Blinded

Sweetie was just heading home from Diamond Tiara’s party. She didn’t want to get caught by her older sister, and thankfully, she was away in Manehatten. But, she had only till tomorrow to seem like she hadn’t done anything ‘bad’... that is if one of Rarity’s friends didn’t rat her out if they found out.

“Alright, Sweetie… you can handle this…” Sweetie mumbled, walking towards her home. She stopped as she saw a silver furred stallion sitting alone on a bench. She was a tad curious and approached him. She could see he was a unicorn, he was well built, and even sitting he was a few inches taller then her. But, as she got closer she saw that there was something white wrapped over his eyes. “Mr… Are you alright?”

“Oh? Yes! I am.” His head shifted up and he turned his head perfectly in her direction smiling. “Thank you for asking. Just… a bit tired. I’ve been traveling for days… no real time to rest.” He sighed.

“Alone? That must be difficult if you can’t see.” She joked, moving to sit down beside him.

“I’ve been like this all my life.” He waved her concern off.

“Really?” Sweetie asked, reaching up and peeking underneath the headband. She immediately felt a touch ashamed as she saw the glossy white over his eye, though there was a nice blue color in them.

“Yeah, it’s honestly something you adapt to. My magic helps a lot though.” He laughed, smiling at her.

“How so?” She asked.

“Well… first, why don’t we introduce ourselves?” He offered.

She smiled at him, “I’m Sweetie Belle.”

“It’s nice to meet you Sweetie Belle, I’m Bard.” He introduced himself.

“It’s nice to meet you Bard… so, what do you mean your magic helps a lot? You aren’t using i-”

His horn lit up with a soft blue aura, now she was given a full view of him. His midnight blue hair was hung behind his head in a pony-tail. He looked all around well kempt, like even if he couldn’t see his work he still took care of himself. His aura filled a nice large area around them. At first she was angry, so he was trying to fondle her and any other ponies around him with magic, and just using his blindness to gain sympathy.

“My magic allows me to ‘see’. It’s always working just… if I put more energy into it, it becomes visible to others. There’s no physicality to it, and it is stopped by walls, clothes, and anything else. It’s how I ‘see’. It’s not just outlines, but I can tell a lot about ponies with it.” He explained, his horn’s glow dying down. His aura faded away, “It allows me to be a bit more free. I don’t need another pony or guide dog to help me around.”

“Wow…”

“Though… if it weren’t for my supposed ‘friend’ abandoning me here… something about me ‘weighing him down’ and some other stupidity…” Bard sighed. “Apparently, abandoning me in a new town over a mare not liking me was alright… so, I’m just sort of stuck here now…”

“That’s cruel! Where is he, I know a few ponies who’ll make sure he doesn’t get away with that!” Sweetie jumped up.

“Honestly, I don’t care. He was carrying me around, using me as some sort of ‘magnet’ to get mares.” He shook his head. “He can just fuck off. I don’t need him, nor do I want him.”

Sweetie was taken aback.

“Talking about him and what he’s done and used me for in the past just gets me angry… sorry if I’m scaring you.” He apologized.

“It’s fine…” She softly hugged him. “I’m going to take it you don’t have a place to stay in town?”

“No.” He shook his head.

“Well… my sister’s away for another day or so… if you’d like to stay with me, you’d be welcome to.” She offered.

“R-really?” Bard asked happily. “Thank you! I-I mean that’d be great!”

She laughed a little. “Why don’t you follow me then?” She stood up.

Bard stood up as well though he picked up a strange looking silver metal rod.

“What’s that?” Sweetie asked uncertainly.

“What’s what?” Bard replied.

“The silver rod you picked up!”

“Oooooh, it’s an apparatus that allows me to control my magic in a more fluid way… um, it has the ability to bend and twist my magic to create any instrument I see fit, as well as hold notes.” He explained. “I could show you once we’re at your home.” He offered.

“Sure! Lets get going then!” She grabbed his hand leading him along down the road.

He instantly took notice of the slight wobble she had when she tried to walk. “Sweetie Belle… are you alright?” He asked.

“Huh?” She stiffened up.

“I’m just a bit worried, you’re not really walking straight… I don’t want you falling over.” He said. “Ar…. are you sober?”

“Are you l-” She paused for a moment realizing quickly what she was about to accuse this blind and alone stallion of. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t want you hurting yourself?”

“No… I’m a little tipsy. I just had a few drinks at a party… left before it got too bad, some creep was hitting on me, and… well…”

Bard had fallen silent, he seemed to stiffen up. “How far are we from your home?” He asked.

“Just a minute or two why?” She asked worriedly.

“Lets talk behind closed and locked doors.” He stated firmly. “I heard something behind us and… I know how creepy some ponies can get if they want something…” He sounded really worried now.

“Alright, just keep up.” She felt his magic gently grip her shoulder.

“I’ll be able to find you don’t worry, just move.” He said, she nodded and ran towards her home.

When she made it inside she took in a deep breath.

“Lock the door!” Bard’s voice startled her.

“Alright!” She quickly locked the door, turning to see him kneeling on the floor breathing heavily. “Are you alright?”

“Panicked use of magic is hellish for me… n-no more aura… i-it sort of hurts to breathe…” He panted. “I-I’ll b-be fine…”

“No you won’t!” Sweetie used her magic to help him up, guiding him to sit down on a couch.

“W-water please…” He begged.

Sweetie quickly ran into the kitchen pouring them both a glass of water, carrying them both out to where he was sitting. She tapped his shoulder, watching him jump. “Here you go.” She gently used her magic to guide his hand to the glass, which he quickly grabbed and shakily brought to his lips.

“Thank you…” He said quickly, gulping down the cool liquid.

“Does… this usually happen?” Sweetie asked.

“M-my magic i-is different from m-most other unicorns… T-the aura I use i-is the only ‘real’ magic I have… t-the rest is internal… u-using another s-sort of energy to cast it. M-my lack of preparation…” He cringed, nearly dropping the glass. Sweetie’s magic caught it. “M-means I got drained… o-of that energy.” He took in a few shaking breaths. “L-like I said… I panicked and p-put to much energy into the teleportation spell… U-usually i-if I was at my ex-friend’s house… I’d s-smoke a special herb, i-it’d disable my magic completely… b-but it’d cull the pain and help me steadily g-get my magic back… I-I won’t do that here, i-it’d be inappropriate.” Bard shook his head.

“H-how else do you get your energy back?” She was almost worried to ask.

“Sleep… rest… not using any magic.” He sighed. “J-just relaxing…”

Sweetie wrapped her arms around him. “Did you want any pain-killers?” She offered. “Or sleeping aides? My sister has a few…”

“No… no, the pain is subsiding… Thank you.” He smiled, resting against her, she noticed his shaking had gone away and he was breathing normally again. Though every few moments if he moved at all he did cringe.

After a few minutes of lying there he seemed to honestly have fallen asleep, she found it adorable. “You aren’t so bad… just a little weird.” She giggled quietly, “I’ll… let you stay here for just a little longer.”

She stiffened up as she heard something at the door, though immedietly she was calmed by the sound of Applejack angrily chastising Rainbow Dash.

“Yah know, it’s yer fault we got kicked outta the restaurant again!” Applejack growled.

“Oh come on, you act like you didn’t do anything.” Dash retorted.

“Both of you girls, knock it off! We were only staying there for two days! Neither of you were the problem.” Rarity sighed, slowly unlocking her front door.

For a moment Sweetie was happier, her sister was home, but then she looked down at the still sleeping Bard. “Ooooh no…” Sweetie mumbled.

The front door opened up. “I’m really glad you two decided to help me carry everything home.” Rarity laughed.

Now Bard finally stirred.

“Sorry… I-I fell asleep… Didn’t mean to do that on you.” He groaned, loud enough for the three mares entering the house to hear him.

“What.” Dash muttered. Rarity had been inside the door and now entered the living room where Sweetie and Bard were. She was fuming when she entered.

“Who the he-” She trailed off, as she saw Bard stretching out, the blind stallion only now being made aware of the three new mares.

“Oh my! I’m sorry…” He said quickly.

“Sweetie, explai-” Rarity was cut off by Bard.

“Sweetie Belle was offering me a place to stay… my friend abandoned me in town. He called me ‘useless’ and left me on a bench after inviting me to come to Ponyville… the ass hole didn’t give me much room to do anything, and… well I’m not familiar enough with the town to go to anypony to ask for a place to stay the night… Sweetie Belle found me and… well invited me to come stay here for the night.” Bard explained, turning slightly to Rarity, who now saw the bandana around his eyes.

“So, why couldn’t yah ju…” Applejack trailed off as she entered.

“He’s blind.” Sweetie said. “I… didn’t feel right leaving him alone out there.”

“Why were you out so late.” Rarity tapped her foot.

“She spent a lot of time talking to me… just being friendly.” Bard explained, covering for Sweetie. “It was honestly the first friendly gesture anypony gave me since Thunderlane…”

“Ooooh that explains a hell of a lot.” Dash began to laugh. “Oooh boy, he’s notorious around here for being an all around asshole.”

“He seemed nice enough when I first met him… though his constant use of me to pick mares up was getting tiring.” Bard sighed.

Rarity walked closer to him and slowly lifted up the head band. She paused and glanced away, lowering as she saw Sweetie was telling the truth.

“Hey… it’s fine. I’m sure there are some assholes out there who’d fake being blind but… it’s not something worth faking.” Bard smiled, somehow finding her hand and giving her a reassuring squeeze.

Rarity smiled. “You’re making me wish I hadn’t come home so soon… Darling, we can’t have him stay here yet… it isn’t right to make him sleep on the couch…”

“It’s your home… I wouldn’t want either of you to give up your beds for me.” Bard sighed.

“It’ll take at least a day… but maybe tomorrow night you could comfortably live here with us.” Rarity suggested, looking back to Applejack and Rainbow Dash hoping one of them would offer up a place for him to sleep.

“It probably isn’t safe for him to come up and stay in my house…” Rainbow Dash began.

“Yah can come stay with me.” Applejack spoke up. “Usually we’d… yah know want yah to do a bit of work around the house ta help…”

“I have taken care of myself in the past… this might come as a shock but I can cook.” He joked.

“How many buildins have yah burned down?” AJ retorted in the same joking manner.

“Only two. And those were both on purpose.” He teased. “I may be blind but I’m not completely helpless… just magically drained at the moment.” He laughed quietly.

“Well, ifn yah feel like helpin out tomorrow, yah’ll be free to do it. We won’t be expectin yah to come help out in the orchard, don’t anypony worry about that.” Applejack walked over to him. “Though, what’s yer name? Kinda strange ta be lettin somepony ah don’t have somethin to call into mah house to stay fer a while.”

“I’m Bard.” He introduced himself.

“She asked for your name… not some funky way of saying what yo- Oooh…” Dash mumbled.

Bard just started to laugh, “I know what she asked.”

“Well Bard, I’m Rarity. Sweetie Belle’s older sister.” Rarity introduced himself.

“Ah’m Applejack… the one who’ll be takin yah in for a night or two… dependin on how long it takes Rarity and Sweetie to clean yah out a room here.” Applejack smiled, now noticing how Bard was smiling up at them, just looking to whomever was speaking at the moment.

“I’m Rainbow Dash.” The prismatic pegasus introduced herself. “I’m sure it’s an honor to meet me… I know how awesome I am.” She joked. “And it’s nice to meet you, Bard.” She finished now getting more serious. “So… uuh, you want me to go torment the shit out of Shithead for you?”

“Oooh, I know a good way to get back at him… tomorrow when I’m feeling better I’d actually like to go to the town center, and perhaps I could treat everypony in town to a bit of music? It’d be a great way to get to meet more ponies that way it won’t feel as lonely if I’m trying to be sociable.” He laughed.

“That’d be great! What instruments can you play… and where do you intend t-” Rarity was cut off as he raised up the steel telescoping rod he had.

“This, when infused with some of my magic can turn into any instrument. It manipulates the air around it to produce the sounds the instruments usually make… My name isn’t just my name, but an honest description of what I do for a living… I’m a bard. I tell stories, write songs, play songs, and well… make sure everything around me has a good time.” He smiled. “I’d… show you but, after a panicked teleportation into the house… I’m too drained to even use my usual ‘vision aura’...” He sighed quietly.

“Vision aura… drained because of a spell?” Rarity muttered.

“Oh! He showed it to me… it’s sort of something he does normally. It allows him to ‘see’ the area around him to make sure he doesn’t bump into anything, or get hurt. It’s… not physical. It gets stopped by nearly anything that isn’t air, and it’s not like he’s grabbing at everypony around him… and we had a fright, he thought somepony was following us, and he told me to run… his magic, though… there wasn’t any aura or color to it, grabbed my shoulder. And when I got inside he appeared behind me and fell down to his knees… He looked like he was in pain and he was breathing heavily.” Sweetie explained.

“He should definitely meet Twilight tomorrow…” Dash muttered.

Bard stiffened up, now he knew why their names sounded familiar to him. “Oooh my… Uuuh, I don’t think I’m one for meeting a princess…” He laughed quietly, seeming to become a bit shyer.

“Don’t worry, dude… she won’t be treating you like a ‘subject’, she’ll want to get to know you.” Dash assured. “Just give her a chance.”

“Just… um, never thought I’d be important enough to meet anypony of high stature… it makes me feel a b…”

“We’re trying to be friendly with you. Don’t worry about what we’ve done.” Rarity assured, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Just stay calm. You’re going to be treated like a friend by all of us.” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“Alright.” Bard sighed, smiling at them.

“Alright, gals, why don’t Ah take him to mah house, and the we can all get some sleep?” Applejack offered.

“That’d be great. We’ll all see him again tomorrow anyway.” Dash nodded.

“Of course! I’d love it if all of you came to watch me perform.” Bard grinned happily.

“Great! Let’s get goin then, the sooner we get yah ta sleep the better, right?” Applejack grabbed his hand.

“Yeah.” Bard nodded. “Have a good night everypony.” He smiled back as he was pulled from the house. “Thank you for offering me a place to sleep, Applejack.”

“Yer welcome… Just uuuh… becareful of mah brother and sister. And ifn yah need a shower or bath…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t walk around naked… I’m a bit more conscientious of other’s feelings.” Bard laughed, keeping pace with Applejack.

“So, Bard, other than… him, what brought yah to Ponyville?” Applejack asked.

“A lot of ponies were taking me as a nusicense in Coltsville… I had to leave if I wanted to try to live a normal life.” He sighed.

“Yah’ll find Ponyville ta be a lot more welcoming. Don’t yah worry.” Applejack assured. “Heck, ya’ll find a lot of ponies willin to offer yah help here if yah need it.”

“As long as ponies don’t assume I need help, it’ll be wonderful.” Bard smiled, giving Applejack a small hug.

Applejack smiled slightly, now that he was closer, the moonlight highlighted a few things. He was handsome, that much was clear. The color of his fur, and the strange contrast of his mane made him really stand out.

“Bard, did yah…” She began.

“No… the one time I tried I was treated like a foal. She did everything for me. And… it got disheartening. I felt worthless and just… fit to only be taken care of.” He sighed. “I broke up with her, and she took it horribly.”

“Like Ah said, if yah need help ponies will be willin to help yah. Just tell em if they’re oversteppin bounderies.” She hugged him back. “Hey… yah know somethin, yer sweet an handsome. Ah’m sure yah’ll find somepony who’ll treat yah right around here. Plenty of mares would be throwin themselves at yah to get ahold of yer supposed talent, and yer independence.” She continued.

Bard pulled back, grinning widely at her. “Oh?”

Applejack stepped back, “Yeah! But if yer thinkin about gettin with me, yah’d better be willin to open up. Ah ain’t just gonna be pushin myself with a stallion Ah don’t know.” She crossed her arms.

“You sound amazing, and you’re really friendly… I’d be more than willing to tell you about myself.” He smiled. “Just, maybe after some sleep… I mean, I won’t be much use in the field… but I can provide a bit of company.” He offered. “And… to be completely honest, I want to get settled in a little before I go looking for anypony to spend most of my time with… just get some friends to lean on if I need them, and to have somepony to talk to.” He sighed.

“Well, yah’ll have me an the girls ta do that. We’ll be there for anypony who needs some help.” Applejack grabbed his hand again. “Let’s get us both ta bed, and tomorrow we can talk more.” She lead him to Sweet Apple Acres, and right into her house.

She stopped as she saw Applebloom laying across the couch in the living room. “Great… Bard, Ah’m gonna need yah to tell me the truth.” She started.

“Hm?”

“Was Sweetie at a party tonight?” AJ asked.

“I need you to promise me something.” Bard began.

“What?”

“You won’t tell Rarity.” He stated.

AJ bit her lip, “Alright…” She sighed, knowing he wouldn’t breathe a word if she didn’t agree to the promise.

“When she found me she was tipsy… stumbling a little, wobbling when she was walking. She helped me out. I don’t think she deserves to be punished for going to a party. She left because she was being hit on and felt uncomfortable. That’s what caused me to freak out when I felt two ponies following us. I wouldn’t be able to protect her… it was hell to even teleport myself.” He sighed. “I told her to run and just teleported to her once I heard the door close.”

“Ah’ll tell Rarity that Sweetie might have some stalkers… Ah won’t tell her that Sweetie was at a party.” Applejack assured.

“Alright, thank you.” Bard smiled “Why did you ask though?”

“Mah sister’s passed out on the couch.” Applejack sighed. “Ah’ll… take her to her room. Ah’ll introduce yah to mah family in the mornin.”

“Alright.” Bard nodded.

Applejack lifted Applebloom up, carrying her up as she led Bard to the guest room.

She stepped into her sister’s room, laying the young mare on her bed. She turned and grabbed Bard’s hand, leading him out and to the room he’d be sleeping in. “Right in here’s yer room.” She said, opening the door and leading him in.

“Could you just lead me to the bed? I’ll figure everything else out when I wake up.”

“Sure.” AJ smiled, leading him to the bed. “Right here.”

He slowly sat down, using his free hand to feel for the bed, after a moment he found it and let go of Applejack’s hand, flopping down onto the bed and letting out a small sigh. “Oooh, this’ll be so much better than the train bed…” He smiled. “Thank you so much.”

“Did yah want me to wake you up fer breakfast?” AJ asked.

“Sure! I’d love to meet your family first thing in the morning… get all the strangeness of having a blind stallion staying in your home out of the way.” He joked.

AJ laughed, “It ain’t strange. We’re always gonna be open and welcomin to anypony who needs help.” She smiled.

“I can tell. And I’m glad I get to experience that hospitality.” He let his head fall back onto the bed. “Have a good night Applejack.”

“Yah too Bard.”