A Stray Child
“Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.” Omar N. Bradley
In the darkness of night in the outskirts of Hollow Shades, a group of foals played in a field full of white flowers. One peculiar filly was sprawled in the middle of the flowers, her face staring up to the starry sky. Her coat was light grey, and her mane and tail silver blonde, her eyes were dull silver without light in them, but the most particular feature were her bat like wings. Her name was Moonflower, a blind filly from one of the many thestral families living in town. Thestrals were rare, they lived in small communities all over Equestria. One of the biggest was in Hollow Shades, a town protected inside a forest east of Canterlot passed Foal Mountain. This peculiar tribe of ponies were similar to pegasi, with a few differences like bat wings and their nocturnal abilities. Their tribe legends said the Goddess of the Night, Princess Luna herself gave them her blessing. Making them strong under her moon’s light. Because of this reason many were persecuted in ancient times post Nightmare Moon’s imprisonment.
For Moonflower, it didn't matter if it was day or night, ever since her birth she had seen nothing but darkness. The only place she could feel like any other foal was in middle of the flower fields, you don't need your sight to smell the flowers, but one peculiar night everything changed for her. Her big sister Night Bloom, always brought her to the flower field every night with the other town’s foals. Unfortunately that particular night the whole town was in a frenzy; only the moon appeared, not a single star twinkled in the sky. Many of the thestral families were worried, as ponies of the night, not having a stars in the sky was a bad omen. Moonflower, like anypony else, did not left their homes that night, she was sad because she was unable to enjoy the flower essence, but at least she was able to spend time with her family.
The following morning a group of ponies from town went to Canterlot to find out answers to the question of what had happened to the stars. News came just before nightfall, nothing bad had happened and they expected the night to be back to normal. Then it happened, the most magical star-filled sky known to modern Equestria, everypony left their homes to behold the beauty of the stars shining brighter than ever before. “Oh Moonflower, if you could only see this,” said her mom Sparking Orchid, a thestral mare with a gray coat and a dark blue mane and tail while embracing Moonflower.
“I… I see a road made of bright white dots. Are those stars mom?” replied the filly shyly to the mare.
“What you-?” was the only thing Moonflower could hear before losing focus of everything around her, she was fascinated by the view, her first view. Are those stars? Oh, I can see the stars! By the moon, I can see the stars!!! Moonflower couldn't believe it! for the first time ever, she saw light in her darkness. Tears were shed, not only hers but her mother’s too, who was hugging her tightly the whole time. Moonflower saw a tiny orb of light descending from the sky until it touched her muzzle, a few seconds later she felt a warmth on her flank, shifting her sight from the sea of lights in the sky to her flank she felt something but couldn't see what happened. Not until her mother told her that she had just gotten her cutie mark, a beautiful moon flower in the shape of a white five pointed star. Moonflower still couldn't see anything but the stars in the sky, they were forming a twinkling road going west of Hollow Shades. She may be young but she knew that stars were telling her to go there. When she asked what was in that direction her mother responded by telling her it was Canterlot. She needed to go to Canterlot, that was what she felt the stars were telling her.
Moonflower may have a disability but she wasn’t useless, she loved books and her family always read anything they could for her. After that special night, she started to see shapes of anything that was under the stars’ light, even some types of magic and during the next upcoming years of her foalhood she learned and trained her new gift of sight.
She needed to go to Canterlot, every night the stars reminded her of that, making their twinkling road in that direction, but she was still too young to go alone. Her parents would not take her there, since thestrals were not very welcomed by the nobles. Her parents loved their daughter too much to make her experience at such a young age that of the hateful Canterlot ponies. It would take almost five years since that fateful night until she was able to travel to Canterlot.
It had been a few months since Twilight discovered Discord’s stone statue and currently she was taking care of Spike. The baby dragon was finally grown up enough to be outside, so Twilight took him to the royal gardens to play and as always she was wearing her trusty cloak. It was a beautiful day, birds were singing, great weather and she was banned from the library that week. Her mentor Princess Celestia was concerned that she was avoiding anypony who tried to become friends with her. She requested that she needed to open her circle of friends, only interacting with Sunset or Cadance was not enough.
But for Twilight there was no time for meaningless get together with some school acquaintance. She had been researching about Discord, the infamous Spirit of Chaos for the last few months. She found out that Celestia and her sister had turned him into stone, all thanks to Cadance who provided information regarding the creature. The princess was repudiated to share information about Discord stone prison. Princess Celestia was displeased with the sudden fascination her student had for the chaotic draconequus. She didn't want her students to know about the elements yet, it was necessary to keep some information from them.
Twilight needed to find out how they defeated had Discord, she knew it was connected to powerful magic, there was no way to capture the representation of chaos itself so easily. But thanks to the princess she couldn't research anything for a week. She was planning her sweet revenge on Celestia when Spike ran out of her sight, chasing after him she stopped dead in her tracks. Next to her adopted son was a kind of pony she would never thought she would meet in Canterlot or Equestria for that matter. Spike was trying to made some kind of conversation with a thestral filly, who was next to another thestral mare not much older than her. But that’s not the reason Twilight froze, she could feel something really special about the filly, something she had never felt, something only Asteria had the power to do.
For Moonflower, going out during the day wasn't something she liked. She preferred to do so at night when the stars were out, they made her feel safe. During the day she was reminded of her disability and she hated that. She had finally made it to Canterlot as she had so wanted to for all these years, but she hadn't expected to arrive during the day. The filly finally realized why her parents were against the idea of letting her travel to Canterlot. The ponies of the city were really callous with her and combined with her eye problems didn't help much.
Her sister Night Bloom took her to one of the royal gardens to help her relax and forget about the unwelcoming morning. There she was enjoying the refreshing breeze and singing of the birds, when she felt somepony approaching. Moonflower was blind, she could only see something when her gift used the light of the stars, but that moment for the first time she saw a lizard kind of creature right in front of her. She could see his features, color of his scales, not even with her gift had she been able to see somepony with so much detail before.
The creature waved at her with a smile on its face. It tried to speak some words but it was more like baby talk. Her sister said that the creature was a baby dragon which was a really rare sight in a pony city. Soon after somepony was yelling “Spike” which looked to be the baby dragon’s name since it reacted when it heard the call. Moonflower was shocked by a strong sensation, she felt like something really heavy had been placed on top of her. She felt her cutie mark react, even her eyes felt warm, then it happened. She would never have thought in her short life that she could see another pony, much less the night herself. The pony that had called for the baby dragon was none other than a unicorn wearing a cloak, but Moonflower could see her mane, it was made of the night sky with beautiful violet colors, her slitted eyes were intimidating but full of passion, her whole presence was overwhelming.
Moonflower flinched when she started moving closer to them, she immediately bowed completely to the ground. Moonflower knew, what was in front of her was not a pony, it was the night herself, their goddess. For Twilight it was strange for somepony to bow in her presence, especially since nopony knew what she really was, not even Spike. When she got near the thestral filly she realized why she did what she did. Oh, this child of the night was blessed by my stars. That’s quite rare, they normally ask permission to do something like that… Twilight was analyzing the filly with her mind’s eye and magic as she processed the information she had received.
Twilight decided it was better to let the filly relax in her presence, she requested for her to get up from the floor, while the filly’s sister didn't know what was happening. Twilight cast a sleeping spell on the older thestral so she could have a private talk. “Do not worry child of the night, your companion is only sleeping,” said Twilight as she sat in front of the filly, “please relax, we just want to know a few things about you.”
Moonflower ended up sitting in front of the goddess completely frightened, she couldn’t say a word or look away from those powerful eyes. “What’s your name my child?” asked Twilight, smiling at the filly as she tried to make her feel better.
“M-Moonflower M-my Goddess,” replied the shaking filly.
“That’s such a beautiful name,” responded Twilight with a smile, “and please, call us Twilight.”
“I-I can’t do such a thing!” said Moonflower in panic.
“Oh, we must insist. Since nopony knows our real self,” Twilight replied trying to convince the filly. It reminds me of the time we met Asteria, thought Twilight giggling in her mind.
“O-okay T-Twilight, if you insist, ” replied Moonflower still nervous.
“Please tell me, How did you end up blessed by our stars?” asked Twilight still keeping her smile.
Moonflower slowly told her about that day five years ago, how she, who couldn’t see a thing was able to see the stars as well as getting her cutie mark, and the way she was able to see under their light. How the stars guided her to Canterlot. Twilight listened to Moonflower’s story while her mind went through Asteria’s knowledge and analyzed her options. Meeting Moonflower was not mere coincidence, her stars were behind this meeting. After evaluating her options and finishing listening to Moonflower’s story, Twilight moved close to the filly. “Tell me Moonflower, what are you going to do now?” she asked.
“About what M-Twilight?” replied the filly confused tilting her head.
“Well, the blessing you got from our stars is not complete, we could make it so that you finally see even in the day if you like,” said Twilight smiling at her, “but we think you meeting us was not just for us to fix your eyes.”
“You could help me fix my sight!?” reacted the filly bowing again in front of Twilight and begging her to do it.
Twilight calmed the filly down again with a motherly smile, before focusing her magic. After a few minutes of concentration a shining star came out of Twilight’s mane into her hoof. She placed the little star into Moonflower’s body which started to shine for a moment before going back to normal. The dull silver eyes of the filly became bright silver, the moment she saw the green of the grass, the blue of the sky and the colors around her for the first time, those eyes were full of tears. Twilight hugged the filly tightly. Spike who was bored of waiting and had been playing by chasing bugs now came running to hug the crying filly with a worried look on his face.
When Moonflower calmed down Twilight continued talking, she wanted Moonflower to stay in Canterlot with her. Being blessed by the stars was something no other pony in Equestria was able to accomplish, especially without her assistant. Also she wanted them to become friends, she wanted to teach Moonflower how to use her gift. Moonflower really wanted to stay with Twilight, she also wanted to be friends with the Goddess of the Night, but she knew her parents would never let her stay in Canterlot, they didn't like it there and the ponies there didn't like thestrals either. Twilight considered her options, she needed Moonlight close to her. She could talk with the princess to help her, but she would have to explain why she had to stay with her. She couldn't let anypony known about her, not yet at least.
After considering every single pony she could ask for assistance, Twilight came up with a plan, she explained to Moonflower what she wanted to do and asked if she would accept those terms. Moonflower thought deeply on what would happen if she went with the plan, taking a few minutes, she accepted the conditions of staying close to Twilight with firm determination. Levitating Spike and placing him on her back, and Moonflower’s sister floating next to them with magic, Twilight went with Moonflower to the only pony that could help her set her plan in motion.
Silver Might was busy in his office, he needed to finish checking the paperwork of the new recruits for the royal guard. Some new rank promotions were also on his do list. Besides being the Lieutenant General, lately he just did paperwork and check on the recruits for the princess’s forces. He would gather excellent candidates to become great soldiers for Her Highness Celestia, the only pony he still couldn't recruit was the princess’s personal student, even the princess herself was against the idea.
While trying to finish his work for the day somepony knocked at his door. As the doors opened he expected his secretary Sharp Quill to appear, but it was the princess praised student herself, the one that followed behind Twilight was a thestral filly no far younger than the unicorn.
“Well, well, if isn't Miss. Not want to leave my books, herself, ” said the old stallion while laughing hard, “What can I help you with Miss?” asked with a smile.
“Good day, Old Bones” replied Twilight with a fearless smile, “we came to ask for a favor.” For some reason Silver felt like he was about to jump out in front of a timberwolf as a cold sweat ran down his spine, looking at Twilight’s eyes.
After convincing Silver to help, Twilight and Moonflower took him to the thestral’s parents, Night Bloom woke up after the meeting so it wasn’t necessary to carry her anymore. After a long talk between the old stallion and the parents, Twilight’s authority as Princess Celestia student, puppy eyes from the thestral filly and a baby dragon, Moonflower’s family agreed to leave their daughter, under the condition of a free scholarship in the Canterlot’s Military Academy under Silver’s supervision.
The topic that made her parents give in was the realization that the filly’s eyes had been cured. Twilight had made up some crazy story about using some secret magic spell that only worked on thestrals that she had found on the Archives during her research. Being Princess Celestia personal student didn't bring doubt to her abilities with magic, so they were able to deceive everypony. Twilight was happy that the princess or her sister, Sunset had not been there to deny such a spell’s existence.
Moonflower and her family returned home to get the filly’s luggage and made her a party to celebrate her recovery. They would return in a couple of weeks to bring Moonflower to her new place, which would be Twilight’s home after convincing her parents to let Moonflower stay. Twilight ended up helping Silver with all the paperwork and every piece of work he needed to finish that week. Though, Silver hadn't expected Twilight to finish all the work in only two days.
The Badlands are known as a dangerous and deadly place. Those that lived there were adventurous or had no other place to call home. One creature that called the place home was about to become an example of why it was called a deadly place. It’s family had left it to die, it was weak, it was useless, it's kind wouldn't feed the weak. It was alone in the middle of nowhere, waiting for it's time to come. That was until it looked into the sky and saw something it never knew was there, a calling. It was not like the ones from its mother, it was something more powerful.
Its big arctic blue eyes shined with the stars’ light, they were telling it to go north and it obeyed. In the darkness of the night it set its course for Mount Canter, it flew as fast as it’s weak body could. During the day it would hide, when the darkness came it would fly. It continued on that pace for days, only stopping at daylight or to eat anything it could. Finally it’s journey came to an end when Canterlot came into sight, soon it would find out why the stars were guiding it to the Sun Tyrant’s home.
Stopping on a hill with perfect view of the city it waited for the moon to rise and moved into the city, the shadows of the night were perfect for cover. Unfortunately for it, another creature made the city their territory. A loyal star beast patrolled from the shadows, making sure the city his master resided in would be safe. When the new resident of the city made its way in the shadows trying to find somepony to impersonate, it was already being tailed. Owlowiscious saw the creature entering Canterlot while doing his night flight, he immediately notified his master, and tailed it awaiting orders.
This is quite a busy month... Thought Twilight as she flew away from the castle to meet up with Owlowiscious. Moonflower finally moved two weeks ago and she had a hard time dealing with the princess after Silver needed her approval for the scholarship.
Her research on Discord hadn't gone well, the princess really didn't wanted anypony finding out anything that could let him be free from the garden. Now some creature was trying to invade her city using her night as cover. It took her a few minutes to find her familiar, landing on the rooftop of somepony’s house Twilight looked around for the creature. To her surprise the creature Owlowiscious was tracking was something she had a lot of knowledge about.
“A changeling drone?” murmured Twilight as her eyes widened. “How is that possible?”
Twilight charged with great speed and landed right where the changeling was about to proceed. The drone was startled by the sudden appearance of somepony, before it could even flee from the place the pony commanded “Kneel”. The changeling froze, it’s body moved on its own kneeling in front of the pony. The changeling was frightened, the creature with the form of a pony was not a pony. It was terrifying, her glowing violet eyes were piercing its soul.
“What’s your name?” said Twilight with a commanding voice to the changeling.
The changeling tried in vain to resist but its mouth moved “K-Klaxie...”
“Well, Klaxie, What are you doing in our city?” asked Twilight, keeping her gaze on the changeling’s eyes.
“The stars told me to come here,” responded the changeling with its own feminine, rough voice.
Twilight kept her gaze of the changeling as she analyzed the creature, after confirming her worries she smiled at the creature. It was a caring smile, the same she gave Spike. “Well, daughter of the night. You just found the reason for your journey.” replied Twilight keeping her smile. The changeling’s eyes widened realizing what kind of creature was in front of her. Twilight used her magic and teleported both to her room, in the night sky a single star turned orange before it disappeared.
The following day Silver was enjoying his coffee in his office when somepony knocked at the door, to his surprise Twilight entered through the door followed by a yellow unicorn mare with an orange mane and tail, aquamarine eyes, her cutie mark was two stars; a big white star with a small orange star by its side, her age not so different from Twilight herself. Twilight gave the old stallion a carefree smile before requesting from the stallion another favor. Silver sighed in defeat before taking another sip of his coffee, he knew it was going to be a long week.
Another chapter for before the end of the month 
I'm finally introducing the only important OC of the story. The reason for them was simple I needed night related characters and the series didn't have any for me to use. And our little Goddess needed her warriors I mean Friends.
Next chapter we'll getting some clues about the Elements with the help of someone unexpected. 
On a side note for Klaxie pony disguise I used this little mare as reference just changed the cutie mark from flowers to stars and from a breezie to a unicorn. 
Thanks to G33kySt3v3 for the editing of the chapter
Like always thanks for reading, Cheers~ 
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I really love this story and how twilightis progressing
lets gooooo!!!
good job so far!!!
I feel like we’ve been given the most boring the way of explaining the world. Instead of through dialogue it seems that cliff notes are the explanation of relationship between what’s happening and the characters
Not gonna lie there is a lot liberties being taken that do not seem to be challenged enough if at all. I keep turning the pages tonsee what happens next but I feel my hopes for something profound to be growing more and more distant. However I am only halfway through more or less and let's see what goes on once I catch up.
Twilight, Twilight... Not even fourteen but already have fanatics who praise you
Sympathy to Silver anybody?
Let me guess, Twilight is forming the main 6, or more accurately, the stars are forming the main 6, except the main 6 will not feature Rainbow Dash, AppleJack, Fluttershy, Rarity, or Pinkie Pie, instead the main 6 is.... The children of the night? This is an interesting concept.