I was at school one day when I saw this girl. She was so pretty I tripped over a garbage can and fell. It's something I do a lot. It can be hard when my eyes get crooked.
I looked up after dusting myself off but she was gone. She was like a vision. That dark grey skin and shiny purple hair, she was the most gorgeous girl in the world. Even prettier than Rarity but don’t tell her I said that.
I felt weird after I saw her. Maybe she was a magic witch of beauty and had put a spell on me or something, because all I could think about was her for the rest of the day. Who was she? What was she doing right now? Did she like muffins? What kind of muffins would she like?
“Hello? Muffins?” My friend, Lyra Heartstrings, called to me even though I was sitting next to her.
“Hello,” I said, happily. It’s nice to say hello to friends. It feels better than goodbye.
“There you are,” she said with a giggle.
“I was here the whole time. Did you forget?” Sometimes I wonder how different we really are.
“No silly,” she said and stuck her tongue out at me. “You were far away a moment ago.”
“I was still sitting here. Did I run somewhere else when I wasn’t looking?” I looked at my body. Sometimes it felt like it did its own thing. Like when I tried to walk and the wrong foot stepped out. Or it felt like the wrong foot.
“I meant your mind. You looked like you were thinking about something… or someone.” She grinned.
“How did you know?”
“You were thinking of someone? Someone special?” Her grin widened.
“I think so. Everyone is special, but this girl was like an angel. I didn’t know they stayed in your mind so long.” I didn’t know much about angels.
“A girl? Now you have to tell us everything!” Lyra and my friend Bon Bon leaned in closer. I told them everything but it wasn’t really that much.
“Hmmm, a girl with purple hair huh? I don’t know her. You should ask her her name when you see her again. Or at least say hi.” Bon Bon was really good with people. She knew just what to say and how to say it. I always had trouble with that.
“I-I don’t know if I could say hi to someone like that.” I shook as I pictured it in my head. I couldn’t talk to someone that cool. She was perfect and I was… me.
“It’s not that different from saying hi to us,” Lyra declared, she put her hands on her hips like the magical girls do. We loved those cartoons.
“But it is. I know you, I don’t know her.”
“Yet.” the magical girl said with a wink.
She was right. I didn’t know her but I didn’t know Lyra or Bon Bon at first. I had said hi to them before. She wasn’t that different. So why did it feel so different? Why was I scared just to talk to her? It didn’t make sense.
I looked for her the rest of the day but I couldn’t find her. I was sad but kind of less scared by it. Maybe tomorrow I wouldn’t feel as scared.
The next day I walked by my locker and saw her again. She was at her locker, two doors down from mine. Were we always this close? Was this even my locker?
The purple haired goddess looked through her papers and books. My stomach started to turn against me. It felt like it was a test I didn’t study for or a friend I forgot to help. But even an angel needs friends.
I moved closer, trying not to get too close. My friends think I get too close to them when I get excited. This time I wasn’t as excited. I felt… weird and scared. Are angels that powerful?
I was just about to say ‘hi’ when she turned and looked at me. It was like looking at a painting of meadows and mountains with the sun coming through the clouds in rays. It takes your breath away that a place like that could exist. Even if it’s just in someone else’s head.
She didn’t say anything, she just stared at me. She didn’t smile or frown but waited for me to speak. I felt awful I couldn’t. I could barely breathe. I needed to speak. It’s rude to keep someone waiting, especially angels.
“You’re beautiful…” I said finally. It was the only thing I could think of. I bit my lip, in case she yelled. I was supposed to say ‘hi’ not that.
“Thanks,” she said and walked away. It wasn’t a happy thanks, or a sad thanks. Just thanks.
I felt my knees touch the ground as they got wobbly. Her voice was so calming and soothing. It was like a dream girl’s voice. I just watched on my knees as she walked away looking at the ground. I was happy I said something but sad I didn’t say more. I still felt weird.
“You’re beautiful?” Lyra repeated what I told her I said. I nodded, sometimes people need to make sure their ears work.
“That’s a heck of a beginning,” snickered Bon Bon. “She’ll probably remember you now.”
“I was supposed to say ‘hi’,” I sighed. “But the words jumped out of my brain first before hi. I don’t know why.”
“Ahh, a first crush,” Lyra said with a laugh. “That’s great news. We can help with that, can’t we Bonnie?”
Bon Bon nodded but didn’t look as happy as Lyra did.
“I didn’t crush her. I just said what I thought.” Why would I crush her? She’s so pretty, I don't think she would look so good like that.
“Crushes are when you like someone. Romantically,” Bon Bon nudged me in my side. “And yes we can.”
My face felt hot and my eyes faltered again. I couldn’t straighten them. I didn’t even try. Me? Liking someone like that? Romantically? How could I love an angel? It’s too much to ask. Like wanting to be picked first for kick ball. I’m lucky when they pick me at all.
“Oh no! We broke her, Bonnie!”
“Calm down, Muffins, this is normal. It’s ok to like someone like that.” I felt a hand on mine. Then my eyes slowly brought the two Bon Bons together into an easier to see one. My face still felt hot.
“Are you sure I’m supposed to crush her?” I asked. Lyra laughed.
“It’s just an expression that means you like her. You don’t have to crush anything.” Bon Bon was always nice enough to repeat things if I forgot or got confused.
“Oh good. So what do I do?” I felt like this feeling was important. I was supposed to do something about feelings like this I think. Lyra did, so did Bon Bon and now they were happy. I wanted to be happy like them.
“Well, you could try saying hi again.” Bon Bon put her finger to her chin. I bet that’s where thoughts hide. Everyone touches that spot to think. I tried it but didn’t feel many more thoughts than before.
“Or you could do something that shows her how you feel. Like show her that she’s special to you.” Lyra bounced around a little bit.
“Maybe… bake her some muffins?” It was my favorite food in the world. It was my name. She might like muffins and if she does she might like me.
“Actually that’s a pretty good idea. You normally try that with everything but in this case it might be just what you need.” Bon Bon smiled and patted my head. “I think muffins are perfect.”
So I went home and baked my favorite muffins.
The pretty girl walked by my locker to her’s that morning. I couldn’t help but watch. I didn’t want her to see me watching though. People don’t like being stared at like that, a lot of people stared at me.
I tried my best not to stare but she was just… too much to look away from. Then I remembered my muffins. I took a deep breath and grabbed my basket. The muffins tried to run away because my hands shook so much but I caught most of them. I slowly made my way over.
The angel closed her locker door and stopped moving when I got close. She didn’t smile or looked annoyed. I couldn’t tell what she thought but I forced myself to move anyway. Sometimes you have to that when you’re scared.
“Hi!” I finally said it! “I made you muffins. Would you like them?”
She stared at the muffins, then at me. I wasn’t sure what to do. My face reddened and my eyes got a little off. I must have looked so stupid to her. I wanted to run away but my legs shook too much.
“You made these muffins for me?” she finally said, as she took one.
“Yeah… Do you like muffins?”
“I like rocks.” She took a bite of her muffin and made no expression at all.
“Rocks? I-I don’t know how to bake those.” I never heard of rock food before.
“You don’t. Mostly you boil them in soup. It softens them so they become edible.” She looked at me a little longer then added, “that was a joke.”
“Oh ha ha ha. You’re funny.” She seemed to like jokes. I guess we had that in common.
“I know. My sister Pinkie says I should try more comedy. I like these muffins. They aren’t as dense as rocks but they feel hard and crunchy.” I felt my face burn hotter. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. The Angel liked my muffins.
“My…my … name is Muffins.” I finally managed to say. My mouth was so dry I couldn’t say anything else.
“Thank you for the muffins, Muffins.” She took the basket and started to walk away with them. It took all my energy to keep standing. I think she would be uncomfortable if I just fell down in front of her. She stopped a few steps then looked back at me. “I’m Maud Pie.”
At that moment I thought my heart stopped. The way her hair fanned out as she turned her head, covering one of those green eyes, stunned me. I felt that arrow thing stab my heart. Like in the cartoons. I was in love. Or at least that’s what it felt like.
I couldn’t say anything else and she continued walking. Then things got confusing as a few students tripped over me.
“Maud Pie?” Lyra asked at lunch. “I never heard of Maud Pie. Pinkie Pie I know but who is Maud.”
“It’s Pinkie’s sister.” Bon Bon answered with a sigh. “I heard about her from the older students. She’s two grades above us.”
“Oooo an older crush. Naughty Muffins.” Lyra poked me in the shoulder.
“Is that bad? That she’s older?” I didn’t know how these things were supposed to go. Was I supposed to only have crushes around my age? Only in my school?
“No, it’s fine Muffins. Lyra is just teasing. Older girls are fine. Just not too much older or it becomes illegal, well I suppose it doesn’t until you actually do something with them.” Bon Bon was starting to wander around the lunch table.
“What sort of things? Like robbing a bank or stealing candy?” It was getting confusing again. There were so many things I didn’t know. I didn’t know loving someone older was illegal. I loved my mom, she’s older. She’s ancient! Could I be arrested for loving my mom?!
“Sorry, I was thinking of something else. Maud Pie is fine to love.” Bon Bon sat down next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. It felt nice to be touched and cared about.
There was a strange popping sound behind me. The others looked over in surprise but I didn’t feel like being surprised right now. So I just watched them.
“Did I just hear something about my sister and love? Hmm?” It was a sweet voice that had a strange scariness to it. I thought it might be Pinkie but she’s never scary to me.
“Pinkie? How did you hear that?” Lyra looked behind me in shock.
“Never mind that! Who is the one that loves my sister? They have to be really special to have a chance.” I slowly turned and found Pinkie Pie looking over me. Her eyes were scary, like filled with pink fire. Or maybe exploding cotton candy.
“It’s you isn’t it!” She pointed at me with a strange hissing sound.
“May-maybe. How did you know?” I hoped it wasn’t too obvious. I didn’t want everyone to make fun of Maud if they found out I liked her.
“You have that smell. That I-like-Maud-like-that smell. I can tell.” She sniffed me a little more. “Yup, it’s definitely strong.”
“I smell?” I tried to sniff myself but all I could smell was muffins.
“You don’t,” Bon Bon said. “Pinkie, you’re scaring her. She’s not doing anything wrong by liking your sister.”
“True, but are you going to ask her out?” Pinkie leapt off the table and stood next to me. I found out why people don’t like people that close.
“She should! That would be good for her.” Lyra seemed happy about the idea. I just felt more scared. Ask her out? I didn’t have the right to do that. She would be avoided because of me. Like putting an ugly painting next to that ninja turtle’s sculpture.
“Only if you could answer these questions.” Pinkie continued staring in my eyes. “What is Maud’s favorite rock?”
“Uh she said she likes rocks…” I didn’t have that much of a conversation with her.
“Close enough, the answer was all of them. How would you describe Maud to someone who doesn’t know her?”
“Beautiful, kind, uhh likes rocks?”
“The correct answer was awesome. Like awesome sauce on top of awesome pasta with melted awesome cheese and some awesome Doritos on top. But your words sound good too. Last question, pick anything in existence to compare Maud to.”
She was practically on top of me. I was having trouble thinking and she spoke so fast I wasn’t sure how much I got right. I didn’t know love was something this intense. Maybe I wasn’t good at it. Maybe it was another thing I couldn’t do.
“Well? What would you say Maud is?” She was inches from my face.
“A a …”
“A a what?”
“A a an angel!” I finally shouted and buried my face in my hands. It was too much. I didn’t ask to fall in love, it just happened. Now Pinkie was going to tell me I wasn’t good enough. I failed at love.
“An angel? Wow, that’s better than what I thought…” Pinkie stood back looking surprised. Even more surprised when she bumped into Maud behind her.
“Pinkie… What are you doing?” Maud asked calmly.
“Oh uhh, helping you uhh… uhh… make a new friend?” Pinkie turned more colors than I thought people could turn. She was like a light, one of those lights with the wax inside and it had all those colors.
“Oh hi Muffins. Is Pinkie bothering you?” She looked me right in the face with those beautiful eyes. I felt my face sizzle and my mind went boom. Or was it my mind that sizzled and my heart went boom. I couldn’t tell any more. I just felt too much.
I ran away. I know it’s bad. You shouldn’t run away from your problems or things that scare you. But I did. I did the wrong thing.
I found a tree to hide behind. I could hear them calling my name. I didn’t come out. I didn’t want to. I wanted to become really small and live under the roots behind me. Love was too big for someone like me. Maybe that’s why they call them crushes. Because they crush you.
I felt like that. Like I broke and there were so many different pieces I couldn’t tell the Muffin pieces from rocks. Then I could mess up putting me back together and end up with a rock for a brain. Maybe Maud would like that but I don’t think I would like having rocks in my head.
Then I heard something shift next to the tree. They were really close, but they didn’t come closer. They stood next to the tree waiting for something? Waiting for me?
“Who’s there?” I whispered.
“It’s Maud,” her voice didn’t sound anything more than the flat calm tones I heard earlier.
“Oh uh.. sorry,” I stood up to greet her, wiping my eyes. It’s rude not to greet people when they find you. I think. “I shouldn’t have-“
Before I knew it Maud hugged me. She hugged me tight. She was so warm and smelled like dirt. It was a nice smell. I didn’t know she was so cuddly.
“Pinkie said that you should hug friends when they're upset. You seem upset.” She gave me a squeeze.
“Well, I uh.. yeah, I am.” I didn’t want to let go. Maud didn’t let go either.
“Ok.”
“I-I don’t know what I'm doing. I’ve never had a crush before.” It wasn’t scary to tell Maud how scared I was. She just calmly hugged me. “What am I supposed to do now?”
“What do you want to do?”
“I guess I should tell you how weird I feel and how different you are. Good different, not bad, and so much more special than anyone else.” She froze. Somehow I could tell she was frozen even though she was still holding me. I must have said the wrong thing.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” I tried to back away but she was still frozen.
“I’m not scared. I’m just surprised. You think I’m special?” Her tones never changed, even surprised.
“And beautiful, and nice, and so calming. Is-is that bad?” I knew it wasn’t but sometimes people feel bad when someone they don’t like thinks that.
“No.”
“I’m glad.” I smiled but she didn’t see it because it’s hard to see smiles when you’re hugging. She didn’t say anything else, and I felt my knees get a little wobbly. I told her how I felt, why didn’t she tell me how she felt? Isn’t that what was supposed to happen? Maybe she didn’t understand?
“What I’m trying to say is that I like you. I like-like you.” My face was on fire. I never said those words before. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. But I wasn’t sure if I would even if I saw her face.
“Ok,” she said at last. That was it! I told her I had feelings for her and did the confession thing, wasn’t she supposed to say something too? I felt a little angry. I had been so scared and I did what I was supposed to do, why wasn’t she saying anything else?!
“Do,” I began, my lips instantly drying out. “Do you know what you’re supposed to do when someone asks you out?”
“Yes.”
She did know! Then why wasn’t she saying anything?! I puffed my cheeks out in frustration. I even pulled away from her wonderful hug to show her I was mad. She didn’t react, but watched with those beautiful green eyes as I stomped around a bit.
“Why won’t you say anything?! I told you I liked you, you’re supposed to tell someone how you feel when they ask you out?!”
“You never asked me out,” she said flatly. “You said you liked me.”
“Oh…” All the anger and frustration left me instantly. I messed up again and got mad at her for no reason. I decided to try again. Even though I messed up and it was scary, I’m supposed to keep trying. “Did you want to go out with me?”
It wasn’t as scary the second time. This time I know I did it right. She stared at me for a while and tried to remember to breathe. It’s not as easy to remember when my heart was so open.
“Ok.”
That was it. She just said ok with no change at all. I guessed it was something I had to get used to. Still I was excited and rushed back into her arms for a bigger hug, a happy hug. She held me again and I relaxed a lot more.
“Are we supposed to kiss now?” Maud asked and my face dropped and reddened.
“I-I don’t know… I mean others do. I’m not sure if I can handle that yet…” It was painful to admit, like I wasn’t normal for not being ready. But I was told never to do something I wasn’t comfortable with, especially in relationships.
“It’s fine. We can wait. I’m very patient, like a rock. Rocks just wait until you’re ready to say what you want to or do what you want to. So I won’t pressure you ok?” She gave me a little squeeze. I think I squeaked in joy at it but the world was all swirly and felt so good. I don’t really remember.
The walk back felt like I was floating. I don’t think my feet touched the ground at all. That is until I fell. Then my face and body did. Maud picked me up with one arm. She was really strong.
“You ok?” she asked as she put me on my feet again.
“Yeah… I do that a lot.”
“Then maybe you should hold my hand. For stability.” She reached her hand out and I happily held. That was something I was ready for. I started floating again but made sure my feet stayed on the ground, as best I could.