Healing Two Sprains

Cloudjumper wriggles in her sleep as her ears pick up a metallic clunking noise, the opening and closing of several doors and the clucks and moos of chickens and cows a few moments later as she slowly comes to for long enough to realize that she’s sleeping in a place she doesn’t recognize.

Well, she sleeps in places she doesn’t recognize all the time, but inside a barn is fairly new. She wrinkles her nose at the smell of fresh straw so close, looking down and realizing she’s laying on it. She looks at her foreleg, partially wrapped in gauze, the basket that must’ve had something in it… it all starts coming back to her. What’d happened last night, who she’d met, how they’d met and what followed after. Blinking through her hazy vision, she looks up and sees the mildly blurry form of a pony putting something on, hearing more metal gently clinking together. As her vision’s clarity returns to normal she sees Chestnut, who’s putting on a strap that connects to a yoke, connecting the two together.

Chestnut looks over at Cloudjumper who’s still laying on her side, nodding at her as he realizes she’s awake.

“Mornin’,” he greets politely, double-checking the strap to make sure it’s secure. Cloudjumper can’t help but notice that the yoke around the base of his neck looks… pretty heavy. It probably helps for using that plow out in the field. He seems a lot more spry after some sleep. He’s smiling the same gentle way he was when he’d gone into the house to go to bed last night.

“Good morning,” she returns quietly, her voice raspier than usual since she’d just woken up. She doesn’t know what time it is, though it’s pretty easy to tell that it’s either early or mid-morning. She stretches while laying down, lunging her body out like an obtuse ‘U’, groaning while she splays out before starting to come to a rolling stand. It’s a bit awkward given her bad paw, but she makes due just fine. She turns to ask Chestnut a question, but it would appear he’s left the barn already. Seems he really wants to get to work!

So, with a three-legged hobble out of the barn she walks into the sunlight, enjoying the warm morning sunlight on her fur. Despite her claims that she’d help him with labor, she’s really unsure of what she can efficiently do with three paws instead of four. She’s dealt with sprains before! Just… not quite as bad as this one, so it leaves her questioning what he could use the help for without her being more of a burden to his time. She looks out at the field to see the stallion strapping his yoke up to the plow, opening her wings and taking off to go over and talk to the light-brown earth pony.

Chestnut hears Cloudjumper’s wings as he starts his morning routine, though he doesn’t bother to look over right away. He begins his work, starting to tug the heavy plow through the dirt.

He hears CJ land off to his right, looking over in time to catch the sphinx catching her balance on the soil that hasn’t been pulverised yet.

“Hey, is there anything I can do to help you?” Cloudjumper asks, seeming eager. His brow perks slightly and his movement continues as he works on thinking of something that might keep her busy. He’d ask her to repair the roof, but… that bad wrist would probably make it more dangerous for her to fix than him doing it himself at this moment in time.

“The Goodlands need pickin’—y’know, the apple trees you hunkered down in last night? Take yer time, though. Can’t be stressin’ that,” he says, nodding toward her foreleg. She smiles as she nods in agreement, starting to take off—she stops herself however as she comes to a realization.

“Do you have anything to carry them in?” she asks. He nods.

“Mhm, behind the barn there’s a stack’a woven baskets we use to put apples in.”

With another nod, she opens her wings and flies off toward the barn. He stops to watch, seeming amused with her use of flight. There aren’t too many pegasi around here, so seeing wings in action has always been neat to watch up close when he gets the chance. After seeing her stop behind the barn and fly off toward the apple trees with a stack of baskets, he continues his fieldwork. With the sun not completely beating down on his back he can enjoy the work of pulling this heavy plow through the dirt. It’s still hard work, though he hopefully won’t be dripping sweat by the time he’s finished up with the fifth big and final field of the season.

A few hours later...

Chestnut pulls one final time to finish up the last field, panting lightly and looking around him to examine where the sun is shining. The short answer is, well, everywhere. He’d unfortunately wound up suffering the consequence of the hot sun taking a vacation from behind the clouds to scorn his back with more heat than desired, the result being an undesirably sweaty earth pony. He’s not fussy about it! Would’ve been nice to get some mercy with the sun behind the clouds, though...

After taking a quick seat underneath the shade of a nearby tree to cool off, he wipes his brow with the front of his forehoof and looks over toward the small plantation of apple trees that Cloudjumper is likely still at. Given there’s a few dozen trees, it’s impossible she’s picked all of them and stockpiled them beside each tree, let alone actually carry them back—even if she were flying. He decides to make his way over, deciding against walking and instead gathering into a decently paced trot. Judging by the first of five rows of trees, she’s completed one row entirely by herself. She certainly hasn’t been doing nothing!

Once under the canopy of the Goodland trees, he returns to a walk. The shade feels wonderful, and the gentle breeze is a welcome feeling as his damp fur cools off quickly as a result. He can see Cloudjumper at the end of the second row of trees, so he slows down and decides to take a breather, not wanting to interrupt her while she’s busy.

Also, it gives some time to examine her. Given his complete and utter lack of communication and interest with either the same or opposite sex in a romantic setting, he doesn’t have the slightest idea if what he’s doing is creepy.

His eyes wonder, watching the sphinx from behind as she stands on her hindlegs balancing carefully with her tail, her wings giving subtle flaps to help as well while she reaches up with her good paw, plucking an apple from the tree with care and bringing it down to the half-full basket of apples beside her. She’s taking her time, making sure none of them wind up bruised or chipped of the fruit surrounding the core.

But the fruit isn’t what’s keeping Chestnut so interested in watching. He hadn’t really been awake enough to notice or generally care last night about how attractive she might’ve seemed at the time. Watching the way her body and muscles move, how her gentle steps make no sound in comparison to hooves, even with her gaited step. Listening closely enough, he’s certain she’s humming a tune to herself as well. And those paws! Something about them is strangely fascinating.

He’s never really stopped long enough to admire another for their beauty, has he?

He didn’t think the first one he’d find an attraction toward would be a species rumored as a meat-hunting predator. Right now, she doesn’t seem dangerous to him at all. Tranquil, docile, peaceful… those words come to mind. He can better understand that she was pissed last night because, well, he yanked her tail. He wouldn’t be happy if someone randomly pulled his tail, not at all.

His ‘show’ of sorts is interrupted as she turns around, yelping at the sudden realization that Chestnut is sitting just a few trees away, watching her. Her wings are unfolded thanks to the fright he’d provided simply by sitting there, her face a mix of mild shock, confusion and surprise.

“Scared the fuck out of me dude,” she says, frowning at him. He doesn’t appear to acknowledge that what he’d done might be a little odd, and she tilts her head at him for that.

“Uhm… sorry,” he says, genuinely apologetic for scaring her, but not for anything else it seems.

“I hope you don’t just silently stare down any girl that’s facing away from you,” Cloudjumper says with a teasing laugh, mostly dismissing the fact that he’d done just that. She can excuse it, given the fact he’d let her have a place to rest plus the other stuff. Looking is fine, touching is another story.

“Just interested in how you work,” he returns. She cocks an eyebrow, her curiosity climbing a little bit as she tries to deconstruct the way he processes. All she knows is that he’s a big stallion who appears to work a lot, he seems fairly pleasant and he has a nice voice. He treats the eyes nicely and his fur colors are neat! Oh, and his name of course.

“Well,” she says, standing on her hinds while facing him, plucking another apple from the tree’s branches above her.

“Next time lemme know you’re there, please? Not a fan of getting jump-scared like that,” she requests politely. He nods, watching her carefully set yet another apple into the basket with the others.

“Sure thing. Ya hungry?” Chestnut asks. Cloudjumper’s ears perk at the mention of hunger. She hadn’t realized it because she’s been working, but yeah, she could definitely go for a proper bite to eat. He probably only has more fruits, though. Eh, that’ll do just fine for now.

“Yeah,” she says, starting to walk toward the barn. Chestnut comes to a stand again, deciding he could let her in on a little surprise.

“I figured since yer a cat, you probably like fish, right?”

Cloudjumper stops, looking at him with perked eyebrows. That’s an often-used stereotype, that cats love fish. In her case, definitely not an incorrect one.

“Yeah, I do. Why?” she asks quizzically.

“Went down to the market early this mornin’, talked to a couple folks. They claimed you’d probably like fish, so I got some,” he says.

Cloudjumper is… a little flattered, honestly. This guy went down to the market to buy her, a trespasser on his property, food that she’d possibly like?

Gods, he’s either generous or a suck-up. As far as she remembers, the nearest market is about a mile north. That’s a decent walk! She can feel her face warm up a little as she mulls over it a few times in her head, starting to walk toward the barn again.

“You didn’t have to, you know,” she says, looking back at him. He’s catching up fairly quickly, trotting.

“I know, but I wanted to. Ain’t gonna heal very quickly eatin’ a buncha fruits, bein’ an omnivore. Guy at the market said ‘protein’s prerequisite for a cat’, an’ he recommended it,” Chestnut asserts. Cloudjumper certainly isn’t complaining, though she is curious about what kind of fish he’d picked up.

As she hobbles along, she realizes Chestnut is falling behind, looking up at the clouds in the distance. Dark, enormous bluish-gray clouds, or more specifically: storm clouds.

Cloudjumper doesn’t like the sight of that. Storm clouds indicate lightning, and lightning indicates thunder. She doesn’t mind the rain much, but thunder…

Chestnut had turned back around, moving to the side of her that has her bad paw.

“Storm’s comin’, you can come inside. Not gonna make ya stay in the barn with that mess on the way,” he says, catching her scent as she leans against him for support. She mostly smells of straw since she’d slept on it last night, though he can pick up hints of earthy forestry, soil, and a bit of what smells like a campfire in her fur too. While those scents are pleasant, he’s sure she’s likely due for a shower. Anyone would be after a day or two.

Chestnut takes notice that her ears are swiveled to face backwards, like she’s listening closely for distant thunder. After a few moments of assisting her toward the house, he notices she presses a little tighter against him. Hopefully she’s not too skittish over stormy weather.

A few minutes of slow walking later, the two manage to get onto the patio and through the front door. He gives her a brief summarization of the house’s layout while her eyes wander. After the general introduction to the household, he helps her along to the kitchen, pulling a chair out from the table for her to be seated at while he pulls her fish out of the ice box. Thankfully he’d asked the fellow down at the market to fillet it for him. He personally has no idea how to. He doesn’t eat meat!

“Pretty sure what I got was salmon ‘n’ tuna,” he says, examining the orangish-colored salmon with little lighter strips in segments throughout it. The tuna is a vibrant reddish-pink. He can smell it, but it’s not overwhelming at all to his surprise. Still doesn’t tempt him to taste it… he decides he’ll let her choose which ones she wants.

“D’you have a preference?” he asks. The cat, now clearly smelling what he’d brought home, seems genuinely interested and eager to try what he’d bought from the market. Her tail is swishing around excitedly behind her and her pupils are dilated. She’s even licking her lips. It’s kinda cute!

“The tuna. Save the salmon for later; best for last,” she says, her tone seeming a bit brighter than usual as he removes the fish from its saran wrap and onto a plate. He slides the plate over to her, the sizable hunk of fish now in front of the cat, to which she starts eating without prompt. He watches for a few seconds, before turning to the ice box to receive a couple of the daily salads that his grandmother put together for him. He doesn’t know the entirety of the ingredients, but he knows that tofu, avocado and tomatoes are involved, all of which he’s fond of. They’re filling! He’d like if she’d teach him how to make it.

“Thank you,” he hears as he puts a few sandwiches on a dinner plate, turning and setting his food on the table before seating himself. He’d washed his hooves prior to serving CJ her fish, but the rest of him is in need of some washing. With the storm heading this way, he doubts he’ll be back outside to pull a plow through the mud. The plow will just sink and the job will be made way harder than it needs to be.

The look of enjoyment on Cloudjumper’s face is something that surprises Chestnut a little. Okay, so he’s heard that felines like fish; he hadn’t imagined she’d be so giddy over it. The smile on her face as she chews, licking her lips after each swallow of fish, her good paw on the table beside her plate, seeming to ‘knead’ against the hardwood. He’s seen domesticated house cats do the same thing. If he remembers correctly, it usually means they’re content.

“Yer welcome,” he says with a quiet chuckle. The scene before him isn’t necessarily one that he thought he’d be seeing in this household; a sphinx eating fish, happy as can be at his dinner table. He’s never brought any form of red meat into this household before, nor has he brought a creature that has an apparent reputation of being a potential threat in here either. The more he sees her do, the less he feels like she’s out for blood. Ponies are gossipers. They usually twist the story hard enough to make their dull lives entertaining, even if it drags some name or species through the mud.

As he spots her taking another bite, he gets a glimpse of those teeth of hers again. He could definitely see why someone would pull the asinine rumor of calling a sphinx a ‘pony eater’. Heck, maybe he’s simply too large for the cat to attack and eat. He doubts that. Those claws could turn him to ribbons if she really wanted, and that’s not even mentioning her teeth or her ability to fly. She also has quite the capable build of being nimble and reflexive. He might be big and strong, but he wouldn’t be able to do much defending if he can’t catch her.

After realizing that he’s staring, mostly because she’s staring right back at him now, he comes to the conclusion that he’s over thinking when he should be eating.

“Sorry,” he says, clearing his throat. He starts to eat, occasionally catching himself looking up at her as she continues to do the same. Their meal is relatively quiet as they both fill their bellies, though she’s finished a little before he is. She takes her plate between her teeth, carefully hobbling over to the sink to set the dinnerware in it. He’s glad she cleans up after herself. He’s always cleaning up after granny and gramps, they’re often forgetful.

“If you want, you can take a bath upstairs. It was pretty warm out,” Chestnut offers halfway through his meal. Cloudjumper tilts her head in thought, taking his words and thinking over him. Does he think she stinks or something? He didn’t seem offended by any sort of smell she was giving off.

“I… could go for a bath, yeah. Thanks,” Cloudjumper awkwardly replies. Chestnut picks up on her tone, but doesn’t make much out of it. She’s in a stranger’s home, and if he’d outright been offered a bath, he’d probably think similarly. He munches on his salad while he watches her hobble toward the way to the first floor, her tail disappearing behind a corner followed by the thuds of paws ascending the stairs.

A few minutes pass before he can hear the water turn on. It sounded to him like she’d headed straight for the bathroom, so that’s good, she’s not nosy. He polishes off his meal a few minutes later, before looking down at his hindlegs, stomach, rear hooves… all of which have some dirt and a little bit of mud splattered on them. He hears a very faint rumble of thunder, and he looks out the kitchen window… that storm is moving at quite the pace.

“Dangit,” he mumbles. He probably won’t be able to work the garden tomorrow, and that leaves picking apples. There’s a reason he’d tasked the sphinx to pick them. He can’t quite place why, but he just doesn’t enjoy picking apples as much as he likes running a plow or doing something more physically intensive.

He puts his plate in the sink, rinsing them of any extra greens before cleaning the dishes that he and CJ had dirtied. He can hear faint thumps through the ceiling since she’s likely moving around in the tub. If he were any good at guessing, he’d say she’s hobbling a bit while trying to clean up. Maybe he should help her out?

Drying his hooves with a towel, he moves himself to and up the staircase. The bathroom is just to the left, and he gives it a couple quiet knocks with the back of his hoof before letting himself in without any other warning.

Cloudjumper looks over, eyes widened in surprise as Chestnut suddenly makes himself known while she’s bathing. She’d taken the liberty of creating a bubble bath with a little too much water in the tub, bubbles at her chest as she sits upright in the massive bath. It’s not high enough to overflow since it’s quite deep.

“Erm, hello. Am I taking too long?” she asks, looking at Chestnut curiously. He shakes his head. Ah… okay? Surely she’s in the right for being confused and surprised? That confusion and surprise merely grows as he nears the side of the tub, Chestnut’s eyes examining the level of water.

“I don’t even use this much water,” he says, frowning and blinking. He looks over at the sphinx, who’s now wide-eyed considering he’s within reaching distance while, again, she’s bathing.

“I saw the bubble bath mix and… got a little carried away. Sorry about that,” she says, pointing at the blue bottle that’s clearly branded as ‘Bubbles’ Bubbles!’. This one is the Honey and Oats scented one, sweet and warm.

“Naw, you ain’t gotta apologize. Well water’s super cheap. I get carried away once in a while too.”

Cloudjumper feels a little more cozy with that confession, though she’s still questioning why he’s just standing there. Thankfully, that answer seems to come sooner rather than later thanks to his questioning.

“Was wonderin’ if you’d need any help. Couldn’t imagine only usin’ one hoof to clean up,” he points out, wiggling a hoof to emphasize. Cloudjumper is naturally a bit reluctant to let a stallion she’d met just last night join her in what’s considered a time meant for personal care, but… well, he’s once again offering his help. He hasn’t done anything perverted so far, and judging by the look on his face?

He’s either ridiculously oblivious or one of the best actors she’s ever seen. Surely this guy’s been around a mare or two in his time? If he has, maybe he’s just super forward? She can’t really pin down what he’s doing.

“I… guess that’d be helpful, sure,” she says after a few moments of thinking. Would he be the type to get suddenly frisky? She hopes that’s not his plan. He seems really nice so far, it’d be a shame if he turned out to be a creep.

“Alright. Scoot over,” he says. That reluctance returns sharply, and she almost tells him to hold on, wait just a second—but he’s already getting into the tub with her. This hadn’t been mentioned! He can help from outside, can’t he!?

Almost completely flabbergasted as the stallion sits directly behind her, Cloudjumper turns her head with eyes wide as saucers. Her heart is starting to hammer in her chest and her ears are pinned flat against her head.

“Uh, you doin’ okay there?” Chestnut asks as he sees her expression. She looks like she’d seen a ghost.

She swallows somewhat thickly. How to respond without offending him is beyond her, she doesn’t know him that well at all and all she knows is he’s practically looming over her. She can feel his stomach against the middle of her back for a couple of seconds before he seems to inch back a little.

“Y-yeah,” she returns, her mouth feeling a little dry. She tries her damndest to relax while hoping he doesn’t have anything unfortunate planned for her. She feels him moving and tenses up in result, unsure of what the massive stallion behind her is doing.

He grabs shampoo from the side of the tub, uncaps and pours a decent amount into her hair, and… well, he starts lathering. No pause, no unusual touching, no change in pace.

He’s just washing her hair. He’s not even talking, seeming focused on the task that he’d offered up. She can’t lie, she’d expected something… different. Most guys she lets get close enough to her usually try at least getting a little too close. Well, in fairness he’s definitely in the category of ‘too close’ right now, but he’s not trying to nip at her or get sexual, he’s not even trying to come up with some bedroom statement to whisper into her ear.

She feels her tension slowly deflate as suspicions, spare thoughts and a manifold of questions come to mind. Is this a decoy? Is he joking? Would she be okay with him doing something she’d honestly expected him to do?

It would seem that the answer to those questions is ‘no’. He’s just happily lathering away, he’d even started gently humming.

She’s heard of guys getting confused over girls, but she, a girl, is completely gobsmacked over this guy right now. She never thought she’d be asking to herself:

Why isn’t he trying something right now?

He’s moving down to the back of her head and the start of her neck. Her good paw kneads against the tub floor as she leans into his lathering, letting herself start to relax more. Surely if he had something planned, he would’ve done so already. She breathes in deeply, exhaling slowly to let herself calm down. He’s moving lower, at the base of her neck now. His rubs are firm and strong, but not so much so that it hurts. She’s pretty sure she can feel a gentle purr starting to rise up from her chest to her throat. Her wings are subtly twitching in the water as she remains still.

“So… you really did just wanna help me out, big guy?” she asks, adding a hint of flirting into the tone of her voice. Chestnut pauses, and at first she thinks he may’ve caught onto that—but again, she’s left with more curious questions at his answer.

“Yup. There’s nothin’ wrong with helpin’ a pal clean where they can’t reach, is there?” he asks, innocent and unaware as ever.

It’s starting to become more and more clear to her. There’s a list she’s already compiled in her head that basically screams what she’s thinking.

He works every day, solo at that, on a large farm.

He doesn’t seem to acknowledge flirting as such, which presents the possibility that he’s lacking in communication with the opposite sex… or maybe he’s gay?

He’s living with his parents and grandparents as a young adult in the countryside despite seeming to have a really strong work ethic. He probably could’ve been in his own place by now.

There’s also the fact that he’d just silently watched her, not seeming to catch on that it may’ve been a little creepy to most. He didn’t seem to think he was doing anything wrong.

She’s sure she’ll come up with more reasons while her stay here resumes, or at least her gut is telling her so.

“I suppose not, looking at it from a certain point of view,” she says. Judging by his actions he seems to be a rather innocent and pure stallion.

“You were a little frazzled when I started, this ain’t botherin’ you, is it?” he asks, worry creeping into his voice. Oh, so now he starts to catch on? Seriously?

“Well, I hadn’t expected you to just hop in the tub with me,” she counters. He shrugs, deciding that’s a fair enough point. He’s never really been in the tub with anyone before, so thinking of it like that is kinda odd, even to him. She’s still pretty new to him. Yeah… kinda weird of him. Oh well, she doesn’t seem to be minding his help at this point.

“...Right. Well, I’ll ask next time. My apologies,” he responds amiably. Cloudjumper just grins.

“You’re forgiven—but only if you help me clean my back, too,” she chirps at him with a toothy smirk. Chestnut cocks an eyebrow at her.

“I wouldn’t offer t’do a job and stop halfway,” he says seriously, now at the start of her shoulders. Cloud’s purring has increased significantly in volume, strong enough at this point that she’s creating little ripples in the tub around her body from the vibrations.

“Ya really are a big cat,” Chestnut says, stating the obvious as he hears and feels her purring. He smiles as he continues his circular rubbing down the start of her back, though he stops rather soon since the rest of her is in the water.

“Might wanna stand up,” he says, moving to come to her side. He would’ve stayed in place, but approaching a female from behind would be rude, at least so he’s heard. Once she’s at a stand, he sits a little more upright to properly scrub the soap into her back, watching her tail and wings flick and twitch, her paws resting over the end of the tub for support as he cleans off what she can’t.

It doesn’t take incredibly long for the stallion to finish up what he’d offered.

“Alrighty, that should be it,” Chestnut says, before closing his eyes and dunking his head underwater. Resurfacing a brief moment later, he gently shakes the hair out of his eyes.

Cloudjumper, feeling far more relaxed after all that scrubbing, smiles while she purrs and looks back at him.

“That was nice, thank you,” she softly praises him as he starts to wash himself up. She’d offer to help but, well… one paw. She could lean against him, but she feels that what just happened was already enough for now. Goddesses forbid she explore and get a bit touchy. If she were him, she might’ve taken a chance at sneaking in a few ‘dirty deeds’ along the way. Not sex, persay, but not just helping someone wash.

“Rinse in the shower if ya need,” Chest offers as he lathers shampoo into his hair. She looks back at the mentioned shower, before shrugging.

“Later. The water feels nice,” she says, waving her good paw dismissively as she lays against the back-rest section of the tub, still purring like a motor.

“Yeah. Baths are great after a long day’a work,” Chestnut says, already starting on his neck and shoulders. He seems to be one of the ‘quick bathing’ types, cleaning thoroughly but not slowly at all. She closes her eyes for a couple of minutes as she listens to the soft sound of his hooves digging into his fur, removing any crud that may have gotten into his fur. She almost dozes off, that is until she hears the water swishing around somewhat loudly. Opening her eyes and watching him scrub his lower half, she’s guessing he’s at his hindlegs or something of the like.

He once again dunks his head underwater, coming back up a second later. His face looks a bit cleaner, same with his shoulders and chest. She hadn’t realized that much could get on him just running a plow. Then again, some of the more moist dirt might tend to splash and stick easier.

He comes to a stand, his massive form heading for the edge of the tub. His stomach and all that’s lower is hidden by the bubbles in the bath, though when he gets out Cloudjumper watches to experience the satisfying feeling of seeing something that was once dirty be much cleaner.

As he heads for the shower, still dripping with water, she gets a good look at the difference! His fur had looked a bit darker earlier, but now it’s brighter. His hindlegs contrast the most from earlier, looking significantly cleaner along with his forelegs. He’s looking squeaky clean!

She pauses. Stallions don’t have five legs. Wait…

That’s not a fifth leg.

That’s his dick.

His absolutely girthy, long, pink and mottled prick swaying back and forth like a grandfather clock’s pendulum. Her eyes stare as the massive and heavy tool slaps crudely against his underside when he steps into the shower and turns, before closing the door behind him.

Her face feels like it’s on fire, and she shamelessly stares through the clear shower door. Each step he takes in the shower, or how he shakes his head to get out any residual dirt out of his hair, even adjusting his stance results in that monstrous phallus to swing, water flinging off of it as he rinses off. She swears up and down she can see it lightly throbbing from where she’s at...

She snaps her head back to a forward position, her heart thudding heavily in her chest. The imagery of Chestnut’s partner is ingrained in her mind. She stared for long enough, so the only one she can blame for that is herself. She also notes that her loins feel tingly, the show that Chestnut had involuntarily given her resulting in her becoming a little bit worked up.

Personally, she’s never seen a size like that. She’s seen some reasonably large cocks before, but this guy is beyond even what most would expect in the porn industry. Any reasonably-thinking mare would probably ‘nope’ right out of the room if she thought of putting something that damn large inside of her. Not to mention when he flares, good Goddesses.

Being a female in curiosity, Cloudjumper wonders to herself if she’d be able to handle the beast between his hindlegs, though only for a brief moment. Probably best to not think about that right now.

...Can’t deny she’d check it out again, though. What mare—or sphinx, in her case—wouldn’t wanna check out a handsome, hung stud?

She wriggles in the tub as she tries to think of something to get the intense blush off of her face. She knew she’d probably catch a glimpse of something considering they were bathing together, but not all that. After a couple minutes of metaphorically fanning herself to cool down, she hears the shower shut off. Following that is some heavy hoofsteps, Chestnut walking over to a cupboard to remove a couple of towels, using one to dry himself off as he sits on his hindquarters. Thankfully he’s sheathed now, she notices. She totally wasn’t actively looking for it.

She’s tempted to ask him if he always just ‘waves that thing around’, but decides against the possibility of awkward conversation.

“Shower’s all yours,” Chestnut says as he ruffles through his hair with a towel. She looks toward the shower, then back to him and nods. She can hear a distant rumble, her body reacting with her wings shivering. She really hopes that the storm isn’t coming too close..

She comes to a stand, managing to meander her way out of the tub once she unplugs it to let the water drain. CJ hops her way over to the shower on three paws, having to stand on her hinds to start it up, though the temperature is already adjusted thanks to Chestnut leaving it in place. Without much delay she rinses off, and by the time she’s done Chestnut has the other clean towel in one of his hooves, nodding toward himself to indicate she comes closer.

“I’ll get yer back. Sound alright?” he asks. She hobbles over to him, sitting so she’s facing away from him wordlessly. Now that he’s in plain sight again, she’s kinda thinking about what she’d seen barely ten minutes ago. Talk about a surprise..

“Ya comin’ down?” he asks her as he starts rubbing the damp fur on her back. She looks back at him, tilting her head curiously as if to ask what he means.

“Y’know, ya tired?” he corrects himself. Her ears twitch at the question, Cloudjumper reciprocating with a little shrug. She’s begun purring again while he dries her off, so at least he knows she’s not in a bad mood.

“A little worried about that storm,” she quietly answers. Chestnut starts rubbing the back of her neck and head, a bit gentler considering the area.

“Ah, ain’t nothin’ to fret over. It’s just some rain,” the stallion claims in an attempt to reassure the cat. Cloudjumper grimaces at the idea of so easily revealing her fear of thunder, so she hesitantly nods.

“It might pass over,” he mentions, looking through the bathroom window. That would be nice, since he’d be able to work given there’d be no poor field conditions. Cloudjumper doubts that when she looks out the window. It’s heading right for them, but that’s not what concerns her. Again, she doesn’t like thunder. She could care less about rain.

Chestnut helps her dry off the rest of the way, leaving her private areas to herself as he steps out of the bathroom and heads downstairs. Making sure her fur is mostly free of dampness, she gives a few final pats to her fur with the towel before throwing it in the hamper atop his. She follows the path he’d taken back down the stairs as well, to which he walks out of the living room and meets up with her.

“It’s gettin’ dark out. I didn’t get much shuteye last night, so I’m gonna take a nap,” Chestnut says, before looking toward the couch. Granny and Gramps won’t be back until later tonight, having gone out with a couple of friends a few miles into the nearest sizable city. They’ll likely be back late, so he’s not worried about them walking in to see a big cat on the couch.

“Yer welcome to snooze on the couch. If yer hungry or thirsty there’s food’n’drink in the icebox. Ah… if someone knocks on the door, holler up the stairs for me,” Chestnut says with a hint of tiredness in his voice. Cloudjumper nods, coming to a conclusion that, with him being tired, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to snooze a little. She enjoys naps throughout the day sometimes. It’s good relaxation.

That distant thunder rolls again, this time slightly louder. Chestnut is heading up the stairs to his room, so she goes into the living room and lays herself down on the couch. Without much to do, and her travels being inhibited by her paw, she decides trying to nap sooner rather than later wouldn’t be the worst idea she can come up with.

She closes her eyes, doing her best to get some sleep. For the first thirty minutes, she doesn’t have too much a problem with dozing in and out of dreamland, but by the time a full hour passes the storm has gotten close enough that she’s having trouble not feeling restless, let alone actually getting proper rest.

She feels her whole body shiver in disapproval as thunder cracks! much closer than earlier, making the house feel like it’s rumbling. The rain’s coming as well, going from a sprinkle to a shower and developing into a downpour outside. The next roll of thunder sends her into a bit of a panic as she balls up on the couch, using her good paw to fold her ears against her head to block out as much of the noise as possible.

It just keeps getting louder, more violent and more terrifying for her.

The next rattle of noise from the heavens is just enough to make her feel uncomfortable enough to get off of the couch, pacing in the living room. She can feel an involuntary whimper climbing out of her throat as her circular hobbling around continues and she tries to calm herself down.

She didn’t think it could get louder, but it does. The next one sounds like a giant is galloping right by the house with explosions tied to its hooves, and that scares the absolute hell out of the poor cat. Her wings fling open and she bolts for the stairs with the best of her ability, ascending them quicker with the help of a single flap of her wings. She looks toward Chestnut’s room, hesitating and stopping herself in the upstairs hallway.

KRAK—BOOOM!

NOPE.

She continues her panicked staggering to Chestnut’s room, swinging the door open and darting for the bed. The sight of him alone relaxes her a little… though after bounding onto Chestnut’s place of slumber, she curls herself into a ball at the foot of the bed. This should be good enough…

Despite her eyes being closed, she can see the flash of light through her eyelids as lightning makes itself known outside his bedroom window. Barely two seconds pass, and the house shakes as the sky metaphorically detonates, reverberations coming from above to send the shockwave below.

Chestnut had awoken the moment he felt his bed shift, examining the cat after she’d made the end of his bed a place of rest. He’s unsure why she decided to turn up all a sudden, but as that next crack of thunder rolled through the house, it revealed the reasoning behind her being all curled up.

He watches the cat try to tighten herself into an even smaller ball, and his sympathy for her overflows almost instantly. He’s not one to make fun of others, and while seeing her so scared is kinda cute in a way, it’s more worrying than anything. Chestnut’s eyes pick up on her anxiously shaking, trembling as her fear of thunder continues to show itself each time the air splits from the infamous whip of lightning coming down from above.

He can’t stand to watch this poor cat suffer. It’s breaking his heart.

He sits up, leaning over to press a hoof in the center of her little ball she’s made up of herself. Her head lurches upward, looking at him, a mix of terror and confusion on her face as he pulls her toward him. Rather than continue to be pulled, she merely speeds up the process, scrambling toward him and trying to get as close as possible. He lays back down on his side, his chest pressed to CJ’s while both of his forelegs are wrapped securely around her. He minds her botched paw, making sure he doesn’t accidentally jostle it, though her other paw is tucked away just by his collar area. Another rumble rolls through the household, and his chin is forced a little upward as she stuffs her nose into the fur of his neck. He can hear her whimpering, feel her shaking… gods, he has fears too, but nothing that affects him this much.

He decides to take a gander on comforting her.

He squeezes her gently with his forelegs, bringing one up after to rub the back of her head and neck. He lowers his head to rest his chin between her ears, before taking a gentle inhalation…

“It’s alright, CJ. You’re safe, sshhh…” Chestnut quietly burrs. Cloudjumper’s shaking stops for a moment while he speaks, giving him the notion that what he’s doing is working to some effect.

“There you go, sweetheart,” he encourages her, trying his utmost to keep his voice soothing.

Cloudjumper’s already starting to feel a good deal better just by listening to him talk to her, to distract her from the commotion of the weather. It helps that his voice is so warm and strong, mellifluous—as well as the sturdy forelegs wrapped around her. He’s wonderfully warm and soft, and she’s loving the musk hidden beneath his choice of shampoo as she inhales, wriggling to try to get closer even though she can’t.

She feels pretty secure in this tremendous stallion’s grasp right now. She’s thankful he’s being so sweet to her. This will be something she remembers for a long, long time.

“I got you, don’t be scared…”

Oooh, his voice is like honey. It’s wonderful..

Her shaking comes to a halt, though she still flinches and wriggles on occasion when the weather’s noisy and explosive cracking makes itself known. Each time Chestnut is on the case, quietly reassuring her that she’s safe and sound, that there’s nothing to be afraid of.

After a good consistent hour of doing so, the storm finally passes. By the time the thunder is distant, they’d both fallen asleep together in each other’s embrace. Their respective naps last a bit longer than either intended, what with them each being so cozy and content with the result of the weather.

Neither of them are complaining. In fact, they could both get pretty used to this.