Nightshade

A fortnight had passed since Nightshade’s ordeal in Canterlot, but she was still haunted by nightmares of her assault. She awoke in a cold sweat. A sharp pain in her head, which she was beginning to grow accustomed to, hit her like a brick wall as she forced herself to get out of bed.

Nightshade trudged to the front door and took a step outside into the crisp morning air to retrieve a small parcel from her porch. After the attack the guards had insisted that they would deliver her needed supplies directly to her doorstep and collect their potions personally to avoid future incidents. She never truly realized how much she enjoyed her routine excursions into the Everfree and the long, peaceful train rides to and from Canterlot until they were gone.

She immediately began mixing her potions for the day, and before she knew it the task was completed. When she finished, the sun was reaching its apex in the sky, which was currently devoid of any clouds. It would have been a perfect day to take a leisurely stroll through the forest, she thought. As she contemplated her plans for the rest of the day she packed her completed potions into a box and set them aside.

Nightshade hadn’t done much of anything since that night in Canterlot. Walks through the Everfree were something she still enjoyed, but since she had no particular reason to do it anymore she rarely did.

There was a metallic rattling at the door as a blonde-maned mailpony slid the daily newspaper through the mailslot in Nightshade’s door. Nightshade levitated the newspaper to her table and sat down to peruse it for a few minutes. The front page story was an interview with Ponyville’s famous fashionista, Rarity, discussing her new line of dresses.

Everypony else’s life just seems so normal. There’s rarely a crime committed in this town or in Canterlot... and apparently when there is it’s not even reported. Though, they never have cared what happened to me before, so why would they start now? They all fear me... avoid me... but that stallion that attacked me didn’t fear me, nor did the guard who rescued me. Maybe there are others like them that aren’t afraid of me?

Nightshade set down the paper. She came to the resolution that there was something she had to do; something to see if she could really be accepted by these ponies.

I’m going to make a friend.

She picked up her saddlebag and a few bits and ventured out into the streets of Ponyville.

The hustle and bustle of Ponyville during the day helped her to blend in and avoid being too conspicuous. She walked down the streets slowly, admiring the many different goods that were in the store windows as she went: the beautiful gowns of Carousel Boutique, the ripe, delicious apples being sold from a street vendor, and the wonderful assortment of sweets, cakes, pastries, and pies on display in the local bakery.

The tantalizing scents flowing out of the bakery and pervading her nostrils were too much for her to resist. She stepped inside and started browsing through the collection of tempting treats. After deciding upon a delicious looking apple tart, she asked the pony at the counter for one.

“That’ll be three bits please!” The mare’s voice was as sickeningly sweet as the desserts that she was purveying.

Nightshade levitated three bits from her saddlebag and set them on the counter in front of the pony.

“Thank you,” Nightshade offered with a smile before starting to head back outside.

“You’re welcome!” The mare offered back a smile so large it puzzled Nightshade as to how it even fit on her face.

Nightshade walked to a park bench and sat down to enjoy her lunch.

Well, so far so good I guess. Nopony’s running in fear yet, so that’s a plus. Maybe I can make a friend out here... or maybe they just haven’t noticed me yet. Perhaps it’s-

“Nightshade?”

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone calling to her. She looked up to see a familiar pegasus mare.

“Nightshade is that you?”

“Misty!” Nightshade shot up from her seat with a childlike excitement and galloped over to hug the friend she hadn’t seen since high school. Mist Racer was one of the few ponies that had ever bothered to make friends with her despite the rumors.

“It’s been so long Nightshade! How’ve you been?” Misty asked while returning Nightshade’s hug.

“It’s... been okay I guess.” Nightshade looked at the ground.

Misty’s eyes were drawn to the bandage wrapped about Nightshade’s head.

“Are you sure you’re okay? What happened to your head?” she asked.

“I really don’t want to talk about it right now,” Nightshade deadpanned, while trying to push the memories from the attack out of her mind.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” Misty apologized, rubbing one of her hooves on her opposite foreleg nervously.

“No, no it’s fine. How’ve you been doing?” Nightshade didn’t want to make her friend feel uncomfortable. Misty perked up a little bit at her response.

“Well it’s been going pretty great for me. I just got accepted onto the weather team with Rainbow Dash. Can you believe it? Little old me, working alongside one of the Elements of Harmony! It’s so awesome!”

“Sounds like you’ve been pretty well off then.” Nightshade gave her a warm smile. “I’m glad to see you’re following your dream.”

“Yep! Hey, you wanna come finish up your lunch with me and a friend of mine? We were sitting right over there when I saw you. He went to grab our drinks while I came to see if it was really you.”

Nightshade decided to comply with her request.

“Sure, that sounds great.” She picked up her tart and waded alongside Misty through the sea of ponies walking through town.

They arrived at a small table, which had an umbrella over the top, and sat down. Misty passed her a menu.

“Pick out a drink you like, and it’s on me.”

"Thank you." Nightshade began scanning the menu.

“Oh! Here comes my friend now.”

After choosing a drink Nightshade looked up from the menu to see Misty’s friend. Her mouth hung agape when she saw who it was.

“Well hey there, stranger. Fancy meeting you here.” Lucky Star extended a hoof towards Nightshade, who was still speechless.

Finally she broke free of her shock and returned his hoofshake. She continued staring at him with a confused expression, however.

“Do you two know each other?” Misty seemed perplexed at their strange actions upon meeting.

“Misty, this guard helped me when I... got this wound in Canterlot,” Nightshade explained to her.

“What?! Lucky how come you didn’t tell me?” She bonked him on the back of his head with her hoof. “Nightshade was one of my best friends in school!”

Lucky shrugged. “I didn’t know you knew her so I didn’t think it was important.”

Oh, so that’s what he thinks of me: unimportant.

“Well I did know her and it was important!” Misty responded angrily.

Nightshade decided to she needed to say something to change the subject before Misty became livid with him. Misty had always had a short fuse when they were in school. She remembered having to get Misty out of fights with the other classmates on a semi-regular basis.

“So, Lucky, why aren’t you on guard duty?” She decided that would get them focused on something besides fighting.

He seemed to think deeply for a moment before responding.

“Well, uh... for one we night guards take the daytime off. I’ve also been given a short vacation, and I’ll be staying here in Ponyville for a while. It’s a nice change of scenery from the castle and mansions in Canterlot.”

The trio continued conversing for a long while. Nightshade and Misty caught up with each other, while Lucky mostly observed, only occasionally throwing in a witty joke or otherwise partaking in the conversation. Nightshade eventually noticed that it was nearing sundown, so she said goodbye to her friend and started trotting back to her home.

I don’t think I’ve had a day like that since I was a filly! That was actually fun. I hope I can start hanging out with Misty more often.

Nightshade felt happy for the first time in a long while.

On her short journey back to her abode Nightshade noticed a strange presence. A presence that she felt had been stalking her since the night she was attacked. She watched the shadow jumping from place to place in the corners of her eyes. Sometimes it followed her, and sometimes it jumped ahead of her, but it always followed wherever she went.

Tonight she was prepared. She reached into her saddlebag and produced from it a small glass ball filled with a mixture of herbs similar to what she used to paralyze her attacker in Canterlot. Levitating it with her magic, she slowed her pace and watched for any movement from the shadow.

Bingo.

The moment she saw it move she turned and sent the glass ball rocketing towards the shadow like a magic missile. It went into a bush and she heard it shatter. There was a rustling in the bushes for a brief moment, but then the noise faded. She waited motionless for a short period of time to watch and listen for any movement, but there was none.

Must have hit it then.

She readied her small dagger that she kept stowed in her saddlebag and cautiously approached the bush. She didn’t know what she was going to find behind it, but she knew it could very well be dangerous. When she stepped close enough to see the shadow she gasped and dropped the dagger onto the ground.

“Oh my Celestia!”

Lying there on the ground before her was none other than Lucky Star. The ball had hit him dead in the face and he was completely motionless. Small shards of the glass had stuck into his flesh, and blood was starting to ooze out of some of the wounds. “I am so sorry! Oh, I hope you can hear me.” She couldn’t leave him there in the open, so she decided she would have to drag him the few hundred feet to her home. Remembering a small rolling table she had for working with her herbs, she galloped to her house to retrieve it and swiftly returned to get Lucky onto it.

After struggling for a few moments she managed enough strength to hoist him onto the table and roll him back to her shack. Retrieving some tools and healing herbs from her cabinets, she began removing the shards of glass from his flesh and stitching up the larger wounds that had been inflicted. He hadn’t lost much blood as the pieces of glass had acted as temporary plugs to keep the blood from escaping his wounds. After cleaning him up, she applied some of the healing herbs and then lay him onto her bed. She made a small pallet of blankets and cloth for herself to sleep on. All of the reasons that Lucky could have been stalking her kept running through her head. She wasn’t sure if she should be scared, confused, or both.

Why in the hay is he following me? Does he have bad intentions as well? This doesn’t make sense... Why would somepony save my life and then begin stalking me for no reason?... That potion won’t wear off for a good twelve hours with how strong I brewed it; I should probably get some sleep while I can.”

Nightshade put down her head and tried to clear her mind, but there was too much to think about. She wondered if it was Lucky's intention to bring harm to her in some way, and she wondered how Misty and he had become friends in the first place. Then she began wondering if maybe Misty was in on it as well.

Lucky has some major explaining to do when that poison wears off, and he’d damn well better have a good excuse for this nonsense.

The few hours of sleep that Nightshade managed that night were full of worry and unrest.