That's The Night The Lights Went Out In Canterlot

After Applejack left Reggie alone, he returned to thinking about where he was going to go from here.

He reflected that while he had talents for math and logical thinking, all the skills he had developed to use his talents required sight. But without a means to keep those skills active, he worried that his talents would atrophy.

While he considered his dilemma, he first retraced his steps back to the bed and then set his pacing to wander the confines of his quarters. Walking around the bed until he reached the wall, he found the nightstand where he had left his Chinese dragon medallion and paused to put it on. He traced his fingers over the intricate carving, trying to reimage the picture of the figure in his mind from touch.

But after a few minutes, he still was unable to recall it. Dejected by his failure, he resumed wandering about his room, following the wall around until he entered the bathroom. There, he paused to brush his teeth and wash his face before resuming his counterclockwise wander. Keeping his hand out to brush his fingers along the wall, he remapped out the furniture in his mind, trying to memorize his surroundings.

That, he considered was a weakness he had to overcome: memorizing. He knew he could instantly recall how to use math formulas once he viewed them, but to recall them straight from memory was something he wasn’t accustomed to.

Likewise for things like chess. He envied those grand masters who could play games solely in their minds without even having to view the boards. And would these creature even have something like chess or any board game that he could learn and use to pass the time? Thinking of ever being able to do such a thing seemed like such an impossible task that his tears began to flow unbidden from his eyes. But what other choice did he have?

If his sight ever returned, then wonderful! But what if it didn’t? Hope for his sight to return alone wouldn’t ever give it back to him. He had no choice other than to anticipate that it was never coming back. But he needed to survive! He WANTED to survive! He needed a different thing to hope for: a hope that he could learn how to survive without his eyes. And for that, he needed to overcome his weaknesses. Starting with his ability to memorize.

As he wandered the suite, he reached the entrance to what he recalled had been explained was the study.

“Books! A fat lot of good those will ever do me here!” he snorted as he was about to proceed through the doorway. But something stopped him when his fingers told him this doorframe, as did all the others, had a deeply carved molding about it. A couple pieces of thoughts came together at that moment. One was a recollection that physical exercise was supposed to boost memory. The second was this molding was just deep enough that if he…

In an instant, he gripped the doorframe by his hands and feet, shimmying up the side until he reached the top of the doorway only a few feet up above his head. After working his way to the middle, he began doing a series of pull-ups.

After doing thirty or so, his arms had reached their limit and he dropped to the floor and he worked his arms through their pain. As tears of joy slid down his cheeks, he recalled the irony that so many of his stronger-built classmates had so much trouble reaching that number and envied him for being able to do so many. But he secretly had known the reason he could do so many was because he was that typical “98-pound” weakling. His classmates, with their bulkier muscles, had so much more weight to lift, while his muscles were far weaker—they had far less to work against. Also, he always was able to do quicker sprints, but sucked for endurance when running.

Feeling satisfied for the short bout of pull-ups, he resumed the exploration of the suite, measuring out the dimension of the study. The room was quite large, with the walls all lined with bookshelves and filled with tomes. He didn’t try to explore the interior in case there were tables and chairs, but he definitely considered the size to be adequate to convert into an exercise room, assuming he could get the ponies to construct some for him.

Then he had to stop at the question that popped into his head.

If they’ve got hooves, then how is it that they have things like chariots with handlebars, and bookshelves full of books? Who’s building such things for them? he wondered. Unable to think of how they were doing it without asking someone, he resumed his pacing, making sure to go in a counter-clockwise direction.

And then promptly screamed when he walked into someone standing in the doorway and he stumbled back and fell hard on his back, painfully smacking his head on the floor.

“GODDAMMIT, YOU STUPID BLOODY HORSE! STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME, PINKIE PIE! I DON’T CARE HOW MANY TIMES YOU COME BEGGING ME TO FORGIVE YOUFOR SHOOTING THAT SHIT INTO MY EYES, I’M NOT DOING IT!” he screamed, covering his face with an arm as he turned away from the menace.

“I’m-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you,” a voice called out that he didn’t recognize.

“Wait, you’re not that insane Pinkie Pie?” Reggie asked.

“No, I’m Twilight Sparkle,” the creature told him.

“Is she here?” he demanded, relaxing a tad bit.

“No, she’s not,” the pony said and Reggie was able to fully recover his control.

“S-sorry—sorry for yelling at you,” he told her. “That—that—thing—has been after me all day, trying to get close to me,” Reggie apologized. “She’s done enough damage to me, I just don’t want her to get anywhere near me where she can hurt me again.”

“She’s very, very sorry for hurting you,” Twilight Sparkle told him.

“I know. She’s your friend. And you’ve done your due diligence in passing along her apology,” he grumbled. “I understand.”

“Uh—something like that,” the pony said, actually sounding a little contrite.

“Well, like I explained to Applejack, it’s not always possible for friends of friends to be friends,” Reggie said, getting back to his feet. “You shouldn’t worry about it. It’s not something you or anyone else can control. So, you’re Twilight?”

“Yes, I’m Twilight Sparkle,” she said, with a bit of sharpness to her tone. “That would be me, the purple alicorn.” she stressed the word. “The one without the hat. And not known as ‘Twilight Pie’ or ‘Sparkle Pink’, either.”

“Heh! Sorry about that, too,” Reggie said, choking back his laughter. “I was just trying to prank that Rainbow Dash when I said that.”

“So I’ve been told,” Twilight responded, also with a chuckle. “You should’ve seen Applejack and her going at it—oh! I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have mentioned your sight!”

“No, it’s okay!” Reggie laughed. “I may have lost my sight, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to take on the ‘PC attitude’ over it that’s all the rage back home. I’m not going to let being blind cripple me from being able to participate in life, but I’m not about to let myself get offended over how we speak about it—that is crippling—for both sighted and unsighted people.”

“It’s—It’s possible to do that?” Twilight asked astonished. “To not let being blind stop you from getting around?”

“Oh, I know it’s not going to be easy,” Reggie told her. “One day, I will learn how to navigate without my sight. I just have to work at it.”

“That’s amazing!” she exclaimed. “So, is that what you were doing when you were hanging from the top of the doorway?” Reggie started at that.

“You were watching me do pull-ups?” he asked. “I never heard you come in.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I had opened the door and was about to call out to you when I saw you hanging there, pulling yourself up repeatedly. I was trying to figure out what you were doing. I’m sorry if I caught you doing something ponyal.”

“Oh, I was just exercisi—wait, ‘ponyal’?” he asked, only now catching the odd term.

“Yes, a ponyal matter is what somepony would consider—well—I guess—private,” Twilight explained.

Okay, that first pun was bad enough, but to explain it with one that’s worse…? he thought.

“Nyah, I was just trying out an exercise,” he explained. “I’m not a physical specimen by any stretch, but I had read about how regular exercise can help with improving a person’s memory, which is a major problem I’m going to have to work at fixing.”

“Oh, I see,” she replied. “Sort of like how Rainbow Dash is always doing calisthenics. Wingups and the like.”

“I guess,” Reggie said non-committedly, shrugging his shoulders. “Wait, ‘wingups’? Oh, she’s a pegasus and I guess that because she’s got wings—so is that anything like pushups, but with wings?”

“Pushups?” she asked.

“Like this,” Reggie said, dropping to the floor to demonstrate.

“YES!” Twilight exclaimed. “That’s exactly like it! But with wings! Oh, this is so wonderful when we have a breakthrough with our communication!” she said, making some sort of rapid knocking noise.

“Oka-ay,” Reggie muttered puzzled as he stood back up. “So, now what are you doing making that noise?”

“Uh—oh—do you mean me clopping my hooves together?” she asked. “Don’t you have a similar gesture for your hands to signify applause? I’ve seen you humans doing that in your world.”

“Oh, I see,” he said chagrinned. “Still a lot of things to get used to in this world, I guess.”

“Of course,” she replied. “And for us to get used to with you, as well. Like how your amulet glows with magic. I didn’t think humans had magic.”

“Say, what?” he asked, astonished.

“When you finished doing your exercise, I saw your amulet glow for a moment,” she explained. “I could tell it was magic.”

“This amulet came from my world,” Reggie told her. “We don’t have magic where I come from.”

“Of course it does—” she began, and Reggie felt the medallion lift off his chest, but the chain remained across the back of his neck. “That’s odd—I could’ve sworn it was radiating magic a little while ago, but it doesn’t seem to have any right now.” There was silence for a few moments. “Hmf! Maybe I was seeing things?” she said uncertainly as the medallion’s weight settled back onto his chest.

“Well, don’t ask me,” Reggie shrugged. “I certainly didn’t see it!”

“Would—would you mind if I can examine it?” she asked after several moments of awkward silence. Evidently, she wasn’t about to dismiss the matter.

“Well, if you promise not to damage it,” he said, taking it off and handing it to her.

“I promise,” she said, taking it from his grip.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Reggie spoke up, suddenly remembering something he wanted to ask. “About this study—um—since I’m not able to read anything—I wonder if it’s too much trouble if I could ask to convert this space into an exercise room?”

“I suppose so,” she replied. “What do you have in mind?”

“Back in my world, we have a piece of gear that is essentially a metal frame that holds a number of different weight resistance activities.”

“We can certainly discuss it,” she agreed. “You could try to show us during your dreamwalking session with Princess Luna, tonight.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” he said, nodding. “I don’t think that I could talk you through it and I certainly don’t think I could draw it without making a mess of the diagram. Showing such things through my dreams might be the easiest way for me to communicate with you. You may need to remind me, though, just in case I forget to mention it while I’m asleep.”

“I sure will! I’m adding it to my list right now!” she happily said, and Reggie heard something being scribbled onto some paper.

“Ri-i-ight,” he drawled, inwardly chuckling at the idea that someone would be able to bring a list written in the physical world into the world of dreams.

He resumed mapping out his suite, to which Twilight inquired about it.

“I’m just trying to get a mental image about how the room is laid out,” he explained. “It’s important for a blind person to become familiar with their surroundings.”

“But—,” she began, but then evidently rethought how she was going to ask her question, “so this is something you’ve knowledge about? So you’ve been blinded before?”

“No, this is my first time,” he said smirking, suspecting the direction where this questioning was about to go. “Why do you ask?”

“But, if this is the first time you’ve been blind, how can you know what a blind pony—er—person—does?” she asked.

“Because there are so many people with disabilities in my world. Blindness, deafness, paralysis and missing limbs, and so forth—there have been a lot of stories and movies dealing with such situations,” he explained. “Those stories often let us know how difficult the problems are for those suffering from them, as well as for their families and close friends. In addition, many of those accounts ended up helping others who also similar accidents after seeing those stories. Having a basic understanding of how people who successfully managed to push through their trauma, in many ways, they have really helped others get through bad times as well.”

“Wow!” she gasped in awe. “That’s so inspiring!”

“Yes, it is,” he agreed. “And I’d have to say the biggest lesson those stories tell us is that so many ordinary people can overcome such extraordinary obstacles. It lets us know that if they can do it, anyone can. Only problem is, in a way, it’s all kind of a lie. I don’t think those people who succeeded were really ordinary at all. They were very extraordinary. Folks like Helen Keller, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder were people who overcame their disabilities and became heroes in our world that both blind and sighted people look up to. And while there might be hundreds who also succeeded that we don’t hear about, there’s probably thousands who don’t make it—and of course, we won’t ever hear about them, either.

“I know that for a fact,” he said soberly. “I know several classmates who were disfigured or made 'different' in one way or another that either ended up dead or in jail.

“And I can’t help worrying that I just might end up failing as well,” he finished.

That evening, Twilight came by again to escort Reggie to Luna, where the Night Princess delved into the circumstances of his arrival, trying to isolate where the portal he came through was at this end.

“This is the cavern Queen Chrysalis stranded me in when she tried to take over Canterlot!” Twilight said, looking about the shared dreamscape. She asked Luna for permission to take control for a moment and they all were shown how the former unicorn Twilight had been stranded there. Reggie watched as Twilight’s memory replayed, showing a pink alicorn’s face that was projected on every one of the large crystal facets to taunt the imprisoned unicorn, and then the unicorn began randomly blasting those projections. Some of the crystals were destroyed and pieces scattered about the cavern until the unicorn eventually blew open the very same hole in the wall through which he had escaped.

“You did this?” Reggie asked, astonished, pointing at the stones glowing with a strong purple aura.

“Well, yes,” Twilight replied. “I was just trying random spells to blast my way out of there. I guess one or two of my blasts were just permanent lighting spells. That actually is a counter to a particular trapping spell. I didn’t know what Chrysalis had used, so I had to try everything I could think of.”

“They’re not radioactive, are they?”

“What? Oh! No. They’re not harmful,” Twilight quickly responded. “At least, I don’t think they are,” she awkwardly and uncertainly amended, looking at some of the debris.”

“At least we now know where to concentrate our search,” Luna announced. “Thank thee, Reggie. Thy cooperation hast been most valuable. We must awaken thee now, whilst thee art still in REM sleep.”

“Oh! But Princess Luna! There’s one more item left on the list,” Twilight spoke up, holding up a partially unrolled scroll.

Damn! She was able to bring it in! Reggie thought as he woke.

Reggie woke disoriented and in complete darkness, but the memory of the dream was still vivid in his mind.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that!” he muttered, feeling dizzy.

“But Princess Luna!” he heard Twilight exclaim suddenly. “His exercise machine!”

“Thou should hast remained asleep, Twilight,” Luna scolded her. “Reggie’s physiology dost not allow him to recall dreamwalking whilst sleeping beyond his normal REM cycle. He hast demonstrated an ability to return to slumber much faster than ponies can. But now, we must await thy return to slumber!”

Reggie groaned as he lay his head back down on the beanbag chair and tried to tune out their discussion.