By the Nightly

((ANNNDD the story begins. Give me likes, dislikes, comments, etc as long as there aren't any trolls, I don't feed the parasprites. P.S. If you're wondering why he has an accent outside his thoughts and not inside it's because I didn't want to bother you with CONSTANTLY dealing with it, so now you only deal with it half the time...you're welcome and enjoy!))

Celestia's sun bore through the tiny hole in my make-shift shelter hitting me square in my eyes, causing me to stir awake. 'Goddamn it, why can't Celestia stop torturing me for just a few hours so I can get some damn sleep?!' I think bitterly as I rise from my leaf-bed and move for my stuff. I sigh to myself as I look out the “door” of my shelter. 'Still early in the morning, now where are my sunglasses?' I think to myself. I live in a hollowed out tree inside the Everfree Forest. It's not exactly luxury, but it's my home until I reach my next destination: Ponyville.

My “home” is basically a 3 by 4 ft in empty space with my leaf-bed in one side of the area and my stuff scrambled in the corner. Clothing, my hat, a canteen of water, and various other things lay scattered all over the corner closest to the door. I walk over to dig through the pile for my sunglasses.

”Zhere ve go,” I say triumphantly as I finally find my sunglasses inside my hat, “Finally, mein eyes were starting to burn.”

I pull the sunglasses over my eyes and breathe a sigh of relief as the brightness of the sun becomes dulled in my vision. “Vell, I'd better pack up and move on.” I say to myself as I move my left hand to my wand holster. I pull out my familiar jet black wand out of its holster and point it at my stuff. Almost as soon as I had drawn it, everything was either in my bag or on my body.

I flick my wand one more time to levitate the mirror in front of me and take a look at my appearance. I had my jet black hair with blood red highlights messily set underneath a grey fedora with a black ribbon on the hat. I was wearing a grey jacket over a black t-shirt, blue jeans with two holsters attached (one for my wand and another for a magic gun I carried around), and black sneakers with white laces. “Sehr gut,” I say to myself satisfied with my appearance. I grab my duffelbag and move for the entrance of the tree.

I walk outside only to wish I had moved sooner. There was a girl directly across from where I had just left being held at knife-point by two men dressed in all black. The girl was pretty young with hair that looked like cotton-candy, wearing a pink-striped t-shirt and overalls. She also had no shoes, was covered head to toe in cuts and bruises, her right eye was swollen shut, and her clothes were torn. During that moment I felt pity for what happened to this girl and anger to those who caused it.

“Come on girly, no one's coming to save you! Now let's go back to the hideout so we can have some fun,” one of the men said with a smug grin.

She was curled up near a tree, crying and pleading for help. Her soft pink hair was matted with dirt and mud from the ground, as if she had tried to get away from these men earlier. She squealed in pain as one of the men tried to pick her up, and lashed ferociously at the leg of her attacker. He shoved her aside and grabbed his leg in pain as the other one moved to do the same. 'I can't just sit here!' I thought as I saw the scene in front of me.

“Yeah, no one uses the Everfree path anymore so why don't you just come back with us?” the other added.

“I guess I'm 'no vone' zhen.” I say walking towards them.

The dunce duo turned around to look at me with spite. “Who the hell are you and what are you doing on this path?” The first man yelled.

“Vell, I vas sleeping in ze tree behind me. I vas about to leave for Ponyville, but upon leaving I come across you two ficken idioten harassing zis young Fräulein here unt now I vould like to ask... VHAT ZE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!” I yell with burning fury in my voice, causing the men to flinch at the booming volume.

"J-Just wh-who the hell do ya th-think you are, ordering us around like that?!" the second man said with fear in his voice, "You're lucky we don't cu-".

I pulled out my spell gun and shot him square in the chest with such velocity that old Western cowboys would be jealous. He was interrupted by a lightning bolt hitting him square in the center. The first man looked at me in fear as I was holding my smoking gun. The man then looked to his partner, who had a large burn mark across his chest. I could see the fear growing in his eyes as he realized what he had walked into.

"Now zen, vould you please take zis blödmann out of mein sight before I take my anger out on you." I say in a low growl. He didn't need to be told twice; he immediately picked up the injured man off the ground and ran off into the forest.

I sighed after they left and turned my attention to the girl. 'Well damn, what am I gonna do about her?' I think while trying to get a solution out of my mind. She was crying and cowering on a nearby tree begging me not to hurt her. The sight of it broke my heart, to see a girl her age this scared...

"Mein fraulein, are you alright?" I ask gently as I reach a hand out to get her to face me. She turned her head to look at me with tear filled eyes. Suddenly, she jumped at me, wrapping her arms around me and thanking me in between sobs. I wrapped my arms around her, petting her head with one hand and shushing her slowly by singing a lullaby.  "Hush jetzt ruhig jetzt ausruhen Ihre Schlafmütze hush jetzt ruhig jetzt ist es Zeit, ins Bett zu gehen ist" (translation Hush now quiet now rest your sleepy head hush now quiet now it's time to go to bed)

After a little while the girl calmed down a bit, but was still sobbing. I don't blame her, she has been through a lot.

"Ma'am your voundz vill sting from ze tearz if you keep crying," I say with concern. "How about I lighten ze mood vith some conversation. Vhat'z your name ma'am?"

"P-Pink-Pinkie," she said between sobs.

"It'z nice to meet you Miss Pinkie, vould you like me to take you home now?" I ask with a warm smile.

"Y-yes please."

"Very vell Miss Pinkie, vhere do you live?"

"Sugarcube Corner in Ponyville. I make all sorts of sugary treats there." Pinkie said with a bright smile.

"That'z good I vas on mein vay to Ponyville." I said, returning the smile.

Pinkie stood up with her arms pointing down the path "Then let's GOOO-oooww!" Pinkie dropped back down to the ground, clutching her left leg.

I knelt down next to her, looking at her with concern.

"Can you valk?.....oh scheiße." Her left leg had a long gash along her calf. It was a miracle in itself that she didn't feel it until now.

"Vell, no valking for you ma'am," I sighed. I turned around, making my back face her. "Hop on."

"What?" Pinkie asked with a confused expression.

"Hop on mein back, you can't valk so I'm going to carry you," I remarked in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Oh....okay." Pinkie wrapped her arms around my neck and her good leg around my stomach.

"Let'z go," I breathed with a small smile.

"Hey, you never told me YOUR name," Pinkie stated.

I paused for a moment. "You can call me Nightly, Miss Pinkie." I stand up and walk to the exit of the Everfree.

"It's nice to meet you Nightly..."

Both of us fall silent as I carried her to our shared destination.