Silhouette turned around, and saw the earth pony she had been holding in the air had somehow gotten loose, had run up to the top of the hill they had just fallen from, and was now rolling down to the bottom again. Admittedly, when she did it, it did look kinda fun...
When the pony reached the bottom and came to a stop at Silhouette's hooves, SIlhouette decided that now might be a good time for some answers before the earth pony ran back up to the top of the hill again. "Um, excuse me... um.... what's your name?"
Even with her face obscured by her hooded cloak, the pony's smile was plainly visible, and was almost manic. The pony rose to her hooves, and pulled back her hood, revealing her face. Her coat was tan, her mane and hair was a golden blonde, and her eyes were a brilliant blue. She'd probably be quite pretty if she washed the dirt off of her face and if her mane and tail wasn't matted with mud and tangled with twigs and leaves. And maybe brought that smile under control. The mare's grin grew even larger as she said, "My name's Heddy! What's yours?"
The earth pony's cheerfulness was both endearing and... slightly worrying. Nevertheless, Silhouette couldn't help but smile in return. "Ah, my name is Silhouette. If you don't mind my asking, why were you chasing after that changeling?"
Heddy (what kind of name was that, anyways?) seemed confused by the question. "Why was I chasing her?" she asked, almost as though she wasn't sure of the answer herself. "Oh wait, now I remember! I was chasing her because she was running!"
"Wait," the changeling said, "you followed me for seven miles straight... because I was running away?"
"Well, yeah! If I see somepony running, I can't help but want to chase after them and give them a great big hug! Especially when it's something that looks so cutesy-wootsey! Like YOU!!!" WIth that, the pony sprang on the changeling again, giving her another big hug. Thankfully, the mended cracks seemed to be holding, but still...
Silhouette cleared her throat and said, "Ummm... you're hugging her a bit too tight. You're going to hurt her if you don't let her go."
Heddy dropped the changeling as if she were scalding hot, and turned to Silhouette with a look of absolute horror on her face. "Hugs... can hurt?" The tone she gave to those three words was almost heartbreaking, as if she'd just realized that she might have spent her whole life hurting others without even realizing it. Silhouette could quite literally see tears forming in the mare's eyes.
Silhouette was taken aback by the sudden change in the pony's mood, and tried to defuse the situation before the mare started crying in earnest. "Usually... usually it's fine. It only hurts if you hug too tightly, or if you hug someone that's been hurt badly already."
Heddy burst into tears, and hugged the changeling again (gently this time, thankfully) and cried out, "I'M SO SORRY!!! I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT ANYPONY!!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!"
The changeling looked more embarrassed than ever before, but collected her wits after a moment. She patted the earth pony gently and said, "Ummm, it's okay, I forgive you. Just be a little more gentle next time."
Heddy wiped the tears from her eyes, then hugged the changeling again, this time lifting the poor thing off the ground, exclaiming, "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU YOU'RE THE BEST THE BESTEST OF THE BEST I'LL BE YOUR BESTEST BEST FRIEND FOREVER!!!" Then, suddenly, Heddy dropped the changeling and a look of sudden confusion came across her face again. She looked down at the changeling, who was trying to pick herself up off of the ground. "Ummm... what's your name, by the way?"