Nightshade

Nightshade’s deep slumber was interrupted when the bright beams of sunlight seeping in through one of the windows assaulted her eyes. She quickly amended the situation by turning over and shoving her face into her pillow.

“Ugh... just five more minutes,” she grumbled to herself.

She wished she could just lie there, but she knew she couldn’t when a familiar voice called to her.

“Time to get up honey; breakfast is ready!” her mother’s voice chimed.

Nightshade begrudgingly rolled herself out of bed and her hooves hit the floor with a thud. After freshening up and getting her things together for school, she made her way to the table, where she found her parents already eating.

“Gee, thanks for waiting for me,” she commented jokingly.

Her mother gave her a stern look for a moment, but then smiled playfully and chuckled.

“Well we just weren’t sure if you were EVER going to get up, is all.”

Nightshade joined them and he three ate their meals, Nightshade and her mother bantering a bit while her father remained mostly engulfed in the newspaper, as per the usual. When they finished they cleared the table and Nightshade prepared to leave for school, while her father prepared to go to work.

Nightshade started to leave but was stopped short by her mother once more.

“Flower, I want you to stop by the bakery af...”

The rest of the sentence faded as the name hit Nightshade like a ton of bricks.

Flower.

She remembered.

As she did, a deafening boom seemed to come from nowhere as time around her stopped and everything turned to gray. The walls of her childhood home, along with her parents themselves, began to crumble, leaving only the small room that was now her home.

“NO!” She ran to her mother and tried to throw her forelegs around her, but as she did the shade of her mother turned to ash. She began sobbing.

If this is a nightmare, then why haven’t I woken up yet?

Nightshade wiped her eyes and looked up to see something covered in a cloth on the ground in front of her. Curiosity got the best of her, so she uncovered it to see what lie beneath. She quickly averted her eyes and fell back onto her hindquarters at what she saw.

Was that....

Slowly looking back at the object, she saw herself in the reflection of a mirror, but she was different.

Her eyes looked empty and soulless, black as night. Her coat and mane were a more sickly pale than their normal silver tone, and her teeth were pointed and sharp.

As she sat staring, she heard an unfamiliar voice come from behind her.

“You know who the true culprit is, child.”

The mirror and the rest of the scenery rippled and then disappeared, and she was left in a black void. She remembered now why she had begun calling herself Nightshade. She remembered the things she had done.

I am...

Nightshade awoke once more. She pinched herself with a bit of magic just to be sure it wasn’t still a dream. She levitated a small mirror nearby and looked at herself disgustedly for a few moments before also levitating a nearby comb. She began brushing her mane as she pondered her dream.

How have I let myself be so ignorant…. I had this all figured out a long time ago, but I lost sight of the truth somehow. It isn’t Lucky, or the stallion that robbed me, or anypony else that’s to blame for how my life turned out, it’s just me. Everything that’s happened to me is my own doing.

The answer’s been right here on me this whole time... I know what really caused all this to happen.

Which means I know what I have to do.

Nightshade placed the comb and mirror on a nightstand and got up from her bed. She looked around the shack for a moment, remembering the days when it was just a single room in her parent’s home instead of the decrepit shack it had now become. She sighed sorrowfully and trotted over to the window.

Still dark out, I guess I could just…. No, I should wait until sunrise. I wouldn’t want to exclude Misty. I’ve caused her just as much grief as I have Lucky, I’m sure.

To pass the time until the sun rose, she grabbed a few of her spare herbs and began concocting some basic potions: things she could do without much thought. The process had become somewhat of a coping mechanism for her over the years. When she began to be overwhelmed, she could always make some potions to get her mind off the whatever situation was bothering her at the time.

Something she had always wondered over the years, however, was if making potions really was her special talent. She seemed to have a knack for it, but there were plenty of other ponies that were skilled at things that weren’t necessarily their special talent. Everypony else she knew had discovered their cutie mark under much happier circumstances than she, and their special talents had become clear to them at that very moment.

Nothing had ever been clear for her. Her life had been nothing but a living hell from the day her cutie mark appeared. She never had any clarity or closure, only confusion.

After using up the herbs that she had stored up, she still had some spare time to kill, so she just tidied up around her shack. As she wiped the dust off one of the bookshelves something caught her eye.

She lifted the old diary that she had kept when she was a filly and blew the dust from the cover. It had been years since she had even used it, since before her parents had passed. The pages were mostly worn and unreadable from years of weathering, and she could only make out a few words here and there, but the memories were there. Giving a hint of a smile, she sat the book down on the table, opened it to an empty page, and began writing.

Nightshade opened her eyes and felt a pain on the side of her face. She lifted her head, scoffing when she realized it was from the quill that had now left an imprint on her cheek. She looked out the window and, judging by the sun, presumed she had dozed off for quite a few hours. It was around noon.

She got up and began clearing her things from the table, putting some of them away in her saddlebag. When she was about to pick up the diary she remembered that she had actually gotten some writing down before falling asleep. Hesitating for a moment at first, she ripped the page from the book, crumpled it up, and proceeded to toss it aside.

She walked outside into the sun and started walking towards Ponyville, ignoring the new shipment of herbs at the doorstep.

As she arrived in Ponyville she began asking around for Misty. After asking half a dozen ponies or so to no avail, somepony finally spoke up.

“I could help... if, uh, that’s okay.”

Recognizing the voice, she turned and replied.

“You know where she is, Lucky?” she asked him.

“She’s at home, out sick from weather duty with the feather flu,” he replied, looking at the ground and playing in the dust with his hoof.

She immediately turned to head in the direction of Misty’s home, but promptly turned back and motioned for Lucky to trot with her.

“You don’t have to hide you know,” she encouraged.

His ears perked up slightly, and he increased his gait to match Nightshade’s own.

“Nightshade, I’m-”

“Just wait ‘til we’re there Lucky; just enjoy the walk for now... please.”

Lucky nodded in understanding, and they continued on their way.

When they arrived, Nightshade knocked on the door without even thinking, but cringed when she realized that Misty would probably be asleep due to her sickness.

“D-don’t come in! I’m contagious!” Misty yelled through the door.

Nightshade turned and looked at Lucky quizzically.

“I don’t think she’s ever had feather flu before,” Lucky said matter-of-factly.

They both started laughing, and Nightshade proceeded to open the door and walk inside.

“Guys, don’t! I’m serious!” Misty exclaimed from the sofa she lay upon.

“Misty, do we look like pegasi to you?” Nightshade asked, still giggling.

Misty seemed to think about it for a few seconds before responding.

“O-oh... right. Well, what is it anyways? You startled me.”

Nightshade simply sat down on the floor and grew silent, her smile from a few moments ago fading as she returned to her normal solemn state when she remembered why she had come.

“Guys,” she began, “I’m... I’m so sorry.”

“But what did you-” Misty stopped short when Nightshade motioned a hoof to silence her.

“You’ve both done more to help me than I’ve ever deserved from you, and all I’ve done in return is accuse and berate you for everything you do.

Lucky, you’ve done nothing to harm me; in fact, you’ve saved me from harm, and I accused you of being the one to cause all my problems.”

Nightshade paused, looking at Lucky expectantly, but he simply nodded and remained in silence.

“And Misty, you’ve been one of the few friends I’ve ever had. You’ve been there for me since we were fillies, and I’ve been cold, demeaning, and just plain rude to you. You’re the only pony I’ve ever considered family.”

“Ohhhh, Nighty,” Misty cooed as tears began forming in her eyes.

“Neither of you are at fault for anything that has happened to me, and I just wanted you to hear that I acknowledge that now.”

“We knew you were hurting,” Misty said, getting up from her sofa and sitting down beside Nightshade. “We just wanted to make you feel like you had somepony to confide in, but all we did was drive you away, we should have just left you alone.”

Nightshade shook her head. “No Misty, you did everything you should have, I’m just... just a big jerk, I-”

She was cut short by Lucky firmly placing a hoof on her shoulder and shushing her.

She was slightly aghast at this action, and was about to question him, but he shushed her again.

While looking at him, she noticed a small blue gem in the side of his helm glowing and vibrating. After a few moments it stopped.

“I’m sorry about the timing, but there’s been a perimeter breach at the castle, and due to the feather flu outbreak they’ve had night guard on call for daytime so I’ve gotta rush,” he said.

Lucky immediately bolted out the door and was in the air before it had even shut behind him; it slammed close with a thud.

“What in the world was that about?” Nightshade asked, shocked at Lucky having broken the mood of the situation so suddenly.

“New form of communication. The different vibration patterns mean different types of emergencies. All the crystals are linked to a central stone in the castle, so the keeper can input the vibration into it and all the guards are alerted to the situation no matter where they are... pretty neat, huh?” Misty explained.

“Yeah, I guess,” Nightshade responded half-heartedly, still upset by the whole thing.

Shortly afterwards, Nightshade got up to leave.

“You don’t have to leave so soon ‘Shade; we’ve already established you can’t catch my flu after all,” Misty pleaded.

“I’m just going to go for a walk; I need to get some fresh air and think for a while. I’ll come back afterwards and maybe Lucky will be back by then,” she assured Misty.

“Alright then...” Misty pouted, returning to her sofa to lie back down.

Nightshade smiled and chuckled at her before heading outside.