Dark Skies

I wake up, but I find that my eyes are only met with darkness. I put my hoof to my eye but I was stopped by a cloth like material. I followed the cloth and it wrapped around my head. I tried to pull it off, “Ah ah ah…I would not remove that cloth bind, for you are currently blind.” A voice spoke out with an odd accent.

“Where…where am I?” I asked.

“In my hut. You were blown by winds of rage, yet you’re lucky that wasn’t your book’s last page.”

“What...What does that mean?” I inquired.

“Excuse her; she can only speak in rhymes, which can be very hard to understand.” Another voice spoke with a gruff, slightly ragged tone. I felt something on my shoulder and another under my foreleg.

“Here, I’ll help you get up. You can walk right?” The gruff voice asked.

“Y-yea…I think so.” I stuttered, almost losing balance. “So, am I permanently blind?” I asked with dismay.

“According to my colleague, no; the effects are only temporary. But it will take some time.”
I was led to somewhere cold, damp and…unnatural. But the things I heard told the story…. I heard the light chipping of broken wood, shifting pieces of a hard rock like substance and above all…silence. There was no sound of others, not even any animals could be heard; it gave me an uneasy feeling and a chill traversed my spine.

“I feel like the world is dead…” I stated, unsure if anypony was listening. “I imagine burnt buildings, ash dancing with the breeze over a charred and scorched earth; barely a sliver of life left to survive in this wasteland. ‘Course I’m blind, it’s probably worse than I imagine.”

“Amazing…” The voice said with a hint of awe, “Even in your condition, you can describe the scene right in front of you.”

“You mean…I was right?”

“Yup, right on the dot.” The voice said, “Oh, how rude of me; I don’t believe I caught your name. I am Dr. Hoofstin, and who might you be?”

“My…name?”

“Yes, who are you?” the voice asked again.

“Doc…Bad news. We’ve got another wave coming according to my reviews.” The accented voice spoke.

“Shit…We have to go; we can continue the formalities later.” Hoofstin stated, but it was too late. The “wave” that the called it, hit seconds before I was thrown into the air. I screamed out in panic, voice lost in the torrent swirls of air and dust; then...nothing. I felt something under me, tapping a hoof on it to feel what it was: solid… inanimate, I stood up; legs almost caving in from lack of ground reference.

“How…how did you do that?” Hoofstin quivered.

“What happened?” I questioned.

“Well one moment we were thrashing with debris and the next you…you did something to stop it. Just who are you?” Hoofstin's voice shook, trying to gain composure.

“My name is… my name… is Silver; Silver Shore.”

The next few days were boring and frankly I wanted to get rid of these bandages. Doc says that I won't be able to see properly if I remove them now. I hear the sound of running water, sometimes being muted along with the sound of a brush scrubbing; must be doing the dishes. My other senses became heightened with the lack of sight, but I still had one thing that was plaguing my mind. What had happened on that day...He sounded awed, fearful if nothing else.

"Hey, Doc?" I ask.

"Yes?"

"Can you tell me exactly what happened? On that day I mean..."
The water stopped and a heavy sigh drew forth from the silence.

"Where do I even begin." Hoofstin answered. "Well...I guess I could start with the moments before the wave hit."

He cleared his voice and I felt a slight pressure in the mattress, right next to me.

"My colleague/assistant stated that she found a reading of the "wave" that hit us, but I never expected it to move so quickly."
My ear twitched, prepared to listen intently to the story.

"Speaking of..." I interrupted, "where is she anyway? I have heard her at all today."

"Oh right, she went off on other business somewhere in the northwest. She never tells me specifically where though. Anyway... A few days prior to your arrival, we were stationed here to research the weather patterns and ecological stability of this area. Our findings would aid in giving pegusi more efficient methods to change and manage weather. But when the event took place...we made a few discoveries."

"Discoveries? Like what?"

"Well for starters, when the heavy overhang that we have right now rolled in, I found that they could not be manipulated by magic, and reports from the higher ups stated that a pegasus can't even touch them, just passes right through them."
Interesting...and scary all the same.

"Right, but that didn't answer my question." I said.
Hoofstin let out another sigh, "Well...the wave my assistant was taking about, we both have different theories as to why they persist. I believe that these shockwave are residual explosions that followed the massive one created by the event, on top of that I think that they are artificial."

"Artificial? You mean other ponies are setting them off?"

"Precisely. But my colleague thinks differently. She is under the impression that the waves are caused by a mixture of shifting earth and volcanic activities. Some great enough that new geo-formations are created in mere minutes."

Amazing. Both theories are sound, but until we find out what happened during the initial explosion, the answer won't be known.

"So...whose do you think is more correct?" Hoofstin asked.
I thought about it for a while, both seem very true. (Give or take his assistant's theory since I think she is a total nutcase)

"I'm not sure which is true, we would have to see what happened at the explosion to find out." I stated.

"Alright. I believe you can take the bandages off today." Hoofstin said. I felt the cloth around my eyes begin to lift until I couldn't feel it anymore. My eyelids flutter, trying to open. When they finally did, I was met with a bright light that then faded away, but my vision failed to focus. All I saw were blurs and shapes, not enough to make out detail.

"Well, I still cant see. I happen to be near-sighted." I state. Suddenly, my vision went from blurry to crystal clear; everything was easy to see. I placed a hoof near my temple and felt a plastic like object on it, well this will do.

"Better?" Hoofstin inquired. I turned to see a light brown unicorn with short bifocals in his snout, black mane and tail with streaks of grey and wearing a white lab coat.

"Uh...yes. Thank you very much." I reply.

"Good. Because we need to get going, so pack that bag over there with essentials. We leave in ten." He commanded.

"Wait! Where? Why?!" I plead, but he was too busy packing another saddle bag to listen. No use in trying to ask, so I pack the bag, strap it on and head out the door, trotting behind Hoofstin. I hope he knows what he is doing.