As Night Spark watches his Bat Pony cousins from afar, he questions his life choices.
Night Spark has climbed up on to one of the lower cliffs of a Mountain nearby to his home. He stares off towards Canterlot and beyond, watching as Bat winged shadows danced in the moonlight. As he stares he thinks about the choices that lead him to where he was, miles away from his colony.
This is just a sad idea of one of the things my OC Night Spark does with his time at night.
I drew the cover, for a different purpose but it fits well enough here as the cover art. That's Night Spark in all his glory (besides the cutie mark which I totally blanked on drawing!)
Night Spark made one last leap, his hooves hitting the solid dirt of the top of the cliff. He trotted further forward on the cliff then flopped down to catch his breath from the climb. He made this journey as often as he could afford, but lately it had become less and less frequent with his home life getting more and more hectic.
Maybe that's a good thing. Every time you come up here you get sad.
Night shook the thought away and stood back up. He walked to the opposite edge of the cliff from where he climbed up and looked out at the night sky. In the distance he could see the shadowy form of Canterlot and the mountain Canterlot rested on. He wasn't sure what the name of the mountain was. He was not even sure the mountain had a name.
Probably called Canterlot Mountain, or something like that.
Night let himself smile at the thought. His eyes drifted past Canterlot, to the faint shadowy forms of the Crystal Mountains. As he stared at the forms his smile slowly faded. He stared, waiting with his breath held for the familiar shapes to start moving around the air near the mountains. As if on cue several black dots came into view over the mountains, swirling and dipping in the air.
Good they're still there.... I don't know why I'm worried about them.... I was the one that broke the safety of our secluded home.... Wandered off into the heart of the pony empire...
Night closed his eyes and sighed bowing his head sadly.
A younger Night Spark was shoving his favorite belongings into his saddle bags. He would leave the rest of them here with his parents. He would only need the most important things to travel anyway, anything extra would just weigh him down. With one last glance around his room Night nodded and secured the bags closed. He then secured the bags onto himself.
Night turned to find his Mother staring at him with the saddest look he had ever seen in his mother's normally bright, happy eyes.
"You don't have to go! You could nurture the bug populations here! Please Night consider what you're doing..." She pleaded with him.
Night shook his head, as he looked at his Mother with equally sad eyes. "I can't do that Mom... It just... What's the point? I make tentative friends with the creatures and a bad frost- or the bats- kill them. It hurts, I'm going to find something else to do. Somewhere I can watch over the insects but have other responsibilities as well."
The mare in front of him bit her lip, her sharp teeth worrying her lip more forcefully. "We can find other things for you to do around here! You can help your father-"
"Just let him go Mom. He's a freak here anyway!"
Night's mother spun around quickly, her bat like wings spreading. She let out a menacing hiss "Get back in your room young lady. You are still grounded! You're grounded even longer now for calling your brother that! He's your elder you should respect him!"
The obviously much younger, smaller mare just rolled her eyes and returned to her room. She used her own bat like wings to slam her door closed for good measure.
Night hoofed the ground bellow him and sighed. Lately this had been a common occurrence in the house. It was his fault, he expressed his desire for wings one night at breakfast and his sister latched onto the weakness. She had begun to torment her older sibling about his winglessness, and general difference from the rest of the colony. He was only half bat pony so it wasn't odd he didn't inherit wings. His father was an earth pony after all.
His mother defended him vehemently, trying her hardest to drive home that he belonged here in the colony with her where she could shelter and care for him. She herself was a bat pony that had only been away from the colony once; an instance where her instincts had demanded for her to search out a mate. Upon finding a mate, she had conned him into joining her in the middle of bucking nowhere.
Night sighed again and looked at his mother. She was facing him and had her wings folded once more. She had returned to chewing her lip until she opened her mouth to say something. However, Night cut her off.
"Mom face it, I don't belong here. I'm too much like dad. I need to go out there and find ponies I can connect with. I need to find my own colony."
Her mouth closed with a click as she stared sadly at her eldest for a long moment. She released a sigh of her own and nodded sadly.
"I see... Good luck. Good bye my glowing Night. Write home often."
Night nodded and left the house. He never once looked back at the time. It felt right. Like he was closing one chapter of his life and opening up the next chapter.
Night lay down on the cliff and glanced at the country side which was overtaken by shadows. He thought about the adventures he had wandering them for several years after leaving home. He hadn't made many friends during that time, since there were so few nocturnal ponies in most of the towns he stopped at.
But the few friends I did make were good ones. At least while they lasted.
Night smiled, and then sighed. He should try writing some of them. Get back in touch, the worst that could happen is they don't get along anymore. Night nodded to himself, his plan set. He lifted his head to stare at Canterlot once more. He had only visited the grand capital of the pony empire once. He had hoped for a short time to get into the Night Guard.
That didn't end well. I barely got through the first few months of training. Living in the mountains and combat are two completely different challenges. That's for sure.
Night chuckled as he stood back up watching Canterlot as shadowy pony forms with bat wings took to the air. Most were flying lazy circles; a few were moving clouds around altering Canterlot's weather. Night followed one in particular that flew straight up, until they were silhouetted against the moon.
Night turned away and sighed. Sadness quickly taking over, tears dripping down his face. He sniffed and looked back the way he came, the small forest down bellow. The trees so close together heat got trapped within it. He smiled sadly down at his house, which he could see barely peeking out of the thick of it. His head turned slightly to look at the only clearing in the small forest.
Within the clearing where multiple small houses arranged in a circle. At the center of the circle was a several story tall town hall. Night smiled as he remembered helping to build that. Dawning Mage had approached him where he camped in the surrounding forest with a proposition. She wanted to start a small town; he wanted to nurture the naturally occurring firefly population in the surrounding woods. So she asked him to help lead a small group of ponies willing to work nocturnal hours, she would lead a small group during the day. Both groups worked together to build the town hall and a few buildings nearby it to get the town started.
They had managed to halve the usually construction time for a job of that size. Despite most of the involved ponies not having a talent in construction. He had been proud on opening day; it was a small achievement but an achievement none the less. After that ponies looking to start a new life had bustled in once word got around. Some arrived with family that would help them build, then leave once their kin was settled. Others arrived alone, in which cases Paige would rally some town members to help them get set up.
Dollop came with his own personal army. I remember his insanely large family swooping in, building the house practically overnight and swooping out right after. Dawn was so sure when he moved in they finally had a weather pony. Dollop was so sad that he couldn't help Dawn, but she was so understanding.
Night smiled staring at the town. This was his new home; after helping to build the town, and getting help building his own home. He had stopped wandering; this place was where he belonged. His eyes drifted back to his house. The house had been smaller at one point, now it was a decent size.
Night made his way back down the cliff. He started his short trek to where his home was. It wasn't too large, or fancy. It was really just a modest cottage, but it was his home. He stopped to look at it; there were 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen. Originally it only had a bedroom, a bathroom, a living room and a kitchen.
Then the two most amazing ponies dropped into my life.... And one soon dropped a surprise for all three of us shortly there after.
Night smiled at that thought and headed into the cottage, it was almost dawn. They were probably wondering why he was gone so long. A quick glance told him they were not waiting in the main room, the living room, which meant they were in bed already. Night headed to his bedroom, glancing in the partially open door of the foal's room to see his fuzzy head barely poking out of a blanket cocoon.
Night crept into the master bedroom. Both his mates appeared to be sleeping already. Night paused again to take a mental note of their adorable cuddling position before he slipped into bed behind them. Curling his arms around the closer of the two he snuggled into the bed, warm and safe with his own little family.
