//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 // Story: Silent Dreamweaver // by -Brutus //------------------------------// The room became wider and wider as Twilight heard those three words that would be music to her sister-in-law's ears. Cadence would gladly support this brand new Unicorn from nowhere over her own family, distant albeit, for the mere fact that she loved the stallion. The purple Unicorn folded her ears taking a hit to her heart; she didn't know what she should do in this situation. The kiss from the deaf unicorn sent a flurry of feelings too strong for her to cloud her brain, and she hadn't even let them develop before this new mare- or old mare- entered the picture, or re-enter the picture; she hadn't even figured out how she truly felt! Until now. She sat on her haunches, perched at the edge of a couch in the hospital lobby sobbing lightly to herself, too enveloped with her own self pity to notice the mare starting to move. ”Why did this have to happen? I love you...” Those words kept looping inside her head; Twilight slumped her head down as she began fighting this new war within herself. How would Twilight decide to go through this, what would be best method to conquer and win this raging strife. After all, this Unicorn always plans everything that she does ahead of the time! First thing that she put into a scrutiny was the Magic of Friendship and what of she learnt through her writing of friendship reports to her beloved Princess Celestia. Twilight began to apply what meant the most to this situation; the first useful thing that came to her was: Dear Princess Celestia, I am happy to report that I now realize there are wonderful things in this world you just can't explain, but that doesn't necessarily make them any less true. It just means you have to choose to believe in them. And sometimes it takes a friend to show you the way. Dear Princess Celestia, Waiting for what your heart desires can be really hard. So, you may try to take a shortcut. But this dishonesty never works, because you didn't earn what your heart desired. The only cure is being honest with yourself, and others. And that's something every heart desires. Dear Princess Celestia, Today I learned it's not good to jump to conclusions. You have to find out all the facts before saying somepony did something. If you don't, you could end up blaming somepony for something they never did. This could hurt their feelings, and it could make you feel really foolish. So from now on, I will make sure to always get all the facts. I've learned that sometimes the solution to your problems can come from where you least expect it. It's a good idea to stop and listen to your friends' opinions and perspectives... Even when they don't always seem to make sense... But in this case, the solution to this dilemma would come from within herself. Twilight slowly opened her eyes, took a deep breath and decided on best method that would hopefully fix the predicament that all three Unicorns involved were in using the appropriate lessons. Twilight looked on at Amber sitting there on her haunches just nearby. Meanwhile, among all of this, Amber was burying her head between her hind legs- slumping as she tried to wrap her head around this whole situation that she had to face, but she wasn't sure if she had courage to do so. A single, painful tear broke from its barrier in her eye and cascaded down her cheek; the frozen image of his expression when he had caught her still tearing away her nerves. With his best friend, no less! Amber felt that she was no less than dirt and right now, she was holding on to a pathetic but hopeful goal that only made sense to her. Amber would give anything to return things to how they once were before she ruined everything. Now only one question remained: Will Silent feel the same way? Despite the feelings of sadness that plagued the air, she felt familiar muscles begin to shape into a satisfied smile. The maroon Unicorn's mouth began to tug at her, unconsciously smirking as her mind cranked back to the time when they were at their happiest but Amber have chosen the origin of Silent Dreamweaver and Amber Blossom; in her eyes was the happiest moment because she wouldn't have discovered exactly what it meant to love one another. She could remember it very clearly, there is no chance that she would forget that day. There was music disseminating from within one of the watering holes in Baltimare; groups of ponies occupied the chairs and stools that dotted the floor, but one particular group caught her eye. A couple of rowdy stallions were wrestling playfully while a group of mares chatted noisily about something that her friends easily filtered out. They were here to drink and have fun, gossip their night away, and unwind after a long day. “So Meadow, do you see any table open for us?” A chipper female voice spoke up as the door slammed behind them. The bar was commonly rowdy, yet it added to the overall feel of the pub and it drew in customers night after night in anticipation for a great fight. Amber’s friend; Meadow and Purple went in first and they began arguing about where they should sit down, behaving like kids by throwing “No, there. Yes, No! There!” back and forth between them. “Oh look Raven, there's a table open. Let's hop to it and leave those idiots to bicker for a bit.” Amber giggled as she took a backseat that oversaw over the whole bar. “Who do you think you are saying that we are an idiots? OH WAIT!” Meadow and Purple Haze said in unison as they trotted over to take their respective seats. “Wait up!” both Meadow and Purple were attempting to weave their way through the crowd, sprouting “excuse me” as quick they went; Amber and her friend went ahead and took their respective seats. Amber Blossom was lofting around as her friends began ordering their usual drinks then began killing their time chatting with each other about their life, families, bad tidbits, and general gossips about celebrities. Amber kept quiet, mainly because nothing truly spectacular happened in her life recently. The familiar chime of the door's bell alerted the group to a new visitor; no one but the maroon mare bothered to look to the new visitor. Silent strode in in thirst for a drink. Nothing about the stallion separated him from the other drunkards that littered the chairs except his eyes, his black lifeless eyes. Amber kept her eye fixated on the stallion, paying particular interest to his demeanor; it was rare to find one so solemn in a land so overcome with cheer. He made his way to the pub and tapped slowly on the wooden counter top, first once, then twice before the bartender responded in a well practiced motion slidding a bottle vodka toward him. After the usual exchanging of bits for products they both went on their way; however the stallion was just content where he was- drowning his sorrows with alcohol. Amber averted her eyes, refocusing on her friends who was chatting about the Wonderbolts show that was upcoming in nearby city of Fillydelphia. The maroon Unicorn could pick up there and there of the whispers about that stallion of how often he comes in and get drunk, of how pathetic he was and of how little he spoke. Every attempt ever made in trying to communicate with him ended with a grimace followed by a swig of his vodka; it didn't matter if it was a mare that was interested in him or a stallion that wanted to make friends with him. “Don't chu dare i'nor' me... Hey retard! The entire bar turned to the focal point where a Pegasus was screaming mere inches away from the stallion's ears. Any attempt to ignore the situation was quickly trumped by the boisterous voice of the inebriated Pegasus.The Pegasus stallion flared his wings to display his annoyance and anger toward the mute drunk, but Amber was sure that it was alcohol talking not him. The mute's lack of a response snapped the final bit that held the stallion back. He rose a hoof in fury, smashing it into the shoulder of the silent stallion sending both him and the bottle of vodka to the floor. The Unicorn, dazed from the hit and the alcohol, scrambled to his hooves unsteadily and strained to make eye contact with his attacker. Amber watched as both inebriated stallions exchanging glassy stares. The deaf stallion swayed around lightly, lightly, his vision reduced to blurs and blobs but not enough to inhibit his coordination.The pegasus's mouth kept moving; his physical expression told the deaf stallion that something would happen soon enough.The Pegasus's scowl and demeanor ensured a show soon enough. Amber and her friends’, as well among most of everypony in the bar's, eyes widened at the sight that they thought they would never witness. The Pegasus cocked a foreleg back to knock the Unicorn upside his head, but Silent, in anticipation for the blow, ducked from under the swinging hoof and administered a blow of his own directly into his throat. The sound resonated around the now-silent pub and the Pegasus stepped back shakily, hoofs pressed on the impact spot with astonished pain. The breath wheezed down his throat as blind rage rose to the drunkard's head. He released an aggressive growl and charged for the deaf defender. The aggressor stopped dead in his tracks as an eerie aura entangled him, freezing him in place. The source of the magic, one drunken Unicorn, stared evenly, his void eyes masking the rage that surged through his veins. The Pegasus rose from the ground slowly in relation to the Unicorn's eyes; his face awestruck and colorless. A twinge in the magician's muscle sent the newly-found victim crashing to the floor with a cacophonous crack that sent every onlooker cringing in pain. The aura dissipated the still body with nothing but the unsteady, restricted rising and falling of his crack ribs to signal his grip, however weak, to life. Amber speculated that this night would forever be wiped from the Pegasus's memory. The room burst into murmurs and whispers of the stallions, berating them for resorting to violence in such a peaceful land; two of Amber's friends being of the first to spar the chatter. Amber took no interest to the attempts to get her to join them, opting instead to study the victor. His eyes relinquished all thoughts of anger and contempt, resorting back to his recessive, apathetic appearance, yet something sparked deep in his eyes, a spark that told of feelings passed the outer shell, feelings longing for acceptance, feelings longing for affection. Amber and her friend looked on to the stallion as he seated himself, looked down to the downed stallion with a condescending sigh, and returned to the endeavor held within his bottle of clear, liquid problem-solver. He wrapped it in white magic and retreated to the snowy wasteland just beyond the door with nothing more than a black sweater and green scarf to shield him from the ice. “So Amber, what did you think of that stallion? I wouldn't mind to jump into bed with him!” Raven fluttered her wings and looked upon the stallion with the same yearning look one would find from a mare in heat. “Oh, so you mean you would like to roll in the hay with that stallion that is knocked out cold right there on the floor?” Raven immediately answered, “Yes,” before realizing that Amber tricked her whilst her other two friends, sitting across the table, began laughing at her; Amber Blossom couldn't resist the temptation to join the fun. However, it ended rudely when Raven discreetly kicked Amber's leg underneath the table. For some strange reason he maroon mare, whilst tending to her leg, found her thoughts trailing to the mysterious stallion time and again. The stallion tugged at her curiosity until, finally, she succumbed to his mystery and resolved to follow him. Amber quickly excused herself from her friends at the table by saying that she forgot something at her apartment. Quickly scarffing herself to battle the frigid temperatures that plagued the winter months, she crossed the threshold of the doors and inter the wintry land beyond.A cloud of steam escaped from the mare mouth as she exhaled her first breath. The falling snow flakes meant that Baltimare would soon be blessed with a fresh, new sheet of white winter wonder, but her concern was not with the city as a whole, just the section of the city that held the silent protagonist she sought after. She dropped her head to the sidewalk to study any sets of tracks that lead away; after all he couldn't have gotten too far. The set that stuck out to her were hoof prints that seemed to burn the snow away, leaving nothing but cements with every step; she pressed on immediately, lest the remnant hoof prints be buried and forever hidden in the cascading snow, her search came to an abrupt end; she didn't search long before stumbling upon the mystery fighter sitting alone atop a frozen park bench, his green mane and tail blowing lazily in the wind. She paused, second guessing her own actions. How should she, how should any pony, dare approach a Unicorn that just slammed a Pegasus to the ground? Amber after inhaling then exhaling a great breath to gain courage; took the first step forward to introduce herself to the Unicorn. As Amber looked on at the sight that was getting closer, more and more feature of the Unicorn became more clear and clearer, tons of scars adorned his body, his heavy green eyes just stared blankly at the snow mounds around the park. He didn't acknowledge anything around him, a nearly finished bottle of vodka floated around him mindlessly as his horn kept glimmering in green. The snowflakes was falling gently- a truly beautiful sight to behold if somepony took a pause in time to look at it. Amber watched an another steam escaping from her mouth then raising up in the air, building up a quick courage then finally spoke. “Hello there...” she began, just strong enough to grab his attention, but weak enough so as not to provoke or startle him.However, he didn't respond. She stepped back; who did this stallion think he was, ignoring her! “HEY! What’s up with you an...?” She paused. His ears remained flat, but all equine ears twitched at any sound of noise. She calmed herself and stepped forward. She was immediately noticed by the Unicorn, who raised his head quickly and stared at her. She motioned to the seat next to him with a wavering smile. The stallion returned to his drink with a grunt and slid to one side of the bench. She sat and activated her magic, sliding the bottle from the white Unicorn's grasp, and sipped it. The owner looked at her as the softest smile broke over his usually placid face. A second tear widened the track that the first one made as she returned to the present. She closed her eyes to delve back once more, but a light tapping on her shoulder broke her concentration. Twilight was gingerly rapping on her shoulder to garner her attention; a tense smile adorned her face. “Come on, Amber Blossom, let's go back to his room together and you can talk it out.” Twilight had thought this plan over time and time again; make Silent decide so no emotions would be hurt and he would be happy. Fortunately, she took to analyzing every detail possible to use her knowledge of friendship to win the Unicorn over to her favor, however selfish it may be. Amber gawked at Twilight in vain hope that she only be a figment conjured from the depths of her mind that took a sick glee in torturing her, as they did by making her relive every cherished moment with Silent. She wasn't. While Twilight was busy developing her plan and Amber was busy taking a trip down memory lane, Silent lay in his room, silent save for the annoying blips emitting from the machines that went unheeded by the deaf Unicorn. He, however, wouldn't noticed it either way since he was preoccupied with chucking anything within hoofs reach to expel the anger that boiled within him. A storm of emotions tore at him, a battle between the feelings of is lost love and the personal student of Celestia. But feelings couldn't be decided. Nothing can stop it from staying or change.