Hiding a secret....

Doodle quickly trotted through the marketplace seeing every pony going out with their special some pony, she couldn't help but feel left out. "Urgh." She groaned as the painful memory constricted her mind of the unicorn who casted a powerful spell on her preventing her to feel any more than just friendship. She sighed then looked up with determination ablaze in her emerald green eyes.

"I've gotta find that pony for only she can fix this, but by now she's probably in a retirement home. I've checked all of the homes in Ponyville only to come up empty." A heavy sigh rushed out of her as she just slowed to a walk then stopped completely and just sat there looking blankly at the dirt road.

Rez looking through the stands to find new tools keeps seeing everypony with dates and thinks when will he find the right pony. He goes back to looking for tools. "I really need to start looking for somepony. But im not good at that kind of stuff." He says to himself.

Doodle's golden ears perked up as she heard a voice coming from behind her. She quickly turned around to notice a black pegasus stallion... a very handsome black pegasus stallion with red markings. She gasped and quickly and shyly dove behind a fruit cart but something felt weird inside her, almost like she was starting to fall for him but all of the sudden she felt a rush of pain through her body and crumpled to the ground as the tingly feeling vanished.

She closed her eyes as two violet and blue evil eyes flashed once over her head then quickly faded. When she looked back at the stallion, the feeling was gone. She gathered up her courage and very slowly got out from behind the cart and walked right up to him. She inhaled deeply and very quietly almost inaudibly squeaked out.

"Um, hi."

Rez looked at the pony a beautiful mare. "Hello im rez what's your name?" he asked. That's when he noticed that there was something about this mare that he just couldn't figure out.

Nothing... She felt nothing... She sighed and lowered her head. "My name is, um, Doodle Bug. It's a pleasure to meet you Rez!" She said hiding her disappointment then lifting her emerald eyes up to meet his silver ones. There it was again... that feeling followed by a massive wave of electric pain that shot through her body and seared her soul as the violet and blue evil eyes appeared above her head then soon vanished as the pain slowly faded.

Her gaze returned to meet his hoping he didn't think her little charade of hiding massive amounts of pain behind a fake smile wasn't enough to scare him off.

Rez looked into her eyes and suddenly felt weird. "Am I falling for her?" He thought to himself never having had felt this way. "Wow that's a great name." He said. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." He thought to himself after relizing what he said.

He is REALLY handsome... She thought then flinched expecting to feel pain again. She quickly shooed that thought from her mind. "Uh, so... What do you do for a living, Rez." There, a simple question... aww but will he think I'm too simple? WHATDOIDO WHATDOIDO?? She so desperately wanted to feel that warm tingly feeling again but knew it would be brutally pushed away and out of her mind by the very dark energy that seared her very core being and had become a part of her. Her face hardened into being very serious.

"I've gotta find somepony to um... Long story..."

Rez was still having that wierd feeling and would sometimes get stuck looking into her eyes. "Well to answer your question im a map maker who does some building on his free time." He said looking at her. "Who are you looking for?" He asked hoping he could help her out in any way.

She wanted to hug him so badly but that would be weird right? Hugging a random stranger she barely knew... She giggled at the thought then her attention was focused back on the conversation once he told her what he did. "Oh that's really cool!" She sighed again at the mention of her mission. "I've gotta find a certain unicorn... to um... 'help me with something'." She said looking sadly in his eyes hoping she wouldn't have to blurt out what was wrong with her and drive this stallion away which was the very LAST thing she wanted happen...

It had only been brief but what she felt she did not want to lose. That warm and bubbly feeling just surrounded her and engulfed her, oh how she wished it would have lasted longer only to have it torn forcefully away...

"Ok do you have any clues of where she might be?" He asked catching himself looking into her eyes. "I am.... no I have fallen for her." He thought to himself still looking into her eyes. "Ok now the hard part, knowing if she likes me." He thought to himself looking to see if she does.

Doodle smirked which turned into a wide grin then turned into an excited giggle. "I've gotten word that she resides deep within the... *gulp* Everfree... I've been too scared to go in by myself hearing stories of ponies who venture in and never come out... not to mention all of those creatures that could kill you in a split second. I've been putting it off for years and it's only grown into an annoyance. Would you like to come along?"

She asked now happily skipping circles around him from this joyous feeling burning brightly inside her only to stop dead in her tracks by the earth shattering pain... She held her breath and counted backwards from 5 as the pain died back down.

"Sure." Rez said smiling. Rez knew he could already having been in the everfree forest many times before.

This made Doodle explode with happiness causing her to bounce right up and hug him. "Yiiiii! This is going to be so much fun! I'll just need to stock up on a few things before we go." She couldn't help but let out a super excited shout as she bounced away to finish her shopping trip. She let out another overly excited squee as she thought more and more about the ultra handsome stallion that would be accompanying her on her mission.

She quickly zoomed around picking things up and leaving bits on the table as fast as she could then went right back up to him with the huge smile still plastered on her face. "Ready!"

Rez after being hugged watched as doodle left and came back.

"Ready"

"Well then lets go." Rez said starting off toward the everfree forest

"Race ya!" Doodle said as she started to gallop completely forgetting about her fear of the forest and just feeling the adrenalin flow wildly through her body as she sped up charging straight through the trees and charging straight through the underbrush. Feeling the wind whip her mane and tail around wildly once more was more than comforting.

It wasn't long before she reached a cliff which she flew off of over to the other side and waited for friend unaware of the golden glowing eyes that watched her every move hungrily.

Rez dashed through the trees and bushes and saw doodle on the otherside of a cliff. "Wow you've got some energy don't you." He said about to jump over the cliff. Rez runs and jumps using his wings to go a bit higher and lands on the other side.

"Ok which way should we go?" Rez asked looking around.

Doodle giggled and said. "I'm always full of energy and it shouldn't be too much further." She lied trying to hide the fact that she didn't know where she was. Her instincts pulled her towards the north into a thick purple cloud of haze only to hear something moving in the brush beside her. She froze as she turned to look at the angry two blazing eyes of a timberwolf as it stepped out in front of her. As she turned to run the other way she was stopped by another Timberwolf.

Suddenly, they were surrounded on all sides. The only way out was up so she leaped into the air but not quick enough before one wolf grabbed her back hoof and slammed her back against the ground.

Rez out of instinct kicked the timberwolve that got a hold of doodle to make it release her. "Doodle try to fly up again this time I will get their attention to help." He said kicking the other one.

One of the timberwolves jumped at rez nocking him over. He quickly stood back up and looked around for something useful and saw a low laying branch. He ran towards it and whistled to have the wolves follow. He grabbed the branch pulled it back and releaed it and watched as one of the timbereolves broke into peices.

Doodle quickly dove into the air whipping up a tornado and sucking up all of loose branches of the wolves and flinging them as far away as she could then broke up the tornado. She soon landed next to Rez with a huge smile on her face which turned into a shy grin and said.

"Um, thank you for saving me!" She brushed a forelock out of her face while saying this only to get absorbed in those big silver eyes of his. Then the familiar rush of pain caused her to wince a little and lose that feeling again. "Um, let's get going... this way." She said galloping north.

Rez followed and started to think of why she hugged him earlier. "Does she like me?" He thought to himself. He decided to wait and see.

"So why are you looking for this unicorn any ways?" He asked while looking at her.

She cringed at the memory but said, "Oh, I made her upset when I was a foal and she casted a spell/curse on me to, um, eh..." Should I tell him? Would he be offended and never want to see me again. I don't want to lose this strange feeling inside despite being in pain afterwards... She only hoped her mare's intuition was pulling her in the right direction.

"Nevermind... to the west now!" She said trying to change the subject. It wasn't long before she spotted a familiar ruin in the distance.

Rez was getting suspicouse but ignored it because he liked her. He noticed a ruin in the distance. "Huh that's weird I didn't put it on my map." He said looking at his map and sketching it in. "Are you sure she's here?" He asked looking around.

Doodle shook her head and said, "No, this is only a marker to let me know I'm going in the right direction." All the sudden she was swarmed with fruit bats of all colors that surrounded her then all flew off in one direction. "FOLLOW THEM!" She shouted leaping into the air. The fruit bats flew for a while before landing in a crypt.

"Be careful where you step, this place is lined with traps." She said before carefully stepping around certain rocks as she ventured into it.

Rez followed watching the ground for traps. "Are we getting close?" He asked watching his step

"Yeah, I can feel it. We're almost there!" She said jumping agile then diving. She swerved left and right as arrows flew from all directions. When she finally made it to the center she found an old cottage. She carefully walked up to it and pushed open the the old wooden door which made a loud squeak. She stood there with her mouth agape at the layers of dust that accumulated over the years.

"I-i-it can't be... abandoned...No..." Her ears were pinned to her head and she panted racing around the small cottage. "You've gotta be here... please..." She begged but no sound was heard. Tears streamed down her face as she collapsed to the ground. "I'm sorry Rez, for dragging you all this way..."

As she got up she noticed the sound of her hooves against the ground sounded hollow. "Wait a minute..." She pulled back the rug to reveal a trap door. She tried opening it herself but she didn't have the strength to then turned to Rez looking apologetically.