You should get out of the house more!

"Be careful, okay? Don't overdo it out there. You're still not 100%, hon."

"I know, mom...I will!"

Sigh. He shook his head as he shut the door behind him, making his way down the cobble path leading from his home. His mother always doted on him, and though he appreciated that she cared, sometimes it got to be way too much.

He cast his glance around the neighborhood as he made his way down the street at his odd limping gait, it'd been a while since he'd been strong enough to actually leave the house alone. He smiled to himself, he had to admit that it felt good to get out of that stuffy house, if anything got depressing for the young colt, it was being cooped up! He'd been stuck at home for months while he'd basically had to re-learn how to walk on three legs, he could manage okay now, but was still unsteady sometimes.

He cast his gaze up as he heard a pair of pegasi flapping by, looking a bit wistful and melancholy, he didn't want to be stuck down here, he belonged in the sky with them! He shook his head and continued down the street, silently hoping to run into somepony soon, he hated being alone.

Nikki had the unfortunate and magnificent ability to, quite literally, run into ponies of interest. She supposed it was such luck that landed her on the ground with her face pressed into the concrete and her stack of books scattered along the sidewalk.

Of course it had to happen on her first day home. Why wouldn't it? Why shouldn't she be able to run around without a care in the world? Why shouldn't she be able to not worry about covering up scrapes and bruises?

Right. Because she was a klutz at the worst of times.

At least she didn't actually run into the new pony. That would have been both extremely awkward and painful, and going by the bandages all over the colt, probably would have resulted in a bit-not-good trip to the hospital.

As such, avoiding said colt had resulted in a painfully bloody nose and a giant mess. She could fix the nose if she was so inclined--healing magic, after all, was where she was leaning to go--but she was more distracted by the scattered parchment, quills, and books than the blood running down her muzzle.

'I am so sorry,' she said, blushing sheepishly. 'I'd say I'm not normally this bad, but that would be a lie and a pointless one at that.'

The books and parchment, directed by the pinkish aura emanating from her horn, began to sort themselves back into their (albeit a bit crumpled) orderly places.

There doesn't seem to be many ponies around, Must be a holiday.

He made a bemused face at that as he kept making his way down the road. Pondering on what he could do now that he actually left the house. He could always make a trip to Sugarcube Corner, he used to always love going there with his dad, and the place often brought back good memories, not to mention there was usually plenty of ponies his age hanging out there.

But that was pretty far from where he was, and as much as he loathed admitting it, there was no way he'd make it that far right now. He sighed again, wondering if there might be ponies around the schoolyard, he was going back to school soon, and the thought made him nervous.

Had Flare been paying attention, he might of been able to avoid the young mare , but as it were, he was not. So when he heard a sudden crash nearby, he was broken from his thoughts at the sight before him, "Oh! I'm sorry, miss!" He trotted over to her side as she began to reclaim her scattered, "I should have been watching where I was going, I guess I got a bit distracted!" His eyes widened a bit in shock seeing the blood dripping from her muzzle, looking concerned at what was, really, his fault, "A-are you okay? I didn't mean to cause you to hurt yourself!" He turned and reached into the small saddlebag he'd brought, offering the young mare a handkerchief. He perked his ears and smiled at her, "Are you new here? I don't think I've ever seen you around before!"

'I'm okay,' she assured the colt, amiably waving away his hoofkerchief before sniffling a little. Her browline furrowed as she switched her concentration to her nose, just then remembering that it was generally frowned upon to be walking around with ones blood spattered over one's face. With a stinging flash, the nose was repaired, so she pulled her own hoofkerchief from nowhere and noisily blew out all of the blood and snot. Wrinkling her newly repaired nose at the mess, she lit the scrap on fire and blew the ashes away with a raspberry.

Scrambling to her hooves, the green unicorn shoved her books and parchment back into her saddlebags and tucked a quill into her alternating pink-and-purple locks before offering a reassuring smile to the three-legged colt.

'I'm not new,' she said cheerfully. 'Just haven't been around. I go to school in Canterlot for most of the year. Rather ostentatious public--wait, private, my bad, forget the meaning changes between cities--boarding school for gifted unicorns. A bit glitzy for my tastes, but my mum's an alumni, so I'm kinda obligated to go. I suppose you moved here a few years ago, since I haven't seen you 'round? Just down the street, too, I've been rather unobservant. Ebony tells me I need to work on that.'

Flare chuckled as she waved away the hoofkerchief, stuffing it back into his bag, "Well that's good," The last thing he wanted to do was get anypony hurt seriously! He watched with slight curiosity as she used her magic to mend her nose, it was pretty fascinating to see unicorn magic at work, and despite not being one himself, he'd always been curious about it.

He smiled back up at her, glad to see that all was well, "Wow! you can use healing spells? I remember seeing doctors using them at the hospital, you must be really talented!" Even though he couldn't fully remember his time at the hospital, he could remember the way it felt to have those spells used on him, it'd been a strange feeling that's for sure!

His ears perked and he looked a bit amazed at that, "Wooow! I've heard of that place!" He grinned up at the young mare, "Then you really must be good!" Not many got into that school, he knew that much. He'd seen it when it family took a trip to Canterlot a few years back, "Yeah! My family moved here from Manehattan when I was still really small, to be honest I haven't been able to get out of the house for a while," he shuffled a hoof across the ground and grinned, "But being cooped up as driving me nuts." His ears perked and he held out a hoof to her, "I'm Flare by the way, sorry again for making you fall!" He grinned and looked a little embarrassed, "I guess I was being a little unobservant too!"

A red blush creeped over Nikki's cheeks as the colt gushed about healing spells and doctors.

'Thank you,' she said, smiling. 'It's nothing, really. Just a lot of studying and concentration. I did a lot of reading and practicing. I fall off of things. A lot. It's part of me and my talent. So, I end up having to fix myself often. Great practice.'

She blinked as he continued, and comprehension dawned on her face. 'Ah, so that's where the accent comes from. Couldn't put my hoof on it. And I absolutely understand. I drive my roommates nutty when we can't leave the campus. It's only entertaining the first few times you drop off the ceiling and into their laps. Then it just gets boring. Repetitive. Locked rooms are nightmares.'

She stuck out her hoof, the one closest to his uninjured front side.

"Nikki Hooves,' she said, grinning, 'and it is not your place to worry. My fault for not looking three metres in front of me, hehe.'

Flare tried to suppress his amusement at her blush, realizing he was gushing a bit and chuckling, "Ah sorry, I've always been interested in unicorns and their magic!" He remembered reading so many books about it, even though he wasn't a unicorn, it was interesting to learn about!

It was his turn to blush a little when his accent was brought up, it was something he'd picked up from his parents, who'd never dropped their own, "Haha, it's noticeable, huh? Picked that up from my folks!"
The mental image of the young mare dropping from the ceiling made him giggle, he could definitely relate to that, "It used to take my parents forever to catch me when I got going, After being inside all day I'd take off and fly circles around them!" He gave a good humored laugh and flapped his remaining wing, "I'm not so hard to catch now!"

When the young mare offered a hoof to him he shook it, giving her a friendly smile, "Well I apologize all the same. Where are you headed for, anyway?"

Nikki settled back onto her hooves and gestured with a tilt of her head towards the little park on the edge of the neighbourhood.

'I like studying out there if my parents don't want me to leave the street,' she said. 'Extra homework, and all. It's nice. Quiet. Calm. Peaceful. Hateful, really, but effective with this workload. I much prefer conflict. Ooh, I love conflict. Conflict means there's something to be revised, something to solve, something to win... Oh. Apologies. Ebony's rubbing off on me.' She smiled sheepishly.

The unicorn hesitated before gesturing in Flare's general direction. 'Too soon to ask about how that happened?'

Flare followed her gaze and nodded, smiling fondly at the little park, "I used to go there with my dad to practice flying, it's a nice little park, definitely!" He agreed that it could be too quiet though, being one for action himself usually, "But it can be a little TOO peaceful sometimes, I prefer action to idleness, but it's a good place if you need quiet to study."

He looked a little sheepish when she gestured over him, chuckling and shaking his head, smiling, "No no, it's okay! It was a couple of months back while I was practicing," He chuckled, "I got distracted, and crashed, when I came around they told me that there was nothing they could do to save my leg and wing!" He smiled and shuffled his hoof a little, "But I'm okay now, being grounded drives me nuts, but at least I'm alive!"

"There's always that,' she agreed. 'Life is beautiful. Really, really grand. Though it gets cripplingly boring, sometimes. All I do then is stare at the ceiling and think and think and try not to be bored, but everything is boring and ordinary. Yuck. Dull.' She looked wistful for a moment before looking at Flare, then the park, then back.

'Hey, I have a grand idea,' she started. 'Why don't you come with me? I've got ages to finish this, and you look like you could use a bit of fresh air. Not the fresh air from stepping outside, but the fresh air from freshly mowed grass and running water and dew. Whaddya think?'

Fare's expression brightened and he smiled, nodding in agreement, "I agree, I never feel right unless I'm doing something." He chuckled, "that's why I nearly lost my mind being stuck indoors while recovering!" He'd driven his parents crazy, that was for sure.

His ears perked and he smiled wide when he heard her offer, flapping his wing eagerly at the idea, "Oh I'd love that a lot!" The young mare was completely right, it sounded much nicer than wandering the streets with nothing to do but dwell on things, "As long as I wont be a bother, I'd love to come with you!"

Nikki snorted.

'Bother?' she asked incredulously. 'Not at all. It'd be a privilege to have your company, Mr. Flare.'

She set off down the sidewalk with a new purpose, mindful to check her speed so as not to leave her new friend behind. Her bushy tail swept over her knees with the glee of having a new companion. Something in her mind skittered over his handicap and shoved it to her subconscious (so she wouldn't completely forget; that would be embarrassing), leaving her to think only about how curious those big, sad purple eyes were, or how his hair was almost as bad as the chipper pink mare who sometimes ran the counter in Sugarcube Corner.

Upon reaching the little park, she plopped herself down in a particularly plush patch of grass, sending bits of scrap parchment flying through the air like little birds. Even more impressive was when they turned into actual paper birds before she snatched them all from where they were twittering in the grass and stuffed them unceremoniously back into her saddlebags.

Flare chuckled softly when she referred to him as mister, that was a new one!

He followed after the young mare as she headed off, trotting at his awkward gait to keep up with her better, even though he'd gotten a lot better at it, getting around with three legs could still be tricky. He couldn't help but cast glances up at his new friend, she was incredibly kind, but hadn't tried to patronize him like ponies often did, and he could appreciate that.

He snapped from his thoughts when he noticed that they'd reached the park, he continued to follow her until they rested at a lovely little patch. His eyes widened when he caught sight of the small paper birds, looking rather amazed, "Wooow, how did you do that?" He chuckled when she shoved them back into her saddle bag, looking amused as he took a deep breath, smiling, "You were right, this is much nicr than wandering the streets by myself!"

(Apologies for the late post)

'Oh, that?' she asked, looking down to the crumpled paper in her saddlebags. 'Residual magic. I get bored in class, and I like using the excess energy from experiments in science class rather than having it buzz around in my head all day. 'S no big deal.'

She patted the grass beside her after eyeing his bandages and determining that it would do no harm. After a moment of thought, she pulled a blank roll of parchment from her bag and ignited the pink magic on her horn, causing the paper to glow. Then she blew gently on the paper, and when it began morphing, she put it on top of Flare's head and giggled when the paper dragon gave a semi-mighty roar.

'That was a little harder,' she admitted. 'But, after all, I am quite right. Street-wandering is boring. I've mapped out a good three-fourths of Ponyville, and once it's there-,' she tapped her head, 'it doesn't go away.'

((This is SO LATE I'm so sorry, I got sick for a bit ;o;))

Flare couldn't help a soft chuckle at that, it kind of sounded like him when he would use his spare tim to draw in his classes, although not quite the same, "You're very talented though, still!"

He smiled when he saw her pat the ground next to her, gladly hobbling over to lay out in the grass in that spot. His looked curious when she began to use her magic on a roll of parchment, his eyes getting wide with amazement when it was sudennly a dragon made from paper on his head, he giggled as he stared up at it, "Wooooow! That's so cool!" He looked up at her and nodded his agreement, "It's much nicer to spend time with friends doing something than wandering aimlessly!" It was a better way to chase away sad thoughts, that was for sure.

He looked down thoughtfully a moment before smiling up at her, "You know, not many other ponies see me past what's wrong with me..." He frowned a little, "I don't like it when all anyone wants to do it pity me. I don't really need it, because I'm okay, y'know?" He gave her a sincere smile, "So thank you, for seeing me for more than that." It was something he didn't encounter often when meeting new ponies, so it was something he could appreciate.

(Apologies for the late post, I was delayed)

Nikki smiled demurely at Flare, nodding along at his statements until he finished.

'We all have our problems, Flare,' she said seriously. 'Why pay attention to the bad when there's good underneath? I guess it's because I always do my best to be normal enough to blend in, but different enough to be special. I do have problems like you, but they're more of the psychological side rather than the physical. But that's a story for later, yeah?'

She reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a blanket and a basket from a space that seemed far too small for it. Grinning, she opened the basket and dug around inside of it before finding a tea service and setting it out on the checkered surface. With a concentrated huff, a squint, and a burst of magic, the teapot was filled with steaming water and a packet of tea leaves were sitting on a plate in front of the two foals.

'Tea helps me think,' she said in way of explanation, 'and one should always enjoy a good cup of tea with her friends.'