Love in Bridlewood

by StormLuna


Meeting Izzy

After analyzing the weird signs at the edge of the forest and deciding that it should be safe to enter, I headed in. The forest seemed dark, very dark and dense. It reminded me of a cross between a forest in one of my fan fictions and Fanghorn Forest from Lord of the Rings. If it was anything like that forest, the most I would run across would be unicorns who were distrustful of outsiders.

As I headed further in though, the forest became less dense and dark, nothing like the one in my fan fiction or Fanghorn. Soon though I noticed that the trees were getting bigger around, much bigger around. Also, there began to be crystals and once it got light enough, there were bushes with pink flowers. Ok, now it was nothing like the forest in my fan fiction, it got darker the further one headed in.

Soon I saw what appeared to be a pony off in the distance, an anthro like me. Taking a closer look I noticed that said pony had a horn so I knew at that moment that unicorns must inhabit this forest. I saw the unicorn rushing towards me and before I knew it, I found myself in a tight embrace and heard a high pitched voice, "Hi new friend!"

It took me a moment to get out of her embrace before I replied, "Uh hi new friend."

"Oooh!" she exclaimed, "We're friends already!"

The mare before me was absolutely beautiful! She was lilac in color, she had a uniquely styled cerulean mane and absolutely captivating magenta eyes. Another thing about her, I could feel a special energy coming from her. She had an absolutely beautiful smile on her face. I don't know what it was about her but she seemed to be captivating me and I didn't even know the mare!

She then continued, "Oh, I should have introduced myself. I'm Izzy Moonbow, your new friend!"

"Hi Izzy." I replied. I wanted to tell her my name but I wasn't even sure what name I would have as a pony. I didn't know if I'd still have my human name or if I would have a pony name. Good thing, I had a wallet in my pocket so I pulled it out and checked it. My name was Stormchaser. Kind of an odd name for a person who worked in a bank back home but I did take up storm chasing as a hobby for when I was on vacation.

I put my wallet back in my pocket and replied, "My name is Stormchaser."

She gave me a curious look and asked, "Uh, why did you have look in your wallet to tell me your name?"

I replied, "It's a long story that I can go over with you later."

"Alright, whenever you want to tell me!" she replied. She gave me a smile and grabbed my hand before turning the other way and continuing, "Wellll, since we're friends now, how about I show you around!"

I replied, "That sounds good."

She began to skip along and I had to do the same just to keep up with the highly energetic unicorn. The moment she grabbed my hand, I felt a shiver go up my spine. What in the world was going on here? How is it that her merely grabbing my hand sent shivers up and down my spine? Certainly I couldn't already be falling for her could I? Of course not, we just introduced ourselves, became friends simply by saying it and she grabbed my hand.

Once we got into what was obviously her hometown, I noticed something strange. The trees were quite large but it seemed as though the unicorns had hollowed them out and made homes in them. This reminded me a lot of how it was when Twilight lived in the Golden Oaks Library and similarly, Fluttershy's cottage. I noticed another thing though, everypony else seemed so different than Izzy. While she was so happy, everypony else was depressed, horribly depressed. I was curious about this and I was going to find out.

"Izzy," I questioned "why is everypony here so depressed? They seem so different than you."

Izzy's mood changed somewhat, "Ever since we lost our magic everypony feels hopeless, like things will never get better."

I asked, "But what about you Izzy? Why aren't you depressed because of the lack of magic?"

Izzy became more cheerful again, "Because there's more to life than just magic silly! We only live once so we should enjoy it y'know?"

Her cheerful and optimistic personality was something I was very quickly growing fond of. In my life back home I was surrounded by people who were negative most of the time but even being around Izzy was making me feel happier. I replied, "That is true Izzy, very true."

"Of course it is!" Izzy exclaimed, "What fun would life be if we were depressed all the time?" She still had a hold of my hand and continued to pull me along, "Hey, how about I show you my house?"

I gave her a smile, "Alright, sounds like a plan."

Izzy tightened her grip on my hand and began to skip again, pulling me along with her. Once we got to her house she led me in and it was quite interesting. I learned that one of her hobbies was crafting and she had made a lot of things, things that she obviously put a lot of TLC into. She asked, "So what do you think? Pretty nice?"

I replied, "I think it looks great and you obviously put a lot of time and effort into it."

She gave me a smile, "Now hold out your arm."

I wasn't sure why she wanted me to do that but once I did, she put a bracelet on me, one that matched hers perfectly. She asked, "You know what this means don't you?"

I replied, "No, I don't."

She exclaimed, "It means we're besties and you know what besties do don't you?" I shook my head no so she grabbed my hand and added, "We sit down on my loveseat and get to know one another!"

Once again she grabbed my hand, causing more shivers to go up and down my spine. I don't know what it was about her but the longer I was around her, the more I was hoping that maybe something special would develop between us. I also wondered if she didn't know this and was doing things to see how I would react. I couldn't be sure but I did know one thing, I was enjoying it quite a bit.

Once we got sat down on her loveseat we were sitting close together, very close. She gave me a beautiful smile and gazed at me with those magenta eyes. I began to feel a bit light headed, was her having us sit like this her way of sending me a clear message that she saw me as more than just a friend? I certainly hoped so but I wasn't about to count my chickens before they hatched.