Tomorrow is Always a New Day

by Wheller

Chapter 1

Chronology notes:
Stop! You are reading the Fourth story in the series started by The Kindness of Strangers!

Please read The Kindness of Strangers first!
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/389/

The second part of the story is Putting the Pieces Back Together found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/407/

This story is the direct sequel to Midnight in the Heart of Equestria found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/419/

Tomorrow is Always a New Day
Chapter 1

Twilight Sparkle yawned loudly as she opened her eyes, the sun was shining in and she looked out her window to find that it was morning. She smiled; she had a lot to smile about these days. Things were finally on the up and up for her. The usual crises that plagued Ponyville had subsided for some time, and things began to look as if she would finally be able to live the quiet life one would expect from living in a small town. Ponyville had been a magnet for trouble since she’d first arrived here nearly two years ago.

Tomorrow was officially the first day of winter; however Cloudsdale wouldn’t start pumping out snow until the first of December. Twilight for one was ready for the fun that winter weather brought with it, and after everything she and her friends had been through the last few months... they needed it.

Almost all of them were living back at home now, with the exception of Rainbow Dash, still in Canterlot working to regain full control of her wings, Twilight was a little sad that she wouldn’t be seeing as much of her Pegasus friend this winter as she had the last, but then her and the others could always find some excuse to pop up to Canterlot and check in.

“Twilight Sparkle! I’ve made breakfast!”

Twilight smiled and got up from bed, trotting down stairs to find that Pinkie Pie had set the table for breakfast. Pinkie Pie had been living with Twilight for the last couple of days since returning from Canterlot. When Sugarcube Corner blew up in late October, it left Pinkie homeless. Mister and Misuses Cake had moved out of town, opting to stay with friends until the winter passed before starting the reconstruction of the town bakery. Everypony had been a little disappointed in that, but Sugarcube Corner had picked a bad time to blow up.

Was there ever a good time? Twilight asked herself as she sat down; she quickly decided that there wasn’t.

“What did you make?” Twilight asked.

“Eggs! Plus some of these grasses I found in your refrigerator,” Pinkie said. “I’ve never seen any of them before. Where did you get them?”

Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie’s labours; she recognised the grasses from her walkabout in the Mohoofie desert, the last of the bit gathered by Roy Melbourne, the kindly kangaroo who’d saved her from dying of thirst.

“Out west,” Twilight said giving a simple answer.

“It’s too bad there isn’t any more. They’re super yummy!” Pinkie said with a mouthful of grass. “We should go out there sometime and get some more!”

“I’m not going out to the Mohoofie desert again, at least not without five days worth of food, and a decalitre of water!” Twilight chuckled and ate her breakfast in peace.

...

Pinkie Pie departed from the Library soon after breakfast, skipping along to run errands. Twilight had to admit, she had no idea what Pinkie Pie did with her day now that her job and livelihood had been destroyed, but as Twilight thought about it, she figured that she didn’t know what Pinkie had done with herself even before the destruction of Sugarcube Corner.

Twilight had been keeping an eye on her friend; she’d arguably been affected the most out of all of them by what had happened that day in late October. It was a miracle that she even alive. Let alone the fact that there seemed to be no side effects from the high amperage electric current that she’d subjected herself to in order to save everyponies lives from Overdrive. The Alicorn that had made himself the highest authority in Ponyville before Pinkie used the superconductor coils she’d constructed in Sugarcube Corner’s basement, under the direction of the fragmented consciousness of Monty Ulhan, the earth pony colt who’d sacrificed himself not once, but twice to save Ponyville from certain destruction.

Twilight felt a pang of guilt in her heart, thinking of Monty always brought up bad feelings about his very preventable death.

She shrugged it off, it was in the past, she’d moved on, but she’d be a terrible pony if she’d just forgotten it completely.

There was a knock at the door. Good, Twilight needed a distraction; she went over and opened the top half of the Libraries door. She smirked when she discovered who had knocked. “It’s a public library Nightshadow.”

Standing in the doorway was the town’s Apothecary. Nightshadow, the all black unicorn with glowing amber eyes that Twilight found to be the most gentile she’d ever seen.

“I just didn’t want to barge in and interrupt anything,” Nightshadow said, giving her a mild shrug.

Twilight liked this about him; he was a lot like her in some respects. He was shy, clearly introverted, and a bookworm dedicated to the study of the world around him. They were a lot alike, with many of their interests overlapping. Lately, they’d been studying illusionary magic together.

Twilight wasn’t exactly the foremost expert on illusionary magic in Ponyville, no that title belonged to Trixie. Twilight had knowledge of many kinds of magic, Arcane, Elemental, Illusionary, and so on. But she wasn’t an expert at any of them. Most ponies specialised in one school of magic, like Trixie had with Illusionary Magic. Twilight was not specialised in any of them, instead knowing a broad variety of basic and intermediate level magic from each of the three major schools. Twilight wasn’t sure why Nightshadow had come to her about Illusionary magic, but she was willing to help all the same.

Nightshadow yawned; he quickly stuffed his hoof in his mouth trying to stifle it, but to no avail.

“My apologies, I had a rather late night last night. Up well past midnight,” Nightshadow offered up an explanation.

“Working on some special project?” Twilight asked.

The black unicorn cocked his head slightly, giving a nod in affirmation. “Yes, I suppose you could say that... Anyway, I can’t stay and chat. I received an urgent letter from my brother in Canterlot this morning, so I’m leaving town for a while...” Nightshadow’s voice trailed off a bit. “I guess I just didn’t want to leave without... you know, saying goodbye to you.”

Even under his thick black coat, Twilight Sparkle could tell he was blushing. She was too, but she hadn’t the faintest idea why. Her heart was beginning to flutter as it usually did when he talked to her.

Both of them were embarrassed by the situation, so Twilight did her best to get their conversation back to being less awkward. “When will you be coming back?”

“Don’t know. My brother is a doctor in Canterlot, and needs help with a patient. Apparently, they’ve exhausted all other forms of treatment with this one, and now they’re trying alternatives... Well, that’s what I do! Alternatives...” Nightshadow smiled at her. Twilight smiled back, the two waved their goodbyes, and Nightshadow trotted off around the corner.

Pinkie Pie poked her head through the still open front door, smiling at Twilight brightly. “You like him!”

“I... I do not!” Twilight blushed.

Pinkie Pie frowned, not believing her for a second.

“Okay... maybe a little.” Twilight said giving in slightly.

Pinkie kept staring.

“Okay! Okay! Yes! I do! I do!” Twilight said admitting it fully.

Pinkie smiled at her. “See? Now was that so hard? Have you two been out on a date yet?”

Twilight was caught off guard by her friend’s question. “What! Pinkie Pie, I don’t even think he likes me like that!”

Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow and shook her head slightly. “Right, Suuureee he doesn’t,” she said sarcastically. “You need to ask him out! Obviously he’s too much like you to have the guts to do it himself, so you gotta!”

“He’s going out of town for a while to help his brother with something. I couldn’t if I wanted to.” Twilight explained.

“Who’s his brother?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“He didn’t say actually... I didn’t ask either.” Twilight said.

“Boo!” Pinkie Pie said, sticking her tongue out. “Well I gotta get back to errands! Bye Bye Twi!”

Pinkie skipped off down the street again, doing whatever Pinkie Pie does.

Twilight merely sighed. “Pinkie Pie, you are so random!”

Comments

Twi's not actually knowing what Pinkie Pie does when she's not around is well within character. She means well but she's a bookish, sheltered sort and, unless I'm wide off the mark again, this is going to cost her a lot again. Ah, well; at least the secondary characters are there to put the pieces back together after the next catastrophe.

[Csquared08]

Noooo! Twilight, not Nightshadow!