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Post by Kale on Apr 24, 2012 17:57:33 GMT -5
For a few terrifying moments, Kale had no idea where Snowdrop was. He'd only managed to lift his head and neck at first; the rest of his body still lay in the cold, wet grass where it had landed. As this kept him from seeing behind him, the stallion slowly pulled his hooves underneath him, then stood, though he was a bit wobbly. He sucked in a pained breath through his teeth as the wind caught his left wing; clapping a hoof to it to keep it from moving, he turned to see Snowdrop crawling toward him, disheveled but very much alive.
"I'm all right, Kale!!"
Kale was so relieved that his eyes almost teared up as well. Moving to shield both Snowdrop and his injured wing from the wind, the pegasus looked up at Ponyville. Thankfully, the fact that the weather come from the Everfree Forest meant it had blown them both closer to town; they wouldn't have far to go before they could take shelter someplace. Unfortunately, as much as Kale thought that place should be a hospital, they were on the wrong side of town.
Medical attention would just have to wait until the weather died down.
"Come on, we've got to get to town!" he said, letting go of his wing to offer a hoof to Snowdrop. The wing fell at an odd angle, causing Kale to shut his eyes tightly in pain for a moment. He reopened them, but they remained narrowed; he was rapidly approaching the limit of what he could handle, and if they didn't get out of the weather soon, he didn't know what he'd do. He just had to get Snowdrop to safety.
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Post by Snowdrop on Apr 24, 2012 19:37:44 GMT -5
Snowdrop just looked at Kale helplessly. She was no nurse, she was no doctor, but she knew Kale couldn't possibly walk even a short distance with his wing hanging like that, at the mercy of every gust of wind! She doubted he could walk a short distance even if he held it closed. And it was all her own fault. Hadn't Kale just told her to be more careful? That he might not be able to help her every time?
And now this. Snowdrop felt pretty miserable. Poor Kale. He was trying to be so brave about it, too! She moved a little closer to him, when a soft jingle reminded her of something. She glanced at one of her wings, then her eyes widened and she looked up at Kale. Snow promptly sat down. "Hold your wing shut a moment! ...Please?" she ordered him, with surprising authority...at least at first. Meanwhile, she went to work on one of her own wings.
Snow was a foal, and like most foals, when she did something, she overdid it. In tying the bells to her wings, she had used a lot of ribbon. Four or five feet of it, in fact! As she pulled it free and removed the bell from it, the wind picked up a trailing end of the ribbon and made it fly. But Snowdrop kept the other end tightly in her mouth as she moved to Kale's windward side. It wasnt too hard to tuck the center of the ribbon under his good wing and guide one trailing end of the ribbon over his back and the other under him. The wind even helped! And after that, tying both ends of the ribbon tightly together to hold Kale's wing shut for him was even easier.
It wasn't a sling, and it wasn't perfect, but Snow thought it was a lot better than nothing. At least his poor wing wouldn't be flopping around! "Does it hurt very bad, Kale?" She asked him, eyes full of tears, or rain, or both. "Can you stand it? Should I go and try to find some help?" As if she wasn't likely to be blown away again, herself!
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Post by Kale on Apr 24, 2012 21:08:05 GMT -5
Snowdrop didn't seem to get how urgent this was. Instead of beginning the trek back into Ponyville, she just stared sorrowfully at Kale's wing. As much as he appreciated the concern, he thought it was much more important to get out of the storm before something worse could befall them. For all he knew, the longer they delayed, the more likely they would be to get hit by a flying tree branch, or simply be blown away by mounting gales.
This was why Snowdrop sitting down was a bit upsetting for the stallion.
"Hold your wing shut a moment! ...Please?"
Gaping incredulously at the filly, Kale considered telling her this was no time to play the motherly caretaker. After all, one of them was already hurt, he preferred that number not increase. But something told him Snowdrop wouldn't take no for an answer, so, reluctantly, he gritted his teeth and did as he was asked. It hurt like he couldn't believe, and for a moment he wondered why she'd asked--but then she started tying a ribbon around him.
"Does it hurt very bad, Kale? Can you stand it? Should I go and try to find some help?"
Looking back at the ribbon-bandaged wing, Kale was surprised to find that it was helping quite nicely. True, it still hurt, but at least it wasn't getting buffeted about in the wind anymore. "No, you're not going anywhere alone," he said firmly, turning back to Snowdrop. "And it feels a lot better now, thanks. Now c'mon, you can worry about me all you want once we're safe and dry, alright?"
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Post by Snowdrop on Apr 24, 2012 22:56:03 GMT -5
Snowdrop picked up the ribbon-less bell and tucked it safely under her wing. At least these wings were good for something. "All right." was her only reply to Kale's insistence that they get into town and under shelter. She was glad that his pain was bearable, and grateful that her idea had helped, but...
...She still felt awful. Just now, she almost wished that he'd leave her out here, to the mercies of wind and rain. It would have been a kind of penance, of a sort. But she didn't have to ask to know that he wouldn't, and besides, it wouldn't fix his wing if he did. It was one of those tragedy-book kind of actions that Inkie Pie admired so much and that she'd never understood the point of.
Well, she understood the feeling now! Snow fell into step on his injured side as they headed back to town. She was silent the whole way, and her everything about her drooped a bit. But it was impossible to tell if it was because she was fighting the storm or because of her gloomy thoughts.
Kale would surely be done with her now, and she couldn't blame him. Oh, he'd be kind and tell her it was all right now. He might even say it wasn't her fault, and that it was just one of those things that happened. She'd heard things like that before. But he'd start to avoid her, make excuses, and pretend he didn't see her or hear her. It was only fair. She was so much trouble after all!
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Post by Kale on Apr 25, 2012 19:29:24 GMT -5
"All right."
Kale was at a loss of what to do. Snowdrop was still visibly unhappy, and whether it was out of guilt about his wing, disappointment at not being able to fly, or just fear about the horrific weather that had set upon them, he couldn't say. He could say, however, that it was breaking his heart. Seeing somepony as buoyant and eager as Snowdrop deflate like a souffle was a bit more than he could bear.
But there wasn't much they could do about that right now. Right now, the two pegasi had the much bigger problem of managing to walk when the wind constantly did its best to knock them over. At least Kale could focus on his hooves instead of his wings now; he'd have to compliment Snowdrop on her ribbon idea when they were safe indoors. For now, though, the stallion focused all his attention on staying upright and moving forward.
Once the two finally made it into Ponyville, they must have been quite an unusual sight: a filly, her bedraggled blue mane flecked with grass, trudging alongside a limping stallion (he had a sneaking suspicion his back right leg had been sprained) with his wings tied up in ribbon. They would never get a confirmation of this, however, as there was nopony outside to comment on it. Evidently, they'd all found shelter already.
Lucky them.
After much traveling and getting wet, the pegasus pony pair finally reached the Clop Café. Holding the door open for Snowdrop, Kale followed her in, hoping his aunt wouldn't mind them dripping everywhere. "Here, let's get some towels," he said, heading for the stairs. It was harder than he expected to climb them, as he was forced to put more weight on his sprained hoof, but he hid that as best he could. Snowdrop felt bad enough as it was.
Grabbing a pair of soft towels from a hall closet, Kale passed one to his companion before beginning to dry himself off. "Sorry this lesson didn't end so well, Snow," he said after he'd dried his face. "I promise next time will go better..."
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Post by Snowdrop on Apr 25, 2012 21:48:27 GMT -5
Snowdrop draped the towel over her drooping head and had been working on getting her mane dry when Kale finally spoke. Snowdrop stopped. The towel helpfully hid her face from Kale, and the dripping could certainly be attributed to her soaking-wet fur. Next time? Snow's heart felt so heavy and her stomach was full of lead. She knew there wasn't going to be a next time.
For once, for the first time, she didn't think she could bear to pretend things were something other than what they really were.
"You don't have to lie, Kale." she said in a shaky whisper. "It's okay. You don't have to spare my feelings. I know there's not gonna be any more lessons. And I know ..." Snowdrop stared hard at the swimmy floor and swiped a corner of the towel across her eyes with a deep breath. " 'Cause I know I screwed up bad. And I got you hurt, and even though I'm really sorry... I am really sorry, Kale!" Snowdrop's voice broke on a little sob there, "I know you dont wanna see me anymore. And... and... its okay.... you dont have to pretend nice to try and 'let me down easy'. I'm little, I know, but I'm not dumb. I've seen it before, so I know."
Snowdrop sat down in the puddle of rainwater she'd made just by standing still and buried her face in the towel. If Kale said a single kind word to her, she just knew she was going to lose the very small fragment of self control she had left and start sobbing.
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Post by Kale on Apr 25, 2012 23:20:16 GMT -5
To be honest, Kale expected Snowdrop to feel better after hinting at their next lesson. She was the type of filly to get excited over any snippet of good news, wasn't she? It was part of what made her so pleasant to be around. No matter how things went wrong, surely she would find a way to make the best of things and try to cheer everypony else up, right?
"You don't have to lie, Kale."
Evidently not.
Stopping what he was doing, Kale turned a confused look toward Snowdrop. She'd barely even managed to say it (though, given the weight of the meaning behind the words, he could see why). But her little whisper might as well have been a shout for as much as it threw him off; he definitely hadn't expected her to sound even more upset. "....what?" he asked blankly, listening with ever-growing bemusement as Snowdrop kept speaking.
"It's okay. You don't have to spare my feelings. I know there's not gonna be any more lessons. And I know ... 'Cause I know I screwed up bad. And I got you hurt, and even though I'm really sorry... I am really sorry, Kale!"
Snowdrop's voice broke just as Kale's heart did. He was past any sort of mild concern; the filly's behavior had gone straight past that, right into 'tear-inducingly pitiful.' Though confusion remained in the stallion's expression, it was now evenly mixed with a great deal of empathy and sorrow. How could she think this? Sure, he'd gotten hurt, but it wasn't like she'd caused the storm. Nor had she broken his wing. It was all unfortunate, true, but could she really think he hated her for it?
"I know you dont wanna see me anymore. And... and... its okay.... you dont have to pretend nice to try and 'let me down easy'. I'm little, I know, but I'm not dumb. I've seen it before, so I know."
"Stop," Kale said, his tone unintentionally sharp. Biting his lip for a moment, he took a deep breath and continued in a more reasonable tone. "Snowdrop, that is ridiculous. Even if this was your fault--which it's not, by the way--do you really think I'd be that heartless?" Realizing that lecturing her probably wasn't going to make her feel better, either, the older pegasus gently pushed down her hooves, moving the towel out of her face.
"Come on," he murmured gently, offering Snowdrop a reassuring smile. "Stop crying, you'll make me all weepy." Frankly, Kale wasn't even sure if that was a joke or not. He just wanted the filly to be happy again.
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Post by Snowdrop on Apr 26, 2012 0:14:15 GMT -5
There was a long moment of silence, broken only by the soft tink and resulting jingle as the loose bell Snowdrop had tucked under her faintly-trembling wings slipped free and rolled across the floor. The filly herself had to take several deep breaths before she could open her eyes and raise them to Kale's face.
Heartless? No, she didnt think Kale was heartless! She thought Kale was everything brave and good and so very, very kind,especially to her. Too kind to say such harsh things to her- that was why she had tried to make it easy, to say those things herself. So that he didn't have to feel awkward or unkind. So that all he would have to do was remain silent and the unspoken agreement would say all that needed to be said.
When Kale had snapped at her to stop, she had cringed a little. She didn't want him to hate her. But he had to know that she understood. She had to say those things. Only... He really didn't seem to agree with them. Kale had pushed away the towel Snow was hiding from him in and looked into her face with an affectionate, reassuring smile. And oh! How Snow wanted to believe in it!
One half of her warned her that she'd expected something like this, and not to put too much faith in Kale's kindness. Hadn't she gone through stuff like this before, with relatives no less? Kale couldn't send her away, exactly- but he could have avoided her and that was what she was dreading and expecting. But the other half of her urged her to hope. Kale was, after all, not a relation, (that she knew of) he had not taken her under his wing because he had to, but because he'd wanted to. So, this part of her insisted, shouldn't she believe in him?
It was a very convincing argument to the little filly. She hugged Kale fiercely, luckily managing to avoid disturbing his injured wing. She couldnt think of anything to say, so she let her actions talk for her now. And besides, what was there to say anyway?
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Post by Kale on Apr 26, 2012 1:26:32 GMT -5
Slowly, tentatively, Snowdrop brought herself to look up at Kale. In response, the stallion widened his smile slightly, relieved that the filly was beginning to come back out of her shell. For quite a while, she was worryingly quiet, though; he feared she would give up and retreat back to the safety of her safe, if wildly inaccurate, prediction of his behavior.
If only she could tell just how silly an idea that was.
Kale would gain nothing by leaving Snowdrop. Sure, he could say he might not have a broken wing and a sprained hoof if he hadn't been there today, but it had already happened. How would abandoning one of his only friends make that any better? The answer, of course, was that it wouldn't. But this didn't factor as much into his determination as did his own childhood. He'd often felt this same sense of rejection by the Manehattan society he'd grown up in; what he'd always wanted was some sense that there were ponies who could appreciate him for being who he was. And he had no intention of letting Snowdrop go on without knowing she could have that in her life, too.
So all Kale could do was try his best to convince her that he meant what he was saying, and hope she would believe him.
And when she suddenly pulled him into a hug, his hopes were confirmed.
Closing his eyes with a breath of relief, Kale wrapped an arm around the filly, returning the hug. "That's better," he murmured, then fell silent for several moments. Like Snowdrop, he found there was nothing that needed saying for a bit; if anything, unnecessary words would likely have just ruined the moment. Eventually, though, they disengaged from the hug, and the stallion glanced out the window to see that the storm had died down significantly.
"Come on, let's get you home," he said, drawing back to a fully upright position. Pointing to a twig that had lodged in her hair, he said (with slight amusement), "Though we should probably deal with your mane first...I don't want your grandmother to think I'm getting you into some sort of trouble." It'd be horrible if, after promising to stay with Snowdrop, Kale got banned from teaching her--he doubted either of them could bear that well.
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