It was an average Tuesday afternoon as the sounds of typing filled Neon’s office as he replied to a business email. The screen had inverted colours to make seeing things easier since his vision wasn’t all that great. Legally blind, to be exact. It was quite a blessing that his job lets him work from home, allowing him to have his own workstation with a large monitor and needed tools.
Sending off the last of his work for the day, Neon navigated to Stream, looking over the games he had. Granted, a lot of games were just impossible to play. He did enjoy turn-based games. Shooters definitely were a no-go. While trying to decide which to play, he checked up on a few of his friend’s profiles, noticing a few of them had uploaded new images involving Equestria Online. In just two years, the game’s popularity had become massive. The fact that it was related to the My Little Pony series helped boost its success. Everyone who seemed to play it loved it, and no negative reviews existed. It was also said to be run by an advanced AI. Honestly, saying he wasn’t interested would be a lie. It was just that he had doubts about how he’d operate it.
Despite the game running on its own hardware, people could still share screenshots from it on the official Steam page. The images varied from spaceships to the wild west to sights of enlarged monsters and the high seas. Every one of them drew the eye in just the right way. There was something about the art this time that had made him feel like he wanted to know more. Contacting one of his closest friends, he began to type. “Hey, cool images. It looks like you had a blast.”
It took a few moments before he got a reply, all the while staring at the white female pegasus avatar with a black mane. “Oh hey Gold, the airships were amazing even got to fly with pirates too. We really should play together sometime.”
Gold Rush was Neon’s OC. Without having an Equestria Online account, it felt strange being called that so casually. “I don’t even own a PonyPad. Never looked closely at the controls either,” he thought back to all those displays they had in most major shopping centers. “Just not sure.”
She quickly replied as if she’d had one in mind already. “Oh right, your vision. I hardly pay attention to the controls. Sometimes it feels like the game knows my actions better than I do.” Before Neon could reply, another message popped up. “Celestia says she would send you a gift. I have a guess what it is.”
As if the world had been waiting for this exact moment to scare the daylights out of him, Neon heard his doorbell ring, making him jump out of his chair in surprise. “No, it can’t be?” He mutters, quickly making his way down the hall to his front door and opening it with the fading sounds of a quadcopter heard as the man peered down at the brown package sitting on his porch.
Having not expected a package today, he brought the box inside and placed it on his kitchen table before pulling out his magnifier to read the label. Upon reading his name, there was no doubt that this was for him. Why else would there be braille labels for ease of reading? Grabbing a box cutter, he quickly opens the box revealing the vibrant container of Equestria Online with all its joyful ponies upon the cover. “You’re kidding,” he muttered, slipping open the box to reveal the orange PonyPad with three distinct apples upon the back. An Applejack model to go with one of his favourite characters.
Given this was the first time he had seen one up close, Neon was shocked at just how thin the eight-inch tablet was. The only little bump present was the charge port. Before he could remember the message from earlier, the screen suddenly lit up, showing off the radiant face of Celestia herself, smiling with that motherly warmth she always seemed to have. The sudden appearance made him jump, causing the tablet to slip out of his hands and fall face down on the tiled floor. His worries about having scratched it already quickly faded when he picked it off the floor, not seeing any sign of damage. The princess upon the screen playfully chuckled with a wink. “Are you sure your name isn’t Butter Hooves?”
Neon rolled his eyes, cracking a smile at the joke before staring at Celestia’s regal smile and flowering mane. Even with his low vision, he could tell that whatever this screen was made of had incredible resolution. Knowing the advanced tech involved, it was probably even sharper than 4K. It almost felt like he could reach out and touch her fluffy coat, an action his brain hadn’t caught up to until his left hand bumped onto the screen. Now feeling a little sheepish from his actions, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, hello,” he said, unsure how to interact with an AI of such scale like this.
“Good afternoon, Neon. How are you?” Celestia started, maintaining her regal posture as the Canterlot throne room shined in the background.
“I’m good,” he said, giving the back of his neck a rub as the princess waited for more. “I’m guessing this thing was the gift that I was told about?” Tilting the pad left to right in his hands, he was surprised by how the environment in the background seemed to change like the world’s best 3D of sorts.
“Indeed, Soaring Wind said you were hesitant to play. I assure you that I am most accommodating,” Celestia said, gently sipping a cup of tea once she finished.
“Soaring Wind?” Neon asked, tilting his head. That name sounded familiar somehow.
Before he could recall for himself, Celestia held up the photo of the pegasus. “I believe you know her as KittyCat7. She’d love to see you in Equestria.”
“Yeah, she did mention that a few times. I'm just unsure of how it plays,” Neon replied, watching as the window shrank to the corner showing off the pony creation screen.
The solar princess continued to smile as she spoke. “Since the PonyPad is gifted to you, It is of no expense on your part. Trying out Equestria Online has no downsides. My accessibility is top-notch.”
Neon had to admit that Celestia had made good points. in fact, so good that he couldn’t think of any reason he could rebottle. Even now, while looking at the creation screen, he could see many icons were upscaled. Clear markings were visible on what the functions were in large text. Before he could start fiddling with it, Celestia spoke once more. “Perhaps you’d like to play as your pony?” The man watched with amusement as the colours on the blank model started to change. After some shuffling, the image soon settled into a charcoal black unicorn with a golden mane and red eyes.
“Wait, how did you know what my OC looked like?” Neon asked, taking special care to look at the cutie mark.
“I had simply observed your fiction account and other references linking to your pony. I think you look lovely, Gold Rush.”
Moving to his living room, Neon sat on his couch, adjusting the pad on his lap. “Oh, I guess that makes sense.” He’d heard plenty of stories on how much info Celestia had access to, a bit creepy if you thought about it too much. Then again, big tech had tons on everyone anyways. Moments went by admiring the 3D model. Neon pressed the play button and watched as the screen glowed white for a second before showing off a well-furnished bedroom. On one wall was a large window with a breathtaking view of a beach
As Celestia explained the controls, Neon found them to be quite Intuitive. The movement pad was just large enough to see and easy to operate while holding the pad. The PonyPad even seemed capable of tracking his eye movements, making it easy to glance around quickly. “Wow, the level of detail is amazing.” Stepping up to the large body mirror, he took a second look at his character, impressed by how his pony face perfectly shifted to match his own. Upon a second glance, Neon quickly noticed the silver goggles on his head. The rims had a faint glow to them. “What are these for,” he asked, his pony reaching up to fiddle with them.
“Those are your special glasses,” Celestia replied as she entered the room from the large doorway, her gaze falling upon him. Now that the princess was standing before him, he got a good feel for her majestic size compared to the ponies.
“What do you mean, princess?” Pulling the glasses over his eyes, Neon looked around the room but didn’t see anything different.
Celestia pointed to a magazine that sat upon the short dresser he hadn’t paid attention to before. The cover had a lovely beach view which just served as a reminder of what Neon had to look forward to. “Go over and read the cover and see.”
Starting to get a feel for the interface, Neon moved up to the dresser, initially trying to lean closer to the PonyPad only for the view to zoom in on the text, making it easier to read. Without delay, the zoom tracked his movements smoothly. “Wow, built-in magnification. Neat!” His grin grew as he found it easy to read the text, even opening it up to the first page to skim it. Turning back to look at Celestia, he smiled some more. “Alright, guess I should go exploring then?”
Celestia nodded before she spread her wings. “Go on, my little pony, have fun.” With that, she vanished in a flash of magic, leaving little sparkles to fall to the floor.
Without delay, Gold Rush walked out of the room and glanced around the house, admiring that the electrical devices had big convenient buttons. Once his curiosity was satisfied with the inside of his new home, he eagerly trotted to the front door and opened it. Even before his eyes adjusted, he could hear the faint sound of crashing waves upon a beach. Looking across the road, he saw the various urban houses that took up the street, each one seeming to have its own personality in a way probably matching the ponies that live there. To his left, he could see a tall wooden spire peeking above the other buildings that must have been the town hall. Wanting to explore more, he turned his attention to his right, seeing the street that led down the beach and to what looked like a boardwalk.
Along the way, he’d occasionally stop to watch the various ponies going about their day, from a group of colts playing kickball to a few mares working on their gardens. At one moment, he spent some time staring at the earrings one of the gardeners was wearing, impressed by the effectiveness of the zoom to focus so smoothly. The red diamond-shaped rubies shone in their silver frames in the bright sunlight. He hadn’t even had to touch any control to make it work. After spending so much time staring, the red-furred mare finally noticed and gave a polite cough. “You need something?”
The sudden response startled Gold out of his stupor, forgetting for a moment that the game was interactive. It turns out that viewing videos and being a part of it was completely different. “I was just admiring your earrings,” he said with a smile.
“Oh, why thank you, are you new to town?” The mare asked, trotting up to the new stallion.
“Yeah, guess you could say that,” Gold took a second look toward the beach. “I’m just taking a look around. It’s a very nice place so far.”
The mare nodded back cheerfully. “Pegasus Peer is a lovely place to live,” she said matter-of-factly.
“I was just on my way to check out the peer,” Gold said, glancing down the street at the beach. Wishing the mare a good day, he resumed his trek, soon reaching the boardwalk proper. He zoomed in to admire the waves lapping against the sand. The sight made him wish he could smell the ocean air. Taking the time to enjoy the sounds of the birds, he resumed his walk to look at the shops. Given other videos and experiences he’d read about, he knew money wasn’t ever really an issue unless you wanted it to be. To be fair, he wasn’t sure what he wanted yet.
Just as Gold passed a stall selling t-shirts, a female voice called out to him, “Hey, don't you look handsome?”
Turning around, Gold was surprised to see Soaring Wind. Her in-pony form was just as nice looking as her avatar had been. Her figure was well-toned, matching well with the brown and gold boots she wore. A similar golden-trimmed pirate hat sat atop her head. He paused for a moment to take in the wings too. “Oh hey, you look good too, Soaring.”
Soaring walked up next to Gold staring at the goggles. “I know you just got online, but what do you think so far? Pretty cool, right?” She nudged his side with a smirk.
“Just as friendly and colourful as advertised. Really detailed too. I’m looking forward to seeing more.”
“Yeah, this shard looks cool from the air, and the beach looks great.” Soaring pointed to the goggles with interest. “So what are the eyewear for?”
Gold adjusted his goggles, glancing at the beach and watched the few foals making sandcastles. “Celestia gave me then. They help me zoom in to see things.”
Soaring kept up her smile as she pointed toward the docks. “Sweet, does that mean you can see the airship from here?”
Moving his view up along the beach, Gold looked at the peer and stared zoomed upwards, soon seeing the brown and golden airship, its engines highlighted with red ailerons. Stretched across the surface of the balloon was the image of a golden talon clutching a red orb. He was able to see the various ponies on the main deck going about their tasks, along with seeing a few griffins. Gold whistled a bit as he admired it, a little startled at first when he heard Celestia's voice describe the airship. “Huh?” he glanced around before noticing the little icon on the screen. “Audio description, nice!” Starting their trek along the boardwalk toward the docs, he continued, ”yeah, I can see it. This screen is really high res. So, are you a pirate?”
“Sometimes, and other times we are liberating coastal towns from other pirates,” Soaring said, as she made swiping gestures with her wings.
“Awesome! That sounds like a lot of fun,” Gold said, turning his head to watch a pony pull out a guitar beginning to play a tune as they passed. “Wonder what adventures I’ll get up to?”
“Oh, You know what Celestia says. She’ll find what is most optimal,” Soaring chuckled, rolling her eyes.
Gold joined in the laughter, “You forgot the With Friendship And Ponies part too.” he said, as the two walked along the boardwalk chatting about various things before stopping to watch a dark blue bat pony on the beach collecting shells. Occasionally the pony would open his mouth and let out a short shriek towards the object he was holding before smiling as his hoof felt the shape. Feeling drawn to check it out more, Gold made his way down the bank towards the pony. “Hey there,” he greeted.
The bat pony turned its gaze towards Gold revealing the fogged pupils outlined by green irises. “Hi, how’s it going?” he asked with a beaming smile.
“Great so far. What are you up to?” Gold asked, taking note of the eyes. Not wanting to be rude, he avoided the obvious question for the moment.
“Collecting shells for an art project,” the bat pony replied, letting out a small screech at Gold, his ears flicking. “More about the shapes than the colours.”
“Cool, I’m Gold Rush,” Gold waited for the pony to hold out his hoof before shaking it. “I’m not much of an artist, but it never hurts to try things. Maybe I’ll do it sometime.”
“Keen Eye,” the bat pony introduced. “Hey, maybe I can show you my workshop later?”
“Love to see it, I’m sure you’ve done great work. What a fun name too.,” Gold replied, watching Keen slide his shells into his bag.
“Oh, you mean for a bat pony? Or a pony with low vision?” Keen asked with a wink causing Gold to stutter a bit.
“W-well, I wasn’t going to comment on that. But I guess it's sort of ironic. What kind of vision do you have?” Gold can’t help but adjust his goggles some.
“Mostly fuzzy blobs, but my voice helps me see better,” Keen remarked with a smile.
“So like Daredevil?”
Keen titled his head confused, “No no, I’m not that kind of pony. I'm not much for action.”
Gold shook his head, “No, it’s a comic and, uhm never mind.”
From behind the two, Soaring fluttered over, nudging Gold’s side, “Hey Gold, is your new friend coming with us?”
Keen gave a light screech towards Soaring then smiled. “Hey there, I’d love to come along. Where are you going?”
“Going over to see my airship, then maybe to the carnival down there,” Soaring said, pointing further down the beach at the dockside fairground with her wing.
Gold zoomed with his goggles seeing the roller coaster and Ferris wheel. “That does look enjoyable. Have you ever been there?” he asked, staring at Keen.
Keen followed the two up the boardwalk nodding. “Yeah, the coaster is tons of fun. Are you new to town?”
“Yeah, I just got here. Celestia kind of convinced me to play,” Gold replied.
“She even gave him some goggles to see better,” Soaring added with a smile.
“Really, that sounds cool,” Keen said, looking towards Gold the best he could. “Are you low vision too?”
Gold took a moment to watch a griffin load some cargo into the airship before nodding. “Yeah, never tried the game because I thought I’d have trouble seeing it.”
“Celestia does provide for her ponies,” Keen recited as if from a book. “Nice to meet another pony that understands me too.”
“Yeah, same. I have a feeling we’ll be the best of friends,” Gold said, hoof bumping the bat pony. They turned and headed up the ramp into the airship, a smile crossed his face at what was to come, and the adventure he would get to experience.
Author's Note
Seeing AI is a reference to an App on the iPhone that is a digital vision assistant.
