Chapter 1
I… I guess I’ve never really tried to explain this, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to, but I’ll give it a shot.
First you need to know some things. I had always lived in canterlot. I was young but I was beginning to get new responsibilities every day. One of my most recent (and most frustrating) was the babysitting of my baby sister, Twilight. She was a handful to say the least, and I loathed taking care of her. Instead of being outside, playing with my friends, I was cooped up with my drooling baby sister. I needed to be with my friends, my parents knew this, and I knew it as well, and so they decided to hire a babysitter.
Another thing is that, while I was still young, I was beginning to mature, and the other ponies my age were as well. We were all hormonal, but this… it… it wasn’t some dumb lust. I wasn’t attracted to her physically, it was something more, something beautiful. I had never felt this way before, and I don’t think I will ever feel the same again. I was the most stunning and comforting feeling I had ever felt.
I still remember the day everything started. It was just like any other: slightly monotonous and rather uneventful. I was up in my room, getting ready for junior guard duty like I did every day after school, when a knock rang through the house. I dismissed it as I was late for guard duty (which was becoming a pretty regular phenomenon)
I remember quickly tossing on my uniform and I remember being in quite a rush. I leapt over my bed, swung the door open, and barreled down the stairs to the entry way. My adrenaline was beginning to flow and I was gaining speed. As I peeled through the hallway the sounds of my hooves on the floor and the adrenaline in my veins masked the sound of the unfamiliar voice in the corridor.
Maybe if I had heard that melodic speech, I would remember that instead. If I had taken a moment to not breathe out of my mouth as a cretin, I may have smelled her light perfume first. But I suppose fate had a different plan.
As I rounded the corner into the kitchen to grab my lunch, I distinctly remember thinking that nothing could stop me. Never before could I have been so wrong.
I had seen her before at the academy, but we had never really talked or anything. We knew each other’s first names, but that was about it. We weren’t in classes together. We didn’t have the same lunch schedule. In fact, I think she attended a different building as me as well.
As I skidded to a stop on the tile floor I didn’t even notice her. When I did first see her, I dismissed her at first, as being on time was my objective. Since I was in the kitchen for my lunch. I was forced to take a closer look when I grabbed my lunch.
My eyes drifted up to her head and froze. And, as cliché as it seems, time seemed to slow to a crawl. The world around me mattered a little less, and my heart beat a little harder.
I wasn’t drawn to her beautiful hair that sprouted from the bow. I wasn’t drawn to her amazingly well groomed pink coat. I wasn’t even drawn to her more… private areas. Instead, I was drawn to her eyes. I… I don’t know how to describe them. It has been so long ago, and the memories have been replayed in my mind so many times… All I can remember is looking into them with wonder. Like they were portals to the one source of true beauty in the world.
I must have been staring because her cheeks became quite red before she awkwardly handed me my lunch. I don’t know how long I had been frozen, but it was long enough for me to gasp for air. I’m sure that didn’t do anything to help her embarrassment.
That was all it took, a simple glance into the eyes. Just a moment, and I had fallen.
As soon as she looked away, time changed to its normal pace. A heavy silence had drifted over us both, and I remember looking away, half in embarrassment, half in the idea that I might not see such beauty again.
She said something along the lines of: “You seem to be in a hurry.”
That was the first time I noticed her voice. It was so beautiful, as if anything else about her couldn’t be any more striking. I turned to her and distracted my attention from her eyes long enough to grab my lunch.
I said that I was “Going to junior guard duty” trying to sound as official as possible, but I think my voice cracked when I said it.
I don’t know, but I think she was impressed. She knew I was in a hurry, that I was on my way to junior guard duty, but I guess she thought something else was more important. She had something to say, and she couldn’t wait to say it.
As I galloped toward the front door, I remember her telling me to wait. With only her voice, again she stopped me… dead in my tracks. She had a hold on me, but the uneasiness in her voice revealed that she didn’t know her influence.
Then she said something that would change my life forever.
“This may seem… strange,” her eyes slowly started to drift up to mine as she searched for the words in her mind, “I really just think that you should know that…”
Our eyes locked. I felt my cheeks growing red, as hers did the same. Then, she said it. She uttered the words that I had been unable to say only moments before.
“I really like your eyes.”