Avisus Gaiuni Psychuarere

Avisus Gaiuni Psychuarere

Twilight rambled on and on about Starswirl's journals for a good half hour before she realized Carrot Top was asleep. Fuming silently, she set her reading material back on the table and looked for a book on the subject of vision.

It didn't take very long; the library was relatively organized and the medical section was actually where it was supposed to be. She plucked out book after book, placing those that had anything to do with sight in one pile and the rest of them in another.

After that was finished, she placed the stack of unneeded books back into their shelves and seated herself beside the remaining five. Opening the topmost one, she settled down to read.

The sun rose the next glorious morning. The early birds were chirping, animals were frolicking, young fillies and colts were playing happily in the streets. It was with baggy, bloodshot eyes that Twilight absorbed the bright sunlight, immediately shying away into a darker corner to protect them.

After breakfast and a brief, hushed conversation with Spike, Carrot Top left to open up her stall for the day. Spike decided to start his day with chores, cleaning up the books piled on the floor and tables. Upon passing his unicorn roommate, she began muttering to herself.

"I just don't get it, none of this helps! There's plenty of information here, but none of it details any practical uses or spells or anything to fix vision! Can you believe this?"

Or maybe she was talking to Spike. He could never really tell after she pulled an all-nighter. He intended to ignore her for a while to see if she would pull herself together on her own, until he realized it was completely silent. Turning from his cleaning, he looked back at the messy unicorn. She was actually expecting an answer from him.

His mind went into overdrive, thinking back on anything Twilight had said that could help save him from the situation. "Uh... I dunno. Can't you just, like, make some new tissues or something like you're doing with the other thing?"

Twilight immediately went about analyzing, refuting, and supporting Spike's suggestion, all at the same time. Spike was right, in a way. If there was any functional tissue in Derpy's body, she would be able to replicate it and replace the dysfunctional tissues.

She remembered the way Derpy's vision was perfectly fine when her eyes aligned, which meant she probably had severe strabismus or exotropia or esotropia or similar and something was wrong with her extraocular muscles. Of course, since she tended to think out loud, she wasn't surprised to see Spike staring blankly back at her.

She groaned. "Her vision's messed up because her eyes don't move right."

Spike, apparently satisfied, smiled and walked off to continue his cleaning. Twilight, on the other hand, decided to head over to Derpy's for some medical examinations.

The door opened. Little Dinky was on the other side, excited to have a guest over for lunch. Twilight didn't know it was already lunch time and decided to come back later. Once the little filly's shouting reached Derpy's ears, however, she was suddenly bombarded with two overly kind ponies trying to get her to eat lunch with them. A difficult offer to refuse, for a normal pony, but Twilight was often too considerate for her own good.

Excuses such as "Oh, I don't wanna be a bother", "I really need to get back to studying", and the oh-so-subtle "No, I really really don't want to intrude" were met with Derpy equally subtly nudging her into the house. In a manner similar to friendly kidnapping, Twilight found herself seated at the table, a freshly made sandwich in front of her.

Twilight wasn't one to give up so easily, but Derpy and Dinky would surely have kept her there for forever until she ate her sandwich. Conversation ensued and after a while, Twilight decided to start eating her food. It was actually pretty tasty.

Throughout the meal, Twilight found herself subconsciously watching Derpy's eyes. Once, when she caught herself staring, she noticed Dinky giving her a look. Not a mean "is there a problem, bro?" look, and not even a "staring is rude, knock it off" look. It was more along the lines of "please oh please oh please help her", if Twilight could read facial expressions correctly.

Once the three finished eating and Dinky ran off to wherever, Twilight made her move.

"So Derpy, I was wondering..." she trailed off to make sure she had the other mare's attention. Definitely not because she needed to figure out how to word her question, that would be silly. "Can I examine your eyes?" Yep, smooth.

Derpy, unfortunately, seemed confused. "Is this about fixing my eyes?" she asked, obviously rhetorically. Before Twilight could answer, she continued. "It's fine, Twilight. You don't have to go out of your way to help me."

"But I'm not!" she half-shouted, then realized she half-shouted and calmed down. "I'm already researching vision and everything, so this would just be... additional... field research! Please, Derpy?" she asked, trying to put on her best sappy pleading face. "It would really really help my studies."

Derpy's natural kindness, paired with an obviously desperate unicorn asking for help, only allowed her one answer. "Alright. Let's go into the living room first, though."

Twilight made a noise that definitely didn't resemble a squee as she followed the pegasus into the living room. Her examinee seated herself on the couch and Twilight eagerly plopped herself down beside her.

"Okay, so what do I need to do?"

That was a good question. The over-eager unicorn knew what she had to do, but when it came to Derpy's role she had no clue whatsoever.

"Umm, I dunno, just... Lie down and relax, like you're gonna take a nap."

The pegasus did as she was told, placing the back of her head on the couch's armrest and closing her eyes.

"Okay, you're probably going to feel a sort of rubbing sensation around your head, so try not to let it surprise you or anything," Twilight said. 'Probably' was right, since she had no idea if the other pony could feel anything while she looked around.

"On second thought... Is it alright if I cast a sleep spell on you? I don't want to lose track of where I am if you move or something." A nod from Derpy was her answer and she cast a quick 10 minute long sleep spell, watching as Derpy's body relaxed.

It was time. Twilight's horn glowed and she closed her eyes. In a manner similar to moving her "astral body" into another pony, she projected her sight outside of herself and maneuvered it to Derpy's head.

She ended up overshooting her destination and back-tracked to the back of the left eye. She looked around at the various muscles, locating the six most important ones that control eye movement. The lateral rectus was slightly contracted, which was odd considering Derpy was asleep.

The two oblique muscles were behaving even more strangely. They were contracting and relaxing seemingly at random. She moved closer and examined them. Some parts of the muscles were weak and beginning to detach, and the others were receiving the blood that was supposed to be sent to the weak muscles. As they got too much blood they contracted or relaxed, and the blood stayed there for a while before being sent off to other parts of the body.

She decided to check the other eye and the extraocular muscles were behaving in much the same way. Sometimes both of the muscles contracted halfway through and stayed that way several times longer than otherwise, but Twilight had hope. Since the main problem was the slightly detached muscles, she could just go in and reattach them and everything would be fine. In theory.

Before she knew it, the ten minutes was up and Derpy began to move around again. Parts of the head flashed by for a few moments before Twilight was able to reorient herself and get back to her own body.

"That was fast," said the pegasus, who could apparently tell the passage of time while she slept.

"Yep, that's it. But I think I see the problem now." Twilight saw the problem, indeed. Fixing it would be relatively easy. In fact, Twilight was beginning to wonder why Derpy never got her eyes checked before. "I should be able to fix your eyes right up!" she exclaimed, happily clopping her hooves together. Oh, she wanted so badly to help. Derpy would no doubt be happy, too. After all, she was being offered-

"Oh, no, that's fine. You don't have to."

Or maybe she wouldn't be happy.

"But, Derpy! You can have your eyes fixed! Just think about it! You'll be able to see everything clearly now, you can-"

She was cut off as Derpy's hoof decided Twilight's mouth looked like a suitable home. The interior was decidedly inadequate for the needy hoof, and it left shortly afterwards.

"No, it's fine, Twilight. You don't need to do that for me."

"But, I'm not doing it for you! I mean, yeah, I'm doing it for you, but still! I just wanna help!"

The two kindly argued with each other for quite a while. Put two overly considerate social outcasts into one place, dish out a problem that needs solving, and nothing will ever get done. Until you introduce a filly who knows how to get what she wants.

A pair of big, teary eyes introduced themselves to Derpy's face. "Pwease, Mommy? Pwease wet Twiwight fix yew," she whimpered. She could pronounce words perfectly fine, but pretending she couldn't always helped. Her eyes expanding to even greater size worked wonders, too. If her mommy could have seen them clearly, it would have surely melted her heart.

"Now Muffin, I know you want Mommy to get better, but she can't afford any treatments right now," Derpy replied in a soothing voice, hoping to relax the little filly wrapped around her neck.

Twilight decided to intervene. "Oh, money isn't a problem. I'll do it for free, just for you!"

At this, Dinky's demeanor went from desperate hopefulness to determined happiness. "See, Mommy? She'll do it for free!" She removed herself from her mother's neck and threw herself at Twilight, hugging her tightly.

Derpy caved. Like a stallion hoping to please his marefriend in every way possible, she caved. "Alright, Twilight. I'll do it."

Dinky decided just then to hug her mother again and run somewhere else in the house, having completed her mission.

"Well then, I guess I should let you know that you won't be able to see at all for a few days, to let your body adjust."

Derpy didn't like that at all. She didn't have time to secure a foalsitter or anything. "But-"

"Don't worry. I'll get Carrot Top or Spike to stay over to keep you company and watch Dinky," came Twilight the Mind Reader's interruption.

"But-"

"But nothing. It's only for a few days, then you'll be seeing perfectly fine!" she finished, beaming at Derpy, who was now unable to come up with any type of argument whatsoever.

Derpy could tell when she wasn't going to get anywhere, so she relaxed on the sofa and closed her eyes. She heard Twilight say something that she couldn't quite make out, then drifted off into dreamland.

The little filly walked into the living room with the two mares on the couch. She walked over and poked the unicorn guest with her hoof a few times, hoping to wake her up.

"Pssst, Twilight. Psssssssst," she added for good measure. It took her a few tries, but Twilight eventually groaned and opened her eyes.

"Mmmmhhhhh, what time is it?"

"I dunno, nighttime?" Dinky replied. She looked out the window to make sure. "Yeah, nighttime. So how'd it go?"

Twilight fell off the couch and landed on the rug below. Groaning once more, she got up and looked at Derpy.

"Oh, right! I did it! It went perfectly! Thinning out the blood vessels to ensure proper blood flow took longer than fixing up the muscles themselves, but I did it!" she quietly cheered, bouncing around the filly.

The big words confused the little filly, but she just ignored them and moved on to the big picture. "So she can see now?"

Twilight stopped bouncing and looked over at the pegasus. "Well, no. Not for a few days. I'll have to put some bandages around her eyes so she doesn't try to see," she said, turning back to give a reassuring smile to the filly. "But after that she should be fine."

Dinky jumped over and hugged Twilight around the neck. Tears began to spread through the unicorn's coat, but she didn't mind. The filly stuttered a few times trying to form words, but eventually gave up. They sat there for a while in silence before Twilight gently removed herself from the hug.

"I'll be back in a few minutes with some bandages, then I'll get back to the library. Will you be okay?"

Dinky settled on the couch and wrapped her mother's hoof around herself. With a yawn and a smile, she nodded and thanked Twilight for everything she'd done.

"...And now I need one of you to go to Derpy's to take care of them," Twilight finished. She looked expectantly to both Spike and Carrot Top, who were both thinking for whatever reason.

It was Carrot Top who spoke first. "But wait. Why can't we all go? That way we can all be together and help you with your-"

"I'll do it!" Spike so rudely interrupted. Twilight would have to teach him some manners some time soon; he was starting to get some bad habits.

Carrot Top looked at Spike. Spike looked at Carrot Top. Then he flicked his head to Twilight and mouthed something. Then Carrot Top looked away and muttered something. The whole thing was terribly awkward, so Twilight had to remedy the situation.

"Ummm, yeah... So Spike, you shouldn't have to take anything with you to Derpy's. I'll come over if I need to send a letter or something." Twilight was completely oblivious to the hushed conversation/argument going on. "Will you be alright?"

Spike ended his argument with Carrot Top. "Yeah, I'll be fine," he said, taking the opportunity to leave before Twilight went into overly-protective parenting mode.

Deciding the matter was settled, Twilight turned to her checklist and levitated a book over. The other mare in the room decided to just leave without saying anything. She had to continue her argument with Spike, so she hurried to catch up with him.

"Are you crazy?!?" she yelled when she reached him.

"What? I just want to help Derpy out. You're the one who's crazy." He added a wink at the end to see if she'd get defensive. Which she did.

"I am not crazy! Look, I don't know what you're planning-"

"Oh, yes you do. You have a few days with Twilight all to yourself. She better not be the only pony in Ponyville who's completely oblivious to you when I get back."

Carrot Top stopped walking and looked at the ground. "The only... pony..."

"Yep. It's pretty obvious you like her when you can't even talk to her without stuttering," he said, turning around when he finally realized the mare wasn't next to him.

A pair of sad, hopeless eyes looked up at the dragon. "It's that obvious?"

"Duh. Even Celestia knows, and she was only here for a few minutes!"

"Celestia knows?!?"

"Yeah. She even sent me a letter asking me how you two were doing. She thinks you're together, Carrot Top."

"But- but why would she think that?"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe because she saw you were over for dinner and your cheeks were redder than a tomato!"

At this, she had no reply. She simply sat there, mouth hanging open, unable to shut it or speak. Spike decided he won, so he turned to resume his walk.

"And don't chicken out like the other times. No way she can say no with all you've been doing for her."

She watched the little encouraging dragon as he walked off and entered Derpy's house. He was right. Either she swallowed her nerves and talked to Twilight now, or she'd never get herself to do it. With newly found determination, she headed back to the library.

The door opened and the librarian herself was on the other side, a slight frown on her face.

"Where were you?" she asked.

Carrot Top couldn't tell her she chased Spike to argue with him, so she stuck to the most general answer she could possibly give. "Somewhere."

Twilight facehoofed and was about to speak, but Carrot Top did first.

"Look, Twilight. We need to talk."

The unicorn didn't know what Carrot Top needed to talk about. She just really hoped she wasn't mad at her. Whatever it took, Twilight was determined to fix their friendship. And so, with the absolute worst idea possible stuck in her mind, she spoke.

"Whatever it is, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"Twilight," Carrot Top said, effectively silencing the unnecessarily apologetic unicorn. "You didn't do anything wrong. In fact..." she cut off. She didn't even think about how she was going to word her confession before barging into the library.

"Uh... In fact, what?" the ever-curious mare asked.

"Well, I kinda..." she stopped again, humming as she thought how best to say it. A simple "I like you" would lead Twilight to think of it as friendship, but an "I love you" would give Twilight a panic attack and she would start looking through all her books for something completely unrelated.

"Okay, well, I kinda- mmph!"

Time stopped for the two ponies. They stood there, wide-eyed, as their mouths introduced themselves to one another. Neither knew what to do, simply staring at each other in awkward silence.

"There, now get on with it!" came a voice from behind Carrot Top. Both ponies jumped back and looked over at Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was smirking triumphantly at them.

"Rainbow?" she asked, wiping her mouth subconsciously. "What- Did you do that?"

"You're dang right I did," Rainbow replied with yet another triumphant smirk. "Neither of you two were ever going to do it, so somepony had to step in."

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie agreed.

"Pinkie, you- What? What's going on?" Twilight was so confused. First there was Carrot Top being all awkward and everything, then Rainbow suddenly pushed her and their lips met, then Pinkie popped up out of nowhere- which wasn't actually all that confusing- and now Carrot Top was just petting the ground and her cheeks were all- Oh...

Twilight couldn't look at any of them, choosing to simply stare at her floor instead. "So, you..." she trailed off, unable to finish her question.

Carrot Top couldn't finish or answer it either; she was too busy examining the interesting specks of dirt on the ground. With an overly dramatic facehoof, Rainbow flew down to Twilight's level.

"Yes, she likes you. Now hurry up and-"

"Rainbow! That is not how a lady treats one's friends!"

Apparently Rarity was there, too. When Twilight lifted her head up, she noticed Applejack behind her. She instantly began wondering if they just happened to all coincidentally pass by the library at the exact same time, or if they planned on being there to ruin her life.

"A lady treats one's friends with dignity and respect. Pushing two mares into doing something neither of them want to do is not-"

Twilight silenced them all by slamming her bedroom door shut. Fluttershy finally joined the five mares gathered in the library and awkward silence ensued.

"Yes, well, I'm afraid I must get back to the Boutique," came Rarity's excuse after a few minutes of thinking.

"Err, yeah, Ah gotta go and... Apples."

As the mares who completely ruined her chances with Twilight filtered out, Carrot Top just sat there. She stared at the point where Twilight was just minutes ago for a while before standing up and walking out the door. With a final look up to the librarian's window, she headed home.