[Canterlot + Drainage System] Blind Happenings (Open)

[ONWARDconwardicus]

Tip Tap Tip Tap went the long red cane held in the mare’s right hoof. It swung side to side in front of her as she walked down the street. Reina was thinking like usual, of who might show up at her recording studio. She knew that there was somepony that needed to do one last take, and had even paid her an extra hundred bits to do it. She took a right on the eighty third step down the street, onto the next one. She also knew that the music from old disks was going to be needed to be repressed, and that meant some of the smarter musicians would try to record pretty soon. Luckily she had gotten a new delivery of master disks last week. Maybe Lon will show up. Maybe he will take me away from the confines of this city and we could finally-

Her thoughts were interrupted by a blunt pain in the front of her head. She had forgotten about the sign that had hung from there since a couple of weeks ago. Rubbing her head with her hoof, she mumbled something to herself about how Canterlot needed regulations for disabled ponies. She heard a plop of something drop into the water, but thought nothing of it as she tried to ease the pain.

Then it settled in her right hoof was the one rubbing her head. The one she held the cane in. She opened her grey eyes in shock. She could not, repeating to herself, NOT lose the cane. She recently replaced the gem to keep it swaying, and getting another one was not something she could afford. There was a brief moment of panic where she didn’t act rationally, and she galloped towards the place she thought she had heard the plop.

But of course, without her cane, she ran into something. Rather, somepony. She heard an “Mph” from somepony as she collided with them, and fell onto her side. She shook herself and said a general “Sorry!” to the air, so that the pony she had just barreled into could hear it.

Life was so hard being blind.

[FermataTheBasse]

Penumbra was tired as she was unwillingly always tired, having worked a long night and now waiting for some friends who seemed to have stood her up. They'd have their good reasons, their perfectly acceptable reasons, she was sure, but the sleep deprived mare was right now in no mood to hear any of it. She lingered on an overpass overlooking one of Canterlot's smaller rivers, one of Canterlot's more ignored picturesque locations, where on the right days the moon set perfectly aligned with the river body, casting it's melancholy glow over another lonely nigh- wait, what was that dropping into the water now?

[colour=#808080]"Mmph?!" [/colour][colour=#000000]Penumbra was jostled by something just as quickly as her vision registered something having fallen into the water, she was almost toppled right over the edge in her surprise. Thankfully the bridge had good guard rails and she narrowly averted a tumble into the water. Cranky, annoyed, Penumbra's famous temper ignited and she whirled onto Reina. [/colour][colour=#808080]"Watch where you're going, you bucking dolt! Can't you see-...?" [/colour][colour=#000000]The mare before Penumbra was two things. First, an eyesore for Penumbra's tired eyes, thanks to the bright coloration. Second, blind, by the dullness of her eyes. Penumbra trailed off.[/colour]

[colour=#808080]"Uh... sorry." [/colour][colour=#000000]Was that all Penumbra could say? She felt humiliated, having snapped like that. She'd have avoided Reina's gaze sheepishly, but that was pretty obviously redundant. [/colour]

[wallchicken]

Night Light had been travelling through the town of Canterlot, enjoying the sights of the city. Even though he had been born here, he never had the chance to actually see it since he was raised elsewhere. He had took a detour and found this overpass over a small river. It was quite a sight. He imagined how this spot might have looked at sunset, but he was soon brought out of his daydream when he heard something plop into the water. He looked down at the water, only to see a red stick rise up a little bit by the current, then plunge back down.

[colour=#000080]"Huh. I wonder what that was right there..."[/colour]

He then heard a "mmph" sound and then hearing a tumbling noise. He quickly turned around to see a one mare crash into another. As he hurried over there, he had trotted up to them and decided to lend a helping hoof.

[colour=#000080]"Hey, are you two okay? That looked like a pretty bad crash."[/colour]

[ONWARDconwardicus]

Reina shook herself. She took no offence to the comment about being blind. Some ponies were just rude. The B word wasn’t really necessary, but she couldn’t think about anything but her cane at the moment.[colour=#FFFF00] “I wish I could.” [/colour]she solemnly said to the other mare she had apparently crashed into.

Then she heard somepony else ask if she were okay. She thought about it for a split second and decided [colour=#FFFF00]“No. I’m not terribly fine. And I don’t know about the other mare, either. I think I lost my cane in the river. I am close to the bridge right now, correct? Oh Celestia, if I can’t find that cane I don’t know how I’ll get around. Stupid hanging sign!”[/colour] She stomped on the ground.

An idea popped into her head just then. It was humiliating to ask for help, but she couldn’t find her cane without another pair of eyes. She turned toward where she heard the other two voices. She rubbed her shoulder nervously and stammered[colour=#FFFF00] “Err, do you think one of you could help me find my cane? It’s an enchanted one, so it would be hard to replace. It’s okay if you don’t want to. I might be able to find somepony else.”[/colour] She hated herself right now. She shouldn’t be so clumsy. She felt stupid.

[wallchicken]

Night Light then realized what he had saw in the river. It was her cane that fell in the river. And then he realized that she was actually blind. Now he felt like he had to help out.

[colour=#000080]"You don't need to find somepony else, I'd be more than happy to help out."[/colour]

Even though he wanted to help out, he wasn't sure how useful he'd actually be. He wasn't a good swimmer. He turned to look back at the river. There was no sight of the cane. Most likely, it's resting at the bottom of the river if the current hadn't taken it away. At least, if the former is true, and that the cane is just at the bottom, then it would make things easier for him.

[FermataTheBasse]

Penumbra groaned internally. There was a witness to her faux pas. As he trotted over and asked about their state of being, she had to look away, stuttering slightly in her own humiliation:

[colour=#808080]"I'm fine. Just fine. Miss, I am so sorry for that, I was just..." [/colour][colour=#000000]A cane... had that been the thing she had seen flash into her vision, falling off the bridge? Penumbra's speech trailed off, she was suddenly sure of it. Reina sounded nervous, and Penumbra supposed that asking for help from two strangers, especially when one had just screamed at you, was difficult to do. Penumbra knew that this would be a good chance to make up for her rudeness. Besides, a cold swim would wake her up nicely. [/colour][colour=#808080]"Leave it to me..." [/colour][colour=#000000]Penumbra yawned, her sleep deprivation kicking in at that moment. [/colour][colour=#808080]"Be right back." [/colour][colour=#000000]Penumbra's wings flared; though they seemed a bit weak, the motion a bit smaller than it should have been. She gave herself a flap of her wings or two, gained a bit of altitude to clear the bridge railing, then in a flash she was gone.[/colour]

[colour=#000000]The huge splash that followed was probably more of a shock for Penumbra than it would have been for the other two. Her coat was suddenly screaming in pain, the icy shock of the water forcing her eyes more than wide open. Her breath was stolen from her. But she was a pegasus, swimming was a physical activity that came naturally to her. All of them did, really. It only took a moment for her to recover. Then she actually felt better than she had on the bridge, the cold water forcing her to wakefulness, clearing some of the cobwebs from her mind. [/colour][colour=#000000]She breached, took a breath, then dove back under. [/colour][colour=#000000]She pushed herself through the water with strong kicks, her motion under the water kicking up a frenzy of bubbling on it's surface, going away from the bridge. Bright red was easy to see under the water, fortunately Canterlot had clean waterways, and Penumbra spotted the place where the cane had lodged, between a collection of rocks. She made it over, managed to gingerly mouth the cane out of it's hiding place, careful not to exhale too much of her breath.[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Then she broke the surface, cane in mouth. But she was wet, she wouldn't be able to fly soaked like this. So she floated back with the current a bit, to a point where some stairs led back onto the streets placed exactly for mares like her who had fallen in. She trudged out, trying to shake her coat clean. Celestia it was suddenly cold out. A breeze that would otherwise have been light bit into her harshly, she had to put down the cane and call out to the two she had left atop the bridge, teeth chattering.[/colour]

[colour=#808080]"I-I-I-I g-g-g-got it!" [/colour]