Painting

As summer began, Primary hopped on a train in Canterlot to Ponyville, where she visits every summer to get away from the hubbub of the Crystal Empire, and also because of the beautiful nature. The trip took longer than usual, but Prime didn't mind. She slept most of the way anyways. The train soon arrived at the station in Ponyville and Prime stumbled off, still half-asleep. She regained her balance and dragged her luggage out of the station. Once she was all settled in, she went for a stroll in town, with all her paints and canvases of course (she never went anywhere without them, just in case). She left the middle of the village quick as she could, it was getting to the middle of the day so more ponies were coming into town, and she trotted away to Whitetail Wood for some piece and quiet. In the serene woods, she found a small pond not too far from the path, and set up her art equipment to paint the beautiful landscape. Blue fish swam around eating the algae in the pond, dragonflies skidded across the surface of the water, and small birds flew around up above. Prime captured it all on her canvas, and, as always, the paintings where absolutely stunning.

Tacha had heard lf the beauty of whitetail and had wanted to see for herself. She was still pretty new here and though she had already met a hoof full of ponies she still felt lonely. she was ok with lonely as long as she was somewhere quiet and peaceful, so she ventured out into the woods. it was more than she could have hoped for and everything was so beautiful she was overwhelmed with the sights. she spent the entire afternoon just taking everything in and running through the thick grasses that was so unuse to back home. as she was running she heard the tell-tell signs of a pond and just couldnt resist. she ran straight for it and cannon balled right in creating a rather large splash. a small laugh escaped her in sheer joy as she blisfully doggy paddled around the pond.

Rosella was on a routine trip to Equestria. There, she wandered into the beautiful woods on the edge of Ponyville. She trotted in. This time, she was looking for a section of blue violets, hoping that her newest recipe would work. She heard scuffling as she pulled up a bunch in her mouth, and she looked up to find a pony painting the most beautiful picture of the woods on a canvas.

"That's beautiful!" she gasped around the plants, trotting over. The sun glinted off of Rosie's coat, sending off rainbow refractions all over the white and brown trees.

Prime sat back and stared at her painting, adding some last minute touch ups. She heard a voice behind her, "That's beautiful!"
Prime, startled by this, turned quickly to face the stunning pony behind her.
"Umm...thanks, I guess....." Replied Prime hesitantly, surprised at the shimmering pony. Prime heard a loud trampling noise and she saw another pony leaping into the pond, disturbing the fish and sending the birds skyward.
Prime tried to slide away from the two other ponies by sinking into the bushes behind her.

Tacha had been enjoying herself so much she hadnt even noticed the other ponies in the area. curious she climbed out of the pond her coat and mane clung to her sides. feeling especially self consous she shook the loose water off, it wasnt the most graceful way to do it but hey wat else could she do, the warm breeze was too light to dry her throughly. as satisfied with her apperance as she was going to get she walked to the other ponies but by the time she approached one of the ponies slunk off into the brush. she paused wondering if she had been the cause of this and then smiled shyly to te remaining pony. "im Tacha" she tried to keep her voice loud enough to be heard but around new ponies it always seemed to take a softer tone.

Rosie gasped when she saw the painting pony clearly.

"Yay! Yay! Yay! Another crystal pony from the best place in the world, The Crystal Empire!" she squealed, still holding the flowers, sticking her head into the bush the pony was discreetly trying to escape into. "I'm so glad to meet you! My name's Rosella, but you can call me Rosie, and I just looooooove making new friends!"

Rosie turned to the younger pony and dropped her flowers.

"Nice to meet you too, other awesome pony!" she cried, jumping up and down.

Prime stood still with her eyes wide open, shocke at the crystal pony's enthusiasm. Prime stayed silent, running through her mind what to do. do I talk or stay quiet? They're am both so energetic, ugh. Socializing.
"M-my name is Primary, b-but most ponies call me Prime." She said quietly, "it's uh, nice to meet you."

Tacha loved the crystal ponies enthusiasim and smiled as memories of home flooded back to her. oh how she missed it being with this pony made her feel like she was back at home with all her little foals again. She couldnt help but get caught up in this ponies excitement. "i agree its the best place in the world!! i only hope i can return home soon. have you lived here long? i left home only a week ago but i miss it already." she wasnt sure the other ponies would believe that she was from the crystal empire on acount of her not being a crystal pony but she missed her home dearly and wanted to know how things were going without her.

feeling shy again she smiled at prime. "hey. i liked your painting and im sorry if i messed it up or anything i didnt see you working there"

Rosie cocked her head at the earth pony. She had certainly never seen her around the Empire, and she knew everypony, and she means everypony, in the Empire (and there are a lot of ponies in the Crystal Empire). She would have remembered a pony who wasn't crystal. Hmm...

While she pondered that thought, she was feeling rather generous, so she picked up a flower, ran to the lake, and made a rapid swirly movement with her hooves. The flower mixed with the water and turned into a glorious violet paint. She dropped it at Prime's hooves, looking up at her with hope that the pony would like her. Oh, she just had to like it! No pony made paint the way she did, and Primary just HAD to like it!

"N-no you didn't mess it up, I was just finishing when you jumped into the water." She said to Tacha.
Suddenly, the other crystal pony ran to the lake and returned with an absolutely beautiful concoction. It was a gorgeous violet paint, and Rosie was offering it to her. To Prime. No pony ever gave her anything. A wave of shock crossed her face, then her eyes lit up. This paint was absolutely wonderful! The most gorgeous paint she had ever seen. It shimmered in the sunlight, it called to Prime. She simply had to have it.
"Oh, wow! This is beautiful! How in Equestria did you make it? It's gorgeous! I simply can't take such a wonderful paint from you...." she said trailing off, she desperately wanted the paint, but she rarely took such gifts. Mostly because no pony offered them....

Tacha had felt a little out of place. she had always been unsure of herself with other ponies that where the same age if not other than her. she missed her brother dearly he had always been good at breaking the ice for her. she had tried and clearly failed. oh how she missed the crystal empire and all the shimmering foals in it. feeling so out of place she looked around she wanted to beable to make friends with these ponies and prime really seemed to like this new paint. tacha wished she had a special tallent which she could share but really all she had was a blank flank of nothing. she felt more self contious than usual. scartching at the ground she tried to think of something she could do to get closer to these ponies. but all she could give were complements. "wow that is some really pretty paint and you made it so fast." it was a bad complement at best. the paint was more than pretty it was spectacular but in her uncertin state she just couldnt find the words.

"Thank you!" said Rosie, leaping up and down. "I'm so glad you both like it! Oh, I would have been really sad if you didn't, but you do, and, oh, I'm just so happy!"

She hugged both ponies pretty hard before releasing them and picking up her flowers, tucking them in her sparkly saddle bag. Ooh, sparkles. Rosie loved sparkles! Maybe that was why she was called the sparkliest pony in the Empire. SPARKLES!!!

"I gotta find some more plants. I'm trying to make crystal coat dye, but I just can't seem to make it just right. Wanna help me?"

Prime didn't really know what to do in this situation. She had only ever gotten hugs when she was a little filly from her parents. She just waited until Rosie let go.
"Uh....you're welcome?" She said unsuredly. Rosella then asked for help finding flowers for her coat paint.
"Uh....sure, I guess.." Prime replied, not really positive that she wanted to, but the longing for friends came back to her in a rush. Primary hadn't had friends in, well, lets just say a very long time. She had tucked away the feeling of friendship to a dark corner in her mind, and there it sat, throughout her whole life. She had never really wanted friends anyway, and she wasn't lonely. But these two, they seemed to really like Prime (though they really had no reason to).

Tacha Smiled starting to accually feel like these ponies could become great friends. she was starting to lose her shy feeling around them and accually be the fun loving pony she truely was. "that sounds like alot of fun!!" she could hardly contain her excitement. "so what kind of plants are we looking for?"

Rosie thought for a moment.

"Hmm, maybe a bunch of lily of the valleys, blue roses, and ooh, maybe an aloe plant?"

Rosie stuck her nose to the ground and followed a trail of spores, looking for her evasive plants. Rosie was good at that. How do you think she got her cutie mark?

Prime laughed a little on the inside as Rosie stuck her nose to the ground and began sniffling around like a dog.

Prime was also fairly good at finding plants. Lily of the valleys? Peace of cake. Prime looked around with her keen eyesight and spotted some on the other side of the pond.
"Hey, look, over there, across the pond." Prime started to become a little looser and the wall she built to keep other ponies out began to break down.

Tacha had no idea what any of those were but she would probably know a flower when she saw one. Shruggingshe coppied rosie and sniffed about, giggling to herself as she imagined how silly she felt, she had no idea what she was smelling for. Giving up she pulled her nose from the earth and followed prime around, feeling a little out of place.

Rosie squealed with excitement when she saw her aloe plant.

"Yay yay yay yay yay!!!" she squeaked, jumping up and down. "I fooooooooound it!"

She trotted over, but the plant suddenly disappeared.

"Where did it go?" she asked, confused.

In the corner of her eye, she spotted a mouse and a bunny munching on her aloe plant! Tears formed in her eyes, morphing into a full-on bawling fest, water streaming out of her eyes as she cried over the loss of her plant.

Prime sat awkwardly as Rosie collapsed on the ground and began to bawl her eyes out. Primary glanced at Tacha, unsure of what to do.
"umm....Rosie, I'm sure we'll find another aloe plant, or other flowers. I found some Lily of the Valleys across the pond... Why don't we...check them out?..." Prime trailed off at the end.

Tacha panicked. How can she help a pony she doesnt even know. She could tell prime was just as lost as her. she looked around but just couldnt think of anything to do. "uhh...yea..i bet there will be some really pretty flowers over by the uhh lily valley watsit thingys." Aww she really knew nothing about flowers. Tacha went over to the little animals. they had only eaten about half of it and one or two petals remained. unsure of what to do she carfully picked up the remains of the poor flower and carried them over to rosie and set them diwn next to her. "theres still some flower left did you really need the whole thing? maybe you can combine whats left with another flower and make it even better." Tacha felt tense with worry as she tried to think of anything better she could do.

Rosie sniffed and took the petals gently from the pony.

"Th-th-thanks," she said, shaking her head. "Prime, show the way."

Prime, who really didn't like being in the spotlight, nervously picked a cautious path through the thorns around the small pond. Her keen eyes picked out a tiny field of flowers of all different colors, and another aloe plant.
"Th-this way guys"

Tacha followed, feeling pretty good. She had been able to help rosie feel a little better not by much butseeing all the incredible plants prime had found was sure to help. She smiled at prime and watched to see what the two would do with all the strange flowers around them.