//------------------------------// // Stories and Nightmares // Story: An Orphan's Dream Life. // by CreeperZone //------------------------------// Strangers, Nightshine was looking up at two strangers, strangers who had never had seen a pony like her before. Nightshine was always told to let Richard prepare strangers before they saw her, but it’s not like that can happen now. “Should we bring it to a hospital, or a vet, or something?” The woman was concerned and started to inspect Nightshine's forehead. As her fingers lifted up Nightshine's mane, Nightshine could feel the bump that was painfully throbbing on her head. Nightshine lifted up her hoof and placed them on the injury in an attempt to ease the pain. “Honey, it’s moving!” The woman grabbed the man's sleeve and averted his attention towards Nightshine. The man put away some sort of flat device that had one side illuminated. “Does that mean we can leave it outside?” Nightshine thought about the notion of being left to walk all by herself again, in the dark night, cold and tired. That did not sound pleasant. “Harry! We nearly run over a never-before-seen type of horse-thing and you want to just leave it for dead?” Nightshine's eyes widened and jolted back and forth between them. She wasn't sure whether or not to speak up, right now they think she is just an animal. “Look, it’s scared!” The woman leaned down to Nightshine and scratched behind her ear “Don't worry little guy, I won’t let the mean man hurt you.” Nightshine started to smile; She loved being scratched like that. “Alright, alright, but if it sheds all over the back of the car it’s your fault.” The man went out to the front of the car and sat behind the wheel. The woman who was standing at the door of the car now slid in and scooched Nightshine over to the side of the seat to make room for herself. The woman then closed the door and the car rumbled when Harry turned the key at the front. “Hey there, my name is Lynda.” The woman stroked Nightshine's mane. Nightshine scooted over and placed her head on Lynda's lap. “Aww, aren't you adorable?” Nightshine felt adorable. “You know it doesn't understand you, right?” While Harry was not amused, Nightshine, completely understanding what they were saying, resisted letting out a giggle. “You know, you really shouldn’t be so negative all the time,” Lynda told Harry as he pressed his foot down on the pedal. Nightshine became greatly excited as she was about to drive in a car for the first time in her life! If it were not for the pain in her head, she would be hopping up and down with glee. “Look, we’ll take it to a vet, they will find out what on earth it is, and we will go on with our lives.” Harry sounded grumpy. The car picked up speed while Nightshine gazed out the window. The environment slowly changed outside, trees passed by more often and the road felt less bumpy after a while. Nightshine was laying comfortably, getting ear scratches and belly rubs, something she could get used to. They have been travelling for a good while now and Nightshine has been thinking about how to tell them that she can speak, or whether she should speak at all. She ran the possibilities through her mind. If she did speak she could tell them who she was and why she was here and maybe Harry would even stop being such a jerk toward her. On the other hoof, she might scare them and get kicked out of the car. Right now everything seemed fine, they were heading in the direction she was going and she was enjoying herself. Nightshine decided to not speak until she needed to and nuzzled into Lynda's belly, closing her eyes to go to sleep, as it was quite late. Nightshine tried to open her eyes, but a bright light shone down upon her, making her raise her hoof to block the rays. At first, Nightshine thought she was back in her stable, on her mattress, and the sun was peering on her from the top of the doorway. Then Nightshine regained her surroundings. She was in a car and that light shining on her wasn't the sun. The light was pure white, unlike the sun’s golden rays. Nightshine hopped up on her hooves and wiped her eyes to reveal a spectacular sight. It was still night time but the moon had glided further across the star filled sky, meaning she had been out for a couple hours. The light was coming from a long metal pole sticking out of the pavement, but what was much more amazing was what the light illuminated. There was a building like she had never seen before, it was big and had huge glass panes. There were bushes and trees and grass surrounding it. There was a beautiful silver gate with a lion symbol on it being held by two painted brick pillars. The gate led to a pathway that was made of bright white stones paved into the ground, running up to the building. “Someone have a good night's sleep?” Nightshine once again noticed Lynda sitting right beside her. “Y-” Nightshine nearly spoke, but remembering last night, she instead made a horse’s ''neigh'' and brushed up against her. “Can you hurry up? I've got to bring this thing to the vet.” Harry was still at the wheel. He looked tiresome and his voice was more gravelly than before. “Yes, yes, I'm going.” With a final ruffling of Nightshine's mane, she pulled on the handle of the door and stepped out. Nightshine tried to hold onto her arm with her hooves but she couldn't keep her grip, Nightshine put one hoof forward in an attempt to leave but was stopped by Lynda. “I'm sorry, but you can't come with me. Don't worry. Harry will take you someplace safe.” Nightshine doubted that. Before Nightshine could try doing puppy-eyes, the door was shut in front of her. Nightshine watched Lynda walk up and open the gate, but before it could open she was tugged forward by the car. Harry started driving again, down into the city. Nightshine rubbed her head again and regained her balance, she then fluttered her wings to fly through the small gap between the front seats, she sat down on the seat beside Harry. Harry was a bit startled and veered a little back and forth on the road. “Jesus Christ! You could have warned me a little! Stupid animal!” Harry shouted at her. Nightshine backed up to the door and curled up slightly. She did not like when she was shouted at. It made her feel small and scared and reminded her of Serenity. “uhh...” Harry rubbed his forehead with one of his hands “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout... Look at me, I’m talking to a horse with wings. What are those called again? Pagesi? Pegasus? Yeah, that's it, I'm talking to a freaking pegasus.” Nightshine looked forward at the road. She really wanted to talk to him, but now she was afraid he might crash if she did. Nightshine looked around. There were houses lined one after another all looking like the house she saw Lynda walk into but each one was designed differently. Nightshine's jaw dropped, eyes filled with wonder. The car trip was breathtaking, every house, every car and every person that they passed was immensely brilliant and beautiful. Everything she saw filled her with a fascination of how it worked or what it was. Nightshine pressed her hooves against the dashboard, getting a better vantage point. “So what are you really? Cause from what I know, there are no flying horses in the desert.” Harry took his eye's off the road for a second to look at Nightshine. She didn't give much notice to him. “Are you like some sort of experiment? From, like, Area 51?” Nightshine had no idea what ''Area 51'' is, but it did not sound nice at all. Nightshine pivoted her head towards Harry. She wanted to say something so bad. The silence she was keeping made him nearly unbearable. “Well, doesn't matter I guess. Once the vet has you then you’re their problem.” Nightshine now was curious what a vet was. She’d never heard of it back in Equestria and they didn't have one in her town on earth either, but that was yet another question she couldn’t ask. A few minutes passed and Nightshine marvelled at everything she saw. The buildings were changing now. There were many more things with flashy lights and stores. In fact, the buildings seemed to get taller now, but much less fancy. Nonetheless, they were spectacular to Nightshine. She saw many different people all wearing strange clothes with many colours. She saw a school, and a church, and many shops with hundreds of items being showcased, such as foods and those strange, flat devices like the one Harry owned. She even thought she saw a picture of an equestrian pony alongside of some other toys, but the car sped too fast for her to get a proper look. They were passing by some small residential district when the car stopped very suddenly, sending Nightshine flying into the windscreen. She stopped most of the impact with her hooves but it was still quite unpleasant. This had happened several times to her already. Nightshine thought that they needed to add some sort of safety feature to cars to keep you from getting launched when it stops moving, but she didn't feel like giving advice on how to build cars. She wasn’t even aware of their existence before today. “We're here,” Harry said with such delight and relief it worried Nightshine. She tried to shake her head as she was dazed but found that she was being picked up by Harry. With difficulty he had lifted Nightshine by her stomach and placed her down onto the seat and he preceded to open the doors on both her and his side. Nightshine hopped down out of the car. Her muscles felt weak as she supported herself. She stretched her hind legs, one at a time, and then rolled her shoulders around now standing steady on her hooves. Nightshine raised her head to see several people stood on the concrete path observing her. She felt slightly awkward until Harry came around from the other side of the car and walked up to her. “Come on...” He let out a sigh then walked towards the building in front of them. It was a colourful little segment in the wall of apartment blocks and shops. There was a sign which shone in a neon green the words ''Pet Health'' and the 'a' was shaped as a dog’s paw. Nightshine reluctantly walked behind Harry. Why was he bringing her here? She's not a pe- Nightshine jumped back when the two glass doors slid to the side automatically. She looked around the vet clinic and saw rows of people sitting with their animals: some dogs with bright golden coats that had cones around their heads, a fluffy cat inside of a small crate wearing a collar with a Opal gem on it, and a child sitting petting their bunny which had no tail. Something was wrong. Harry did call her a stupid animal before, but Nightshine wasn't just an animal! She was a talking, intelligent being! What would they do to her if they thought she was just an animal? Were they going to take her away? Would she ever be able to come home to Richard? She refused to break the promise she made. She would get home. She had to. Nightshine turned around to look at the bystanders still gaping at her. Harry noticed her stop and went to move her into the clinic. “W-w... Wait!” Nightshine blurted out, falling down onto the cold pavement and blocked herself from Harry with her hooves. “Did, did you just talk?” Harry stepped back. “Umm... Yes, and uhh, I can understand everything you say too.” More people gathered in the crowd around her. “What? Then, then... what!” Harry stumbled over his words, he put his hands on his head trying to comprehend the situation. She was attracting an audience. Even some of the people in the animal clinic had come out to see her. Lights started to flash from the newly formed dense crowd around her. She twitched her head around, looking at the people. Nightshine started to get scared. She tried to stand up and run to the car, but someone sidestepped in front of her. She was pacing around in a circle, feeling claustrophobic, then Nightshine remembered something and turned to Harry. “I'm not a pegasus, I'm a thestral!” Nightshine spread her wings and flapped with all of her might. As she left the ground, she began to soar over the crowd, more lights now flashing at her. She tried to fly, away but it seemed, as she went over the street, she was just attracting more attention. Nightshine veered into an opening in the buildings, a dark alleyway. “Now, where do you think you’re going?” Oh no. Nightshine screamed at the sound of Serenity's voice. “You always have to mess it up, don't you?” She was being shouted at again. Nightshine floated down to the ground and covered her head with her hooves. She looked up at the sky to see the stars clump together into a pony’s head. Serenity looked down at her with eyebrows crossed and muzzle strained, mouth fiercely open to continue her expression of rage. “EVERY TIME SOMEPONY THINKS OF ADOPTING YOU, YOU GO AND ACT LIKE THAT!” Nightshine backed away into what she thought would be a solid brick wall but instead she stepped her back left hoof into a hole. She twirled her head around to see a star-filled void behind her. She scrambled back onto the floating platform above the nether space of her nightmares. In all directions the stars formed the head of Serenity, There was no escape. Everywhere she looked, Serenity was there, scolding her. “THIS IS JUST LIKE WHEN YOU ACTED LIKE A COMPLETE BRAT TO THOSE PONIES WHO WANTED TO ADOPT YOU! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN ADOPTED, BUT INSTEAD YOU CHOSE TO LET THAT OTHER PONY TAKE YOUR SPOT!” Nightshine remembered that filly. She was a couple years younger than Nightshine but she wasn't eating and needed the help. If she hadn't gotten adopted, she might have starved to death. Nightshine began to cry, and her crying deteriorated into sobbing. “I-I was helping her! She needed he-” Nightshine's voice was blown away by the monstrous yell of Serenity, “NEEDED WHAT? YOUR PLACE? YOUR HOME? YOU MIGHT HAVE NEVER GOTTEN ANOTHER CHANCE, AND EVEN NOW WHEN YOU DID, YOU STILL BLEW IT!” Nightshine sunk her head into herself. Tears poured out of her eyes and down her hooves, dripping onto the ground, creating a small puddle of her sadness in which she laid. “Uh, hello?” the voice echoed through the alleyway, bouncing back and forth, coming from all directions. “Little, umm, thestral? Is that you?” It wasn't Serenity any more, that was the voice of Harry and he was concerned. “J-just leave me,” Nightshine forced herself to say through the tears. She did not want to see anyone at this point. “I came here to apologize, I think.” Harry stepped into the gap between the two buildings, his shadow looming over Nightshine from the street lamps behind him. “I didn't mean what I said, when I called you a stupid animal.” Harry stood still for a moment. The alley became quiet, leaving only the echoed sound of Nightshine's crying to fill it. Harry stepped forward once again until he was in arms reach to Nightshine and put his hand on her forehead. “Do you have a name?” Harry seemed to genuinely care; His voice was soft and had lost its harshness from before. Nightshine peeked out from behind her hooves. Harry looked into her bloodshot eyes, drowned with tears. “N-nn-Nightshine...” Her throat was dry and irritated. She wanted to keep crying but knew she would eventually run out of tears. “Nightshine? Thats a lovely name.” He placed his hand on her forehead and scratched behind her ear. She didn't smile at first, but given time, the corners of her mouth slowly rose. “All of those people taking photos, they’re gone now.” Nightshine looked up at him. “And if you want you could come home with me and Lynda, you can stay for as long as you want.” Nightshine edged herself closer to him, wrapped her hooves around his stomach and started to cry once more. “I'll take that as a yes. I guess I’ll go get the car.” He went to stand up but Nightshine's grip tightened around his waist. “Please don't leave me,” Nightshine pleaded to him. He looked down at her puppy-dog eyes and let out another sigh. “Fine, let’s go together.” This time, when he stood up, he put his arms around Nightshine and helped her to her hooves. It took a minute for Nightshine to let go of him, but she stood by his side smiling up at him. The lights in the street began to be overwhelmed by a new light source, awaking from its nightly slumber. The sun was beginning to rise back up into the sky, and the stars were fading away like water droplets slowly evaporating in the heat of the sun. The sky shone a deep, beautiful red, a colour gave Nightshine hope. “Come on. Let's go home.” He slowly made his way forward towards the entrance of the alley, Nightshine following him, stepped her right hoof forward. Nightshine missed home.