A New Impetus

by Zykov

14. Restoration Destination

“I would go and say that was awesome but I suppose this isn’t the right time--- Awe who am I kidding I can’t hold back, that was awesome!” The silhouette threw her forelegs up in the air, spreading them as far apart as she could. After the ‘grand’ entrance she bolted towards the ground and landed on her hooves with enough force to shake the ground.

Rarity trotted over to the mare and squeezed her as hard as she could.“Oh Rainbow darling, thank you, thank you thank you thank you! You have no idea how grateful I am right now!”

Rainbow Dash patted the unicorn on the back, clenching teeth trying to pull back. “You’re kinda showing it Rara…” As she got out of Rarity’s grip she looked back at the Boutique’s kitchen window where some remaining smoke was still escaping from, then looked around at everypony there. “So um… what exactly happened here?”

Rarity turned and glowered her eyes with one slightly wider while looking at the fillies while she had a half frown. “Well, apparently my little sister and Scootaloo were trying to cook ignoring our agreement not to cook when I’m not there, and as noble as their intentions were, it caused this ‘little’ predicament to happen.”

Taking a step next to Rarity the blue pegasus mare extended an eyebrow while looking at the fillies. “Wow, that was a dumb move.”

Both fillies hung their heads with ears folded back.

Rarity stood next to Rainbow and nodded along. “Yes, it was.” She turned around and looked at her home for a moment. After a bit of staring, she rose her head and started walking toward the kitchen. “Now if you excuse me, I’m going over to my charred kitchen to have a major breakdown. This might take a while.”

Rainbow’s smile turned to a frown and she tilted her head. “Um… alright then… ” As Rarity started to walk toward her home Rainbow again turned around and looked toward both fillies but kept her eyes focused on Scootaloo more than Sweetie Belle. “Seriously, you burned down her kitchen?”

“Um, yes ma’am, pretty much…” Scootaloo admitted, her head hung and eyes unwilling to look up at the pegasus.

Seeing the reaction from the filly the mare quickly improved her tone, making it higher and more energetic. “Even though that was a major, like MAJOR fail... you did well in getting me. Well done, Scoot. You’re pretty fast kid.” She gave a smile and nod.

As soon as Scootaloo heard and processed the complement her head tilted up to look her in the eyes. Seeing the smile, the small pegasus lifted her head up higher, giving an open tooth grin back.

After giving Scootaloo’s head a ruffle, Rainbow heard a rustle from the river and remembered seeing a new stallion by it. “Now who’s that pony over there who’s confessing his love for the river?”

The comment made Soul drop his eyebrows and he lowered his head, though he shook it off and continued taking deep breaths, pretending he didn’t hear anything.

Sweetie Belle spoke up, her eyebrows still low and her voice still had a softness to it. “Oh he’s the new apprentice of Rarity.” She looked over at the stallion and sank a tad lower into herself, looking towards the ground. “We sure didn’t help give him the best first impression… Especially since the first thing he had to do was run in there and help to save Opal...”

Rainbow bolted over of the stallion and tapped his head a few times, tilting her head with eyebrow raised. “This is the guy? Is it alive?”

The stallion’s heart leapt out of his chest and he spun around putting distance between him and the invader. “Hey hey hey hey, no touchy please!” He breathed heavily and put a hoof to his chest as his heartbeat returned to normal. “Ok. Now hush, the river is just about to warm up for me.”

Giving a jolt back and spreading her wings with muscles tensed watching the stallion. She eased up a bit, with a turned head and squinted eye. “So you’re not a statue after all.”

Soul glanced at the pegasi with a grin. “Noooooo, I’m a mighty talking potato.”

“Whatever you say.” She shrugged her shoulders and extended a hoof with a confident smile. “The name’s Rainbow Dash. What about you? I mean Rarity has mentioned your name over again but I haven’t absorbed it. Too busy being awesome and all, you know.”

“Wild Soul.” The stallion nodded his head and looked at the hoof, slowly lifting his up and tapped the mare’s to shake.

She rubbed her chin looking off to the right. “Wild Soul huh? Dang! That name downright yells that you’re a daredevil! Hey, you like freefalls? I can fly you extremely high and give you the best freefall ever!” She flew up a little and wrapped her hooves under Soul’s armpits lifting him off the ground.

“Wait, what?!” Soul yelled his eyes widened and tried to struggle out of the mares grip “Rarity, this pony is trying to kill me! Little help?”

Rainbow put the stallion back on the ground. “Geez chill out, I was just kidding.”

Soul wrapped his hooves around himself, looking at the mare like he had just gone through a torture chamber. “No, you were touching me.”

“...Touching?” Rainbow’s mouth hung open and she looked towards Rarity and then back at Soul, scratching her head as she hovered to the ground again.

Soul’s eyes followed the mare’s hoof as it went to the ground. He continued to rub his right foreleg with his left and let go to point at Rainbow’s hoof. “Yes, your hooves were in contact with my body. That’s as good as trying to kill me.”

Rainbow bent her head back scrunching in her eyebrows and drawing her mouth into a small circle, she looked over at the Boutique. “Rarity, you have taken on a pretty odd apprentice!”

“Just a second darling! I’m still in the middle of mourning my kitchen.” She turned back to the kitchen wall she was looking at through the window and she cleared her throat. “Oh what a cruel cruel faith you have experienced! You were not ready to go there is still so much you haven’t seen! Oh the lovely mornings I woke up and there you were for me, to have the fridge full of food and a stove to cook it! The world is so lovely but so so cruel!”

Rainbow crossed her forelegs and looked at Soul, her eyes dull and upper eyelids drew flat. “Get used to that.”

Rarity’s voice grew higher pitched and louder as she fell to the ground and held the edge of the window with a hoof as she cried. “Goodbye forever, I will never forget youuu!” In an instant she sat up and her tears were gone, she brushed her hoof against her fur, cleaning herself off and spoke in a calmer, more upbeat tone. “There, done. Let’s get Twilight to restore it.”

Rainbow slammed her face against her hoof and gave a deep groan.

Turning away from the remains of her charred kitchen, Rarity called out in a tender tone, “Scootaloo, would you be a dear and go ask Twilight if she could help with this small matter?”

Soul’s ears twitched at the name and he slightly drew his neck back. “...Twilight?”

Being caught off guard by the request the filly jolted her head up. “Oh, I… Sure! On it ma’am” She gave a salute with a flick of her ankle and flapped her wings, turning around and zooming off down the road.

Continuing to speak in a more pleasant tone Rarity raised a hoof and pointed it toward her sister. “Good, and Sweetie Belle. If you would take our things that you valiantly rescued back inside.” She looked over at Opal whom still sat batting her own body, knocking dirt and dust off. “You can leave Opal. I believe she may need some more time to calm down; and possibly a visit to Fluttershy.”

Sweetie Belle nodded her head, she turned and bent over biting the top of the bag containing all the belongings she saved. She gave Opal a glance but when the cat met her eyes with a glare and sprung out some claws from her paw Sweetie Belle gulped and began walking inside.

Giving a nod as she closed her eyes and held her head up with a small smile parting her lips as the filly took the stuff back inside, Rarity walked over to the duo. “Now Rainbow, what did you say about my apprentice again?”

Without saying a word Rainbow placed a hoof on the stallions shoulder which caused him to leap away from her and look at the pegasus with wide eyes. “See?”

“Oh hush now darling, we all have our own mannerisms,” Rarity dismissed with a wave of her hoof.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and crossed her forelegs. “Boring.”

Having collected himself and brushed off his shoulder Soul gave Rainbow piercing jokey look. “Oh I don’t mind if you are, I get along with dullards.”

A hush fell over the three as the mares looked as Soul. Rainbow glared and pointed toward him with her hoof. “Did you… Did you just call me a dullard?!”

“She got provoked by that…?” Soul thought as a thin smile turned up his cheeks and he fluctuated his voice. “No, I just stated that without pointing out any specific pony that I get along with dullards.”

Rainbow flew up so she was hovering enough so Soul had to look up at her while her forelegs were crossed and she looked him dead in the eyes. “But you meant me, right?”

“Who knows Rainbow, who knows.” Soul’s smile grew as he continued using a higher off key voice and shrugged his shoulders, though in his head he was ramming his head against a wall. “Worst. Burn. Ever.”

Silence landed upon the trio as Rainbow intensely glared down upon Soul, but her face eventually eased. “Smartflank, huh? Alright then.” She gently lowered herself back down to the ground, sitting down and uncrossed her legs to come close to Soul and almost poked him in the chest. “Just making sure, you’re not picking up a fight, are you?”

Soul leaned back and looked down at the blue hoof, raising his hooves in front of him and waving them. “Oh, no! My apologies if you took it that way. I was just rolling along, you know.”

The pegasus drew back, bringing her hoof back and easing her eyes. “Ah, I; in that case it’s all good! We’ll get along if we bump into each other again.” She nodded to Soul then turned to her friend. “Well Rarity, since my job here is done I’ll get back to my stuff.”

“I see. I would offer to let you come in and have a cup of tea or other refreshments but, seeing the circumstances… We will need to save that for later. Thank you again very much Rainbow Dash, enjoy the rest of your day,” Rarity said and gave a curtsy which was met by a nod and wink as Rainbow lept up, soaring off into the clouds.

After the pegasi flew off toward the horizon, Soul let out a big sigh. “You sure know some ‘compelling’ ponies around here. Kinda starting to miss Canterlot already,” he said with a jokey tone, a small grin on his face and stared up at the horizon at the distant Canterlot which stood out on the side of the mountain.

“Oh don’t be silly now. Rainbow might be a little, Rainbowish but she’s quite the nice pony when you ignore her attitude.” As she reassured Soul she moved her hoof about and tried to sound as polite as possible. “And, Soul,” Her tone suddenly became kinder and she looked him in the eyes, hers were still a little damp. “I can’t thank you enough for all your help. I truly owe you and can’t even express how sorry I am that this catastrophe occurred on your first day here.”

“Well undeniably this was a rather unusual way to start my studies,” he laughed, “but despite all the dizziness, nausea, anxiety…” The stallion paused as he saw Rarity’s ears dropping. He quickly shook his head. “Okay not helping but what I’m trying to say, everything turned out alright in the end and I’m just glad I was useful. It was an unexpected accident after all so no need to feel bad.”

Rarity placed a hoof on her chest, taking a deep breath in and let out a sigh, “Oh thank goodness, your understanding is such an enormous relief.”

Soul looked over at the building and then back at Rarity. “I didn’t come all the way here just to drop my studies before they even start, now did I?” he said with both eyebrows raised, his eyes were deep and tender, and seemed to have a certain light about them.

The mare lifted her head upwards, turning her eyebrows down with a smile clear across her face. “Oh most definitely not. I’ll say we continue with our original plan and properly introduce you to my boutique till Twilight arrives.” She extended her hoof toward the building.

“Good, we shall do that. One moment, I need to check my n-mail.” Soul dug his red laptop from his saddlebag and opened it in front of him. “And yes Twilight.... Sorry but I can’t help it, my imagination is going wild now, but--”

“Yes, the Princess Twilight Sparkle” Rarity began with her eyes glimmering, giggle escaping her mouth. “Not that I want to put on the ritz or anything but she is actually a close, personal friend of mine, yes a princess is a close friend of mine and I’ve been there when she has achieved many of her staring achievements. OH and I happen to be an element of harmony too. The element of generosity to be exact and my element is shaped like a diamond which completely fits me but like I said, I do not want to be too ritzy about assisting her and my friends in saving Equestria.” The mare stopped, raising her hoof, turned to look at Soul, her closed eyes opening. “Just thought I could mention this in passing. You are easier to talk to than I expected. ”

The information hit Soul like a boulder and he almost dropped his laptop and just barely caught it before it hit the ground. His movement ceased right then and there and his pupils dilated and mouth turned up at the edges as it drew back. “You…” He looked at Rarity as if he wasn’t sure what he was looking at anymore. “...You… I… what?!”

The mare lifted her eyebrows and tilted her chin up. “Hmm? Is something the matter?”

The stallion dropped his flank onto the ground and started rubbing his templates with his eyes closed. “You… You just gave me quite a lot to process here…”

She covered her mouth with a gasp. “Oh I beg your pardon, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sure you’re an easy pony talk to in general.”

Soul scratched his head, squinting his eyes at the mare. His lips curled and he softly bit his bottom lip.“I’m more focused on the information you gave me before that statement…”

Rarity blushed, looked down and turned her head away. “Oh this is embarrassing, getting carried away like that. I just couldn’t help myself.”

Soul slowly lifted his hoof, still rubbing the other side of his template. “Yea… Um, let’s rewind. You know the new Princess, you’re an element of harmony and you’ve been part of saving the world once?”

“More than once,” Rarity said and she shot her head up and tossed a hoof up in the air, draping it across her forehead. “Oh but I do know the other three princesses too. How could I forget to mention that?”

Now rubbing his forehead while staring Rarity with wide eyes and scrunching his eyebrows, Soul’s face couldn’t stay still. What could be said to that? What kind of face would even be appropriate to give? He tried to form sane thoughts and phrases but all he could do was just awkwardly twist his face and stutter. “I, um… I uh you… Alright uh, neat… cool, I… suppose.”

Rarity’s ears twitched up and her eyebrows and mouth drew flat. “Pardon me? 'Neat', 'cool'?”

Sweat started forming on Soul’s forehead. “Yea, I… The weight of that information was so intense that it overloaded the internalizing system in my head and spit it all out without properly processing it… So um alright, you know remarkable royalty, you are an element of harmony and you’ve been part of saving Equestria....” The stallion's ears dropped and he put his hooves together closing his eyes. “Please don’t kill me I’m bad with words.”

“You do pick some…” Rarity cleared her throat, “Interesting ones.”

Soul let out an awkward laugh “I’m aware of that.” He then cleared his throat and fixed his posture as he tried to pull himself together. “Though maybe it’s just a good thing this information doesn’t really… impact me. At least I won’t---”

“Think differently about of me?” Rarity said with an eyebrow raised. She put the tip of her hoof on her bottom lip. “Oh when you put it that way, then---”

“Then I’m not that bad of a pony, am I?” Soul turned his head to the side and the tips of his lips turned up.

The mare passed Soul, holding her snout high with eyes closed. “Something like that.” She walked over to her door opening it, motioning for Soul to go in first. Though when Soul was just about to walk in Rarity spotted a pony reading multiple books walking across the bridge. Her eyes widened and a large smile formed on her face as she bit her lip.“Ooh, Twilight’s here! Quick, I’ll introduce you!” She immediately slammed the door closed causing Soul to bump his muzzle right into it.

Holding his muzzle and catching his falling laptop just in the last moment, Soul backed away from the door with a frown and slowly wiggling his nose. “This really is a danger zone.”

As Rarity trotted over to the alicorn, she wrapped her hooves around her squeezing her tight. “Oh Twilight thank you so much for coming to aid me this quickly, darling!”

Twilight clenched her teeth during the squeeze and as Rarity pulled back she kept rapidly browsing the books she had floating with her. “O-Of course Rarity I just wish I would’ve kept up with restoring magic more. My skills may be a little rusty and I’d hate to make your kitchen even worse. Hopefully brushing up on these books will keep me on the right track.”

Rarity lifted her snout and closed her eyes, waving her hoof forwards. “Don’t worry darling, I’m quite sure it can’t get any worse than this. If anypony can do it, it’s you.”

“I’ll try my best, I give my word for it,” she said with a pleasant tone, though her attention was quickly caught by Soul who was approaching the mares. Twilight instantly closed the books and fixed her posture, it was like she knew who she was going to meet.

“Heya there,” Soul spoke with a calm and pleasant smile, bowing his head.

Twilight’s smile grew ear to ear and she leaned forward raising a hoof. “Hey, you must be Rarity’s new apprentice! Scootaloo mentioned you had arrived already.” She turned to look at Rarity with widened eyes. “I’m so jealous of you Rarity. Getting your own personal apprentice must be a dream come true!” she said with high pitch tone. She cleared her throat and turned back to look at the stallion. “Wild Soul it is, right?”

“Correct…” Soul said with a nod though all he was able to muster was an awkward smile on his face. He turned to face at his tutor. “Rarity, how widely have you spread the word of me…?”

Rarity chuckled. “Oh I might have mentioned it to a friend or two.” She rolled her eyes as she spoke looking to the sky.

Soul grinned and furrowed his eyebrows, turning to look at Twilight. “Apparently… And Princess,” The stallion quickly fixed his posture and cleared his throat, “Pardon my ignorance but is this the part where I have to, or rather get to bow before your highness?”

Twilight’s eyes widened and she waved her hooves before her. “Oh, no no no no no please not at all. I might be a princess but making ponies personally bow before me just doesn’t feel right and it’s kinda embarrassing. And me being called a princess...” She tapped her chin and then extended her hoof. “Well I’m still not fully ready to be called a princess by everypony. Twilight has much more pleasant tone to it.”

Soul blank as he extended his own hoof too, he didn’t expect a princess to be so humble. “If that’s what you wish then we shall go with it. It’s an honor to meet you, Twilight.” He bowed his head down instinctively for the princess.

Bending her neck in a bow as well Twilight shook and then stood up straight again. She put a hoof on her chest. “It’s an honor to meet you as well, Wild Soul. You definitely found the best possible tutor for your artisan studies.”

The gem flanked mare blushed and flicked her wrist at the alicorn. “Oh don’t be silly now Twilight, I’m just happy I get to share my knowledge with future artisan.”

Looking up at the sky and seeing the sun being about mid way through the sky Twilight realized that it would be wise to not put off the reason she was summoned. “Now, Rarity let’s take a look at your kitchen, shall we?”

Rarity nodded and turned to guide Twilight toward her home but spoke before she began to walk. “Most definitely we shall. How long do you think it would take?”

Quivering her lip Twilight placed a hoof on her cheek and looked down at the ground, releasing a hum. “I can’t say for sure. It depends on how bad of shape it is in, but I would say about an one hour at least. Partly due to my rusty skills...”

Soul looked from one mare to the other, raising a hoof. “Hey if there’s anything I can do or help with, just give me a word. I’m on full alert.”

Rarity immediately raised a hoof too. “You’ve done more than I ever could imagine Soul. I suggest you simply sit down and allow yourself to recover from that fire and that cooling spell. It must have taken a lot of energy from you.” She kept her voice calm and cheery to ease Soul’s mind.

Twilight’s ears twitched. “Cooling spell?”

The stallion raised a foreleg up and waved it. “No no, I’m completely fine already. Sitting back without doing anything is out of the question, with all due respect. Feeling useless would drive me crazy.”

Twilight cleared her throat to interject, as to not be overlooked again. “Excuse me for butting in like this but do you happen to be an advanced magic user yourself?”

“Huh?” Soul’s other ear dropped and his eyebrow rose. His eyes then bulged slightly and he shook his head. “Oh, no! I just know some basic spells from school like first aid stuff.”

Rarity held her head up her nose and closed her eyes with a glimmering smile.“Imagine, he only used a simple cooling spell to envelop my body so I could go and rescue Opal from the burning kitchen!”

Soul’s eyes shifted to look away. His mouth grew wide and although mostly flat the edges just barely slanted downwards. “Just barely. If I had more experience of it I guess I could’ve put the flames out completely but it was better than nothing. I don’t know, I’m not an expert at magic.”

“Being able to pull out something like that isn’t something you should be modest about, changing a simple spell like that is extremely creative considering how quickly you had to come up with it!” Twilight closed the last book and twirled them around her body, hovering them above her flank.

“Oh look, I’m a useful character. Now I’m automatically likable.” His tone was gushed with sarcasm.

Twilight dipped her head to the side. “Excuse me?”

“You know, when in books or movies--- Ah, nothing. Anyway,” The stallion cleared his throat and shrugged. “Creativity isn’t just art, I suppose.“

“Oh definitely not Soul and about if you could help with anything, I could still use a hoof with putting everything back in place and moving some boxes. My botique needs to be ready to open again after Twilight’s done.” Rarity reached a hoof out to touch the stallions shoulder, though giving a second thought she gently placed it down, stepped forward on it and give the stallion a turn of the head and a charming wink.

As he saw the hoof he began to lean back away from it but when she put it down instead he regained his posture. The wink eased his mind and caused a small tension in his chest. “Let’s get to work then.”

“That’s the spirit.” Rarity opened the door and motioned for the two to step in.

Soul stepped aside giving room for Twilight, extending a hoof and bowing his head in a polite manner.

Twilight gave a nod and smiled, thanking the stallion and walked into the boutique, followed by Soul and then Rarity.

Rarity closed the door behind her. Just a little further next to a few mannequins was a big pile of boxes with titles like ‘Silk’ or simply ‘Fabric’ on them, which Rarity walked over to and lifted with her magic, examining the outside as well as the inside for and signs of damage. She would occasionally bring some of the cloths to her muzzle to take a whiff of them.

Twilight passed her friend her eyebrows lowered as countless of gears in her brain were spinning for trying to come up with things to say to cheer up Rarity. “Um… How about we see how big of a challenge this will be,” she said with a gentle smile touching Rarity’s shoulder.

Feeling Twilight’s hoof on her shoulder she placed down the boxes, letting out a breath of air. It was lucky how everything seemed intact and that she could inspect more as the day went on. She nodded at Twilight and turned to walk with her. “By the way Twilight, where is Spikey-Wikey? It’s rare to see you without him.”

The princess lifted a leg and waved her hoof, flipping her ankle. “Oh don’t worry, he’s just busy at the library tidying up and probably reading some comics.”

“Alright dear, I see. Call me if you need anything!” Rarity spoke, raising her voice as Twilight walked toward the kitchen disappearing from sight. “Now Soul, these are the boxes I need to get up to my stitching room. You probably figured that out a long ago.” She chuckled and the cleared her throat, though before she got a chance to continue Soul had already lifted a few boxes.

“Got it, lead the way or is there anything else I should know? Nothing breakable or something that might cause a major click in your head if I accidentally dropped something which I will try to avoid?” Soul inquired, pulling the boxes behind him he looked back to ensure everything was clear.

“Oh, hmm, no that’s all. This way.” Rarity walked around Soul, heading upstairs guiding him to her room where the door was already open. In the room was Sweetie Belle who was still working on the task Rarity gave her. “I present to you my small but more than capable sewing room. Here the real magic happens.”

Soul was nodding with a smile upon his lips. The room indeed was small, in fact the working space seemed to be shared with Rarity’s bedroom, but it looked like there was plenty of room to work properly. “Where do I put the boxes?”

“Right next to my shelf please.” Rarity tilted her head looking toward the large shelf.

“Gotcha,” Soul said with a nod and levitated the boxes over into the open spot next to it, after he did he headed back downstairs to get a new load.

Rarity gave him a pleasant nod and then walked over to her sister with an eyebrow raised. “Sweetie Belle, how are things going here?”

The filly was looking around and scratching her head, looking back and forth between the items she laid out on the floor and around the room. “Well I remember most of the places I took these from but, um I have no idea where some of these go.”

In a soft but stern tone while raising her head the mare walked over. “I suppose I have to help you then.”

Rarity’s eye floated on the items Sweetie Belle had rescued. She became breathless for a moment and placed a hoof over her mouth, all the important things for her were there. Her designs, fabrics, ribbons even her glasses. As her eyes continued to scan they fell on a light yellow ribbon. She lifted the ribbon up with her other hoof, a sniffle being faintly heard. “Sweetie Belle…” Rarity’s head slowly rose, “How did you know to bring this?”

The filly turned her head. “It was in your bedside drawer, you always keep it next to your glasses. I figured it was important to you.”

Rarity’s lips grew ever upward, and her heartbeat intensified. For a short moment her eyes saw nothing but the ribbon and the smile never left her face. Then, she put a hoof over her sister, gently pulling her into a tender hug without saying a word. All she gave was a smile and walked over to her bedside table, opening it and placing the ribbon in it’s original spot next to her glasses in the top drawer.

Twilight Sparkle’s voice echoed up the stairs catching Rarity’s ears. “Rarity! Can you come down here for a second?”

“Of course darling!” she called back and started walking towards the door. “I’ll be right back, keep on working. Also, I might want to make sure there is not more smoke damage anywhere...”

As Rarity exited the room she passed Soul who was now carrying a slightly larger load. He took the boxes to the same spot as the other boxes, smiling as he did. It was great for him to finally get into real work.

Soul was about to leave to get the next load but when his eyes noticed Sweetie Belle, a thought hit him; he never properly introduced himself to the foal. That needed to be fixed.

Soul took a few steps back and put on a heartfelt smile. “Hey, Sweetie Belle, right?”

The filly put down a gem and turned to look at him returning the smile. “What’s up?”

“There’s probably not a need for this anymore at this point, but in the name of politeness,” he extended his hoof, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Wild Soul is the name.”

“Nope but let’s go for it anyway,” she said with a laugh and shook with the stallion. “Sweetie Belle. Um...” The filly winced and gritted her teeth while rubbing a hoof through her mane, looking away from the pale horse. “You don’t think poorly of me after all this stupid commotion, do you…?“

Wild Soul shook his head with his eyes closed. “Well I don’t know you and I’m definitely not gonna judge you by some incident.”

The filly wiped her forehead with her hoof. “Phew! Thanks you’re so fair. Just try to keep your nerves around my sister, she is a real drama queen and whiner at times.” She rolled her eyes as she said her last comment.

Soul grinned and raised an eyebrow. “Interesting thing to say about your sister who pretty much let this incident pass.”

“True that was rude to say.” Sweetie Belle covered her mouth for a moment then pulled her hoof away.. “But trust me, you will have your hard times with her.”

Soul grinned and lifted a hoof up beside his face with his eyebrows turned down. “I think I’ll be just fine.” Putting his hoof down he turned around and started walking towards the stairs again, but this time Sweetie Belle seemed to follow him.

The filly walked on the tips of her hooves, leaning upward and keeping her ears perked up. “Hey, can I ask just a itsy-bitsy tiny question?”

Soul’s eyes closed and he shook his head. as he reached the bottom of the stairs. “Absolutely not.”

“Oh...” The filly stopped one the last step and drew her lips together looking down, her lower lip pushing upward slightly as she stepped off the last step slowly with her head hung down.

Soul kept completely quiet for a few seconds while he approached the boxes, once there he stopped and his lips crawled into a smile and he looked back and let out a small laugh. “Go ahead, ask away.”

Sweetie Belle’s ears twitched and in a single leap her eyes widened, her lips expanded with her mouth open wide and drawn up. She landed on the ground and hurried over to stand so she could face the stallion. “Well, what does your cutie mark mean and how did you get it?”

“What are you asking that---?” Stopping from his work a lightbulb suddenly clicked in his mind. He remembered what Rarity said earlier about her sister and friends trying to earn their cutie marks. “Oh, right I get it.”

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask the same question!” Rarity’s voice chimed as she swiftly pranced in from the kitchen.

Soul’s head tilted and he walked over to the boxes, starting to pile them up. “Something wrong with the restoring?”

Rarity shook her head. “Not at all mon ami. Twilight just asked me to get some pictures for reference. It will be easier for her to restore that way.” She walked further into the room and sat down pulling some lower boxes over toward her and opened it to inspect more of the cloths. “Anyway, I’m eager to hear about that cutie mark of yours, please do tell.”

The stallion’s eyes get wide while his pupils dilate, in an instant the humanity left him, he stammered and moved the boxes stacking them rapidly. “W-Well, um… The story behind it is nothing special in my case.” He moved another box upward and hit the ceiling and the scratching of the box against it wrenched him from his state. He set down the box and shook his head looking at the stack. “Alright too many boxes to carry…”

Rarity had a cloth in her hooves that she was examining, she caressed the fabric and her eyes darted to the label on the box that scraped the ceiling before inspecting the ceiling for nicks or streaks. “Every story is special to those who have gone through it.”

Taking a deep breath Soul tapped his hoof and swiped it over the ground. “Let’s just say that I was an eager colt, ready to try different things and find something fitting for me. After some twists and turns I… well I realized group activities were not my box of fries, so I started searching for things I could enjoy and accomplish on my own.” He gave a salute and a small grin. “Hermit at your service.”

Sweetie Belle’s mind flooded and she couldn’t prevent the words from pouring from her mouth like a melody. “Well it was your journey and at the end of it you achieved that mark on your flank. I would give anything if it was that easy for me and my friends. I just hoped if you could give any tips that might help us get our marks too?”

“Tips, huh?” Soul scratched his head and looked away. “Going with my own experience I can say that you should never shut out any possibilities since you might find your thing in something you never expected.” The stallion fiddled with the rest of the boxes that he couldn’t carry up yet. He moved them about stacking them together along the wall near the one Rarity was working on. “And definitely never let others tell you what you should be or do. You are the one who shapes your own identity.”

Rarity folding up a few sample fabrics she examined from the box she cradled them back into the box, brushing them off before she closed it and stacked it in with the rest. Once the box was replaced the image became full; she sat, covering her mouth which fell open and her eyes practically glimmered. “Oh my!”

Soul tilted his head with a perked up ear towards her. “Sorry?”

Rarity’s eyes widened as she snapped back to attention. She touched her chest and looked at Soul with large eyes and cleared her throat. “I mean, oh my it sounds like you’ve had your own piece of social pressure when you were growing up.”

Soul squinted and brought his lips together tapping his cheek. “I... suppose you could say that...” He walked over to the stairs with the next set of boxes behind him. “Anyway, you wanted to know what my mark means? I’ll explain in a moment.” He hurried up the stairs and the sound of boxes being stacked would be heard by the sisters.

Sweetie Belle looked back at the boxes he had left and a glimmer crossed over her eyes. “Oh my goodness! Sis do you see what he made? It’s half of a diamond! You have a great apprentice here. The shadow completes it!” She turned and pulled a camera out of a dresser, she couldn’t resist taking a picture of it.

“Yes he does seem very creative even showing it in such a simple task. I may be just as lucky as he feels.” The mare spoke softly still turning her head as she fed her eyes with the sight.

The rustling upstairs stopped and Soul swiftly made his way downstairs, his hooves tapping as he returned. “Now you wanted to know what my mark means.” He took a step towards the boxes yet again.

The mare snapped back to the stallion as he reappeared and began where they left off. She extended a hoof waving it back in forth indicating for the stallion to wait. “Yes, please do tell! I’m dying to know. Obviously it must have something to do with your talent but I can’t quite put it together.”

Sitting back Sweetie Belle pulled the camera up and captured the moment with her sister and her apprentice with the half diamond shaped box formation in the background. “Yea, it’s pretty hard to think of anything when you are looking at a curvy arrow surrounded by flames.”

A slender smile reached ear to ear on Soul’s face and he cleared his throat then put his hoof on his chest. “Quite the ironic comment, because this cutie mark actually represent brainstorm.”

Placing the camera on top of the dresser she got it from the filly raised and eyebrow and tilted her head. “Mind explaining?”

The stallion gave a nod and stepped, turning his body to the side and tapping his flank as he pointed out his cutie mark. “Well you can see how these two ‘flames’ are kinda circling around which represents the endless brainstorming. And this blue arrow represents solving problems since when you think about it, an artistic career is mostly solving problems and finding out ways to execute the result in your head.”

Rarity stretched her neck up and her ears twitched. She lifted a leg inward toward her chest and only brought it out to point and move her hoof as she spoke, “Is that how you think of it? Because in my perspective, creating art no matter what form of art it is, is a beautiful and pure form of expressing your emotions, love and passion for the art you make!”

Soul tilted his head off to the left slightly but dipped his head down in a single nod. He did however copy the mare in lifting a hoof. “Depends on the art you’re making. And I said ‘artistic career’. For example there’s a very blurry line on if advertising can be art since it gives the ‘artist’ a lot of limitations.” He gave a laugh. “Art means different things to different ponies and we all have our reasons why we have passions for it. Some ponies make it just purely for fame which takes all the enjoyment out of it.”

Looking out the window the artisan sighed. “I pity those poor souls.”

“You said it. Actually, a friend of a friend of mine at Spectrum is exactly like that.” He looked back at his mark again with a small smile.. “I suppose my mark also represents my own mindset of it. I’ve never really even thought about it that way.”

“Has there been anypony who’s been able to guess the meaning of it?” Sweetie Belle interrupted, her face was beaming as if it were Hearth's Warming Eve.

“Actually! Well, not exactly, but one of my co-workers, Mineral,” Soul paused for a moment, looking off into space before speaking again, “A friend nowadays, was the one who guessed the closest.”

Rarity dipped her head backwards and leaned in, practically on the edge of her seat. “Oh? What ever did she guess then?”

“That I’m a psychopath,” Soul said with a very high and up beat voice.

Sweetie Belle put both hooves over her muzzle but couldn’t help but crack up.

Giving a smile to the filly he slowly turned his head to look at Rarity. “Don’t worry though, not the kind of psychopath who ruins a lovely shower.” He closed his mouth, his cheeks puffing out slightly and a small amount of air escaping his nostrils as he held it in.

Rarity looked at him with wide eyes but quickly looked left and right. Her eyes searched the walls to no avail.

The wind had been taken out of Soul’s sails and he dipped back down to a normal stance. “It’s another…” He shook his head and waved a hoof. “Well, nevermind it’s not funny if I need to explain it.”

Twilight stepped into the doorway and looked at her friend. “Rarity, have you found those pictures yet? There’s not too much I can do here anymore without them.”

“Oh, yes of course darling, my apologies!” Rarity rose and made her way to the drawer next to Sweetie Belle and began sliding open drawers. She did not ignore her previous conversation though. “Well Soul, thank you for explaining the story behind your mark, that’s one question answered.”

Giving a nod Soul bowed his body slightly and came up smiling widely with his eyes closed and a bead of sweat upon his right temple. “Extremely boring one but that’s all I got.” He shrugged and looked at the boxes.

Flipping her head up from the drawer Rarity announced with raised nose in a soft proper tone, “I shan't grant you permission to speak like that. It’s anything but a bad thing to learn a new thing about a friend.”

His eyes widened only slightly. “Right, I had almost completely forget about that order…” Soul sat for a moment focused on Rarity. “You sure you still want to roll with it? I mean we still barely even know each other.”

“ ‘Order’ ” Rarity chuckled and rolled her eyes, swiping her mane. “We know about each other now more than we did yesterday. Besides,” Rarity turned to look at the stallion with a raised eyebrow. “We get along well, do we not?”

Soul shrugged his shoulders, turning his head to the side with a grin. “I suppose. I have no complaints about you whatsoever.”

“That’s more than enough for me. The smile you gave me back when we had our first meeting sealed the deal, darling,” she said with a wink. “Now where have I put that album…?”

Soul scratched his head. “Okay... I’ve been accepted to the girls club…” he said with straight face though couldn’t help to crack a little smile. He lifted the final few boxes that had formed a diamond, moving some to the bottom of the stairs and he walked the second to last load up stairs. His heart felt lighter, although this was a different town, there was a faint feeling of being home.