Hi, everyone. My name is Wind Rider, and I'm a surfer. I've even got a cutie mark in surfing. The catch? I'm blind. I can't see the surfboard, I can't see the waves. I can hear it all exceptionally, though. And I can feel it. I feel the waves as they come up and down; hear the tides coming in and out. I can feel the wind in my mane; I can feel the wooden board under my hooves. But I'm happy, I'm happy that I finally compete in the Equestrian Surfing Championships. I just have to get in.
I know my house quite well. It's a small, five-roomed shack on an island shortly off the eastern Equestrian coastline. I've never seen my mane, but nevertheless I keep it brushed, but once I'm done with that I'm getting kind of bored, so I go out to practice my surfing. I grab my board from the wall and gallop out to the shoreline. I know where it is, about fifty paces from my house. I take my dog with me; she likes to watch from the beach and bark to cheer me on. In a way, she's my best friend. Actually, in every way she's my best friend, she keeps me from running into things in places I don't know. However, once I jump onto my surfboard I know the water. I paddle with my wings out to sea, and the gentle waves push me up and down as I lay on my stomach on the board.
"Hey, Wavy!" I call out to my dog, who then barks back at me to confirm that she's there, "Watch this!" I see a wave coming up, it's not too big but that doesn't matter. Actually, it makes this easier. I get up in the swell of the wave, and then take off from my surfboard. Locating where it is with my hearing alone, I then drop from about three feet up back down, then ride back on my back hooves to the shore. "How was that, Wavy girl?" I hear a pleasant bark in response; and she curls up next to me as I sit on the shore, listening to the waves. It must have gotten dark because the next thing I knew, Wavy was barking at me. "All righty girl, I'm coming," I said, picking up the board with my wing and trotting back to my house to get some rest.
I woke up to somepony calling my name. "Wind Rider?" asked the hoarse voice. To this Wavy barked repetitively, indicating that I was there. "Yes, I'm here," I said as I walked outside of my cottage, Wavy leading me by the leash I kept her on. Or maybe it was her keeping me on a leash. Anyways, the pony was a mare, I could tell by her hoofsteps, and I heard her shirt blowing in the wind which made me realize she couldn't be from around here. Everypony on this island never wore clothes, it was too hot, and I could tell from her movements that I heard in the sand that she was constantly wiping sweat from her brow. "You're not from around here, are you?" I asked the mare. I could hear her shaking her head, then motioning with her hoof in the cool breeze to follow her.
What was curious about this mare was the fact that she didn't seem to talk much, and when she did it sounded like she was trying incredibly hard to. I didn't know what she looked like but I did know she was leading me to some sort of ship, Wavy always barks loudly when she sees a ship. "Shush, girl. It's okay," I told Wavy, patting her on the head before letting her continue leading me to the ship. A huge breeze swept over me as I got on, I nearly toppled off the boat. Wavy then led me down a staircase; I assumed that the mare had told her to.
The next thing I knew, the mare was tapping her hooves on the table between our chairs we were sitting in; in an intricate pattern I didn't understand. "What?" I asked her. Then it hit me, though. She was using sign language, which meant that she must be…
"Wavy, can you find me a piece of paper?" I asked. Wavy barked in reply. Soon she brought me back one, and I picked the pen she'd brought along with it up and started writing. I have exceptional hoofwriting, especially for a pony born blind. "Are you deaf?" I wrote, and then passed it over to her. She read it, and then she signed "Yes," by tapping her hoof on the table twice, quickly. From my extremely minimal knowledge of sign language, I knew what this meant and nodded an 'okay'.
There was something about this mare, something that intrigued me. Whoever owned this ship must have known I was blind, because they had set up the entire library with books in brail. I was quite happy about this, and found a copy of a book on sign language. If I was going to know this mare, I'd need to be able to speak, or in her case tap, her language.
I read the book through several times, making sure I knew every sign for everything, making absolutely sure I knew one particular one. Then the mare came into the room, I knew it was her because she didn't walk, she pranced. Her hoofsteps were light and airy, they reminded me of the waves and when she walked I couldn't bring myself not to smile a bit. I tapped out a quick "Hello," and put the book away. Then she pranced over and sat in the chair next to mine. "It's time for dinner," she tapped out. "Oh, I forgot to ask," I tapped to her, "What's your name?" "Wave Pool," she said, her voice was incredibly hoarse and desperate but that was fine by me, she was deaf after all. "Let's go," I tapped. Then we both walked out of the room, Wavy leading me.
Wavy followed the mare, and I followed Wavy. We both sat down in a couple of wooden seats, and the chefs brought some good-smelling food. I sniffed it, it was grilled celery. My favorite thing to eat for dinner. I knew it was supposed to be dinner because I knew it was night, and that was because that the waves are calmer at night and make a different sound. Also, it's always more windy at night. The soft waves gently pushed the boat this way and that, but I was accustomed to rocking on water. In fact, as I ate my plate of grilled celery, I imagined myself eating while sitting on my surfboard back at home, letting the tide pull me gently in and out. "Are you blind?" she tapped out to me, "And what's your name?" "My name is Wind Rider," I tapped out, thankfully I knew how to say my name in sign language, "And yes, I am blind."
After we finished dinner, she tapped out to me, "Let's go. I'm tired, let's get some sleep." I nodded. Then Wavy, Wave Pool and I walked out of the room to the other side of the dock and into another room, this one was warm and cozy-feeling, Wavy led me to the bed and unhooked the leash on both ends, off of my hoof and off of her neck. "Thanks, Wavy girl," I said to her, rolling over and bumping into… Wave Pool. "Sorry!" I tapped on the bed frame, "I didn't see you there!" "Well, of course you didn't see me there, you're blind, silly!" she tapped to me. I giggled a bit, and she must have known I was because she started giggling too. Unlike her normal voice, her giggle was light and airy like her hoofsteps. Feeling her mane, it was incredibly smooth and silky, it was cut short like mine but it was looser, half of her mane brushed in front and half behind. I spent an uncanny amount of time with my hooves in her mane, but she didn't seem to mind. Actually, she gave me another adorable giggle. "Do you surf?" I tapped to her, to which her head moved and I knew she must have nodded. "I have something to show you once we get there… or actually not show you but let you hear. You can hear surfing moves, can't you?" she tapped. I nodded. I felt around her mane and to her back, where I was surprised to find a pair of wings. "You're a pegasus?" I tapped to her. I felt her head move in a nod once again. I then moved her hooves around to my back. "So am I," I tapped. "It's getting cold in here, want to get under the covers?" she tapped. I nodded, and we pulled the nicely made and tucked in covers over us. In a few minutes she tapped to me, "I'm still kinda cold. Do you mind if…" then she gave me a hug. I shook my head and hugged her back and that's how we fell asleep.
I woke up to a ringing noise, and gently tapped out to Wave Pool, "I think we're here." She was already out of bed and was standing across the room. She then picked something up with her wing and gave me my board. "Is that your board?" I tapped with my front hoof on the floor once I got out of bed. "Yes," tapped Wave, "She's a pretty board. Want to feel her?" I nodded, and she turned around and prance-walked over. I grabbed the board between my front hooves, and she was right. It was a pretty board. The fin was perfectly carved; the board was perfectly shaped and sanded too. There was a small groove running down the middle of the top of the board in a perfectly straight line. "You're right, she's a pretty board," I tapped.
"Let's go," she tapped lightly, using only the tip of her hoof. Then she pranced out, and after I hooked Wavy up to the leash she led me out. We were beached, all right, and Wave stood at the entrance to the boat. "This is Equestria, the eastern coast. Just south of the border to the Griffon Kingdom," she tapped. The beach wasn't sand; it was made entirely of perfectly smooth rocks. I'd only been here once before, and I hardly remembered it.
She placed a wing around me, and I did the same. We walked wing-in-wing across the Equestrian coastline. I felt my heart beating, probably because of the excitement of being on Equestria, proper, for the second time in my life. Nonetheless, we walked to the shore, getting our hooves wet in the surf. "Wanna ride?" I tapped. "Yeah," she tapped, "Let's go. First, though, let me show you- I mean let you hear this." I heard her jump onto her board, paddle with her wings out to sea, and then stand up. Wave stood on her back hooves, front hooves and wings extended for balance, and caught a wave.
The wave was huge, but after I tuned out that noise I heard her jump off the surfboard, do a double front flip with no assistance from her now closed wings, and land back on her board. Then she rode back. "How was that?" she tapped. I responded by clapping my front hooves and stomping them on the rocks below me. "That good, huh?" she tapped. I nodded vigorously.
"Just for that," I then tapped, "Watch this." I then paddled out, caught a wave and did the same trick I'd practiced two nights ago. This time, though, I went higher than expected, and I nearly wiped out. But I flapped my right wing hard, and managed not to. "How was that one?" I tapped to her once I got back to the shore. "It was astonishing!" she tapped with great enthusiasm, "Great!"
"In fact…" she started tapping, pausing a bit before continuing, "I think you deserve…" then she stopped tapping and walked over. Wave was tense, I could tell from her lack of lightness over the rocks, and then she stopped right in front of me. Leaning forward, she gave me a small kiss on my cheek. "That's for… being nice," she tapped.