Hush, little filly, don't say a word,
Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird.
Everypony knew the song. Firelight sung it to his daughter, Starlight, all the time. She loved music, and that song was great, too. But as she got older, she didn't like the song as much. "I don't know why she doesn't want to listen anymore. It always used to calm her down."
His wife, Moon Glow, sighed, exasperated. "She's older, turning four soon, what do you expect? It's not like-"
"Maybe it's because she's starting to understand words now. Maybe she knows the verses of the song. She would have to understand that it's a lie, right?" He vented.
Moon rolled her eyes. "I'm not following."
"If," he thought aloud, "she understands the meaning of the song, she knows it's a lie! No parent has enough money to buy their foal that much stuff."
"So what will you do? You surely don't have all that money," Moon said, exasperated.
Firelight was giddy. "Her birthday's coming up soon. I'll get her some things that I can, and maybe make others out of craft supplies and such." Moon rolled her eyes a second time and decided it was best not to question it. She left the kitchen with a bag of potato chips and let Firelight do whatever it was he was going to.
He headed to the store, excited, as he looked around for the things he needed. A mockingbird, a diamond ring, a looking glass, a billy goat, a full moon (how would he manage to pull that one off?), a pup, a cart, and of course, a sweet. Because Starlight would always, always, be the sweetest foal ever. There was no denying it.
But as he entered the local craft store, it hit him that he would need to visit more than just one store. And he only had one days, including today, to get it all for his lucky daughter. He would have to group things on his list.
The mockingbird, the goat, and the puppy would all most likely be found at a pet store. The billy goat was questionable, of course, but what kind of pet store didn't have a billy goat for little fillies that wanted one? The diamond ring and looking glass, well, were probably in a jewelry store. The moon was hyperbole, even Firelight, as blind-minded as he was, knew that. But it would be a chance to show his daughter just how much he cared. So he could find a charm that looked like a moon in the jewelry store. That would be nice for sure. The sweet was the cake that his wife would be getting; he didn't need to worry about that one, luckily.
Was he forgetting anything? He sang the song in his mind... Oh! Of course, he needed a cart. Ooh, that would be a toughie. He would figure it out on the way. He had one whole day, after all. He went to the pet store and found a green bird, which he assumed was a mockingbird. "Are you a mockingbird?" he asked it with a cute voice.
To his surprise, it answered back. "Are you a mockingbird?" it replied. He laughed, and it did a laugh-ish thing to try and imitate him. It was definitely a mockingbird. It didn't sing, which was okay because the one in the song didn't either. At least it mocked him. Next, he just had to get a pup. And name it Rover. That one was simple enough. All he had to do was find some dog that looked like it would be named Rover. But that was pretty hard. They all seemed to be good Rovers. He just had the mockingbird choose out a pup for him. It chose a white baby dog with hazel spots. It seemed good enough to him. And now for the billy goat. He went up to the assistance desk and confronted the worker.
"What's the difference between a billy goat and a regular goat?" he asked.
The mare at the desk shrugged. "I don't think there is much of a difference. Did you need help finding one?" Firelight shrugged and nodded. The mare helped him find an area of goats. Now to find a billy goat, he thought to himself. His mockingbird once again helped him choose, and to his pleasure, the selected goat seemed enough like it would be named Billy. That was good.
He paid for the animals and left the store. "Thank you, thank you!" he bid them adieu. Then, he dropped his animals off at home. After he was halfway to the jewelry store, he went back for the mockingbird. He proved to be helpful so far. In the store, he frowned. There was no diamond ring! Most of the rings were made or gold or silver and had extra charms on the top. "Sorry, but do you have a diamond ring?" he asked.
The receptionist's name tag read Carol Eye. Carol rolled her eyes and pointed to a shiny ring in the middle of the display. To this, Firelight frowned even further. "That's golden."
"Yes, it's gold. Not real, but it's cheap and a still really nice-looking diamond ring," she explained, exasperated.
He was just as tired. "No, I mean the ring is gold. Shouldn't it be made of diamond?"
Carol smacked her face. "It doesn't work that way... It has a diamond charm on the top, it's a diamond ring. It's that simple, okay?" Firelight sighed and decided he would just craft the ring.
"Okay, two more requests. Any jewelry pieces with a moon-looking charm?" Carol shook her head. One more thing he needed. "Alright. So, what's a looking glass?" Apparently it was a mirror. To his delight, there was a "looking glass" on the counter. "Can I take your mirror?"
"Nope. That's for customers to see themselves in the jewelry they may want to buy. You, though, may not buy the mirror itself." Firelight groaned. He thought he would've been able to get at least one thing from the jewelry store, but he didn't manage to get a single thing. The moon would be a kite, because kites were flown up high, and Starlight had seemed to like flying and heights. Luckily, the toy store did have a moon-shaped kite. It was perfect. Not only that, but he found a mini cart that you could latch a kitestring onto. It was perfect: a kite-driven cart! Now all he needed was the mirror. He easily found that, too. Who needed a jewelry store for a mirror?
After checking out, he bought it and put it at home with the animals. He quickly hid it all under a tablecloth and set up the streamers as Moon went out to pick Starlight up from preschool. Firelight then hid himself behind the sofa and waited. When he heard the door creak open, he yelled, "Surprise!"
The animals jumped out of their hiding spot, the mockingbird also yelling "Surprise," of course, and removing the tablecloth from the table. That revealed all the other stuff Firelight had gotten.
Starlight gaped at all this stuff, followed by her mother. "I'm flabbergasted," Moon said. "You really went with this?"
Firelight rolled his eyes. "Yeah, duh." Starlight just shook her head as her dad exclaimed, "Oh no! I forgot the diamond ring!" She and Moon rolled their eyes in unison.
Starlight considered what this all was. "I know I'm lucky to have such caring and generous parents... and I know I should appreciate all this and how much you spent on it all... but..." Starlight trailed off.
Firelight could hardly hide his feeling change when his daughter said but. Although, there was a chance it could be a good but. "But what, dear?" Moon asked.
Starlight felt shy and lowered her volume. "I don't know. I don't want to sound unkind... but... I'm not feeling that lucky. I have no idea what to do with... all this. What even is it for?" Moon smirked at Firelight and walked to her room. A few minutes later, she came back holding a wrapped present.
"I knew your father's presents weren't going to do well, so I got you a backup present. You never know," she said. As Starlight opened the gift slowly, she was very unsure of what might be inside. To her relief, it was just as she had wanted: an electric guitar based off her favorite band: The Rockers.
Starlight hugged her mother and breathed, "Thank you." She did get another present, and it was from her grandma who didn't live in Sire's Hollow with her. It was a magic book. Her parents had always gloated to Grandma Glimmer about how powerful Starlight's magic was. Grandma warned them, and sent the book as a way for Starlight to learn to control her overly powerful magic.
After cake, Starlight went back into her room with only three things: her guitar, her book, and her kite.
"Aw," Firelight groaned with a frown. "I thought she would've appreciated all this more."
Author's Note
Oh my god, my first story and it's really disappointing :/
(wow cool emoji shows how I feel about this story)
