Horse of the Year

Light Chapter Three: Stiff Drinks

“Well, more weapons aimed at me then I can remember in recent ages, perhaps I need to-” started Shadow Eyes as she lowered herself to the ground. As this was happening the President climbed out of the car and made his way over to the men aiming guns at the unicorn.

“Stand down! For the love of God, stand down!” shouted the President and the men lowered their weapons and Shadow Eyes stood up confused these men were dressed differently from the Secret Service members surely they weren’t… “Shadow Eyes, what were you thinking? You could have been killed!” admonished the Chief of Staff and the mare had the decency to look ashamed for a moment before she frowned.

“These aren’t Secret Service-”

“No, but they are not enemies. They are the United States Marines, a sect of our military that is actually older than the country they serve. The United States Marine Corps was founded November 10, 1775, a little less than eight months before the writing of the Declaration of Independence.” said John and Shadow Eyes again had the decency to look ashamed.

“Sorry, I assumed…”

“Mr. President, Air Force One is waiting for you to get on so we can take off” said a marine without taking his eyes off Shadow Eyes and the mare in a bout of mischievousness winked at the marine who moved to raise his gun when his fellow put his hand on the carbine and pushed it down shaking his head motioning to the president who had his eyes on the marine.

“Thank you son, my wife, and Ms. Shadow Eyes will be joining me on the flight, can I count on you to get us to Washington D.C.?” the marine nodded and John turned away before hearing something that made him stumble and the marine blubber.

“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it, you never know you might like it.” teased Shadow Eyes only for the marine to raise his carbine and open fire at the unicorn. The grinning unicorn blocked the bullet with a barrier ,made of something that only be described as pure magic, from other side of it. As the carbine ran out of ammo, before anyone could do anything, the barrier exploded forwards and toppled the soldier and Shadow Eyes pounced on him and held him down, her grin changing to a snarl. The other soldiers stunned at the attack. “Never underestimate a unicorn, we can be as weak as a gryphon chick, or we can be as strong as the alicorns themselves, and until you know for sure, err on the side of caution. There is another unicorn that is here, that is not your friend and she will most likely kill you if she has a chance to do so” she slowly backed off of him and sat in front of him as he sat up, “I am not your enemy. Also, for the record even if I meant that you aren’t my type, I haven’t been one for those in positions of authority, I prefer to be the one with authority, leave little room for my partner to worry about”

“Enough, Ms. Shadow Eyes, I would prefer you don’t instigate a fight with our marines, though you may be able to take them out, there is a sniper-”

“To the southwest of here, under a mesh netting with leaves and twigs and what appears to be a long range weapon” said Shadow Eyes without missing a beat and everyone there paled at that implication, if she knew where the sniper was, who else did? There was a scrambling as they started radioing and racing around attempting to see how badly their security was compromised. As they did this they ushered the president to a hangar after clearing it. Shadow Eyes sighed before teleporting beside the president. “I seem to have overturned an anthill” said Shadow Eyes and John looked at her annoyed, they weren’t listening to him even though he tried to explain that to his limited knowledge she has just seen him, but the implications that she could see that far and that well despite being blind were momentous. It was possible she might be able to help them cure blindness.

“Why couldn’t you have just left it be?” he asked curiously

“And let your men think they had a false advantage? I saw the shooter that tried to kill you that day I was shot, I just wasn’t able to stop him in time to keep him from firing. If this unicorn studied me, she..” Shadow Eyes sighed and turned toward the President. “Look as powerful as I am, I have no idea how powerful this mare is, she could be just strong enough to cast the spell that transported us here, or she could rival my strength, if she knows how my sight works she can duplicate it and see just as well or better than myself.”

“So you would rather spook them, than have them unprepared? Couldn’t you use more tact than that?” asked John and Shadow Eyes made a face.

“I may have been used as a diplomat, but I am more of a blunt instrument, not a fine precision tool. I know the subtleties of diplomacy, but I prefer the simplicities of battle.” said the mare as she watched the Marines and Secret Service begin to calm down and started to question her, much to her chagrin. “You’re the ones that went crazy without even asking me how I knew, I could have told you that I can see better than most”

On the plane Shadow Eyes quivered in discomfort not being able to see where she was in the world, knowing that she was over thirty-six thousand feet in the air, the earth well beyond that of her sight’s reach, did not help her any.

“So, Shadow Eyes, where were we?” asked Jacqueline as she poured drinks for everyone which made Shadow Eyes frown.

“What do you mean?” she asked and Jacqueline simply smiled.

“Why, you were telling us about your life. You just were telling us about leaving the pirate ship”

“A-alright” said Shadow Eyes before making herself comfortable on a seat across from the family that she had inadvertently tied her fate to, “It was years but I eventually felt comfortable enough to return to the ‘world stage’ as it were, hunts for me had died down but ponies still whispered my name in awe, as if just mentioning my name would cause me to show up and right the wrongs in the town or village. I made my way to Manehattan under a tried and true disguise. I hid in the city for a few years, and had begun to settle down when it was bombed by, what the Equestrian Strategic Information Service later determined was Changeling operatives, I met the father of my daughter in that city, a regular Robin Hood, though he didn’t start off that way, he needed money to get by and he stole for that as well.” Shadow Eyes’ voice grew light and loving as she described the stallion, the softness of his mane, the care he gave her even when she nearly killed him after finding out who he really was. “It was a year after him and I were together with no more lies that Princess Luna found me, as did Celestia. I barely managed to break into the shield guarding ESIS’s Manehattan headquarters, even now, there is no way I can take the princesses in a fair fight, and even a fight where I fight dirty is iffy where Luna is concerned. But never Celestia.” she said a look of awe crossed her face as she remembered the moment she finally felt safe. She went on, in explicit detail how her life changed, how she originally wanted to give up her dark magic, all for the leader that had forgiven her for being a murderer, the pain when that same leader asked her to keep using dark magic, and then realization that it was to keep her true to herself. “I was twenty-six at the time, and had recently been named Court Magician. I was given the most powerful position given to a pony short of the princesses, and yet I didn’t know what to do with it. Years later, when I was twenty-nine, I was sent to a village that was attempting to pass a law to have all not schooled foals work in factories, it was there that… In a event that must have been predestined, I met my son, though I didn’t know it at the time, I fell into a parental love for him all the same and decided to protect him from all that would seek to harm him. I stole him away from the village and smuggled him to Canterlot, where I lived and introduced him to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and they drew up adoption papers after hearing his story and I adopted my own foal, a foal I still didn’t realize was mine by blood.” said Shadow Eyes before she bit her lip and started to talk about the tenseness of Canterlot in the days leading up to the Changeling War. “It was during this time I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, but the missions I was sent on were so crucial I couldn’t trust them to others, and I continued to use the dark magic I was so skilled at to end threats, gain alliances, and then one day, my water broke and I couldn’t leave my home for months at which point the first open attack by the Changelings happened, my lover stayed with me as long as he could, but one day while he was on a mission for ESIS, Changelings attacked my family” she snapped a look of rage crossed her visage. “Attacking me I can accept, but attacking my family? I had to defend my family, my son, bless his heart was standing protectively over my daughter wielding that wooden sword dad had given him, I had been sleeping in the next room when they broke in, he got to her first, I was never so scared.” she continued to relay what happened in her life until John stood up and went to the bar pouring a glass with scotch, the peat smell filling the air as Shadow Eyes scrunched up her nose as she picked up smell. The President walked back and handed her the glass that she took in her telekinetic magic, looking at in confused.

“Not many I know go through what you have, and not need a stiff drink when they recount the time their son and daughter were in danger, heavens knows I would if, God forbid, something happened to my son” said John and Shadow Eyes nodded her thanks and drank the scotch as she would cider before hacking and coughing a storm.

“Oh my! Are you alright?” asked Jacqueline as she got up and rushed over to the mare. And knelt in front of her putting a hand on her withers and another on her own knee to keep her balance Shadow Eyes just glared and attempted to calm her breathing and after a few failed attempts she managed to do so.

“You aren’t kidding about it being a stiff drink, the cider I am used to is nothing compared to this,” said Shadow Eyes...