//------------------------------// // Ch. 31 Recollections and thoughts. // Story: School! Flying! Falling! Goofing! // by Lazydrill //------------------------------// 2nd week in to punishment - Wednesday You walked up the stairs with your sore wings hanging lose from your sides. Iron Wing hadn't gone easy on you today during school, and you could feel it all throughout your body, but your wings above all, they refused to move or even listen to you, they only gave a small muscle spasm when they felt like it. "By the royal sisters... Why. Like the cold air wasn't enough." You groaned more as you reached the top of the stairs, your legs trembling lightly at the strain of keeping you upright. Entering your fortress of solitude, darkened by your closed curtains, you bended your legs lightly and gave one final push to lift you of the ground and send you flying towards the bed. Landing at the foot, you decided that it was a far as you were gonna get for the evening, your legs laid lifelessly splayed out wide and your wings mimicked their pose, laying limply over the edges of the bed. Pursing your lips, you made a raspberry to nothing in particular. "'Since you are feeling better now, you can include all of your missed PET lessons you missed from the past two weeks in to this one,'" you said in a mocking voice that was the closest you got to mimicking Iron Wing's. Thank the sun that it was your last lesson today. You groaned again, feeling nothing else but a boulder weighing you down on the bed. As you lay there unmoving, you recapped to yourself what happened the past few days, not like you could do much else in your current situation. Not soon after you had arrived at school after meeting Bolt on the previous day, Rainbow had flown to you as soon as you two spotted each other. To your amazement, after greeting each other, she went straight to apologizing for how things went that day, how she reacted to you about what happened with Lucky and how her brother behaved towards you. Apparently, Bolt had always been 'overprotective' of Rainbow and had already threatened several stallions she knew that her brother deemed a 'risk' to her well being. She was hesitant to mention it, but she nevertheless told you about that at one point in her life, when she was younger, she had a relationship with a colt, it didn't last long but Rainbow openly told you she was sad for quite some time after that. Her 'ex-coltfriend' had 'sprained' both of his wings two days later by 'falling' down the stairs after the break-up. You could imagine how that happened without Rainbow needing to explain it. You accepted her apology and told her she didn't had to worry about it, that you could somewhat understand Bolt's view over his little sister. Although you didn't tell her about it, your mind was restless from that point onward. Being around Rainbow now made you feel slight on edge, her brother's warning in your mind and her story about her ex's 'sprained' wings plaguing your mind like a Windigo. It made you choose every action or word carefully before doing or saying them. Rainbow noticed that you had begun to be less 'relaxed' around her and told you she expected that, since you were not the first to do so after Bolt had met a stallion she knew. She told you not to worry about it too much, but it only helped the smallest bit of being casual around her. The following days after that were pretty routine, you would go to school, converse with your friends about life and any other random topic you could think of, attend classes and after that spending the rest of the day in your room. On the brighter note, Berry Petal, having asked her parents, was allowed to go with you and your friends on the Winter vacation! To say she was excited would be an understatement, she was grinning like a young school filly throughout the entire day together with Lucky as they were fantasizing about all the things they would do with you and the group. You were happy that one more of your friends could join you on your small journey in the Winter. While the actual plans were not yet made, because of 'somepony' being grounded they could not plan without you, they could not start planning without Berry Petal either, with the uncertainty of her coming along, now that she could, everypony was waiting for your punishment to be over so you could come plan the journey with all of them at Lucky's house. You were ashamed they had to wait for you to join before they could plan the vacation, but they didn't rub it in too much, because they all knew why you had been grounded. It didn't help you feeling less guilty about it, though you did appreciate it that they waited for you, "Of course we wait for you, silly. We are friends, aren't we?" Lucky's voice ringed through your mind at the memory. She was supported by nods from your group of friends, which almost made your eyes tear up were it not for the cliché scene you were all in. Lucky... she was her old self again. Well, almost. While she was her joyous self as she used to be, she was still reluctant to fly high off of the clouds. You couldn't blame her for that, you were the reason after all for the shock. Your friendship with Lucky hadn't changed in the tiniest bit after the incident, if anything it made your friendship stronger now that you had a bigger understanding about her. After that the days returned to normal, with you coming right home after school. Rainbow Dash and some of your friends had tried to persuade you in to hanging out after the lessons had ended and have fun a couple of times, and while you really wanted to, you declined every time, not wanting to have your parents be disappointed in you. To say the first weekend was fun to stay in your room would be a terrible way to use the word 'fun'. For when Sunday came around, you were about ready to buck open your window and dive into the air, spreading your wings after being locked up for more than a day in your room. There was, luckily, one, or rather, two small things that kept your sanity in check. Your two little sisters Summer and Gloom. You were sure that without them, you would've gone nuts already. They visited you every now and then, checking up on you how you were doing or simply because they wanted to see you. They would come together to you or alone, mostly Gloom would come and ask you something random to talk about or to ask if you could play a little game in your room with her and Summer later. The games only consisted of small and short board games you did multiple times. Of course you let them win most of times, just to see them smile with joy whenever they won. It kept you sane throughout that Sunday and the rest of the days you had to spend in your room after school, it made the first week of punishment manageable to say the least. They kept your spirit up till even now. It made you wonder how other ponies could possibly live without a sibling or more to love like this. Last Monday, after the first week of grounding, something was different about Sky Edge at school, and everypony in the class noticed it about him. He explained it in one swift sentence which answered all the class' questions; "My little brother could be born anytime now... my Mom yesterday went to the hospital." The class was ecstatic, you included, knowing full well the excitement you had when your sisters were close to arriving. Sky Edge had been nervous for an entire week now, constantly checking out the windows for something. You tried to reassure him that everything would be fine, it didn't help however, if anything it made him more nervous to the point his wings' feathers started to point in all directions. All he could do was wait after all, which was a torment in moments like that. You chuckled weakly at the memories, especially at your poor friend Sky Edge. Poor colt is barely able to sleep as it is with all the nervousness he sports now. You let out a dry cough after your chuckle, not bothering to move your hoof in front of your mouth. The door behind you creaked open and you heard a set of small hooves gently walking into your room. Wanting to see who it was, you tried to lift your head from the bed, but found that you couldn't, your muscles gone completely out of order thanks to the PET lesson you had to endure. A flap of wings echoed through your further silent room accompanied with the feeling of your bed sinking a bit behind your legs. "Hey." The soft and caring voice of Gloom was easily recognized by your tired ears that weakly flicked into the direction. "Mom said you were tired because of school, so I brought you something." Feeling her hooves stepping carefully over your wings, she came into view in the right corner of your eyes, her mane that was usually pulled in a ponytail was hanging lose on her shoulders, her red streaks draped past her right cheek till her withers. She held a small carton package in her hoof, you could faintly make out that it was orange juice. Ushering your muscles to move, you wanted to look at her in the eyes, but you weren't able to lift your head more than an inch from the bed. Gloom, upon seeing you struggle, went to lay in front of you. Putting the package on your bed in front of you, she tucked her legs underneath her and wiggled in place to get comfortable. She lay her head down in front of you, glancing into your tired eyes with a twinkle in her own. After a few moments of just staring at each other, "Don't you want something to drink, Static?" she asked with her head tilting to the left, ears drooping halfway. You sighed, "Its not that I don't want to, its just that I'm too tired to move anything. My teacher at school didn't go easy on me." Gloom's muzzle formed an 'o' in understanding. She wiggled on the spot and brought her front hooves from underneath her. Brining herself closer to you, she sat on her haunches and grabbed the beverage with her two hooves. Instead of poking the straw in the little hole, she opened the side of it, making a little 'V' shaped opening where you could drink from. Brining it close to your muzzle, Gloom gently tilted it upwards. Opening your mouth, you could feel the little stream of refreshing orange juice enter past your lips. You drank it slowly, Gloom keeping good pace with how much you drank and lowering the pack when you needed to swallow. "That's a good big brother." Gloom said happily. As you gulped down the last bit of the package's content, you let out a satisfied breath of air. Sparing your little sister a glimpse, you showed her an appreciating smile, "Thank you Gloomy." She flashed you a cheerful grin and nuzzled you. Picking herself up from the bed, she took the empty carton into her hooves and left you alone in your room. Snorting to yourself, you couldn't help but think about what kind of big brother you were that you had your little sister get you something to drink just because you were a bit tired. But it also made you think a bit about her, would she really be a good nurse? She showed she was a caring filly, but then again, so were you. But still, you could already picture your little sister all grown up, a cutie mark of a red cross on her flank, helping ponies with injuries, shooing them away from other patients with a broom in her wing, chasing a pony because he or she didn't want to take their medicine. The idea made you grin from ear to ear. While you had an idea of what Gloom could become when she would be older, you weren't sure about Summer. She enjoyed a lot of things and had no specific trait that stood out where she would be especially good in. You thought further back about your class and your friends, how far you all had come to enter this final year of school. To think it was the last one already... Time had gone by faster than you would like to admit. It made you wonder, what was it you wanted to do the rest of your life after school? You couldn't simply stay at home with your parents, you were not sure you even wanted that. Some part of you wanted to see Equestria, to travel all over the land and go on adventure. Another part wanted to settle down, have a home in Cloudsdale or some city or village close to it. Start a family of your own with the mare you loved. It dawned to you slowly while your eyes started to gently close on their own accord, that it was really time to think about the future and make decisions about what and how you wanted to grow. One thing was certain, you had your friends and family right by your side to help you make those decisions should you ever be in doubt.