Grey

by TheNextGamer


Settling In.

You awake with a start, as the shrill buzz of the train speaker sounds. The announcer's voice begins to pipe into the room, a bit of a tinny, irritating noise, slightly higher pitched than would be comfortable.

"We will be arriving to Ponyville in about 5 minutes. Passengers may prepare as we arrive shortly."

Almost there, I guess... you think to yourself.

You let out a small yawn as you stretch tiredly in your seat. You're a bit nervous about the move, though you try not to show it. How will the residents of Ponyville react to your condition when you tell them? Will they react the same way the students did from your former school, turning you into an outcast? Are you doomed to a life on the move, simply traveling from town to town, never finding a place to be?

You shake your head rapidly, to clear your mind of these overly anxious thoughts. There's no need to let your imagination get the better of you, things will be fine... right? With a sinking feeling in your stomach, you stretch your neck, trying to release the tension from sleeping on such an uncomfortable chair.

The noise of snoring coming from next to you catches your attention, rough and gravelly, but not low pitched. Your brother was still asleep, apparently. When your father snored, it sounded like a saw attempting to cut through granite. Your brother's snores were more of a whining cacophony like rocks caught in a blender. The high pitched noise betrays his ability to sleep.

It's amazing how heavy a sleeper he actually is. You can't count how many alarm clocks your parents have had to purchase for him. They never seemed to be loud enough. Your parents eventually gave up, when they purchased an certain alarm clock that was loud enough to wake up the entire house, if not the neighborhood, and it still wasn't enough for him. Sometimes you wonder how he isn't deaf, at this point.

"Hey, Kenny. Wake up." You call to him, while reaching over and shaking his shoulder.

He keeps snoring, though you notice him shuffle slightly. He might be listening, at least... "Hey Kenny, there's a girl on the phone that wants to talk to you. Should I tell her you're asleep? Something about a massage."

Once your words reach the very boundaries of his eardrums, the particular topics of "girl", "talk", and "massage" trigger an amount of energy you've never seen before. He jolts upright, and you can feel the air rushing past your face to the point where you realize his flailing arm whizzed less than an inch away from your face. He shakes himself awake, and looks around as his eyes adjust, eyes gaping like those of an overweight man surveying a buffet made entirely of bacon.

"What? Where? Who? Girls?"

You chuckle at his sudden energy and interest in the situation.

"Heh, Get up dude. We need to get ready to go, almost there."

For as long as you can remember, your brother has always been interested in girls, more so than a normal guy should be. It seems that the opposite gender is always foremost on his mind, although he's never been very good with relationships anyway. All of his attempts to connect with people never work. It wasn't like he was ugly or anything, he was just a complete idiot, when it came to words.

His methods of asking out women were... less than orthodox.

His worst, and most memorable attempt, you were fortunate enough to witness. You overheard him talking to a girl with an overly masculine voice, and his method of inviting her to a movie was pretty entertaining.

"Hey how's it going I'm Kenny want to go to a movie sometime maybe?" His jumbled sentence flowed out of his mouth like water over the rapids, and the girl was so startled that she actually ran away.

You chuckled a bit, hearing the memory of the girl's rapidly stumbled excuse to leave. Kenny, hearing your quiet outburst, turns his head toward you. You can only assume he's glaring.

"What are you laughing about?" He asks, bitterly.

"It's nothing." You reply, quickly. Your brother had always been fairly relaxed, but he was quick to defend himself in a conversation, even when no one was talking about him. You remain silent for a moment, contemplating your brother's personality, when his voice echoes through your mind once more.

"So, you excited about this new school?" He asks. You clear your throat, and lean against the corner of the wall and the back of the seat.

"I'm more nervous about it than anything. How do you think they'll react to me? You don't think they'll be scared of me, do you?" A pensive silence hangs in the air. Kenny breaks the silence with a laugh.

"You shouldn't be worried about all that, man. I'm sure they'll think you're cool. You're a blind guy who can see, how rare is that? Students totally dig different people man, they'll all want to hang with you." You consider this, for a moment.

"...I guess I see your point, no pun intended. What about you? Are you excited?" You have to ask. You feel kind of bad, it seems like it's your fault that he has to transfer schools with you anyway. He laughs again, and you can almost feel his happiness reverberating around the room. You can't help but wonder what's got him so upbeat.

"Excited? You've got no idea, brother. See, I did some research about this town, Ponyville. Guess what I found out? The female to male ratio here is off by a huge margin. This town is filled with single girls!" Of course. Women. You decide to have a little fun, at your brother's expense.

"Oh, may Celestia have mercy on those poor souls..." you say, in a mock-sad tone.

"Hey! Make fun of me all you want, but you know that the moment I come home from school, I'll have EVERY girl in town dying to see me." You see the opportunity, and bite back, using your sharp wit to your advantage.

"Well, you got the dying part right. I'm just not sure if it's going to be because they want to see you." Kenny is silent, dumbstruck for a moment. You hear him chuckle softly. It sounds like he's planning something.

"Alright then, how about a bet?" Ah, here comes the interesting part. You can tell that this is going to be good. You put on your best poker face, and reply calmly.

"What do you have in mind, Ken?" You knew how much he hated his abbreviated name. You hear his laughter catch in his throat, and his voice takes on an irritated tone. You've got him now.

"I bet you twenty bits that by the end of the day, I get a date." You smile inwardly. You know your brother's habits, and you can tell you're going to be twenty bits richer. In fact, you're confident enough to raise the stakes.

"Oh really? I'll take that bet, but I'll up the ante. Thirty bits says you'll scare off the first girl you talk to." Kenny takes a sharp breath. Thirty bits was a lot for a student. Even without a date to go on, that was enough to pay for a nice meal, or even a couple CD's to spend the time alone. He tries to save face with a false laugh, but you know now that he's not too confident.

"I didn't think you want to lose so badly." He says, now holding his false confidence well.

"I would've said the same to you, brother." You say, equally cocky.

You stretch out your hand to seal the deal, and he does the same.

"Bring."

"It."

"On!"

Your fates, as well as your bits, are sealed. You think of what to do with the money that you will inevitably win.

Betting on things with your brother has been a tradition between you two for as long as you can recall. If either of you get the chance to prove each other wrong, you both jump on the gambling train, with no regrets until the money has switched hands. It's almost as though he's got some kind of a brotherly Napoleon Complex.

The irritating buzz of the speaker comes on again, "We are now arriving at Ponyville Train Station. Passengers please wait until train doors open in order to exit. Thank you for using Equestrian Train Service, and have a nice day."

You feel the speed of the train slowing down until it goes to a complete halt, you hear the squeaking and rattling of wheels on steel quiet to silence. As you hear the high pitched whirring noise of the train doors opening, your family begins to carry the luggage out and away from the train station, and then towards what you can only assume is the town. You follow the voices of your family.

The setting is unfamiliar to you, but that's to be expected. You've never been to this town, after all. You listen around, trying to get a feel for the immediate area. Aside from the sounds of movement, you can feel that you're in a fairly narrow street, you can tell that the space around you is filled with others walking around. Their movements create a haze, somewhat obscuring your "vision". You take into account the pulsating noise of wings beating the air, as well as the soft hum of magic. You realize that this town must have a fairly even population, Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies alike. It startles you just how very different this environment is compared to Trottingham.

Kenny was right about the amount of females here. Judging by the distinct lack of male voices, you take a guess that the ratio of females to males has to be at least ten to one.

You hear your father humming as he pokes at some kind of crinkling paper. You guess that it might be a map of the town.

"Hmm... Town Hall must be around here somewhere. It shouldn't be hard to miss. Hey, boys, can you ask around for directions? I'm having trouble with this map." Your father never was very good with directions, but he was too stubborn to ask for help on his own. Kenny turns to you, and makes another laugh in false confidence.

"I suppose it's time for me to make thirty bits, huh? Hey, how about that girl skipping down the street?"

You turn, and listen. You try to sense who he was talking about, and you can distinctly make out the noises of hopping, and... singing? Indeed, there was a girl with a bubbly voice, full of joy and cheer, bouncing down the road towards you.

"Well, she's cute. I'm gonna give it a shot, wish me luck!" Your brother says. You smile, mischievously.

"Ha! You'll need it!" You call after him. You listen intently, and you follow him toward the singsong voice, listening from a distance.

As you both approach the source of the singing, Kenny tries to make himself ready, and you hear him adjusting his clothes and hair frantically. As you draw close to the voice, he clears his throat, presumably to get her attention. You hear the singing stop, and a questioning "Huh?" as you can only assume the source of the voice turns toward your brother. He begins to speak, and surprisingly enough, it begins smoothly.

"Excuse me miss, my name is Kenny, and I was wonderi-"

He is interrupted by a loud gasp from the girl, and a massive gust of wind as the girl suddenly the dashes off, making a noise as though she had just been launched from a cannon. Needless to say, Kenny now has a new record for how fast he can make a girl run away.

"...Called it." You say, smugly.

"B-but, I, s-she, I j-, b-b-b-.... What?" He stutters out, confounded at his failure.

Victory is mine. You think to yourself.
-------------Later-----------
After a fair amount of gloating, and a comfortably heavier bag of bits than before, your family finally arrives at Town Hall, to acquire the deed to your family's new home.

Arriving at your new home, you wander the rooms, clapping your hands together periodically, studying the layout of the walls around you. It's a moderately large house, two stories tall. Fairly easy to remember, though. The rooms are practically symmetrical.

As you prepare to help unpack, your mother gently grabs your hand.

"You've had a long day today, sweetie... How about you relax for the rest of the day?" You grimace, and reply in a manner close to complaining.

"But what about all the luggage and furniture?" She ruffles your hair, and gives you a gentle hug.

"Your father and I can finish unpacking for you. Just take a rest, it's going to be your first day in school tomorrow, so why not enjoy the day while you still can?"

You sigh. It was like this sometimes, with your mother. Whenever she thinks something may be too difficult, she will always deny your help, for fear that you might get hurt, or break something on accident. Just because you're blind doesn't mean you're incompetent. You say as much, in a hurt voice.

"Mom, just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't still help out around the house. You know I won't hurt myself or anything..."

"I know honey, it's not that. I just want you to rest for a while. Please?" You sigh again. She may just be looking out for you, but it wasn't necessary.

"Alright, fine." You comply, feeling a little bitter.

"Thank you." Your mother says gratefully. She kisses you on the cheek, and then turns and slowly begins unpacking.

You contemplate your options. It couldn't be too late in the afternoon, so you still have several hours to do whatever you like.

Eventually, you decide to wander the town, and get acquainted with the surroundings.

You walk to the front door, and open it. You're just about to leave, when your brother stops you.

"Hey, where are you going, man?"

"I'm gonna check around town. Study the place, just get used to it a bit, you know." Kenny shakes his head. He always was one for winging things, never really paying attention to what was actually happening around him.

"Meh, makes sense. Hey, tell me if you find any cute girls that might be single, alright?" You see a chance, and throw a quick insult at him.

"Do you really think there's anyone desperate enough to date you?"

"Oh, shut up." He laughs.

You laugh with him for a few moments, and then tell him you'll be back later.

You nonchalantly wave over your shoulder as you walk out the door. Closing it behind you, you deeply breathe in the relaxing, fresh air, and start walking towards town, walking stick in hand for support.
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Advance Writing correcting and editing by Machiniman20.