Shadows Unseen

by The Fields of Ice


Chapter Four: Parallels

Overlooking the castle’s throne room, Spike stood in his doorway. Twilight had left earlier that day, deciding it was finally time to visit Flash Sentry. Since then, Spike has sat in silence for hours, waiting and wondering if his second Twilight would return. He listened to every creak and groan of the building, hoping to hear the slightest whisper. There was still so much he wanted to ask her.

“Where are you Twi?”

He sighed. Perhaps she was out for now, or perhaps his ability only worked on certain days. Regardless of either, Spike knew he needed to get started on his chores.

Spike made his way down the stairs and over to the bookshelves. Despite the fact that Twilight was now a princess, she and Spike never like the idea of having servants in the castle.

As he reached for a feather duster he realized that there was no spray. A little annoyed, Spike laid the duster down and began towards the kitchen. When he turned the corner, he found what he had been thinking about all morning. Fauxlight was standing by the counter, moving about. She looked as though she was putting away groceries, but as she reached for the cabinet, the only thing Spike saw moving was her.

“Twilight”

Instantly, the mare jumped and whatever was in her hooves made a loud thud as it hit the ground. She turned to face him as she bent down, her scowl was only met with Spike’s grin.

“That’s not funny.”

“It isn’t? Because you seemed to think it was when you teleported in behind me yesterday.”

She rolled her eyes and moved as if she were placing something on the counter.

“What is that you’re holding?”

Fauxlight looked to Spike with an odd expression before looking back to the empty counter.

“Flour. Wait, can you not see it?”

Spike shook his head.

“So we can only see each other, and nothing else?”

“Looks that way.”

Fauxlight sighed. “This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”

“Yup”

“So what, is your Twilight out?”

He nodded. “Yeah, her and Flash are spending the day together. What about your Spike?”

“We ran some errands, but he just left for Rarity’s. So there’s no need to worry about anyone walking in.”

Spike took a seat atop a counter. “Alight, in that case do you think you could tell me a bit more about your Spike? I’m curious.”

Fauxlight trotted closer to Spike. “Well, what would you like to know?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. How he acts, what he does? Everything you can think of.”

“Like I’ve already said, he’s a lot like you, personality wise at least. Though he can be a bit blind.”

“How so?”

Fauxlight looked down. “Ever since he and Rarity have started dating, things have been weird. I’ve just always been so used to having him around. I miss him really.”

Spike gave her a reassuring smile. “Yeah, I can relate.”

“What, has your Twilight been doing the same thing?”

He nodded. “Hey, you don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to, but” he paused “is that what you were crying about?”

“I was wondering when you’d ask about that… Yeah, it is. He and I had planned to go to the Crystal Empire that day, but he stayed the night at Rarity’s and completely forgot… I probably sound like a maniac freaking out over something like that.”

“No, you don’t. If you felt as bad as I did, it wouldn’t have taken very much to send me over the edge either.”

“I guess that dumb saying is true, you really don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.” She looked up at Spike with a half smile. “Then your brain creates an illusion to fill the void.”

He smiled. “Oh come on, what do I have to do to prove that I exist?”

“You could tell me something only my Spike would know. It may not be fool proof, but at least it’s semi testable.”

Spike crossed his arms. “As far as I know, you already know everything about me.”

“Oh come on, there’s has to be something you haven’t told me.”

He thought a moment, trying to find something in the deepest recesses of his mind. Something he has never told another soul, and planned on taking to his grave. Then finally it hit him, and as it did, his cheeks flushed red.

Fauxlight grinned, knowing he found something. “Well, are you going to tell me or see how red you can get?”

Spike fidgeted. “Okay, before I say what it is, just know this happened a long time ago. And I mean a long time ago.”

She leaned forward. “Oh this has got to be good.”

He looked away. “When my Twilight and I were little… I used to have a huge crush on her.”

Instead of laughing, like she was expecting, Fauxlight had a very different reaction; she blushed. It was odd really, after all he wasn’t talking about her, he was talking about his Twilight. Though it might have something to do with the fact that she had a crush on Spike when she was little.

Upon seeing her reaction, Spike began to feel even more embarrassed. “I said it was a long time ago, okay.”

Fauxlight giggled, trying to play off her silence. “No, it’s not that; I’m just a little surprised.”

Spike felt a bit more at ease with Fauxlight’s words, but now it was her turn. He eyed her with a small grin. “So what’s you’re secret?”

She looked away, trying to hide a slight smile. “Let’s just say they’re somewhat similar.”

Spike let out a light laugh. “Really? You too?”

Fauxlight nodded.

“Oh well this isn’t going to be awkward at all.”

She giggled. “You think?! I mean, what should I do? Walk up to Spike and ask ‘hey, I know you’re dating Rarity and all, but did you used to have a crush on me?”

“No, no, no. You have it easy. Just ask him who his first crush was, and if he turns bright red, you’ll have your answer.”

Fauxlight stood and made her way past Spike. “I’m afraid you don’t have it as easy. My first crush was Starswirl The Bearded.”

Spike raised his brow. “Seriously? An old guy from six hundred years ago? I mean, I knew you were into some weird stuff, but dang.”

“Hey, I’d bet a hundred bits that you’ve had at least one questionable thought about Daring Do.”

Spike sat silent, arms crossed. “No comment.”

Fauxlight giggled. “Hey, I’ll be back in a second; I need to get the rest of my ‘invisible’ groceries.”

As she walked out the doorway, Spike followed. “I would help, but yeah.”

He had planned on continuing this, rather interesting, conversation, but as he turned the corner, he found that the hallway was empty.

Spike sighed. “Talk to you later, I guess...”

----------

As night began to draw near, Spike found himself in a familiar situation; alone, sprawled out on his bed, eagerly awaiting Twilight’s return, and reading “Daring Do”. However, his usual loneliness was nowhere to be found.

Spike turned the pages like he was reading, but in all reality he was only half paying attention. The remaining portion of his mind was currently preoccupied with his conversation with Fauxlight. He couldn’t help but find it funny that the one person he told one of his deepest secrets to was technically the one it was about. Technically. Though the more he thought about it, the more he began to wonder; if Twilight indeed had feelings for him as a foal, how might have things been different if he had told her?

Quickly he pushed those kinds of thoughts aside. It was only a childhood crush, after all. Besides, Twilight was happy with Flash Sentry.

Now almost entirely on reading autopilot, Spike decided he should probably lay his book down. Just as he did this, he could hear the castle doors creak open. He looked to the alarm clock by his bed and smiled to himself. It read “5:00 PM”. Exactly the time Twilight said she would be home.

Spike made his way over to the doorway, and looked downstairs to see Twilight looking up at him. She smiled when she saw him.

“Did I make it home before curfew, dad?”

Spike smirked. “Yes, you did.”

Twilight let out a faint laugh before going into the kitchen. Spike followed, to find Twilight looking around the kitchen confused.

“You didn’t cook?”

Spike shook his head. “Don’t you know what day it is?”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Oh it’s Tuesday… Right.”

He chuckled. “If you’d like me to help, that’s fine.”

She gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you. Gosh, why have you been being so sweet lately?”

Spike shrugged. “I guess I’m just happy that I get to see you more.”

“If only you knew the other half.”

After hearing this, Twilight could feel her heart warm. “That’s really sweet of you.”

He smiled as he looked through the cabinets. “So, did anything interesting happen?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, we just ate lunch and hung out at his place.”

Spike pulled out a box of uncooked noodles, and made his way over to Twilight’s side.

“Does pasta sound alright?”

She nodded. “That sounds great.”

As Spike cracked open the box, Twilight began filling a pot with water. Twilight then levitated the pot over to him.

Spike poured in the noodles and thought of all the possible ways he could weave his question into the conversation; all of which weren’t ideal.

“Might as well get it over with.”

“Hey Twi, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about when we were little.”

She made a slightly confused expression. “Why is that?”

Spike shrugged. “I don’t know why, I just have been.”

Twilight nodded. “Alright, what about it then?”

Spike looked away from Twilight, before turning to face her.

“No going back now.”

“Twi, did you ever have a crush on me?”

For a split second, Twilight only stared, but the moment she felt her cheeks begin to burn, she turned away giggling, hoping Spike hadn’t caught sight of her embarrassment.

“Spike, I don’t know why you would ask me something like that, but I can assure you I’ve always seen you as just a friend.”

Her reaction was so convincing that he almost bought it, if it weren’t for her blush; the same blush Fauxlight had earlier. Spike thought a moment, trying to think of a way to bring out an honest confession, but he knew of only one way that might work.

He looked away, a slight tinge of embarrassment and sadness in his eyes. “Oh, I just thought that maybe… I’m sorry I brought it up.”

Twilight eyed him. “Spike” she paused. “Did you have a crush on me?”

He sighed. “I might have a long time ago.”

Spike’s blunt honesty made Twilight feel a little guilty. She turned away, trying not to grit her teeth.

“Okay, if we’re going to be honest, I may have had a crush on you when we were little.”

He couldn’t help but grin, not just from confirming Fauxlight’s story, but for some other reason. “Really?”

Twilight looked up. “But that was a long time ago, Spike. I’m with Flash Sentry now.”

He raised a claw to silence her. “I know, and I didn’t mean anything by it, I just wanted to know for sure.”

Twilight halfheartedly smiled. “Alright.”

----------

Spike sat atop his bed, fighting back a smile. No matter how long ago it may have been, he couldn’t help but feel happy that at least once in his life, someone had actually returned his feeling, even if neither knew it at the time.

“Did you ask her?”

Spike looked up to see Fauxlight sitting atop Twilight’s bed. With a slight smile he nodded to her.

She giggled. “I’m guessing by that grin you liked her answer.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Maybe I did. Anyways, what about you?”

Fauxlight shook her head. “My Spike is still out, so I never got a chance.”

“Well, encase you were wondering, I am now ninety eight percent sure you’re real.”

She smirked. “Only ninety eight percent?”

“In that case, I guess I’ll have to be ninety seven percent sure… That is unless you have anymore secrets you want to share.”

Spike crossed his arms. “No way. You already have enough things to torment your Spike with.”

She shook her head. “Maybe I just want to know more about you. For starters, how about you go ahead and admit you have feelings for her.”

He blushed. “I don’t have a crush on Twilight, and like I said, she’s taken.”

“Oh come on, no one is this happy about finding out something like this, unless there’s something still there. You don’t have to lie to me Spike, who am I going to tell?”

He looked away. “Okay, even if I did have a crush on her, that doesn’t change things.”

“It may not, but I promise just admitting it will make you feel better.”

“What makes you say that?”

Fauxlight smiled. “Let’s just say I know from experience.”

“You do? Mind sharing?”

She shook her hoof. “Not until you say it.”

He sighed. “Alright… I have a crush on my best friend.”

Fauxlight tilted her head. “That doesn’t cut it, Spike.”

Spike closed his eyes. “I… like Twilight.”

She smiled. “Again”

“I like Twilight.”

“Again”

“I want to be with Twilight.”

“Spike?”

Spike’s blood turned to ice. He knew that voice was Twilight’s but not the one he was talking to. Slowly, he turned to see her standing in the doorway. Twilight’s face was beet red, and eyes wide. It didn’t take long for Spike’s to match hers.