//------------------------------// // The First Time we Met // Story: Come, Fly with me // by Tofazz //------------------------------// Doodle Heart looked at her messy mane, trying frantically to split the deep blue strands from the dark brown, to little avail. She scrunched her lips slightly and furrowed her brows. Her hazel brown eyes for once encircled with mascara, the blackness of it made it glare out from her lime green coat. Her thigh was adorned with a cute little red heart with black linings over it,  often obscured by her wings. Her lips had the same color as her heart after some lip-gloss, and as she looked at the mirror, she saw somepony alien, the only thing recognizable was the mane shooting out in every direction. That’s what one gets for never combing, she thought before she once more began the quest to regain control of it. Her grooming came into a steady rhythm as she tried her best to let her mind fall calm. Why would he invite her to such a fancy place? Surely he knew that she preferred to do silly things such as going to the fair, or simply loitering around at home with lots of food. She stopped her thoughts, of course he didn’t know. After all, he had been gone for most of her dating life, not that there were many stallions to add under that life, but still it was something. He had lived in Canterlot for the last years, surely all the ponies there preferred fancy restaurants and such things on dates. She cocked a half smile, he just did what he thought everypony would like, to be treated somewhere nice. Doodle’s calmness vanished, for a moment she had forgotten the time, her slow grooming turned hasty and almost violent. After several flinches, some loud yelps and unwilling tears she managed to fight it into a braid. Never having cut her mane more than once, and that was because of an accident, it was far too long for it to look good. It wormed down her neck and rested plainly on the ground, sloping up every single little piece of dust as it moved. Surrounding her neck with it didn’t work either, that made it look like an overgrown scarf. With a defeated sigh, she unwrapped the braid and let her mane fall again; at least now it was combed. Her tail still remained in shambles, the colors mixing like water and sprouting rogue pieces everywhere.  While she started to brush her tail she glanced at the time and stopped. She was going to be late. Her tangled tail forgotten, she stampeded quickly over the dark wooden floor of her small house. Entering her bedroom she lunged past her sketching table and night stand. She flung open the doors of the dresser by the foot of her bed and began tossing aside clothing, it was only one dress she would wear tonight and the fool that she had been had forgotten to get it ready. Soon, her whole wardrobe was in a pile upon her already messy sheets as she dug deeper and deeper into her small collection. She scowled with frustration as the last gown flew from her dresser, then, turning so fast that she almost tripped in her mane, she began a new assault; this time on the pile on the bed. Finally she held out a gown dark as the night itself, with strong blue shade at the end, adorned with stars resembling the most pristine nights of summer. It was a dress she held dearly, and decided it was only fitting for her to wear it on an occasion like this. Once on, she made sure the top hugged around the base of her neck just right, only tight enough to sway along with her natural curves, but never constricting. The loose fabric attached to her swayed above her back and flowed seamlessly behind her like a slow moving river upon chiseled rocks. She ran towards the front door and opened it, then froze as she saw the sun still shining greatly over the horizon. She allowed herself to stare at it for a short while, seeing the bottom slowly dip downwards, giving the first signs of night room to settle. Closing the door, she took a second look to confirm that she had looked wrongly at the hour. She let a relaxed sigh escape her lips and she instantly felt her heart’s pace slow down, no longer threatening to jump out of her chest. Doodle walked over to her favorite chair, a shabby looking old thing with pieces of cotton sprouting out from hole through the red fabric; but it was the best chair she ever had. Feeling her restlessness dwindle away as she sat down her attention turned to the table next her. Having spent most of the day worrying, her mind had taken refuge in the memorabilia she had from him. A smile crossed her lips as she shifted away a box to reach a piece of paper with doodles over it, a copy of one of her first proper drawings, he had the original after all. It resembled a pegasus foal sitting upon a rock, watching intently at the sky above him. She closed her eyes and smiled wider, she had nothing to worry about tonight, they knew each other, for better and worse. *~*~*~*~*         Doodle let her eyes wander to the sky, the blue depths were only interrupted by a small cloud now and then, letting the sun shine with all its glory and warmth above the land. Underneath Cloudsdale one could see foals and fillies trying out their wings properly for the first time, some only managing to float, while others, gaining much more haste as their muscles built up, flew properly, mocking those who didn’t in their childish manner. Some part of her wanted to join them, she could fly with little issue, but she preferred to sit down in the soft grass and draw what she saw. Her talent for art was the reason her parents decided to move to Ponyville. It was impossible to find a teacher in art up in Cloudsdale, as all of them were unicorns, and thus not able to live in the sky. Her current teacher had been baffled that she managed to draw so well without any aid of magic.         Then, something caught her attention in the corner of her eye. A pegasus sitting on the ground looking skywards like her. Till now she was sure she was the only pegasus living in Ponyville. Scrunching her snout slightly, her young mind attempted to make sense of it. Tilting her head and furrowing her eyebrows, she was sure he had not seen her yet.         She wanted to talk, she really did, but she couldn’t quite figure out how to approach him. After a few seconds of intense problem solving she let out a small squeal of delight. With trained carefree motions she plumped her thighs down to the grass and took forth her drawing kit which she had neatly packed together after today’s lesson. Her whole being radiated of concentration, eyes moving quickly from the paper to the scene in front of her, taking down the details as they came to her.         She sat like that for a long time, and the thought came to her as to why he sat so unmoving. She quickly brushed it off, whatever it was she could wait with figuring it out, for it made drawing him so much easier. She sat still, focusing on him intently with every fiber of her mind, the pencil moving elegantly from the trained motions she had. Soon the paper evolved into the vast landscape she saw in front of her, but the focus remained on the small foal sitting upon the rock. Soon she pulled her head back gleefully, looking at what she considered her best work. She neatly packed all the items back in her bag, except the drawing, and began to move towards him, proudly, with the sheet of paper in her mouth.         As she got closer she finally saw his colors properly. Dark gray coat, almost dark enough to be called black, it shone clearly in the midday sun. His mane was messy and wild, a silver gray touch that stood out in stark contrast to the coat. His wings were kept neat, gently folded to his sides. The sound of her hoof steps must finally have reached him as she neared, for he slowly turned his eyes to her. The clear, deep blue eyes looked at her as she came closer, compared to the darkness of the rest of him they could remind her of ice lit up within the dark. He smiled carefully at her as she approached him.         Doodle returned the smile and jumped next to him with such efficiency that it made him jump to the side in reprimand, gawking slightly at the abrupt intrusion.  “I made you this!” Doodle exclaimed excitedly as she gave him the drawing.         He took the offering with a somewhat skeptical frown emerging over his face and thin lips. Doodle’s smile grew wider, if not constricted by natural laws it would have gone from one ear and all the way over to the other. Her heart raced in joy as she saw his wrinkles slither away, turning into amazement.         “Is that me?” He curiously asked.         “Yep! Do you like it? You can have it if you want!” Doodle returned his question with cheer in her voice.         “It’s great! Thank you!” He said, looking around. He stretched out and meticulously placed small stones upon the corner of the paper, taking the time to place each of them perfectly, making sure the part where it touched the paper was clean. When finally pleased with his assortment he turned to her and smiled again. “Now I don’t have to fold it.” He explained, seeing her baffled expression.         “Why aren’t you flying with them?” Doodle asked and pointed up at the sky where the pegasi flew. Like many of her spontaneous outbursts, she regretted the bluntness of it. This time even more, as his smiled dwindled to a mute frown and his eyes shied away from her.         Her mind raced, she didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but now that she had she needed to fix it; she thought with a determined frown. She unbuckled her saddlebags and jumped up, stretching her hoofs out along with her wings.         “Come, let’s fly together.” She chippered to him.         “No, it’s fine.”         Doodle took his hoof, “Come, fly with me!” she tried once more, as cheerfully as she could.         He instantly retracted his hoof, “No… it’s…” he tried to stutter forth. He took a deep breath and looked away from her again. “I can’t stand to fly!” he whispered, almost too low for her to hear it.         “Okay, then we can sit here for a while, I don’t mind.” She said and placed herself next to him again.         The stallion looked at her curiously, she didn’t mind much though. Her mother had taught her that just because somepony was slightly different didn’t mean they weren’t nice. Neither of them dwelled long on her reaction to his admission and soon they started to play around with sticks and stones, pretending to be whatever their fantasy told them. In the small world they created there was no limits, they took down dragons, and made wonderful inventions to help all of ponykin. They ran around and pretended to fly high up above, again she wondered why they didn’t do just that, for they both had wings; but again her mind did not dwell on it and rather joined in with a cheerful laugh.         As dawn was coming, it became time for them to depart. Doodle attached the saddle-bags again and rose. Then she realized, neither of them had introduced themselves.         “I’m Doodle Heart, my friends call me Doodle, so you make sure to do that!” she smiled at him.         He beamed up at her, “I’m Savant, nice to meet you.” He answered in clunky politeness most likely learned from watching the elderly talk to each other.         Doodle nodded, attached her saddlebags, and began to canter home with a wider smile upon her face. She made a friend today, she was sure, and she was already looking forward to seeing him again.