> The beat of Magic > by Future Light > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter One: When Two Horns Sing The Same Song > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This morning, Twilight woke up in a good mood. She didn't have any weird dreams or nightmares, she didn't accidentally lay on her wings, so they didn't hurt, and she was feeling very refreshed! The lavender alicorn smiled to herself as she trotted down the hallway of her castle,on her way to make some breakfast, before she stopped in her tracks, frozen in mid-trot. She had plans for today. She was supposed to be at the town square ten minutes ago. Twilight stood still for a good ten seconds, her left eye doing a funny twitch, before she disappeared in a proof of pink magic. The mare appeared in middle of the Ponyville town square , looking around in panic for the pony ( or rather, Changeling) she was supposed to meet here. Luckily, she saw him standing next to one of the apple stands , he was looking at the apples with a curious expression, but it soon turned to a surprised one after he heard a familiar voice call out his name. "Thorax!" The purple mare quickly trotted over to the green Changeling and gave him a apologetic smile, while rubbing her forehoof with the other. Twilight opened her mouth , most likely to apologize for her tardiness, but Thorax chuckled, as he seemed to know what she was going to say. "It's quite alright, Princess , no need to apologize" he said warmly "Though I am curious, you're not normally late, what got you so caught up?" The king said curiously, looking down at the smaller mare. Twilight blushed slightly, looking away , mumbling something about "spike not waking her up", before looking up at him with a sterner expression, and said "You're my friend Thorax, no need to call me "Princess" , I'm just "Twilight" to you" the purple mare then put on another smile. Thorax gave her a smile and nodded at her "Of course, Pri- Twilight" the green changeling quickly caught himself before he could slip up "I understand completely". Twilight smiled wider then before, visibly pleased that he understood. "So, do you still want to come over ? I'm sure Spike will be glad to see you" The alicorn said, looking up at Thorax. Thorax visibly perked up at the mention of Spike, which sent a stab of...pain into twilight's heart, causing her wings to flare out. She was glad she was a little farther away from thorax , because if she was closer, her wings would have surely hit his side, hard. Thorax didn't seem to notice her flared out wings, and said "Yes, that sounds nice, I haven't seen Spike in a while" the king said warmly, and looked over at the princess, who was trying her hardest not to gasp in pain and look casual. Thorax looked concerned "Are..." He began cautiously "..you alright, Twilight?" He stepped a bit closer to her, but she held up her hoof and nodded, seemingly unable to speak. The tall changeling didn't look convinced, but didn't press the issue, he still , however, looked at Twilight with a worried expression. Twilight, seemingly finally collected her bearings, stood up, shot a smile at Thorax and began walking towards her castle , Thorax following close behind. Twilight didn't understand one thing , though. Why did it hurt when Thorax looked so delighted to see Spike? The purple alicorns didn't even think to consider that the powerful beat of another presence inside of her might be at fault. After a ten minute walk, the pair arrived to the door of the crystal castle, to which Twilight gently opened the door. "Spike?" Twilight called out "Spiiiike! Thorax is here to see you!" Twilight winced as she said that, which didn't go unnoticed by Thorax, who gave Twilight another concerned look. Nobody answered , which must have ment one thing. Spike was out with the crusaders. Twilight, at that moment realized, that she was incredibly relieved he was , she could spend more alone time with Thorax! Wait. More alone time with Thorax? Sure, Thorax is her friend- Another stab of pain, and Twilight collapsed to the floor with a yelp. Within a few seconds, Thorax was at her side, franticly asking what's wrong. Only then did Twilight realize what the loud second "heartbeat" inside her was. Her eyes widened as she looked up at Thorax. She found him, her soulmate. Twilight looked up at Thorax with disbelief, before her expression melted into a joyful smile, she quickly lept up and launched herself at the surprised king, who didn't except (of course) to be tackled. For a pony this much smaller than him, she had strength, he thought in shock as he laid there on his back, with the happy and excited princess still on top of him. Thorax felt that weird second heartbeat become much more loud when she leaned closer to him and looked at him right in the eyes. He felt his cheeks flush as the purple mare spoke "Thorax..., do you happen to have a second..heartbeat?" The question shocked him, as he looked at Twilight in surprise, blushing even more when she giggled giddily at his expression "I take that as a yes, then?" Thorax slowly nodded at her words, looking at her curiously. "Hos do-" He began, but he was cut off by the alicorn again "How do I know?" She finished for him. He nodded his head again, making the mare smile, the action caused Thoraxses heart to swell . 'Was she always this pretty?' he thought silently, looking at Twilight in awe, before quickly coming out of his daze when she began talking again. "You see, Thorax.." Twilight trailed off, for the first time today, looking unsure of herself "That heartbeat, it's the beat of magic of your fated one" that sentence caused the changelings mouth to fall open. "My fated one...as in, a soulmate? Just like the legends say?" Thorax asked in amazement, before quickly realizing something... He looked at Twilight, as if he was seeing her in a completely new light, and whispered "Does that mean..." Twilight closed her eyes, took a deep breath and said... "Yes Thorax, we are soulmates" > Chapter Two: And when two hearts beat in sync > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thorax and Twilight stared at each other for a long time, almost 10 minutes passed by till Twilight realized she was still laying on top of Thorax. Her cheeks flared a bright red, and she quickly flew off of him, giving him an apologetic look as she landed a few feet away. Thorax looked back at her with a dazed expression, before quickly shaking his head, and quickly got up onto his hooves, also looking visibly flustered. Twilight opened and closed her mouth a few times, her ears folding back against her head, before she finally blurted out what she wanted to say. “T-Thorax..what does this make us?” She asked quietly, and the tall changeling didn't even have to scan the purple mares emotions to see she was positively terrified of the answer, even if her cheeks were still bright red from the previous encounter. Thorax took a deep breath, and looked at Twilight with , what he hoped was, a soft expression, and said , a little shakily..”Pr-Princess- I mean, Twilight- sorry- “ he stammered mid sentence “I think that, since we're already Friends-” -Thorax felt a slight sting in his chest at that- “-That we should start slow, go on a few...dates,and if everything goes well, a-as the legends say- w-well...I think you can guess?” The king blushed at the smaller mares gaze. Twilight looked like she was stuck between a state of shock and happiness, and Thorax smiled a little, relieved. When Twilight got over her shock, she squealed and in a flash, a number of papers and quills appeared out of thin air, causing Thorax to take a step back in surprise. “Oh, We have so much to plan!” Twilight said excitedly, already beginning to write something on one of the papers “The first date, where to go, at what time- oooh-! Schedules! “ the purple mare was already almost done with one page, when she felt another magic aura take the paper away from her “hey!”. Thorax have Twilight a sheepish grin, and she quickly realized she started planning ahead without telling him, she lowered her ears and blushed “Sorry Thorax, I got a little..excited?” the alicorn said, giggling nervously. Thorax smiled reassuringly, before reading over the paper, his smile widening a little bit “It's fine”, he said after a moment of silence “I think this can be arranged, anyways! So you don’t have to redo the page, so , tomorrow at ..um..A-Amour de la rose? At seven?” Despite his calm words and expression, internally, to be blunt, he was freaking the buck out, his stutter proving that, too. The green changeling took a deep breath and nodded , as if to assure himself, but Twilight could see he was nervous from his posture - and his rapidly beating heart - and smiled at him, again, which made the heartbeat skip. "Yes, Thorax, it's a date!" Obviously they both already knew this, but it didn't stop the pink blush from forming on her -and his-cheeks. Twilight, however, wasn't much better in the 'panic department', on the inside she was screaming out all the possible things that could go wrong on the date, that Thorax would never want to see her again if she messed up somehow, oh sweet Celestia what would she dO?!- Twilight was knocked out of her thought by a green hoof waving itself in front of herself. "Are you okay, Twilight?" Thorax asked , with a worried expression on his face. He just watched Twilight standing there for a minute, her eyes slowly dilating, becoming smaller and smaller, till he got worried her iris would dissaper forever if it went on. The purple mare quickly nodded, looking embarrassed that she got stuck in her panic filled thoughts, and smiled , again, nervously "Yes , I'm fine, totally- haha-". She wasn't fine, but neither was Thorax, as they were both panicking internally. Oh dear. What a comedy. Thorax looked out of the window, perhaps to distract himself, when he noticed how late it was. Gasping, he quickly straightened up , making Twilight look at him in surprise. "What's wrong?" She asked in a worried voice, making the changeling look at her, and say "It's getting dark, and I have something important to discuss with Pharynx, I'm sorry Twilight" he looked visibly bummed out about this, as did Twilight, but she understood , and nodded. "it's fine" the princess said, and gave Thorax a gentle smile "We'll see each other tomorrow anyway, right?" . Thorax blushed, and with a goofy smile, nodded, before flying out of the open window, yelling "Bye Twilight!" Over his shoulder, before realizing the whole Ponyville must've heard him, which caused him to almost crash into a tree, but he regained his balance and continued on his way home. Twilight giggled at the adorable image, and turned around, walking towards her room, she had a dress to pick out, after all. Wait. Didn't she invite Thorax here because she planned to invite changelings to the next Grand Galloping Gala? Twilight stood still for a moment, two moments, maybe too long, before a loud SMACK filled the hallway, along with a loud explanation of "UGHHH!". Most likely anypony from three miles away would have heard it Spike, who was just returning home from Rarity's boutique, heard the loud noise from inside the castle and raised an ...err...place where eyebrow is supposed to be ? Not even Spike himself knows what it's called. Spike walked in on Twilight pacing the floor, muttering about 'some stupid soulmate thing causing her to forget her duties'. Spike slowly backed away from the fuming mare, deciding to go to sleep early for once, if she's in THAT kind of mood. Twilight heard a door close gently, too gently, and slowly turned towards it with a blank expression... Before... "SPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!" 'oh boy' Spike winced. "Y-Yes, Twilight?" He peeked out of the door he was behind with a nervous grin. Twilight glared at him for a moment, before sighing and saying "I have something to tell you Spike". Spike gulped slowly, sitting down on the ground. They were gonna there for a while, by the look Twilight was giving him. > Chapter Three: You'll feel the Love flow through you > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Wait, so does that mean-” “Yes , Spike” “And he's really your-” “Yes, Spike.” “And you two-” “YES, SPIKE.” Twilight almost yelled, seeing as this has been going on for 10 minutes now, she was getting rather frustrated with how Spikes questions, however understandable they may have been. Spike put up his hands in surrender “Geez, Sorry Twilight” he muttered dejectedly, and Twilights heart squeezed itself in a painful way at the sight. The purple Alicorn sighed. “No , I'm sorry, I'm just overwhelmed and tired from all of ..this!” She exclaimed, making wild hoof gestures “I never expected this to happen!” Twilight said loudly. Spike gave Twilight a reassuring smile and hopped into her back “It's okay Twilight!” The baby dragon said comfortingly “I'm sure it'll all work itself out, besides , knowing Thorax, he's probably not coping better than you at the moment…” MEANWHILE, IN THE CHANGELING HIVE “PHARYYYYYYYYYNX!” a loud wail echoed throughout the changeling hive, startling anyone who was getting ready for an early good night's rest, and that , (un)fortunately  counted in Pharynx, Thoraxes brother, who's eyes shot open just as he was dozing off. However, in his half awake state, he was not able to dodge the incoming bullet known as the changeling king, and they both rolled around for a good minute before stopping by a wall. A moment of silence passed, before Pharynx hissed ,annoyed at his younger brother for waking him up like this, at which the green changeling chuckled nervously and got off his brother. “I um, kind of need to tell you something-” Thorax was interrupted by his grumpy brothers reply “What could possibly be so jarring the you had to crash into me to wake me up?” Pharynx grumbled. Thorax gulped “Well, you see- I found out- When I was talking to Twilight- err-” “Oh for Celestia's sake, just say it! I'm not going to bite your head off if you do!” His brother yelled, making Thorax lose the nervousness for only a moment, and he blurted out “Twilight and me are SoulBound!” Silence. … … … “WHAT?!” AT TWILIGHT'S CASTLE “Yes Spike...I guess you're right” Twilight said, and then took a deep breath, smiling softly at the purple dragon “Thank you” she said sincerely. Spike puffed up in pride at being told he's right, and hugged Twilight around the neck “No problem, Twilight” he said, not surprising Twilight with the hug, he was usually only this affectionate when they were alone, as he was embarrassed when he showed affection to his adopted older sister (technically mother, but Twilight was too young to be considered a mother at the time Spike was hatched, so they both settled with “older sister”), since he's “too cool” for that. Twilight giggled and nuzzled Spike, who sneezed when she nuzzled his nose, before trotting up towards her bedchambers , as the sun has already set as they were talking. Twilight let Spike climb off of her back, and said “You can go to sleep, Spike, I'm going to go read some more” She smiled at him gently , before turning and closing the door behind her. “Now, where did I put that book about Soulmates...ah! I know!” And within a proof of pink magic, a heavy, old book appeared in the Alicorns magic. Twilight grinned at the book, a piece of her mane sticking up as she did “Let's get down to business!” the lavender Alicorn nearly squawked, and eagerly flew towards the cutie map room to re-read anything she might have dismissed as unimportant the last time she read the book. After reading through the book, again and again (admittedly, this was at least her 8th time reading the old book) , Twilight saw a few interesting passages, some of them stood out, such as the theories about how soulmates may have came to be, and how to find yours, if it is better to wait, or to search for them , how to tell who your soulmate is if you do not possess unicorn magic (or any kind of magic hum inside you), and so many more! The first passage, the one about how soul mates may have came to be was “a Long time ago, creatures used to have eight four pairs of hooves (paws)  two heads, and two tails , but then the gods started fearing the ponies power, so they separated them into two, ever since then, creatures have longed for their other half, and since then have searched for their soul mate” As cute as the end of it sounds, Twilight doesn't really find the image of her and Thorax conjoined into one very romantic, at least if they were actually conjoined. Twilight blushed thinking of the other kind of conjoined they could be, she couldn't wait till they were close enough to snuggle. Nevertheless, Twilight buries her head back into the book, getting ready for another hour of reading. BACK WITH THORAX Thorax stared at his older brother as he paced around the room with a nervous expression on his face “What's wrong with that?” he asked nervously, watching as Pharynx froze and slowly turned to look at him. “What's wrong with it? Nothing! That's the problem!” He seethed, making Thorax even more confused than before. He opened his mouth to say “What do you mean?” , But his brother answered before he could even say it. “How could I have not seen it?! It's so obvious!” He hissed , making Thorax even more confused “Obvious?” Thorax asked “What do you mean?-” “Yes, obvious! I should have sensed it! Dear Celestia, YOU should have sensed it! We're changelings, this kind of thing is supposed to be easy for us!” Pharynx hissed angrily, and Thorax wasn't sure if the hiss was directed at him , or at Pharynx himself . “I mean..I guess, but-” he began , but was again, interrupted “No buts!” Pharynx shouted “You need to get moving with this!” He advanced towards his brother and started pushing him out of the room “I'll get you ready for that date you told me about before!” Was all he said, making panic grip at Thoraxes heart. Oh uh, etiquette lessons.