The Pegasus & The Pegasister

Ashleigh was half awake as the sun rose, hearing the sound of the wind rushing outside was what woke her. She looked out the window to see what it was, shuddering at the cold touch of the panes of glass.

“Morning.” muttered Soarin, who had woken up from bed to sit beside her.

“Good morning, love.” she said, fixing her boyfriend’s matted mane. “How do you feel?”

Soarin chuckled. “You’re giving me pet names now?”

Ashleigh shrugged. “I have to every once in awhile.”

Soarin grinned. “Okay, LOVE.” He grinned at Ashleigh’s over-dramatic reaction.

“Stop it, stop it!” she joking said, flailing around.

Soarin sat down on the floor. “Do you think we can talk to your dad about treating me better?”

Ashleigh sighed. “I will Soarin. I feel terrible for what he did to you. Even if we were just friends it still wouldn’t be right.”

Soarin nodded. “Thanks for caring about me.”

“I always will.” Suddenly Ashleigh stood up. “I need to get someone, I’ll be right back.”

Soarin was about to protest, thinking she meant her father, but she was gone before he could.

After a few minutes, he heard voices approaching from the hallway. The half-open door was fully flung open, revealing Ashleigh and Patrick. Soarin had been hiding, thinking that he was going to have to confront his girlfriend’s father. He felt a wave of relief, remembering how Patrick had been much friendlier to him.

“Is something wrong Ash?” Patrick said, hugging Ashleigh. “You can tell me anything. I’m your brother.”

Ashleigh let out a sigh. “Well I brought you in my room to tell you something. Do you remember Soarin from last night?”

Patrick grinned. “The winged horse dude? Yeah, what about him?”

Ashleigh grinned. “Well wait until you see this; Soarin!”

Soarin trotted forward and smiled. “Hi.”

Patrick looked confused. “What’s he doing in your room? Didn’t dad kick him out?”

Ashleigh didn’t reply, and Soarin approached her and the two looked at each other for a moment before they had a deep kiss, lasting so long the air was nearly sucked out of them. Looking back at Patrick, they was a look of amazement on his face.

“Ashleigh...you have a boyfriend!” Patrick hugged his sister, patting her on the back. “I’m so happy for you dude.”

Ashleigh grinned nervously. “I thought you would be weirded out that we made out in front of you, but I didn’t know how else to tell you that you would believe me.”

Soarin nervously shook Patrick’s hand. “Hey, nice to meet you.”

Patrick grinned. “Hey dude. My sister’s pretty hot, isn’t she?” he grinned, winking at Ashleigh.

Soarin grinned. “She’s wildfire hot.” He remarked. “Especially that hair. It’s so pretty.”

“Don’t ever cut your hair Ashleigh.” joked Patrick, grinning at his sister. “I think it’ll crush Soarin.”

Ashleigh rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, I like having long hair anyways. It was an accomplishment to get it to grow all the way down to my hip.”

Patrick, although he didn’t want to say it, had to add in. “So what are we going to do about dad? I mean, I think Soarin’s a pretty cool guy, but dad’s not gonna be happy to know you’re dating a winged hor-”

“Pegasus.”

“Same thing. My point is that I want to see my sister happy, and I can’t promise that you’ll be happy if dad knows about your relationship.” Patrick finished.

Ashleigh sighed. “He has to know. I can’t let him keep treating Soarin like he did last night.”

Patrick sighed. “I’ll try to defend you and Soarin if he gets angry, but I can’t guarantee that I can. Dad is...a bit harsh.”

Soarin smiled. “You’re great dude. I’m glad that my girlfriend has such a great brother.”

Patrick patted Soarin on the head. “Yeah man. Just make sure to let your kids visit me when you’re married, I want to pull some uncle pranks.”

“Get out of here.” Soarin said amusedly. “We’re not there yet.”

The trio shared laughs, trying to dislodge the threat that Ashleigh’s father would not accept the love between his daughter and Soarin.

They heard a knock on the door. “You all come out here for breakfast!” called Ashleigh’s mom.

The three walked out, Soarin hiding behind the siblings until they were sure that Soarin wouldn’t be seen coming out of the room. The three walked over to the table, which was strewn with biscuits, apple pie, fried ham, eggs, and pancakes.

“Is that...Pie?” asked Soarin.

“Yeah it is.” Ashleigh said with a wink.

Soarin immediately took a seat next to the pie, excitedly sitting down and inhaling the scent. “Mmm, smells great.”

Ashleigh’s father suddenly shoved Soarin out of his chair. “Off the furniture.”

Soarin was shocked, as Ashleigh’s father removed the extra chairs from the table, until there were none left for Soarin.

“What are you doing?” asked Ashleigh. “He’s hungry!”

“He can go eat grass outside. I don’t want an animal sitting at the table and eating up all the food.”

To their surprise, Ashleigh’s mother added her two cents in. “Richard, let him stay. He can’t eat the grass out there, it has pesticides and chemicals on it. And it’s freezing out there too.”

Ashleigh’s father scowled. “He’s not our equal and he never will be. We don’t need some stupid winged horse thing dining with us.”

Ashleigh lost it there. “You know what dad, you think you’re so great, but if you knew what was going on between me and Soarin you’d be thinking differently.”

Ashleigh’s father misunderstood what she was saying, but the rest of the family on the other hand realized what she meant.

“Your little friend isn’t allowed at our table. I don’t care that he ‘saved your life’, I’m not making an exception. Outside, now.” he swatted at Soarin. Soarin, letting out a sob, walked towards the door and opened it, shivering in the cold.

“Soarin, don’t go.” Ashleigh said. “I’m going to tell him.”

“Tell me what?” Her dad looked baffled.

Ashleigh sighed. “Dad...Soarin isn’t just my friend. He’s...he’s my boyfriend.”

Her dad had a stark expression on his face, as though he had just seen a ghost. “What. Did. You. Say?” he asked, his voice dead cold.

Ashleigh backed away from her father. “Soarin, come here.”

Soarin walked forward.

“Do not go near my daughter.” Her father’s voice was menacing as he stared right into Soarin’s eyes. Soarin stopped walking.

“Soarin, please. We need to show him.” Ashleigh begged, looking longingly at her boyfriend.

Soarin continued walking forward, even with the furious glance from his girlfriend’s father, until finally they were standing only an inch away. Then they kissed.

Their kiss lasted only a few seconds, however, when Ashleigh’s father lunged across the table and attacked Soarin.

Soarin managed to get away, before he got punched in the face. He hovered in the air as high up as he could get, hoping that he wouldn’t be able to be attacked. Ashleigh’s father marched over to the table and violently shoved it over, destroying as much of the food as possible. The entire family was screaming at him to stop, even Jenna was terrified. The apple pie had not been crushed or broken, so Ashleigh’s father picked it up. “You two will never see each other again.” he finished, throwing the pie against the ground and crushing it with his foot. Ashleigh was crying, she couldn’t believe her own father could be so cruel over finding out that she was in love with Soarin. Jenna glared at her father. “You’re sick.” she said, glaring back at him. Patrick also added in.

“Are you going to ruin breakfast if I bring my girlfriend over?” Ashleigh’s mother wouldn’t even look at her husband, she just walked over to where Soarin was. “Are you okay dear?” she asked, as Soarin cautiously landed. Soarin nodded. “I’m so sorry,” he added. “You probably hate me too.”

Ashleigh’s mother whipped her head around to look at her husband. “Get outside now. Go somewhere, cool off, and then come back. We need to have a serious talk.”

“I’m not going anywhere until that circus freak leaves.”

“Richard! That ‘circus freak’ might be our son-in-law one day!”

“He’s never going to be part of the family.” with that, Richard slammed the door, leaving the rest of the family shocked by what had just happened. For what seemed like eternity, nobody said anything, the family merely cleaned up the mess in distraught.

“I’m so sorry.” Soarin finally said. “This is my fault. If I was a human your dad wouldn’t hate me.”

“What are you talking about?” Jenna spoke up. “You’re a really nice guy. Our dad was the one who needs to apologize.”

“Aren’t you upset that I’m a pony and your daughter is, well, a human?” Soarin asked Ashleigh’s mom.

She shook her head. “Of course not dearie! I mean, I guess I was a little disappointed, but that was mainly because of her father.” she sighed. “Look, don’t think you’re not welcome in this house ever. You’re welcome to stay as long as you want, even if you and Ashleigh break up.”

Soarin laughed. “Well I doubt we’ll be breaking up anytime soon. We’ve been through some pretty big stuff together.”

“Yes I am aware, you told us last night about everything.”

“Except for what happened at the end with us becoming a couple.” Ashleigh said. “Maybe I’ll tell you later, Patrick. You did tell me how you met your girl.”

Patrick grinned. “Sure, sounds great.”

The family soon settled down from the incident, the family and Soarin got along well. Jenna found Soarin helpful for when she had a bad cell phone signal, she would climb onto Soarin and ride him to where ever there was a better signal. Ashleigh’s mom and Soarin found a comedy TV show that they enjoyed that they watched every night, and Patrick and Soarin started working together in mechanics, which was a great help to Patrick because of his massive strength and the ability to fly. However, not everything was right. Ashleigh’s father Richard had ignored Soarin for what was now weeks, and even though he apologized for his actions and said he would not question whom his daugher dated, Soarin got the feeling that he didn’t really like him. But for now, things were good, and Soarin and Ashleigh’s relationship had gotten even stronger.

“I never want to leave you.” Ashleigh whispered to Soarin one night as they were going to sleep.

“I won’t leave you.” Soarin said. In his heart, he knew that Ashleigh was his home, and that he would do anything to be with her.