It was a normal day at the Starswirl School, which is not Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, since that’s only for unicorns. This school was one of the rest of schools that were there, and were mostly ignored because, when the rest of ponies from other places of Equestria think about the education in Canterlot, what comes to their minds is the school ruled by Princess Celestia herself. In this school was where our protagonist was, or at least, one of our two protagonists.
Our protagonist was a white pegasus with blue mane that really disliked school, like the rest of ponies that were in the classroom that he was in. He was trying to listen to what the teacher was saying, possibly something about Equestrian History or something, but his attention was brought to his friend, who was sitting right next to him. This girl was Light Seer, a yellow earth pony, with an orange mane, however, unlike him, she was actually paying attention, listening to every word the teacher said, and writing notes in her notebook. He just looked at her, trying to figure out what made her so concentrated. He turned around, to see that, like him, most ponies were either asleep, or doing something else that wasn’t listening to what the teacher was saying, or even, what the teacher was writing on the board. Light Seer has always been really strange, considering that she was the only one paying attention.
There was a loud ring, indicating that the current class was over, and in fact, it was time for Recess. The ring woke everypony up just in time so the teacher wouldn’t notice that everyone was distracting themselves from her classes.
“Alright, boys, you can go outside. Remember that there’s homework for tomorrow, okay?” The teacher said, as she pointed towards the door, showing her students that they might go outside if they want to. Most ponies got up and ran towards the exit, leaving behind our protagonist, and Light Seer. The teacher walked closer to her, and offered a hoof. “Do you need help, Light Seer?” she said. Light Seer just shook her head, and stood up, then walking outside, with our protagonist following her.
“Jeez, Light Seer, can’t you be a little faster? Everypony went outside quicker than us!” grunted our protagonist. “I mean, I get it, you can’t just run like that, but you can at least let me pick you up and drag you outside.”
“Calm down, Snow Cloud,” spoke Light Seer, in a calm tone of voice, revealing our protagonist’s name. “It’s not like we’re missing something, right? It wouldn’t hurt to smell the flowers outside, you know.”
“That would be a nice metaphor, if there were actually flowers inside the classroom. If we don’t go outside quickly, we won’t get enough time to hide from… you know… him,” he said, with a tone of fear in his voice.
“Ah, it would be a shame if you found him, right?” a voice spoke. When Snow Cloud turned around, he noticed that he was following them. He was a gray unicorn, with a dark brown mane. His name was Shining Copper, most known as “The Copper Knuckle” around the school. He was the bully of Starswirl School, known for using his magic to torture the rest of ponies that dared to even walk in front of him. He was normally accompanied by his friends, however, this time he was alone, completely. Even if he was alone, Snow Cloud still trembled in front of him. “But, might I ask, what will you do if you were in front of that him?”
“W-we didn’t want to obstruct your path, we’re extremely sorry.” Snow Cloud grabbed Light Seer, and began guiding her towards somewhere where Shining Copper could not be seen.
“What’s wrong, Cloudy?” laughed Copper. “Are you shielding yourself behind ‘Miss White Eyes’? I’m sure she’s at least ten times braver than you, since you know, she can’t see you shivering in front of me.”
“Just ignore him, Snow Cloud. He’ll eventually go away,” mentioned Light Seer, trying to calm Snow Cloud down.
“What about you, though? Don’t you mind that he is laughing at your blindness at all?” he muttered. Light Seer shook her head. “Why?”
“It’s simple; it’s something I can’t change. I know deep inside him that he wouldn’t dare to even hurt me more than what he has tried so far.” Snow Cloud couldn’t believe it, Light Seer was acting calm, like she always does, but she is not even angry at him. She’s just… her. She always lets him get away with it.
When they finally got to where they normally go when it’s recess, a patch of grass that was once a football field, but that nopony uses anymore, they both took a seat. None of them brought something to eat. Light Seer just lied on the floor, and her head was turning towards the sky. Snow Cloud just lied next to her.
He began thinking about Light Seer. She was a blind pony, she couldn’t see anything. She says she doesn’t mind it, but Snow Cloud doesn’t know why he cares about that, it is her that is blind, after all. He wants her to be stronger, to stand up for herself, but she prefers to stay silent and act like nothing happened at all. Like this, all she’ll find in the end was pain and suffering, sadness and tears, loneliness and emptiness.
He sighed. “So, Light Seer, what can you hear?” he asked, trying to not think about those things.
“I hear birds, and I hear the wind,” she answered. “What can you see?”
“I see clouds. It is a cloudy day outside…” He felt like he shouldn’t have answered. He knew that she couldn’t see how the day was, and it somehow made him feel guilty.
“That’s nice. I like cloudy days,” she answered. She suddenly stood up, and it made Snow Cloud raise an eyebrow at her. She placed a hoof over Snow Cloud’s belly, which made him feel a bit uncomfortable. “Wait, why do you feel sad? Is there something wrong about the cloudy day?”
“How can you know I feel sad?” He pushed Light Seer’s hoof away and took a sitting position. “And why did you touch my belly?”
Light Seer took a sitting position as well, with her head turned towards Snow Cloud. “I wanted to know if you were there, and I accidentally touched your belly. However, I know that you’re sad because I know you, Snow Cloud. What’s wrong?” she asked, frowning and clearly sad as well.
Snow Cloud looked at Light Seer’s eyes, her empty, white eyes that showed that she couldn’t see him. He sniffed. It was sad for her. It was sad to know that she will be forever damned with those empty eyes that don’t work for anything. A tear materialized in his eye, which Light Seer cleaned by placing a hoof on his face.
“Are you crying? What’s wrong?” she asked, yet again, with more sadness on her voice.
Snow Cloud grabbed Light Seer’s shoulders. “I just…” he tried to begin, “I feel like you shouldn’t be treated this way, you know. I’m the only one who plays with you, the only one that gets with you on group projects so you can have some company. The one who helps you and… I think you deserve more than that.”
“Don’t be silly, Snow Cloud,” she said, smiling. “You’re the only friend I need. The only one that stays with me, and that’s all I ask for.” She hugged him, but he pushed her back.
“No, don’t touch me.” He ordered, still crying. “I don’t think you get it, Snow Drop. I want you to be stronger, I want you to go there and fight that unicorn bully with me, to defend you, to stand up for yourself. You don’t deserve him to treat you like that, to call you names and-“ Light Seer placed a hoof on his mouth.
“I think I already explained this to you, Snow Cloud. I don’t care if he says those things to me, because in the end, I know that he doesn’t mean it. Sure, it hurts for me to be called blind, but I have learnt to live with it. I won’t be able to be happy if I get angry at every little thing that people say, right?” Snow Cloud got Light Seer’s hoof out of his mouth.
“No, you don’t understand! I don’t want him to keep bugging me because of you!” Light Seer was confused. “I mean, you. I don’t want him to keep bugging you because of your blindness. Is that too much to ask?”
“Cloud… are you scared of him?” she asked. Snow Cloud panicked, and he turned away from her, jumped, and then flew away. Light Seer heard his wings flap, and tried to follow him.
Snow Cloud couldn’t believe it, she was actually catching up. Sure, he wasn’t the fastest flyer in the whole school, but a blind girl catching up to him was somehow shameful for him. He did a U-turn, which confused Light Seer, who kept running straight. She ran in front of Shining Copper, who took advantage of the situation and, with his magic, made Light Seer trip.
When Light Seer felt the cold, hard ground on her face, she felt horrible pain, but it was nothing compared to what she was just hearing: Laughs, lots of laughs. Why was everyone laughing? What was so funny? She tried standing up, but she only ended up falling again, which made the laughs even louder. She just tried to nervously laugh as well, trying to look at the bright side of the situation, but her laugh transformed itself into a whimper after some seconds. Tears running from her face, she could feel them. She hid her face from the rest, so they can’t see that she was crying, but it was pretty obvious.
Snow Cloud got closer to the incident. There she was, Light Seer, crying on the floor. A teacher just came there and decided to help her get up, and guided her to the nursery, as the rest of ponies kept laughing. Snow Cloud felt something weird when he looked at Light Seer injured like that. Like if he somehow enjoyed looking at her being injured, or if he wanted her to be more ashamed of herself. A part of him was telling him that it was okay if he laughed, after all, it was a hilarious moment. Another part of him was telling him to go check on Light Seer; after all, he was her friend. A group of ponies suddenly appeared around him. One of these was Shining Copper.
“Smooth moves there, pegasus,” spoke Shining Copper himself, getting closer to Snow Cloud. “I didn’t know there was such a side of you that we didn’t know, especially a side of you that would do such thing as bring a blind girl to where we were, so she can ‘accidentally’ trip.” Snow Cloud smiled and blushed, he felt somehow proud of doing that, he felt accepted by them. “I know you’re a pegasus and we’re unicorns, but we seem to both like bugging the blind girl, so what about joining us? I know that you’re a friend of her, so we can take advantage of that, what do you say?”
“I…” Cloud wanted to accept, but he was Light Seer’s friend, he wouldn’t do that to her, however… “I accept.”
“Very well then, since she’s probably going home after what happened,” said another unicorn, who was accompanying Shining Copper, while pointing to the small puddle of blood that Light Seer left behind, “we’re going to start tomorrow. How about something simple? You just walk with her, and when you two are walking in front of us, you make her trip again.”
“Alright, I’ll be sure to bring her to you, so we can all laugh at her misfortune,” agreed Snow Cloud.
It was recess time already, and Snow Cloud was walking with Light Seer. She was as happy as she was yesterday, like if what happened that day had never happened. He turned to see the rest of ponies around the schoolyard, they were all pointing at Light Seer, most of them laughing at her. He knew they were laughing at her, and not at him, and somehow, that made him feel a bit better about himself. With the corner of his eye, he spotted Copper’s group, however, Copper was not with them, but they were looking at Snow Cloud, waiting for the moment they had been waiting for.
“Here, Light Seer, this way,” she was confused; she thought that she was going the correct way; however, she trusted Cloud and followed his voice. He was leading her to where the small group was, decided to do what they asked him…
However, as he was getting closer and closer to them, he began to doubt. She was his friend, in fact, his only friend, and he was her friend, her only friend. He couldn’t do that to her, she didn’t deserve that. If he did such a thing, he would end up being a monster, like Shining Copper. Why did he even decide to accept such thing? He was confused, and scared about himself, because he had accepted such thing. He turned, and as he did, he accidentally made Light Seer trip.
Everypony began laughing again, this time, louder than ever before. Snow Cloud turned towards Light Seer, extremely sorry about what he had done. He lent a hoof to help her stand up, which made Shining Copper’s group raise an eyebrow, unsure about what to think about Snow Cloud helping their victim like that.
“Here, let me help you,” he muttered. Light Seer turned her head towards Snow Cloud, with her nose bleeding, and her eyes crying, however, she was smiling, and she began stretching a hoof towards Cloud’s.
The moment suddenly stopped for Snow Cloud. In front of him was the decision that would define what will happen to his reputation and his life in the whole school. If he helped Light get up, she will never know about what he was planning to do to her, and they would possibly be the best of friends until they both finish school. This feeling, though happy, felt empty for him in this moment. If he accepted her, no one in school will accept him, and he will be cursed with her, a blind pony, to do every project in school, to do every group work in class… However, if he ignored her, he would surely be treated better by everypony else, and he will never have to fear Shining Copper, because he will be with him, not against him. He was sure about choosing the first one, since he knew it was the best, but then something came to his mind.
She deserves this. he suddenly thought.
Yes, it was right. She never stood up for herself, so she deserved this. She deserved to be laughed upon; she deserved to learn what he had to face every day in school when he was walking with her. She deserved to be alone and be what everypony joked about. She was blind, yes, but that didn’t make her special, that just made her less, and if she was less, she needed to prove that she was better, however, since she didn’t prove such thing, it was alright to laugh at her, so she can learn.
She almost got a hold of Cloud’s hoof, when he pulled it back. “Too slow!” he yelled. Everypony around him and her kept silent, and looked at Light Seer, she was still with her head turned towards Cloud, and her eyes began to get wet. She stood up, still looking at him, and, prepared to do what she was going to do, she turned around, lifted her back legs, leaned on her front hooves, and then kicked Cloud’s face hard, sending him flying towards the ground. After doing such act of bravery, everypony gasped, and then Light Seer ran towards the mares’ bathroom. Everypony else looked at Snow Cloud, who was still lying on the floor, with his nose bleeding more than Light Seer’s nose.
“Are you okay, dude?” asked one of the unicorns that belonged to Copper’s group. He placed a hoof in front of Cloud. “How many hooves do you see?”
“I’m alright… just a small bruise,” he answered, as he stood up and cleaned the blood on his nose with his hoof. “I might go and clean this up, though,” he mentioned, pointing to his nose. After that, he just walked towards the stallion’s bathroom, and cleaned his nose.
He knew that probably he was going to be in serious trouble for this, but it somehow felt good for him. He looked at himself in the mirror. He couldn’t wait for Shining Copper to know that he did a good job as a part of his group.
Somewhere in his heart, he knew that what he was doing was wrong, but he also felt that he had to do this soon or later. He needed to show her that what she was doing was wrong, and that she needed somepony to tell her that, even if it had to be that way.
It was the recess of yet another day, however, this was a sad day for her. She was lying on the same field that she used to share with Snow Cloud, however, she was alone this time. She couldn’t believe what he just did. She lied there, crying, wondering what she had done wrong all this time, for him to do this. She felt guilty, like if she needed to be a better friend for this to not happen, like if she needed to talk more to Snow Cloud, or even, like if she just needed to not be there for him. Was it something she said? She didn’t know, but she just wanted to go there and apologize. He deserved an apology. Maybe after apologizing, he will come back and stop being angry at her. Maybe he was angry at her because she kicked him in the face, but she was just trying to listen to what he said, after all, he told her to stand up for herself, didn’t he?
“Can I sit with you?” said a familiar voice that was surprisingly calm. Light Seer stood up.
“You..?” she asked, with a noticeable sadness. “Did you come to laugh at me?”
“No… I came here to apologize for what I’ve done. I never knew what you were feeling, until today…” He felt sadness fill his heart. “And I thought that, well, I could keep you company. I heard what Snow Cloud did to you today, and I feel guilty for that, since I told him to do such thing to you.” He lowered his head, but it was then lifted up by a hoof.
“Hey, you don’t have to feel so bad about it. I accept your apologies, Copper… though I don’t quite understand what you mean by feeling what you felt.” She began to feel Shining Copper’s face.
“What are you doing? I-“ Light Seer put a hoof over his mouth.
“You know, I haven’t felt your face. I technically don’t know your appearance…” She suddenly stopped upon feeling something right over where his eyes should be. “I know this thing, I know how it feels, but I don’t understand why are you wearing them.”
“They’re glasses, I know,” he admitted. “Yesterday, my doctor said that I had myopia, and he had to give me these glasses, which is why I didn’t come to school yesterday. When I arrived here, I hoped to see my friends understand what was happening, and that they would accept me the way I am, however, they all just laughed at me. They never stopped pointing it out, and now, just look at me, telling what is wrong with my life to a blind girl.”
“I get it. You lost your only friends, however, I lost one, and my only friend. I feel sorry for you but, I’m still unhappy…”
“We can be friends if you want, though.”
She turned her head towards him. “Really? That would be really nice. I always like making new friends!” she chirped, smiling again.
“Yea, being friends with a blind girl can’t be that bad,” he joked. He then felt the need to do something for his new friend, something he might never do again. “Can you excuse me for a moment, Light? I need to, uh… go to the bathroom, yea.” Light Seer was confused, but nodded.
“Don’t take too long, okay?”
Shining Copper headed towards where his old friends were sitting, along with Snow Cloud. They were all joking about stuff, possibly him or Light Seer, but they stopped upon noticing he was getting close to them.
“What do you want, freak?” said Snow Cloud himself.
“I want to talk to you, on private.” The other unicorns were surprised that he was referring to Snow Cloud. He was just about to tremble, but he just jumped in front of him, prepared to confront him. “I said talk, just follow me.” Shining Copper began walking, and Snow Cloud nervously followed.
Shining Copper knew what he was doing. He was going to bring Snow Cloud to a dark corner of the school, and beat him up until he feels sorry for what he did to him and Light Seer. He felt it was the correct thing, however, when he was just about to head there, he changed his mind. He didn’t know Light Seer for a long time, but he knew that she wouldn’t like to know that he beat up her ex friend. He calmed down, and turned towards another direction.
“What’s wrong? Did you get scared?” he joked. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to hurt me. You just bark, but you never bite.”
“I am not going to hurt you. I’m just going to show you something.”
They both headed towards the almost empty field, where Light Seer was still waiting for Shining Copper. Snow Cloud felt something weird inside him when he noticed that she was alone.
“Do you see it? Can you remember her?” he said, pointing towards where she was.
“I… I shouldn’t be here. I should just go back.” He tried to turn around, but Light Seer turned her head towards Cloud, trying to figure out whose voice she just heard, and Cloud was still looking at her.
“Yes, she can hear you, it seems. Don’t you want to apologize?” he asked.
“… N-no,” he doubted. “S-she deserves this… she needed to stand up for herself, and since she didn’t, just look at her.”
“… Fine, you can go.” Shining Copper looked at Light Seer, and sighed.
Snow Cloud trembled, but he walked towards where his friends were, mostly to joke more about Light's blindness, and Copper's myopia. Shining Copper decided to just walk towards Light Seer. She was lying on the ground covering her face. Copper just lifted her, and embraced her into a hug.
“Did you bring him all the way here?” she said, crying on her new friend’s shoulder.
“I’m afraid so…” muttered Shining Copper.
“I… I’m sad, Copper…”
“I’m also sad, Light, but at least I have a friend that shares my pain, and never judges me for my looks.”
There was an unpleasant silence...
“I miss him, Copper...”