//------------------------------// // I still feel your touch // Story: On Feathered Wings and Midnight Daydreams // by Rusty_Kettle //------------------------------// Sunup’s eyes fluttered open by themselves, lifting his mind from the foggy depths of sleep. He turned his head to the side, seeing that his alarm clock sat silently on his bedside table in complete silence. The bat stallion groaned. He hated waking up before his alarm went off, especially when it was just a couple of minutes early. Not enough time to squeeze some more sleep in, but not short enough to just get out of bed and start the day early.  He rubbed his eyes slightly, confused as to why the apartment was so silent. The only reason for waking up so early had to be Blue getting home early and paying him back for the day before. Yet the apartment was completely silent. “Blue?” The purple stallion shouted, receiving no answer. Confused, Sunup got up and stumbled into the living room. Blue was, indeed, nowhere to be found. Groaning over getting up for nothing, the bat stallion dragged their hooves towards the kitchen and fished out some frozen pancakes. He yawned loudly before setting his head on the counter and slowly slipped back into the comforting embrace of slee- His ears were split by the alarm clock he had left back in his room. The bat pony yelped, flapping his wings wildly in a panic before crashing onto the floor in a sprawled mess of limbs.  Sunup shook his head and sprung back to his hooves, breathing heavily. He glared into his room, all but launching towards the door and locking his gaze with the alarm clock. “YOU.” He said, pointing a wing at the strident contraption. After the alarm clock refused to reply, Sunup walked up to it and slapped it away with his wing. He watched as it flew through the air before slamming against the wall, the twin bells on the top of the device were launched off to the sides, silencing the clock. “Showed him,” The bat pony huffed, glaring at the clock. After a few seconds, however, the purple stallion sighed and scooped up the pieces in one of his wings, carrying them towards the living room table. He took a moment to check on his breakfast before sitting down to repair the alarm clock, carefully reattaching the bells. Satisfied with his work, he got up and headed into the kitchen, ready to enjoy his breakfast. Still, something felt… off. And it wasn’t the cheap pancakes. He looked at the clock he had just repaired, and then at the wall clock in the kitchen to make sure the time was right, confirming his suspicion. Blue was late, like, really late. While not completely out of the ordinary, it wasn’t like Blue to get caught up at the factory, Sunup was almost surprised at how disappointed he was at not seeing the gray pegasus. But it made sense, after all, did the night really start if he didn’t annoy Blue as soon as he woke up? “He probably went out to eat something with the others from the factory,,” The purple stallion muttered to himself, feeling just the slightest prick of jealousy at the thought of Blue not wanting to hang out with him… or at least let him know where he was going! No matter, he’d get the chance to pester him after his shift was done. After leaving the dishes in the sink, he made his way back to his room, carrying the alarm clock with him. Once dressed and with his mane in a tie, the bat stallion left the apartment and flew towards the hospital in a straight line. His speeding had a reason behind it, he had taken just a bit too long to get ready, as he was waiting for Blue. The pegasus never showed up, however. Sunup smirked at how he was going to pester Blue with how he ‘made him be late to work!’ because of just how deeply concerned he had gotten. He landed in front of the hospital a few minutes later, but he quickly realized that something was awry. He couldn’t really put his hoof on it, but something about today felt out of place… The instant he walked through the door, he was beset by Minty Trails, who telekinetically shoved a patient list into Sunup’s chest. “Hey! What gives?” The bat stallion protested. “Accidents at the weather factory. The really serious ones have been taken care of, but it’s still a lot of extra work, we should get to it as fast as we can,” Minty explained. “Woah, woah, calm down!” Sunup said, pulling his ears back at the torrent of words that had left his coworker’s mouth, “You could at least say ‘hi’ to me before-“ He started, but his mouth slammed shut when he read the first name on his patient list. Blue skies. Sunup all but flew through the hospital, launching himself up entire flights of stairs and gliding down hallways to reach the room where his friend was being kept. He didn’t even bother knocking before slamming the door open and rushing inside, much to the shock of the room’s single occupant. Blue Skies shouted in surprise, flailing his legs around wildly as his left wing flapped in a panic. After a few seconds, his eyes finally focused on Sunup, making his terrified expression morph into a furious glare. “You scared the shit out of me, asshole!” The gray pegasus shouted. “What happened to you?” Sunup demanded, ignoring the pegasus’ insult. “What do you care?” Blue spat. Sunup glared at his roommate and took a good look at him, where he noticed that his chest had been tied down to keep it immobilized. Facing away from him, however, the bat pony noticed that there was a small table set up next to the bed. The purple stallion walked up to the foot of Blue’s bed, where he saw that the stallion’s right wing was held firmly in place beside him with several straps. “What happened to your wing?” Sunup asked, feeling just a sliver of guilt at having scared him the way he had. He could’ve gotten hurt even worse! “Just the fucking… weather thing,” Blue said through gritted teeth. Sunup huffed at the uncooperative pegasus before stretching his wing down to grab the little clipboard that hung off the side of the bed. He eyed the medical report for a moment before looking back up at his roommate and speaking. “A could lathe? Really?” Blue’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean ‘really’? Yes, really, damn near tore my wing off!” He protested. Sunup brought one of his forehooves to his chin to think. Seeing that Blue wasn’t in any sort of critical condition had all but burnt off the dread he had been feeling. It had just been an accident, probably a painful one, but nothing to be too worried about.  “I’m just trying to think of how you could’ve gotten your wing stuck in it, of all things,” He said, getting a dumbfounded expression from the pegasus, “What? Did you lean on it while it was spinning?”  “No I didn’t! There were like four different accidents today. Something blew up behind me and I got surprised. Next thing I know, I’m getting spun around by the wing!” Blue explained. The edges of Sunup’s mouth curled upward into a smirk. “So like… it was an operator error?” He asked. Blue Skies looked at Sunup with eyes filled with such unfathomable fury that the bat stallion knew his life was only safe by the fact that the pegasus was strapped onto the table. “Fuck. you.” Blue said. Sunup threw his head back in laughter. “Hey, at least you’re not too badly hurt!” He said, “I appreciate the gesture of coming to see me at work, but you don’t need to get hurt for it!” He added, chuckling. Blue let out a long, defeated sigh before turning his head to the other side of the room. “The doctors said…” The pegasus started, but Sunup saw his head shake, “Nothing… leave me alone.” He said. The sudden change in tone made one of the bat stallion’s eyebrows raise. “You sure?” He asked, confused. “Go away, Sunup,” Blue muttered. The purple stallion’s ears drooped slightly at Blue’s genuinely hurt tone. He didn’t really know why, but for some reason he had the feeling that he should leave the gray pegasus alone for now. Sunup’s other patients for the night were pretty much the same as he had had the night before, yet as he did his rounds through the hospital he couldn’t really take his mind off the gray pegasus in room 108. He passed by to check on him again, but the stallion had been fast asleep and snoring loudly.  The bat stallion chuckled and kept walking, making his way down the hall. Eventually he came to an open window at the end of one of the hallways. He stared out into Luna’s wonderful sky and tried his best to take in all of its starry beauty. Yet no matter how gorgeous the scenery was his mind couldn’t help but wander back around to the gray pegasus. He wondered about how long Blue would be in for. Shouldn’t be more than a few days, after all. But most of all he couldn’t help but think about just how boring these days would be.  Sure he’d get a little time to pester Blue, but it wouldn’t be the same! And after he was sent back home to recover he’d just make things harder for Sunup to organize his own time around having somepony else in the apartment. If only there was a way to- “That’s it!” The bat pony said, smiling widely at the night sky. A plan had sparked in his mind, and Blue was going to absolutely hate it! The purple stallion skipped through the hospital, a smug grin plastered on his face. He came to a stop in front of the director’s office door. His hoof struck thrice, drawing a surprised grunt from behind the door. “Come in!” A mare’s voice said. Sunup walked into the office, his gaze focusing on the old unicorn mare that sat behind a dark red desk. Director Lock Stitch’s kind eyes stared at the purple stallion from between the many locks of her pale pink mane. A pair of thick glasses made her purple eyes appear almost comically large. “Howdy!” The mare exclaimed, “To what do I owe the pleasure?” “Good evening, I wanted to speak with you about one of our patients,” Sunup said, walking into the office. “By all means! I ran out of things to do an hour ago!” The old mare said with a chuckle. Sunup shared the chuckle as well, she was clearly in a good mood. “It’s about of the patients that was admitted today, Blue Skies,” He stated. “Hmm…” Said Lock Stitch, her horn firing up and shuffling through one of the drawers that sat below her desk.  After a few seconds, she produced a pale yellow file, which she placed on her desk. She flipped through the pages for a moment before raising her eyes to focus on Sunup again. “Male pegasus with a wing injury?” She asked. “Yes, exactly. I have a question about them…” Sunup said, cocking his head slightly, “Actually it’s two questions,” He added sheepishly. “Ask away! The name sounds familiar though, isn’t he the stallion that lives with you?” The old mare asked, bringing one of her forehooves up to her chin to think. “Yeah! That’s actually related to one of my questions. Is there any chance for me to get transferred to the day shift once he’s sent home? I’d rather be up at the same time as him so I can provide care,” Sunuo explained. Lock Stitch stared at the purple stallion for a moment, her face scrunched in concentration. It didn’t take long for her to come to a decision, however. “I don’t see why not, I’ll talk to Mister Forceps tomorrow to organize the shift change, but I doubt he’ll say no when I explain why,” The mare said with a smile, “What’s your other question?” She asked. Sunup’s smile soured slightly as he remembered how serious Blue had gotten when he asked about how badly hurt he was. “How bad is he? I saw that his wing was strapped down, but I can’t really tell,” The bat stallion asked. Lock Stitch grimaced at the question, but she quickly adjusted her glasses with a burst of magic and cleared her throat. “I won’t lie to you, he’ll need time,” The mare said, “Pegasus wings are delicate, it’ll take more than some healing spells to get him in the air again. “I was afraid you’d say that…” Sunup answered. He knew what pegasus wings were like. At least it wasn’t terrible, he would recover, he just needed time and care. “Well, why’d you ask me then?” Lock Stitch asked with a light chuckle. “I just needed a second opinion,” The bat pony answered, “Hope he gets better soon,”  “He will, especially if he’s got a friend like you looking after him,” Lock Stitch said with a smile.