//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Ponyville // Story: The Sparkle of his Eye // by Silentpegasus //------------------------------// Chapter 2 Ponyville 15 years ago. Ink walked down a white tile hallway as he looked around to see unfriendly faces. As he got to his locker he felt some-pony barge into him and push him to the ground. He looked up to see a massive blue Pegasus colt glaring down at him. His gaze seemed to burn a hole through Ink’s own eyes, which were filled with fear. “Watch it loser!” the colt bellowed as he stepped on his books. Ink quickly picked up his things and hurried to the back of the lunch room where no-pony sat. He set his lunch tray down and started to eat his salad, Ink opened his book and began to read the chapter. As he levitated his dandelion sandwich to his mouth he felt his head being slammed against the table. “Thanks for the lunch, blank flank.” the colt said as he took the food from him. Ink raised his head and let out a heavy sigh, his stomach then let out a loud growl. Guess no lunch today....again. he picked up his books and moved out into the hallway. He reopened his book and continued where he left off. As lunch reached the halfway mark a shadow fell on the page of his book. He looked up to see a white unicorn filly with an electric blue mane and vibrant red eyes looking at him. “Hey why are you sitting out here by yourself?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “I just like to be by myself.” he said in a low tone. His stomach let out a massive growl which caused the filly to giggle. “What was that? Didn’t you eat lunch?” “No.” he said as he hung his head. “Oh...well. You can have half of my sandwich.” she said as she levitated half a sandwich over to him. Ink looked at her in surprise. “Um..thanks.” he said as he ate the food. The filly sat next to him and began to eat her half. The bell rang and the two got to their hooves. “Hey what’s your name?” she asked. “It’s Ink Blot.” he said in a surprised tone. “Mine’s Vinyl Scratch. I guess I’ll see you around?” “Y-yeah. Sure.” she smiled at him and left to go to her class. What just happened? he quickly dismissed the thought and hurried into his history class. The rest of the day progressed as it usually did, Ink dealing with paper airplanes, crumpled up paper balls and the occasional spit wad being thrown a him. Soon enough it was time for his last class, Art. Ink made his way into the large room and took his usual seat at the back of the class, Away from every-pony else, not that they’d ever want to sit by him. The teacher, a bright green earth pony mare with yellow hair stood in front of the class. “Good afternoon class. We have a new student joining us today, let’s have a warm welcome for Vinyl Scratch.” she said as she stepped aside to reveal the white filly from lunch. “Hey what’s up?” she said in a cheery voice. “Okay Vinyl, let’s sit you next to....Ink.” his head shot up hearing his name. “Wha-huh?” he said in confusion. The other ponies chuckled at him. Vinyl took the seat next to him. “Looks like we have the same art class, cool.” Ink nodded and continued to focus on his work. As he looked up his face collided with a spit ball. He wiped the paper off his face to see the colt’s and fillies from across the room laughing at him. He kept his head down, he then heard sounds of discomfort. Ink looked back up to see that some of the ponies had spitballs on their faces. He looked over at Vinyl who tore another piece of paper out and chewed it into a small ball, she put a straw to her mouth and returned fire. Just in time for the teacher to turn around. “Vinyl! You and Ink have detention after class.” she said in a stern voice. Vinyl let out an irritated sigh and looked over at Ink who frowned at her. “Thanks a lot.” he said in a harsh tone. “Sorry.” she said as she put on a sheepish grin. The rest of the class got to their hooves and left at 3:30pm. Vinyl and Ink remained behind for detention. The teacher let them go at 4:15pm. As the two walked out of the room Vinyl tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey sorry about before.” “Just leave me be.” he said as he continued walking. “Hey, I was only trying to help you out!” she protested. “Look, it’s gonna be better for both of us if you just leave me alone!” he said as he quickened his pace and ran out of the building onto the city streets. As he made his way home he was cornered by the blue Pegasus colt form before. “Well, looks like we found ourselves a lost skunk.” he said as the two other colt’s surrounded him. Ink looked for an escape route but found none. “Whatcha got in the bag?” “N-nothing just my homework-” the colt took the bag and continued to rip up his school work. “Oops.” the colt said in a sarcastic tone. Ink tried to pick up the shredded remains of his work, but he soon felt a hoof collide with his face. Ink got to his hooves just in time for two more hooves to hit his stomach. Ink’s eyes began to tear up as he slumped to the ground. “What a little filly! Can’t take a few punches.”the blue stallion continued to kick him in the stomach and leave him on the ground. Ink slowly got to his hooves, he limped over to his saddle bags and slowly made his way home. As he walked in the door his mother a bright red unicorn mare with a brown mane greeted him. “Hello Ink how was-...Oh my Celestia! Ink, what happened to your eye?” she said as she hurried over to him. “Nothing mom, I just...bumped into a door knob at school.” he said as he trotted past her and hurried up to his room. He closed the door, laid on his bed and curled up into a ball as he began to cry. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ink woke up on the couch in a cold sweat, he ‘looked’ around to see that he was in Vinyls house. He walked over to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face to help slow his heart beat. Calm down. That happened a long time ago. he thought to himself. Ink then heard a knock on the bathroom door. “Ink? You okay in there?” a familiar voice asked. “Y-yeah. Just a nightmare.” he said as he trotted out of the bathroom. “You still have those? Was it about-” “No. It was the day we first met, remember?” “Yeah.” she said with a grin. “What time is it anyway?” “Around 9:00am.” she said as she glanced at the clock. “How about some breakfast then?” “Yeah sure, Sugar Cube Corner sound good?” “All right .” he said as he put his glasses on and trotted out of the door next to Vinyl. He sent out another pulse and the town was illuminated. He then saw a purple outline approaching them. “Morning Ink, morning Vinyl.” Twilight said with a grin. “Hey Twilight.” “Hi.” “So what are you two doing?” she asked. “We’re about to grab something to eat, wanna come?” Vinyl said with a grin. “Sure. I was heading there myself.” she said as she walked next to the dark stallion. Ink couldn’t help notice how radiant Twilight’s outline was. The three unicorns walked into Sugar Cube Corner and grabbed a booth. “I’m gonna go to the mare’s room.” Vinyl said as she got to her hooves. Twilight looked over at Ink who looked like he was staring into space. “So Ink, you and Vinyl have known each other a long time?” “Yeah since we were foals.” “Are you two.....together?” Ink let out a laugh at the statement. “No, she’s just my best friend.” “You said you grew up in Manehattan?” “Yeah, rough neighborhood.” he said in a flat tone. “So how did you two meet?” “Well, one day I forgot my lunch and Vinyl came over and gave me half of her sandwich.” he lied. “Awwe. That was sweet of her.” she said with a grin. “Yeah.” “So listen, I was thinking about that spell you told me about last night, the 360 degree vision one.” Ink nodded. “I was wondering if you could show me how it works.” she said with a small blush on her face. Ink looked back at her with a cold expression on his face. “No.” “Why not?” “The risk is too great.” “What risk? It’s just a spell.” “This isn’t like some simple spell Twilight, it’s dangerous.” he said in a flat tone. “How can it be-” “Hey guys! What can I get you?” Pinkie said as she withdrew a pen and paper, Vinyl returned just in time to order. “I’ll have some pancakes.” Vinyl said. “I’ll take some oatmeal.” Twilight added. “Same as Twilight.” Ink said. “Okay. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” she said as she trotted away with a grin on her face. “So Twilight, what do you do? Besides being the librarian I mean.” Ink asked trying to change the subject. “Well, I do research for Princess Celestia.” “WHAT?” he said in surprise. “I’m her personal protegee, so I send her reports on anything I find interesting.” she said with a grin. “That must be fun. What happens if you turn in a report late?” Twilight’s eye began to twitch as her mind flashed back to the Smarty Pant’s doll incident. “It’s only when I find something that I make a report.” “Oh, I see.” he said as their food arrived. “This looks really good.” Twilight said with a smile. Ink threw on a fake smil, he sent out a more concentrated pulse to outline the food. The three finished eating and made their way out of the shop. “Well, I have to head to the music shop. What about you?” “I have to swing by the post office to see if my stuff is here.” Ink said. “I need to send a letter to my brother anyway, so I’ll be heading there as well.” she lied. “Okay then. I’ll see you two later.” she said as she trotted away from them Ink looked at Twilight. “Twilight, don’t lie to me.” “What? I wasn’t lying.” “Yes, you were.” he stammered. “When somepony lies their heart rate increases, yours just skipped a beat.” Twilight looked at him in shock. “How do you know that?” “The pulse I send out can detect the smallest change if I concentrate.” he said as he started to walk down the road with the lavender mare beside him. “Another reason I want to learn this spell.” “Too bad, I’m not teaching you.” “Fine. I’ll just look it up then.” she said as she stuck her tongue out at him. “That won’t work either, this spell is 100% original.” Twilight looked at him in surprise. “YOU made the spell?” “Yes, and I’m the only one who knows how it works.” “Ugh! You are impossible to talk to!” she complained. “Yup. Just how I like it.” he said as he walked into the post office. He made his way over to the counter and waited until a teller was free. “Next?” the teller said. “Hi. I’m expecting something from Manehattan.” “Name?” “Ink Blot.” the teller sifted through the paper work and pulled out a brown box. “Here you go.” she said as she handed him a large box. “Thank you ma’am.” he said as he levitated the box onto his back and trotted out of the post office with Twilight walking next to him. “What’s in the box?” “Is every mare in Ponyville as curious as you?” Twilight frowned at him. “I just want to know more about you. Is that so wrong?” “Trust me, the less you know about me the better.” he said as he trotted away from the mare. Twilight looked in confusion as the dark stallion left her side. She rolled her eyes and continued back to the library. Ink made his way through the town with his package on his back. His mind tried to calm itself down from the conversation with Twilight. Why is she so nosy? She want’s to learn. I CAN’T teach her that spell. That was a long time ago and- NO! I won’t risk that again. You need to stop doubting yourself. YOU need to SHUT UP. He dismissed the thought’s as he opened the door to Vinyls house, he then ‘saw’ a charcoal outline standing at the base of the stairs. “Can I help you?” he asked. “Who are you?” she asked with an eyebrow raised. “Ink Blot....I’m guessing that you must be Octavia correct?” “You must be Vinyl’s friend from Manehattan.” Ink nodded. “Well, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” she said as she shook the stallions hoof. “Likewise.” he said as he trotted over and opened the box. It was filled with his acrylic paint, pencils an assorted paint brushes. Octavia looked over his shoulder and looked at the box. “Why do you have paint brushes?” “I’m an artist.” “But...Vinyl told me that you were blind.” Ink’s eyes shrank at the statement. “SHE TOLD YOU?” he said as he looked at the mare. “Yes, don’t worry I didn’t tell anypony else.” he sent out a pulse and saw that she was telling the truth. “Thank you and PLEASE don't tell anypony.” he pleaded “I will, but I still don’t see how you’re able to paint.” “Fine I’ll show you.” he said as he summoned a piece of white canvas and a pencil. “Feel the canvas.” Octavia put a hoof against the art supply and rubbed the surface. “It feels normal to me.” she said as she removed her hoof. “Just wait.” he sent out a pulse and shot a bolt at the canvas. “Now feel it.” Octavia complied and repeated the action, this time there was a rough surface as she moved to the corners the rough patch vanished. “Shade over the rough patch.” he said as he handed her the pencil. She did as asked, soon a face shot of her soon appeared on the canvas. Her jaw dropped at the spectacle. “How did you do that?” “Did Vinyl tell you how I ‘see’?” “Something about a magic pulse right?” “Correct. My ‘pulse’ takes a mental snapshot of what ever I focus on. I then take the image and stencil it onto the canvas, the I trace over it.” Octavia nodded. “But what about color?” “Living things give off a type of aura that I can see with my pulse. For example you give off a lightish grey aura. If I concentrate I can focus it on specific parts of the subject.....your eyes are...a deep purple correct?” “Y-yes! That’s amazing! But what about the paint?” "It's mixed with magic. I enchanted the paint so they glow their color. So I know which ones to use." he finidhed. "That's brilliant!" she exclaimed. "Not too bad for a blind stallion.” he said with a smile, the door suddenly opened to reveal Vinyl with a grin on her face. Ink rushed over to her with a cross look on his face. “What’s up Ink?” “If I could see, my eyes would be boring a hole through you right now Vinyl!” he bellowed. “What are you-” she then noticed Octavia leaving the two unicorns while whistling a tune with an uneasy look strewn across her face. “I’m really, really sorry Ink. I had to tell Octavia.” she said in a sad tone. “Did you tell her how?” “No. I’d never tell anypony about...that.” Ink let out a heavy sigh and looked back at the mare. He sent out a pulse and gave a slight nod. “Okay, who else have you told?” “No pony, I swear!” she said with tears starting to form in her eyes. “You’re not lying.” he said in relief. “You...used it on me?” she said in shock. “Well considering you practically told her my biggest secret. I need to be sure I can still trust you.” he said in a cold tone. “Look Ink, I messed up. But it was the only way you could stay here.” she said with sadness in her voice. “Well that’s no longer a problem. The last of my stuff arrived to day and I’m moving in to my place this afternoon.” his voice barren of any emotion. “Do you want some help?” she asked trying to hold back her tears. “If you want to.” he said as he put his supplies back into the box. He trotted past her and let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry. It’s just that....you know how I feel about my...situation.” “You’re right. I shouldn’t have told her. Friends?” she asked with a weak smile. “Yeah.” he said as he gave her a quick hug. “C’mon I may need you to help me sign some stuff.” he said with a laugh. The two ponies walked outside, back onto the streets of Ponyville.