The Darkest Time is Just Before Dawn

by bookhorse125

Where Good People Reside...

Needless to say, I was not surprised when Luster cleared the whole box of strawberries by the end of the day. And it was a large one. Now I was scared for financial reasons. I couldn't always count on Gill to pay for Luster's extreme eating habits, and there was no way I was asking my brother for some cash.

My parents were just barely getting by, with just the tiniest bit of money left from each year that they saved up for leisure purposes that were so expensive that they only got to do this every five years. I couldn't deprive them of their one opportunity to chill on a private island at a five-star hotel just because I had a strawberry-obsessed pony in my house, which they would never believe.

Of course, there was always my girlfriend... but I couldn't let her know about my obsession. So I was in a stalemate.

For now, though, it was time for my daily cruise-through-news-channels-and-find-something-interesting-to-entertain-me marathon. Sometimes I would skip this and watch My Little Pony instead, but now that Luster was here, I couldn't risk her finding out and running away.

Luster insisted that we stay on Fox News, and I let her, staring out the window while she continued to yell about "idiotic politicians" and "stupid newscasters" and things like that. It was all pretty entertaining. I ended up getting up and going to my room to set up my laptop in the living room to record her (I had sold my cell phone last month). Maybe I could post it on Youtube and earn a little something. Goodness knows I definitely needed it, and no one would be likely to notice; they would just think it was another one of those Ponies in Real Life videos that were so popular.

Because I didn't want Luster to become too fixated on eating only strawberries for every meal, for dinner that night, I ordered pizza. I always got the newspapers and magazines that had coupons for restaurants and take-out places, and now was the time to use one that I had been holding on to for a while: a buy one, get one free large pizza with two toppings from Dominoes. I had never used it because I never thought I could eat two large pizzas in a few days unless I ate them for every meal, but I had a feeling Luster could.

I placed the order online and immediately set out to the store afterward to pick it up. The approximate time it took for me to walk to the Dominoes closest to me was about a half-hour away which was the same amount of time it took for the pizzas to get ready. Of course, it was still raining, so I was forced to take a plastic bag to cover the pizza boxes so that the pies inside wouldn't get soaked.

Luster was still glued to the TV screen. I guess that there wasn't a very good equivalent to television in Equestria, but still, she lived in a world of magic! Certainly, technology paled in comparison to that! I had to remind myself that she didn't remember Equestria at all, and this probably seemed like magic to her.

She lifted her nose into the air when I walked in, feasting on the haunting smell of fresh pepperoni and cheese pizza, straight from the oven. "What... is... that... amazing... smell?" She slid off the couch and slowly trotted up to me, her mouth watering and her eyes wide. I smiled at her reaction.

"Pizza. Welcome to the amazing world of fast food." I set one of the boxes on the table and set the other in the fridge, to save for later. Luster used her magic to open the box, releasing a tidal wave of pizza smells. She sighed contentedly before greedily grabbing a slice and swallowing it whole, pepperoni and all.

Not to be outdone, I also hurriedly grabbed a piece and shoved it in my mouth. This went on for some time until Luster downed two pieces at the same time. I gaped at her; her mouth was practically unhinged like a snake's. I wondered how in the world ponies were able to get their mouths open so wide. Then I remembered Pinkie Pie. And I stopped wondering.

Obviously, Luster finished the pie and ate more pieces than me. I relented and brought an ancient tub of moose tracks ice cream out of my freezer that I hadn't touched in a week. Thankfully, the frozen treat was still edible and still tasted amazing. Both of us just grabbed spoons and ate straight out of the carton.

She struck up a conversation about what she'd seen on TV while I was gone.

"So, there were some clips of riots going on about how 'Black Lives Matter, although I'm not exactly sure how a life could be black..."

I explained that there were some people with dark skin tones, and they were being persecuted and abused, so people were going on strike to try and change this. Luster nodded understandingly.

"Got it. Anyway, why couldn't they just, like, go to the president and ask him to tell the people being mean to stop being mean? Seriously, a lot of problems that they have could be solved with a simple chat. And then there was a bunch of talk about an election, and honestly, none of the candidates sound very promising. I mean, they're basically just going to try and rule the world with an iron fist and make it no fun for anyone. Seriously, who would even vote for them? It makes no sense."

So I explained how a presidential candidate would promise to do things so that people would vote for them. Sometimes they would follow through with their promises, sometimes they wouldn't. Then I had to explain how the government worked, and how politics worked, and how there were a bunch of different countries out there ruled by their own kinds of government.

Luster sighed and stuffed another bite of ice cream into her mouth. Once again, I shoved down my questions about how this applied to the laws of physics and things. "This place is so depressing. Except for one thing. I saw this story about how this family lost their house to a flood, and a bunch of people came together and raised enough money for their house to be fixed and refurnished and to pay taxes for the next few years. I mean, isn't that cool? For every bad person there is, there's a good person, doing the right thing, to counter that. How many good people do you think live near here?"

I shook my head. "Good people are rare. You don't find a lot of them around here."

"Or... maybe the good people are everywhere, doing acts of kindness so small that other people don't notice them, but it makes a big difference to the people they help. Doing something good doesn't have to be as extreme as someone else buying five boxes of strawberries for you."

I stared. "H-how did you-?"

"Seriously?" Luster waved her hoof around the room, gesturing to the scarcity of furniture and the run-down state of the room. "I'm not dumb."

I gave up. There was no way I could hide anything from this pony.

"Like I was saying, small acts of kindness are more than enough. Good people are everywhere. I think people just aren't willing to look."

There was no way I could argue with that logic. I watched as she scraped the bottom of the ice cream container with her spoon to get the last bits and felt a strange appreciation for having this pony in my life.

Author's Note:

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you for reading!
Inspired by My Little Dashie.

Comments

[BestinDworld]

"Or... maybe the good people are everywhere, doing acts of kindness so small that other people don't notice them, but it makes a big difference to the people they help. Doing something good doesn't have to be as extreme as someone else buying five boxes of strawberries for you."

ain't that the truth

[BestinDworld]

10784480
i mean thats how i view humanity to quote jor el we're a good people we wish to be we just lack the light to be shown the way. but then we as a whole aren't good people but we aren't necessarily evil either one guy would be willing to follow you into battle one day but put a dagger in your back the next we are not chaotic or harmonious in nature we are both yet neither we i feel are a race of balance neither tipping the scales in one way or the other

[Pete100]

Luster was still glued to the TV screen. I guess that there wasn't a very good equivalent to television in Equestria, but still, she lived in a world of magic! Certainly, technology paled in comparison to that! I had to remind myself that she didn't remember Equestria at all, and this probably seemed like magic to her.

That’s debatable.

"Pizza. Welcome to the amazing world of fast food."

Does dominos even count as fast food?

She sighed contentedly before greedily grabbing a slice and swallowing it whole, pepperoni and all.

I guess she forgot she’s a herbivore.

[AvoidingFever17]

"Or... maybe the good people are everywhere, doing acts of kindness so small that other people don't notice them, but it makes a big difference to the people they help. Doing something good doesn't have to be as extreme as someone else buying five boxes of strawberries for you."

Luster just dropped FACTS