The brief silence was palpable, as they all looked at Twilight like she had gone completely mental. Well, everyone but Toph, that one wasn’t looking, yet.
“You sure about this, twi? I mean sure she’s incapacitated, but if we just start out flat out curing any newcomers that appear, pretty soon you won’t be able to do a thing without any random old pony coming up to you every time they stub their hoof.”
Twilight wasn’t so sure of herself, to be perfectly honest, she had just had this thought that maybe, if the creature could do magic, or as the creature insisted “Earthbending”, diplomacy and negotiation were the best options. And then she had noticed the vacant look on the creature’s eyes, and that idea had just formed. Twilight normally would run up the idea with her friends, but honestly? Only she had the magical ability to do it, medicinal spells weren’t properly easy. So she had offered. So she waited. If this “Human” accepted her offer then she would be able to control her, or at least bargain with her with the threat of removing her vision, again.
Still though, it was a pretty low move, and she knew it.
“Don’t worry Applejack, I’ve got this all planned up” What she didn’t add was that if the creature choose fit to refuse her offer then she would have no choice but to report it to the princess. Well, she WAS going to report it anyway, strange creatures unknown from anyone were noteworthy (and she would have her hoof on history, and was super interested in studying this creature), but could very well be used, well, at least if the creature didn’t cooperate.
Meanwhile while Twilight thought all this, a far deeper train of thought ran through Toph’s mind, did SHE want to be cured? It would be nice to see, and who was she kidding? It would be unbelievable to see for the first time, and she had always been curious about the other colors, her life nothing but black and a few tones of gray, but at the same time, being blind was basically her whole identity. It wasn’t just prep talk, calling herself the blind bandit, it was through being blind that she had become so good at what she did, and she could already sense. Then again, if she could see, she could attack things on the air, without having to ask people to shout places where to throw. It was just...she didn’t even knew how and what to think.
Throughout her life Toph had always secretly hoped that technology would find a cure to blindness, or that the avatar could cure her. She didn’t knew if it was possible, and she knew it was a very fat chance of it happening, but she still had hoped. Then she had learned earthbending and sensing became a second vision, one that replaced her faulty one. She knew that the beasts were nervous, that much was obvious, she could feel their heartbeats, slightly faster than her own. She tried to examine the tone in which this one “Twi” had spoken. It had been firm, and tempting and though it seemed nicer she knew better than to trust someone just because they sounded nice. She didn’t seem to be lying however.
“Cure my blindness? But I...”
The same pony that had talked to her sooner approached, she was beginning to detect the small, imperceptible to a normal human being, differences between them.
“That’s wonderful! You know, Twilight is a very skilled spell caster! I’m sure you’d be happy to get your vision back! Wouldn’t you?”
Toph wasn’t so sure, that was the problem, if she knew what she wanted, she would have made a decision already.
“I need a walk”
And so she started walking away from them, she noticed the faster heartbeat of all those “Beings” as she walked away, but didn’t think much of this until she felt them approaching, well, 5 of them, one of them was in the air, again.
“Where do you think you’re going? I’m going to get you good, and I’m going to hold you tight, and then....”
“Calm down Rainbow.” Toph put a hand to her face, this again? Why could they just let her go? She felt the ground, not too solid, but it wasn’t clayey either. It was somewhere in the middle, however it was, even if it were sand, she had mastered all kinds of earhbending, she made some earth rise and solidify against her knuckles and fists, creating larger fists. If she had metal, then she would be at a definitive advantage, but there didn’t seem to me more than the ores, and even those were buried underground, although she could feel some large amount of gems close to her.
“Whoah, see? I told she’s a threat, she’s getting ready to attack! She’s mfmfmmf...!”
Twilight had cast a magenta glow against Rainbow Dash’s mouth, muffling the sound of her voice. The spell didn’t strain her one bit.
“Calm down, and put down the earth, we aren’t here to hurt you, we just want to help.”
Toph looked at the being closest to her, or well, she sensed it, it was one without a horn. From what she had seen the ones with horns were more dangerous than just the ones without, and the ones with wings? She wasn’t even ready to face them.
Sighing she let some dirt fall down, and then the rest, if those beings were capable of curing her vision, something even the most advanced of the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom couldn’t do, then they must be pretty powerful.
“Can I at least go for a walk?”
“Go for a walk! You just assumed a hostile position. And my legs still hurt from back there, when you used your magic to make me fall!”
“IT’S NOT MAGIC! IT’S EARTHBENDING!” That was gripping on her nerves, hadn’t they ever seen a bender? Then she remembered. First of her kind in that land and all. “And I’m sorry”
“She didn’t exactly try to kill you....I think she’s just scared and frustrated.”
“You bet your sorry butts I am! I can’t even go for a walk and you 6 follow me!”
“We’re sorry but until we know exactly what we’re dealing with, we can’t let you wander around, besides, you’re blind, don’t you need assistance?”
“Well she seemed to be pretty well on her own, she even managed to hit rainbow! And she knows just how many of us are there, you sure she’s really blind?”
“I can’t see you, but I can feel you, trough the vibrations on the ground and why am I telling you this?”
Twilight’s mouth opened in a “O”, she needed to know more, she was letting her scientific curiosity get the best of her.
“Just go on, I need to know more.”
Toph made a pretty weird face, with her face. She kept going.
“Whenever I’m off the ground, or my feet don’t touch it, I am really truly blind.”
“So you don’t want to be cured’?”
Toph grimaced.
“No, I don’t. This whole thing made me think, if I weren’t blind, then I wouldn’t be THE GREATEST EARTHBENDER IN THE WORLD.” She shouted that last part. “And also the melon lord, I learned to see and wait, and it taught me patient and firmness, so thank you but no.”
“Well then, I guess I’ll have to find you a place to go to.”
Toph felt her heart sink.
“Can’t you send me home?”
Twilight looked at her, from above.
“Sorry, but I don’t even know where you came from, maybe with time....”
She turned to all five of her friends
“Who do you think could take care of her, after we assert she’s not a threat? Lyra would want to, but I’m not sure her roommate would enjoy that all that much, do any of you girls have any free space?”
They all looked at one another, the truth was, they weren’t too eager to get a sentient, fully rational creature on their home, one that they didn’t know how much time and responsibility it would take to care for.
Twilight sighed.
“I’ll see what the princesses can do, where’s spike?”
“Probably admiring something made by Rarity, or Rarity herself” Applejack noted as she saw Spike come running from a corner. Toph also felt him, and knew it was a bipedal creature, but she didn’t let her hopes fly too high.
“Spike, write a letter!”