Chapter One: A Talented Young Stallion
His heart pumped as the tension built. He had to speed up, he could tell his opponent had nearly reached success. Just a few more seconds...And bingo!
He shot the stem out of his mouth. An impressive double-knot had been tied.
"Crap!" Slick's exclamation had reassured success.
"Ha! Told'ja! Pay up!"
Slick's grumbling caused pride to swell within the victor's head.The jingle of metal coins contacting each other filled his ears.
"That was possibly the most epic cherry-stem tying ever, if I do say so myself!."
"Darn straight! Heh, you should'a seen th' look on his ugly mug! Oh! Erm...Sorry, BrightEyes."
"It's okay." BrightEyes Placed a reassuring hoof on AppleWood's shoulder.
"Well, uh...Here's y'er half."
AppleWood dropped the plunder into BrightEyes' saddlebag.
"Hey, AppleWood...Uh...Can I hang out at your place?"
"Why's 'at?" AppleWood turned to meet BrightEyes.
"Well, I got into another fight with Dad..." His glazed eyes met the ground.
"Say no more. I'll be darned if I won't look after my best friend."
"Thanks."
A trot later, the young stallions had arrived at AppleWood's homestead.
"My Ma 'n Pa aren't around this week, so you can sleep over iff'in you want."
"Thanks again. It means a lot."
The weighty door that lead the colts into AppleWood's house left a resounding creak as the colts entered.
"Need t' get the hinges oiled. You could hear that frum a m'all away!"
BrightEyes wasn't listening. He had already let himself into the guest room before AppleWood had finished speaking.
AppleWood leaned on the doorframe.
"Don't mean t' prah, but what ezac'ly happened this time?"
BrightEyes felt around for the bed. "He's mad because I keep coming home late."
"Again, Don't mean t' prah, but why ya' comin' home so late?"
Silently, he turned his head in the direction of AppleWood.
After a while, BrightEyes spoke up. "Chemistry."
"Whut?" AppleWood tilted his head to the side.
"Chemisty. I've been studying a lot of Chemistry."
BrightEyes could almost feel AppleWood's suspicion intensify. "I'm gonna crash. Goodnight."
"G'night..." BrightEyes listened as AppleWood's hoofsteps slowly grew more and more distant.
"Goodnight..."
"What's it like? Being blind, I mean."
BrightEyes placed a thoughtful hoof beneath the end of his muzzle. "I dunno."
"What? What do you mean, you 'dunno'?"
He shrugged. "I mean, 'I dunno.' Being blind is like being blind. I don't have anything to compare it to, so how should I know?"
"I guess you're right...I just kinda thought it would be like, eternal darkness or something."
"Well, I've never seen darkness to know what it looks like," BrightEyes retorted.
"Huh. Never thought about it like that."
"Hey, if you wanna trade places with me, I'll be happy to do so." BrightEyes leaned his head close to hers.
"Heh, I think I'll have to turn you down!"
About eighty yards away, ink vigorously, but firmly, stained parchment .
A radio crackled within a saddlebag near the writer. "F-57, Patient status; Report."
The pony reached for the radio. "Status report: patient seems to be doing normally. Keeps up with studies, and has taken part in several town-funded activities. For being blind, he's one heck of a talented young stallion."
"Affirmative. F-57, has the patient taken an interest in the Audio-Visual Project?"
"No, he hasn't. Although, I don't think he's ready to be introduced to the Project. He's still a little foalish."
"Understood. F-57, return to the homestead, and bring back a full report."
"Affirmative."
The insane clamor of AppleWood's alarm clock startled him from his slumber. As AppleWood shifted his weight to the edge of his bed, a sour, stinging aroma caught his attention.
He threw himself to the floor, and traced the smell to its source. The smell originated from the guest bedroom.
"BrightEyes? What in tarnation's goin' on?" AppleWood blasted from behind the door.
When BrightEyes refused to answer, AppleWood swung the door open.
A thin, purple liquid stained the walls of the guest bedroom.
BrightEyes turned to meet AppleWood. The same purple liquid had soaked him. "...Chemistry."
What seemed like hours later, AppleWood and BrightEyes decided to talk.
A firm SMACK! sent BrightEyes reeling.
"Da hail you think y'er doin'? M' ma'd plum murder me if she saw this mess!"
"I'm sorry, AppleWood."
BrightEyes covered his face with his hooves. AppleWood exhaled in frustration.
"What is all'a this?"
"...Chemistry..."
AppleWood formed a confused frown before sighing, allowing his muscles to release their strain simultaneously.
"What kinda Chemistry?"
BrightEyes rose to his hooves. "Chemistry that may be able to change my chemistry."
AppleWood took a seat on the floor."Us country folk don't dabble with that witchcraft stuff, y'know."
BrightEyes trotted to the collection of test tubes and flasks he had been working with. "No, I mean something that will change me for the better."
AppleWood leaned closer to BrightEyes. "Like whut?"
"Sonar. Like a bat. I'm trying to concoct something that will increase my hearing capabilities."
Applewood remained completely still as he meditated on Brighteye's words.
"Cool, Ah guess."
A green pegasus stood erect amongst his counterparts.
"Everypony, I've never seen any of our patients progress this quickly. For a colt such as himself to come across the chemical compound so quickly is...Well, near about a miracle."
"He's definitely the most impressive we've tested on so far."
"Can we trust him? I mean, when he learns he's been lied to this whole time, he's gonna be fairly...distraught. I know I was."
"Maybe we could introduce the disease in his own world."
A off-blue unicorn touched the tip of her lip with a pen. "I'm not entirely sure that would work. He may catch wind of the lie, especially with his new ability."
"We'll have to trust him if we want a cure. We're so close, but even with this group of extraordinary minds, we haven't been able to destroy the D-gene. Maybe he can change that."
"Only time will tell. As for now, Let's celebrate one of the greatest minds we've seen, or, rather, heard so far."
"Gimme the sulfur."
AppleWood sought pointlessly for the chemical element. Out of desperation, he grabbed the nearest flask he saw.
"Here ya go." AppleWood placed the flask on the workbench.
"No, that's Celestium. Do you want me to burst into flames?"
"Well, how's Ah supposed to figure this out! I ain't no sahntest!"
BrightEyes let out an exhausted exhale. "The yellow stuff."
"M'kay."
BrightEyes' experiment continued for hours. It consisted of eating, injecting, rubbing, and breathing in an innumerable amount of different concoctions.
"I ain't sure if y'er skin's sp'osed to do that..."
BrightEyes slammed his head upon the workbench, before throwing his hooves into the air.
"What am I missing?!?!"
"I'm thinkin' maybe we should take a break..."
BrightEyes shoved his friend to the side.
"Whatever."
AppleWood looked over to the disheartened stallion.
"There'll always be the next day, y'know..."
"I'm going home. See ya later, AppleWood."
"G'bye..."
BrightEyes galloped away from his friend's residence, while another pony swiftly made their way towards it.
"Well, he's 'bout made the compound correct-like twice. He's just been too darn impatient, he won't let it work inside him."
A hooded mare levitated one of the flasks in front of her face. "Did you suggest he slow down?"
"He won't lemme get a word in edgewise."
"I see... That's the problem with this one. He thinks too quickly for his own good."
The hooded mare placed the glass container in it's original housing.
"What should Ah do?"
The mare turned to meet AppleWood. "Be a good friend. He's going to need that more than ever with what we have planned for him."
"Where've you been? What happened to you? Answer me right now, or so help me Luna-"
"Sorry." BrightEyes made his way to his room.
"BrightEyes, you can't just run off like this all the time! Come down, we have to sett-"
The slam of the heavy door cut off his father.
Reaaally not in the mood, He thought to himself.
He opened his saddlebags, and looked at a bluish-green liquid swirl within one of his flasks. He stared at it a while, contemplating the concoction's chances of success.
After a few minutes, he made his choice. Bottoms up.
The bitter, almost putrid taste of the potion threw him into a coughing fit. Soon, the coughing evolved into hacking, the hacking into choking. As suddenly as it began, it stopped.
The bitter taste had been replaced with faint traces of blood. BrightEyes stood up, attempting to catch his breath. The next moment, his father had swung the door wide open.
"What happened? Are you okay?"
BrightEyes turned his attention to his father.
"Uh...Yeah. I think I'm, uh...catching a cold."
"What's all this on the floor?"
BrightEyes pretended to look horrified.
"Oh, crap! The uh... science project!"
From there, he claimed that he had been helping AppleWood with chemistry. He went further to explain that the project took longer than either of the colts had expected, and therefore, he had to spend the night away from home.
"Okay...tell me next time. You can't just go off on your own."
"Sorry. I'll be more careful next time. I'm feeling really tired, I think I'm gonna go to sleep."
His father looked him over with an air of distrust. "Goodnight..."
"Goodnight!" BrightEyes performed the biggest smile he could muster.
"Crazy kids..."
With that, he left the room. BrightEyes fell backwards in relief. Afterward, He crawled into his bed, and let the darkness envelop him.
"And now, a toast, mares and gentlecolts!"
Glass rung as the drinks contacted each other.
"By tomorrow we'll have our newest member."
"That is, assuming his body reacts the same way everypony else's did." The turquoise unicorn interjected.
"Why do you always gotta be such a buzz kill?" Complained the youngest member.
"You never can be sure..."
BrightEyes shot upright, dodging the falling hourglass. He shifted his weight to the other side of the bed before he stretched his limbs. He noticed the shattered glass scattered around his bedroom.
"Woops," He thought aloud to himself. As the sun shined through his bedroom window, he felt an unsurpassable urge to sneeze.
As he performed this involuntary action, the whole area of his room lit up, and then faded away. BrightEyes, paralyzed by fear, released several frightened whimpers. Once again, his room lit up, not as intensely as before, but he could see around himself clearly. He held his hoof outward, and released a small exhale. His hoof appeared in front of him, he noticed every individual hair and detail upon it.
"Cool, I guess."
"Another year?"
Murmurs sounded from around the table.
"I just think it was a little...strange that he managed to dodge the hourglass while not being fully conscious."
The green pegasus let his eyes roll to the top of his head before exhaling fiercely.
"And you're founding this all on a gut feeling?"
The unicorn sat back in her seat, her foggy eyes focused on something above her.
"Something seems a little strange about it. I mean, even with the sonar, I still bump into things. The fact that he could sense the hourglass while half-asleep just... Interests me."
An earth pony to the right of the pegasus spoke up. "Yes, this occurrence is a little perplexing, but honestly, a full year?"
The unicorn remained silent as she leaned back.
"He did consume much more of the chemical mix than required. I just want to see if his incredible reaction time was a result of his overdose."
"How do you suppose we do that?" The pegasus brought his head a little closer, as if to get a better view.
As the unicorn leaned forward, an ear-to-ear grin stretched its way over her face.
"Our dear BrightEyes is about to go through a tough school year."
It was amazing. Absolutely incredible. He tried breathing again. As the page lit up in front of him, his heart nearly stopped. The sonar was bounced off of the indentations on the parchment, crafted by an Equestrian printing press long ago.
He could read. He could actually read.
Well, he'd have to learn which letters meant what, but the potential was there. His life was going to get infinitely better, he could feel it.
In minutes, he had already packed his saddlebags, cleaned his room, and set off for the door.
He nearly rocketed out of his skin as his father's voice lassoed his ears. "Um...Hey, bud. Where're you going?"
He found words immediately. "Gotta help Applewood with the project again. The science project shattered, remember?"
His father nodded. "Yeah...Just remember to come home before dinner time, M'kay?"
"Kay," he mouthed before walking out the door.
In an instant, the whole outside world flaunted itself and all its splendor. Waves made from birds, ponies, and just about anything and everything else illuminated Brighteyes' world with shape and detail.His legs nearly collapsed beneath him.
As his strength returned to him, he began whistling, almost arrogantly. As suddenly as the high-pitched gusts of air left his mouth, the world flashed with red. At least, ponies, birds, and other creatures of warm blood glowed red. Not only did they glow, their organs, blood, bones, and veins were completely visible. Once again, his legs nearly collapsed.
Something was constricting his throat, as well as his stomach; crushing them with icy claws. In an attempt to escape this invisible entity, he fled to the safety of his home.
His father met him halfway there.
Trembling, his father stumbled over syllables in an attempt to find words. "B-BrightEyes? What's wrong?"
BrightEyes "Please...take me inside..."
His father brought fizzling liquid. An Equi-seltzer tablet had carbonated the water.
"It's okay, I'm not sick."
"I'd feel better if you drank it, anyway." BrightEyes accepted the medicine.
He returned the half-empty glass to his father, who placed the object precariously close to the edge of a desk adjoining BrightEyes' bed.
"You need anything else?"
Distracted by gravity's impending effect on the glass, BrightEyes stayed mute.
His father, shifting his weight towards the desk, shortened the time in which gravity's mischief would arrive. BrightEye's hoof, coiled like a viper, had been prepared to put an end to the glass's fall. The hoof gracefully rearranged the glass, and placed it nearer to the center of the table.
Before his father had time to process any thoughts out loud, BrightEyes exclaimed, "I have to tell you something."
Minutes disguised as hours assisted BrightEyes in explaining his new-found ability to his father.
His father appeared as if he wanted to say something, but BrightEyes interrupted him in advance. "I want to learn how to read."
Their eyes truly connected for the first time. "Well, I guess now's as good a time as any."
"Don't think I haven't caught on to your game." The youngest member attempted to appear annoyed, however, she could not cloak her grin.
"You want him to get some one-on-one time with his daddy. How sweet!" The youngest member puckered her lips mockingly.
"I don't know what you're talking about, "The unicorn responded, vulpine grin stretched from ear to ear.
"I'll let this slide for now." Before she exited the room, the youngest member angled her head towards the unicorn once more. "And, Tria, you'd better pray BrightEyes doesn't figure out he's...adopted, so to speak. If everything goes to hell because of this..."
Tria rested her hoof on the youngest member's neck. "I'll make sure to drag you down with me."
Almost innocent laughter filled the room, as well as their hearts, but died as they left.
