Through Crooked Eyes

On a bright, sunny day, without a care in the world, you fly through the skies of Ponyville, smiling and waving at the pegasi as you fly past them, feeling a real thrill as the cool wind ruffles through your feathers. Though, something feels... Wrong. You can’t really figure it out, but something is definitely wrong, the more you think about it.

You land effortlessly outside Sugarcube Corner, your wings folding by your sides. You catch a glimpse of yourself in the slightly foggy, glass windows; clean, grey fur, messy, but cute blonde mane, and... You have the vaguest feeling you should be seeing more, but... Your face is blurry. You can’t really see it properly.

Shaking off a growing sense of unease, you take a few breaths to get rid of the post-flight adrenaline, and happily trot into the colourful bakery, smiling at the ponies around you, who give you smiles back. Again, though, something feels... Wrong. Fake, almost.

Trying not to think about it, you trot up to the counter, and order a banana muffin, to sate your growling, hungry belly.

After paying the oddly-distant mare behind the counter, you trot out of the bakery, narrowly avoiding Mister Cake as he rushes past, the stallion looking rather worried. You wonder why for a moment, but decide not to think too much about it. Stepping out into the street, you suddenly feel something hit you in the chest, then begin pressing down, like a sandbag placed on top of you.

You fall to the ground in shock, trying to get whatever pressure it is off you.

Everything starts going dark, as you hear a slightly hysterical, squeaky voice in the back of your mind, slowly getting louder, occasionally punctuated by another, female voice. As the world around you gets darker, the voices get louder, and more clear, and as you finally slip into consciousness, you finally hear the words;

“Mummy! Mummy, wake up! Please!” You hear the voice of Dinky, your daughter, as well as the voice of Nurse Redheart, trying to calm her. The weight on her chest is probably her, and you can feel her weakly hitting your chest, in an attempt to wake you. Well, she succeeded, but you need a moment before you can properly wake up.

The reason for this being, your head feels like it’s been split in two, and on the right side of your face, you feel an odd tightness, as well as on your forehead, and the back of your head, as if something is tightly wrapped around it. You hear a faint beeping, as well as the sounds of faint voices outside wherever you are, and suchlike.

Deciding not to put it off any longer, you open your left eye. You feel slightly shocked; For the first time, you can actually see normally, not double. It throws you off slightly, but it’s definitely refreshing to see properly for the first time.

Looking down, you see Dinky, her head on your chest, as she sobs softly. Weakly, you raise a hoof, and put it on her back, wanting to offer her comfort.

“Hey, Dinky...” You say, quietly. With a small yelp, the filly looks up, and bursts into a fresh batch of tears, hugging you tightly.

“M-mummy! I-I was so scared, m-miss Ch-Cheerilee t-told me y-you were a-at the hospital a-and then I s-saw you l-like this a-and-“ You cut the filly off with a hoof over her mouth, smiling gently.

“Kiddo, it’s alright, I’m fine.” You assure her.

“I just have a headache...” You turn your head slowly, feeling massive pain in your skull as you do.

Nurse Redheart is hovering next to the bed, worry in her eyes. She is probably the only pony aside from Dinky that you see as close, and you know she would never make jokes about you like some other ponies; She is the only one who really understands your disability, and makes you feel like the smart mare you know you are.

You smile weakly at her, only able to hold it for a few seconds before you fall back, panting softly.

“Redheart, my head really hurts... What happened?” You ask. You only vaguely remember getting hit in the head, and Twilight, and a book.

As if on cue, you hear Twilight’s voice, from near the foot of the bed. You jump in surprise, not having seen her, too busy focusing on your daughter and your friend.

“That was my fault, Derpy... I’m so sorry, I didn’t take proper precautions, and now... I... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She says, her voice quiet. You knew Twilight. While she doesn’t mock or laugh at you, you know that she doesn’t think much of you. Whenever you go to her library, she always assumed it was to deliver a letter or something, and, on the rare occasions you are actually looking for a book, she seems genuinely surprised.

But that isn’t important. You focus your one eye on her, blinking slowly.

“Hurt? It’s just a headache, I’ll be fine...” You say, although you have the weirdest feeling, on the right side of your head. Like, you could feel bandages, and the texture, and all that, but around your eye, it felt oddly... Numb.

You hear a small sigh from Redheart, and she glances at Twilight.

“Can you take Dinky out? She might not want to hear this.” The mare says, calmly. You look at Redheart, then at Twilight, wondering what’s going on, as Twilight’s horn glows, and she picks Dinky up with a spell, trying to calm the frustrated filly, as your daughter tries to get back to you.

“It’s alright, Dinky, you can come back in a minute.” You say, with a reassuring smile. The filly looks at you worriedly, but lets Twilight take her out of the room. As the doors close, you sit up, wincing at the pain in your head that seems to accompany every movement.

“Alright, Redheart... What’s wrong, what happened?” You ask, as calmly as you can manage. The light pink nurse bites her lip, hesitating, before explaining what happened.

She tells you that Twilight had been experimenting with a new spell, that could make getting around far easier, if she got the right spell power, and concentrated properly. She was trying on a rather heavy book as you arrived, and, due to Twilight’s negligence, she sent the book flying through the door, where it hit your eye. Twilight rushed you to hospital, but there was nothing that could be done except sedate you; Your right eye is all but destroyed, unusable. She says that you should wear an eyepatch over it, until it properly heals, so that there is no, or at least reduced chance of infection. you make a half hearted joke about being a pirate as the shock of this really sets in. You can’t use your eye... So... Does this mean you never have to worry about your double vision again? You can begin to actually be normal?

The more you think of it, the bigger the smile on your face gets, until Redheart trails off, and looks at you questioningly. You turn your head to her, ignoring the pain, which is beginning to fade at last.

“Redheart... This is a good thing.” You say.

“I can finally be... Normal. I can finally see things normally!” You say, excitedly.

“I can finally be me!” You cry, shaking with excitement. Redheart realises what you’re saying, and smiles, leaning forward, and putting a hoof on your shoulder.

“Derpy... You’re right. I mean... It’s not good that you were hurt, I hate to see that happen to a friend.  But... You’re right. It just means we won’t see each other as often, since I won’t always be putting bandages and bandaids on you.” She says, playfully.

With a small giggle, you shake your head slowly.

“Redheart, we can still be friends. In fact, I think I want to have you over for dinner to celebrate! You’re my friend after all, and now that I can finally be myself, and do things for myself, I think it’s time I learned to cook!”

You smile, sitting completely upright, letting out a small yelp, then sitting back, clutching your head in pain.

“Argh, as soon as this settles down...” You mumble.

Redheart chuckles, and gently hugs you, before tucking you in.

“Rest up some more, I’ll tell Dinky that you fell asleep while we were talking.” She says. You nod slowly.

“Alright, I need some rest anyway... I feel so tiiiiiiiiiyyyayeyreed...” You say, a yawn interrupting your sentence halfway through. You smile, and close your eye, knowing things are finally going to start looking up. Not up and down at once, for the first time.