The sound and smell of frying pancakes woke Lightning up in the morning. Fluttershy served this breakfast with fresh fruit and maple syrup, and then went about her morning ablutions before heading out into town.

She drew a fresh tub of hot water after she was done so that Lightning could have a bath. It came as no surprise at all to Lightning that the bathroom was in frilly shades of pink and white, and full of even more plants and flowers. This entire house was just one garden.

Lightning shook off the water and dried off with a large towel. She had her pancakes and fruit out on the back patio, with birdsong and fresh, floral morning air. If this was how Fluttershy started every morning, it was no wonder she always seemed in such a good mood. She had a cynical thought that this might be her unique coping mechanism after her adventure in Everfree, but Lightning ignored that thought.

After packing a few things and placing some supplies into a garden cart, they set off into town.

Fluttershy made several stops to plant flowers, pull weeds, water the plants, and gather fruits and herbs. Lightning helped her, and learned some facts about the different plants and what they needed. Some of these were common flowers or root vegetables. Other plants had imbued magic and great use in alchemy, and had unique care instructions.

Lightning kept her balance much better today. Pulling the small, two-wheeled wooden cart behind her helped with that.

Ponyville was a cozy little hole-in-the-wall sort of place. Dirt roads and weathered but cared for wooden buildings. Ponies milling about here and there, but nothing that could be considered a crowd.

They passed a number of businesses all in a row. Lightning guessed this counted as downtown. A shop called 'The Cakes', its display window full of sweets, looked especially inviting. Lightning asked about it,

"What about the cakes?"

"What?" asked Fluttershy.

"The sign just says, 'The Cakes.' I mean, yes I see they have cakes in the window, but also pies, and bread, and--"

"Oh, their name is the Cakes. The couple that runs the bakery, that is."

"Huh. Maybe they should change that to something less confusing."

"Mr. and Mrs. Cakes Bakes?"

"Not bad. How about, Sugarcube Corner? It is right on the corner after all."

"Ooh I like that. I ought to suggest it to them sometime."

"So where are we headed to today?"

"First I need to stop at the tea shop. Then, I'm going to stop by and visit Cherry Jubilee, the schoolteacher here. She also gardens and we trade plants and supplies a lot. After that, I'd like you to meet my friends. We're all planning to meet up at the town library this afternoon."

This pegasus was certainly a social butterfly. Lightning had some close friends but never really got to know ponies on that kind of personal level. She looked over her shoulder at the place her left wing should have been, and realized she had all the time in the world to start.

The tea shop smelt of tea. A soft spoken male earth-pony was the clerk. Fluttershy requested a few varieties, pulled a coin pouch from her saddlebag, and paid a few bits for her teas.

Further east and in a more wooded part of the town, they found Jubilee's house right next to the school building. It had the same white painted barn wood siding as the school did, and a tidy garden. After whacking the door with her hoof, Fluttershy talked with the earth-pony teacher and they had a friendly hug.

Cherry Jubilee said hi to Lightning, and offered her condolences for the missing wing. She knew better than to pry about it, and instead traded with Fluttershy. A bag of mulch for a bag of wood chips. Several potted roses, magnificent ones, for some home-grown snap peas and salad greens.

As they left the house, Fluttershy commented, "It's too bad the world is too complicated for everyone to trade like that. Having your dreams locked away from you because of money isn't very nice. I never thought I'd have enough bits to grow such a nice garden, but guess what? Princess Celestia, bless her heart, she gave me a cabin in return for gardening all around in Ponyville."

Lightning had a case of the warm fuzzy feelings.

The sun was slightly past high noon as they walked to the north side of town where the library was. Lightning stopped and sat down in surprise--or rather, she tried to sit, forgetting she was hitched to a cart.

It was a treehouse! Not like the sort fillies built, but a house built within a massive tree! How was this even possible?

Fluttershy helped her uncouple from the cart and they went in, without so much as needing to knock. Within the tree, aside from all the books of course, were five other ponies who couldn't possibly have been more different from each other and less likely to forge a friendship.

Lightning was worried they would all run up and besiege her with thanks and questions about the whole battle she was involved in, and a couple of them were about to, but the purple-furred unicorn told them not to do that and to respect her space.

The first thing on Lightning's mind was, "You shouldn't be thanking me, you're the heroes here. For goodness sake, I'm highly trained and it was my job to handle danger. You guys are ordinary citizens. It's already brave to venture into Everfree, but taking on a living myth on top of that? I should be thanking you!"

A pink earth-pony with a frizzled, pink mane and tail boinged over to them, a big grin on her face, and said in a high-pitched voice, "Oh, I wasn't worried about it. I'm Pinkie Pie I work at the Cakes place it's nice to meet ya!"

Lightning watched this pink pony bounce up and down in place like a filly who had just discovered coffee for the first time. She was quite at a loss for words. Finally, she said, "W-well, you must be a very brave pony, and it's great that you were able to help bring Princess Luna back to us. Weren't you scared at all?"

"Oh no I'm never scared of things like that, silly."

"What? Why?"

"We're the main characters, and we have plot armor."

As Lightning raised an eyebrow, a white unicorn walked over and leaned right up against her to whisper in her ear, "Don't mind Pinkie dear, she has more than a few threads loose but not in a bad way. She's a good pony, and a great friend."

The unicorn introduced herself as Rarity, fashion expert, business owner, and said that she was happy to meet Lightning. She offered to tailor her a silk cloak to hide her missing wing, and the pink pony rearranged this sentence to say that she was not crazy, and cake is delicious.

An earth pony with golden yellow fur close to Lightning's shade introduced herself as Applejack. She had a straw hat on.

"Hi, up here!" came a voice, and Lightning looked up. A sky-blue pegasus with chromatic mane and tail was reshelving books while flying near the ceiling. She dropped down to greet Lightning.

"A real member of the Wonderbolts! I'm Rainbow Dash, and I'm trying to get in too--whoa." Dash had noticed the wing missing, and her eyes were wide in surprise. "Wow, I uh, wow, that's bad. Tell you what. Want to meet me at Applejack's place sometime for the good cider? I think you need it."

"Haven't you had enough of the good cider there, sugarcube?" asked the pony in question.

"Please, I can fly just fine. Wait, I didn't mean--I'm so sorry Lightning, I, uh,"

"It's fine, really," answered Lightning unconvincingly.

While Rainbow wanted to hear the story, she gave the wounded pegasus some space for now to be polite, and let her say hi to Twilight.

The purple unicorn set her book on a side table, and bookmarked it, using telekinesis. Lightning noticed the title was 'The Mathematics of Applied Spells Over Distance' and felt herself falling asleep just reading that.

Stepping out of her chair, the unicorn said, "I am Twilight Sparkle, and I'm a student of magical studies. I heard that you took part in defending Ponyville? Thank you for that."

"Please, don't thank me! I'm in the Wonderbolts--was, I was in the bolts. You seem like a very well-read pony, so I'm sure you already knows what that entails."

Twilight nodded, and said, "Yes, I'm aware you were just doing your job, but we still do want to say thanks. Here, may I see your left side please?"

Lightning, curious, turned so that the unicorn could take a look.

After inspecting the missing patch of fur and the scar on that side, she said quietly, "A perfect sheer at the pivot joint, from the base of the upper wing bone. That means, a tremendous amount of force applied over a very small area."

"Well, you aren't wrong about that, Twilight."

"You made a significant sacrifice as the result of defending this town and everypony living here. So, allow me to tell you, thank you, and I mean it. No, you weren't the only one out there keeping the monsters away, but if there's anything my friends and I can do to help repay you, just let us know, okay?"

"Alright Twilight, I will, and I guess I can accept that. Thanks."

Lightning found some books which interested her, and followed Fluttershy back to her cabin, the wooden garden cart in tow.

After helping some more with the gardening, Lightning said a warm thank you to Fluttershy for everything and walked to the Ponyville Cafe. She had an order of hay fries, and puzzled over just what to do with her life from here.

A pegasus messenger swooped down and handed her a rolled-up letter. Lightning placed it on the table and opened it, curious. It read:

'To: Lightning Ridge, Ponyville

From: Captain Ragged Edge, Wonderbolts Barracks, Cloudsdale

Please reply when you are rested and able. I would like to meet you for a discussion on your future plans. Respond with the time and location.

Best wishes, Ragged Edge.'

Lightning asked for parchment and a quill, which the messenger had available in a pouch at her side. Using her mouth to hold the quill and dip it in ink, Lightning wrote back,

'Please meet me at the home of Fluttershy, on the southwest side of Ponyville, at noon tomorrow. Thank you sir.'

Lightning watched the pegasus take off towards the clouds high above with sadness in her eyes, and considered where to sleep for the night. She didn't want to be a bother to Fluttershy. She remembered Twilight's offer, and made her way back to the strange library. Ponies were heading home for the evening, and they tried to keep the disfigured pegasus from seeing their looks of surprise, but it didn't go unnoticed by her. She let out a deep sigh, and pressed on towards the library to see if the unicorn was still there.

Lightning approached the tree, and knocked. To her surprise, a young, purple dragon answered the door. He knew how to talk, too, and let Lightning in when she asked if she could see Twilight. They found her in an easy chair, lost in a book.

Twilight said before Lightning could ask, "His name is Spike, I've raised him since he hatched from an egg. He assists me with my studies, household chores, and note-taking."

Lightning said, "You're certainly friendly for a dragon, Spike. Could I talk to Twilight in private for a bit?"

Spike returned to washing dishes in the kitchen, where Lightning could see a number of burned spots on the floors and cabinets. "Some sort of cooking mishap?" she asked.

"You could say that," answered Twilight sheepishly, "I've been trying to learn the pyro spell today, to start fires. It could be a very useful and versatile spell... once I learn how to aim it better, that is. What did you need to talk about, Lightning?"

"Well, now that I think about it. What kind of library has a kitchen?"

"This place is more of a guest house and a library. I'm just calling it home for the time being since Celestia sent me here to make friends--uh, I shouldn't have said that."

"You said you were a student of magic, so I take it you're under the wing of Princess Celestia herself?"

"Well, yeah, I guess," Twilight answered, blushing.

"Oh, hold on a moment!" said Lightning in realization, "If this is a guest house, is there space for me here tonight? I don't have anywhere to go, my home was in Cloudsdale and, you know..."

"Ample space," answered Twilight, cutting through that unhappy line of thought, "You're supposed to let them know at the town hall before staying here, but I'll take care of that in the morning."

"Alright then, that answers my first question. The usual guest house rules? Temporary boarding for travelers and ponies working here for the short term, and free of charge?"

"It's free as long as we take of care of the place. They only charge bits if we leave a mess."

Lightning gave an askew glance at the kitchen.

"I'll fix that! I know a repair spell. Feel free to bring in your things, pick a bedroom."

"All I have is my saddlebags and what's in them, the rest is in my old house," she said sadly.

"Hmm. My friend Pinkie--you met her earlier--said there's a hot-air balloon in this town. That could get you up there."

"How could I forget that pony? Great idea though, thanks."

"Did you have anything else you wanted to ask?"

"Well, yeah... let me get settled in first."

Lightning explored the place. It dawned on her that a smaller town like this might not have the bits to pay for both a library and a guest shelter out of their tax income, so they combined them.

The tree had four stories. The first floor seemed to be non-fiction, kitchen, a cozy, sunken reading nook, and a half-bathroom. The second floor was a balcony around the perimeter, accessed by a spiral stair. Bookshelves lined the wall, with occasional gaps for windows and cushy chairs. This was all the fiction.

A staircase curved up the wall to the third floor, and sure enough, the entire side of it was bookshelves of increasing height. On the third floor were yet more books--these seemed to be dusty tomes of local history, advanced magic, and academic records--and the main living space for the guest house.

Lightning found several bedrooms, a full bathroom, and a living room with a fireplace on this floor.

She picked out a bedroom which had a door into the bathroom, and set down her bags on the bed. She then looked at the books--by Celestia this was more books than she'd seen in one place in her life--on shelves at both sides of the fireplace. Poetry, mythology, philosophy, alchemy, charms and jinxes, and other things that could be categorized as arts, legends, and imprecise sciences.

The living room was furnished with a couch, loveseat, a couple lamps, and a dining table. Lightning noticed some parchment on the table with scribbled notes about something called the "elements of harmony."

The three books stacked on the table were 'Enchanted Artifacts of Mythology', 'Cursed Objects and how to Identify Them', and 'The Ancient Magicks: What We Know'.

One final, steep staircase led to the fourth floor. This came to a hall with two bedrooms off of it. The one on the left was storage space, with dusty crates and trunks. Lightning wondered if any "enchanted artifact of mythology" was hidden in there among the cobwebs and old wooden furniture. The right side was clearly Twilight's bedroom, with a cushioned basket for the baby dragon.

She zigged and zagged back to the first floor, and took a seat in a chair opposite Twilight. Her second question nagged at her, and she asked it,

"You seem pretty insightful, Twilight. Could I bounce my thoughts off of you?"

She placed her book on a side table, and said go ahead.

"I'm so lost right now Twilight. My entire life was flight. I lived in Cloudsdale, my job was Wonderbolts member and part time weather control, and now I look up at the clouds you know, and I keep thinking, I'm never going to get up there again by my own ability. I'm stuck living on the ground. And for someone like you it's normal, but for me, I don't know how to cope with this. I don't know where I'm going to live, or what I'm going to do, and, and, I'm scared. I'm honestly scared, and I feel so alone."

Twilight took a deep breath before responding. She full-well knew how it was to feel overwhelmed by things, whenever plans faltered and her perfectionism flared up. At length, she answered,

"Okay first, you're not alone. Don't think that. All of my friends and I are here for you, and trust me when I say that all of Ponyville is here for you. They would do the same for anyone who was injured during the defense of this town, and that pony who was severely injured happens to be you, Lightning. By all means, we appreciate the efforts of everyone who went out there and took on all those monsters at once--Celestia knows I couldn't do something like that--but you really need someone to lean on right now. I get that."

Lightning nodded. She asked for something to drink, she was parched. Twilight attempted to conjure lemonade into a glass on the table, but summoned lemons into existence instead.

"Spike!" she yelled, "Could you bring us a pitcher of water?"

The young, bipedal dragon brought over a pitcher and poured three glasses. He leaped out of the way when Twilight hoisted up the lemons by magic. She squashed the first one, spritzing lemon juice everywhere. She tried again, and magically sliced the second one in half.

Lightning took one of the halves in her mouth, and squeezed the juice into her glass of water. Twilight gave it a third try, managed to neatly separate the third lemon into wedges, squeeze the juice into a glass, and levitate the glass so she could have a drink. She smirked, a bit proud of herself, and then turned to Lightning,

"I've been thinking about it since I met you, and it is one tough pickle you're in. You know I'm a very bookish pony, I've never been good socially, so I'm sorry if this doesn't help. I think since you're new to life on the ground, it makes sense to go from that perspective."

"How do you mean?" asked Lightning.

"Well, for any young earth-pony or unicorn uncertain of what they want to do with their life, the best advice is to figure out what type of passions they have. Do you like to read, do you spend more time indoors or outdoors, would you rather play sports or watch a play, that sort of thing."

"Well, clearly my main thing was flying, but hobbies... I have always loved spending time in nature. In my free time, I would usually find a secluded place somewhere in the forest or the mountains where I could enjoy the peace and the scenery."

"Alright, so you enjoy the outdoors then. How about gardening? Have you ever thought about that?"

"Oh, Fluttershy has already been teaching me about gardening--and her house has a lovely one. I really liked it there, she's so relaxed and the way she planted things, it just flows so smoothly from outside to indoors. It's amazing."

"Did you enjoy helping her with the plants?"

"I loved it! It has helped me take my mind off of things."

"So you could become a gardener, or any number of vocations related to the great outdoors. A ranger, a farmer, you could sell herbs and teas."

"I'll have to think about that, actually. Thank you Twilight."

"Oh, it's no problem Lightning. Glad I could help a bit."

"Do you know what Fluttershy's schedule is like? Will she be busy tomorrow?"

"She usually stays in town, or on the outskirts tending to plants and animals. Don't think she's busy tomorrow."

"Good, I'll be sure to pay her a visit. I bet she would know some more directions I could go. I'm also going to be meeting the bolts captain there, he wanted to meet me."

"Make yourself at home, then. This is a pretty quiet town so we should have no problem staying at this guest house long as we like."

"I've never slept in a library before!"

"Well, there's a first time for everything! It's getting dark out, I'm going to hit the hay. Night, Lightning."

"Good night, Twilight. Hey, thanks again. I really needed some calm structure about now. My mind just hasn't been in the right place lately."

"I get that. Get some rest, it will do you good."

They both climbed up to their rooms for the night.