> Blind > by CreamMocha > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue- introduction to the characters > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ever since WinterLily was born, she was naturally born with what her mother called, the worst thing in Equestria , she was born blind and mute making herself invisible to the world, unable to communicate. Luckily still having her hearing was an advantage because she learned more quickly but also at the same time making her frightened easily and less aware of her surroundings. Her mother, a frosty looking mare with a white coat and blue, icy mane, asked WinterLily's cousin, RainbowDash to be her aid. WinterLily is an only child who lives with her Mother and RainbowDash because her father died before her birth, her mother told her he was celestia's royal guard, and he died in war against the changelings that invaded canterlot. WinterLily thought he must've been very brave, fighting an army of changelings to protect them, but she also thought she was brave, she had made it this far without frustration of not seeing or not speaking. She had tried so hard to scream in hopes and having a voice but it never worked. Her mother brought her to doctors in hope of a cure, when that didn't work she tried the princesses, they said that there was no cure not even magic could work, unless effecting her otherwise or even worse, death. WinterLily always pondered what she, her mom, RainbowDash, the princesses and everypony else looked like. What everything looked like it would have been amazing to have sight, then again it would be amazing to be a normal pony too. _________ WinterLily memorized their cloudsdale house perfectly. When you came through the door, if you turned left there would be a large dining room with a small table, with a bunch of papers with stray crayon marks scattered on the floor. If you walked straight forward, there would be a cozy kitchen with a countertop in the middle of the room, chairs surrounding it and a baking station with flour and dough covering the wooden top. Next to that room was the somewhat large living room. It had a three cushioned couch next to one of the walls with a bookshelf in the corner and pillows strewn about. The staircase upstairs was in the living room. Upstairs was a small hall way with doors here and there. The first room you saw when you went upstairs was the bedroom WinterLily and Rainbow shared. Inside was a bunk bed to the left that had light pink curtains hanging from the top mattress hanging down to the second one put randomly around the bed were small white christmas lights that stayed up there for a whole year without needing battery replacement. The blankets were pink like the curtains and the pillows were white along with a small bedside table that was a white wood. On the other half of the room there was a wooden bed with electric blue pillows and blankets with rainbows cutie mark on it. A wooden bedside table was next to it with a lava lamp on top on it and Wonderbolts posters hanging on the walls.this was obviously Rainbow's side. Winter hated sleeping near RainbowDash. She constantly snored loudly and when rainbow was asleep she would beg Celestia to trade her blindness and mute out for deafness or just think of bad things to think about it. > The News > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WinterLily trailed behind RainbowDash out of their room, and strode down the stairs to the dining room table to speak- well- listen to her mother. "Good morning, sweetheart!" Her mother greeted gleefully like all mothers would to their young. this can't be good she thought tensely, her mother was usually grumpy in mornings like this. She sat down in a chair pulled out by rainbow, the cushion was soft and comfortable. Her mothers facial expression changed quickly but, by the tone of her voice, her mother wanted her to stay calm. All the more reason to not be. "So what's the big news you were talking about?" Dash asked curiously hoping for Wonderbolts tickets or something. Winter's mother couldn't hold it back anymore. "We're moving!" She bursted cheerfully, a big smile slapped on her face, as far as Winter would tell. She realized this what this meant and couldn't help but think of bad things, would any pony not in her situation?. What no! I don't want to go mama I don't want to move! All the ponies are going to be mean to me! Tears started streaming down her face and Rainbow wrapped a wing around her comfortingly like an older sister. Rainbow always acting like a sister to her, from the day she was born, through every moment when her father died, to right now. No matter the situation, her cousin had been through it all with her. This still didn't comfort her though. "It's ok kiddo, it's just a house, it can't hurt you," She tried to calm Winter with a soothing tone. It didn't work her tears kept falling on the soft cloud floor below her. She opened her mouth and tried to scream as hard as she could to give her a voice nothing happened. A few minutes later Winter slammed her hooves onto the table and stormed off to her room, flinging the door shut. _*_ That night WinterLily cried herself to sleep. How could she not have? Being blind and mute, moving? New school? This was too hard for her to take in. Had any pony she knew moved before? She stopped that thought and sat there, staring out her window. Half of the night she sat there in silence listening to the cicadas that flew to cloudsdale every spring. She loved them, their chirping symphony and she was disappointed when they left in the summer. As the night slowly faded into the morning, the melody came to a stop. WinterLily's head rested softly on her pillow and the quiet pink filly fell asleep. She woke up by a tap on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but were trying to get this bed into the truck," WinterLily opened her eyes and tilted her head to the side as her universal sign to say 'why?'. The mare caught her blind eyes. "We're the moving company, were here to take your items to your new home," She said quickly in a happy voice. WinterLily stood in a completely bare room, all the posters of Wonderbolts and Rainbow's retro lava lamp had been taken away. Of course WinterLily hadn't seen any of it. She trudged down the stairs to the kitchen, when she was picked up by someone. She tried to get free of their grip, and she bit them. "Ow! What's the deal, Winter?" She knew that voice, it was Rainbow. She hung her head in shame as to say sorry. "It's alright, just don't bite ponies when we get to ponyville, they'll think your a vampony or whatever ponies think these days. Then twilight will do some experiments on you, then you'll get classified as a psychopath," Rainbow trailed off a little. The thought scared her, Vamponies? They didn't sound nice and she didn't want to run into one. Who was Twilight and why did she want to classify her as a psychopath? Thoughts started clouding her young, imaginative mind as many fillies and colts did at her age. > Home > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The flight to ponyville was short, but felt so long to WinterLily. It was cold out and she wanted her be in her bed, where it was warm and she was safe. She felt like asking rainbow 'are we there yet' so much. She could tell rainbow was tired carrying her weight. She was pretty heavy and due to her blindness she never got around to learning how to fly. It was a shame, she always imagined flying, well it seemed more like gliding badly but she knew she could do it one day. If all goes well maybe she could achieve a dream of getting into the Wonderbolts RainbowDash had always fantasized about in her free time. When they got there her cousin told her everything about the new house and her mother explained to her that she wanted the move to be a surprise for her, but ended up only making her feel bad. WinterLily felt terrible and she began to tremble, she wanted to run away and cry. She had left her one friend who she cared dearly for, CloudyStars. He would stand up for her and he felt like family, but she knew he felt something more then family or friendship. "You get your own room! So yeah, not much different right?" Rainbow asked, bringing her back to reality. Though she was relived that she might finally be able to get a good nights sleep for once, she stressed about anything that could wrong and slowed her pace, in case of any broken floors. The small house was easy to navigate through. what a relief she thought and made a mental check mark in her imaginary checklist of things to be worried about. After the house tour, rainbow took the filly to meet her friend, AppleJack. The farmpony's slang had confused her at first, but she finally understood. She could hear low growls coming from an unknown creature. She braced herself and stood in a defensive stance, by spreading out her wings and legs. She felt a pat on her head, it was a hoof, she was sure of it. "Hey, no need to be scared of me!" A pony with an accent chuckled. This pony must've been 'AppleJack', there was kindness in her voice but Winter didn't trust her, it was a gut feeling. The voice this time sounded further away. "Rainbow, can ya help me pull this apple cart? I think it's stuck on somethin'," she heard hoof steps and tried following them. The voice disappeared. Instead a million voices at once were speaking. She was lost, she turned to her side and walked...and walked...and walked. She had no clue where she was and she became nervous, her worse nightmare was becoming real. A loud howl bellowed through the air and a nasty screech came from crows flying away. Timberwolf... she froze too scared to move. She could hear the large animal coming after her, it's paws pounding against the ground with every step. Something dripped on her head, drool. gross. The beast was towering over top of her when she heard a soft voice. Something picked her up and swooped her off the ground to safety. She was on top of something soft, she guessed it was a sofa, and she was currently being wrapped up in a...blanket? The pony introduced herself as FlutterShy, she had said the Timberwolf almost made her head into a snack. "What were you doing out in the everfree forest anyway?" She calmly asked, setting a glass of water next to her. She made the universal signs and explained it all. "Oh my, your mute? And blind?" She asked. How did you know what I was saying? Usually RainbowDash translates she giggled "My pet angel bunny can't speak to any pony, so he uses universal signs like you, and did you say RainbowDash takes care of you?" She nodded. "That's where she ran off to! She didn't leave us a message when she left, oh my I was so worried about her," She explained. "You should sleep, all that excitement is enough for a filly for one day. I'll find RainbowDash for you and she'll be here when you wake up," She could tell fluttershy was smiling, it was easy to tell she was a kind pony.She knew many nice ponies in cloudsdale, like Mister InkWell. He would Always let Winter have some bread from his family bakery. Lost in thought, WinterLily soon drifted off to sleep. > Dreams > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WinterLily opened her eyes, she was in a black world. A-am I...seeing?. Soon voices came out of nowhere it was harsh and painful. she looked over to find many odd looking ponies. Some of them had muzzles on their foreheads. Though they seemed all so different, they all had one thing in common. They were laughing at her. She started backing up and hunched over, like a pony trying to hide from a feral animal. It only had been a few seconds and she wanted to burst into tears, this seemed so real and so fake at the same time. No please stop! I'm not bad...I'm just different! Please don't hurt me! Stop laughing! she cried. The abyss mimicked her thoughts. "STOP!" she shrieked. She backed up confusedly. Had...she said that? Certainly not, she never spoke, she couldn't speak even if she wanted to. The ponies kept laughing, and now started pointing. She curled on the cold floor and cried in a hoarse voice "please...stop laughing, what did I ever do to deserve this?" She looked up. A dark grey shadow was burry but in the distance. This seemed like her fate, even if this was her dream. When it got closer she could see the shape. It was a pony, not like the ones laughing at her, this one was dark blue. She wore a black thing on her head and her mane was silky. Could this be RainbowDash? She stopped her sniffles and sat up. The blue mare shot magic energy out of her horn at the crowd of laughing ponies. They disappeared and she landed, she regally strode towards her. "Hello young, filly," this certainly wasn't Rainbowdash, she held an accent, not like the one the farmpony had. She smiled "I am Princess Luna, has thou not heard of me?" She asked. WinterLily stood in awe. The pony was not just beautiful, but also a princess. "Where are we? Why can I see? Why can I speak?" She questioned her eyes were wide with joy and disbelief.The mare laughed and explained to her about the dream world and who she was. "The dream world is a realm only certain ponies come to. Most ponies come and see this darkness in their sleep, others let their sleeping imagination flow. I'm not just the raiser of the moon, or princess of the night, I'm also the protector of this world." She said matter-of-factly. "So anything I can imagine can happen? Am I imagining this?" "No thou isn't imagining this, every night I save ponies from bad thoughts or nightmares." She shuttered using the word 'nightmare'. This confused her at the same time but she was too scared or excited to reply. WinterLily thought for a second then asked "Can I imagine my family?"