Not Allowed to Play Together

A knock was heard on the backdoor and Madeleine walked to it and opened it.

"Hello, I'm your neighbour, Gooseberry." a pegasus mare with a lime green body, minty green hair with a white stripe and light blue eyes, stood there with a big smile on her face.

"Oh, hi, come on in." Madeleine said as Gooseberry walked in and she looked around in surprise and delight.

"You're lucky, I wish my house was like yours. The last owners built it about a few years ago but they left for reasons unknown. They never told me why they left," Gooseberry said but as soon as she mentioned the last owners, her voice turned into a sad one. They must have been friends at the time. "Anyway, if you need help with anything, just let me know and you can do the same with me."

She then gave a grin and walked out the kitchen door then the back door. Madeleine then looked around at all the rooms and smiled. Yep, just the way the photos had shown when they were sent to her in the mail. Madeleine then decided to go out to the town, it was a big city and everypony looked really friendly. She looked around, smiled then saw a local shop. The shop was called "Race", not a very grocery shop like name but she went in anyway and looked at everything they had. She needed some food and drinks since she hadn't had any in quite a few hours. Madeleine levitated a few cakes, fruit, vegetables and some carrot juice (her favourite drink). She got them to the till and a earth pony stallion took her groceries and scanned them.

"That'll be six bits, please." the stallion said and Madeleine levitated six bits out of her saddlebag and gave it to him.

The stallion nodded at her and she smiled at him, levitated the bags that had her groceries then walked out of the door. As she walked, she looked at the city again before she bumped into somepony and she dropped her bags.

"Watch where you are going!" the pegasus mare she bumped into yelled in an angry voice then she flipped her hair out of her face and walked off.

Madeleine looked at her in surprise and annoyance then got up and got her groceries back into the bags then walked the rest of the way home.

Thaddeus walked around town, looking bored and having nothing to do. He looked around at the caste then sighed.

"Pssst!" a voice heard and he turned around to see where it was coming from but he couldn't figure it out. It was heard again and he walked over to the back of Valentina's bakery. He gasped at who he saw! Crystal sat there, looking at him with a grin.

"Crystal, what are you doing here?" Thaddeus asked in surprise. "How did you get out of the castle?"

She then gave a small giggle and still gave him that grin.

"I flew out of my bedroom window. I did lock my door but my mum will not be suspicious because she is used to me locking my door," Crystal replied with another giggle and her dark green eyes sparkled. "Come on, let's go to the woods and hang around there!"

She got up and jumped up and down gently until she then winced in pain. Thaddeus noticed some red scars on her forelegs. Crystal looked at the scars and gave him a look but he already knew what the answer was.

"What if the guards will be around there?" Thaddeus asked nervously.

"They never go and guard there anyway until nighttime. We'll hang around there until around five then I can go home so I don't get in trouble with my mum." Crystal replied with a lot of confidence.

"Alright, we'll be there until five and then I have to be back at school in a couple days because my Hearth's Warming break is almost up." Thaddeus said, tracing a shape on the ground with his hoof and he had his grey eyes to the ground.

"Lucky, I have to have lessons all the time, even on weekends." Crystal said in annoyance and she crossed her forelegs.

After their talk, the two cantered to the woods and sat down at the lake. What made that lake so special for everypony anyway? Maybe it was one of the most romantic spots there. That Thaddeus would agree with.

"It's so beautiful here." Thaddeus said as he laid down on the grass and looked at the clouds.

Crystal also did the same and she looked at him slightly with a big smile.

"Hey, that cloud looks like a star," Crystal said with delight and she clopped her hooves together. "That one looks like a bunny. See the fluffy tail?"

After some cloud watching, the two then played a game of tag. They laughed, screamed and even yelled at each other if one of them was now it. At one point, Crystal grabbed for Thaddeus and the two rolled about a little and they both laughed then blushed a little. They were about to kiss when a snap of a twig was heard. The figure walked out of the shadows and they noticed that it was Duncan. When he saw them, he didn't seem to mind and was surprised to see Crystal. He gave her a nod and she nodded back. Another snap of a twig and they noticed that it was the queen! Oh hay, this was not good!

"Crystal, you are outside?!" the queen demanded and Crystal cowered in fear. "Come on, young lady, we're going home!"

"What is wrong with her being outside? They were just playing!" Duncan demanded in anger.

The queen used her magic to lift her daughter into the air. "I don't care and now that your son was with my daughter, I shall ban you from visiting the castle even if it's for parties or any emergencies." the queen said and she then flew away while still levitating Crystal.

She turned to Thaddeus and mouthed goodbye to him, waved and gave an about to cry look.

Author's Note: The shop "Race" is a spoof of the shop "Mace".