Sweetie Belle Gains a Soul

by Bad Dragon


06 - Pep Talk

With my snout almost rubbing on the ground, I aimlessly wandered through the town. Tears still slid down my muzzle but not in streams anymore. My head felt heavy, and it hurt to think about anything. I didn’t have the energy to pull myself out of the misery I was in. It wouldn’t have helped if I put up a fight. I couldn’t beat Rarity in her own game, no matter how hard I tried. She was older and possibly even smarter than I was. If I tried to reason with her, she’d just start speaking those fancy words that nopony understood. I couldn’t fight her on that level, let alone have a chance of winning.

A raindrop splattered on my back. Another one drifted from my horn across my forehead, and into my eye, joining the almost dried up spring of tears.

I didn’t like getting wet. So much that I would always choose Rarity’s towel treatment after a bath. The alternative to it was much worse. It consisted of me dragging my damp body across various carpets to dry myself. Leaving my coat to be moist usually itched even more than if I was wearing a tight jumpsuit, and such clothes shouldn’t even exist. Only a mean pony would be making body traps like that. 

I stopped in my tracks when a realization hit me. Rarity made at least one for every pony in Ponyville, for some reason. At that point, her evil scheme became clear to me. She wanted to make everypony itch. It was the only explanation I had at the time, and that meant it was the correct one.

The raindrops made me feel good about my decision to skip the drying process. It wouldn’t help me in the long run since I was about to get soaked anyway. Dark future, full of itchiness, was my destiny. I sighed as I dragged myself off the spot and swanned on along the dreary path. I was sure Rarity giggled to herself in her warm, dry boutique, knowing that my delicate skin would be at the mercy of my damp coat.

I heard the clopping of my hooves on the pavement, but I didn’t feel the connection. Even the engraved rocks rejected me. The street slid under me all by itself.

The dark thoughts were too much for me to bear, and I didn’t have the will to make sense of the world anymore. My hooves dragged along under me, yet it felt as if I was stuck in one spot. I couldn’t escape the gloomy surroundings, no matter how fast I hauled myself across the shady world.

I wasn’t walking to get somewhere in particular; I just didn’t want to stay drenched in misery. My focus drifted across the passing rocks. They were dissing me! Every time I met one, it broke up with me right after. The street continued sliding under my tired legs. I didn’t know what to do with myself. Sad thoughts smothered my mind. I tried to distract myself by focusing on something shiny, but everything around me was just gray and dull. Kicking the bigger pebbles that came near me felt a little gratifying. My hooves hurt a little after I did that, but it was a good kind of pain. It made me feel alive and in control.

A soft breeze from in front of me ruffled my mane.

“Hey, Sweetie Belle,” I heard Twilight’s voice before me. “Why the long face?”

Having had my head lowered, I hadn’t even noticed her land on my track of misery. My head wearily rose. I wasn’t in the mood for any of her weird ideas. Lifting an eyebrow at the poor pony pun was the most I could force myself to do. I didn’t have the energy for anything else.

“Did you recently read something that baffles your innocent, little mind? If you want, we can finish that talk about reproduction. You know, the one you ran out on last time...”

I prepped myself to jump into a gallop while I still had the chance to do so.

She cocked her head and opened her eyes wide. “Wait!” she ordered. Her smile dissipated as she stepped off my shadow.

I stopped in my tracks. It was too late for me. My head bowed in resignation. I was doomed.

“What happened to you? Why are you wet from muzzle to tail?” She looked up at the cloudy sky and extended a wing above me.

I sighed and abandoned all hope for a swift escape. So much for my plan to be alone. I wasn’t looking for any help. She wouldn’t understand me. Nopony did. She’d probably just say she has a book on the subject. That was her answer to everything. On the other hoof, I did feel like venting out my frustrations, so I decided to confide in her, anyway. “Even though I volunteered Rarity to teach me the gem-finding spell, she didn’t want to do it. She said I’m not old enough and went on about my exploding grandma.”

“Hehe, exploding grandma,” Twilight got her smile back.

“But I don’t care! I want to earn my cutie mark before I get old like Rarity.”

“Wait, you think Rarity is old?” Twilight giggled. “Teehee!” She quickly covered her muzzle with a hoof. “I don’t think she’d be happy to hear that.”

It seemed I said something wrong. If Rarity would hear about me talking ill behind her back, she would hate me even more. I had to fix it! “Well, I’m sure she’s not as old as you are.” I smiled, confident that I made everything alright again.

“For flock’s sake, I’m not old!”

“Says an ancient alicorn,” I whispered under my breath.

She clenched her teeth together and glanced at me. After taking a deep breath, she focused on my horn. “Casting a detection spell is not as intuitive as levitation. It takes a lot of focus and arcane experience to utilize a detection spell.”

Her revenge for my comment was swift and hurt me deep. I bowed my head back to the ground. Or maybe she’d already pre-planned with Rarity to bring me down.

Twilight embraced me with a wing. She bowed her head to mine. “And you’ll get your cutie mark long before you get old...” Her body tightened and the wing pressed down on me. She muttered through her teeth, “Like me…”

I pressed against the primaries of her wing, trying to escape her tight embrace.

“Didn’t Rarity explain any of this to you?” she asked.

“I think she was about to come to that, but I squirted at her first.”

“Oh my...” Twilight bit her lip. “Um, Sweetie Belle... I hear your birthday is coming soon.” She changed the subject and pulled me closer with a wing. “Is there any present you wish to get?”

“A cutie mark.” I blurted out without even thinking.

“Well, I doubt anypony will give you that; you’ll have to earn it like everypony else. But tell you what? If you’re so hung up on your cutie mark, I can provide you with something cutie mark related even before your birthday.”

I ceased struggling and looked up at her.

“If you walk with me to the castle, I’ll tell you an inspiring, true story about the inevitability of getting a cutie mark. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” She slightly nodded at me.

I jerked forward. The sudden move came about a little because I was anxious to hear the cutie mark gaining story but mostly because Twilight tapped me on the rump with a wing. My legs had always reacted on their own whenever something violated me from behind.

She looked forward and smiled. “This was some time after I skipped kindergarten to become Princess Celestia’s protege.” Her head rose high into the air. “I lived in a dormitory beside the Canterlot Castle when I was still—young. Most of the time, my studies kept me busy inside, but I did go out on occasions. Almost every week, I encountered a colt much bigger than me on my reading walks.”

“Reading walks?”

“They’re like regular walks, but better because you’re also reading a book while you stroll about. I wish I had more time for them nowadays, but things have been quite hectic around here lately…” She sighed then quickly shook her head and clenched me even tighter with a wing. “Umm, where was I? Oh, yes! You see, at that time, I already had my cutie mark. What intrigued me was that he still hadn’t obtained his, despite his age.”

I gasped at the awful curse. “That’s so horrible!”

“I would regularly see him wander throughout the city. He always kept to himself and just wandered about.”

“Why wasn’t he trying to get a cutie mark if he didn’t have one?”

“That’s just it; he didn’t seem to care. Yet, one day, he got his cutie mark, regardless.”

“Yay!” I cheered for him. “What did it look like?”

“It was a series of horseshoe imprints in a wandering path of circles, loops, and curves. Earning a cutie mark didn’t change him in any way. He still strolled about with his head always downcast. Every day.

“So, you see, Sweetie Belle? You’re bound to earn a cutie mark, even if you don’t hunt for it.”

“Are you sure he wasn’t trying to get it?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Come on, have you tried earning a cutie mark by just walking about?”

“Well…” I had actually tried once, but it didn’t work. Then again, it didn’t work for Twilight’s colt either. But he kept at it; not stopping at the first failed attempt. If I kept walking around Ponyville like he did, perhaps I could get a similar mark, eventually. Maybe one’s destiny can be forced, as long as one is persistent enough.

My staring at the distance was disrupted when her face lowered to mine. “You have nothing to worry about, Sweetie Belle. Rest assured that you’ll get your cutie mark. I’ve already seen you with it, you know? This one time, your flank even glowed.” She winked at me.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. “In a universe far, far away...” I hoped that she wouldn’t start throwing magic mud at me to prove her point like the last time at Zecora’s.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” She smirked.

“Time travel? Alternate dimensions? The more you talk about it, the more complicated and made up it sounds...” A soft pounding in my head reminded me that I should stop thinking about it or risk a headache. “I’m sure I’d remember if I ever had a cutie mark. Nopony else remembers it, either. It’s just you saying this.”

“Starlight Glimmer and I only talked for a bit among the clouds in this chrono-dimension. That’s the only difference between the current and the original timeline. We didn’t stop the rainboom or anything noteworthy like that. Still, it was enough to alter the events in this universe. The ripples of our interference in the past are still making their way through the timeline, patching the future with what has been. Due to our disturbance being almost negligible, the changes to the future slowly manifested instead of branching out.”

I sighed. “To be honest, this all sounds a little crazy...”

“Yeah, I know. It’s a lot to swallow even for me. To my relief, most of the variance turned out to be insignificant. Yet, there were some game changers here and there. You and your fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders losing your marks and that statue of Diamond Tiara on School's broken playground were the biggest alterations I’ve noticed. Fortunately, their frequency has gradually decreased. Only some minor ones still occur occasionally. I estimate that this universe has more or less grown consistent with its past. It’s been awhile since I’ve last seen any modification. The most recent shifting I saw was that tree at the crossroads.”

I looked at the big tree. “What about it?”

“It wasn’t there a moon ago.”

“Yes it was!” I protested. “That tree was there ever since I can remember. It’s probably even older than me.”

“Exactly! It has, indeed, been there for more than a decade, but such wasn’t the case a moon ago. Only I noticed the tree appearing out of thin air, and it wasn’t because nopony was there to witness it: the same wave of changes rewrote their past and, in turn, their memories.”

“Except for yours... for some reason...” I sighed and shook my head in disbelief.

“Well, Starlight Glimmer and Spike are also aliens in this universe. They are exempt from alterations, just as I am.”

I tried to step away from alien Twilight, but her wing held me tight to her body.

“To continue what I was saying, when I came back from the past, it was still my universe. The very one I originated from. But it wasn’t long until I found out that Starlight, Spike and I weren’t the only ones popping into this reality. Ripples caught up with us. You see, the changes made in the past weren’t strong enough to branch out a brand new alternate universe. Still, consistency is the law, and it had to be enforced throughout the timeline. The world could not stay the same as I left it. I figured out that I’m becoming a stranger in an increasingly strange land. That made me a bit nervous because I didn’t know what change to expect. It doesn’t concern me much, anymore, though. The distortions are losing significance with each passing wave. The ripples of history, more or less, caught up with the present, altering it appropriately with the past, as they traversed through the sands of time.”

None of what she said made much sense. She had already lost me way back at the picnic among the clouds that she supposedly had with Starlight Glimmer. I just continued to walk with my head bowed. 

She looked at me and sighed. “And yet, you don’t even believe me, do you? I thought the illuminated, magic mud at Zecora's would be proof enough for you.”

I didn’t say anything. What can you even say to somepony who thinks she’s an alien.

“Either way, I’d still be an alien even if I wouldn’t delve into time travel. The original Twilight was lost when she first cast the self-teleportation spell. Celestia hadn’t told her she’d perish in the process.”

“What are you talking about?”

She turned to me. “And now, my time to cease and decease is at hoof, as well. I go where my predecessors went before me; to the great planes of oblivion.”

“Whaa….”

“Goodbye cruel world!” Her hoof dramatically rose as her horn charged up.

I gasped when she vanished.

In an instant, she appeared at my other side. I pointed at her previous location with a hoof and tried to ask something, “What were you...”

“Hello there, little filly.” Her head moved closer to mine, making me take a step back.

“Er…” I looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Twilight?”

“Indeed. Twilight 9724, to be precise; evoked from thin-air thanks to the teleportation sacrifice of the previous alien Twilight.” She looked over my head into the empty space. “Rest in peace, past Twilight. You shall be forgotten in the sum of things, but you’ll serve as a part of the proof that teleportation does not degrade the teleportee in any way. If that was not the case, I’d be insane at the very least by now. Yet my mental fortitude is still as sharp as ever. And that’s even with disruptive time ripples settling in.” Her eyes shifted to me. “Speaking of, my conjured memories tell me you’re Sweetie Belle. I’m pleased to meet you for the first time in my existence.” She offered me a hoof.

I reflexively lifted mine to bump it with hers, as is proper, but stopped just before the contact. “Twilight, is it really you?” She looked like her usual self, but I wasn’t sure if that was the case.

“Heh, don’t worry. I’m still kind of Twilight that you know.” Her hoof ruffled my mane. “I’m the exact copy of her. Fundamentally the same down to the atomic level. I’m the only Twilight Sparkle alive, so you can just consider me Twilight Sparkle.”

“Is the original Twilight really gone?” I asked.

“I’m not certain, actually. The consensus is that the original body is not sustained in teleportation. However, I suspect that there might be an empty sub-dimension somewhere, packed with Twilight’s who attempted teleportation, cannibalizing on each other to sustain themselves.”

“That sounds horrible!” My voice cracked.

“Don’t worry, It might not even be the case.” She smiled. “And if there is a place like that, it’s feeding time!” She teleported again. “Either that, or if there is no air there, two Twilights will be suffocating for the next few minutes in the vacuum of corpse-space with zero hope of escape...”

I wasn’t sure I understood what she was saying, but my disturbed stomach informed me that I knew more than enough, already.

“Well, you don’t have to pay heed to any of that. Whatever the case may be, it’s past Twilight’s problem, not ours.” She waved a hoof to the side as if that could make the insanity go away. “Let’s talk about you. Your future cutie mark is your motivation, right? I best use that as a lure.”

“Huh?” I raised my eyebrows as I looked at her.

Her trot lost a beat as if she forgot for a moment how to walk on four legs. “Wait, did I just say that out loud?” She shook her head and turned to me. A forced smile plastered on her face. “You’ll get your cutie mark, and that’s a promise. Everypony obtains it, and you will, too. All you need is an opportunity to show how extraordinary you already are.”

“If you say so.” I sighed in disbelief.

“Speaking of extraordinary...” Twilight’s wing dragged me closer to her again. “Personally, I think you have a knack for magic. If you wish to apply yourself to the arcane, I have some good news for you.” She winked at me when I looked up at her.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind hearing some good news for a change.”

“You’re not like the other Unicorns your age.”

“I’m not?” My eyes opened wide.

“You have the potential! If you really wanted, you could get as proficient at magic as some of the foals who try out for the magic kindergarten.”

“You really think I can be as pro—” I wrinkled my forehead and looked up, but still couldn’t remember the word she used “—good at magic as they are? Aren’t they like the best of the best?”

“Trust me, not every Unicorn can swing a broom in the air like you did during my time. Foals your age sometimes have a hard time levitating up a mere stick, let alone direct heavy objects midair like you can.”

“Do you think I’m pro—enough to learn the gem-finding spell?”

“Well, I’d have to give you a checkup to determine that. If you join me in my shielded basement in my castle’s dungeon… I mean cellar! That’s the proper word for it!” She giggled sheepishly. “Anyway, if I were to probe you with my instruments, I could find out exactly what does and doesn’t make you tick.

I tried to duck her gripping wing, but I couldn't escape its clutches. I knew she was just trying to protect me from the rain, but she might have been overdoing it a bit.

Her head rose high. “I have all the scientific equipment necessary to determine how much mana potential you have—” the grin on her face grew ever larger “—among other things.”

“You do?”

“Indeed. It’s very fortunate, and completely coincidental, that I found, err, meet you at this time. I just so happen to have everything ready and powered up for live testing. All that’s left is convincing somepony to go along with my scheme.” Her eyes shifted on to me, teeth clenched.

I had a hunch that she may have been up to something, but it didn’t really matter because there was a scheme of my own clogging itself together in my mind. Her gullible nature would play to my advantage. I intended to manipulate her into doing what I wanted. “Will that allow me to cast the gem-finding spell?” There. I hid my true desires in the form of a question, so she wouldn’t suspect a thing. By asking instead of telling, my motives remained hidden. I was so crafty. The smartness in me was so vast that I had often been able to play even myself for a foal. Given how smart I was, it meant that I was smarter still to be able to deceive a smart pony that I was.

“Well, if you have a sufficient focus, a strong will to absorb adequate esoteric knowledge, and patience to withstand the pains of practice to raise your arcane experience to a decent level, then, perhaps, one day you could learn to cast a detection spell, yes.” She winked at me.

“So—not today?” I kicked a stone off the road. The reality wanted to disturb my plans again.

She snickered, “Probably not today. Then again, one can never know for certain when it comes to breaking new grounds. When I got my cutie mark, I cast aging and transformation spells which are far more difficult than detection spells. There might be a chance of something similar happening to you.”

“Aging spells? Could you cast one on me if I really turn out to be—” I paused before saying a curse word. “—too young?”

“No, not even I possess the skill necessary to cast spells of such magnitude, despite being an element of magic. I was only able to successfully cast an aging spell in a once in a lifetime surge of magic energies within me when I broke through the barrier in my horn. It was at that time I also got my cutie mark.” Her wing splashed against my back as she leaped in front of me. “It represents magic.” She twerked her flank in my face.

I growled at that. “Lucky you.”

When I passed her shaking booty, she caught me again with a wing. “Maybe you can get a cutie mark for magic, likewise.”

“What if I’m not good enough?”

“Don’t worry. You need not know all the spells. The one I mentioned is even out of my reach. If I wanted to cast such a powerful spell again, I would have to be wearing a certain kind of enchanted artifact.”

“If you used that and made me a grown up...”

“No!” she raised her voice. “We shouldn’t even be talking about the manipulation of one's age in such a manner. It’s taboo magic, almost as detestable as necromancy. It’s against the natural order. All ponies age, until their time comes to leave this world.”

The thought of important ponies leaving sent shivers down my spine. I wondered how she was able to be okay with something as terrible as that. “Will Princess Celestia leave us too?”

“Well, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are an exception to the rule. Supposedly, so are Princess Cadence, Flurry Heart and I. It’s still a bit hard for me to grasp the prospects of longevity. I won’t even try coming to terms with it until I see some indication of its manifestation. If I really do possess immortality then that is a big privilege, but it is also a great responsibility. For instance, if I’m immortal, I’ll be able to read all the books in the Canterlot library.” Her wing spread out above me. “It would take me approximately four average pony lifetimes. A perfect life—quadrupled.” The grin on her face stretched so wide that I could see all her teeth. Saliva seeped its way out between them. “But it’s also my duty to advance scientific understanding and arcane knowledge for the good of all ponykind.” Her wing formed an arch over me again and pulled me closer with its primaries.