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 Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 5:16 pm
 Lyssa raced down the lane, paying no attention to where she was going. Oh, her family made her so mad sometimes! Always with their rules and restrictions. Lyssa just wanted to be free to do as she pleased. She didn't want to have to stay home all the time like a good little girl. So, she was running away. It's not like they needed her or anything, they had her two siblings, and that was enough. November never had any time for her anyways, what should it matter if she left? Lyssa, a frown on her face and anger in her heart, had vowed never to return. Of course, that would only last until she got lonely. She would return later, but she wasn't thinking about that at the moment. She was more concerned with not running into the trees that scattered themselves around the path.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:05 pm
 It was a lazy, hazy summer day, all clear blue skies and motes of sunshine. So it was no surprise that Bright Dusk had abandoned his morning's adventures in favor of dozing under an old oak tree. Bright might dream of rescuing fair maidens, but he also knew the value of a nice meal and a good nap.
The colt was nearly about to drift to drift into sleep when he heard the pounding of miniature hooves thunder close to his comfy patch of grass. He kicked his legs and spread his wings and managed to flail himself out of the way just in time to avoid getting trampled.
"Ack! Hey!!' He whinnied. "What the heck?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 4:37 pm
Stopping abruptly, Lyssa turned back. What was that blur? She stood over the colt. "What were you doing in the middle of the path?" she asked, taking in his appearance with a sweep of her eyes. "You don't look like anyone I've ever seen before...what are those?" She pointed at his wings with her nose. "I've never seen anything like them. Are you part-bird??" She grinned at him, truly excited. She wondered if he could fly with them. It was only a matter of time before she spotted his horn, and barraged him with another round of questions.
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:35 am
"What were you doing not looking where you were going?" Bright complained, before he noticed that it was a filly talking to him, and that therefore he should try to be more chivalrous.
He fanned out his wings and gave them a couple of test flaps, enjoying the way that the air rushed beneath his pinions. The scare that Lyssa had given him had swept his grogginess clear away.
"Ah- my apologies. I was startled. Allow me to introduce myself, dear lady," the colt said, with all due gravity, and bobbed his head in acknowledgement of their meeting. He tried very hard to be gallant around girls. "My name is Bright Dusk. And these are my wings, of course."
Where had the filly's own wings gone? Did she had a run-in with some evildoers? Could he try to heal them back into place? Bright couldn't ask. It wouldn't be very gentlemanly to pry into a maiden's delicate personal issues. Everyone Bright knew could fly - Mom, Dad, Zeph, Great-Gramma - and he'd never thought about Soquili living solely on the ground.
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:30 pm
Lyssa, seeing how hard he was trying to be polite, merely giggled and sank into a wobbly, but deep, curtsy. "And I am Lyssa, my dear sir. And you're the first I've ever met to sport wings. Can you fly with them? And...what's that? A horn? You must be a unicorn! Mama was telling me about them, she says they can heal anything." Lyssa beamed at him happily. She had decided that he was special, very special indeed. After all, he had a unicorn horn, and wings.
"I don't have wings or a horn. But I don't think that hampers me much. Not really." Lyssa tried not to stare, she really did. But his wings were beautiful, and she caught herself staring at his beautiful cream-colored primaries. Figuring she must say something to explain herself, she murmured, "You know, your wings are very handsome. I wish I had a pair, they'd be very flattering, don't you think?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:50 am
Bright's expression was as open and enthusiastic as ever, but the twisting of his prehensile tail betrayed his sudden awkwardness. Was it that different to have wings? Or a horn? Bright knew that he couldn't fly as high as his Mom or his brother Zeph, so he probably wouldn't be as good at healing as a pure Unicorn either.
"I, uh, think that the word is Alicorn. That's why my Dad said, at least. He's like me."
But wasn't he supposed to compliment her, instead of the other way around...? Bright refused to fail as a gentleman!!!
"That doesn't matter, though. Right? You're a girl, so obviously I'm not nearly as nice-looking as you. Girls are always better-looking than boys, because they're thinner and not as wide and rough and stuff. You have neat spots."
The colt clearly had not had a lot of practice perfecting his flattery techniques. But he was earnestly, painfully sincere.
"You were going pretty fast. I don't know if I could run like that. My wings would get in the way. Or I'd catch onto an updraft and take off by accident." The admission made him feel a little sheepish. "You're very accomplished! Are you in a hurry to go somewhere? If something's chasing you, I'll definitely try to help."
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:36 pm
"Alicorn? Oh. I didn't know." Lyssa smiled, thinking of all the things that she still didn't know. "Of course it doesn't matter. Besides, it's not like either of us could do anything to change it." A frown crossed her face at his next remarks, and she replied hotly, "Who says girls are better looking than boys? I wouldn't think there was all that much of a difference, at least not until we get older. And even then, I've seen boys much prettier than me. My own brother is way prettier than I am. He's rainbow colored, and he has the most gorgeous white spots. I'm a bit jealous, actually, but don't tell him that!" She smiled though, when he told her that he liked her spots. "Well...I'm glad you like them. I'm not so fond of them myself."
"Oh...was I? I wasn't trying to be that fast... And no, I'm not being chased. I was...um...I was running away from home." She admitted, her head hanging sadly. "They don't need me there anyway, so why should I stick around? Mama has two other foals to care for, I just get in her way." She forced herself to smile. "But enough about me, it's too depressing. Did you say you could fly? Can you show me?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:43 am
"Oh? Oh! Sure!"
Bright flicked his ears happily. He loved flying more than almost anything! Mom and Dad were often awkward together, for reasons that a foal like him couldn't quite grasp, but there were no strange silences or significant glances way up in the sky. Only peace, and the infinite blue.
He wished that Lyssa had wings, because then she would know. There was nothing in the world to be sad about so long as you could see the open sky.
"We need to find a hill so I can get up some speed to take of. When I'm big I'll be able to get more lift. Mom and Dad'll be happy then. They both like to move around lots."
The colt led his new friend down the dirt path, searching for an incline, but he wasn't truly in any rush. His remained at a casual trot.
"I have a brother. Brothers are funny, aren't they? Mine's got way more colors on him than me! Green, and purple, and white, and black, and gold, and pink, and blue, and cream, and everything. He flies higher too, since he's a Wind. But I don't mind. Mom says-"
Oh, geeze, he hoped this didn't sound lame.
"Mom says that from lower down it's easy to read what's written in the clouds. I don't know if that's true, since Mom can't do any of that stuff, but one day I'm going to learn."
It wasn't- um. It wasn't the same as being a brave charger like his Dad. But-
"Then I'll know what to say to stop her from being sad when Dad's gone off with his girlfriends."
And he'd know what to say to someone like Lyssa too. The unhappiness of others bothered him, like chewing on a shock of bitter grass, or being bitten by an insect that his tail couldn't flick away.
Finally, they reached the bottom of a gently sloping hill. Just what Bright needed.
"Say, Lyssa, what's your favorite thing to do in the whole world?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:17 am
Lyssa followed behind him, swishing her tail behind her. He was interesting, this colt, more so than her brother, who she saw more than she wanted, and her sister, who she saw very rarely. Of course, that wasn't counting her older siblings...
Lyssa sighed. Sometimes it wasn't all that great to have such a big family.
"My brother is kind of annoying. He's afraid of most everything, and he's so...so shy. I'm not like him at all." A sad little smile flickered across her face. She wished that she could be friends with her brother, just like her big sister was friends with him.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out somehow..." she said quietly. It hadn't occurred to her that his family might not be like hers. Her parents were happy together, and they weren't going to leave each other. Lyssa and her siblings never doubted their parent's love, and there was no fear of one or the other leaving. As such, she was shocked slightly at Bright's words.
As they reached the incline, she perked up almost immediately. "So, you can fly now, right? Oh, I'm so excited! I've never seen anyone fly before!"
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:58 pm
Bright didn't miss the tone of pity in Lyssa's voice, when she tried to reassure him about his Mom, but he shrugged it off. He didn't feel sorry for himself. Why should anyone else? He wielded his optimism like a weapon, using it to drive back all the ugliness he didn't want to deal with.
He was only a foal, so he didn't know much, but- he thought you could only live in a nice world if you tried very hard to see it.
"Okay!" He chirped. "Just remember that I'm still learning. My wings aren't the right size, yet, so- there are probably lots of better flyers than me. But I'll do my best!"
Bright trudged his way up to the top of the hill, and then took off down the steepest part of the slope, wings spread and legs working to increase his momentum. He tilted his pinions to catch the updraft and worked the muscles in his back with all his might, until finally the wind was with him, and he was treading on air instead of soft grass.
"See?" He laughed, skimming a foot above the grass. Bright didn't want to fly towards Lyssa. Growth spurts had made his body ungainly, he was forever adjusting for new wingspan or extra weight, and if he headed towards his new friend he'd probably crash strait into her.
Bright was, um. A little clumsy.
"My bones are heavier than a Wind's, but it's still okay."
The colt swept behind Lyssa, then wheeled back around, circling.
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:42 pm
Lyssa beamed at him. "Well, I think that you'll be the best flier I've ever seen!" She hoped he didn't remember that he would also be the only flier she'd ever seen. She didn't want him to get discouraged.
Lyssa watched as he took off running down the hill. He had guts, that was for sure. She would have been terrified to run down such a steep hill. She would probably wind up tied up like a pretzel, whatever those were.
Lyssa wondered about these pretzels. Her mother spoke of them often, she had a certain fondness for them. Apparently, her human had given her one when she lived in the village. Lyssa didn't know anything about them, and she didn't care to. Pretzels must be awful if it wasn't good to be tied up like one. And why were they tied up anyway?
While Lyssa was caught up in her musings, Bright had taken off. A soft gush on wind swept across Lyssa's face, and she looked up to see Bright floating above the earth, held aloft by his beautiful wings.
"Wow!" she exclaimed.
He was amazing! Lyssa watched him with fascination and awe as he flew circles around her. Now, more than ever, she wished she could join him up in the sky. It looked like so much fun!
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