Ever since Twilight became a princess, she had new responsibilities that required her direct attention. One of these was, of course, studying up Equestrian laws that ponies needed to follow. She managed to find roughly 5 books on different aspects in the Canterlot Library recently and asked Celestia personally to send them over so she could study. Of course, her former mentor was more then happy to agree and here she was, reading book after book.
It was very late, Spike, Starlight and Nyx had already said their good nights and went to bed ages ago. Owlowiscious, being a owl was obviously nocturnal, was keeping her some company as he sat on his perch. Her horn was gently glowing in a soft magenta aura so she could see the book before her. She also was using her magic to gently shift the pages over when she was finished on one page.
Rat-tat! Rat-tat!
Twilight jolted at the sound of the golden front door banging on the hinges. Who could be knocking at this hour. She looked up at the clock that read shortly after midnight. Most ponies she knew wouldn't be up at this time, especially in Ponyville which wasn't known really for night clubs, if you discounted Vinyl Scratch's but even her's was only open until 11 o'clock. She frowned, but pulled herself to her feet. She walked out into the main hallway from her former spot in the throne room. The knocking was progressively getting weaker, even though it hadn't been very strong in the first place.
''Who could that be?...,'' she questioned as she made it to the door. Her voice low, due to her slight tiredness. Lighting her horn with her magical aura, she gently pulled at the door with her magic. A gust of wind and rain blew straight into her fast, causing her to close her eyes to protect them from the elements. When she reopened them, she saw a dark, muddy figure in the doorway. The outline of the figure told the alicorn that it was a filly, probably no older then 9/10 years old roughly. The figure also had a rather skinny, malnourished shape but it was hard to tell with the lather of mud that caked the child.
Why would a filly be out at this hour? And why did she seem to be quite malnourished? These were the main questions that arose in the mare's mind, as she sadly stared at the little one, who was shaking from the cold and potential fear. She wasn't sure what to do or say, so she simply calmly spoke. ''Um, how about you come inside. It's quite wet and cold out there, not really good for a little one like you,'' she thought of what to say next and as the filly hesitatingly stepped into the castle, she said. ''You can stay here for the night, I'll get you a bath and something warm to eat.''
The filly simply nodded, mud masking her expression. But from the child's golden eyes, Twilight could see the plain fear and pain that the filly processed. What had happened to this young one? She motioned for the filly to follow her, which the child cautiously did. They slowly walked to the castle's quite massive bathroom. It's was quite a royal-looking bathroom, but what could you really expect for a princess' bathroom in general? Twilight sighed, before gently beginning to run the bath until there was a shallow level of water at the base.
''Okay, would you mind getting into the bath for me. I'll be over in a second, I just need to get my bandages and such. I know there's a bit of blood mixed with that mud so I need to check you for injuries. Is that alright?'' Twilight spoke softly, as she watched the filly attempt to get into the bath by grasping it with her hooves and pulling herself in. The filly then looked over the side before nodding to the question.
Twilight sighed, opening the medicine cabinet carefully with her magic. She pulled out some ointment and bandages, she gently laid them out on the floor next to a pale blue towel. She then trotted over to the filly, who was patiently waiting. ''Okay, lets get you clean up. Shall we,'' she said with a calming smile. She gently pulled her shower head over with magic and started to rinse the filly's body of the mud and blood mixture that was clinging to her coat.
As the bloody and muddy mixture drained away from the bath with the rest of the water, Twilight was finally able to see the filly's battered and bruised coat. The filly had a soft white coat, that was covered in little scars and bruises. Her ears were tipped purple, but one of them was hanging limp on the side of her head. Her mane was a light magenta-blue color with two highlights of soft pink and magenta running through it, but it was scruffy and unkempt like it hadn't been brushed in weeks.
The filly was now determined as a pegasus, due to the rather small wings that pointed out of her sides with the same purple tipping as her ears. She also processed a cutie mark, which was of a blue wand with a bow attached and glittering stars surrounding it like Twilight's mini stars surrounding the big pink one. But it brought up one question, was this young pegasus' talent to do with magic?
Twilight managed to pull a false smile, as she didn't want to confuse or upset the young one by showing how shocked she was due to her appearance. ''Lets get you out, little one,'' she said, levitating the filly out of the bath tub. She then gently scrubbed the filly dry. ''Okay, lets check your wounds then.''
She gently scanned the filly's body for potential wounds, which she eventually found a rather large hole under the filly's left wing. It didn't look like it was bleeding majorly, like it partially sealed up. But you could tell by the dried blood that still surrounded the hole, despite washing, that it had been bleeding recently. The filly looked away when she realised that Twilight had seen it, a couple of tears seemingly formulating into her eyes. Twilight sighed a little, knowing that she wouldn't get a answer as to where the wound came from. She decided to just gently apply ointment to the wound to help it seal up completely and then gently wrapped a bandage around the filly's body, but left enough room for her wings to rest above the bandaging. ''Is that too tight, or good enough?''
''It's fine.......,'' whispered the filly for the first time that night. Her voice was quite hoarse, like it hadn't been used for a while or she had been deprived from water. Her tummy then grumbled, causing her to blush and look away from the mare next to her in complete embarrassment even though hunger wasn't her fault.
''Lets get you something to eat, shall we?'' said Twilight with a giggle and a smile. She lead the filly out of the bathroom and down to the hallway to the dining hall. ''Sit down in here, I'll go get you some pancakes to eat.''
The filly nodded and sat down at the gold and pink circular table. She stared at the unicorn statue for a while, curiosity perked in her eyes. She then looked at the seats, there was a total of 8 seats. She had heard something about the mare she was with now being the princess of friendship and that she had 7 pony friends and a dragon assistant. But presently, she wasn't sure what to think about that. Dragons and ponies didn't often get along, right? Dragons were mean and scary.
''That's a good filly,'' said Twilight, causing the young filly to turn around and see the mare levitating two plates with 3 pancakes on each. ''I brought enough for the pair of us. I want to ask you some questions whilst we're eating, because I need to be able to know a couple of things before I can arrange anything. I won't go too personal into your past if you don't want me to, however.''
The filly nodded and began eating instantly the moment the pancakes were placed down. She was scared that it was a dream that she was going to wake up from, to find that she was still malnourished. Twilight chuckled, but internally frowned, at this, knowing how starved the filly must have been to be in this state. She sat down herself, and slowly took a bite out of her first pancake. ''Sweetie, I need to know your name for starters.''
The pegasus visibly flinched at the question, but she knew that she needed to give it. She whispered, so quietly that Twilight only just heard it by being in the next seat. ''Midnight Wish....''
Twilight's eyes widened a little at the word 'Wish'. She had heard of the Wish family during her students, they were a family of great unicorns who passed their knowledge via the generations. But they weren't keen on pegasi or earth ponies due to the fact they couldn't use magic. But looking at this filly, a pegasus, and the fact of how she was part of the family, it didn't add up. Unless the filly had a parent with pegasus genes from further up the line, there was no way she could legitimately be a pegasus as the family never bred outside of their race. But, when Twilight remembered the filly's cutie mark, it brought up a reminder about how the filly seemed to have a magic connection despite being a pegasus.
''I see, sweetie. Is your family a topic that your not comfortable with talking about?'' When the filly slowly nodded, she frowned. ''I see, I won't ask about it then. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, but when your more okay, my ears are ready to hear,'' she decided to eat her first pancake whilst deciding on what she should do. Once she was finished, she wiped her face and said gently. ''Midnight, I decided that you can stay while I come up with a plan for you. I will need to sign you up to the Ponyville school. But beyond that, you needn't worry about living on the streets.''
Midnight slowly nodded, her eyes filled with nervousness the moment the word 'school' was mentioned. That meant interacting with other fillies and since she lost the only filly she ever knew, she wasn't sure about interacting with them. She spoke softly after a few seconds. ''I understand, miss alicorn....''
''Just call me Twilight, sweetie. There's no need for you to call me that.'' Twilight smiled softly, knowing that the filly would probably still use 'miss' to make herself comfortable. But as long as she knew her name, that was what mattered.
''Oh, sorry. Miss Twilight,'' Midnight murmured, nodding a little.
Twilight then forced a smile as she spoke. ''Lets go to bed now, I'm sure you ready for somewhere comfortable to sleep. I have a spare bedroom or you could sleep with me like my adoptive daughter once did, whichever you prefer.''
''I....d-don't.....w-want to be....l-left....a-alone....,'' the pure sadness if the filly's statement wasn't able to be put into words, it was like she had lost everypony and didn't want to be isolated anymore. ''S-so......I s-spend the n-night with you....''
Twilight nodded, frowning a little. She finished her pancakes and noticed that the filly had finished as well. ''I'll clean up in the morning, let me show you to my bedroom.''
The two left the dining hall and walked up the staircase, quietly so they didn't wake the sleeping ponies and Spike. They made it to the Twilight's bedroom, which was dark purple in coloration. It was filled with books on each wall and pointing out of one of the windows was a telescope. The bed was off to one side, animal teddies surrounding it. ''Lay down, sweetie,'' Twilight said. She then picked up a rather odd, but still functional, blue cloth that she once used when she slept with Nyx. She gently laid the tiny blanket over the filly as she got in under the purple blanket next to her. ''There, you have your own little blanket so you comfortable with laying with me.''
Midnight slowly nodded, relaxing on the bed. She looked about ready to close her eyes, but then she looked up. ''C-can....you read me a bedtime story, please?......''
Twilight giggled, levitating one of a more filly-ish books from her collection. It was one of the books she read a lot of a filly. She began to read softly. ''There was once a unicorn mare named Dusty the Great......,'' She continued to read the story of the unicorn warriors versus Grogar, until she saw that the filly next to her had fallen asleep. She smiled, reaching down and gently kissing the filly's forehead. ''Good night, sweetie.'' She levitated the book back to it's place, before turning over into a more comfortable position and went into a deep sleep.