Inside of a cottage near the Everfree Forest, both Eagle Eye and Fluttershy sat around at the table that was inside the kitchen. They prepared themselves for a meal they were about to have. On Eagle Eye's plate, there was a salad that mainly consist of lettuce, tomatoes and carrots, all chopped nicely. On Fluttershy's plate, she had her favorite treats, five apple fritters. As they started to eat their meals, they began to have a conversation and attempted to get to know one another better.
"I see that you like to care of those in need," said Eagle Eye. "Tell me, why would you want to help them."
"Well... I feel it's important to help those in need," replied Fluttershy, as her eyes slowly moved one side away from the light blue colt. " And also, I just can't bear to see when they are all alone, hurt and defenseless. It just breaks my heart to seem them like that, not getting the help they need."
Wow... touching, the blind colt thought, Never knew somepony was this kind and caring.
"Eagle Eye, why exactly can't you see anything,"
The mentioned colt became agitated, as if he was asked the millionth time. The light blue colt let out a sigh and submitted his answer to his friend's question.
Err... fine! Eagle Eye thought, Only because you saved my life!
"Do you really want to know? It's kinda of a long story, not sure if I wanna bore you with the details," the blind colt stated as he scratched the back of his dark green mane with his right hoof.
"Please tell me, I wish to know... if that's okay with you," the yellow pegasus pleaded as she nodded.
"Fine... just promise me this..."
He then gave Fluttershy a serious expression. Just seeing that face caused the timid filly to worry.
"Do not, I repeat... Do not tell this to anypony, even to your most trustworthy friend."
"Yes... of course I won't tell."
"I was given a passed down trait that only few ponies can recieve in the land I was from."
"Uhm... exactly what is the land that you're from?"
"The Everfree Village. I was one of the few... to be given this stupid curse. Because of it, I was immediately considered as an outcast to the entire village!"
The yellow pegasus was frightened when she heard the last part of the sentence shouted to her. She then realized that her food was getting cold. Fluttershy then slowly reached her food to eat them. After a few moments, the agitated colt regained his composure and continued his tale.
"The trait given to me possessed unique powers. Legend has it that this trait will give the bearer the ability to see aura that was given off from life forces. It would also give that bearer their cutie marks almost immediately after birth."
"But isn't that a good thing? I still don't understand why this trait is troubling you," Fluttershy said. She then resumed to eat her apple fritters.
Eagle Eye nearly lost his control of his anger after he heard this. He risen up from the table and let out a frown on his face. The yellow pegasus immediately made an attempt to hid herself. She felt that what she had said may have been a great mistake. The hot tempered colt immediately reminded himself that Fluttershy had no idea what was the trait's true nature. After a few moments of silence, the light blue colt once more recollected himself and let out another depressed sigh as he returned to his seat.
"There nothing good about this trait. Nothing at all..." the blind colt hissed. "That trait came with a terrible price. The side effects were completely random. Most of them are mutations to the bearer's genetics, others are... lethal. In my case, I was spared death but I lost the ability to see anything. To be honest, after all the things I gone through, I wish I received death instead."
"You know, you shouldn't say such things," the yellow pegasus said. "You should be happy that you were able to live."
"Happy? That I am living," the blind colt chuckled which frightened the shy filly. "You called being pelted with rocks, frequently thrown to a nearby lake and being unwanted LIVING?!"
Fluttershy backed away slowly since she heard that shout from the last part of his sentence. She then made an attempt, while under hesitation, to calm the agitated colt down.
"Please.. relax. I didn't knew that happened."
"Do you know how many times I could've drown when I was tossed to the lake by those other stupid colts!" the blind colt blurted out while he slowly given to his anger.
He raise himself from the table once more and slowly walked toward to the location he believed the frightened filly was at. This caused her to step back even further.
"Do you know how many times I get teased by those snot nose foals!" Eagle Eye continued to shout, intimidating Fluttershy even more, "Do you know how many times I was rejected for service in stores. Do you know how much rock hurts when it hits your face! All of this hate because of my stupid trait! Everypony in that village hated me for the reason that wasn't even my fault... not even my own parents would accept me."
The green maned colt's remaining anger was soon replaced with remorse and sorrow. The blind colt stopped and knelt down on his forelegs from where he was and realized he has scared and shouted at his new friend who merely wanted to know about his blindness. Something had hit inside of the light blue colt. Just the sight of his new friend in fear made the blind colt extremely guilty. Eagle Eye didn't knew how to react. This sudden feel of guilt caused him to shed small tears. Within minutes, the tears soon flooded from his eyes sockets. The yellow pegasus felt relieved that he was no longer angry and took the chance to comfort him. She soon trotted toward the sadden colt and did something he would not have expected from her. She slowly wrapped her hooves around the light blue colt's neck and was careful not to agitate his wound. Surprised by this, Eagle Eye paused his sobs and let out a blush. He realized he was given a warm, yet soft, hug from this filly. The confused colt wasn't able to recall the last time he received a heart warming hug from somepony else, especially from a female. He then rest his head onto her shoulder and continued to shed his remaining tears.
"It's okay now... nopony will harm you anymore," the caring pegasus reassured the crying colt while she used her soothing voice. "You're safe here..."
"Thank you... thanks for... everything," the blind colt replied while he whimpered in his sentence. "I-I'm sorry, very sorry, to yell at you. I didn't knew what got into me. I didn't me-" the pleading colt was then interupted by a hoof, placed on his lips.
"It's okay... I understand. Nopony deserves this kind of treatment. Why don't you finish your salad, we can talk more about this later... if that's fine with you."
The sobbing colt let out a nod while the meek pegasus released him from her grasp. The shy pegasus guided the blind colt back to his seat. Eagle Eye nearly forgotten how hungry he was. The blind colt searched for his fork to devour his meal. After being stuffed with his favorite vegetables, he gotten up from his seat and wanted to ask Fluttershy something.
"Fluttershy," the light blue colt called out.
"Yes?" the yellow pegasus responded as she walked closer to him.
"Do you mind if... I sleep here for the night. I'm kind of tired."
"I'm not sure... but if you really need to, then you can sleep in the bedroom."
"Wait, then where will you be sleeping at?"
"Don't worry, I'll sleep in the couch for the night."
"Hold on, it doesn't seem fair that you're sleeping in the couch. You're the owner of this home, shouldn't I be the one who sleeps in the couch?"
Flattered by such modesty and politeness, the yellow pegasus made a warm smile.
"It's okay. You can sleep in the room."
"Alright, if you say so," the blind colt responded as he followed behind the leading pegasus with his eagle vision.
As the two went inside the bedroom, the shy pegasus lead the tired colt to his bed as he then tucked himself in. Even though there was still daylight outside, Eagle Eye felt very exhausted. Not only from his recent attack from the timberwolf, also from his recent out burst he made during his confession. Fluttershy slowly exited the room as she slowly and quietly closed the door. As the tired colt felt weight on his eyelids, all he could remember was his final thoughts before he drifted to his slumber.
Thanks Fluttershy, for everything.
***
With disorientation, Eagle Eye risen up from where he was and felt a odd sense of nostalgia, as if he could remember this somewhere. He heard the bushes rustling, and felt the the wind breezing along his neck. He became aware he was back outside in the Everfree Forest. An ominous mist slowly appeared around Eagle Eye's legs. All of the sudden, there was a loud growl that sent a chill to the green maned colt's spine.
Aw no, he thought to himself. Don't tell me if this is what I think it is!
Before he could decide which direction to run, his thoughts immediately frozed when he recognized this low growl. The frightened colt built up enough strength and backed away. All of the sudden, a large timberwolf jumped out from the bushes and looked at the colt's face. The timberwolf gazed at the colt with fury, as if he could recall that this was the same colt that fractured his jaws.
"I killed you! How are you still alive?!?" the denying colt shouted.
The hungry timberwolf then set itself into a pouncing stance. Before the blind colt could react, it immediately jumped toward and pinned the frightened colt. The poor colt could not escaped since the timberwolf was too strong for him.
"I told you not to harm my friend," the timberwolf spoke in an odd voice that only the pinned colt could recognize.
"Rainbow Dash?" the blind colt replied in confusion.
As if the timberwolf did not hear him, it immediately attempted to sink its teeth to the pinned colt's neck. This forced the blind colt to let out a frightened scream.
***
After Eagle Eye let out his scream, he found himself back in the room where he last slept. Shortly, Fluttershy went up to her guest's room and felt worried. The meek pegasus slowly opened the door and saw that Eagle Eye was extremely frightened. She took note that the blind colt shivered and trembled as if he saw a ghost. She then slowly walked up to the startled colt and tried to comfort him.
"Eagle Eye, what's wrong?" the worried pegasus asked.
Before he could respond, he immediately touched everywhere that was near him to know what was his current environment again. Happy of his result, he let out a releived sigh.
Whoa! That was way close! What a nightmare, the blind colt contemplated. Aw great, I got Fluttershy all worried.
"Umm.. everything.. is fine. Everything is fine," the frightened colt answered, struggled to make words due to his recent dream. "I... I just had a nightmare. That's all..."
"So sorry to-," before the meek pegasus could finish, she immediately stopped and remembered that Eagle Eye did not like to be patronized. "I mean... are you sure you're fine? Would you like to talk about it."
"Well, I can't really say much, but I'm pretty sure it was about the incident when I received my wound... I think. And by the way, I really appreciated how you remembered that I don't like to be patronized, but after what you did for me... it's okay if you do it."
"Really?"
"Don't push it."
Fluttershy then walked closer to Eagle Eye which made his face started to blush. He realized her aura headed toward his direction. She knelt down to his eye level, even though it wouldn't make a difference to him.
"Exactly how did you get that wound?" the meek filly raise the question.
With hesitation, Eagle Eye was unsure if he should tell that a timberwolf ambushed him and bit him. He feared it would upset her. After a few moments of silence, he built up enough courage to tell her. He then moved his head to where he thought Fluttershy's head would be.
"Well... I was attacked by a large timberwolf."
Shocked by this news, the yellow pegasus dropped her jaw and let out a large gasp.
"Oh you poor thing, must be a terrifying experience," the worried pegasus said.
Great, now she's trying to push it, Eagle Eye thought.
"Timberwolves are very scary creatures, that's one of the reasons why I don't like going to the Everfree Forest," the shy filly added on.
"It was scary, but not very much. Since I live in a village that is practically in the middle of that forest, I dealt with them almost on a daily basis. Except that time, he was larger than the rest."
"Well... I'm glad that you made it out okay."
"All thanks to you. If you haven't showed up, I would've bled to death," the blind colt replied, causing the shy pegasus to blush.
"Oh... right," the shy pegasus replied.
Eagle Eye got up from his sheets as Fluttershy kindly moved back. As he got on all of his fours, he had something up in his mind.
"Say, do you know what time it is?" the green maned colt asked.
"It's eight in the morning, why?" the meek filly asked back.
"Good, 'cause I think it's time to go to Ponyville," the blind colt answered.
"Oh.. okay. Let's go then. I'll even introduce you to more of my friends," the yellow filly replied.
Finally, a new life to start, Eagle Eye contemplated.