Nightshine awoke in the middle of a warm summer night thinking she heard something. She gazed at the pale light of Luna’s moon shimmering through her bedroom window, a gentle breeze stirring the curtains softly.
Blinking a few times, the little grey Thestral flicked her mane out of her eyes and looked curiously at the windowsill. On it lay a small, gift-wrapped package with a small note hanging from the side.
Drawn by the irregularity of it, Nightshine hopped out of bed and cautiously trotted up to the window, then tilted her head a bit so that she could read what was written on the note.
For your upcoming birthday, it isn’t much but I hope you will like it.
There was no mention of who had left it there, so she decided to leave it closed and wake her father up instead. Picking the package up with her muzzle, she headed towards his bedroom, surely Jason would know what to make of this all, right?
Arriving there she nudged his door open with a hoof and quietly made her way towards his bed. Once there, she carefully prodded his side while placing the package down.
Jason was a human, the only human known to exist in Equestria even. He had found his way there by means of a highly unstable portal, and even though Twilight Sparkle herself had researched the anomaly for as long as Jason had lived in Ponyville, in the end it simply proved too dangerous to send him back. He was a full resident ever since.
Since then, he had adopted Nightshine at the Canterlot Orphanage, and said filly now gently prodded his side calling out to her father while putting the small package next to her on the bed. “Daddy?” she asked cautiously. “I think somepony visited my room tonight.”
Jason mumbled something before his brain processed his daughter’s words, eyes widening while he jolted upright facing her in alarm. “What?!” He exclaimed, adrenaline rousing him from his fatigue.
Startled by his outburst, Nightshine flattened her ears back against her dark green mane and lowered her eyes. “W-well, since it was so warm tonight I had left my window open. But then I woke up, thinking I had heard something, and found this package on my windowsill.”
Noticing that he was upsetting his daughter with his reaction, Jason quickly scooped the filly up in his arms and held her close against his chest trying to soothe her. “It’s alright sweetie, did you catch any glimpse of this pony perhaps?” He inquired.
Seeing as Nightshine’s birthday had been mentioned, it could easily have been Pinkie Pie that had left it there. Though, this would be a little unusual, even by the party pony’s normal standards. And that said a lot here in Ponyville.
Nightshine shook her head slowly and nestled herself against her father some more. “No, dad, but bad ponies wouldn’t leave presents for me right?” she had a valid point there at least.
“Right, I guess.” Jason mumbled while he glanced at the small gift box lying nearby on the sheets. “Want to find out what’s in it? Even though your birthday is next week, I suppose we could open this one up early.”
Squeaking excitedly, Nightshine untangled herself from Jason and picked the package up with her hooves, gently tearing off the paper. She soon revealed a small jewelry box, and within it, a beautiful silver necklace with a locket hanging from it.
Carefully opening the locket, Nightshine saw a small picture of a dark grey thestral mare with warm golden eyes and a navy blue mane. In her hooves, the mare cradled a sleeping foal with a familiar mane color and coat. On the other side, four words were engraved into the silver.
Moon Spiral and Nightshine
After it dawned on the filly what exactly she was looking at, her muzzle scrunched up in anger and her ears flicked back once more, closing the box with a scowl. “I don’t want it anymore.” There was little doubt who this had belonged to.
Jason, having watched the whole ordeal gently ran his fingers along his daughter’s ears and whispered gently. “Perhaps she had no choice, Nightshine. Sometimes adults make horrible decisions thinking it the best solution for their foal.”
Heaving a soft sob, Nightshine nodded half heartedly. “Why bring it to me now though, dad? After all these years?” she asked, a mixture of anger and confusion still on the young pony’s muzzle.
“Perhaps she wasn’t able to do so earlier because of the very same reason she had to leave you at the orphanage. And maybe she feels regret now,” Jason offered and proceeded with caressing along her wings trying to relax her some.
Of course the dam had to break at some point, and sobs turned into louder whimpers while tears streamed down the thestral’s cheeks. “Then why not wake me up or visit during the day?” She cried while Jason pulled her close again, eyes focused on the small jewelry box as he planned a trip to the local library the very next morning.
After breakfast—and sending a rather distraught Nightshine to school the next morning—Jason put the jewelry box into his pocket and made his way through the quiet, early morning streets of Ponyville to see if Twilight would be awake yet.
Reaching the new library after a short walk, he saw activity from within the building, so he knocked on the front door a few times. Soon after, it was opened by a juvenile purple dragon. “Oh hey Jason!” Spike greeted. “Man, you’re early today, um did you even need to work here this morning?”
Jason smiled down at the dragon and held a fist out, which Spike immediately bumped with his claw. “No, but I needed to see Twilight about something important. Is she awake yet?”
Holding the door open for Jason to enter, Spike nodded, pointing a claw up. “Yeah she just woke up actually, so make yourself at home while I go tell her you need to talk.”
“Thanks, buddy,” Jason replied while he made his way to one of the pillows near the table to sit down on.
Jason liked the library a lot, actually. It was always well kept and gave off a feeling of tranquility. Which was only increased by the building’s beautiful stained-glass window, depicting Princess Twilight with her wings spread in welcome. Or so it seemed.
Not long after, he could hear hoofsteps coming from down the stairs, and saw the lavender alicorn yawn widely while making her way towards him. Spike riding along on her back as he tended to do.
“Good morning, Jason.” She said while sitting down after levitating Spike off her back. “Spike told me you needed to see me for something important?”
“Yes,”Jason replied frowning some. “We... had a visitor last night who dropped off a gift on Nightshine’s windowsill, and while that’s not the strangest thing I’ve seen in Ponyville, the gift itself sadly upset my filly quite a bit.”
Twilight nodded in understanding. “That is indeed a bit unusual, the gift was for her upcoming birthday, I assume, but why did it upset her so?”
Taking the jewelry box from his pocket, Jason sighed and placed it on the table between them. “Because it contained a locket with a photo of her and a mare who is almost undoubtedly her mother, along with both their names.”
Both Twilight and Spike stared at the jewelry box a moment. Spike recovered from the news first and scratched his neck awkwardly. “That’s... pretty heavy.”
Twilight quickly nodded in agreement and looked back up at her human friend. “And thus you came to see if I could find out anything about this locket or that mare, right?”
Jason nodded and gave her a smile.
But while Twilight studied the locket, Jason looked out of the window. Hoping that his filly Nightshine would at least be distracted by school some.
“Nightshine?” A kind voice asked, but the young Thestral didn’t respond. “Nightshine, snap out of it dear.” The voice urged again, causing the filly to blink.
A squeak escaped her as she realized it was her class teacher, Miss Cheerilee, looking down at her worriedly.
“I’m sorry, Miss Cheerilee. I didn’t mean to get distracted like that.” She replied sheepishly.
“That was the third time today, though, is there something wrong?” Her teacher asked, while motioning for the rest of the class to go on with their assignments.
Nightshine scuffed a hoof along her desk and sighed deeply. “I just had a long and stressful night. I’m very sorry, it won’t happen again.”
“Of course she had, cause she’s a creepy bat pony.” Somepony snarked, causing Nightshine to flick her ears back against her mane.
Turning around, Cheerily glared at the culprit, addressing her in a chiding voice. “Diamond Tiara! I do not want to hear such things in my classroom again. Am I understood, young lady?”
“Yes Miss Cheerilee.” Diamond Tiara quickly replied, before concentrating herself on her lesson material again. Though she still shot Nightshine a malicious sneer.
Cheerilee rolled her eyes with a soft sigh and turned to Nightshine once more. “Well, if you need to talk about it dear, just come see me during recess. Alright, Nightshine?”
Nightshine considered taking her up on her offer, and couldn’t wait till the lesson was over.
Twilight returned to the main room of the library where Jason was still waiting for her, carrying a tome in her telekinetic magic. “According to this ledger, there is no Thestral by the name of Moon Spiral living at the palace currently.” She said, placing the rather large volume on top of the table with a thump.
Nodding, Jason looked over at the ledger, then back at Twilight. “Didn’t you tell me that practically every Thestral lived there, though?” He asked curiously.
The Alicorn nodded gently. “Yes I did, Jason, but there will always be ponies that are unaccounted for. How else would you have found Nightshine at the orphanage?”
She had a very valid point there. “Is there anything else you can do to find her though, Twilight?” Jason replied, giving her a thankful smile nonetheless.
“I’ll do some more research on the matter if you want, and get back to you about it?” Twilight asked, sincerely hoping she could help him more with this.
Nodding, Jason stood up giving the alicorn a friendly hug around her neck. “Thanks, Twilight, you’re the best. Even if nothing turns up, I owe you.”
“Aww.” Twilight blushed. “I’m just glad that I can help one of my friends out, Jason. Besides Nightshine deserves it as well.”
Letting go of her, Jason then stood up, and waved at her and Spike. “See you both later then.” And proceeded to head out and start his day of work.
Ponies had adjusted pretty well to Jason living among them in Ponyville, and because of this, more job offers had become available to him. Especially when they took notice of how well he cared for Nightshine.
So today’s work brought him to Bonbon’s Sweets, a shop which—as the name suggested—specialized in candy and other treats for both pony and human to be enjoyed.
With her friend Lyra out of town to perform in Canterlot, Bonbon had asked Jason if he could help her cook and wrap up candy as well as help out in the store today. A task he helped her with more often when Lyra was out, and made much easier by human hands.
As discussed, Jason found the back door unlocked and—stepping into the store—he was soon welcomed by the sweet fragrance of freshly made taffy coming from the kitchen.
Bonbon, having heard him come in, emerged from the kitchen with a bright smile on her face. “Hey, Jason!” She called cheerfully. “You’re right on time, I just finished the taffy and it’s cooling down now.”
Jason smiled back at her and pulled his sleeves up. “Alright, Bonnie, I guess that after it cooled down you want it cut into squares and and wrapped as usual?”
The earth pony mare chuckled and nodded gently. “Yup! Use the red and yellow wrappers today, so that we have some color variety.” Then, she closed in on him and nudged his arm. “And of course bring some of the leftovers home for little Nightshine, hm?”
Giving her mane a caress, Jason nodded in appreciation of the mare’s generosity. Bonbon was a good friend. “She would love that, thank you, Bonnie.”
Bonbon hummed appreciatively and trotted towards the cash register to make sure everything was ready for her to open her shop. And Jason in turn headed into the kitchen to start on his tasks for the day.
It was later in the day when Jason was caught off guard at seeing two familiar ponies enter the shop while he was restocking the shelves at the back of the store.
First, Cheerilee came in, which was rather uncommon by itself, but even more surprisingly she had Nightshine in tow.
He sincerely hoped that his daughter wasn’t in some sort of trouble, and that the two had simply walked here together.
Green eyes met his and though the magenta coated teacher greeted Bonbon,she immediately made a bee-line towards Jason afterwards.
Darn, oh well.
“Nightshine! Miss Cheerilee!” He greeted, and smiled at the two while putting down the box he was holding. “To what do I owe this visit? Is everything well?” Then, he held his arms out for Nightshine.
Smiling back, Cheerilee sat back on her haunches while Nightshine eagerly hopped into Jason’s waiting arms. “Hello, Jason. I’m here because Nightshine was quite out of it today in class. After learning why, I wondered if there was anything I could do to help?”
As he caressed Nightshine’s tufted ears, Jason couldn’t help but admire Cheerilee. That mare always went the extra mile for her students, and had a heart of pure gold.
“Thank you kindly for your concern, Miss Cheerilee. Would it be alright if I kept Nightshine home until after her birthday? That way she can relax a little and wait with me to see if Twilight finds something more on the matter.” Jason answered her.
Cheerilee nodded and stood up smiling. “That’s not a problem, Jason, but I will send one of her classmates to your house with some homework tomorrow alright?”
“That is more than reasonable, Miss Cheerilee.”
“I hope that everything will turn out well for you both, but I must head back now to finish up a few more things. Please feel better soon, Nightshine.” Then, she turned around and trotted out of the door, heading back into the direction of Ponyville’s school building.
Now that their conversation was over, Bonbon trotted towards the two, carrying a bowl with assorted small chocolates and candy in her mouth. And after offering Nightshine a few, she set it down on the nearby shelf.
“Do you need to quit a little earlier today, Jason?” The mare asked, concern in her voice, though looking at the now much happier Nightshine, who chewed on some taffy.
Jason shook his head at her while gently stroking along his daughter’s back. “Nah, Bonnie, I can manage working for another hour, that won’t be an issue. Maybe Nightshine can even help us, no?”
Bonbon grinned at the suddenly attentive Thestral filly, and gave her a thoughtful look. “I don’t know, Jason. Hey, Nightshine, do you want to help us in the store today sweetie?”
Jumping to her hooves, the filly nodded excitedly as she looked up at Bonbon. “Okay!”
And for the next hour, Nightshine was promoted to Assistant Candy Manager. She worked very hard to tidy all the shelves after Jason restocked them. Her salary naturally consisted of all the promotional products that were left over that day.
That evening, shortly after dinner. Somepony was heard knocking on the front door, and when Jason went to open it, he saw Twilight standing there floating a small scroll next to her in the field of her magic.
“Good evening Jason. I hope you’re interested in some information that I found this afternoon. Even if I didn’t actually find Moon Spiral herself, I’m confident that this will still help a lot.”
Jason gave a nod and held the door for her after which she made her way into the living room, smiling at the filly lounging on the couch.
“Hello Nightshine, how are you tonight?” She inquired before sitting down herself.
Nightshine returned a shy smile, perking her ears a little as she straightened up. “Hello, Princess Twilight.”
Twilight then placed the scroll on the table while Jason seated himself next to his daughter.
“Well, I am curious what you have found then, Twilight.” Jason said, curiosity clear on his face.
Opening the scroll with her magic, various names were written on it, connected by markings and lines, often going from one pair of names towards the next. Jason’s features turned into a smile when he recognized the parchment for what it was. A family tree most likely belonging to Nightshine’s possible relatives, gauging by the beaming smile on Twilight’s muzzle.
“Is that what I think it is, Twilight?” Jason asked, eyes scanning across the old paper trying to find a single name.
Twilight gave him a nod. “Yes indeed Jason, a family tree.”
And, sure enough, nearly at the bottom of the scroll he found her name. Moon Spiral, daughter of Nightswift and Gilded Star. he suddenly understood the meaning behind Twilight’s words earlier and looked up at the alicorn. “We can find out if any of Nightshine’s closer relatives live in Canterlot or other nearby cities.”
“Exactly!” Twilight exclaimed as she clapped her hooves and grinned in a satisfied manner. “Of course, I will gladly help you ask around and go through any more paperwork on the manner.”
Nightshine looked at the locket she held in her hooves as she mumbled. “She still left me behind though, do I want to meet her? If it was her that left this?”
Jason turned to his filly and caressed her ears lovingly before cupping her chin and encouraging her to look at him. “You know, Nightshine? Maybe your mother had no other choice, and had to do so in order to keep you safe. Maybe she knew no other way at that point in time.”
The little Thestral nodded slowly and looked up at Jason. “But if that were so, why didn’t she come back earlier, daddy?” She asked, clearly still a bit unhappy about it.
“Well,” Twilight cut in gently, “maybe she wasn’t able to do that, and now feels very guilty about it, perhaps even a little bit nervous to see you again, and afraid you are mad at her?” That sounded somewhat logical, and Nightshine gave the alicorn a soft nod.
“So, while we do not know all the reasons yet, why don’t you wear that pretty locket as a proof that, perhaps, your mother is sorry, and just desired to give you a memento for your birthday?” Twilight continued and smiled at Nightshine.
Not really seeing a reason to disbelieve the alicorn, Nightshine slipped the silver chain around her neck and smiled at Jason. “But we will keep searching, right?”
Jason nodded and kissed her forehead. “Yes, we will. I promise.” He answered her.
After all, they had a pretty good lead now.
Author's Note
And here is my entry for the Nightshine Contest, I hope you all enjoyed the read.
