A Night For Flying...

Pixel sighed with relief.

"Oh, how w-wonderful!" She chuckled to herself. It had been quite a long day, just finishing up moving to ponyville. Thankfully, nopony noticed her, yet.

She dived and did a double-spin in mid air before rising back into the sky, thoughtful. She had left Maisy to sleep back at the newly refurbished house. Hopefully, the dog won't wake up and freak, waking the whole neighborhood.

But that didn't matter. She was happy. She was content. She had finally found a new home, full of new surprises, and, hopefully, new friends!

She skillfully preformed three summersaults in a row, and was giddy with fresh air and cool, silent night.

It was night, and one could almost feel the calmness in the air. The moon shone, and a mint green pony looked up at it, admiring Luna's work, before looking back down.

Leaf Gardens walked, her footsteps quick and light. She was on her way home, having just returned from the marketplace. Her trip had been longer than expected, as it was already night. Distractions. How she hated them, she was meant to be home hours ago, tending to her garden.

As she trotted, she saw a mare - though she didn't recognise it at first, as the pegasus's coat was black, blending in with the night sky and dark shadows the trees cast over the ponies. She was a blur of aquamarine and neon green as she darted around in the air, diving before rising slowly up once again, giving Leafy a better look at her - her mane was short and bright, in contrast to her pure black body. She paused for a ehile, as if thinking about something, before going shooting up once again.

Leafy watched, silent as the mare did multiple somersaults in quick succession. Quite clearly she was trained in this, for the Earth pony had never seen anypony do those without.

Pixel Flare slows her speed and begins to circle. She looked towards the Earth, having a strange feeling that she was being watched. Her eyes set on a mare, and Flare's face grew warm. She lands rather gracefully a few yards from the other mare and grows an interest with the ground.

You wanted to make friends, right? She told herself. Well, here's you're chance.

Pix blew the rogue strands of her mane out from her face and smiled sheepishly while kicking at the Earth. "Er... Hey, I'm, uh... I'm Pixel. Pixel Flare, but you can call me Pix. I d-didn't expect someone to be out this late. I didn't bother you or anything, did I?". The last thing Pix wanted was to make someone uncomfortable.

Pixel stops herself, rather confused. Why would a pony be out this late, besides her? she didn't know anypony around here yet, so she took some caution.

Leafy gave a small, yet (somewhat) friendly smile at the pegasus, who seemed to grow nervous upon seeing her. She was never quite good with other ponies, seldom being able to see the point in their interests, but she nonetheless tried. Most of the time, at least. She was horrible with doing this, so her smile may have been less welcoming as she hoped, but the mare seemed to not be bothered with her facial expressions.

"No, you didn't disturb me," she said calmly. "I simply happened to be passing by, and saw you flying." She grinned, remembering the pegasus's moves. "By any chance, did you have any training?" Oh, right, I was wondering why I don't have friends. Thank you, mind, for reminding me. That was her first thought after speaking. Oh well, could at least try to not sound weird. "Just wondering." That was a feeble attempt, which seemed to have no effect other than talking more.

The mare was new here, Leafy believed, for never before had she seen her around the city. Of course, she didn't really stalk ponies and observe who she saw or didn't see, but she simply had a mind for remembering these things.

Pixel smiled softly back. The pony would've made a move by now if she had meant to harm her. "I did have a little training as a filly... not much," She humbly replied. After a minute, her face grew hot again as she stepped forward a bit and held out her hoof gently to the earth pony, her smile growing wider. "Like I said, I'm Pix."

She wondered about this pony. She seemed like a nice person, but a little bit... what's the word?... Isolated in public. Not that that didn't mean she didn't have any friends. She definitely had more than herself around here. Perhaps she could make a friend her first night here.

"I'm new here."

Leafy's words seemed not to calm Pixel Flare, but she was no longer nervous. Good enough for her, considering her (non-existent) skill with socializing.

Her smile was still on her face as Pix spoke, her voice humble and kind. Indeed, Leafy was right, she was new here. She seemed to know how things worked around here, from the confidence - or at the very least, she thought it was confidence, she was never good with understanding other's emotions - in her voice.

"I thought so." She shook Pix's outstretched hoof. "My name is Leaf Gardens. My nickname is Leafy, if you were wondering." Some thought her name was a long one. It wasn't for her, she'd seen much longer, but she never minded the nickname. It wasn't much shorter than her actual name, but still others seemed to prefer it.

"Leafy," Pix tasted the name on her tongue, she nodded. "I like it. It's a nice name."

Pixel Flare looked up at the moon, which seemed to illuminate her mane and tail rather eerily. After a minute, she says, "It's getting late. Is your house far from here? If mine's closer, you're welcome to stay the night, so you don't have to walk home in the dark. I could pull out a few blankets..." She broke off, wondering if the mare would mind a dog. "But, uh, if you accept the offer, hopefully you don't mind having a, uh, 'talkative' companion."

She was already planning to at least give the pony some kind of comfort as a beginning of friendship... A good midnight snack never hurt anyone... And she did have some luxury items. If the pony was tired or bored, then Pix will help with that until she would be ready to go in the morning. She wondered if Maisy would agree though...

Leafy smiled slightly at the compliment of her name, though she guessed it was simply to be polite, or not intended as one at all. "No, it's okay," she said, quite surprised that Pixel was that generous. There were plenty friendly ponies in this city, than, say, Canterlot or Manehatten, but it was still uncommon for one to offer to let a pony stay at their house, especially if said pony was one they had just met. "I'd hate to bother you." Being, well, herself, Leafy guessed that the offer was insincere, simply to brag one day to Pixel's future friends that she was so amazing, blah blah blah, and she had volunteered her house for a pony to stay in for the night.

Pixel seemed to be deep in thought, and Leafy wondered if she was genuine. It was true, after all, that surely she had lived in another city before Ponyville, and that city could have been Canterlot. The city that might as well have "The most arrogant, rich, uncaring ponies ever born in Equestria!" as its motto. But still, it wasn't out of the question that she was from Cloudsdale, as she was a pegasus, and besides, who was she to say that everypony living there were the same?

Pixel nodded again, and once more her face grew hot.She probably thinks I'm just being weird now. C'mon, Pix, inviting a pony you just met into your own house? Stupid! She felt like she wanted to kick herself for being so ignorant. The pony had been studying her, she could feel it, and now she could give Pix the reward for "Strangest Mare Out There".

Pixel shook away the thoughts and brightened. She asked Leaf Gardens to hold a moment while she went to go get her bags, which actually happened to be resting on a tree branch not twenty feet from where they stood. Rather clumsily, Pixel stuck her head in the bag and began to rummage(while still hovering in the air) and was making short, muffled conversations to herself while she was looking for the object she had in mind...

Pixel blushed slightly and Leafy mentally facehoofed. Wow, great socialising skills, Leaf. Five minutes and you've already made her feel uncomfortable. Amazing. That was a new record, even for her, and that was really saying something. Nonetheless, might as well try to make friends. She had, after all, been told that she needed to be more sociable. As much as this wasn't quite her favourite activity, it wasn't her most hated either.

With a halfhearted nod, she waited for the other mare, watching as she flew up to a tall tree, near to where they stood. Now why would she need to go... Oh. It appeared that for some odd reason, she had put her bags in one of its branches, a really thick branch at that. She was confused (as anypony would when they saw someone with their things on a branch of a tree), though she refrained from commenting on it, just in case she sounded rude.

Pixel finally found what she was looking for with a soft "Ah-ha!" and pulled out a bright red-and-what packaging. She flew back down and gave it to the mare.

"I know it's a silly thing, but... I told myself that I would give a gift to the first person I met here in Ponyville. It's a weird idea, I know, but... I thought that maybe giving something would be a good way to slide into a new society... I hope you don't mind it."

If the pony decided to open the package, she would find herself a detailed drawing of a valley full of trees and a river. Though Pix was taught to be humble, she was personally proud of it, especially the river's waterfall. The water almost looked as if it was moving. She hoped the pony liked the picture. She did, at least, frame it, so it wouldn't get wrinkled. The frame was particularly expensive, with leafy designs etched into maple wood.

Leaf Gardens looked at the tree which Pixel had flown into, and the green pony soon heard a soft 'Ah-ha', vague but still loud enough to hear. She flapped back down seconds later, holding a package in her hooves. Leafy took it from her, and was about to ask what it was for, but the pegasus answered the quesrion before it was asked.Sheesh, this mare must be physic. She smiled to herself, carefully opening it. What was inside? Judging by the cutie mark - a pencil drawing a flame - it was probably something drawn. Or written.

And she was right, she could see leafy designs (Heh, Leafy. It was funny because that was her nickname.) carved into a wooden frame. A little pull revealed the picture that it held. It took a moment for her brain to register the intricate detail, but when she did, she was amazed. A waterfall, a river, a valley with several trees. It was almost like a photograph.

"Wow." She looked up at the mare with a look of admiration. "How long did this take you?"

Pix shrugged. "If you include the pre-sketching and redesigning, probably about a week. It's my special talent, so it wasn't as hard as you think it would be, but a lot harder than most of my work." She laughed, "I just hope you like it."

Pixel smiled inwardly. Someone had notice her for her work, appreciated it. She was happy. She grinned at Leaf Gardens. "But just because it was quick to do doesn't mean I didn't put any effort into it. If there is one thing I put effort into, it's making gifts and things for my friends."

A week. That was actually quite a good amount of time, considering the immense amount of detail in the picture. Leafy personally never had the patience for art. If somepony managed to do this without getting famous, then her art was dung anyway. Drawing without magic was hard - another reason the Earth pony had never bothered to even try - but Pixel pulled it off amazingly.

"That's incredible," she muttered. "One week." In a week, even the most artistic in her family wouldn't be able to do half of this (although it may be because nopony in her family tree that she knew of ever wanted to do art), yet Pixel managed to doeverything in that time.

((I'll just be wandering around searching for my muse...))

Pixel smiled and nodded in thanks. Her legs suddenly felt tired. It must be nearly midnight by now. It was time for her to take her leave. She looked sheepishly at Leafy. "It was nice getting to know you," She yawned, " 'Scuse me- but it's getting really late, and I need to get home and check on my dog... If you want to hang out some time, feel free to come over." She quickly relayed her address to Leaf Gardens.

Pix smiled in exhaustion, "I hope you have a chance to come over soon..." Pixel put her leather bags over her back and began to take flight. "Can't wait to see you next time, Leafy!"