Colors of the Soul

~ ⚫ ~

“Do you want to find your soulmate?”

“I… I guess?”

“You ‘guess’?”

“Well, I mean, I want to see in colors, of course. Doesn’t everypony?”

“Yes, of course, but… They’re your soulmate, Twilight. They’re the pony you’re meant to be with for the rest of your life… aren’t they?”

“… I don’t know, Rarity. That’s what everypony says, but… Why are you asking about this? Don’t you want to find yours?”

“… I don’t know anymore.”

~ ⚫ ~

It was common knowledge that ponies could only see in shades of grey for most of their life. Or, they could do so until they met their soulmate, the one being they were destined to be with for the rest of their life. Their perfect match, more than anypony else in the entire world.

That’s what soulmates were, weren’t they?

Did this mean that one should never seek out love before that, then? Were they equally destined to strive to spend their entire life finding their soulmate?

No.

It was, after all, silly to think one should do that. There were millions of creatures living in the planet; most of them went their entire lives without ever finding their soulmate, without ever seeing the colors of the world, and yet they still led incredibly happy lives with ponies they… dearly loved.

When Twilight Sparkle arrived to Ponyville and met her actual best friends, she had not been granted the gift of colored sight. None of her friends were her soulmate, and she hadn’t thought any of it for she didn’t expect any of them to be the one she wanted to spend her life with.

Except for Rarity.

Twilight had always been fascinated by the unicorn, by her innate ability to perhaps not see colors, but sense them. One might have thought that the fashion industry would be an unwise job for the color-blind, but Rarity had never been bothered by her disadvantage. Shades of grey that seemed, well, grey to Twilight seemed completely different to Rarity. She’d explained once that it was like she didn’t need to see the colors to know what they were, how they fit, how they worked.

Even when she talked about the subject, Twilight loved to tease her and matter-of-factly point out everything looked grey, but Rarity’s enthusiasm was enough to fool the alicorn into feeling she too could feel colors without actually doing so.

Maybe that’s what attracted Twilight to Rarity. The impossible, the unusual did not stop Rarity from excelling at what everypony said she could not do, and in that same vein, so did Twilight allow herself to go against her universe’s rule and decide that fate did not choose who was her soulmate.

Being with Rarity made Twilight feel like she could go on for the rest of her life seeing in shades of black and white without ever minding. She never felt the urge or desire to meet her ‘supposed’ soulmate.

She just never expected Rarity would find hers so terribly soon.

All kinds of sounds surrounded Twilight Sparkle, coming from every direction. It was to be expected of a bustling diner during lunchtime, of course, but she couldn’t help but wish they’d stop. The laughing ponies behind her, the cook belting out order numbers, the waitress reciting the menu of the day, and everything else too.

They usually didn’t distract her — it was hard for anything to get to her when her mind was at work — but this time they did. This time they interrupted her desperate attempts to form coherent thoughts, to maintain a semblance of sanity as part of her world crashed around her.

Her eyes were fixed on her plate and the daisy sandwich lying atop it. It looked as grey as sandwiches had looked for her entire life, but only now was she truly aware of the fact. A little detail she’d never really given a second thought about until earlier that day at the plaza, until those mares and…

“I’m sorry you found out that way, Twi.”

Twilight didn’t look up from her plate.

“Say again?” she said, forcing out the words in such a way she was sure Applejack knew she was only pretending to not have heard. She wanted to be safe in her make-believe world where Twilight had never heard anypony whispering in the market, where she hadn’t sought out a friend for confirmation, and where Applejack hadn’t done just that.

Ignorance really was bliss, wasn’t it?

“The gossipin’ of ponies ain’t no way to find out about… that. They should have known better than to talk about that with you trottin’ ’round.”

A bitter laugh left Twilight’s lips. “It’s not their fault.” And it wasn’t, was it? She gulped down, stubbornly clinging to the last fibers of hope scattered inside her, and asked, “Are you sure that she…?”

The initial searing silence following the statement was answer enough for Twilight, but Applejack spoke up nonetheless. She spoke without hesitation, without stammers or pauses. “I was there when it happened, Sugarcube. I was with Rarity at the marketplace, she trotted over to talk with some out-of-town merchant folk… Y’know, he was selling some imported fruits from Tall Tale. Well, we went over there, talked to him and…” She paused, finally, patiently waiting for Twilight to look up after a moment, and with all the brutal honesty such a thing could entail, finished: “She can see in colors now, Twi.”

“Are you really sure?”

Hope always died last.

“I would never lie about something like this, Twilight.”

Twilight let out a breath of air, and with it went whatever she had been clinging to. She pushed her plate away, her eyes glazing over the sandwich as she idly wondered what color it really was. She looked at the table, the ones besides them, the ponies sitting by them, the waitresses, customers and then at Applejack herself and she wondered what color they all were.

And she thought of an excerpt from one of Rarity’s novels. A little line that had sent her girlfriend into a melancholic afternoon as she mourned the tragic love lives of the fictional characters of the story.

“And when she trotted away and closed the door without looking back, my heart left with her and for a moment did the world around me turn back to bitter grey.”

Applejack blinked. “Err…”

“It’s from one of Rarity’s novels. ‘Wounded Aeon’ by Quill Scratch. The love interest decides she’d rather be with somepony else, and he feels as though he’s lost his colored vision from the heartbreak.”

“Twi—”

“Of course, it doesn’t last long. Not just because Rarity loves happy endings nearly as much as she loves dramatic climaxes, but because soulmates always end up together, don’t they?”

Applejack frowned. “Twilight. You’re bein’ mighty silly for somepony smart as you are. Rarity would never leave ya for somethin’ like that.”

“No?” Twilight asked, sarcasm dripping off every syllable. “AJ, who do you know that didn’t immediately end up with their ‘soulmate’ once they saw in colors? And Rarity—! Don’t you remember? She’d go on and on for hours about it before we started to date! Just because she doesn’t talk about it anymore doesn’t mean she still… doesn’t…” She drifted off, burying her face in her hooves and seeking solace in the darkness it created.

“Listen here, filly,” Applejack said, and the warmth in her voice faded, “I think you ought talk to Rarity before you let these silly fears get to your head. You’re gettin’ all your apples in a bunch, and for all we know, she might have found this stallion to be uglier than a rotten apple.”

“I guess…”

Yes, the smart thing to do would be to see Rarity and talk about it, but truthfully, Twilight didn’t want to see Rarity. Her entire relationship hung in the balance now, and she was too frightened to walk over the tightrope that was confronting Rarity over her soulmate. There was a fifty percent chance that Rarity’s feelings hadn’t changed, but so was there an equal fifty percent chance that they had.

“Do you know where she is?” Twilight finally asked, looking up.

“Well…” Applejack winced, her obvious difficulty at forming words only sinking Twilight’s heart further down into her chest. “Now, Twilight, I don’t want ya lookin’ too much into this, ya hear? I just think it’s—”

“You’re stalling, Applejack.”

Caught red-hoofed, Applejack sighed. “She went off with the stallion to have a coffee after ‘it’ happened. But I’m sure they just wanted to talk about it and share the experience, not run off together!” she added, speaking over Twilight’s groan when the alicorn crossed her forelegs on the table and buried her face in them. “Twilight, for pony’s sake, just go and talk to her already! Worrying like this ain’t doing you any good, darn it!”

“No, it isn’t.” Twilight got up, taking a few bits out of her saddlebag and placing them on the table. “I need to go do something.”

“Talk to Rarity?” Applejack ventured.

Twilight shook her head, and her friend frowned.

“Now who’s the one stallin’?”

“I’m not stalling!” Twilight exclaimed, a lie she convinced herself was true as she trotted off towards the restaurant’s exit. “I just need to figure some things out, okay? I promise I’ll talk to Rarity soon.”

“I hope so, Sugarcube.”

~ ⚫ ~

For as long as ponies lived, so had they tried to explain their strange condition. Some settled on believing it was as impossible to explain as the existence of magic itself. Magic and color-sight just were, nothing more and nothing less.

Scientists, however, and professors too, were not so keen to give up. Dozens of books had been written on the subject, trying to decipher everything from why ponies were born with colorless sight to what did it truly mean to be a soulmate on a physical and spiritual level.

Twilight Sparkle had copies of nearly each one of these books in her castle’s library, and yet she had not gone to her own library but Canterlot’s.

It wasn’t that her library wasn’t as magnificent as Princess Celestia’s, but Canterlot was not home. Home was Ponyville, and in that moment, she did not want to be in a place where her relationship to Rarity was painted all over. Painted in the bench where they first kissed, in the shop where they argued, in the millions of different memories they’d made all over the town.

Canterlot was free of Rarity, and full of a Twilight Sparkle who had once cared little about friendship and even less about romance and soulmates.

A wide array of books and scrolls lay scattered around the alicorn, her nose stuck inside one of the millions of books to be found there. From ‘The Science of Colors’ to ‘Pony Anatomy: Birth to Death’, Twilight had spent the past few hours reading in an attempt to somehow prove several things.

The first of them was that there was a perfectly reasonable scientific explanation for why ponies could see in colors upon meeting a certain pony.

The second was that this phenomenon had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with ponies possibly (but not likely at all) being soulmates.

And the third was to decipher what exactly were soulmates in the first place. How could one even truly define what a soulmate was? Maybe soulmates didn’t even have to necessarily be the romantic end-all? What if ponies didn’t even have souls in the first place?!

Alright, maybe that last thing was a bit too much.

“Urgh…”

Twilight put the book down and sighed, rubbing her temple with a hoof.

Maybe I am being silly?

“Twilight?”

Twilight lifted her gaze and found Cadance stepping into the aisle, the elder princess’s eyes darting around the books surrounding her sister-in-law.

“Cadance? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, thrown off by her friend and briefly wondering if she’d somehow gone to the Crystal Empire rather than Canterlot. With how troubled her mind was, she wouldn’t have been too surprised by it.

“I just wanted to visit Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna,” Cadance said, carefully stepping over several small piles of books and settling down next to Twilight. She playfully winked and added, “If anyone asks, I’m on ‘Royal Duty’.”

“Oh…”

Relief washed over Twilight like a wave. The gears in her head began to turn, reminding her that Cadance was very much the Princess of Love, wasn’t she? If anypony could quell Twilight’s fear over losing Rarity due to… the event that had transpired, it had to be her, didn’t it?

Unless…

Unless all Cadance would do was confirm Twilight’s fears.

Just like that, all the relief Twilight had felt vanished into thin air. She looked down at her books, ears dropping as she picked up the nearest one. It was a rather old tome exploring the concept of a special magic within each pony — be it pegasi, unicorn or earth pony. The author claimed that every equine race had natural magic within them, and Twilight agreed. After all, what else could have Tirek stolen from the pegasi and earth ponies if not magic?

The sound of Cadance gently humming caught Twilight’s attention, and she looked up to find her sister-in-law glancing over the plethora of books strewn about.

“What’s all this about?” she asked, picking up a book from the floor and leafing through it with a curious expression. “Did Auntie Celestia give you an assignment?”

“Uh, no,” Twilight eloquently replied, avoiding any eye-contact with Cadance. “I was just curious about the Canterlot Archives’s records on souls.” She paused for a moment, putting the book down and taking another. Part of her felt it unwise to speak up about her trouble, whether it be directly or not, but the need to have guidance from Cadance trumped her aversion to facing the truth.

“A friend recently found her sou— the pony who allowed her to see in colors,” she continued, inwardly chastising herself for her slip of the tongue. “I thought that maybe researching about the topic would prove useful in case she has any questions or doubts about her new eye-sight.”

It wasn’t a lie, after all.

Twilight had never experienced colored-sight for herself, but she’d read it was a very hard change to initially cope with. That was her only saving grace, really. That her own dread was only slightly diminished by her own larger concern over Rarity’s well-being.

Well, it’s not like she needs you anymore, an awful little voice inside her said, she has her ‘soulmate’ to help her through it now.

For the longest time, Cadance did nothing but hum in reply as she continued flipping through the pages of the book. Eventually, she spoke up.

“It’s lucky she has such a good friend, then.” She closed the book and put it back on the floor. “What do you think about it?” she asked, her voice measured and composed. “Is she happy she found her…” A split-second pause followed, after which she continued, “colored-sight friend?”

“I don’t know. It was an important moment for her, so I didn’t want to intrude,” Twilight both confessed and lied, managing to stay as nonchalant as she could despite… despite the fact that she’d caught Cadance’s split-second pause, despite the fact she knew how that phrase should have ended, and despite the fact she understood the implications of Cadance having changed it in the first place.

“And how do you feel about it?” Cadance asked, smiling as if nothing was wrong, as if the only thing going on was but a friendly curious conversation between two good friends.

Even so, Twilight Sparkle could feel her act begin to break.

“I’ve found all sorts of interesting theories.” Twilight levitated the first book and opened it to the appropriate page. “According to this book, all ponies have some sort of natural magic, and it’s incomplete when we’re born and that’s why we can’t see in colors,” she said, not really realizing she was rambling on and on, her voice growing more desperate as she tried to convince not Cadance, but herself of the theory’s validity. “But, even though we all have our individual magic, which is why my magic is colored differently than yours for example, sometimes the magical aura of two ponies is identical, and when in contact, they complement each other and fill in what’s missing. So really it’s not that they’re soulmates at all, but it’s something purely scientific.”

Again, Cadance did not instantly reply, but neither did she hum.

Instead, she retrieved the book from Twilight’s magic grip and placed it back on the pile. Once it was down, she took a deep breath and, in a soft and comforting voice, asked, “When did it happen?”

And just like that, the charade was over.

And just like that, tears bordered Twilight’s eyes.

“This morning,” she whispered, her hoof brushing against the cover of the book, like a misbehaved foal resigned to an upcoming scolding, for she’d done wrong with dating Rarity despite knowing they weren’t…

“I see.”

Cadance moved closer to Twilight, though she kept her distance, and Twilight was grateful for it. Closeness, hugs, intimacy were actions meant to console and comfort, and if Cadance tried to console or comfort Twilight, it meant Twilight’s worst fears were real. Distance meant there was still a chance, that not all was lost, that there was still something to fight for.

“Have you talked to Rarity about it?”

Twilight shook her head, still staring down at the book and watching a couple of tears splash down upon it, painting it a darker shade of grey — as grey as everything was and everything felt. Grey and depressing; grey and painful; grey, and grey, and grey, and never had Twilight hated the color grey more than she did in that very moment.

“Twilight… Why haven’t you talked to her? That’s the first thing you should have done,” Cadance said, echoing Applejack’s earlier words.

Twilight clamped her ears against her head in reply and gritted her teeth. That’s what she should have done? That’s what everypony seemed to think, but they didn’t understand. They didn’t understand, and they would never understand the position Twilight was in.

The idiom ‘easier said than done’ had never been more painfully accurate.

“How?” Twilight asked, looking up to her friend, hot tears stinging at her eyes. “What do I even say? How do I ask her? How can I just go up to her and ask her how it felt to meet the pony she was destined to be with? Casually? Maybe ask if she still even likes me, too? Or should I just congratulate her and tell her I’ll get my stuff out of her boutique tomorrow?”

Pain seared her heart now that it had all been laid out so honestly.

“Cadance?” she asked before the other alicorn could speak. She looked back to the book, and she could barely hold back the resentment seeping into her voice. “Why didn’t you stop us? Why didn’t you nip it at the bud when you could have, if you’re the Princess of Love? Why did you tell me I should try when I asked you if I should?”

“Twilig—”

“If soulmates are real, then doesn’t that mean Rarity would be happier with him?” Twilight interrupted, opening the book again and turning the pages. Because that’s what soulmates were, weren’t they? They were the pony that would make you the most happy, they were your perfect match, they were…

Everything Twilight could not be no matter how hard she tried.

She couldn’t compete with destiny, and her voice hitched, and her chest hurt at the crashing resignation to the fact.

She was not the pony designed to be Rarity’s perfect match, and what right did she have to deprive Rarity of a life of bliss? What right did she have when even Twilight herself wanted this for Rarity.

“I… I want Rarity to be happy, even if it means… it’s not with me…”

“That’s why.”

Twilight looked up, her confusion blinking away the tears. Cadance was smiling, a small genuine smile that did not seem to be filled with pity or sadness or anything but endless kindness.

“Wh-what?”

“That’s why I told you to go after her,” Cadance elaborated, the smile growing ever so slightly. She giggled and poked Twilight with her wing tip. “Because you love her no matter what she is to you.”

“But, Cadance—”

Cadance frowned. “Twilight, I thought you didn’t believe in soulmates.”

Twilight looked down. “But Rarity does.”

But Rarity does, and did, and always would believe in silly stories about true love, and soulmates, and destiny, and the worst part was that’s what Twilight loved about her. Her endless romanticism that Twilight felt so foreign but fascinating when it came from her, and how Rarity had tricked her; tricked her with her stories about how they were defying destiny by being together, and how it meant all the more, and Twilight had believed her. Twilight had believed her to the point she felt they were soulmates just because they said so.

But now, why would Rarity keep settling for second best?

“Twilight, soulmates aren’t just romantic. If–“

“There are very few exceptions.”

“If they were, Auntie Luna and Auntie Celestia would be in a relationship, then,” Cadance pointed out, giggling playfully. When Twilight failed to reply or look up, Cadance stopped her giggling and put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Twilight… If it had been you that could see in colors, would you break up with Rarity?”

“Of course not!” Twilight immediately replied, almost offended by the question. “I love her! I wouldn’t just stop doing it because I met somepony who made me see in colors!”

“Then why do you think she would?”

Twilight’s anger faded, and her gaze went back to her books.

That was the million bit question, wasn’t it?

“I… I don’t know.”

“Twilight, look at me,” Cadance instructed. When Twilight did as told, Cadance smiled and lifted Twilight’s chin with her forehoof. “You need to talk to her so she can tell you how silly you’re being.”

“What if I’m not being silly?” Twilight asked, her voice dropping to a bereaved whisper.

“Then wouldn’t you rather know now?” Cadance asked, and the smile faded. “Promise me you’ll talk to her soon?”

And with a heavy heart, Twilight promised she would.

~ ⚫ ~

Looking at it from a distance, Carousel Boutique had never seemed so terrifying.

Twilight supposed there was something funny about her situation. She’d fought all kinds of evils and all kinds of monsters, and yet it felt like talking to Rarity was the scariest thing she’d ever been forced to do.

She walked slowly towards the building, both stalling for time and trying to piece together the conversation she’d have with Rarity. Unfortunately, when she reached the door and stood by it for what felt like an eternity, her rationale quickly went into a downwards spiral.

It was hard to silence her mind from all the wild theories of what would happen when she stepped in, from finding all her stuff already placed in the main hall, to Rarity sitting her down to let her down gently, to…

Ugh…

There was no point in stalling anymore, was there?

Taking a deep breath, she opened the doors of the boutique, the familiar chime signaling her arrival to whoever was inside. Was it awful of her to wish Rarity wasn’t home? But if she wasn’t at home, then that could only mean she was with the pony she’d met, and only that thought made Twilight hope Rarity was home.

To her immediate dismay, she found that the main hall was indeed filled with a messy display of assorted objects strewn about in large bunches. To her later relief, closer inspection revealed that none of those things belonged to her, but were instead… clothes? Dresses, coats, hats, and all kinds of things Rarity had done were discarded on the floor, as if they were trash instead of objects Rarity had spent hours working on.

She stepped into the room, carefully maneuvering around the clothes, and headed towards Rarity’s study. Or, she would have had she not noticed yet another peculiar thing. On a nearby desk, where Rarity put all her photographs, Twilight noticed that several of the framed had been turned down, hiding the photos from sight. Curiously, she upturned the frames and scrunched her eyebrows, trying to figure out what was wrong with them. No broken glass, no dirt marks, no one looking like they had a bad mane day. She compared them to the photos that hadn’t been touched, and it took her a moment, but she felt her heart drop upon realizing the sole difference between them.

Her.

Every single frame that had been turned down had Twilight in it. That was the sole difference, and what apparently warranted those photographs be hidden from sight.

Had Rarity done this?

But why?

Were… Were Twilight’s true colors so awful to look at, she had to hide away all the pictures? Or had she fallen out of love so quickly that she didn’t want any more to do with Twilight? If it had been that quickly, then… then maybe there really hadn’t been any real love there to begin with.

Twilight put the frames back down, stepping back and feeling sick. Sick to her stomach, sick to her chest, sick to her heart. She didn’t want to go through with it anymore; she couldn’t go through with it anymore. How could she?

“Oh! Twilight!”

Twilight turned around and saw Fluttershy standing under the frame of the door leading to Rarity’s study. She was carrying a bundle of dresses, no doubt intending on having them join those already on the floor.

Twilight couldn’t bring herself to smile or say hello.

“Where have you been?” Fluttershy asked, quickly placing the dresses on top of a nearby pile before turning to Twilight and smiling. “Rarity’s been looking for you all day.”

“Oh,” Twilight flatly replied. “I had to go to Canterlot.”

Though it faltered for a moment, Fluttershy kept her smile. “Did you have to do research?”

“Something like that.” She glanced back at the photographs, and again the sickening feeling returned. “Is Rarity here?”

Fluttershy nodded. “She’s in her study, but…” She took a deep breath, and offered an encouraging smile. Encouraging Twilight to be strong, maybe? “There’s… Uhm… Something happened, and—”

“I already know, Fluttershy,” Twilight softly said. “I found out this morning.”

And now did Fluttershy’s smile vanish. “You did?”

Twilight nodded, somehow mustering a grateful smile. “Yeah, but thank you for trying to warn me, though.”

Fluttershy lifted her hoof to her chest. “W-Warn you?”

“Twilight? Is that you?” Rarity’s voice said from inside her study.

She took a deep breath and trotted past Fluttershy, entering the study to find Rarity working away at something on her desk, her back facing Twilight. Just like the main hall, Rarity’s study was complete chaos though that was hardly an unusual event. How many times before had the alicorn found herself irritated at her girlfriend’s ‘organized chaos’?

The only really unusual things were the posters plastered all over the walls, which Twilight recognized as color palettes despite the fact they all still looked colorless to her.

Rarity seemed to be sketching something, the sound of her pen scratching against paper. Twilight assumed she was redesigning her entire fashion line now that she could see it in full color. She wondered what it was like, what Rarity felt, and she wished she could ask and discuss and spend endless hours learning from Rarity, but…

“How are you feeling?” she asked, her main concern despite it all still being Rarity’s health and well-being. “Fluttershy said you’d been looking for me, but I left to do something in Canterlot earlier.”

Rarity’s sketching stopped, though she did not turn around. “I… I feel very different,” she replied at length, and Twilight wondered if she was trying to compose her next sentence in her mind. “Twilight…” She put down her fountain pen and made as if to turn her head around, but stopped at the last second. “Twilight, there’s something I must tell you.”

“I already know,” Twilight replied, pushing out every word with absurd difficulty. “Applejack told me earlier today. She said you met a stallion at the marketplace and…” She drifted off, finding herself unable to finish the sentence. Saying it meant acknowledging it, accepting it, resigning herself to it.

“Applejack told you?” Rarity asked, her voice suddenly on edge. She turned back to her desk, continuing her sketching. “She could have asked me before telling you.”

Twilight winced. It hadn’t been Applejack’s fault. It was her who’d stupidly gone to seek confirmation and forced it out of the farmer.

“I heard some ponies talking about it at the main plaza,” she quickly explained, keeping her voice as steady as she was able to. “I found Applejack since I knew she’d been there in the morning, and I made her tell me, and… ” She gulped down, wishing she could take several deep breaths. “She agreed because she was worried about me, I guess.”

“Worried about you?” Rarity asked, and she jerked around as if to turn around, but again stopped herself at the last minute. She kept her gaze on the desk, and her voice sounded concerned as she asked, “Whyever would she be worried about you? Did something happen?”

Twilight didn’t exactly know if to react with laughter or anger.

Had Rarity seriously just asked that? Wow. Twilight couldn’t tell if cruelty came included with finding your soulmate, or if Rarity was just that insensitive. Regardless of what was the case, it only strengthened the alicorn’s growing desire to just get it all over with.

“She thought I’d think you wouldn’t want to be with me anymore because of this,” she said, finding it harder and harder by the second to keep her voice from cracking, and to keep the tears from stinging at her eyes. “A-And considering you can’t even turn to look at me and that you turned around every photograph you had of me, then I guess she was ri-right to be worried.”

Now Rarity reacted.

“No!” she exclaimed, swirling around in her spot, looking absolutely horrified. “We only turned the photos away because I wanted to… to… see you…”

And indeed she did.

It felt like eons passed by as they stared at each other, complete silence permeating the room. Rarity’s eyes were wide behind her glasses, her mouth slightly ajar, and her only action was to simply lift her glasses to the top of her head.

It felt like torture for Twilight, having to stand there and wait for something, anything. What was Rarity thinking? What would Twilight give to know a mind-reading spell and forcibly extract the thoughts the unicorn refused to voice. Did she like how Twilight looked? Did she hate it? Neither? What?!

“Twilight, you…” She drifted off, biting down on her lip so as to seemingly try and contain her giggling. “Oh my goodness, Twilight, I…”

In return, Twilight didn’t exactly know how to react. After all, it definitely wasn’t the reaction she’d been expecting. She’d expected everything but Rarity excitedly smiling like a filly about to meet Princess Celestia, her hooves now covering her mouth and barely hiding her unreserved grin.

It also didn’t help that she could hear Fluttershy giggling behind her, too.

“…Rarity?” Twilight asked, feeling her cheeks heat up when she only managed to send the unicorn into another excited giggling fit. “Are you okay…?”

“I’m terribly sorry, darling,” Rarity said, wiping away tears from her eyes and offering yet another elated smile. “I’m just stunned, is all. I didn’t know it was possible for you to look more beautiful, but oh heavens, I’ve never been happier to have been proven so wonderfully wrong.”

Twilight didn’t know what else to do but stare.

“Oh, oh, Fluttershy! Fluttershy!” Rarity screeched, gesturing wildly with her foreleg. “Is blushing when her cheeks turn all red and adorable?” she asked, and Twilight wished she could stop her cheeks from rapidly turning gray— redder? Apparently?

Fluttershy laughed softly. “I don’t know, but I think it is, yes.” She cleared her throat and grabbed another pile of dresses. “I’m going to start organizing outside, okay?”

That said, she smiled at Twilight and trotted off, leaving the two other mares to their lonesome.

The moment Fluttershy was gone, Rarity put her glasses back on, took one of the color charts from the wall and rushed towards Twilight for a closer look. During the next ten minutes, a flabbergasted Twilight simply stood there, not sure of what to do as Rarity excitedly informed her that: “Ooooh, this pink streak in your mane! How stylish!” and “Oh, I must make an ensemble to go with this lavender!”, not forgetting the fact that “Your cutie mark is so cute, darling!” — nevermind that Twilight had no idea what pink or lavender even looked like.

So enraptured was Rarity by analyzing Twilight that she didn’t hear Twilight repeatedly saying her name until Twilight shouted it and magicked her into a stop.

“Rarity, will you please calm down?!”

“Hi,” Rarity finally said, giggling once for good measure.

Twilight resisted the urge to roll her eyes and released Rarity from her magical grip. “…Hi.” She cleared her throat, trying to regain some measure of composure, and then took a moment to check Rarity for any kind of injury. “Are you alright? It didn’t hurt you or anything, did it?”

Rarity shook her head, smiling brilliantly. “I’m perfectly healthy, Twilight,” she reassured, lovingly lifting her hoof to brush back Twilight’s bangs. “It happened so quick— Oh my goodness! Look at the color of your eyes! They’re gorge—!”

“Rarity, please!”

“Oh, Twilight, let me have this moment, will you?” Rarity playfully whined, biting down even more giggling. “Don’t you know how long I’ve wanted to be able to see you like this? And now that it’s finally happened, how can you expect me not to fawn over how beautiful you are?”

Twilight whined in return, blushing despite herself. “Rarity, this is serious.”

“Oh, but I agree completely! You truly are seriously beautiful,” Rarity replied, fluttering her eyelashes at her marefriend.

Twilight rolled her eyes, but she wasn’t able to hide the smallest of pleased smiles. “Rarity, I just…” She drifted off, and as her smile faded, so did the brief happiness she’d found.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Rarity asked, finally growing serious. “You’re not happy?”

“How can I be happy, Rarity? You met your soulmate!” Twilight helplessly replied, taking a step back and lowering her gaze, pawing at the floor in a piteous gesture. “How am I supposed to compete with the pony that ‘destiny’ says you’re supposed to be with?”

“But, Twilight, we talked about this,” Rarity replied. “I thought you didn’t believe in soulmates and such things…”

And just as she had earlier, Twilight looked up, tears bordering her eyes anew, and said: “But you do…”

But Rarity did. But the universe did. But everyone did, and even Twilight did if it meant Rarity would be happier with somepony who was not her.

“I… I love you…”

The helpless words left Twilight’s mouth unbidden before Rarity could reply, and the motivation behind them was muddled in between the pain in her chest, in her heart, in her soul. She loved Rarity, desperately so, and she did not mean to say it as a way to guilt the unicorn. She meant it as she did most things: a fact of life and science, immutable and unchanging, and because of this fact of life was she willing to step back if Rarity so chose.

Even if it hurt more than words could express.

“Oh, my darling…” Rarity whispered, her gaze softening as she extended her forelegs and beckoned Twilight to her, enveloping her in a hug. “This is why you’ve been gone all day, isn’t it?”

And Twilight could do nothing but nod her head, desperately seeking comfort in the embrace she’d longed for all day.

“See!” Rarity continued, stroking Twilight’s mane in soothing gestures. “This is why I should have told you first, not those gossiping devils.” She nuzzled Twilight and sighed. “You poor thing. You must have been so horribly upset all day.”

Twilight leaned back suddenly, even if she missed Rarity’s touch not a second after.

She needed to know.

“What about… him?” she asked, the fears clawing again at her heart. “I mean, what if he wants to be with you?”

In Rarity’s hesitation did Twilight find her answer, and dread did not waste time drowning her in it. He’d wanted to be with her. Maybe even now, wherever he was, he still wanted to be with her. Maybe Rarity had wanted it to. Maybe she still did even if she didn’t say it. Maybe she—

“Twilight,” Rarity began, slowly and carefully, but with conviction. “I am immensely grateful to Tinder Hooves for helping me gain my new sight, but I have absolutely no interest in pursuing a relationship with him, and I can assure you he will learn to feel the same way.”

“But—”

Rarity’s hoof on her lips silenced her protest.

“And I made it very clear to him that I’m already in a wonderful, loving relationship with a very silly pony.”

“I am not a silly pony,” Twilight huffed back, indignant.

Rarity giggled. “Oh, yes you are, Twilight Sparkle. Only a very silly pony would think I’d give her up over something as silly as this, when I decided long ago that she was my soulmate, hm?”

Twilight’s mouth opened and closed several times, until she finally asked: “You mean that?”

“Twilight, how could I not?” Rarity said, tilting her head and smiling. “Not when I love you to pieces, and when you’re so smart, and beautiful?” She giggled and fluttered her eyelashes. “And not to mention adorable when you blush just like you’re doing now?” She lifted her hoof and playfully tapped the alicorn on the nose. “Frankly, you are too adorable, Twilight Sparkle.”

And finally, Twilight believed her.

She leaned in and allowed her lips to find Rarity’s, relishing into the small, loving kiss that finally did away with her doubts. They would return one day, sooner or later, but she knew she would not be alone when they did.

Rarity would be there to kiss them away every time.

When the kiss ended, Twilight did not pull away but instead leaned in to nuzzle Rarity, sighing with endless relief.

“Are we feeling better now?” Rarity asked, embracing Twilight.

“Much better. So much better,” Twilight admitted, now feeling silly for ever having doubted the unicorn. She straightened herself up after a moment and rested her forehead against Rarity’s before repeating, “I love you.”

“I love you too, darling,” Rarity replied, smiling widely. “I can’t wait until you can see in colors, too, and sweet Celestia, have I told you I simply cannot get over your eyes? Is this what they mean by getting lost in somepony’s eyes?”

“Pffft.”

Twilight leaned in to kiss Rarity again.

Princesses, Rarity made her so happy. She made her so happy, she would have fought Rarity’s soulmate for Rarity’s affections if things had gone any other way.

“Soooo…” Twilight said when she pulled back, a notebook and several scientific devices teleporting next to her. “Are you busy for the next six hours? And have you taken any liquids or eaten anything for the past twelve hours? That might alter the results, but I can work around it.”

Rarity laughed.

“Oooooh, dear…”

~ ⚫ ~