Nightshine's Incredible Journey

Short Stroke was helping Pinkie decorate the cake with pink frosting. Despite his lack of ability in baking, he was a very fast learner and had decorated the cake quite cleanly.

“Short Stroke, where did you learn to bake?” Pinkie gasped at the finished creation

“I used to help the cafeteria in the orphanage.” He leapt off of the stool. “I never actually made anything myself, so I’m feeling pretty proud of myself for doing this.” He smiled briefly, but then ended up sighing.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Pinkie Pie walked up to Short Stroke

“Nightshine thinks we're not going to get adopted.” Short Stroke looked back at Pinkie. “I'm beginning to think that this wasn’t the best plan that I’ve ever had.”

“Aww, c’mon, frowny pants. I know you and her’ll get adopted!” Pinkie rubbed his back. “Every orphan finds parents eventually. Just give it time.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Pinkie. But I don’t think it’ll help this situation.”

“You never know, Shorty.” Pinkie winked at him. “An orphan doesn’t stay in an orphanage forever, much like a cake doesn’t last forever. Sooner or later, they both go. Children to their parents, and cake into mouths.”

“I’ve gotta take this cake to Nightshine.” Short Stroke got back up onto the stool and grabbed onto the cake tray with his mouth. He tried to lift the cake up but found it too heavy for someone of his stature. “Uh, little help?”

“Oh, sure thing, Shorty!” Pinkie took the entire cake and effortlessly put it on her back, carrying it out of the kitchen and over to the table.

    Short Stroke and Pinkie arrived back in the main room with the cake and set it down before Nightshine. As they watched Nightshine examine the cake, they could both see her eyes light up. Feeling accomplished, the two ponies hoof-bumped and watched as Nightshine reached for a slice.

“Pinkie, I’m going to be running some errands for a while. Do you think you ca—” Mrs. Cake walked through the door and noticed the cake sitting at Nightshine’s table “—oh my! Whoever made this?”

    “I did, ma’am.” Short Stroke walked up to Mrs. Cake and nodded.

    “Mrs. Cake! Can you get your husband to come see this too?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh, of course, Pinkie.” And with that, she galloped back into the room she came out of to collect her husband. She quickly returned with him and two babies on their backs.

    “So, what’s your name, little guy?” Mr. Cake approached Short Stroke.

“I'm Short Stroke.” He walked up to the Cakes.

“Nice to meet you, Short Stroke.” Mr. Cake walked up to Short Stroke and shook his off. “So, do you like baking?”

“Yeah. I love baking. It's the only thing I liked back at orphanage besides Nightshine.” He pointed Nightshine out, who was having her first slice of the cake.

Mrs. Cake sighed. “I see. You and Nightshine must be very close.”

“Why are you asking all these questions?” Short Stroke tilted his head.

“This might be a bit sudden but, would you like to be adopted?” Mrs. Cake slowly stepped forward.

    “What did you say?” Short Stroke’s eyes went wide at the question.

    “Would you like me to be your mother?” Mrs. Cake gave him a small smile.

    “I… I don’t know what to say.” He began to shed some tears. “Can you... adopt Nightshine too?”

    “As much as we’d love to, we can't. I’m very sorry.” He showed them the two foals. “Having two mouths to feed is quite a lot as it is. We could handle three, but four might be a bit too much for us. I hope you understand.”

    “I’m sorry, but unless Nightshine finds a family, I can't leave her. I’m sorry.” Short Stroke turned away from the two grown-ups. “She needs me until she gets her own mommy and daddy.”

    “I understand. I shouldn't have asked.” Mr. Cake stepped backwards a few paces.

    “It’s fine, no really.” Short Stroke looked at the two foals on Mr. Cake’s back. “Besides. You have two babies as it is. I don’t want to add on any more stress.”

    As he slowly trotted out the door, Pinkie Pie tried fighting back against the tears in her eyes. Unable to take it anymore, she wiped them and dashed back into the dining room, not even bothering to look back at any of the others.

    Nightshine sighed as she was staring out the window with the autumn breeze blowing multicolored leaves through the air. Filthy Rich sat by her and gently wrapped his hoof around her body. The two of them enjoyed each other’s company and felt very comfortable,

Suddenly, Pinkie came bouncing out of the kitchen with Short Stroke shouting, “Alrighty-tighty! Are you four ready to be adopted?”

“Yeah! Let's go!” Honeycomb and Chrono shouted as they bounced of their seats and ran up to Short Stroke and Pinkie.

“What took you so long?” Nightshine approached Short Stroke.

“Can’t tell ya. It’s a surprise.” He gave Nightshine a gentle wink.

”Now, I need all of you to listen to what I say alright?” Pinkie Pie waved her hoof in front of the four children, who all nodded in unison. “Good. We don’t want any of you getting lost.”

“Hey, I gotta go tend to my shop/” Filthy Rich spoke to Nightshine before turning towards the door. “I'll catch up with you all later.”

“It’s fine. Just remember the promise alright?” Nightshine nodded.

“Yeah. Breaking a Pinkie Promise is the fastest way to lose a friend—” she instantly popped up behind him “—forever!”

Filthy Rich gave her a slight nod and waved at the orphans. “I gotta go. See you soon, children.”

The other three groaned and gave him a goodbye hug, burying themselves in his shirt again. They broke off as Nightshine came in and Filthy Rich held out his hooves. She rushed him with a hug and had her mane brushed by him.

”Bye.” She whispered into his ear and kissed him on the cheek. She quickly returned to the other orphans and watched Filthy leave the building.

“Alright! Let’s go!” Pinkie bounced out of the house and down the street with the orphans following in step. She saw that they were trying to bounce just like her instead of walk, seeing them smile with every jump they took.

Dr Whooves came back from using the bathroom as soon as the other foals left. He came to his seat and saw that the pocket watch he set on the table was ticking. He picked up the watch and put his left ear close to it and heard the mechanism was working perfectly.

“Excuse me. Did you see the pony who fixed this?” He asked Mr and Mrs. Cake

“Um, I think one of the kids that were in here was playing with it.” Mr. Cake looked at the fixed pocket watch. “They’re out in town right now with Pinkie Pie.

“Thank you.” He bowed and ran out the door, following closely behind the other ponies. “Excuse me, foals? Can I speak with one of you for a second?” He called out, getting Pinkie and the others to stop in their tracks.

“Oh! Hey, Doctor. What’s up?” Pinkie waved to him.

“I just wanted to know which of these four little ones was able to fix my pocket watch.” Doctor Whooves paced around the four orphans, examining them all very carefully.

“That was me, sir.” Chrono stepped forward. “I fixed your watch.”

“Well, I have to say that you did an amazing job.” Doctor Whooves shook Chrono’s hoof. “If you grow up, I imagine you have a bright future in clock maintenance someday.”

“Wow. Thanks, mister!” Chrono beamed.

“So, what brings a quad of new foals to Ponyville?” Doctor Whooves asked.

“We’re orphans who ran away from the orphanage and were looking for homes.” Nightshine took a few paces forward. “My name is Nightshine, and these are my friends. Chrono, Honeycomb, and Short Stroke.

“My goodness! Orphans?” Dr Whooves gasped, putting a hoof to his mouth.

“Yep!” Pinkie Pie nodded. “I was just helping these cuties find mommies and daddies of their own.”

“Well, that’s very nice of you, Pinkie.” Doctor Whooves approached Chrono once more. “Oh, I do apologize. I simply can’t stress enough over how much I appreciate your help in fixing my watch, Chrono. Do you like them then?”

“I just like fixing things.” He inwardly shrugged. “I hope I didn’t break it.”

“No. Far from it, in fact.” He looked down at the perfectly repaired watch once more. “I’m actually beyond impressed with it.”

“Well, I think we have a match, don't you agree?” Pinkie Pie smiled and fished out a piece of paper. It was an adoption certificate from the orphanage that the four orphans had come from

“You mean to say that I can adopt him here and now?” Dr Whooves was taken aback with the paper. “Oh my. This is an odd surprise, I must admit.”

“Just sign this form, and he’s all yours!” Pinkie handed him the piece of paper and a quill to sign it with.

“So Dr Whooves is going to be my dad?” Chrono asked as he watched the stallion immediately take the quill and sign his name with it.

“Looks that way, my fine friend. Or should I call you my strapping son?” He looked down at Chrono

, “This… This is too sudden, I...” Chrono whimpered and hugged Dr Whooves, feeling his new father’s hoof wrap around his body. He looked back at his friends and gave them a big hug before he ended up crying.

“Don’t be sad, Chrono. You’ve found your new daddy now.” Nightshine gently stroked his chin. “Don’t waste this chance. We’ll be sure to find our own parents soon as well.

“Thank you, Nightshine. Thank you all!” He sniffled and fought back against his tears before he went back to Dr Whooves. The two of them trotted away back to the Doctor’s house, waving the remaining three orphans goodbye as he trotted away.