Rarity walked up stairs to her small sitting room where Rainbow Dash and Swift were currently waiting. She had helped carry an unconscious Swift up to rest on a couch while Rainbow checked over him to make sure he didn't have any severe injuries. While Rainbow did her checkup, Rarity felt it proper to grab some tea.
'Plus, if dear Swift wakes to see Rainbow taking care of him...' A devious grin formed on the designers face as she peeked in the room with her guests. Swift was still unconscious while Rainbow just sat next to the couch looking at him. The worry on Rainbow's face took the grin away from Rarity as she eased her way in.
"How is he?" She asked, careful not to scare Rainbow by her sudden appearance. Rainbow looked over to her with a relaxed, but slightly worried look.
'Hmm, she is definitely worried about him. I'll have to keep an eye out.' Rarity kept a solemn face outwardly, but inwardly she was grinning as she schemed away.
"He's fine. No real injuries, though he will probably have a massive headache. He is just unconscious from the impact right now. I figure he will wake soon, if he is as strong as I think he is." Rainbow explained, almost roboticly. Rarity noticed the out of character nature from Dash, and decided to push on it. If Rainbow was getting into one of her depressed states, getting her out of it would be difficult and everypony had long since learned it was best to just keep her from getting to that point.
"Rainbow dear, what's wrong? I've never seen you look so distant after a crash." Rarity said as she walked over to Rainbow and sat beside her and Swift. Rainbow just shrugged.
"I'm just replaying what happened in my head and it doesn't make sense. We clipped each other and collided, that I get. But we were moving at the same speed side by side as we bounced on the ground. But when we hit your door, he hit it and I hit him. If the hit put him unconscious, why not me?" Rainbow explained from her memory of the crash. Rarity thought about it and the position she had spotted them in.
"Well, when I opened the door, you two fell inward, and you were above him, so during your tumble I can only imagine he pushed himself between you and the door. Probably to protect you." Rarity explained, her matchmaker schemes starting to spin up. It seemed possibly that Swift had protected Rainbow, but without even seeing the wreck, Rarity really had no idea what happened. But what Rainbow didn't know didn't hurt Rarity's plans. Rarity watched as Rainbow looked back to the stallion on the couch, eyes wide at the thought that he had risked injury again for her.
'To protect me? I'm the expert flier, not you.' Rainbow Dash thought, Rarity had a valid point, and her explanation made sense, but she didn't like it. She didn't like being in debt, and if Swift risked such injury just to protect her, she definitely owed him one.
"Stupid Swift. I would have been fine." She said quietly, though still within earshot of Rarity who opened her mouth to reply but was cut off.
"I prefer to be certain." A decidedly male voice spoke, as though just waking. Both of the girls looked down to see Swift opening his eyes slowly and looking around. The pain in his head stopped him from fully opening his eyes, but he could still see who was in the room with him.
"Hey Rarity. Sorry about the sudden visit." He joked, though wincing as he tried to laugh away the worry of his injury. Rarity smiled at his obvious attempt at being chivalrous and offered him some tea.
"I always enjoy a visit from my friends, no matter how sudden. As long as they are safe anyway. But here dear, drink this. It will help with your headache I must assume you have." Rarity floated a cup over to Swift who had now sat up and accepted the drink. As Swift sipped at the drink, Dash just looked at him with confusion.
"Certain about what? Getting yourself grounded again?" She asked, still upset with the situation. She could handle being hurt, but she didn't like her friends getting hurt, especially when she was involved. Swift finished drinking his tea and simply shook his head, looking into Dash's eyes.
"Not at all. I just didn't want you to get hurt. I know flying is very important to you, so I would rather risk being grounded than you." He explained calmly. Dash looked to be about to counter when Swift continued, cutting her off.
"Besides, we are both alright, so there's no big deal." Swift stood up and stretched his wings and back, lifting his front left and rear right hooves off the ground to stretch as many muscles as possible, then swapped to get the rest. Dash and Rarity scooted back slightly to give him room to work the kinks out from the impact.
"Well, you shouldn't be so reckless." Dash finally said. This elicited a snicker from Rarity from the hypocrisy of the comment, which Dash heard and threw an angry glare at the white unicorn.
"Oh come on Rainbow darling. How many times have you crashed because you were being reckless. I think it was quite noble of our dear Swift. He is quite the gentlecolt." Rarity explained, standing up for Swift's actions and casting him a schemy grin. Swift simply smiled and nodded, not noticing the glint in Rarity's eyes.
"I tell you what, Dash. I'll be more careful in the future. But for now, perhaps we should go over weather duties. If I'm going to join the weather team I need to know what it entails, and how to do the job." Swift commented, hoping to change the subject. He had learned that Dash was very focused, but only on a single object at a time, so if he could deflect her from the issue at hand, it would help keep her from acting all angry or sad. Rainbow smiled at the idea and quickly reverted to her normal upbeat self.
"Aw yeah! I'll teach you how to buck clouds to clear the sky. We can cover the rest later but Ponyville is scheduled for clear skies all week!" Rainbow explained, excited to be back in her element. She quickly jogged to the nearby window and looked back to Rarity.
"Thanks for the help Rarity. We'll make it up to you. Come on Swift!" Rainbow called out as she jumped up and shot out the window. Swift and Rarity just glanced at each other before rolling their eyes at Dash's antics.
"Thank you indeed for the tea and letting me recover here. Just let me know if I can help you to make up for it." He said, bowing his head slightly before moving to follow Dash. Rarity nodded as he walked away.
"Of course darling. You two be careful." She said as he reached the window. Swift simply looked back and winked and gave a quick salute before shooting out the window.
'Those too are more alike that I realized. Maybe it's a pegasus thing.' Rarity thought as the two faded into the sky.
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The next few hours found the two pegasi flying over Ponyville clearing clouds. Well, one of them was clearing clouds. Rainbow Dash would fly off and return with a large cloud formation and break off pieces to see how fast Swift could reach each one of them to clear. The more he flew, the cleaner his flying form was becoming Dash noticed. Whatever he did before the incident, clearly he was a good flier.
'Another week of this and he should be ready to learn some stunt flying. Nothing too extreme, but simple stuff.' Dash starting working through her list of tricks for what to train Swift in while he was attacking the latest set of clouds Dash had set up for him to clear. As she thought, she lowered her head to rest it on the puff of cloud she was currently lounging on.
'With his control he can probably be ready to actually go after some more intermediate stuff. Especially if what he did at Rarity's place is true. Adjusting mid-crash is difficult to do, especially at the speeds we were going.' Dash started replaying the crash in her mind and as much as she hated it, it seemed Rarity was right. True, Swift had admitted to it already, but Dash couldn't believe he was able to put himself into the impact zone to protect her.
Nor admit anypony would actually do that for her anyhow.
While Dash was lounging and running through these thoughts, Swift was zipping through the air from one cloud to another.
'Lets see, hit this one,' Swift stepped himself through the pattern he had laid out as he sped up and stopped in front of a small cloud up high and bucked it out of existence.
'then free fall towards that one,' Using gravity as his friend instead of the harsh mistress it had been up to this point, Swift glided rapidly downwards to the next highest cloud, destroying it as he flew through it, getting refreshed by the water that had made it up.
'now bank towards that one Dash moved all the way over there...' Pulling a hard right at nearly ninety degrees, Swift shot directly towards a cloud that was way outside the cluster Dash had set up. Swift understood the need for random outliers, but they annoyed him. Dash wanted to make sure he kept his eyes open so they didn't miss clouds during work, but here he was timing himself, and these clouds were destroying his times.
'there, now for the final cloud by Dash.' Swift stopped before the outlier cloud and bucked it as he shot back towards the final goal, looking as though he simply rebounded off the cloud. As he sped towards the final cloud he glanced down at Dash and noticed she seemed lost in thought.
'Well now, what do we have here?' Swift stopped right as he reached the final cloud and instead of bucking it, landed on it while watching the cyan pegasus in thought.
'Something seems to have her preoccupied. Maybe I should help?' Swift wondered. He hadn't been around long, but of all the ponies he had met, Dash was easily his best friend. The two shared an enjoyment of flight, got along well, and their personalities seemed to have meshed pretty well. That's not to say Swift didn't like the others.
Twilight was very intelligent and her encyclopedic knowledge of what seemed like everything had already helped Swift in many things. Plus her magic was powerful and she was always willing to talk if Swift had questions when his lack of memories caused issues.
Rarity was as generous as anypony Swift had met. Anytime he came by she would offer to set him up with a nice outfit (which he had thus far refused, as he had no need for one, or place for it), and food and drinks were always available. Swift tried to return the favors by helping out around her shop when he could while grounded, but her biggest aid had been conversation. Much like Twilight, Rarity had helped Swift when things were awkward, but whereas Twilight would give him history and knowledge about some topics, Rarity knew society better than anypony. If something didn't make sense to Swift socially, Rarity was his go to mare.
Fluttershy was just that. Shy, but always kind. When Swift or any of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were injured during their play or from a job, Fluttershy was always willing to take the time and provide medicine, bandages, or just a kind word. Once Swift had spoken with her a couple of times, and she had gotten over the 'checking out my flank' fiasco from their first meeting, they had become great friends. Swift had even run a few errands for her by the clinic to get supplies for helping the woodland creatures. Swift knew that if he was hurt, but not needing a hospital, there was no pony he would rather visit.
Applejack had helped him straight out of the clinic. He knew no pony but Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, but Applejack had trusted him, provided him a simple (but entertaining) job, and paid him in bits and food. While healing, much of his work came from the Apple family, either watching the Cutie Mark Crusaders, helping to buck trees (which was helping with his training for weather patrol), or fixing up items on the farm. Applejack would let Swift give an honest days work in order to make some bits and no have to rely on charity, something he was grateful to the farmpony for.
Pinkie Pie....well, Pinkie Pie refused to let anypony be down. He had spent the least amount of time with the hyperactive pony, but was assured by her every time the met that they were indeed the best of friends. As random and confusing as she could be, Swift always found himself laughing when she was around, and couldn't imagine that pony ever trying to hurt anypony.
All of them were fantastic ponies, and Swift was proud to call them his friends. Even Spike, who Swift had hung out with on a few occasions (typically when Spike would be asking how he could get Rarity's attention), was a good friend and would stick his neck out for Swift. Swift himself would do anything for the little dragon, who he was starting to see as a little brother. Swift couldn't explain why, but something about the dragon's loyalty to Twilight and the gang, obvious love for Rarity, and childlike sincerity hit Swift solid and Swift wanted to help the little dude out.
The only other ponies Swift was around with regularity were the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The three fillies were almost chaos incarnate. Their antics to earn their cutie marks consistently failed, but they never gave up. Swift respected that, and his lessons with Scootaloo in particular to prep her for learning to fly had pulled the two close. Scootaloo always seemed quiet when her friends weren't around, and clearly needed social connection, so Swift would make it a point to talk to the little filly when she was around.
With all these wonderful ponies in town that Swift knew, only Dash seemed to really understand or connect with him. Sometimes, he felt the others saw him as the friend who had amnesia, not as Swift, pegasus and soon to be weather pony. Granted, even Swift didn't know his real name, or when he would recall anything of his past, but Dash was the only pony that didn't seem to think about that. When the two of them walked around, or flew as they could now, he was just Swift. Aspiring weather pony, partner for stunt flying, and friend. Swift knew the others would do anything for him, and given time would treat him the same as Dash did, but that was the future.
The present had him lowering his cloud down just above the oblivious Rainbow Dash. The urge to prank her in some way was building, but the look on her face told him she wasn't just lost in thought, she was deep in thought about something unpleasant. So, with great regret, instead of scaring the pegasus, Swift lowered his cloud beside hers to see what was wrong. As the clouds neared, they merged into a single cloud leaving Swift a body length away from the lost in thought pony.
"Hey Dash, you alright?" Swift spoke quietly to not scare the girl, but Dash just continued to look out at the sky. Reaching over with a wing, Swift poked her in the shoulder.
"Huh? Hey? What?" Dash glanced around and noticed Swift's wing retracting from having pulled her out of thought.
"Oh hey. You done with that course? Good time." She said, trying to sound as though nothing was going on. Swift simply smirked at the poor mare.
"Yeah, I finished a few minutes ago actually. And it was great time. Ten seconds flat easy." He said, drawing an eye roll and smile from the cyan pegasus at hearing her own hype thrown in her face.
"But enough with courses. I'm certain tomorrow I'll be more than ready for entering the apprenticeship on the weather team. What about you? I saw how you were looking out at basically nothing. What's got you down?" Swift's smile had faded into a more concerned look for his friend. Dash noticed this and simply sighed as she looked back out at the 'nothing' Swift referred to.
"It's nothing. Just thinking about earlier. I don't like owing people, and you basically risked your wings for mine. For us pegasus, that's a big deal, and for me it's huge. Every day I can't practice is a day further from me joining the Wonderbolts." Dash explained as she imagined herself out flying through that sky with the Wonderbolts, performing stunts and wowing the crowds. Swift looked out at the sky she was gazing at and just imaged the two of them practicing to get her to the dream. He hadn't seen a Wonderbolt, but it was no secret that Dash wanted to be one more than anything in Equestria.
"Dash, don't worry about it. Like I said, I know how important this is to you, so being hurt to stop you from being grounded was a easy choice. Besides, we already talked about it. No pony was hurt, just a bump on my head. Any friend would do it." Swift said, watching Dash from the corner of his eye, but still watching the sky as well. Dash finally broke from her gaze and really looked at Swift.
"No, I don't think so. Other than Flutters, none of the others can even fly without some crazy spell, so they don't really know what being able to fly freely through the skies means for pegasi like me. Even Flutters doesn't enjoy flying as much as most pegasi, so the impact wouldn't hold as much weight to her either." Dash explained. Swift shook his head and went to speak, but Dash cut him off before he could start.
"I'm not saying they wouldn't try to help me or keep me from being hurt, but they all would try to stop me from crashing, or stop the impact, like Twilight with her magic. I can't say for certain that any of them would risk what makes them who they are for me on the fly like you did. And you know have known me for a week. So when I say I owe you one, I mean it." Dash finished, flopping her head back down on the cloud. Swift was silent for a moment, thinking about what Dash was saying.
'I think she underestimates her friends, but what I think really doesn't matter here.' Swift thought as he looked back out to the sky for a minute. Slowly he started to grin as he made a realization.
"Dash, your debt is repaid. You have taught me to fly, a freedom that I have never known. Sure maybe I did at one point, but I can't remember it, so this is a new gift to me. You have taught me to clear clouds which will give me a way to survive by way of steady income, and you have introduced me to new friends. Those same friends you are talking about. I think they would do more than you give them credit for, but that doesn't matter. This is about you and me, and I say we are even." Dash listened as Swift explained how he viewed the situation while looking down at Ponyville. She couldn't help but smile at his trying to rationalize her debt as paid, and also at the fact that he clearly loved to fly and felt it was a massive payment if enough to pay off taking a potentially grounding hit. The two sat in silence, looking over Ponyville as the sun set in the distance, Celestia passing the skies to her sister.
"Well, thank you Swift. You say we are square, but if you need a favor called in, I'm your pony." Dash finally offered as she stood up from her lounging. Swift stayed put as he watched her stand.
"It's getting late and we have an early call in the morning. Be around here at six am and we will get you set up on the weather team. It's been a long day so I'm headed home to rest and let the bruises from earlier heal up. You should do the same. You flew more than I did, and are going to need all your energy tomorrow." Dash explained as she took off and hovered nearby, looking down to Swift. Swift simply nodded and smiled.
"Sure thing Dash. You get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow." Swift replied warmly to his friend. The two stared at each other for a few moments before Dash finally nodded and shot off into the distance where her cloud house lived. Swift watched as she faded into the distance before resting his head on the cloud again.
'Well, looks like she isn't as down as she was. I'll have to see how she looks tomorrow. In the mean time...' Swift yawned as the day's events finally caught up to him while he relaxed what what he was willing to say was the most comfortable cloud he had been on. With his thoughts on tomorrow, and the rainbow maned partner he would have cleaning the skies, Swift let sleep overtake him on his island in the sky.