How in the Hay....?
There he sat. Right there. She was so close to him, so close to the answer to her dream. For it was that very dream that had led her right to him, to this very spot. And now, here she was.
Yet, as certain as she was about the situation, she could not move. She could not understand how this creature, such a young, innocent creature, so full of life despite having tasted but a drop of its sweet nectar, could just do that.
Just sit there.
Staring.
What was he staring at? she wondered. He seemed almost unaware she was there. She was only a few feet away from him, though it felt like miles. She had come so far, to now be so close, but she was as distant from her goal as when she started. She thought of a million things to say, to do, anything to get his attention, but alas, nothing came to mind.
She looked out into the street. She saw ponies passing by, doing their daily rounds. One pony caught her eye, a familiar face. She had a book with her, that same one she had all week. I wonder when she’ll return that to the library. I read those Daring Do books too, you know! I don’t just hoard them to myself……except when I get a new one that is.
So she just sat there, staring at him.
Then he stared back.
She saw into his eyes for the first time in what felt like eons. Those eyes, so knowing, so experienced, so……so ignorant. They were a stark contrast to her own, her purple orbs gazing into his own pools she found herself in. She knew that if she searched them long enough, she would find the answer she was looking for. Just a bit longer……just a bit longer…….
As he turned away she found herself leaning forward, trying to maintain the contact. She went so far as to lose her balance, and came face-to-face with the floor. He jumped a bit at that, but otherwise seemed to ignore her.
Well, that didn’t work, she thought. She risked a glance up at him, and to her surprise she was now eye level with him. She waited, both wondering and fearing what he would do, seeing her so foolish, so vulnerable.
He smiled.
A wave of relief washed over her as she let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding in. Finally, she thought, I’m getting somewhere. She sat back up, looking him over as he looked up at her in return. She was taller than him, though she didn’t worry about the height difference. Her main concern was what he knew, what he was able to do. Specifically, something she had been trying to do for such a long time. How is it that you can do this so easily, almost without trying, but I can’t even match you at your worst of times?
She thought this, and considered asking him outright, but something caught her eye, just past his brown mane. Two of her friends were coming up behind him; the apple farmer and that white unicorn. She smiled at them, knowing that they accepted her despite her struggles, and had helped her overcome many obstacles before.
He, of course, happened to be staring at her right as she saw them, and believed the smile to be for him. He started moving towards her, a fact she noticed right as he was almost nose to nose with her. She let out a yelp in surprise and jumped back a bit. She looked back at him and noticed he looked confused, if not slightly hurt.
You dummy, go back to him! she chastised herself. She started moving towards him again, slowly, preparing to finally say something to him. At the moment she was where she was when she started, he looked up at her, thinking…….
……this creature, she is still here. Why is she here? What does she want with me? Did I do something wrong? he thought as he stared up at her. She had been around him for a good hour, as much as he could tell. He wasn’t sure why she had a sudden interest in him, for he had only seen her once or twice, and that was when she was with her friends. Sure, he knew who she was by name, but this was the first time he had actually come face to face with her. Actually, now that he thought about it, this was the first time either of them had noticed the other enough to meet.
He had often seen other ponies around town, though less frequently. One, who had caught his attention early on, amused him the most. That wall-eyed blonde, so happy and so carefree, yet so gentle and loving of her daughter. Maybe I’ll take her on an adventure with me someday. I’m sure she’ll love to come along sometime. Of course, his adventures were always cut short by something going wrong, either some creature coming to silence him, or to lock him up in a cage, or worse, attempt to tell him what to do.
She seemed to have good intentions, but he was still ever so cautious. Ever since that little adventure he had with the one the town knew as Pinkie Pie, he had not had a pleasant perspective of mares and their behaviors around him. Almost as if they all think I’m the best thing in the world, everypony in town always stares and smiles as they see me go by. He was jostled out of his thoughts when he noticed she had gotten back to her hooves and started coming back towards him. If anything, it is I who should be learning from you, not the other way around. You should know more about …… these things ……. than I do. He watched her as she sat down, right where she had been before she fell forward onto her face, then jumped back.
She jumped back……wait! Is there something behind me?? He turned to look, when he saw them; the two ponies he had seen her with before. That one, with the accent, and that one, with the purple mane. As they came closer, something seemed to discourage them. They frowned, confused, until something dawned on the white one and they both whispered to each other. As fast as they had come, they had left.
He turned back around, only to find she had gone back to staring at him. He found himself staring into her eyes, those bright purple eyes, matching the shade of her mane and tail. What are you searching for? What answers do I have that you seek? Am I not the more inexperienced of the two of us?
He considered her for a moment, but didn’t have to wait long before she spoke.
“What is your secret?” Plain and simple. She had found that a direct approach was better than beating around the apple tree, as her friend once put it. She knew he would not answer, so she just stared.
She thought back to why she had come here. Why she had looked for him, why she was now sitting here, trying to find that which had eluded her for so long.
“What makes you and I so different? Why can you do it, but not me?” She felt emotions, a long-time buildup of frustration and disappointment from countless attempts met with failures, rising to the surface through her usual brave face. “You make it look so easy! But when I try, I don’t make it any farther than when I started! It’s not fair, it’s just NOT FAIR!”
She screamed these last words, frightening him. She realized her mistake too late, as another pony came into view. It was the one pony she had hoped to avoid, the one mare in town that could always, and had always, taken him away from her. And she would do it again, when she was so close to her goal!
She started to protest, but this mare was too quick. With lightening reflexes, she was next to him, nuzzling him and giving me an angry look. Then she said what I had heard so many times, something I had heard too often. Those words that had been the one and only wall between me and my success. The words she knew were coming.
“Leave my little Pound Cake alone Scootaloo, you’re scaring him again!”
Tell me how to fly and I’ll leave you alone. Needless to say, I heard those words many, many more times.