“Wooooooaaaaaaahhhh!” Two blue pegasi colts look to the sky in wonder as they witness the acrobatic prowess of the celebrity flight team known as the Wonderbolts. One of the colts was baby blue with a gray mane and an unmistakable yellow streak. The other, a sky blue colt with a pink mane. Both had faces encompassed in awe of the spectacle before them. Little did those blue colt know, that show would go on to change the course of both of their lives forever.
“Dad, I want to learn how to fly like those guys!” The sky blue colt told his father, enthusiasm plastered on his face. The events of the day had been tiring on the older stallion who was in desperate search of some rest.
“You know son, the only way those stallions and mares are able to do all those tricks for such a long time is by getting some rest and it’s getting pretty late. Why don’t you go lay down and get some sleep yourself so you can have just as much energy as the Wonderbolts!” The comparison to the Wonderbolts left a gleam in the little colt's eye as he leapt up, rearing for his room.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” The older stallion questioned in a tone meant to indicate that the colt was, in fact, forgetting something. The stallion raised an arm and the baby blue colt jumped into his father’s arms to wish each other a good sleep.
“Good night Windstream.”
“Night Dad!” And with that parting exclamation, the aspiring Wonderbolt ran off to his bed to rest up and begin his journey towards his destiny.
In front of the school the next day, Windstream’s father walks him to the front door, the excitement from the night before still showing in the young pegasus’s expression and body language.
“I know you’re still worked up from the show yesterday but you have to remember to behave in school today, okay?”
“Okay Dad.” Windstream had always been a sort of troublesome student. While not being an outright nuisance he always did have a tendency to disrupt the class by talking about flying. Sometimes with the teacher before lessons, sometimes with students during lessons, and sometimes completely derailing the flow of a lesson altogether just to focus on flying. Not the biology of a pegasus, not the correct way to fly against the wind, not even the basic rules of what not to do while flying. It would just be endless blatherings about how cool it looks, how fun it is, and how he’s gonna be the fastest and strongest flier one day. It’s even gotten to the point where his constant tangents had landed him with a note home from the principal for multiple flying based disruptions of class a day. This landed him in some hot water with his father for a few days which resulted in him being punished from practicing flying for a week which subsequently drove Windstream up the wall. This memory made his father shiver. He knows that today Windstream will be especially talkative. The boy had just been to his first ever Wonderbolts show and he’s fully aware that it’ll be all he talks about all day. He’s just hoping it doesn’t land him in some more trouble because he can’t afford to deal with a bored, punished, mini flier loose in his house for the second time in a month.
“Windy!” A voice comes from the play yard, it’s a softer and higher voice than Windstream’s own. Both Windstream and his father look over to see the small blue colt they had seen just last night at the Wonderbolts show.
“Coby!” Windstream shouted much louder.
“That show last night was amazing! Thank you for inviting me! You too Windstream’s dad!”
“No problem champ!” The stallion uttered with the tone of comfort and confidence that made it sound as if the little colt was his own. To some extent, he almost was. Cobalt spent most of his time at their house to the point where he’s basically family, closer with them than most normal families are to their cousins. He’d usually come over to do whatever Windstream had planned on doing that night, whether it be video games, playing music, or watching a scary movie, he’d be by Windstream’s side while doing it. More often than not however, he’d be caught outside cheering Windstream on in his practices to get faster. While Cobalt is as much of a Wonderbolt’s fan as the next pony, he wasn’t exactly the flying or competitive type so he’d leave most of that to Windstream. Windstream does enough flying for the two of them anyway. Windstream’s poor old dad wouldn’t be able to handle having two inexperienced and crazed fliers being loose in his house, they’d tear the place apart!
“Let’s go out to the playground so I can practice some tricks!” Windstream exclaimed.
“Tricks?” Cobalt questions. Windstream has always focused on speed, never tricks so this new way of thinking caught Cobalt way off guard.
“Heck yeah! After seeing that show yesterday, I’m totally pumped to try and learn some tricks and be just like the Wonderbolts!” Windstream’s ecstatic expression was enough to quell any confusion or concern welling up in Cobalt’s mind.
“Okay!” Cobalt yells with a new found sense of invigoration.
Windstream’s dad overhears this brief interaction but before he has the chance to intercept the two and warn them to stay safe they dart off and down towards the playground.
With minor concern for his son’s safety, Windstream’s father turns to leave the school yard, rationalizing in his head that the school staff would be able to keep him from doing something he shouldn’t. Deep down however, he knows he’s just attempting to fool himself.
“Check this out!” Windstream shouts down from about ten feet up in the air. It was barely high at all but with this unknown trick he’s about to try to pull off, it made Cobalt extremely nervous. Cobalt was always the type to be conscious when it came to Windstream’s reckless stunts. It sort of balanced out Windstream’s chaotic nature, but sometimes his concerns just weren’t enough to keep Windstream out of trouble.
“Be careful Windy!” Cobalt shouts up. His words of concern fell on deaf ears as Windstream got into position for whatever crazy trick he was about to attempt. With a zip that caused Cobalt whiplash just by watching, Windstream took straight up into the sky. Eagerness and confidence showed in his expression, almost matching the growing anxiety showing in Cobalt’s. Once he reached high enough into the air, Windstream tucked his wings in going into a high speed nose drop. Cobalt’s heart sank. Plummeting down to the clouds of the school yard, Windstream relished in the breeze hitting his face. He didn’t have very long to relax though as the ground was closing in at an alarming pace. Windstream’s wings stretched out in one smooth motion, the wind catching just in time to keep him from smashing into the cloud below. Cobalt’s excitement came rocketing back in a wave of relief, cheering on Windstream harder than he did for the show the night prior. Windstream looked back to meet his friend's gaze but before he could lock eyes with the sky blue colt he felt a smack to his chest that completely trumped any pain he had felt before up until that point. Cobalt’s excited expression turned into horror as he raced over to his friend lying flat on the ground. Windstream looked up from his daze to see his friend’s face and the lumbering height of the school house wall that he had just, so graciously hit. He went to lift his hoof to calm Cobalt before feeling a sharp pain in his foreleg he had never felt before. With a shout of pain that sent Cobalt into the air out of fear he had come to the realization Cobalt was dreading. He had broken his leg.
After he had broken his leg he was tended to by the school nurse and sent home on account of his injury. His father showed up to the school after being retrieved by a pegasi messenger alerting him of his son's injury. He was clearly upset when he arrived, that much was obvious. Before he had left the yard, the last thing he said to Windstream was to behave and now he was laying in front of him on the nurse’s office cot with a broken foreleg. But although his father was mad, he also showed concern which helped to lower Windstream’s feelings of guilt a little. It wasn’t all anger. Cobalt was also there to tell his father exactly what had happened to him. He didn’t need to be there since both Windstream and the nurse were fully capable of recounting the day’s events and was actually given detention for refusal to show up to class. He didn’t care though. He wanted to see to it that Windstream’s dad knew the story from his perspective which was admirable in Windstream’s eyes.
After that Windstream and his father arrived at the Cloudsdale hospital where they diagnosed the fracture with fancy doctor speak that he couldn’t understand and didn’t care to either, all he knew was that his leg was broken and he needed a cast. After the cast was put on it was advised that he stay off his hooves to avoid further injury which was all fine since he was a pegasus and a damn good flier. The second stipulation is what really got to him. He wasn’t allowed to do any rigorous flying exercises that could worsen his fracture. This meant no speed training and no acrobatics training for two whole months. This information hit Windstream harder than the school yard wall. He tried to argue with the doctors that he could get better sooner, on their way home he tried to convince his dad that he could still do tricks just fine. His father wouldn’t budge. In fact, his arguing made restrictions on him even tighter. Outside of school, he was not allowed to leave the house unless under adult supervision and in school he was to be monitored attentively by the yard supervisors all to make sure that he wouldn’t try to sneak in any tricks that could get him hurt again until his leg was fully healed. He understood exactly where his dad was coming from and it totally made sense but it didn’t make Windstream any less angry. His house and school had just been turned into supermax prisons, all because of one, stupid mistake. On the bright side, he still had Cobalt to keep him company while he was working on his recovery journey.
Most of his time at school had been spent talking to Cobalt from then on, often about flying. It was all Windstream could think about while being kept from flying himself. His brain and body craved the blood pumping excitement that he felt that day before he hit the wall. After school, most days Cobalt accompanied him and his father home to play some video games or listen to music and waste away the seemingly endless and agonizing days that were counting down until his release from his homely prison. On the days when Cobalt couldn’t escort Windstream home, they’d play games online over the Haystation. This was never really common before but started to become a trend two or three weeks after Windstream’s accident. He’d show up less in person and more online. About four weeks into his recovery and Windstream started going days without seeing him online at all. He confronted Cobalt about this when he saw him in person at school but he’d always brush it off by saying, “It’s just family business. Nothing to worry about,” but Windstream was worrying. A lot. Soon after the inquiry, Cobalt started distancing himself in person too. Then it started to become a question of whether it was himself.
“Is it me? Am I driving him away? Was it something I said? Does he feel guilty about my accident?” These were all concerns that he had brought up with his dad who, at that point, was also getting to be a little concerned for Cobalt. He knew it couldn’t be his home life because his parents were super sweet and gave him a ton of freedom. Maybe it’s an issue with other friends? A source outside of school? The passing of a relative? His father was just as lost as he was. In a feeble attempt to help assist his son to not feel guilty he offered that maybe he just found other friends which just resulted in a bigger feeling of inadequacy and the development of some other feelings too.
Showing up to school the next day he spent the day completely ignoring any of the few attempts made by Cobalt to spark conversation. His father’s talk with him the other day had Windstream completely sold on the idea that Cobalt had found other friends and was dropping him to hang out with them. All during lessons and lunch he wouldn’t so much as look Cobalt’s way. He wanted to be as petty as possible and make Cobalt feel guilty. And it was working. Recess swung around and Cobalt gathered the courage to confront Windstream off to the side of the playground where none of the other colts and fillies were playing.
“Windy.”
No response.
“Windy?”
Windstream tenses.
“Windy!”
“What!” Windstream turns around with a yell that alerts some of the other ponies on the playground and some of the guards stationed out there to watch over him. Cobalt flinched back at his response, noticing the flared out wings and menacing expression on his friends face, clearly showing that something had been bothering him,
“Is everything okay? Did I do something wrong?” Cobalt whimpered out these words in a voice almost inaudible over the screams and laughter of the playground ponies.
“Is everything ok! Did you do something wrong! I don’t know, does ignoring your best friend to go hang out with other ponies sound wrong to you!” The emotions were coming out in full force. Ponies were staring now but he didn’t care. For the first time in his life he had felt pure betrayal and unadulterated anger. He was at a low point in his life, trapped inside of his house, prevented from doing what he loved, and being completely ignored by his best and only real friend. He had nothing left to lose so he went all out.
“Ignoring you? I’m not ignoring you.” Cobalt muttered out in confusion at these heinous accusations. “You know you’re the only friend I’ve ever had.”
“If that’s true then why haven’t you been on Haystation, or come to my house, or hardly talk to me anymore in school!” Emotions were soaring in Windstream’s head and it took all of his restraint to not fly away in that moment and never look back.
“I’ve been busy! You’ve been the one ignoring me!” Cobalt bit back, a bit bitter. This caught Windstream off guard which showed in his expression but he quickly regained his offensive position, wings flared in blatant anger.
“What could you possibly be so busy doing that you don’t have time for your best friend anymore!” Windstream’s composure was breaking and tears of rage and sadness began welling up in his eyes which he forced down.
After this question Cobalt’s fight left his body. Tears began to form in his eyes and he dropped onto his haunches sitting and staring at his now furious best friend for a mistake he had made. This erased all of the anger from Windstream’s face, his ears falling back with a look of concern plastered across his face.
“I’m sorry,” Cobalt whimpers out in yet another inaudible tone, “I’m sorry!” The second time he had basically screamed, yet again catching the playground ponies’ attention. Quiet sobs turned to wails in those short seconds as Windstream was caught in an emotional twister of confusion, sadness, anger and jealousy.
“I’ve been packing!” He shouted through his cries.
“Packing? For what?” Windstream asked this question knowing exactly the response that came next. He was hoping it’d be different. Any other response would be better. But what came out of his friend's mouth next was exactly what he had expected.
“I’m moving.” Cobalt’s wails have quieted to a more manageable tone but the sobs were still uncontrollable.
“What? Where?” Windstream asked through stifled sniffles as if he didn’t expect the response he got.
“I don’t know.” His friend's voice was reaching the softer higher pitches again while his eyes had begun streaming.
“When?” Was the only word Windstream was able to muster before he could no longer speak past his cries.
“I don’t know.” Cobalt said. Except he did know. He knows exactly when.But he had made it a point to not tell him. He wanted to let him be happy and not burden him with the move. This was exactly why he had been distancing himself. He was so desperately trying to spare his best friend’s feelings, but in the end, his attempts to fade out of Windstream’s life brought out even worse feelings than the ones he was trying to avoid. The thought of this hurt him more than Windstream would ever know.
The two teary eyed colts cried and hugged each other in the field by the playground for what felt like an eternity. Recess would soon end and the two would return to class together, side by side, no words spoken between the two of them. In class, neither of them interacted with each other or the teacher. With obvious distress on their faces the teacher chose to avoid them as to not stir any emotions but it didn’t help that some of the students were chatting with each other about what had happened in the school yard.
After school Windstream’s dad swung by to pick him up but noticed the obvious signs of sorrow on his son’s face. He’d attempt to inquire and lighten the mood but none of it worked. His father got the hint and let him be the rest of the way home.
“You wanna talk about it bud?” His father spoke in a somber tone to try and match his son’s mood.
“No dad.” Windstream responded in a hushed monotone voice.
“Is it about Cobalt?” His dad prys a little further. Walking in the direction of his room, all he offers is a little nod as a response to his fathers question before shutting the door behind him to avoid any further interrogation. Windstream’s dad is left alone to sit and ponder about what his son could have possibly experienced at school to put him in this state but nothing comes to mind. With no way to reach a conclusion on his own he decides to get a nap in an attempt to clear his mind. Unfortunately for Windstream, come nightfall he is left unable to sleep.The events of that day played over and over in his mind, the guilt of his accusations, the sadness of his best and only childhood friend leaving for a far off unnamed land, and the claustrophobia of being stuck inside his house, unable to leave for at least two more weeks weighed on him, preventing him from getting any meaningful rest.
The days following, Windstream and Cobalt wouldn’t talk. The guilt Windstream felt and the lie that Cobalt spoke left them both unable to muster the courage to talk to each other. There were occasional waves exchanged in the halls or glances at each other from across the table at lunch or in class but there were no words and no smiles. Then, one day when Windstream arrived at school, he wasn’t there. Cobalt wasn’t there. He could’ve easily reasoned in his head that he was sick or just didn’t want to go to school and just stayed home instead but in his gut, he knew. But it wasn’t until he got home that it was confirmed. Cobalt had swung by his house while he was at school and dropped off a letter for his father to deliver to him when he returned. His father chose not to read it. He assumed based off of the look on Cobalt’s face and the fact that he chose to write a letter and not tell him in person that it was private so when Windstream walked through the door, he was greeted by his father with a gray envelope in his mouth. Windstream grabbed the envelope without so much as a greeting or a thanks and walked into his room, closing the door behind him, leaving a concerned father in his wake.
He sat on his bed for two hours listening to the most emo tracks he could gather. Up to this point a lot of those songs had been helping him through the motions so he had held out hope that maybe they’d make this letter any easier to read. Finally, he decided to rip open the letter.
“Dear Windstream. I want to apologize for the grief I caused you. I couldn’t do it in person, I’m no good at goodbyes. I didn’t mean to make you believe I didn’t like you anymore, I just didn’t want you to hurt when I went away. I wanted you to stay just as confident and happy as you’ve always been but I messed up. I hope you can forgive me.Don’t forget to message me on haystation. Love, Cobalt.”
He stared at the letter for a minute. It’s funny, it was shorter than he’d expected. They’d known each other practically since birth and he couldn’t even find a way to take up half the letter. He put the letter back inside the envelope, stuffed it into the bottom of his nightstand drawer, and got in bed to sleep. He needed to get away from reality and sleep would be just the way. November fifteenth, that was the day that a twelve year long friendship from childhood ended. The next day he blocked Cobalt on Haystation. He couldn’t handle facing the things he had said in the schoolyard that day, and those memories weighed on him a lot in the months following.
Getting his cast off didn’t even feel like an achievement without Cobalt around to be excited for him and the world became dull and unforgiving for the months following. His grades began getting worse as he completely alienated himself from any potential friends for the rest of the year. All this time spent alone was spent practicing flying. Tricks and speed training was his life for the rest of the school year, it was his motivation to keep going. After he finished up fifth grade with extremely low grades his father knew he had to do something to shift Windstream's focus and he knew just what to do. He enrolled Windstream in a flight camp for junior speedsters much to Windstream's surprise. He thanked his dad and was sent off to camp later in the summer, where soon, he'd make a name for himself and change his destiny.