//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Losing sightlessness. // Story: The Long Way Home // by HyperRandomness //------------------------------// After practicing a bit more with his sight spell, Hi-Rez felt confident that he could make it back to ponyville... assuming he would know what it looked like. If he could find just one landmark that he remembered the feel of, however, he would be able to find his way around easily. He cast his sight spell and looked around the room once more, making note that Zecora was not inside. He quickly stood and felt disoriented, as he was not used to relying on his eyes instead of his walking stick and hooves alone. He stumbled for a moment as he attempted to navigate with his newfound colorful vision, his eyes and mind straining to completely comprehend that he could now see. He felt around instinctively anyway, being sure that he had his hoofing before setting out. He took a few cautious steps towards the door, using both his natural senses and his newfound sense to navigate. His mind still had trouble grasping his ability to see, even though it was just a small viewpoint in the blackness. He had nearly passed out when he’d witnessed that sunset in the first place since his senses were so overloaded... that and the magical strain to see that far nearly wiped him out. He progressed to the door, taking in every color of everything as he went, and eventually found the handle to the door. He put a hoof up against it and turned, then clicking the door open and pushing outward. As the door swung open, he gasped. New, bright colors filled his port into vision, which he could only describe as wonderful. Tall, unwavering trunks of dark colors filled out with many petals of brighter colors at the top, small brightly-colored stems with even brighter foliage covering a core, and many more things filled his view. Basically, he was looking at all the plants. Trees rose furiously from the ground, covered in dark bark and lavishly coated with leaves and branches spindling off this way and that, little blades of grass stuck up everywhere, a pair of beady eyes glaring at him from the brush... Wait, what? He reverted his magical gaze to a pair of shining, piercing eyes staring back at him. He was filled with a horror he did not understand, and immediately felt like running. He quickly turned to run, but his vision spell could not withstand all the sudden movement and flashing of colors and scenery. A small pop! was heard as Hi-Rez’s vision blurred, then vanished entirely, leaving him in the dark again, and with a greatly-timed headache. He tried to re-summon his field of vision, but his horn only sparked, and a wave of exhaustion flew through him. He tried to run regardless. He got only a short distance away before tripping and nearly falling flat on his face, and that’s when he remembered to bring up his magic walking stick again. He had slight strain in doing so, probably from his recent failure with his vision spell, but he kept it up anyhow. He never realized that the creature he thought he saw had not given chase. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the first time since she moved away, Lens Cap stopped worrying about Rez. Lens hadn’t made another friend since she moved. She would sit at her window each day, worrying that Rez had gotten lost or hurt, wanting to go back to ponyville to see if he was alright. She wanted to be sure he was alright, among other things, but that wasn’t something she was going to talk about, much less let herself think about. However, today, she actually had a small moment of relief. She wasn’t actually thinking about Rez that day, so she went to her room. The break from worry didn’t last long. Thinking about Rez wasn’t the only thing she did all day. She kept a journal of the day’s actions and her thoughts, then snapped a photo of the important event or item of the day. In this case, she didn’t write much. She only wrote the same thing she’d been writing for her last few entries. Today was another dull day, since I’d moved here. Not much has happened, and I can’t stop worrying about Hi-Rez. I haven’t eaten much and I haven’t gone outside. She stopped for a moment, before adding, I need to see him again. I need to be sure he’s okay. I just need to see him one more time. Just once. Just to be sure he’s safe. She grabbed a camera from a nearby desk and took a snapshot of herself. The picture came out, depicting a forlorn Lens Cap. She taped it into her journal and closed it, then wandered back to her window. Her parents insisted she get outside at some point, as they said it was unhealthy just to sit all day, but her worries took up all her thoughts. What if he got lost? He’s blind, so he might not ever find his way home. She shuddered at the thought, and the many that followed. What if he’s hurt? What if there’s nopony around to help him? What if he’s lost AND hurt? What if he’s lost and hurt and I could have helped him? What if I could have prevented it? These ponderings and more plagued her mind, repeating themselves every day like a broken record jammed into your ear. It bothered her to no end, and every day, she would ask the same question. “When are we going back to ponyville?” To which her parents would always respond, “Soon enough, Lens. Soon enough.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rez panted with exhaustion. He’d run as far as his hooves would take him, and then ran further, until his hooves would carry him no farther. He collapsed on the ground in a heap and breathed heavily, desperately trying to give oxygen to his body that craved it so horribly. After convulsing for a moment as his body attempted to calm itself, he simply laid and rested for a few moments. He didn’t know if he was still being pursued, or that he wasn’t being chased in the first place, so he only stayed down for a few seconds. He quickly righted himself and continued to navigate his way away from whatever he thought was running after him, quickly realizing there were no trees here. Then he realized there was no ground here. It took him a second to realize he was falling. It only took a nanosecond for him to start screaming. In a panicked effort, he tried to re-summon his vision to attempt to get a grasp on the situation, so he could help himself out of his dilemma. His attempts failed and only left him more desperate. He didn’t know how far down the ground was, and he didn’t know what lay below him, either, so it was take action or die in this situation. In a last-ditch effort, he aimed generally down and poured whatever strength he had left into his horn. He let out a massive burst of energy and sustained it as long as he could, shooting a continual beam downward in an attempt to slow himself. It worked for a moment, but Rez could feel his energy draining away by the second. He tried to keep the stream stable, but he was struggling to even retain his fading consciousness as the last of his strength left him. He managed to keep the stream going, but his body went numb and awareness dulled away as he lost consciousness. The stream faded shortly thereafter, and he fell the remaining two feet with a soft thump, landing on a patch of dry dirt. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Something rang out in the back of Lens’ mind. Something that wouldn’t let her rest, or take her thoughts off of Hi-Rez. Something that simply shouted: He’s in trouble! You have to do something! But of course, she knew she couldn’t do anything. Rez wouldn’t be anywhere even remotely near here, unless he was coming to visit, but that was unlikely. She had never even told Rez where she was moving to. She looked out almost expectantly of her window, viewing the skyline over the tall buildings, then averting her gaze to the ponies shuffling about on their own business below. She studied them hastily, almost expecting to see Rez. She shifted her weight from one side to another before deciding to go outside. She almost felt like searching for him, but she wasn’t sure why. It’s not like she’d find him out here. …right? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi-Rez was awoken by a sharp jab in his side. He jumped to a start, literally, being on his hooves as fast as he could scramble onto them. He was still breathing heavy, but then a slightly familiar voice began talking, “Oh, glad you’re awake! At first I didn’t think you were okay and that wouldn’t have been okay because being dead is boring and I would know because I knew a stallion who used to be alive but he stopped being alive and I was really sad but before he was dead he said I shouldn’t be sad so I wasn’t sad but I still missed him because he was my friend and friends are nice to have but dead friends are really boring because they can’t do anything and not doing anything is really boring and” the voice took a massive breath, “I’m just glad that you’re alive because you took a biiiiiiig fall and I thought you were dead and I like to have living friends because they can do things with me.” The clearly female voice stopped talking, leaving Rez a few moments to gather his thoughts, but then she added, “So, who’re you? My name’s Pinkie Pie!” Now he remembered the voice. He’d been in Sugar Cube Corner enough times to know that voice well enough to be a crazy pony that everyone described as ‘pink.’ He had no idea what ‘pink’ was, seeing as he had only just recently discovered vision. He did, however, know that this pony was out of her mind. However, in a situation like this, he would take any help he could get. With a sigh of defeat, he said, “I’m Hi-Rez Shot. Can you help me back to Ponyville? I can’t see.” He gave another shot at summoning his vision spell, but failed again. “Yeah, okay!” Pinkie responded happily. “Now, which way is Ponyville?” Rez face-hoofed.