My Filly, Nightshine

by The Abyss

Defiance

“She’s gone,” Jason muttered as he walked past Lily. She hadn’t moved from her spot at the base of the stairs.

“Huh?” Lily scrambled to catch up to him. “What do you mean she’s gone?”

“From what I can tell she jumped off her balcony and flew away. I need to go look for her.”

“What, in the rain? Alone? I’m coming with.”

Picking his words carefully, he thought long and hard before responding with, “Fine, we can look together.” The last thing he wanted to do was push Lily away if she was indeed telling the truth that she had no idea Nightshine was her daughter. Until he could get to the bottom of all this, he would have to hold her at arms-length.

“Good. We should go and tell the princesses and get them to help. Their forces have been training for all sorts of situations, including stuff like this.” She stopped in front of him. “We should go back to our room and get out of these fine clothes if we’re going out into the rain; I don’t want to ruin our outfits.”

“I don’t care about our outfits, Lily!” he yelled. “We don’t have time!” They emerged back out into the Gala. The voices quieted down and the music came to a halt, though the musicians started playing again after a few moments.

“Time for what?” Princess Celestia asked from his right.

Jason gulped. He pushed past Lily and kept his gaze low as he made his way back to the VIP section. He felt Lily’s eyes bore into the back of his head, but he had to know. Princess Luna was looking at him with a curious look, surely wondering why he walked with such importance. He stormed up to Luna, pulled Nightshine’s file from under his wing, and slammed it down on a table. Documents slipped from the folder, spreading out across the table. “Did you know?” he demanded.

The guards, alarmed at his actions, turned and took a few steps towards them before Luna waved them off. Princess Twilight walked up to him and stood between him and Luna, a look of great concern on her face. “Jason, what’s gotten into you?” she asked in a hushed tone. “You can’t address the princesses like tha–”

“Did you know that Lily was Nightshine’s mother?” he asked, raising his voice to be louder than the noises of the party behind them. “What sort of scheme is this?”

“Scheme? I hardly know what you mean,” Luna said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “I would advise you to lower your voice. You might upset our guests.”

“Did you set Lily up with me so that she could be near her daughter? What sort of backhanded trickery are you playing at?” Luna looked down upon him with suspicion, though he didn’t give her a chance to respond. “How could you possibly think that this was the best way to handle a delicate situation like this?”

Princess Celestia opened the file with a quick spell from her horn, allowing herself, Luna, and Twilight to look through the file. “If all of this is true, then Lily is indeed Nightshine’s mother…” Luna mused. “I had my suspicions, but I had to make sure before I told anyone anything.”

“So you knew all along?” Jason demanded.

“I suspected. I had a couple of my guards look for the file down at the orphanage earlier today. I haven’t had the time to look at it myself.”

“Well, because of this file, Nightshine is missing! She overheard us talking about how Lily is her mother, ran away from us, then somehow, without knowing how to fly, might I add, decided to fly back to Ponyville from her room!” Jason yelled. His voice sounded deeper than normal; he figured it was due to him being a thestral.

“Wait, how do you know she flew back to Ponyville?” Lily asked.

Luna’s eyes narrowed and her demeanor grew cold. “Where, pray tell, did thee procure this file?” she slowly asked. Her eyes fell upon Lily who wilted under her stare. “That file was locked in my private quarters,” she said, answering her question for everyone else.

All eyes fell on Lily and Jason.

“What were you two doing in her bedroom?” Twilight slowly asked. She looked at Lily, then Jason, holding his gaze for a brief moment before he looked away, embarrassed and unable to say what everyone assumed. Jason’s face burned with the heat of a million suns.

Luna’s nostrils flared as she put two and two together. “You didn’t–” she snarled.

“It was my idea; he had nothing to do with it,” Lily blurted out. She stepped forward a step past Jason, drawing everyone’s attention to her.

“It takes two to tango,” Luna said.

“I brought him upstairs,” Lily said, her voice holding strong. “But that doesn’t matter. Nightshine isn’t good at flying; she could be lost outside and in need of our help.”

“I agree. Deploy the garrison,” Princess Celestia ordered, addressing the guards that stood at the VIP entrance. “Shining Armor, I’m placing you in command of the search. Organize and send out search parties immediately.” She glanced at Cadence. “Would you be so kind as to assist him?” Shining bowed, then galloped away with the two guards.

“Of course, Auntie,” Cadence said. “We won’t rest until we find her.”

“I’ll come with!” Lily said as she started to follow Princess Cadence.

“No, you won’t,” Luna said as she walked up to Lily with a look of disgust on her face. “You not only broke some major rules, you broke my trust and my friendship.” She shook her head as her gaze turned into steel. “You are hereby confined to quarters until I come for you. I need some time to figure out a suitable punishment.”

“But we didn’t do–” Lily looked up at her with pleading eyes. “I won’t sit around while my daughter is in trouble, Princess.”

“Are you defying a direct order, Guard Lily?” Luna’s tone became serious in a heartbeat.

Lily stared up at her. A single tear slipped down her right cheek. “N-No, but–” Her head hung low. “I will obey, my princess,” she muttered.

“Good.” Luna waved Abigale over. “Guard Abigale, you are hereby ordered to not let Guard Lily out of your sight until I render her punishment. She is confined to quarters. Is that understood?”

Abigale saluted. “Yes, Princess. It shall be done.” She looked at Lily with a curious look, though Lily didn’t meet her gaze. “Come on, girl,” she whispered, placing a wing over her back as she led her away.

---

“Abi, what am I going to do?” Lily asked as she paced around the room they shared. She’d been walking back and forth for the last five or so minutes, unable to sit still.

“Well, let’s be realistic about this. You brought a stud up to our Princess’s room to have… relations and Luna found out. What did you think was going to happen?” she asked. Lily stayed silent. “Look, as your best friend, I’m on your side one hundred percent, but come on, girl, you really messed up.”

“I know,” she muttered. “You don’t need to remind me.” She stopped in front of their only window and watched as her fellow guards roamed the grounds below. “I hope Nightshine is okay… Oh, why did she run away?”

“How would you react if you were given up at birth and found out that the guy who adopted you is dating your mother?” Abigale asked. She started taking off her armor piece by piece before she flopped on her bed.

Lily felt her throat tighten. “I’d probably freak out.”

“Exactly. She just needs time to cool down and work things through, right?”

“I guess.” Lily groaned.

"Why did you give her up for adoption? I have to admit I’m a little curious.”

“I couldn’t give her the life she deserved. I wasn’t ready to have a foal yet, either. It’s just… ugh.” Lily ran her front hooves over her face. “I was only thinking of myself back then. I thought she was going to get a much better life back home with the rest of her kind, not at some old janky orphanage here in Canterlot!” She resumed pacing back and forth.

“Who did you give the foal to?” Abigale cautiously asked.

Lily held her friend’s gaze for a few seconds. “The hospital. I don’t remember the doctor’s name; I was in such great pain. All I did was sign some papers at the hospital and she was to be adopted. I thought she was going to be sent back home, but… You remember how competitive things were back then? I thought I was making the best choice for the both of us!”

“At the time, you were probably right. I don’t think you were ready to be a mom back then.”

“I wasn’t. I was a fool.” Lily stopped pacing and stared out the window again. “A silly, love-addled fool.”

“Did you…” Abigale made her way over to sit next to Lily. “Did you try to keep tabs on her?”

“I couldn’t bring myself to. I considered it when I was recovering from giving birth, but since she was already gone, I thought that it was best to push on with my life and put the past behind me.” She looked at her friend with pleading eyes. “Am I a bad pony?”

Abigale shook her head almost instantly. “No, I don’t think so. Raising a foal is so much work and you just weren’t ready for it. Weren’t we just privates back then?”

Lily nodded once. “Having no seniority or rank meant that we always got the worst shifts. I didn’t have a house, an apartment… I had nothing. Nothing for her.”

“What makes you want to be in her life now?”

“Because she is precious and priorities change. Plus Luna thinks that Jason and I had–you know.” She blushed. “But we didn’t,” she said, feeling Abigale’s eyes bore into the side of her head. She met her gaze and held it. “Seriously; we didn’t do a thing.” Abigale’s smirk deepened. Lily’s smile faded, her tone turning serious. “Really. I swear on our friendship.”

“Fine, I believe you,” Abigale finally said. “Still kinda funny how you blew your chance with a hot stud.”

Lily rolled her eyes at that, but didn’t take the bait. “Since Luna thinks that I took advantage of her–”

“You did.”

“I know. I had too many drinks and thought only of myself, just like back then.” Lily couldn’t help but loose a soft whimper. “Since Luna thinks I took advantage of her, I lost her trust, friendship, and I might very well be dishonorably discharged from the service that I spent so many years devoting my life to.”

“Yeah… that’s a very real possibility.”

“And then Jason doesn’t trust me; I couldn’t go stay with him if I did get kicked out of the Lunar Guard. Nightshine would hate me if I pursued a relationship with him, too.” She lay her head on the windowsill and idly watched raindrops hit the window.

“So… what happened up there?” Abigale finally asked.

“Well… I brought Jason up to Luna’s quarters and got comfortable on the bed. Jason was acting all nervous and stuff so I played things slow and let him get comfortable with the idea of us doing… you know, and that’s when he found that file with Nightshine’s name on it. Now he thinks that Luna and I conspired against him and Nightshine to get me back into her life as her mother.”

“Were you?” Abigale slowly asked.

“No!” Lily shook her head. “We tell each other everything; I wouldn’t have–couldn’t have–hid something like this from you.”

“I guess. So what are you going to do?”

“I know what I’m not going to do; I’m not going to sit around and mope. I need to get out there and look for her.” Lily stood up, slung a satchel over her right shoulder, then started gathering her armor and some supplies.

“But you got confined to your room! If you leave, I’ll get in trouble, too!” Abigale stood up and blocked the door leading outside.

“Abi, my daughter is missing and it’s all my fault. If anything happens to her, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. I’m going whether you like it or not.”

“You could lose your job! You could be locked away for disobeying a direct order from Princess Luna!”

“Yeah, you’re right. That won’t stop me from doing what a mother should,” Lily said as she started putting on her armor. “Will you help me or not?”

Abigale fidgeted in place for a few moments before she grew still. “I was ordered to watch you, so… if you’re not gonna let me stop you, then–then I’m going with you!” Abigale said with a humph. “Just give me a couple minutes to suit up, okay?”

Comments

[Haver]

More good

[Mr Swanky Hat]

my daughter is missing

Not your daughter

[Comet_Chaser]

Abi, my daughter is missing

To be fair, she is not your daughter. You may have given birth to her, but you gave up the right to call her your daughter the moment you signed those papers.

[StarzGecko]

I wonder who the father is?

[Skyblazer9]

She's just digging herself a bigger hole for herself once this situation is over, I've got a good feeling that Luna will remove her from the royal guard or be put on a strict probation for her foolish actions.

[DreamCatcher-Caster]

11581295
Or Luna might approve of Lilly caring more about Nightshine than her career. When Luna asked if she would defie her, it almost sounded like a test. Who knows?

[dov]

Another Amazing chapter, thank you for your hard work and passion you put in this story.

[Sir Science]

Not your daughter, your offspring. That's JASON'S daughter.