Starstruck meets a new friend
All of the engines were working with full power to produce the clouds and everything was going smoothly. It was a casual day at work and everyone was doing their own thing, except for a greyish bleu Pegasus who was sitting alone and was staring at the horizon. He sat there so quietly ad rather happily too when a group of thee other pegasi went over to him.
“Well if it isn’t out little daydreamer”, said one of the pegasi.
He was a blue Pegasus with an orange mane and small nasty looking green eyes. As he spoke the other two were taking up position on each side of their victim. The greyish bleu Pegasus snapped out of his thoughts and looked around.
“What is all this, what are you doing Fasttrack?”
Fasttrack was the name of the bleu Pegasus, he was the fastest flyer of their school and bragged about it all the time. He also thought he was superior to everyone else.
“Oh nothing, just wanted to know what my best friend was thinking.”
The other two pegasi started to laugh and one of them pushed their poor victim smacking him into the ground with his face. It was probably Cloudburst, or was it Flash? It was hard to tell since they were identical twins. They both had an almost black coat and green manes.
“Just leave me alone, is that so hard?”
“I just wanted to settle things between us”, Fasttrack said. “Remember when you crashed into me while I was showing my skills, huh?”
“What? Are you still mad about that? That was like a week ago, you are rather slow aren’t you?”
Fasttrack was almost bursting and as he raised his hoof for a big smack a loud voice rang.
“WHAT IN THE HAY IS GOING ON HERE?! Get back to work!” It was chief Cogwing. The three bullies flew away quickly as the chief went over to them. He looked down at the Pegasus lying on the ground.
“Starstruck, what are you doing?” He asked in a harsh voice.
“Nothing chief, nothing. I’ll be going back to work chief.”
As Starstruck flew back to his working spot the chief shook his head and sighed.
A few hours later the sound of the bell that announced work was finished sounded like music to Starstrucks’ ears. He happily flew outside and headed straight for home. It was dark already and the stars were shining brightly in the sky. This was Starstrucks’ favorite part of being awake. Watching the stars. He would sometimes stare at them for hours. His thoughts were soon forgotten when he heard a scream from a nearby ally. He flew over and landed on a nearby cloud just to make sure he wouldn’t be seen. When he looked down into the alley he could see four pegasi. It was too dark to see who they really were but he knew Fasttracks’ voice anywhere. It seemed like the three bullies had found a new target. The cornered pony winced as one of the twins punched her with his hoof. It was obvious that their target was a girl. The other two laughed. Starstruck was furious.
“How low could they possibly get?” He thought to himself.
Starstruck knew that if he didn’t do anything soon the female pegasus would be beaten up. So he did the only thing he could think of.
Fasttrack and his two lackeys had her cornered.
“No one here to help you is there?” he said nastily.
The female pony let out a high pitched scream but the three bullies just laughed. Flash punched her with his hoof and she tumbled over.
“Still have those balance issues eh? No wonder with those e-“
Suddenly he stopped talking as a strange shadow crashed into Cloudburst and then flew over to the female Pegasus.
“What in the…” Flash said as the estrange figure turned to face them.
“Oh my oh my, if it isn’t our daydreamer.” Fasttrack said. “Come to join the party have you?”
“Leave her alone, go pick on someone else.” Starstruck said.
He hoped everything would turn out good. Fasttrack looked over at Cloudburst who was still lying on the ground. The impact must have injured his wing. Fasttrack grinned but then told Flash to get his twin up.
“Come, these two idiots aren’t worth our precious time. By the way”, he looked at Starstruck and winked,” We can seek them out anytime.”
With that the three bullies left and Starstruck went over to the mare that was still lying on the ground.
“Everything alright?” he asked gently.
He could see her clearly now, she had a grey coat and blond manes. It took the mare a moment before answering.
“Yes, I think I’m fine.” She didn’t look at him as she said it.
“Come, let me help you up and fly you home okay?”
He helped her up and noticed that she was still looking away from him. Diplomatically he said
“My name is Starstruck, what’s yours?”
The mare sighed and said
“Ditzy, my name is Ditzy.”
“A lovely name.” Starstruck replied.
The mare seemed a bit confused.
“Come, let’s get you home.”
Together they flew off.
“My home isn’t far from here.” Ditzy said.
As they arrived Starstruck tapped the mare gently on her shoulder.
“Can I ask you something?”
Ditzy nodded while looking down.
“Why were those idiots after you? I haven’t seen you before.”
With a sigh Ditzy looked up into Starstrucks eyes, mostly. The mare had beautiful golden colored eyes. He barely noticed that one was looking at him while the other was drifting to another corner. He complimented her on her nice eyes while still looking directly into them. Ditzy seemed confused.
“Are you kidding me?” she asked a bit uncertain
“Why would I be kidding you?” he replied. “Is it bad if I give you a compliment?”
“I… I should go inside. I’ve got a busy day tomorrow.” She said.
If she noticed Starstrucks sad face she didn’t show it. As she was closing the door he hastily said.
“We should get together sometimes.”
It took a moment before a reply came.
“Tomorrow at two, then I’m finished working. I’ll be at the post office.”
With that she closed the door and Starstruck stood there alone beneath the night sky. He smiled brightly as he flew home because he now had a real friend. As soon as he arrived he went to sleep still thinking of those beautiful golden eyes. Something about them made him feel different. And he had always liked different. Sleep took him and dreams about his new friend would soon flash before his also golden colored eyes.
The sun was shining brightly, the warm light fell on Starstrucks face as he woke up. He yawned and stretched his legs while he rubbed his eyes. The memory of that golden eyed Pegasus was still burned in his mind, he smiled for today he had a “date” with her at two. He looked outside with a feeling in his chest he hadn’t fell in a long while. Perhaps the last time he had felt like this was when he left his parental home in Los Pegasus with the idea of starting a brand new life. He never had a good relation with his parents for they always would look down at him and made him feel bad. So it was only obvious he was thrilled when he was able to leave. As he thought how things had changed for the better and with that new Pegasus in his life something caught his attention. There were an awful lot of clouds dotting the sky for some reason.
“Clouds…clouds…” he whispered. “CLOUDS?!”
Starstruck suddenly remembered he had to go on weather patrol. He had completely forgotten about that. Though he worked at the cloud factory he also had a job in the weather watch.
“Stupid job…” he thought ironically.
He hastily made his way outside and flew off. As he looked around he could see that some ponies of the weather patrol were already busy busting the clouds.
“Damnit damnit damnit I’m gonna be late.”
He arrived just in time to see his team flying off towards the south and he joined them quickly.
“Where have you been, had a rough night?” His team captain said in a rough voice.
The others of the team, a pink Pegasus with a yellow mane, and a green Pegasus with a white mane laughed.
“You’re lucky you aren’t as late as Thunderlane.” The captain said.
“How so?” Starstruck asked already knowing the answer.
“That idiot is sick again. I don’t know how he keeps pulling that off. He has missed eight…EIGHT sessions already!”
Starstruck was the one laughing this time. He knew Thunderlane was good at avoiding anything that made him spend energy, but he didn’t know he was THAT good. The pitch-black Pegasus was one of the few Pegasus ponies to be actual friends with Starstruck.
“Don’t think it’s funny daydreamer, you will have to do his part of the job today.” The captain said with a grin.
Starstruck grumbled but kept his thoughts to himself. His job in the weather patrol was way better than the one in the cloudfactory but he needed that job for it paid better. He was saving for his grate project, he didn’t know what it was just yet but he had saved a good amount of money already. Starstruck was thinking of leaving Cloudsdale and going to live somewhere remote and peacefully. He just wasn’t made for the big cities.
“Then why did I come to Cloudsdale?” He thought to himself.
But he already knew the answer. He just wanted to get away from his parents and this was the best option available at the time. So here he was busting clouds with his teammates and his mostly absent friend Thunderlane.
“Where are we going today captain?” Starstruck asked lazily.
“If you were at the briefing today, which you weren’t… AGAIN… you would know. I’m not going to bother telling you, just ask someone else. Lazy piece of-“ The captain broke off and just grumbled the following part of his sentence to himself.
Starstruck shrugged and went flying next to the pink Pegasus. Her name was Swiftwind and she was the fastest flyer of their team, she also was an enormous perfectionist and the captains favorite. Something that enlarged her self-esteem even more which made her push herself even farther. One day she would make it to captain she kept telling herself. Starstruck didn’t give a fig about what she would do in her life and just asked her bluntly what was on the program today. With a big sigh and obviously unwilling she told him everything he needed to know.
“Can’t you just come to the briefing next time? Please, I’m not in the mood to explain everything to you another time. It’s been like the… what… tenth time you were late again?” she complained.
“Tenth? Wow I even beat Thunderlane hahaha.” Starstruck said just to annoy her a bit more. He had never like Swiftwind, she reminded him of Fasttrack just a tiny bit too much.
“Don’t be happy about that, luckily you show up after all. That’s the part that lazy twat keeps forgetting.”
When she was done complaining they had arrived to their section and the captain ordered them to bust all the clouds while he just did nothing and ‘observed’. It took them some time to get all of the clouds out of the way since they were one pony short but they succeeded anyway within their time limit. Starstruck was happy it was all over since he had a hard time. He had been distracted the most of the time and so he missed a few kicks which didn’t improve the captains mood what so ever. His wings were starting to ache too. He had to work very hard since Thunderlane didn’t show up again so he did blame the black pony just a bit. He made a mental note to go visit him sometime soon to have a little talk.
“Okay time to return back!” The captain yelled.
He had that standard military kind of voice Starstruck thought. That rough and angry sounding edge on it. He shrugged and went back with the others. At least his work was over and he could return home to catch a breath.
It took them some time before they were back in Cloudsdale and Starstruck looked at the sun, it was just past noon he guessed. Though he was never quite good at reading time based on the sun.
“Good work everypony”, the captain said, “It’s now 13.50 hour, I will meet you all back here tomorrow at 07.00 is that understood. And I won’t tolerate another latecomer.” He directed that last part to Starstruck
Suddenly Starstrucks’ eyes went wide. Was it that late already? He had to be at the post office at two so he quickly flew off to meet with Ditzy and his mind was too occupied to hear what the captain had to say.
The post office was at the other end of the city so it took him some time to get there which made him later than he had intended to be. He could see Ditzy leaning against the side of the building, the sight of her made him feel renewed with energy again. In daylight though her crossed eyed expression did seem a bit out of the ordinary but he didn’t care, something about her just did it for him. Something no other pony has, her eyes were just a part of that. Something you just had to accept, and since they weren’t so different, both being the target of some bullies and both being ‘different’ than most ponies he DID see a slight chance with her. As she saw him flying towards her she seemed a bit confused again, but also a bit angry.
“You came! I didn’t know you would. But you are late.” The grey Pegasus said.
“Yeah, I know. I’m so sorry but I had weather patrol and I just kinda forgot about that.” Starstruck started.
“Meh, doesn’t matter, you are here now. But why did you want to get together? It’s not like I have better things to do.” Something about her expression and the way she said the last part made it obvious that she didn’t. Starstruck just smiled and looked at her. She was a bit shy and confused but that didn’t matter. He liked her already and the next part of the day would be grate, he just knew it.
“So where do you wanna go?” He asked in a cheerful voice.
“Uhm… I don’t know, what do you want to do?”
“I asked you first.” He said while grinning widely.
“What about…uhm… “ Ditzy seemed very confused now, perhaps it’s because she didn’t expect somepony to take her out somewhere or generally have a conversation with her. “What about going to that bakery that just opened? I heard they have the best muffins.”
“M…muffins?” Starstruck said.
“Yeah, you know, those things that you can eat and taste really really good?” She seemed to be cheering up at the thought, so Starstruck immediately picked up on her good mood.
“Sure why not? I’m always into muffins.”
Dizty’s eyes widened a bit making her appearance even more odd but Starstruck didn’t see that.
“Oh jippy, we’re going there right away!” she said happily.
“He aimed… and scored…” Starstruck thought to himself with a grin on his face that went from ear to ear.
They had arrived at the bakery and had just ordered three muffins, one for Starstruck and two for Ditzy since she apparently liked them so much.
“So, Dizty, tell me something about yourself. Do you have any interests besides muffins?” He said with a smile. She looked like she was thinking.
“It’s hard to think of something now you took muffins away from the things I wanted to say.”
He started to laugh but noticed that Ditzy didn’t quite seem to understand why he was so he stopped and looked at her with obvious interest.
“Well… I like flying… aaaaaaaand…” Ditzy seemed to be a bit more uncomfortable. “I like… making bubbles?”
“Bubbles?” Starstruck asked her with a grin.
“Yeah… you know, those things you blow and they become larger and larger and eventually drift to the ground and go ‘poof’ when they disappear?”
This time it was Starstrucks turn to look a bit confused.
“Yes, I see. Something else?”
“Nope.” She said rather cheerfully. “What about y-“
She got interrupted when their muffins were put in front of them. They still seemed a bit warm and Ditzy immediately bit into one of them and almost swallowed it whole. Starstruck raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to one side. He kept looking at her while she started to eat from the second muffin. He seemed to have caught her attention when she looked at him and then realized she was forgetting her manners.
“Oh I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to uhm…” she had difficulty speaking with her mouth stuffed with muffin.
Starstruck just laughed and said: “Oh it’s nothing, go ahead eat. There’s nothing to be sorry about.”
“R…really? I didn’t mean to come over rude.”
“Relax, you didn’t. I think I’ll be starting on my muffin too before you eat that too.” He chuckled
They both did and after they had finished their rather fast meal Starstruck and Ditzy left the bakery.
“what do you want to do now?” Ditzy asked.
“Dunno. What about flying? You said you liked flying and I think it’s rather relaxing now and then.”
“Uhm… yeah sure, let’s go for a flight…” Something in her voice told Starstruck that she didn’t feel very certain but he wanted to go for a flight anyway, it was a good opportunity for him to ask a bit more about her.
“Well, I’m sure everything is going to be fine! Come on, let’s go fly together for a bit okay?”
“S…sure.” She said.
As they flew off Starstruck immediately noticed something strange about the way Ditzy was flying. It was like a slightly drunk pony trying to fly in a straight line. Seeing an opportunity to be help her he took her hoof and pulled her a bit closer so she could regain her balance.
“This is quite nice isn’t it? What were you talking about back there?” Starstruck asked with a grin
“Heh, it’s only because you’re helping me. You know, you really are a friend, not like those people that pretend to be my friend and then just laugh at me.”
“Why would anypony laugh at you? I don’t see anything wrong.”
Ditzy was silent for a moment before looking him in the eyes.
“Do you really mean that?” she asked softly
“I more than do.” He replied
They stopped for a moment and flapped their wings just to stay in place.
“I’ve never met a pony like you, you know.” Ditzy said a bit shy.
“Heh, well… I can say the same about y-“ suddenly his words were cut off when something smashed into his side. Starstruck was hit fairly hard and had to recover before knowing what was going on.
“Well look at this picture.” A familiar voice said. “If it aren’t that derp of a Pegasus and that daydreaming idiot.”
Two other voices laughed and Starstruck didn’t need to be told that they belonged to Flash and Cloudburst. The twins had Ditzy grabbed by her forelegs so she couldn’t move.
“Are we having fun together? Didn’t know you were into THOSE kinda girls.”Fasttrack said evilly.
“Leave her alone, what has she done to you eh? Just let her go!”
“Oh I will let her go.” As Fasttrack said that he motioned to the twins to drop her.
As they were going to one of the twins, Flash perhaps, or Cloudburst heck if Starstruck knew pulled at one of her legs making her spin very fast. As she dropped down she was spinning so hard she couldn’t get her balance anymore and descended to the hard ground beneath. Without thinking Starstruck dived after her but was caught by the twins. Fasttrack came closer and punched him in the stomach. He repeated that six more times. Starstruck wasn’t thinking about his pain what so ever, he was thinking of the fastly dropping Ditzy. Everything started to go black before his eyes but then suddenly something inside of him gave him energy, he didn’t know what it was but it was very strong. He kicked one of the twins in their crotch and wrenched away from the other while he was confused. Now free he dived after Ditzy. Fasttrack though was right behind him and was gaining speed faster than Starstruck was.
“Gotta save her gotta save her gotta save her!” He thought to himself forgetting about Fasttrack.
He sped up incredibly fast and Ditzy came ever closer. She still hadn’t found her balance yet and was still spinning rapidly. As he caught her foreleg he pulled her closer to him. They were too low to the ground for him to pull her back up for she wasn’t the lightest of ponies. At the very end Fasttrack managed to shove Starstruck so he would turn around. This placed him between Ditzy and the hard ground. Fasttrack obviously satisfied with what he had done went back to his lackeys who were waiting for him back up above the clouds.
“What am I doing WHAT AM I DOING?!” Starstruck managed to think just before he hit the ground. He crashed into the ground while still holding Ditzy tightly. As he collided he heard a loud crack and the pain in his left wing was excruciating. He passed out after a few moments but was still awake to see those beautiful golden eyes look at him in concern.
“Starstruck…” was the last thing he heard before everything went black.
Everything was blurred, all the sounds were muffled like someone had put a bag over his head so he wouldn’t see nor hear anything clearly. The pain in his left wing had somewhat faded and he was lying on something soft.
“W…what…” he spoke softly
Someone cut him off saying he shouldn’t talk too much and that he needed to rest. It was obvious that the one to shut him up was a male pony for his voice was low and soothing. The next moments were hazy for he quickly fell asleep after he was put in a darker room, probably one with the windows closed to make him sleep faster. The only thing he would think of though was about Ditzy, and what had happened to her.
The sun shone through one of the windows that had been opened by a nurse in order to let in some fresh air. The warm light fell on Starstrucks face as he opened his eyes. He was a bit dizzy and had a hard time pulling himself up a bit. His left wing was tied to his body and been wrapped with sturdy cloth. He looked around the room, nothing special to be seen. It was obviously a hospital room, but he didn’t know what hospital. This one looked very different from the one in Cloudsdale so he could only figure he wasn’t there. He kept looking around the room until he saw Ditzy, she was slumped in on a low bench and was sleeping. She was lying in a rather odd pose, her body was on the bench while her two forelegs stuck out at each side. It was like she was hugging it. A smile crept over Starstrucks face at the sight of her. Her blond mane was shining in the sunlight and Starstruck couldn’t top from unintentionally eyeing her plot.
Something must have made a noise for she was starting to open her eyes. Quickly Starstruck duck down in bed in order to fake sleep, trying not to hit his injured wing in the process. He steadied his breathing liked it would look convincing. He heard Ditzy stretching and walking over to him.
“Oh… you still aren’t awake…”she said sadly.
“Dit…ditzy…”Starstruck said in his sleepiest voice.
“Yes, I’m here, are you alright?”
He didn’t give an answer and that seemed to do the trick, it seemed his little plan had worked.
“I… You saved my life…” she said, “you put yourself in danger just to save me. I… Oh I love you… and perhaps you can’t hear me but there I said it. I love you.”
He beckoned her closer with his hoof and she put her forelegs in the side of the bed until her face was just an inch away from his.
“I love you too” he whispered and pulled her suddenly closer and put his mouth on hers.
Somewhat instinctively she kissed him back and they sat there for what seemed an eternity. His mind was being battered with feelings. He was kissing her! And the best part, she was alright with it! They broke apart and she just stood there a bit dazzled. The gigantic smile on her face was enough to let Starstruck burst into laughter. They both laughed for quite some time before everything went silent.
“I really love you Ditzy.” Starstruck said.
“I know, otherwise you wouldn’t have saved me and hurt yourself.” She seemed to beam with joy but her face was a bit sad too for she knew Starstruck wasn’t going to have a quick recovery.
“Well, this? This is just a scratch. Nothing to worry about. Now, go find one of the nurses so we can get outa here ‘kay? “
“Uhm, I’m afraid that’s going to be a problem.” She said,” the doctor said you were to stay here for at least another day.”
“What? That’s just a whole lot of rubbish, I feel fine.” Starstruck objected
Suddenly the door to the room was opened and a pure white earth pony with an orange mane walked in.
“I’m afraid that whole lot of rubbish as you call it is sadly true. You have to stay here for another day until I’m sure your wing somewhat healed. You have been very lucky, I’ve never seen a Pegasus that survived such a crash without having his wing broken in more than two places. It seems you have strong bones. “ the doctor said. He then turned to Ditzy. “And if it wasn’t for your friend here you would have had an even worse time. She carried you all the way over here.”
Starstruck looked at Ditzy and she smiled shyly back at him.
“You really carried me over here all alone?”
“Well… I had some difficulties… but yeah!”
“It seems you two have some talking to do, I’ll take my leave and check on you tomorrow morning.” The doctor said as he closed the door behind him.
They talked for hours, sometimes stopping to kiss each other and then to continue talking. Starstruck told everything about himself and Ditzy did the same.
With each word they fell more and more in love.