//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Something Sparkling // by Captain_Cosmos //------------------------------// Sparkler walked down a dark, nearly-black dark, hallway in her old school. Where the shapes of any objects could only faintly be seen, and there was nopony else in sight. Not on the left, not on the right, not there, not anywhere. Sparkler swallowed a gulp. “Uh…anypony there?” She glanced around in any and every direction possible, until she seemed to have finally struck hope. She saw a patch of brown, in the shape of a mare, ahead of her in the distance. “Autumn!” Sparkler exclaimed, regaining her smile and increasing her speed to a trot. She saw Autumn turn. In the direction of looking directly at Sparkler, and the look Sparkler saw was not a pleasant one. “A-Autumn?” Sparkler asked, backtracking and slowing her hooves to a stop, raising her worries about what could come. “You straight up lied to me!” Autumn shouted, the anger clearly visible and audible. “You told me there were no more secrets between us! And then you continued to hide those wings from me!” She yelled. “N-no. Autumn, I can—“ “No!” Autumn cut Sparkler off. “You had your chance. And you blew it! I want you out of my house. Never talk to me again, you horned chicken!” She shouted. The glass holding Sparkler’s tears was cracking quickly, and it only shattered when she noticed an all-too familiar pile of objects next to Autumn. “Wait, Autumn. Please! Let me explain!” She pleaded. “Here’re your eggs back.” Autumn drew back her foreleg. “No! Please don’t do this!” Sparkler exclaimed, sobbing. She shielded herself with her wings as Autumn began pelting her with eggs. “No...No...No!” … “No!” Sparkler’s eyes snapped open as wide as possible and she bolted straight upright into the room, panting heavily and feeling her heart pound out of her chest as the blankets floated down back to the bed. Autumn, being held by Sparkler, snapped awake herself as the loud “No!” met her ears and as she, out of nowhere, felt herself fall back down to and hit the bed from… the air? And come to think of it, wasn’t she being held? Autumn’s mind energy had to play catch-up with all the thoughts in the book she needed to think. Whatever was going on here was the first thing she knew right now, straight out from her slumber. Pure confusion and tiredness didn’t make for a good combo. What happened here?! What was that? Why did I fall?! Is something wrong with Sparkler?! Autumn’s friendship and roommate instincts guided her to checking the last one first. She swiftly flopped to her other side, to the sight of Sparkler’s legs wrapped around herself and her side puffing up and down, panting audible. Looking over, she also had very noticeable tears in her eyes, and it was faint, but Autumn also heard Sparkler whispering concerning words. “No...no. Not again. No.” Despite the disrupted REM, Autumn’s internal alarm bells sounded off at loud volume. “Sparkler! Are you okay?” She said, stroking her friend’s mane. Autumn’s voice and touch made Sparkler jump and yank the bed covers over her body while curling herself into a ball. “No! Please...I’m sorry!” She said, shaking under the blankets. Sparkler’s resistance to any contact with Autumn, both in the physical and communication senses, struck Autumn deeply, shaking her sense of goodness as her body jolted as well. No! Did I upset her? Considering that possibility as to be taken seriously, with Sparkler also still hiding under the covers with crying noises to be heard, Autumn sat up on her side of the bed, where daylight was nowhere to be seen, and began to shed tears herself. Please don’t tell me I upset her…  And what could she be sorry about? Now I’m really confused…  … A solid few minutes had now passed…  Should I try to help her? …  Well, not much else I can do. Autumn shuffled back to laying in bed and towards her friend. Without touch this time, she softly says, “Sparkler… are you okay? Did I upset you in any way? Did you have a nightmare?” Oh yeah! A nightmare was always a possibility here. Autumn didn’t think of that before. Sparkler took a few deep, calming breaths before replying. “Yeah...to the last one…” There it was. Oh, thank goodness I didn’t upset her, but… she’s definitely not okay. Autumn thought. Sparkler was speaking in a thin voice and still sniffling. “Would you like any kind of help?” She asked Sparkler. “S-Security blanky…” Sparkler puffed out, still shaking a little. Autumn reached over and grabbed that security blanket with every ounce of speed and grab power in her body. Sparkler needed it, and she was getting it. “Here.” Autumn said, hovering the blanket in front of Sparkler. Sparkler peeked her head out from under the cover to see her blanket hanging from Autumn’s hoof. She didn’t hesitate to grab it and hold it tight. “Whatever you need, Sparkler.” Autumn said, in an attempt to reassure that she didn’t think of this as “childish” or whatever. “C-Can I have Mr. Sing Song too?” Sparkler asked. “Of course.” Autumn said. She wasted no time in grabbing that stuffed doll she found out about while clearing those dressers on moving day. Again, she hovered it in front of Sparkler. Same as the blanket, Sparkler grabbed Mr. Sing Song and cuddled him tight. “Would… you like me to cuddle you too?” Autumn asked. “Y-Yes please.” Sparkler replied. Rolling over so her back faced Autumn. Autumn’s love was about to come in full force. She pressed her body against Sparkler’s back and hugged around her midsection with all the pressure as she could muster; well, she only held the high pressure for a few seconds in order to avoid discomfort, but the short burst of tightness was a display of how much she cared about Sparkler. After loosening up the grip a little, Autumn began humming a soft lullaby in an attempt to lull Sparkler back to sleep. That is, until she had to try to keep the humming going…  Autumn realized something. She realized that under her forelegs… there was something odd. Something there. Through Sparkler’s onesie, she could feel a patch of softness. It wasn’t fur, as it was clearly bulging out from her skin. It was also… feathery, you could call it? Uh… what’s going on? Autumn thought. She then remembered... there was that day where Sparkler seemingly was about to say “our wings” and then backtracked to “his wings.” I became suspicious about that, when I was in the bathroom by myself… But Autumn didn’t want to believe it. No. She must just be wearing something under her onesie that bulges like that. Maybe it’s a comfort thing. Because, like, Sparkler had a horn. The only alicorns in Equestria were Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Flurry Heart, right? Like, Sparkler wasn’t a member of royalty like those five were. Autumn tried to just cuddle and provide comfort to her friend, but every second she held her midsection, where wings were normally located on ponies who had them, swarmed her mind with thoughts; thoughts that she couldn’t wave away. Could my best roommate friend be an alicorn?! As Sparkler drifted off to sleep, her mind came around to thinking straight again, to the point of registering the location of Autumn’s forelegs. Before the soothing humming lulled her back to sleep, her last thought was a distressed “Oh no…” To be continued...