Bricks

by ThePower

Chapter 2

That day, it had been unbearably hot indoors. Outdoors, however, it felt like I was being slow roasted by the heat of the day. No longer did my blood boil beneath my skin, it all but evaporated.

The town hall was within sight, the only thing between me and it being a pony that I’d hoped to avoid for a little while longer. Before I even had a chance to think about running away, our eyes met, and she advanced on me, eyes furrowed in that classic Twilight Sparkle glare.

“Oh. Hey... you.” I said, backing away slowly.

“You? You!? Where in the world have you been?” She yelled, continuing her advance. I smiled sheepishly, but that didn’t placate her.

“Look, Twilight, I know you’re a little mad but-” She cut me off before I could finish, pointing at me with an accusing hoof.

“A little?! I’ve been putting off my own research just to help you with your stupid project and you go ahead and ignore me for two weeks! How am I just a little mad?” I cringed. Reds and oranges began to bleed into her eyes until they looked like two small, glowing suns. Just looking into them made me tear in pain.

Twilight Sparkle is one the brightest ponies I know, and her skill with magic is unmatched.When I hit a few roadblocks in my research, I immediately thought about seeking her help. Stacks may be smart, but the study of celestial bodies isn’t exactly in his intellectual comfort zone. I came to her one night, calculations in hand and a head full of questions, and the next thing I knew everything was all better. I just looked at the paper in my hands, surprised that, with her help, everything suddenly made sense; every single star had been properly aligned according to the shifts I’d recorded. The night after that, I came back to her with more questions, then the night after that and the night after that.

Let me be clear. I am not a mind-reader. If there’s a spell out there capable of giving a pony that ability, I wouldn’t know about it. All I knew was that she was furious with me now, and that was something to be scared of.

I felt a few tears spill from my eyes. She stopped, no doubt thinking that I was crying because of her words. I took advantage of that quickly, sniffling a little for added effect. Now I was on the offensive.

“Twilight... I’m sorry. The truth is, I haven’t been able to complete my research because the sky’s been covered in clouds at night. Just clouds, clouds everywhere and not a star in sight.” I sighed, rubbing my fake tears away with a spare hoof. “I’ve had a few conversations with the mayor about this, but she keeps blowing me off because of a previous disagreement we had about my... my father, and it’s taken so much out of me, and, gosh...”

I looked into her eyes, each an orb bubbling with regret. “I’m sorry.” I repeated softly. That got her.

“Sunny,” She began, tamer than how she’d started. “You don’t have to be sorry. I’m the one who should be sorry. I was just so angry at you for delaying my own studies that I didn’t take into account the things that you’ve been going through.” She seemed to light up at that. I wondered if there was a magic spell that could make light bulbs appear out of nowhere. That way I’d at least be able to keep track of how many epiphanies a week Twilight had. The number was surely in the hundreds.

“You know, this would make a great letter to Princess Celestia.”

“That’s great, and I hope the letter goes great, but I really need to get going, Twilight.” I craned my neck to look around her. The mayor had exited the town hall and was headed in the direction of the marketplace with a pair of ponies. “I promise to have the next leg of my research done and in your hooves as soon as possible, but right now-”

“Yeah, sure. No problem, Sunny.” She allowed me to pass with a smile and a nod. I nodded back.

“Thanks. I’ll see you later, Twilight!” That was close. The conversation hadn’t gone quite as expected, but at least I’d bought myself some more time. Twilight isn’t exactly a pony wiling to forgive and forget right away. She enjoys giving a good lecture or two before deciding that you’ve had enough of a tongue-lashing.

I moved at a half-trot, cutting through the wall of street vendors to my right to catch up with the mayor. For an old pony, she did have one hell of a stride. I did manage to catch up a few minutes later, though. The mayor looked like she was talking with Derpy Hooves, Ponyville’s very own mailpony.

I’ve only ever seen Derpy in passing glances overhead. She’s not allowed to fly low during deliveries after that last incident with the muffins and the cart. Needless to say, a few buildings were severely damaged. I don’t think Blues ever really recovered from that, either. Derpy must have finished all of her deliveries for the day, but if she did, then why was the mayor giving her a package?

Derpy flew off a few moments later, and I seized the opportunity to corner the mayor. She looked surprised, but it didn’t take long for that to turn to disdain. “Oh. It’s you.”

“I’d hoped that we could be civil and fair about this.”

“That depends.” She started, her expression tightening into a frown. “Are you ready to move?”

“You can’t honestly expect me to move! That house is-”

“Yes, yes. I know. It’s your father’s legacy. But I’ve already offered to compensate you for the loss.”

She didn’t get it. “This isn’t about the money! This is about me keeping what I have left of my father.” The mayor tried to say something, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. The words were forming by themselves, the frustration I felt demanded to be expressed. I needed to make her know, to make her understand.

“My father lost two of his cousins in a fire that destroyed a good portion of Fillydelphia almost twenty years ago. Back in West Fillly, he started helping out with some of the reconstruction projects, and he saw that the fires that had swept through there had turned some of the bricks green, so when they started rebuilding those homes, they reused some of those green bricks. Nopony bothered changing the colors because the discolored bricks became a badge of honor. You were a pony that, despite the odds, despite the unparalleled destruction and chaos, survived and thrived in an environment almost completely consumed by the greatest fire Fillydelphia had ever seen.” My rant was drawing a crowd. Ponies were staring at me, whispering things about me. The mayor was beside herself. A combination of shock and outrage flashed across her face. I almost smiled at that.

“My father built that house as a memorial to the cousins that he had lost. He built it alone, with his own two hooves. He built it strong and tough and capable of lasting a lifetime. And now you want to take it away from me, the one gift that my father ensured would stay with me until I joined him in death.”

“That’s not really fair. I’m not trying to-”

“Oh, but you are, mayor. You’re forcing me to choose between my livelihood and my father’s legacy, and, Celestia damn you, I won’t stand for it!” I hadn’t intended to cause a scene. I just wanted her to leave me be already. The realization that my rant hadn’t won any points with her struck me rather quickly after that. She looked just as angry as I did.

“You... you... How dare you- don’t you run away from me, Sun Spot!” I ran as fast as I could, pushing past the crowd in whatever direction would get me out of there the quickest. I dashed past Rarity’s Boutique, over a small bench, and into the park. I stopped just short of a hut in the distance came into view.

The hut was smaller than my house, but looked cozy enough. It was surely far more comfortable than a shack, though that was a debate my father would’ve ran into the ground.

“Dad...” I whispered softly, letting the wind carry my regret to him in the afterlife. Despite my best intentions, I had failed. The mayor wasn’t going to let up, and I certainly hadn’t done anything to help.

The breeze was starting to pick up.

To this day, I’m not entirely sure what happened next. Something called out to me, on the wind. A reply from my father? A guardian angel? My imagination? All of them are plausible and yet none accurately express the exact compulsion that came over me.

As the wind whispered back into my ears, I froze up. Then I looked up and stared into the sun.

_____________________

When I came to, the first thing I noticed was the piercing smell of disinfectant and the faint smell of blood. The first cough hurt me. The next dozen shook me to the core. Somepony must’ve heard me hacking up a storm, because soon enough a mare ran into the room and called for somepony to hold me down. I panicked when I felt two sets of hooves press down on me.

My eyes opened, and I locked eyes with one of the nurses restraining me. Her purple eyes widened as tinges of red began bleeding into my vision. I screamed and flailed and cried dark red tears while the nurses struggled to control me.

Somepony else came into the room during the struggle. “Dude, you gotta calm down!”

“S-stacks?” That was the opening the nurses needed, I guess. They pushed me against the hospital bed even harder than before while another pony stuck a needle in me. A sedative, and a powerful one at that. Blissful unconsciousness came within seconds.

My next encounter with the world of the living came at a much slower pace than the sudden surge in lucidity that I had just...

Well, since the last time I was awake.

I swam in and out of consciousness before finally settling into a state of semi-lucidity. I still couldn’t see, not because of whatever I’d done to my eyes but because of the thick bandaging that kept me from opening them.

“Hey Sunny.” I heard Stacks say from my left. His voice is distinguishable because of the way that it booms when he speaks. A baritone, if there ever was one.

“I... don’t want you to lie to me, Stacks. How do I look? Am I scarred for life? Is my picture perfect face ruined forever?”

“No, you’re still as average as ever, Sunny. Though, your eyes-”

“How are they?”

“Don’t freak out, Sunny.”

“Just tell me, what happened to my eyes?”

” Dude, just wait for the nurses to come. They can explain it better than I can. “

“No no no no. This... you’re lying.” I pounded my hooves against the bed in anger. I was blind. I had to be blind. My life was over.

“Sunny, don’t be like that. It’s nothing permanent.” He paused. “At least, that’s what the nurses think.”

“That’s what they think?!”

“You’re dangerously close to freaking out.”

“Maybe that’s cause I’m an astronomer who’s about to lose his eyes. How in Celestia’s name am I supposed to use a telescope now? How am I supposed to finish all of those equations now? How am I supposed to get that research grant now?” In truth, the money didn’t really matter. My father had left me with control of his real estate empire, which I delegated control of to his financial manager. He also left me with several bank accounts, each containing enough bits to last a pony a lifetime.

I wanted the grant because I wanted to be self-sufficient. My father did not coddle me as a child. Despite our wealth, I was given a proper upbringing with an emphasis on hard work as the best means to an end. That grant was supposed to validate me, to make me remembered not for being my father’s foal, but for being the pony that discovered the widespread movement of the stars.

“Take a chill pill, bro. I’m not the one you should be ranting at, and I’m not the one who decided to stare into the sun for hours.”

“What.” I said more than asked. “I couldn’t have stared into the sun for that long.”

“Oh, but you did. Hours, they said. Unbelievable, I said.” I could tell he was smiling. He had to be smiling.

“So I’m blind?”

There was another pause. I guessed that he was shaking his head, so I pointed to the bandaging. He sighed before continuing, “Not really. I mean, I don’t know much about your condition, but, again, the nurses told me that it wasn’t permanent.”

“Damn...”

“Well, look on the bright side. Now you can spend more time with your buddy Stacks.”

“That’s not much of a bright side.”

Somepony else walked into the room. Stacks addressed her as doctor, which piqued my curiosity. The only doctor I’d seen was a white mare with a pair of soft red eyes and light pink hair. The nurse who held me down had the loveliest eyes, both a rich royal purple, and a navy blue coat.

“Er, hello, Mr. Spot. My name is Doctor Redheart, if you didn’t know that already. Tell me, how are you feeling?”

“Great, considering I’m bucking blind.”

“Sunny, don’t talk to her like that!” Stacks hit me with one of his oversized hooves. I tried to pretend like it didn’t hurt. “If it wasn’t for her, you would’ve lost your eyes permanently.”

“Careful. We don’t want him to get too agitated.” She said.

He’d found his new soul-mate.

Right. “About that. Stacks tells me that I’m not permanently blind.”

“You aren’t. Though we aren’t sure if the glowing is permanent.”

“What.”

“See, Sunny?” He asked, tapping me with a hoof. “I told you that it wasn’t permanent. And you were about to freak out over nothing.”

The nurse approached me and carefully removed the bandages. It took her a short while to slowly peel off the bandaging, but off it went. Behind my eyelids I could see the world brighten, though I kept them closed until the last layer of medical gauze was removed.

Tentatively, I opened my eyes. This time, I didn’t cry rivers of blood, nor did I feel the intense, burning pain associated with blood flooding into my eyes.

Stacks grinned. “That is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“A mirror. Get me a mirror.”

The nurse fumbled around with one of her pockets before producing a compact mirror. Staring back at me were two glowing silver eyes. They really did glow. It was faint, but there; actual light radiating out my irises.

“Oh man.”

“I know, right?”

“Rarity’s going to freak when she sees me.”

“No way, Sunny. Fillies love talented young stallions with glowing eyes. It’s practically a given.” The nurse coughed politely to reign the conversation in.

“I’m sure all the fillies will go wild when they see you, but they are going to have to wait until we clear you.”

“And how long is that going to take?” I asked nervously.

“A few days.”

“But I’ve got a date tomorrow!”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Spot, but we can’t, in good faith, let you walk out of here without first giving you a full checkup and making sure those eyes of yours don’t fail when you get out there.”

I shared a look with Stacks. He got the message.

My date with Rarity was destiny, and it would not be denied to me, not by some doctor.