I See More Clearly In The Darkness
I See More Clearly In The Darkness
It was a day like any other for Twilight Sparkle. She spent her free time in the library working on creating a machine that would cure Shining Armor of his migraines, or at the very least, lessen them. The library was, overall, a mess. Books were strewn across the floor. On any other day, this would have been a complete nightmare for the purple unicorn, but today, she had more important things to do. She read over her notes, carefully observing each letter as if the fate of Equestria was hanging in the balance. Everything was in position, she double, triple, even quadruple checked the list to have absolute certainty that everything was done correctly.
"Alright, all that's left to do is supply a little magic to the supply unit, and then pull the lever." Twilight sighed a breath of relief as she finished checking her list for the fourth time. Her horn began to glow as she placed raw magic into a small metal box linked to an even larger box in the center of the room. A green light lit up on the box, signaling that it was full. She then carefully maneuvered her way through the mess of wires and books as she headed for a large red lever that was pointed downwards.
"Well, here goes nothing." she pulled the lever and instantly, the machine buzzed to life as a symphony of whirring gears and flashing lights began their song. Everything appeared to be going the way things should have.
"Hehehe, no problems whatsoever, wait, what the..." Twilight lowered her head closer to the tangle of wires to examine what appeared to be smoke, "Uh-oh, that can't be good. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to try again." She got up and pulled the lever down to turn off the machine, but instead of silence, the machine continued to run, even growing louder as it shook the entire tree. Before Twilight could do anything about it, a white light filled the room, followed by a sharp ringing in her ears. Quickly, the white light faded to grey and then to black.
When Twilight came to, she felt as if all her energy had been sucked away. Her attempts to sit up were in vain as she was too exhausted to even open her eyes. She only had enough energy to move her arms. She soon noticed that whatever she was laying on, it wasn't the floor to her house, it was much softer, like a bed. Twilight shrugged this discovery off and quickly began to fall asleep again. Before she crept away into dream land, a loud crash was heard from somewhere in the distance, not too far away. At the same time, the floor shook a little with a low rumble. It sounded like, at least four or five ponies all running towards her. Wondering who was there she called,
"Hello? Who's there?"
"TWILIGHT! OH THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE ALRIGHT! WE WERE ALL SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!"
"Rarity? Is that you?" Twilight asked
"Yes, dear, all of us have come because we wanted to make sure you're alright."
"What are you talking about? Of course I'm alright," Twilight chuckled, "In fact, I had better get back to work."
"Darling, do you honestly not know what happened? Do you not remember anything at all?"
"What do you mean? Did I miss something?"
Twilight heard the sound of fluttering wings to her left, based on Rarity's claims, the source of the sound must be either Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash.
"Twilight, you've been in an accident."
"Rainbow Dash? What are you talking about? What accident? As far as I'm concerned, my machine worked and I got it all right."
"You don't understand! You... you... Grrrr! I can't do this, someone please take over! I can't do it!"
"Alright Rainbow I understand. Now Twi', that machine of yours, well, it exploded and well umm," Twilight linked the voice to her friend Applejack.
"Ugh, all that hard work, for nothing! It'll be at least another two weeks before I can figure out how to cure my brother's migraines!" Twilight complained, cutting off Applejack.
"Yea, about that. I think you've got your own problems to deal with. Oof!" Twilight heard what sounded like a sharp thud against a soft object. Applejack must have hit Rainbow Dash for some reason.
"Twilight, the doctors told us to give you some time to recover from the explosion, but honestly, ah don't think that you're gonna take this any lighter at any other time, so ah figured we'd just get this over with," Twilight's heart stopped, "Twilight, the doctors told us that you're blind."
"W-what? That's not funny. This is some idea of a sick joke? Applejack, don't lie to me!" With those words, she realized that Applejack was not lying, she was the element of honesty in living form. "Applejack, I'm sorry, I should know better than to doubt your honest words." Twilight began to sob, as millions of thoughts began racing through her head. Why did this happen? Of all ponies, why me? What will I do? How will I live? Will I become a burden to everyone?
"How will I do anything? Without my eyes I can't read! I can't even see your faces! I don't want this! I just want a normal life!" Twilight cursed at the ceiling.
"Twilight, please, I know it's hard, and your brain doesn't want to believe it, but it's something that you'll have to learn to do differently. There are ways that you can still read and do other things." Pinkie Pie attempted to comfort the unicorn, but to no success. The loss of her sight had thrown Twilight into a deep depression. This, however, didn't stop Pinkie Pie from trying to cheer up her friend.
"I'm sorry, Pinkie, I just don't care anymore."
"You know what?" Pinkie asked.
"What?" Twilight sighed.
Pinkie Pie took a deep breath as she prepared to sing.
"I've been told that laughter is the best medicine! Maybe tell a joke? Yea! C'mon, where's that sense of humor? Give us a smile! Turn that sad frown upside-down!"
"Twilight, don't worry, we're all right here for you, in fact, We've got something special waiting for you once you get checked out of the hospital."
"Th-that s-s-sounds... n-n-nice... wooo. I have this pounding feeling in my head. I think the doctors wrapped me up a little too tight, hehehe." Twilight tried to lighten the mood. The others giggled a bit, relieved that their friend was not completely devastated and still had a sense of humor.
"Here, lets take off those bandages."
Twilight felt little pushes against her head from whoever was removing the bandage. She could feel the bandage becoming looser as pressure was released.
"Thank you, whoever did that."
"You're welcome." A soft, gentle voice responded. It, without a doubt, belonged to Fluttershy.
"Hey! What are you doing?! Why would you remove her bandages?!" The voice of a concerned pony called from the darkness.
"Now, see here! This is our friend! Her entire life has now changed and we're here to help her every step of the way! She wanted the bandages off because they were too tight, I'd say that's step one! Now, is there a problem?" Twilight wasn't sure who was talking to the nurse, her heart told her it was Fluttershy, but her brain told her that it couldn't have been.
"Well, I guess I understand, I'm sorry, but I'm trying my best as a nurse to look after our patient. Though who needs me when you've got friends like these, Twilight Sparkle?"
"Yea, I am awfully lucky aren't I? If it's alright, can I go home? Or at the very least, outside?" Twilight asked.
"I'm not sure, I'll talk to the doctors about it, in the meantime, I'll get you a wheelchair and you can get some fresh air."
"Oh, thank you."
Twilight could hear the sound of rattling metal and the squeaking of wheels as the nurse pushed a wheelchair to the left side of the bed.
"Here you go, Twilight. You'll be in my prayers."
"Thank you," Twilight pulled the sheets off of her, "Umm, could somepony direct me towards the location of the mobile chair? I cannot find my way." Twilight joked, further trying to lighten the atmosphere.
"I got ya Twi', alright easy does it, aaand your good to go!" Applejack directed Twilight into the seat of the wheelchair. It was cold.
Twilight felt herself moving. Since she had no clear mental image of the hospital, which she assumed she was at, she could only listen to the sounds of the wheelchair across the tiled hallway. Several minutes later, her wheelchair began making a different sound. The sound of loose gravel echoed in Twilight's ears. She was outside and hadn't noticed until just now.
"We're outside now?"
"Yea, we're heading to Sugarcube Corner for the surprise party. Woops, well I guess it 'aint a surprise any more, huh?"
"Oh, I can't wait." Twilight giggled.
They continued down the road for a little longer in silence, nopony could think of anything to say.
"Uhh, Twilight? I've been meaning to ask you this, but I wasn't quite sure how to ask it, so here it goes. Ah assume that what you see is black, right?" Twilight nodded, "how do you feel right now? I'm sorry, but I just couldn't think of any other way to ask it." Applejack said apologetically.
"I'm not quite sure. Maybe I'm still in shock, who knows," Twilight sighed, "I guess this is where the next chapter of my life begins. In this chapter, I'm no longer afraid of what lies ahead, because now I cannot see it. It's like someone is shielding my eyes from witnessing a horrible event. I'm going to be spending the rest of my life with Darkness, so I might as well become friends with him you know?"
