Through Broken Eyes

Chapters

The Arrival
Broken Glass
Dreams
Letters
Count the Shadows

The Arrival

The First day

Dear Journal

Hello my name is Polaris, I can't really describe on what I look like, I am blind, it is my greatest shame. I live, or I should say lived, in a place called Canterlot. I am from one of the lower classes in Canterlot society, my parents were never around... and I was treated horribly due to my condition, by...well...just about everypony. I have decided to turn over a new hoof and go to a place called Ponyville, I hope ponies will accept me for who I am there, but I doubt it, I will wear sunglasses to hide my shame, I am told that my eyes are hideous, ugly, there are some other phrases that other ponies use. Although, ironically I can see decently, I am a unicorn you see, I can use my magic see the various shapes of things, I can even read sometimes, by detecting ink on paper, it does tire me though. I am going after the summer sun celebration incident, it was all over the news, and I am hoping that I can use the presumed quietness after such an event, as a way to become a backround character, maybe everypony will leave me alone.

(Ponyville: Polaris POV)

I currently had a house waiting for me in Ponyville, living there was a lot cheaper than living in somewhere like Canterlot allowing me to easily afford a new place, that was much larger than my old one, it was on 227B Baker Street (tell me if you get the reference), I had a general idea of where this was, however I was not completely sure, however currently I had more pressing concerns...the Train.

I had never been too fond of trains, although I was not entirely sure why, I usually did not like to be around people which could constitute for one reason, another would be that I am also not too happy about loud noises, the third reason could possibly be signs of minor claustrophobia, just enough to be uncomfortable. But whatever the reason, this was better than walking, and I would most likely attract no attention, which is exactly what I wanted, Ponyville was considered a small town, and not too many people would be headed for it.

I had received my ticket for the proper train, named "The Pony Express" it was to be heading to my destination in about thirty minutes, so I sat down with the few belongings that I had brought with me, which were a pillow, ear plugs, and a chocolate bar made by the brand "Horsey's" (get it? Horsey's, Hershey's, yeah I know it is not that good) and continued to occupy myself by munching on it.

Everything else that I owned was already at the house, for some reason Canterlot shipping is cheaper than the Ponyville moving Company, maybe it had to do with the fact that Canterlot was having more things shipped out of it than Poneyville

I tried to use my magic to see in the crowded train station however there was so much movement, that it all seemed fuzzy. After a while of waiting I decided to try and find where I was getting on this train. My current method of completing this task, was to ask several people at different locations, observe where they pointed then combine all areas to the right point, It might seem hard but this was actually easier for a blind magical unicorn to pull off, unfortunately this did take a little while to do.

Once I had found my location, double checked with the guard ponies and sat down my train came rolling in, this was very loud and obnoxious to me and I resisted covering my ears.

"Alllllllll aboard" The conductor called, from hearing him he was about 15 feet away from me and was a colt, judging by his voice he was an elderly pony of about the age of 68

I walked towards the forming line of ponies that line, they moved quickly and efficiently through to me I held out my ticket and put on the best smile that I could

''Excuse me miss, but you are holding your ticket upside down" The conductor said, what his tone said was that he was on to me

"Oh sorry sir" I said now smiling nervously, and fixing the ticket to its proper position

He quickly scanned it before looking at me one last time "are you alright miss?"

"Just Peachy" I managed to squeak out"

"Well enjoy your ride" he said with the sudden need to get everyone else done and checked, taking over his mind

If you are wondering how I can tell what these ponies are thinking, it is all in the tone of their voice, you see scientists around the world have discovered that you send messages of what you’re thinking, usually without knowing it, in the tone of your voice, it was really quite interesting

I quickly bumbled in and felt my way to a private one-pony booth, and sat down in the chair that they provided, I felt the train starting to move, it was very loud to me, with this combined with the not particularly comfortable position that I was in along with the packing stress for the last few days, there was no way that I was going to get any sleep...And it was 9 hours to Ponyville. It was really worth the money for me to get a one-pony booth,ponies weren't really my specality.

(9 hours of sleepless rolling around later)

That was a horrible but needed experience that I hope I will never have to go through again, however I was completely correct in the fact, that the train was not packed, in fact the only contact that I had with other ponies was when the waitress came around to give me a package of complementary peanuts, Ponyville had only one train station where Canterlot had about five, and this one was clearly much smaller than any of the ones at Canterlot.

It was actually much warmer at Ponyville than Canterlot as well, this was most likely due to the dramatic altitude difference, also there seemed to be less noise and not as many ponies rushing around, this made it easier for me to see, and the constant assault on my ears was gone. Everything seemed much more relaxed and natural from the constant uptight feeling that Canterlot had to offer.

By the way that the sun felt on my fur, I could tell that it was about 7:00AM, the peanuts, although good, were not holding me over, and it seemed that a station this small was unlikely to have any restaurants, to my luck I did smell the sweet aroma of apples, and this was not just a stand, this was a ton of apples, they smelled to be about half a mile away, and fortunately in the general direction of my destination.

The walk over was fairly uneventful, and that was the way that I wanted it to be, although I did hear a super-fast Pegasus fly over me, it sounded like the Pegasus was about to break the sound barrier, the road was made of a rough muddy sand, and by the feel of it, it had just rained the day before, so there would be no chance of sudden showers, it actually never usually rained in Canterlot no need to with no plants or forrests, plus it pumped all of it's water from some unnatural lake

Then suddenly it hit me like a brick wall, the massive scent of acre upon acre of apple trees, they smelled like some of the best apples that I have ever smelled, of course I was so indulged in the smell that I had not noticed the pony walking behind me.

"Howdy partner!" A southern accent said behind me, I jumped a bit, this pony was a girl of about my age and seemed fairly muscular

"Hello" I managed to say trying to look as if I could see, this was a common problem for blind ponies as they did not know exactly who or what they were looking at, you must remember that Ihave only seen with my magic as sort of an advanced ecolocation adaption, so a well trained eye could easily tell if you were looking at them, fortunately this pony didn't seem to notice.

"Sorry for sneaking up on you like that, I couldn't help but notice that you were looking at our apple trees," The southern accented farm pony continued

"Yes I was wondering if I could get an apple?" I asked. If I could keep this just business, then she would most likely not ask me anything personal

She quickly tossed an apple to me whom I caught with my magic; the apple felt firm and ripe and smelled great

"Thank you Miss, how much will that be?" An apple of this quality had to be expensive, at Canterlot this would be worth about 12 bits

The southern pony paused for a bit, seeming somewhat supirsed I might add, before saying "It is on the house miss, thanks for dropping by"

Mentally this was very odd to me, everything in Canterlot had a price, EVERYTHING, there were sales, even small free samples, but no one would ever give an apple such as this away 'Thank you very much miss" I said with a slight tone of confusion, but it was hardly noticeable

I as I started to walk away the southern Pony spoke again "I've never seen you around here before, do you live here?" I paused for a moment to think over my words

"Yes I do live here" It wasn't a lie, it was more of a ruse I was hoping that I could make it seem as if i had lived here for a while to avoid any welcome parties that could arise.

"Well what is your name?" The pony asked, again I paused briefly, I did not want to reveal any personal information, if I could help it however this pony seemed ore kind and honest than any other pony was at Canterlot by a long ways, this was perhaps because she did not know of my condition yet, to be frank that was probably the truth, even though I couldn't see, I could always tell when people either looked away from or stared at my light yellow, pupil lacking, eyes, That is what I was told they looked like anyways, I don't exactly know yellow.

I can however tell colors appart, through the use of magic I coulddetect the light raditaion that everything gave off fromthe electromatic spectrium, thus defining color.but besides the difference in radiation, the words yellow, blue and green didn't mean anything to me. I could only make a 3-D image of my sorroundings in my head.

Even though I was blind I could easily feel fear coming off of other ponies, it was easy with the combination of my magic, smell, and hearing. Of course I was so used to it that I usually just ignored it, I could also detect kindness too, but that sense was a new taste to me, like an expensive food that you only have once or twice a year on holidays, he kindness and honesty felt great, it was due to this that for a split second, I let my guard down.

"Polaris" I said after a quick pause, it was now her turn to pause for a second or two and study me.

"AppleJack, If you need anything then come over to me and I'll do my best to help ya out" The honesty was there, this was a genuine offer

"Thank you very much Applejack," I said feeling the name on my tongue, before walking off.

The apple that she had given me was great, someone could make a lot of money for making this into a cider, I thought. It was still a shock that she would give this away for free. As I walked, the rows of apple trees soon turned into buildings, I was currently on the outlying area of Ponyville, my place was supposed to be on the other side of town, as I was walking, I was focusing my magic to read the street signs and make a mental map of this area.

There was no bustleing around like there was in Canterlot, only a few ponies walked around having causal conversations, about things like the weather, gardening and other casual stuff.

I didn't really like to listen in on other pony's stuff, but certain stories were too funny to miss, I was listening to somepony repeat a skit from a show called "The Daily Show with Ventus" when I bumbled into a colt, and dropped my things

"Oh my I'm so sorry" I said quickly, I didn't want this simple accident to ruin my cover, especially after I had come so far.

"No I am the one who should be sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going" He paused then continued "I haven't seen you around here before my name is Shadow" he said while picking up the light carry-on bag that I was allowed to bring with me on the train. He seemed to be slightly younger than me.

He gave me my things, "Do you know where you’re going?" he asked he like Applejack seemed honestly concerned for my well being

"I'm looking for baker's street" I said short and to the point, I still didn't trust the ponies here to accept me, for all I know, he could turn his back on me in an instant, but I was forced to have his help because I didn't know where I was.

"Go down to the sugarcube corner there is a sign for it, turn right at that sign, and you will go past Rarity's Shop, It is a clothes shop, you can’t miss it, then keeping going on to the library, which is a giant tree, turn left and you will be right on baker's street." His directions were clear and I started off

I briefly turned around to thank him, but my magic told me that he was no longer there, this one must have been fast and quiet. I walked off towards my destination

I walked down to sugar cube corner, though it felt like there was somepony following me, it kept aappearing and reappearing on my magic radar, then suddenly It appeared again, It was a pony, and by the light radiation reflection that my horn was processing , it seemed that it's color was Very Very Pink,

of course I have had no conception of colors, however I could still tell what color, certain things were, due to measuring the type of light radiation that was reflected, I’m not exactly sure how it works so I am not going to try and explain it any further than that.

It had seemed that the pony was locked on to me, I could only think of one thing to do in this situation "Umm...Hello?' I said as soon as the word had left my lips the pony gave a loud over dramatic gasp, before jumping high into the air, and flying off, to this I just kind of shrugged it off, as well as snobby Canterlot folk, there were crazy Canterlot folk, why should a small town be any different?

The next Stop that Shadow had said, was a beauty shop, and As he said it was hard to miss, even I could tell that the place was finely decorated this place was I kind of reminded me of the finer well-kept homes of Canterlot except more...what was the word...comforting, inviting, it was one of those,

I stopped in front of the place and focused my magic for a brief moment; worth this I could see every wall edge and detail of the building

"Why hello" A voice said behind, I had took in all the Building and failed to notice somepony walking up behind me, how could I be so stupid.

"Um...Hello" Oh come on Polaris is that the best you could think of, hello?

"I quckly truned around to face her, by the tone of her voice, she was the one who owed the place, she seemed to have the air of an artist or clothes designer, and was most likely a combination of both, there was a faint buzz of magic that showed she was a unicorn, she seemed to be in some sort of dress or something like that.

"Do you like it?" She said referring to her dress "I like to wear my designs once to ensure maximum comfort for everypony, before I start selling a certain design"

It made sense, although I never really saw the use in clothes, unless it was cold outside, which wasn't a problem in Ponyville, Most ponies only wore clothes on special events, I never really had anyone to celebrate special events with, not even my birthday, my parents were never home and I had no friends except him...

"I guess it's nice" I said not bothering to use up the magic to make a mental image of it, it was not like I was trying to be mean, in fact I was only trying to be nice, I just didn't know that much about clothing, and that was because I never needed to know about clothing, until now at this certain instance, In all honesty from what I could detect it was a bit too bulky.

The pony who I assumed was the Rarity that Shadow had talked briefly about responded to my response with another question, which was harder for me to answer "Do you really think so, because the colors, don't really match with the sun like I wanted to."

This time I was stumped, I really wish that I knew what colors were now.

I quickly came up with a natural answer that was not a lie "Um I'm not really good with this kind of thing, I am sure that your sense of style produced, a fine work of clothing" Flattery was always a way to get out of a situation

"Yes dear well thank you for your opinion" She paused for a moment, form what I could tell she was looking at my face

"Is something wrong?" I said nervously, she continued the silence, had she found me out?

"What Is that thing on your face" she was of course referring to my sunglasses, not as bad as I thought it was, but the current situation before me could easily lead to the removal of said sunglasses, and the likely actions that played out in my mind after that were at best unfavorable, especially since she was the most Canterlot like Pony that I had seen so far,

"My Dear we must find you a different thing to wear during the day" She said over dramatically, were my sunglasses really that bad?

This is where I think that blind ponies socially have an advantage over other ponies, we have no concept of ugly in sight, only in mind, ugly works for us kind of the way bad works for you, in the abstract it is used to describe a negative thing, such as the phrase "He has an ugly mind", this is not pointing to the fact that his brain looks one way or another physically, however it is the abstract untouchable thoughts that count, In a sense I think that Blind Ponies are able to see beauty indifferent thing from another pony, thus we are detached from the need to dress up for events.

"But I like my sunglasses" Darn I sounded like a filly arguing to keep the cookie that he had just stolen, I mean really, I'm just trying to complete a usually simple task, and that is all I can come up with?

However to my great surprise Rarity actually took this answer quite well...not really that well however she answered to it in the best possible outcome that one could have expected

"Well just so you know, I would suggest that you wear something else" She paused for a moment "By the way I'm Rarity, I have never seen you around here before so I am assuming that you have recently moved here, I'm sorry but I never caught your name?'

"Polaris" I said, it was funny how my name could sometimes sound so odd and as far off as the star

"Well nice to meet you Polaris, if you need anything please do not hesitate to ask for assistance" She said before walking into the beautiful work of architecture that is her shop

It was still new to me that these ponies could want to help in anyway...it was just so...foreign to, this perhaps had to do with the social structure of this town, everyone seemed to know everyone, I had never lived in a small town, and thus was unused to this, however this did present another social problem on my part, in Canterlot one was just a person, that somepony just had to go around to get to work every day, just a face,

The point is we usually interacted only with the people on out certain streets that we lived on, or I should say that other people interacted like that, they of course never included me due to my condition and class, I was always an outcast and alone, this is why I am able to make such interesting observations on other ponies, my only pass time was quietly observing other ponies and how they interacted with each other.

One could actually chuckle at the irony of the situation, I could understand ponies better than they could understand then they themselves could, however for all my experience and knowledge I could not find a way to interact or be socially acceptable. Every time I tried the results ended up in failure, or pain...sometimes physical; however after a few beatings I learned quickly what other groups would not beat me up and tried them.

Of course they never accepted me still; there was a price of mental pain for attempting to join in a group. However, with each passing failed attempt, made the prize of companionship and belonging, more desired.

Some groups were nicer than others they would allow me in their presence, the only problem is that they would move slowly away from me, or failed to interact even though I tried to interact with them, this unfortunately left a stronger

Feeling of being an outcast than before, causing me to give up my current goals, there were many cold shoulders around...but there were worse ones.

Those were the cool kid group that would come up to me just to make fun of me without any previous knowledge of me, just that I was blind, they had a little ritual to make fun of me, every day after school let out, they would gather around and call me names "stupid pony", "Blindey", and "Dumb Yellow Eye" were the most popular ones there are certain ones that I will never repeat except inside my head, when I tried to leave, they would block me pushing me down , then they would always say "get up you stupid Blind pony"

At this point in my life I was still just a filly, I did not have the skill of magic that I have today, so I honestly couldn't see where I was going, that made everything worse,

I have observed most ponies saying that they could take the daily insults, and calling others wimps when they could not, those ponies were wrong, every day after school I went through another "Session" the harsh words wore on me like acid, and there was only one pony that I could say truly saved me, from the darkness.

Of course he was gone now as pones often go...everything good is temporary, and everything bad is forever.

I continued looking for the library that Shadow had described to me earlier, soon I had found it and like Rarity's it was hard to miss, It felt to have been carved in a massive tree, I sat there for a moment to admire it's shape with my magic when a pony about my size quickly ran out of the house and right into me, and she luckily didn't knock my glasses off

I quickly faced the Pony that had ran to me and acted like I was looking at her “Oh my goodness I'm so sorry, are you okay?" I was somewhat used to this, in Canterlot most people usually, just tackle you out of the way, she seemed to be my age, and also I felt that she was very unkempt"

"I'm fine" I responded naturally She seemed unorganized and in quite a rush for something, and I didn't want to hold her up more than I had to.

"I'm so sorry, I have been in a rush to organize the library, and I only moved here a week ago, by the way I'm Twilight" She said holding out her hoof

I had a bit trouble grabbing said Hoof however I did it "I'm Polaris" I said quickly

"Are you from around here, I've seen most ponies but I have never seen you around" She said

"Yes I'm getting to my new house" I said, it was getting dark and I really didn't want to chat with any other pony if I could help it.

"Well, I would like to get to know you better some time, but I have to get some supplies before the stores close," She said while running off

Well that was interesting I thought to myself, Shadow said that baker's street was not too far from this current location, and he was absolutely right, although finding my place was a bit difficult, fortunately for me it was on the ground floor, I did not fancy climbing stairs every day, my key clicked the door open revealing the few things that I had packed in card board boxes, however I was much too tired from today to-do anything about them,

I felt my way to the bed that was thankfully already set up, and felt the cotton sheets hug me, I had a feeling that this place would be nice.

THE END

Yeah I know I stink at writing, but I would encourage you to review, the reason that I did not provide a description of Polaris is that I wanted the Audience to imagine what she looks like, please PM me if you do want a description of her

Thanks for reading

Broken Glass

Broken glass
(Polaris Journal)

Dear Journal,
I have made my way into Ponyville,and by my calculations there are advantages to moving here as well as disadvantages, the advantage being that these ponies do not know me, the disadvantage, being that they want to get to know me, this is a serious risk to me, and it seems that there are only two options in this specific case, one is to hide away, for a few days then slowly start to periodically come out more and more of my house, or to go out a little bit everyday, hoping that nopony decides to have any real interaction with me, thus the getting used to me. However today I will not be thinking about battle tactics, there much urgent matters, I have arrived recently in this area, I came with a limited amount of food to sustain myself, in the moving of things around in my house to my needs , I have used up almost all of my food, as well as the limited amount of toothpaste and other important items that keep me in this house, and functioning properly, I might have to go out again later today...wish me luck.

(Polaris POV)

I woke up and could feel the sunlight from the window warm my body, of all the things that I had tried to comprehend, on what they would look like, the sun was the greatest, I had heard other ponies say that the sun looked like a giant peach with the clouds as whipped cream around it, I did not know what whipped cream or peaches looked like but I did know what they felt and tasted like, and the taste gave me sort of a preview of the look...it was good enough for me.

I rose up from the soft cotton from my bed and gave a nice yawn, guessing by the sun warmth it was about 7:00Am, the air pressure told me that the weather patrol had no plan of rain for the next 4 hours, I flipped my body out of bed, and for the slightest moment a strange wave of pain and dizziness enveloped my body,then just as it had arrived it was gone.

I ignored the unpleasant feeling quickly switched into my morning routine, and started feeling around my house without the use of my magic, magic drained me so it was important that I learned how to move around my home without it, but to do this I had to memorize every nook and nail.

After feeling every point in my house I walked over to the refrigerator, and opened it, and started feeling around, there was nothing to be felt, I forgot I didn't have any food brought over here, and I hadn't really eaten anything since that Apple yesterday, and I was very hungry, however at the same time I didn't fancy a trip to the store,then my stomach growled again, the action seemed much more favorable.

This place was very much different from Canterlot, I would have to wonder if their stores and market places would be any different either. In Canterlot some places wouldn't even allow me in, I have also observed that in Canterlot society there are two types of food, really bad food and really expensive bad food, it was not like Phillydelphia, or the Big Apple in the food style, the really bad food was sold from street vendors, or rundown restaurants, there you received decent portions, the really expensive bad food was what the rich snobs ate all the time, they gave you a small portion and expected you to be full, it wasn't even that good!

any time a good restaurant opened the rich restaurants got together to run the new restaurant out of town, either by bribery or...other methods.

The food market was easy to find, for a bind pony you could smell it from across town , although that apple place kept messing with my nose, once I arrived at the market it felt...more friendly, instead of the rather loud,yelling and haggling of Canterlot the shoppers were engaged in peaceful conversations with their vendors, friendly deals were made, and the food smelled good, and casual conversations about usually random stuff transpired.

Another interesting thing that I have noticed in this town vs Canterlot, is the fact that the different groups of ponies interacted with each other, In Canterlot the ponies were kept only to there own group, the Unicorns were generally the highest class, and kept their noses up high to anyone else, then the Pegasi kept to themselves even more and no one really knew where they were, then there were the earth ponies, who often formed the hired help for the richer ponies, and finally the lowest on the food chain, were different ponies like me, here it seemed to be an egalitarian society.

Suddenly a dizzy pain spell hit me again like the one this morning, except it was a moment longer than before, the magic that allowed me to know my surroundings started to blur, and I had to hold on to a building side to keep from falling down, then the moment passed and all was well again, I thought nothing of it except for stress from me taking in a new environment, my magic must have been acting funny, it was not like I needed a doctor

In fact I had never really gone to the doctor's ever, I mean I went when I was real young to get vaccinated, but when I was sick my parents never really ever cared enough to take me there, the only reason I even got vaccinated in the first place is because the EHA (Equestrian Health Agency) required my parents to do so.

I walked up to the first stand which happened to be an orange stand, there was a mare there "Hello there are you new in town" She said in a very friendly tone, she was slightly younger than me but only slightly, she smelled of oranges

I decided to proceed with a casual conversation, in hopes that I could learn a bit more about this town, in this certain situation information was key "Yes I moved in last night, I'm Polaris" I said quietly

It was at this point that I reprimanded my self mentally I was going to get no where if I kept on getting nervous around other ponies, I would indeed reveal myself, my experience shows that ponies are naturally against those who are different, I was different trying to be similar,

A bead of sweat ran down the back of my neck, however this pony did not notice my uncomfortable look. "Well my name is Orange Blossom, since your new in town would you like to go out with me and some friends tonight, I know a good restaurant" she said this casually and in a tone that told me that she had a smile on her face, she seem oblivious of my feelings and waited for my response.

My face turned into a smile, or I should say the best smile that a blind pony could pull off, however mentally I was freaking out, what would I say now? Not only that but the fact was that this was very strange to me, she was trying to be friendly, and because of this I felt...something that I found hard to describe. But that was not the point, I had only just told her my name and now she was asking for me to go out with her and some friends, that did not exactly compute with any social encounters, that I have ever observed, in fact I thought the only one that could be this nice and trusting would be the Princess

But I had to quickly hide my shock before she or some other pony noticed and got suspicious fortunately on my part she did not know my current housing situation, and thus I could come up with a proper excuse with what she did know, "Sorry I would love to, but I really need to get the new house, more together" I was happy with this because it was true my place was not exactly up to my standards of organization, and being a blind pony I have learned over the years that it is important to stay very organized.

She thought this over for a moment then said "Well we could come over to help you out" This of course was even more odd to me, again I had only just met this pony, and it seemed very odd offering help. Back in Canterlot, either you hired help, which mostly only the rich ponies did, the other "average" ponies usually did there own housing work in an attempt to save money.

Of course it was not like I had much work to begin with, the moving ponies had placed most appliances in the proper areas, I only had a few boxes of personal stuff to work with. What I really didn't like was to lie to other ponies, it didn't feel right, even if I didn't trust them. However to accomplish my current mission I would have to make up an excuse, after all even though this pony seemed kind, she could always just stab me in the back if and when she found out my secret.

And this I could describe as the greatest trap, the greatest weakness that I had while undercover, the more that I contacted and interacted with other ponies, the more entangled I got with them, the more I grew to care for them, the more of the chance that they could find me out, and the more it would hurt when they left,it was like a scientific equation and I had tried this many times before always, with the same painful outcome, the more I got to know them, the more it hurt when they left, and from past experience they always left, whether they cared about you or not.

However I had more short term matters that I had to deal with "Thanks, but no thanks, i am a bit sensitive when it comes to my stuff" I answered, it was not really true, blind ponies were not as attached to their objects, or at least I was not. I am not exactly sure how blind ponies are supposed to act, it is actually quite rare in Equestria

Orange Blossom seemed to take my answer with understanding "I have a friend like that, however if you ever need a hoof you can call on me" she said happily. This again sent a warmness to my heart like hot chocolate is supposed to do on a cool winter's day, I had actually never had hot chocolate, my parents never gave me that much.

"Thank you, I'll be sure to do that" I said in the warmest voice that I could manage "By the way" I said remembering my original objective "How much are the oranges?" I still needed to get my shopping done

"Can't you read the sign, they're two bits per orange" She said with some confusion, she was not in any way trying to be rude it is just that the sign was most likely in a very easy to see place, but I wouldn't know that.

"Oh sorry I must have missed it" I said it was a pretty bad excuse but it worked. I could always smell out the best fruits, my nose was very exact in its picking process, I could smell every cut scrape and discrepancy in each orange, I simply choose the ones that were prefect or slightly fresher than the others, I picked out the five best oranges and put them into my saddle bag before paying the proper amount out to Orange Blossom.

"Thank you" I said as a common courtesy , she had treated me with kindness and respect, and thus I felt that I naturally owed her, so I secretly slipped an extra bit with the others.

"Your welcome" She said "Please come back again, and give me a call if you need any help" She called as I walked away

My brief conversation with Orange Blossom had it's good points and bad points, on one positive note, I had refrained from letting anything too personal slip in our discussion, while not upsetting her however, I did feel that strange feeling in my heart, I don't think that I have ever quite felt it before, but I could think on it later, my problem, or I should say weakness is that I am getting somewhat attached, and that was a weakness, if they ever found out they would turn away like every one else, getting hurt once, feels bad, getting hurt several times over the same thing is painful.

When we are young we are all foolish enough to get burned by fire at least once or twice, then common sense told us to not put our hands in the fire, in order to avoid pain, in Canterlot I kept touching the ponies, which stand in as the fire, thus getting burned several times, however here a different social phenomenon has happened entirely, we are all forced to be in the presence of fire eventually, as I am forced to be in the presence of other ponies eventually, however instead of me coming to touch the fire that is the ponies on a social level, the ponies are interacting with me on their own, instead of me having to put any effort into coming into contact the situation was that when I went out it seemed that these ponies didn't mind me around.

And this was not an issue of blindness, you could be a completely normal pony in Canterlot and easily be hated for no reason, I was just singled out because I was more different. Either way it was all so opposite from what I was used to that I didn't always know how to react with the feelings that have welled up in the past two days, I actually didn't know that I had most of them until recently, but the important questions is how should I feel about feelings, that I have never felt and what exactly am I supposed to do with them.

Even though the hate and pain are horrible, and are like a slow venom that wears at your heart and wears down to your soul, you get used to them,go on with them, and even start to ignore them, you cannot completely ignore pain, and it still hurts but if it hurts everyday and does not go away then your body and mind either perish, which is not preferable, or you mentally make changes, to deal with it you become desensitized to it, however in lessening that pain you lessen the potential of joy and of other positive emotions, and are thus not quite sure on what to do when faced with such positive things, embrace them, or reject them?

However If I have learned anything in the past two days since moving here, you can never ever completely put out someone's light, even my own.

Light is an abstract object to blind ponies, it translates usually into heat for us, however I could detect colors through the type of light radiation that a specific color, I can use this to more easily define the markings of similar things with different color patterns, per example if I could not tell the difference of an orange and a grapefruit by smell, then I could simply measure the type of color radiation that was bouncing off of them and determine the difference between the two fruits by way of color.

I could even use this similar met hood to read, and by forming the words as a mental picture in my head, could read faster than most ponies, however this whole thing with measuring radiation with my magic often made me very tired if not completely exhausted, it took many years of strict discipline and practice to master this, plus I had to do this mostly on my own...and it was painful

I continued my trip getting various other items while trying to keep away from having a total conversation with the other ponies, so far my trip was successful, and those dizzy spells seemed to be gone.

Then I noticed something a bit odd, I think somepony was following me, however it seemed to disappear and reappear around me at many different angles, I checked it's radiation signature, it was pink, but how was it moving in such an odd way it was like it was teleporting around...then as sudden as it came it soon left, odd it seemed like it was observing me, my magic was probably just acting up again, it has felt strange all day.

I made my way over to the next fruit stand,so far I had bought most of what I wanted, however a good piece of dragon fruit (no lie this is a real fruit look it up) for desert, then I would get some apples and be on my way home.

I have heard that dragon fruit was beautiful looking, however the feel was enough to satisfy me the exterior felt like it was made by a famous architect and should be in an art gallery, It was a very sweet and favorable fruit and was also very healthy for you, since I had not been feeling 100% some dragon fruit, patch me up.

From what I could form together in my head and read on the sign it was three bits per fruit. Dragon fruit was fairly rare in Canterlot,I had always smelled it in the marketplace up in Canterlot but had only had it once, up there the climate was cooler and Dragon fruit required heat to grow, plus most merchants refused to sell me anything and the ones that did,were often slow out because the rich ponies bought so much of it, besides it was very expensive in Canterlot, like 15 bits for half a fruit.

The smell hit me like a brick wall, if regular ponies liked their taste imagine how a blind pony would savor it.

"Hello there how are you doing today" The young colt in front of the Dragon fruit asked, I was used to this shopping area, and type of friendly shopping by now and went on without being rude

"I am fine, mind if I have three dragon fruit?" I said straight to the point, yet polite, they were extending me common kindness and it would be rude not to mention risky to my presence if I was rude back

"Please pick your fruit" He said kindly this was something else that was different here from the Canterlot markets they let you pick your fruit here, usually in Canterlot they just gave it to you although suspiciously they gave the richer ponies the best fruit.

I quickly determined the best fruit as I had the others then put the proper amount of money on the table, he quickly took it and put it in his cash box without counting it, this was another trend that I had noticed here they actually trusted you, in Canterlot they always counted the money before allowing for you to leave.

"Thank you and Goodbye" I said

"please feel free to come back" he said He said in a kind voice, he most likely had a smile on his face but I wouldn't know that.

"The hard thing about fakeing sight is that, you have a lot of trouble with facial expressions, I have no real need for them when I can't see them, however everyone else does have a use for them,it is kind of like the tone in a person's voice, to me I can tell if there angry happy sad and so on, the way I understand expressions is kind of like that.

Then I was walking out of the Dragon fruit I quickly doubled over in more pain than before, and started hyper ventilating dangerously , the shop owner quickly ran over to me "Are you okay!?" He asked me seriously concerned, I was on my belly, my magic was blurry or completely off, however I did manage to think of an excuse

"It's.... just.... a...... minor cramp" I managed to say between my rapid exchange of breaths He tried to help me up, but I said "Don't .... help ...me Up, it will go away in a moment" About thirty seconds passed then my magic turned on again,and I was able to get up "Are you sure your okay?" he asked with a voice full of worry

"Yeah I'm okay, I just ate something bad last night", I really didn't have anything last night, I did have that apple in the morning but, I would have felt it earlier than that, if the Apple was the true cause, so that ruled it out

"Well you scared me a bit today, how about you go home for right now, and if you feel any worse then you should call a doctor" He said, it seemed that people here actually cared about you even if they didn't have to here I had just met this guy and didn't even know his name yet he cared enough about me.

"Don't worry about me, I just need to get some apples" I said still trying to catch my breath

"Well don't do anything besides that then go home" He warned

I assured him some more that I would not do anything else, then I started out on my quest for the apple stand, which again was not too hard to find my sense of smell was how I got around before I had mastered my magic, I could easily tune out senses that I did not want or need to smell then save the ones that I did need to find, however this can be distracting sometimes, when I am using my magic , it tells me to do something then my nose goes and tells me to do something else and the two start to mentally conflict with each other, and it can get confusing on what to do.

Although what really gets confusing is when I hear something, smell something different, then detect something even more different. But all of my senses do not usually conflict with each other ,they usually work together to make my picture of the world full. It is hard to fool each sense and each usually picks up on a category of different things, that subconsciously, tells me what to do based on all available information.

In fact touch often has a say in it's share of information to provide as well, when my smell was disabled, or compromised by an extremely strong scent, then I would use touch to figure out my way around town, each area in town had either been paved differently, or had a specific type and composition of dirt, I had memorized what the of ground was in each area, and for areas with similar types of ground have very different types of wear on them which I could also detect, this wear was caused by the fact that, a different amount of ponies walked on the same surface, and this information was checked and updated constantly, by my other senses so if there was ever a situation where I was disabled in any way i could literally feel my way around town.

I was learning about Ponyville walking way, I seemed to be less complicated than Canter lot's which was actually somewhat of a problem to me, gathering information was easy for me and I had unintentionally gathered quite a bit during my walk yesterday. However here in Ponyville the roads seemed more similar and had less variance on what they were made out of, I could still locate key points like this market place, and other points of interest,however here routes were more important than in Canterlot because the ponies actually want to get to know you.

I smelled my way to the apples tent, apple pie was my favorite type of food, I liked it with sharp chedder on top, weird I know but it does taste good, i haven't really had it that much though.

I went to where I smelled apples, and that led me to a simple apple stand, where I found none other than Applejack, I sensed that there was another pony with her, a filly to be exact. But I was also lost in the sweet sweet smell of apples that surrounded us.

Apples hold a very special place in my heart, they were one of the few good things that the Canterlot market never ran out of, my parents never cooked for me, but apples were easy for me to cook, even though I was blind I could make apples taste very good, besides them all I really had was broiled cabbage, and though the other things that I had were very healthy for me, they tasted horrible, my parents knew nothing about spice, and even though some spices were somewhat expensive, I saved what little money I did earn to get some to flavor my apples.

As I walked up I walked up to Applejack she said in a happy tone "Well howdy, Polaris" Wow she remembered my name that was very nice "This is my sister Apple Bloom" I am sensing a pattern with the word apple in their name they seemed to be the type of family that I have always dreamed of, very close and loving

But I should not be envious of their fortune, life is determined by the way the cookie crumbles so to speak, while being blind one can wish for sight, however that will never come and you know it, and since there is nothing that you can do about it there is no reason to get angry, that was life

"Hello Applejack I said politely, could I have about ten apples?' Sure

"Um hello Applejack, could I have some apples too" A quite voice said behind me" It was a very soft and shy voice

"Yeah sure Fluttershy by the way this is Polaris" AppleJack Said happily

"Hello Polaris" She said in a voice that was hard for even me to hear,this one was shy unlike the outgoing ness of the other ponies that I had met, It was most likely best for both of us that we try not to engage in any conversation with each other.

"Hello Fluttershy" I said kindly before firing up my magic to pick the proper apples

Then right as I was picking my fourth apple it happened,..I felt a spinning sensation again

I kept using my magic to inspect apples however It just got worse "Polaris are you okay?" Applejack asked, my mouth would not form the proper words to her question this time because my lungs were gasping for air, my sun glasses fell to the ground, and soon I followed them, the whole world was spinning rapidly, there was a buzzing noise that I heard, I faintly heard Applejack rip past her apple stand pushing it over to go to my aid, I could hear her cries for help, they were faint.....

Then it all blacked out

THE END

Dreams

Daydream

Character and personal force are the only investments that are ever really worth anything
-Walt Whitman

Polaris's Journal
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Equestrian Health Institute: Article 68: Solitary bacteria: section 12: Rare cases
Bacteria Species: Lymostrepochacus
Common Names: Blackout, The shark sickness, Knockout punch, the Nightmare virus
Bacteria Description: Unlike most Bacteria Lymostrepochacus is solitary and doesn't live in groups, they also only rarely attach themselves to ponies, usually preferring other organisms such as rabbits , which do not seem to be affected by their presence, they are often so spread out that most large towns will only get about one to two attacks per year, however that does not make these attacks any less devastating to the victim. they are known to be very painful,at first causing slow strikes of pain and momentary dizzy ness, until they start shutting things down, they even have the ability to completely shut off a unicorn's magic, they do this by putting out a strong neurological toxin. For all of the massive pain and suffering that it causes, it leaves relatively little damage behind, there is no permanent damage done to the body, however it does leave Unicorns completely drained for about a week after the incident, the neuro toxin that it produces is in that same venom category as pit vipers, only the symptoms are much more severe and the real damage is none . Because is so rare there is not any real chance to study it.
symptoms; Short fits of pain that slowly increase in magnitude until the victim is incapacitated, it is then when the bacteria starts feeding off the host's energy reserves, since it is so small, the weight difference is unnoticeable, the Bacterial is usually ousted or killed by the immune response. It is unknown on how to prevent this bacteria, and you are just plain unlucky.

Chapter 3: Dreams

(Polaris POV)

Pain...Massive amounts of pain, I felt cotton sheets hug me at my sides, however they were not my cotton sheets, a sudden fear raised up within me, but it was soon replaced by the throbbing feeling in my head, a storm was going on out side I could hear the lightning, the pattering of the rain drops, my body ached like fire, I desperately wanted to cool of in the rain.

I tried my my magic, it was out, like a dead light bulb that needed replacing, I tried again, with the same result, I was completely blacked out, I was able to still use my other senses to look around but my magic was the one ace card that I held

This place... it smelled of books , many books, where exactly was I? I heard voices downstairs, I tried to listen in on them, then....

It all faded away

(Yesterday: Applejack's Pov)

This pony was an odd one indeed, I wondered why she wore those darn sunglasses all the time, they really did look odd on anypony, she was picking out the finest apples I had, that girl must have moved from, a farm with her inspection skills, she didn't even seem to be looking at the apples, yet she was getting them right, the girl knew her apples, maybe if she had some time, she could help us at the farm. I still found it amazing that Pinkie hadn't started inviting other ponies to the surprise party that she was most likely planning,

In all honesty I haven't seen Pinkie pie for the past two days, She had to be up to something

As Polaris got to her seventh apple, she started to stumble a little bit, she tried to keep going, her horn was flickering on and off a bit, a look of extreme pain and suffering was on her face, "Polaris are you okay?" I asked she started to sweat, and looked in a really bad place.

Then she started breathing rapidly, she started shaking and sputtering around rapidly, her glasses fell off revealing two pure yellow eyes with no pupils....was she blind? That did not matter she needed me now. Instinct took over, I felt my self rip past the apple stand, apples flying everywhere I knelt by her side and looked at her face "Polaris, You better stay with me!!!" I yelled at the top of my lungs

Those eyes, those great big yellow eyes showed pain, they were hypnotising, they were as round and bright as the full moon, they were beautiful and they were full of fear, "Polaris!!, Oh Buck, you better stay with me" she mumbled something that I could not understand

Her eyes started closing, those beautiful eyes. "Fluttershy get Twilight, she'll know what to do" in response Fluttershy flew off faster than Rainbowdash herself,it is amazing what adrenaline can do to a pony

"What do ya want me to do sis?" Applebloom asked, frankly I had forgotten that she was even there "Go home right now sis" I yelled, it was kind of hard to be calm at this point, "But-" she started to argue "GO HOME!" I yelled, a bit too loudly..

She quickly went away, I felt sorry for her for yelling too loudly, however I could always apologize later, right now I had more pressing concerns

There Blue-grey pony laid on her chest, she seemed unconscious to what was happening, her yellow eyes were half closed, and she was still breathing rapidly,I was by no means a medical pony and honestly did not know what to do in the situation, She was definitely still breathing, and had a pulse , I just had to go for it, I quickly picked her up and put her on my back,

"Looks like you could use some help with that" A colt's voice said behind me, I turned around, the owner of the voice was a pony named Shadow, everypony knew everypony in Ponyville, however all I knew about Shadow, was that he ran some sort of archery team, nothing else besides that.

"Two ponies will move faster than one he replied simply" Even though AppleJack was strong one pony was still heavy

"Well come on lets get moving" I yelled

(Knocked out Polaris Pov)(Dream)

I was running there were five ponies after me, I don't exactly know where I was, the alley seemed endless, it was almost as if this was just a dream, then it clicked, this was my single most horrible memory form my childhood, and still the definite most horrible moment in my life, and it was replaying all over again, like a broken CD player.

It wasn't possible this had to be fake, this had to be a dream, but how would I wake up, I couldn't relive it again, I just couldn't, I had bottled up all the pain, a long time ago, I had put it in a bottle, that bottle was about to be set on fire, I was a painful fire, a fire that burned out my heart...

...It was my greatest mistake

Even worse I knew what was going to happen, I would prevent it this time, this time I would be the one to pay, I deserved it not some other pony, not him

I had a concept of darkness, as well as light, darkness was cold quiet and empty, The walls that surrounded me felt dark, and snaked around like the claws of a bird catching a mouse, then it occurred to me there was no way I was faster than these other ponies, they were playing with me like a cat with a mouse.

Then just like last time I tripped in a ditch, I felt the gritty dirt surface of the ground, the texture told me that I was downtown, in the slums, I had wandered in the wrong way, then it hit me, If I had gone through this before why did I trip in the exact same place again, I guess somethings are meant to be

This is the moment where I am happy that I was blind, The group slowly surrounded me, and the leader came up, he was a pony known as Drover (for those of you who get that reference) I was told he was as skinny as a snake sneaky as a cat and had a giant scar running down his cheek, and I am talking about the one on his face (weird humor)

Drover was just another common crook, from the bad side of Canterlot before Celestia brought up some program that threw all of the corrupt leaders and gangs out and got the place running by decent ponies again, from what I knew of him now he was behind bars where he belonged.

From another point of view it was quite sad, Drover was a great leader of his little gang, he was a smuggler and thief, but imagine what he could have been had he not been a monster....he could have been so much more of a pony, it was really quite sad indeed now that I think about it. of course since he was about to severely beat me to a pulp, I did not have too much pity for him.

"Well well well what have we here" He said in a belligerent snake-like voice that sent shivers down your spine,"looks like a runt stepped into our territory boys, how about we teach her a lesson"

I of course did what any young filly would have done in that situation, begged like crazy for mercy, in response to my cries, and pleas the other five ponies just laughed.

The worst was yet to come, I remembered this part, the clearest, beads of sweat started to form on my face, tears formed in my eyes, the other ponies mocked me "Aww. does the little filly willy want to cry to her parents, oh wait your parents don't care about you!" at this I broke out in to outright crying, not at the fact that he was about to beat me to a pulp AGAIN, but because he was right about my parents

"THAT IS ENOUGH" a loud voice behind us said, all of the gang ponies turned around, and there he was his energy signal was exactly as I had remembered it, the only pony who I had ever called a friend, his name was Silver Fox, he is perhaps the best pony that I have ever met, and now I was about to lose him

"Go pick on some pony your own size" he snapped, he was always sort of a protector to me

"Aw look the brave hero coming to save his princess" Drover mocked, he voice showed that he was fairly amused that a pony such as young as Fox would challenge him and his little group

"Shut up, You're a coward and a chump, Drover" Fox sniped back he always had had this sort of ethos honor code thing, this was basically a few good rules that he lived by, and now those rules were about to get him killed

"Come on Fox, we were going to just play around with her for a bit" Drover said, at this his gang laughed behind him ominously "Besides, even if you do try to play hero, what are you going to do against us?"

"You like to talk a big game, so here is what doesn't add up, if you're so strong then why do you need them to fight me, or are you worried that you might lose?" I could tell by his tone that Fox currently had what was called a smirk on his face,

"nice try but no thanks boys get him" Before the other ponies could react Fox jump tackled Drover into a giant fight, soon everypony was all mixed up in a tangle of hooves, Silver fox looked up out at me from the crowd, he looked calm, even as he was getting beaten to a pulp drover looked directly at him, "I'm going to kill you you little runt!!" then jumped on Silver fox, he was followed by the other ponies, while he was being crushed I made a run for it

Tears fell down my face as I ran, rain was falling, it stung my eyes

I could hear Silver Fox's echo something "POLARIS! good bye, get out of this town" it was cut off

I never saw my friend again....

He was...the best pony that there ever was, and I had been the cause of his death, to make things worse all the memories flowed in my head...all the times he stood up for me...all the times we played together, he was the reason, the entire reason that I moved here, that was his last request and I had failed him. A massive pain gushed in my head, everything that I had been through, ignored, all the pain over the years had been released, and it hurt

the vision stopped playing, and I felt a presence in my head, it was darkness, it was soothing, in a way, I had lost all other hope, and now I even screwed up the one last thing that Silver Fox had asked me to do. The darkness enveloped me making a missive barrier around my subconscious, like a box, nothing would be able to get through the mental block that I was creating for myself...nothing, I would just stay here in the dark, and never wake up, this was the only way that every pony would be safe from me, and I from them.

Then I felt a light

(Yesterday evening) Twilight's house) Twilight's Pov

She was preforming a mental block, that's why she was unresponsive! This was bad, it was very very bad, but what would cause he to do that, a mental block by the way happens when a unicorn knowingly locks them self into their own mind, they are almost impossible to get out and are cationic, that has only happened one other time in history with Al Capony when he went crazy.

I should really explain the last five minutes, Applejack and another pony had brought that pony that I had bumped into recently, in she was currently sick and had a high fever

I did another quick scan on Polaris, she was currently burning up with a fever, but we actually didn't know what was wrong with her, I started up my magic scan, she was in pain, mental as well as physical, massive amounts of emotional pain, that explained the mental lock, she couldn't deal with whatever had happened

"Hey Twilight, I found something" Shadow said. This was actually the first time that I had met Shadow, nopony really knew much about him, I guess I could ask Pinkie about him later, she had to know

"What is it Shadow"

This has to be what Polaris is inflicted with, it would be the only explanation with all these Symptoms"

He then gave me the book, that was titled "rare cases"

"It's basically a stronger form, of hikers sickness"(I have had hikers sickness before, not fun)

"What?" A small part of me was wondering what the hoof was hikers sickness and exactly how did Shadow know about it

"Never mind just read" He said thrusting the book at me

"That has to be it" I said after reading a couple of pages,the book explained everything that matched Polaris's symptoms

She continued blocking her own mind, we had to reach her, "Shadow, help me out,she is preforming a mental block, I need a lot of magic to get in there and help her", he simply gave a nod before powering up his magic, i started powering up mine

(Polaris POV)

Then I felt a light

It was warm, I felt it's heat, it was, a calming heat, like the effect that one experiences in a hot bath, but I had to stay where I was, for the good of everypony, I slowly crept back into my mental, dark prison, the light continued to follow, "What do you want?" I screamed out loud in my mind, of course expecting nothing to answer, I was after all in the confines of my mind, no one else was here. However to my surprise it did

"I or I should say we want to help you" as a mental sensory, the light...warmth...thing, what ever you would call it showed up a a sort of a mental ball, kind of how I have seen other ponies describe stars, how every my other senses and scans told me that it was surprisingly magic, the voice....where had I heard that voice before...where was it, it was from yesterday, with the pony at the library...I never forget a voice

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" I yelled, or should say mentally yelled, I was a bit concerned at this point, they seemed persistent

"I'm Twilight, Polaris's please calm down, why are you doing this" She sounded genuinely worried, but I was beyond reasonable at this point, I could not trust anyone

'Why do you care!" I mentally yelled again, no pony had ever cared before, only Silver Fox, and he was gone now, why should I trust her, she is just like every other pony that I had ever met, why was she even here.

"Why wouldn't I?" She asked, again seeming honestly concerned, a small part of me felt like the light, and wanted to stop the darkness, wanted to go with her and settle things out but I quickly pushed it down, that would never happen, it was like a mathematical equation always with the same predictable outcome, I had rested on hope that there were more people like Fox, but he was special.

We met when we were fillies, he had been the only one to talk to me on the first day, soon we became friends, he was the only real friend that I ever really did have. He always seemed to have a sort of divine spark inside him, he was very brave, and always believed that ponies, were good at heart.....I am sad to as that this is not true, however it was this kind if thinking that gave me hope, and hope is something that runs out after awhile.

I am sorry to say that he was wrong,he was always a dreamer an idealist, a thinker. I was always the realist in his life we completed each other, however he was a special pony, and that special pony is now gone, it was a shame, like it was for Drover, he could have done so much more for everyone, he could have helped so many other ponies, yet he was taken away, and it was my fault, I couldn't bear to do that to anyone else, even if there was another pony out there like him, I did not deserve that pony, I was not worthy of kindness.

"Just...leave me alone, GO AWAY!" I yelled, the mental ball of light that was the librarian,was frazzled a bit, but soon regained her composure

"Just tell me why your doing this" she replied calmly as in a almost dealing manner, I was actually amazed that she didn't either completely blow up at me, or give up, in my head I could feel he determination, behind determination there had to be hidden goals, i had learned way to many times on how harmful hidden goals could be, she could still be faking it, maybe her magic was affecting my magic somehow.

"What do you hope to gain from this?" I accusingly asked at her, there had to be something she wanted, all ponies wanted something, only normal ponies could have relationships,,the only other time that other ponies ever interacted wth me in Canterlot, is when they wanted something, as soon as they received what they needed, they went away...they always did.

The darkness slowly started to creep away from me, it seemed scared

'Well...I was hoping, you would be my friend, and maybe I could help you out" I took a moment, to be completely honest, I was completely out of it, of all possible answers, of any excuses, all possible explanations, I had not calculated that one. My vocabulary was a well oiled machine, the word friend seemed to be covered in cobwebs.

Turned away from the ball of light, the expression of shame naturally showed on my face "I....I don't think you would like me as a friend" I said this somewhat quietly but it seemed to echo throughout my mind. If she was a good pony, she didn't deserve me nopony did, the darkness crawled back onto me.

"Why wouldn't I want you as a friend?" She asked this is such a innocent yet knowing way "I have several friends, I just learned the important thing about friendship, they are your family, always there for you" her answer made me tear up finally (or mentally tear up, what ever you would call it.) "Just answer my question please" she did not say it forcefully, however she did say it in a convincing way,

I broke "I'm a nopony, I'm a freak, every where in all my life i have tried to hide form this, but I can't run any longer, I'm different, I'm blind, I'm defective, nopony would want a stupid defective pony like me, my parents didn't, my teachers didn't,, other ponies haven't cared,so why should you!You'll turn on me like every pony else has, I've tried and tried again,I've now given up, there is only one pony who ever truly cared about me and he is gone, and I just want everypony to leave me alone, I can just go away, and be out of everybody's way, that's all I've ever been, a problem to other ponies, I one pony who has ever cared for me is gone and it is my own fault" I finished my rant breathing and sweating rapidly

The giant shining ball that was Twilight was quiet for a moment, contemplating it's answer, it was an eerie silence that was my mind, cold and quiet, like a desert "Well I care about you" It said

"W...What?" I asked stunned, I had honestly through that the rant would be enough to make them go away

"Applejack cares for you, she carried you all the way here" Applejack was the one who saw me foe who I really was, she was the one who saw my eyes..and even when I went down she carried me to Twilight's house? She went through the trouble to get me safe.

The light that formed twilight, gradually got larger, while the darkness in which I formed my prison gradually got smaller

"Shadow too" She continued Shadow the pony that had helped me out earlier, he came in my time of need "so what you said is false, you do have friends"

"Maybe I don't deserve friends" I stated sadly now that i had finally calmed down "I've always failed in that area, i don't want to let ya'll down" I stood sadly as my dark prison started to wrap around me again

'Well what in the hay would give you that Idea?" a southern sounding accent that was Applejack's said sure another ball of light had formed beside Twilight

"How.....how are you here?" This was an actually question for the Applejack ball of light, how exactly was she here, I mean Twilight I can understand, how in all of Equestria was Applejack here

Twilight seemed to be wondering the same thing 'Uh.... Applejack, not that I doubt you,but how is it possible that you are here? She seemed to be puzzled on how an earth pony ,was able to be able to use the mental spell that allowed other ponies to be transferred as a mental state of mind, into my head, this whole situation was odd to begin with, I wonder who was the crazy person to think up all this stuff.

"Shadow and I agreed that ya'll needed back up, and started arguing about who should go in, I won the coin toss (Best two out of three) and thus was the one to help you feel better, you Polaris need some rest, you are very sick at the current moment, and we aren't moving until you do, whether you like it or not"

The darkness started creeping back again, there were so many emotions that, I haven't felt in so long, so much pain, being shifted... into.... something.....that I was not entirely sure. It was like there was a spark in my heart again. I was rapidly running out of excuses, they had easily disproved any and every theory that I had learned over the course of my life, all by simply standing up for my well being, it was all so ...selfless, is that the word for it?

But my skeptical mind was still there and it was still functioning "But...what...what about my eyes" I asked quietly and prepared to be stamped down like every other pony did when they discovered my condition, they would either react violently, of run away.

"What about them?" Applejack said bluntly I was to say the least very surprised at the comment, it seemed that these ponies could look past that, since no other pony had ever really done this to me before, I had trouble comprehending it

"What do you mean "What about them" every pony has run away because of them, their horrible, ugly" I said in defiance

"How do you know" Twilight said "Do you really care about how you look, or what you're wearing, no, you have a giant hoof upon the rest of those ponies because you can see ponies for who they really are, do you have any idea how fantastic that is, do you know the bad thing about eyes, you can be so judgemental, you can see past all that, as for being with you as a friend, "(Shakespeare quote) those who judge ponies by the group are foolish, you should tke ponies one at a time, for each pony if different" what is important is that you can look past the looks and into what is really important, which is their heart."

The darkness shrunk back until it was only holding onto my legs

"We have a saying in the Apple family, take ponies for WHO they are not WHAT they look like" Applejack said bluntly

That had it, all calculations all theories, and studies and trials, started, I felt the spark in me, they had returned it to me, my friends had returned it.

Then it all whited out

(Polaris Present)

I slept, for I was very tired, and for once in a very long time...

I Dreamed

THE END

Polaris Description
Gender: Girl
Physical features: She is a Blue-grey pony, her snout and the tips of her hooves are slightly darker than the rest of her body. He mane is Dark green, well kept, slightly waved and fairly short, her tail is the same color and reaches about half-way down her back legs, her horn is the standard unicorn horn. Her most shocking of her features are her eyes which are a light yellow, with no pupil.
Personality: as you read the story, you can find this out for your self (please do tell me, what you think the personality is like)

Letters

The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions - the little, soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Ghosts of the Past, Letters of the future

Dear Polaris,

I have heard about your situation, and do sincerely hope that you get better soon. My Class asks about you just about every day. Please let me or any pony else know if you ever need some assistance
Get well soon,
Cheerilee

Dear Polaris,

I am Very sorry to hear that you are sick, I would like to wish you the best and get well soon so I can finally meet you.
Your friend,

Sweetie Bell

Dear Polaris,

We all kind of heard about your sickness, and I would like to see you sometime, you could come and play with us on our adventures,, to get our cutie marks, I know that we could use your help, get well soon,
Your, friend
Applebloom

Dear Polaris,

I have heard about you and would like for you to meet my friends, Im sure that they would like you, we all can't wait to meet you, Get well soon.
Your Friend Scootloo

Dear Polaris

I can't wait to meet you, I am a musician, a DJ to be exact, I can't wait to be rocking on with you, please when you get better come over if you want to play some tunes.
Your Friend,
DJ Pon-3 A.K.A Vinyl Scratch

Dear Polaris,

I am sorry for your current situation, but on the bright side when you get better, I would like to show you my TARDIS, We can travel all of space and time.
To many great adventures to come,
The Doctor

Dear, mysterious sunglasses pony,
We would like like to meet you. We is not ponies, but would like to give you a tour of our home. We would also like to hope you get better.
Uh....how do we end letter?
Write name!
Uh.....Diamond Dogs

Dear Polaris,

Twilight has wrote to us of your current condition. We are sorry for what ever has happened to you and sincerely hope that you will be able to over come future challenges. It is now time to move on to Ponyville and start a better life there, you have also brought to our knowledge that there is some need of social reform that we plan on starting right away. Please do contact us if you would ever need anything.
Your friends,
Princesses, Celestia and Luna

Dear Polaris,

We hope that you will be able to hang out with us soon, We would really like to meet you.
Your Friends,
Lyra, and Bon bon

(Twilight's house: Polaris's POV)

I woke up again, my head was throbbing, however mentally I felt better than I had ever before, I tried my magic, it was still dead, I hoped that it wasn't forever, that would be scary a life truly blind. I had always felt that...I was somehow normal with my improvised sight, it kept me believing that life was still worth living, it helped me rise everyday and be able to face it, even if that day was doomed for all new problems and pains. It also allowed me to see through people, how happy or how hostile they are, there seemed to be a spark on some ponies, while others, were like a smoking candle that had just been extinguished by a cold unforgiving wind.

Another question remained, how long had I been asleep? It had actually felt like a longtime since I had felt the light of day again, the pressure told me that there would be a thunderstorm in around 3 hours, the sunlight that warmed my body told me that it was about 10:00 AM, however I seemed to be slightly off, in Canterlot due to the high buildings, and smog, the sunlight seemed...... different, it was a bit more warm and calming, maybe it was just the altitude difference or something weird like that

And the most important question remained , where exactly was I? At this question, my imagination, started an uprising of fear in the darkest pit of my mind, like a desperate cry to try to go into mental lock again. But I was a different pony now, and plus my rational thinking brain took control again, I had been saved by my....friends and they most likely wouldn't put me into any harm after saving me right? There was of course the feeling that even if they had saved me, i still didn't know much about these ponies, in fact they probably did know quite a bit about me from efficiently shifting through my mind during the mental lock.

The scent of this place seemed familiar, It smelled heavily of all kinds of books, you know that book smell that everyone seems to like. It actually has some interesting authentication qualities, I have been around books enough to know how old of used they are just by their smell, it was quite interesting, this place had all kinds of book smells, old and new, I was obviously at Twilight's house. I never forgot a smell

But exactly why was I here, I mean I thought they would take me back to my home or something, I remembered the sequence of dreams then me putting myself, in a mental lock of no return, then whiting out, and waking up before falling asleep, but during this sequence of events I had had no concept of time, did the sequence of events happen, exactly how long have I been asleep?

I tried my magic again to no avail, It was becoming increasingly obvious that I would be unable to do magic for awhile, I was still on the intent to keep hidden as much as possible, then I felt my face, I had no sunglasses, how would I go around town at all!? I would have to sneak back to my house without magic as is, but how inconspicuous is a pony randomly walking around with tight shut eyes, not that much.

"I felt frantically around on Twilight's desk, looking for my sunglasses, only to almost tip over a lamp. In my frantic movements I fell out of Twilight's bed and on to the floor, Why can't I just get a break? Pain erupted through my head as it had hit something wooden (probably the desk next to the bed) I rubbed the spot hoping that the pain would lessen, fortunately the bump had not cut of split anything.

It was after a few seconds of rubbing the troubled spot that I realized that I was laying on paper, a fairly impressive mound of paper, I hope that I had not crushed anything, I was after all I was a a guest here, these ponies had taken me in and basically, saved me from myself, To be frank I owed them....a lot.

It was always important to be polite to other ponies, if I wasn't polite, then I would be no better than those ponies in Canterlot. I did not want to start on the wrong hoof with these ponies, relationships can always go south so to speak. I had to be very careful, again I was in debt to these ponies

A sweat drop ran down my face I I heard the sound of paper crumple, It gave me a bit of a flash back to a particular lamp that mom liked, I tipped it over by accident, and well.....

......Lets just say it didn't end well, but now that I looked back on it, it was probably the best night of my life

(Flash back)

It was snowing it night, it was just another Hearts Warming Eve, every pony was feasting, telling songs, stories. They were all in their warm homes, with giant smiles on their faces, giving presents with their friends, every pony's place should be with family and friends tonight, with a nice cup of apple cider.

"AND STAY OUT" My mother had grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and threw me out into the snow, the snow actually helped at first, I could feel its numb effect on fresh cuts and bruises, however soon it stung, it had felt like i had awakened a yellow jacket's nest.

"I was young then, a total filly, I could very well freeze to death in that night, the wind chill was bad, and there was ice everywhere, and ice plus a young blind filly with limited magic does not mix. I had no extra clothes to keep me warm with me, and instinct told me to go near our air conditioning unit. It provided me with some warmth, just enough to prevent frost bite.

Our family, if you could call it that, never celebrated hearts warming, even if we did, our hearts just wouldn't be in it. I certainly didn't have any reason at the current time to celebrate,there was no push to be happy, just cold emotions such as sorrow and guilt, those were as slick and cold as the ice, unrelenting in it's terror as I moved.

Then I felt a shift in pressure. I tried my magic (of which I was still perfecting) and it worked, the snow suddenly stopped and for some odd reason I could see everything so clearly, I saw the stars dance, in a spectacular show, I detected a presence, Princess Celestia was up there and she was dancing with the stars, in a fantastic light show, that even I could detect, it was as if the princess's very presence was stimulating me to see (magically speaking) energy swirled within me, and then, I had felt a source calling from my side, I had, just received my cutie mark it was a lone shining star.

Cutie marks have a constant flow of energy going out of them, and for some reason or another this allows me to see them in much better quality with my magic, even I am not sure how it worked

As quickly as it started the Show came to an end, Celestia had gone to spread her art with others, and I was lost and alone again...or so I thought

"Hello there" a voice of a colt that was about my age said behind me. It was the sort of casual friendly hello, that one says out to a friend or family member, I had actually never had the pleasure

I had jumped back in response,no one was ever able to sneak up on me and it was very odd that this young colt could. I would always be able to hear, smell, or just feel a pony coming. Exactly how had he gotten through, and what exactly was he doing out here, my senses were most likely out due to the cold

"You look cold" He said worried "my family lives close by here, would you like to come with me, by the way my names Silver Fox"

"You mean your not afraid or angry?' I asked innocently, I couldn't believe that he was offering for me to stay there for the night

"Why would I?" He asked in the same tone that I have just used, if I was more paranoid back then I would have thought that he was mocking me

"I'm.....different" that was all that I could say to the pony that was offering this great kindness, I walked forward to make sure that he could see my eyes, I was ready to bolt at the first sign of violence, I've had enough beatings for one night, I mentally prepared myself for the moment when he would turn on me

"So... your still a pony" He answered "You still think you, still have feelings, you still dream, and currently you look hungry so your going to my house to eat and meet my family, by the way what is your name"

I walked up to his side "Polaris.....my name is Polaris"

And with that we walked into the snow

(Present)

I had to hold back the tears in my eyes from the memory when i just figured out what I had landed on. It had felt like a mound of papers, and more specifically lots of enclosed papers with an outer paper shell, of to be more simple in wording letters, lots and lots of letters,, but that didn't make sense, why did Twilight have all these letters? She doesn't seem to be the type of pony to get or write this much letters, there had to be another reasonable thing behind this.

I got off the pile to find out that I had not accidentally bent, or ripped any of the letters then I started feeling around, then I felt something very interesting, I had pulled out a big letter from the feel I had the royal Canterlot seal on it, the letters on the address were raised so I could read just by feeling the letters....It was addressed to me.

I quickly opened it up and read the raised letters.

Dear Polaris,

Twilight has wrote to us of your current condition. We are sorry for what ever has happened to you and sincerely hope that you will be able to over come future challenges. It is now time to move on to pony ville and start a better life there, you have also brought to our knowledge that there is some need of social reform in Canterlot society that we plan on starting right away. Please do contact us if you would ever need anything.
Your friends,
Princesses, Celestia and Luna

The puzzle was quickly coming together, these letters were not for Twilight, they were for me, no one had even bothered to write a letter to me before, it was not heard of., several people actually took effort to write out that they truly did care for me,there was a warm feeling from the bottom of my, heart, I had been feeling, this feeling quite a bit ever since I came to Ponyville, was this happiness?

Then along with the happiness a sprout of fear came with me all of these ponies knew about me, They ALL knew about me, I was nervous meeting one single pony that was as nice as Applejack, I didn't have the guts to meet them all, My mental status just couldn't take it

Then came the trouble of how the princesses knew about my current situation, Twilight must have put some pieces together, and most likely went through my mind when I was about to lock my self. I to a degree trusted Twilight however I was knowingly concerned about how much information she, Shadow, and Applejack had accidentally combed through, I really didn't want then to know about Silver Fox and Drover, they probably wouldn't accept me....

Fortunately none of the letters had been crushed, and I carefully removed my weight from them, trying not to make a sound, I was actually surprised that no pony had heard my little fall perhaps Twilight was out, if so that would be confidant, I was going to try and sneak out of here, I didn't need to cause any more trouble.

I started feeling my way around every nook and crack, to find the entrance,from the texture and everything it seemed that this was an oak tree that carved out of, and a large one at that, this thing had to be ancient .I did, after about 5 minutes, find the entrance to the room in which I was in....

...however I did not think of the stairs

CRASH THUMP THUMP THUMP CRASH!!!

The good part was that I landed on a random pillow at the bottom of the stairs, the bad part was that I had just fallen down about12 steps that were made of solid oak, if I had thought the pain was bad in my head before, it was a lot worse now, everywhere was hurting, but it seemed that no vital points had been hit.

I tied to stand up, but quickly started to fall again, fortunately some pony caught me, since I was completely out on the magic, however it smelled of books and, a lack of hair product, which had to mean Twilight, I do not say lack of Hair product as an offensive term, I just don't understand it, sometimes it smells good, but most of the time it is too much, and i really didn't get the 'looking good" part of it, my own hair was naturally wavy and cut fairly short it was simple, I had honestly never asked about the color of my hair nor did I care, color was not a concept that was very known to me, thus I didn't care, and designed not to get caught or hold be back on any measure, while still looking like a normal pony, this was the way that i had always done it.

It was also of course due to the fact that the barbers would refuse to cut my hair and so I had to do so on my own, and just saying do you have any idea how hard that is even with magic. It took me weeks of practice (and of course not to mention some really socially awkaward situations and bad hairstyles, even by my standards) and discipline until I finally got it right.

My theory about the book-smelling pony being Twilight was proved correct when she spoke "Are you alright, your bleeding" She sounded worried. It was at this point that felt a small scratch on the right side of my face, it had a steady flow of blood coming out of it.

The mild bleeding was small but due to the amount of blood vessels that flow through one's face in order to disperse heat and carry it to other parts of the body, this was helpful when the body was trying to maintain homeostasis, however a bit messy when there a small cut on your right cheek (And I do mean the one on my face).

"yes" I said shaking "It is just a scratch" Still she did not let go and walked me to the couch, I sat down then it had just occurred to me that the TV was on,I had never had a TV, nor had i ever particularly wanted one, a radio worked for me, plus it was much more cheaper to have a radio than a television. I heard some ponies got sucked into television, this show was apparently called "The Daily Show With Ventus"

"Spike! get me a bandage" Who is spike? My question was answered by a soft running

'Here they are" Said the voice of a young dragon, most likely her assistant

"Here let me clean that up" She said in kind voice

"You really don't need to" I said in an avoiding manner, I really didn't want to be a bother to anypony

"Yes I do you need all the rest you can get, after that Neuro bacteria" She said fairly casually

"Wait what? Is that why I can't use my magic? Is it temporary?" I ask in a worry some manner, I couldn't live with out my magic

"Don't worry" she said "it will return in about half a week" She said while putting the gauze pad on the side of my face

"Where are Shadow and Applejack?" I tried to say casually, the use was part conversational, part curious, I wanted to know where my friends where, I guess because I cared about them.

"Applejack is working on her farm, while Shadow is" she took a few moments to put in the right words "...Dabbles in things around town" Her tone told me that she actually did not know too much about, which was okay since she was new in town as I was, she was most likely still settling in

She reached to turn off the off the TV But I stopped her, my reasoning being that I was somewhat curious about the show "I've never really had a thing for TV" I said indicating to my eyes, which Twilight had not been disturbed by "But I am curious, what is that show about" pointing where the sound of the TV was coming from.

"Oh that is the Daily Show with Ventus,it is where a fictional being known as a human, his name is Ventus, conducts fake news reports, and interviews ponies" she said

"But does he report news"

"No not really

"I guess that is interesting" I had said it a bit more naturally than expected, which I guess led her to believe that I didn't like it,

"It is really good would you like to watch the rest of it with me " She offered

"No thank you I really do need to get going" I said politely, I really didn't want to bother her, she seemed like the type of pony that was always busy, a workaholic, I would only slow her down, however it seemed as if I was fairly misguided in my theory about going home,

She answered my comment with a bout of silence, and what I eventually guessed as a look of shock on her face not that I would know of course.

She finally gathered her self together and spoke "I don't think you will be leaving here for about a half a week" she said in a commanding yet un threatening way.

"Why not?" I asked innocently "I could just go home myself, I don't want to be a bother, and you seem like a very busy pony" I responded. I always had to survive by myself with no help at all

She seemed to think out her words carefully "You won't be able to use your magic for awhile so....I made preparations for you to stay here for the next half a week"

"Thanks but you really don't have to...."

"You just fell down the stairs, yes I have to" She said sternly, she really wasn't moving on this issue.

"Fine I'll stay..."

THE END

Count the Shadows

(Polaris's Journal)
Dear Journal,

I have finally healed from my sickness and things have died down, I have been officially accepted into Ponyville although I have not seen Shadow, I really do need to thank him. However on a more serious note some ponies have been missing in town recently. The Police are baffled and there is a warning to stay inside at night. my current problem is finding new sunglasses.....there is also something else that is odd, every night, my magic senses something, or I should say many things outside the door, It feels like there is a Billion living things swarming around in the dark, maybe it's just my magic acting up again....

(Detective Shadow: Case file 309)

I have been inspecting the most recent disappearances, and crime scenes and yet there is no evidence, i't like the night just sucks up people, may be the Doctor or Twilight has a clue. This did come up quite unexpected, I wanted to see Polaris again and see how she is doing. Either way I think that we should issue a warning to keep out of the Everfree forest, something doesn't feel right.

(Shadow's POV)(one week ago)
It was raining, it was absolutely blurry, I was out in the field where the last pony had disappeared, looking for signs of any struggle before the rain had washed everything away, I looked at my sketch of what I had figured out so far, first all the ponies were unicorns, second, they never vanished inside their homes, third, It was always at night, which was fairly predictable, easiest time to hide, In my opinion It would take a coward to attack a decent pony in the dark

I looked at the names again,the ink started to get smudged due to the paper, the first to get taken was Lyra Heartstrings, and then Colegate. who or what ever had taken them had left no trace and so the Ponyville Police called me as always. After all I was a Private Detective.

However Ponyville was a fairly relaxed place, though it still seemed exciting at the same time there was always some pony that was doing something incredible, and everyone cared about it in a nice way. Thus, most likely why Polaris had moved here in the first place, either because she couldn't afford anywhere else or dumb luck she was with us all now and happy from what I've heard

Now of course I needed to just go home, after this was done, to my famous leftover surprise (it's leftovers....surprise!) but the job came before sleep or food , besides this was a big case and other ponies lives could be hanging in the balance, and I did care quite a bit about these ponies, But I guess that's what you get after living in a small town for so long

Of course my usual duties were not this important, usually I was preoccupied with finding lost toys, or finding some one who had bumbled into the everfree Forrest, or something like that, and thus had loads of time to myself, which I usually spent doing volunteer work, or watching "The Daily Show with Ventus" not the high profile Con Mane, Bat Pony stuff that one expects out of police work.

Suddenly I saw something that looked of promise, I seems that the police had missed something again, it looked like some pony had been dragged through the grass, but not much besides that, then I found a tooth brush, it was Colegate's. I started scribbling down rapidly on my note pad on what I saw, when I noticed something very odd,

"A Shadow"I said out loud it was as clear as day in my flashlight, no one would expect much from a Shadow, only that it had been there at first and there was nothing to cast it I looked up for there to be something to cast it but there wasn't, I looked back down and it was gone, then something else, I looked at my sides and saw that I had two shadows

"Alright Harry stop fooling me" I said out loud this had to be a trick by the police trick, then I realized something, Harry hadn't made a joke in his life.

Harry was the police chief in town his nickname was "Dirty Harry" (yes I'm a Clint Eastwood fan) he was called that because he was gruff, had no manners, and wasn't afraid to pull out everything to get a job done, He was a built brown earth pony with medium length hair, he always wore a gray suit, and had a stern serious look

I turned on my magic to inspect my extra Shadow there seemed as if nothing was wrong with it, carefully I went out to touch it,

Bad move...

The shadow came to life and started wrapping it's self around my body, the shadow itself seemed to be alive, and was sticky, it wrapped itself around my neck mildly suffocating me it seemed to have several arms wrapping around my body

I tried my magic but for some odd reason it wouldn't work, I shot a beam of energy into the creature, nothing in fact it seemed to enjoy it, time for plan B. I grabbed my multi tool but my hoof was stopped by one of the shadow's many arms that were coiling around my body ,I tried my magic again and yielded only a few sparks, then as I sat there in a physical struggle it then occurred to me what was happening, it all made sense

That blast I tried took more energy out of me than it should have, this...thing fed on magic, then I felt something odd I was getting tired, this thing was draining me like a battery, my vision blurred

As I was turning to sleep the living shadow slowly started to pull me away into the ever free, in one last bout of energy I quickly grabbed my notebook off the ground,and while it was dragging me back, I wrote down a warning

I threw my note book into the field where some pony would find it, then the living shadow, dragged me into the dark of the ever free forest

(Present) (Polaris's Pov)

I woke up to rapid knocking, for which I was glad, most recently I had had bad dreams about something lurking within the ever free Forrest, my magic had also been feeling drained lately, most likely due to the lack of sleep. I really should talk to Twilight about that.

The annoying knock continued as I let out a tired "I'm coming!" down the hall, I quickly got up and slogged down the stairs to answer the door, of course I already knew who it was, before I opened the door, the smell matched Twilight, she had some other pony that I did not know behind her, he was male, and older.

I opened the door "good morning Twilight who is with you?"

"Inspector Harry, the police Chief of ponyville" Twilight introduced with a bit of an edge of worry in her voice, which led me to believe that I was in trouble

"Am I in trouble?" I asked nervously, I really didn't trust the police that much they really treated me bad back in Canterlot

"No but you were one of the last ponies to see Shadow before he disappeared" he said this in a sly gruff way, that made me wonder on if he gargled rocks every morning however there were more important questions to be asking right now.

"Shadow is missing?" this did of course explain on why I had not seen him for the past few days

"Shadow works as a private detective for the police, he was working on a case for them when he disappeared, of course maybe if he had someone with him this wouldn't have happened" Twilight explained with what seemed to be a slight agitation towards Harry, something inside me said that the two ponies were not the best of friends, however I quickly put it in the back of my mind, it had nothing to do with the problem at hand.

"Yes he did go missing" said Harry not noticing, or caring for Twilight's annoyance "by the way miss Polaris" He said getting up into my face "You wouldn't have know any thing about this would you?" He asked me in a threatening manner to which I cowered down somewhat, something told me not to cross this pony on a bad day

"Back off Harry, I haven't known her long but I do know as a fact that Polaris would never hurt another pony, so you can drop the investigation" Twilight answered for me, there was danger in her words, I had actually never seen her very angry, with unicorns, there was some physical change when absolutely furious,

First the let off magic, usually in the form of heat, they also went through a brief physical change, this was usually unnoticeable with most ponies, however with Twilight's ability in magic I am sure that, those changes would be very noticeable and VERY intimidating.

"Well Miss Sparkle, you can report to my crime scene at you leisure" Harry said somewhat mockingly before walking off into the general direction of the everfree Forrest, I had really heard nothing good about the place since I had arrived here, as a short history lesson, I heard that the place had been screwed up by some chaos god named Discord, and the chaos of the forest was his magic decomposing.

I had actually studied the magic coming from the Forest, it was like a unnatural, and very unpredictable magic that was combined in to the individual fibers of the forest, It was not like the unicorn magic or the princesses' magic, Unicorn magic, actually comes from energy procured through foods and other natural energy. The Unicorn itself was like a battery, storing this magical energy until they needed it, in fact they could even recharge another unicorn who had run out of magic, however this would take a lot of energy

It was a few seconds after Harry walked off, Twilight, said in a frustrated tone "lets catch up with him"

We were walking about 5 feet behind the chief, who was currently maintaining a blunt silence, Twilight in response was maintaining a similar silence in response to the blunt silence, It was kind of an advanced version of "the quiet game" in which the first to talk loses, I however needing more information in order to fully process the situation. Plus the silence was quickly turning from tense to a bit foalish

"What exactly was Shadow doing out here" I asked

It was Twilight who spoke up first "He had been looking around for a pony named Colegate she was the last pony to have disappeared and he went alone"

"Why did he go alone" I asked, it seemed like the forest was the one place that was around Ponyville that was not safe

It was now Harry's turn to answer "Shadow is not part of the police and is a consultant for us, thus I could not make him go with anypony" Harry said partially to Twilight "Anyway it was about to rain and he wanted to look at the sight before any potential evidence was lost in the rain"

"And how do you know that he was truly ponynapped" I asked with some hope the two seemed to finally be calming down for the most part

"It was obvious, he left his multi tool there, he never leaves that thing, plus his note book was there, of course some ponies like miss Sparkle doubt my important opinion and knowledge of the current missing pony," he said with a bit of poison in his words, and at this Twilight would not stand

"I never said your opinion wasn't important, but I can say that you're as dumb as rocks" She shot back

"Coming from some anti-social book-worm I take that as a compliment" Harry said returning fire

The theory about them getting along had just gone down in flames, as for the rest of the walk it ended sort of like a tennis match with the two swinging insults at each other

By the time we had arrived the sun told me that it was currently 1:00 PM I detecting that something was watching us, it seemed to be in shaded areas and dark places as we walked, but what seemed odd was that it was in small moveable patches prehaps they were just shade loving flies, and of course maybe my magic was acting up again, all in all this seemed to cause a giant presence all around us, I could not define a single living thing out of these patches that showed up in the dark, however these patches seemed very alive.

However it was hard to see through the distraction, of the two ponies arguing with each other, I was honestly pretty sure that when this was over Twilight was going to turn him into a cactus

"Look we're here " I said bluntly in a bid to calm the two's argument down, there were two ponies and they seemed to have a mini base of operations set up, it was easy to assume that they were with Harry, although something about the two ponies seemed off

My thought were confirmed when Harry called out "Sarge! Wolfie! over here!" The pair started running up to Harry, until much to his distress (and I might add somewhat comically) they accidental crashed Harry with a loud bang.

"What great training you do" Twilight said sarcastically

"GET OFF ME" Harry shouted as he untangled himself from the mass of ponies, this of course caused me to flinch slightly, I did not like loud sounds, from the sound if it, it seemed as if this crashing was a common occurrence

"Yessir" Sarge muttered clumsily getting back on his feet, he seemed to be quite an odd pony he was slightly bigger than Harry was however from his voice it seemed as if he couldn't hurt a butterfly, and he most likely never needed to, Ponyville had a famously low crime rate.

"Report what have you found?" Harry started with a hint of annoyance from the previous ordeal

before Sarge could answer Wolfie took over, "we found some partial skid marks where it seems that the Victim was dragged into the forest by something, the attacker has left no tracks" Wolfie was much smaller than Sarge, Harry Twilight or me, but he seemed to have a non-arrogant air about him

"We have also gotten down most of the stuff from Shadow's note book however there is one last thing on the last page that we could not read, the rain had ruined the ink too much" Wolfie explained holding out the book

"give it here" Twilight said "I might be able to enhance it magically in order to read it, she finish taking Shadow's note book and looking at it

She focused a small strip of her magical energy on the object, a few seconds later the paper was presumed to be readable "What does it say" I couldn't help but ask

"Count the shadows" Twilight read "Well what the hoof does that MEAN? Does your detective always talk this...poetic?" She asked

"No Shadow is known for being very direct and plain when it comes to giving instructions" Wolfie responded

"Plus who do you know, miss Sparkle, Who would try to devise a riddle while being forced into the ever free Forest by dragging" I was pretty sure that at this point these two were enjoying to fight with each other

"Well maybe you, could be wrong for once Harry" Twilight Sparkle shot

The two started into another argument as Sarge and Wolfie stepped to my side "Do they always do this?" Sarge asked

"Yes pretty much" I answered casually, putting my hoofs on my ears, from the annoyance of sound

"Are you okay Miss" Wolfie asked kindly

"Yes it's just that I have really good hearing and it hurts my ears" I answered over the bickering

To my fortune Twilight saw of my current annoyance and decided to end the argument right there "Enough Harry, I think we are giving other ponies a headache"

"Oh sorry miss Polaris,' he said this in a tone that was not completely without emotion, but was just hard to tell what exactly the emotion was

"Thank you" I said thinking out a way for our current problem of tracking Shadow's trail "I think I can track Shadow's movements by detecting his KPR energy."

"What the hoof is KPR energy?" asked Harry

"KPR energy encompasses--" Twilight started but was quickly cut off by Harry

"Let the Blind pony explain it into something that we can actually understand miss Sparkle" Harry said calmly

I notably cringed when he called me "The blind pony" however he seemed to notice nothing of my discomfort with the name, and most likely meant no insult or malice by it, however Twilight did notice my cringing, and a small amount of anger flowed out of her body, however she did let me explain

"KPR, stands for Kiptomine Phosophate Radiation (I'm in an AP Biology class bear with me) It is the magical residue that is left after a unicorn uses magic, it works like radioactive decay, and disappears eventually, each pony has a different... frequency of KPR, thus I am able to tell who it is that casted the magic, Shadow was force ably dragged away then e would most likely be defending himself with magic after he dropped his mulitool"

"But how do you track it?" Twilight asked "I'm one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria and even I can only detect large amounts of KPR"

"you might have large amounts of magic, however I am very sensitive in my magic, I have to be able to detect small things due to my..uh...condition" I explained

"Very good Miss Polaris, Thank you, Sarge, Wolfie, stay here and we'll take a walkie talkie, Polaris you're with me, Twilight, you can do what ever you want to do," Harry said with the first excitement that I had ever heard in his voice, i was actually wondering if his only emotions were blunt and angry

I walked towards the scratch marks before facing at them, they were actually pretty well defined, I turned on my magic, and immediately found Shadow's KPR energy, there was another detection of KPR, however it was older and had mostly been washed away from the rain, I ignored it and locked on to Shadow's trail, I had easy recognition of kit from when he got Applejack into my mind, plus his energy was much better defined than the older one

"This way" I said while following the trail, it was into the dark heart of the forest, I could feel the dark cold serpents of the dark slither around my skin, something was off about this place.

A study showed that only two percent of the light reached the bottom of the rain forests, the rainforest in Equestria had many dazzling animals, and marvelous a architecture of plants, and thus were protected in such a way under Equestian law , that they would not choke out the ponies that depended on the great forests to survive, and allowed the forest's many extravagant wonders to thrive. However in the ever free forest it seemed that no way I could penetrate the tree tops.

However the Everfree forest was not like these forests, there was a distinct magic around these forests, a good magic, here it was like the air itself was dark and hateful, There was the stench of decaying magic everywhere, except it wasn't the normal harmless KPR magic that was radiated off naturally by other naturally magic creatures.

Scientifically the structure of the Dark KPR, which is the type of magic currently in the everfree forest, was an isomer compared to the natural KPR, and was a negatively polar magic. In times of trouble unicorns could be able to draw upon the normal KPR, energy as a short term magic power source,like an energy snack however we could not process the DKPR, plus the presence of the DKPR for some unknown reason, forces us to use more magic than usual in order to preform spells, in other words me and Twilight were at a disadvantage in this environment.

Twilight was tense as we walked, Harry and her were not arguing at this current moment for which I was thankful, I could focus on finding the trail, there were no more scratch marks around, just a magical trail, it was probably due to the rain that there was no other evidence, however from the amount of magic he used in an attempt to defend himself, it must have been something strong.

"Harry" I asked while walking over a root "How strong was Shadow?" I knew that he was mentally strong enough to break into my mind and this took quite a bit of energy, especially when going into mental lock

'Oh I guess he was strong enough, or smart enough to scare away anything in this forest" He said casually

"Then what could have attacked him leaving very little trace without anyone to find out that he was gone for a few days?" I pressed on to Harry, with the question. Twilight who had been quiet for the walk so far showed a bit of interest in the conversation however it was barely noticeable.

'Well, I'm actually not quite sure, he has been here before on several cases usually to find a young filly or colt that accidentally wondered in, he knows his way around here better than most ponies in Ponyville" Harry answered my question

The more we went into the forest the more ominous I could sense many creatures around us, they seemed scared usually scared they kept in a ring around us, it seemed perhaps the were not used to the unnatural light that Twilight had provided with her horn, or something,

Then for a moment I felt a jolt on my magical radar, and heard something moving towards us "You hear that" I whispered quietly. When I spoke what ever it was stopped in it's tracks

"What is it?" Harry whispered "I don't see anything"

We waited for a single moment until Twilight said "Polaris I don't think you heard--" She was cut of by a terrifying growl as a wolf like creature jumped out of the bushes, it seemed to be filled with some sort of magical energy It then preceded to tackle me to the ground making me lose focus on my magic, and frankly knocking the wind out of me, it was then tackled back by Harry, both him and Twilight walked in front of me in a defensive position as I recovered.

Harry then preceded to grab something metal out of his gray coat, it was metal, he pointed it at the creature which quickly recovered from the attack,the creature had lost the element of surprise and figured that it was outnumbered and ran off.

"What....was...that thing" I said trying to get fresh oxygen back into my lungs

"That was a Lupus Minor, they are star beasts that can have magical energy, however it seems a bit odd that one of them attacked us, they aren't even supposed to be here" Twilight said as Harry put what I had figured out to be a knife ,back in his coat

"It seemed scared as if running from something, Polaris are you okay?" Harry asked

"Yes I'm fine" I said "However there seems to be a piece of the puzzle that we are missing"

"And what would that be?" Twilight asked

"You know very well what I am talking about Twilight, you have felt it as well, the odd feeling, we are being magically drained by something" I said

"Count the shadows" Harry muttered darkly while stepping backwards

'Yes we all know of the warning" Twilight said "However it does not do anything for us here and it doesn't make any sense' She finished

"Think out of you little logical mind Miss Sparkle, think what if he meant that literally" Harry said, Twilight sounded puzzled

"What the hoof are you talking about" Harry just pointed to something however my magic blurred and thus I could truly not detect it however something odd was there

"There it is a Shadow, one I counted it" She did a quick sweep over it with her magic "And there is nothing special about it"

"yes there is what's casting it?"

As Twilight was looking up, suddenly my magic went out, I tripped and fell on the ground "My magic it's out"

The shadow unfortunately took this moment to strike it wrapped its self around my back legs and started to pull me back onto the dark, it was dragging me in

"Polaris!" Both Twilight and Harry yelled before and grabbing onto my front legs, soon it became a tugging contest between them and the Shadow

Twilight tried her magic, but it did not work she then tried other options "Polaris you have to listen to me, you need to turn your magic back on!"

"I can't" I said tears coming through my useless eyes I was scared, the living shadow was calling to me, "Think you have so much to live for" Twilight yelled pulling my hoof

""You can do it" Harry yelled at this the world seemed to stop, everything seemed to sit still in motion

"Come on Polaris, You can do it" Silver fox said I looked over to feel a ghostly version of Silverfox pulling against the Shadow along with Twilight, it was like he was there but he wasn't, but that was not possible, it even felt like he was pulling me, helping out Shadow, but he was there I could feel him 'Come on Polaris you can do it" he said encouragingly

Then something amazing happened

Suddenly my horn started glowing with tremendous power, I felt my power expanding outwards covering everything in magic, then I heard a loud and injured screech, it was from the living shadow, the magic pulsated around it, killing it like a cancer, the living shadow was burning, burning into nothing. and soon it had been vaporized

The shadow just let go, as it was vaporizing it was a horrible sound, but better it than me, we all sat there for a moment panting out the experience, it had exhausted all of us

Harry picked out the Walkie talkie, still breathless "Sarge..huff, huff, Wolfie, are you there?" No answer "Wolfie?"

(Meanwhile)

We see Sarge and Wolfie playing cards with each other "have any sevens" Sarge asks

"nope go pike" Wolfie answers

"Hey Wolfie" Sarge asks

"yeah big buddy" wolfie answers

"do you think we should go and find some more batteries for the walkie talkie?" Sarge asks

"Nah that's Harry's job, besides they are just fine,now have any eights?"

"Oh darn you"

(back in the Everfree forest)

We were all resting as we deserved to be from the previous ordeal, however Harry was currently trying to call for backup, to no avail, I had pondered what that image of Silverfox was supposed to mean, I had smelled him... felt him, yet he did not exist, if either Twilight or Harry knew anything about the... lets call it a illusion they would have spoke of it by now, still nothing.

Twilight sat down for a moment, her breathing was still taunt, she was a pony of magical strength not physical strength and thus the ordeal was a new form of...movement for her. I felt my horn steadly recharging, it had taken a lot of energy to preform that spell what ever it was. The question about what took Shadow, was now answered.

"Twilight can you teleport?" Harry gruffly asked being the first of us to regain his composure

Twilight looked at the ground sadly before answering "No I can't, due to the specific magical nature of the forest, the amount of magic that I have already spent, and by how deep we have gotten into the forest it would be no use, plus I have no exact coordinates on where I am to go"

She seemed annoyed that she could not teleport, the fact is that most unicorns require a recharge period for their magic, but not Twilight, in fact based on my energy reading she was constantly recharging magic, which was something that most unicorns couldn't do. However I could, and this was attributed to the fact that I depended on magic for so much in my daily life. She had attained this ability through hard work, I had attained it because I had to but the idea was the same. However because of our current environment she could not spend magic with out a care like she normally could, thus being an annoyance in her mind.

I turned to where Shadow's KPR trail went and saw another KPR trail along the same path, it seemed to be very old but still used "Some one else has gone down this trail" I said

Twilight seemed to take this as positive news "That is great maybe we can get some help out here" however Harry seemed a bit unsure

"seems odd all of this however we've come this far, it would be a shame to back down now' he said before walking down Although just for an instance i felt some negative energy follow him, but it was nothing to be worried about.

The forest seemed grow darker and an ominous wind danced around the trees, the whole world seemed to stand still here and it was a constant dark, we had entered the twilight zone of the forest, where the dark magic formed clouds blocking out the sun. thus it was always dark, the familiar presence of the monsters that lived in the upper everfree were gone now and replaced with a dark consecrated silence, I realized now that perhaps even monsters had their nightmares. everything was designed for the dark here, the trees fed not off of photosynthesis, but by the dark magical energy around there,not a scrap of energy wasted, there seemed to be less thick forest here and occasionally a patch of open field

Then suddenly something popped up

"There is a structure" I said walking towards the presence until we were right by it "how does it look"

"I...I can't believe it this is where we fought Nightmare moon, but this wasn't that deep into the forest" she seemed baffled by the memories of the place

"I guess Shadow was dragged the long way" I assumed

"I guess we should go inside" Harry said

We quickly trotted to where shadow's magic trail had taken us and it actually lead to a cave beside the small castle

"His trail leads inside here" I said wordlessly the other ponies followed the cave was cold and sent a shiver through my spine we kept walking towards the Trail until Twilight stopped at a walk

"Look there is something written here, It's called the tale of Apollo"

"What does it say, it might have something to do with those things" I suggested

Twilight "It say here that, all foals have an irrational fear of the dark, except it's not irrational, but the living Shadows. They live on the other being's magic, and tormented ponies every night, they had evolved from Discord's remaining magic and were microscopic beings which lived in swarms, thousands strong. Individually, and for a short time were not a threat, they worked as scavengers of extra magic. They were very small, but they grew in number and smarts. They lived in the dark unseen from ponies.

As they got stronger they gained the ability to walk out into natural light, and casted shadows when they entered the light. On their own, outside of the darkness, a swarm looked like a shadow cast by nothing and could move slower than in the darkness. They mimicked the shadows of their prey to get close, which meant staying in the light was the only way to escape. If someone had an extra shadow, it was already too late. Their only known weakness is natural light."

As Twilight was reading I noticed something odd with Harry's energy signature, for a split second he had something like a Shadow then it was gone, I said nothing

"Princess Luna commissioned the pony of light Apollo to make her night safe for other ponies, now Apollo was an artist,and with help from the Princess's magic he painted the night sky, with stars, to always provide light, Apollo then used the Princesses remaining magic to lock up the last of the living shadows into the sister's home where they could safely be guarded, the end. But how do we defeat them and why did they get out?' Twilight asked

"Twilight how about you step away from Harry" I said trying to confirm my thoughts

"What...why" He asked in a somewhat off voice

"Because I don't think you are Harry"

He seemed surprised before turning over a negative auora, the living shadow had infected him "How did you know?" Shadow Harry asked in a playful tone

"I counted the shadows, or in this case your energy signature" I said angrily "Now let him go!"

Shadow Harry let out a weezy chuckle before speaking to Twilight who was currently baffled at the situation "You you really want to really want to know how we got out Twilight, well I'll tell you, it all started a couple weeks ago at the defeat of Nightmare moon, if you had noticed that when you cleansed Luna of her impurities that they all fell off in cut up light blue strips, those strips were full of Luna's magic along with her impurities, which consisted of pure negativity, that all decomposed and ended up down here, being that Luna's magic was encoded into it we easily used it to pick the lock and set ourselves free, the pure negativity gave us strength, enough to resist the star's glow"

"So you started feeding on ponies again!" Twilight accusingly pointed at them

"yes and so far Shadow was out biggest catch, much more than those other ponies, he was much more magically in tune than the dentist or the musician" Shadow Harry said "But of course you'll be our biggest catch yet, and if we conjure up enough magic then we can soon resist the sun and end it permanently, night will prevail forever" Shadow Harry then broke out into a series of evil laughs

"but how can you control Harry?" I asked

"we've learned a few tricks with the animals here, that lupus minor was actually us controlling it we wanted to get a good look at our dinner before biting down" Shadow Harry laughed before clutching his chest suddenly "No ....what's..... happening...to...me"

Quickly I sent an energy scan over through him Harry was fighting back "there is one problem with the stallion that you just happened to pick, he is the most stubborn pony in all of Equestria" The living Shadow let out an unpony like sheik as it was literally being stripped from Harry's very being, He grabbed the shadow and ripped it from his very body and soul before throwing it far in some corner where it continued to gurgle and sheik

harry shook his head for a moment before yelling "We've got to find the others!"

The caves under the castles quickly grew much more hallway like and there was one door at the end of it, we quickly ran from the now advancing living shadow

I detected tired ponies, they had not seen light for the past few days and flinched over our unatural light they were in chains, there were about six of them, including all the missing ponies from Ponyville along with a mother and foal, they were all unicorns, I detected Shadow who felt to be he most beaten up I quickly started to scan him.

"Dectevive Harry" One of the ponies said happily

"It's Inspector, Colegate, get it right" he siad grumpily before glanceing out the door to see the advancing Shadow "TWILIGHT LOCK THE ROOM" a sudden beam of magic engulfed the room as we heard the banging from the living shadows from the outside. "Is every pony alright"

"everypony except Shadow he has been keeping us charged, plus they come to take his magic more than the rest of us" the voice that I knew as Colegate's answered

I finished my scan on Shadow who had somehow been able to sleep through all of this, I could not actually tell the time at this point, we were too far underground, It could be night for all I know. 'He Needs some rest and has a few injuries" I said refering to Shadow "He has a twisted ankle, and will have trouble getting out of here" I said through funther inspection of him and the other ponies they had not been treated well for the past bit, many had evidence of Shadow's healing magic on their bodies.

"Maybe we should leave him behind" some pony with a higher class accent answered

"Let us get one thing straight mister" Harry said getting in his face, levely angry "we all get out of here alive together or we all get sucked to death by that thing outside together" Harry said, there was a slight twinge of dry humor in that statement but it was barely noticeable

"Yes Decective" The pony said nervously

"It's inspector" Harry siad darkly

"Polaris do you think that you could do that magic blast to defeat the shadows again" Twilight asked straining to hold up the barrier

I looked sadly at the floor "I don't think that I know how to" I said "Plus even if I did then It would probably required more magic then I have"

Twilight went around to unchain the other ponies until she noticed a ring like thing on their horns "What are these" she asked

"Anti magic inhibitiors" Said Shadow finally waking up

"not that we have any magic left" said Colegate

"Harry do you have my multitool?" Shadow asked

"Sure" Harry said reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out the metal object

"Thanks" Shadow said while using it to fiddle with his own magically inhibited horn, soon after a few moments it fell off he then porcceded to walk around (or I should say limp) and the magical inhibitors off of everypony before falling down in a heap, he was caught by Colegate before bing layed gently down "You know I didn't quite expect to die this way" He said in a calm mood

"good thing too because you aren't " Harry said sharply "Twilight, Polaris any plans"

Suddenly a loud banging could be heard, along with a cracking sound, Twilight's was finally cracking

Boom the door swung open the swarm of the living shadows entered, they had formed some kind of monster "back off!" Shadow yelled before attempting to fire out a magic bolt from his horn, he however (somewhat comically) only produced a spark

"Mommy whats going to happen?" said a filly who had been captured she seemed scared, and at this the living shadow mass only laughed

"I'll tell you whats going to happen little filly, you will never see the light of day again" The shadows then broke out into a lound and terrifying screech like laugh

Anger for its first time welled up inside me "BACK OFF" I said dangerously

"what, doth this insignifigant wrech defy me?" The shadow mass said with some interest "You had trouble dealing with one of me, now in the face of many, yet you are still in defiance "

"Long ago that was taught by a friend to never ever put out light, I would be doing so by surrendering, I would be nothing without that friend, or without my friends today, I am indebted to them, and you threaten them, they are worth fighting for, and I care for them, it is also dark to attack the innocent, and it would be just as deadly a crimeto leave anyone behind and thus is important to protect them who need it, my friends have protected me and thus I will do my term to protect other ponies "

"You are a fool" the living shadow started to say but suddenly paused,

"coming for a coward of a living shadow I take that as a compliment" Harry said defiantly

The living shadow slunk back as if afraid, a massive amount of light energy entered the room.The mass formed into an energy shaped like a ghostly version of a pony "Apollo!" the living shadow hissed, the walls of the cave started to shake "What are you doing, how are you here" the shadow mass screeched

"I am amending to what sould have been done a long time ago, I was afraid of you, and I was foolish, these ponies were braver than I ever was against you, I shirked my responsibility and have not guarded you properly as the princesses had instructed me to. You have done nothing up to this point, over a thousand years the princesses brought me here as a guardian to keep ponies safe from your vile face, free them from your sickening terror, and I intend on completeing that task. the ghost Apollo then launched a ball of light into the shadow mass, which in turn swirled in pain

"GO" Apollo yelled at us pointing to the enterance, the living shadow seemed to continue to swirl around in pain as the two great beings continued their duel

We ran through the great shattering cave, dodgeing the rocks, being blind I could easily sense the rocks trbleing and where they were tumbldged our way out of the cave, Harry was carrying Shadow out, we watched the cave as it started to completely fall appart, when a figure rose out from the rubble, and walked to the mouth of the cave, the figure was the cave's age-old guardian, Apollo,he seemed fairly battered from the recent duel that he had had, the artist warrior gazed around at the falling debris, more stones began to fall and we slowly retreated from Apollo's gaze, Harry stood there walking beside Shadow both of their eyes were locked with Apollo's. the old warrior raised his right hoof saluting us across the temple chamber, he stood there for a few moments before walking back into his collapsing cave, putting himself to his fate....

Dear Princess Celestia,

We have learned that there is light inside everyone, and that you should never stop facing others for trying to hurt your friends. Sometimes ponies can be disagreeable, however no matter your arguments or disagreements they are still amazing ponies. And you can still count them as your friends despite your opinions or beliefs.
Your friends and students
Twilight,Harry, and Polaris

THE END

The living shadow's were based off a doctor who monster known as the Vashta Nerada (warning you will most likely be scared of the dark after watching "silence in the Library").

I would like to hear input from everyone on how this chapter went, if that is okay, I am of course a bit nervous about it, I made it a bit less darker than it was supposted to be, now on to a response to guest reviews