The sun streaming in through the window woke me up. Or rather, I think the sun was out. It was more the heat on my face that alerted me to the fact that it was time to get ready for work. I rolled out of bed and groggily staggered into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, put on horseshoes, then walked into the kitchen. I hastily devoured an apple before trotting outside and taking to the air. Once I was in the skies, I flew east towards the spot where the Weather Patrol was supposed to clear some pesky storm clouds. When I figured I had to be close, I heard a voice from behind me.
"Hey, slow down! You don't want to crash again, do you?" It was Rainbow Dash, Captain of the Ponyville Weather Patrol. She grabbed my hoof and gently led me forward a little bit before coming to a stop. She pressed my hoof against a tree, I had been only a few yards from careening headlong into it.
"Thanks, Dash," I said, "Sorry I'm such a hassle."
Dash sighed and ruffled my hair, "You're not a hassle, Snow. Trust me, most of these pegasi are harder to keep in order than you. And they can all see."
"I still feel like a burden,"
"You're not," She repeated, "We have to start soon. Here, I'll help you to your station."
Dash grabbed my hoof again and gently guided me up to a small, white cloud, sitting above everything else. My job was simple; when somepony loses one sense, their others become stronger, right? Well, my job was to listen for any incoming clouds. I know it sounds weird, but I could actually hear small disturbances in the air as they drifted towards us. Also, I could feel the electrical disturbance from an impending lightning strike better than most ponies. Lightning is a serious danger to a pegasus and without me at least six members of the Weather Patrol would be dead.
That day wasn't a very difficult one. We just had to knock a few clouds out of the air, and that was it. We finished early, and I was about to fly home when I felt a hoof on my shoulder. It was Rainbow Dash. "Hey, um, you wanna come to my house?" She asked, "I've got nothing to do for the afternoon."
My heart skipped a beat. I've had a crush on Rainbow Dash since she first let me join the Weather Patrol. She is the nicest pony I've ever met. She never seemed to mind whenever I would crash into something, or when I would miss a group of clouds and we would have to stay later. She was genuinely kind.
"Um, sure," I replied, "I don't know the way, though." It was all I could do not to stammer, and I'm sure the blush on my face was unmistakable.
"I know that, Snow," She said, "I wasn't planning on waiting for you there." She grabbed my hoof and guided me slowly through the air towards her house. I wasn't paying attention to anything other than the contact of her hoof with mine. Much too soon for my liking, we arrived at her house. "Well, here we are," She said, "Casa de Rainbow Dash."
We landed, and I was surprised to feel cloud underneath my feet. "We're - in the air," I said.
"Well, yeah," Rainbow Dash said, "Clouds are comfy, and, besides, you don't have to worry about zoning laws when you're in the air!" She grabbed my hoof and excitedly pulled me in through the front door. "I have this really awesome comic book collection," She said, "You have too see it, it's really -" Then she stopped. She must have remembered, so she said, "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. I forgot."
"It's nothing, Dash. At least you apologize, instead of just getting it wrong and being awkwardly silent, like most ponies do."
"I'm still sorry. You're honestly so good at acting like nothing's wrong, I forget that you're - that you're blind," She gently touched my sightless eyes with one hoof. "How do you do it?"
"Do what?" I inquired.
"Act like you're fine," She said, "You seem so fine all the time that I forget you're blind and I have to keep reminding myself. Just the fact that you can fly is hard to wrap my mind around."
"Can we sit down first? It's a bit of a long story."
"I've got a long time," Dash said, grabbing my hoof and leading me into what I assumed was her living room, where we sat down on her couch. "Now how do you do it?" She repeated.
I sighed and explained, "When my dad learned that I was blind, he left. I wasn't even a year old, and my mother and I were alone. Soon after that, my mother died in a storm; she was crushed by a tree. I was moved into an orphanage. Being blind isn't easy anyway, but when you're living in an orphanage, it's harder. I don't think a single day passed when someone wouldn't trip me, or trick me into running into something, you name it. It was horrible.
"However, I did have one friend. Before her death, his grandmother had been blind and after his parents had die he went to live with her. However, she was very frail and prone to falling, so she couldn't walk to the grocery store, neither could he. A five year old foal alone on the streets? He'd be better off wearing a sign that said 'Hey, come foalnap me!' So, he taught himself to fly. And he did the same for me.
"I can't tell you how many times I flew headlong into a tree, or fell off of the roof. All I can really remember is the day that I finally flew. The entire orphanage had come to watch. And I did it! I flew all the way around the building and landed safely in front of the doors. Soon after, some big-shot rich flight recruiter from Canterlot came by. He'd heard about my friend teaching me, a blind foal, how to fly. He recruited my friend to join a racing team he'd started, as a trainee. Now he's one of the better racers on the team."
"What's the name of the team?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I don't remember," I answered, "But my friend's name is Soarin."
"Your best friends with Soarin?" She asked, and I could tell that she was elated, "Soarin is a member of the Wonderbolts!"
"That's the name." I said, "But yeah. We're friends."
"Wow, just... wow! "So, besides Soarin and I, who are your friends?"
"Well," I considered, "Just you two."
"Just us?" She asked, shocked.
"Yeah," I said, "I mean, I already have a rich and famous Wonderbolt for a friend, not to mention the nicest Weather Patrol Captain ever. What else could I possibly need?"
"Well, don't you think it'd be nice to have a marefriend?"
"Well, yeah, that would be really nice, but who would want to date a blind pegasus?"
"I can think of somepony," Rainbow Dash cooed.
"Like who?" I asked.
"Let this be your answer," Suddenly, I felt her hoof on my face. A second later, her lips touched mine. I felt my face grow hot as I wrapped my front legs around her, pulling her closer. She broke the kiss. "Did I answer your question?" She jokingly asked.
"You - you like me?" I asked, still shocked.
"Of course I do, Snow," She said.
She kept talking, but I couldn't hear her. Or, rather, I was focusing on something else in my mind. There was something there that hadn't been there before. It was a gray haze at the back of my mind, like a daydream. Except... I wasnt daydreaming. I couldn't make out much of anything, but there was one prominent figure. I could sort of see Rainbow Dash sitting beside me.
