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chapter one: The note2,078 words
Chapter two: Resolve1,979 words
Chapter Three: Double life3,900 words
Chapter Four: Nightmares3,665 words
Chapter Five: The Night2,097 words
Chapter Six: Silver2,533 words
Chapter Seven: Breaking The Promise3,445 words
Chapter Eight: Hope4,077 words

Chapter Four: Nightmares

Sweetie tossed and turned in her bed, her legs bucking and thrashing as she slept; finally she stopped kicking and awoke screaming. The scream echoed through the Carousal Boutique waking Rarity and Fluttershy who slept in the room at the end of the hall. The pair rushed into the filly’s room as fast as they could to respond to her blood curdling scream; first Rarity and then Fluttershy. Both were garbed in silk pyjamas that the fashionista mare had created for them, but in the commotion they had became wrinkled and now hung in a disordered mess that barely classed as being worn.

“Are you alright Sweetie?” Fluttershy asked as she entered and sat on the edge of the white filly’s bed.

“Sweetie Belle what’s the matter?” Said Rarity who had turned on the light and was trying in vain to straighten her outfit.

“I… I had a scary dream…” Sweetie began, tears welling in her eyes as she spoke.

Fluttershy leant closer and hugged the shaking filly gently stroking her tangled mane as she did. Sweetie drew closer until her muzzle was buried deep in the fur of the yellow mare, her tears leaving trails as they fell and hit her sheets.

“What was it about?” Rarity asked sitting down next to Fluttershy.

The scene played out in front of Sweetie’s eyes like a movie. She was walking with Scootaloo, they were talking and smiling. It seemed like life was finally perfect; that’s when it happened… as the fillies walked Scootaloo began to move faster until she was walking many yards away from the white filly; at that moment Scootaloo was joined by a white colt with a pink and purple mane. It was Silver and he was taking Scootaloo away from her; Sweetie tried to catch up, but no matter how fast she ran she couldn’t catch up. Finally they became silhouettes and Sweetie cried out for her orange friend; still they ignored her and Sweetie fell to the floor, her head hung and Sweetie began to cry.

“She doesn’t love YOU…” she heard as Silver turned to face her, a grin stretched across his face then he and Scootaloo disappeared into the distance leaving Sweetie crying out for her orange friend.

Sweetie looked at both of the mares and then the mirror; she knew she couldn’t tell them the truth. They couldn’t, wouldn’t understand.

“I dreamt there was a monster…”

Fluttershy and Rarity both hugged her tight. “Don’t worry monsters won’t come to Ponyville because I’ll give them the stare.” The yellow mare reassured her and smiled softly.

“Will you be ok Sweetie?” Rarity asked as both she and Fluttershy stood up and headed for the door.

Sweetie nodded hesitantly. “Yeah, I’ll be ok. It was just a dream…”

The mares exited the room and turned off the light as they left. “Good night Sweetie.” They said before the door closed.

After the door clicked shut Sweetie looked at her reflection and climbed out of bed; stepping closer to the large mirror she watched her silhouette for any change, but it remained the same. Finally she turned it to face the wall and returned to her bed in an attempt to recapture her sleep. Of course Sweetie found it impossible to close her eyes for each time she did she saw her alter ego’s face staring back at her.

***

The next day at school Sweetie sat at her desk; her eyes were bloodshot and sore as she didn’t manage to get to sleep. The nightmare had made such a task impossible.
Sweetie thought about the dream, surely that’s all it was, she thought; Silver was her and she wouldn’t do that to herself. After a few moments she decided that it must have been due to the scary movie she’d watched a few days earlier and that it was only because she doubted her ability to be both herself and Silver.

“That must be it.” She said in attempt to convince herself it was true.

Again her classmates strolled in followed by their teacher and the lessons began. Cheerilee looked over the faces of her students; stopping when she finally reached Sweetie Belle.

“Sweetie are you okay? Your eyes are really red.” The older mare asked in concern.

“Oh this? I didn’t get a lot of sleep that’s all, I’ll be fine.” Sweetie answered as she rubbed her sore eyes.

“If you say so, but let me know if you’re having any problems alright?” Cheerilee said then turned to her chalkboard to officially get the lesson started.

***

Again lunchtime rolled around and the foals escaped their classroom, but Sweetie didn’t hear the bell that signalled the start of their lunch hour due to the fact that she’d fallen asleep only minutes before it rang. Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had tried to rouse the sleeping filly, but to no avail; ultimately they gave up and went to lunch at the jungle gym without her.

Scootaloo sat in the sand beneath the large metal frame; the rain from the days before had returned and Apple Bloom had gone inside, but the orange filly refused to leave that spot in hopes that her mysterious coltfriend would show. Scootaloo hung her head; she knew he wasn’t coming, but she so desperately wanted to believe that somepony cared about her that she sat there motionless for fifty five minutes before the bell rang to end the agonizingly lonely hour.

The bell echoed through the empty classroom waking Sweetie just in time to see her classmates filtering back into the room; her eyes grew wide when she saw the sopping wet orange filly enter and sit sombrely at her desk. Her heart sank at the sight of her broken hearted friend and she knew that she’d messed up; Sweetie hated herself at that moment.

“Why couldn’t I have stayed up a few minutes longer?” she thought, her conscience crucifying her with each drop of rain that fell from Scootaloo’s purple mane. “Why wasn’t I there for her?!”

The guilty thoughts plagued her throughout the rest of Cheerilee’s class, she couldn’t dispel them nor could she soften the pain that now swallowed her heart. Each moment she spent watching the rain soaked orange filly cut her like a knife and what hurt more was that she was powerless to fix the problem; she would just have to bear the pain until later when she could try to cheer Scootaloo up.

Time ticked away, every second stood still torturing Sweetie’s already guilty conscience and it was at that moment she heard something she never wanted to hear again. Soft sobs escaped the orange filly’s lips and Sweetie’s heart broke into a thousand pieces. It was her fault; she was responsible for her friend’s tears and she hated herself for it. “I’m such an idiot…” she thought and tried to stop herself from crying as well, but to no avail and soon her eyes had welled up too.

“Sweetie? Scootaloo? What’s the matter girls?” Cheerilee asked, stopping the lesson mid flow to check on her crying students.

“My… hay fever’s back…” Sweetie lied in between sobs. “Can I… can… I… please be… excused?”
Cheerilee nodded and let Sweetie leave the room before turning back to the orange filly.

“Are you alright Scootaloo?” She asked in concern as she noticed that her fur and mane were soaking wet.

“Yeah…” Scootaloo managed. “I’ll be ok…” she sobbed lightly with each word, of course Cheerilee didn’t believe her and dismissed her for the rest of the day.

***

Sweetie never returned to class. How could she, knowing that Scootaloo’s tears waited behind the classroom door was too much to bear and so she fled beck to Rarity’s home. Rarity always arrived home long after Sweetie did so it never raised any suspicion if she played hooky; not that she would have under normal circumstance, but ever since she created Silver she’d found herself taking more and more time off.

Again the white unicorn filly sat imagining her perfect life with Scootaloo and sighed realising that now it may never happen; she thought long and hard about a way to fix her relationship with the orange filly, but it was no use. No matter how hard she thought Sweetie couldn’t repair the damage she’d inadvertently done. She let out a sigh in frustration and fell back into bed; her eyes were sore and no matter how much she tried she couldn’t keep them closed. How could she sleep? There were far too many things on her mind for that, no she just had to stay awake until she could figure out a way to make things right.

“I’m sorry…” Sweetie said aloud and stared into space.
***

Meanwhile, across town in an old park Scootaloo sat on a decrepit swing; it was rusty and several links in the chain that held it up were unsafe, but the filly didn’t care after all nopony else did.

“Why didn’t he show?” she asked as she stared at her reflection in a puddle. “Maybe he didn’t like me after all…”

A lone tear fell from the orange filly’s eyes causing the puddle to ripple as it broke the surface; Scootaloo watched the water calm and thought about the last time a colt had acted like he cared for her. It was a few years ago; Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had put one of the more naïve colts up to pretending he was interested in her so that they could have him abandon her in Ponyville graveyard at night. If it hadn’t been for Bright Ideas: the curiosity shop owner visiting a deceased relative she’d have been locked in until morning and, although she never admitted it she was both terrified and heartbroken. Her thoughts then drifted to Silver and the way he suddenly took a shine to her.

“What if it was just another of Tiara’s tricks?” she wondered as she stared at her reflection in the puddle at her hooves.

There was a light rustle of leaves as hooves gently brushed them aside; a meek voice carried on the wind, it was soft in tone but heavily laboured. Scootaloo turned to see Silver heaving and out of breath; he looked horribly fatigued and ill, in truth he looked like he was as bad as Sweetie Belle was earlier, perhaps even worse, she thought as he stumbled towards her.

The orange filly rushed to help the young colt up, forgetting her sadness and anger as she did. “Sweet Celestia, are you alright?!” she asked finding it surprisingly easy to support his weight.

“I’m sorry… I’ve been ill for the last two days, but… but… I just had to see you…” he stammered between gasps.

“How did you even find me?” She asked in her concern, but still secretly overjoyed that he’d put himself through so much just for her.

“I… I…” the world became fuzzy and finally Silver collapsed with a hard thud.
***

“You just don’t learn… do you?” a sour male voice echoed as Sweetie regained consciousness.

A blurred world flickered open and Sweetie awoke to the sight of a white unicorn stallion sitting in the room with her. She was startled at first, but as her vision sharpened she noticed the tell tale hat and light bulb cutie mark of the curiosity shop owner; his name was Bright Ideas and she’d met him on a previous crusade with her friends so she knew she could relax around him.

“Are you ok my friend?” he asked out of genuine concern “You were badly fatigued, but you should be ok if you get some more rest.”

“Where’s Scootaloo?” Sweetie asked; thankfully her voice was still deep and masculine meaning that her spell was still active. That one fact mattered more to her than her own health at this very moment because if anypony were to discover her secret then they would try to stop her from making her friend happy and that was out of the question.

“I sent her home and now that you’re awake I suggest you do the same.” He stated whilst looking for his signature hat. “If you tell me where you live I’ll walk you home.” He smiled as he donned his favourite black trilby and gestured to the door.

“The Carou…” Sweetie cut herself off before she could finish; if she’d have said her sister’s shop then her secret would have gotten out for certain. “It’s ok I feel strong enough to make it home alone…” she stated and rose to her hooves.

“Wait…” the stallion said as Sweetie passed him. It was then she felt her heart sink in fear ‘does he know my secret?’ she thought as she turned to face him.

“Scootaloo was really worried about you; don’t over do it again. Ok?” he said and began cleaning a rare glass sculpture, Sweetie took that as a signal that she could leave and made her way home as fast as her legs could carry her.

Bright Ideas sighed and looked at an empty space on his dusty old bookshelf then looked at the colt running into the distance. He knew what was going on; he could see through the guise as clearly as glass, after all he was using a similar spell him self.
“I knew I shouldn’t have sold that book to Twilight…” he said to himself wondering if he should have taken the chance to stop her.
***

Yet again the Carousal Boutique was deserted and draped in shadow. Sweetie drew close to the back door of the shop to find it locked with a note pinned to it, frustrated Sweetie snatched the note and began reading.

The note read:
“Sweetie
Fluttershy and I are going to Las Pegasus for the week meaning that you’ll have to sleep at home for a while. I know it’s sudden, but sometimes being spontaneous is fun and Fluttershy’s never been before so I simply had to take her. You understand right?

I know that you enjoy staying over and Celestia knows that we love having you, but we just can’t leave you alone in our house for a whole week. I mean what if you hurt yourself? Or worse what if you hurt my clothes?!

Anyway would you be a dear and tell mum and dad I said hello. See you in a week.

Rarity

XOXO

P.S. Fluttershy says not to worry about Opal and Angel, she left them with Applejack. ”

Sweetie’s expression dropped and her eyes became wide in her realisation that she had left her spell book inside and worse, she couldn’t get to it for a whole week. Of course she remembered the basic spell, that wasn’t the issue; her true concern was that she couldn’t perfect the spell further. Then it struck her.

‘What if they discover it before I can get back?’

It was a very real possibility as Fluttershy liked cleaning every room top to bottom and with her being away for a week she’d almost certainly want to have a spring clean. Up until now Sweetie had guarded her secret by taking the book to school in her bag, but with it lying around under her bed it was guaranteed to be found; her thoughts drifted back to the time Rarity had found her Gabby Gums column in the Foal’s Free Press and she shuddered in fear.

“If that got out so quickly, then what would happen if…” she stopped for a second then looked around for the plant pots her sister hid the spare key under; she almost exploded in joy when she found the one she was looking for.

“Third from the right, like alwa…” she thought aloud as she lifted the pot expectantly, but to her dismay there was no key. It seemed that to assure that Sweetie wouldn’t sneak in and ‘Borrow’ her fashion materials, Rarity had taken the spare key with her.

“Oh ponyfeathers!! What do I do?” Sweetie was out of ideas and decided that for now she should try to get some sleep. She took a few deep breaths to calm her self before running off towards her parent’s home.
***

Her heart raced while thinking about the events of the day; Scootaloo sat in her room at the orphanage and thought about Silver’s appearance earlier. He looked stressed and in pain, it was almost as if seeing her was the only thing that mattered to him. She blushed at the idea of another pony caring about her enough to put themselves through such suffering made her so happy that she couldn’t stop smiling. She had to tell her fellow crusaders and she had to tell them now or she’d burst from excitement.

After the orphanage owner had finished making sure the foals were all in bed, Scootaloo snuck out of the nearest window and fled deep into the night.
***

Sweetie had gotten home a few minutes before ten o’clock; she arrived to find her home shrouded in darkness and her parents already asleep, but that didn’t bother her as she had a spare key in case of emergency. After entering her room and lying on her bed she tried to close her eyes, but to no avail. Each time she attempted sleep it eluded her. She simply couldn’t sleep with out her favourite stuffed toy which she’d ‘customised’ a little to look like her friend.

She sighed as she stared up at her ceiling; she’d spent so much time at Rarity’s that her own room felt weird to her. Finally she curled up in her blanket and tried desperately to close her eyes and sleep, still nothing. Sweetie rolled over and stared at the small mirror on her vanity table.

“At least I’m not seeing things anymore…” Sweetie whispered to herself and stared back at her silhouette again.
***

Despite the late hour Apple Bloom was still awake doing her home work, having spent her time after school bucking apples with her older brother and sister even though they told her she didn’t need to. Her eyelids were heavy and sore, but she persevered with her maths problems nonetheless.

“Alrite, if a train left Fillydelphia carrying thirty six ponies and at Canterlot sixteen got on then… ” she thought aloud as she tried desperately to keep her eyes open, suddenly she heard a sharp tap on her window.

“Huh?!” The yellow filly looked around in surprise and then returned to her work. Again, she heard a tap on her window however this time she decided to look out of her window.
Outside was almost pitch black save for a small beam of silver moonlight that lined the tops of the trees in the orchards that surrounded her house; as her eyes adjusted to the low light outside her window she noticed the silhouette of a small pony, no it was a Pegasus.

“Apple Bloom!” Their voice was familiar; feminine, but tom boyish in tone. Again the mysterious pony called out. “Apple Bloom I need to talk.”

Of course she recognised the voice, how could she not? “Hey there Scoots, what ya’ll doin’ out this late?” She asked whilst wiping the sleep from her eyes.

“It’s about Silver.” Her friend replied.

“Cain’t it wait till mornin’? Ah’m really tired.” Apple Bloom asked putting her books away.

“Please? The Carousal Boutique was deserted otherwise I would’ve woken Sweetie instead.” Scootaloo pleaded.

Her plea was met with a sigh as Apple Bloom looked at the orange filly. “What’s up?”

“I’ll explain at the clubhouse.” Scootaloo continued not wanting to keep shouting in case she woke the rest of the apple family.

The two met up in Apple Bloom’s front garden and headed towards the clubhouse as the night drew on.
***

Sweetie looked at the clock next to her bed. “Midnight…” she sighed and sat up; she’d been trying to sleep for two hours now and still she couldn’t drift off. In her boredom she thought about her dream last night; it hurt to imagine Scootaloo going off with anypony other than her. Suddenly it clicked, she figured out why she had the dream.

“What if she likes Silver more than me?” it was a strange thought to have, surely it wouldn’t matter after they’d fallen in love; Sweetie could reveal herself and Scootaloo would be surprised, but ultimately happy.
Her thoughts were cut short and the same masculine whisper echoed through her mind that had done for the last few days, however this time it was clearer. “Stop lying to yourself…”

“Who’s there?” Sweetie panicked.

“She doesn’t love YOU…” the whisper came again.

“Quiet!” She yelled in her panic, but her parents didn’t stir as Fluttershy and Rarity had. No, instead Sweetie was left alone.

“She will never love YOU…” it continued. Sweetie pressed her hooves against her ears to block it out and she broke down in tears.

Finally, after several scary moments the voice abated and Sweetie wondered what in Equestria was going on. She climbed out of bed and left her room to get some respite from her fatigued mind. After heading downstairs Sweetie left her home and wandered into the darkness.

“Where can I go?” she quizzed aloud, her hoof steps echoing through the empty streets as she wandered to the only other place she felt comfy: the club house.

Author's Note:

Chapter four is up and ready, let me know what you think

also Bright Ideas is my friend's OC, he's a fairly astute character who has a perminent magical camoflage that changes his colours depending on who he's with. for more info on him ask RandomJamesH.

last thing i won't be uploading the next chapter for a while as i'm back to work full time till my next holiday.

thank you for reading so far and as always see you next time.
JPTrixie-Fan.

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