Those Dearest To Us (Remastered)

by Lux Rune

First published

Twilight's long time friend moves to ponyville, and the silent and shy pony finds love.

Twilight's long time friend Lux moves to Ponyville from Canterlot. Even though he is shy and uncomfortable talking to other ponies, Twilight and her friends try and help him to overcome is timid nature. slowly he eyes another pony from afar wishing he could be with her, but every pony has secrets. Will he risk revealing his secrets to find love, or will he carry on with his life the same way he has for years.

This is a remastered version of my first fanfic, so any of my previous readers, please refrain from announcing spoilers, and thanks to BDbrony for helping me edit

Welcome To Ponyville

View Online

It was getting dark, and I sheepishly walked through town, barely mustering up the courage to talk to anypony; and even when I could, I fumbled over my words and spoke so softly that they could barely hear me. Finally, after several failed attempts I was able to get my questions answered, “Umm… e-excuse me, s-sir?”

He just stared back at me, and after a few seconds of awkward silence he spoke up, “Yes?”

“Umm… would you by chance…happen to know a unicorn b-by the name Twilight Sparkle?”

He cocked his head a little; he probably thought I was an idiot. He smiled a bit to try and put me at ease a bit, “Of course I know her kiddo, practically everypony in town does.”

I perked up a bit and smiled, “G-great. Would you happen to know where I m-might find her?”

He tapped his chin and thought for a moment, “She’s probably at the library.”

Of course, the library, where else would she be, “T-thanks sir.” I started to walk away, but I quickly realized I had no idea where the library was, “O-oh, sir, one m-more thing.”

He laughed a little, and I’m pretty sure it was directed at me, “Lemme guess, you need directions to the library?” I nodded and he laughed a bit more, I’ve always hated it when anypony laughs at me. He stopped laughing long enough to point down one of the streets, “You’re going to go that way and take the fourth left, and it’s the giant tree with windows, you can’t miss it.” I nodded and started heading off in the direction he told me, and eventually came across the library.

I walked up to the door, but before I could even raise my hoof to knock, the door swung open and hit me square in the face. I couldn’t see anything, but I could hear Twilight’s voice, “Oh, I’m so, so sorry. SPIKE, why didn’t you tell me that somepony was at the door?”

“How was I supposed to know, I’m not even near the door.”

“Well, didn’t you hear any knocking?”

“If you didn’t hear anything, what makes you think I did?”

Just like to her get caught up in an argument that she knew she was losing and forget about me, so before she lost her battle, I had to interrupt, “So Twi, is that how you greet your best friend and study buddy, with a door to the face?” I chuckled as I stood up, picked up my sunglasses, and moved out from behind the door, just to be knocked back down by one of the biggest hugs I’ve ever received.

“OH MY GOSH! Lux, what are you doing here in Ponyville? I thought you were still up in Canterlot.”

“Not anymore I’m not; I’m in the process of moving.”

Her eyes widened, “Really, where to?”

I shook my head and hugged her, “C’mon Twi, I know you’re smarter than that, you’re Celestia’s pupil after all. Now use that little head of yours and think for a moment, where in Equestria could I be moving to?”

“No, really? You’re going to be living in Ponyville now?”

I patted her head, “Took you long enough to get your brain working, but to answer your question, yes, I’m going to live in Ponyville now.” I could see her eyes beam with joy, joy I hadn’t seen nor felt since she left.

“Well, don’t just stand there, come in, there’s so much we can talk about, and I can tell you everything you need to know about Ponyville, how’s that sound?”

“Sounds great to me, Twi.”

She hugged me as we went inside, “Spike, guess who’s here?”

Spike walked in from the kitchen wearing an apron, and I couldn’t help but to burst out in laughter. He looked at me and then over to Twilight, “Who’s this jerk?”

“SPIKE!”

“Twi, don’t blame him, we’ve only seen each other a few times, and when we did he was still a baby dragon that couldn’t talk.” I chuckled a bit more, “And I guess I was being a bit of a jerk by laughing. Sorry Spike.”

“I guess it’s okay, who are you anyway?”

Twilight laughed, “Spike, this is Lux, probably my only friend from Canterlot.”

“Yeah, yeah, friendship, Canterlot, whatever, I’m going to bed.”

“Yeah, it is past your bedtime anyway. ‘Night Spike.”

“’Night Twilight and whatsyourface.”

“’Night.” He walked up the stairs, and I smiled and laughed.

Twilight looked at me, “What’s so funny.”

I turned to her, “Oh nothing, it’s just that neither of you have changed a bit.”

Twilight poked me, “Nu-huh, not true.”

“Oh, then please tell me all about the changes of Miss Twilight Sparkle.”

She giggled, and spent the better part of two hours telling me about how she had made many friends throughout town, and all their adventures, the elements of harmony, and her letters to the Princess. After she had caught me up on her life since she left she started asking questions about me, “So Lux, anything new or interesting happen with you after I moved away?”

It didn’t take long to come up with an answer for her, “Not really, actually it’s been quite the opposite since you left.”

Her smile slipped away, “What do you mean?”

“Well…Twi… you know how I am around other ponies, how I can barely talk to them, I mean had it not been for my cousin Cadence and Aunt Celestia, I might not even be your friend. Because Cadence was your foalsitter made it to where we pretty much grew up together. You remember how I was when we first met, don’t you?” She nodded. “Remember how shy I was? I could barely handle being in the same room as you without freaking out, but you’re like a sister to me now, and I feel comfortable around you, so talking isn’t a problem.” I paused for a moment, “But with other ponies, I feel the same way I did when I first met you, and I’ve never really gotten over it, I mean it took me at least an hour to talk to somepony today to find my way over here. You think being a nephew to Celestia I would be able to talk to others.” I looked at the floor and hung my head, “I’m pathetic.”

I could barely finish my sentence before Twilight wrapped her hooves around me and hugged me, “Lux, you’re not pathetic, and don’t ever think that or say that again, understand?”

I hugged her back, “Yeah Twi, I understand.”

She let go and smiled, “So, I guess the answer’s going to be no to my next question?”

I wiped a few tears from my eyes, “I feel I may already know, but what’s the question?”

She gave me the ‘I’m going to annoy you now’ smile and giggled, “Have you found somepony special yet?”

I sighed, “I was right, you were going to ask that, and you were right, the answer is no. Now will you please stop asking me that all the time? Even back in Canterlot you asked me at least once a week.”

“I can’t help it, it seemed like every day somepony new was chasing you trying to get you to go out with them. It’s not my fault that all the mares in Canterlot find you attractive; I even remember a few colts chasing you from time to time.”

I blushed, “TWILIIIGHT!”

She giggled, “I’m sorry, but I just love your face when I ask you, it’s priceless.”

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, yeah, so you get a kick out of seeing me suffer in awkwardness.”

“Not all the time, just when this is the topic.” She stopped laughing and sat back up.

“Okay little miss ‘I like putting my best friend in his own little hell’ how about you, have you found somepony special yet?”

She started to blush a bit, “I…well…umm…no” I snickered with a wide yet evil grin; I had made my point. Twilight’s whole faced turned red, “Hey, Lux, knock it off”

I tried to wipe the smirk of my face, “Okay, okay, I’ll stop if you stop, deal.”

She sighed, “Deal.”

I laughed a little longer, “So we’re in agreement then?” She nodded, and I hugged her, “I missed you so much Twi.”

She giggled, “I missed you too Lux.”

We hugged each other for a while, and I was the first to break the silence, “Hey Twi, do you mind if I crash here tonight, my stuff doesn’t come until tomorrow?”

She let go of me and smiled, “Of course Lux, I don’t really have an extra room…”

“Twi, I don’t mind sleeping on the floor.” I rubbed my sore back, “I actually think it would be better for my back tonight.”

“Oh, okay, let me go grab a pillow and blanket for you.” She smiled and walked upstairs.

A few minutes later she came back down with two pillow and blanket sets, “Twi, why do you have two?”

“Well, I thought since you’re staying here, we could kind of have a sleepover, you know, like we did when we were little.”

I smiled and hugged her once more, “Thank you.”

She started blushing again, “Really, it’s no big deal.”

I looked at her, “No, I mean thank you, for everything, being there when I needed you, back in Canterlot and I haven’t even been here one day, and you’ve already helped me so much. You’re always there for me, you’re like a sister to me, and I just wanted to thank you.”

I could feel joy that I haven’t felt in a long time, and she hugged me tightly, “Like I said Lux, it’s no big deal. I’ll always help you out; you’re like a second brother to me.” We laid down the pillows and blankets and both got comfortable. It had been a long few hours for both of us and we were both tired. “Night Lux, I’m glad you’re here.”

“I am too Twi, night.”

For the first time in what seemed like forever, I was happy, but I couldn’t sleep. My mind started to wander, and I kept thinking back to how different things had been back home since Twilight left. She was my only friend, and when she left for Ponyville my life seemed to crumble all around me. Cadence was a princess and had affairs to tend to almost every day, so I never got to see her; Aunt Celestia was always busy, being the ruler of Equestria after all, and Shining Armor was only able to check on me to see if I was doing okay; Twilight probably made him do it. There was nopony I could talk to, because I would physically not be able to, and they wouldn’t understand me. Sure I was chased daily by somepony or another who wanted to go out with me because I was related to royalty. I knew I couldn’t, there’s no way I could; they wouldn’t really care about me anyway. I was still too shy and scared to make any friends, and even when I did try to talk to somepony, my nerves and fears got the best of me and I would freeze up. Even my studies started to seem pointless because I didn’t have anypony there to enjoy it with me. I had nopony to talk to, nopony to listen to me, nopony to be there for me when I fell, nopony to help me. I felt so alone and scared, and now I was in a new town, surrounded by new ponies, some of whom were Twilight’s friends. What would they think of me, would they see some shy little idiot or some weak fool, or maybe somepony who had no need to be here? It didn’t really matter, I would find out soon enough anyway. Still even with Twilight so close; my best friend who would be there with me every step of the way, helping me to adjust and making me feel more comfortable; even with all that I still felt so scared, so afraid.

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

Morning came, and I awoke to Twilight reading.

“Morning Twi.” She giggled, and I looked at her a bit confused, “What, what’s so funny?”

She smiled and looked up from her book, “Nothing, it’s just that it’s almost two-thirty.”

My eyes widened and I jumped up, “TWO-THIRTY!!”

She set her book down and walked over to me, “Yeah, you must’ve been really exhausted from your trip over here.”

I calmed down a little and shrunk down some, “Yeah that must be it.” I knew it wasn’t, but I couldn’t tell Twilight why, it would only make her feel bad about moving, but all that’s in the past.

We both just shared an awkward moment of silence, which was only broken by a knock at the door. I didn’t know what to do; I just stood there frozen as Twilight walked into the next room to answer it. I continued standing there awkwardly as Twilight returned with another pony, who I assumed was one of her friends. She turned to me and smiled, most likely to try and put me at ease; it didn’t work, “Lux, this is my friend Rarity, Rarity, this is my friend Lux.”

“H-h-hi, n-nice to m-meet you.” I could barely say a word without stumbling over my tongue. This was really the first time I had even tried talking to anypony since Twilight left, outside of asking for directions.

“Hello darling, oh, it’s just a pleasure to meet you. Twilight’s talked about you numerous times.” She smiled at me then turned to Twilight, “But darling, you never mentioned how handsome he is.”

I froze up like a statue. I could feel the nervous sweat drenching my body as I looked at Twilight for a way out of this. She giggled and turned to Rarity, “Rarity, why don’t I help you find that book on fashion history. Lux and I have some catching up to do, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, but of course, I don’t want to intrude, and I probably should be getting back to work; I’m trying to get ideas for a new piece for a high end client.” After a couple of minutes they found the book and Rarity looked at me again with that devilish smile, “Goodbye dear, perhaps I’ll see you in town sometime.”

“O-ok-kay, ummm b-bye R-rarity.” The second they walked out of the room, my legs gave out and I collapsed onto the floor, physically exhausted. Twilight walked back in and saw me on the floor, and giggled. I looked up at her, frowning, “I knew you got a kick out of seeing me suffer like that. Why in Equestria did I believe you when you said you didn’t.” I stood up, “Woe is me to trust my only friend, when she gets a kick out of my suffering.” I could barely finish my sentence before I fell over with laughter.

Twilight walked over to me to help me up, “Lux, I already told you, I only get a kick when I ask you if you have a special somepony yet.”

I stopped laughing long enough to pull off my cheesy Irish accent, “Oh really, then I suppose all that a few minutes ago was just an accident, and my suffering was just a side-effect?”

We both burst out in laughter until Twilight spoke up, “Sorry about all that stuff with Rarity earlier, Lux. Honestly, I thought that if I was in the same room with you that you would feel more comfortable around others. I’ll try to not do that again.”

“Okay, okay, I guess it’s going to take some time and practice to be able to talk to the other ponies here.” I paused to think for a moment; not like I did much talking back in Canterlot. “Anyway, my stuff should be arriving at my house soon; do you know anypony that might be able to help me move in?”

She thought for a moment, “Yeah, I know somepony, but be prepared to do some talking. Applejack is rather talkative when meeting new ponies, but trust me, she’s one of the nicest ponies you’ll ever meet.”

“Oh, okay, thanks for the heads up, I’ll be waiting outside for you. I already gave you the address right?” She nodded and we both left the library; I headed to my new home, and she went to get her friend.

I went directly to my new home and saw that my stuff had just arrived shortly before, so I just sat down and waited for Twilight and her friend to show up. I started to get a tad bored, so I pulled out one of my favorite books and started reading to pass the time. A few minutes passed in silence, and then I heard a large gasp. I peered over my book, only to see a pink pony staring at me with a rather large smile on her face. Nervously I set my book down, “C-can I h-help you?”

Her grin only got wider and wider before she spoke up, “You must be new here, because I don’t know you, and I know everypony in Ponyville, and I mean everypony.”

“O-oh…ummm… yeah, m-my friend T-twilight…” she cut me off before I could finish.

“OOOOOOO, you’re a friend of Twilight. She’s like one of my bestest friends in all of Equestria.” The pink pony looked around, then back to me, “Where is she anyway? She seems like the kind of pony to help a friend move in.”

I was starting to wonder where she was too, not to help me move in, but to save me from this crazy pink pony. I had no idea what to do, “I…ummm… actually…”

“Oh, there she is, HI TWILIGHT! HI APPLEJACK!” As she was frantically waving her hooves trying to get Twilight’s attention, I started second guessing my decision to move down here.

“Hey Pinkie, I see you’ve met my friend Lux.”

The pink pony nodded, “Uh-huh”

Twilight laughed and leaned over to me, “Are you okay? Pinkie Pie can be really outgoing sometime, well, actually all the time.”

Nervously I spoke up, “Yeah, I’m fine, I’m just glad you showed up when you did; I don’t know how much more of her I could’ve handled.”

She giggled, “That’s good. Anyway, let me introduce you to Applejack.” I nodded and walked with her to an orange pony with a cowpony hat. “Applejack, this is my friend Lux, Lux, this is my friend Applejack, her and her family run Sweet Apple Acres.”

She grabbed one of my hooves and gave me a rather furious hoofshake, “Howdy, it’s always nice to meet a new pony in town; any friend of Twilight’s is a friend of mine.”

She let go of my hoof, “H-hi, and ummm th-thanks for coming to help m-me unload my s-stuff.”

“Now, don’t you worry about anything, I’ll gladly help anypony that needs it.” I smiled as two more ponies walked up, one a large red stallion, and the other a small filly with a bow in her hair, “Oh, I almost forgot, this here’s my brother Big Macintosh, and my lil’ sis Applebloom.”

“Howdy mister.”

“Eeyup.”

“H-hi.”

“Well, I suppose we’d better get to unloading, no sense in standing around when there’s work to be done. We can all talk once we’re done though.”

“O-okay.”

“Hellooooo, did somepony forget to introduce me to their friend?”

“Oh, sorry Pinkie. Um, Lux, you’ve met Pinkie Pie, kind of…”

“Yup, I was walking along, and I saw him sitting there by himself reading a book, looking kinda sad and lonely and I thought ‘No pony should ever be sad’ so I came over and said hi. And of course I…”

“Okay Pinkie, I think we get it.”

“Oh, okie dokie lokie. Anyway, I gotta run. Bye Twilight. Bye Lux.”

“B-bye.”

Everything was quiet for a second, then I heard the little filly say something to me, “Hey mister, what’s this thing? It looks really old. What’s in it?”

I didn’t know what she was talking about until I turned around and saw her trying to hold my trunk over her head, “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH, please, please, be very, very careful with that. That trunk is very important to me, and it has some very important and fragile stuff in it.” I used my magic to take it out of her hooves, “I think I’ll just take care of this one.”

I took the trunk and headed inside, and I could hear her getting scolded by her sister, “Applebloom, you don’t just go around asking other ponies what they have in trunks, and you most certainly don’t hold them above your head. What if you dropped it and damaged it, or even worse, hurt yourself.”

“Ah’m sorry sis.”

“Don’t worry about it Applebloom, you just need to be a bit more careful, now why don’t you go grab that smaller box over there, okay sugarcube?”

“Okay.”

I walked back outside after they had finished and Twilight walked over to me, “Hey Lux, are you okay?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine; I guess I’m just a little stressed is all.”

“All right fellas,” Applejack interjected, “we’ve finished unloading everything,” she turned to me, “and I aint never seen that many books outside a library; Lux, you’re definitely a friend of Twilight”

“Hehe, th-thanks, I think. I-it was nice meeting y-you guys, and thanks for your help Twi, but I think I’m j-just going to head inside and o-organize everything, then lay down for a bit.”

“All righty partner, c’mon Big Mac, Applebloom. Let’s head on home.”

“Okay Lux, just take care of what you need to do; and I want to try to introduce you to somepony tomorrow. She’s a lot like you, so I think you’ll like her, okay?”

“Okay Twi, and thanks again for all your help today.” I hugged her and went inside.

I set my sunglasses down and started organizing everything, books in alphabetical order by title, and put in their correctly labeled time period. Plates, cups and other eating ware in the kitchen cabinets, potion ingredients and other miscellaneous ingredients, utensils and supplies on the study desk and drawers. After a few hours, everything was done, put in its proper place, dusted and cleaned; everything but the trunk. I walked up to it and made sure it was locked, and then put it in the back of the closet, “It’s not time yet.” I kept repeating it to myself, “It’s not time yet, it’s not time yet…”

I walked past a mirror and saw my reflection. I looked like a mess; granted I always did. My mane seemed to be pushed back as if the wind blew it back and kept it there. I was nothing special, I didn’t stick out. Everything about me was grey in one way or another. My coat was grey, my tail and mane two different shades of grey, my horn was grey, everything was grey; even my eyes. The only thing that wasn’t grey was my cutie mark, I turned my head and looked at it; a black sun, probably the most interesting feature on me.

I turned back to the mirror, only to be caught in my own hollow gaze. My eyes seemed so dull, so void, just…empty; I couldn’t even remember the last time I had seen any spark in them.

I finally decided to head upstairs and go to sleep; it had been a long day, and Twilight wanted me to meet somepony tomorrow. I started to think of what I should do. ‘Should I even go, I had enough trouble talking today; I think today was the most I’ve talked to anypony in a very, very long time. I hope Twilight knows what she’s doing.’

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

This time I slept well, and I didn’t wake up until I heard the chirping of birds outside. I headed downstairs still half asleep, and I completely missed the last step and landed on my face, “SON OF A-” I cut myself of before finishing. I headed into the kitchen to make breakfast, but I wasn’t hungry. In fact, for some reason, I was nauseous. I rested my head on the table, trying to figure out what might be causing it. Then I remembered Twilight wanted to introduce me to somepony. That was probably the reason. Reluctantly I headed out the door and headed towards the library.

This time I slowly approached the door and knocked. Twilight opened the door, this time without hitting me, “Hey Twi, can we just get this over with now?”

She patted me on the head, “Oh, come on Lux, it’s not going to be that bad, you’re just over exaggerating. I think you’ll both get along great, she’s a lot like you.”

Everything seemed to freeze in time as a thought came to mind, “Twi?”

She looked at me with a somewhat puzzled look, “Yeah, what is it Lux?”

I sighed, “Are you trying to set me up with somepony?”

She jumped a little, “What, no no no no no. Lux, I’m just trying to find somepony that you can talk to easily, the same way you do with me.”

I stared at her for a moment, not sure if I should actually believe her. Eventually I just gave in, knowing that I was going to go whether I wanted to or not, “Okay, okay, let’s just get this over with.”

She smiled, “Just trust me Lux, you’ll be fine; and there’s no need to worry, I’ll be there with you.” We headed out, and my nausea started to worsen, but I tried to push through it; if not for me, then for Twilight. She always tried hard to help me.

Most of the time we walked in silence. I think it was because Twilight could tell I was feeling uneasy; which is probably why she asked, “Hey Lux, are you feeling okay?”

I looked at her and faked a smile, “Yeah, I’m fine. I mean why wouldn’t I be, it’s not like my friend is taking me to talk to someone I don’t know; and it’s not like I have a problem with talking to other ponies.”

Twilight hung her head a little, “Look, Lux, I know you don’t really like it when I try to get you to talk to other ponies, but this time I think you might find it easier to talk to her.”

I looked at her, half confused, and half slightly mad at her, “Oh, and why do you think that?” She tried to answer, but I wouldn’t let her, “Oh, wait, I think I know the answer; it’s because she’s a lot like me. What in the hay is that supposed to mean anyway?!” The longer I kept talking and angrier I started to get, my breathing got heavier and I could see that Twilight’s expression had changed; she was afraid. I slowed down my breathing and tried to calm down; I could see a few tears rolling down her cheeks. I had to try and hold mine back as I apologized, “Twi,” she looked at me, wiping the tears away, “Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to go off on you like that.”

She looked at me with concern, “Apology accepted, but Lux, are you sure you’re okay; it’s not like you to go off like that?”

I smiled, “Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just that after you left not many ponies showed actual care and concern for me; and most of the time when I thought they did, they we’re just taunting me. I guess it’s just been a while since anypony has actually shown any care or concern towards me.”

I could tell by her expression that she was in shock, “Oh…Lux… I’m sorry, I didn’t know. How come you didn’t tell me this?”

I hung my head, “I didn’t want you to think that it was your fault; because it’s not, that’s all.”

She hugged me, “Lux, I would never think that, some ponies just like to see others hurt to cover up their own pains. I could’ve helped you if you had only told me sooner.”

I smiled, “I guess I owe you another apology for not telling you.” I was happy, not because she forgave me, not because I told her and she wasn’t angry or felt it was her fault, but happy because I knew that there was still somepony out there who cared for me, “So, we’re good?”

She let go, “Yeah Lux, we’re good.”

We started to walk again, but before we could take more than ten steps, we were interrupted, “LOOK OUT BELOW!” And a blue pegasus crashed in front of us.

I was scared by the crash, so without so much as a thought I hid behind Twilight; much in the same was a small foal would to its mother. She looked back at me and laughed. She then turned her attention forward to the pesagus, “Hey Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” I peered out from behind Twilight to see what was going on.

She got up and stretched out her wings, “Yeah Twilight, I’m fine; I’ve had worse crashes.” She turned to look at Twilight and saw me, “Hey Twilight, who’s that hiding behind you?”

Twilight stepped aside, “Rainbow, this is my friend Lux, Lux, this is Rainbow Dash.”

I sheepishly waved, “H-hi”

“Sup.” She looked at me for a moment, “So, new to Ponyville?”

I nodded, “Y-yeah.”

“Awesome.” She looked at Twilight, “I’ll have to catch up with you guys later; I need to keep practicing if I’m ever going to impress the Wonderbolts.” I laughed a bit when she mentioned the Wonderbolts; she gave me a bit of a death stare, “What’s so funny mister.”

I stopped laughing immediately, “N-nothing.”

She got right in my face, “What you don’t think I have what it takes to be a Wonderbolt?”

I started to panic, “Well…I…ummm…”

Twilight cut me off and saved me again, “Rainbow, I’m sure Lux didn’t mean it like that.” She turned to me, “Right?” I nodded and she smiled, “Good, now go back to practicing Rainbow, okay.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She looked at me, “I’ve got my eye on you.” Then she flew off.

Twilight smiled and turned to me, “Hey Lux, are you good?”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

She smiled and nodded, “Good, and sorry for the unexpected introduction, I hadn’t planned on her almost crashing into us; and don’t worry about her, she can just be a hot head sometimes.” She paused, “Are you ready to go?”

I nodded, “Yeah.”

We started walking again, and it wasn’t long before there started to be less and less houses, and everything became more nature oriented. Off in the distance I could see a small cottage that seemed to just grow out of the ground; and as we got closer I started to notice more and more animals around. I could hear the animals and feel the cool air, and for the first time since I arrived, I felt at ease.

We started to get closer to the house, and once we were close enough we could hear a panicked voice, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, Angel, what are we going to do?”

“Come on Lux, let’ hurry up, I think something’s wrong.” We both ran as fast as we could.

Twilight ran all the way up to her friend, but I just froze about fifty feet away. I physically couldn’t move any closer if I wanted to, but I could still hear what was going on, “Fluttershy, is everything okay, what happened?”

“Oh, hi Twilight, and no, everything’s not okay. Angel hurt his leg hopping around too much and I don’t know what to do; he won’t let me help him.”

I tried to move closer to help, but it was useless; I was frozen, and everything seemed to fade out of focus, everything but her. Even from such a distance I could see her beauty. Her yellow-gold coat seemed to give of warmth and radiance that I could feel where I stood. Her beautifully pink mane seemed to be as free and breezy as the wind itself; and her eyes seemed as if they were jewels. I wanted to go up to her and help, but I felt intimidated by her beauty, so I was frozen in place due to my damned nerves. I looked to Twilight with a concerned face, and I think she could understand because she and Fluttershy both backed away from Angel a bit, and she nodded at me.

I concentrated on Angel; putting all of my effort into it. I used my magic, and within seconds he was floating a few inches off the ground. I focused on his leg, trying to deduce what was he had injured. It was a sprained leg, nothing major, so I was able to heal it no problem. Once he was healed I set him down, and he scampered towards me; and once he was in front of me, he gave me what I assumed was a nod of approval and scampered back towards Twilight and Fluttershy.

I could see a smile on both of their faces, and Twilight gestured for me to head over to them; I shook my head, I couldn’t. I turned around and started to head back home, it seemed like my only option.

I could hear Twilight tell her bye, and seconds later she was running towards me, “Lux, Lux, wait up for a second.” I slowed my pace so she could catch up, but I didn’t stop. “Lux, what’s wrong, why didn’t you come and talk to her, she wanted to thank you for helping Angel.”

I stopped so I could look her in the face, “I’m sorry Twi, but I couldn’t. I don’t want to be rude or anything, but I just couldn’t go up to her; I hope you understand.”

She shook her head, “I’m sorry Lux, but I don’t think I do. Can you just explain why to me?”

“I’m sorry Twi, but I can’t tell you why right now.” Honestly, I didn’t even know. I paused and looked at the ground while I collected my thoughts, “Can you just tell Fluttershy that I’m sorry for me; I think I just need to be alone for a while.” I couldn’t say anything else; I wouldn’t even know what to say if I could. I couldn’t even look at her again; my mind was racing around with dozens of different thoughts. I simply just walked away with my thoughts...alone.