Best Friends are Best Couples
The loud and annoying sound of the alarm clock woke her up from her sleep. With a groan, Whirlwind leaned from her bed and turned it off. With the noise dead, she fell back on the pillow and ran her fingers through her disheveled hair.
A smile crept on her face. “It’s finally today,” she said to herself, her right hand moving from her head to her left arm.
Under her palm she could feel the scars from the fire. About a month ago, shortly after becoming a Wonderbolt, she rescued a woman from a burning house, getting badly injured in the process. According to the doctors, she came very close to losing her arm. And even though that was thankfully prevented, she had to endure a long treatment and rehabilitation, several counseling sessions, and… a health leave. She couldn’t be expected to be up in the air with the rest of the Wonderbolts with her arm. She could shift it into her wing anytime, but for a long time as she slowly healed she was missing a lot of her feathers.
Of course, normally, such recovery would take much longer. However, she was fortunate to have a unique treatment method. And today was supposed to be her last visit to her “doctor”.
Excited at the thought, Whirlwind got up from her bed, stretched, and went to her bathroom. Wanting to be fully awake, she splashed water on her face and rubbed her eyes. She then looked into the mirror above the sink; her blue eyes were staring back at her with no sight of sleep left in them. Whirlwind started to fix her blue hair with lighter streaks while taking a look at her wounded arm. She couldn’t believe that all those scars would soon disappear, leaving her with her unblemished dark skin.
As she quickly went through her morning routine, Whirlwind found herself with an unpleasant task. Preening. What should be a normal task became torture at first with her injuries. Even now, when she was one session away from a complete recovery, moving her left arm to pluck the feathers from her back around the shoulder plates was an unpleasant chore. However, Whirlwind knew Amber would want to check if her wing also recovered properly, and she couldn’t just let them see her with non-preened wings!
She held her breath and was about to change her left arm into wing (which with her injuries stung a bit), but at that exact moment she heard knocking on her door.
Whirlwind frowned. She didn’t expect anybody, and it was too early for mail. But as the mysterious guest knocked again, she put the top of her pyjamas back on and walked through her apartment, throwing a blouse over herself as well.
“Who is it?” she asked as she stopped before the door.
“Hi, I’m a burglar?” came a reply.
Whirlwind sighed and raised her eyes into the skies above; however, despite her slight annoyance at the joke, she let out a soft chuckle. She recognized the voice of the person on the other side of the door. She knew it as well as her own.
It’s owner continued his one-man sketch routine: “I heard you have a nice TV, so-”
“Alright, I’m opening it already,” she said, unlocking the door.
When she opened it, the man standing outside smiled in greeting. “Morning Dubz.”
That nickname again… she thought, smirking. Never stopped calling me that, even after we broke up…
“Hi Prism,” she replied, then moved aside and gestured at her apartment. “Come in.”
Whirlwind looked him up and down as he entered. He looks surprisingly good for this hour… I mean, she added, suddenly feeling embarrassed, he usually looks good, but this early- Gah! she stopped her train of thoughts with a shake of her head.
The last thing she needed right now was him seeing her blush. But still, she couldn’t help but notice that the edges of his shirt weren’t tucked in, like the last time she had seen him dressed so early. Even his short rainbow-colored hair had recently been brushed. His green eyes looked sharp, and not at all half-asleep as if he was about to take a nap. Which was pretty rare, actually.
“Want something to drink?” Whirlwind asked as she closed the door.
“Sure, what do you have?”
“Dunno,” she replied, shrugging, and headed for the kitchen. “Haven’t bought groceries in over a month. Give me a second to check…”
Before she came back to her apartment yesterday, she had stopped by a restaurant and taken some food to-go, so she hadn’t checked how presentable her refrigerator was. Of course, it didn’t take a genius to figure out most of her food was by this point a biohazard. Drinks, on the other hand… Whirlwind thought as she opened her fridge and bent down to look around it.
“I have an unopened bottle of apple juice and some energy drinks. And milk,” she said. She picked the carton of milk up and opened it. “Actually, I don’t,” she quickly added, wrinkling her nose and closing the carton. “I think I can also-” Whirlwind began, looking back, and then stopped talking abruptly.
Prism’s head faced the wall on the opposite side of apartment the instant she looked at him.
Whirlwind rolled her eyes. Of course he would check out my ass… “-make some coffee or tea,” she finished, not wanting to comment on what she had caught him doing.
Besides, she wasn’t offended. Rather amused, actually.
“Juice’s fine, thanks,” Prism told her, looking back at her. “So,” he said as she poured them drinks and made a mental note to throw the milk out after Prism left, “today’s the last day of your recovery, right? How’re you feeling?”
“Good, very good,” she told him, giving him his glass with her good arm. “I’ll be glad to have this over. I mean, my arm doesn’t hurt anymore,” she began to explain, moving her left arm around. Her shoulder ached slightly in protest, “but I still have some difficulty moving it around. And shifting it into wing stings.”
Sympathy flashed in Prism’s eyes. “Sorry to hear that, but hey, it’s gonna be over soon! Pity they couldn’t heal you faster though.”
“Yeah, but Amber said that using magic to heal everything at once would actually do more damage,” Whirlwind explained; she already had that talk with their nurse friend several times. “Putting your body into a shock and all that. Plus, Mrs. Azalea can’t use her powers too much, it’s too draining for her.”
“Ah yes, Annie mentioned that to me,” Prism replied, nodding. “It’s great that she’s helping you heal. And it’s good Amber is no longer mad at her.”
“Mad at her?” Whirlwind asked, confused.
“Well, Amber felt responsible for Annie back before her mom adopted her, so you can imagine she wouldn’t be too thrilled when first meeting her biological mom, right?”
“I guess…” she replied.
She knew that Amber cared a great deal about Annie; heck, if she hadn’t been adopted, Amber would have definitely taken her in along with Hot Head and Lucky. And she knew Azalea was Annie’s biological mom. Still, the two were nothing but nice to each other whenever she was with them.
Whirlwind finished her drink and put the glass on the kitchen table. “I’m glad they worked things out, obviously,” she added jokingly. “Anyway, Prism, what brings you here?”
“I-” Prism began to reply, but she cut him off
“And for that matter, how come you’re awake at this hour?” she asked him, sticking her tongue playfully when he rolled his eyes.
“I was in the area and thought I would come see you before you’d head out.”
“You were ‘in the area’?” Whirlwind repeated, raising an eyebrow. It was amusing that he thought he could deceive her. “About the only reason for you to come to Cloudsdale other than to visit somebody would be to finally sign up for the Wonderbolts, and we both know you’re too lazy to even fly up to the registration center.”
Prism raised his arms in defeat. “Fine, I just came to check up on you.”
“Aww, I’m touched,” Whirlwind told him, smiling. “But as I already said, I’m good.”
“Yes, but I was wondering…” Prism began and hesitated, troubled. “You’ve been staying at Amber’s place since you were discharged from the hospital and started your rehab.”
She couldn’t help but giggle. “Is this about me ‘turning’?”
Prism Bolt blushed at the reminder of that conversation. “N-no, that’s not about that!” As she continued to giggle, he sighed, “Thanks for reminding me of that just when I got over it...”
“Oh?” Whirlwind exclaimed. “So you wouldn’t freak out at the idea of me and Amber dating?”
“Okay, first off,” Prism began, red with embarrassment, “I did not ‘freak out’, and-”
“Mhm,” she hummed teasingly, interrupting him, “so you’re thinking about me and Amber in bed right now?”
“Gah!” Prism shouted, covering his ears and closing his eyes. “Dubz, please, could you stop?” he asked, sounding almost as if begging.
“Why, are you flustered?”
“Besides, you promised you weren’t a thing,” he added, as if he hadn’t heard her question.
“To be fair, that was back then,” she told him, giggling for the last time. “Oh relax,” she told him, seeing his expression. “We’re still not a thing. We’re just friends.”
She decided to not mention that she was sleeping in Amber’s bed during her stay. Celestia knows how he would interpret that. Boys, she snorted inwardly.
“Did you have to torture me like that?” he asked, frowning, as he let go of his ears and tried to regain his composure.
“‘Torture’? Awww, still love me, huh?” She giggled, not waiting for an answer. “It’s called ‘teasing’, idiot,” Whirlwind continued, taking a few steps towards him, “and maybe I wouldn’t do that if you were not checking me out when you think I wasn’t looking.”
To his credit, Prism was only a bit embarrassed by learning she had caught him looking at her ass. Then again, I probably made him too embarrassed earlier for this to work.
“Ek-hem, well,” Prism began clearing his throat and giving her a charming smile, “to be fair, no guy in his right mind could stop himself.”
“Cute,” Whirlwind replied to that, smirking.
“So, back to the subject,” Prism said, immediately taking the chance to change the subject, “you were staying at Amber’s place; why did you come to your place now? I mean, you still have one more session with her and Azalea, you could have waited one more day.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Yeah, but, you know, with my arm about to be healed, I wanted to get my mind ready to return to… before the fire.” Whirlwind shuddered briefly at the memory, then gestured at her apartment, partially to distract herself. “I wanted to check if nothing happened while I was gone and clean up a bit, so when I’m back to normal, everything will be normal here.”
“Sounds legit,” Prism shrugged. “Except I know you better than to buy it.”
Whirlwind blinked. “What do you mean?” she asked, confused.
“Well, aside from how stupid it was to come to Cloudsdale alone, with your arm still not healed; seriously, Dubz,” he added sternly, frowning, “you could have gotten hurt.”
A groan escaped Whirlwind. “I hadn’t burned my eyes, I wouldn’t just walk out of the clouds. Do you think Amber would let me go if she thought I was that stupid?”
“Still, you should have asked me to come with you, or hell, even Hot Head,” Prism roller his eyes as he mentioned his old rival. “Speaking of, I’m surprised he hadn’t insisted he’d accompany you. He still lives with Amber, right?”
“He was out of town,” Whirlwind muttered, not wanting to comment further.
“Anyway, aside from that, there is also a matter of your visit today.”
“It’s as close to Ponyville from Cloudsdale as it is from Canterlot,” she pointed out.
“Maybe, but it makes little sense to meet up with Amber at Mrs. Azalea’s place rather than travel from Canterlot together,” Prism replied; his expression turning into concern and worry. “Did you have a fight with Amber?”
“What? No, of course not,” Whirlwind quickly declined. “It’s nothing like that, It’s just...”
She trailed off, unsure if she should tell Prism what was bothering her. Her former boyfriend stepped closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, come on, it’s me, you can tell me what’s wrong.”
Whirlwind looked into his eyes. When she saw his concern in them, she felt… warm in her chest. It had been awhile since she had felt so strangely. Back when we were dating…
She looked away, not sure why she was suddenly thinking about that. They broke up years ago. That they were still friends was something both were thankful for. Thinking about the past would just make things weird between them.
She focused on the current moment; that at least was a problem she knew wouldn’t complicate their relation. “I… Amber wants me to fly tomorrow. After my treatment is finished today,” she added.
Prism looked at her confused. “Um, weren’t you gonna fly anyway? I mean, you’re a Wonderbolt.”
“Yeah, but I… w-what if I won’t be flying like before?” Whirlwind said in a weak voice. “What if it feels wrong to me, or if I’d have to learn how to fly with that wing again? Or what if I won’t be able to fly at all?!” she continued, spurting one fear after another quickly, her voice rising. “What if I fly so badly that they kick me out of the Wonderbolts? I worked so hard to become one, and now-”
Her words, her fears, were trapped again in her mouth as she felt being pulled into a hug. Whirlwind didn’t fight it, instead she wrapped her hands around Prism and pressed her head into his chest, on the verge of tears.
“Shh, it’s alright,” Prism soothed her; she felt his hand on her head, stroking her gently.
She nodded, not caring that with how they stood he couldn’t see that. Whirlwind took a few quick breaths, trying to calm down from her panic attack. She didn’t want to cry. Not in front of Prism, not with him holding her. “I… I just needed to be by myself for a while,” she admitted when she felt strong enough to speak. “I didn’t want to… didn’t want…”
“Were you crying last night?” she heard him ask.
Whirlwind shook her head. “No, but I was afraid I might. Everytime I think about that I feel as if I was about to have a panic attack.”
Prism hugged her tighter and they stayed silent for a few moments. “Dubz, look at me,” he finally said. Whirlwind pulled away a bit from him and looked up. Prism was staring right into her eyes. “Listen to me; I don’t know if you’re going to be flying normally right away after today. I’m not a medic or anything. But I do know that you will be flying, as good as you were.” He smiled and continued. “Unlike me, you worked hard, and continuously improved your skills. You pushed yourself hard and were rewarded by becoming a Wonderbolt. So even if you won’t be flying how you used to, I know that you will work through that. And I’ll help,” he added. “I’ll be working together with you until you get the hang of your wing. Starting from tomorrow. I-I mean, if you want me to,” Prism quickly amended.
Whirlwind started into his eyes, surprised at his offer, and his words. Slowly a smile spread on her lips. “I would love that,” she said. “It would be good to have somebody that can actually fly tomorrow; especially in case, you know, things won’t turn out too well. But what about your job in Ponyville?”
“Meh, I’d probably nap during those hours tomorrow anyway,” he replied, sticking his tongue out playfully.
Whirlwind snorted in a short laughter. “Thanks,” she said, hugging him again.
“You’re welcome,” Prism replied, returning the hug. “What are friends for?”
“Hm. When did you become so… mature?” she asked.
“You’d be surprised how seeing somebody you care about so badly injured affects you,” Prism said, tightening the hug a bit.
Whirlwind shuddered as he said the words “somebody you care about”. She knew he had been there, even though she was half-conscious from pain. Whirlwind had heard from Amber that Hot Head flew to get him after they found her. She knew he had stayed with her at the hospital until she regained consciousness. She knew all that… but she didn’t think how it had affected him.
She opened her mouth, about to ask him, but Prism picked that moment to clear his throat. “So,” he said, “is this a bad moment to say that I can feel everything through that shirt and blouse, and point out that you’re not wearing a bra?”
Whirlwind looked at him, confused, then her eyes opened wide. With a short shriek, she jumped away from him. “Y-you couldn’t have said that earlier?!” she asked, clutching her arms around her chest.
Prism, in turn, raised his hands. “I honestly didn’t realize, I swear. Well, at first,” he admitted, smirking somewhat sheepishly. “But I was more worried about you.”
Despite knowing this wasn’t his fault, she still glared at him. Though they had been a couple for months, they hadn’t seen each other naked, let alone… explored their bodies. Not that they weren’t affectionate… Ugh, why am I thinking about it?
“Sure you were,” she told him, smirking.
“Hey, I was! What do you think this whole speech I made was, an excuse to feel you up longer?”
“Your words,” Whirlwind said, sticking her tongue.
Prism chuckled. “I show off, you dump me, I am mature and considerate, you think I’m a pervert.” He shook his head before she could retort. “Before we continue this, shouldn’t you get ready to leave?”
“I was before you came in,” Whirlwind replied. “I just need to finish preening and get dressed.”
“Well, then you better hurry.”
“Why?” she asked, confused. “I still have an hour and a half before I’m supposed to met with Amber at Mrs. Azalea.”
“Um, Dubz, you do know that we’re on summer time now, right?” Prism asked, raising an eyebrow. “You have only half an hour left.”
“WHAT?!” Whirlwind exclaimed, aghast. “Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?!” she shouted as she raced to the bathroom.
Prism shook his head with disbelief and sighed. Well, things didn’t go quite as planned, he mused as he drank the rest of the juice. While he had indeed come to check on Whirlwind, worried as to why she came back to her place before finishing her treatment, he also had other reasons. I guess those can wait for now, Prism thought, putting the glass down and following after Whirlwind.
He checked if the letter he had brought to show her was safely hidden in his pocket. Considering Whirlwind’s worried state, it would be better to bring it up tomorrow. Assuming everything would turn out alright, if she could fly. If not…
Oh well, I’ll worry about it when it comes, Prism decided, listening to the frantic noises coming from the bathroom.
“Are you alright there?” he asked when Whirlwind uttered a pained groan.
He heard a sound that he recognized as spitting out feathers. “Yeah, just… I can’t really bend my wing comfortably to preen it.”
‘Want some help?” Prism quickly offered, reaching for the door handle.
“Wha- No! I’m naked!” Whirlwind exclaimed, making Prism freeze as he only now realized that.
“Oh, right,” he mumbled; mentally, he was bashing his head against the wall. Not a few months ago, he would have probably not been as embarrassed by that slip up. Heck, it wouldn’t even be a slip up. Now he was so worried about Whirlwind that he wasn’t thinking straight. “Sorry, I… didn’t realize. So,” he changed the subject as he cleared his throat, “you know you already missed the balloon for Ponyville, right?”
“Augh,” she grunted, probably pulling another loose feather. “Shoot! How am I gonna get to Ponyville? I can’t fly, Amber would kill me if she’d learn I tried before I’m fully healed.”
“Don’t worry Dubz, I’ll take you to Ponyville,” Prism said, leaning against the wall next to the door and crossing his arms on his chest.
“‘Take me’?” Whirlwind repeated, confused. “How do you- No!” she objected after realizing what he meant. “You are not taking me on your back!”
“Why not?”
“B-because it would be weird!”
Well, if that doesn’t promise positive outcome for my plans... Prism mused sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
“It won’t be,” he replied. “And besides, you don’t really have any options left.”
“I’m not gonna fly on your back to Ponyville like some kid, absolutely-”
“Good morning passengers, this is your captain speaking,” Prism said as he slowly descended towards the ground. “We’re about to begin the landing procedure, please hold onto me tighter.”
He chuckled as he heard Whirlwind grunt into his ear. “This joke got old two ‘announcements’ ago,” she told him as she strengthened her hold around his neck.
“Sorry,” Prism told her, amused. “Even though we both know that if our roles were reversed you’d totally be doing this. Well,” he amended in an after-thought, “if you could carry me that is.”
“Wha- I totally could!” Whirlwind replied, annoyed. “I’m a Wonderbolt for crying out loud. Unless you gained like sixty pounds when I wasn’t looking,” she added teasingly.
“Are you looking at me often?” he retorted, smirking.
Prism could almost hear her roll her eyes at him. He chuckled again, but didn’t comment, focusing on landing safely instead. While normally it wasn’t something difficult (rather, it was blatantly easy), the feeling of certain… parts of Whirlwind’s body being pressed against him distracted him. Still, he hadn’t had any problems descending to the ground and landing on the outskirts of Ponyville.
He placed his feet down first and remained bent until he felt Whirlwind slide down and jump off him. “Dear passengers, we have arrived safely at-” he began, but stopped when Whirlwind elbowed him lightly. “Fine, I’m done. Are you alright?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” she quickly replied. She quickly looked around, scanning the houses. “Let’s go, Mrs. Azalea’s house iiiiiis this way,” Whirlwind said as she got her bearings.
Prism nodded and walked along with her. “Thanks,” she said after a few seconds. “For ‘giving me a lift’ and… well, the flight. I forgot how it felt,” Whirlwind added quieter.
“Hey, you’ll be flying again tomorrow,” Prism told her.
It came out more sternly than he intended, but before he could add anything, Whirlwind gave an amused sigh. “I know, I know. Still, thanks,” she said, glancing at him and smiling.
Prism felt heat on his cheeks. “No problem,” he quickly said.
The sensation he was feeling right now, at the sight of her smile, was better than when he could feel her on his back.
The other reasons why he had came to see her came back to him. But this was hardly the place to discuss them. “Hey, Dubz?” he began carefully. “Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?”
“Hm? Oh, well… not really. Each of those sessions last for hours, it will probably be evening before it’s over. Amber mentioned that she’d want to celebrate, but because she wants to do that ‘flight test’ tomorrow, she plans to throw a party tomorrow. You know, so that I’d have a proper rest, and wouldn’t get drunk.”
“Well- wait, you don’t drink,” Prism said, frowning. “Not much at least.”
“Yeah, but, you know, when partying with Amber it’s always a potential risk,” Whirlwind explained, chuckling a bit uncomfortably. “C’mon, you dated her, you should know that.”
“I did not date her!” he quickly said. Of all the time she had to bring this up… “We went out on one date, and it was only to mess with Hot Head.”
“More like traumatize him,” Whirlwind told him wryly. “I heard how he came into their living room and saw-”
“Nothing happened, I swear!” he said a bit louder; he lowered his voice as several people walking on the village’s street cast him a glance. “We heard him coming and Amber got half naked before I realized, it wasn’t-”
“Relax, I was kidding,” she said, giggling in amusement. “I heard all about this from Amber.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about,” Prism said morosely, causing her to laugh even more. He shook his head and chuckled despite himself. “So, no plans for the rest of day?” he asked after a moment, wanting to return to the original subject.
“No, I guess not. Why?”
“How would you like to hang out at my place?” Prism asked. “We could watch some movies or play some games, like back in the old days, to celebrate your recovery.”
Holding his breath, he waited for Whirlwind to reply. She was staring at him, surprised. After what felt like an eternity, she smiled. “Sure, I would love to,” she said, and Prism felt a weight being lifted from his hearth. “But…” And the weight returned. Doubled. “... is this a date?” she asked, tilting her head.
“Um,” Prism stammered; he hadn’t expect her to ask that question. “Sort of? There was something I wanted to talk with you about for some time. Besides, I like spending time with you. If you want to consider this a date, then it’s fine by me.”
Whirlwind blinked, then smiled. “Huh; kinda expected you to get all nervous like when you first asked me out.”
“Oh, don’t remind me of that, I was a mess,” Prism said, chuckling. “So-” he began, but somebody cut him off.
“There you are!” came a voice they both knew. They turned towards it to see a golden-haired woman walking to them. “I was starting to get worried.”
“Hey Amber,” Whirlwind greeted her. “Sorry, I sorta… overslept.”
I guess that’s less embarrassing, Prism thought, amused.
“Prism had been kind enough to fly me here,” Whirlwind finished explaining.
Amber turned to him and smiled. “Thanks for looking after my girl Prism.”
“No prob- problem?” he finished hesitantly, not certain if he liked the way Amber phrased that, but then relax when he saw Whirlwind from behind Amber shaking her head.
Oh right, it’s Amber, he thought, rolling his eyes in his mind.
Amber, either not noticing or not caring, leaned back, put her arm around Whirlwind’s shoulders and stroke her chin with her finger. “I would disagree, she can be quite a handful. Although,” she added, turning back to Prism, “I bet you enjoyed having her body pressed against your back. I know I do.”
Prism blushed, and only by his will he stopped his wings for popping out suddenly. He was sure he popped a boner, though. Whirlwind was also blushing, but she still giggled together with Amber, even if not as loudly.
“Anyway, you’re ready?” Amber, apparently done with Prism for the moment, asked Whirlwind, who nodded. “Good, then head to Azalea’s house. Get ready, I’ll join you shortly.”
“Okay. See ya later,” she told Prism, smiling, as she began to walk away towards the house Amber had just left.
“See ya Dubz,” Prism replied, waving.
“Aw, aren’t you two cute,” Amber said when Whirlwind was out of earshot. Before he could reply in any way, she changed the subject. “I’m throwing her a party tomorrow to celebrate; you’re invited, of course.”
“Thanks; I already heard about it from Dubz. She also mentioned that you want to see how she’s flying tomorrow, I offered to come too.”
“Really?” Amber asked, smiling. “Oh, thank you, I was about to ask if you could. She doesn’t show it, but she’s pretty nervous about it.”
Prism felt something stirring in him at the thought that apparently Whirlwind didn’t open up to Amber, but she did to him.
“Having another pegasus would be helpful,” Amber finished.
“Yeah, she thought the same,” Prism said, not wanting to go into details.
“So, ‘later’, huh?” Amber asked, smirking. She crossed her arms below her chest. “Why do I have a feeling that you two didn’t mean it by tomorrow?”
“We’re gonna meet after your session is over,” Prism explained, knowing she could learn about it from Whirlwind anyway.
“Aw, you’re taking my girl away from me?” she asked, frowning and biting her lip. “That’s cruel.” She took a step towards him, standing now within arm’s reach. “I don’t suppose I could join you two?” Amber asked, raising an eyebrow and pressing one finger to his chest, in a similar manner as she had earlier touched Whirlwind.
Once again blushing, Prism found himself nervous. “Well, actually…” he began, but stopped when Amber leaned to his ear.
“I know some exciting activities the three of us could enjoy…” she whispered in a sultry voice.
There was only as much a guy could take. His arms shifted to wings, and the dark blue feathers on them, his chest and back all floofed.
“U-um…” he stammered, his mind dead after her words.
He was spared the need to answer by Amber turning around and taking a few steps away from him, all while giggling. “Just joking, stud. I have a shift at the hospital anyway.”
Prism took a deep breath, relieved that she was done torturing him. She’s like Annie up to eleven, he thought, recalling all the inappropriate jokes and remarks their blind friend would make. Only replace eleven with twenty one.
“It’s been… fun… talking with you, Amber,” Prism said, smiling sheepishly. “But I’ve got to go now, got some stuff to do. Take care of Dubz,” he said as he raised his wings, preparing to fly away.
“Of course,” Amber replied. “And Prism?”
“Yeah?”
She winked. “Good luck.”
Six hours later, after all the long healing spells Mrs. Azalea cast, all the various stretches and exercises Amber had made her do in between them, and the pain she had to endure, Whirlwind had her arm back.
“Still can hardly believe it,” Whirlwind told Amber as the two of them made their way through Ponyville towards the train station. They had already left Mrs. Azalea’s house, after spending about half an hour at least thanking her. “It feels normal, like the right one. I don’t feel pain at all,” she said, waving her arm around.
Amber giggled warmly. “Of course, you had an excellent treatment.”
Whirlwind nearly tackled her and pulled her into a tight hug. “Yes, and it’s thanks to you,” she said for about fourth time. This time, however, she also added: “Can I ever repay you?”
Her nurse friend smiled mischievously. “Weeeell… I suppose you can start by going on that date with Prism.” She winked. “We can talk about the other part of repaying me later.”
“He told you? Well, it’s not really a date,” Whirlwind said, blushing. She let go of Amber as they entered the train station. “He said he wanted to hang out and talk about something.”
“Oh please, Prism still has feelings for you,” Amber snorted as she waved her hand. “You can tell by just watching him.”
“I don’t think so,” Whirlwind replied, growing somber. “I’m pretty sure he’s over me.” She ignored the sigh Amber uttered. “Did you know he started dating somebody like a day after we broke up? This, Jet Stream, whoever she was.,” she grumbled, still miffed at seeing him kissing that girl.
“So?” Amber asked, shrugging. “He was probably hurt after the break up, and vulnerable. Based off what I know of Jet Stream, she probably sort of forced that on him.”
“You know her?” Whirlwind asked, surprised.
“I met her briefly,” Amber winked. “But anyway, I take you never talked with Prism about her? Listen to his side of the story?”
“I wasn’t interested in talking about her with him,” Whirlwind admitted. “Besides, by the time we became friends again, they’d already broken up.”
“I see,” Amber said, then fell silent as the train arrived at the station. Whirlwind winced from the noise it was making. “I’d say you should forget about all that,” Amber continued as the train stopped. “Try to have a nice evening with Prism without thinking all about your history and this Jet Stream.”
Whirlwind, although a bit reluctantly, nodded. “Yeah, I guess I should. I suppose that would be the mature thing to do…”
But Amber hadn’t finished speaking. “And end that evening by banging each other’s brain out.”
Even though she had gotten used to Amber’s… occasional remarks such as that, she was still taken off-guard by it. “A-amber!” she stammered, blushing.
“What?” she asked, blinking innocently.
“I am not gonna ‘bang’ Prism,” Whirlwind said, frowning and regaining her composure. “He’s just a friend now.”
“Then bang each other like friends,” Amber said, rolling her eyes. “I need to get on the train,” she added suddenly, before Whirlwind had a chance to react to her earlier statement. She pulled Whirlwind into a hug and kissed her on the cheek. “Go hang out with Prism and have a good time or I’ll spank you when you get back,” she threatened, winking.
Whirlwind giggled uncomfortably, deciding not to ask what she meant by ‘good time’. She let go of Amber and watched her go into the train. The nurse opened a window and leaned from it.
“Oh, and one more thing,” she said, smirking. “I’m going out after work and won’t be back until morning; I guess you have to spend the night at Prism’s place, huh?”
Whirlwind started at her, aghast, as she winked and poke her tongue, right as the train began to leave.
When Prism had moved out from his parents’, he went to live in a small house in Ponyville. Normally, pegasi prefered to live in cloud houses, but the rent in those was much more expensive than in the small town. Prism was earning enough from his job to pay the rent for this small one on the ground. Even after he got promoted and was now weather menager for Ponyville, he still hadn’t looked for a better place.
Whirlwind had always attributed it to his laziness, but she wondered if he simply liked it. Regardless, it meant that she didn’t have to fly to visit him so it was all fine with her for now.
She knocked on the door and waited, feeling a bit nervous. Meeting with Prism alone always made her nervous, but after having listened to Amber’s not so subtle suggestions...
Her musings were interrupted by Prism opening the door. “Hi,” he said cheerfully. “Come in; is your arm alright now?” he asked her as he let her enter.
She took a quick look around before she answered him. All things considered, it was much cleaner that she would have expected of a place where he lived; she wondered if he simply spent the last six hours cleaning it.
“Yes, it’s all back to normal!” she said happily. She took of her blouse and extended her left arm towards him. “Look!”
A shiver went down her spine when Prism touched her arm. “Wow, you really don’t have any scars left,” he said, briefly sliding his hand over her skin as he examined it. “And you can move it normally?” Prism asked, letting go of her arm.
“Yep,” she replied, and in a quick demonstration she brought her arm back, bent it back, joined her hands together behind her back and turned around to show Prism. Plus, she liked the sensation.
“That’s amazing. I’m happy for you Dubz,” Prism said and unexpectedly leaned towards her and hugged her.
“T-thanks Prism,” Whirlwind said, blushing. She hugged him back, for a moment forgetting about her worries and simply enjoying a hug from a friend. “So,” she said as they broke the hug, “what do you have in mind?”
“Whatever you want to do, we do,” Prism replied, shrugging. “I got movies, games for PS4, we can go on a walk or a flight; heck, if you want, I can pull out my old Nintendo 64 and we can play some of the games we played as kids.”
“So I can kick your ass again?” Whirlwind asked, smirking.
“‘Again’ implies that it happened in the first place,” Prism retorted, sticking his tongue out.
“Oh please, you could have brought it to the hospital and even with one working hand I would have beaten you,” Whirlwind said. “Bring it out and I’ll show you.”
Prism smiled. “Fine, but don’t come crying to me when you lose,” he said as and walked away to the room on the other side of the small corridor. “Make yourself at home,” he called out as he disappeared in it.
Whirlwind went into the living room and sat on the couch. “Hey, Prism?” she called out, recalling that she didn’t have a place to sleep for the night.
“Yeah?”
“I sorta, um…” she hesitated; after all, she could always catch a balloon ride back to Cloudsdale. Or crash at her parent’s place. However, she decided that she might as well ask Prism first. “Amber told me she will go out after work and probably won’t be back until morning.”
“Will she be alright for the flight test?” Prism called from the room.
“Oh, no, she’ll be fine,” Whirlwind assured him. “It wouldn’t be the first time something like that would have happened. But anyway, this means I sorta don’t have a place to sleep. I was wondering if I could maybe stay here tonight. I-I mean,” she stammered, suddenly embarrassed. “I could go back to my place in Cloudsdale, but the last balloon leaves in about two hours, and I wanted to hang out longer.”
“Ah, sure,” Prism replied, his voice louder than earlier; a second later he came back to the living room, holding a console in his hands. “No problem, you can crash in for the night. Just remind me to change sheets in the bed later.”
“Thanks, Prism,” Whirlwind said, smiling with relief and no longer feeling awkward. “But I can sleep on the couch, so-”
“Out of the question,” he told her plainly as he began wiring the console to the TV. “You are my guest, and as a gentleman, I-” he trailed off as Whirlwind began to laugh. “What’s so funny?”
“You?” she managed to ask in breaks between giggles. “A gentleman?”
“And what’s so surprising about that?” Prism asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, you hardly ever showed any traits of a gentleman,” Whirlwind pointed out. “Unless you count that one time you used it as an excuse as to why you lost a race to Claire. And let's not forget how-”
“- how I was pretty much an ass back when we dated?” Prism finished for her. Whirlwind shifted uncomfortable as he mentioned that - she was just going to say that he was an ass, not just when they dated - but Prism continued talking. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. But,” he added, as he finished wiring the console and fired up a game, “I like to think I grew up a bit since then. I mean, c’mon, it’s been ages, give me some credit,” Prism said, winking, as he gave her one of the two controllers and sat next to her.
“Fair enough,” Whirlwind said, rolling her eyes. “How about this; whoever wins sleeps on the couch?”
“Pretty sure that’s a weird choice of reward there, but okay,” Prism said, smirking.
The look on Whirlwind’s face would be something Prism would always treasure.
“No way,” she said, staring the the score screen. “You were never this good at this game.”
Prism chuckled. “Maybe I played it a bit out of nostalgia. Or because I wanted to get back at you someday,” he added, sticking his tongue.
“So you admit I beat your ass back then?”
“I’m admitting no such thing, Dubz,” Prism waved his hand.
“Sure you’re not,” Whirlwind laughed. “Well, let’s say you beat me fair and square; even though the fact I just got my hand healed and that I hadn’t played this game in like ten years helped you.”
“Excuses.”
“Oh shut up,” she told him. “Fine, I’ll sleep on the bed, enjoy this couch. Although we could play another round…”
“Really? Cause I think we’ve played for over an hour now, don’t you want to do something else?”
“Hm, you have a point. Wanna watch something? What’s on TV?” she asked when Prism nodded.
“Dunno, let me check…” he said, reaching for the remote.
After a moment he was channel surfing, looking for something interesting. Hm, maybe there’s some documentary about Wonderbolts, I bet she’d like to see it...
“Wait, stop!” Whirlwind interrupted his train of thoughts. “Go back.”
Prism glanced at her, confused, as he returned to the earlier channel. “Um, Dubz, that’s a kid’s show.”
“Yeah, and it’s awesome,” she told him taking the remote from him and checking the list of programs for this channel. “Oh cool, it’s five episodes in a row!”
Prism sighed in defeat. They were celebrating Whirlwind’s recovery, so he wasn’t gonna argue about what they were going to see. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from uttering a comment or two. “And you used to call me childish,” he told her, smirking.
“Apparently, I should start calling you insecure,” Whirlwind replied in kind. “I don’t see why you’d think a kid show is bad just because it’s for kids.”
“Fine, I’m gonna give it a try. Remind me to get some snacks during next commercial,” he said, leaning back and getting more comfortable.
“Sure,” Whirlwind said, putting her arms behind her head as she too got more comfortable. “Trust me, you’ll like this show.”
He couldn’t help but utter a snort. “Yeah, sorry Dubz, but I just don’t see it-”
“What?!” Prism exclaimed, his eyes round as plates. “They end it like this?!”
With her hand covering her mouth to hide her smirk and not be accused of being smug, Whirlwind nodded.
“But it can’t end like this!” Prism said, exasperated. “What about that huge green thing, or about that phone call?!”
“I guess you have to watch the next episode of this ‘kid’s show’,” Whirlwind replied, shrugging.
Prism fell back on the couch in defeat. “Seriously, how is this a kid’s show? It’s so cool.” He shook his head. “So… when’s the next episode?”
Whirlwind snorted with laughter before she replied: “I dunno, tomorrow at the same hour maybe?”
Prism began checking the programs list even before she finished speaking, then shrugged and put the remote down. “Oh well, I’ll check later; tomorrow we’ll be at that party anyway. Would you like some dinner?” he asked, rising and going to the kitchen.
During her healing session earlier she ate a small dinner made by Mrs. Azalea, but that was hours ago, and since then all she had eaten were some popcorn and chips. “Yeah, I would love some,” Whirlwind said, her eyes following him. “You can cook?”
He turned just in time for her to see him roll his eyes. “I’ve been living on my own for a few years now, I learned how to make a thing or two. Of course,” he continued as he entered the kitchen, “it won’t be anything like from a five star restaurant, but I can give you a one hundred percent promise that it won’t give you food poisoning. Well, ninety percent, maybe,” he added with a wink.
It was Whirlwind’s turn to roll her eyes as she rose and walked up to him. “It’s sweet of you to make dinner,” she said, giving him a teasing smirk. She leaned against the kitchen table as Prism turned on the cooker under a pot. “I would have been okay with ordering something out.”
“Good, cause that’s my back-up plan in case something goes wrong,” Prism said, winking.
“So, what are we having?” Whirlwind asked, intrigued.
“Rice soup,” he replied as he picked up another pot, placed it in the sink and poured water from the tap. “Hope you like it. It shouldn’t take long to heat up, I made it just a few hours ago; I should have enough time to peel some potatoes for the main course,” he added, placing the pot with water on the cooker next to the soup and turning it on.
Whirlwind watched with mild surprise as Prism skillfully began peeling potatoes. “Huh, you’re quick with those,” she commented once he started working on the third one.
“I’m always quick,” Prism said, a touch of arrogance in his voice.
Whirlwind couldn’t help but smirk. “Always, huh?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, yeah…” Prism began, then glanced at her and noticed the look she was giving him. His eyes snapped wide. “N-no, I’m… I mean…” he stammered, flustered.
As she began giggling at his reaction, he managed to regain his composure and resumed his task. “Very funny,” he said. “Why don’t you go pick a movie to watch? I’ll bring the soup in a moment.”
“Sure,” Whirlwind replied, leaving him to nurse his wounded pride.
About ten minutes later, they were sitting on a couch again, this time with a table before them, eating soup and watching a movie. As with earlier they watched something she had wanted, Whirlwind picked a movie she knew Prism liked back from when they dated (actually, they had gone to see it in the movie theater when it came out).
“It’s very good,” she told him after a few spoons.
And she meant it. The soup Prism made might not be as good as her mom’s, for example, but Whirlwind had to admit that he was a better cook than she was. Which was still a bit surprising for her.
“You often cook?” she asked.
“Hm, every few days,” Prism replied. He smiled sheepishly and continued: “My folks kinda made me promise when I was moving out that I won’t be eating just fast food and stuff.”
“Good thing they did,” Whirlwind smirked. “With your lazy lifestyle, who knows what stuffing yourself with junk food would do to you.”
Even Prism found it humorous. “Nice to know you’re still concerned about my figure,” he said, sticking his tongue at her.
“Pity nobody was concerned about your manners,” she replied, amused. “Sticking you tongue out during dinner?” Whirlwind added in a mocked horror.
“Right, sorry,” he said, chuckling. They ate and watched the movie in silence for a few moments before he spoke up: “So, what do you wanna do after the movie? Watch another one?”
“Maybe. Or play some more games. I dunno, anything to help me forget about the last month and, well, tomorrow.” Her face twisted briefly at the thought, but then, almost sensing Prism’s gaze on her, she added. “I mean, I know it’ll be alright, but I’m, you know, nervous. Remember our first Young Flyer Competition?”
“Yeah,” Prism chuckled. “Waiting in line to perform before all those people was nerve-wracking.”
“We held up pretty well I think,” Whirlwind said. “That girl that performed before me looked as if she was about to have a nervous breakdown. Compared to her we were almost calm.”
“I suppose. So, it’s good that it’ll be just me and Amber there, huh?”
“Yeah,” Whirlwind replied, putting the spoon down and slightly pushing the empty plate away. “I feel a lot more comfortable with just the two of you, you know, friends I trust…” she trailed off as she hear Prism choke. “Are you okay?”
Prism coughed and hit himself in the chest. “Yeah, fine, just… nevermind,” he said once he cleared his throat. “Sorry.”
Whirlwind looked at him closely. Is he… blushing? she thought, confused. It’s too dark to tell…
“Anyway,” Prism said, raising and picking up her plate, “I’m gonna get the main course ready, be right back.”
“Want me to pause the movie?”
“Nah, it’s alright, I can see the screen from kitchen. And it’ll take only about a minute.”
It had actually taken Prism a bit longer, but he delivered, as promised, a main course. Aside from potatoes, it also included some salad and some stew. When Whirlwind asked him about it, he said that he put it in the oven to heat it up when she went to turn on the movie.
“Did you make it?” she asked, taking a bite. It was quite tasty.
“No, actually. I ate with my folks yesterday and they gave me some. My dad made it.”
“I see,” Whirlwind nodded. “So how are your parents anyway? Been forever since last I saw them.”
Prism waved his hand. “They’re alright. I mean, Mom complains sometimes about not performing as often as she used to, but you know about those age restrictions in Wonderbolts more than me.”
“Yeah,” Whirlwind replied, rolling her eyes. “They should be more loose with those rules. I mean, your mom is still amazing in the air, I had a few practices with her before… well, you know,” she said, waving her now healed arm.
Prism nodded with understanding. “Well, anyway, I’m sure they’ll be happy when you get back there. They kept mentioning how great you were doing during the practice.”
“Really?” Whirlwind asked, smiling.
“Yeah, and saying I should be more like you,” Prism added, chuckling.
“Sorry,” she replied sheepishly.
“That’s okay. They were right. I mean,” he hesitated briefly, “you worked hard to get into Wonderbolts, and that’s really admirable. And it’s not just that; I know that you’re afraid of fire, and yet you went in to help people. You’re really a great person.”
Whirlwind blushed and smiled, hearing the praise. “Thanks Prism,” she said.
“No problem Dubz,” Prism replied.
Slowly, his eyelids opened. As the haze of sleep began to leave, he noticed that the credits from the movie were playing on the television’s screen-
The movie! Prism recalled, snapping fully awake. He glanced to his left, and there was Whirlwind, asleep, her head leaning against his shoulder. We were watching the movie… we must have both dozed off, he realized.
He wondered if he should wake her up. She looked… so peaceful. And beautiful, Prism thought, feeling heat on his cheeks as he regarded her. After what she had been through she deserved some rest. However, not only was it still pretty early - according to his watch, twenty past eight - but it would also mean he had to carry her to his bed, and the image of that was… troubling him.
Plus, seeing how those are her only clothes she has with her, I doubt she’d want to sleep in them, Prism thought. He had some spare pyjamas he could lend her, though, seeing how they were male pyjamas, she may prefer to sleep naked… And that’s another thought that’s all kinds of troubling to have, Prism commented. He was still a bit shaken after Whirlwind unintentionally made him recall what Amber had said…
Deciding to wake Whirlwind up, Prism reached with his hand to her cheek… then hesitated, and touched gently her shoulder instead. “Dubz?” he called softly.
She jerked, and her eyes opened. Even in the dim light, Prism could make out her beautiful blue eyes. “Prism?” she asked, then moved away and stretched. “What happened?”
“We must have dozed off,” he replied, shrugging.
“Oh… right, Mrs. Azalea’s healing spell also took a bit of my magic to work,” Whirlwind explained, yawning. “Not much, but makes me tired more easily. What about you?”
“It’s me, remember?” he joked. “I used to take naps during PE lessons.”
She gave him bemused look in reply, knowing that never actually happened, but he noticed the corners of her mouth curling up.
“So, do you want to go to sleep?” he asked.
“Hm…” Whirlwind hummed as she scratched her head. “Yeah, in a bit. Sorry, I know you wanted to hang out, but-”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Prism interrupted her, raising a hand. “I understand that your recovery must have tired you out. Plus tomorrow is another big day, I’d want to go to bed early too.”
“Thanks for understanding,” she said, smiling gratefully and stretching. “Hey, do you wanna hang out more after tomorrow, the whole flight test and party?”
“Sure,” Prism replied, rising and offering her a helping hand. “Come on, I’ll change the sheets in the bed and it’ll be all ready.”
“Great, thanks,” Whirlwind said, accepting his help. “Oh wait,” she said as they began to leave the living room, “you wouldn’t happen to have a spare toothbrush, wouldn’t you?”
Prism turned around and looked at her. “You know, I’m starting to think I should have words with Amber about basically kicking you out for the night like this. Anyway,” he said as Whirlwind raised an eyebrow, “I have an electric toothbrush, just change the head; spares are in the cabinet behind mirror.” He led her further down the corridor, the door to the bathroom was on their left, door to his bedroom on their right. “Here’s the bathroom,” he pointed while walking into bedroom. “And here…” Prism said while he opened a drawer in his bedroom and reached into it, “is a fresh towel. You can use whatever you need in the bathroom while I get my bed ready. I’ll leave you some clothes to change into for the night,” he added as he handed her the towel.
“Wow, thanks Prism,” she said, looking at him strangely. “You’re a really good host, you know that?”
He smiled. “Thanks, well, I try.”
“Sorry we couldn’t hang out longer, but I’m tired, and like you said tomorrow will be tiresome too.”
“It’s alright, I really don’t mind,” he assured her. “Now if you excuse me, I need to change sheets,” he added, getting back into the room.
“Right, thanks,” Whirlwind replied, entering the bathroom and closing the door.
As he reached to another drawer for a spare sheet, Prism sighed. While it was true that he didn’t mind that they hadn’t hung out for longer, there was something he hadn’t had an opportunity to do. He wanted to talk with Whirlwind, but he hadn’t taken into account that whole magic healing business.
Oh well, he thought as he found a spare set of sheets, there’s always tomorrow, Dubz. He hesitated. I just hope the flight test will go okay…
His green eyes gazed into hers and he held her tightly. A shiver went down her spine as she felt his hands around her and pressing her against his bed.
“Dubz…” Prism said in a husky voice, “wake up.”
Whirlwind blinked. “Wait, wha-”
“Or are you gonna sleep all day?”
She opened her eyes, startled.
As the events of the last day came to Whirlwind, she noticed that she was indeed lying in Prism’s bed. However, Prism himself wasn’t there; the sound of running water and a light from the bathroom pointed out to him calling to her from there.
Did… I just had a wet dream about Prism? Whirlwind thought, blushing. She brought her hands up to her face and rubbed her eyes. Talk about embarrassing…
The sound of water died down, and after a second the light in the room was turned on. “C’mon Dubz, you said that you agreed with Amber to meet up at nine, it’s already past eight.”
He’s seriously berating me for staying in bed longer? she thought, marveling at the irony.
“I’m awake, I’m awake,” she muttered in a sleepy voice.
She didn’t really feel like getting up; Prism mentioning that they were going to meet up with Amber caused her to feel a cold pit in her stomach. In about an hour she was going to learn whether or not she was going to fly. Whirlwind was trying to stay positive, but she was still afraid. However, Prism and her other friends believed in her; she would try, for them as much as herself.
“I’m getting up, don’t worry,” Whirlwind said, sighing and rubbing her temples.
She heard him chuckle. “Yeah, and for all the time you called me lazy I’m gonna hurry you up,” he said, coming closer. Whirlwind realized what he was about to do a second too late. “C’mon, get up,” Prism said, pulling the covers.
Whirlwind shrieked and grabbed the covers, hiding herself from his sight. “Prism, what the hell?!”
Prism, all red on his face, backed away and looked pretty much at anything but her. “I-I-I’m sorry, I didn’t… why the hell were you sleeping naked?!”
“The clothes you gave me were itching me, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall asleep so I took them off,” Whirlwind explained, now also blushing with embarrassment. “I didn’t expect you to just rip the covers off!”
“I’m sorry, I… I’m just gonna go make breakfast,” he said, pointing behind himself with his eyes closed.
Whirlwind continued to glare at him angrily as he left the room, after which she fell down back on the bed, seething. She knew that Prism hadn’t intended to do that, and that it was more her fault, but still…
I can’t believe he just saw me naked, she thought as she grabbed the covers and stood up. The pyjamas Prism had left her were on the floor next to the bed, where she had thrown them in the middle of the night. Whirlwind thought back to that moment; when she woke up, feeling itchy from the unfamiliar clothes, had she remembered that she wasn’t sleeping in her apartment? Her mind had pretty much went on and off back then…
Still, he shouldn’t have ripped the covers like that, she thought, picking up the pants with one hand and quickly putting them on, then the shirt.
She had left her own clothes in the bathroom, so she quickly went to freshen up and change, trying to calm down after… that. Whirlwind could hear Prism moving around in the kitchen; she couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. He had clearly seemed as embarrassed as she was, if not more.
I doubt he’s as angry as me though, Whirlwind thought as she brushed her teeth. Also… well, he is a guy, even though he respects me he must have liked what he saw… Right? she wondered, suddenly feeling unsure. She then shook her head. Wait, why the hell am I thinking about that? I must have lived with Amber for too long.
By the time she had finished getting ready and left the bathroom, Prism had finished making breakfast. She sat before the table where two sets of plates with scrambled eggs on them. Ignoring Prism, who was sitting on the other side, poking his breakfast with a fork, she began to eat.
“Dubz,” he began, “I really didn’t-”
“It’s alright,” Whirlwind interrupted him. “I know that you wouldn’t have done that if you knew I was naked, so let's just forget about it, okay?”
“Fine by me,” Prism quickly said. Whirlwind finally looked at him; he was relieved, though still nervous. He grunted and looked away. “So-”
“Oh for the love of...” she exclaimed, rolling her eyes, “you can’t look at me? Now?” she added.
“Well, it’s not everyday I see one of my best friends naked,” he replied, smiling sheepishly.
“Relax, like I said, it’s alright, I already calmed down,” she told him. “I shouldn’t have slept in somebody else’s house naked anyway. So I’m not angry with you. Although,” she added, shrugging, “if you feel like you’re still at fault here…” she nodded at him and raised her eyebrows, trailing off.
Prism’s brow furrowed. “Yeah, cause me getting naked won’t make things weirder for us now.”
Whirlwind raised one hand. “It was a joke,” she assured him. “We have more important matter to discuss.”
“Um, sure, such as?”
“You cannot tell Amber about this,” she pointed at him with a fork. “Trust me, she won’t stop talking about it if she ever learns of this.”
She did not feel it necessary to add that Amber would probably be making fun of both of them for their reactions rather than just what had happened. She had… a rather unusual view on the matter of one’s nakedness.
“Yeah, I can imagine,” Prism chuckled uncomfortably. “So, we’re cool, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Sooo… can I say how smokin’ hot you looked?”
Whirlwind glanced at him, surprised, and feeling a strange warmth in her chest. She smiled. “Thanks.”
“You’re sure she’ll be here?” Prism asked as the walked through the meadow.
“Yes, Amber and I had discussed this, I wanted to see how well I could fly in some secluded place,” Whirlwind replied, looking around. “Obviously, there wouldn’t be any place like that in Canterlot, so we picked this.”
They were not too far away from Ponyville, about half an hour’s walk away from the town’s limits. The meadow they were on was almost exactly between the Sweet Apple Acres apple farm and Whitetail Woods. Back when they were younger, Whirlwind and Prism often practiced flying here, especially (in Prism’s case, almost only) before the Young Fliers Competitions.
That was another reason why she picked this place. What better place to start flying again after her accident than here?
The nervous feeling in her gut that had all but evaporated after Prism… woke her up, had began to return on their way here. Hoping he couldn’t read that on her face, Whirlwind focused looking around, trying to find…
“There she is!” she exclaimed happily, pointing in the direction of a lone tree, standing a bit further in the meadow.
In its shadow lay Amber. As Whirlwind and Prism hurried towards her, they saw that she was lying on a blanket and had a small backpack with her.
“Is she asleep?” Prism asked in a whisper once they reached her.
Whirlwind tilted her head as she looked at Amber; her nurse friend had her eyes closed. And since she should have heard them when they were walking towards her-
“I’m awake,” Amber suddenly spoke, startling both of them. She stirred up to a sitting position and rubbed her eyes. “Geez, you two are loud.”
Whirlwind exchanged a glance with Prism before he asked: “Amber, are you alright?”
“Sure,” Amber replied, stretching and getting, “why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, you seem a bit, um…” Prism hesitated, “Dubz, help me out here.”
“I didn’t drink last night, if that’s what you’re worrying about,” Amber interjected before Whirlwind could answer. “Geez, you two are worse than Hot Head and Lucky. I wouldn’t drink before such an important day,” she continued, picking up the backpack and searching for something inside of it. “But I did get back home a bit late - or early, depending on how you look at it - so instead of getting to bed just to wake up, I picked up a blanket and came here,” Amber finished, taking a thermos (presumably with coffee) out of the backpack.
“So… you slept here?” Whirlwind asked.
“Meh, only a few hours. Besides, it was warm,” she added, as she took a sip from the thermos. “So,” she looked at them and winked, “did the two of you have fun last night?”
“Um, what-” Prism began to ask but Whirlwind cut him off.
“Don’t ask,” she told him, causing Amber to giggle.
“Well, I’m gonna take that as a yes. On to the more important matters,” Amber changed the subject, growing more serious, “how’s the arm?”
Happy to talk about something else (and evade a possibility of what happened earlier being revealed in a discussion), Whirlwind replied: “Great, no pain whatsoever; it’s fully healed.”
“Alright, but I do need to check, just to be sure,” Amber said, coming closer to her. “Go ahead and shift them into wings.”
“R-right,” she replied, briefly hesitating, not because she had asked her to shift her hands into wings, but rather because she knew what was coming next.
Despite her worries, Whirlwind did as she had asked. Her transformation was effortless, much like yesterday after the treatment. Amber took the left wing into her hands, grabbed it below her shoulder and by the forearm, minding the purple feathers.
“Alright, now, tell me if at any point you feel pain, discomfort, et cetera,” Amber said as she began to move her wing in all possible ways it could. Whirlwind, who had gotten used to such practices, stayed calm and let her do her thing. She glanced at Prism, who was leaning against the tree, and shrugged. Amber continued her ministration for several minutes, before she finally let go and nodded, satisfied. “Okay, now that I made sure your wing is fine, time to see some flying.”
Whirlwind uttered a sigh.
“No ‘buts’,” Amber told her before she could say anything. “Come on, up!” she added… and smacked her on the ass.
She yelped and jumped away from her. “Amber!”
To her frustration, Amber was rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “Hm, was hoping that it would make you jump into the air.” As Whirlwind was about to say an angry retort, Amber looked away from her. “Prism, can you help?”
Whirlwind quickly whirled at him. “Don’t you dare,” she told him.
He raised his hands defensively. “I wasn’t going to,” he assured her. Prism them shifted his own arms into wings and swiftly flew a few feet up. “C’mon, Dubz, I know you can do it,” he said as he hovered above her and Amber.
Sighing once again, she nodded. “Okay, I will, just… let me focus for a moment,” she told both of them.
She waited to see both of them nod, then closed her eyes. Her heart was pounding. Okay, you can do this, Whirlwind thought. You learned how to fly when you were little, you were the best flier in your class, you made it to the Wonderbolts. She raised her wings a bit… then hesitated again. The last time she used them she was on fire. No, don’t think about it! she thought, shaking her head. Everybody, everybody knows you can do this. Your teammates, Amber, Prism… so just do it!
Whirlwind took a deep breath… and jumped. Still keeping her eyes closed, she flapped her wings.
“Yes!”
Hearing Prism shout, quite close to her in fact, Whirlwind opened her eyes.
She was in the air. A good ten feet in the air, and without any trouble staying at this height. I’m… flying, Whirlwind realized, flapping her wings slowly.
“See?” She looked to her side; Prism was there, having flew up closer. He was smiling. “What did I tell you?”
Whirlwind looked at her left wing, then back at him and smiled.
“Prism!” Amber called out from below them. They both turned their heads to look at her. “Have her do some easy moves, then start doing more complicated ones! And keep close to her!” she added.
“Roger that!” Prism replied, saluting, then turned to Whirlwind. “C’mon, think you can keep up Dubz?”
She smirked as he began to fly away, and quickly followed him. As she was about to catch up, he sped up and drew closer to the ground. With a flap of her wings, she turned to cut him off. Prism dived, and then when he was close to the ground he turned at ninety degrees angle and began to fly even faster. Whirlwind repeated that maneuver after him again, finding it as easy as she had remembered.
Was I really afraid for nothing? she wondered as she followed Prism higher and highed. Afraid of flying? How could she ever be afraid of flying? She loved it so much! Her heart was beating faster as she gained on speed, breaking through a cloud…
And then a smaller patch of cloud hit her straight in the face.
Of course, this being a cloud, it didn’t hurt at all, but it still blinded her for a second. She quickly grabbed it with her wing and threw it away, looking around. Prism was sitting on a nearby cloud, sticking his tongue at her.
Whirlwind smiled and shot right at him. Prism evaded her by flying up, but she wasn’t a Wonderbolt for nothing; she changed her course and grabbed him in mid air, forcing him back to the cloud, with her sitting on top of him.
She grabbed a wingful of it and smashed it against Prism’s face as if it was snow. “Care to do that again?” she asked him as he tried to shake the cloud off.
He succeeded, and looked at her on top of him, smiling. Whirlwind smirked as she looked into his eyes, both of them breathing heavily…
A shout from below startled both of them. “Hey! What are you two doing up there?! I can’t see you!”
Whirlwind glanced to the side, trying to spot Amber, and as she did that, Prism slipped away by phasing through the cloud. He then quickly flew up from under it. “Alright, we have a flight test to finish,” he said, smiling… and a bit red on his face.
Suddenly feeling heat on her face, Whirlwind nodded, and jumped off the cloud, beginning again to repeat after Prism.
“Well, as far as I can tell, you’ve made a full recovery,” Amber said as both he and Whirlwind landed on the ground. “There might be some small loss of speed, but I’m pretty sure it’d be because of a month of not flying, so the Wonderbolts shouldn’t make too much of a fuss.” She smiled as she said the next two words: “So, congratulations!”
Whirlwind smiled. “Thanks, Amber. For everything, I mean. And you too, Prism,” she turned to him, and looked as she was about to say more, but he stopped her.
“Don’t mention it, Dubz. I’ll always be happy to help,” he said, smiling.
She smiled even wider hearing that, and then moved to hug him so quickly that he had barely noticed before her arms were around him. Prism smiled sheepishly and returned the hug. With his face right next to her head, he could smell her scent, and found himself momentarily lost in it… until a second pair of arms embraced him.
“Aw, I don’t get a hug?” Amber, hugging both of them, asked. She was pouting, but a gleam in her eyes told Prism that she was joking...
Prism blinked. Is it just me, or is this not just a gleam in her eyes… but like her whole body is glowing?
He moved slightly away to get a better look at her, and Whirlwind took the opportunity to turn around and hugged her. “Thank you so much,” she repeated once again.
As Prism realized that indeed, Amber’s body was glowing slightly, she turned a bit so that hers and Whirlwind’s faces were in front of one another. “Don’t mention it,” she said… and then kissed her.
Immediately, Prism’s attention shifted from Amber’s glow to that.
The kiss was short, and the two women pulled away from one another, Amber looking relaxed, and Whirlwind… sheepish, and a bit embarrassed?
“What?” Amber asked Prism, probably noticing that he was staring. “Can’t two friends kiss?”
He struggled to answer - or rather, pretty much say anything - when something clicked in his head. “Oh, right, you, um, kiss people platonically, right?” he asked, recalling that he had once seen her kiss Annie like that.
She rolled her eyes at him. “Why do guys make such big deals out of this?” she asked Whirlwind, he giggled a bit uncomfortably.
Prism wondered if that was the first time this had happened. Certainly, Whirlwind hadn’t looked too surprised…
“Anyway!” Amber said suddenly, clasping her hands. “Now that we know you have fully healed, we can have a party. It’s gonna be at Sugarcube Corner, starting at five pm and lasting until… well, we’ll see, I took the entire day off,” she said, winking.
“Awesome,” Whirlwind said. “At five, huh? I think I’ll go home, change into something better for a party,” she said, pointing at her clothing.
A cold shiver went through Prism. “You want me to fly with you? I mean, just in case,” he added.
“Nah, she’s fine,” Amber replied for her, then winked at him. “Although it’s sweet that you worry about her so much.”
Prism felt himself blushing, but he got a hold of himself as he saw Whirlwind smiling. “Would you mind if I hung out at your place until the party starts? It’ll only take me about an hour to get back to Ponyville, and I owe you for last night to hang out some more.”
“Sure, I don’t mind at all,” he quickly replied.
“Great, see you then,” she said, then said her goodbyes to Amber and jumped into the air, heading towards Cloudsdale.
Prism watched her go, worried, but knowing he would be overprotective if he insisted on keeping her company. He turned away, and found Amber staring at him intensely.
“What?” he asked.
She sighed. “Nothing, just wishing I had a ‘knight in shining armor’ looking after me.” Before Prism could reply in anyway, she turned away and began to fold the blanket. “I’m going back to Canterlot and take a nap for a few hours before the party. Can you walk me to the train station?”
“Sure, of course,” he replied.
He took a step towards her, wanting to help her pack the blanket into the backpack. “We can discuss the threesome you two owe me on our way,” Amber said, making him lose his balance and almost fall.
Whirlwind landed effortlessly before Prism’s house. Straight after a shower, in new set of clothes, and after a fifteen minute flight, she felt simply divine. She practically ran up to his door, so happy she felt, and knocked on it.
She had to wait a few moments for him to open the door, it took him much longer than yesterday. When he finally came and let her in, she immediately understood why; he had a towel wrapped around his waist, and his skin was wet.
“Wow, you’re quick,” he said as he closed the door behind her. “I barely finished my shower.”
Whirlwind nodded absentmindedly; she had to tear away her gaze from the droplets of water running down his chest. “Um, yeah, sorry, just, um… wanted to see how fast I could fly, so- I can come back later,” she said, feeling heat on her face.
Prism mercifully didn’t noticed. “Are you kidding? Let me just dry up and get dressed and I’ll be good. Make yourself at home,” he said as he began going to the bathroom.
Whirlwind watched him go, catching herself again to be staring at… parts of him. She shook her head as he disappeared into the bathroom, went into the living room and sat on the couch. Ugh, what is wrong with me today, she thought, frowning. It’s not like me to… think this much of him. And that moment back on the cloud… I... I wonder what he thought of that- She trailed off.
On the chair next to her laid a pair of pants. The same one he had been wearing during the flight test. While a normal person would consider it to be a distaste to leave your pants like that, Whirlwind had seen Prism’s old room back when they were dating, and knew it could have been worse. It wasn’t the pants that drew her attention.
It was what was sticking out of their pocket. A letter, bearing a familiar seal.
Sounds of steps let her know of Prism’s return. “See?” he asked, fully dressed… saved for a shirt that he was now quickly putting on. “Told you I would be right back.”
But Whirlwind didn’t care about that anymore. “Is that what I think it is?” she asked, pointing at the letter.
Prism followed her sight… and facepalmed. “Of course,” he muttered. “First time in forever I’m actually putting effort to having this place clean and I leave that in plain sight…”
“That’s a letter from the Wonderbolts Academy?” Whirlwind asked, ignoring his ramble.
“Um, yeah, I got it yesterday morning,” Prism said uncertainly. She looked at him; he was scratching the back of his head and not meeting her eyes. “They accepted me.”
Her eyes went wide. “That’s amazing!” she exclaimed.
“W- wait, you’re not mad?” Prism asked, clearly surprised.
“Why in Celestia’s name would I be mad?” she asked, confused, but she quickly stopped caring. She ran up to him and hugged him. “Congratulations! I always knew you could become a Wonderbolt if you just got off your lazy ass!”
“Huh, thanks. I mean, it’s just the Academy for now. But wait,” Prism said, grabbing her by her arms so that they could speak face to face. “I thought you would be mad because, well, I hadn’t told you until now.”
“Oh… now that you mention,” Whirlwind mentioned, frowning.
“I wasn’t sure how you were gonna react,” he quickly began to explain. “You know, all you said that morning, about how you were afraid they would remove you from the Wonderbolts. I just wanted you to first see that you’re flying like you used to, so that you wouldn’t be mad.”
“Well, you nailed it,” she said sarcastically, but then she smiled; if she had felt anger, it had quickly dispersed. “But fine, you had a good reason. So, did you tell your parent’s yet? Or Icy?”
“Not yet,” Prism shook his head. “Though my Mom and Dad will probably learn from Auntie Spitfire soon if I don’t tell them. And with Icy…” he smiled mischievously, “well, I’m kinda thinking about not telling my little brother, and then give him tickets to a show…”
Whirlwind punched him again, though with less force behind it. “You’re awful. So who knows then?”
“Only you so far,” Prism said and blushed. “I… wanted you to be the first to know.”
“Oh...” Whirlwind was at the loss of words. He wanted me to be the first to know, she thought, touched.. “Prism… I… what made you want join anyway?” she asked.
“I mean, I asked you to send an application to be accepted when I sent mine,” Whirlwind said. She had; she thought it would be nice to train together at the Academy. “But you didn’t want to then; what changed your mind?”
To her surprise, a shadow fell on Prism’s face. He opened his mouth, struggling to speak. “Dubz… you… you were returning from training that day,” he said, clenching his fists and looking away. Whirlwind’s jaw dropped as he continued. “If I had applied together with you, we would have been together when that fire erupted, and I would have gone instead of you to save that woman, and you wouldn’t have gotten wounded.”
She tried to say something, interrupt him, but he continued.
“When Hot Head told me what happened and brought me to you, when I saw you, I… this was the worst I’d ever felt. I was afraid you were going to die, that you’d die because I was too lazy to do something with my life, that you’d die before… before I told you how I felt.”
“‘How you felt’?” Whirlwind repeated when he stopped to take breath.
He finally looked at her. “I… I love you, Dubz. I always have, just… I thought you were over me after you broke up with me. So I tried to respect your decision and not say anything, but then, after that fire... I understood that I had to tell you that, even if you’d say that you-”
The rest of that sentence was never heard by anybody. Whirlwind silenced him by throwing herself at him and kissing him. Prism took a step back due to her momentum and his surprise, but then he stood firm, embraced her and returned the kiss. Whirlwind kissed him like she had never kissed him before, breathing in his sweet scent that she so missed, and feeling his arms on her body.
After a minute, she pulled, only by inches, needing air. “You idiot…” she managed to say, glancing up into his eyes. “You… I love you too, I still loved you after we broke up. But I thought you were over me, so I didn’t say anything.”
She could read surprise in his eyes. Then amusement. “I guess we’re both idiots, huh?”
Whirlwind could have brought up Jet Stream, but she didn’t want to ruin the moment. Instead, she just squeezed him tighter and said, “You’re still worse. Also, what, you think I would have let you risk your life and stand aside?” she asked. “I’m afraid of fire, but I would have been more afraid of losing you. So I would have flown into that burning building with you, and we would both get wounded.”
“I guess,” Prism said, giving her a weak smile. “Dubz, I… I want to give us another try. I’m gonna be a better boyfriend this time, I promise.”
She leaned in and kissed him again. “I know,” she said once they parted. “And I don’t want to just ‘try’.”
He chuckled and kissed her. ““So, um… what now?” he asked, suddenly sounding unsure. “You wanna pop up a movie and watch it until we have to go to the party?
“Actually…” Whirlwind said thoughtfully. Her dream from last night flashed before her eyes. “I think I have a better idea…”
“What do you have in mind?” Prism asked, but instead of replying, Whirlwind, listening to the impulse, pulled him to herself as she backtracked to the couch. She kissed him and let them both fall down. At the last moment, she spun them around in the air, making him land on his back on the couch as she landed on top. They kissed passionately again. “Dubz…” Prism moaned.
“How much time do we have before the party?” Whirlwind asked in a husky voice.
“Um…” Prism muttered, as if he had a hard time focusing. “About six hours?”
Whirlwind smiled, feeling his hands on the back of her head and on her ass. “Minus one hour to get shower again and to go there… we’ve got five hours,” she whispered into his ear.
Prism turned so that he was looking into her eyes. “You’re sure-”
She silenced his question with a kiss.
Author's Note
Some of you might have noticed that the show Prism and Whirlwind are watching is a reference to Steven Universe. Highly recommending checking it out, it's an awesome show^^
