Aero and Clover
Chapter 1
It’s a brisk, clear morning in Ponyville as a young, light blue unicorn trotted through town. She’s on her way to her shop before opening time. Every morning she goes and picks fresh four-leaf clovers that she had planted some weeks before. Her saddle bags are now packed to the brim of these precious little plants that resemble her cutie mark. Just on the end of the corner there’s the sign that reads “Fortuna’s Fortunate Charms”, she opened this store right at the beginning of the year and so far, business hasn’t been booming, you would think in a world where magic is a normal, everyday occurrence, ponies wouldn’t be so skeptical of lucky charms, As far as Clover was aware, she was the only pony with the magical ability to create luck from magic, so why wasn’t her shop getting more customers? At least she had the Farmer’s Market today, with that many ponies all out and about looking to spend bits. It just seemed like she always sold more at the Farmer’s Market than her own store front. Her horn glowed forest green and a key rose from under that welcome mat and she opened the door and turned on the lights. The shop was small, but quaint, a little dust on the shelves with items with a similar magic aura as Clovers, Her charms could use a little sprucing up, as well as the rest of the store. Even with the lights on it was still a little dark, like a window was missing, the place needed more natural light. She went to the back room and unloaded her clovers and stacked them into a neat pile, placing each one under a looking glass and looked along the veins in the leafs, the longer and more intricate the veins, the more magic could be held, the more magic could be held, the longer the luck would last. With a small zap to the clover, it began to glow, emitting luck to whomever holds it. These little beauties were Clovers number one sellers, probably because they were moderately priced, however the magic didn’t last too long, only about a week at best. But it was guaranteed to be the best week of your life. Clover also took what she called commissions to those who asked for it, she could enchant anything that holds value to the any specific pony, be it special jewels, favorite shoes, a belt buckle, you name it, she found that if you had a special connection to the item, the magic would last a very long time.
***
He felt the hot sun on his back as he rose from his cloud bed. The purple pegasus peaked over and observed the land below. Aero never liked mornings, but he did enjoy the view of Celestia’s sun coming up over the hills just beyond Ponyville, and then seeing all the little ponies moving around the town. Looks like he had an easy day ahead of him, not a dark cloud in the sky, no rain planned for the day, perhaps he could use this time to work on some tricks he had thought of. Aero was a great flyer, maybe not on Rainbow Dash’s level, but a great flyer in his own right. He had great precision and could knock out the sky in about 12 seconds without missing a single puff of fog. His favorite thing to do is high altitude stunts, with every flight he brings up a small device that measures how high he’s flying. He made the device himself but hasn’t decided what to call it yet. The highest he’d ever flown was about 14,000 feet above the ground, but today he was ready to test his limits. Though he lived for speed and stunts, Aero wasn’t all that competitive, preferring to just have fun with his own tricks. He enjoyed watching the Wonderbolts but never considered trying out to be one, thinking them a bit too elitist, only wanting the very best despite the consequences, at least that what he had imagined after accidentally over hearing one of Rainbow Dash’s stories from when she went to the academy. After a quick warm-up he shot like a bullet to the sky, climbing higher and higher until Ponyville was nothing more than a small square. When he stopped to look down at his device that was strapped around his wrist, he suddenly felt light headed, he started seeing black spots and feeling extreme nausea. His vision blacked out completely and he began falling.
Clover had packed all her things and started heading over to her stand at the Farmer’s Market, it was such a beautiful day out she paused, closed her eyes and lifted her head up towards the sun smiling. Feeling the warmth hit her face felt terrific after being in her dark shop. She opened her eyes and saw a small shape plummeting towards the earth, nopony had seems to notice, she kept staring and realized it was a pegasus! From the looks of it, this couldn’t be some kind of stunt, no, that pony was falling. Without thinking, Clover took off to where the pony was falling, she ran hard and fast, so fast that she was afraid her legs might give out. It looked like the pony was heading toward the Everfree Forest, she could see it and with a Pop-Zap she was right in the entrance. She positioned herself where she believe the pony was to fall and cast a spell she has just read about, a feather-catch net spell. As if she had done it a million times, she casts it perfectly between three trees, she hoped she had put the glowing green net in the right place. She looked up again and thought yes she had, but it was going to be close and touchdown! She had caught a purple pegasus stallion in her net. It looks like he still hit the net pretty hard though, one of his wings looked pretty ruffled and a bit warped. She tried to wake him but only got mumbles. Trying to keep a cool head, she picks him up and rushes him to Ponyville Hospital, She hopes he’s going to be alright, and that she could carry him all the way there.
*****
It’s been a few hours since she arrived at the hospital. She ran in and screamed for help when two nurse ponies came to assist her. Clover was in such a frantic state that the words of what happened seem to have sprinted out of her mouth. The nurses just kept saying “Yes” “I see” “Could somepony get the doctor” When Dr. Stable arrived, his gave the broken pegasus a quick-once over.
“Right, get this stallion into x-ray stat”
While Clover waited for the x-rays to come back, the white-coated nurse gave her some forms to fill out. She just stared at the sheets of paper, not know anything about the pony she had just dragged in. So she just put down her contact information and was about to give the forms back to the desk when Dr. Stable appeared.
“Ma’am, are you with the patient?”
“Uhh, yeah, I guess I am.”
“Well we just got through the x-rays of his left wing, he’s greatly fractured his metacarpals and his Humorous, and we’re going to have to operate immediately.”
“I’m sorry, in plain English, what exactly did he break?”
“The bone that attaches his wing to his spine, and a few other bones inside his wing. He’ll definitely be grounded for a few months, and full recovery will take even longer.”
Clover just stared, why was he telling her all this? Was he expecting her to take care of him? She didn’t even know the guy. She did kind of feel sorry for him though, he’s going to wake up from surgery, not knowing anything that’s happened or why he can’t move his wing. Maybe the least she could was be there for him when he wakes up.
“Miss?”
“Huh? Oh, yes well, okay, will you just let me know when he’s out of surgery?”
“Of course.”
So Clover waited for the operation to be over. She took turns staring at the clock, mindlessly flipping through magazines, counting tiles and floor panels. Eventually, her thoughts took over.
“Where is he going to stay?” Surly he lives in a cloud home, most pegasi do, how is he going to get up there?” “Who’s is going to take care of him? He probably has family, but what if he doesn’t? I suppose I could offer him a place to stay, I do have that spare bedroom. Maybe he’d want to stay with me for a bit. Is that weird? Of course it’s weird, I don’t even know this guy’s name. He’s kind of cute though, with his plum mane and tail with the dark blue streaks though out. What the heck are you saying? This is a complete stranger, you don’t know him. He could be a total freak whack job. Or maybe he’s not, maybe he’s awesome. Who the heck knows? How many floor panels am I up to again? Shoot, better start over. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5”.
Just then, the doctor came through the door, still wearing his surgical cap and gown.
“Well Miss, The surgery went very well and he’s now recovering, you can go back and see him if you want.”
“Oh, okay great, Thank you so much Doctor.”
Clover calmly trotted through the doors and down the hallway. Peeking through each window to try and find the familiar purple shade of his coat. At last she found him. Eyes still closed with his mouth open. She opened the door and heard a groan. He was waking up. She stood in the door way and waited for him to open his eyes.
***
All he saw were blurs. Some white over there, some slightly brighter white over there. He tried to open his eyes wider to see if they could focus. He scanned the room again, not sure where he was. The last thing he could remember was his view of the earth below. “Am I dead?” he thought. Then his eyes began to clear a little more, and in the door way, he saw a light blue and green pony. A unicorn, one that he has never seen before. He gurgles out the words “Where am I?” “What happened? “Who are you?” And she began to speak. She told him of how she saw him falling from the sky and how she was able to catch him using a spell, then how she carried him back.
“Oh, and my name is Clover.”
“Clover?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you so much for bringing me here, but what exactly is wrong with me?”
“You should wait for the doctor to come in, do you want me to go get him?”
“Please.”
She left the room. While she was gone, he wondered, how could he have fallen, perhaps altitude sickness? He looked down at his device to see if it still had his last measurement. The darn thing was nearly smashed completely, he couldn’t see the screen at all. He also thought about the nice mare that brought him here. Thank Celestia she happened to look up at that particular moment. He decided that she was a pretty little thing, a bit short, but cute. “Oh shoot” he thought, “I forgot to tell her my name.”.
Just then, the doctor came in with her at his side, did she work here? No, he didn’t think so, judging by her cutie mark.
“Well now, look who’s coming around, how are you feeling?”
“A little loopy and very stiff. What happened to me?”
“First things first, what’s your name sir?”
“Aero Nimbus”
“Well Mr. Nimbus, you fractured your Humorous and a few metacarpals, basically you’re whole wing has little breaks throughout and the big one that attaches it to your body. You’re going to be laid up for a good long while and you’re going to need a lot of physical therapy, but you should make a full recovery with full usage of your wing. Do you have a place to stay while you’re laid-up?”
Aero didn’t really have a house exactly. He never needed one, he always lived above the weather so he didn’t really need anything to shelter him from the rain, he also didn’t have a whole bunch of stuff, just a shed that he would go and tinker with things in, but it was way to small and cluttered for him to be staying in.
“No, I uh, I guess I don’t.”
“You can stay with me if you want.”
The little unicorn spoke, at that moment he couldn’t remember her name, he just stood there, staring at her.
“I’m sorry, I just have an extra bedroom and if you didn’t have anywhere to stay, I guess I could rent it out to you for pretty cheap while you recovered, or you can work in my shop to help pay it off.”
Is it weird that she’s offering me a place to stay? Is it weird that I want to? Is it even weirder that she’s in here at all? Is it just flat out insane that I really don’t mind her presence because I think her flank is really cute?
“Um, yeah, yes. Okay, I’ll stay with you, what was your name again?”
“Clover.”
“Hi Clover, I’m Aero.”
“Really nice to meet you Aero.”
“You too.”