"GIVE HIM BACK!"

She jumped back and forth as she desperately tried to grab hold of her precious childhood friend, disdainful laughter raining down upon her. As much as she tried her tiny forelegs couldn't reach the object. She felt completely useless; she just wanted her white and green dog plushie back so she could go on with her life, but some ponies had other plans for the young plum-purple Pegasus.

As her toy was again thrown in the opposite direction, she attempted to move a little quicker as she turned around, which resulted in her tripping on her own hind legs and fall flat on her stomach, her chin hitting the hard playground floor and lifting clouds of dust around her. Trying to fight the tears that were emerging, she looked up to see the filly in front of her, who had her plushie resting on her back.

"If you want your toy back so badly, why don't you just fly up and grab it?" asked the pale-green earth filly with a flick of her curly reddish-brown mane. She then took a hoof to her cheek and faked a surprised expression. "Oh, that's right! You can't!"

"You're such a looser!" commented the yellow colt behind her. "I mean, what kind of Pegasus gets her cutie mark before she learns how to fly?"

"And it's a stupid one, too! Really, a pencil? Is that your talent, drawing? It's pathetic, just like you!"

Rising her sore head from the ground, she glanced over at the filly and the colt's cutie marks, a lemon and a skateboard, respectively. Hers wasn't any more pathetic then theirs.

"Everything about you is stupid! Even your name! What kind of parents name their kid Sketchy Shadow?" asked the colt as he drew his messy black mane away from his eyes.

"Admit it, Sketchy. You're completely useless." added the filly, who stuck out her tongue at her.

"No, I'm not!" grunted Sketchy as she rose up and tried to nab her toy away from the filly, who quickly threw it back to the colt.

"You're useless!" she scoffed at her.

"And stupid!" added the colt, wiggling his flank to show her toy sitting on it.

"And you know what we call ponies who are stupid and useless?" she moved closer, glaring at her in an intimidating manner.

"A mule!" exclaimed the colt as he also closed in on her.

They started chanting the word 'mule' over and over again, inching closer every time they repeated it. Sketchy squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears, but that only resulted in them raising their voices, making sure she heard them.

She couldn't take it. Why wouldn't they just her leave her alone? What had she done to deserve this? Unable to stand their hurtful name-calling, she finally gave in to her tears and started sobbing loudly, which only resulted in them laughing at her misery.

"Leave her alone!"

Sniffing and rubbing her wet cheeks, Sketchy opened her eyes and raised her head, only to see that the bullies were looking to their left. Following their gazes, she discovered who had called out to them: a white unicorn colt with a bright orange mane and glasses with royal-blue frames which seemed to be a little too big for him. His cutie mark seemed to be some sort of symbol, but due to her distance and the fact that her eyes were still wet, she couldn't really make out what it was. He was glaring angrily at the ponies who were bothering her, who in return were clearly unimpressed.

"Oh look, it's the nerd." the filly chuckled as she rolled her eyes.

"The name is Mylar." retorted the white colt as he valiantly took a step forward and adjusted his glasses atop his muzzle. "I want you to give that filly her toy back, right now!"

"Why should we?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?" asked the yellow colt, who still had the plushie resting on his back.

"For one, I don't like it when poor defenseless ponies are picked on. It's not fair! And secondly…" the unicorn narrowed his eyes, trying to look as menacing as he could. "…don't think I'm afraid to tell on you."

"Yeah, right! Like you'd have the guts." replied the filly, trying to match his facial expression.

"Just try me."

Neither of them moved as they glared at each other, eager to see who would give in first. Sketchy looked from the white colt to the green filly, eventually glancing over at the yellow colt, who seemed clueless on how to react. After a long moment of silence the filly let out an exasperated sigh.

"Fine…" she groaned, turning to her companion. "Give Sketchy her toy back, Jaywalk."

He gave a single nod and bent his hind legs to enable the Pegasus to grab her toy. She smiled and reached for her beloved plushie, when suddenly the colt threw the lower half of his body into the air and hurled the toy in the filly's direction, who bucked it and sent it flying over the metal fence that separated the playground from a deep cliff.

"GEORGIE!" the Pegasus exclaimed desperately as she ran towards the fence, looking down to spot her plushie, which was now nowhere in sight. She started crying again as she heard her bullies laugh at her once more.

They walked pass Mylar, who glared daggers at them as they chuckled almost uncontrollably. The white unicorn looked over at the Pegasus filly, hearing her sob as she clutched the fence with both her hooves. He slowly trotted up to her, carefully choosing his words.

"Hey, I-I'm…" he cleared his throat before continuing. "I'm sorry about your toy."

"He was my only friend…" she whispered, her voice a bit raspy from crying. "…and now he's gone…"

"Don't worry, I'll be your friend." he beamed at her, hoping that would lift her spirits.

"No, you won't."

"Huh?"

"Everypony who's ever been my friend ended up leaving me. My best friend did it, and now she hates me."

"Why would you say that?"

"You just saw her bullying me."

"Jhambiri was your best friend?!" he exclaimed a little louder than he should.

"Uh-huh. We used to be so close… but I guess she just got tired of hanging with the weirdo." she sighed sadly and let her forelegs drop to her sides. "Now she's joined forces with Jaywalk… and they've been tormenting me ever since. And now that Georgie's gone… I'm all alone."

She turned around and started walking in Mylar's direction, hanging her head and avoiding eye contact. Just as she was about to pass the unicorn he stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

"Can you please move?" she asked as she kept staring at the ground beneath her. "I just wanna go home…"

"No. I can't stand to see you like this. You need a friend, and I can be just that.

"You're just saying that."

"No, I'm not. I'm serious. I really wanna be your friend. Trust me."

She raised her head to meet his gaze, and she saw kindness and sincerity in his eyes. She could see he was telling the truth, which left her intrigued. Who was this strange colt who was suddenly offering his friendship to her?

She took a moment to examine him from top to bottom, studying every detail about him. Now that she was face to face with him, she could see his eyes were roughly the same shade of blue as the frames of his glasses. She also saw what his cutie mark really was, a small smile appearing on her muzzle as she looked at his flank.

"Your cutie mark is a pi?" she asked, catching Mylar by surprise.

"Yeah." his smile grew wider. "I'm impressed! Most ponies don't understand what that symbol is! Usually they think it's some kind of weird table doodle."

"I like math too. I'm actually pretty good at it."

"Then I guess we have something in common."

She let out a low giggle, which made him happy. He was glad he was able to cheer her up. They silently looked at each other for a while, his blue eyes looking into her puffy green ones, the two feeling completely comfortable in each other's company.

"You really wanna be my friend?" asked Sketchy, a glimmer of hope lighting up inside of her.

"Yeah, I do." Mylar replied.

"Aren't you afraid you'll be picked on for being seen with me, the filly everypony calls 'the weirdo'?"

"I'm not exactly Mr. Popular myself." he chuckled, causing her to giggle as well. "Besides, I don't think you're a weirdo. I actually think you're kind of cool!"

Sketchy's smile widened and her eyes sparkled with joy. Never in her life had a pony called her cool, and now there was somepony who actually thought that. That day wasn't turning out to be so bad, after all.

"Well, then let's make a pact, right here and now, to be best friends forever!"

She stuck out her hoof, waiting for the colt to grab it and shake it, but all he did was stare at it. Her smile died as she realized she might have taken it too far.

"Too weird?" she asked sadly as she slowly lowered her foreleg, but to her surprise he held her hoof in his and raised it again.

"I don't like the word 'weird'. I prefer 'original'." he gave two shakes and released her hoof. "Best friends forever."

Sketchy Shadow grinned widely, as wide as she ever had. She almost couldn't believe she actually had a friend. No, not a friend; a BEST friend.

Unable to control her joy and herself, she threw herself at Mylar and hugged him tightly. The colt was a bit taken aback by her impulsive move, but immediately returned the embrace, smiling as he felt her warmth.

"Thank you…" she whispered as she felt her eyes start to tear up again.

"Don't mention it." he whispered in return.

"Please promise me… you'll never let me go…"

"Don't worry…" he tightened his grasp around her. "I'll never let go."

AUTHOR'S NOTE (PLEASE READ)

And that, kids, is how you make friends. x)

So this is how my ponysona met her coltfriend when they were both little. Next chapter will be about how they became a couple. It's gonna be fluffy, so don't forget to read it! =D

And now to explain how this was based on a true story: almost everything in this chapter actually happened to me when I was younger. Jaywalk represents the bully I had in the second grade, who was two years older than me, and actually called me a mule, among other things. Jhambiri represents this girl who was in my class during Elementary School and was REALLY annoying. One day, I don't really remember which grade we were in, I took my white and green dog plushie Georgie to school, which was my favorite toy and I LOVED it, and for some reason she just yanked out of my hands and threw over the playground's metal fence, which actually separated it from a cliff. I was devastated. I still think back to that day with sadness.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this. And OH MY GOD DAT COVER. I can't believe I was able to draw ponies! I'm so proud of myself! 8D

Also, I'm so excited for the release of Weird Al's new album tomorrow! Although I'm bummed out that they don't sell his stuff in my country… But hey, that's what internet downloads are for! xD