Reticence

What it Means to be Soulmates

The air was still. The nighttime atmosphere of the park had all but faded away into nothingness. At the moment, none of it mattered. It was all overshadowed by the crippling truth that Marble had just laid bare.

Her date was looking at her with an expression that was slowly falling deeper and deeper into confusion. It was clear right away that Marble's words would need more explanation. Painful, slowly-ripping-off-a-band-aid style explanation.

"What?" Minuette's brow furrowed in disbelief. Marble let her words hang in the air for a moment, before several shaky sobs wracked her body.

"I'm s-sorry," she struggled out. Every word now felt like a gut punch to her heart.

Minuette blinked in confusion. "I don't understand. What do you mean you can't be with me?"

Marble struggles not to choke on sobs. "I... We... can't..." It was no use, her crying was overpowering her words and they soon devolved into pitiful whimpering.

She moved to wipe her eyes, but couldn't stop her hoof from shaking so much.

"Hey, talk to me." Minuette moved to place a hoof on her cheek, but Marble retreated behind her mane.

She couldn't bare Minuette's gentle, familiar touch. It would be too tempting to back out now, even if that wasn't an option anymore. She just watched her from behind a curtain of gray hairs and hoped this would all be over soon.

"Marble, please just tell me what's wrong," Minuette said, every molecule of her seemed to be begging for an answer.

Marble's lip quivered. She knew Minuette deserved an explanation, but she didn't know if she could give one coherently.

But she had to try.

"W-we aren't s-s-soulmates," she whimpered out.

"Soulmates?" Minuette pursed her lips in confusion. Her eyes darted left to right, a clear indication that she had no idea what was going on. "What are you talking about?"

Marble sniffled. She had to muster up the courage to elaborate, she just had to. "A-At Nickerlite, we h-have a r-rock called the P-P-P-Pairing S-Stone and..." It was no use. She was a stuttering, incomprehensible mess.

"Hey, it's okay." Minuette brushed away her mane, letting her hoof fall to Marble's shoulder before wrapping her into a hug.

Marble pushed away. As much as it stung, as much as her body begged her to just let that hug last, she couldn't let it go on. All it did was give her more incentive to back down from saying what she had to say.

"It's not okay! T-the Pairing Stone... It s-shows you who your s-special somepony is supposed to be when you look at it." Marble whimpered in the back of her throat. "A-And when I looked, I didn't see you!"

Marble put her head in her hooves, unable to bear Minuette's reaction to the news. She knew it must've incorporated speechlessness at least, because in between her sobs she didn't hear anything for a while.

But then, Minuette brought her hooves back around her. Marble put up a weak protest struggle, but didn't have the courage to push Minuette away again. She just buried her face into her blue shoulder and heaved up a couple more sobs.

Minuette patted her back, though it was a futile effort. Marble wasn't on track to calming down anytime in this century. But thankfully, Minuette was willing to wait.

They sat on the park bench, embracing, as the still night was filled with Marble's sad cries. Then, her sad whimpers. Finally, her sad sniffling.

In the end, it didn't take a century, but Marble was able to get it out of her system nonetheless.