Chapter 7
Remembrance
Three days had passed since the arrival of the mysterious pony from Twilight's nightmares. Since he had been with her, she hadn't had a single bad dream. Soul only woke up on the first day and talked to Fluttershy, but since then he didn't woke up any more. Twilight sat and read a book about shared dreams phenomena at the side of his bed for most of every day, waiting for him to become conscious again.
Twilight had finished her daily shopping tour and returned home. She put her saddle bags on the kitchen table. Quickly, she noticed the same strange stare like in her dreams. She slowly turned around and saw the massive black unicorn looking at her. His eyes nearly completely covered under his long silver-grey mane. Twilight was shocked and relieved at the same time as she approached him.
“Oh my gosh! You're awake, I have so many questions. Like uhmm... where are you from? What did you do in my dreams-...”
Twilight jumped up and down before she was cut off by a dark hoof that was now held before her mouth. “Just answer me a question. Why?”
She was surprised by his simple question. “Well, you were hurt and with the beast running wild, I couldn't leave you behind. I would never abandon a friend in need.”
Soul slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, his gaze still pointed at Twilight. “When are we?”
Twilight turned her head in confusion and gave him a puzzled expression. “Well, Princess Celestia has reigned for a thousand years now. That’s a weird question to ask, you know.”
Soul still watched the young mare in front of him with a warning in his eyes, that told her not to ask again. “Never mind.”
Twilight could only smile about him at this moment. “So... Would you like to tell me where you came from?”
Soul hesitated and closed his eyes for a moment. “My name is Soul Tearer and I used to live in Canterville.”
“Canterlot,” Twilight corrected immediately.
His ears twitched briefly, he agreed with her without asking. “Tell me about these Elements.”
Twilight was surprised by his off topic question, but she answered him. “Well, there are six elements: Kindness, Honesty, Generosity,Laughter, Loyalty, and my element: Magic. They are a powerful magical source used to protect harmony. But every foal knows this since we defeated Nightmare Moon.”
His eyes narrowed as Twilight mentioned Nightmare Moon, he pushed Twilight to the ground with his body and fixed her with his hooves, fear could clearly be seen in her eyes. “Tell me what happened! This instant!”
As Twilight began to answer, the door opened and a white unicorn with a purple mane stepped in.
“Good morning my dear! I just wanted to borrow the book about Fashion of the-...” She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw a stallion hovering over Twilight. “Oh Twilight you never told me that you like older stallions. I don't want to interrupt you.”
Soul immediately stepped back. Both of them blushed heavily.
Before Twilight could say anything, Rarity's eyes fixed on the black stallion. “Oh my, you look dreadful. I can't let her special somepony run around like this.” Rarity walked around him and pushed him out of the door.
“Wait, stop! What are you doing?” Twilight just laid there, not really understanding what just happened. Now she was left alone.
In front of the library,Rarity and Soul were arguing with each other. Rarity was pushing him away from the library, despite his heav body, she hadn't had any trouble to force him to move.
“Where are you taking me? How is it even possible that you can just push me like this?”
Rarity just snorted. “This is a fashion emergency, nothing could stop me now! We will give you a total make-over at my favourite spa!”
The massive black stallion just rolled his eyes. “Well fine… WAIT! WHAT?” Before Soul could fight back they reached the spa. Rarity shoved him in and called out for Aloe and Lotus.
Lotus came from the room next to them to greet them. “Good morning, Miss Rarity. What can we do for you today?”
Rarity flicked her mane back with a stately sigh. “The usual for me and an all-inclusive treatment for him. On my bill, of course.”
As Soul opened his mouth to say something, Lotus stopped him and started talking. “No, no, no. Say nothing, I know exactly what you need now.”
Before he could resist, he was sitting in a sauna. “Well, maybe this isn't so bad.”
Soul had been soaking in the misty atmosphere of the sauna for nearly a hour, feeling the peace and tranquility of breathing in the humid air, when his peace was shattered by the sudden re-appearance of Aloe. She ushered him into the next room, chatting all the while.
"Now we'll do your mane, Sir," she said, seating him in a swivel chair.
"Call me Soul, please," the stallion said, warming up to this mare who seemed to want to please him.
Lotus nodded in confirmation while they went to the styling room. “How would you like your mane to be cut?”
Soul thought about the past for a moment before he responded. “Please leave the front part of my mane long and cut it shorter towards the back. I like my tail to be a little bit longer than a usual cut, it should nearly reach the ground. And please cut my beard into a goatee.”
Lotus was quite surprised by his request. “No offence, Soul, but this is quite an old style, especially the goatee.”
The old stallion’s smile was barely visible to the spa pony. “Well, I'm old by now, young lady. And the goatee is in remembrance of an old friend.”
Lotus smiled at the elder stallion and began to cut his mane. “Well, if that is the case...” The skilled spa pony only needed a few minutes to cut the hair of the old stallion before Aloe came in.
“I see you're done. Miss Rarity is already awaiting you in the whirlpool room.”
His expression suddenly changed to one of annoyance when they mentioned her name. He stood up and went slowly into the next room and let himself down into the bathing tub where the white mare already waited for him with a saucy grin on her lips.
“Well, I think we haven’t been introduced. My name is Rarity, and yours?”
Soul didn't look at her while he spoke. “Soul Tearer.”
There was silence for a moment before Rarity dared to go on. “So you're Twilight's special somepony. When did you meet each other?”
Now anyone could see the annoyance clearly in his face. “I'm not, and I repeat, NOT her special somepony.” He emphasized the word special very oddly. “But to answer your question. We met around four days ago for the first time. I saw here a few times before, but we never spoke to each other.”
Now Rarity took a closer look at the handsome stallion next to her. “So does that mean you're single? You look beautiful with that retro manecut!”
His eyes ripped wide open as he realized what the white mare was up to. “I'm married.” His eyes become really sad in this moment. “Well, … I should have been...”
Rarity noticed that she unintentionally crossed a border. “But you look sad. Has something happpened?” She didn’t want to intrude, but wanted to know.
A single tear ran down his face. “You could say... faith drifted us apart.”
Her eyes now grew big. “You don't mean she-...” Before she could ask her question Aloe entered the room.
“Your treatment is over now, please dry yourself. I hope you enjoyed your visit.”
Soul snapped out of his sad memory and stepped out the tub. He went a few steps forward until he reached the door. “Nevertheless... Thank you, Miss Rarity. I needed this after such a long time. But of course, I will pay for this as soon as possible.”
Rarity smiled at him and waved after him. “A friend of Twilight, is also a friend of mine. See it as an act of generosity”
He stopped outside the door and thought about her words a short moment before he went on.
Rarity wanted to follow him, but as she reached the door and turned, he was gone. Only a faint glow of magic was left in the air.
"At least, he has this in common with Twilight.
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In the library, a sudden flash of magic illuminated the room. Soul sat lazily on Twilight's couch.
The startled librarian turned around and ask him with a nervous expression. “How was it? You're looking refreshed.”
He didn't respond at all, but as Twilight saw his new appearance she had to giggle. “Oh I see, you don't have to say any more. I’ll be upstairs if you need me. I have to study.”
Soul waited until she was in her room, the last thing Rarity said made him think. “Ponies these days are so good-natured.” But one particular word made him suspicious. Generosity. He noticed the same type of magic around the white unicorn, like the one around Twilight. It was so familiar and foreign at the same time. He thought to himself that generosity could be really be a part of her. He had to laugh at his thoughts.
“That is impossible.”
He levitated a book towards himself and began to read until he lay down to rest.