First Steps
Brushing some stray hairs of Nightshine’s face, Jason took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m sorry that you never got to learn how to fly...” He tousled her mane, then scratched her underneath her chin.
“It’s okay, I guess.” Nightshine laid her head back on Jason’s thigh. A cool breeze made her shiver, so she pressed herself up against his warm leg. She closed her eyes as she listened to the birds chirp as they flew overhead, and in her mind’s eye, she imagined herself soaring through the skies. Nightshine couldn’t help but let off a happy hum.
Hearing Jason clear his throat, she cracked an eye open and saw him looking at her with a soft smile on his face. “What?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow in question. Nightshine felt her cheeks warm as he chuckled.
“Nothin’. I was just thinking that you look cute taking a nap on my leg.” Jason felt his stomach grumble. “So listen... I know how much flying means to you. It’s a part of who you are, so why don’t I help you glide for a bit?” He gestured at the many trees around them. “I can help you up on one of these if you want!”
Nightshine’s eyes lit up at that. “You’d do that for me?” Her ears went straight up as her tail started flicking back and forth.
“Sure!” Jason stood up and lifted Nightshine, holding her under her forelegs. “I can even run below you in case you fall.”
Nightshine squeed, her hind legs wiggling as Jason walked her over to the closest tree. He held her up as high as he could, letting her climb onto the lowest branch. She brushed aside a few leafy branches and climbed up several feet until she found a perfect perch. “You ready down there?” she squeaked out, her legs trembling.
“Yeah, go for it!” Jason said.
“O-okay!” Nightshine spread her wings wide, took a deep breath, and when she was just about to throw herself off of the branch, she heard several chirps from below her. Looking down, she spotted a nest a foot below her as she folded her wings. “Aww... there’s a nest of baby birds up here, Jason!” She sat down on the branch and lowered her head to get a better look. “They’re so cute!” Hearing a screech come from above, her eyebrows furrowed in worry as she looked up, a bird flying at her full speed. It pecked her back, hitting her with its wings as it poked her over and over. “Ah! Stop that!”
Nightshine stood up and spread her wings again, then leapt off of the branch to get away from the angry bird. Wanting to escape its wrath, Nightshine flapped her wings as hard as she could, but found herself falling instead of flying. Her eyes going wide in fear, she plummeted like a rock.
“Don’t worry, I gotcha!” Jason yelled, holding out his arms. He stepped to the side and caught Nightshine, her wing clipping his shoulder. Jason winced as it stung. “You okay?”
“Stupid bird...” Nightshine muttered before she smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t know why it attacked me, though. I wasn’t gonna hurt its babies, I swear!”
Jason eyed the bird as it hopped from branch to branch, squawking all the while. “Well, it doesn’t know that. It saw you as a threat to its babies, so it defended them. It still looks pretty angry, so we should leave it be.” He turned around and started walking back towards the road.
“Oh... I guess that makes sense,” Nightshine said. She climbed up Jason and wrapped her forelegs over his right shoulder, then as she folded her wings, she looked at the bird and blew a raspberry.
“So tell ya what... Since you didn’t get to glide from the tree, why don’t you do it from my shoulders on the way back? I’ll get us a good running start, and when I get going fast enough, just spread your wings and jump. I’ll be beneath you the whole time.”
“Okay!” Nightshine gingerly climbed up onto Jason’s shoulders, then sat down. She felt Jason hold onto her hind legs as she propped her head up on his. “Still kinda wanted to do it from the tree, though.”
“Heh, I bet. Too bad we picked the wrong one,” Jason said with a chuckle. “We’ll just have to buy you an extra muffin.”
“Awesome.” Nightshine nuzzled Jason’s head.
As they made it onto the road, Jason stopped. “You ready up there?” he asked, letting go of Nightshine’s legs.
Nightshine stood up as best she could, leaned forward, then spread her wings. As she felt her heart speed up, she nodded. “Yep! Full speed ahead!”
“You got it!” Jason started jogging, then broke into a mad dash.
When she felt the wind underneath her wings, Nightshine jumped up, gliding for just a few brief moments before she fell back onto Jason’s head. “Hehe, that was fun!” she said as he slowed down.
“Wanna do it again?”
“Do you really have to ask?” Nightshine asked with a giggle. After opening her wings again, she tapped Jason’s shoulder. “Come on already, let’s go!”
“You got it!” Jason took a deep breath, then took off running down the path. “This time... fold your legs... when you jump! It’ll... make you... more aerodynamic!” Eyeing the hill in front of him, he yelled, “Wait till we get to the top, then go!”
Nightshine nodded, then placed her forelegs on Jason’s head as she stood up. As they reached the top of the hill, she leaned forward then jumped up and folded her legs. Clenching her eyes shut, several seconds passed as she soared through the air. Nightshine cracked an eye open and peered down. Jason was a good ten feet below her and was easily keeping pace with her. A wide smile broke out on her face as she opened her other eye. As her airspeed began to drop, her eyes went wide in fear. Part of her mind screamed at her to start flapping so that she wouldn’t fall again, but she forced herself to keep her wings level.
Nightshine lowered her head, her speed increasing as she sped towards the ground. Noticing that she was going to hit the ground several yards in front of Jason, she lifted her head and leveled out. She saw Jason speed up to keep pace with her, then when he was a few feet in front of her, she angled down again. Her wing joints were starting to feel sore, making her struggle to keep her wings spread. Nightshine smiled as an idea popped into her mind. Instead of landing on the ground, Nightshine glided just behind him, and when she felt herself start to lose speed, she wrapped her forelegs around Jason’s neck and folded her wings. As her body fell from the air, she wrapped her hind legs around his stomach and held onto him as tightly as she could.
Jason looked over his shoulder. “Have fun up there?”
“You have no idea,” Nightshine said with a squee. She nuzzled Jason’s neck, then let go, falling to her hooves. “Thank you so much for that. It... it means a lot that you would do that for me.” Nightshine smiled and nuzzled Jason’s leg as he scratched her behind the ears, just how she liked.
“No problem, sweetie... Now how about we go get some breakfast?”
Jason held open the door to Quills and Sofas, letting Nightshine trot inside. “Hey Jason? Why is this place called Quills and Sofas if they sell more than just quills and sofas?” She looked up at Jason as the door shut behind them.
“Well, you can’t expect every store to list all of their goods in their title, silly.” Jason looked around the store, wondering how he was going to get what they needed back home. “So...” Somepony opened the door behind him, so he and Nightshine stepped aside. He knelt down and smiled. “I was thinking that we get the furniture first. I can’t imagine that the couch was comfy, so we should get you a bed first.”
“It was comfy enough with you there,” Nightshine said with a grin. “You were so warm that I had to keep pushing the blanket off in the middle of the night!” She followed Jason down the first aisle to the right.
“Hehe, that was me. Whenever I woke up last night, I saw that you weren’t covered by the blanket anymore, so I made sure to tuck it back in. I didn’t know that you were trying to keep it off,” Jason said with a grin and a shake of his head.
“It’s okay. Hey, how about this bed?” She clambered up onto the first bed she saw and hopped up and down, the springy mattress becoming an impromptu trampoline.
“Hey, don’t do that!” Jason said. “I don’t mind you doing that, but let’s at least buy the bed before we jump all over it. How would you feel if somepony came and started jumping on your bed?”
“I’d join them!” Nightshine said with a giggle, but when Jason’s smile faded away, she smiled apologetically and sat down on the bed. “S-sorry, Jason. I’m just so super duper excited to get stuff of my own!”
“I can tell,” Jason waved for Nightshine to get off the bed. “Anyways, that one’s too small. I think we should get you one that’ll last a while, so it has to be pretty big. What if I wanted to read you a bedtime story, hm? I wouldn’t be able to lay next to you at all! One of us would either have to sit on top of the other, or one of us would have to be sitting on the edge of the bed, about to slip off. I’ve already thought of a few good books that I can read to you, too!”
Nightshine’s legs trembled. A sole tear formed in her left eye. “Why are you being... so nice to me?” Nightshine squeaked out, her ears laying flat on her head. She flicked her tail around her flank and latched onto it as she stared up at Jason.
“Because we’re family now.” Jason knelt down and wiped the tear out of Nightshine’s eye, then scratched her chin. “Come on, now, let’s get you some nice stuff.” Standing back up, he walked a few beds down and asked, “What about this one? It’s got enough room for you to grow into, and it’s not too tall for you to climb onto.”
Nightshine climbed up the white wood frame at the foot of the bed and curled up. She sunk so low into the mattress that she didn’t even have to lay her head on a hoof. “Woah... what is this?”
“That right there is one of the best cloud mattresses we got in stock!” the store owner said as he stepped up to them. “The name’s Davenport! And you two are...?”
“I’m Jason, and this is my daughter, Nightshine.” He heard her hum in content from the bed. “We’re here to buy an entire bedroom set of furniture, if you have it.”
“Hm...” Davenport scratched his chin as he looked around his store. “So what are you two looking for?”
Jason cleared his throat and motioned at the bed that Nightshine was laying on. “Well, we need a bed and a bed frame, sheets for the bed, and a matching nightstand, desk, and dresser. There any chance that you could offer us any sort of discount? I’d like to buy all that I mentioned if you have it, and I would need it delivered to my house.”
“Sure, we can work something out.” Davenport stepped up to Jason and nodded deeper in the store. “Just follow me and I’ll show you the rest of the set.”
“Great! Oh, hold on a sec... Hey, Nightshine?” Jason asked, watching as Nightshine lifted her head from the mattress, her ears flicking up. “Feel free to chill out for a bit. This might take a while.”
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Jason sat up and said, “Hand me that yellow screwdriver, Nightshine.” Jason pointed at his tool belt that lay out of his reach. Next time I order furniture, I’m so gonna make sure it’s pre-built...
He and Nightshine had spent the past several hours putting together her new dresser and desk. Thankfully, the nightstand came in one piece, but it was pretty darn heavy. The desk was the hardest to put together, so they had tackled that one first. Nightshine had organized all of the screws, holding out the ones he needed, making the process go faster than he had thought.
The sun was already beginning to set, its light quickly fading from Nightshine’s room. “This one?” Nightshine asked, her hoof resting on a screwdriver.
“Yep, that’s the one! Bring over the last set of screws, too, and then we can finally finish everything up!” Jason held out his hand.
“Cool!” Nightshine grinned, picked up the screwdriver in her mouth, and brought it to Jason. She spat it out into his hand and looked around for the screws. “Um... where’d they go? I thought there were right next to you.”
“Huh?” Jason looked behind him and saw the set of screws he needed. “Oh, hehe, I think I just misplaced them.” He snatched them up and tore the little bag apart, then dumped the screws into his hand. He got back on his hands and knees, held up the last part of the bed frame to the headboard, then screwed them together. “And there we go!” Standing up, he stretched then walked across the room to where the cloud mattress sat propped up against the wall. “Want to help me put it on the frame, Nightshine? It shouldn’t be that heavy.”
Nightshine nodded, then trotted up to him. She placed her front left hoof on one side while Jason got the other. “Ready?” she asked. “On three! One... two... three!” Jason tipped the mattress over onto her hoof. Nightshine winced as she prepared herself for a lot of weight, but she opened her eyes when she just felt the sheets upon her hoof. “Huh?”
“I told you it wasn’t going to be that heavy.” Jason stepped back and placed his hands on his hips. “You’re holding up the entire mattress!”
“Woah...” Nightshine hefted her bed with her hoof. It floated into the air and sat there a couple of feet above the ground. Her rump wiggling about in excitement, she flapped her wings once and jumped, landing on top of the mattress. It floated towards the bed and bounced off of the wall before Jason stopped it with his legs.
“Having fun?” he asked as he secured it to the bed frame.
“So soft...” Nightshine mumbled as she rolled onto her back. Jason didn’t respond, instead choosing to throw the sheets on top of her. She wiggled her way out until her head popped out, a wide smile threatening to split her face in half. “What’re we gonna do for dinner? I’m getting a little hungry.” She rolled over onto her stomach.
“Well, now that everything’s done, I figured that I can let you in on a little secret, a rare delicacy from where I came from.” Jason picked her up and set her on the floor beside him. “Come on, we can make it together, but you gotta promise to not tell anybody about it!”
“What is it?” Nightshine asked, peering up at Jason as they walked to the kitchen. “And I promise!”
“A cheese pizza!” Jason said as he pulled open the refrigerator.
“Huh?” Nightshine lifted a hoof and cocked her head to the side. “But we already have pizza here!”
“Yeah, I know, but this recipe is special! It’s loaded with so much cheese that my Mom...”
Nightshine noticed something was wrong almost immediately. “Jason?” she asked, her voice soft. Nightshine stepped around in front of him and stood up on her hind legs, her front hooves resting on his waist. Peering up at his face, she saw him try to wipe away tears. Her ears flicked back as her smile vanished. “Wanna sit down and talk?” She gingerly returned to all four hooves. Jason didn’t respond, but he sat down and pressed his back up against the cabinets, his eyes closed.
Nightshine clambered up onto his lap and propped herself up against his chest, her head laying underneath his chin. She smiled, then purred and nuzzled his neck. Jason wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
A couple of minutes passed in silence before he spoke. “Sorry about breaking down, Nightshine... It’s just, well...”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Nightshine pushed herself up and slid off of his lap. “Wanna just make the pizza instead?”
“She died when I was sixteen,” Jason blurted out. “We were in an accident with a drunk driver. Some guy in a truck ran a red light and slammed into my Mom’s side, killing her instantly. I was in the hospital for a few days, always hoping my Mom would just walk through the door and tell me that everything would be okay, but... she never did.” He looked off to the side and ran a hand through his hair before sighing, his breaths stuttering.
“Hey... I don’t even know my parents, so...” Nightshine lay down and laid her forelegs over Jason’s leg. She paused for a few moments, and after her ears flicked to lay flat on her head, she murmured, “I’ve always been by myself. Nopony’s ever looked out for me, or did nice things for me. I never thought that I would get adopted, but then you came.” She poked Jason’s leg with a hoof, making him look at her. A small grin slid on her face. “When I first saw you, I had a feeling that you wouldn’t just pass over me without a second thought, and...” She blinked as she felt tears well up in her eyes. “And when you came back and told me that you wanted to give me a home?” Tears dripped down her face.
Jason reached out to her and stroked her cheek, wiping away her tears. “I know...” he whispered.
“You gave me a home. You gave me my own bedroom, and more love in the past couple of days that I’ve had in my entire life. You took me away from that awful place, and you made me feel like I actually mean something.” Nightshine climbed back up onto his lap and threw her forelegs around Jason’s neck, nuzzling him all the while. “I love you so much, Jason...”
“I love you too, Nightshine...” Jason croaked out.
“I know it’s only been a couple of days, but... is it okay if I start calling you Dad? I’ve never used that word before, and... I think you’ve earned it,” she said with a sheepish smile, her cheeks flushing a deep, rosy pink.
“Of c-course it is, sweetie.” Jason smiled and rubbed her back. “Of course it is...”
Nightshine squeed, though she took care to keep her voice soft. Pulling back, she said, “You know, even though Miss Serenity was pretty harsh on us, she did teach us a few good lessons.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Remember the good times, and don’t reflect on the bad ones,” Nightshine recited from memory. “It helped me get through living at the orphanage, and, you know... Just remember all the fun times you had with your mom. Thinking about the bad things only makes you feel depressed, and trust me, I know from first-hoof experience.” She stood up and started hopping in place. “So how about we make that awesome pizza your Mom used to make, Dad? Wouldn’t she like that?”
Jason chuckled. “Yeah, Nightshine... That she would.”
“...and then Daring Do swung from tree to tree, slowly but surely leaving her pursuers in her dust. Once she was certain that she was in the clear, she took flight, the emerald tucked safely in her saddlebag, safe from the claws of the enemy. Though just before she was able to clear the canopy, a rope came out of nowhere and wrapped around her right wing, throwing her off balance. With a cry of shock, Daring Do plummeted to the ground,” Jason read from the book. “And that’s the end of chapter two! I think this is a good place to wrap things up for the night,” he said with a yawn. “Dang, you sure do have a comfy bed! Totally comfier than mine...”
“Oh, come on! Can’t you read me just one more chapter?” Nightshine asked as she pouted, her bottom lip sticking out.
“For you? Sure, I’ll read one more chapter, but I want to rest my eyes first. We have had a long day, after all.” Jason stretched himself out on the bed, keeping his finger inside the book to mark their place. He let loose a big yawn as he laid his head down on Nightshine’s pillow. “Man, you even got a better pillow than me! Lucky...”
“Good thing it’s big enough for the both of us... right, Dad?” Nightshine rolled over onto her side.
“That’s right, sweetie.” Jason closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “I’m just gonna close my eyes for a few minutes, and then I’ll read you just one more chapter, okay?”
“Okay,” Nightshine murmured. Nearly a minute passed before she heard Jason start to snore. “Jason?” She prodded him with a hoof. “Jason? Did you really fall asleep?” When he didn’t respond, she rolled her eyes and giggled. “Hehe, when he wakes up tomorrow, I’ll just have to make him read me the next three chapters!” she whispered to herself.
After flicking off the lights with the tip of her wing, she wiggled underneath Jason’s arm. Then, before she knew what was happening, he rolled over in his sleep onto his side and pulled her up against his chest. Nightshine hummed happily as she snuggled up with him, and as she felt sleep start to tug at her weary mind, she whispered, “Thank you, Dad...”
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I am getting way too much sweetness in my diet lately.
... Ah, who am I kidding. No such thing as too much cute.
Daaaaaaaaaaw
Man I feel for Jason. I understand why he was so lonely, but why has he not found a filly friend? Plus we still need Nightshine to get her Pinkie Party!
Not going to cry.
Nope, can't make me...
Awww, who am I kiddingly?!
That was an excellent chapter! So much feeling, and small backstory...
And she called him DAD!!!! Thank you for that, btw. It was really sweet that she wanted to call him Dad.
So cute need moar
I find the fun in doing the building myself. Don't know why.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, that was amazing! I almost shed a tear, right in the middle of class! Oops! Good job, TheAbyss! Amazing chapter, full of emotion, and absolutely lovely!
However, one issue with grammar:
"You were so warm that I had to keep pushing the blanket off in the middle of the night! For some reason, it kept slipping off.” The issue is that is says she pushes the blanket off, and then says it keeps slipping off. There is conflict here. It could be reworded to say "For some reason, it kept wrapping around me." or similar.
That's all I noticed! Good job TheAbyss, and if you have any, proofreaders!
7168470 So true!
The precious relationship between the neglected and the caring.
7168473 Oh come on, I knoooow I had fixed that! Thanks for pointing that out haha.
I don't use any proofreaders for this story, by the way. I want to keep this 100% me.
thanks for the update!!
I knew something was going to go wrong.
Love it
Can't wait for more
7168470 Ikea for the win!
Its BEAUTIFUL!!!
Small an error as they get, but yeh. ;)
Adorable doesn't even begin to describe this entire fic, much less this chapter. Just...hnngh.
always so cute
Hah! Thought you could get the best of me didn't you Abyss? Well, jokes on you, I'm on my lunch break, now to read....
Dangit... The matress bouncing, very cute.
...."Dad?" A little soon, would of been better if she just said that to him at the end, but okay.
....a Daddy's helper scene? Awwww.
....No Grandma? ......nope....no not gonna...
....all in all....s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/04/b5/77/04b5777d5e22122228798906f2a146ac.jpg
Well done! What's next?
7168582 Got that, thanks!
7168572 I haven't anything from Ikea for ages. I buy mine from a shop named Mio.
7168455
Really! Where's Pinkie? You'd have thought the premiere party pony would have pronked by with invitations to Nightshine's Welcome to Ponyville Party party by now...
Also, I want a cloud bed. Wah! Bet it's nicer than a 12" memory foam bed.
So.... don't get me wrong, this is a great chapter, and the story progression is at a nice pace. But... we are going to get SOME kind of overarching conflict soon, right?
7168657 Mhm.
Hurk
THE FEELS! They're too much!
Reading this fic always makes me go "daaaaaaaw".
Enjoying your story, cant wait till Nightshine gets to meet the Princess Twilight, and Rainbow Dash...
if she does in the story that is...
D'aawwwwww!!! My cute quota has filled for the next month!
Still waiting for inevitable doom
It was really nice, somehow not so emotional as I thought, but then again I have to write a class test tomorrow, maybe two or if I have bad luck three. I like to think that stuff like that puts me in a bad mood...kind of at least.
Maybe he should meet one of his other friends, or.....he didn't had any other friends had he? Maybe he should meet Twilight first? Or did she wanted to control him? I think it would be nice to show her what she helped him to do.
edit: since I had read something about a conflict. I would prefer it if it is something like them maybe not liking her race, and not some sort of kidnapper. This is that kind of story in which I would expect something like other kids teasing her, Ponys that are against same gender marriage and stuff like that, and no epic adventure of doom. Well just trying to explain it for a short moment.
7168692
...c-conflict?
... that's what I always think when I am trying to learn something for my exams... with the same result.
Another great chapter there, Nightshine is so adorable.
This has been the highlight of my week so far (it's been a crappy week). Keep it up.
Ignore me, I read wrong.
I swear, it said inside when I read it. 
This is what I get for trying to read another fic while editting one.
D'AWW!!! SHE CALLED HIM DAD!!!!!!
d'awwww
I nearly died because of cute overload...
I just really don't know how to comment on this chapter aww just will cover it.
The feelings in this chapter
, great work
Awesome update, full of emotion, unequivocally enchanting.
Gave me one of the greatest smilies I've had this week.
awesome chapter! SO CUTE!!!
I like this story, don't get me wrong, but I was hoping for Jason to be a little awkward when dealing with Nightshine. Maybe a sort of 'I don't really know what I'm doing but I'm trying my best' vibe.
7168790 That qout reminds me of my own father, who quiet literally did the same thing when I was a kid. Would promise to read something or play a game with me and then pass out for an hour... Good times, nothing but smiles from me Abyss, great chapter.
7169374 He just hides it well.
I'm drowning in Liquid Pride over here! Keep up the good work!
Excellent!
I don't know why but every time i think about the word dad or say it i feel uncomfortable. I really don't like that word.
Aaww so touching
I love it.