//------------------------------// // Glassy Eyes and Black Birds // Story: Beyond Blind Eyes // by Lunaric //------------------------------// A white and black mare walked down the hall. She held her head up with purpose and dignity. If one looked closely they could have seen her twitch every few steps, her eyes glazed over. She had no trouble traversing the school. The familiar halls almost guided her. As she walked, a question burned in her mind. Why? She was among the highest-scoring in her grade, so logically she could see it, but it refused to sink in. And it's not as if she was unworthy either, she's helped many of her classmates but, it still bugged her. Why do I need to take care of somepony important who I've never seen nor heard of before? He or she is likely some noble's foal who can't take no for an answer and will be a pain to deal with. She groaned. I'm sooo lucky to have been picked for this. An eye-roll. She was a few doors away before stopping. Taking in a deep breath as she closed her eyes, composing herself. I'd be best to not embarrass myself at the least. She breathed out, reopened her eyes, and continued. In front of her was a door that lead to a small study room. One push and she'd be inside. One more breath in and out, as she put on a facade of a smile. She pushed on. Opening the door, slowly, but not too fast as to seem reluctant, she peered inside. She called out a practised and respectful, "Hello?" There was nopony inside. She blushed and closed the door behind her as she walked in. She felt like an idiot. Another mistake, but thankfully nopony saw it. Putting down her saddlebags, she sat down at the far side of the table. Why am I panicking? It's not as if this meeting with this noble will decide my fate at all. It's not as if messing up at all will get me punished... She quietly whimpered as a few hairs in her mane sprung up, almost ruining her perfect bun. Taking off the band in her hair, she straightened her hair out, before putting it back up into a bun. She breathed in and out. In and out. "Might as well get set up," she mumbled to herself. out of her bags, she took out a notebook and three paper packets. On the front cover of the notebook were a few doodles she had made while she was younger. Most were made while bored in some of her more stale classes. Especially that math class. It was so darn basic and boring. She rested her head on a hoof and let out a loud sigh. Like what kind of pony didn't know how to multiply double digits at 6 years old? She much preferred the magic theory classes. They weren't nearly as basic and actually asked questions that couldn't be answered with less than a sentence. She enjoyed math as much as the next pony, but it had to be actually engaging. A sound from the hall roused her from her reverie. The latch on the door clicked as the door opened. A white mare poked her head in and coughed lightly. "Is this room 256?" "Yes, it is, ma'am. Come on in." As the mare came in through the door, she noticed that the white mare looked more akin to a maid than a noble. Perhaps she is an attendant for the pony? The white pony was a pegasus and had an orb floating behind her. Looking past her, there were no unicorns in the hallway, before noticing the small glow from the mare's back. The mare made to sit down at the table and revealed a small blue and white unicorn filly on her back. She's a tiny little thing, but she seems to have a good focus on her magic. The white mare put the filly gently down beside her which broke the filly's concentration on the ball. It fell, but the pegasus caught it with seemingly practised grace. "Hello, you two. May I presume that I am to tutor the little one?" "Y-yea, that's right." "Splendid. May I have your names? I'm Raven Inkwell." "Hi, I'm Cotton Ball, and this here is..." Cotton gestured down to the filly at her side. "Hey, nice to meet you. I'm Aqua. I would shake your hoof, but I wouldn't know where to aim." Aqua pointed at her dull eyes. "I'm more than a little blind, you see. Heh. See." She giggled quietly. Oh my... Raven bowed her head. "Ah... I'm sorry to hear that. I know I'm your tutor and it's my job, but if you need any help, just let me know." "I gotcha', thanks. Anyway, how should we start this? Do we do like a first lesson today or next time we meet or...?" Aqua trailed off with her head tilted. Raven regained her composure and cleared her throat. "Ah. I was thinking I would give you a few aptitude tests to see where you're at in terms of both knowledge and practice. That would give me the understanding to make the first session beneficial." "Makes sense, but... And no offence but, I assume the tests are written?" "Yes, But I could just read out the questions for you, or you could have Cotton Ball read them out for you." "Sounds good to me." the filly thought to herself for a moment before continuing with an apprehensive look on her face. "What subjects are these tests on?" "Mainly just the three basic subjects the school focuses on. Sciences, mathematics, and magical theory. Each packet has its own major subject" "Makes sense... So should I just start it now or?" "Feel free." Raven pushed forward the three packets. "Do you want me to read the questions out to you or do you want Cotton to?" "No offence but, I'd like Cotton to." Raven heard a cough that broke her from her reverie as she looked up from her math textbook. "Are you two are done?" Cotton nodded. "Yeah, we just finished through what Aqua knows." Cotton pushed the packets back to Raven. "Here you go." Raven nodded before using her magic to briefly inspect the different pages. Most of the questions had been answered with Cotton's, admittedly very nice, hoofwriting. Raven briefly inspected some of the mathematics answers. Interesting... After a few more glances at the different sections, she put down the packets. "Well, thank you for finishing the tests. Next time we meet, I'll have a full lesson plan made. Do you two know when you're available? Like every week to meet on Tree Day?" Aqua furrowed her eyebrows and after a second of silence, replied first. "Yea, that's good for me, I think. I don't know for Cotton, though..." The filly looked up at the mare next to her. Cotton turned to the ceiling and looked thoughtful before eventually turning back to Raven and nodding. "I should be free every Tree Day. Sometimes, something might come up, but as far as I know, it works. What time of the day would you prefer for this?" "Around five p. m. gives me enough time to set up a lesson plan on Tree Day." Letting the silence hang in the air for a second, Raven decided to break it. "If there's nothing else, I'll be going then. It was nice meeting you, Aqua." Giving the slightest of bows, Raven started to pack her saddlebags. The filly spoke up once more."Sounds good. Well, it was nice meeting you, Raven." Cotton and the filly then began to converse. Raven paid them no attention, and eventually left the room, packets in her saddlebags. That... was definitely a unique foal... I can't imagine it'll be easy teaching her, but it'll be much better than some noble's privileged child. Now, who are they and why was I chosen for this? Raven lost herself in thought as she made her way out of the school. As Raven walked through the halls of her school, she only had one question on her mind. "Why?"