Flying Around In Circles.
Lead Balloon was bored out of her skull. The middle age brown mare would rather been up in the sky flying on her wings, with the wind in her black mane. Instead she was immobilized in a bed, covered in bandages and in a partial body cast. Only thing that kept her sane was a radio playing soft tunes next to the bed.
For the time being Lead Balloon was stuck at home until she was healed. Her mind wandered from thought to thought until there was a knock on her door.
“Ah, who is it? Please come in,” she answered.
A beige color unicorn with a blood red mane and tail walked into the room and looked at Lead Balloon, “Yeah, you're a mess. How did you mummy yourself up this time?”
“It's pleasant to see you too, Rosewood,” answered the smiling older mare.
“Yuper! Ain't I a sight for sore eyes?”
“Yes you are. Despite your flippant attitude, I am quite pleased that you are here to keep me company.”
“No problem Leady. Brought a couple of books on record you might want to listen to. Got 'Daring Do and Watch Where You Land'. Also have brought 'Structural Analysis and Your Face'," she said with a grin.
Lead rolled her eyes, "Oh my. You are the joker are you not?"
"Hey, I know that I'm a barrel of laughs. Got your message and just brought the stories you asked for."
"Thank you my dear."
"How?"
"How what?"
"You know what," Rosewood replied, peeved.
"Oh yes. Well history has this tendency to repeat itself," Lead Balloon replied with a soft smile.
"Are you kidding me?"
"No, of course not. Will admit this time I was just taking my little colt for a ride. My lack of foresight to pay attention to the weather caused me to crash.”
“And burn! Sweet Luna's butt! He's okay I take it?”
“Of course. I made completely sure he had his pads and helmet on. Never went too far above the ground. Nevertheless a wind gust knocked me into a tree, while he landed in some bushes with a few scratches.”
“Yikes.”
“Indeed.”
“Fortunately Copper Tone was with us watching and making sure nothing too bad would happen. I'm not a complete...”
“Screw up?”
Lead Balloon huffed, “... fool, but yes.”
“I guess that stallion you married didn't turn out too bad, right?”
“He's an angel and I'm happy that we had Ruffle Tussle. Haven't seen my colt in a couple of hours. Is the poor dear okay?”
“Don't know. Your hubby just let me in before he went to work.”
“I see.”
Then the two mares spent some time together talking about this and that. Lead talked about her family and hobbies. Rosewood went into details about her life in the next town over. They both compared notes about their significant others. At the end of it they both had a lovely time.
“I'm going to head out now. You stay put and don't get into any more trouble.”
“Rosewood? Before you leave, I would appreciate it if you would see how my little Ruffle is doing.”
“Okay, sure. How is he taking your face flop?”
“I do not believe he is taking it alright. My colt is under the impression that he had some blame to share. He did not of course,” the older sighed.
“Alright, I'll check on him. See you later filly!”
“Be less of a stranger, dear.”
Rosewood put the record on the player, walked out of the bedroom and trotted through the house. The pegasus and her pony husband seemed to be doing well for themselves. The furniture was tasteful and homely. Walls seemed bright and earthy. The unicorn mare saw a couple of colt's toys laying about.
The mare exited to the backyard and spied a colt with yellow skin and a short black mane. He was on his back staring into the deep blue skies.
“Hey there Ruffle. It's me. You remember me?” Rosewood asked.
Sitting up Ruffle Tussle replied, “Oh yeah. You foal sat me a couple of times. Rosethorn?”
“Wood. Rosewood.”
“Okay. Uhm, you're here to look after me?”
“Yes, I mean no. Just wanted to see how you're doing before I leave. Your mom is in pretty high spirits, you know?”
“Okay. Good.”
“How are you doing there champ?”
“Okay,” he answered after a pause.
“Just okay?”
He shrugged in reply as he laid back down on the ground.
The mare sat down next to him, “Anything in the skies you're looking at?”
He shook his head.
“You know that you had nothing to do with your mom saying hello to the world, right?”
“What?”
“Your mom's crash.”
“That's not true. I'm the reason she got hurt,” he said, annoyed.
“Ball-lone-y. Pretty sure this wasn't the first time she took you flying, right?” she retorted.
“Not in a long time.”
“Knowing her, she insisted in her prissy way. Don't blame her because I know she is pretty strong.”
“Really? I don't know.”
Rosewood gave a hearty laugh, “Please. I'm sure I have seen her fly your dad around and he's not light weight.”
“Oh, okay.”
Ruffle Tussle continued to stare at the sky as the colt seemed to be in thought. Rosewood laid on her back next to him and wondered what it would be like to have wings. She figured she could find a spell for that. She wondered how or what she could do to cheer the pony up.
“You know, your mom always had this reckless side of her.”
“But.. I should have known better!”
“It was some mother and son bonding. You enjoyed it, I bet.”
“Until she hurt herself. Mom is going to be stuck in bed for a month.”
“Yeah! Only a month. Modern medicine and magic are great!”
“I still feel bad.”
“Don't. This isn't the first time this has happened.”
Ruffle sat up a bit, “Really?”
“Oh colt, let me tell you a story...”
o~ o~ o~ o~ o~ o~ o~ o~ o~
Lead Balloon, your mom, always was a refined mare but sometimes thoughtless. She was an older teenager when she was tasked to watch me. I was around your age at the time and my parents had issues with me being alone by myself for a long period of time. Rightfully so I might add because I would find trouble without even looking. Would eat too much ice cream, break stuff on accident or start fights with other ponies looking at me wrong. This took awhile for me to grow out of. The mare did an okay job making sure I kept out of trouble.
Your mom would let me do things I wasn't really supposed to, but within reason if she supervised it. In hindsight maybe she shouldn't have let me do some of the things, but she believed that all ponies had to grow up sometime. Plus she was there to say no for the really stupid stuff, which was often. Lead Balloon was like a fun older sister I got to see once in a while. She was the best of all the sitters.
As I said, she could be thoughtless and at times she let her... uhm... heart led her. We were going to the park to play, the one near here, when she spotted your dad. Copper Tone wasn't married to your mom at the time and she didn't talk to him too much before then. I was still at the age where colts were still a bit icky to me. You are not icky Ruffle. Lead Balloon really, really wanted to get to know him better.
Cooper Tone was hard at work putting up a new swing set. Lead Balloon had this stupid look on her face. It's the one where all the mares swoon over a good looking stallion. Don't give me that face Ruffle Tussle! You'll find out soon in a couple of years. Your mom started to talk to your dad and it didn't go the way she wanted it.
“Hello there Cooper Tone. Is not a fine day we have here?” she asked, batting her eyes.
Half paying attention he replied, “Oh yeah. Uhm...”
“It is Lead Balloon.”
“Nice name. The sun is shining and I should be done here in an hour.”
“So, do you come here often?”
“Here? No, no. I'm just doing this job for a favor,” as he set up a heavy beam for the set.
“Oh, uhm, of course.”
At this time I chime in and say, “Lead, Lead! I want to go on the slide and launch off of it!”
“This is your daughter?” he asked, paying a little more attention.
“No, she's just a filly I'm watching. This is Rosewood.”
“Good to know,” your dad said as he continued on with his job.
I went and used the slide a few times as your mom tried to chat up your dad more. She wasn't having too much luck. Mostly because your dad is a responsible pony and knew how to focus on his work. Eventually I got bored and wanted Lead to pay attention to me. Got back over there when he decided to take a short break.
“Lead. Lead! Come play with me,” screeched like the little filly I was.
“Oh! Alright, I'll be with you in a couple of minutes.”
“No, now!”
Your dad just shook his head in amusement. Your mom was looking at your dad, and I could see gears start turning in her head. She suddenly had this goofy smile on her face. At this point I knew we were going to have some fun.
“Rosewood dear? How about I take you flying?” she asked.
“Really? Oh great!”
“Cooper Tone. If you allow me to entertain you on your break with my feats, I would be most pleased.”
Cooper just smirked, “Oh okay, that's alright. Just don't go nuts there Lead.”
Your mom gave the biggest goggle eyed smile I've seen in my life up to that point.
So she leads me to the slide and says, “Hop on my back Rose, please.”
Oh colt, I knew what was going to happen next! She was going to slide down the slide and launch herself with me on her back into the air. This wasn't the first time she gave me a ride, but this was the first (and last) time we were going to do it in style. Awesome I tell you.
Don't give me that look. Ponies do stupid things for uhm... love. Yeah love.
Anyhow, it happened as I predicted and we were up in the air flying around. Your mom did a couple of loops and spirals. Lead sped up and did a few tricks too. She was and is very athletic, because with a name like Lead Balloon you have something to prove. I was having a great time and pretty sure your mom and dad were too.
Your mom came in for a close pass, turned sideways and blew a kiss to your dad. Stop making those gagging noises, colt! Cooper started to turn beat red, I was rolling my eyes and Lead was laughing happily.
Then she slammed her face into a random tree.
I was and am a magical unicorn who got into all sorts of trouble, and instantly teleported safely to the ground. Your dad? I'm sure he shit his pants (and maybe your mom too)? Again, awesome I tell you.
o~ o~ o~ o~ o~ o~ o~ o~ o~
Ruffle Tussle continued to stare at Rosewood as he was shocked, “Did this really happen that way?”
“Oh yeah. Much I could remember,” the mare replied truthfully to the colt.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Ruffle sat up and stood as he stretched his limbs
“Are you feeling better there champ?”
“A little. Now I'm worried my mom is going to hurt herself again. I... don't want that.”
“Nothing you can do about it. Mean, not really. It was an accident and she might have another one. You are old enough to figure out that your old mom isn't perfect.“
Curious, he asked, “What happened afterwards?”
“Your dad and I made sure she was okay. Your mom wasn't really, but nothing permanent was broken. She is not the first pegasus to have a spill like that.”
“Okay, I guess?”
“Cooper Tone felt bad for her, even though this wasn't his fault. Silver lining to this was that he got to know you mom much better, they got together and you came along soon afterwards.”
“Okay. Thanks for the story. Are you coming back sometime?”
“Sure will, next week. What are you going to do in the meantime?”
“Check on mom and see if she needs anything.”
“Think she'll need something pretty soon. Bet her record is done and needs to flip it over.”
Ruffle walked to the back door as Rosewood asked one last question, “Did you learn anything today? Like anything about your mom or yourself? Maybe there are things outside your control?”
“Oh yeah! Think I understand why now she called me her favorite accident. This is because all the other times she messed up were bad, but I wasn't! See you later Rosewood,” he said with a laugh as he went inside.
Rosewood meekly waved and thought out loud to herself, “Not really the moral what I was aiming for, but at least this landing was walk-away-able.”
