Guide Dogs

by Yosh-E-O

Chapter 3 - Welcome to Canine Crossroads

A massive crowd of anthropomorphic animals gathered as the Royal Chariot landed at the center of Canine Crossroads.

“Fascinating,” admired Twilight. “It seems a number of species live here, too.”

Spike leaned to whisper in Yosh’s ear.
“Twilight is surprised that we are seeing so many different creatures living together,” he said.

“What kind of creatures?” asked Yosh. “Can you describe them to me?”

Spike recalled how his friend needed to get an ‘Verbal Description’ of his surroundings in order to know what he was incapable of seeing for himself.
“Mostly birds, squirrels, dogs, and any other animals we know to be wild or pets back in Equestria all seem to be dressed up in clothes and admiring our approach,” he described.

“See any ducks?” blushed Yosh. “Any dragon-ducks?”

Spike peeked over the side as they landed.
“I think there is a baby duck running circles around a fountain,” he announced.

KA-KLUNK
GALLOP-GALLOP
GALLOP
CLOP-CLOP

The four Pegasus guards came to a stop and awaited instructions.

“Mayor!” a female voice called out. “You’re finally here!”

Twilight smiled.
“Oh!” she beamed. “Seems we are getting quite the greeting.”

“Don’t forget to smile and wave,” stated Spike as he opened up a scroll of ‘To Dos’ Twilight had written for their initial arrival into Canine Crossroads.

“Halt!” the guards stated firmly as a yellow dog with bells tied into her hair came dashing forward.

“Oh,” the dog whimpered as she allowed her clipboard to hang loosely alongside her green skirt. “I’m just hear for our new mayor.”

“And you are?” another guard asked firmly.

“Why,” she replied with a blush. “I’m Isabelle! I’m the one who asked Princess Celestia to send us a new mayor to fix our town!”

“What?” wondered Twilight. She didn’t know if lack of sleep was making her hear things but she swore that the delegate was implying they asked the Equestrian trio to come to run their town instead of build friendly relations with it.

“Hi!” cried Isabelle while waving towards the chariot. “Is there a ‘Yosh’ amongst you?”

“Uh,” the dragon duck baffled as he stood up and looked towards the sound of the female voice and jingling bells. “I’m Yosh.”

“Perfect!” gleed Isabelle as she made her way past the guards and helped the dragon duck out of the carriage. “I’m so glad Princess Celestia could spare you to help our town, mayor.”

“What?” gasped both Spike and twilight as Isabelle started leading Yosh into the wooded city.

“Orders, Princess Twilight?” the guards called out.

“Uh… Well… Oh!” struggled the sleep deprived Alicorn.

“I’ve got this,” said Spike proudly as he leapt down and moved past the guards. “Yosh is my brother and brothers look after each other.”

“Spike!” cried Twilight.

“Do pardon us,” stated a swanky-looking raccoon who had two kits behind him. “My name’s Tom Nook and I’d like to show you around our beautiful city. You did bring bits, right?”

Twilight didn’t know what they had gotten themselves into. However the only way to find out, rescue Yosh, and make sure her number one assistant was alright was to play along until the intentions of Isabelle and canine Crossroads became fully known.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

...Look, I really don't want to be "that guy", but how were you able to write this story if your blind?

[Yosh-E-O]

STARLIGHT NOVA:
(Sorry I can't do a direct reply. I went to try and write one on your page but I think you have comments turned off.)

Thank you for being "That Guy". You have a REALLY valid question that more people need to know the answer to.

Those who are totally blind, or even partially blind, can get software known as Screen Readers. A screen reader is software designed to integrate with most software to use a mechanical voice to read text while allowing me to use special key sequences to access 'Edit Boxes' and other relevant regions of web sites, word processors, E-Mail, etc.

The problem is they have limits. :( So I am only able to do so much on a given site, or application, as a result of software conflicts / non-compatibility. So, with "FiM Fiction", I need to use Firefox and Internet Explorer to genuinely create a story. Each application tells me so much on how to use the "Create Story" page. It's a pain but still lets me post. :)

The other issue, with FiM Fiction, is how I can write comments but cannot respond to them. I can also respond to messages but not start them. :( However FiM Fiction is one of a few sites I can navigate enough for it to be useful despite many web sites having compatibility issues with my screen reading software.

The screen reader I use is called "JAWS" and is made by Freedom Scientific. They try very hard to keep the screen reader accessible to all software. However they can only do so much as technology evolves faster with more concern being given to graphical interfaces, which screen readers can't interpret.

I'm just glad I have a screen reader as, despite the flaws and system requirements, it allows me to still be active on the internet without eyesight. :)