Horse of the Year

Light Chapter Two: A Second Attack and Vulnerable

Shadow Eyes looked around with her magical sight and as there was a chopping noise, they thought that covering her eyes would prevent her from seeing, seeing a machine that they were headed towards with what looked like blades on the top chopping through the air made her stop and start to back up.

“No, I am not getting anywhere close to that thing” she said and the secret service that were assigned to her had to try to push her on to the helicopter with little success when another one of these creatures stepped out of the helicopter this one obviously a female and she walked over to the mare who was trying to back away from the copter. “No, no, not going to happen.” as Shadow Eyes slowly pushed the two men back the woman made it up to her.

“Is something wrong, Shadow Eyes? You seem petrified of the helicopter” she asked and Shadow Eyes snorted again reminded that others couldn't see as well as she could.

“Can't you tell? Those rotary blades are about to fall off!” Shadow Eyes all but screamed and the woman frowned before looking at the Secret Service agents who ceased pushing the mare and moved to the copter and making a slitting motion at their necks and the sound of the motor died off as the chopping sound slowly stopped. As soon as the rotary blades slowed down enough one of them fell off and another flung off and landed hard about a foot away, bolts and metal shavings landing near the copter. As everything started to settle, John Fitzgerald Kennedy got out of the copter and was wide-eyed as the the pilot who seemed just as worried about the blades. The Secret Service agent had a gun pointed at the pilot.

“It would be better if you didn't take that whirligig.” said Shadow Eyes as she shook her head, the screeching from the metal had caused her to pin her ears back in pain and annoyance.

Shadow Eyes and the Presidential family waited in a secure building. She didn't like it, if she was honest with herself, but she got roped into protecting the President.

“Can't your Secret Service protect you? I have things that need to be taken care of, namely the unicorn on the loose that uses magic so dark, even I won't use it, and I liberally use dark magic” said the mare and the First Lady frowned at her.

“Surely you have a husband, why did you-”

“My lover, the father of my daughter, was killed in the Changeling War, but that is neither here nor there, what would my marital status have to do with anything, I am able bodied, and I am worth just as much as a stallion, perhaps more” snapped Shadow Eyes, the Minotaurs often looked down at her because she was a mare, they didn’t have the courage to do so towards Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, but the other mares in positions of power were fair game to the two faced cowards.

“Now then, that is my wife you are talking to, Ms. Eyes” said John and Shadow Eyes snorted.

“I am sorry, but I will not have my lack of husband be used against me, I am more than able to outperform most stallions in most areas.” said Shadow Eyes with a roll of her eyes before sighing and shaking her head. “We as a people learned a long time ago there is no special treatment due to either sex, when a mare is pregnant that is a different matter entirely, but without that, there is nothing special between the sexes. We have mares that pursue jobs in the Royal Guard, even in the Royal Navy, and we have stallions that choose to stay home and take care of the house and foals. There are no stallion jobs or mare jobs short of what is biologically given, and even that can be thrown out the window with the right spell” ranted Shadow Eyes and the President looked at her regarding what she said carefully. Apparently this Shadow Eyes did not like being coddled and was more than prepared to take out dangers that came her way. After ten minutes of tense silence John spoke up…

“What do you want to do? Short of finding this unicorn, what do you propose to do after we catch them? Short of working with this unicorn there is no way to find your way back home, and even that, from what you have said, is not a guarantee to get back, will you stay and help us better the world, obviously you as a people seemed to have a lot less of the issues we as a race have yet to clear” said the President and Shadow Eyes regarded him for a bit thinking on how to respond before sighing.

“I would not be worth my title of Court Magician if I do not at least try to get home, but if all else fails I will attempt try to help you better this planet you call home. I am no alicorn, but I was not the top student at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns for nothing. Given enough time, of which I have plenty of, I can help you better your medicine, and with time work on some of your civil matters as an advisor. I will not tell you what you have to do, I am no leader. Despite what Celestia says. But will all of your nations be willing to listen to, for all intents and purposes, an alien telling them what they should do? Or will they do the opposite just to spite me? I may not be infallible, but I will not talk to hear myself talk”

“You seem to have yourself resigned to the fact you may be staying here” said Jacqueline. Shadow Eyes turned her head to the ceiling, as a few tears welled up in her eyes again, but before she could respond a Secret Service agent entered the room and said they were ready for the three of them to leave the building and to a secure car Shadow Eyes scoffed but never the less got up and headed to the door.

“Let’s see if you are correct this time, I hate doing other’s jobs, it takes away from my own work” said Shadow Eyes obviously having no respect for the agents after seeing how badly they were performing their jobs. She stopped for a moment on the other side of the door and sighed. “I’m sorry, there was no way you would have known that the whirligig’s blades were about to come off. I don’t see as you do, but I see better than most. the closest approximation I have for my version of sight is a cross between a radar and a sonar, just… A lot clearer” with her apology given she headed to what they called a car, it was rather large, though she assumed it was to account for her joining the President on his trip…

As soon as they were underway Shadow Eyes became uncomfortable, even when she took the flying carriages back on Equestria she could see the general area of where she was, in the enclosed vehicle she did not have that luxury her sight, true to form, still could not pierce solid walls and windows.

“So, Ms. Eyes,” started Jacqueline.

“Please, Shadow Eyes, or Shay if you need to shorten my name. Ms. Eyes is just…” said Shadow Eyes as she jumped from the sudden bump in the road.

“Fair enough, Shadow Eyes, why don’t you tell us about your home” Thankful for something to distract her Shadow Eyes began to describe the wonders of Equestria, from the city of Canterlot to the flying city of Cloudsdale to the running of the Buffaloes in Appleloosa, and was about to talk about the history of Equestria when Jacqueline interrupted. “That’s all nice, dear, but what about your home, and your story?” asked the First Lady and Shadow Eyes stopped and grew quiet for a little bit before she turned to the window and for all intents and purposes it seemed like she was lost in the sights outside the window, when in fact she not only could not see out the window, but was also she was more lost in thought before she sighed and gave a sad laugh.

“Where do I begin? My birth name is Bright Star, heiress to the noble house of Star, I was nearly raped by a fellow student at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, I ended up killing the would be rapist bucking him in the face, driving the bridge of his nose into his brain, I was sixteen at the time, I ended up on the run for ten years where I met a Tenebrosus Magus that taught me the majority of my dark spells, the cost, at first was nothing, simple tasks he couldn’t do himself without risking capture, and when it became clear I was his to command he started making me pay for it in more… Well I was not all too upset when he died fighting a Magus Venator. I took up the name Shadow Eyes in a morbid sense of honoring what he taught me, a way to take the name and wash it clean of the stains he had ground into it. While I was doing that I was on the run from other Magus Venatores. Saving lives became hard when most believe all Tenebrosus Magus are out only for themselves and don't care about anypony else. After a while I hid in plain sight, until a ship I was on was attacked by pirates and I ended up joining their crew just to survive. Oh I could have killed them all, but that would have left me stranded in the middle of the ocean with no way back as the crew I would have saved would have turned on me and left me on a longboat first chance they got. It was there in an ironic twist I met the mare that would be the mother of my son, and I don't mean by adoption. I had used a spell that transformed me into a stallion, with all the working bits. I loved her, she was beautiful, knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid of trying to obtain it-”

“You loved a mare? But aren't you, yourself, a mare?” asked Jacqueline and Shadow Eyes regarded her.

“Love knows no bounds, not even that of sex, and might I remind you, for all intents and purposes I was a stallion at the time… Where was I? Ah yes… She and I spent a majority of time sequestered, I couldn’t get enough of her, but even that highlight of my life was brought to an end as the pirate ship made landfall and I fled from the ship, for the next year, I wondered Equestria and helped ponies as I found them, sometimes having to exploit their thankfulness to survive, once or twice taking on threats no sane pony would ever face alone, and I overcame them, even though magic in all its forms is my special talent, my gift to the world was making it so one more pony, one more family, one more village survived threats that would obviously destroy them before the guard would arrive. I took what was dark and evil and made it good. I turned the name Shadow Eyes from something to be feared to something whispered in awe, but still I was hunted. Princess Celestia hunted me to protect me, her sister, Princess Luna, hunted me to put me down.” said Shadow Eyes as she felt the car slow to a final stop and heard the door open, as soon as the door started to open for the back of the car Shadow Eyes had a full view of the area surrounding the car and teleported out of the car and frowned there were a lot of… What was it? Humans? Around the vehicle and she noticed, a lot of them were heavily armed, and some of them had their weapons trained on her and she gave a smirk…