Dreamer - Chapter 2
“C’mon, Topaz, just a bit more! Woah, steady, steady...”
The blind unicorn gritted her teeth and struggled mightily to keep the rock afloat. They were back in their usual spot on the lawns, only this time their idle conversation was replaced with rigorous magic training. Being blind had severely hampered Topaz’s ability to use her magic as a foal, but with Dreamer’s help, she was functioning more like a proper unicorn every day.
Topaz wiped the sweat off her brow with a hoof, causing the head-sized boulder to wobble. Dreamer trotted up to the levitating rock, sticking his head underneath and inspecting the periwinkle aura that surrounded it.
“Huh. Lookin’ good, Topaz. Mana flow looks nice, no spikes in the telekinesis field.”
As if to prove him wrong, the undulating energy suddenly bulged outward toward him, and snapped back around the rock when it was an inch away from his nose. Dreamer chuckled sheepishly.
“Ah, heheh, well, not very many spikes, anyway.”
Sighing heavily, Topaz blew a lock of her charcoal coloured mane out of her face. “You know,” she growled, “This would be a whole lot easier without comments from the peanut gallery.” The field spiked again, and Topaz grunted, trying to compensate for the instability of her own magic.
Dreamer did his best to look hurt. “Peanut gallery? Beg pardon, young lady,” he stated in his best Manehattenite accent, “but I am merely making my observations on your arcane performance!”
Topaz shot a glare in his direction. “Yeah? Well, you’re merely being annoying. Now zip it. I’m trying to concentrate here.”
The silver colt rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, I know,” He said in an attempt to placate his friend. “You’re doing fine, Topaz.” He stuck his head underneath the rock once more. Seeing more and more spikes in the magic field, he frowned and called over to Topaz where she stood, hooves dug in and teeth still tightly clenched.
“Hey, Topaz? The field’s getting a bit jumpy, here. Why don’t you try-”
“Seep into the cracks,” chimed a voice behind them.
The blind mare gasped and whirled around to face the speaker. Twilight Sparkle stood, trying to look as officious as possible, but unable to keep a small smile on her face as she watched Topaz’s jaw drop. The glow that suffused Topaz’s horn vanished instantly, and behind them there was dull thud followed by a very filly-ish squeal.
“Seep into the cracks,” Twilight repeated calmly. “If you just try to grip the rock outright, you don’t have any leverage. Let your magic slip into all the nooks and crannies of the rock, and grip it that way. It’s a lot easier, you’ll find.”
Topaz let her mouth work soundlessly, trying to form words to say to the unicorn filly. Here she was, the star pupil of the Princess herself, coming to give her advice? The two had never even met, let alone exchanged magic tactics.
C’mon, Topaz, don’t just stand there like an idiot, say something witty, or clever!
“Uh, um, y-yeah, sure,” Topaz stammered out, “Seep into the cracks, g-got it.”
Oh, that was brilliant. Real suave.
Twilight nodded happily and turned to trot away, but craned her head back to look over her fellow unicorn’s shoulder.
“Um, Miss? You might want to help your friend out a bit,” Twilight said with concern. “He looks to be in between a rock and a hard place. Literally.”
Topaz clapped a hoof to her brow and whirled around.. “Oh my gosh, I totally forgot!”
If her eyes had worked, Topaz would’ve come across an amusing situation indeed. Dreamer half stood, half slumped, his head trapped underneath the hefty boulder. His hooves pawed blindly over the grass, trying to get leverage enough to pull himself out, but to no avail. He flopped down on the grass, defeated.
A muffled yet wholly annoyed voice came from underneath the rock.
“If you two are done flirting, I could use some help here!”
Twilight blinked. “Flirting? What does he mean, flir-”
“Nothing!”, Topaz quickly interrupted, “Nothing at all! Why don’t we just pretend he never said that, okay?” Raising her voice, she hissed out in a strained tone; “In fact, let’s also pretend that if he says anything like that again, I will personally cave his skull in with that boulder!"
Silence. Then, a small, fragile voice squeaked from underneath the rock.
“Don’t hurt me.”
The black unicorn sighed. Her horn flashing, she tried to reassure the trapped pony.
“Hold on. I’ll get you out. Just....give me a sec.”
Using her magic, Topaz began to sweep through the grass in Dreamer’s general direction. The soft blue glow formed an undulating patch on the grass, and the springy stalks rippled and rolled as the energy floating over it. Much like a cane, Topaz used her mana to slowly feel her way toward the boulder, until she finally felt her magic flow over it.
“Okay,” she breathed, “Now, just seep into the cracks.”
The periwinkle glow grew tighter and thinner around the rock, until only a faint shimmer gave away her magic. With her newfound leverage, Topaz hefted the rock up into the air and tossed it away with a flick of her horn.
Dreamer came up gasping like a fish out of water. “Whew,” he said, massaging his head and neck, “Thanks Topaz. To be honest, I thought you were just gonna leave me there after I made that comment about...”
A fierce glare from the unicorn caused him to shrink down.
“...nothing at all and I’m shutting up now,” he finished meekly.
Topaz turned to Twilight Sparkle with an apologetic smile on her face. “Sorry about that. Dreamer was just helping me out with my magic. I guess I got a little...distracted.”
For a moment, Twilight merely stared with a puzzled expression on her face. Her eyes flitted from Topaz, to Dreamer, and back again. She blinked several times, as if figuring something out. Suddenly she shook her head to clear it, and composed herself once more.
“That’s quite alright, ma’am. I just, um, can’t help but notice that you’re...well, not that I wish to pry, or anything, but it seemed to me that you’re...”
Sensing what the unicorn was getting at, Topaz lended a hoof. “Blind?”
“Yeah. Sorry, I don’t mean to be so forward about it, I just...wanted to know if you’d like to come by the tower sometime?”
Topaz blinked, her jaw going slack for the second time that day. “W-wha...?”
Twilight quickly rushed to remedy the situation. “It’s strictly for research, of course,” she said hastily, “I’ve never gotten the chance to study how a unicorn’s magic is affected by the loss of one of the senses, and I was kind of hoping that you’d be willing to...?”
The black unicorn struggled valiantly to form a composed response, but all she got out was a jumbled mess of stuttering and stammering.
“Uh, um, well, I-I dunno, I’m n-not sure that...”
Backing away hastily, Twilight reassured the still fumbling Topaz. “No no, don’t worry about it! I didn’t mean to impose, and it was rather rude of me to ask something like that, so I understand if your answer is--”
“YES!”
Topaz’s outburst startled everypony present, including herself. Blushing furiously, she tried to regain some dignity.
“Um, I mean, yes, thank you,” she said, “I think that would be wonderful.”
Twilight’s face lit up with a smile, and she shook the other mare’s hoof warmly. “Oh, thank you! Come on, I can’t wait to show you the tower! This is gonna be sooo great!”
With that, the purple unicorn trotted off excitedly, Topaz keeping a firm magical grip on Twilight’s tail to guide her. She called back to Dreamer as she jogged. “Uh, you don’t mind, do you?”
“No no, it’s fine.” he said, smiling, “I’ll see you tomorrow. Go have fun, you two!”
“We will! Now, Topaz, was it? You know, being Princess Celestia’s student gives me access to a lot of different magical artifacts and instruments, so we’ll have plenty of stuff to experiment with!”
“Sounds great! As long as there are no ouija boards. Those things freak me out.”
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“Topaz and Twilight, sittin’ in a tree...”
Dreamer hummed the rest of the tune to himself as he walked home. It was all so wonderfully awkward. Topaz would probably be having a panic attack trying not to embarrass herself, and Twilight, of course, would be completely oblivious. Ignorance is bliss, indeed. No doubt the two would be together within the month.
A twinge in his chest stopped him short.
Frowning, he placed one hoof over his heart. It was thumping a little faster than usual, almost as if it had skipped a beat. He kept walking, muttering under his breath.
“What the hay...?”
It was not the first time something like this had occurred. His heart tended to flutter in his chest whenever Pale Rose was around, little notions like a friendly wave or her stunning smile sending it into overdrive.
So what had caused it this time?
Without warning, a small voice sprang up in his mind.
You don’t like the idea of Topaz with somepony else.
He shook his head violently. That was ridiculous! Why would he have feelings for the blind filly? She was his best friend, not to mention the fact that she was probably more into Twilight Sparkle, famed student of the Princess herself, than him.
Probably.
Dreamer sighed in frustration. Why now? Why did that blasted purple unicorn have to come along and plant the seed of doubt? He was romantically confused enough with Pale Rose as it was. The last thing he needed was to be wondering if he had feelings for his closest friend as well. But, all things considering, was it really such a bad thing? Pale Rose was distant. A trophy that lay on the far horizon. He could spend his whole life pursuing it, and miss what was going on around him. Topaz was here and now. Close. Warm. A friendly anchor in a stormy sea of uncertainty.
But if he ventured a relationship with her, would it ruin what they already had? Uproot the anchor, and send him hurtling into the tempest?
Sigh. He resolved to figure all this out tomorrow. Right now, all he wanted to do was get home, climb into bed, and try to distance his thoughts as far away as possible from-
SMACK
A door.
But not his door. Oh, no.
He had run into Topaz’s door.
Of course he did.
It occurred to him that, lost in thought, he had taken the route he normally would’ve taken at this time of day. The route that he took when he walked Topaz home. It also occurred to him that somewhere, right now, the Universe was laughing at him. Uproariously.