//------------------------------// // Sweet Dreams // Story: A Wandering Soul // by Kingsley //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Sweet Dreams Lilith slept comfortably in her bed, dreaming of the pleasantries she would soon have with Twilight. She was sound asleep until she was rudely awaken in the morning. "Time to get up Lilith!" Twilight said, nudging Lilith's body with her hoof. Lilith sat up in her bed, stretching her arms and body, letting out a big yawn while rubbing her eyes. Drearily looking up at Twilight, she remembered that she said she'd help her get settled in today, and leapt out of bed with excitement. "Good morning Mom! What are we doing today? Are you gonna take me clothes shopping? Or maybe you're going to take me to enroll in school here!? Or maybe we're going to go an-" Lilith said, interrupted. "Calm down there Lilith," Twilight said happily. "I need you to come with me to Sugarcube Corner, I have to pick something up before we can start doing anything." "Oh okay!" Lilith said, looking at floor and seeing Spike still asleep, she proceeded to walk downstairs with Twilight and move towards the door. About to leave, Twilight pauses and remembers that she had something to give Lilith. "Oh! I almost forgot," Twilight said, she used her magic to pick something up from her desk. "This is for you Lilith." Twilight handed Lilith a little scarf, stripped blue and white, making it a beautiful match with her coat and mane. "It's beautiful!" Lilith said, wrapping the scarf around her neck. "Thank you so much Mom! I promise I'll take good care of it!" "I'm so happy you like it," Twilight said. "Now come on, I'd rather not keep them waiting with my order." Twilight and Lilith left the library and started to walk down the road towards Sugarcube Corner, making some idle conversation as they were walking. "So, how do you like here so far Lilith?" Twilight asked. "Well, I only just got here, but I think I'm gonna have a lot of fun here! Especially, since I have you with me!" Lilith said, giggling. "Well I'm glad, besides, I don't think you'll have any trouble fitting in around here," Twilight said, both of them laughing together. They conversed until they reached Sugarcube Corner. Twilight entered first and Lilith followed behind her. When they went inside, all they could see was darkness. Lilith tried to stay close to Twilight and held onto her while going through the dark room until Twilight stopped moving. "Huh? W-Why have we stopped? Didn't you say that you had t-" Lilith said, interrupted by the lights turning on. "SURPRISE!" "Huh!? What the?" Lilith said, confused at the group of ponies in the room. "Lilith, these are my best friends," Twilight said. "I'd like you to meet Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, who wanted to throw a surprise party for you to welcome you to Ponyville." Pinkie sprinted up to Lilith and started speaking almost incomprehensibly. "Hiya! So you're Lilith huh!? Well it's super duper awesome to meet you! I'm Pinkie Pie, but you already know that! Do you have any hobbies? What's your favorite flavor cake? Do you like an-" Pinkie said, interrupted by Twilight. "Pinkie, calm down, she's still new here and hasn't gotten accustomed to things yet." Twilight said. "Yea you're right, I'm sorry, I just get so excited when I meet someone new!" Pinkie said. "But I've never met a filly with such a sad story behind her." "You... You know about what happened to me?" Lilith said. "But how?" "Twilight here told us all about what happened to you and your parents," Applejack said. "It's definitely the saddest thing I've ever heard." "Me to, when Twilight told us what happened, I couldn't help but burst into tears after hearing it." Fluttershy said. "Even I admit I cried a little, but you gotta stay strong kid! All of us will help you get back on your feet!" Rainbow Dash said. "Absolutely, I cannot stand by and see someone so innocent lead a life filled with suffering," Rarity said. Twilight walked towards her friends and stood with them. "We'll all help you through this Lilith, you can count on us!" Twilight said. "Heh, wow... Thanks everyone... I-I don't know what to... what to..." Lilith said, holding her head in pain, she could hear a loud pitched screech in the back of her head. Her heart rate increasing and eyes convulsing in size again, she looked up at the group of friends, seeing only in blood red with her psychotic vision. She started to hear the voices in her head once more as she looked at them. "Look at them... It's only a matter of time before they take her away from you... you have to do something..." the voices said. Lilith began whispering to herself quietly. "Take her away... n-no not again... They're all crazy if they think I'll let that h-happen..." Lilith whispered to herself. "ISOLATION! That's all that will remain for you if you don't do something!..." the voices said. "Hey kid, you okay?" Rainbow asked. "You don't look so good." "Yeah, you alright there sugarcube?" Applejack asked. Lilith continued to whisper to herself again. "Won't let them take you... won't let them take you... won't let them take you..." Lilith said repeatedly, until Twilight spoke up, her voice snapping Lilith out of insanity. "Lilith, are you alright? What's wrong?" Twilight asked. "Huh? Oh... yeah, I'm... I'm fine... I'm fine Mom, I just had a bad headache is all..." Lilith said. "Are you sure? We can go back to the house and rest if yo-" Twilight said, interrupted by a squeaky little voice. "Rest? That won't help at all! You need to hang out with us!" the squeaky voice said. "That's right! Especially, since you don't have your cutie mark either!" a second southern voice said. "Yeah! You need to show off your killer moves with us!" a third obnoxious voice said. A trio of fillies squeezed through from behind Twilight and her friends. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders!" the trio said. Lilith stood there in confusion and was left flabbergasted by the odd entrance. "I'm Sweetie Belle, that's Applebloom and Scootaloo, and we're on a quest to find out cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle said. "Yeah! You can join us and together we'll all find our special talents together!" Scootaloo said. "Me? You want me to join your group?" Lilith said. "Of course! Any friend of mah sister is a good friend of mine!" Applebloom said. "Yeah! Together nothing can stop us!" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo said in unison. Lilith stood there in awe as the three fillies invited her to join their group. "I-I'll gladly join you guys!" Lilith said, as she rushed over to them. "Great! Normally there'd be an initiation ceremony, but Scootaloo here hasn't finished revising it..." Sweetie Belle said. "Hey! I'll get to it eventually, alright? It's hard to think of catchy words that go nice together," Scootaloo said. "Yeah...Sure it is..." Sweetie Belle said, mockingly. "Why you little! Don't make me-" Scootaloo said, interrupted. "Anyway! Welcome to the CMC Lilith, glad to have you!" Applebloom said. "Thanks! This is going to be so much fun!" Lilith said. All four of the little fillies jumped around with excitement, who were then interrupted by Pinkie Pie. "Alright everyone, times a wastin! And we have a lot of cake and dounuts to go through!" Pinkie declared. "So come on everypony! Let's get this party started!" All of the ponies cheered with agreement, everyone started to either dance, go to the buffet, or simply converse and have fun. Surprisingly, Lilith spent more time with Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo than with Twilight. Either way, everyone had a blast and the party went all the way until nighttime. When everyone was tired and filled with all kinds of sweets and deserts, they started to leave and make they're departure back home. Except Pinkie, since she lived there after all. "Thanks for the awesome party Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said, every other pony agreeing. "Yeah, but now I gotta head home, those apples don't harvest themselves." Applejack said. "Bye Lilith, and welcome to the family!" "Heh thanks..." Lilith said softly. Applejack and the others walked out the door and left the building. The CMC followed behind them. "Hey! Wanna hang out more tomorrow when we get out of school?" Scootaloo said. "Of course! I'd love to!" Lilith said. "Great! We'll come by the library after class is over, see ya till then!" Scootaloo said, leaving the building with the other crusaders. "Well, I guess we'd better get home too, we've got another big day ahead of us Lilith," Twilight said. "Thanks for the party again Pinkie Pie, I really appreciate it!" "No problem Twilight! I had a blast and ate so much cake!" Pinkie said. "You two come back again soon!" "We will Pinkie, see ya." Twilight said, closing the door behind her and returning back to the library. As Lilith and Twilight were walking away, Lilith noticed her scarf wasn't around her neck anymore. "Wait a minute, Mom!" Lilith said. "I think I left that scarf you gave me inside. I'll be right back!" "Oh, okay Lilith, don't take too long, I'll wait here for you," Twilight said. Lilith trotted back to the building and opened the door. Closing it behind her, she walked into the room where the party was held and looked around for her scarf. After a few minutes of looking, she found it under a table with some icing on it. "Oh man... I just got this too..." Lilith said. "Oh, well... it'll be fine." Lilith was about to walk out when she was greeted by Pinkie Pie, emerging from behind the counter. "Hi there! Forget something? It's fine it happens to me to!" Pinkie said. "Maybe more frequently than others!" Lilith looked at the pink pony when her vision started to go from normal to psychotic once again, the noise and pain returning, as well as those voices in her head. "This is your chance... she's alone... no one would ever know it was you..." the voices said. Lilith's pupils started to convulse again and her head started to twitch. "Hey listen, I know you've been through a lot, but it's going to get better trust me." Pinkie said. "Why don't I go get you some cupcakes for the road! That'll cheer you up!" "Do you want to lose your mother again... then take this opportunity and do it!" the voices said. "Wait here, I'll be right back!" Pinkie said, turning around and opening the oven, looking inside for any leftover cupcakes that weren't eaten. "I... I don't wanna be alone again..." Lilith said. "Then do what you have to do!..." the voices said. "GO NOW!" Lilith, with only madness in her eyes, walked up behind Pinkie Pie and shoved her into the oven, closing it behind her. "H-Hey! What are you doing Lilith!?" Pinkie said. "Let me out! Lilith!" Lilith looked at the pink pony pleading for help. She only let out a soft laughter while looking at her. Lilith used her magic and turned the dial on the oven to it's highest setting. "Lilith please! What are you doing!? Why are you doing this to me!?" Pinkie said, struggling to get out and beating on the oven door. Lilith started to laugh more hysterically as she watch the pink pony get incinerated in the oven. With only muffled screams emitting from it, no one could hear Pinkie's cry for help. "Lilith! Is everything okay in there? Pinkie didn't stop you for a cupcake eating contest did she?" Twilight asked, about to come inside. Hearing Twilight's voice reverted the insane filly back to normal. Looking inside the oven, she noticed what she had done and only let out a snicker, content with what she had done. Lilith sprinted to the door before Twilight could enter the building. "Sorry! Pinkie wanted to show me something, but I got my scarf and I'm all set!" Lilith said. "Oh, okay then, let's go." Twilight said. "See ya Pinkie and thanks again!" Twilight yelled into the building, not being able to hear the muffled cries from the other room. She closed the door and departed back to the library with Lilith. As they arrived home, Lilith went upstairs and Twilight followed behind her. "That was some day, right Lilith?" Twilight said. "Did you have fun with your new friends?" "Definitely! I can't wait to hang out with them again tomorrow!" Lilith said, jumping into her bed. "Well you better get some sleep, we have a lot of things to do tomorrow, don't forget we'll be enrolling you in school here and buying supplies for you," Twilight said. "Oh, and by the way, Spike won't be here for a while. He was called to Canterlot by request of Princess Celestia, so he'll be gone for some time." "Oh, alright," Lilith said, getting under the covers. "Well goodnight Lilith, see ya in the morning," Twilight said, turning off the lights and going downstairs read like she always does. Lilith closed her eyes, happy that she made some new friends and that there is now one less pony who could take Twilight away from her...