Secrets

One

           Tendrils of a tantalizing scent tickled Sophie's nose as her mind groped for a chance to wake up. 

          But her body wouldn't compute. 

          Mallowmelt... her mind groveled.

          Sleep... her body protested.

          MALLOWMELT!

          SLEEP!

          Broken, fractured images wove in and out of her half-asleep state; remnants of her most recent dream. 

         Black cloaked figures.

         A whinnying alicorn.

         A glowing silver rope.

        Everblaze.

       It was just been a dream, her mind dreamily thought. But a more darker part of her brain told her that Silveny sometimes shared Sophie memories in her dreams. 

      So why couldn't it not be real? It had seemed especially vivid for a dream in the first place. 

     "Sophie." Someone shook her shoulder, making her mind tuck all of the horrible memories into the back of her brain for later. 

       "Sophie!" The voice came again, more insistent this time. 

       "Ugh." She rolled over and buried her face into her fluffy pillow. 

       "I guess Grady is going to eat all of the mallowmelt..." Those were the magic words. 

       Sophie bolted upwards, stiff as a board, making Iggy, her imp, fall right off of her huge bed. Iggy, furious, shook his little paws at her and stuck out his tongue. 

       "Seriously Sophie, do you really think I would let Grady eat all of the mallowmelt?"

      Sophie peered through her blurry vision and saw a bluish-auburn blob sitting right next to her. 

       "Edaline?" Sophie asked, her voice croaking like a bullfrog's. 

       "Yes, and you better hurry up and get ready for Foxfire, I'll go and get you a plate of mallowmelt." 

      Edaline walked out of Sophie's room, gently closing the door behind her. 

      Blinking, Sophie rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and walked up to her mirror. A tiny face popped up on the screen, took one look at her, and burst out laughing. 

     "Your face! What did you do to your face!?" Vertina cried, her merry voice matching her amused facial expression. 

     What did I do to my face ? Sophie wanted to ask. 

     Vertina was a virtual mirror that used to belong to Jolie, but Sophie, thinking that if Jolie was close to the spectral mirror, Vertina might provide information about Jolie and her connection to the Black Swan. Vertina had occasionally proven herself useful, but right now Sophie wanted to throw the mirror out the window. 

      But that was before she looked at her face. 

      It was a nightmare. Dark circles encrusted with sleep sand adorned her face, while cloudy drool hung from her upper lip. Her eyes were puffy and red, resembling slits, and tears were smeared all over her face, making it look like she had drooled all over herself. 

      Had her nightmare really had been that bad?

     Sophie looked in the mirror again, forcing the images away. Instead, she tried to do something about her face.

      Hurriedly, she went to the huge bathroom, walked over to a sink, and washed her face with colored streams of fresh water. She looked at her reflection again. The drool was gone and so were the tears, but the eyes still showed signs that she had been crying in her sleep.

      Oh well. She would just have to deal with it. 

      She quickly changed, brushed her hair, and was about to run downstairs to eat a delicious plate of her favorite elvin dessert, when a familiar voice stopped her in her tracks.

     "I wouldn't move if I were you, or things could get real bad."