• Published 8th Sep 2012
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The Soul of a Pony - Gizogin



What if you could see somepony as they truly are? Would you still be able to love them?

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The Noble

The Soul of a Pony
Chapter 4: The Noble


"Hey, Twilight, you okay?"

Twilight responded with a groan. Her head was pounding, and Rainbow's words hit her ears like a sledgehammer. On top of that, she'd collapsed again. This is getting old, she thought to herself. Fighting through the pain in her mind, she forced her eyes open and tried to get to her feet. This was made more difficult by the fact that somepony had turned her legs into jelly.

"Twilight?" Rainbow asked again. The pegasus was standing over the prone Twilight, her whole body tensed. Her wings were flared, and it looked like she was ready to take off at a moment's notice.

Twilight shook her head, trying to clear it, but only bringing forth a fresh wave of pain. She winced, before saying, "I'm fine. It's just a headache." She focused on her unruly limbs, trying to bring them back under control. They resisted her efforts, but eventually she managed to gather all four legs under her body. That was enough for now, she decided; the ground was spinning too much to risk standing.

"Are you sure?" Rainbow asked, incredulous. "You just sorta collapsed. I was about to fly and get help." Her tone made it clear that she wouldn't hesitate to do so anyway, if it looked like she had to.

"I'm sure. Mental spells always have some psychic backlash. It'll wear off in a minute," Twilight said dismissively. As she finally built up enough concentration to get back to her feet, she looked again at the cyan pegasus, and felt the beginnings of a familiar sensation. Twilight barely had time to brace herself before she was hit with another sudden rush of insight.

In the mare before her, Twilight saw a pony who lived for excitement. Rainbow Dash was a daredevil, and could never be happy without the roar of wind in her ears and the rush of adrenaline in her veins. Death-defying stunts, breakneck speeds, and split-second maneuvers were her life, and nothing would change that.

Second only to her love of flying was her need for attention. Rainbow craved the spotlight, the cheering fans, and the fame. That she was an amazing flyer was no secret to her. Just knowing wasn't enough, though; she needed to be recognized. Her self-worth hinged on how other ponies saw her. The constant need to prove herself made her show-offish and competitive. She would never back down from a challenge, as doing so would be a sign of weakness, and Rainbow couldn't stand to be thought of as weak.

It was an impossible situation. While Rainbow couldn't live without recognition from the ponies around her, nor could she survive their judgement. So she pushed herself constantly, striving to iron out any imperfection she found so that nopony else could hate her for it. It was her greatest strength, but also her most terrible weakness.

Finally, Twilight saw a pony who could not abandon those she cared about. No matter what the circumstances, Rainbow would never hesitate to sacrifice her own ambitions in favor of keeping her friendships strong. She'd been hurt in the past, bullied and betrayed, and she'd vowed never to let that happen to anypony else.

The flash of knowledge passed, and Twilight realized she'd been staring. At least she hadn't fallen over again. She blinked, and said, "Sorry, I guess it's been a long day. I should probably be heading home."

Rainbow Dash, still not entirely convinced that Twilight was okay, nonetheless allowed herself to relax slightly. She eased herself down from the elevated state of tension she'd been in, her wings folding themselves away at her sides. "Okay, if you're sure you're alright."

"I'm fine," she insisted, sure of it this time. How could she not be? She'd seen Rainbow's mind, with all the goodness and strength that the pegasus had inside. "I'll see you later, Rainbow."

"See ya," the weather pony replied. As she watched her egghead friend trot away down the path to Ponyville, Rainbow finally managed to stop worrying. She's Twilight Sparkle, she reminded herself, the nerdiest pony in all of Equestria. She knows what she's doing.

Rainbow flapped her powerful wings, bringing herself back up to where her cloud waited. She could hear it calling her, beckoning the pegasus with its pillowy softness. It took Rainbow Dash all of ten seconds to fall back into her nap.


By the time Twilight returned to the enormous tree that was her home, it was almost evening. The market was beginning to clear out, the salesponies having packed up their wares for the day. A few ponies were still out and about, hoping to make the best of the warm weather.

"Spike! I'm back!" Twilight called as she walked through the library's door. When no reply came, she tried again. "Spike?"

Her assistant was nowhere to be seen. Is he asleep? she wondered. I did wake him up pretty early this morning. Looking around the front room, Twilight saw the disorganized piles of reference books her night of research had left. Spike had put a sizable dent in the clutter, but, as was so often the case, the librarian's studies had turned the floor and desks into a veritable minefield of texts. It had evidently been too much for the baby dragon to take care of in one go. Twilight sighed, resigning herself to the task of bringing order back to the library.

An hour later, Twilight had finished putting away the books in the lobby, and was just getting started on her study. Fortunately, as it was considerably smaller than the front room, there were far fewer bookshelves to reorganize. Unfortunately, that meant that a lot of the books in the study had come from elsewhere in the library, and Twilight had to figure out which ones went where. As she levitated her copy of Psychic Spells: A Comprehensive Guide: 6th ed. onto the stack of books to go into one of the library's other rooms, the sound of the front door closing caught her attention.

As Spike entered the library, a large shopping bag under one arm, he was immediately aware that something was off. When he'd left, there had been a huge mess to clean up. Now, though, somepony had cleaned it. Somepony other than him, even. The sheer novelty of that fact made him pause for a moment, and it was in this state that Twilight found him when she emerged from her study.

"Oh, hi Spike," she said. "I thought you were asleep."

"Asleep? Nah, I just stepped out to get some groceries," he explained, gesturing to the bag. "We were completely out of milk." Changing the subject, he noted, "You cleaned up the library?"

"Well, I started to," Twilight answered. "I'm just doing the study now." With her telekinesis, she lifted the shopping bag out of her assistant's grip and carried it into the kitchen.

"Thanks," Spike said, before taking out his purchases and putting them away in the kitchen's assorted cupboards. The fresh goods, including the milk, he put in the enchanted icebox to keep cool. Twilight offered some assistance, but the kitchen was Spike's domain, and he knew where everything went. Once the food was away, Spike and Twilight set about cleaning the remainder of the mess in the library. As they worked, they made small talk, discussing things like the upcoming weather schedule and the news of a feather flu outbreak in Fillydelphia. Eventually, the conversation turned to Twilight's encounter with Rainbow Dash.

"It was like a stadium in the sky," Twilight said, trying to explain what she'd seen. Spike hadn't gone to the Best Young Flyers' Competition with them, so he hadn't seen the Cloudiseum. Without that convenient reference, Twilight found it slightly more difficult to describe the scenery in Dash's mind. Fortunately, Spike got the idea.

"Were there a hundred Rainbow Dashes?" he asked. As he'd helped her put the spell together in the first place, Twilight had thought it only fair to tell him what had been in Pinkie's soulgaze. The idea of a party with a horde of the pink pony's lookalikes had struck him as particularly hilarious. A hundred Rainbows putting on an airshow would be even more ridiculous.

"No, it was just the one. She was doing some pretty amazing tricks, though." She decided to leave out the part about the other spectators; the memory of their blank stares made her shudder.

"Sounds cool," Spike commented. "Hey," he said, an idea coming to him. "Would it work on Rarity?"

"Well, yeah, I don't see why not. Why?"

"Just curious." A faraway look came over him, the one he always had when thinking about the object of his adoration. "I wonder if her soul is as beautiful as the rest of her..."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Come on," she said, snapping the dragon out of his reverie. "We've still got work to do."


That night, Twilight found that, once again, her thoughts wouldn't let her sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about what the soulgazes had shown her. Pinkie's and Rainbow's minds were just as different as the ponies they belonged to. Pinkie Pie's mind had been a party of a hundred doppelgangers, everything loud and colorful. By contrast, Rainbow Dash's cloud-stadium mindscape had been positively plain, with all the excitement centered on the mare herself. Twilight had seen her friends in unparalleled detail, but if anything, she had even more questions.

As she turned and twisted under her moon-and-star bedsheets, the unicorn thought back to her assistant's question about Rarity. I wonder if her soul is as beautiful as the rest of her. Painfully cliched though it was, it had provoked a lot of thought in Twilight. What would the soulgaze show of her other friends? Would Fluttershy's mind be ridiculously adorable? What about Rarity, or Applejack?

Twilight realized that she wasn't going to be able to let this go. Maybe she could ignore the curiosity for a while, but eventually it would consume her. She had to find out, or she'd never know peace again. In a way, this revelation comforted her; at least now she knew what she needed to do. Twilight resolved that, come the morning, she would stop at nothing to finish soulgazing her friends.

That matter settled, Twilight finally managed to relax, and settled into a heavy sleep.


Twilight awoke the next morning to the sun streaming through her bedroom window. That doesn't seem right, she thought, her mind still half-asleep. The sun's never this high this early in the morning. She bolted upright. The sun wasn't too high; she'd overslept! It was completely understandable; she hadn't slept at all the previous night, after all. Even so, it was inexcusable. She had so much to do this morning, and she'd gone and wasted half of it by not waking up on time.

A powerful kick sent the covers of her bed flying off, to land in a heap on the other side of her bedroom. Twilight leapt out of bed and ran for the stairs, forgoing her usual mane-brushing in the rush. She poured herself a quick bowl of cereal, thankful that Spike had brought in some more milk, then left the empty bowl in the sink for him to clean. Then, her hasty morning preparations complete, the unicorn set out for Carousel Boutique at a canter.

With the exception of a certain blue pegasus (and, this morning, a lavender unicorn), the citizens of Ponyville were generally early risers. Most days they'd be up not long after dawn, going about their business. Today was no different, and Twilight found the streets already beginning to fill up with ponies going about their business. She knew most of them by now, and she exchanged greetings with some in passing, but she was in a hurry and didn't want to be caught up in a lengthy conversation. Such was her haste, and her focus on reaching her destination, that she failed to notice the stifled giggling that followed in her wake.


Rarity was in a good mood. Today, Thursday, was her favorite day of the week. It was the day of her weekly spa session with Fluttershy. The fashionista loved the spa; they knew how to pamper a pony and make all her stresses and troubles simply disappear. Even more than that, though, she loved spending time with Fluttershy. In Rarity's opinion, she and Fluttershy didn't see each other nearly often enough. It certainly didn't help that Fluttershy's cottage was so far from the rest of Ponyville, and her duty to the animals kept her cooped up most of the time. On top of that, the pegasus' crippling shyness made her already infrequent visits all the more precious.

Their spa appointment wasn't until the afternoon, however. Before that, Rarity had work to do. Right now, she was finishing up a relatively minor order for one of her regular Ponyville customers. It was a much smaller project than most of the other recent work she'd had, just a simple sundress, and for once she was ahead of schedule. Even though the customer didn't need it done until Monday, Rarity hadn't really had any other work to do, and she was already nearly finished. Rarity knew that she had plenty of time, and could certainly afford to give herself the morning off, but she wanted to have the dress done before her spa session, so she would have even less to worry about while she was there.

So it was that Rarity had just rethreaded her sewing needle when she heard somepony burst through the front door, eliciting an unnecessary ring from the entrance bell. She turned her back on the unfinished work to greet her guest, and got as far as, "Welcome to Carousel..." before the full force of what she was seeing strangled the words in her throat. To an outside observer, one who was unfamiliar with the unicorn's particular quirks, the speed with with her expression changed from relaxed contentment to abject horror would have been rather impressive. Only slightly less so, in fact, than the ear-shattering scream that followed.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, panic momentarily filling her voice and replacing any other thought in her head, except perhaps for, Ow, my poor ears.

"What's wrong?!" Rarity repeated, incredulous. "Look at your mane! It's an absolute disaster! Oh, please tell me you did not walk all the way here looking like that!"

To emphasize her point, Rarity levitated a small hoof-mirror over to allow Twilight to see the full scope of the problem. She hadn't been exaggerating; Twilight's mane was a mess. One side of it was pressed flat to her head, while the other half was puffed out to such a degree that it seemed to double the size of her head. Hairs stuck out at odd angles, giving her the appearance of a woefully abused bush. On top of that, Twilight's violet and magenta highlights, one of the few aspects of her appearance that she particularly liked, were completely messed up, throwing their colors into the battle of knots and split ends that had taken over the librarian's head. It couldn't have looked any worse if she'd used pure, undiluted chaos in place of conditioner.

"I, uh, guess I should have brushed it," Twilight commented weakly.

"This will not do at all. I cannot allow such a terrible crime to go uncorrected!" Rarity declared. Before Twilight could react, she found herself being forcibly pushed into the boutique's master bathroom. It was a place dedicated to the art of personal care, a temple to the routines of grooming and hygiene that Rarity held so dear. Shelves stacked high with bottles lined the walls, shampoos and conditioners taking their place next to skin- and coat-cleaning products of every description. An enormous bathtub dominated the floorspace. Twilight felt somewhat out of place, like she was not refined or clean enough to be allowed in such a place. Rarity, on the other hoof, looked right at home as she began filling the tub with water.

"Can this wait?" Twilight protested, having remembered why she'd come to see Rarity in the first place. "I'm in a bit of a hurry."

Rarity turned to face Twilight, her expression plainly stating, You need to straighten out your priorities. "Is it an emergency?" she asked, as though she were dealing with a particularly impatient child. "Can it absolutely not wait?"

"Well," the scholar began, before Rarity's expression forced her to reconsider. "I suppose not."


After half an hour, and a great deal of complaining, Rarity was finally satisfied with the state of Twilight's mane. It had been washed, shampooed, conditioned, washed again, then meticulously styled and treated until it met the designer's impeccable standards. "There!" she announced, the pride clear in her voice. "You look absolutely marvelous!"

"Are you quite finished?" Twilight asked, having long since grown tired of her friend's ministrations.

"Why, yes, I am." She paused, thinking for a moment, before asking, "Now, what was it you wanted to see me about?"

"No time to explain," Twilight said, already gathering the magic for her spell. "I've wasted enough time here as it is. Just stand still."

"Wasted!?" Rarity cried, indignant. Then the rest of Twilight's words sank in, and she saw the steadily-growing glow surrounding her fellow unicorn's horn. "What are you doing? Twili—"

Whatever she'd been about to say was lost on Twilight, as she released the spell and felt the now-familiar sensation of the soulgaze beginning. As ever, it started with the feeling of falling, followed by Rarity's eyes expanding to swallow her up. Then, as before, came blackness.


When Twilight could see again, she was standing in a throne room. There was no other way to describe it; with its high, vaulted ceilings and elegant marble pillars, it put Twilight in mind of Celestia's and Luna's throne room in Canterlot Castle. This room, however, had much more white. It was almost painfully bright, the polished surfaces of the floors and walls reflecting every ray of sunlight that poured in through the tall windows. Unlike the ones in Canterlot, these windows were plain, forgoing stained-glass decoration in favor of being absolutely massive.

While the walls and pillars of the room were stark, bleached white, many of the room's furnishings were a deep, royal purple. In the center of the floor, running from the enormous double doors at one end of the room to the high-backed throne at the other, was a luxurious carpet of purple velvet. The throne itself, though primarily made of the same marble that comprised the scenery, was adorned with plush, purple cushions. Purple banners and flags hung from the ceiling and the walls, and even the candles in the brackets throughout the room burned with purple flames.

The only other color in the room came from the chandelier. Twilight's jaw dropped when she saw it, dangling from the ceiling in a flagrant show of grandeur and elegance. The entire structure was made of brilliant silver, expertly wrought and crafted into impossibly detailed curls and spirals. Hanging from it were more diamonds than she could count, brilliant blue gems ranging from pea-sized to bigger than the unicorn's eyes. It had to be worth a fortune.

Her examination of the scenery over for now, Twilight focused her attention on the ponies in the room with her. There were quite a few of them, standing in line on the purple carpet. They seemed to come from every walk of life; pegasi and earth ponies were scattered among unicorns, nobles in exquisite finery and peasants in rags or nothing at all mixed together without regard. As Twilight watched, a unicorn guard in white-and-purple armor called out a name from a scroll, and the pony in question—a green unicorn in a waistcoat—stepped forward to deliver her plea to the regent on the throne.

Upon seeing the pony on the throne, Twilight did a double-take. It was Rarity, there was no doubt about that, but she looked different. She had always looked beautiful, and she took great pains to maintain her appearance, but the Rarity sitting on the throne made her normal appearance seem positively plain. She simply radiated elegance and grace, and held herself with an air of refinement. It was strange, though; there was no single feature that Twilight could pinpoint that was different. In fact, whenever she tried to remember back to this experience, she found it hard to remember any details about the pony on the throne at all. Twilight supposed she was wearing a crown, though it might have been a tiara or diadem, or perhaps nothing at all; the specifics seemed just out of her reach.

It was the same story for the pony behind Queen Rarity, but for completely different reasons. This pony was also Rarity, but twisted and sinister. She stood just behind the throne, in the one spot that did not catch any sunlight. This made it very hard for Twilight to make her out; at first, she was convinced she'd been seeing things. She appeared to be whispering into the queen's ear, trying to get her attention. The queen appeared to pay her no mind, however, focusing instead on the ponies before her.

Twilight watched the proceedings for a time, seeing Queen Rarity deal with her subjects, until a small door caught her attention. Unlike the front doors, which were elaborately carved and decorated, this door was completely plain. Intrigued, Twilight walked over to it and pushed through into the courtyard beyond. Whatever she'd been expecting to find, it was completely different than the reality.

In the courtyard, surrounded by the high, marble walls, was a cottage. It was a simple thing, wood and thatch, with a chimney and a garden. It seemed so out of place, but Twilight couldn't help but think that it was necessary. The castle was a front; it was where visitors were greeted and business was done. At the end of the day, though, it wasn't a home. This cottage was where Rarity lived, and where she could go when the pressures of society became too much. Seeing it made Twilight smile, and it was the last thing she saw before the soulgaze ended.