quite a while, and I just know that he is perfect for this!” “Nightstar? Nightstar… Nightstar… who is him?” asked Applejack “You know, black coat, blue mane, lives in a castle…” replied Derpy “Him? I’m not sure…” “Well, in what concerns me, I’ll always thank some help with Sweetie Belle, She’s too overactive and I’m a busy mare, although I don’t think that concerns to me, you should go talk to my parents” said Rarity. “So it’s a yes?” asked Derpy expectanctly. “Are you sure he’s good at this?” asked Applejack. “Believe, he’s peeeerfect” replied Derpy. “Weeeeell…” said Applejack doubtful “Did I mention that it will be very cheap? Only 2 bits the hour, less than half than anyone else!” added Derpy “and also, he’s available the whole day”. “Well, that IS cheap, and if somepony is willing to take care of them by just that, then he must definitely need the money. Alright, I accept” said Applejack. “Mmm… I guess that it would be good to have someone have Sweetie Belle behave a little, if she wants to grow up to be a proper lady; im in too” added Rarity. “YES! Now I only have to talk to Scootaloo’s mom” said Derpy excitedly before flying away. Seconds later, she came back “you don’t happen to know who is she or where she lives do you?” “Alright! Thanks Lyra, you were very helpful, see you later” Bon-Bon waved good-bye, while Lyra hurried back to the school. Bon-Bon had a lot of errands, much more than Lyra thought or wanted, and it had taken quite a while to complete them all; when they were over, School was too. Lyra was hoping that they were still around the school, because if they weren’t, she didn’t have many chances of finding them before Derpy or Nightstar. By now Nightstar was probably out in Ponyville, wandering and looking for Derpy and/or the girls to see if he had to take the job after all; and Derpy… she could be very clumsy, but she still could Fly, which gave her an enormous advantage in finding them. If she didn’t gave reasons to the girls themselves to be against this, who knew what would happen, what was sure was that Nightstar wouldn’t be able to the stand the fillies too much time, and who knew what would happen them. She reached the school, and what a good luck! The girls were still there, talking about something, but that didn’t concern Lyra. “So, I think it’s actually…” “Hi Girls! How are you doing?” Lyra interrupted Aplebloom. “Umm… Hi miss Lyra! How are you?” greeted Aplebloom “I’m fine, thanks; I was thinking what you thought of Nightstar?” replied Lyra “Well, he was… umm…” “Wasn’t he scary?” “I guess, you could say so” “He knows how to scare just by with a look” added Lyra “Yeah, I kind of had realized” said Scootaloo. “But that’s not all, oh no, he has literally raised crows!” said Lyra in a bad attempt to spook the girls. “Yeah, my head still remember the pecks” replied Sweetie Belle. “But that’s actually nothing; you don’t want to know what he keeps on his basement…” “Hi Girls! I was looking for you!” The Voice of Derpy surprised Lyra, who both metaphorically and literally bit her tongue. “Hey! Hey! You won’t know just what I did” The three fillies just gave a puzzled look. “You are going to have a new chaperone!” said Derpy very excitedly. “What?” said Scootaloo who still didn’t understand. “I think she means Chaperone, it’s like a foalsitter” cleared Sweetie Belle. “What?! We don’t need a foalsitter!” exclaimed Scootaloo. “But that’s not the best part! You will never guess who is going to be your choperoni!” Said Derpy. Sweetie Belle and Aplebloom gave a puzzled look; Scotaloo deadpanned and arched an eyebrow. “Who?” She finally spouted. “That would be me” Said Nightstar with his typical expression, while joining the group. Nightstar arrive meant that it was already too late for Lyra to do anything, she could only see if her attempts to discourage the CMC had paid off. “Well, that’s surprising” said Sweetie Belle. Aplebloom and Scootaloo just stayed there, their eyes wide open, like trying to process it. Finally Aplebloom spoke “That would be… cool”. Upon hearing that last word, Lyra realized that her plan had failed. Then she realized that she looked at Nightstar, whose expression was very neutral and even a bit relaxed, like he didn’t mind after all, and realized that she had gotten worked up for anything; after all, what was the worst that could happen? Nightstar wasn’t that bad indeed, if he wasn’t able to take care of them after all, he would just not take care of them again after that day and that was it. Lyra felt like a fool for her stupid plan to stop Derpy’s weird plan. “So when do you start?” asked Aplebloom to Nightstar. “Right away, I think” “Cool! Let’s go!” said Aplebloom, while dragging away Nightstar and her friends. Derpy and Lyra stayed there, watching them walk away. Lyra looked at Nightstar expression, he didn’t look particularly happy, but neither he looked angry or anything; he just looked… neutral, and, for Nightstar, that was actyally a pretty good reaction to all this. “I told you that it would be alright” said Derpy, smiling. “Well, I guess that you were right” replied Lyra, while giving another smile and Watching Nightstar walk away with the three fillies. Meanwhile, Nightstar walked with the three excited fillies that jumped around him. “So, what are we going to do?” Said Aplebloom “I don’t know, what do you want to do? I’m a chaperone, not a foalsitter, so, for what I know, I’m just supposed to follow you around and make sure you don’t do anything dangerous or bad or, you know, that kind of stuff. And while weare on the subject, while there are obviously other rules that you kind of know already, in what respects to me, there are three rules: 1)We don’t talk about my past before I moved to ponyville 2)we don’t talk about my talent…” in that moment, Sweetie Belle raised her hoof “…and three, you can’t ask “why?” about rules 1 and 2” Sweetie Belle putted her hoof down. “Can we go to your castle?” asked Aplebloom. “I guess, but why?” replied Nightstar “Well, we want to see what is that you have on your basement that Lyra was talking about…”
