//------------------------------// // Meeting Up Once Again // Story: Skybound Romance // by Prixy05 //------------------------------// In a little house in Cloudsdale, Windy Whistles began her morning like always, waking up last. Everyone else was already up and active by the time the teenaged mare climbed out of her cloudy bed, but Windy didn’t care. Hopping out of her bed, Windy swerved around various doodads left scattered across the floor by her sister, stopping in front of the dresser to get ready for the day. With a flip of her wing, she tossed her school saddlebag on her back, and left the bedroom. She paused in front of the mirror to adjust her pale orange mane, after all, it took effort to keep it in its disheveled state. As soon as she stepped into the hallway, Windy had to flatten herself against the wall to avoid being trampled by two pegasi chasing each other down the hall. Her two younger siblings’ joyous laughs echoed down the hallway, blending in with the litany of other sounds coming from the kitchen.  The kitchen was in a state of chaos, something Windy was accustomed to. The two younger siblings flew through the kitchen before spinning into the living room, swerving around Windy’s mother, Cloudbank Concerto, who stood with Windy's youngest sibling balanced on her back. “Morning mom,” Windy said to her mother, not turning as she prepared a quick breakfast of oats. “Morning sweetie,” Cloudbank responded, raising her voice over the sound of Windy’s two older brothers arguing at the table, “Have a good day at school!” Windy gave a nod before heading out through the front door. As she shut the door behind her, Windy loudly exhaled, living with nine other ponies made her home very busy and very loud. Nonetheless, Windy Whistles had a personal schedule to keep, and right now was the exact time for her to fly to school. On the other side of Cloudsdale, another teenaged pegasus woke up. Raising his head with a sleepy snort, Bow Hothoof brushed his scruffy rainbow mohawk out of his face and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He didn’t know the time, so Bow slouched out of bed, collapsing in a lump on the floor. Standing up, Bow groggily shook himself awake. He looked around, his room was just how he left it, a perfect open area for his morning exercises. Bow had a regime to keep up with, so he concentrated on his wing flexes, loop-de-loops, and hoof crutches before leaving his spacious room and heading into the kitchen. The house was dead quiet, his parents having left earlier in the morning. The kitchen was clean, the only thing out of place was Bow’s school supplies laying in the middle of the table, him having put it there during the previous evening.  There was another pegasus, Bow’s younger brother, though not by much. Rainbow Blaze shared the same rainbow mane as most ponies in Bow’s family. He sat at the table, nonchalantly reading the morning paper. As Bow entered, Rainbow Blaze glanced up, “Mornin’ Bow, heading out to school again?” Bow nodded, “Yeah, just try not to get in any trouble while I’m out okay?” Rainbow Blaze smirked, “No promises…” Bow rolled his eyes at his brother’s jesting before he grabbed his saddlebag and left the quiet household. He stopped before he left, remembering he had something else to do at school. Luckily, the bag of sports equipment he had to take to the school gym had also been left beside the front door. After leaving and looking left and right, Bow saw that there was almost no other pegasi out and about that morning, likely because they had all left for the weather factory, which loomed high up in the sky nearby. But that didn’t matter to Bow, he had places to be, and a route to fly, and so, after a stretch of the wing, Bow took flight. In the meanwhile, across Cloudsdale, Windy made her first stop on her way to school. She flew into the Cloudsdale Sweet Treat Malt Shop, a popular hangout for teenage pegasi in the evenings, but in the morning, it was usually empty. But for Windy, this was the usual stop before school. Inside, the pegasus cashier awaited her arrival. “The usual I presume?” he asked, passing Windy a frothy, sugar-swirled shake. She handed him the bits and took the drink, “You bet! You know how Dawncrack likes his early morning sugar.” “I’ll bet he does,” the cashier tipped his hat, “Have a good day!” Carefully maintaining her hold on the drink, Windy waved goodbye and took leave of the shop, maintaining her course to Cloudsdale high school. Located in the middle of downtown Cloudsdale, the morning crowd of teenage pegasi had gathered and milled about the school grounds before classes began. The grounds were a place where teenage lovers met, gossip was traded, and the occasional dispute. Windy in particular, had a specific stallion in mind. Dawncrack was in his usual spot, hanging out with the other jock pegasi in front of the gym. He was large, much like any stallion who worked out, despite his daily consumption of sugar-filled shakes. Windy assumed he worked through the calories quickly, due to him being the current best flier in the school, which was also the reason the two had started dating. “Hey Dawncrack,” Windy said to him, landing beside the stallion and his clique, “Here’s your morning drink!”. Dawncrack swept aside his blond mane, “Thanks babe,” he took the shake while simultaneously tossing Windy a few bits, “Here’s the goods for the next one. Now, before you interrupted me, not that I had an issue with it, I was telling the guys my ideas for future maneuvers when I become the next wonderbolt!” He spread his auburn-colored wings, motioning the nearby stallions and Windy to back off before he took flight. Up into the air he flew, his wing flaps blowing away nearby clouds. He performed somersaults, loop-de-loops and aerial stunts above the school. Nearby students looked up and cheered on Dawncrack. His hooves skidded on the cloudy ground as he landed, coming to a halt next to the shake. “See? I’m great,” He contemptuously concluded as he drank the drink, “Now be a doll and hand me my stuff.” Windy listened and nodded, picking up and handing Dawncrack his gear that he had left on the ground. “Now,” Dawncrack said, grabbing his gear and wrapping a large hoof around Windy, “Let’s get in the gym and get sweaty!” The other pegasi jocks cheered and followed Dawncrack into the gym, leaving Windy to tag along behind. Windy didn’t necessarily like having gym class as her first subject of the day, but it was what Dawncrack preferred and it was the schedule she was accustomed to. There was a gym coach of course, but the faculty of Cloudsdale High typically let Dawncrack do whatever he wanted in the gym, because of his promising flight stats. And so, Windy, despite being rather small, usually ended up with the jock ponies in the gym. Dawncrack said she was too small to participate, so Windy was typically benched, sitting aside as she watched the stallions trained. The pegasi jocks yelled to each other and loudly grunted as they did exercises, but Windy was used to loud noise, having to live with an extended family, and she took the opportunity during first period at the gym to do school work, either her’s or Dawncrack’s, when he wanted her to do it. It wasn’t peaceful by any means, but it was enough for her to sometimes get sucked into her own little world, a time to reminisce. Outside the gym, Bow prepped for the small thing he had to do before class. It was the simple task of taking tennis equipment and putting them back after he borrowed them the previous weekend. Taking the back entrance to avoid the morning rush, Bow slinked his way through the locker room to the storage room. The locker room was empty this early in the morning, as the classes had yet to begin. He placed the borrowed equipment back in their rightful place when he heard someone else enter the locker room behind him. Glancing through the glass windows of the storage room, he saw a blue mare that seemed awfully familiar enter the locker room. In her mouth was a sheet of paper. He watched as she opened a locker and inserted the sheet. Stepping a hoof out of the storage room, Bow called out, “Hey you! What’re you doing?” The mare gasped and looked up at him in surprise. “Oh, um, I’m just putting this in-” she paused as she looked upon the stallion who had called her out. Bow approached her, passing an awkward glance, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you. It’s just that the only ponies who come down here this early are the jocks, and you don’t look like a jock.” “I guess you could say I’m affiliated…” the mare replied. She stopped again, squinting her eyes as a look of recognition crossed her face. “Bow?” Bow blinked in surprise, “How do you know my name? Unless…” a look of recognition crossed his face as well, “Windy!” Both ponies gasped, “We go to the same school?” Windy scrupulously nodded, a mixture of surprise and amusement on her face. “This is so weird! I can’t believe I didn’t know this! How have we never bumped into each before?” Bow shrugged as he rubbed the back of his head with his wing, “I am kinda busy elsewhere a lot, I guess our paths just never crossed until now. Say, how did you know it was me? I mean, it’s been moons, and I didn’t even recognize you at first.” Windy raised an eyebrow with a smirk, “Your rainbow mane isn’t exactly hard to remember.” He laughed, “Oh yeah, I forget how noticeable it is sometimes. Still, why are you even down here before class anyway? I was returning some stuff I borrowed.” Windy gave a passive sigh, “I was just putting away some finished homework for Dawncrack.” She looked up, seeing an expression silently cross Bow’s face at the mention of Dawncrack’s name, “Speaking of him, I should get going, he doesn’t like it if I'm absent in the gym.” “Now worries,” Bow chuckled, “I have classes to get to as well.” As soon as he finished, the sound of a school echoed into the locker room. Classes had begun, and soon other ponies would enter. “Wait!” Windy held a hoof as Bow began to turn away. She quickly pulled out a sheet of paper from her saddlebag and scribbled something onto it. She handed the paper to Bow, “Come over this afternoon. Ya know, just to talk and stuff, catch up and all that.” She glanced over her shoulder as the sound of voices began to emanate from the exit. And without another word, Windy had turned tail and left, leaving the bewildered Bow standing by himself. After a few seconds of silence, he looked down at the paper. It was her address. He softly chuckled to himself as he folded and put away the paper. “That’d be nice,” he replied to no one in particular.