It was an ordinary day in Ponyville. The morning was clear and cool as any fall morning should be. The golden leaves pirouetted from the trees outside of the school house as middle schoolers milled about waiting for school to start up. The cutie mark crusaders sat under an old apple tree on the east corner of the lawn as the dappled fall light fell in sheaths of red and gold around them as they laughed and chatted. Apple Bloom stood with her back against the tree munching on an apple. Her big pink bow bobbed on her head as she crunched into the stiff pinkish skin of the apple. Scootaloo sat on the ground on Apple Bloom's left. Her pink hair was tied back in a high ponytail that left no stray baby hair behind. She wore her CMS track team shirt showing that today, she and her other track team junior coach, would help decide on who would make the team or not. Sweetie Belle lay on the grass at Apple Bloom's feet so that the light made crystallized patterns across her pale green eyes. Her hair was waving around her shoulders in the cool breeze that ruffled the hem of her new pink skirt that lay draped across her knees. Little did she know, across the schoolyard someone else was watching the way her light dappled face lit up as she cracked a smile. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were talking in hushed giggly voices about their crushes so Sweetie Belle just scanned the schoolyard. She was good at being quiet and fading out of a conversation like that. She used this strategy to avoid Rarity's fashion rants.

"He was so cute the other day when he-" Apple Bloom cut off when the bell rang and students started filing into the school building.

The trio marched up the steps with the rest of the swelling crowd of middle schoolers. Sweetie Belle looked wistfully into the crowd, wishing that somewhere in it was someone who could love her. Little did she know, someone was watching her in the crowd wishing Sweetie's eyes would find hers.

The nest day, the trio sat at their apple tree again as they always did. The school bell rang and the three stood up. Again, they followed the sea of humans into the building. But instead of going to their classrooms, they all filed into the auditorium. Today, was the talent show. The three squirmed in their seats as Principal Celestia explained the event. The CMC's comedy act came and went early on in the show in a blur of laughter, tripping, and applause. Near the end of the show, the whole crowd was getting a little tired, you could tell until she stepped on the stage. She had a wavy black hair with streaks of faded light blue that was tied up in a ponytail with a little indigo bow. Her eyes were big luminous spheres of purple-blue that glowed in the stage lights. She wore a simple black blouse and a blue skirt that went to her knees. She wore black Converse high-tops laced with mud-stained white laces. Mainly quite average beauty wise. She was about average height maybe a little taller. But when she opened her mouth and began to sing, everything changed. At first, it seemed like magic, but Sweetie Belle knew better. She sat there, shell-shocked, as the purest of notes escaped the girl's lips. Her voice was as clear as a crystal mountain spring, as beautiful as the sunrise, and it illuminated the room with an aura of comfort and love. Sweetie couldn't even focus on the words, the sound was so magnificently marvelous. When she closed her mouth, the room felt different. It seemed as though everything that had seemed so pressing before, was now entirely insignificant. Principal Celestia announced the end of the show and everyone started to file out of the room like before. But...not. At least to Sweetie, something was majorly different. Sweetie could hear her friends excitedly talking about their own act, but Sweetie could not take her mind off of that singing pony.

"What was her name?" Sweetie Belle blurted out without thinking.

"Huh?" Her friends responded.

"The pony who sang at the end. What's her name?"

"Night Song", Apple Bloom answered, "We see her all the time."

See her all the time...Maybe she was just like Night Song. Seen but unseen. Maybe they both had the ability to disappear no matter what they were wearing or what they had just said. Maybe they both had the power to become invisible but still be there. Sweetie Belle had been so sucked into the void of her own thoughts that she ran right into her. Yes, her. Night Song.

"Oh", Night Song exclaimed, "sorry!"

"I-I-I'm sorry too. I didn't-I was-" Sweetie stammered

"You looked lost in thought. I get it." And then she smiled. She had the sweetest most beautiful smile Sweetie had ever seen. It was so genuine the way her eyes smiled with her lips. Sweetie Belle smiled too.

"You're Night Song", she said dumbly, "You were- amazing" she finished, hoping that she didn't detect the complete loving admiration at the end of her sentence.

"Oh, thank you" She smiled again and laughed. Her laugh was like the tinkling of little fairy bells mixed with the gurgling of a mountain spring. Sweetie Belle had to pinch herself to not fall forward into Night Song's arms.

"What's your name?" Night asked.

"Sweetie Belle."

Then the bell rang before anything else could be said, and they were both whisked into the crowd of students. Sweetie scanned the hallway for a trace of her, but she had faded in, like a ghost, like Sweetie Belle.

That night, Sweetie Belle lay in her bedroom staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling and mapping out the constellations she had arranged them in. She was in her pajamas and was supposed to be asleep but she just couldn't. The moon was bright outside her window and it cast all of Ponyville in its milky glow. She wondered where Night Song lived if she was staring at the moon too. Night Song. Sweetie couldn't get over her. Her voice, her smile, her laugh, everything about her. She closed her eyes and remembered their exchange in the hallway, how they had both gotten whisked away into the swell. Sweetie's eyes had probably passed right over her as she scanned the crowd. But she was a ghost. Just like Sweetie Belle. She was a magician of beautiful proportions, a fallen angel. At this thought, Sweetie realized something. At first, she pushed it away but as she tossed and turned waiting for sleep, it began to make more sense, it began to click. Her last thought before dreams overtook her, was she was in love. With Night Song.

She dreamed for only a few moments before she was woken up, but in those moments, she saw a blinding blue light. It was beautiful and glowing. It was like the ocean met the sky and birthed the most beautiful of colors. She had only seen it in one other place. On Night Song's skin.

"My, my. Who in the world is Night Song?"

Sweetie Belle jolted at the sound of Rarity's voice.

"Huh-who-who-whezeego"

"Do calm down my dear, it is obvious you have feelings for the 'Night Song', you fell asleep muttering something about her and waving your hands like you were making a chart. I wouldn't make anything of it if not for your reaction just now."

"Ugh, sis"

"What is he-"

"Sis- It's a she."

Sweetie took a moment for it to resonate before continuing. She watched her sister's face go from excitement to confusion to alarm before she paused at somewhere between shocked out of her mind and loving.

"I-Sweetie- You-she-"

"Sis, please, I've seen you and Twilight before, you can't pretend that same-sex relationships are new to you."

"Well-" Rarity's face turned a rosy shade of pink before it faded to beet red. She regained her calm, but that comment about Twilight had really shaken her. She was still smiling sheepishly.

"Well, sis. I'd better get ready for school."

Sweetie ate breakfast, got dressed, and brushed her hair and teeth in a flash and left Rarity alone in her bedroom humming to herself.

Author's Note

The part where I compare what Night Song and Sweetie have in common is to pay homage to how I used to, and still sometimes, feel I could do.