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// Chapter 4 This Isn't Home 
// Story: A Strange New Land 
// by Enrique the Canadian 
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	The day Polaris was allowed out of the hospital was by far his favourite day of his experience in Ponyville by the time. The doctor had told to not fly at all for at least a week. Upon stepping outside of the hospital, Polaris stretched his body, being rewarded with a loud crackling and relaxed feeling in all of his joints. He sighed happily, finally out of that stuffy hospital room. Twilight had been waiting for Polaris, mentioning something about a surprise. Polaris smiled and waved, hoping the surprise would involve more cupcakes. The cupcakes that Pinkie Pie brought tasted really delicious.
"Hey Polaris, all fixed up now?" Twilight inquired, "I think you'll like the surprise Pinkie Pie set up." Twilight smiled in a way that made Polaris think there was going to be cupcakes. Polaris wondered why he was so obsessed with cupcakes that day. He never thought about cupcakes this much. Oh well, he thought, better than those constant thoughts of home.
"Yeah," Polaris replied, "as long as the surprise isn't more broken bones." Polaris may have been joking, but if it could break him, he didn't want to try anything.
"Awesome!" Twilight said. "Don't worry, as long as you're better at walking than flying, you'll be fine." She joked. "Now follow me, I'll take you to Sugar Cube Corner." Twilight started down the road and Polaris followed, not too far behind. 
Twilight had gotten her first full view of Polaris when he stepped out of the hospital, he had the same near grey fur as before, with that same deep brown eye. His black tail reached to the bottom of his hind legs, with some slight streaks of almost pure white, just like fresh snow, it was almost perfectly straight, looking curled because of damage from cold air. His cutie mark was what looked like a star rising above a mountain. Twilight figured it must have been the North Star, which is usually used to guide explorers north. Not many words were shared as they walked down to Sugar Cube Corner. Polaris had noticed Twilight became more suspicious the closer they they got, and he didn't like the look of it.

As they opened the door to the small shop, a massive group of ponies jumped up and shouted, "surprise!" This startled Polaris so much he jumped back, nearly falling over on Twilight. 
Pinkie jumped forward as Polaris was still recovering from his heart-stopping scare. "We sure surprised you!" She began talking in rapid fire again. "I told you I'd throw you a party! I always do for every new pony in Ponyville! Everybody you've met is here and more! Except Fluttershy couldn't come. Angel is sick today."
"Wow," Polaris spoke up before Pinkie started talking again. "Thanks a lot, Pinkie. That's too bad about Fluttershy." He never said anything, but this only bolstered Polaris' thoughts she hated him. She did have all right to hate him, he thought, he did nearly kill her best friend. That's kind of an issue. Polaris proceeded to enter the small shop and try to avoid large groups. In about half an hour, he had met several new ponies, but mostly chatted with the friends he had already made. He learned there, from those friends, that they had built him a home, since he can't really go back to his old home. 

At one point, Pinkie came out from the back of the shop carrying a basket filled to the brim with various muffins. "Can somepony take this to Fluttershy?" Pinkie Pie asked, "it might help Angel feel better." That was probably the worst logic ever, but Polaris still saw his opportunity to leave early.
"I can." Polaris said, "it sounds like a good way to meet Fluttershy."
Pinkie Pie's eyes slowly widened until Polaris could swear she could see his soul, then she gasped, "that's a brilliant idea! I wish I thought of it!" Pinkie Pie handed the basket of muffins to Polaris and instructed him on where to go. "She lives right by the edge of the woods, you can't miss it."
"Alright, thanks" Polaris said as he left, glad to be out of that loud shop. He hated actually liking leaving, it made him feel ungrateful, a feeling he couldn't stand, as it made him feel dirty inside. It was just the noise, that's it. No matter how much he thought that to himself, he couldn't shake the feeling of being a bad person. He was always raised to appreciate what he was given, to remember it could all be gone the next second. Polaris found it sort of funny now. How he had lost everything because of his stupid mistake.

"Hello?" Polaris called out as he arrived at the cottage by the woods. "Anypony home?" Polaris sighed, he figured Fluttershy might not be home. She must avoiding him, he felt. As he walked up the path, he noticed an absurd amount of bird feeders and animal burrows, yet no animals. Odd, Polaris thought, wouldn't there be animals to go with the homes? Upon reaching it, Polaris knocked several times on the door. Out of his peripheral vision, Polaris noticed something white moving towards him. Frightened, he turned and saw it was a small white rabbit, hopping forwards. Setting down the basket, Polaris cooed, "hey there little guy, I don't suppose you know where Fluttershy is."
As Polaris raised a hoof to pat the bunny on the head, he was cut off by a loud scream saying, "don't you dare hurt him!" Before Polaris could react, the heavy wooden door to the shack opened and struck him in the face with a loud thock sound. The world spun in wide, slow circles as Polaris fell back and muffins were sent flying back by the door. As darkness shrouded his vision, moving in from all sides, he saw a yellow figure standing over him, an expression of pure hatred quickly fading. Just before blacking out, Polaris could swear he heard somepony say, "oh my..."

Polaris was back at his village. He could see a group of ponies gathered around a home. Who's home is that? He thought, before realizing that it was Lightning Chaser's home. Ponies were talking about something. Polaris tried hard to focus on what they were saying, but he could only hear snippets. He refuses to come out, somepony said. I haven't heard anything, another said. Suddenly, Polaris was inside Lightning Chaser's room. He looked around, same usual clutter he had, but Lightning Chaser was on his bed, looking utterly forlorn. "Polaris," he said, "where are you? You promised you'd be back. Please, I miss you." Polaris panicked, he tried to say something, but the moment he tried, everything disappeared. Polaris was being pulled back into reality now, away from his village, and his best friend, back to Ponyville.

"No!" Polaris screamed as he awoke. He heard a gasp and hooves running off. He groaned, rubbing his sore head, realizing that he had a hugely swollen eye. As he tried to stand up, he found he had a horrific migraine, making the room he was in swam for a second, making Polaris wobble on his hooves. He stumbled left, nearly crashing into a small table. He regained his stability after about a minute, slowly becoming less dizzy.
A small voice coming from what sounded like everywhere caught Polaris off guard. "Wh-who are you?" The voice asked. "You aren't going to hurt anything, right?"
"What?" Polaris replied, not sure who he was talking to. "No, I came to bring muffins for Fluttershy." He groaned, "who are you?" A thought crossed Polaris' mind,  is this, maybe, Fluttershy? "Are you..." He paused, thinking for a second maybe this wasn't, "Fluttershy? I-I'm Polaris." He stammered, still a little dizzy.
Fluttershy gasped, "you almost killed Twilight! I saw you hit her balloon, you were headed straight for her and didn't stop!" Fluttershy was growing angrier remembering the day she watched an unfamiliar Pegasus fly directly into Twilight's large purple hot air balloon with no deviation from its course. She managed to hold a grudge, believing that this "Polaris" who smashed into her was actually trying to kill her.

Polaris realized that that is probably what it looked like from any other pony's perspective. "I'm sorry," Polaris said, trying to explain himself. "I never saw the balloon until it was too late. It was just a big accident." He sighed, Polaris didn't believe himself, he just didn't sound sincere to himself. It was apparently enough for Fluttershy, however, who slowly walked out from behind a corner, eying the half-conscious Polaris suspiciously. 
"Woah," He whispered.
"What?" Fluttershy asked, sounding a little spiteful.
"Wha- no, nothing," Polaris stammered, "it's just, I... Never mind. It's nothing." As he said this, Fluttershy continued to look as if she was sizing Polaris up, ready to finish him off. "I think we got off to a bad start." Polaris said, noticing Fluttershy staring at him. He held up a hoof, "hi. I'm Polaris. Sorry about crashing into your friend."
Fluttershy ignored his raised hoof saying, "hello, Polaris. I'm Fluttershy. Sorry about bashing you with my door."
Polaris lowered his hoof and laughed, "don't worry about it. I've seen worse, I think." He said as he rubbed his head. Fluttershy laughed a little at this, and Polaris smiled. Suddenly, he gasped, "oh, how long have I been out? I might have to get back to the party, or Pinkie might think I'm lost."
"Is it too late for me to join in?" Fluttershy asked. "I-if you don't mind?"
"No," Polaris answered maybe a little too swiftly. "Not at all. The more the merrier, right?" With that, Polaris and Fluttershy walked back to Sugar Cube Corner, chatting idly as they did. When they got back, Polaris was questioned about his black-eye, only responding with a joke about hitting a moving object. That joke pretty much earned only confused laughter, no one but Fluttershy getting the joke. The party continued as it had before, except Polaris was much more open to meet new ponies. 

At the end of the party, AppleJack and Twilight led Polaris to his new home on the edge of developed Ponyville. It was a modest sized home, perfect for Polaris. It had a soft bed in the bed room, a table in the end of the kitchen, and a sofa in the living room. "Wow." Polaris said, "this is... This, I don't know what to say. Thank you. Thank you so much. How can I repay you?
"You can help us out around Sweet Apple Acres." AppleJack suggested.
"Spike can always use some help tidying the library." Twilight suggested as well.
"That sounds much more than fair." Polaris replied, smiling lightly. He wouldn't mind helping out. In fact, to him, that was too easy, he felt there must be a catch. Whatever, he thought, he more than owed it to them.

After AppleJack and Twilight left, Polaris realized how late it was. He walked over the bed, and fell on the mattress with an audible thump sound. Polaris smiled, he hadn't been in such a soft bed since he left home. He wiggled around, finding a perfectly comfortable spot to sleep on. After that, he was left with his thoughts, which grew darker by the second, he only had little time to realize this before he fell asleep.

Back in Lightning Chaser's home. Polaris saw Lightning Chaser on his bed again, still depressed. Though he was talking to his brother, who was trying to convince him to go outside. "Please," he pleaded, "just leave me alone. I need some time to myself."
"No." His brother was sounding irritated. "You've had a month to yourself. You should come outside, ponies are getting worried." Polaris noticed something then, everything seemed to be fuzzy around the edges. It almost looked like a small, jagged, dark flame was picking at them.
"Just go." Lightning chaser looked at Polaris this time. "I don't want you here." His gaze never broke, he was staring right at Polaris. "What are you waiting for? Go."
"Lightning," Polaris was shocked he could speak for once. "What's happening?" Lightning's brother had disappeared and now Lightning Chaser began to shift, losing all colour definition, and blurring around the edges. The most noticeable thing was that his blue eyes shifted to blood red.
"You've messed everything up!" Lightning Chaser was yelling, his voice warped. "That's what! You never should have left, I knew this would happen! You promised you'd be back. I trusted you!"
"Lightning," Polaris stammered, "there was an accident I coul-"
"Yeah," Lightning Chaser interrupted, "you suck that much. Of course you'd mess everything up by crashing. Well, you're better now! Why don't you come back? Huh? Or are you having too much fun without us?"
"I can't come back the gla-"
"The glacier's frozen, whaaa whaaa." Lightning Chaser said, mocking a young filly's voice. "I hope you like your new home, because you failed your real one."

Those words were the last Polaris heard before he woke up. He was covered in a cold sweat, his heart pounding within his chest absurdly hard, making his new black eye throb to the beat. He looked around, the room was dark, and empty. He got up, opened his front door and looked out. "This isn't home." He said, staring out into the bright, starry night sky.