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Crafty stood in front of the lake, horn glowing with magic. She was tense, eyes closed, face scrunched. She was trying to levitate a small amount of water. CatNap stood a little ways away, observing her.
Crafty and CatNap have been doing these magic lessons for a few weeks now, and CatNap notes that Crafty was quite a fast learner. She still lacked some confidence in herself, but she was improving at a rate CatNap hadn’t expected.
Thinking back on it, he supposed it made sense. Unicorn magic relies on imagination and belief in oneself. And while Crafty lacked confidence, she was definitely a very imaginative critter. They just had to work on the first part as they continued.
He continued to observe as Crafty lifted a large bubble of water, large enough to maybe half-fill a kiddie pool. The water rippled and swirled as she tried to control it. Crafty had a clear picture in her mind: have it form a perfect sphere of water and move it to where the small clump of lilies and tulips were, and let it fall, showering them with water.
As she tried to have it form its shape, she kept repeating a mantra of, I can do it, I can do it, Don’t pop, don’t pop, please don’t pop over and over in her head.
She reached her hooves out, as if she was shaping it with them, as if doing the motion would help. It didn’t.
It’s going to pop!
The water ‘bubble’ exploded; the force of the explosion and the force of losing control caused Crafty to tumble backward. Luckily, she caught herself before she could fall. She watched as the water fell back into the lake, like a small rainfall.
Crafty sighed in defeat and disappointment. She sat down, chin resting on her hooves. CatNap sat next to her, asking her to walk him through her process.
Crafty told him that she did as he had told her; she imagined what she wanted, painting a clear image in her mind of what would happen. But she was struggling to get the water to form the shape she wanted.
“So I started to move my hooves almost like if I’m was working with clay or dough. Trying to use my hooves to have it form the shape I wanted it to. A sphere.”
CatNap nodded. That was a good idea. Treating the water as if it were material Crafty already had experience working with would give her a more solid hold on what she was trying to do.
“But in the end, it didn’t work. Even after I kept telling myself, I can do it. Asking it not to pop. Only for it to end up popping, like I knew it would.” She finished dejectedly.
CatNap looked forward, and at the lake. Eyes narrowed as he thought. Based on what Crafty told him, he guessed that what led to it failing was her uncertainty turning to certainty. But not for succeeding, but for failing.
And that was the problem. He told her that if she grew unsure whether she would fail or succeed, only to decide she would fail, she would. If she wanted to succeed, then she had to be sure of it.
“That's easier said than done, CatNap.”
CatNap nodded. ‘But that is what these lessons and practices are for.’ He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. ‘You’ll eventually gain the confidence needed to perform the spells.’
A small water droplet formed on the tip of his finger; he flicked it to her face. Crafty closed her eyes and scrunched her face as the cool water hit her. She wiped it off, seeing a rather smug CatNap looking at her, with another water droplet at his fingertip. She watched him twirl his finger, the water swirling as he did.
She watched as it got a little bigger when he brought it to the center of his paw, and once more when he brought his paws together, moving them the same way she had. She watched it turn into a perfect sphere of water.
‘And when you gain that confidence, you’ll be able to do this.’ He smiled at her.
She was in awe. “How’d you do that?”
‘This was a simple water incantation. Once you’re more confident in yourself, we’ll start to learn those.’
She nodded in understanding, but then remembered something. “CatNap, um… correct me if I’m wrong, but uh... aren’t those supposed to be spoken out loud for them to work? I think you mentioned that before.”
CatNap nodded. Crafty was correct; you were supposed to say them out loud.
“But you didn't. Speak it, I mean.”
CatNap shook his head; he did not.
Crafty felt a sweat drop. “So how did you…?”
CatNap just stared at her, a water bubble still floating between his paws. Crafty fidgeted in place. What was he trying to tell her? Was this some type of test? Think, Crafty, think. What has CatNap taught you about incantations?
Ok, she remembered incantations were written in those funny, complicated symbols she saw the first time they started the lessons. She remembered that at some point CatNap told her they had to be spoken out loud to work. What else?
She brought a hoof to her chin. He also said they could be combined. No wait, did he ever say that? Maybe she should ask. She looked at CatNap. The cat was now playing with the water bubble, sliding it, forming little shapes with it.
What was she missing? She thought back to everything he told her, trying to find the missing piece. Symbols. Speak. Symbols again. And… Now she felt foolish for not realizing it.
You had to speak the incantations out loud for them to work, but CatNap didn’t say anything because CatNap didn’t like talking. And yet he succeeded in performing the spell—but how?
“If you're supposed to speak it into existence, how did you do it, CatNap?”
CatNap just gave her a smug smile, still not answering. Crafty pouted. If incantations needed to be spoken out loud to work, and CatNap didn't speak because he didn't want to, then how…
“You… found a way to do it without speaking,” she said, slowly pointing at CatNap as it dawned on her.
CatNap did a ding-ding motion with his finger, smiling proudly at Crafty for figuring it out.
“This could have been signed or written out, CatNap. It didn't have to become a… thing.” She complained.
CatNap shrugged. Maybe, but it was a lot more fun… for him.
Crafty gave him an annoyed glare. CatNap just continued smiling, water bubbles now floating above them.
“So you found a way to do the spells without speaking?” She asked, still feeling a little salty.
“Nope, my family did.”
“You're… family?”
CatNap nodded. He informed her that his family all used magic and, many centuries ago, figured out how to cast spells without having to speak. They were the ones who taught him how to do it.
“Oh, ok.”
Wait.
Crafty's eyes sparkle like stars. "Can you teach—”
CatNap shook his head, and Crafty deflated.
A few hours later, as the sun began to set, Crafty and CatNap simply sat. CatNap was showing Crafty a little trick he learned as a kitten. If he concentrated hard enough, he could change the shape of his poppy gas using levitation. He breathed some out, and Crafty watched as it gained a sparkly silver-blue outline.
She then watched as it changed into the form of a flower, an apple, a star, a lightbulb, and a lightning bolt. She smiled. She watched as he breathed out a bit more and changed it to the simple shapes of a dog and a bear. She giggled, clapping.
CatNap did a mock bow, where he sat, and released the gas. They watched as it floated and then disappeared into the air.
They sat in silence for a bit before Crafty broke it. “CatNap, do you ever dream?”
CatNap tilted his head. He thought for a moment. ‘I always dream of being on the moon.’
Crafty shook her head. “No, that's not what I mean. I want to know if you have a dream.”
CatNap blink.
“Let's see, how do I explain it?” Crafty crossed her arms, thinking. “I guess what I mean is, do you have a dream you wish would come true?”
CatNap's gaze moved from Crafty to the ground.
“Well, do you?”
‘Why are you asking this, exactly?'
Crafty looked forward, staring at the lake surface. She could see the reflection of the sunset.
“I overheard a parent and child talking about dreams and goals. And it got me thinking…
“I never had a dream. At least not for long.”
Crafty went on to say that as a filly, she always dreamed of being an artist, but she realized rather soon that it wasn't a dream; she already was an artist. She enjoys drawing, sketching, and whatnot. And because of that, her dream had already become true.
So then she dreamed of being a painter, but that didn't stay a dream for long, because she learned to paint and, as such, became a painter. That kind of pattern continued on; Crafty would dream of becoming something or wishing something would happen, and it came true, because she could make them true.
She learned that those ‘dreams’, those ‘wishes’ were attainable. “In reality they were more like goals than dreams.”
CatNap nodded. He supposed that was true, but he still didn’t really understand. “I guess I was just curious about what it's like to have a dream. Something that brings you hope, something that propels you to keep on going. Something you wish would be true, that kind of thing.”
CatNap turns his attention to the sky. The sunset made the sky glow in beautiful shades of orange and yellow. If he looked closely, he could see twinkling off stars that were yet to come.
CatNap never cared for sunsets. To him, they were simply indicators that nighttime would arrive. But ever since he moved to Rainbow Valley, he found that he enjoyed them more than he thought he could. He wondered why.
“I want that,” Crafty said, her eyes gleaming. “I want to know what it feels like to have a dream that fills you with hope even in the darkness of times. That brings some form of meaning to your life. I want to know what it's like to have a dream.”
She turns to look at CatNap. “Do you understand, CatNap? What am I trying to say?”
He gives a slow nod, still not looking at her. “So… do you have a dream?”
CatNap doesn’t respond right away; he moves his gaze from the sky towards the lake, then to Crafty. ‘My dream… is to make your dream come true… even if only for a moment.’
Crafty looked at him in wonder. “But I don’t have a dream…”
‘When you get one, I’ll make it come true.’
Crafty let out a sweet laugh. “If you do that, then I thank you for the rest of my life… but you have to promise me you’ll be there when I find my dream, okay.”
CatNap nodded. Crafty shook her head. “No, you really have to promise me. And to do so… tap your tail to my horn with a bit of magic.” CatNap looked at his tail, then at Crafty. She nodded, smiling encouragingly. He raised his tail, the tip glowing with magic. Crafty’s horn tip was also glowing with magic. When the two tips met, there were small, sparkly light blue and silver-blue stars.
“Unicorn critters normally make promises by tapping their horns with magic. This signifies that it is an important promise… but since you don’t have a horn, we had to improvise.”
CatNap stared at his tail tip. That was interesting. He didn’t know that. Crafty smiled sweetly. “And now our promise has been made. We'll make both our dreams come true together.”
CatNap returned the smile, with a gentle squeak.
Crafty stared ahead. Tears silently fell down her face. She paid them no mind, even as they drenched her fur, her attention solely on the ‘cat’ in front of her.
“You promised.”