Nights do Shine, yet the Days Seem to Dim.
*Click!*
As the great door shut, the lone thestral of the orphanage, Nightshine, flicked her ear up: reaching for any more noise. She detected the gentle clips of the Mother, Serenity, trotting down the hallway: and out to the distant stairway. She let her ear flitter around, until she was absolutely certain that all other foals were asleep in their beddings. She slowly lifted her blanket off with a flex of her small, bat-like wing, and let it fall silently to the floor: allowing her to stand without too much shuffling and squeaking. She searched around with her slotted eyes, double-checking for any waking foals. Finding no movement but the rise and fall of the other children snoring peacefully, she slowly lowered her tiny hoof to the floor.
The stone floor of the great housing was cold to the touch, and made the filly retract her hoof as if it were bitten by a snake. She sighed, and lowered it once more: biting her lip silently as the cold stabbed mercilessly at her frog. She paused: allowing her one hoof plenty of time to adjust to the uncomfortable temperature, before she lowered the other to the ground.
By now, the adventurous little filly was doing her best to not fall: with most of her forward half resting heavily on her forehooves. She knew that if she alerted Serenity to her nighttime activities now, she'd be moved to the upper bunk for sure!
She let her back half down with a little squeak as her rump hit the floor: causing her to slide a little as aching shot up her spine. She muttered mild words under her breath as she stood back up, before she silently stalked over to the window nearest to her bunk. She lowered her forward half, shifted her shoulders as she wagged her tail, and pounced up to the sill: only to have her forehooves slip off, and making her land on her back with another quiet squeak.
She rolled her eyes in frustration, and tried again: this time, flapping her wings with a slight hum, allowing her a boost so she could keep her grip. Soon, she managed to swing herself up awkwardly. She then plopped herself down on the platform, and looked out into the beautiful night sky:
The moon was out, fully displaying the Mare in the Moon for all to see. Nightshine admired the moon's diamond-like glow, as this was her favourite time of day: when all was peaceful, and queit. When the world was at rest was when she felt the most alive, and restlessness coursed through her veins. The stars added a brilliant, white glitter to the sky: as if somepony scattered sapphires across the sky, making it shine more beautifully then ever. Both starlight and moonlight reflected and shone through the clouds above: making them seem as if somepony had graced the sky with brilliant painting strokes of wrought silver and hard stone.
The landscape was especially graceful: the hills turned a dark green at night. And the most distant ones turned either black, or a darkest blue. The torches of Canterlot were lit: dotting her view with golden flecks on a sea of dark emeralds, and she could even see the candlelight of a distant town just off the great forest.
She wished she could reach the metal latch above her head, so she could finally feel the night air on her face, wings, and fur: but she was far too small. Oh, how she wished she could breathe it in, to let her lungs drink it like the saccharine nectar she knew it to be. Foals like her weren't allowed outside at nighttime, but she had always hoped that someday, she could feel the world's night, instead of just seeing it. She didn't know why, but she felt it would be cool, and crisp: a calming refreshment to the stress of daily chores.
She slowly opened her tiny wings, and set her mind loose so it could imagine the feel of the cool dusk wind gracing them with her gift, and granting her the richness of the power of flight. She flapped her wings leisurely, and pictured herself gliding out the window, and out into the great unknown of the world: into that world full of such absurd and whimsical freedom. She just knew that whatever wondrous promises were out there held far more for her than anything she'd hope to find in these dark, monotonous halls of wood and stone. How in the wide world of Equestria would she get her Cutie Mark if all she ever did was march around the halls, eat the blandest foods, slace on the daily chores, play the few games allowed in their yard, and stare out of a sealed window each night? A steaming bowl of pale stew didn't seem like a good Cutie Mark to have, in her opinion.
Before she could finish her thoughts, however, she heard a quiet grunt from behind her, and turned rapidly to see a little seafoam green colt: holding onto the edge, and trying to swing his way up onto it. He noticed her movement in his direction, and smiled sheepishly.
"A little help?" He whispered, pawing slowly for a grip on the ledge.
Hesitantly, but in a friendly manner, Nightshine offered her hoof: helping him clamber onto the sill beside her. The colt brushed his light blue mane out of his eyes, and smiled at her.
"Thanks for that."
She looked over at him, and offered a friendly- yet cautious -smile in return: "It's no problem, just try not to make too much noise, or we'll get caught."
She turned her attention back to the beautiful world of the night as he nodded slightly, while still keeping her new visitor within the sight of the corner of her eye. He seemed to pay no mind to her, and instead was focusing intently on the blue mountains in the distance: his pupils expanding until his whites were almost invisible, and he smiled widely.
Nightshine eventually took her attention off of him, and allowed it to return to her waking dream: almost feeling the majestic wind soothingly caressing her fluttering wings once more.
"It's peaceful tonight, ain't it?" The colt blurted, as if stealth wasn't even a conceivable factor in his mind.
Nightshine glared at the fool, and shushed him hurriedly with a hiss. She looked over each of her shoulders with a flickering ear, and relaxed when all the other foals remained asleep. After shooting him another scolding glare, she looked back out to the distance.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed him slowly hang his head in an obvious effort of silent apology. Begrudgingly, she rolled her head back slightly, and sighed in discomforted acceptance:
"Yeah," she said gently, closing her eyes. The colt looked up, and let a smile creep onto his features. Soon, he as well had returned his focus to the landscape outside.
After a few more moments of staring into the beauty of the night, the small lad ventured to speak yet again: this time reducing his volume to a low whisper.
"Is that why you come up here every night?"
Nightshine's eyes instantly popped open, and she looked over to him in curiosity and wonder. Had he been awake every time she had come up here at night? The kid must be incredibly tired in the mornings, in such a matter. But, why did he seem so silent about her disobedience? Why hadn't he yet revealed her roaming to Serenity in the months past? After a moment's thought, she responded with an inquiry of her own:
"So, you've been watching me?" She asked plainly. She didn't see any reason more to be put off by this: if he wanted to turn her into the Matron, he could've done it a long time ago.
"I thought you looked like you could use a friend, just to keep you company up here." He muttered, letting his ears flip downwards. "Besides, I don't have any friends here."
Nightshine finally allowed a small smile to peek onto her young face, there's something far too familiar to her. She looked back out the nighttime, and chuckled ruefully.
"Me either,"
The colt looked over at her instantly, face plastered with many forms of confusion: "You don't?"
She nodded slowly, and continued to keep her slight grin.
"Well, why not?"
Her smile faltered. "Well, I mean, look at me!" She snipped quietly: "I'm a pony with the wings of a bat, and the eyes of a cat, and a mane that looks like a cobweb mop got dragged through an oil well. Who'd want to be friends with somepony who looks like this?"
He looked over at her pitifully, and took offense on her behalf. He slowly raised his right hoof in a show of comfort: "Me, that's who!" he chirped, trying his best to explain her qualities. "That's like, everything awesome balled up into one pony! Who wouldn't want to be friends with that?"
Nightshine smiled, comforted by his words. She chuckled at the compliment, and held out a hoof in friendly greeting: "Name's Nightshine."
"Sea Stride," the colt replied eagerly: taking her hoof, and shaking it. "Nice to meet you, finally."
"You too, Sea Stride." She chuckled fondly.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Several Years of Great Friendship Later in her Life: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
She looked out onto the black and misty street through the frozen bars, as the deluge of precipitation pelted her back with icy precision. The fiery rain seemed determined to make sure that its waves hit every single one of her raw nerves that it ever could: making the sobbing thestral feel like a thousand nails bit into her flesh with each and every minute that passed in her sorrow.
"Nightshine!" Mother Serenity called from the door: "Nightshine, come inside before you catch your death of cold!"
Reluctantly, Nightshine turned from the icy fence, and did as she was told: hurrying up to where Serenity held the door open. She walked inside in time to let just one more solitary tear tickle her cheek, but it was lost to the puddle left beneath her soaking coat as she glanced once more into the night: hoping to catch one more glimpse of her best- and oldest -friend, no matter how faint it would be.
"Now, now, that's enough of that, Nightshine." Serenity said softly, yet sternly. Prompting a stifled huff from the teenager. "You'll see him again."
Nightshine slowly looked back, and right on up to the elderly Matron's face, doubt obviously painting a portrait of morose colors onto her own: "How can you be so sure? He just got his freedom, while I'm stuck in here for the as long as I can see..."
Serenity allowed herself a single look into the pouring rain, and sighed slightly in melancholy: "If there's one thing I've learned in my years, it's that you almost always come across those you used to know. Whether it's for a second, for a year, or for the rest of your life: you'll bump into your little friend again, Nightshine. Trust me on that."
'I'm not sure I could trust you on anything, ma'am...' The young thestral thought: with a hideous grimace staining her once kind, friendly, and bright face. She nodded silently, as if she indeed understood, before she sulked back to her bedroom. For within the harsh, jagged grip that belonged to the merciless spirit of reality: there were no covers that could cure her chill that night, for not even a furnace would soothe her shivering body. Indeed, the void-like cold that plagued her was one of great hopelessness: so strong that it caused her to shiver, and it made her feel so very alone.
So very, very, alone...
Oh, how she hoped she would see her best friend once again...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Several Weeks of Sadness, Joy, and Discovery in Passing:-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Despite as warm as both blanket and sweater were, Nightshine suddenly was awoken from her time in Luna's Dreamscape by a great shiver: one that passed from her soul to her body, and back. She opened her eyes as a familiar restlessness dawned in her mind, bringing out energy she wished would be saved until that morning. She needed to stretch her limbs, and back. She needed to be free.
She lifted her head gently enough to be unnoticed, and set her groggy, slit eyes to look up to her newfound father: Jason. His snores were quiet, and calm. And the gentle rise and fall of her chest had rocked her to sleep as effectively as a newborn foal in a soft cradle. She hated that the night was calling her tonight, and she hoped she wouldn't wake Jason as she was shuffling out.
To experiment with how heavily he slept, without making her escape known, she looked over to a small patch of dust that had collected: and craned her neck out towards it. Once her nose was directly above the powder, she inhaled slightly: allowing the dust to tickle her nose just enough to prompt a small sneeze from the filly.
She was actually quite relieved that he hadn't awoken, or even stirred. For that little squeal that came out when her body jerked from the sneeze was a noise she had never expected, nor made at any time beforehoof: it sounded slightly like a bat's ping, when a filly's nicker was thrown into the mix.
"That figures..." she muttered, as she slowly tried to shuffle back into the confines of her father's hoodie. Once her neck reached the neck of his sweater, she looked up at him once more, before taking a deep breath, and pulling backwards with a gentle heave.
Her head popped back into the cloth with a soft *Pomf*, and she tumbled slightly outward. Freezing: she breathlessly waited for a stern inquiry as to the desired destination of her midnight wandering, but none came. The only sound that greeted her ears was those of her father's snoring, as he resumed it from a mild stir. She gave a relieved sigh: releasing her sealed breath to the world once more.
Slowly: she backed herself out of his warm sweatshirt, and eventually pulled herself in full reverse until she was free of the covers. She backed herself onto a perch on the foot of the bed, before slowly lowering her hoof to the ground.
It was far easier for her to silently reach the floor with all four hooves, having had a decade to practice the arts of Stealth and Silence. She glided across the wooden floor as a spectral shadow, as the wooden floor of this enclosure echoed much less than those stone tiles of her former home. Even better, the wood was not as cold to the touch: and allowed a brisk temperature on her hooves, minus the familiar level of discomfort.
She clambered up onto the wooden sill of her bedroom with gentle ease, and perched herself facing the outdoors: like a graceful predator of the nocturnal hours, observing her realm in calm contemplation. She let her eyes drift up to the white moon, once more glistening as a gemstone of purest white. The stars still added their share of diamond speckles onto the sky's portrait of the universe, just like they did on that night a moon ago.
She closed her eyes: and slowly, but surely spread her wings, and returned to the world of her dreams. She once more imagined the twilight winds kissing her face, and breathing across her wings. But this time, it was crisper: and it felt far more real than it had on any other night. The wind cast her mane back, and the chill bit at her nose. She could feel the night air, and just how gentle and soothing it was, as it was cast into her nose and filled her lungs. It caused memories to course through her mind:
"...Tag, you're it!"
"...Want to play with us, Nighty?"
"...Try and catch up, Nightshine!"
She saw herself running in the orphanage yard, playing merrily with her oldest, and best of friends: Sea Stride. She let a single tear escape the pit of her eye, and caress the side of her cheek. When she heard the howl of a Timberwolf in the distance, her eyes opened with a shot: and her catlike pupils focused on the horizon. What greeted her eyes was so unexpected, that it froze her in place:
The window she sat down before was wide open: allowing the wind to blow across her face. And her adopter, Jason, was standing just off the opposite side of the sill, smiling at her with bright eyes, and hood up.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked. She expected a stern, or even disappointed tone. But what she heard was friendly, and welcoming: he didn't dissuade her from wanting to breathe the night air. By the look on his face, he was enjoying it himself.
"My best friend, from the orphanage." She answered, letting her head swivel back to the forest beyond. "He was adopted shortly before you came to choose me."
She lowered her head, and closed her eyes as they grew slightly moist: "I'm just... just..."
"... Scared you'll never see them again?"
She looked up to the man, and nodded dumbly. Prompting him to walk over to where she sat, and swing his legs over the windowsill: and sit next to her, while placing an arm over her shoulder. His sweatshirt offered a fuzzy warmth against the brisk wind, welcoming as the breeze was, and he patted her shoulder gently.
"You will, my little Nightshine... someday." Jason sighed, looking out at the hillsides in the distance.
"How can you be so sure?" She asked, scooting herself further into his side.
"Well," he began, "if there's one thing I know about Equestria, it's that it may be incomprehensibly large: but it's incredibly small at the same time."
He chuckled warmly when she scrunched her nose at the thought: trying to figure out the meaning of that statement.
"Allow me to explain..." he tried again, lifting his free hand to scratch his head. "Where I come from, the world is far smaller, yet it seems much bigger. Most Humans get caught up in their own things when they reach a certain age, and forget how to socialize with complete strangers. And they small circle of friends they had often move on to their own lives: either staying out of touch, or only interacting once or twice a year.
"Equestria is superior to my world, in that Ponies know how to prioritize: they work their daily jobs, but they keep in contact with their oldest friends whenever they can, as well as openly greeting strangers immediately... most of the time..."
He gave her shoulder a small squeeze, and continued on:
"That's how I know you'll see your friend again, whether this year, or in a decade. Equestrians always come across those they've seen before."
Smiling, she cuddled up as close as she could to his side, and sighed contentedly at his words. "Thank you, Jason."
He lifted his hand of her shoulder, and scratched behind her ear.
"You're welcome, little Nightshine."
Author's Note
Alright, here's a little one-shot written for the Nightshine Group Writing Competition. Check out The Original Here, and give it some love!
Until Next Time, God Bless You!
~Amethyst Dawn. 
