"What do you mean?" I asked, perplexed.
"I mean just that, friend!" Mr. Widemouth exclaimed. "Here..." He then placed two of the five segments of his hooves on my left eyelid. Gently, he slowly closed it.
"Now wait for a bit." He said. I did as I was told, standing unnaturally still, anticipation coursing under my skin. I felt his hoof steadily glide down my cheek, pausing. We held our stance for what seemed like ages, before he whispered directly into my ear, saying "Now, open."
-<0>-
My heart stopped. I could feel the heat in my body stand still, and my head began pounding. As I opened my eyelids, the world I had never known flooded my entire being.
"Is..." I stammered. Mr. Widemouth stood behind me, shielding himself from my view. He was silent. It seemed as if the entire forest was holding it's breath.
"Is this it?" I asked, disappointed.
The fog was thick. Grey. Cold. The trees that loomed out of the shroud were the same. Looking down, I saw my hoof. Grey. The hope of my entire life, since my birth, was to see the world... just to be disappointed by what lay before me. A single tear trickled out of my left eye, saturating the fur under it.
"Mr. Widemouth. Is this really it?" I repeated, my voice cracking.
He responded without hesitation, "No, Snowy. Not in the slightest." At that moment, I saw a grey slab of skin and fur with five long fleshy pieces of skin slide into my view. I was taken aback. I knew Mr. Widemouth would be strange looking, but nothing like this. Clutched in Mr. Widemouth's "hoof" was a triangle of what had been described to me as a silver mirror. Inside of the mirror, a single grey pony was displayed.
"What is tha-...?" I stopped. As I spoke, the pony's mouth moved in sync with mine. The mirror was portraying me. A million thoughts shot through my head. How?? How does that work?! Witchcraft! But I held my tongue, and as I gazed into the mirror longer, I noticed a single defining feature.
The eye of which Mr. Widemouth had been so obsessed with a minute ago. It shone with a shade of what was clearly not grey. It seemed like what my mother had described as the colour of plants. Green. The perfect circumference of the brilliant green was pierced by shiny, metallic sun-coloured flecks. A deep black circle floated in the center of the beautiful chaos, growing and shrinking in size each time I shut my eyelids. Then, as swiftly as it had appeared, the fantastic sight was wrenched from me, and drained of colour. Mr. Widemouth quickly withdrew the mirror, and my eyes began welling up with tears.
"No!!" I screamed, "Bring it back! Please!!" The more I screamed, the more my vision began to fade. Until eventually I was reduced to a crying mess of the blind, hopeless filly I used to be.
"Oh, don't be such a babby!" Mr. Widemouth hissed. I stopped my vocal outbursts, but tears continued to come. "Now, listen. If you do exactly as I ask, I can restore your eyesight. Permanently." I stopped crying, intrigued by his proposition. I sniffled and wiped the salty tears from my fur. He continued, "If you do exactly as I ask, you will be able to see the world in it's entirety. All of it's colour, light, and 'beauty'." He spat the last word as if it were venom.
"What- What do you want me to do?" I asked in a hoarse voice.
"It's quite simple," He began, "When you go home, fill a saddlebag with some toys. Not too many, not too little. About five should do. I also need you to bring a clay jar. Don't ask why, it'll be a surprise!" I silently raised my eyebrow in contempt.
"Oh don't have such a scorn, Snowy! You can trust me!" He reassured. Continuing, he said "Meet me back here tomorrow evening. If you do as you are told..." He paused "...you will get you eyesight back. I swear it."
We sat in silence for several minutes. Then, abruptly, Mr. Widemouth turned on his heel and walked away, the gravel crunching beneath him.