The Trial
"What exactly did you just do?" Sweetie Belle asked while rummaging through thoughts.
"Well, I read about this place, and since there was no destination earlier, I just thought about teleporting. Probably, we are in a place between places," Ferkó explained, still puzzled by the strange situation.
"A place between places? That's a funny name, but I still don't understand why we're here," Smolder complained.
Ferkó, not deeming that worthy of an answer, began to "explore the world." Time passed differently here than outside, but he hoped the difference wouldn't be too significant. Ferkó gradually recognized the barriers of the soul, found the well of confidence, and discovered numerous things not mentioned in the book. However, one thing intrigued him. Regardless of the risk to their relationship, he wanted to try the soul connection that was the trigger for the plot in his book. Little did he know that as soon as he figured things out, one of his friends would accidentally make a mistake bigger than the Barbarossa operation. Ocellus, jokingly wanting to poke Ferkó, didn't pay attention and "collided" with Sweetie Belle playing behind him. This resulted in a three-way connection. Sweetie Belle and Ocellus began to see moments of each other's lives, and Ferkó also got involved in it at times. Ferkó sensed regret, a desire for service, lies, and much more. Ocellus felt all kinds of fear, accumulation of anger, but the sudden flow didn't last long because Ferkó didn't expect it. Reflexively, he broke the connection, sending the small group back into the icy snow.
Ferkó was completely out of breath and tried to clear his mind and cleanse his blurry vision. Ocellus was dizzy and not really aware of where she was. Sweetie Belle, on the other hand, faced an active headache and a strange evening of embarrassing memories marathon. The three friends were sweaty and didn't really understand what happened. As Ferkó gathered his thoughts a bit and realized what happened, he turned as red and hot as to start melting the snow, resembling a big pepper.
Slowly, he walked over to Sweetie Belle and tried not to make eye contact with Ocellus, dragging her aside. "Sweetie Belle, look, I'm sorry you had to see that. I hoped you were telling the truth, but I don't care about the lies anymore. I just want to apologize," he said, muttering the words into a mumble.
Sweetie Belle's mind was numb, and she couldn't utter a coherent word, but she did everything to bring some order to the primal chaos.
"Listen, at least now we don't have to hide anything, and we won't lie to each other anymore," Ferkó said, finishing with tears in his eyes.
Sweetie Belle finally managed to clear her mind enough to form understandable words. "No, I'm the one who should apologize. I shouldn't have lied to you, and to myself. Now at least I know what I feel, and I'm happy that you share this with me," she said in a tone of such intensity as if her family had just been murdered. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she hugged Ferkó tightly.
Ferkó didn't quite understand what had happened, as his mind was still in turmoil. The others had discreetly moved away, except for Smolder, who was trying to pull Ocellus aside. Eventually, Ferkó hugged Sweetie Belle back, and tears welled up in his eyes too. What overwhelmed them was nothing but pure and indistinguishable sadness and pain. Slowly, Ferkó tapped on Sweetie Belle's shoulder and felt the pure sadness that also tore at the heart of the otherwise calm and contented tired happiness.
Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle, from the depths of her heart, regretted what she had done, and simultaneously, the deep contempt she would receive haunted her like a nightmare and vision. However, her eyes widened when Ferkó's tight embrace suddenly sparked a drop of cheerfulness in her. Ferkó knew what he was doing, but he didn't care. His only goal was to make his friend happy again. When he felt nothing but sadness, an inexplicable joke came to his mind that he said to Sweetie Belle in Iran, where even shapeshifters would hear emotions because there were so many grumpy people. As the joke played out in his mind, all his sadness dispersed, and a feeling of pure, undisturbed tired happiness took over. Sweetie Belle also experienced similar emotions due to the random emotional suction that the soul bond awakened. Tears no longer fell from Sweetie Belle's eyes, and slowly, the seemingly beautiful situation restored her self-confidence and good mood.
When both sides finally calmed down enough, Ferkó released the little filly. She only opened her eyes at that moment.
"Thank you," came the deepest tone of sincerity from Ferkó's mouth with this simple word.
"No, thank you," countered Sweetie Belle.
After this, the two friends fell together, and their eyes led them to the land of sweet dreams. To be continued...