Eyes Like Mine
By: Michael A.
"Give them back!" Vinyl whined as she tried desperately to grab back her purple tinted glasses.
The colt, who was holding the glasses in his maw, made sure to keep them just out of Vinyl's reach. "Twy an' geth th'm," he mumbled, his speech muffled as he kept the glasses tightly in his mouth.
Two colts stood on either side of him, chucking as Vinyl jumped up and down on her little legs, trying to grab back her glasses. She was a white unicorn with a neon-blue and white striped mane and was noticeably small for her age, aiding the colt who had stolen her shades.
The colt on the left spoke up, "C'mon, devil eyes, you can do it."
Vinyl stopped her jumping. "Hey! Don't call me that!" she called back, staring angrily at the colt with her ruby-red eyes.
This wasn't the first time somepony had picked on her for her eyes, and would probably not be the last. She had bought the glasses in order to hide them from the world, but it didn't always work. Vinyl tried desperately to grab her glasses, jumping up and down in an effort to snatch them away from her tormentor. He was much taller than the white filly and easily kept them out of reach. Vinyl tried to hold back the tears that threatened to escape her eyes, but it was getting harder and harder with each failed attempt to retrieve her shades. The colts continued to laugh and chant hurtful names at her, which only made the tears harder to hold back.
The white filly finally gave up trying to retrieve her shades, falling back onto her haunches as the dam finally broke, letting the building tears to begin to leak down her muzzle.
"Awwww," the colt to the right began in mock sympathy. "Is somepony crying?"
Vinyl sniffed. "No!" she screamed back, trying to hide the tears that continued to fall.
The leftmost colt chuckled. "Looks like somepony is just a little crybaby, devil-eyed little-"
"Hey," screamed a new voice, cutting off the colt before he could finish.
The colts and Vinyl turned towards the direction of the new voice. There, with his wings flared, stood a dark gray colt. His eyes were dark blue, and his ears were pointed slightly, and bigger than a normal pony. Pointy fangs showed out the sides of his mouth, and on his back were dark bat-like wings. He was a thestral, or, as most ponies called them, a bat-pony.
"Leave her alone," the thestral growled in a deep, threatening tone.
The three colts stood, wide eyes at him. After a few seconds, they snapped out of their haze. "And why should we?" spoke the rightmost colt. He tried to hide his fear, but it still showed faintly in his voice.
"Because," he began, widening his scowl to show his sharp fangs, "I said so..."
The three colts looked at each other, before nodding in unison. "Whatever, let's just go," the middle colt said as he dropped the glasses and began to off with the other two still at his sides, making sure to stomp on the glasses as he walked away.
Vinyl grabbed her glasses and looked at them with a frown—they were completely broken. She turned to the thestral, who had lowered his scowl and tucked his leathery wings into his sides. Vinyl sniffled before muttering a soft, "Thank you."
The thestral smiled and walked closer, patting Vinyl on the back. "Anytime, kid."
Vinyl winced slightly, not used to physical contact. It wasn't that she didn't like it, more of that usually when ponies touched her, it was usually to cause her harm. The thestral noticed this, and backed off slightly, giving Vinyl some room. The small unicorn shifted nervously, trying to work up the courage to speak. After a slight pause, the finally spoke, "Hey, what's your name?"
The thestral smiled, unintentionally giving Vinyl a slight glint of his fangs. "I'm Shadow." He held out a hoof. "Pleasure to meet you..."
The white unicorn bumped the offered hoof. "Vinyl. Vinyl scratch!"
"Pleasure to meet you, Vinyl," he said, before looking down at ruined glasses. He frowned. "Sorry that I couldn't save the glasses..."
Vinyl gave him a dismissive hoof. "It's okay—I got more at home."
Shadow continued to frown. "If you don't mind me asking... how often does this happen?"
The white unicorn's expression faltered as she took her eyes away from the thestral and towards the ground. "Often..." she mumbled, barely over a whisper.
If he was anypony else, he probably wouldn't have heard Vinyl's reply, but because he was a thestral, his attuned hearing made it quite easy to hear her. "I'm... Sorry to hear that."
There was an awkward pause.
"Hey," Shadow began, catching Vinyl's attention. He waited until she looked up at him before continuing. "My family is visiting some relatives here in Manehattan... Would you mind showing me around?"
Vinyl instantly perked up, practically jumping with excitement. "Yeah, I would love to."
Shadow smiled, motioning in front of him. "Then lead the way, my friend."
The two spent the next few hours trotting around the large city with Vinyl pointing out anything of interest. Shadow had listened with wrapt attention, soaking in everything the mare had to say. They occasionally got a curious stare from a passerby, and Vinyl feared her new friend would become uncomfortable. To her surprise, her friend either didn't mind or didn't notice. Because of her eyes, Vinyl had been constantly bullied and alienated by kids her age, and could only imagine how bad it must've been for her friend.
Their tour finally ended at an ice cream shop. Vinyl had ordered chocolate while shadow ordered cherry. The two sat and enjoyed their frozen treats at one of the table inside of the story.
"Hey, Shadow?" Vinyl spoke, grabbing the thestral's attention.
"Yes?"
"What... what is it like being a bat-pony?" Vinyl winced, realizing that it may be a sore subject for the pony. To her surprise, his expression didn't change.
"It's interesting, actually," he began, before pausing to use his long tongue to lick some of the ice cream off of his muzzle. "We have exceptional hearing and are extremely silent fliers. As you can guess by my teeth, we can eat meat–" Vinyl winced. "–but we can still get by on a vegetarian diet, which is what I prefer," he finished, returning to his frozen treat.
How does he do it? Vinyl though as she too returned to enjoying her frozen treat. How is he not fazed by the glances, stairs or dirty looks? To her surprise, her thoughts soon became vocal. "How do you do it?"
Shadow stopped, looking up at his half finished cone. "How do I do what?" he asked curiously.
The unicorn bit her lip, unsure of weather to continue. After a brief pause, she continued, "How are you not fazed by the stares?"
The thestral looked sympathetically at her and responded seemingly without thought. "Because they don't matter," he said, matter-of-factly. Vinyl gave him a confused look, and he elaborated. "What I mean is that those ponies don't matter, in the end. Sure, the looks, stares, rumors, and everything else may still hurt, but it's best to not think too deeply about them. Yes, I am different, but is that a bad thing? No, it is not. Being different is what makes me unique; special. And even though it may not make me the most popular of ponies, there is, and always will be, ponies who will respect me, and who are worthy being my friend," he finished, giving Vinyl a confident smile.
Vinyl... Vinyl didn't know how to take in those words. Was it really that easy, she thought, could it really be as simple as to just ignore them, and be myself?
Shadow chuckled, snapping the filly out of her thoughts. "Don't worry, filly, the entire world isn't completely horrible."
Vinyl smiled at the thestral. "Thanks."
Shadow cocked an eyebrow. "For what?"
She smirked. "For showing me that I don't have hide anymore," the unicorn said confidently.
The two finished their ice-creams and spent some more time together before Shadow said he had to leave. He explained to her that he would be going home to Canterlot the next day and that he wasn't sure when they'd be able to hang out again. The white unicorn had originally been sad by this news but cheered up when he gave her his address and told her that they'd still be able to write to each other. They shared a quick hug before separating, each going their separate ways.
When Vinyl got home, she mulled over what her new friend had said and eventually came to a decision. The next day, she didn't ware her glasses. She didn't shy away from the states, only giving them friendly smiles in return. She didn't shy away from anypony and was actually social for once. For once, she didn't feel alone.
