//------------------------------// // Jason's First Steps // Story: My Filly, Nightshine // by The Abyss //------------------------------// Nightshine rushed forward, her wings bristling in fear. “Daddy!” she cried out, nuzzling his head as she tried to get him to wake up. When he failed to move, or show any signs of life for that matter, her heart turned to ice as she feared the worst. “D-D-Daddy?” she squeaked out, her ears falling flat on her head. “What did you do to him?” she yelled, turning her attention towards Twilight. Twilight’s eyes went wide as she stared on in shock. “I... I...” She took a step forward, but Nightshine hissed at her, making her stop in place. Nightshine bared her fangs as she flicked her tail. She spread her wings open wide, planting her forelegs firmly on the floor. “Don’t you dare touch him!” she screamed as tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Nightshine lay down behind Jason, laying her forelegs over his chest and covering him with her wings as she kept her steely gaze locked on Twilight. Her upper lip trembled as she failed to bite back a snarl. “Nightshine, please! I need to make sure he’s okay!” Twilight pleaded as she took another cautious step closer. “This shouldn’t have happened...” “Yeah, but it did!” Nightshine nuzzled Jason’s listless form, then lifted his head up with her muzzle, only for it to slip back down onto the floor with a dull thud. Her throat tightened up, and the possibility of Jason dying in front of her made her want to puke, for even though they’d known each other for a very short time, he’d given her a chance at life that nobody had offered before. “Please, at the very least, let me move him to the couch,” Twilight said. “You can stay by his side the whole time, okay? Trust me, as your friend and as a Princess of Equestria, I would do nothing that would harm either of you.” Nightshine glared at Twilight for a few seconds, then her ears flicked back. She wiped the tears from her eyes, then stood up on trembling legs. “F-Fine,” she muttered, glancing away. “Thanks.” Twilight lit her horn, then lifted Jason up into the air. As he floated by her, she couldn’t help but notice the two fangs that poked out from between his lips. She set him down on the couch, but before she could even approach him, Nightshine leapt up in front of her and curled up on top of his side, gazing at her with suspicious eyes. “Can I at least check to see if he’s alive?” Twilight asked in a strained voice. Nightshine glanced at Jason’s head, then looked back up at Twilight. She flicked her tail up into her forelegs, and after a few seconds of deliberation, she nodded slowly. Twilight walked forward and sat down next to the couch. She lowered her head and placed an ear right at his lips and held her breath, praying that he was still alive. When she felt the sensitive hairs in her ear begin to tickle, her shoulders drooped in relief. “He’s alive,” she said with a sigh of relief, shooting a reassuring smile at Nightshine. “Good,” she muttered back. “So, uh... is he sleeping or something?” “I think he’s unconscious. Changing species like that is a bit drastic, and I guess his body wasn’t able to handle the sudden change. I’m pretty sure humans don’t have any magic in them, so transforming them into a species with magic probably caused him to pass out like this.” Twilight stood up and took a deep breath. “He should be fine, but nevertheless, I think we should keep an eye on him until he wakes up.” What, does she think I’m just gonna leave him here? Nightshine rolled her eyes. “Probably a good idea, yeah.” Jason blearily cracked an eye open, then closed it as the sunlight nearly blinded him. Ugh... what happened? And why do I have such a bad headache? he thought, laying stock-still. Oh, yeah... the transformation... He tried to move his fingers, but found that nothing in what used to be his arms moved whatsoever. Figuring that it’d be the same way with his toes, he flexed his neck. mentally balking at the feeling of it being much longer. A wondrous warmth covered his side, making him want to just go back to sleep to hopefully get rid of his headache, but a small part of him knew that Twilight and Nightshine would be worried about him. He licked his dry lips and gingerly lifted his head from the pillow. “N-Nightshine? You there?” he croaked out, his mouth and throat terribly dry. “Daddy!” Nightshine squeed as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck. “You’re okay!” “Ugh... sorta...” Jason coughed, then rolled over onto his stomach. He began to look over his shoulder, but paused halfway as his vision started to go blurry. Even though his headache felt like it was starting to get worse, he finished looking over his shoulder to shoot Nightshine a reassuring smile. “Hey there, sweetie. I didn’t worry you too much, did I?” Nightshine’s ears flopped down. “Um... kinda. When you fainted, I thought that...” “We thought that something had gone terribly wrong,” Twilight said, sitting down in front of the couch. “Thankfully, that is not the case. So... how are you feeling, Jason?” she asked, biting the bottom of her lip. Nightshine pushed herself off of Jason’s back and slipped down to lay belly-up between his forelegs. Jason smiled again as he looked down upon her, stroking her mane with a tentative hoof. His first few strokes were a little rough, so he took a deep breath, concentrated really hard, then as gently as he could, brushed a small bit of her mane behind her ear. Glancing up at Twilight, he said, “Well, I have a pretty bad headache. Other than not being able to feel my fingers and toes, I think I’m fine.” “Okay... while the headache was unexpected, I don’t think you should face any other side effects. Is your headache kinda small, or is it something like a migraine? Did you get those while you were a human? Does your family history have any sort of issues like that?” Twilight levitated a scroll and a quill over and started scribbling down some notes. “It just feels like a regular headache.” Jason licked his lips and pulled Nightshine up against his breast. “So, what do you think of me as a bat pony?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. “I think you look perfect; exactly how I imagined my daddy would look like back when I was at the orphanage! But...” Nightshine glanced away as she fidgeted in his grasp. She tried to hold back a smile, but couldn’t help let it slide onto her face. “What is it?” “I... might miss your fingers for ear scritches,” Nightshine admitted with a light blush. Twilight stood up, then paused as she swayed from side to side. “Um, if it’s okay with you guys, I think I’m gonna go take a nap. That transformation spell took a lot more out of me than I thought it would,” she said, wiping a few beads of sweat from her brow. “Is that alright? I’d like to come over in the next day or two to study how well you adapt to your new body, by the way.” “Sure, that’s fine with me. Ready to go, Nightshine?” Jason asked, pushing his hind legs off of the couch.. His hind legs wobbled back and forth, and he dared not take a step back for fear of falling. “Uh... wanna give me lessons on how to walk?” he asked rather sheepishly. “I got this!” Nightshine said with a squee. Jason lifted a hoof to block the sun’s bright light as he stepped out of Twilight’s castle. He squinted as he let his eyes get adjusted to the light. “Heh, everything feels a lot weirder...” he muttered under his breath. Never thought I’d get lessons on how to walk as a pony from a pony... “Huh?” Nightshine cocked her head to the side as she sat down in front of him, her tail swishing back and forth on the steps behind her. “Well, I never had to walk on four legs, for starters.” Jason set his leg back down and moved to sit beside Nightshine as he looked towards Ponyville. Glancing over his shoulder, he wiggled his butt, trying to make his tail swish like Nightshine’s, but it barely moved. “Humph...” He focused with all his might, but he still failed to make his tail move. With a roll of his eyes, he gave up and looked back as Nightshine sat down between his forelegs. She pushed her rump back until her back rested against his belly, and then she laid her head against his right leg. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to do this,” Nightshine whispered. “When I was a foal, Serenity never let any of the orphans get attached to her. She... didn’t like it when I tried to do this, and I...” She felt her throat tighten up. “What?” Jason asked, wrapping his left foreleg around her. Nightshine cast her gaze towards the ground. “I’m sorry I brought that up. Can we not talk about it?” she muttered. Jason’s eyebrows furrowed. Feeling his neck grow rather stiff, he let go of her and lay down next to her. “Hey...” he whispered, leaning in close. He nuzzled her cheek and pulled her close with a hoof, making her sit down between his forelegs. “What’s wrong?” he murmured, resting his head on top of hers as he rubbed her left foreleg with his. Nightshine bit her cheek and squirmed. She watched as a few chirping birds flew by, giving her a few moments of peace before she sighed. “Serenity had some pretty mean rules. She told us all that we weren’t allowed to grow attached to her, and even though I tried to follow her rules, I... couldn’t help myself sometimes.” She twitched as a shiver ran down her back. “Oh, I see.” Jason lay there for several seconds, keeping his mouth shut tight as he felt Nightshine tense up. “If you don’t mind me asking, what’d you try to do?” Nightshine scoffed. “This, actually. She told me that if she let me do this with her, then the other foals would feel sad because she wouldn’t show them affection. So...” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “She made an example of me one time after lunch in the yard... made me sit in timeout for an hour in the farthest corner where I could see families walking by. I... never did that again.” Nightshine curled up in between Jason’s forelegs and laid her head on his foreleg. “So... thank you,” she whispered. “Good thing I adopted you, huh?” Jason asked, feeling Nightshine nod on his leg. “You wanna go get some ice cream?” “Is it okay if we go home?” Nightshine squeaked out. She stood up and glanced over her shoulder. “You know... I’ve waited years to see how awesome winghugs are while snuggling, and it’d give you a chance to learn how to use your new wings!” “What, you don’t want to go and immediately start teaching me how to fly?” Jason stood up and took his time walking down the steps that Nightshine so easily trotted down. “Nope, not yet! We gotta take foal-steps first!” Jason chuckled at that. “Heh, fair enough. So now that I’m a bat pony, do you think I should change my name to something more normal?” Nightshine paused as she cocked her head to the side. “Nah, I think your name is just right!”