"Are you sure this is a good idea, Night Star?" I asked my cousin as we walked back to the bakery from the restaurant.
"We might as well try, right? There's no way of knowing exactly what's wrong with him unless we can convince him to talk to us." He answered, lowering his head.
"I guess, but how can we be sure he will even talk?"
"We can't."
We soon arrived at the bakery. When we walked inside, we saw the rest of the ponies were gone except for Emerald. He was laying curled up in a corner, his eyes were closed and his sunglasses were sitting next to him. He had tears slowly streaming down his cheeks, and we could hear his soft crying.
He must have heard us come in because he quickly grabbed his sunglasses and put them on his eyes before either of us could see them.
"Emerald? Are you okay? We couldn't help but hear you." Night Star asked, approaching him.
Emerald turned his head away from him and didn't answer. He set his head down on his hooves.
"Hey, you know that I'm here for you if you need us. Just tell me what's up." Night Star nudged a bit more.
Emerald shook his head and turned back to face him. "Not now, Night Star, I'm not in the mood."
"Very well, Emerald. Just know that I'm always here for you my friend."
Night Star and I began to walk away from him when Emerald stopped me. "Violet?"
I turned to him. "Yes, Emerald?" I asked, kneeling down in front of him.
"Is it okay if I speak to you for a moment?" He asked me, still turned away from us both.
"Of course, I'm always here for somepony who needs me."
"Umm... alone if you don't mind."
I glanced over to Night Star, who immediately got the hint and walked out of the room.
"I'm here, Emerald."
"I think I should tell you why I wear these." He said, pointing to his sunglasses.
"Only if you don't mind. You don't have to tell me." I assured him.
"I trust you to know. Only one other pony knows. And she..." He trailed off at the end with more tears streaming down his cheeks.
I put a hoof on his shoulder."It's okay."
"Well, you see, I told Night Star that I wear these to hide my pain from the outside world. And that's mostly true. But the truth is because of my eyes. My eyes are... different."
"Different? How? My eyes can be different."
"Yes, but you can do that at will. I was born with mine."
"I'm sure they're not that bad." I said, trying to comfort him.
"I can show you, but you have to promise not to tell anypony. You are the only other pony I trust with this secret."
"I promise your secret's safe with me."
"Thank you, Violet." He said, hugging me before backing up for a moment.
He reached up and pulled off his glasses slowly. What I saw was clearly different like he said. His eyes were red, blood red. His pupils were slits, like a cat's eyes. He waited for a moment before putting his glasses back on.
"So now you know my secret. These... things I call eyes."
"They aren't as bad as you think. I actually think that they are kind of nice." I pointed out.
"You think they're... nice?" He asked me, taking his glasses off again.
"Yes, they're beautiful."
"Thank you, my ex-marefriend thought so too."
"Was she the only other pony who knows?"
"Yes, but she broke up with me a long time ago. It's been a long time, but I haven't moved on, I can't. She was the world to me." He said, tears welling up in his eyes again.
"It's okay, you'll find somepony else. There are plenty of other mares out there. Maybe you'll feel better if you find somepony else."
"But it won't feel right if I'm with somepony else. I can't get Crescent Moon off my mind."
I grabbed him and pulled him closer and hugged him. "It'll be okay, she did this to you, she doesn't deserve to have such a nice stallion who puts the well-being of others before himself. She doesn't know what she lost."
"Thank you, Violet. It means a lot to me."
"No problem, I help everypony who needs help."
"I'll do my best to move on. It'll be difficult , but not impossible." He said, putting his glasses back on.
"That's the spirit."
"Get some sleep, everything will be fine. And I'll be here if you need me."
He pulled me into one last hug. "Thank you, Violet. It feels nice to talk to somepony since then. I feel a bit better now."
"That's good to know. I hope things will work out for you."
"I hope so, thanks again, Violet." He said, laying back down in his corner.
"No problem, Emerald. Just promise me you'll try."
He sat still for a moment before nodding his head, "I promise."