//------------------------------//
// Lost Filly 
// Story: Luna's Daughter 
// by KayeStar 
//------------------------------//

On a rainy autumn night, a lone filly took refuge in a deep alley on the outskirts of Ponyville. Her blanket, her only companion, provided a thin shield against the chilly rain. The alley was lit by a street light, but she was concealed from view by the garbage cans. The ground was muddy from the few blossoms that grew between the cracks in the pavement. This wasn't her only option to sleep for the night, but it was the easiest to hide from the few ponies who trotted through this area. Surely, she thought, none would tonight due to the weather.

She closed her eyes to try to sleep, but the sound of the rain pounding against the trash cans and the pavement wouldn't allow it. She assumed she'd get used to these sounds by now, yet they still kept her awake until her tiredness itself became strong enough to overtake her. She sighed in frustration and wrapped herself in her cold, soggy blanket.

"Just another night, huh, blankie?"

Most would judge her as too old to even carry a blanket, let alone treat it as an imaginary friend. Ever since she became old enough to attend school, she'd been told it was time to let her "blankie" go. Her classmates teased her, sometimes viciously, from time to time about it and, to the surprise of nopony who ever dealt with such a problem in school, her teacher never stepped in. Eventually, she learned to shrug it off and keep to herself. Of course, if she had to choose between being picked on in school and sleeping in an alley, she'd choose the former. But things changed.

She still had yet to understand how. It seemed to happen so fast. Bit by bit, her young life changed until it became this. Often, she would try not to think about it to avoid crying for what felt like the hundredth time, and simply worry about sleeping through another night. Was a little filly even supposed to worry about these things, she'd wonder. She tried to shake the thoughts out of her mind to let herself sleep. Fortunately, she got a tiny bit of luck when the rain slowed down to a drizzle and the clouds began to part. She could see some of the starry sky. The sight of a speeding, bright flash caught her eye and she sat up instantly. A shooting star? She could make a wish!

"I wish... I wish..." She turned her sad gaze to her blanket before returning it to the sky.

"I wish for a mother."

She lied back down, wrapping herself again in her blanket, and closed her eyes. She could still hear the rain, but its sound was now more soothing since it was reduced to a drizzle. Finally, her tiredness had grown enough to let her fall asleep easily and she did so, clutching her blanket tightly.

Though, who would care about a random filly?