"Today class, we are going to discuss painting and the arts. This is a very popular field when it comes to some ponies finding their cutie marks." Ms. Green continued her instructions and most the class listened. While some had positively no interest in the subject and fully believed that art was not the road to their cutie mark, some just couldn't focus. 'Hey Dusk! *snap snap snap* Dusk! Come on, focus! You might learn something! Come on Dusk, I need you to listen!' Dusk sat up in his seat and started to sputter words in surprise, "What, who, huh? Oh, Dawn would you shut up!" ... The silence in the room seemed hurt his ears more than Dawn's commands. Ms. Green was slightly on edge, the note had said that Dusk was good at suppressing Dawn but she had never seen the signs of anything being awry. She knew she would have to tread over thin ice, she needed to protect Dusk's secret from the others. Judging the tone of the note as well, she needed to protect the class from Dawn. "Dusk, are you going to be alright? Do you need to step out and deal with things?" Dusk slumped back into his desk and whispered, "No, it's alright." Class continued as it had, occasionally the stray looks from other classmates would burn into the back of Dusk's head.
Poly looked at Dusk and asked sincerely, "Are you alright?" Dusk shivered when her words reached him, he knew that the truth would scare her away from him but he couldn't just lie about it. He refused to lie, lying would only hurt others.
"Of course I'm alright." He gave a weak smile to back it up. 'Wow, I am such an idiot...'
Poly's gaze tightened on him, "You're lying." Dusk gulped and his heart sank, truth be told, he was slightly relieved that someone had called his bluff. "What do you mean?" Her gaze turned into a scowl and he felt an invisible pressure weigh against him. "You're still lying. I don't know how but I've always been able to tell if someone is lying or not." Her gaze lightened slightly and he felt like he could breathe again, "OK, yes I was lying."
She smiled happily. "Good!" Her expression showed pure joy, "Wait, what, huh?" Dusk had no clue what was going on, he was sure that she would have been mad. "All I wanted was for you to tell the truth silly. You can tell me what is wrong later, right now we should probably listen." Her smile grew and Dusk felt warm again, he just nodded then faced the front again. He was sure he was blushing.
There was a group of easels at the front of the class and some cups with paint in them, everypony was supposed to group up and Dusk saw a window of opportunity and made his move. "Ummm, Poly? Would you like to partner up?" She grinned like she always did and nodded excitedly. "You can get the easel and I'll grab the paints.", and with that she got up and started to prance forward to grab the paints. 'Hey Dusk, you don't listen well do you? I specifically told you to stay away from her.' Dusk was now grabbing the easel and balancing it on his back, 'What harm is it doing for me to try and talk to her?' Dawn was getting mad now, he was growing stronger, if Dusk didn't watch his emotions then Dawn would get out. 'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...' Dusk continued his calming thoughts and focused on trying to avoid a stressful build up of emotion. His eyes were closed and he was moving carefully along the path he had used when he originally walked along to get to front when something changed. Somepony screamed "Uh oh..." and there was a thud followed by a splashing noise.
Dusk opened his eyes a split second before he stepped on a paint spill and was thrown up into the air by his own movement. The easel and canvas on his back landed in the paint first and Dusk began his descent. Down on the ground he could see Poly laying in the paint covered in the many colors that she had grabbed. 'She's a klutz alright...' He fell and landed on top of Poly whose bow acted as a large cushion. "Ow... Oh no, I am so sorry!", Dusk started his apologies early in hopes that she would forgive him but she only laughed a little and said, "Why would you need to apologize? It was my fault." As they stood up it came to Dusk's knowledge that everypony in the room, save Ms. Green, was laughing at them.
'Oh no, they're laughing again!'
'You see, I told you that she would cause problems. I told you not to trust her.'
'But you said that she liked me...'
'I also said that you should be careful, now give up this silly notion of yours before she does some serious damage.'
'I... I guess you're right.' In that moment of self doubt the barrier began to break down, Dusk began to fade and Dawn was waking up. His eyes began to change hue, from the deep red of his mother into the dark and foreboding orange that those who were closest to him learned to fear. A feeling began to wash over Dusk, it was a familiar one that he tried his best to avoid, it was as if he were falling asleep in a black ocean. Then, a light rose over the ocean, the light was blinding yet it brought comfort just like the sun. He heard three voices echo across the ocean, two were very familiar yet the third was entirely new.
"Come on silly. There is no reason to hide, just shrug it off." The first voice came from Poly. She was smiling at him when he opened his eyes. She was brushing paint off of both of them with no avail. It resulted in the paint smearing all over both of them and making an entirely new mess. "Oops, I didn't mean to do that..." Her voice and face were sincere, but smiling, Dusk knew she must have been the light that woke him up. He knew he could trust her.
The second voice was a dark one, it belonged to Dawn. 'I refuse to let you live now of all times, I've already worked to hard!' Dusk became afraid, terrified even, by this message, but he knew that it was not directed at him. Dawn was speaking to somepony else.
The third voice scared him the most. It was fearful, young, and begging for mercy. 'Please don't! Please let me live!' Sobs were heard then finally silence. Vast, empty silence. whoever was begging for mercy was no longer there. Dawn had silenced him permanently. 'Good riddance.'
Poly stared at the pony next to her. His face was twisted as if he had witnessed a horror beyond imagination, he was beginning to tear up, his face had become pale. Her nature told her to try and make him laugh but she knew better, he needed real comfort, not just some cheap giggle. Whatever had just happened was really affecting him.
"Are you OK Dusk?"
...
"Ya, I'm perfectly fine."
...
'False.' She didn't need to be able to detect lies to know that.