//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Foresight, Hindsight, No Sight // Story: Harmony and Courage: Running Parallel // by SSJRandomMaster //------------------------------// Chapter 11: Foresight, Hindsight, No Sight -------------------------------------------------------- Azure Courage finally had a day off, and he was definitely going to enjoy it. He was on his way back from his clearing, having finished some physical training and meditation in relative silence. No creatures or ponies disturbed him this time, allowing him to practice in peace. The cyan unicorn walked back home, feeling only a little sore from the exertion on his body. "Mail should have been delivered by now," he mused to himself, seeing his home on the horizon. Azure trotted forth, reaching the mailbox. "Alright, let's see what we've got here...bill, letter from parents...unmarked letter?" Deciding to resolve those two matters later, Azure decided to take care of the letter with an unmarked sender. Against the logic we in the human world would use, Azure opened the scroll, and instead of the expected tragic event, the unicorn colt was met with a rather strange-looking scroll. "What the heck is this?" the colt asked himself, looking at the parchment to see if he was in fact reading it right. The paper appeared to be covered in bumps in a strange pattern. The pony cocked his head to the side as he glared at it. "I can't decipher anything...what is this?" After staring at the paper a few moments longer, it occurred to him precisely what he was looking at. "Braille?" he questioned aloud, more to himself. "Is this braille?" After squinting at the letter some more, he realized something simple. "I can't read this!" He looked over in the general direction of where he remembered the library to be. "But I think I know somepony who can..." Azure quickly broke into a full gallop, making rapidly for the direction of where he believed Twilight Sparkle was holed up... ------------------------------------ Twilight Sparkle did have a lot of things on her mind. What would today's lesson bring on friendship? The last one she'd learned was a slightly different take on what Azure and his cousins had taught her. While Rainbow Dash and Azure were out being reckless-- The purple mare suddenly didn't like the way her magic pulled on the page that she turned as she found herself thinking about that again, but continued to read her book, dwelling on the events of that stormy night. Applejack and Rarity had been caught out in the storm, but unlike the colt, their being caught out in the rain wasn't by choice. Of course, they had been too wrapped up in their arguments to notice the storm was about to start. Twilight didn't want to admit it, and she did not, neither in what she said to them about their arguing, nor in her letter to Princess Celestia describing what she'd learned that night, but watching those two argue was almost like-- There was a knock downstairs. Twilight's ears perked up, but that was the only sign she gave that she'd heard it. "Spike--" "Got it!" Spike called out, and exactly two heartbeats later, the door opening could be heard. The dragon's tone instantly changed to a slightly playful one. "Oh, Azure, come to visit Twilight, huh?" "Yes," Azure sounded unphased, probably because the baby dragon had been bringing up that issue whenever possible. "I need her help with something, is she around?" "Twilight, Azure's here to see you!" As if Spike needed to announce that. She continued to read her book, almost unaware of the sneaky thought that she was worried about her mane looking presentable for him. A few moments later, the all-too familiar colt was in her room. Twilight did something somewhat rare for her: she actually looked away from her book for the moment, looking to Azure. "Oh, Azure, what are you here for?" she asked in a friendly tone, all manner of argumentativeness just not there. "I just received a letter," Azure said, levitating an open scroll behind him. "And it's in braille..." He showed the letter in question to her. Twilight's brow furrowed. Why would he be receiving a letter in, of all things, braille? She supposed it'd come out eventually, but still, it seemed odd to her. "You're in luck," she said, walking over to him to take the letter from his telekinetic grasp. "I know how to read braille..." "You know somepony that's blind, too?" the unicorn colt asked, pretty much sealing why he had received a letter in the writing style to begin with. "Oh no," Twilight said, levitating the letter onto a nearby desk and preparing to transcribe. "I just figured I'd need to know it at some point..." "Didn't you read the entire section of books for the blind back in Canterlot?" Spike asked, poking his head into the room at that moment, apparently having heard all of that. "Whole section...?" Azure asked, sounding a bit more disturbed than impressed at that revelation. It wasn't that those books had any real information she didn't already read in common script, but the ones that were different were...sadder than normal. "Anyway, what's the letter say?" Twilight's horn glowed, and rather than lifting up the letter, she telekinetically traced her magic among the bumps, translating the letter as the colt wanted. "It says..." she started... ----------------------------------- Dear Azure, Long time no see, Azure! I've heard a lot about what you've been doing in Ponyville from your cousins and thought I'd visit to catch up on old times. I should arrive on the day you get this letter. Sorry I couldn't give you a bigger heads-up. I've been busy too, you know! I can't wait to see you and meet your new friends. Your friend, Silver Espada ------------------------------------ Azure's brow furrowed, but he wasn't surprised to hear the name. "I knew it'd have to be him if it was a letter in braille..." he mused aloud. "An old friend of yours?" Twilight asked, apparently having figured it out for herself. "Yeah, known him for years, even before I started following the whole 'Nightmare Moon' thing..." The cyan colt could remember all the time that he had been able to spend with his old friend back then as he closed his eyes for a few moments. He opened them, to see a rather sad-looking purple unicorn. "It must be hard for him, being blind..." "Actually, he's never let it bother him," Azure said. He immediately felt as though he should elaborate, but decided against it, fearing she'd get mad if she figured out that he and Silver actually shared the same hobby of freegalloping. "He lives a normal life." Twilight's look of sorrow at the truth didn't go away. "You'll see it when he gets here, Twilight." The cyan colt assured. "You'll see he's just like all the other ponies." The purple mare still didn't look fully convinced. She put the letter aside before speaking again: "Well," She glanced up to the clock on the wall. "He should be arriving soon." "I don't think he said exactly when he was going to arrive..." Azure recalled aloud. "Oh no, I just...memorized the train schedules," Now she seemed slightly sheepish to admit this, but the cyan colt knew his next comment would make that emotion show a little more clearly. "Is there anything you don't know, Twilight?" The cyan colt asked. "If there is, it won't be like that long..." Spike commented, again proving he was eavesdropping. "I should be going to meet him at the station," Azure said. "You want to come along?" "I need to..." Twilight looked to the book she'd pushed aside when he presented the letter. "finish this book first, I'll meet him later." That seems odd coming from the friendship student... The male unicorn decided not to press the matter any further. "Thanks for the help with the letter!" Azure called back, already out the door and making his way to the train station. ------------------------------------ Azure began to slow down as he got closer to the train station. He knew he'd arrive in due time to be able to catch Silver's train without much of a wait involved after running a good deal of the distance between the library, and thus slowed a lesiurely trot. "Wonder if he's still into freegalloping..." he mused to himself. It had been the day before his move out when he'd last seen Silver. He was still the same as ever back then, but still...a lot could change in two months. Just look where he was now. Of course, Azure Courage, when caught up in his introspection, paid less attention to his surroundings. His ear flicked as he only just caught a nearby disturbance, just before a sudden blunt force plowed into his side, sent him rolling, and--pinned him to the ground face-up? The colt opened one eye to see a rather smug-looking blue pegasus mare atop him, with a very familiar rainbow color to her mane and tail. "Pinned ya again," she said in an amused tone. Her hoof began moving to an all-too sensitive spot on his chest, and the colt found himself panicking. If Silver found out about that-- "Please don't squeak me..." Azure quietly responded, leaning his head back. Rainbow merely laughed openly, and backed off of him on her legs rather than levitating off him. "Alright, but just because I owe ya one..." Dash referred to the night of the storm, "So where're you off to in such a hurry?" "I'm going to the train station," Azure responded, getting to his hooves and continuing his path. The pegasus immediately started hovering as she followed him. "What for, you goin' somewhere?" The fluttering pony asked, keeping pace with him. "No," the unicorn said flatly, following the course to the station. "I'm going to wait for an old friend of mine to stop by. He's coming to visit, catch up on old times." "Wait, isn't he from Canterlot?" There was a slight hint of skepticism in her tone. He turned his head to her in time to receive her question. "What's he like?" "You remember Virid, don't you?" Azure almost threw up upon mentioning his cousin's name. The very fact he came to the city and did what he had done still sent sharp thorns through the pony's bloodstream. Yet, his posture and facial cues didn't betray this as he kept a level expression. "Kch, don't remind me..." She once again folded her forehooves in disapproval. Her rose eyes lit up in realization, and she hovered in place, her face taking on slight anger. "Wait, so he's--" "The exact opposite, Rainbow." The cyan colt continued with a slight sigh. "He's everything Virid isn't. Basically, you're likely to get along with him." "Say," The blue mare continued, now appearing geninuely interested in the new arrival. "Mind if I tag along to meet him?" "Well, he wanted to meet all of you anyway, so no harm in it, I guess." Azure responded, beginning to think to himself about what he knew about Silver. He was blind, but you wouldn't have guessed it straight away considering who was his foalhood friend. Should I tell her or the others about his being blind...? he thought to himself. No. Silver wouldn't like it if-- "Wait, this the pony you were talking about during the storm?" asked Rainbow. "Yeah, he's the one," Azure responded. "Could never hide from him in hide-and-seek. He'd always find me no matter where I was." "He must have good eyes," the mare commented. "Probably be able to see me coming on a moment's notice." She was undoubtedly referring to their first meeting, when she'd almost run into him as a practical joke of sorts. The pony did not pay attention to that. With a sigh, he turned his attention back to the matter at hand. "Well, you could say that," he responded. ------------------------------------ Rainbow Dash had to say this much: Azure didn't seem nearly as nervous as his old friend's visit as he did the visit of his cousins. And even then, it wasn't really Crimson he was worried about. At the very least, he wasn't noticably nervous as he was then. The two continued their trek, nearly reaching the station, when Azure came to a full stop. "Hold it..." he said, seeming to look off to one side. A few moments later, the familiar, yet distinct, voice of Fluttershy reached Rainbow's ears. "Angel, wait!" The pegasus fully turned to see not only Fluttershy running after the small rabbit that always seemed to be a handful, but Pinkie Pie as well. Despite the inherent seriousness of the situation, she appeared to be having fun with the whole situation, thinking of it as nothing more than a game. "Not this again..." This was the colt grumbling to himself as his horn lit up in a cyan light. A moment later, the same glow enclosed Angel and lifted him into the air. The unicorn brought the small animal to his eyes, and spoke directly to it, as though it was going to understand him. "Why do you always have to give her a hard time?" The rabbit didn't respond vocally, though it definitely gave off signs of an attitude problem, crossing its forepaws and sticking its small bunny tongue out at Azure in a gesture of disrespect. The colt could only shake his head in response. "Oh, thank you," Fluttershy said, sounding like it wasn't the first time Azure had done this same thing. Vaguely, she began to wonder when he had the chance to do it the first time, but nothing more could be said when Pinkie Pie spoke up again. "That was fun!" she chirped, going back to her usual style of moving about: hopping around like...a bunny. "You know, Fluttershy, you should really try putting a leash on that rabbit of yours," Rainbow commented. It seemed a little harsh, but considering that it had happened before... "N-no..." The yellow pegasus, unsurprisingly, refused. She always loved the animals to be free of restrictions. As long as they didn't hurt or startle anypony, of course... "I-I could never do that!" "Well, no time to chat," The blue mare began to fly forward, motioning to Azure as she went. "Me and Az are headin' to the train station?" "Are you going on a trip?" Pinkie was just about to launch into a tangent given how excited she sounded and looked. "We're going to meet a friend of his," Dash headed it off before it could start, "He's coming into town for a visit." Pinkie gave a sharp, exaggerated gasp in response. "Ooh, a new friend?!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Can I come? Can I, please?" "Sure..." Azure said, already moving forward. "He wanted to meet all of you anyway." The group began to move forward again, but the colt stopped, looking back toward Fluttershy. She's so quiet compared to Pinkie, it's almost like she's not even there... Rainbow thought to herself. "You want to come too, Fluttershy?" the colt asked. "Oh...um," The meek mare looked to the bunny on her back, who adapted an angry stance in response. "Okay," The yellow pegasus picked up the pace until she was in line with the others. "Looks like Applejack and Rarity are busy today, huh..." Azure observed as the trek to the station came to a close. Dash scoffed; the white unicorn was more worried about style most of the time. As for Applejack, farm work did seem demanding enough. "I don't think they get, um, too much time off. S-sewing can be very demanding," Fluttershy responded. Azure now looked at Fluttershy, and remarked: "And we all know how tired Applejack got trying to harvest all those apples..." The memory of Applejack on Azure's neck in that awkward embrace didn't amuse Rainbow Dash nearly as much as it used to, but for the life of her, the pegasus mare could not discern why. The four ponies and bunny eventually reached the train platform. As they waited for the train that was supposed to have Azure's friend on it, the blue mare found herself getting more and more bored with just idly waiting for the event to happen. Plus, the last time somepony with a common background to Azure came to town... "I'm sure your friend's a nice colt," Dash started non-chalantly, "but exactly what kind of pony is he?" "Well, he's a world viewer, you could say." Azure looked toward the direction of Canterlot, where the train would be coming from. "Meaning...?" "He doesn't judge a pony on what they are," the unicorn colt continued, continuing to look down the tracks. "but who they are on the inside." "What's he look like?" Pinkie chirped in question, stepping forward just one step. "Well--" Azure started, but the train whistle blared, gathering his full attention. The train eventually reached the station completely, slowing to a complete halt. Ponies of varying color, size, shape and type began filing out from the doors, and Rainbow and Fluttershy both lifted into the air, trying to get a glimpse of the mystery pony. "Is that him?" The pink earth pony began to motion to just about every single colt that trotted their way from the train. "Ooh, is that--no, is that him? Azie, is that him?" The male didn't answer, looking through the crowd slowly. Suddenly, he blinked, seeming to lock on to something. "D-do you see him?" Fluttershy asked, noticing the change in his posture. "Yeah," Azure responded, seeming ready to do something. "Just stay back for a second, okay?" Rainbow Dash blinked, but didn't get the chance to voice her question when the colt reared back and jumped on top of one of the train cars. After taking a few moments to stabilize himself, he took small steps forward until he was directly above one of the doors. The crowd of ponies exiting the train had thinned out. One last pony began to exit the train, and as he stepped out, the mares all began to wonder if this was the one Azure was talking about. He was a unicorn, judging from the horn protruding from his head, which, much like the rest of his body, was a neutral blue. It was notably different from that of that one showmare and her own blue. However, his mane and tail were a pure white color, and his cutie mark appeared to be three arcs stretching from the base of his leg toward his tail. Like Azure, strangely, he too had a slight spike in his mane, but it was more like a kick out in the back. His tail was a bit on the stubby side, too. However, none of that in itself was too strange. What was strange, though, were his eyes. Or rather, the fact they were obscured by a simple pair of black sunglasses. The rainbow-maned female almost wanted to scoff. Only she could make sunglasses look cool! "Is that him?" Pinkie pretty much motioned directly at him. The pony stopped, but he didn't seem to notice her. "If it is, then I don't know what Azure's doin'..." Rainbow went back to the fact her only decent male friend so far in life was currently on top of one of the train cars. The blue and white unicorn stopped, looking around as though expecting to see somepony there. Azure suddenly reared back, and the others withheld a gasp as he leapt from the car, seeming to attack him. However, unexpectedly, the shades-wearing pony leapt forward, diving out of the way and turning to the surprised-looking cyan unicorn. "Nice try, Azure," the white-maned pony chuckled. "But I saw you coming a mile away..." "Nice to see you haven't changed, Silver," said Azure in response, bumping forehooves with the newly identified unicorn. "So how are things back in Canterlot?" "Freegalloping isn't any fun without a partner," the introduced colt continued, walking toward Rainbow and the others at the headband-wearing one's lead. "Other than that, same old, same old." "At least you're still into it," The cyan pony continued, walking up to them. "Now, you said you wanted to meet my friends, so here they are." He made subtle motions towards each of them as he called their names. "Rainbow Dash." "Hey there!" The mare felt herself become slightly miffed that Azure disallowed her usual intro, but decided to let it slide. "Pinkie Pie." "Hiii!" The pink earth pony squealed. Rainbow could have sworn he saw the new pony wince, but decided not to point it out. "And Fluttershy." "Oh, um, h-hello..." It was a meek greeting, but certainly not one out of the ordinary for her. "Well, nice to meet you all," said the other blue pony in the area, "My name's Silver, Silver Espada." The name sounded a little strange, but it fit well enough. More importantly, he seemed nice enough, just as Azure had told her. Which could only mean one thing... "So, Silver, you and Az have been friends for a while, right?" The look she had on her face was mischievious, and as soon as Azure caught it, he had the most priceless look on his face imaginable. "You wouldn't happen to know any embarrassing stories about him, do you?" A smirk appeared on her features as she awaited a response. "Oh, you have no idea," said the silver-maned unicorn, causing Azure to jump, which was even better. "but we make sure not to tell anypony else..." "Well, there's that," Azure resumed smiling. "And I have dirt on him too..." "Well, there's that too," Silver joked in response, eliciting laughter between the two. It was clear the two had gone way back, from the way they laughed together. "So, now that you're here, how about we show ya around?" Rainbow Dash asked, blowing past her disappointment that Silver's dirt on Azure wouldn't be so easy to obtain; then again, if dirt was that easy to get from a friend, were they really loyal? "Sounds great," The visitor responded. ------------------------------------ Azure Courage felt good that Silver's little secret wasn't going to come out. None of the mares seemed to be questioning the fact he walked around with shades on. Not even Rainbow Dash seemed to be bothered by it, though the colt knew better than to believe she'd let another pony wear shades like that. Except for that one local disc jockey... "I see why you moved down here from Canterlot," Silver commented, "It's a lot more peaceful than Canterlot." Debatable. "So when can I meet the rest of your friends?" asked the darker blue unicorn. "Oh, ooh, ooh!" Pinkie interjected, seeming to just randomly zip next to Silver with her statement. "You can meet Rarity next! Her shop is really close!" "Rarity...Rarity..." he mused in response. "The one that owns the fashion boutique, right?" "Yep, that's her!" the party pony continued, already zipping down the path. "Follow me!" "She really has a lot of energy," Silver observed, following after her along with the others. "Yeah, sometimes too much to handle," Azure chuckled in response. Internally, though, he was fretting only a little bit. Uh-oh, Silver the blind meeting Rarity the fashionista? How's Silver gonna keep that fact hidden? the cyan colt thought to himself. It didn't take too long for the group to arrive at the Carousel Boutique. Though he didn't show his worry, he pretty much knew that at some point Rarity would have to ask him to look at something. Then again, Silver could do that and give empty comments well enough-- "This is the Carousel Boutique, where Rarity works!" Pinkie had enthusiastically called out Ponyville's landmarks in the same fashion she had before. Once more, she used her inexplicable ability to seemingly teleport herself around to introduce things. Silver looked up at it, though the shades once more hid where his pupils were pointing at. It did nonetheless make it look like he was looking right at the building. "W-what do you think?" Fluttershy asked, taking a few steps closer to Silver as she asked. Azure felt his ear twitch, but he didn't see too much wrong with the picture, other than the fact it took the colt a bit longer to get the pegasus to be less skittish around him. Silver smiled only slightly, but the cyan pony didn't really see wrong with his darker blue friend's mannerisms. "Looks great," the blind pony commented, keeping up the facade of not being disabled. The door opened soon afterward. Sure enough, Rarity had taken notice of their loitering and had come outside to see them. "Excuse me, why are you all standing out here?" she asked to know. "We were showing Azure's friend your...shop..." Fluttershy responded. The snow white unicorn spotted the newcomer for the first time, and she had a weird glint in her eye. He didn't quite get it straight away until Rarity gasped and more or less zipped over to Silver. "Such...such a lovely mane color..." Only now did Azure get what she was doing. She was checking out the white mane of the newcomer, apparently seeing an opportunity to style it. And boy, oh boy, did Silver look uncomfortable being caught in the blue eyes of the--well, he couldn't see her, but he did look uncomfortable. Eventually, Rarity made her way back in front of Silver, who once again appeared to maintain eye contact through his shades. "And who, may I ask, is the owner of such a mane?" "My name is Silver Espada," The sunglasses-wearing pony responded, bowing slowly down in a manner of respect. Thankfully, his shades didn't slide off his nose. "I'm Azure's friend, from Canterlot. I'm stopping in town for a visit." "Such manners," Rarity did a sort of pony courtsey, "If Azure neglected to tell you, my name is Rarity and I must say, I do not see a mane color as lovely as yours very often. Would you allow me to style it?" Silver's brow furrowed as he thought about the situation. The cyan colt winced only slightly, not noticable by anypony nearby as he considered the fallout. They're going to find out if he does it... "Might as well let her do it, Silver," said Rainbow with just a little huff in her voice. "She doesn't take 'no' for an answer..." ...well, there's that too... "Uh," Silver spoke up, just a little hesitant in actually speaking about it. "I guess there's no harm..." "Splendid," The white unicorn perked up, "Please, follow me. I have just completed my latest dress design, so it won't be too long." The fashionista proceeded to lead the group into her shop, towards the back. Silver didn't look around as he stepped in. Azure decided to take a look, to see if anything had changed. Unsurprisingly, it looked just about the same as ever. Then again, he was a male, so it was entirely possible any major changes escaped his notice. However, there was a major alteration that could not go unnoticed, even to the densest of ponies. For one thing, Applejack was actually visiting the Boutique. Stranger still, she was wearing a dress, not even one fitting for her character. It wasn't the girliest dress Azure had ever seen, but it was the girliest dress he had ever seen on a farm girl, especially the orange farmer before him. And she did not look happy that some of the others had seen her this way. "Applejack?" Rainbow Dash asked, in just as much disbelief as the cyan colt felt. However, the disbelief soon turned to stifled laughter as she processed what it was she was looking at. "What are you wearing?" She raised a hoof to her face as she flew up, and Applejack looked about ready to...do something, Azure was sure. "Oh, Applejack was just assisting me with a dress. She had the proper measurements I needed and just happened to be the perfect model for it." Rarity explained, while Applejack looked as though she were ready to hock a loogie. "That will be all, Applejack. You may step down now." Applejack took the dress off as carefully as a mare in a hurry to get out of her clothes could, with an almost exhausted-sounding "finally" muttered under her breath. She stretched a little, indicating she'd probably been in the same pose for quite a while. "So you're Applejack, huh?" Silver took a few steps ahead of the group, looking up to her to make sure she couldn't see the eyes behind the shades. "That's me, and you are...?" Applejack only seemed a little unnerved that the newcomer already knew her name. "I'm Silver Espada, Azure's friend, from Canterlot." The dark blue unicorn greeted, this time opting for a hoofshake. Azure watched as Applejack stepped forward to take the offer, and held himself from laughing when the visiting pony winced just a little, having not quite expected her strong grip. "Nice to meet 'cha," Applejack said, her expression becoming friendly. Only here did Azure notice how different the mare looked without her signature Stetson on, but that was soon corrected when she located said hat and replaced it. Rarity, meanwhile, had been putting away the dress that the farmer had been modeling, and turned to Silver. "Over here, if you would," she said, guiding him to her working area. Rarity located her usual working glasses and put them on, preparing to work. It seemed like Silver might have been able to keep his secret. Until, at least, she noticed the shades, and with a raised brow, extended a hoof. "Oh no, I simply can not style your mane with those sunglasses in the way." Silver released a small sigh, and his horn lit up with a dark blue glow. The glasses floated off his face, but he had shut his eyes. Azure understood why in an instant, but the others... "What's wrong, too shy to look a mare in the eyes?" Rainbow joked, not at all knowing the problem. The colt flinched just a little from the joke, but didn't say anything. "Oh no," the colt said, playing it off. "I just want to be surprised." The sentiment pleased Rarity, who went right to work styling his mane and tail. It wasn't as long a wait as Azure had thought it would, but even so, it was still boring even given what was at stake for Silver. After about fifteen minutes of styling the white hair, the snowy mare pulled back, pleased with her work. "Voila," she exclaimed, reaching out to levitate a small mirror in front of Silver. "Now open your eyes and tell me what you think." The colt noticably frowned for the first time since he got here, and Azure knew there likely wasn't going to be any avoiding it. "Uh, can I put my sunglasses on first?" said the pony, not really wanting to open his eyes. "Oh no, darling, I simply must see how well it goes with your eyes..." she responded, removing all other options from the table from play. There was a small silence. "Well, I guess they were bound to find out sooner or later anyway, Azure," Silver observed, mystifying everypony except for him. "Find out what?" Applejack asked. A moment later, Rarity gave a sharp gasp. The others couldn't see Silver's eyes, but the unicorn could, and she moved a hoof to her mouth. "Oh...oh my..." "What's up?" Rainbow questioned, immediately alarmed. As the mares began to hastily trot forward, Azure slowly trotted forward, already knowing the cause of Rarity's concern. Soon, all ponies stopped moving, and looked into the eyes of the newcomer. While everypony's eyes were usually bright, colorful, and lively, Silver's eyes were milky and pale, barely recognizable as blue. They did not have the same life to them as the others. The others stared agape at the now smiling pony. "Looks like it's out in the open now," Azure observed calmly, while the mares merely gaped at the blind pony. "S-so he's...?" Fluttershy was at an utter loss for words. "Yup, I'm blind," responded Silver, as though it were no big deal. Well, it wasn't to him, but nopony said anything. From the corner of his eye, he could see a very regretful-looking Rainbow Dash, probably about that whole "mare in the eyes" thing. "So what? You don't have to feel bad for me. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. It really doesn't bother me." "H-how long have you been...b-blind?" Fluttershy asked, only slightly relaxed. The other mares had relaxed too, except for the pegasi. Fluttershy due to natural shyness, Rainbow Dash due to that little crack she'd made. "Since I was born, some kinda defect or something," It was almost like the colt was describing the score to an athletic event instead of a life-changing condition. "Probably easier on me to be without sight from the start, than to have it and to lose it." As the others began to ask the blind pony more questions about his condition, Azure felt a hoof at his side and saw a very embarrassed-looking rainbow-maned mare. She inclined her head to a spot over a little further away from the others, and the colt followed her lead. "Why didn't you tell me he was blind? Even after I made that joke..." She sounded honestly regretful that she'd said what she had to Silver. "Would you have treated him the same had you known?" asked Azure in response. Rainbow's ears twitched, and she fell silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. "I...uh..." The mare was clearly unsure of what she would have done differently if she had known from the beginning. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure it didn't bother him," Azure made an honest attempt to reassure her, putting one eye towards his rear to see if Silver was listening in. He appeared to be still answering questions, but the colt knew a little better than that. "How do you know?" Dash asked. "Well, did it?" The colt responded, not looking directly at Rainbow. The blue pegasus was just about to retort when something unexpected happened. "Not at all," Silver spoke up, loud enough for him to be heard at the distance they were at. "Wait, you could hear us?" Rainbow asked, sounding just a little in disbelief. "Yeah, I have ears like a bat, so I can hear what others can't." the dark blue colt continued, finally getting down from the chair. "Look, I'm serious. I have been blind all my life and I've still lived a normal one. I just want to be treated like everypony else." "Alright, but I have a question." Dash was clearly still skeptical. "Ask away," Silver responded. "You were walking around town without any help. You even avoided Azure when he jumped off the train." the blue mare continued. "How?" "Oh, this part's cool," The dark blue colt motioned to his cutie mark, "Most ponies don't understand what this means. It's three soundwaves. You could call it luck-my specialty is sound-based magic. I taught myself over time to be able to send out low-frequency sound waves. With my hearing, I can hear them just fine, though you wouldn't be able to notice. The sound waves bounce off solid objects and come back to me." "Sounds complicated," Applejack responded to the explanation. "It took me a while to get it down, but now that I do, I can do anything a pony with sight can do, and even some things they can't do." Silver continued. "L-like what?" the meekest of the group asked. The blind pony took a few more steps forward before turning to Azure. "Hey, Azure, why don't we show them what we used to do?" he asked, turning to him. "Alright, I guess it'd be the easiest way...free-galloping it is, then." Azure responded. ------------------------------------ Fluttershy honestly couldn't lie to herself. Only the colts seemed utterly sure that Silver was as capable as Azure was in terms of physical ability. Yet, there was a tiny part of her that was curious of her friend's blind friend. The group continued to be lead by the two colts, towards what could have been a more urban spot in Ponyville. The houses seemed to cluster together. It was safe to say that she hadn't been in this part of town before. "Wait, so you mean that Silver's gonna do the same wall-jumping thing you do, Az?" Rainbow asked, sounding just as surprised as the others were. It seemed normal enough. After all, if the cyan mare happened to be stricken blind--it almost made the meek pony want to cry from the mere thought of it. "Yes, that's right," Azure said, looking back only slightly out of one brown eye. He already seemed to be scanning for something, but there couldn't have been any danger here. Then again, the mare considered, one could never be too careful, and no matter how many sweet moments he had, he was still aggressive by nature. "He taught me how to once, a little after I started with sound magic, and I'd been doing it ever since." Silver responded, also looking around as though he could see anything, when it was obvious he couldn't. "Looking for surfaces, huh, Azure?" "Wait a moment," Rarity intervened. "You two are actually going to do that here?!" "Just like in Canterlot," Azure came to a stop, in what could be considered the "bulb" of a cul-de-sac. It might have been one of the few openly urban structures within Ponyville. Fluttershy felt herself blink, and everypony except for Pinkie exchanged openly confused glances. With Pinkie, you usually couldn't tell. "Off the walls, on the roofs..." "Is..." Fluttershy started, almost shocked at herself for being the first to speak. "Is that allowed?" Azure and Silver both laughed openly. "Oh, no, it's not," the blind pony said, "You wouldn't believe how much trouble we got into for that." "On the occasions where Virid and Blitz weren't also around, I'd be the one taking the heat while you got off easy for being blind," The cyan colt chortled, pretty much sounding as insensitive as possible. Nopony really got the chance to point this out. "Not everypony can be lucky as I am," the dark blue unicorn responded. Watching the two laugh together about it even though Azure was completely insensitive to Silver's disability really softened the blow, so even if Fluttershy had been the kind of pony to forcefully scold another for such an error, she couldn't have, and indeed, neither Rainbow nor Rarity seemed to be in the mood to call Azure out on his grievous vocal miscue. "Alright, Silver, here's what we're going to do..." The other colt nearby responded, motioning to a home on the group's left. "A good-old free-galloping race from that house on the left..." He moved his forehoof until he was level with a house on the opposite side. "to that house on the right." He waited a bit after lowering his foreleg, either realizing Silver didn't see the endpoints or waiting for him to do...whatever. "Got it?" Silver remained quiet. For a few moments, his horn noticably lit up in a dark blue, but immediately after the bright glow died down, the pony in question nodded. "Should be fun. Who's going to give us the signal?" "I'll do it!" Rainbow's voice was free of any doubt, though Fluttershy knew her better. There was something in the way her wings flapped that suggested she wasn't completely at ease with the idea of a blind pony jumping around as Azure did, but her voice communicated strict interest. She flew over to the start line, and the two colts quickly made their way to the post. "I hope those two know what they're doing..." Rarity commented, clearly still skeptical. "This is Az we're talkin' about, Rarity. I'm sure he knows his friend's capability better than we do..." Applejack cut in. "We gotta have faith in Azie's ability to judge!" Pinkie said. "He's gotta know Silver better than we do! They've been friends for a long time!" It seemed strange coming from Pinkie, but stranger still was that the babble she spouted was correct. "Alright, on your mark!" Rainbow barked at the two male unicorns, who did as the mare said. "Get set..." Silver's horn briefly sparked to life again, probably his sound-based magic once again being cast to confirm where everything was. "Go!" The two equines thundered past the mare. Though it was obvious they weren't as fast as Blitz was under the spell, it was still fast. Azure definitely had a leg up in terms of speed, considering he quickly scaled onto the roof. Silver seemed to be taking it slow, as he did the same thing, thus falling behind. In a way, this race was a battle of quick thinking versus somewhat planned routes. Fluttershy didn't understand why, given she didn't know Silver for more than an hour, but she found it hard to root for Azure even though she'd known him much longer. Not that she was the kind of pony to openly cheer anyway... The two ponies continued jumping from roof to roof, sometimes barely making the jumps, and seeming to exchange taunts of sorts, though it was hard for Fluttershy to hear exactly what they were saying to one another. "Impressive," the white unicorn said, though the comment definitely seemed to be more toward Silver than Azure. Yet, at the same time, Fluttershy realized nopony had ever seen Azure in a more natural freegalloping environment. The times he had, he was either bouncing off walls in ruins, off trees in the Everfree, or off crates due to Trixie. "What is?" This was a familiar feminine voice. The others all turned to see Twilight standing there, and she didn't seem to understand what was going on. "The race," said Rainbow, simply as possible. She indicated, and Twilight's eyes widened. "Don't tell me that's Silver?!" The purple mare sounded somewhere between appalled and surprised, though definitely more of the former than the latter. There were also traces of confusion in her tone, as though she only caught how exactly the darker-hued male was holding up. Silver jumped at full speed, heading for the last building on the right, aiming for an upset victory as he sailed right over Azure's head. However, as luck would have it, it seemed like the blind pony's calculations were off, and he soon began to lose ground. Fluttershy, along with the others, gave a gasp, but Twilight quickly shuffled ahead of the group and her horn quickly lit up, bright magenta. A few moments later, Silver's body halted from falling. The mares not having to hold the colt in place immediately ran over to the scene, as Azure landed perfectly on the last roof. He looked up to Silver, and though Fluttershy couldn't see his expression straight away, when she got at the right distance and angle, she could see a grimace starting to take form on his face. The blind pony fumbled within the magenta embrace, and soon came to a very intelligent conclusion. "Uh...am I floating?" "What is wrong with you?!" Twilight scolded, causing both of the colts to jump, but surprisingly, Azure actually jumped more than Silver did, even taking into account the latter was being held still and gently lowered to the ground. ------------------------------------ To say that she was furious was an understatement. Truth be told, Twilight Sparkle had no idea why she was this mad straight away. Then she happened to recall what she'd just witnessed and had to do, and as she set the blind pony down, she turned that fury on Azure. "Okay, I know what you're thinking," The cyan colt said, "but this is not what it looks like..." Does he honestly think he can--?! The purple mare refused to believe that. There was no way Azure Courage, easily the most reckless pony she knew, could be that stupid...then again, given what just happened-- "Looks to me like you just let your blind friend jump off a roof!" Twilight exploded, laying into him with a scolding. "Okay, so maybe it is what it looks like..." Azure continued, motioning to Silver with a hoof, "but it was his idea to show the others his free-galloping skills..." "Oh, sure, blame the blind pony," he said, with a tone so dry it-- "Not helping!" Azure yelled back. "Don't blame him!" Twilight took a few steps forward, completely furious with what she had just witnessed now. "You're supposed to be his friend! What kind of friend are you; being this insensitive towards Silver's disability?!" -------- Silver Espada could not believe what he was hearing. He knew of the others well enough from Azure's letters as well as Crimson and Virid's own experience in Ponyville, but from the sounds of how Twilight was yelling at Azure, it seemed strangely natural. Even the stuff she yelled at him about wasn't anything new; the blind colt had gotten plenty of comments similar to that, so it was easy for him to shrug off the mare's concerns. Sorry, Azure, not gonna get into this... Not that the dark blue colt could have if he wanted to. "Say, does this happen a lot?" Though he couldn't see at all, the passive use of the "bat-ears" spell as Azure called it informed him that the other mares were close by, enough to carry on a conversation without him having to shout halfway across the cul-de-sac they were in. "More than you think..." He didn't even need to see Applejack's facial expression to take a guess as to how she felt about their continous arguments. Her tone changed, and she commented, "Well, this is the first time it's been this one-sided..." Silver turned to face the argument, which had finally allowed Azure some breathing room. He capitalized. "Look, I'm not a total idiot," Azure said, "I know he's blind, but he's just as capable as I am at free-galloping." "Capable?" The fury in Twilight's voice wasn't even close to exhaustion. Due to his enhanced hearing, Silver could just pick up on a slight hoarseness in her tone that the others didn't seem to notice. "If I hadn't shown up, he'd have crashed straight into the wall! Then what would you have done?!" It was an obvious guilt trip, and everypony could see it. Well, the blind colt could hear it. Nevertheless, if he had crashed into the wall, Silver knew that Azure knew the two of them had laughed it off. "Come on," There was just a little bit of frustration in his friend's tone, "there has to be some way I can show you he's just like everypony else..." "Well?" Twilight asked after a few moments of silence. The silence was deafening. There was a noise, which sounded like a hoof step, but it was more like a tapping. It took a quick scan to confirm that it was Twilight tapping her hoof on the ground, waiting. Silver felt his ear twitch, picking up a subtle "whoosh" of pegasus flight nearby. "How about this?" This was the voice of Rainbow Dash entering the scene. The subtle noise of magic use filled Silver's ears next, and the sound of paper gently ruffling followed. "Hmm..." Azure said, beginning to read the flyer aloud. "Come to the first ever Ponyville Triathalon...a race composed of three events, running, swimming, and rock climbing..." The next statement was more under his breath, but Silver could just hear what he was mumbling about, "Huh, it's in about two hours from now, today...interesting..." "Azure, I know that look..." Twilight said. "Oh, no, you are not thinking what I think you are..." Silver wouldn't know "that look", or the reason for prior arguments, but he'd figured it probably had something to do with Azure's conflicting personality with Twilight. He'd only known the mare for at most two minutes, and already he could discern the differing traits they exhibited. "Hey, Silver, could you come here for a second?" Azure asked. "I heard..." the blind colt responded. "What's up?" "Since we had an interruption, how about a rematch at the triathalon?"