Starlight sighed and stretched out her wings as the subtle undercurrent of Patient Care's magic ran through them. "That feels like heaven."
"Glad I could help, you seemed stressed all week. What was going on that made you so anxious?" Patient asked, staring up at the reddened, sunset sky above them.
"I hate thunderheads. Those stupid rogue thunderheads that come out of the Everfree every once in a while, one wrong move and your feathers are a nightmare to rearrange." Starlight sighed again.
"Jeez. Your job seems about as hectic as mine. At least you don't have to worry about colostomy bags leaking all over the floor." Patient laughed, Starlight making a face of disgust.
"Not going to ask."
The nurse just laughed and continued to preen Starlight's feathers.
A mid-spring breeze blew right through the two, whipping their manes up with the average sized gale and cooling the two off from the sun. They sat there in silence for a while, Starlight with her back straight while Patient slowly picked through her feathers.
"Damn. You're right, this is a nightmare to pick through." Patient tried to strike up the conversation again to break the silence.
"Most of the time I can do it myself, with a feather brush. But it feels better when another pony is doing it."
Patient smiled in response, happy to lend a hand, when he notices something about the purple pegasus.
"Your shoulders look incredibly tense. Is there something you're worried about?"
"No. Just stuff. When you spend most of your time on your wings, you'll get tensed up." A sly smile began to creep onto her face.
"I can help you out with that. I haven't used my massage hooves in a while and I think you look like you need one." Patient offered, trying to not seem weird about it.
"Of course, I could demonstrate how strong my wings can be." She traced a circle in the grass with one hoof.
Patient only smiled and placed his forehooves onto Starlight's back. He pressed down gently, making sure to not hurt the tendons between the wings and her spine.
"Or...or not..."
"Or not what?" Patient asked, continuing to remove the knots from Starlight's shoulder blades.
"Or not nothing. Just don't stop doing that. Ever."
Patient gave a chuckle and continued his routine, not deviating from a set pattern in his mind: 'circles on the blades, stripes down the middle.' Both hooves, after done with dislodging knots from the blades moved between the center between the two joints and pressed down a bit harder, pushing tension out of Starlight with a sigh.
"How's that?"
"Ponyfeathers, less talking, more pushing."
Patient revved up the magic spewing from his light yellow horn onto Starlight's wings, continuing to straighten them out while pressing down onto her spine and shoulders. The two were silent for another few minutes.
Starlight flapped her wings once as Patient finished up to make sure there weren't any loose feathers she still needed to pull out. When all was clear, she turned and nodded to Patient Care. "Thanks for preening me."
"Always glad to help you out." Patient smiled.
"In fact." She said, creeping around the tree they had been sitting near and sneaking up behind Patient, "I'd like to repay you..."
"Oh, you don't have to." Patient tried to decline, but was cut off by Starlight snatching him up and bringing them both into the air with a flap of her wings.
"Wait, what's going on now?" The unicorn asked cautiously.
Starlight laughed. "Just sit back and enjoy the ride!"
Patient stared at the ground in near panic-mode as he was hoisted into the air by the pegasus pony. He tried to grab onto a nearby cloud with his dangling hind-legs, but failed miserably as they passed right through the mist. Patient began to mutter small prayers to Luna so that he would not be dropped at such a height. Starlight overheard this and laughed heartily.
"It's no good. You are at my mercy until I put you down, isn't it fun?"
"Emperor protect me..." Patient quietly muttered as his puils shrank to pinpricks while he tried to see through the cloud layer they were passing through.
After about ten minutes of heart-pounding (and at some moments, heart-stopping) flying action, Starlight eventually set him down.
Patient wobbled beneath the tree for a few seconds before plopping down at the trunk, dazed and muttering the Hypocratic Oath as quietly to himself over and over again. He took a deep breath and glared at Starlight.
"You. Little. Fucker."
Starlight winked. "Love you too."
Patient looked to his left and right, seeing if anypony was nearby. Thankfully, they had the sunset bathed park to themselves. He seized his opportunity to give Starlight a proracted hug.
"Don't ever do that to me again." He chuckled.
"Unless I want to." She laughed as well. "That was a dumb move on my part. You look adorable when your pupils shrink."
Patient didn't know what to say to this, so he only smirked and scratched the back of his head with a hoof, as he eyed the ground.
Starlight took the moment and snuggled next to him, one wing overtop of him like a shield. The unicorn placed his foreleg under her wing and onto her back, pulling her close. They stayed together that way for a while, until it started to rain, the drops pouring around them. They probably wouldn't be able to make it back to their homes for a few hours.
They didn't care.
Author's Note
The Real Starlight (Starlight Shadow): The flying scene was my favorite bit to write. My pulse actually got quicker when Star was sneaking up on Patient. Is that wrong?
Patient Care (Patient X): Not wrong in the slightest.
