Hi, my name’s Nightingale and I’m a unicorn filly.
Soon after I was born, I was adopted by Mommy. My second Mom. I really can’t remember much about my old parents, but I was told that they were very wicked and mean, and that was why my second Mommy took me away from them to raise me on her own.
I think my Mommy’s simply the best Mom in the world. Most Moms only have one face, but mine has many. Even a very special one that only I get to see when no one’s around.
Mommy says that it’s our little secret; when she explodes into bright green fire and then goes black all over. I love playing with her mane when she lets me. It’s so straight and long, and it tickles when it hits your nose. I think it’s much prettier than mine. My mane’s all wavy and short.
As much as I love my Mommy to bits, having a Mom with more than one face can be confusing sometimes. Sometimes she’ll leave me at home for hours and hours and when she comes back, it’ll be as someone I’ve never seen before. I used to get really scared when Mommy would do this… until we came up with a plan. When I’d ask her if it was really her, she’d say “Would I lie to you?” and then her eyes would turn all green like and she would tip me a wink.
I still giggle when she does this sometimes.
Because it’s our little secret. Just between the two of us.
***
Mommy and I rarely stay in one place for long, but that’s only because she has lots and lots of friends around Equestria she wants to pay a visit to. Whenever we go someplace new, we’ll stay at one of her friend’s homes, but only after Mommy goes inside to make sure that it’s safe for me. I usually play at the playground when she does this. Sometimes I talk to the other foals at the park, even if Mommy says I’m not supposed to.
I haven’t met any of Mommy’s friends yet, but I’ve seen loads of pictures of them on the walls and in picture frames around the places we stay. Every time we stay somewhere new, I always search for more books for Mommy to read to me before bed. She likes reading about Equestrian history the most; so much so, that she doesn’t even let me read them on my own. She knows pony history so well she hardly looks at the pages anymore. Mommy’s very smart like that.
One thing Mommy spends a lot of time on is her list. On it is a bunch of pony names I don’t know, but I guess are pretty important to her. She says they all used to be Mommy’s friends before they hurt her very badly and betrayed her. I just think that’s silly. Who would want to hurt Mommy? Whenever Mommy stares at her list, she gets either really quiet or really mad. Sometimes she gets so mad she starts throwing stuff around the room. Never at me.
I don’t like it when Mommy’s mad. I like it when Mommy’s happy and smiling and playing with me. Her happiness has to do with her list of pony names.
The happiest I’ve ever seen Mommy was when she came home in the middle of the night and scooped me right out of bed. She said we had reason to celebrate and so we did. For hours we danced and sang on the carpet in the living room. Later, when we collapsed onto the couch together, I noticed Mommy’s list was out on the table, and one of the names had been crossed off.
It didn’t look like it’d been crossed off with ink, though. It was all red and thick.
But if Mommy’s always this happy after meeting with one of her friends, I hope she meets a whole lot more of them.
Happy Mommy is best Mommy.
***
When I was really young, Mommy would always call me her “Little Love Bug” and I was never sure why—it was only later that she started calling me Nightingale, which I liked a whole lot better. I only found out Mommy’s real name by accident. Up until then she had been “Mommy” and nothing else.
I was running around another one of her friend’s empty homes when I found an entire room upstairs full of books. Open on the desk was a history book with lots and lots of great big pictures and names. I flipped it open and found a picture of Mommy almost at once. Sadly, I still can’t remember what they said Mommy’s name was. It was kinda complicated. It sounded like “crystal” but with a lot more letters in it. The book said she was a Queen, too.
So did that technically make me a Princess?
Another picture in the book had Mommy standing in front of hundreds and hundreds of ponies that looked just like her, but smaller, so that night I asked her what had happened to all of them. At first she got really angry at me and said that I should’ve left that book alone and not gone playing in there. After that, I really wished I hadn’t asked her that question. But then things got even worse when Mommy started to cry and wouldn’t look at me anymore. Now I felt even worse than before and made myself promise never to read another history book ever again.
Still, I had hurt Mommy and wanted to make things right, so I ran up to her and threw myself around one of her legs. I knew if there was one thing Mommy liked best besides her big list of pony names, it was hugs. Lots and lots of them. Even when I was just her “Love Bug” and she wouldn’t spend as much time with me or even talk to me much, she still wanted lots of them. Sometimes she would rub her smooth face against mine or kiss the top of my head or both.
Usually right after her belly would make all sorts of strange growling noises.
***
I think when I grow up I want to be an actress just like Mommy. She takes acting very seriously. Sometimes Mommy and I will spend entire afternoons pretending to be different ponies. She’ll tell me to ask her questions like:
“Are you new in town?”
“Have any relatives nearby?”
“How long you planning on staying around these parts?”
She writes out all my lines down on cards and has me read them to her at random. I even sneak in a few of my own, like, “What does a cloud taste like?” but she usually doesn’t answer those. Acting means everything to her. She says the worst possible thing an actor can do is break character. Mommy never breaks character. I’m really proud of her for that.
The best times are when I get to act alongside Mommy. There was one time the two of us spent a whole month in one town, pretending to be ponies that we weren’t. It was so much fun. I really wish we could do it again sometime. The whole time, Mommy pretended to be a mare looking for work, while I played her daughter. Mommy always said ponies with children had a better chance of finding work.
It was really important that Mommy get a job at a banquet happening at the end of the month. Another one of Mommy’s friends was supposed to be attending and she wanted to see them quite a bit. Then I asked her why she didn’t just get an invitation herself? That made Mommy laugh a whole lot for some reason. I’m not sure why, though. Who wouldn’t want Mommy at their party?
The night of the banquet, the two of us left town in a hurry. I don’t even remember getting out of bed; only holding onto Mommy’s back with all of my strength as she galloped passed some trees and bushes in the dark. Mommy looked tired. But happy, too. Even though she was running as fast as she could and breathing heavy, she was still smiling.
When I had a chance, I looked around and saw a bunch of ponies running through the trees holding swords and spears and sticks on fire. I asked Mommy if they were looking for us.
She only kept on smiling. She told me to close my eyes and try to sleep.
So I did. And the next morning, Mommy crossed another name off her list.
***
Mommy didn’t get a job in the next town, but that was okay, because the house we stayed at had lots of bits inside. I think she said we were in “Ponytown”, but I might only be remembering that wrong. Seems like an awfully silly name for a whole town full of ponies to call itself.
For three weeks straight, Mommy spent her time walking around, always as a different pony. A different character. She made lots and lots of notes on parchment as she did. Back at home, she’d study all of her pages until really late into the night, when she’d have to light a candle to keep reading them.
One of Mommy’s friends lives in Ponytown. She said they have a nasty habit of doing close to the same thing almost every day, which makes tracking them easy. I asked Mommy why she didn’t just say hi already, but she said she wanted them alone. She said it was very important that she be alone with them when they finally talk.
This friend must’ve really hurt Mommy long ago.
I only went outside our house a few times while we were in Ponytown. Once was to go with Mommy to a place where they keep all the ponies that weren’t alive anymore. I didn’t see any ponies in there, though, only large rocks with names written on them. We stopped at one of the rocks near the back. It was big. Bigger than the rest.
Mommy said this was where one of her children had been laid to rest. She said he was the one that had hurt her the most. He was the first of her children to turn his back on her. There was an accident only a year ago that had killed him. That was why he was buried in the ground.
Then Mommy started crying and I really didn’t know what to say. I felt terrible, and asked if she was sad that he was gone and not coming back.
Mommy shook her head, wiping the tears from her eyes.
She said she was only sad she didn’t get to him first.
Not long after that, Mommy finally met with her old friend. She changed herself into a mare that wasn’t in town anymore and filled a saddlebag up with books from around our house. She said she was going to a castle close by and that she’d be back soon. When I heard that she was actually going to a big fancy castle, I remember pleading with her to let me come along. It wasn’t everyday you got to see a castle.
Mommy only smiled and shook her head at me. She kissed me on the forehead and told me that I was to stay inside until she got back. I was disappointed, but said I understood.
An hour later, Mommy came back with the same books in her saddlebag as before, but with a gift for me inside. It was a doll. With eyes made of buttons, and with big floppy ears and little pants. It was very cute, and I loved it at once.
Mommy said it was a gift from her friend. Then she laughed and asked if I’d want a dragon instead of a doll. I got so excited when she said that that I jumped up and down on the spot, but it turned out Mommy had only been kidding. That got her laughing even harder than before.
Mommy laughs at the weirdest things sometimes.
***
After she met with her friend with the doll, Mommy and I spend most of our time outside, and never in the same spot for long. Mommy said ponies were looking for her. Everywhere. So she had to be more careful than usual now.
That was alright, though. I liked spending time outside with Mom. She even dyed my mane and tail a different color than before, and together we came up with a new pony for me to play as. I told her I wanted to be a cute, little filly named Lemon Drop because it was one of my favorite candies, and Mommy agreed. Soon after that, I started going to stores in town and buying food all on my own with the bits Mommy had saved up. No pony paid much attention to me whenever I was there. When they asked me where my parents were, I just told them they were in another store or on the benches outside. I liked acting. It was fun pretending to be someone else for a while. It was fun tricking ponies.
It seemed the more names Mommy crossed off her list, the more nervous she got. Sometimes I could even see her shaking like a leaf on a branch. She rarely slept anymore and mumbled to herself a lot. I was getting really worried about Mommy. I really hoped she’d start feeling better soon and become happy again.
Mommy hadn’t shown her very special face in weeks. Not even when it was just the two of us. She kept saying she needed to become someone else because all of her old characters had already been seen by other ponies. I kept telling her she’d find someone new soon, and then she patted my head and held me tight against her chest.
Mommy felt warm. Mommy had trouble keeping her breath steady.
At night, when the stars came out to play for us, stallions with wings and metal suits flew above us in giant loops. I was pretty sure they were all searching for Mommy. Why else would they be out so late?
I could sense Mommy standing over me, checking to see if I was asleep. I pretended that I was and heard Mommy change into someone else. By the quick flutter of wings, I knew that Mommy was showing her very special face again. I was happy she was herself again. Then she jumped into the air and flew. Moments later, something heavy crashed into the ground far, far away from me.
A moan. A scream. Then a sharp crack.
When Mommy came back, she was carrying what sounded like pieces of metal along the ground. Again, she checked to make sure that I was asleep, and I did my very best to pretend that I was. One day I hoped to be as good an actress as her.
For the rest of the night all I heard was Mommy practicing for her next role.
“Your highness… your highness… a moment of your time, if you’d be so kind…”
***
Mommy said that today would be the last day we’d have to spend outside. That made me happier than I’ve been in a long time. When I asked her if we’d be staying at another one of her friend’s homes, she said, “Perhaps.” She left it at that.
All day long, we walked in the woods, listening for anyone that might be close. The bits of metal Mommy got the night before clink and clank in the bag on her bag. When I asked what was inside, she said that it was her new costume. Sounded like a bunch of knives and forks to me.
As the sun went down, Mommy’s mood changed; she couldn’t sit still and had trouble saying more than two words. Mommy looked scared. More scared than I’ve ever seen her before. Her next performance must’ve been a pretty big one for her to get this scared.
Before she left with her big bag of metal bits, she came and knelt down to me. She ruffled my mane and kissed the top of my head, just like she always did.
She smiled. But her smile didn’t stay there for long.
“Nightingale… you know that I love you… far more than I thought I would…”
And I told her that I loved her right back. More than the entire world.
“Remember when I told you about the castle? The one that my friend lived in? That could be us, you know.”
I wasn’t sure what Mommy meant by that, but I nodded anyways.
“It all ends tonight… one way or another.”
But what Mommy said next filled my whole body up with sharp, pointy thorns. She said there was a good chance she wouldn’t be coming back that night. She said if the sun came up and she was nowhere to be found, I was to go back into town and find someone else to take care of me.
The tears began, and I couldn’t have stopped them if I tried.
I latched onto Mommy’s legs and screamed at her over and over again not to go: that she didn’t have to go; that we could stay in the woods together forever and ever; that she didn’t need to meet with that one last friend on her list.
That went on until she pushed me away from her. She said she’d come too far to stop now. And I knew she meant what she’d said. There were times when I knew Mommy was just acting. Like when she first adopted me and told me that she loved me and cared about me, I could tell she didn’t really mean it sometimes. But not that night. And not when she said she loved me far more than she thought she would only seconds before.
Mommy had tears of her own as she left, changing shape into a stallion with wings right before shooting into the sky.
I couldn’t stop the tears falling down face. I collapsed to the ground and continued to cry until my stomach hurt. And even when it felt as if there was absolutely nothing left inside me, I continued to cry, rocking back and forth in a tight little ball.
I might never see my Mommy again.
I must’ve fallen asleep while on the ground, because before I knew it, the sun had come up and was glowing bright gold. I got to my hooves and looked around. Mommy was nowhere to be found. Just as my eyes began to fill with tears again, I heard the sounds of hooves and hid behind a tree. Mommy always told me to do that whenever someone got too close.
“Hello?” they asked. I didn’t recognize the voice. “I know someone's out here.”
As I ran as fast as I could for another tree, a large pony stepped in front of me, blocking my escape.
Without a doubt, she was the tallest pony I’d ever seen before. White fur. Crown. Wings and a horn. Her mane and tail never stopped moving as I stared up at her. Not even for a second.
I screamed, scurrying away, but the huge pony only took another step in front of me.
“You’re safe now, little one. I promise.”
I stopped and looked up at her. “R-r-really?”
And she smiled. A big, beautiful smile.
“Would I lie to you?”
Author's Note
So... strange story. I always wanted to try a "dark" story from an innocent character's POV, so this is kind of that. Also, the ending was up for debate. For a time, it was going to end with Nightingale and "Mommy" inside Canterlot castle and enjoying everything. Then it ends with a very heartbroken Shining Armor one day finding Nightingale playing her doll. Unnecessary cliffhanger!
