The song of love.

Chapter eight. A Soft history.

Soft Heart opened his eyes. He was in a room that seemed pretty familiar. However, he couldn't remember a thing. Also, a strong pain became present in his chest when he tried to breath deeply.

Some remembers came to his mind, like who was he and where he was. He remembered most of what happened in that day, including the scene of the lake. However, as for what happened after that, nothing. He couldn't remember if he had found the ones he were looking for.

Still with his chest in pain, he got in a better position to look to the clock. It was 11:00 P.M. He felt shocked, for it was around 6:00 P.M. when he remembered the last. Then again, where were those fillies? He felt the sudden urge to go and find them.

He did his best to get up, still with his chest in pain. He could felt his heart racing up as he got more and more preoccupied. He was in the edge of his couch when he felt his hoof touching a smaller one under his sheet.

He lifted his sheet to see the one whose hoof he was touching. It was Sweetie Belle.

She got asleep while waiting for him to wake up. Her little hoof tried to reach Soft's. Soft suddenly noticed that, while seeing Sweetie Belle asleep in that way, his heart stopped aching him.

Sweetie Belle didn't was as deeply asleep as she seemed, for she to opened her eyes when he felt Soft's touch. Her eyes went toward Soft's face, which seemed somewhat shining.

"Mister Soft Heart?" Sweetie Belle asked still half awake.

"Yes. That's me."

Suddenly, Sweetie Belle's eyes became wide open. She hop toward Soft, throwing him back to the couch. She hugged him with a strength that Soft could never imagined she had.

"I thought something bad happened to you!"

"What are you talking about, Sweetie Belle?"

Sweetie Belle stopped the hug and turned his head toward Soft's face. Soft could see that her eyes were red.

"You tell me that you don't remember what happened in the lake?"

Soft tried to make memory of it. However, just as moments ago, he couldn't remember a thing.

"... I passed out... right?"

Sweetie Belle turned to him with a surprised look on her face.

"Did you remember that?"

"Nope. It's just that it isn't the first time this happens to me."

Sweetie Belle opened more her eyes due to Soft's declaration.

"...It's not... the first time?"

"No. This happens almost once a year, when I overpass my heart's capacity, it makes this."

"... I'm afraid... that i don't understand any of this."

Soft Heart remembered last time he used medical terms. Sweetie Belle couldn't get a bit of what he was saying.

"... My heart is sick. I have a sickness known as ventricular septal defect. It's a birth sickness that causes your heart to evolve with a hole on it."

"A hole?" Sweetie Belle exclaimed very panicked.

"Relax, Sweetie. It's not that serious. I have a normal life due that it doesn't affect me in the daily life. You do know that any living being needs oxygen to live, right?" Sweetie Belle just nodded to Soft's question.

"Well. Each time you breath, some of your blood take that oxygen to all the parts of the body, while other part of your blood returns the used oxygen to the outside. Got it?"

"There's two kinds of blood in my body?"

"Yeah and no. It's the same blood. However, one part is oxygenated and other part is used. The heart is the one in charge to do the blood to reach all the parts of your body and bring it back. That's where my problem is."

Sweetie Belle looked at him with a confused look, not knowing where he was leading to.

"The heart has four sections. Two of them pumps oxygenated to the body and other two sections pumps it back to get out the used oxygen. My problem is that two sections of my heart are connected with a hole. Therefore, you could say i receive half oxygen than you."

Sweetie Belle couldn't catch it up completely. However, she did understood the last part.

"If you receive half of the oxygen you need to live, then... what does happen to you?"

"Well... as I receive half of the needed oxygen, I get easily all shaken up, as you could note earlier.

Sweetie Belle remembered when she and their friends saw Soft running below them. He was panting heavily.

"However, as I said, it doesn't cause me troubles in my normal life."

Soft got in his hooves while walking in the room. He was fully recovered. He turned toward Sweetie Belle, who was thinking deeply in the couch.

"Sweetie Belle? You okay?"

Sweetie Belle didn't answered. She kept thinking in whatever her mind was in.

"Say, mister Soft. Can I make you a question?"

Soft stopped wandering around the room and sat in front of Sweetie Belle.

"... umm... yeah, sure."

Sweetie Belle got a deep breath before asking.

"... Um, well... why are you with me?"

Soft got surprised by this question. He turned his head toward her.

"... what do you mean? You already know that I'm here because your sister's out."

"Yes. But that's not what I mean. I mean about this."

Sweetie Belle took out a small metallic object. Soft recognized it immediately. It was the necklace he give her a few days ago.

"When you gave it to me that day, you promised to never leave me until my leg is cured." She turned to see her leg, still with the marks of the bandage. "But... why did you made me that promise?"

"... Heh. That's a hard one."

"What?"

"Well, you see. When a Doctor gets graduated, they make a promise in which we obligate ourselves to accomplish whatever we promise."

"But... why did you made that promise... to me?"

"... Because I care about you, Sweetie Belle."

"You care... for me?"

"Yeah. What about that?"

Sweetie Belle's expression became an angry one. She turned her head to avoid eye contact. Soft got confused by this. He was about to tell her something else, when a certain book in the floor caught his attention. He then made it in connect all the dots. The book, she sitting next to him, her eyes red.

"I'm sorry Sweetie Belle."

Sweetie Belle turned toward him, still with an adamant expression.

"For what?"

"... Well... i just realized the scare i gave you. And I think i already know what you were asking."

That draw even more of Sweetie Belle's attention to Soft. She turned completely toward him.

"What... what... do you mean?"

"Well... since you awoke, i noted your red eyes. However, now that i think about it... you were crying didn't you?"

Sweetie Belle got surprised by this declaration.

"... To answer the question you made to me... you have to answer one of mine."

"W-What is that?"

"... why did you cried?"

Sweetie Belle started to feel anxious. How'd he react to her answer? He'd feel bad about it?

Suddenly, she felt Soft's hoof holding hers. When she turned toward Soft, he was with a smile on his face, which told her that he was ready to whatever she was going to tell her. She felt her heart racing up while seeing him.

"... I-I... don't know. I just felt like if I were going to become crazy if you didn't awake. I felt like... like..."

Sweetie Belle was speechless. She didn't was a filly who read too much fairy tales. However, when she was younger, she read about too many princesses who fell in love with her prince. And she got to see what love potion could make. However, a question took form in her mind.

"... could this... be love?"

Sweetie Belle took her hooves to her mouth. She didn't meant to, but she got used to think loudly while being with her friends. Her eyes were wide open while she realized what she just said. She got worried while waiting Soft Heart to tell her something. However, when she turned to him, she saw only a surprised Soft who was looking straight. When he turned to her, he just smiled to her.

"... could it be?"

Sweetie Belle didn't knew what to response then. All what she could do was to feel something metallic between her little hooves. She opened them to reveal the necklace he gave her.

"... this morning you said that you never had a special pony before, right mister Soft?"

"Yeah."

"Me neither."

A deep silence took over the room. Soft turned to see the clock: 11:45. Sweetie Belle didn't wanted to ask him this. He had done too much for her in the previous day. Soft got in his hooves again to exit the room. When he was about to exit, she hold one of his hooves between both of hers.

"Wait! Don't go!"

"Why is that?"

"Because... if you go... i might not be able to do this question."

"What question?"

"... would you... want to be... my special pony?"

Soft didn't answered to that. he looked at her hooves holding his hoof with such a strength that she looked like if he were going to go to the other side of the world, she wouldn't let him go.

He looked at her eyes, which were amazingly big and beautiful. Then, he thought to himself "Who cares?"

"Well... why not?"