A mare of another color?

Doodle let out a slow sigh as her eyes remained closed, nothing but the sound of her own heartbeat and the occasional rustle of sheets filled her empty room. It had been years since she emerged from these very woods, ragged and worn, as a filly-teen and welcomed so warmly into Ponyville's open hooves. A small smile crossed her lips upon that thought only to lose the small amount of light plummeting into another 'who am I' chasm. She let out a frustrated groan throwing the pillow next to her over her head and silently screamed into it.

Again with these thoughts, 'assumptions' of who she was and where she actually belonged surged through her head. She opened her emerald eyes to greet the shrouded sunny day through the long dark green curtains that hung upon her dark wooden walls. She slowly sat up staring blankly at them letting her wings hang off of each side of the bed. The usual gigantic smile seeming nonexistent at the moment knowing she was probably bound to make a mistake causing the entire town to riot or bar her to her woodland domain, yet they never did. Her eyes trailed around the room, her room, the  large bed and breakfast to those ponies who'd lost their way in the forest.

Everything in the house screamed 'woodland' even the chandeliers she made with fallen branches soaked in a strange smelling chemical so they wouldn't burn. Her eyes dropped down to her golden booted hoof letting the fur shimmer slightly in the seeping light. Did these hooves really belong in the forest? She had to come from somewhere, right? She questioned slowly surveying every inch of the golden furred hoof and foreleg. Her black and white lined mane falling lazily over her eyes cut off her thought as she swiftly used her hoof to brush it back. She shook her head and slowly got out of bed to start her day only to notice something a bit off...

She stared into the closet at a dark purple travel saddle bag, quickly shaking her head as if the mere thought of venturing away from this town only to find out who you are and completely running out of money on the way was a good idea. She smiled slightly rolling her eyes only to turn towards the door and turn off the light. Before she was about to close the door, she spotted another one of her travel bags laying casually upon a small couch at the end of the long hallway of doors separating each of the 'guest's' rooms. "Pff..." She said shrugging it off only to let her eyes linger upon it a bit longer. She knew Ponyville certainly had the welcoming party thing handled by their very own overactive pink earth mare whom Doodle was terrified of. They certainly didn't need another...

She narrowed her eyes as her wings instinctively slightly unfurled at the thought of competition. She shook her head letting the black and white mane fall into her face yet again. "Ffwhoooosh." She gently blew it out letting it fall to the side and quickly made her breakfast, ate and rushed out the door to greet the ponies of Ponyville with a happy smile! Yet, something was slightly off. Doodle wove her way carefully through the busy morning streets that was Ponyville, her strides less bouncy, her pace much slower and her smile nearly gone as she was lost in thought of yet again where she'd come from... Meanwhile foals were being rushed to school by their mothers, fathers and grandparents, everyone was rushing to work.

Ave needed not worry about a job. He woke up in his casual small home in the ponyville housing area, the place simple and affordable, and a short job to clean up. He was still in below average condition, one eye still having a medical patch over it, and his small body having bandaging and the like over it. He had carefully dyed his flank. It was back to the blank life... perhaps he'd visit Aero's place, soon. The two still might have a bit to catch up on. But Ave was not exactly aware of Aero's current events, and what he was busy with.

Ave took off to the ponyville streets, his pace slow. His body moved with surprising ease for someone with as much bandaging as he had. He was a slight powerhouse, despite his lack of any formal training. Just another facet of his multitalent, supposedly. He was never the type to look up while he walked, and now was no different. His hooves passed over the ponyville streets with audible steps, his gaze mostly to the ground, not looking at the ponies rushing nearby, mostly.

However, in this sunny morning, there was a lot of movement as usual, and as a filly and his father rushed by towards the school at full trot, his single eye went up to look at them. and by sheer coincidence, his eye locked with Doodle bug's eyes. The two stared flat at one another, and Ave could tell that the pony he's seen smiling, commonly, was not the same today. She hid something in her gait and her gaze. Ave's eyes bored right through this, and she could feel him staring directly towards her, almost as if peering into her and past the looks outside of her. Her returning gaze couldn't do the same, no matter how attentive her eyes were, Ave's face felt drained of all emotion, an impenetrable lie. While most would not notice either of their unique expressions and the fact that more could be hidden underneath, Ave simply didn't care. He walked on, not paying too much attention to Doodle, despite the moment that their eyes locked.

The unnerving feeling welling up in her would have to be her call to action to approach the small brown earth pony, who has obviously seen better days.

Doodle raised an eyebrow slightly and approached the small, puffy brown stallion curiously hopefully matching his current gate. "HEY!" Doodle said, voice filled with feigned enthusiasm! She didn't know what it was but sh couldn't mimic her usual happy shouts. Her face held a smile that seemed all too familiar as if it belonged only to let it fall within two seconds. "How are you today?" She asked curiously, her voice dulled slightly. She looked away from him noticing his many bandages, possibly a bad topic for him, her emerald eyes instead scanned the street in front of her noticing all the colors of different pebbles.

She finally spoke up after a while, her voice seeming forcibly happy. "Hiya! I'm Doodle Bug, what's your name?? Where ya from?? I don't think I've met you before! *Gasp* I'll bt you're some kind of super important pony!! Oh my gosh, I bow to you my good sir!!" She said trying to even pry even the tiniest smile from him. "So, headed off to work? Gonna rake in the millions, Be a super hero!!"

Ave was smart enough to see that she wasn't well, but not so much of a genius to see she was trying to cheer him up. He replied as she greeted him, with a slow, but polite "Hello-" Hardly getting the chance to finish a sentence before she started asking how he was. "I'm Good, h-" he said, with a polite smile and kind tone, but she quickly continued to the rest of her speech, trying to compliment him or make him feel important. He had -no- idea what she was trying to do, and just figured this is the kind of person she was!

He held a polite smile and tried tracking her with his one good eye, before quickly giving up at how incredibly bouncy she was. although when she finished up, he did take the time to look at her and reply. "Oh, nothing like that, Ma'am. although i'd love to rake in the millions or be important, i'm just another average guy in ponyville. " he watched her forced smile and wondered if he should go in on it or not. As it currently was, she didn't seem to want to go away, and he needed a distraction from his own thoughts anyways. "And who would you be, trying to fib the fibber with such a smile." he said, choosing his words carefully. if she knew what it meant, he'd have himself a piece of conversation which was a lot calmer. If she didn't, she'd be laughing and smiling because 'fibber' and 'fib' was such a funny and silly little word.

Unable to keep quiet for long, she quickly spat, "How'd you get so beat up?" Noting the whole 'fib the fibber' portion but deciding to leave it out only dropping her giant smile to a simple half smile. She landed with a thud, wings beating the wind causing the dust under them to swirl slightly. The smile then completely dropped off of her face knowing she couldn't hold it for long. "Alright... fine, I did lie, but you mentioned fibbing the fibber, so I"m guessing you're not doing so well yourself. So um, why? Why wouldn't you try to liv out your life with a smile and a positive thought knowing it'd someday infect any and every pony you walked into! isn't spreading joy what every pony should strive for?"

She tensed a little for his reply, emerald eyes now somewhat coldly locking onto his one good eye in a more piercing way than she'd meant it to be. Upon noticing this for herself, she instantly blinked and shook it off not wanting to frighten off this pony. "I-I'm sorry, yeah, today's not so great... have you ever just wandered around ponyville seeing foals with parents only to wonder where you came from yourself? I've always been a kind of loner when it came to this. I'm not even sure where I come from or even if I'll ever get to meet my real folks. I'm just... I dunno... Lost." She sighed heavily wondering why she just spilt everything to this stranger... perhaps she just had too much faith in ponies not to take the info elsewhere and use it for malicious deeds.

"I-I'm sorry, heh, look at me spilling everything to a pony I just met... I-I should go... Thank you so much for the conversation!!" She then turned to leave hoping this wasn't some mistake.

"I know all too well the feeling of being lost, ma'am. But i'm not the quickest to spill beans." He simply said with a polite nod, apparently very difficult to intimidate, cause he seemed very calm and collected, his acting ability helping him. He wanted to help her, truly, but he wasn't ready to just randomly spill out his secrets like she did. He just wasn't the type of guy.

"If you want to know of my tiff, tough luck i suppose." he said, and despite the rude context, his tone made it very hard for her to muster any frustration. he had a sort of strange way of twisting his voice that made anypony less sure how to react to what he said. "But never having known your parents? That's a rare case in equestria. What say you, we both look into this a little? I wouldn't mind helping out a bit." he said. Normally, he might add a fee, but right now, her not telling people he was a fibber would be great enough. He actually wouldn't have mentioned the fibber part, if it wasn't making it much more likely for her to spill the beans.

"There's nothing quite like teamwork to accelerate your working pace and figure out a solution to a problem much quicker, no? You'll be on these roads with a smile thrice as fast with a little help." he offered to her. It wasn't like he had something else to do. He was currently without a job, but he wasn't worried about bits, being the multi-talented entrepreneur he was, accepting single jobs left and right and executing them to the satisfaction of many ponyville residents always surprised at his blank flank. His offer came with a wide grin and an upward stretched neck, making him a little taller and beaming with confidence, of which he himself wasn't even sure anymore if it was real or not.

Doodle perked her head up at the offer of help, her usual massive smile returning as she then hopped into the air quickly unfurling her wings and began zipping circles above his head! "Oh my gosh! OH MY GOSH THAT'D BE SO SUPER AWESOME!!! YIIII!!! THIS IS GONNA BE ONE MASSIVE ADVENTURE! DOODLE BUG AND THE MAGNIFICENT ... Um, I'm sorry what did you say your name was?" She asked now hopping around him happily, her usual confidence returning!

Not only would she make a new friend in the process but she'd possibly find out who her parents actually were and they'd have a super awesome massive happy sketch party! Her emerald eyes sparkled as she gazed off into the distance imagining the happy reunion. "YIII!! SO WHERE SHOULD WE START FIRST?" She zoomed off gliding over to the roof of a nearby house holding her hoof bravely over her eyes saluting the sun, then instantly regretting it upon the sun's wicked glare blinding her slightly.

Ave's eye did it's best to follow doodle and her incredible antics. He gave her no reply amongst her asking for his name, as he didn't prefer to have his name to be shouted around. Only a few people knew his name, and he was fine with it being that way. although he didn't mind helping Doodle out. It was quite common for him to help random people out in ponyville, usually for a pay. He started making his way to the ponyville library, as that was the place he'd usually start a research like this. Although if she had no relatives to speak of, it would be difficult.

Oh well, the two would have to do their best to figure it out. Ave was sure that some healthy thought would at the very least give Doodle some direction to head towards... and adventure though? he wasn't so sure. He waited for doodle to be at his side instead of on a building before saying anything to her, though.