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// Chapter 1: Sweet As Sugar 
// Story: You 
// by Willow NightSong24 
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Sand Streak. Your name slips through my mind as if it’s meant to be there. Every wall I spent years putting up, your name bypasses them all. It slides right into place in my mess of a brain, and it’s the one sure thing in my life. Your name clicks, and I know it’s meant to be there, and never leave. It’s my lifeboat in the unrelenting storm that clouds my mind. 

“I’m part of the management department.” You say with the sweetest smile ever to exist. My heart beats in my chest so hard it vibrates throughout my whole body. That smile can light the world up and banish darkness like the Elements of Harmony. And it’s all the better because that smile, that beautiful, darkness-banishing, authentic smile is just for me and me alone. I don’t feel worthy, but I can’t let it slip from me either. Seeing your smile, it’s all I need to brighten up my morning

You hold out your hoof and I hesitate, not sure if I grasp it, I’ll be able to let it go. But, you just stand there, waiting. I give a small smile and grab your extended hoof. It’s warm, and a little calloused, as though you don’t only work at this company, but you work with your hooves elsewhere. My breath catches, and I perhaps grip it a little tighter than necessary. 

“No need to be nervous,” You continue with a small chuckle and my racing heart suddenly stops. That laugh, it’s like a string of bells just happy to be ringing. My knees only weaken. “We’re all cool here.” At my confused look, you continue. “I can feel your hoof shaking.”

I chuckle nervously, my face blushing like an idiot, trying to think of something, anything, to say, but just looking at you and knowing that you can feel my hand trembling, blanks my mind. I suddenly feel shy and my stomach twists with nerves, like if I say the wrong thing, you’ll leave me, and I cannot let that happen. 

“G-good to know,” I stutter out, grasping at anything to say, though my tongue feels heavy in my mouth. Well, anything but that. Seriously, couldn’t I think of anything better to say?

“Right,” You feel a bit awkward, I can tell. You rub the back of your neck with your hoof. “Anyway, you’re our new editor, right?” I simply nod, at a loss of words. “Well, the chief editor is out sick today, again. Do your job well, and you might just replace him.” 

You wink, chuckling again, and I try to chuckle too, but it’s no match compared to yours. It’s awkward and weird, and feels so out of place, while yours is natural and beautiful. To be honest, everything of mine is so plain compared to you. My very boring white coat, and my multi-shaded blue and white mane. There is nothing too spectacular about me. 

You, on the other hoof, are something very special indeed. The way your blue eyes seem to have flecks of gold if I look closely enough. How, at just the right angle of the light, the blue specks in your mane seem to shimmer and sparkle like tinsel. Everything about you is absolutely…beautiful. 

“Oh?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.  

You just smile, shaking your head. “Not important. Anyway, normally, since we’re always ahead it seems, we just leave it alone until he comes back the next day. However, you’re here, and you have no idea what you’re doing, so somebody needs to sub in so you can shadow them.”

I rub the back of my neck, at a loss for words. I’ll be shadowing you. I’ll be next to you all day, hearing the smooth, rich voice of yours. A small smile spreads across my lips. And here, as you’d be in a different department, I thought I’d barely get to see you. Don’t worry my love, I would’ve figured something out. And which gives me an idea. I just hope this works.





“Hey, Winter,” You call from behind me. Of course, I knew you were behind me, but I pretend to be startled all the same. 

I couldn’t take my eyes off you all day, drinking in your sandy coat color, watching the way the blue specks in your main and tail sparkle, your light blue eyes. I struggled to learn anything you taught me because I was focused solely on you. Taking in every detail, no matter how small, how minute. The more I’m around you, the more my love for you grows into something special, unique, and unbreakable. 

However, despite looking and watching you all day, only looking away to act as if I was watching what you were demonstrating when you’d glance at me, I don’t have to fake the way my breath catches in my throat, the way my heart pounds and races so hard, I swear to both Celestia and Luna you can hear it. 

I put my hoof to my chest in fake surprise, as though that alone can dim the burning attraction I feel for you. Do you feel it too? The magnetic pull we seem to share, continuously drawing us closer and closer to each other until there is no longer a you or me, only an us? Because, you and me were incomplete before we met each other, but as soon as our gazes met, we clicked as one, making each other whole. 

“Winter?” You ask, concern filling your voice. 

“H-huh?” I only now realize I must’ve gotten lost thinking of you, forgetting to listen to you. 

“You didn’t hear me?” I shake my head in response, discreetly rubbing my lips together. “I was asking if you wanted to go to the new hire party. It’s a tradition for all new hires, but really, it’s just an excuse for all the employees to get drunk.” You add with a light chuckle.

“Right, are you going?” I ask cautiously, hoping like Tartarus you do.

Just as you're about to answer and I’ll hear that melodic voice coming through your, a unicorn mare bounces up to your side and pecks your cheek, before setting a hoof on your back. My once happy mood quickly diminishes into anger when I see her all over you, my colt. All over the love of my life. My anger takes no time to build, spiking like a heart attack until all I see is red. You’re mine, and nothing, especially some cotton candy bubble mare, is going to change that. I study her, taking in her every detail. You know the saying, keep your friends close, your enemies closer. 

She has her kinky curly purple mane in pigtails with light pink beads upon each one and there is a light blue streak that’s a little lighter than yours running down each one. She has blunt bangs that are longer on the sides to frame her face. Her coat is a light purple that almost looks pink and has white flecks on it. Her light blue eyes are the same shade as yours. Her cutie mark is a red balloon in the shape of a heart with a black smiley face. Probably earned it by stealing her best friend’s coltfriend or something. 

“Of course he’s going,” She says in a bubbly voice making my jaw clench. I try not to glower at her and try to keep my feelings towards her to myself until I can properly talk to her alone for your sake, but I don’t think I’m doing a good job of that. “Cause he knows he doesn’t get out enough.”

You awkwardly untangle yourself out of her possessive hold. “Remember what I told you about work environment courtesy, sugar. Personal space. No one wants to see you all over me.” I nearly roll my eyes. Yeah, no kiddin’.  Though, it’s kind of hard to take you seriously when you’re calling her ‘sugar’. 

But ‘sugar’ simply scoffs, waving away your concerns. “Oh please, chillax, Streaky.” Ugh, she calls you Streaky? “Everyone here knows you’re my bro. And that we are definitely not in a relationship, especially since I have my own colt friend.” 

I blink, my anger quickly dissipating into shock and embarrassment, and my face is suddenly feeling very warm. No, that can’t be right. Can it? 

“Excuse Streaky. He’s as straight as a ruler. Anyway, I’m Sugar Heart, Streaky’s twin sister. And you must be the new hire. Winter Breeze, right?”

I just stare at her, sure that my cheeks are flushing a bright red. I just continue to blink, my stare switching between you and Sugar Heart. Twin sister? They’re twins? I stare at the two of you, finally seeing the similarities that should’ve hinted at some familial relationship. The same shade of eyes the two of you have. The light blue streak she has in her mane is just a shade lighter than yours. The same eye shape. Dear sweet Celestia, what in Tartarus is wrong with me? I just called your sister my enemy and pictured banging her head into the wall for thinking she can just come in and take you, my soulmate, away from me, when, in truth, she’s had you since birth, and has you even after she dies. Of course, they’re not in a relationship. At this point, I just want to curl in a ball on my bed and die. 

Sensing my uncomfortableness, you let out a small chuckle. “Yeah, you’re not the first to think we’re in a relationship before knowing we’re twins. I keep telling her it’s inappropriate, especially at work, but Sugar is about as stubborn as a mule sometimes.”

I open my mouth to chuckle nervously too, but no sound comes out except for a small, low whimpering as my lips shake, another realization coming to me. That’s why you called her ‘sugar’. It’s her damn name. 

I give you a shaky smile, not sure what else to say or do. Sugar Heart just keeps staring at me with a huge smile I have a feeling is eternal while you awkwardly clear your throat. 

“Anyway, about the party, you don’t really–”

“Of course she’s going! I mean, how else is she going to make new friends?” Sugar Heart interrupts as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I mean, can you imagine how miserable it’d be to be in a work environment with no friends!” 

You chuckle and shake your head as if thinking how in the world you expected anything else from your sister. Your sister, not your marefriend. 

Sugar Heart grabs my hoof and pulls me to the door. “N-now?” I ask, completely caught off guard. I look at my watch and see it’s already four in the evening. 

“Of course now! We don’t want to miss happy hour. C’mon Streaky, get your tail over here. We are not going to be late because of you.”