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A Tale of Two Friends

Preference List: Light, Darkness
Story: They met under the moon. It was full and the night was cloudless. A recent snowfall had covered the land with fresh powder. And the world felt as though it had entered a slumber after the recent solstice.

Light stood at the lake, hoof poised to break through the thin ice at the shoreline, when a snapping branch startled her. She bounced, turning towards the sound, as she lowered her head and readied herself to defend.

Another mare stood at the woods, painted like a winter sky. The shadows of bare trees had fallen upon the mare's coat, but, no. As the mare moved, so did the shadows. It was her skin that reached up and out.

"Oh, sure, point your horn at me," Darkness retorted with a snort. She shook her head, the silver locks flying and then falling down around her face.

"I," the unicorn started, jerking her head up in surprise, "I didn't mean to offend!"

Darkness laughed, "No one usually does, now, do they?"

Light blinked, taken aback, "I was startled. I thought it might be a predator. I only wanted to defend myself."

"I didn't say I wasn't a predator, though. You only assumed," the voice replied, low, but not threatening. The mare took a step forward.

"But, you're like me? You wouldn't . . . "

Darkness sighed, rolling her eyes, "I'm not here to harm you. That doesn't mean you should assume that's the case. It's dangerous out here, even for Hoi such as us." And then softer, almost a whisper, "Especially with me around."

Confusion swirled in Light's eyes as she looked at the other mare, "What do you mean? With you around?"

The mare didn't reply. She walked to the shoreline and then smashed a hoof into the thin ice. She dipped her head to drink the cold water. Then lifted her head.

"I am a magnet for darkness. Pain and misery lurk in my shadow. I can only assume that I am cursed," Darkness explained, voice soft and bitter. "I avoid everyone, if I can, but, I was too tired to go around to the other side tonight."

Light frowned, "You're welcome here. Surely, you can't be trouble, and we all deserve to have company, to have friends." She tried to say it gently, but the idea had blossomed like a strike of lightning in its speed and she couldn't quite keep the enthusiasm out.

"No," Darkness returned, "everyone who has ever met me has suffered. I don't want to cause it anymore. I don't want to hurt others. I would rather cry tears of loneliness than of," her voice, growing louder, suddenly stopped. She'd said far, far too much.

Without another word, and much faster than thought, she turned and ran back into the wood. She ran and ran. She snapped branches. She caught her pelt and legs on thorns. It was only when her lungs burned and her body protested that she came to a stop.

"You can't ran off like that," a voice panted behind her and Darkness startled, turning and slipping in the snow until was flat out on her side.

Light gasped, "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't meant to startle you! It's just, you ran off so fast and I, I just wanted to make sure you were okay!" The mare's words tripped out fast, unwieldly, as she tried to catch her breath and apologize.

Darkness hissed, "What are you doing? I just told you that I'm cursed!"

"Well, maybe I'm blessed! Maybe I am meant to bring joy to your life!" Light retorted.

"It doesn't work like that!"

"Says who!?" Light shouted, disturbing an owl who hooted in annoyance. "I don't believe you're bad luck. I think you just need some brightness in your life!"

Darkness sighed, dropping her head into the snow. This was exhausting. Why couldn't the mare just listen to her?

Light also sighed, dropping down to lie in the snow.

"Look, what if I promise to leave you alone if I'm ever miserable or hurt by your company?"

"Or you could just leave me alone now?"

"But you seem so sad. I don't want to leave you sad. Please?"

Darkness closed her eyes, "You're not going to give up on this, are you?"

"No," Light smiled, "no, I'm not."

"Fine. You can stay, but only until you see that I'm cursed."

Light grinned, leaning down to rest her chin on the other mare's neck, "Then we'll be friends forever."

And they were. Light never seemed to suffer from Darkness's curse. Even as other blamed the hoi for misery or pain, Light stood by her side. And Darkness, eventually, came to relish Light's friendship. Even if she still waited for the chance that Light would one day become affected by the curse and leave.

But that was okay; Light had enough belief for both of them.

A Tale of Two Friends

Preference List: Darkness, Light
Story:
Once upon a time, there were two mares. One was a unicorn and loved the day and light and all things beautiful and bright who worshipped Apollo, god of the sun. She brought joy to all who bore witness to her with her ethereal appearance. Meanwhile, the other mare stayed in the shadows of the densest part of the forest where sunlight rarely reached. She seemed to love the dark and shadows, but would come out on full moon nights to worship Artemis, goddess of the moon.

This dark mare had the power to use the sight of other creatures and control them to do her bidding. However, when she did so, the creatures she controlled bore excruciating pain and even when she ceased controlling them, their sight was stolen away from them forever, so everyone feared her. The two mares heard of each other but didn’t actually meet in person until one fateful solar eclipse when the moon and the sun crossed paths in the sky.

Now the unicorn was used to leaving other creatures, especially other hippoi, in awe and wonder of her beauty and being wherever she went. So when the dark mare not only did not stop and stare but continued walking and bumped right into her, she was shocked.

"How could you be so rude?" the unicorn asked, scoffing. "Can’t you see me standing here before you?”

“Apologies. I cannot,” the dark mare replied. And it was then that the unicorn noticed how pale and glazed over the dark mare’s pupils were and how they didn’t seem to follow her as other creatures’ did.

“Are you…blind?” the unicorn asked.

At that, the dark mare laughed. “Mostly. Except by the light of the full moon. But following the moon led me here today and I still cannot see. Apollo’s sunlight must be especially bright to be outshining his sister’s tonight.”

“It is still day, Dark One,” the unicorn informed her. “There is a solar eclipse. Artemis’ moon is blocking Apollo’s sun which is why you cannot see by her light. She is not reflecting it right now. Perhaps they are fighting.”

“Is that so?” the dark mare asked. “Thank you for telling me. Then I shall return to my woods.”

“Wait,” the unicorn spoke up. “You are the one who controls others, causes them pain, and steals their sight away, yes? I beg of you, please stop. Those who you control to do your bidding and to look through their eyes for a short time are forever crippled by your selfishness.”

The dark mare raised her head indignantly. “You would not ask me to cease using my power if you understood what it was like to live without sight as I do,” she said bitterly. “You merely revel and bask in your beauty. I used to be like you too, once; brilliant and shining and beautiful. I was so incredibly vain that the gods punished me by condemning me to eternal darkness. Apollo, agreeing with and following the whim and will of the other gods, blinded me.”

She looked back up at the moon eclipsing the sun. “It was only by the grace of Artemis, who took pity on me, that I was still able to see, but only by the light of the full moon, and only the outlines of shapes. That is why I follow the moon.” The dark mare turned away again. “But the moon does not always shine. So it is then I must rely on using and stealing the sight of others to see regardless of the cost.”

“You don’t have to, though!” the unicorn told her. “You could learn to hone your other senses and train yourself to live without seeing when the full moon isn’t out.”

“Would you prefer to live blindly, Vain One, if you had to rob others of their sight in order to see? You would never again be able to admire yourself properly without stealing that ability from another forever. Do you think you could pay such a heavy price for staying selfless?”

The unicorn was taken aback by the questions posed to her. But, after a few minutes of pondering, she nodded. “I could and would,” she declared a little shakily.

“Then prove it,” the dark mare answered. “Prove it to me and I will never again steal sight or control from another.”

The unicorn, not having expected to be asked this, hesitated. But then she nodded again and prayed to the sun god, Apollo, to blind her. She looked up and, as the moon had begun to move out of the pathway of the sun, stared directly into its light, burning her eyes and permanently damaging them.

The dark mare, shocked by the unicorn’s resolve, immediately prayed to the moon goddess, Artemis, to recover the unicorn’s sight as Apollo’s twin. Touched by the dark mare’s selfless request, Artemis answered her prayer. She could not completely recover the unicorn’s sight, but instead gave her a sort of night vision as the dark mare had, allowing her to see outlines by the light of the full moon.

The unicorn’s sclera turned black like the dark mare’s. She was grateful to the dark mare for her help, but she also mourned the loss of being able to ever truly see properly again. The dark mare, however, comforted her and assured her she would keep up her end of the deal to never again steal sight or control from another.

The two mares became fast friends, helping one another as they began to learn how to live blindly and in darkness except by the light of the full moon. Sometimes, on full moon nights, you can see them taking a stroll together, laughing and enjoying one another’s company, for though they lost their true sight, they each gained a true friend.

A Tale of Two Friends

Preference List: Light, Darkness
Story:
A small clearing travelled through the thicker woods of the lands both Light and Dark grew up. This was their herd, both were born to families that wished for the brightest coat to come out of their litters. However, due to the fact there had not been a light pelt born to their herd for many decades, all of the foals who had been born had born darker and darker.

It had all come down to the final two mares to give birth this one spring. It was quite the event, as those with the darkest bodies, dapples and stripes had forfeited trying to have foals until a star-blessed foal was born again. It would only be then that the couples who had waited so long would be able to welcome little ones into their families. Some bloodlines had suffered ending due to the forfeit, and long familial bonds were extinct generations passed.

Within the deep evening, during the full moon Dark was born, with wide gleaming moonstone eyes. The young filly had come out head first, with her white hair sparking hope that only her face had bore any darkness. It was when her deep, black banding came out across her back and up her legs in high stockings that the herd lost their final hope. Dark's mother was their lightest mare, with her bright glistening blues that only distorted with a darker blue dapple. Her mother was also the one who gave her daughter her beautiful moonstone eyes and off-white mane however it had been speculation that she hadn't bonded enough with her lighter mate and instead had relations with their darkest dun-marked member in the herd.

With this disheartening the herd watched over their darker mare who had been pregnant for her last chance at having a foal with her lighter mate all evening until the bright morning as the sun came up from the dark horizon. It was then Light was born, their light pelted saviour. Shadows barely even showed in her pelt, her hair was glistening in the bright morning sun as she was cleaned up from a long labour. With the celebrations to be had, the blessings to Apollo, Dark and her family were forgotten about until the next morning.

Banned from the herd's main lands, Dark's parents were pushed to the outskirts and into the darkest part of the forest to live in solitude as punishment. It was not until Dark was able to run freely that she would be banished away from their light pelted saviour so as to not taint her colours.

The two had met briefly in childhood, but only when Dark and her parents were personally invited to join for herd meetings and gatherings to thank Apollo, neither saw one another. And with the welcoming of Light came more and more light-pelted babies, especially younger siblings from the two who had made Light. With her carefree attitude, Light wandered and searched for more blessings and hoped to find new faces to extended family lines in order to rescue the herd even more. Joy-filled she had met many new hoi of many different body builds, colours, tones and shades and brought them to the herd to help it flourish and expand.

Light worked hard to live up to her name, and even though her beautiful pelt and nature had given her the permission to wander off, she was still banned from the place Dark and her parents called home. That was until one full moon evening Dark came rushing out of the forest into the main herd to ask for help. Her mother had been ailing, and the darkest member of the herd had walked away from their family years prior unbeknownst to the herd. Without thinking, Light moved to help Dark bring her mother into the herd for help. Dark had suffered so much neglect from the herd even with her loving mother. Since the forested area she lived in was water locked in and blocked in the way that in order to enter their dark abode, they would have to go through the entire herd lands or come swimming up the ocean at their cliffs, it was hard for them to get anything in their seclusion together.

Dark had only known solitude, even the mice had run from her in fear that she would only bring things to them worse than plague. She had grown to only keep to herself, afraid to only bring despair to those she should have been loved by, despair to the one who had always loved her. Dark believed fully that it was she and only she that was at fault for how her mother's health deteriorated.

Over the week that Light had fought for Dark and her mother to stay within the clearing to be taken care of, the two mares had gotten to know one another. At first it started with resentment, Dark resented the colour of Light's coat. Which had brought a new element to Light's story. It had awakened an understanding within Light herself. Although she was seen as a joy-filled bright mare, her presence had brought despair to someone. The one who shared a birthdate with her, the one she was told to be fearful of.
As they both grew closer and began to see similarities in their opposite worlds, Light came to another realization about Dark. She had found camaraderie especially when Dark had come up with answers for hard questions the herd had challenged Light with. The last day was approaching and Light resented the fact they had gotten so close. She felt like with Dark, she didn't have to always come up with her bright ideas. Dark made her think of all of the outcomes of a decision, as Dark had to think hard and strongly about not only what good comes from a decision made but also of the bad that comes.


As the week neared the end, Dark laid at a fire, watching its magnificence with her moonstone eyes. She admired its warmth and brightness. She understood why those loved how Light glowed with hope. The herd had been within the outskirts watching her closely as Light joined Dark's side to lay in the grass beside the fire.

"We will leave when she wakes up, before the morning." Dark consoled Light in case that was what was going to be asked of her. "No need." Light responded. Shaking her head, "The herd is stubborn but there is something I have learned over the last week of our budding friendship."
Dark squinted her bright coloured eyes, noticing only now that these were the only things on her that won against the brightness of Light. Light's eyes were deep blue with rings of black. "Ah? Probably nothing good. I have only known of the misery and darkness I have brought everyone that was supposed to cherish my youthful woes and new life. But the moment I entered the world I only destroyed their hopes, and my mother was chased away from the only home she ever knew to live in a place that I brought sickness to." With these words Light's eyebrows lowered, her eyes looking away for a moment. Shaking her head.

"No, no it's probably the best lesson I have ever learned from bringing the Light to our herd." Light said as she allowed her eyes to make contact with Dark's again. Dark was attentive to hear Light's answer. "Like fire, I glow only within the presence of darkness. I will fight for you to join our herd again, so that your mother can be surrounded by her family and so that our families can meet the foal they banished away." She smiled brightly. "I need you to balance me. For I only know foolish joy without our friendship. But.. That is only if you wish to come back."
With some time, Dark nodded slowly. "I think I would love to at least join you. Your excursions sound fun. I have never seen lands beyond the herd. I would like to bring my mother back here. She aches for her parents and her siblings every day. I would help only to help her, at least at the start."

Setting out together, Light and Dark worked together to bring hope to their herd.

Light can not shine without Darkness.

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