On Feathered Wings and Midnight Daydreams

by Rusty Kettle

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Bat Pony, Comedy, Romance, Profanity, Slice of Life
Length: 15715

An accident at the weather factory brings two stallions closer than they could've ever imagined.

Blue Skies is a weather factory operator with a deep love for painting. Sunup Howdy, on the other hoof, is a bat pony doctor that exclusively works nights at the Chestnut Falls General Hospital. While Blue might find the bat stallion annoying, he could put up with him as long as it meant getting to rent a cheap room… at least until his career as a painter had truly taken flight.

After a factory accident, however, Blue Skies finds himself grounded and distraught. And to make matters worse, Sunup has specifically requested to be the doctor assigned to watch over his recovery.

But the bat stallion may have bitten off more than he could chew, as what was supposed to just be a chance to bother his friend quickly turned into something… special.

Commissioned through Discord, it was a pleasure writing for you and I'm glad my work could meet your expectations.

Published 2024-04-15 18:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2024-04-15 18:20:00 UTC

I still hear your voice

The double bells of Sunup’s alarm clock rang loudly into his empty room, rousing the bat stallion from his peaceful sleep. He groggily stretched out a forehoof to try and slap the infernal machine, but all he managed to hit was the very edge of his bedside table.

A whimper left the purple stallion’s lips as he clutched his forehoof to his chest, gritting his teeth from the impact. One of his wings stretched towards the noise, flailing around blindly until it finally managed to strike the clock.

“Shut uuuuuuup,” Sunup cried as the very tip of his wing felt around for the button to shut the noise off.

Click.

Silence, blessed silence. Sunup’s wing retreated back under the covers, pressing up against his side as he clung to the comfort of his bed. If it were up to him, he would stay right there for another hour, maybe two. But alas, he had to go to work.

With a yawn, the bat pony threw the covers off himself and rolled off his bed, flopping onto the floor next to it. He sat on his haunches and brought one of his forehooves up to wipe the sleep from his eyes.

His room was brightly lit by the small sliver of sunlight that snuck around his blackout curtain, but nonetheless, he walked up to the window and drew the curtain fully. The bat pony winced as the afternoon sun flooded his room, forcing him to avert his gaze. He took a moment to pick up a hair tie that sat beside his alarm clock and tied his mane back in a small ponytail.

The purple stallion turned towards his wardrobe, throwing the door open and blinking repeatedly to focus his eyes on the piles of clothing. He took out his hospital uniform and got to work on putting it on, closing the wardrobe door behind him with a tail flick. The uniform wasn’t much more than some light blue fatigues and a slightly stained lab coat.

Once dressed, he marched out of his bedroom and into the apartment’s living room. A small wooden table dominated the center of the room, which was almost completely covered in random books and empty takeaway boxes. The purple stallion walked over to the opposite end of the room, reaching the small kitchen that sat next to the front door.

“Gotta go to the store…” Sunup muttered to himself as he dug through the fridge for anything to eat.

There wasn’t much, but he still managed to dig up a couple of eggs and a frozen pancake. While the food warmed up, however, his ears swiveled to pick up on the telltale sound of the front door unlocking. The hinges whined as the door was shoved open by a pegasus’ wing.

The light blue primaries that stuck out from a gray wing let Sunup know exactly who this new arrival was before the pony even finished opening the door.

His roommate, Blue Skies, walked into the living room, dragging his hooves behind him. He was dressed in his dark orange weather factory jumpsuit, which now sported a brand new rainbow-colored stain on his right shoulder. A bright yellow hardhat was tucked under the pony’s left wing, but judging by how matted his blue mane was, he had only taken it off a few moments ago.

The pegasus’ tired gaze wandered over the apartment until it finally landed on Sunup, where his brow furrowed slightly.

“‘Sup?” The bat stallion asked.

“Hey.” The pegasus stallion answered, closing the door and walking towards the kitchen.

Sunup flipped his scrambled eggs and pancake onto a plate and carefully balanced it onto one of his wings before making his way towards the living room table. Blue Skies took a long look at the plate before shifting his gaze to the kitchen.

“Did you really just make food for yourself?” The pegasus asked, his expression a midpoint between angry and distraught.

“Yuh,” Sunup replied after taking a bite out of his pancake.

Blue let out a deep sigh before speaking up again.

“I’ve asked you like a hundred times if you could make dinner for me when you make breakfast,”

Sunup finished the rest of his pancake before answering.

“I’m not your housewife, make your own food!” He said before taking a bite out of his scrambled eggs.

Blue’s right eye twitched in anger. Sunup tried his damndest to suppress a chuckle at the pegasus’ slightly poofed chest, he was so funny when he got angry.

“I am tired when I get back from the factory!” He complained.

“I’m tired too!” Sunup retorted, throwing his forehooves up in mock offense.

The pegasus took a sudden step back, as if he had been struck in the face.

“Tired from what?!” He shouted, “You literally just woke up!”

“Exactly, I’m still sleepy!” The bat pony said, coming very close to losing his composure and breaking down into laughter.

Blue Skies took a deep breath and opened his mouth as if to scream, but he seemed to change his mind, letting out a defeated sigh instead.

“I fucking hate yo-”

“No you don’t” Sunup said, cutting the gray pegasus off mid-sentence.

The tired pony flipped him off with one of his wings before storming off into his bedroom. As soon as the door closed, Sunup couldn’t help but start chuckling to himself. Nothing was better than starting out the night by pestering Blue.

After he was done with his breakfast, the bat stallion threw the apartment door open and took in the beautiful afternoon air of Chestnut Falls. The town wasn’t much to write home about, but it was still a nice place to live. Sunup lifted a wing to shield his eyes from the waning rays of Celestia’s sun as he looked at the floating city of Cloudsdale high above. He had considered getting a place up there instead of the smaller city below, but when he got a job at the hospital down here, his plans changed. The same couldn’t be said for Blue Skies, however, who had to move out of Cloudsdale after his rent went up and ended up having to rent Sunup’s spare room instead.

It was a good trade for him, or at least that’s what Sunup had said, he would charge him almost nothing, and in exchange all Blue had to do was tolerate Sunup’s shenanigans. Truth be told, the fact that their work hours were almost perfectly synced to avoid spending more than a hoofful of minutes together per day was more likely than not the reason for why they hadn’t decided to go their separate ways.

The bat stallion stretched out his wings and flapped once, sending himself flying into the air. He caught the wind almost immediately, soaring high above the blue and red tiles of the buildings below. Enjoying the cool breeze, he did a couple of corkscrews as he flew higher. Eventually, he leveled out, stretching his wings as far as he could to start gliding.

Chestnut Falls wasn’t a large town, but being so close to Cloudsdale had really bolstered its importance. Nowhere could this be more clearly seen than in the larger buildings. While most of the town was small houses or apartments with few stories, several larger structures dominated its skyline, the two largest ones being the shopping mall and the hospital. Closely followed by a farmers market and the sky carriage terminal that non-pegasi used to go up to Cloudsdale.

As he flew over the terminal, one of said carriages departed from the station. A bright orange train car-esque cart being pulled by a group of four pegasi. Sunup banked to the side, making sure to give the cart enough clearance as it ascended into the clouds.

The purple stallion flew for a while longer before suddenly pressing his wings against his sides. He dived down directly over the Chestnut Falls General Hospital, dropping out of the air like a stone. In the dimming light of the sunset, he was but a purple blur that barreled to the ground with almost alarming speed. In near complete silence, his leathery wings unfurled once more, catching the air and slowing him down significantly.

He had originally planned on landing further away from the hospital, but a different idea popped into his mind when he noticed a particular green unicorn walking towards the entrance. It was Minty Trails, one of his coworkers. A mischievous smirk parted the bat pony’s face as he dived towards the unsuspecting stallion.

“Boo!” He shouted as he landed loudly next to the green pony.

The pony in question had clearly been thinking about something else, as the second the purple stallion landed in front of him they reared up and let out a blood-curdling scream. Minty barely stopped themselves from tripping onto the floor, instead putting their hooves back on the ground and staring daggers at Sunup.

“You bastard!” He shouted, “You scared the daylights out of me!”

Sunup could only respond with thunderous laughter, much to the unicorn’s annoyance.

“Back on the night shift?” He asked once he had managed to stop laughing.

“Yeah, need the extra money,” The unicorn answered, “I’m going to need a lot of coffee,” He added.

“What do you meannnn?” Sunup said, cocking his head to the side, “It’s easy to stay awake!”

Minty Trails looked at him with an unamused expression.

“You are a bat, I am not.” The unicorn deadpanned.

“That sounds like a you problem,” Sunup replied, smiling.

The unicorn rolled their eyes and started walking towards the hospital, ignoring the bat pony. Sunup chuckled and followed suit, heading into the reception area.

A short while later, Sunup was looking through his patient list for the night. He didn’t really have anything too important for tonight, mostly just waiting around in case there was an emergency. He couldn’t be mad at it, however, just meant that the ponies in Chestnut Falls were healthy!

His hooves echoed through the mostly deserted halls of the hospital. Not many doctors stayed overnight, and what few patients had been kept for the night were fast asleep. This posed a problem for Sunup, however, because it meant that he had to spend time with his own thoughts.

But not if he had anything to say about it!

The bat pony took the time to look around at the many things that decorated the hallway. After all, the decorations were switched around frequently to keep the place inviting. Potted plants, small sculptures, and even bronze plaques with the names of important ponies. This time around they had even bothered to hang up some paintings, Sunup noticed, there were-

“What do we have here?” He said to himself as he noticed that one of the paintings had a very… peculiar signature on the bottom.

‘Blue Skies’ it read.

Sunup took a step back to look at the painting. It showed almost the entirety of Chestnut Falls as seen from above. Judging by the railing that had been painted on the foreground, this was probably the way it looked from one of the weather factory’s balconies. It was a pretty nice painting, which only deepened his confusion as to how his roommate was still incapable of making more than a handful of bits off of his work. In fact, Sunup knew that this painting had to have been donated, since the hospital budget didn’t cover decorations.

“I wonder what he’s up to,” The bat pony muttered as he looked at the signature again, “…Probably sleeping,” He added, chuckling.

Hours seemed to fly as the night dragged on. nothing really happened, but just waltzing through the empty hallways had somehow made the night feel short. Nonetheless, his shift eventually reached its end, leaving him standing outside the hospital once more.

“See you tomorrow!” He told Minty Trails, who was standing next to him.

The green unicorn mumbled something incomprehensible and then tried to take a step forward, nearly tripping in the process.

“Ah fuggen hate… night shift,” Minty mumbled in between yawns.

“You good?” Sunup asked, helping the unicorn stand steady.

“Yeah… yeah… just sleepy,” The green stallion answered.

The unicorn walked away from Sunup, making his way to the street.

“See you tomorrow,” He said without turning around.

“See you!” Sunup responded before unfurling his wings and taking to the skies again.

Somepony had once said that it was always darkest before dawn, but as Sunup soared through the skies he would’ve had to disagree. Sure, his batpony night vision helped, but the clear skies above were dotted by so many stars that it was impossible to even think about darkness. The shades of gray that washed over Chestnut Falls definitely gave it a less vibrant appearance than it had in the daytime, but the small dots of bright yellow that poured from windows and streetlights gave it a look that nearly mirrored the onyx backdrop of the night sky. A black ceiling dotted with white contrasted with a gray floor dotted with yellow.

The sight of the town below, however, made Sunup remember Blue Skies’ painting. It really did look like a completely different place in the nighttime.

Sunup’s hooves connected with the street again just outside his apartment, the very first rays of Celestia’s sun were starting to peek out from over the horizon. He made his way to the front door and took out his key, heading into the apartment while he made a mental list of what he needed to do in the morning. It wasn’t a long list, nothing more than eat, study, and maybe a shower, but it never hurt to keep things in mind.

The inside of the apartment was still dark, and judging by the snoring that came from Blue’s room, Sunup could assume that his roommate had simply not woken up yet.

He made his way into the kitchen and started to loudly rummage through the pot and pan drawer, eventually changing his mind and opening the fridge instead. After a few seconds of fiddling with the plastic wrapper of a breakfast roll, the bat stallion threw the package into the microwave and set it to high. As the machine whirred loudly, Sunup heard groans coming from Blue’s room which caused him to snicker.

The purple stallion got to work on setting the table for himself, letting the microwave beep away in the background after it finished warming up his food.

“Oh for fucks sake!” Blue shouted from his room, “Turn that damn thing off!”

“Oh! I didn’t notice!” Sunup answered, smirking.

The door to Blue’s room flew open, revealing a very angry-looking pegasus stallion. Blue Skies looked like he had just woken up… which, granted, was the case. His mane was a mess, with its dark and light blue streaks mixing together weirdly. An overstretched gray shirt covered his chest and wings. Sunup tried his best to keep his smile under control as the gray stallion stomped into the living room.

“And you didn’t even make food for both of us,” The pegasus all but shouted when he looked at the plate that Sunup took out of the microwave, “Again,”

“I didn’t want to wake you up,” The bat pony explained.

Blue Skies gave Sunup an unamused glare, cocking his head slightly to the side.

“I hate yo-”

“No you don’t,” Sunup said, cutting the pegasus off.

I still feel your touch

Sunup’s eyes fluttered open by themselves, lifting his mind from the foggy depths of sleep. He turned his head to the side, seeing that his alarm clock sat silently on his bedside table in complete silence. The bat stallion groaned. He hated waking up before his alarm went off, especially when it was just a couple of minutes early. Not enough time to squeeze some more sleep in, but not short enough to just get out of bed and start the day early.

He rubbed his eyes slightly, confused as to why the apartment was so silent. The only reason for waking up so early had to be Blue getting home early and paying him back for the day before. Yet the apartment was completely silent.

“Blue?” The purple stallion shouted, receiving no answer.

Confused, Sunup got up and stumbled into the living room. Blue was, indeed, nowhere to be found. Groaning over getting up for nothing, the bat stallion dragged their hooves towards the kitchen and fished out some frozen pancakes. He yawned loudly before setting his head on the counter and slowly slipped back into the comforting embrace of slee-

His ears were split by the alarm clock he had left back in his room. The bat pony yelped, flapping his wings wildly in a panic before crashing onto the floor in a sprawled mess of limbs.

Sunup shook his head and sprung back to his hooves, breathing heavily. He glared into his room, all but launching towards the door and locking his gaze with the alarm clock.

“YOU.” He said, pointing a wing at the strident contraption.

After the alarm clock refused to reply, Sunup walked up to it and slapped it away with his wing. He watched as it flew through the air before slamming against the wall, the twin bells on the top of the device were launched off to the sides, silencing the clock.

“Showed him,” The bat pony huffed, glaring at the clock.

After a few seconds, however, the purple stallion sighed and scooped up the pieces in one of his wings, carrying them towards the living room table. He took a moment to check on his breakfast before sitting down to repair the alarm clock, carefully reattaching the bells. Satisfied with his work, he got up and headed into the kitchen, ready to enjoy his breakfast.

Still, something felt… off. And it wasn’t the cheap pancakes. He looked at the clock he had just repaired, and then at the wall clock in the kitchen to make sure the time was right, confirming his suspicion. Blue was late, like, really late.

While not completely out of the ordinary, it wasn’t like Blue to get caught up at the factory, Sunup was almost surprised at how disappointed he was at not seeing the gray pegasus. But it made sense, after all, did the night really start if he didn’t annoy Blue as soon as he woke up?

“He probably went out to eat something with the others from the factory,,” The purple stallion muttered to himself, feeling just the slightest prick of jealousy at the thought of Blue not wanting to hang out with him… or at least let him know where he was going!

No matter, he’d get the chance to pester him after his shift was done. After leaving the dishes in the sink, he made his way back to his room, carrying the alarm clock with him.

Once dressed and with his mane in a tie, the bat stallion left the apartment and flew towards the hospital in a straight line. His speeding had a reason behind it, he had taken just a bit too long to get ready, as he was waiting for Blue. The pegasus never showed up, however. Sunup smirked at how he was going to pester Blue with how he ‘made him be late to work!’ because of just how deeply concerned he had gotten.

He landed in front of the hospital a few minutes later, but he quickly realized that something was awry. He couldn’t really put his hoof on it, but something about today felt out of place…

The instant he walked through the door, he was beset by Minty Trails, who telekinetically shoved a patient list into Sunup’s chest.

“Hey! What gives?” The bat stallion protested.

“Accidents at the weather factory. The really serious ones have been taken care of, but it’s still a lot of extra work, we should get to it as fast as we can,” Minty explained.

“Woah, woah, calm down!” Sunup said, pulling his ears back at the torrent of words that had left his coworker’s mouth, “You could at least say ‘hi’ to me before-“ He started, but his mouth slammed shut when he read the first name on his patient list.

Blue skies.

Sunup all but flew through the hospital, launching himself up entire flights of stairs and gliding down hallways to reach the room where his friend was being kept. He didn’t even bother knocking before slamming the door open and rushing inside, much to the shock of the room’s single occupant.

Blue Skies shouted in surprise, flailing his legs around wildly as his left wing flapped in a panic. After a few seconds, his eyes finally focused on Sunup, making his terrified expression morph into a furious glare.

“You scared the shit out of me, asshole!” The gray pegasus shouted.

“What happened to you?” Sunup demanded, ignoring the pegasus’ insult.

“What do you care?” Blue spat.

Sunup glared at his roommate and took a good look at him, where he noticed that his chest had been tied down to keep it immobilized. Facing away from him, however, the bat pony noticed that there was a small table set up next to the bed.

The purple stallion walked up to the foot of Blue’s bed, where he saw that the stallion’s right wing was held firmly in place beside him with several straps.

“What happened to your wing?” Sunup asked, feeling just a sliver of guilt at having scared him the way he had. He could’ve gotten hurt even worse!

“Just the fucking… weather thing,” Blue said through gritted teeth.

Sunup huffed at the uncooperative pegasus before stretching his wing down to grab the little clipboard that hung off the side of the bed. He eyed the medical report for a moment before looking back up at his roommate and speaking.

“A could lathe? Really?”

Blue’s brow furrowed.

“What do you mean ‘really’? Yes, really, damn near tore my wing off!” He protested.

Sunup brought one of his forehooves to his chin to think. Seeing that Blue wasn’t in any sort of critical condition had all but burnt off the dread he had been feeling. It had just been an accident, probably a painful one, but nothing to be too worried about.

“I’m just trying to think of how you could’ve gotten your wing stuck in it, of all things,” He said, getting a dumbfounded expression from the pegasus, “What? Did you lean on it while it was spinning?”

“No I didn’t! There were like four different accidents today. Something blew up behind me and I got surprised. Next thing I know, I’m getting spun around by the wing!” Blue explained.

The edges of Sunup’s mouth curled upward into a smirk.

“So like… it was an operator error?” He asked.

Blue Skies looked at Sunup with eyes filled with such unfathomable fury that the bat stallion knew his life was only safe by the fact that the pegasus was strapped onto the table.

“Fuck. you.” Blue said.

Sunup threw his head back in laughter.

“Hey, at least you’re not too badly hurt!” He said, “I appreciate the gesture of coming to see me at work, but you don’t need to get hurt for it!” He added, chuckling.

Blue let out a long, defeated sigh before turning his head to the other side of the room.

“The doctors said…” The pegasus started, but Sunup saw his head shake, “Nothing… leave me alone.” He said.

The sudden change in tone made one of the bat stallion’s eyebrows raise.

“You sure?” He asked, confused.

“Go away, Sunup,” Blue muttered.

The purple stallion’s ears drooped slightly at Blue’s genuinely hurt tone. He didn’t really know why, but for some reason he had the feeling that he should leave the gray pegasus alone for now.

Sunup’s other patients for the night were pretty much the same as he had had the night before, yet as he did his rounds through the hospital he couldn’t really take his mind off the gray pegasus in room 108. He passed by to check on him again, but the stallion had been fast asleep and snoring loudly.

The bat stallion chuckled and kept walking, making his way down the hall. Eventually he came to an open window at the end of one of the hallways. He stared out into Luna’s wonderful sky and tried his best to take in all of its starry beauty. Yet no matter how gorgeous the scenery was his mind couldn’t help but wander back around to the gray pegasus. He wondered about how long Blue would be in for. Shouldn’t be more than a few days, after all. But most of all he couldn’t help but think about just how boring these days would be.

Sure he’d get a little time to pester Blue, but it wouldn’t be the same! And after he was sent back home to recover he’d just make things harder for Sunup to organize his own time around having somepony else in the apartment. If only there was a way to-

“That’s it!” The bat pony said, smiling widely at the night sky. A plan had sparked in his mind, and Blue was going to absolutely hate it!

The purple stallion skipped through the hospital, a smug grin plastered on his face. He came to a stop in front of the director’s office door. His hoof struck thrice, drawing a surprised grunt from behind the door.

“Come in!” A mare’s voice said.

Sunup walked into the office, his gaze focusing on the old unicorn mare that sat behind a dark red desk. Director Lock Stitch’s kind eyes stared at the purple stallion from between the many locks of her pale pink mane. A pair of thick glasses made her purple eyes appear almost comically large.

“Howdy!” The mare exclaimed, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Good evening, I wanted to speak with you about one of our patients,” Sunup said, walking into the office.

“By all means! I ran out of things to do an hour ago!” The old mare said with a chuckle.

Sunup shared the chuckle as well, she was clearly in a good mood.

“It’s about of the patients that was admitted today, Blue Skies,” He stated.

“Hmm…” Said Lock Stitch, her horn firing up and shuffling through one of the drawers that sat below her desk.

After a few seconds, she produced a pale yellow file, which she placed on her desk. She flipped through the pages for a moment before raising her eyes to focus on Sunup again.

“Male pegasus with a wing injury?” She asked.

“Yes, exactly. I have a question about them…” Sunup said, cocking his head slightly, “Actually it’s two questions,” He added sheepishly.

“Ask away! The name sounds familiar though, isn’t he the stallion that lives with you?” The old mare asked, bringing one of her forehooves up to her chin to think.

“Yeah! That’s actually related to one of my questions. Is there any chance for me to get transferred to the day shift once he’s sent home? I’d rather be up at the same time as him so I can provide care,” Sunuo explained.

Lock Stitch stared at the purple stallion for a moment, her face scrunched in concentration. It didn’t take long for her to come to a decision, however.

“I don’t see why not, I’ll talk to Mister Forceps tomorrow to organize the shift change, but I doubt he’ll say no when I explain why,” The mare said with a smile, “What’s your other question?” She asked.

Sunup’s smile soured slightly as he remembered how serious Blue had gotten when he asked about how badly hurt he was.

“How bad is he? I saw that his wing was strapped down, but I can’t really tell,” The bat stallion asked.

Lock Stitch grimaced at the question, but she quickly adjusted her glasses with a burst of magic and cleared her throat.

“I won’t lie to you, he’ll need time,” The mare said, “Pegasus wings are delicate, it’ll take more than some healing spells to get him in the air again.

“I was afraid you’d say that…” Sunup answered. He knew what pegasus wings were like. At least it wasn’t terrible, he would recover, he just needed time and care.

“Well, why’d you ask me then?” Lock Stitch asked with a light chuckle.

“I just needed a second opinion,” The bat pony answered, “Hope he gets better soon,”

“He will, especially if he’s got a friend like you looking after him,” Lock Stitch said with a smile.

Forgive me my weakness

It had been a couple of days since Blue had been admitted into the hospital. Lock Stitch had not just kept her word, but she’d also gone a step further and allowed Sunup to take the rest of the week off to adjust his sleep schedule and make sure Blue was properly tended to.

“Right this way,” Sunup said, pushing the hospital door open with a wing and stepping aside to let Blue through.

The pegasus in question huffed in annoyance and walked out of the building. His right wing was firmly held in a sling, keeping it immobile. He had been healed as much as he could be, but the wing was still too sore to move it much if at all.

“We can stop for breakfast on the way home,” Shnup explained.

“Great,” Blue muttered back.

The pair made their way out of the hospital grounds and onto the streets of Chestnut Falls. Earth ponies and unicorns were milling about, probably headed to their jobs throughout the city. Despite trying to focus on getting home, Sunup couldn’t help but shake the sensation of being horribly out of place.

Bat ponies were a rare sight in the daytime, especially if they were walking on the ground instead of flying. His height wasn’t doing him any favors either, making him stick out from the crowds of pastel ponies like an exceedingly big, dark purple, sore thumb. Some of the ponies gave him inquisitive stares, others immediately changed course to not pass too close to him. But most of them paid him little mind, something that he was thankful for.

Blue Skies walked behind the bat stallion, his head held low. Sunup knew that flying was a different experience for pegasi and bats, but he’d never expected it to be that important.

Looking for some way to cheer his friend up, the purple stallion scanned the many shops that lined the main street, trying to spot some cheap coffee shop. There were several, but none of them had a spot to sit.

“Hey Blue, wanna stop there?” Sunup asked, pointing at a small coffee store on a street corner that had actual tables set up outside for ponies to sit and drink.

“Sure… whatever,” Blue answered, dragging his hooves behind the purple stallion.

The store was pretty small, no more than five tables, two of which were occupied. A sign hung over the wide-open door spelling out the shop’s name with stylized yellow letters, ‘Coffee Break’.

A cute mare took their order and quickly prepared the drinks. Sunup took a seat first, sipping on his white mocha as he looked at Blue, who absentmindedly took a few gulps out of his own cup.

“Nice day, isn’t it?” Sunup said, looking out at the mass of ponies that walked up and down the street.

“I guess,” Blue answered, looking up, “Would probably look better from above,”

Sunup gave him a half-hearted smile.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be flying again in no time,” He said, getting just the slimmest hint of a smile from the gray stallion.

“I hope so…” Blue said, his tone just slightly more cheerful than it had been before, “At least it showed me that this coffee spot exists, this is some good stuff,” He added, taking another sip from his cup.

“We gotta come here more often,” Sunup said, his eyes passing over the crowd, “Come on, let’s hurry up, we have to get home so you can pay me back for the coffee,”

Blue Skies looked at Sunup with an unamused expression.

“What?” The bat stallion asked, smirking.

“I genuinely hate-“

“No you don’t,” Sunup said, interrupting the pegasus’ protest with a smug grin.

The pair made their way back to their apartment, a trip that Sunup learned was much, much longer than he had originally thought. The perks of having wings! Sunup thought as he looked at his friend. Blue Skies’ face was dead serious, eyes cast low and ears droopy. The bat stallion could only wonder as to what could be going through his head as they walked.

At last, they arrived. Sunup walked up to the door and pushed it open, knocking over a small bag of garbage that he had left next to it.

“Sweet Celestia! what happened here?” Blue Skies exclaimed when he walked into the apartment.

“What do you mean?” Sunup asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What do you mean? Look at this place! It looks like a bomb went off in here!” The gray pegasus said.

Sunup turned around to look at the apartment, it wasn’t that bad, there were just a lot more boxes of takeout sitting around… and empty bottles… and shopping bags…

“Yeah, I guess it’s a little messy…” The bat pony admitted.

“A little?” Blue said, “I can’t believe you couldn’t even try to keep the place tidy while I was out!”

Sunup huffed in annoyance at the pegasus’ words. He had tried to keep it tidy… for a few days at least.

“I kinda… forgot,” The bat stallion said, shrugging.

“How do you forget to make your house not look like a rat nest?” Blue demanded for a moment before sighing deeply, “Whatever, just clean this mess up, I need a nap,”

Sunup groaned at the prospect of cleaning, but he relented and got to work on putting the takeout boxes back into the garbage bag he’d knocked over. before he got too into it, however, he realized that there was one thing he could do to procrastina- help Blue.

“Want me to help take that sling off you first? I need to check your wing to make sure it’s healing properly,” He said, standing back up.

“What?” The pegasus asked, cocking his head to the side, “My wing’s fine, leave me alone,”

“No, I’m serious, I have to look at it,” Sunup retorted, trying to put on his serious medical professional voice.

“Fine. But make it quick!” Blue said, rolling his eyes.

Sunup walked up to his friend and very carefully undid the knot that held the sling together, setting his right wing free. He kicked an empty box of noodles away before taking a seat next to Blue. If there was one good thing his height did for him, it was definitely the ability to sit on the ground and still be tall enough to comfortably work with a pegasus patient.

The purple stallion’s forehooves reached up and grabbed the wing carefully, slowly feeling the bones underneath the soft feathery cover. Blue Skies grunted slightly at the touch, but Sunup knew exactly how delicate he had to be with pegasi wings. He carefully extended the wing, feeling the joints move beneath the skin.

“Tell me if it hurts,” He instructed.

“O- okay,” Blue Skies stuttered as the bat stallion slowly pulled the wing open, keeping a close eye on the pegasus’ face for any sign of discomfort.

What he saw instead was pretty much the polar opposite of discomfort. The slightest hint of a blush had appeared on the pegasus’ cheeks, making his white freckles stand out slightly more than usual. Sunup had to bite his tongue to not chuckle, he knew some pegasi were uhh… particularly fond of getting their wings touched and moved around, but he never would’ve expected Blue Skies to be one of them.

“Everything looks fine-” Sunup said, but he had barely finished the last word before Blue raised his wing out of the bat pony’s grasp and then folded it against himself.

“Good. I need to go to my room,” the pegasus stated, stomping the floor slightly.

“Did my hooves feel that nice?” Sunup teased, unable to restrain his chuckling any further.

“Fuck off.” Blue said before storming into his room, “And clean up that mess!” He shouted back before slamming the door shut.

Something strange stirred inside Sunup’s chest. It wasn’t the first time that Blue had told him to fuck off, but for some reason this time it felt… different. It had actually hurt, as if he had been punched in the face. That wasn’t right, he should’ve been able to just laugh it off, maybe even double down with an even worse joke, but all he could manage to do was… look around at the mountains of garbage that littered the living room. Guilt stabbed through his chest like a spear, but Sunup shook his head and furrowed his brow. He had to get his shit together.

Over the next couple of hours, Sunup got to work on making the living room presentable again. Garbage went into garbage bags, and the random clothing that was strewn about was swiftly stuffed into a bag that he’d take to the laundromat later. He cleared out the table for what had to be the first time in years, and he even went as far as sweeping the floor.

“We need a new broom,” Sunup muttered to himself as he looked at the three valiant strands of plastic that remained attached to the broomstick he was holding.

The bat stallion walked into the kitchen, intending to pick up a notebook and write down a shopping list, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a loud banging sound from inside Blue’s room. With his previous mission all but forgotten, sunup rushed to the bedroom door and knocked on it loudly.

“You alright in there?” He asked, concerned.

“Fuck off!” The pegasus shouted back.

Sunup grumbled before clearing his throat.

“I’m coming in,” He announced before pushing the door open.

The room beyond was… tidy. The only thing that seemed to be out of place was a fallen easel that held a messily painted canvas. It looked as if it had been thrown aside in a fit of rage. Whatever the painting was supposed to be, it had been roughly crossed out before being thrown aside.

Blue Skies was curled up on his bed, with his right wing stretched out behind him. Sunup noticed that the light blue feathers on the tip of the wings had been dipped in the same black paint that had been used on the canvas.

“You okay?” The bat stallion asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” The gray pegasus snapped back.

Sunup looked at the canvas again before turning to look at Blue Skies.

“You still need to recover-” He started, but the pegasus cut him off.

“I said I don’t want to talk about it.” Blue said.

Sunup sighed, trying to find a way to get through to the pegasus. It wasn’t often that he regretted being a jokester, but the sheer distrust in Blue’s voice was definitely doing it. He probably thought that Sunup only cared about finding a new way to bother him.

“Okay, look,” Sunup started.

“I don’t want to-” Blue interrupted him, but Sunup interrupted him right back.

“Let me finish,” He said, raising his voice just a little bit, “Listen. I know I’m a bit of an ass sometimes, and I know I joke around a lot, you don’t have any reason to trust me. But please, trust that I take my job seriously,” The bat stallion said.

Blue Skies took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He then turned around to rest on his back, spreading out his forelegs to either side of his chest.

“It’s just… not fair!” He finally said, throwing his forehooves into the air, “It was just a stupid accident!”

Sunup walked up to the side of the bed, taking a seat next to the gray pegasus.

“And now I can’t fucking fly!” the stallion continued, staring at the bat pony with wide, pleading eyes, “Do you know how awful this feels? I want to feel the wind in my face! I want to feel the air rushing through my feathers!” He added, slowly breaking down.

The purple stallion remained quiet, looking at the pegasus with a concerned stare. He didn’t really know what to say, so he decided to remain quiet and let Blue vent his frustrations out. It seemed to be the right choice, as the pegasus continued talking after a short pause.

“And if that wasn’t enough, I can’t even fucking paint anymore! My wing shakes too much,” He said, his voice quivering, “What am I supposed to do? Just… learn how to paint with my left wing? I could! but it’s never going to be the same!”

“I uhh…” Sunup started, tripping over his own words, “I promise it won’t come to that, really.”

Blue’s teary eyes looked up at him.

“I’ll make sure you get better.” Sunup stated, getting a weak smile from the gray pegasus.

Without you it’s hard

Recovery was a long road, there were no doubts about that. And while Blue Skies still hadn’t recovered enough to fly, his mood had slowly improved to the point where he was almost the same as he had been before the accident. Sunup suspected that his efforts in keeping the apartment clean and tidy were helping the gray pegasus feel more comfortable.

Sunup had gotten up early, just before Celestia’s sun had peeked out from beyond the horizon. He was standing in the living room, dressed in his hospital uniform and waiting for his roommate to come out of his room. Today was an important day, after all, since Blue was finally allowed to go back to work at the weather factory.

There was one problem though… he still couldn’t fly.

“Hurry up, you’ll miss the carriage!” Sunup shouted.

“I’m trying!” Blue Skies shouted back as the door to his room flew open, his voice sounded slightly muffled.

The gray pegasus had his factory jumpsuit wrapped around his head as he struggled to pull it over himself with just one wing. Sunup snorted at the sight as Blue stumbled into the living room, tripping over himself.

“Come here,” Sunup said, walking up to the pegasus.

“No! I can do it myself!” Blue shouted.

Sunup cocked his head and raised an eyebrow, stepping back and watching as the pegasus continued to struggle with his clothing. Blue grew increasingly frustrated, at first he simply tried to pull the jumpsuit over his head, but he quickly got desperate and started tugging at it violently.

“Okay… help me…” The pegasus admitted, panting.

The bat stallion smirked and walked up to Blue, pulling the jumpsuit off his head. The pegasus´ eyes dropped to the floor as Sunup straightened out the jumpsuit with his wings.

“Okay, come here,” He said, holding out the clothes.

Blue slipped into the jumpsuit slowly, fitting his forelegs into the sleeves before Sunup zipped it closed around him. His left wing popped through one of the two holes on his back easily, but the right one only flopped weirdly underneath the clothing. Sunup’s ear twitched as he heard Blue grumble before the wing started flapping wildly.

“Stop, you’ll hurt yourself,” Sunup said, putting one of his forehooves on the pegasus’ side to hold the feathery appendage still.

“Just let me-” Blue started, but Sunup cut him off.

“No, you need to take care of yourself,” The bat pony stated, opening the jumpsuit slightly, “Take the left wing out and start with the right one instead,”

The gray pegasus huffed in annoyance, but they followed the advice. His left wing popped out of the jumpsuit, letting Sunup stretch the jumpsuit further on the right side. The purple stallion carefully took the tip of Blue’s wing and guided it into the jumpsuit hole.

“There’s nothing wrong with that wing,” Blue protested as Sunup repeated the same process on the left side.

“Just making sure you don’t hurt it too,” The bat pony said, chuckling, “You’ll need a sling for the right one though,” He added.

“Do I really?” Blue asked, annoyed.

“Yes, you do, at least until you can hold it closed on your own,” Sunup explained.

“I can hold my damn wing closed, Sunup!” The pegasus shouted.

The bat stallion raised an eyebrow at Blue and cocked his head to the side, looking at the pegasus’ partially drooping right wing.

“Uh huh…” He said, unamused.

Blue looked at him with confusion for a moment before following his gaze and looking at his droopy wing. He grunted and strained slightly, pulling the wing up and tucking it on his side.

“See?” The pegasus said, gritting his teeth slightly.

“I’ll go get the sling,” Sunup deadpanned.

Blue Skies sighed in defeat.

“Fine.” He relented.

The bat pony smiled and walked towards the table, where he had left the pegasus’ wing sling. He brought the sling over to him and sat on his haunches, bringing his hooves up to grab the wing and place it into the sling.

“Thanks…” Blue Skies admitted as he looked at his immobilized wing.

“Don’t mention it,” Sunup said, “Come on, I’ll take you to the sky terminal,” He added, gesturing toward the door.

Blue Skies furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to complain, but Sunup quickly walked up and covered his mouth with a forehoof.

“We’re already late, just let me take you to the terminal,” The bat stallion said.

The pegasus tried to say something around Sunup`’s hoof, but it was nothing more than a muffled mumbling.

“Let’s go,” Sunup said, taking his hoof off the pegasus’ mouth.

Blue Skies looked down with a hint of blush on his freckled cheeks.

“Fine.” He huffed.

The two stallions walked out of the apartment, where Sunup spread his wings open and stretched, feeling his back pop. He flapped into the air, hovering slightly before moving above Blue and reaching down, wrapping his forelegs around the pegasus’ shoulders. With a grunt, the bat pony pulled himself and Blue into the air. The added weight made his wings strain, but he still managed to take to the skies.

Wheezing with effort, the bat pony carried Blue towards the sky terminal. This was made slightly easier by Sunup’s impressive wingspan, which allowed him to glide most of the way. They got to the terminal just in time, one of the last carriages was about to depart.

“Thanks…” Blue Skies said before shaking his head slightly and running to catch the carriage.

Sunup smiled and took off. He was planning on following behind the carriage, but he was already running late. Instead, he took off into the air and whirled around to face the direction of the hospital before launching himself towards it like a purple missile.

He landed in front of the building and rushed inside just to be met with a… slightly disappointed set of eyes.

“Minty! Did you get put on the day shift again?” Sunup asked, smiling at the green unicorn.

“No shit, Sherclop. Why are you so late?” The unicorn demanded.

Sunup chuckled at the green stallion.

“Had to fly a friend to the sky terminal, I’m not even that late!” He told Minty.

The unicorn’s glare softened, replaced instead with a smug grin.

“Helping your friends? Who are you and what did you do with Sunup?” Minty said, chuckling.

Sunup gave a half-hearted chuckle at the unicorn’s tease. Had it been that much of a change…? Or had he just been that much of an ass to his friends before?

“Real funny, come on, let’s get to work,” The bat stallion said.

The day shift was a far cry from the night shift, Sunup noted. Gone was the peace and quiet of sleeping patients, replaced by the buzzing of dozens of ponies. The day flew past in a whirl, with Sunup barely managing to keep up.

One of the patients he was instructed to care for was a light gray pegasus mare. Her coat was lighter than Blue Skies’ but it was still close enough for Sunup to become unable to get the pegasus stallion out of his mind. He wondered how Blue was doing up in the clouds, hopefully he wasn’t having too much of a hard time. Sunup trusted that the sling was just tight enough to keep his wing tucked while not being uncomfortable.

“I’m uhh… I’m actually here about my leg…?” The pegasus mare in front of him said, looking at him with a curious stare.

Sunup shook his head and looked down at the gray wing in his hooves. He let the mare’s wing go and chuckled nervously.

“I’m sorry, got you mixed up with another patient,” The bat stallion explained.

Sunup finished his shift without much issue, still unable to get Blue Skies out of his mind. He stood outside the front door for a few minutes, waiting for Minty Trails to walk out as well. Right on cue, the unicorn’s magic wrapped around the door and pushed it open.

“All done?” The purple stallion asked.

“Yeah, wanna go get some drinks?” Minty asked.

Sunup brought a forehoof up to think for a moment before replying.

“I’d love to, but I should probably go pick up my friend from the terminal,” He said, looking up at the sky to try and gauge what time it was.

Minty Trails snorted loudly.

“Damn, since when are you that thoughtful?” He asked, chuckling, “Don’t tell me… is it some cute mare?” He added, playfully hitting Sunup’s shoulder.

The bat pony felt his cheeks burn slightly, but he just shoved Minty back with a wing before responding.

“No they’re not!” He grumbled, “See you tomorrow.”

Sunup spread his wings and took to the skies, heading directly towards the sky terminal.

“Have fun on your date!” The unicorn shouted at him from below before breaking down into laughter.

Sunup closed his eyes and shook his head as he flew, trying to get the damn blush off his cheeks. He tried to focus instead on the terminal ahead, he just had to pick Blue up and… fly him back home, it was that simple…

“Get it together, Sunup,” The purple stallion grumbled to himself, trying to bite down the strange fluttering sensation in his stomach.

As he approached the station, he immediately spotted Blue Skies walking away from one of the carriages that had just landed, his head was cast low. Sunup tucked one of his wings slightly and spiraled down to the ground, landing next to the gray pegasus.

“Blue!” He exclaimed, causing the pegasus’ ears to swivel around towards him.

“Sunup? What are you doing here?” Blue asked, his voice clearly tired.

“Came to take you back home,” The bat stallion answered, chuckling.

“Sure, whatever…” Blue muttered.

The pegasus’ attitude stood out to Sunup, he looked completely exhausted, but could he be so tired that he didn’t even want to argue with him? No matter, Sunup could always annoy him once he had rested. The bat stallion smirked at the thought of how he would never let the gray pegasus live down the fact that he carried him around for a few days.

“Let’s go,” He said, picking up Blue as he took off.

Flying after a full day’s work while carrying another pony was definitely more taxing than doing it freshly rested, but at least there was no risk of being late to get home. Sunup glided to the apartment with Blue held firmly below him, neither said a single word throughout the flight, but the bat stallion didn’t mind, he needed his breath to fly, after all.

They touched down outside the apartment. Sunup watched as Blue dragged his hooves over to the front door, keeping his head low.

“How was work?” Sunup asked.

“Shit.” Blue snapped back, opening the door and walking into the apartment.

“That bad, huh?” The bat stallion pressed, following the pegasus into the living room.

“I never really thought about how important being able to fly was for my job, the weather factory is a big fucking place when you have to walk everywhere,” He said, “I just… don’t like having everypony pity me.”

“Hey, you’ll get better in no time,” Sunup said, putting a hoof on Blue’s shoulder, “I’m gonna make dinner, want some help getting that sling off?”

Blue Skies walked towards the living room couch and flopped onto it, leaving his right side up.

“Sure, whatever,” He said.

Sunup walked up to Blue’s side, silently thankful that the pegasus couldn’t see the slight blush on his cheeks as he undid the sling and let the wing droop free.

“I uhh… I need to check this, is- is it okay?” Sunup asked, internally cursing at himself for the stutter.

“Go ahead,” Blue said, huffing.

Sunup got to work right away, placing his hooves carefully on the pegasus’ wing. He gently massaged the limb, enjoying the softness of his feathers. How could pegasus wings be so… soft? A wing hug just had to be the softest, warmest-

The bat pony shook his head. No, this was just a checkup, he just had to see if the wing was in good health, and it seemed to be the case. He pulled back, turning around quickly to hide his red cheeks.

“Aww, done already?” Blue asked, sounding almost… disappointed?

“Y- yeah, it seems to be doing well,” Sunup said in a single breath.

“You’re pretty good at massages, you could become a masseuse if you ever get tired of working at the hospital,” The pegasus said, stretching his back.

“Fuck off,” The bat pony protested, drawing a chuckle from Blue.

Sunup walked into the kitchen and pulled a box of microwave food from the fridge as he considered the stallion’s words.

“What are you cooking?” The pegasus asked curiously.

The purple stallion poked his head out from the kitchen, holding the box in his wings to show it to Blue. The pegasus took one look at it and immediately groaned.

“If you’re going to keep buying those awful microwave pizza rolls could you at least not get the mango ones?” The pegasus complained.

“Bro like… just don’t eat the mangos,” Sunup said, laughing.

“Doesn’t make the rest of the thing any more edible,” Blue answered with a frown.

The bat stallion’s mouth opened before he could finish thinking about whether or not he should say what he was about to.

“Well maybe you should learn how to cook instead of complaining so much, not like you have anything else to do,” Sunup said, immediately grimacing as the words left his mouth.

Blue’s head pulled back as if he’d been struck in the face. Sunup winced as well, he had just wanted to poke some fun at the pegasus, but that had probably not been the right joke to make considering how frustrated his friend had become at being unable to paint.

“Wow.” Blue Skies said, nodding with an unamused look.

A pang of guilt struck Sunup straight through the chest with the force of a jousting spear.

“That was not funny, I’m… I’m sorry, really,” He said, dropping his gaze to the floor.

To his absolutely incredulous shock, Blue Skies threw his head back in thunderous laughter.

“Since when do you apologize for your jokes?” The pegasus asked as he continued laughing, “Did you hit your head at the hospital?”

“Of course I apologized! I don’t want to make you feel worse!” Sunup exclaimed.

Blue Skies just continued laughing, wiping tears from his eyes with his left wing.

“That was way too funny, thanks for that,” The pegasus said, still chuckling slightly.

Sunup smiled awkwardly, not entirely sure as to how his apology had been that funny. But hey, if Blue was happy, so be it.

Every time we touch

Cold wind blew under Sunup’s wings as he made his descent towards the sky terminal. By now he had the route memorized to the point where he didn’t even need to think about it. This was good, since it allowed him to think freely about stuff.

Stuff like Blue Skies.

Or more specifically, Blue Skies’ wing. The way the limb just… refused to work was both baffling and beyond frustrating. By all means it made no sense, the muscles had healed, the joints and bones were perfectly fine, and he didn’t have any sort of nerve damage. Yet despite all this, the wing still adamantly refused to function properly.

Try as he might, Blue had found himself unable to fully extend it on his own accord, and the dexterity of his feathers was almost nonexistent. He couldn’t grasp objects or exert any sort of force with it. The only thing he could really do was tuck it on his side, but only for a short time before the strain became too much and the wing dropped back down.

His hooves met the concrete floor of the sky terminal just as the big orange carriage that brought Blue back from work pulled into the station. The four pegasi that pulled it unclasped their harnesses and walked off, leaving the train car-esque carriage behind.

The orange doors of the carriage slid open, letting out a hoofful of unicorns with business suits that took off talking about some meeting they had to attend. And from behind them emerged Blue Skies, dressed in his dark orange weather factory jumpsuit and wearing the red sling that kept his wing in place.

Sunup’s heart started to beat slightly faster when the pegasus’ eyes met his own. And it beat faster still when Blue’s tired stare brightened, the slightest hint of a smile curling the corners of his mouth. Over these past weeks, Sunup had become keenly aware of the effect that seeing Blue smile had on him. He just… couldn’t help but feel happy too, especially if he was the reason for that smile.

“Why hello there,” Sunup said, giving the pegasus an exaggerated bow, “Would you be interested in my exclusive transport service?”

Blue Skies rolled his eyes.

“Hi Sunup,” He said, unamused, “Just take me home, I need to lie down,” He added, taking off his hardhat and tucking it under his left wing.

“Say no more!” The bat pony responded with a wide grin.

Just as he had been doing ever since Blue had started working again, Sunup carried the pegasus all the way from the terminal to their apartment. There was one thing that made this occasion different from the others, however, and it was what Blue did almost immediately after they had taken off.

Granted, the pegasus never talked during these flights, this time, however, he not only remained quiet, but he also slowly nuzzled his head against Sunup’s foreleg. The bat pony looked down curiously as he noticed the pegasus had dozed off in his hooves. Sunup looked ahead again and noticed that he was nearly at the apartment… that wouldn’t do, not at all.

Sunup flapped his wings as gently as he could, overshooting the apartment completely. He didn’t really need to be home right now, but Blue clearly needed to sleep. These past weeks had really helped build up Sunup’s flight endurance, and this was an ideal moment to put it to the test.

His wings unfurled fully, letting him glide through the air with ease. He made especially sure to keep his movements as smooth as possible so as to not wake the sleeping pegasus. They must’ve flown for almost half an hour before Sunup’s wings started to ache too much to keep going. Not that he would have to, since the gray pegasus in his grasp had woken up just as he started on the final approach to the apartment.

“Huh…?” Blue said, still groggy, “Where…? Did I fall asleep?” He asked, looking up at Sunup with lidded eyes.

The bat pony chuckled before replying.

“Yeah, I took a bit of a detour so you wouldn’t wake up,” He said.

Blue Skies furrowed his brow for a moment before his cheeks suddenly went bright red.

“Y- you flew me around town while I was asleep?!” He exploded.

“Yeah?” Sunup answered, raising an eyebrow.

“Are you crazy? What if somepony saw us?” The pegasus demanded.

“I like… fly you around all the time,” Sunup said back, chuckling.

“Yeah but…” Blue started, “...okay yeah… fair…” He finished.

“Besides! Ponies never look up,” The bat stallion added as the pair finally reached the apartment.

Blue Skies touched down first and ran up to the door almost at a gallop. Definitely a far cry from his usual exhausted demeanor after getting home from work. Apparently, the short nap had been more than enough to recharge his batteries.

“How was work today?” The purple stallion asked.

The pegasus’ chipper attitude dimmed significantly. Sunup mentally kicked himself for ruining his roommate's good mood.

“Still terrible,” Blue said, taking a carton of mango juice out of the fridge, “But you know what the worst part is?” He added with the slightest hint of… a grin?

“What is?” Sunup asked curiously.

“The worst part is that work sucks so bad that it legitimately has me looking forward to being with you,” The gray pegasus said, chuckling as he poured himself a glass of juice.

“Sweet Celestia, is it that bad?” Sunup asked with feigned concern, “Maybe you should get a new job after all!”

“Hardy har,” Blue answered, setting down his glass on the living room table, “Get this damn sling off me,”

The pegasus turned slightly to give Sunup easier access to the wing. In a way, it was almost funny how this little song and dance had become a usual part of their routine. Yet even with it being a daily occurrence, Blue still couldn’t fully stifle the blush that appeared on his cheeks whenever Sunup massaged the feathery limb. And neither could the bat stallion avoid getting carried away with caressing Blue’s soft feathers. It was just too good, the silky smooth sensation was like the softest clouds you could possibly find, yet at the same time they had a slight warmth to them.

But alas, sunup cut the moment short before it got too awkward. He straightened himself out and turned around, silently thankful for his purple coat hiding his blush slightly.

“Y- you’re all good!” The bat stallion stuttered, clearing his throat, “I’m sure you’ll get better any day now,” He added.

“You still think I’ll get better?” Blue asked, his ears drooping slightly.

“Hey,” Sunup said, putting his hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder, “It’s not over until I say it’s over, you’ll get better, believe me,”

Blue Skies gave him a half-hearted smile.

“Guess I’ll keep on waiting then,” He said, “Are you going to make dinner?”

Sunup chuckled and started walking towards the kitchen.

“Yeah, sure,” He answered.

The bat pony opened the fridge and pulled out the first thing he could find: half a bag of tater tots and a box of microwave rice. Not ideal, but the store was out of mango pizza rolls the last time he had gone, much to his dismay.

“You wanna eat-“ Sunup started as he walked out of the kitchen, but his tongue seemed to tie itself into a knot as soon as his eyes fell on Blue Skies.

The pegasus was sitting next to the living room table with his back turned to the bat pony. He was in the middle of slipping out of his factory uniform, with his surprisingly fit back on full display. The gray stallion’s droopy right wing hung to his side while the left one struggled slightly to help pull his foreleg out of the jumpsuit sleeve. Sunup cleared his throat, taking a few steps back into the kitchen to hide his deeply blushed face.

“What was that?” Blue Skies asked.

“I- I was asking if you wanted to eat tater tots and rice,” The bat pony said, shaking his head slightly to try and dispel the image of his roommate’s back from his mind.

“Microwave food again?” The pegasus whined, “Can we just eat something good like… at least once a week?”

Sunup poked his head out of the kitchen with a furrowed brow.

“What’s wrong with tater tots?” He asked.

Blue Skies threw his head back and groaned before turning to look at him and speaking.

“There’s nothing wrong with them, we’ve just had them for dinner three days in a fucking row,” He said.

“Learn to cook then, genius!” Sunup said with a chuckle, taking one of the tater tots out of the bag, “Think fast!” He shouted, throwing it directly at Blue’s head.

“Wh-?!” The gray pegasus managed to say before something incredible happened.

With incredible speed, the stallion’s right wing shot upwards by reflex. Despite the small frozen bite not being much larger than Blue’s nose, his wing still managed to strike it dead center and slap it into the far wall of the living room.

Sunup and Blue’s jaws beat the tater tot to the floor as both stallions focused on the pegasus’s outstretched right wing. The limb folded back onto Blue’s side before being stretched back out.

“Wh- what?” The gray stallion said, his voice quivering.

“Your wing!” Sunup exclaimed.

“My wing!” Blue replied, giving it a tentative flap.

The pegasus exploded into laughter. Jumping off the floor with both his wings outstretched. He flapped them with all his might, but his eyes went wide as he spun around wildly in the air. The gray stallion crashed onto the floor in a mess of legs and wings.

“Blue!” Sunup shouted, running up to the pegasus’ side, “Are you all right?” He asked.

“Y- yeah… guess it isn’t strong enough to fly yet…” He muttered.

The gray stallion’s expression quickly brightened, however, when he stretched the wing out again and held it out in front of him. Sunup watched as Blue moved the appendage around in circles, slowly adjusting each of his primary feathers. The look of joy on the pegasus’ face was just… too good.

“You know what? Screw the microwave food, I’m going to go buy hayburgers,” Sunup said.

“Really?” Blue Skies asked, looking at the bat stallion with an even wider grin.

“Damn right! We have to celebrate!” Sunup said, chuckling.

Blue threw his wings around the bat pony, wrapping him in a wide wing-hug. Sunup felt his entire coat stand on end at the sudden sensation of being enveloped by the pegasus’ impossibly soft wings. The bat pony could still feel that the right wing was weaker than the left, but there was some strength behind it. Sunup couldn’t help but wonder how tight the hug would be if both of his roommate’s wings were at full strength-

His face turned beet red at the thought, but he was able to pull himself free of the hug and turn around to face the door.

“I- I’ll be right back!” He said before running over to the door so quickly he almost tripped over his own hooves.

Sunup darted out of the apartment, trying desperately to shake the strange thought that were flooding his mind as he remembered how soft Blue’s feathers were… how toned his back was… how adorable his happy face looked when he noticed that his wing was working again…

“Dammit Sunup! Get your act together, just be happy that he got his wing back!” The bat pony shouted at himself as he tried to fly to the burger place a few blocks away. Try as he may, however, he just couldn’t seem to fly straight, with his slightly stiff wings only allowing him to wobbly glide towards his destination.

The bat stallion mostly managed to control his wings by the time his order was prepared, but he couldn’t keep the fluttering in his stomach down as he landed in front of the apartment again.

“Okay, just go in there and celebrate with him, nothing more!” Sunup told himself before taking a deep breath and walking into the apartment.

The inside was pretty much exactly as he had left it a few minutes ago, the only difference was Blue’s absence. Sunup eyed the place curiously before he finally realized where the pegasus had gone.

“Blue? You there?” He asked, noticing that the door to his friend’s room was open.

“Yeah, yeah!” The pegasus replied, his voice halfway between happy and annoyed

The gray pony walked out of his room, where Sunup noticed that the primary feathers on his right wing were stained with paint. His brow, which had been slightly furrowed when he walked out, relaxed immediately when he looked at the purple stallion.

“No onions, tomatoes, or pickles?” Blue asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No sir! Tailor-made for you, sir!” Sunup replied, giving the pegasus a mock salute with one of his wings.

“Fuck off,” The gray stallion said, rolling his eyes.

The stallions sat down at the table and dug in right away, where Blue was overjoyed to find that he could hold onto his food with his right wing. That was, of course, after Sunup insisted on him washing the paint off. The food was excellent… or at least as excellent as fast food could get.

Once they were finished, Sunup took it upon himself to throw the garbage away, picking up all the boxes and bags in his wings. He hadn’t made it halfway to the kitchen before Blue cleared his throat, forcing the bat pony to stop in place and turn his head to listen to whatever he was about to say.

“Heyyyy…” The pegasus started, scratching behind his ear with a hoof, “I kinda… don’t have anything to paint…” He added, keeping his eyes fixed on the floor.

“So…?” Sunup asked, cocking his head to the side.

“W- well I uhh… was wondering…” Blue stuttered, blushing slightly, “If I could like… paint you?”

Sunup gave the pegasus a long stare as he tried to process what he had just heard. There was no way he had heard that right, was there? Blue never let him watch while he painted. Now he wasn’t just offering to let him watch, but also to be the subject of one of his paintings?

“Are y- you sure?” The bat pony asked.

Blue Skies immediately took a step back, laughing nervously.

“Whaaat? Nah, I was just pulling your leg… haha…” He said, “No way you’d just stare at a wall for an hour… right?”

“I mean… if it made you feel better, I would,” Sunup responded, still trying to keep his professional tone, “It might uhh… help you recover some motor skills… yeah,”

The gray pegasus’ wings poofed out ever so slightly at the bat pony’s words.

“O- okay then uhh… do you want to like… come in?” He stuttered, gesturing towards his bedroom.

Sunup unceremoniously dumped the garbage into the trash can before walking up to the gray pegasus and into his room.

He rarely came into this part of the apartment, but it was still pretty much what he expected. A pile of half-finished paintings covered the wall that their bedrooms shared, while the middle of the room was commanded by a canvas stand and a small stool. In the corner of the room opposite from the door sat the pegasus’ bed, which was impeccably made.

“Want me to stand here?” Sunup asked, pointing at the small spot between the canvas and the bed.

“N- no…” Blue said, staring at the floor, “I- I was actually thinking of painting a flying piece, you know… since my wing works and all…” He added, giving a nervous glance to his bed.

“How would you… oh,” Sunup said as he understood what the pegasus was trying to say, “Want me t- to lie down there?” He asked.

“Yeah…?” Blue said, almost pleadingly.

“Okay, okay,” The bat pony said, walking up to the bed and lying on top of it.

He silently prayed to whoever was listening that his cheeks didn’t have a red tone to match the fluttering of his stomach. There was nothing wrong here! He was just helping Blue… yeah! Just some help…

“I’ll get to the wings later, I just need a general idea for the rest of the painting first,” The graph pegasus explained as he dipped the tips of his feathers into one of the little paint blobs on his palette. The stallion took a seat on the stool behind the canvas and stretched his back slightly before getting to work.

Sunup tried to remain as still as he could while he watched Blue work… or well… not really watch as much as hear. Since the canvas was facing directly away from him, all Sunup could do was hear the scraping of Blue’s feathers against the piece of cloth. He also tried his best to not have his wings poof out like they were spring-loaded whenever he felt Blue’s attentive gaze pass over his entire body… every last bit of him that could be seen was seen, and it was seen with such meticulous attention that the bat pony could all but physically feel his friend’s eyes on his coat.

“Okay! Try to open your wings as if you were flying,” Blue directed.

Sunup’s semi-stiff wings stretched out behind him, about as far as he could.

“Like this?” He asked.

“No, no, try to like… bend them as if you were mid-flap,” The pegasus instructed.

Sunup furrowed his brow as he tried to think of how to get into position. He couldn’t just bend his wings halfway, they were either extended upward or extended downward! That bend would only happen if he were pushing against the air.

“How…?” He asked.

“Like… you know… half-tuck them?” Blue Skies said, peeking out from behind the canvas.

Sunup did as the pegasus instructed, but when he turned around to look at his wing he noticed that it wasn’t right. It didn’t look like he was flying, it just looked like he was halfway done with tucking his wing onto his side.

“I’m pretty sure I can’t hold my wing like that,” The bat stallion said.

“No! You’re doing it wrong,” Blue groaned.

“Well, why don’t you just show me how you want me to hold the wing then?” Sunup exclaimed, frustrated.

The pegasus huffed and got up from the stool, walking up to the bat pony. Sunup gasped as his left wing was suddenly grabbed by Blue’s hooves and pulled open slightly. The shorter stallion stood up on his rear hooves to try and open Sunup’s wing further, straining slightly as he did.

“Look out, dumbass, you’re going to fall-“ Sunup started, but he was forced to shut up when Blue did exactly that.

In some vain attempt to get out of the way, Sunup rolled away from the falling pegasus, not realizing that the pony was still clutching the tip of his left wing. Blue’s wings flapped wildly as they tried to break his fall, but it was no use. The loss of balance added to the sudden yank from the bat pony not only made him fall, but made him fall directly onto the purple stallion.

Once the momentary flailing of legs and wings stopped, Sunup became keenly aware that there was something soft and warm pressed against his chest. He looked down to spot Blue Skies, who had fallen onto him. The pegasus had a blush so deep that it almost hid his freckles completely. His eyes were screwed shut, but he ever so slightly peeked out, quickly realizing where he had fallen.

Pomf!

Blue Skies’ wings extended violently, opening wide behind him as his blush somehow grew even deeper. The gray stallion pressed his forehooves on either side of Sunup, all but launching himself off the Purple stallion.

“I- I- I… I’m sorry about that,” He stuttered, trying desperately to reel his wings back in.

“I- It’s okay…” Sunup answered, desperately trying to think of something to say and fix the awkward moment.

“No! I mean… yes…? I mean…” Blue said, bringing a forehoof up to try and hide his blushing face, “I uhh… I can finish it by myself! Y- yeah you can just go to sleep!”

Sunup got up from the pegasus’ bed, trying to keep his own wings from stretching out as well.

“Y- yeah! Uhh… good luck with the… uhh… painting! Yeah!” He said, swiftly running out of the room and into his own, nearly ripping the door off its hinges with how hard he slammed it shut.

“Fuuuuuuuuck,” He whispered to himself as he slid onto the floor just beside his door.

His mind was a veritable maelstrom of… strange thoughts and emotions… feelings even.

“Get it together, Sunup! It was just a dumb accident, don’t look into it,” He said to himself, “J- just go to sleep, and you’ll apologize for not doing what he asked tomorrow! Yeah!”

It was at that moment that the bat pony remembered that the next day would be the first day of the weekend… meaning that he and Blue would have to spend all day at the apartment…

“Fuuuuuuck,” The bat stallion said as he thought about just how awkward the next day would be.

And every time we kiss

Sunup’s eyes slowly fluttered open. He raised his forehooves in a vain attempt to wipe the sleep from his eyes. But it was no use, he had stayed up for way too long last night, still reeling from what had happened with Blue. Sunup felt his cheeks start to burn at the mere memory.

The bat pony craned his head around to look at his alarm clock, seeing that it was still fairly early in the morning. He was surprised to not hear anything else, however, had Blue not woken up yet?

“I need to apologize…” He told himself, the events of the previous night still sticking out in his mind.

He rolled out of bed, stretching his back for a moment before grabbing a hair tie off his night table and tying his mane back. How could he make it up to Blue? The bat stallion wondered. An idea dawned on him when he opened the door to the living room. He would just need to be very quick.

Sunup picked up a small satchel with bits and carefully made his way into the living room, keeping as quiet as he could. He unlocked the front door and winced slightly as the hinges creaked, but fortunately, he didn’t hear anything from Blue’s room that indicated he had woken up. Letting out a sigh of relief, the bat stallion stepped outside and carefully shut the door behind him.

“Pancakes,” He told himself, “Actual pancakes”

Not knowing how much time he had left before Blue woke up, Sunup flew to the store like a bat outta Tartarus. He darted into the store and scooped up the first box of pancake mix he spotted.

“Thank you for your purchase sir, that’ll be-“ The cashier started to say before Sunup threw a wingful of bits onto the register.

“Keep the change!” The bat pony shouted back, knowing full well that he probably overpaid by a lot. But it didn’t matter, he had to get back home as quickly as he could.

The trip back home was significantly slower than the flight to the store, but still fast nonetheless. He managed to stop himself before crashing into the front door, it wouldn’t do him any good if he just woke Blue up by rushing into the apartment too fast. Instead, he carefully unlocked the door and pulled it open slightly.

One of Sunup’s purple ears poked into the living room, causing him to smile when he realized that the place was still quiet. Perfect, he had made it back in time.

The bat stallion walked into the kitchen and got to work on preparing breakfast. Try as he might, it was impossible to stay quiet for long. As soon as he dropped a piece of butter onto the pan and it started to sizzle, his ear twitched and swiveled towards Blue’s room. He could hear the pegasus groaning groggily.

It didn’t take long before the door to Blue’s bedroom slammed open. The gray pegasus walked out slowly, his eyes still closed. Sunup noticed how his right wing’s feathers were stained with several splotches of purple paint.

“What smells so good?” Blue asked, his voice raspy from sleep.

“I’m making pancakes,” Sunup replied before chomping on the pan’s handle and flipping the pancake he was currently cooking.

“What?” Blue asked, opening his eyes wide, “Like… actual pancakes?” He added.

“Uhhh… yup!” The bat pony answered, slightly nervous.

“Well don’t let me distract you, this is the first time you’ve ever actually cooked something!” The gray pegasus said with a chuckle, “I’ll make some coffee,”

Sunup let out a small relieved sigh. He had expected Blue to be angry, or at the very least awkward! But no, the pegasus was just… normal. As if nothing had happened. Well, Sunup wasn’t planning on making things any more awkward than they had already gotten! He would just finish making the food and then act like nothing happened as well.

The pair had breakfast in silence, with the only interruption being an approving grunt from Blue Skies. Sunup only smiled at him, as his mouth was full of pancakes. They were really good pancakes, after all. And there were lots of them too!

Once breakfast was done and the plates were clean, however, the two stallions stood in silence looking at each other. It was now that Sunup realized that the pegasus was feeling just as awkward as he was. He had to do something to break the silence, anything!

“So uhh… how’d the painting go?” He said, immediately wishing he had stayed quiet. Of all the things he could’ve asked about, that is what he had gone for?

“I- I uhh… I kinda kept going a bit,” Blue said, immediately casting his eyes to the floor.

“Huh?” Sunup answered, raising an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected him to keep going after the whole bed incident, but apparently, he had.

“Y- yeah I might have gone to sleep a little… late,” Blue admitted.

“Well… can I see it?” Sunup asked.

The gray pegasus immediately blushed.

“I- I… no?” He said, flattening his ears to the sides of his head.

Sunup furrowed his brow and glared at the shorter stallion.

“You can’t just say that you kept painting and then not let me see it,” The purple stallion said.

“F- fine!” Blue exclaimed, turning around in a futile attempt to hide his blushing face.

Both stallions made their way into the bedroom, where the canvas still stood in the exact same spot as it had been the night before. Sunup walked up to it curiously to get a good look.

He was… awestruck, that was the only way it could be described. The bat pony’s jaw fell open as he stared at the painting. It was breathtaking, the colors, the expression on his face, even the pose, it was all just… perfect. Even if Blue had only had him there for a few minutes the night before, he had captured every last detail down to the exact fluffiness of his ears.

“D- do you like it?” Blue asked, scratching the back of his head nervously.

“It’s… It’s beautiful!” Sunup exclaimed.

“You really think so?” The pegasus said, perking up at the bat pony’s kind words.

“Yeah!” Sunup said, “I see that wing works perfectly fine too!” He added with a chuckle.

The gray stallion laughed for a moment before looking at the floor again.

“You’re the one that helped me so much, heh,” He said.

“Damn right I did,” Sunup replied smugly.

The bat pony looked at the painting again and couldn’t help but feel his heart flutter with unbridled joy. It was not only better than he expected considering the state of Blue’s wing, but it was better than he could’ve possibly expected even if he had been healthy! The painting was by far the most beautiful one that his roommate had ever made, and having him be the subject of it just… made his coat poof out slightly.

It was no coincidence, whatever he was feeling right now was definitely going through Blue’s mind as well. Sunup started to feel a burning in his chest… an irresistible urge to… get closer to him. Feel those soft feathers again… just like last night-

Sunup cleared his throat nervously, trying to shake the thoughts out of his head. He had to focus on what was important, Blue had recovered a lot, and it was all thanks to him apparently. He needed to focus on helping him more instead of getting caught on these… feelings.

“I’m glad you’re doing so much better,” Sunup said, “Have you tried flying yet?” He asked curiously.

Blue Skies’ grin quickly faded as he turned to look at his right wing.

“I- I’m not sure if I can do it yet,” He said.

“Aww come on! Look at how well the painting came out!” Sunup said excitedly, “Your wing is definitely healed enough by now!” He added.

“I literally flopped onto the floor yesterday!” The gray pegasus exclaimed.

“Yeah but like, your wing was still kinda weak. I think you should give it another shot,” The bat stallion said.

“I don’t-” Blue started, but Sunup cut him off by walking up close to him and putting a hoof on his shoulder.

“Trust me,” He said.

Blue Skies seemed to go through a wide range of emotions as his eyes focused on the bat stallion’s hoof, but eventually he looked up into Sunup’s eyes and nodded.

“Okay, fine, I’ll give it a shot,” He muttered.

“Good, I have a great idea to help you too!” Sunup squeaked, barely managing to not start bouncing in place.

“...Sure?” The gray pegasus said.

“Come with me,” Sunup said with a smile as he walked out of the room and headed towards the front door.

“Ohhhh no, I am not falling on my face in public.” Blue stated, stomping the floor for emphasis.

“I won’t let you fall, genius, get your flank over here!” Sunup shouted back.

“What do you-”

“Just trust me!” The bat stallion said, cutting Blue’s protest short.

The pegasus pouted for a second, but he still gave a few tentative steps towards the bat pony.

“I swear, if I fall onto the floor again I’m kicking you all the way to Cloudsdale,” Blue said when he finally made his way out of the apartment.

“As if I’d let you fall,” Sunup chuckled, “Okay, get ready,” He added.

“Ready for wh- Hey!” Blue Skies said as the purple stallion took to the air and wrapped his forehooves around him, “What do you think you’re doing?!” He shouted in a panic.

“Trust me, Blue, you’ll see!” Sunup replied as he flapped his wings vigorously.

The pegasus went silent as the two rose higher and higher. Far above the usual height that Sunup had been carrying Blue at for all these days. Higher still he pushed, almost leveling out at Cloudsdale height.

“S- Sunup? You’re n- not going to drop me… right?” Blue Skies asked, the terror almost tangible in his voice.

“What? No!” The bat pony answered, giving the pegasus a solid squeeze to show how firmly he was holding onto him, “I just needed to get as high as I could,” He added, starting to pant from the effort.

Sunup suddenly stopped in midair, stretching his wings out as far as he possibly could.

“Stretch your wings out and feel the wind,“ He told the pegasus, “I’ll hold you, I promise,” He added, blushing a little.

Blue Skies did exactly that, stretching out his wings and catching the wind with his feathers. Sunup smiled and pressed the pegasus harder onto his chest, he wouldn’t want him flying off before he was sure that his wings could keep him airborne.

While the bat stallion was busy thinking about this, however, the pegasus had started… laughing?

Yes, Blue Skies had started to laugh. Sunup could feel each joyful chuckle against his chest as the pegasus stretched his wings and even gave a few tentative flaps.

“I’m flying, Sunup!” The gray stallion exclaimed.

The bat stallion laughed as well, slowly loosening his grip on the pegasus.

“Do you want to try?” He asked Blue.

“Yeah, b- but do it slow!” The gray stallion replied.

Sunup grunted in acknowledgment, very slowly letting the pegasus slip out of his grasp. Blue Skies stiffened beneath him, but he quickly relaxed when the bat pony’s hooves left him completely. The gray pegasus glided for a bit on his own before he flapped his wings once. Then again, and one more time… Soon, the pegasus was flying… really flying.

“Yessss!” Blue Skies shouted as he darted off to the side, laughing in pure euphoria.

Sunup exploded into laughter as well, closing his wings slightly and diving down to follow the pegasus. The pair flew around, letting the day burn away with no concern for anything. Hours passed as they rolled and spun through the skies, but the laughter never stopped.

On one of the maneuvers, the stallions found themselves corkscrewing through a fluffy cloud only to emerge on the other side, laughing happily. Holding their wings in place, they slowly started gliding towards the ground in an ever-tightening spiral.

Before they knew it, they had come nearly face-to-face. The laughter slowly subsided, replaced by the sound of the wind blowing past their ears softly as the ponies fell. Sunup’s eyes focused on Blue’s as his foreleg reached out to touch the pegasus’ chest. As his hoof made contact with the gray fluff of Blue’s chest, he felt a hoof press against his own chest. The softest of blushes slowly appeared on both their cheeks as Sunup drew in closer. Their muzzles nearly touching.

Just before they did, however, Blue Skies pushed Sunup back slightly. The purple stallion’s enchanted stare melted away into concern as he looked at the gray pegasus with confusion.

“I- I…” Blue Skies started, lowering his gaze, “What are we doing, Sunup?” He added, looking into the bat pony’s eyes pleadingly.

Sunup was dumbstruck, had he crossed a line? Or had he not crossed it enough? Thousands of thoughts rushed around his mind as he stared into the pegasus’ eyes. He couldn’t stay quiet, but he didn’t know what to say! There had to be a way to salvage this, maybe some way of passing it off as some kind of joke?

No… this was no joke. It was no ruse, not some creative way of messing with Blue… this was… real.

Sunup’s hooves shot up to hold Blue’s face, causing the pegasus to yelp.

“It’s just like flying,” He said, staring into Blue’s eyes, “Don’t think about it, just feel the wind.”

Blue Skies looked at Sunup for a moment, his blush deepening slightly before he finally spoke up.

“Then… let’s fly together,” He said, slowly pushing Sunup away until they were only joined together by one of their forehooves. As one, they spread their wings and broke their fall.

The two stallions soared together through the skies as if locked in a slow dance. Staying close only to whirl away and then back into the other’s awaiting hooves. The endless afternoon sky was their dance floor, and the musicians playing were none other than the pair’s rapidly beating hearts. Sunup’s smile was only eclipsed by Blue Skies’ own, a grin so sincere and wide that nopony could possibly resist sharing it.

And share it they did. Shared it throughout the afternoon. Neither the bat pony’s aching wings nor the pegasus’ weakened muscles could even come close to ruining the moment. But everypony had their limits, and eventually, Sunup noticed that Blue was panting heavily and flapping his wings very sparingly.

“Hey! Let’s stop for a bit,” Sunup shouted.

“But I don’t want to head back yet!” Blue Skies shouted back, panting.

“I didn’t say head back!” Sunup shouted, “Let’s stop there!” He added, pointing at a particularly fluffy cloud.

“Okay!” The pegasus said, banking towards the cloud.

Both stallions flopped onto the cloud, exhausted. Nonetheless, as soon as they had regained their breath the joyous laughter came rushing back.

“Flying feels so good!” Blue shouted, stretching his forelegs up to the sky.

Sunup, who was lying next to the gray pegasus, turned his head around to look at him.

“Yup, and all thanks to me! I’m the best,” The bat pony said, smirking smugly.

Blue looked at him with an unamused expression.

“I fucking hate-”

“No you don’t,” Sunup said, cutting Blue off.

The gray pegasus didn’t protest, instead letting out a small chuckle.

“You’re right… I don’t…” He said, the slightest bit of blush appearing on his cheeks, “I’m actually really happy that you never gave up on me… thanks,”

“Don’t mention it, I uhh… I’m happy I could help you,” The bat stallion said.

Sunup’s heart skipped a beat when the pegasus slowly started to move, getting closer to him. The bat pony cleared his throat nervously and looked out into the sunset to try and avoid making eye contact.

“B- beautiful afternoon, eh?” He stuttered.

“Yeah, really is…” Blue said with a slight chuckle.

The pegasus got even closer, bringing his muzzle right up to Sunup’s. The purple stallion’s heart was beating so loudly that he was barely able to understand the next words that came out of Blue’s mouth.

“...And there’s nopony else I’d rather spend it with,” He said before pushing his head forward.

Their lips met, and they shared their very first kiss.