“It’s called Strabismus” The grey mare was talking again. I feigned a smile and looked over at her. “Strabismus, it means my eyes aren’t properly aligned” It was like she wanted the special attention. “Oh, yeah, I heard about that in one of my classes.” I hadn’t, I was studying Law, I was just trying to give her the illusion of a normal conversation. “So you’re training to be a doctor?” Her voice was painful too painful to bear. “Well, not exactly” I got out of my seat and trotted to the back of the carriage, where the dessert cart was stationed. She was still smiling. I hate her ignorance.
After realizing I wasn’t hungry and contemplating that I could be magnetically repulsing from that mare, I moved back to my seat and buried my muzzle into a book. “Watcha’ reading there?” I gave a small sigh and smiled up at her “Nothing you’d care about, just a study book from college” It wasn’t, It was a romance novel by Stephanie Mares, I just wanted her to stop talking. I’m not sure what it was about this one, she just… got to me. It might have been the voice, with slightly off syllables and a seemingly bi-polar tone of voice, unsure of whether to be serious or carefree. It could have been her personality, too happy to be really happy, and a bit too… bubbly. Or it could have been the eyes, those Strabismus-y, derpy eyes. I couldn’t stop myself staring now. Luckily for me, she had decided to shut up for a bit. Out of sheer boredom, I took out a pen and some pad paper, the objects glowing red as the color of my coat as I gave the pen a flick to check its ink. I started writing down little observations I made of her, little by little.
Observation 1: The Eyes. Every time she turns her head, the eyes always seem to take a moment before moving to adjust to the new view. The left eye seems to be the one that does the looking, right being the one out of alignment.
She poked her head over my work, which I quickly stuffed into my school pack. I was on a small assignment for my new project from the university. We had to choose a rural town to study the legal history of, and any present cases that may be progressing in the town courts upon arrival. Ponyville really ended up as the short straw, with it’s complete lack of any law courts, and the only presence of law being in the Pegasus patrols during the night, Hence why crime rates in the poor town are about the highest you can get in Equestria.
The train came to a stop, and the grey mare leapt over me, slapping me in the face with one of here wings. “Nice meeting you, what was your name again?” She blurted across loudly. A few judgemental eyes fell upon me from other passengers in the carriage. “Vox” I answered as swiftly as I left the scene, breaking into a gallop to get away from the train station.
The hotel I was meant to be staying in had fallen victim to the high crime rates, so I wandered around the town for about an hour, asking the surprisingly friendly mares and stallions around place for directions to other residences. A few of the ponies had told me to ask this mare called “Pinkie Pie” and gave me directions to a small café called Sugar Cube Corner. I walked through the doors to be greeted by a noxious amount of balloons and streamers, and the pink mare I’d been told so little about. She started talking, so fast I didn’t even catch the first few sentences. But from what I could gather, she already knew about me, wanted to throw a party for me, and knew a place where I could stay. She’d kicked me out of the store with a smile and a map. A hastily drawn map with a large ‘X’ over what looked like some sort of fancy shop near the edge of town. I walked over slowly, tired from my daily travels, when I cam to a door that looked a bit worn in. The estate looked similar enough to the rough sketch on my map, so I gave it a knock. To my surprise, the mare that burst through the door was no other than the grey ditz that embarrassed me in the train not two hours ago. She stood there blindly for a moment, letting her left eye focus, almost as if to scan my face. “VOX!” She let out a small yell and sprung into the air, floating for a few moments before even seeming to contemplate why I was here. “Hey… you!” Again, a feigned attempt at excitement.
I walked into her house, hiding my sheer anger at the situation. She still hadn’t asked my why I was here. “Please, have a seat!” She pointed to the two sofas across from her, sitting in a room with only a small cabinet and a lamp “Don’t get company often, do you?” I joked at her, as a little experiment. I smiled at myself when she responded with a little chuckle. “So, why are you here?” My heart lit up a bit as I realized there is hope for her after all. “A mare called Pinkie Pie, a friend of yours?” she gave a small nod “Yeah, well, my hotel got broken into, so I have nowhere to stay, but this Pinkie Pie led me to your house and told me you’d be lovely enough to let me stay the night” She gave another nod and then flew upstairs, almost knocking over a lamp on the way out. A couple of minutes, some loud banging and a stumble down the stairs later, she had come down with a spare pillow and quilt I her teeth. “You can take the couch if you want, I’m sorry I haven’t got anything better than this” I gave her a smile, and for the first time of the day, it wasn’t out of sympathy.
Author's Note
Thanks for reading my first chapter of my very first fanfiction! this is still likely a work in progress when you're reading this, so feel free to comment some ideas or changes I should make!
