A Swell Ride

"Where do you suppose he's gotten to now?" a violet mare murmured to herself, scanning the skies above for any sign of Ace, which did not even afford her that.

"I wonder how he'd react if I gave him an ultimatum between me and flying..." she pondered deviously.

"Amethyst! How could you come up with such cruel ideas?" she scolded herself.

"I'm kidding!" she reassured.

Her one-pony conversation was interrupted by the grass and flowers blowing towards her, accompanied by the sound of something hitting the earth. She looked up slightly to see two pairs of golden-amber hooves. She looked up more to complete the item they belonged to; a youthful pegasus stallion, smiling at her, eyes glimmering with innocence. "Hey there, Amy," he greeted the mare. "You seemed like you were having a nice conversation."

Amethyst - who we will now refer to as her pet name Amy - blushed. "There are much worse habits, you know."

"So... you remember what day it is tomorrow, right?" Ace Ascending asked.

"Oh, I don't know," she said, jovially-sarcastic. "Perhaps our one-year anniversary?"

"Absolutely correct!" said Ace. "I've got a little something special planned for one year of being with the most wonderful mare in the world."

"Well, I won't know unless you tell me," said Amy with a giggle. "Nah, I don't wanna know. Surprises are, for the most part, great."

"Right," said Ace. "You'll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out."

"And now I need to exercise these wings," he added, flapping his appendages slightly. "See ya!" And with that, he flew up into the air.

Amy shook her head and smiled watching her coltfriend bolt off, getting smaller and smaller as he went further and further into the azure sky above.

~~~

While he travelled through the horizons, Ace started to revise the plan he had already mapped out. Taking Amy to see the various landmarks from high above, challenging her to see how high she was willing to go.

He began performing loop-de-loops and twirls in the boundary-free area high above. Every random direction, seeing nothing but blue and white. And eventually, some red rectangles...

*THONK!*

~~~

Ace woke up, a hoof to his head, for he had the worst headache. As if he had flown into a brick wall. He could hear a repeated beeping sound.

His vision became less and less blurry until he could see two ponies looking down upon him. Amethyst, and a stallion in a white coat.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Amy asked Ace, both her voice and face clearly panicked.

"Whu... what's going on?" asked Ace, looking around.

"You're in Ponyville Hospital," Amethyst told him. "I found you unconscious next to a brick wall. I think you flew straight into it."

Ace thought back. Red rectangles...

"Well, you've been here a  while," said the doctor. "We can let you go in a few hours, but you won't be able to fly for a minimum of two days."

Ace's eyes turned to pinpricks.

Amy appeared to notice this. "Oh geez.. no flying for two No wonder you seem so horrified."

"N-no! That can't be right! You must've made a mistake!" Ace burst out.

Amy sighed. "Ace, this pony here is a medical professional, and he says your wings are out of commission for at least two days." She turned to the coated stallion. "Thank you for everything, doc."

"Yeah..." said Ace, not looking up from his aimless, comtemplative gaze downwards. Under normal circumstances, he would have been moping about not being able to fly for two days.

But now, he wouldn't be able to take Amethyst for their anniversary surprise.