Windy Skies

With the rising of the sun, your day starts.

The sunlight streaming through the window wakes you. It’s a warm, pleasant feeling, and you hum happily as you sit up and stretch. You’ve always been an earlier riser; you had to be, what with your parents’ weird schedules. It’s almost second nature for you now that when the sun is up, so are you.

Your mom certainly appreciates the chance to see you before she heads off to bed.

For a moment you just sit there, basking in the warm beam of sunlight. You aren’t able to enjoy it for long though, as nature soon comes calling. With a soft huff, you throw the bed sheets aside and climb off the futon.

Yawning, you plod across the soft carpet, your hooves sinking into the plush material. The door slides open silently, and you move down the hall towards the bathroom. Another yawn escapes you, and you shake your body in an attempt to rid yourself of what little sleep still remains in your system. The sudden jostle causes something to bump softly against your chest and you peer downwards.

The amulet your dad gave you bounces weakly against your chest as you walk. The deep purple glow is still emanating from it, and probably still will be for many more months to come. You dad isn’t one of the strongest spellcasters in the Royal Guard for nothing!

The pressure in your gut grows stronger, and you hurry towards the bathroom. With a twist of the handle, you push your shoulder against the door. It swings open, a small puff of stray cloud floating off of the floor only to dissipate in the air.

Crossing your hind legs, you quickly step inside…

...only to freeze a moment later upon discovering that the bathroom is already occupied.

Windy is standing in front of the mirror, her back to the door. A yellow towel is wrapped around her hips, the edge of which just barely hangs over her rump. It’s clear from her matted mane and tail, as well as the steam in the room, that she has just finished showering. She hasn’t noticed you yet though, as her head is tucked beneath one of her wings. A bottle of some kind of oil rests upon the counter beside a small pile of feathers.

Frozen in the doorway, you can only watch with wide eyes as the older mare continues her work. Her head bobs up and down slowly before she suddenly pulls away, another feather held delicately in her lips. As she spits it out onto the pile, you see that the tip of her nose has a thin layer of oil upon it.

Windy flexes her wing—the feathers shifting about slightly—before she leans back in to nibble and nuzzle at her primaries. As the wing moves, you notice that most of her feathers seem to shimmer in the light, an oily sheen covering the soft blue feathers.

It’s actually rather pretty.

You are so distracted by the sight that you don’t even notice the door slowly closing in front of you until it bounces off your head with a hollow-sounding ‘thunk’. Stumbling backwards, you let out a soft curse as you rub the sore spot on your forehead.

At the noise, Windy’s head shoots up and she whips around. Catching sight of you, her eyes widen, and a look of alarm flashes across her face. Her chest fluffs up and her wings flare wide, almost filling the room. A startled squawk escapes her, and she stamps her front hoofs while flapping her wings.

Pushed up against the hallway wall, you watch the display with confusion.

Windy blinks before appearing to realize what she’s just done. A bright blush spreads quickly across her face, and she immediately deflates. “Oh… oh dear,” she squeaks, bring up her wings to hide her blushing face behind them. “I can’t believe I just did that. I can’t believe I just threat displayed in front of Scarlet’s son!”

You aren’t sure what she’s talking about, but judging by how intense her blush is getting, it was something extremely embarrassing.

And it’s all your fault.

“Oh, if she finds out, I’ll never hear the end of it,” Windy is muttering, her face still hidden.

“I-I’m sorry,” you stammer out quickly, scrambling to your hooves again. “I’m sorry! I didn’t… I didn’t know you were in there! I should have knocked!” With your parents’ conflicting schedules, you always had access to the bathroom whenever you wanted it. You aren’t used to sharing a bathroom with somepony.

And it looks like that habit is kicking you in the flank this morning.

Celestia drown you in cake and eat you alive, you are just lucky Windy got to the bathroom first! On several occasions you’ve caught yourself leaving the bathroom door open while you did your business. Now that would have been a horrifying encounter.

At your apology, Windy lowers her wings quickly and shakes her head, her eyes wide. “Oh, no! No, champ. You did nothing wrong. I… you just startled me, is all. I was just preening and didn’t hear you coming.”

“Preening?” you ask, cocking your head to the side.

Windy gives you a small smile. “Oh, that’s right. You wouldn’t know about that, would you?” She rolls her eyes and hits the back of her head with a hoof. “I should have known, Scarlet being your mother and all.”

An awkward silence falls for a moment before a sudden pressure in your gut reminds you of your pressing need to use the bathroom. You fidget, crossing your hind legs as you glance between Windy and the toilet.

She gives you a curious look before turning to see what you kept looking at. Realization dawns and her eyes widen. “Oh, dear… sorry. Um, here, let me just get out of your way.” Pushing her discarded feathers into the trash, she grabs the bottle of oil in her mouth and quickly slips by you and out the bathroom.

You make sure to close and lock the door after her.

Taking care of your business, you’re washing your hooves when the pile of feathers in the trash catches your eyes. You stare down at the pale blue feathers before glancing over to the door to make sure it was still locked. Upon seeing that it was, you glanced back down at the feathers. Nibbling on your bottom lip, you debate mentally with yourself for a moment before reaching down and plucking one up from the top of the pile.

Holding the feather up to your muzzle, you take a tentative sniff. A low groan escapes you as the heavy scent of pine fills your nostrils. Inside your sheath, you twitch, the familiar aroma reminding you of yesterday’s events. Another sniff and another nose-full of Windy’s scent, and you find yourself in need of relief.

After double-checking one last time that the door was locked, you step into the bathtub. Using the feather, you tease your head as it slowly emerges from your sheath. A soft ‘ahhh’ escapes you as the soft fibers of the feather brushed against your sensitive flesh.

Sitting down on the floor of the tube, you continue to tease your head with Windy’s feather. With your other hoof, you start to stroke your shaft, gradually building up speed as more precum dribbles from your tip and down your length. Your hoof is somewhat clumsy, but it gets the job done and before long you’ve arrived at your peak.

You tense up, letting out a shaky gasp as your head suddenly flares. Your length jerks and kicks before releasing your essence all over the shower floor. Some lands on Windy’s feather, painting the blue fibers white. Your hips hump weakling as you ride out the pleasure.

Breathing heavily, you remain seated for a moment before getting shakily to your hooves. You eye the mess you’ve made before sighing softly. Well, you need a shower anyways.

A quick twist of the faucet handle has lukewarm water cascading down upon you. It washes away your shame and cleans off Windy’s feather in the process. Making sure to set the feather aside to place it back in the trash later, you go about washing yourself off.

~ ~ ~ ~ > > < < ~ ~ ~ ~

As Windy pays the chariot driver, you gaze around with foal-like wonder.

Around you, large waterfalls made of rainbows cascade down from clouds high overhead, falling into dozens of rainbow pools that litter the various sloping grassy hills and plateaus. The prismatic flows spill over the escarpments, staining the rocks and grass in ever-changing hues of colors.

There are other sightseers present, enjoying the breathtaking view as well. Most of them are pegasi, but there are a few of the other races as well. A white unicorn mare in a pink dress and sunglasses trots along a pathway, followed by a younger filly pulling an overpacked cart filled with dozens of bags of luggage. The pair disappear around a bend, heading further into the woods towards the camping site located there.

You continue to peer around, trying to take in as much of the sights as possible. It’s indescribably beautiful, and you find tears beginning to well up in your eyes. Only Celestia could have made a more beautiful sight.

“No words,” you mumble under your breath, “should have been a poet instead.” You’re glad you brought your drawing supplies with you. You might not be able to describe what you’re seeing very well, but you can certainly draw it. Although, with your skills, you won’t be able to do it any justice.

But you can certainly try!

The sound of approaching hoofsteps draws your attention away from the falls. Windy just smiles as she climbs the hill to stand beside you. “So, what do you think?” She’s forgone her varsity jacket, and is instead wearing a simple red blouse and a blue Haywaii-style wrap skirt. In the light from one of the nearby rainbow falls, her mane takes on a reddish tint.

Wide-eyed, you wordlessly nod your head.

This causes her to giggle. “I thought you might like it here. The Winsome Falls are a very popular location. Even us Cloudsdalians will occasionally take a day trip to them just to take in the sights again. They’re always changing, you see,” she says, pointing towards a cluster of clouds. They were drifting slightly on the breeze, their rainbow waterfalls moving with them and leaving behind a small trail of liquid rainbow.

“Each visit is unique!” Windy says, her wings quivering.

At her words, your inner artist perks up instantly. Each visit is unique? That means that a sketch of the scenery would be one-of-a-kind picture! You can feel your sketchbook drooling already! Hopefully you can muster what little skill you have a get a decent-looking sketch without messing up to badly!

Celestia guide your charcoal.

As if sensing your inner thoughts, Windy giggles again. “That looks like a decent enough spot,” she says, pointing at a large, shady tree, whose leaves were stained blue and purple. “Why don’t you head over there and get settled in?”

Not needing to be told twice, you practically gallop over to the tree, plonking down amongst the twisting roots that make a wonderful makeshift seat and desk. Throwing open your saddlebags, you quickly pull out your sketchbook and drawing supplies.

“Comfy?” Windy asks as she arrives beneath the shaded canopy of multi-hued leaves. Patches of purple and blue light dance across her body from the sunlight streaming through the foliage.

“Yis!” you chirp, snuggling further into the root system. Being an earth pony, you feel at home here, amongst the plants and earth, the feeling of the grass upon your coat. While Cloudsdale might be growing on you, it is nice to be back on solid ground once more.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it then,” Windy hums. “I’m going to explore a little, check out what’s changed. I won’t be far though, so just holler if you need me. I’ll hear it.”

Nodding absently, you’re already working on what promises to be the first of many sketches. Windy hangs about for a moment, watching you work with a small smile on her face, before, in a flurry of wingbeats, she takes to the air.

You barely notice her departure at first, being so absorbed in your work, but then a pale-blue feather flutters down to land upon your sketchbook. With a blink, you’re pulled from your artistic haze and you stare at the feather before glancing around for Windy.

After a moment you spy her, floating on the breeze. She twists and flips through the air with foal-like glee, clearly enjoying the warm autumn day. Her movements are so fluid and graceful that you find yourself bewitched. Your hoof begins to move on its own, dragging a piece of charcoal across the parchment in your lap.

It isn’t long before you have a dozen or so rough sketches of Windy in various mid-flight poses, many of which articulate her flanks and are borderline risqué. You stare down at the drawings, a dark blush spreading across your muzzle.

Dear Celestia, what have you done? Why, that one practically looks like she arching her back in pleasur—

You twitch within your sheath.

Nope!

Not here! Not now!

Quickly flipping to a new sheet of paper, you try and concentrate on drawing the scenery. It’s no use though, as your attention is constantly stolen by Windy whenever she flies by over head. Before you could stop yourself, you’ve managed to fill another page up with sketches of Windy, as well as a third one.

By the Holy Sun, when you asked Celestia to guide your charcoal, you didn’t mean like this!

Letting out a squeak of dismay, you quickly flip the sketchbook over before letting out a heavy sigh. It’s no use, you just can’t seem to get Windy off your mind. You sit there for a moment, watching her flying to and fro, before slowly picking up your charcoal stick again.

Resigned to your fate, you continue to draw.

You swear the sun is laughing at you.

~ ~ ~ ~ > > < < ~ ~ ~ ~

The sun is beginning to drift towards the horizon when you and Windy arrive back in Cloudsdale. The afternoon traffic is in full swing as ponies head home from work. The air is full of pegasi—a rainbow of fur and feathers streaming through the clouds.

You can’t help but stare wide-eyed as you and Windy walk down the cloud-covered streets, your head craned back and your mouth wide open. Beside you, the older mare giggles softly at the expression on your face.

The trip to the Falls had been a fun experience, despite the fact you didn’t really get any drawings of the scenery done. You gave up on drawing after about an hour, and instead decided to explore the area, trying to memorize the sights so that you might be able to replicate the later, once your mind wasn’t so full of… distractions.

You even managed to find a few leaves that had been stained with various strange colors, such as purple, blue, and one that was even a swirling mixture of red, purple, and orange. They were pressed carefully into the back pages of one of your sketchbooks.

And the day wasn’t over with either.

Much to your surprise, the chariot driver didn’t take you straight back to Windy’s house. Instead, he dropped you off downtown, as per Windy’s request. When you inquired to the reason why, she had smiled and insisted that you both take the rest of the afternoon to go sightseeing.

“After all, it’s not everyday a non-pegasus gets to see Cloudsdale up close,” she had said. “You might not be a pegasus, but you have pegasus in your blood. You should get to check out where your mother grew up, right?”

Having grown up in the Canterlot, you are no stranger to historical buildings and tourist-centered landmarks. Even so, nothing can prepare you for the wonders that were waiting for you in the sky. There are the obvious places, such as the Weather Factory and the Cloudsdale Stadium, but then there is places that you could never have guessed existed.

Your head is on a swivel as you and Windy make your way through the downtown area. A large cloud fountain rests in the center of the plaza, geysers of rainbows spewing high into the air. In the open area around the fountain, several pegasi are crafting sculptures out of clouds as bystanders watch from perches that are attached to the sides of the surrounding buildings. A griffon hen has a cart set up as well, a plethora of wing accessories glittering in the setting sunlight.

There’s also a small fenced in area that runs lengthwise beside the marketplace in which several pegasi in faux armor are currently preparing to joust with one another. Younger pegasi colts cluster around the edge of the fences, hooting and hollering for their favorite jouster while booing their rivals. A nearby vendor sells fresh snow cones made from a cloud she has floating beside her that is producing a steady fall of snow.

There is so much more than just that; so much more than you can possibly take in—the exotic bird seller, the flying obstacle course designed for foals, the ‘Make-Your-Own Weather’ station.

Beside you, Windy laughs as you spin around in quick circles, trying to see everything at once.

“So, what do you think?” she asks. “Impressive, isn’t it?”

You let out a squeak in response.

“I knew you’d like it,” she giggles. “It tends to have the same effect for most seeing it for their first time.” Glancing around as well, she nods towards a vendor just down the lane. “Want to get something to snack on while we wander?”

You peer at the vendor in question, who is currently selling something called ‘cloud candy’. At the sight of pictures of food on the side of the cart, your stomach growls hungrily. Ignoring it, you look back up at Windy. “What about dinner?”

“We’ll get some later, once we get home,” she said with a smile. “This will just be to tide us over until then. Or maybe we’ll eat out, if you happen to see some place that looks interesting.”

Welp, that’s good enough for you!

Nodding eagerly, you follow behind her as she makes her way through the crowded plaza towards the vendor. While not as crowded as the skies above, there are still a decent amount of local pegasi and non-flying tourists milling about. You try to stick as close to Windy as possible but there is a few times when somepony gets between the two of you. When this happens though, she slows until you catch back up.

Nearing the vendor, Windy glances over her shoulder at you. “What flavor do you want, champ?”

A quick glance at the list of offered flavors is all you need to determine your choice.

“Blue raspberry!” you chirp, bouncing excitedly on your front hooves. Windy smiles at you as you prance about before moving to stand in the line for the stall. You move to join her, but only manage to take a step when something slams into your shoulder roughly, knocking you over. For a brief moment you tumble head over hooves before ending up in a heap on the clouds.

“Watch it, mudhooves,” a pegasus stallion spits as he stalks by.

“S-sorry,” you stammer out. Getting your forehooves under you, you begin to push yourself up only to pause as you catch sight of something glowing on the clouds in front of you. Your mind barely has time to register your amulet sitting there—no longer around your neck—before the clouds suddenly drop out from beneath you.

You don’t have time to scream.

Down, down you plunge through the clouds, no longer protected by your father’s spell. Despite the speed of your descent, your heart still manages to rise into your throat. You try and cry out, but your words are stolen by the howling wind almost as soon as they reach your lips. For a moment you are consumed in a swirling world of whites and grays, but then the cloud cover gives way and you fall into nothingness…

...and a nightmare is revealed.

In horror, you stare down at the patchwork quilt of land below that is rushing up to meet you. Fear erupts inside you like a geyser, as does another emotion you can’t quite place. Your heart pounds in your ears as it pumps blood through your body, adrenaline coursing through your system as your body—ironically—kicks in your fight-or-flight instincts.

Only, you can’t fly.

Doesn’t stop you from trying though.

Flailing your legs uselessly, you cry out again, begging somepony—anypony—to save you. You cry out for your mom, even though you know it’s futile. She’s miles away in Canterlot, unaware of what’s happening right now. Unaware that you are plunging downwards through the sky. Unaware that you are in trouble.

Unaware that you are about to die.

The irony... the cruel, cruel irony of the situation is not lost upon you. You are an earth pony. The skies were never meant for you. Clouds and rainbows and heights—they are as unnatural to you as magic. The clouds are meant for the pegasi; the ground is meant for you.

…

At least…

At least you are about to be reunited with your precious earth once more, even if it’s for only one last time.

As the ground grows nearer, you resign yourself to your fate. This is it. This is the end.

...

You really, really hope the impact isn’t painfu—

A light blue streak flashes through the sky like a lightning bolt, and you suddenly find yourself snatched out of the air. The scent of pine floods your nostrils as the pony clutches you tightly against their body, smothering you in their chest fluff.

“Gotcha!” Windy cries.

Rolling through the air, she uses your momentum to swing herself around. With a few flaps of her wings, you find yourself rising instead of falling. With each powerful stroke, she ascends higher and higher, carrying you further away from what would have been a very messy end. She clutches you close, almost painful so.

You hold onto Windy as well, clinging desperately to the one lifeline given you. Her fur presses against your face, and you can feel her heart pounding in her chest; although not as frantically as yours. Dimly, you note—with some amount of embarrassment and confusion—that at some point during your descent you had become erect. Your member is sandwiched between your stomach and her’s, and it’s prominent enough to bring a blush of shame to your face, despite your current situation.

If Windy can feel it though, she doesn’t show any indication. Instead, she holds you close and wordlessly carrying you aloft. With her large wings beating strongly, she bears you up, back into the clouds high above.