“Uh... what?” Jason asked with wide eyes as he stared at Twilight. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m afraid that I am,” Twilight said slowly.

“But what about my job? I can’t really fix things for ponies if I’m a pony, now can I?” he asked, trying to hold back his anger. “How would I support myself and Nightshine if I can’t make any money?”

“That’s... actually a good point, though I’m sure we could find you something around town, but... this is the only option available to us.” Twilight sighed as she crossed her forelegs. “I know that you weren’t expecting something like this, but there are a couple of positives.”

“Yeah?” Jason scoffed. “Like what?”

Nightshine’s ears perked up at that. As a smile formed on her face, she licked her lips, then bit her bottom lip as she poked at his chest with a hoof. Jason looked down at her with a lifted eyebrow, staying silent. “Um... I can think of one,” Nightshine squeaked out with a light blush, her ears laying flat on her head. She glanced away as her rump wiggled in excitement.

Jason sighed and relaxed a little bit. He smiled down at her and scratched her between her wings. “Oh? And what might that be, little one?”

Nightshine glanced at Twilight for a second, then looked back up into Jason’s eyes. “Winghugs!” she said, pushing herself up off of his chest. Her tail swished back and forth behind her. “Back at the orphanage, I always had dreams of sleeping under the wings of my future parents. Every time I woke up, though... there was nobody there,” she said, her smile faltering a little bit. “But then you adopted me! I never thought someone like you would adopt me, so...” she trailed off as her smile returned in full force.

“So you’d like for me to become a thestral, like you, so that we could snuggle some more? But we already snuggle a ton, sweetie!” Jason said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, but I just know winghugs would be so much better!” Nightshine hopped in place on his lap, her wings spread wide. “Snuggling with you is still awesome, though. Oh! I just thought of another reason!”

“Do tell,” Twilight said with a small smile and a fluff of her wings.

“You and I can learn how to fly together!” Nightshine said, her voice filled with utter glee. “Just imagine us flying! Wouldn’t that be really awesome?”

“Huh... yeah, that would be pretty cool,” Jason said. He scratched his chin as he slumped in his spot on the couch. He closed his eyes as he imagined soaring through the clouds with Nightshine right beside him. “Say, Twilight?” he asked, looking at her. “Can thestrals stand on clouds?”

“Yeah, they can.” Twilight pushed herself up with her forelegs until she was sitting up. She flicked her tail over the side of the couch, then cleared her throat. “Another perk of becoming a pony.”

“Can I... have some time to think it over? This isn’t a decision I can make on the spot,” Jason said.

“Of course.” Twilight nodded once and slid off the couch. “I’ll be at my castle, okay? I’m going to do some research on how to actually do this; it is a complicated spell, after all.” As she opened the front door with a spell, she looked over her shoulder and said, “Can you come by when you make up your mind? I’m sure I’ll have something figured out by then; I just need to reread my books about transformation spells.”

“Yeah, sure...” Jason said, standing up. Once the door was closed, he groaned and shook his head. “I... need some time to think about this.” After helping Nightshine off of his lap, he placed her on the couch and stood up. “If it’s okay, I’d like to think... alone,” he said, avoiding Nightshine’s gaze.

“Um... okay,” Nightshine said, her ears once again falling flat on her head. As Jason walked away, she hopped off the couch, a foreleg raised to go follow him into his bedroom. His door shut with a soft click, leaving her alone in the living room.

All was dead silent. The sounds of the market faded away as Nightshine felt her heart sink into her stomach. With a sigh, she slowly clambered back up on the couch and curled up into a ball, holding her tail between her forelegs. What if he says no? Then I’d have to go back to the orphanage for sure... She clenched her eyes shut as a single tear slipped from the corner of her right eye. What would the other ponies say when they see me again? If I was an outcast before, I’d be even more of one then... She buried her muzzle into her forelegs as a sob slipped past her lips, letting her tail slip over the edge of the couch. And just when I thought everything was going to be okay, too...

She felt anger grow within her heart. No! I’m not going to let some stupid law ruin my life! She lifted her head from under her legs and smacked the couch with a hoof. Wiping the tears from her face, she slid off of the couch again and took a few steps towards Jason’s room. “We could run away...” she whispered to her herself, her eyes going wide at the new idea. “But... I’d lose all of that nice stuff that he just bought me.” She sat down and scratched her left foreleg with a hoof as she bit her lip. “And he’d lose his house...” Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she felt more tears slip down her face.

With her head hanging low, she walked up to Jason’s door and stood up on her hind legs, just barely able to reach the handle. She wrapped a hoof around it and pulled it down, opening the door. As it swung open wide, she saw Jason laying on his bed, his head under a pillow. Trying her hardest to muffle her choked sobs, she took a couple of steps into the room and paused. What if... me bothering him makes him want to not turn into a pony? she thought. Nightshine licked her lips and looked back out through the open door, wondering if she should just let Jason spend some time alone, just like he’d said he needed. With a soft whimper, she turned around and crept out of his room and into hers.

Walking into the middle of the room, she sat down and looked all around. Even though it’d only been a few days since she’d been adopted, it felt as if this was her home now. Everything felt right, and above all, it felt as if all of this stuff was truly hers. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to take any of this if she was to be sent back to the orphanage, so as her shoulders slumped, she used her bed sheets to wipe the tears from her eyes.

But more kept coming.

As the worry of what might come to pass grew within her mind, she wanted nothing more than for someone to tell her that everything was going to be alright, and there was only one person that could do so. With her cheeks wet with fresh tears, Nightshine turned and walked out of her bedroom and back into Jason’s. She used the low-hanging sheets as a makeshift ladder to climb up onto his bed. Standing by his side, she spotted Jason’s right arm and figured that that would be the best spot for her to get his attention. She lay down and scooted forward, pushing his arm up with her muzzle as she felt an innate need to be held grow within her heart. She pushed the rest of her body up against his side and nuzzled his cheek incessantly as more tears streamed from her eyes, praying for a miracle. She felt Jason wrap his arm around her, holding her tight against his side as he rolled over onto his back, pulling her onto his chest. With her vision blurry with tears, she wrapped her forelegs around his neck and wrapped her wings around him, right under his armpits. He held her close as she nuzzled his neck.

“Hey... don’t cry, sweetie...” Jason murmured, his throat feeling a bit tight. Nightshine’s cries only got louder. “What’s got you so upset?”

Nightshine only held on to him tighter as she felt his grip loosen on her. “I... I know what you’re going to choose! W-Why would you want to change into a different s-species just to keep me? I’ve only been here for a few days, s-so I know you wouldn't want to turn into a pony just so we could stay to-together...” More tears slid down her face as she gazed at the sheets, unable to look Jason in the eyes.

“C’mere, you...” Jason wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back in, then rolled onto his side. He curled up into the fetal position, holding Nightshine in his arms. “You don’t need to worry about a thing, okay? I’d be some kind of a horrible person if I adopted you, then gave up when things got tough. I’m not a horrible person, am I?”

“No!” Nightshine said forcefully. “Of course not; why would you say that?” She wrapped her forelegs around his lower arm and held onto it tightly. “So...”

“Yeah?”

“Did you make up your mind?” Nightshine asked softly. “I know it’s only been a couple of minutes since Twilight left, but...”

“Nightshine, when I adopted you, I made a commitment to better your life, and I am not going to give up on you because of an unexpected twist. While this wasn’t something that I expected, I guess I’m sorta looking forward to seeing what it’d be like being a pony. It can’t be that hard walking on four legs, right?”

“Nope! It’s super easy!” Nightshine said with a small giggle. She wiped her tears away with a hoof.

“Glad to hear it; I think it’d be fun to see how it’d work out for me,” Jason said softly. He took in a deep breath, but before he could let it out, Nightshine leapt from his arms.

“You mean it?” Nightshine stared at Jason with wide eyes, her tail wiggling back and forth as she let her forelegs bend. She opened her wings and threw on a huge smile that made her fang become exposed.

“Yeah, I—oomph!” Nightshine tackled him, wrapping her legs around him as they rolled over in the sheets. “Heh, so I guess you’re pretty happy about this, huh?”

Standing before Twilight in her castle’s library, Jason looked down at Nightshine and saw her beaming up at him. He tousled her mane, making her hum happily in content as she nuzzled his leg. Looking up at Twilight, he asked, “So, uh... this isn’t going to hurt, is it?”

“I don’t think so; my books never said anything about this being painful,” Twilight said as she reread the spell one more time. Lighting her horn, she threw up a soundproof seal around the room, locking them in for the moment. When she noticed Jason’s and Nightshine’s perplexed expressions, she sat down and grinned. “Believe it or not, but after I left your house, I came up with something that’ll allow you to retain your human form, though not in the way that you might think. Before you ask any questions, though, I feel as if I must make it clear that your natural state will be a pony, but whenever necessary, you can temporarily become a human again for a short while.” She lit her horn again and lifted up a hoof-sized ring that held a thick, clear crystal, letting it hover in front of her. “If you put this on, you will revert to your human form, if you so wish, though once you become like one of us, you might actually come to like living as a pony.”

“Huh...” Jason scratched his chin as he stepped up to the ring. “So what happens to it if I put it on? Wouldn’t it be too big for my finger?”

“Actually, it’d stay on your arm, near your shoulder to be exact. Your clothes would cover it up, and when you want to go back to being a pony, just undo the latch, let it fall off, then you’ll revert to what will soon be your natural state.”

“Okay, I get that, but... would there be any side effects?” Jason asked. “And would I still be wearing clothes if I put the ring on as a pony?

“I don’t think so, but if you notice any, I would like it if you told me about them so that I could make note of them for future research. Would that be okay?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“As for your clothes... you’d essentially be naked like the rest of us, so... you ready for this?”

“If there’s no way to get out of this, then yeah, I am,” Jason said, looking down at Nightshine with a small smile. No clothes? Ugh... that’s gonna take some getting used to!

“Nightshine, you need to step away for this to work,” Twilight said, waving her over with a hoof. “We wouldn’t want you to get caught up in the spell, right?”

“I guess not.” Nightshine nuzzled Jason’s leg, then whispered, “Good luck, Daddy.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” Jason stretched his arms, then wiggled his fingers. “Heh, gonna miss these,” he said with a chuckle.

“Okay, here we go!” Twilight lit her horn and lowered her head, pointing her horn directly at Jason’s chest.

A bright purple light surrounded Jason as he rose into the air. His entire body went numb, then all went black. The last thing he saw before he passed out was Nightshine’s worried face as he fell to the floor in a heap.