//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: And So it Ended, and So it Begins Again // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 5 “Isn’t it amazing?” Twilight asked. Vinyl looked into the box; she wasn’t quite as impressed as Twilight was. “It’s a statue, of a unicorn.” “Not just any statue! This statue is 2000 years old! And it was found in South Island!” Twilight explained. Vinyl looked in the box again; the stone unicorn was very old looking to be sure; she looked back at Twilight in confusion. “South Island?” she asked. “How does a 2000 year old statue of a unicorn end up in South Island?” “That’s why it was sent to me! I’m going to find out!” Twilight said with a smile. “I’ve been corresponding regularly with a professor at the South Island National University, and his archæology team found it while doing a dig at a place called Karlu Karlu, which was a site of worship for a tribe of wallabies that went extinct at about the same time.” “This tribe, why’d they go extinct?” Vinyl asked. “No one knows,” Twilight said with a shrug. “But the statue! Finding it proved that ponies had visited South Island before Welera did!” “Is that a big deal?” Vinyl asked. Twilight’s face filled with embarrassment. “Not really, even if they did come, they didn’t stay very long, and they obviously didn’t have a lasting impact on the natives.” Vinyl smirked at her. “Well you have fun egghead! I’ll get out of your way.” “I’ll need to write Professor Tebbs and let him know that the statue arrived... oh what did I do with my quill?” Twilight said. Vinyl froze at the mention of a name; she slowly turned around to face Twilight. “Percy Tebbs?” “Yes as a matter of fact! I was so surprised when he contacted me! I’ve read all his books! He talks about how the history of all peoples in the world are interwoven, and that trying to go it alone can only lead to disaster!” Twilight explained. “Huh. I’ll have to give them a read,” Vinyl said as she trotted out the door, glad that Twilight was too wrapped up in what she was doing to question where Vinyl knew Percy Tebbs from. She stopped, and looked back at the statue, something about it caught her eye, like she’d seen it somewhere before. It was as if the statue itself was broadcasting a thought of “look at me! Look at me!” It couldn’t hurt to have a closer look, could it? Vinyl trotted back over to the box and reached out with her magic to bring the statue closer to her, the microsecond that her magic touched the statue, lightning arced out of it, sending high amperage current running through the mare’s body, strong enough to toss her backwards into the closed door. She was dead. There was nothing but blackness, she had to be dead. “Oh my gosh! Vinyl!” Twilight called out to her. Okay, clearly not dead, still dark though, Vinyl felt herself opening and closing her eyes, but nothing changed. She began to panic. “Twi... Twilight? Where are you?” “I’m right here Vinyl,” Twilight said, her voice cutting through the darkness. “I... I can’t see Twilight,” Vinyl said, her voice filled with panic. “I can’t see!” “Oh my! Vinyl, I need you to stay calm, I’m going to help you up, and we’re doing to walk over to the clinic, okay?” “Okay,” Vinyl said, she felt Twilight’s hooves along her side as she guided the mare to stand up; Vinyl heard the door open and the two began to slowly walk forward. It was slow going; Twilight had placed one of her forelegs on Vinyl’s back, guiding her through the streets towards the Ponyville Clinic. ... “Her eyes are fine... the problem is with the visual cortex in her brain, it’s no longer receiving signals from her eyes,” Doctor Nightly said, his voice filled with sorrow. “Is it permanent?” Twilight asked. Doctor Nightly spoke again. “I don’t know, it’s too early to tell, there are a few treatments we can try... but there are no guarantees, there’s a good chance...” “That I won’t see another damned thing for the rest of my life,” Vinyl finished for him. “I think I’ve heard enough.” Vinyl slid herself off the exam table, as a result of not being able to see, misjudged the distance between the table and the ground, she landed hard on her stomach, letting out a small whimper in disappointment with herself. “Vinyl!” Twilight called out, and rushed over to help her up. “I’m fine!” Vinyl said, pushing the lavender unicorn off her. She rose to her hooves, unsteadily regaining her composure. “I don’t need your help.” Though she could not see it, Twilight was likely frowning at her, and it only made her angrier. “I don’t need sympathy! I just need to get out of here,” Vinyl said, frustration filling her voice, she slowly began to walk forward, and didn’t make it more than a metre before stumbling into a trolley filled with tools, which she promptly batted away with her foreleg, sending the tools clattering to the floor and and stormed out of the examination room, running headlong into the wall just opposite the door and falling backwards out of surprise. Vinyl dropped down to her stomach and began to cry. She’d never felt so lost before, she needed to see! The world was too interesting a place to not be able to take in the sights. “Vinyl?” Twilight asked. Through her sobs, Vinyl heard Twilight bring herself down to the floor to console the grieving unicorn. “Vinyl listen, I can’t possibly imagine what you’re going through right now, but I do know that it’s hard, what you need to realise is that you don’t have to go through this alone! I’m going to be there for you every step of the way, and so will Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, and Whirlwind! I know it!” Twilight said. Vinyl felt the mare’s foreleg wrapping around her shoulder. “It’ll be hard, but everything is going to be okay! I promise!” If Twilight was lying, then Vinyl didn’t care. She allowed herself to form a small smile on her face as she looked in the direction that she thought Twilight was and smiled at her. “Thank you, Twilight... it really means a lot to me to hear you say that.” While she had no way to really tell, she guessed that Twilight was smiling back at her. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get you home.” ... Twilight and Vinyl entered the Library; Twilight guided the blind mare to the sofa and helped her climb up on it, her ears had started to adjust, while Vinyl’s hearing had always been above average, it seemed like that her hearing was starting to compensate for the lack of sight, she was able to hear Twilight step away from the sofa, lift the lid of the box back onto it and began to hammer in nails to shut it tightly. Thwap! Thwap! Thwap! Thwap! “Twilight?” Vinyl asked. “This thing is dangerous, and I’m going to make sure that nopony even so much as lays eyes on it!” Twilight said, she gasped, and dropped her hammer, which clattered loudly on the floor, causing Vinyl to cover her ears in pain. “Oh my gosh! Vinyl I am so sorry! That was so insensitive!” Twilight said, tossing in several more apologies after that. “It’s cool, I know what you meant... besides, the reason I lost my eyesight was because I wanted a closer look. I say good riddance... what are you going to do with it?” Vinyl asked. Twilight was silent for a while. “I don’t know,” she added after several moments, she likely had shrugged in response to the question, and made her thoughts audible upon realising that Vinyl would not be able to see it. “Twilight?” Vinyl asked. “I need a favour from you.” “Name it!” Twilight said enthusiastically. “I need you to promise me that you’re not going to treat me any different. I know that I’m going to need help with certain things now... but I’m still me, okay? I want to still be me.” “Of course,” Twilight said. Vinyl heard her approach, and felt her as she wrapped her forelegs around her in an embrace; Vinyl returned her hug and felt Twilight’s head rest upon her shoulder. “I’m just glad you’re still with us,” Twilight said. Vinyl felt tears rolling off Twilight’s muzzle and down her shoulder, and found that she was smiling at her friend. “I am too,” Vinyl said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”