As a skein of geese flew overhead, squawking like geese usually do, Jason wiped his brow as he watched Nightshine finish up another set of wing-ups. He was sitting with his back up against the only tree in his yard, his chest heaving up and down. Nightshine was sweating just as much, if not more than him, but he knew that her desire to fly was making her push herself harder than she’d ever done so before. The morning sun shined down upon them, bleeding through the leaves of the tree that they were working out under. Jason’s stomach was sore from doing so many sit-ups and his arms burned from the sheer amount of push-ups he’d done along with his daughter.

Nightshine strained as she lowered herself back down, her wings trembling from over-exertion. Jason had asked her to take a break thirteen wing-ups ago, but she still had a lot of energy left in her to keep going. Part of her wanted to use her legs to push her back up for this last one, but her innate need to impress Jason pushed that thought right out of her mind. The joints of her wings screamed as she pushed herself back up, inch by inch, until she was all the way back up. As soon as she reached that point, she let her legs support her weight, letting her fold her trembling wings back to her side.

With a satisfied smile, she walked over to Jason and collapsed upon his lap with a happy sigh. “See? I told you I... I could do more!” she panted

“You sure did, sweetie...” Jason held up a glass of water for her and let her chug the entire thing down. She panted a little softer now, a little bit of water slipping down her cheek. Jason wiped it away with his thumb, then as he sat back, Nightshine laid down on his chest, sprawling out on him like he was her soft bed. He ran his fingers through her mane, smiling as she hummed in content.

As he listened to the leaves rustling in the tree above, Jason scratched Nightshine’s lower back, then rubbed her back as he asked, “So... what was it like being an orphan?” Nightshine stopped humming abruptly, tensing up in his grasp. He saw her ears droop as she laid her head on his chest.

After she let out a deep breath, she stayed silent for several moments, then said, “It wasn’t fun. I feel like I had to grow up a lot faster than everypony else because I lived in an orphanage. So many couples looking to start a family passed over me, making me think that I’d never be adopted. But then you came...” Nightshine planted a tiny kiss on his chin, then laid her head back down as his fingers ran through her mane. “I had a friend, a filly a couple of years younger than me, who was almost adopted. I remember her being so happy, and even though I was happy for her, I was still really, really jealous.”

“That’s pretty mature of you to realize that, especially given your age...” Jason said softly.

“I guess... But you know what happened? The inspector found something out about the couple that was going to adopt her in the final inspection stage, which made it not possible for them to adopt her. She was... different after that. She stopped eating, stopped playing with me, and after a while, she’d lost so much weight that the headmistress had to take her to the hospital. I wanted to go with her just so that she wouldn’t have to be alone, but the headmistress would not let me go. She came back a week later, and a couple of months later, a new couple came around. The headmistress told me that they were trying to choose between me and her, so even though I really wanted to be adopted, I felt like she deserved it more. I acted like a brat the next time I saw the couple, knowing that I could be giving up my only chance, and... she was adopted.” She felt Jason kiss the top of her head.

As he wrapped his arms around her, Jason whispered, “That was very sweet of you.”

“Yeah, I know, but... I still cried myself to sleep that night,” Nightshine murmured. She fluffed her wings and wrapped her forelegs around his neck, ignoring the smell of his sweat as she nuzzled the side of his neck. “You made me the happiest filly in all of the land when you adopted me... I hope you know that.”

“Oh, I do, little one. Anyways...” Jason chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. “By waiting, you ended up with a better choice: me! Right?”

Nightshine let a wide grin slide onto her face as she pulled back, folding her forelegs under her chest. “Right!” She rolled onto her back and slid back down into his lap, letting her head rest just beneath his chin. Nightshine closed her eyes as the breeze ran through her mane, cooling her off from the warmth of the sun. She hummed happily as she felt him wrap his arms around her belly.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Jason looked up, eyeing the only branch thick enough to support their weight. “Hey, Nightshine?”

“Yeah?” Nightshine lifted her head from his chest and looked up at him.

“You know, since you’re a bat pony and all, does your species ever hang upside down?” Jason asked, massaging the area where her wings met her body.

“Huh? Why would I do that?” Nightshine asked with a light giggle. She cocked her head to the side as she peered up at him with a cocked eyebrow.

“Well, where I’m from, regular bats hang upside down to sleep. And seeing that you’re a pony, I sorta figured that you’d sleep like any other pony. So after seeing that you sleep in a bed, I’m a little curious as to if you ever hang upside down.”

“Oh. Um... I dunno!” Nightshine shrugged. “I guess I never thought about it. Why do bats sleep upside down, anyways? That seems like a silly way to sleep if you ask me! You wouldn’t be able to snuggle or use your favorite pillow!”

“Well, from what I remember from elementary school, they sleep upside down to avoid predators. They weigh so much that they can’t just start flying just like pegasi, and...”

“Hey, are you calling me fat?” Nightshine asked with a pout. She tried to hold a straight face, but a small giggle slipped past her lips.

“Heh, nah, I’m not. You see, these bats hang upside down so that when they want to fly, they just let go and fall, and that gives them the speed they need to give them lift. They also sleep in hard to reach places, too, so that their natural predators won’t be able to find them.” Jason looked up at the branch again. “So yeah! Wanna give it a shot?”

“Sleeping upside down?” Nightshine looked up at the branch he was staring at. “But we just woke up, silly!”

Jason tousled Nightshine’s mane. “I know, sweetie, I was talking about just the hanging upside down part. I’m still waking up, after all, and I haven’t even had my cup of coffee yet!”

“Coffee... that’s what the headmistress used to drink all day! She said it was just for older ponies like her, and she wouldn’t let me and my friends have any. Can I try some? I wanna see if I like it or not!”

“Sure, I can give you a little when I make some later! Too much and it’d give you a tummy-ache, though.” Jason motioned for Nightshine to get up, and after she slid off of him, he stood up, wondering what would be the easiest way to climb up. He noticed that the tree’s base didn’t have any footholds, so he did the next best thing.

He jumped up and was just able to grab onto the branch. Jason hung there, his arms feeling like they were about to snap off when he felt Nightshine wrap her legs around his feet. He chuckled as he felt her climb up him, and as she stood on his head, he groaned as he lifted himself up, letting her clamber up onto the branch. With his chin resting on the branch, he saw Nightshine bite down on the back of his sweaty shirt, pulling with all of her might, giving him just enough help to let him swing a leg up onto the branch.

Jason panted, sitting next to his daughter. They were high enough to see over the top of their fence, though it was just a view of his next-door neighbor’s backyard and the surrounding buildings. After he caught his breath, he asked, “So uh... I guess I didn’t really think this through, but... how would a pony hang upside down? With the way your legs are, I don’t really see a way for you to do this!” Making sure the backs of his knees were locked around the branch, Jason leaned back all the way, letting himself swing back and forth upside down.

“With my tail, duh!” Nightshine said with a giggle. She wrapped the end of her tail around the branch and threw herself back before Jason could catch her.

Jason watched her fall from the branch in slow motion. His eyes went wide as he tried to reach out to catch her, but it was too late. Nightshine swung back and forth, just like him, with a wide grin on her face. “Ugh...” Jason relaxed with a deep sigh. “Can you not scare me like that? I really thought you were going to fall and hit your head.”

“Oh... sorry! I guess I was too excited.” Nightshine giggled again as she swung back and forth. “Hehe, this is fun! I don’t know why I didn’t do this before!”

“Doesn’t that hurt your tail? The horses back home hated it when someone tugged on their tails, and more often than not, the tugger got bucked!”

“You know, I didn’t think about that.” Nightshine unfolded her wings and flapped them, propelling herself forward, then folded them as she swung back. “Whee! This is fun, Daddy!”

“Yeah, it sure is!” He heard somepony knocking on his front door, so he yelled, “Out here!” He heard his front door open, then shut, and as they waited to see whoever it was that came knocking, Nightshine started swinging back and forth again a few moments before Twilight and Spike emerged from his house.

“Oh, hey guys!” Jason leaned up, grabbed the branch with his left hand, then unhooked his legs, letting him fall to the ground. Wiping his hands on his shirt, he stopped Nightshine from swinging, then let her grab onto his arms. She unlooped her tail from the branch with a quick flick, then looked over at their guests. Jason leaned down and let Nightshine stand on her own, who promptly shuffled behind him. “How’s it going?” He noticed a lack of a smile on Twilight’s face.

“Well enough,” Twilight said as she sat down. She looked at Nightshine and smiled. “Ah, you must be Nightshine!”

“Um, yeah...” Nightshine half-hid behind Jason’s legs, only sticking her head out. She cautiously came out with a sheepish smile, then sat in front of Jason, flicking her tail around her legs. Her eyes flicked between Twilight’s wings, then her horn, then back to her wings. Her eyes went wide as her jaw dropped. “Oh my gosh, are you a princess?” she asked so quickly her question sounded as if it was all one word. She stood up, then bowed, her muzzle nearly touching the dirt.

“That I am!” She lowered her head to look Nightshine in the face. “And aren’t you a cute little filly!” She giggled as she saw Nightshine blush. Glancing up at Jason, she asked, “I trust you didn’t have any problems adopting her?”

“Nah, not at all! I really cannot thank you enough for your help.” Jason sat down beside Nightshine and scratched her behind her ears. As she clambered into his lap, he said, “There were so many ponies to choose from, but she stood out from the rest.”

“Just like how you stand out as a human amongst ponies, right?” Spike asked, sliding from Twilight’s back.

“Yeah, I guess so!” Jason said with a laugh. “I never thought of it like that.” He looked down at his daughter. “Nightshine? This is Spike!”

“Huh?” Nightshine lifted her head from his leg and looked over to find a small dragon, standing on his two back legs much like Jason did. “Woah, a baby dragon? That can talk?” She jumped up from Jason’s lap and walked up to him, then cocked her head to the side, eyeing him up and down with a curious gaze.

“Heh, I’m not a baby anymore, but yeah, I’m a dragon! The name’s Spike!” He held out a closed fist for her to bump, which she did in record time. “I saw you yesterday in the market, but you guys looked so busy that I felt it wasn’t a good time to introduce myself.”

“That’s fine!” Nightshine giggled. “So are you Twilight’s friend or something?”

“Actually, she’s my mom, but that story’s for a later time.”

“Woah, that’s so cool!” Nightshine’s smile widened. “You wanna play sometime? I haven’t made any friends here yet, so do you wanna be my first?”

“Sure, that sounds great!” Spike looked up at Twilight and asked, “Say... is it okay if we go to Sugarcube Corner for some treats so you can talk with Jason?”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Spike.” Twilight fished out a few bits from her bag and levitated them to him. “Can you be back here in a half hour?”

“Sure can! Come on, Nightshine, I heard Pinkie’s got some freshly-baked cookies!” He and Nightshine walked back into the house with a pep in their steps, leaving Twilight and Jason all alone.

“So... the reason for my coming was to talk about some... things with you. Can we go back inside?” Twilight asked as she stood up.

“Sure, what about?”

“...A few things, but I’d like for us to have some privacy back inside, if that’s okay.” Twilight’s smile faded from her face as she looked away. “I don’t want anybody else other than us to overhear what I need to tell you.”

“Yeah, okay.” He followed Twilight back inside, then sat down on his couch. “So what’s up?” he asked as Twilight climbed up next to him. She bit her lip, then looked up at him.

“I stayed up really late last night doing some research about finding you a way back home. The portal you came through was highly randomized, and it’s a wonder that you didn’t appear on top of a freezing cold mountain all the way up in the northern reaches. To have you appear on the outskirts of town was a blessing, but... anyways, to find a portal that would send you back to your planet is just not feasible. There’s no way to predict when and where it’ll show up, and for how long. I wouldn’t even know if it’d send you back to your planet, either.”

“So what you’re saying is that I’m pretty much stuck here?” Jason chuckled as he spread his arms out on the back of his couch. “It’s been so long that I’ve already accepted that. It’s also one of the reasons why I bought this house and chose to adopt someone.”

“I see.” Twilight rubbed her foreleg, then let her shoulders droop as she relaxed. “That‘s good to hear. I think Nightshine would hate to see you go if I did somehow find a way back home for you, and taking her with you, away from her home, friends, and her life here, probably wouldn’t work out too well.”

“Yeah, I don’t think it would. My life is here now, and I’m loving it so far. It is still a little weird not being a pony in a land of, well, ponies, after all. I can only hope that they won’t think less of me for choosing to raise one of their own species. I know you’re fine with it, but what about everyone else? I’m sure word spreads fast in a small town like this.”

“I doubt most would have any issue with it, but there might be some.”

“I figured as much. I’ve made a few friends around town, but I don’t get out much, so I can’t really say how comfortable they are around me.”

“Well, we’ve seen stranger things, so you needn’t worry about being the odd one out. In time, ponies will accept you, especially when they see how well you do in raising your new daughter.”

“Yeah, about that...” Jason scratched the back of his neck as he licked his dry lips. “I’ve never been a parent before, and I’ve never been married. I’ve always been good with kids, though, so I think I’ll do alright. It’s not like I’m raising an itty bitty foal, though. Nightshine’s already a little old, so... yeah,” he finished rather lamely.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Twilight shifted on the couch, then let her forelegs swing out over the edge. “So...”

“What?” Jason noticed that Twilight’s tone changed, making a small pit of worry form in his stomach.

Twilight stared at the floor for several moments, then said, “When I said you could adopt anypony you wanted to, I intended for you to adopt one of Equestria’s three races, not a foreign one.”

“Wait, huh?” Jason sat up. “Is Nightshine not from Equestria?”

“...No. Bat ponies come from a land far away from Equestria, and I have no idea how a filly so young could end up in Canterlot’s orphanage. As a foreigner yourself, the law states that you can’t adopt someone from a race not indigenous to Equestria. Even if you were a pony, the result would be the same.”

Jason frowned as he quelled a growl from deep within his chest. “I’m not giving her up. Hell’d freeze over before that happens.”

“Oh, of course!” Twilight sat up and held out her hooves, doing her best to reassure him. “And I’m on your side! Since I let this happen, I feel that it is my responsibility to make sure that things work out, but...”

“But what?” Jason nearly snarled, his upper lip trembling as he stared at Twilight.

“What should I do?” Twilight asked, pleading with him as they stared into each other’s eyes. “These laws are so old that it would take a ton of work and a lot of time to get them changed, time we do not have. I fear that if I keep this from my fellow princesses that I might lose their trust, but if I tell them what has happened, they might send Nightshine back to her country. I don’t know why the pony running the orphanage let you adopt a bat pony, because if Nightshine was there for any number of years, then I think we need to send somepony out there. Maybe she didn’t know about this law, or maybe she chose to ignore it, but nevertheless, she needs to be made aware of her mistake.”

“Fine. Why would the princesses send Nightshine back to her country? You saw how much she loves being here with me.”

Twilight bit her bottom lip. “Well, after some research this morning, I found that many generations ago, Princess Celestia signed into law that if a youngling from one race ends up in another’s land, like... a young gryphon ending up in Equestria, that we would be obligated to send them back no matter what. In the spirit of cooperation, each species signed this agreement, including us Equestrians. Princess Celestia asking for me to try and find you a way home was part of that, but since you can’t get home...” Twilight shrugged. “So... what would you have me do?” she asked, her voice trembling just a little.

Jason’s lips pursed. “I... don’t want to be breaking any laws, especially given the fact that I’ve only been here for such a short while, but on the other hand, I really care for Nightshine, even though it’s only been a few days. I’ve never smiled so much in such a short time, either. If I am found to be breaking this law, there’s probably a good chance that I’d be thrown in jail, right?”

Twilight nodded. “Well, there’d be a trial, yes, but I do not know what would happen to Nightshine in the meantime. If Foal Protective Services found out that you were being charged with breaking the law, they’d take her away from you in a heartbeat, even if you did win.”

“I figured as much. Hm... So if you talked to Princess Celestia on my behalf, I’d probably have a better chance of keeping Nightshine, so... I think you should t-talk to them,” Jason said, his throat becoming tighter with every word he spoke.

Twilight sighed, then grabbed Jason’s hand with a hoof. “If that is what you wish for me to do... I cannot promise anything, but I swear to you, as both your princess and your friend, that I will do my best to help you keep Nightshine.” Twilight grasped Jason’s hand tighter for just a moment. “I’ll talk to Celestia first, and I’ll try to make her see things our way. She can sometimes be stuck in her old ways, but if anypony has a chance of winning her over to our side, it’d be me. And Jason?” She let go of his hand as she slid from the couch. “I wouldn’t tell Nightshine about this... If I am able to make sure that you can keep custody of her, then she would have spent a couple of days worrying over nothing.”

“But what if you fail? Surely it’d be better for her to know that she could be going back to her country if Celestia says so,” Jason said, tasting bile in the back of his mouth as he remembered what Nightshine had told him earlier about her being an orphan. “It’d devastate her if she had to leave...” he murmured. Suddenly, an idea popped into his mind. “Hey! If Nightshine has to go back to her country, why don’t I move there so we could live together?”

“That’s... an interesting idea, but the process of you getting dual-citizenship in a different country in a completely different society as a species unknown to the rest of the world would take a long, long time to get approved. Life is very different over there, as I hope you know. You’d have to get a new home, a new job, a new everything... and that’s if you somehow got approved.” Twilight glanced at the floor, then looked back up. “I’ll talk to Celestia about it, and I’ll see if we can come up with some better solutions.”

As Twilight walked over to the door, Jason stood up and opened it for her. “Yeah, okay then. So I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, probably in the late morning. So...” Twilight sighed. “Are you going to tell Nightshine what I just told you?” Twilight asked softly as she spotted Nightshine and Spike walking towards them from further up the road.

“...I don’t know,” Jason said equally as soft. “I’ll figure that out later.”

“I trust you’ll do what’s best for her, Jason,” Twilight said, looking over towards Nightshine and Spike. “She looks so happy...” she whispered.

As Nightshine watched Twilight trot away, she left Spike’s side and walked up to Jason. She noticed that he was looking rather glum. Her ears flicked back, and as she sat before him, she tugged the bottom of his pants with her hoof. “What’s wrong, Daddy?” she asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Looking down at her, Jason knelt down and scratched her under her chin. He forced himself to smile, then as he picked her up, he said, “Nothing, sweetie... nothing at all.”