The Halcyon Days

by Ivo

Episode 7 - Hearts and Hooves

The Halcyon Days

Episode 7 - Hearts and Hooves

Once again, the sun, bright and warm, shone down onto Equestria and, to be local more correctly, the palatial building called ‘Princess Celestia´s School for gifted Unicorns’. Happily, the students lolled in the grass of the flowers-dotted meadows, enjoying the warm sun every minute and realizing with steady looks at the beautiful red roses adoring fences, balconies and sidewalks all around, that the day of love, Hearts and Hooves day, was almost there.

Tomorrow, to a T.

At the moment, it was lunch break and Twilight and Silverleaf had decided to go outside and take a little walk around the school grounds, the countless flowers everywhere a great delight to the silver filly which took deep breathes and inhaled the ubiquitous fragrance of the uncountable flowers like she was trying to create a vacuum.
“Aw, it´s such a beautiful day, isn´t it?”
“Yeah!” Twilight agreed with a firm nod. “A beautiful spring day, a perfect overture for the day of love…”
“You said it! A perfect day to travel to Fillydelphia!”

Twilight stopped in her tracks and frowned at her friend.
“Fillydelphia?” she asked confused.
Her green-maned friend gave her a cooked eyebrow. “Yes, Fillydelphia. I am visiting my grandparents this weekend, including Hearts and Hooves day. I´m leaving this afternoon, didn´t I tell you?”
The scholar shook her head.
“No? Well, now I did. You know, I originally was born and living there for a long time. But when I got accepted at the school, my parents decided to move here. Granny and gramps stayed in Fillydelphia, though. There is a great playground near by their cottage and I know very much of the other foals there from my old kindergarten. But, truth told, I´m only looking forward to see one other foal again.”
Her look became determined and dreamy at once.
“The cutest colt of the whole kindergarten, the dream of every filly: Time Turner!”
“Time Turner?” Twilight questioned with an asking look.
“Well, that´s at least his true name. His nickname was ‘Doctor Whooves’. Don´t ask me why, it´s just that.” Silverleaf explained.
“Doctor Whooves? That´s a strange name, if you´d ask me.”
“Maybe. Though, he is the most handsome colt I´ve ever seen, his soft light brown fur, his chocolate brown mane and tail… Ou, I´m so totally looking forward for the moment I´m giving him my Hearts and Hooves card! The look in his beautiful azure eyes! We´ll look into each other´s eyes, confess our love to each other! And then we´ll close our eyes, our hearts will melt, we lean forward, perk our lips, and then - ehehehe!” she squealed girlishly with a jump.

Twilight couldn´t help but giggle about her friend’s behavior. No doubt, Silverleaf was totally in love with that Time Turner. After the fifth or sixth bounce, her friend eventually calmed down and cleared her throat, giggling sheepish.
“Well, those are at least my plans for tomorrow. What about you? Who is going to be your lucky Romeo, Twily?” she then asked with a suggestive voice and half-lidded eyes.
“M-m-my R-Romeo?” Twilight stuttered shocked. “I…I don´t have…I mean, there is no special colt I have!”
“No?” Silverleaf pressed her adamant. “And what about, I don´t know, that cute colt with the shiny white coat and night-black mane and tail?”
Twilight´s eyes widened, feeling somehow caught, but still denied her suggestion. “B-Bleach? I…I told you before that he is just my frie-“
“Oh, please!” she cut her off. “Don´t try and kid me! You kissed his cheek at the park! I saw it with my own eyes!”
“T-that was just to cheer him up!” Twilight defended herself.
But her friend and unsolicited cupid of course didn´t buy that and took one hoof to her chin, musing. “I wonder…what will your Hearts and Hooves gift for him be?...A book?”
“SILVERLEAF! Stop it right now! I don´t have a gift for him!”

“A gift for whom?” A sudden male voice asked curious, making the two fillies jolt with shock, surprise and a short yelp.

“BLEACH!” Twilight shouted furious, facing her friend. “You nearly gave me a myocardial infarction!”
“A myo-what-now?” Silverleaf frowned.
“UGH, a heart attack!” Twilight explained.
“I´m sorry.” he apologized and then furrowed. “Were you quarreling about something?”
“No, we aren´t.” Twilight huffed not very conclusive. “We were just…clarifying things!”
“Okaaay…Mind if I join you?”
“Of course not.” the purple filly meant.

And so, the trio continued its walk across the schoolyard. Their break would be over soon, so they slowly trotted towards the entrance of the school.
“So…what are you going to do tomorrow, Twi?” Bleach then questioned. “Our live wire over there is off to Fillydelphia after all.”
“Yeah, Twily…” Silverleaf purred sanctimonious from the other side, leaning against her. “What are you going to do on the day of love?...”
Twilight only elbowed and hushed her angrily and turned back to Bleach.
“Well…I thought we could meet at our usual place at the park and…I don´t know…enjoy the day together?…Of course only if you want to…” she suggested a little bit sheepish.
Hearing these words, Silverleaf opened her mouth for another bold comment, but a purple hoof in her muzzle turned her words into a muffled muttering.
Tensely, Twilight waited for his response with shining eyes filled with hope.

But Bleach only sighed, his head sinking.
“I am sorry, Twilight, but I can´t…”
“WHAT?” she shouted shocked; thinking somepony would have pierced her heart.
“I´m sorry. But my grandparents invited me to visit them, too. I am leaving today and come back tomorrow late in the evening.”
“But…what should I do tomorrow without you?” the filly asked desperately.
“Hey, come on, Twi…” he tried to encourage her with a short nuzzle, a gesture that sent a tingling through her body and only made things worse for her, knowing that she would miss that feeling tomorrow. “…this isn´t apocalypse, isn´t it.”
“No…” she sighed, wearing a sad look, ears flipping down. …but close to… she thought additionally. “That´ll be the worst Hearts and Hooves day ever without one single friend to spend it…”
“Nah! I´m sure you´ll find something to enjoy tomorrow!”

A bell rang, announcing the near end of the break.

Bleach took a deep breath. “Well, seems we should hurry up. Don´t want to be late, right Twi?”
“Sure…” she only stated unenthusiastic “I´m right behind you…”
And so, the white colt trotted ahead.
Silverleaf laid a leg around Twilight´s withers and pulled her close, reaching for the white colt in the distance with the other hoof in a dramatic way.
“Romeo, oh Romeo! Why Romeo?” she wailed playful.

“Not funny, Silverleaf…” Twilight grumbled annoyed and shrugged her off, following Bleach and the other students into the school building…

Silverleaf behind her sighed.
I´m sorry, Twi…Even a determined powerful cupid like me is helpless against the incredible power of grandparents…

______________________________________________________________________

Just behind the trio, a yellow-maned and black-coated unicorn-colt grinned wide.

“Did you hear that?”
”We aren´t deaf!” came an ungracious answer to the whispered question.
“Then you sure know what that means, don´t you?”
A short silence.
”Okay, help me. I don´t get it.”

The colt rolled his eyes.
“Oh, come on! A filly, left alone by her friends at the day of love…”
”I still don´t get it…” the female voice inside Shadow´s head meant.
”Oh my, Luxuria!” a male voice joined the communication ”Sometimes you can just be so dense!”
“If you think you know it all, dear Proditio, then please explain it to me!”
“But of course, my dearest nymph!” the forked tongue of the sestet purred. ”Since your primal lusts seem to deny you more complex thoughts and feelings, I´ll happily oblige to explain you the plan of our dear friend…”
“Be glad I have no body to crush your ribs right now!” Luxuria growled.
”Would you please let me finish? Thank you! And now, to explain you the plan: That filly must feel terrible, left alone by her best friends, especially by the colt she felled for, on a special day like this! Her heart is filled with emptiness and loneliness. And of course, this is the best thing that could happen to our dear friend. He´ll fill the space in her heart and make the loneliness inside her vanish.
And soon, she´ll forget that other colt and give our friend here her heart! Am I right?”

Shadow Star smiled.
“Yes, you are! And after that, we´ll be a happy couple forever…” his smile got something malicious “…and I won´t need you anymore…”
”WHAT!” another mare, Viola, fulminated in his head. ”You won´t dare!”
“And what are you going to do against it? Without me and the book, you have no powers, just your thoughts!”
”But we had a deal! We give you our powers and you give us a body!”
“That deal is lapsed!” the colt grinned. “And in addition: Your oh-so-strong powers hadn´t been very useful till now, if you´d ask me!”

Since Viola had failed, his trust in the six was weakened. After all, an old and powerful mare like Viola lost against a simple stupid little foal! Okay, a foal that can fight, but still - a foal! And with that trust, the poison that flooded his soul was weakening too. It had been strong enough to cloud his mind for a while, to seduce him with an easy way to get to his destination. But the fact that Shadow Star always had been an innocent young colt, the dark seed of the alicorns in his head didn´t fall on fertile ground and didn´t grow very well.
And was ebbing with every next second.

”But…but…”
“Let´s face the facts, my dear siblings…” Proditio meant, not without a small amount of proud “…that colt deceived us like a pro. Don´t let us be sore losers…”
“Of course YOU speak for him!”
“What´s my name, dear Viola?” he stated dry. ”Of course I speak for him! I don´t like it too, but I at least can accept my defeat. But you are way too primal and petty-minded to understand that, aren´t you?
“YOU DAMNED SON OF-”

”SHUT UP, AT ONCE!” Shadow shouted out loud.

Instantly, the voices muted.
He sighed in relief and opened his eyes…
…and faced all his classmates on the floor turning around and looking at him with mixed expressions, from curious to surprised to worried to certifying him lunatic.

“E-he…” he giggled sheepish. “Uhm…sorry…”

______________________________________________________________________

Hearts and Hooves day.
The day of love was finally there.

Everywhere in and around Canterlot love was in bloom.
Hundreds of young and old couples roamed about the town, enjoying their togetherness and the clear blue sky with the warm sun Celestia had given them.

Everypony was lucky.
Everypony was happy.

Everypony…
…except a certain young purple filly.

Twilight was still wondering how her parents had managed to convince her to go out and play. Truth told the young filly rather wanted to stay at her chamber the whole day and let her feelings of loneliness consume her. One would say she was overdramatizing. Of course, there had been many weekends she hadn´t been able to see her friends. There were many days she just stayed at home because they had no time to meet.
But that one of these days had to be Hearts and Hooves day, a day she had planned to spend together with her friends, primary with Bleach, which of course she would never confirm to Silverleaf, that she had to stay this special day alone, that was the real tragedy for her.

Lost in her thoughts she sat on top of the monkey bars at their favorite playground in the middle of the city park, overviewing dozens of couples of all ages playing tag or badminton or something else, sitting on the benches or on picnic rugs, chatting or kissing, eyes locked fond.
Twilight sighed for the umpteenth time this day and also for the umpteenth time, her head sank and her ears folded down.
Hay, she even wasn´t in the mood to read her favorite book ‘The Life Of Clover The Clever’ she had taken along from home!

“Oh my!” a voice suddenly spoke up behind her. “What do my eyes have to see? An enchanting filly being in the doldrums at Hearts and Hooves day? There must be a gigantic mistake!”

Twilight turned around, frowning.

She landed upon a bright pair of golden eyes looking roguish at her, carrying a bright beam which mirrored also on the black muzzle beneath.
“Oh! Hello Shadow!” Twilight greeted the colt with the bright yellow, white-streaked mane, lolling on the monkey bars in front of her, with a surprised frown. “What are you doing here?”
“Uhm…playing? You know, the thing foals normally do on a playground?” he smiled cocky.
It let a small smile creep on Twilight´s lips as well. “I know that! I´m not dumb after all! I meant: I never saw you here before. What brings you here?”
“Well…” he answered and climbed over to her, sitting down next to her on the same bar “…I always heard you and your friends talking about how much fun you have here, so I thought I should come here and check it out. By the way…” he looked around but obviously didn´t find what he was searching for. “…where are Bleach and Silverleaf? Ou, are you playing Hide and Seek? Ouou, can I join in? I love Hide and Seek!”

The filly chuckled about his eager behavior. “I´m sorry, but they went off the other day, visiting their grandparents.”
He gasped playfully shocked, taking a hoof to his mouth. “And left you alone on a day like this? Great friends you have there!” he meant ironically, but Twilight only waved a hoof allaying.
“Oh, don´t judge them too hard. It has been a long time since they had visited them the last time…” …even if Silverleaf now surely is happily kissing that brown colt she had told me about… She chuckled mentally. Gosh, I am already getting jealous!

She shook her head, breaking her inner monologue and went back scrutinizing the foals on the ground beneath. “Anyway…I think you should leave now. I don´t want to keep you away from your special filly for too long time. You better should spend your time with her than me…who is she after all, if you don´t mind my curiousness?”

He shifted on his place on the bar and blushed faintly at the question. “Weeeeeell…To be honest, I hadn´t the guts to ask her if she wanted to be my special somepony, yet…”
“You haven´t?” Twilight was visibly shocked, looking at him with unbelieving big eyes. “But…sun is setting in a few hours! You should hurry! And you know what: I´ll help you. I just recently read a book about self-confidence. I borrowed it Silverleaf when she had that problem with these bullies and hadn´t had her cutie-mark yet. Just tell me who she is and we get you two hooked up at once! Ou, is it Moondancer? She always liked you a little bit, you know?”

He couldn´t help but giggle about her eagerness to help and then cooked an eyebrow. “Where do you know she likes me?”
“Silverleaf.” she just answered as it would be an answer to every question of the universe. “There´s no bigger scandalmonger! Anyway…?”
“Nope.” he shook his head.
“Or is it Twinkleshine?”
“Still wrong. You got only one try left.”
“Aww, I always suck at these things…Is it Lyra? Your eyes are as golden as hers.”
“And again wrong. Sorry, you lost.” he stated with a beam.

“See? I told you I´m not good at this! Would you still tell me?”
He chuckled. “No way! But I´ll give you a few tips, okay?”
She groaned about his secretiveness. “Okay…Tell me your tips.”
“Well…it´s a filly that is already here at the playground…”
At that, Twilight looked around and inspected the other fillies, then frowned. “That´s not very helpful…even if I ignore the couples…”
“…and she is at the monkey bars at the moment…”
She looked down the bars and frowned even more, now it could only be one out of the small gang of fillies that was actually playing at the base of the bars…
“Are you sure she doesn´t mind you chatting with me for such a long time?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I´m sure, because…” he hesitated for a brief moment, then gulped down the lump in his throat and looked straight at Twilight. “…because she´s sitting on the bar right next to me…”

Twilight needed a moment to take the message.
Then, she gaped with surprise, her eyes becoming as big as a plate.
“ME?” she squeaked.
Shadow looked to the ground, nodded and blushed heavily, smiling shy. “Yeah…Twilight… would you…would you like to be my…my special somepony…for today?”
Finally he managed to look up at her; his golden irises filled with hope, and met her shining purple ones.

Twilight´s head was spinning. He really wanted her to be his special somepony!
But…what is about Bleach? she asked herself. He should have been my special somepony! But…he isn´t here, right? And he doesn´t even know that I… she shook her head. …that I like him…
Shadow´s ears dropped. “Is that a ‘no’? he asked, disappointment in his voice.
Twilight hadn´t even realized her subconscious gesture and broke her inner monologue hastily.
“No! I mean…that wasn´t a ‘no’. I…I was just thinking…” she assured.
“And...?”
Twilight bit her lip.
Well, he said only for today, didn´t he? We could be a Hearts and Hooves couple! Only today! Is that okay?...
She puzzled. Why was this so complicated? Why she couldn´t just be a couple with him for today and tomorrow normal friends? And after all, they could make each other feel happy! They were both alone on this day - a day nopony should stay alone - so how could she deny him?

After a long time of thinking, Twilight finally gave a faint smile and nodded.
“I would like to be your special somepony for today!”

All Shadow could do in response was giving a shout with glee and embracing his special somepony, whispering a genuine ‘Thank you!’ in her ear…

His plan was working…

______________________________________________________________________

“Woooooooow!”

Twilight´s eyes were sparkling like the starlit sky at a night with total blackout.
She even had to crane her neck just to see the ends of Shadow Star´s yellow mane, who was sitting right opposite of her at the small table.
The young stallion only chuckled at the astonishment of his loved filly.

Rather to spend their time at the playground Shadow had decided to take a walk through the park and to the small ice cream parlor at its entry, buying a big sundae for her.
And when he said big, he definitely meant huge!

The ice cream parlor for itself was a small old forester´s house, fully renovated, and snuggled itself between the blooming trees at the city park´s entry. Small tables around invited every pony to enjoy its ice together with the golden sun above and the songs of the nature.
So, the young Twilight and her special somepony were now sitting, like many other young and elder couples around them, at one of the simple wooden tables with a white tablecloth and a single red rose in a small glass vase in its center.
But in the case of the young Hearts and Hooves couple which was enjoying the warm rays of the sun that occasionally found their ways through the crowns of the trees, the rose was replaced by an indeed huge sundae.

Twilight was impressed!
Never had she seen a sundae huge enough to reach the top of her head. Layer upon layer of colorful and delicious ice cream glittered through the big crystalline chalice. Chocolate, vanilla, banana, strawberry, mango, blueberry, raspberry, lemon, nougat, hazelnut, she even spotted her ‘trademarks’ - like Silverleaf had called them one time - rose and violet. The top of the sundae consisted of a big layer of whipping cream, a pair of heart-shaped wafers, a small purple and black umbrella and a pair of sundae spoons peeking out of it.
The chocolate sauce was the icing on the cake - or ice cream, whatsoever.

It needed a giggle from Shadow for her to realize, that she was drooling rather heavily. She snapped out of it and closed her mouth, swallowing the large amount of salvia which hadn´t left her muzzle yet.
She chuckled sheepish and peeked around the sweet temptation in front of her to face a wide beaming Shadow Star.
“Do you like it?” he asked as if the icy treat in the table´s center was nothing more than a small cup of cocoa.
“It´s…amazing! But…hadn´t that been awfully expensive? You don´t have to spend so much money just to impress me!”
But Shadow waved only his hoof.
“Nah, it wasn´t that expensive, don´t you worry. My mother and the owner of the premise are very good friends. She always allows me a discount. And when she noticed that I am here with a gorgeous filly, she allowed me another discount.” he explained and winked at her.
Twilight only smiled and blushed.
“And in addition, you deserve it! You are the nicest, prettiest and most intelligent and talented filly I ever came to know better!”
She blushed even more, her cheeks becoming a slight pink.
But also Shadow´s cheeks had a hint of red and he scratched his back head awkwardly. “Well, to be honest, you are the very first filly I ever came to know better…maybe even the very first pony…next to my family, of course…”

Now, the purple filly looked up at him with a pair of curious eyes and scrutinized the colt in front of her. Was he serious? Did he really never have friends in his life? From his slight bleakly look she could tell that he was telling the truth.
“I am sorry…”
But he only shook his head and smiled at her.
“It is not your fault. It is no pony’s fault but my very own. I always had been a dreamer, a loner. Spending more time dreaming and developing my skills than socializing.”
Twilight nodded. That was a part she also knew too well. She also always had only studied and read her books, spending time with developing her magic. But it was a lonely life. Bleach had been the first pony she ever became real friends with, maybe except her best foalsitter in the history of all foalsitters.
And she never regretted when she spent time with him and Silverleaf instead with her books. Though, she was still a big bookworm. But she found a balance between the two things she liked.

“Though, my magic will never be as powerful as yours or Bleach´s…”
“But you can work your magic in your dreams!” Twilight argued, trying to cheer him up. “You are the maybe only pony in all Equestria that can have lucid dreams deliberately! You can visit other ponies´ dreams and manipulate them! You can gift sweet dreams to any pony you want to! That is a unique and wonderful gift, don´t you think so?”
“But why always dreaming and making ponies happy if I´m not happy? If I can only be happy in my dreams? My gift may is unique, but it is neither of use for Equestria nor its citizen. It´s just unique, nothing more. But real magic like yours can change the world; can make life easier for the ponies!”
Twilight couldn´t bear the colt denigrating himself and leaned forward to touch his cheek with her right hoof, making him look into her eyes.
“Listen: There is no useless talent in this world! We all are special in our very own way! You may can´t see a use in your talent at the moment, but there is, sure as death. You just have to believe in yourself! And you may aren´t as powerful as I am, but does that mean you are less valuable as I and everypony else is? You have one of the most stunning talents I have ever seen! Don´t give it up just because you think it would be useless. Believe me, it isn´t!”

They looked into each other´s eyes for a few more moments, until Shadow finally smiled and also leaned over to her and nuzzled her cheek. “Thank you! I think I just needed somepony to tell me that!”
“You are always welcome.” Twilight meant wide-smiling and then turned her attention finally back to the sundae, which was still standing in the middle of their table, waiting for the two little gourmands to eat it.
“And I think…” she then exclaimed “…we really should start eating that ice cream! I am mighty hungry!”
“Me too!” Shadow giggled and both took their spoons with their magic and the first pieces of delicious sweet ice cream landed in their hungry tummies.

About half an hour of chatting and primary gourmandizing later, the two foals satisfied held their tummies and leaned back in their seats sighing when the last spoon of ice cream vanished in Shadow´s mouth.
Twilight felt like her midsection had grown twice as big as it had been prior. She groaned and rubbed her temples.
“Gah! Brain freeze…”
The black colt opposite of her chuckled. “Your own fault! You didn´t eat, you guzzled!”
“That´s not-“ she suppressed a burping “-true! You ate more ice cream than me!”
“But you ate all the whipped cream…” he hit back with a smile.

Both rested for another five minutes to get accustomed to their added weight, until finally Twilight heaved herself back to her hooves.
“Anyway…what do we want to do now?” she asked.
“Well…” Shadow mused “…since we now are reinvigorated now, we could play a little bit at the playground. What about tag? Without Bleach it surely is way funnier!”
“That sounds nice, but-“ she had to stifle another burping “-I don´t think my tummy would agree. Too much ice cream. But…” her gaze became slight suggestive, her eyes half-lidded and her cheeks emitting a soft pink. “…we could watch the sunset together, if you want to…”

His ears perked up and his tail made an excited flick, her purple eyes catching his golden ones when he answered:
“I would love to! And I know the perfect place to watch the sunset!”
“I am right behind you!” Twilight assured him.

And so, both left their seats and trotted off, leaning against each other…

______________________________________________________________________

Twilight recalled the list she had created for today, the list of things she wanted to do with her special somepony, the things she originally wanted to do with Bleach.
She could see the words written in black ink on beige pell right in front of her mind´s eye and checked it off.

Things to do with Bleach my special somepony at Hearts and Hooves day!

Get somehow rid of Silverleaf for the rest of the day - Check

Ask him/get asked to be your/his special somepony - Check

Take a romantic walk through the park - Check

Share a milkshake/sundae/drink with him - Check

Watch the sunset and cuddle with him - as good as done

That left only one point at the list open, a point her cheeks went afire when she thought about it.

Kiss him

That had been a point she had made when she was still expecting to spend the day with Bleach. But could she kiss Shadow? Should she kiss him? He, after all, was her special somepony, even if only for the day. And he made her happy. He treated her like a queen and made the loneliness inside her vanish. He cared for her.
But could she give him a real lip-to-lip-kiss?
It was different with Bleach. She knew him. She trusted him. He was her best friend.
But the black colt walking next to her also was trustworthy. Though, she was only starting to come to know him better. Was it enough to kiss him like that? Or would a small peck on his cheek be sufficient?
Did she even want to kiss him like that? In the end, she still liked Bleach, though he never had treated her like Shadow had done. But, according to her, he hadn´t to do so. He was her best friend! He cared for her, listened to her problems, made her laugh and helped her to the best of his abilities.
He was there if she needed him.
And additionally, there was still the strange tingling inside her whenever she thought at him.

“…Hellooo-ho! Earth to Twilight Sparkle! Come in please!”

The purple unicorn startled and earned a chuckle in response. She had been so deep in her thoughts, she hadn´t even noticed Shadow talking to her.
“I´m sorry…I was just lost in thoughts for a moment…”
“What were you thinking about?” he asked curiously.
Twilight looked to the side and bit her lower lip. Come on, Twily! A quick emergency lie…
“Uh…Nothing important…uhm…oh, yeah, I was just wondering what my friends were doing at the moment. That´s all.”
Shadow quizzically cooked an eyebrow and looked at her, doubting the answer´s truth for a moment and then smiled. “Oh, I think they have just as much fun as we have. With their grandparents they are, you said?”
She nodded.
“Eeyup. Silverleaf wanted to see her old friends in Fillydelphia and stays with her grandparents, while Bleach visits his grandparents in Trottingham because they invited him and his parents over and they really don´t see each other very much. I hope they are having fun. Silverleaf wanted to ask a special colt to be her special somepony. I hope things worked out for her.”
“And let´s hope that Bleach also had found a special filly that is just as beautiful and amazing as my special filly! But I don´t cast very much doubt on that.”
A nasty, yet clever move, so he thought. To make Twilight believe Bleach wouldn´t even be interested in her to distract her from him and to steal his place in her heart…

…but if he could read Twilight´s thoughts, he would have known his move was backfiring.

Of course, the purple filly didn´t like the thought of Bleach having another filly as his special somepony since she wanted to be with him. But…did he even like her back? What if he wanted her just as a good friend and not as his fillyfriend?
And if he did like her back? Would he like it if she was having another colt as her special somepony?
She doubted it…
…and suddenly felt something, that hadn´t been there till now: Guilt.
Only because Bleach wasn´t here in Canterlot she simply had replaced him with another pony. But how could she have rejected Shadow when he asked her to be his special somepony?

Twilight was even more confused than at the day´s beginning, when she suddenly felt the colt next to her stop. She looked at him questioning but he only meant “We have arrived…” and looked straight ahead, sitting down on his haunches.
The filly followed his gaze.

They were standing on a small hill at one of the outer districts of Canterlot. Beneath them was a wide meadow and on its end the cliff edge of the Canterlot Mountains. The western view was perfect to see the dark canopy of the Everfree Forest, hued in an orange-greenish mystic color because of the setting big round orb right in front of them, slowly starting to vanish behind the horizon.
It was a stunning view!
“It is…beautiful!” Twilight meant and sat down next to him, eyes fixed at the big red sun in front of them.
“Yeah, isn´t it?” the black colt beamed and his soft gaze drifted to her. “And I am so happy to watch it with a pony that is even more beautiful.” he meant beaming and nuzzled her affectionately drinking in her fragrance of roses and violets. “My special somepony…”

Twilight bit her lip again. She couldn´t bear it! He was so kind, so gentle, but she couldn´t return his gesture! She felt the guilt inside her, the betrayal against Bleach. Even if he didn´t know about her feelings for him, she knew them and that was enough! She just couldn´t replace him like that! She had to stop it! She had to tell Shadow the truth, had to reveal her true thoughts and feelings!
She looked up at him, focused on his golden eyes.
“Shadow I-I…”
“Shhh…” he hushed her, laying a hoof soft against her muzzle, his voice becoming whispering. “…you don´t have to say anything more…”

Twilight was so confused she couldn´t even react to the things that followed at his words.
Everything just went so fast.
In one moment, they were just sitting there in silence, and in the next moment, Shadow removed his hoof from her muzzle, leaned over to her, hugged her, closed his eyes, pulled her even closer…

…and caught her in her very first real kiss.

All Twilight could do was growing stiff and stare in shock with wide eyes.
This was no dream!
She felt the lips that pressed tenderly against hers, felt the blood shoot throughout her body, felt her furiously beating heart, felt her trembling body, everything was real!
And so also the now perfected betrayal against her feelings for Bleach!

The union of their lips lasted one, two moments longer, and then Shadow finally broke it, his body also trembling and panting slightly, pumped full of adrenaline.
He once again locked his eyes with hers and spoke up in his hushed but emphatic voice, smiling broader than ever before in his life.
“Twilight I…I want you to know…I love you, Twilight! More than anything in this world!”

After these words just silence remained.

Twilight´s lips trembled. She didn´t know what to say anymore. She had wanted to tell him that she in actual fact liked Bleach and didn´t want to go any further than she had done.
That she rather wanted them to stay good friends than being special someponies.

And what did she do?
She had kissed him!
No!
HE had kissed HER!
And had told her that he loved her, not that he liked her, not that he was fond of her, no, that he loved her!

But she wanted to be with Bleach!
Of course, Shadow was kind, gentle, courteous and all, but all she could see in him was a good friend!
Why had he rushed things like that?
Why had he to force her to make a difficult decision like that?

She felt like somepony had tied her to a seat on the worst rollercoaster of emotions in all Equestria and had set the speed governor at full speed!

Her head sank, eyes closing and ears dropping.

Shadow frowned. That wasn´t the reaction he had hoped he would receive.
If everything had gone like planned, she now should hug him tight and also confess her love to him!
He gently laid a hoof at her cheek.
She forced herself to look at him, her eyes starting to tear up.

With great concern the black colt noticed the small droplets forming in her sparkling eyes.
“Oh my…Twilight…did I say something wrong?”
She sniveled.
“Why?” she asked accusatory. “Why had you to do that?”

For Shadow, these words felt like something wanted to squeeze his heart.
“But…But I-I…I thought you are my special somepony!”

Twilight´s head sunk one more time.
“Yeah, I know…I made a big unforgivable mistake…”

The colt gasped and grimaced with pain. If that filly wanted to rip his heart apart, she did it.
Why? Why she had to say such terrible things? Had he done something wrong? He had treated her like a gentlecolt would do! Why did she have to break his heart like that?
”Everything was shammed!” a male voice inside him stoked his anger.

“I wanted to tell you…” she sobbed “…but…but everything just went so fast…and then we were suddenly kissing and you said you´d love me…and I…” another sob choked her tears and she faced his golden eyes again “…And I simply can´t return that love!”

Something inside Shadow shattered at these words. He felt how the tears also wanted to flow down his cheeks, but he held them back. He didn´t want to cry in front of her. Even if she was already rejecting him and breaking his heart in any way possible.
”She just used you!” the voice whispered again.
SHUT UP! he cried in his head.
He pierced her with his eyes.
“Why?” he asked between suppressed sobs.

The tears of the purple filly were already flowing freely, glittering in the wake of the setting sun´s rays.
“Because…because there is already a colt I have feelings for. I-I...I feel honored that you have these feelings for me, but…but no matter how I look at it, here, in this moment I just can see you as a good friend! I am so sorry…”

The colt took a sharp breath and bit his lip. A short tensed silence lay upon them, until Shadow looked to the side and exhaled audible.
“So am I, Twilight…” he meant cold, the tears becoming more and more difficult to choke back. “…for asking you to be my special somepony! I´m sorry for my hope that things could have worked out between us! I´m sorry for telling you my true feelings! And I am sorry for distracting your thoughts from that other colt you not bothered to tell me about before you were going to crush my heart!”
”It was planned! You were just her toy to fix the void inside her!” the voice coaxed one more time.

Twilight could do nothing but cry about his words that showed her how much she had hurt him.
“I am so sorry…”
Shadow then rose back to his hooves and turned around, feeling how the tears got the better of him. He looked back at the purple filly that hurt him so much one last time, his eyes scrutinizing her.
“It is Bleach, am I right?” It was more a statement than a question.
Twilight looked back at him with tearful eyes and nodded.

“Well then…” he stated bitter “…I wish the two of you all well. And with your allowance, I will leave now and lick my wounds…”

And then, he galloped off, finally releasing the streams of tears, not bothering to look back at Twilight one single time.

And the only thing left was a bitterly crying little Twilight Sparkle in the wake of the last sunbeams of the day, weeping herself out until nothing was remaining but darkness and agonizing painful remorse…

______________________________________________________________________

It was late evening when Twilight finally had arrived at home. Without even bothering to tell her parents about any of the day´s events she trotted into her chamber and flung herself into her bed, turning to face her nightstand and the small wrapped up present she had prepared for Bleach.
She just stared at it, letting her thoughts wander, which only led her to the terrible happenings earlier, the way she broke Shadows heart so selfishly. How should she ever make this up to him? Was there even a way to make it up to him?
She doubted it.

Her guilty conscience was already pulling her to sleep, when she suddenly heard a pair of muffled voices behind the closed door of her chamber and perked up.
“…go on ahead, my dear. I´ll follow you in a second.” her brother meant.
“Okay…” she heard a voice responding which definitely belonged to Cadence, followed by a muffled wet smack which only could be a kiss.
After that she noticed the voice of hoofsteps down the floor towards Shining´s room and the door of her room opening.

She looked up to indeed find her white-coated brother wide-smiling and dressed in a simple black suit jacket, evidence of his evening together with Cadence, possibly at a fine restaurant the delicious scent coming from it told her.
“Hey Twily!” Shining greeted her but frowned when he saw her crestfallen demeanor. “Is something wrong?” he asked concerned.
Twilight felt like telling him everything here and now. She trusted him the most of all. But in the end, she just bit her lower lip, looked up at him and shook her head.
“Are you sure?” her brother pressed her on.
She nodded.
“It´s just…I feel a little bit lonely since none of my friends is here today, that´s all…” she lied.

Shining´s eyes wandered to her nightstand with the present still on top and saw the heart-shaped card attached to it, reading the name of the one it was addressed to.
“I see…” he just replied and brotherly nuzzled her neck to comfort her. “…but maybe I have something to make these feelings go away…”
Twilight frowned at these words and fixed her brother with her curious purple eyes.
“How?”
He just kept smiling and produced something out of his saddlebags with his magic, levitating it over to Twilight who followed the item with her gaze.
It was a present, wrapped up into purple gift wrap with a pink ribbon.
Her face lit up a little bit, a small smile creeping to her lips.
“Thank you, Shining!”

Her brother only rubbed his back head with a hoof.
“Yeah…In fact, this isn´t a present from me. A pony gave it to me during our exercise yesterday and told me it´s for you…”
“Who?” Twilight asked furrowing. She didn´t know any ponies in person that were exercising together with her brother.
Now her brother grinned sly. “A pony named ‘Pale’.”
She furrowed even more, eying up the present one more time.
“I don´t know a pony with that name.”
“Oh, I´m sure you know him…” Shining only meant with a chuckle. “He´s a highly respected part of the Royal Guard. You saw him at the ceremony last Sunday. A stallion with blue mane and white coat like mine, you remember? He told me it´s from his son and I should give it to you today…”

Twilight felt her cheeks burning because of her sudden blush. So this ‘Pale’ had to be Bleach´s father, which meant the present she held in her hooves…was from him!
She didn´t even notice her brother giving her a last short nuzzle before leaving her room and closing the door while she carefully opened the present like a precious treasure. When finally the last piece of paper was removed, it revealed two things:
First, a beautiful Hearts and Hooves card, hoof-written and adored with a heart-frame made of red glitter. In the middle was a purple pony with a flowing purple-pink mane and big purple eyes, also made of glitter. She marveled how beautiful detailed the drawing was.
She opened the card to reveal a text framed the same way the cover image was.
It read:

Dear Twilight!

Sugar is sweet.
And honey too.
But sweeter than treats,
That is you!

I wish I was there together with you.
Asking if you would be my special somepony, though…

With all my love,
Your Bleach

Twilight beamed from ear to ear and wiped away the small tear in the corner of her eye, the first tear not of grief but of joy this day. Happily she pressed his card to her chest and reveled in the bliss she felt, knowing that he would have wanted too to be her special somepony if he had been here today…
Then she eyed the second thing that had been inside the present. It was a small notebook. Curiously she took it into her hooves, feeling the old leather cover beneath her hooves. There was neither a title nor anything else that told her something about its content. She opened the first page and a small note flew out of it into her lap, which she read instantly. It was also from Bleach:

Dear Twilight.

Just in case you wonder where I got this from:
Let´s say it has its advantages to have a father who is a personal guard of Celestia and has access to her library…
I hope you like it! ;)

Even more curious, Twilight looked at the top of the first hoof-written page…
…and let out a shout of surprise and joy.
With big eyes she starred at the book´s title at the top of the page:
’Personal Diary of Starswirl the Bearded’
Her beam grew even wider than before and she pressed the book together with the card even tighter against her chest, squeaking as girlishly as Silverleaf had the day before.
Oh, Bleachie! You are such a sweetheart…

And then, she spotted her own gift for him on her nightstand.
She had to give it to him, somehow! She had to show him that she also was thinking at him! But her parents surely won´t let her out now. After all, it was late and dark outside.
So she somehow had to sneak out...
It was then when she spotted her window.

He would get his present, she vowed it!
It was still Hearts and Hooves day!
There was still time…

______________________________________________________________________

Sneaking out should prove no problem for the purple unicorn filly.
Her chamber was on the ground-floor and faced to the dark backyard where no streetlights lit the way. Even if her parents would have looked out of their window the moment she had sneaked out, they wouldn´t have seen her.
Conveniently, her coat had a natural dark color and covered her perfectly in the night.

Her only worry was the fact that she left nothing back but a bed stuffed with a few books and a big round ball. She prayed to Celestia her parents won´t enter her chamber until she would be back…

Quickly, she galloped along the streets of Canterlot, occasionally spotting elder couples on their way home or behind the windows of a noble-restaurant, the full moon guiding her way.

At about half past nine she arrived at Bleach´s home, a cozy-looking red house near the western end of Canterlot. Now, she only hoped that he and his family were already at home. After all, he had told her he would be back in the evening.
And regarding the light behind the windows, he was at home, which was a first relief for Twilight.
Now she only had to somehow give him her gift.

Should she ring the bell?
No! His parents would open the door, and if they would know that she was here at a time like this, her own parents would know very soon, too! Parents after all knew each other only too well, didn´t they?
So she had to search for another way.
Through the window of his chamber?
She walked around the cottage until she saw it. Oriented also to the backyard, unluckily, his room was in the second floor. Inspecting the house´s backside with the back entrance and the two windows in the upper floor, the left belonging to Bleach´s room, the filly was looking for something she could use to get to her special colt.
She could climb along the mounting of the twiners, but then she somehow had to open his window. Of course she could use magic, but like every other family with a unicorn also his family´s windows were sealed with a spell only they could unlock…

And then, the light behind his window lit up and she saw his silhouette behind the curtains.
Or I simply knock…

Determined the filly strained herself one last time and took her present into her mouth, walking over to the base of the twiners, scrutinizing the mounting. It was made of white wood, seemed very solid and wound itself along the wall in a cross pattern, perfect to mount it like a ladder.
Carefully she reared to her hind hooves and gripped the mounting with her front hooves, before she made the first step. Slowly, only one hoof at a time, she used the mounting step by step to come closer and closer to his window, using every gap of the cross shape to not lose her grip and fall back to the ground.
It somehow made her feel like a spy, like James Colt or Daring Do. Only some background music was missing, she thought.
After about two minutes of careful climbing Twilight finally reached his windowsill, when suddenly the light went out. But that wasn´t what let her freeze. No, what made her stop moving was the cracking she heard from below!

And in the next moment the wood beneath her hind hooves gave way and she lost her balance. With a yelp she fell to the ground and gasped in pain when she landed hard on her back with a thud. She groaned painful, disappointed that the wood gave way when she was already going to knock at his window. She had been so close to her destination!
In this moment, Twilight noticed somepony cursing and was surprised when she realized that it was her. Where did she know these words?...

“Who is there?” a voice called from above.
Twilight opened her eyes and looked up at the window the familiar voice came from.
“Twilight?” it asked frowning. “What are you doing here?”
With a final groan Celestia´s student rose back to her hooves, rubbing her back head and looking up at her friend who was looking out of the right of the two windows.
Didn´t I try to climb the other window?
Just as if he could read her thoughts, the white colt at the window frowned even more and questioned:
“And why are you trying to climb my bathroom?”

Twilight mentally facehoofed and was blushing, realizing that she not only tried to reach the wrong window but that when she wanted to knock at the window he was just…
She shook her head to dismiss the thought and looked back up at him.
“Because I didn´t realize your chamber decided to change places with your bathroom…” the filly hit back sarcastically.
Bleach´s answer to that was a chuckle. “And why are you here at a time like this? We arrived only half an hour ago. Normally, I would already sleep now!”
“Because I…I wanted to tell you something…” she felt how her cheeks became pink again. “…something very important…”
Realizing that it still was Hearts and Hooves day and regarding the thing she possibly wanted to tell him relating to that, the cheeks of the white colt now also had a soft hint of red.
“W-well…then why didn´t you just ring the bell?”
“Because I snuck away to come here…” she explained “…and if your parents tell my parents, I would be in big trouble!”
He only nodded in response.

After that, Twilight grabbed her gladly unharmed present for Bleach and tried to climb the mounting again, this time on the right side. When she reached the windowsill again, she grabbed Bleach´s hoof and he pulled her into his chamber, suggesting her to lie down on his bed to catch her breath after her second strenuous uphill climb of the day.
The colt eyed her up for a moment and sat down on his haunches.
There she was, the maybe cutest filly of the world, coming to him in the middle of the night of Hearts and Hooves day and climbing dangerous heights just to tell him something. It was like a dream come true, but at the same time kind of surreal…
“So…” he began, the faint red still on his cheeks “…What did you want to tell me?”
A short silence remained until Twilight sat up. She looked to the ground and fumbled with her hooves, the blush also visibly invading her face.
“I-I…I w-wanted…” she stuttered. “I wanted to say…Thank you…For your present…”
He chuckled. She was always cute when she was fumbling for words, he thought.
“I´m glad you like it.”
“I…I have something for you, too…” she said and grabbed next to her, taking the present she had prepared for him and gave it to him.
Curiously, Bleach inspected the white present with the black ribbon with big eyes and opened it. It revealed a big chocolate heart, framed with red icing. Silently he read the words that were carefully written inside the heart with white sugarcoating:

Our hearts, always loving
Our souls, never dying
Our lives, in friendship intertwined

From the ground they will rise
Reaching for the highest skies
And in love they will shine

Your
Twilight

Wide-smiling he read the lines of their modified secret hoofshake and then looked back at Twilight which was watching him with her shining purple eyes, the blush inerasable in her face.
“It is…beautiful!” he exclaimed happy. “Thank you so much!”
She smiled. “It´s nothing compared to your gift…”
But he only shook his head. “It´s coming from your heart, that is important! Neither its size nor its awesomeness. Though, I think it took you very much time to make this, am I right?”
“Nah…” she waved her hoof “…my mom helped me with it…”
“Still…thank you…this is so sweet from you…literally!” he meant beaming and climbed the bed, pulling the purple filly in a tight embrace and sending thousands of butterflies through her and his own stomach with that gesture.

Twilight didn´t know whether it were only five minutes or hours they hugged, she only knew she could stay like this forever, squeezing and being squeezed by her bestest of best friends and, at the same time, the colt she liked. It made the thoughts she had about Shadow vanish, soothed her. Now she knew she made the right decision in the end, though she still felt sorry for Shadow - a feeling that won´t leave her very soon.
But now, in this moment while she was still hugging Bleach, everything around her seemed just to be pure nothingness.
Way too early, though she really couldn´t say how long they were hugging, they parted, purple sparkling eyes locking with deep blue ocean ones.

“Twilight…” his voice was barely more than a whisper “…can I…can I ask you something?”
She nodded. “Everything you want to!”
He also nodded and gulped, now fumbling for words for himself.
“Well…It may were just about two hours left…but…it´s still Hearts and Hooves day, so I…I wanted to ask…would you want to be my special somepony?”
Twilight beamed, more than any time before in her young life, and hugged him tight one more time.
“I would love to!” she exclaimed happy and so forced Bleach´s smile into overdrive, too.

When they parted, their eyes locked again, noses touching. Neither of them knew what to say. But words only would have ruined the moment. So, they let their eyes talk for each other. It was until both pairs were curtained off by their respective lids, the two foals embracing one more time. Their cheeks were burning and their hearts pounding when their heads gently started to move, their lips perking and slowly coming closer to each other until they…

…froze, only an inch left to the connection.

The duo´s ears perked up. There had been a noise that sounded like hooves meeting the wood of the stairs. And in fact, it returned, a soft clip-clop on the stairs that headed to the colt´s room. Someone was coming to them, and regarding that Bleach was an only foal, it could only be one of his parents!
Disappointed they parted and looked at each other.
Twilight was worried. She had to flee before his parents would see her and she would be in trouble. It was too late for her to flee the way she came, so the colt made a decision:
“Hide under my bed!” he meant and Twilight nodded, jumping out of his bed and crawling in the gap underneath it. Bleach at the same time slipped under his covers and turned his bedside lamp off, pretending to sleep and made a fake snoring.

In the very same moment, the door to his room opened and revealed his father. Slowly, not to make a voice and wake his son up he stepped inside and noticed the peaceful sleeping colt lying on his back and slightly snoring.
Twilight meanwhile thought her heart wanted to jump out of her chest. She could see the white legs of Bleach´s father in the light off the moon. He only had to bend down to pick something up and he would spot her.
But luckily, after one last glance around the room, he turned to leave with a smile. Twilight already wanted to release a sigh of relief when the stallion halted in the threshold one last time and suddenly chuckled soft and spoke up.
“I´m sorry, but I can´t and won´t buy that from you, my son. First: You are never snoring, not even when you have a cold! And second: You are always sleeping prone or on your side, never on your back!”
His son groaned defeated and sat up in his bed.
“I´m sorry, dad. I couldn´t sleep…”
“I can imagine very well…” his voice got something cocky and he side-glanced back into the room “…You shouldn´t stay too long, Twilight!”
The filly under the bed shock froze. Where did he know she was there?
“It´s late and your parents are sure worrying! Good night you two!”
And with that, he shut the door and trotted back down the stairs.

“How did he…”
“Don´t ask me!” Bleach answered. “Maybe it´s an Auraknight-thing I don´t know yet. He seems to have a tenth sense for such things.”
Twilight frowned. “What are the other four additional senses?”
“Placeholder.” he stated dry and Twilight giggled low.

“Well…” she then meant, crawling out from under the bed and facing Bleach again, both slightly blushing thinking back that they just had been close to kiss each other. “I should really head home now before my parents notice my absence. It had been…” she pawed the ground, searching for the fitting words.
“…a wonderful yet short evening?” Bleach offered and Twilight chuckled.
“Yeah…something like that. Well, we see in school then…”
Bleach nodded and jumped off the bed, opening the window for the filly.
She swung out, searching grip on the mounting and looked at her special somepony one last time with a wide smile.
“Thank you!” she whispered.

Bleach only beamed, and suddenly leaned forward and planted a kiss on her cheek. Twilight had to watch out that she wouldn´t suddenly fall another time. It may was just a short kiss, but it felt heavenly to her! Her hooves felt like pudding, giving in every second. It was a wonder she reached the ground unharmed.
The two smiled and waved each other a last time and then Twilight galloped off towards her home through the now empty streets of Canterlot.

At her home again, she silently snuck into the backyard and opened her window with her magic, stepping inside without making a noise and carefully closing the window again. She let out a sigh of relief. Everything turned out well! Bleach had his present, was her special somepony, they nearly had kissed and her parents didn´t know anything about her absence.

In that moment, the lights of her chamber turned on and revealed a furious-looking dark blue stallion and a white mare who´s face had a very dark shade of red and who´s mane was slightly smoldering.

Oh well, it had been worth it, hadn´t it?...

______________________________________________________________________

He twisted and turned in his bed, but it was useless.
There was no dry spot on his pillow anymore.

Ever since the floodgates of his eyes had opened when he had turned his back to Twilight the tears didn´t run dry. Shadow felt broken and abused, but it was his own fault. How could he have expected Twilight to choose him, a colt she barely knew, instead of her best friend she truly had feelings for!
”But still she accepted to be your special somepony. She just played with you!”
“Didn´t I tell you to shut up?” he whispered, only low resistance in his words, his watery blood-shot golden eyes fixating the darkness of his room.
But he couldn´t deny that his words were somehow true. Twilight did use him just to banish the loneliness inside her. But how could he blame her?
In the end, that exactly had been his plan! He had wanted her to use him for filling the gap of Bleach, though he also had planned it to be on a permanent base. He even got to kiss her, regardless of the fact that she didn´t kiss him back and cuffed him verbally and emotionally after that.
In the end, so he thought, it may really have been a big mistake to try pulling her away from Bleach, even if he had to realize it the hard way.

Slowly, his thoughts carried him to sleep.

But even in his dreams he didn´t find a refuge.
Instead he found himself in deep nothingness, only blackness surrounding him.
“So your precious plan failed…” a male voice behind him stated dry.
Startling, he turned around to find a black-coated alicorn stallion sitting on his haunches in front of him. His long white mane flowed in a slight inexistent breeze around his head, enhancing the deadpan grey wolfish eyes that fixated the colt.
“You knew it would fail, right?” Shadow asked.
Now the mask that was the stallion´s face got something indignant.
“I would never betray you! If I had known, I would have warned you! After all I was the only one who fortified you and your plan!”
Shadow sighed. “I know…It was a foolish plan, though…”

“Oh no! Don´t call it like that!”
Shadow turned around to face Luxuria, the beautiful pink alicorn-mare with her flowing dark pink mane and slender curves. “You tried to satisfy your cravings, there´s nothing wrong with that! I am rather proud that you followed my advice!”
“But my plan failed and now, she surely hates me for kissing her without permission!” he argued distressed.
Luxuria was appalled. “You want to give up so easily? Just like that?”
He sighed. “Why should I continue trying?...”

“Because you still want her to be yours! You want to hold her and kiss her more desperately than before because now you know just how good it feels!” another mare behind him meant and he again twisted around to face her.
Now, there was sitting a lightly chubby and smaller dark-blue alicorn-mare with a long straggly red mane where Proditio had been sitting only a few moments ago.
“And you want even more than that! You want to play with her, chat with her, taking her out; simply do everything with her that makes fun! You want to share and live your life with her! Simply let it all hang out, am I right?”
Shadow nodded. “Yeah, sure, but…What about Bleach? What if he-“

“Oh, who cares about that stupid little colt!” A bright yellow alicorn-stallion behind him with a short shaggy green mane huffed. One more time the colt turned around to face the one who had replaced Luxuria. “I thought YOU wanted to have fun with that Twilight like Gula said! Why should you share-” he nearly vomited the word out “-with him? What did he do to deserve that?”
Shadow thought for a moment but the stallion answered for him:
“NOTHING! That´s what he did! In fact, he even is the reason why that filly rejected you! And now you want to share with him or even just relinquish her to him?” he flared.
His words were hard, but somehow true Shadow thought. Indeed, nothing of this would have happened if there hadn´t been that Bleach! Without him, the place inside Twilight´s heart would be his! It would be him who would be her best friend instead of the white colt! She would be all his! And he wouldn´t feel the emotional pain he was feeling right now, because without Bleach Twilight would never have rejected him!

“Avrice isn´t very wrong there, isn´t he?” Viola, the livid mare, asked behind his back, replacing Gula.
“But what should I do?...” the colt asked, facing the mare.
“Isn´t it ovious?” she meant with a devilish smirk and sparkling red eyes. “Sweep him out of your way…”
“…and after you did that, you are filling the gap ripped into Twilight´s heart as her comforter.” Proditio ended the sentence and trotted next to them, wearing the same grin as Viola.
“Yeah…” Shadow mused. “…that would work, but…how do I sweep him out of my way?”

“KILL HIM!” a male voice boomed behind him and made him jump.

He turned around to face a dark red, nearly black alicorn with a blazing red-yellow mane and tail.
“But…But I can´t…”
“What? Kill the colt that made you feel so terrible? That owns your filly´s heart without even knowing? The colt who´s the reason that Twilight broke your heart? That she played with you like that?
Do you really think something will change as long as he is alive?” the stallion asked, his voice gushing with pure hatred.
“Yeah, think of it, little one…” Proditio meant next to him with a smile. “Do you really want to have that colt his way with you, laughing at your wretchedness, knowing he has all you ever dreamed of?”

The black colt snorted, anger settling inside his soul, stomping with his hoof.
“No! Never!”
A smirk crept onto the black alicorn´s lips and he stretched out his right front hoof.
“Then reach my hoof and renew our contract to claim our help till all your cravings are satisfied…”
Shadow considered it for a moment…

…and then he grabbed Proditio´s hoof…

…and was pulled into his hooves in the next second, pressed tightly against his body and wriggling in his grip in sudden confusion.
“What the hay are you doing!” he shouted.
The alicorn´s grin grew even wider.
“I´ll ensure that you´ll never betray us again…”

And then, the tip of his horn made contact with Shadow´s brow and began to glow in a black light…

______________________________________________________________________

“ONE WHOLE MONTH?”

Silverleaf was shocked. Together with Twilight she was lined up in the queue in front of the canteen counter, just hearing the purple scholar tell her about her being grounded for one month.
“What in the name of all Equestria did you do to let your parents ground you one month?” the silver filly wanted to know.
Twilight was blushing at the question. There was no way she would tell Silverleaf anything about the circumstances that led to her punishment. After checking her chamber and recognizing that Twilight had snuck out without leaving a note to inform her parents about her whereabout they of course had been very worried and angry with her, to say the least.
The filly´s ears were still ringing from the vociferous telling-off her parents, primary her mother, had given her. In the end, so Twilight thought, she could be glad being grounded only for a month.
Her mother surely had been in the mood to ground her for one year!
“I´m sorry Silv, but that´s private business…” she answered her friend and additionally thought: …just like everything that happened this Hearts and Hooves day!
“Aww, come on Twi!”
But she kept adamant. “No!”
“UUUGH…”

Twilight frowned. Somehow, she thought, her friend seemed on edge.
“Oh, hello Silverleaf!” Miss Cherrytart, a red mare with brown mane and tail greeted the silver filly from behind the counter. “I hope you had a nice Hearts and Hooves day! What can I do for you?”
“One big hot chocolate. Double cocoa!” she answered unusually brusquely.
“What´s the magic word?”
“NOW!”
Frowning about the uncommon bad mood of the filly Miss Cherrytart gave Silverleaf her big cup of hot chocolate, hoping that the additional two pieces of marshmallow would lift her spirits. She then turned to Twilight.
“I´ll take the same.” she just said.
A big cup of chocolate was exactly what she needed after that disastrous Hearts and Hooves day…

“Sooo…” she then began while they sat down on a free table. “…why are you in such a bad mood? Has it something to do with that colt you mentioned…Time Tu-“
“Don´t mention that name ever again!” her silver friend cut her short.
Twilight frowned. “So…he rejected you?”
“No…” Silverleaf sighed. “…he moved to another town my old friends told me. But that´s not the worst! No, the worst is that he already has a fillyfriend! Some pegasus called ‘Ditzy’…”
“Oh…I´m sorry!”
“Nah, no reason to be sorry. I´m just a little bit disappointed, that´s all…” she meant and focused her purple friend with curiousness. “Anyway: How was your Hearts and Hooves day?”
“Weeeell…” she reluctant began, noticing a particular black colt with yellow mane and tail passing their table in this moment and giving her a short cold look before he took place at an empty table on the other side of the cafeteria.
In the very same moment, the guilt inside her soul hit her again and she felt crestfallen again. How she would love to simply tell her friends everything that had happened between her and Shadow, but these things she wanted to keep secret.
After all, if she told Silverleaf, the whole school would know everything about them within a few hours! And Bleach just would feel betrayed...
She sighed. “…Well, it was just boring and depressing, seeing all the other couples around me. I felt…alone, without you. I wished you or Bleach would´ve been there…”
Silverleaf nodded approvingly. “I´m sorry.”
But Twilight just shook her head. “Nothing to be sorry for. There´s always a next year, right?”
Her friend nodded and smiled. “Yes.”

“Hey there, you two!” a male voice suddenly greeted and joined them at their table.
“Hey there, Bleachie!” Silverleaf greeted back.
“Hi…” Twilight also greeted him a little bit shy, having to think back at the events of the past evening of Hearts and Hooves day.
“And? How was Fillydelphia?” he asked Silverleaf.
“Not like I expected it to be…” she just meant with a sip of her hot chocolate.
“And how was your weekend?” Twilight wanted to know.
Bleach just shrugged. “It was rather normal. A normal visit to my grandparents, their usual feather-bedding - I think I put on a few kilos because of the large amount of cookies they gave me - the usual way back by train and the usual squirrels climbing the walls of our cottage and breaking my sleep.”
The last statement let him wink at Twilight when Silverleaf wasn´t looking what made her smile and blush slightly.
“And your weekend, Twi?” he then asked perfectly neutral.
“Oh, mine was also perfectly normal.” she just meant, waving a hoof. “It was just a little bit boring and lonely without you.”
“But now we are together again!” Bleach beamed.

“Yeah!” Silverleaf exclaimed wide-grinning and stretched her hoof. “For our hearts!”

The others joined within the second.

“For our souls!”
“For our friendship!”

“From the ground…
…our souls fly high!
Together they´ll reach the sky!"

Comments

[bcsnakeeyes]

eww what will shadow doo, or should i say the evil spirits do to tear up their freindship.

[nomore]

aren't you going to write more?

[Ivo]

1905539
Don´t you worry. I have many more episodes planned in my head.
The only hitch is that I am not the fastest writer, thanks to the following facts:
I am at the moment writing a new chapter of another of my stories and occasionally working at another project.
That english isn´t my native language (I know that´s a poor excuse, but nonetheless it´s just like that) and the fact that December and the first week of January are mostly very stressful for me (Christmas-buisness and family-birthdays all at once) isn´t very helpful at all.
But I promise that as soon as I am finished with that chapter of the other story I´ll work on the next part of this one.
Patience is the magic word.
Till then, I think you´ll find enough other great Twilight-fics to enjoy and bridge the time.
There are many out there in the depths of the Fimfiction-archives.

[nomore]

1905620 THank-you!!! English isn't my native language too.

[Ivo]

1906021
No? May I ask what your native language is? I'm just curious...

[nomore]

It is Hindi, It is the main language of India, but I live in the United States. What is your native language?

[Ivo]

1906363
Hindi?
Wow, sure didn´t expect that.
My native language is German since I am from Germany.