All I Do Is Draw

Violet/Vi - he/they - Ace - UK Just some guy who draws a lot and writes sometimes. That's literally all I do. Mostly Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet stuff lately, but Minecraft stuff too sometimes. Addicted to Minecraft block men since 2011 please save me. Avatar by the amazing @siins Commissions are OPEN!

[violet-fire-cat]

My shop is now OPEN!!

Come and get your Hermitcats!

Stickers of every Hermit (including Evil Xisuma) (though only a few are pictured here) and keychains of Bdubs and Grian! All in the form of adorable little kitties!

Everything is in limited supply, though some things more than others, so if you see something you like you better grab it fast!

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[mariashades]

Hiyaa! For the August of Whump thing, how abouttt

Day 2: electricity / dislocation / drugs

With Magenta and/or Ochre? :3 I am forever in need of whump of my boys fghj

Under a cut because swearing.

“FUCK!”    

“Yeah, you’re not supposed to do that! Remember what the nice medic lady said?” 

“Fuck you, Ochre!” 

“Bit busy, Mags.” Pistol in hand, Ochre carefully leaned around the corner of the dilapidated and abandoned manufacturing building and watched for any sign of pursuit. 

Currently somewhat useless and in significant pain, Magenta clutched his dislocated right arm and let the decaying brick wall hold him up. Ten-ish minutes ago they’d been on the roof of the nearby office building, checking out some odd additions to the radio mast, then there’d been gunfire, they’d both slipped on the wet, mossy tiles, and caught the edge of the guttering to save themselves, but he’d lost his grip with his left hand, twisted, and dropped the rest of the way (thankfully only one story) to the ground, dislocating his shoulder in the process. Ochre had followed (unharmed) and that was when the gunfire had started. They’d gone for cover, and because he could not for the life of him shoot straight with his off hand, he’d tried to put his shoulder back. 

Yes, they all knew how to do it, the nice medic lady back at Koala had taught them because between them they had enough previously dislocated shoulders that they needed to know how to put them back, but he’d never done his shoulder before, and the nice medic lady had specifically told them (with graphic examples) that relocating a first time dislocation was outside their pay grade. 

“Okay, I think we’ve lost them.” Ochre turned worried eyes on his shoulder. “Let me take a look at that and get a sling going, then we’ve gotta move.” 

Magenta nodded once. A sling, he knew, would work wonders, and might even keep him from accidentally making things worse. “S.I.G.”

[violet-fire-cat]

Ouch poor Magenta! Definitely should not have tried to fix his shoulder on his own 😬 I'm sure Fawn will have something to say if he finds out about that later haha

This is so good though I love it!

[violet-fire-cat]

Stormy Seas - CSatM Ficlet

Hello everyone! Have a random Captain Scarlet pony AU drabble that I threw together and quickly edited in like. An hour lmao. This isn't a part of anything else, I just wanted to write a short scene and this is what I ended up with!

--

"Blue, listen to me," Grey's voice crackled through the comms. "Wind speeds are peaking at nearly forty knots. Even you can't fly in this."

Blue grit his teeth, his eyes scanning the roiling swell of the ocean below. The wind and rain lashed against him. His wings and tail feathers twitched and tilted with every shift in the airflow in a failing attempt at keeping himself steady. No pegasus should be in the air in this weather. It was dangerous and stupid to even try. But he had to find Scarlet.

"I can't just leave him out there!" he snapped, barely able to hear himself over the howling gale. It didn't matter that Scarlet would be fine. It didn't matter that he was probably already dead and completely unaware of the storm raging around him. The thought of leaving him to the mercy of the dark, unforgiving sea was too much.

Blue grunted as a powerful gust slammed into him from beneath and pushed him another twenty feet into the air in a matter of seconds. The force of the impact sent a sharp ache through his wings and shoulders as he strained to steady himself.

"Scarlet will be okay, you know that. We can find him when the weather clears," Grey said, firmer now. "But you need to come back. If you get caught in a down draft you will hit the water like a rock. And that's it, lights out. We'll be pulling two bodies from the sea tomorrow and one of them won't wake up again."

Blue shook his head to try and get the rain out of his eyes, though it was a fruitless effort with how fast it was coming down. Pegasi were built to handle the cold and the rain, but there were limits. He was soaked to the skin, his wings shaking from the bitter chill and the struggle against the wind. He shouldn't be out here.

"Blue get your feathered ass back on this ship this instant before you get yourself killed!" Ochre yelled, his voice cutting through the roar of the elements. "That is an order!"

Adam didn't argue this time. He wanted to. But both Ochre and Grey were right. And besides, arguing with Grey about anything to do with the sea was pointless.

His gaze swept across the water beneath him one last time, hoping to spot even the smallest hint of red amongst the grey. But he saw nothing. "I'm coming back," he said, "We'll find him when the storm passes."

"Finally, he sees sense. Sometimes he's worse than Scarlet I swear," Ochre grumbled, but Blue barely heard him. 

He turned, his wings fighting against the shifting air currents, and made his way back towards the huge bulk of the ship in the distance. They'd find Scarlet when the weather cleared. Everything would be fine...

[kings-out-of-pocket-hell]

Alllll fun and games till someone scarlet crashes the SPV

[violet-fire-cat]

Art Fight starts tomorrow! So exciting!! This'll be my 8th fight, god damn, can't believe I've been doing it that long.

All my Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet ponies are up on my profile, and a couple of my other OCs too, others might get cycled in and out over the course of July, we shall see.

But yeah, I don't know how active I'll be this year, but I try to do as much as I can, and always try to revenge people who attack me! Hopefully I'll see some of you on the battlefield! >:P

Art Fight

An art gifting game

[violet-fire-cat]

Holy moly I spent too long on this fghj

Happy Pride everyone!

Here we have Virgil, Magenta, Ochre, Grey, Alan, John, Green, Scarlet, Blue, Scott, and Gordon, all just having a good time! Flags are personal headcanons and what not. I always have so much fun drawing characters with different pride flags though haha

I wanted to draw something for Pride month because I didn't last year. I had this idea in my head for a while, didn't quite realise how big it'd be until I actually started sketching but hey! I knuckled down and did it! And I'm really happy with it! So yeah, take this and I'm gonna stop rambling lol

[screenheart2]

Hows thunderfam doing at the moment? Haven't been around in ages once again! Working super hard on classes this year :D Also is anyone on artfight? I'll be participating this year

[violet-fire-cat]

Heyo good to see you around again!

And I'm on ArtFight! Username is Violet_Fire. I'm still in the process of figuring out what characters I want up this year but it's mostly just my ponies and a couple others it seems lol

[violet-fire-cat]

Fear and Feathers - Chapter 3

Final chapter time, yay! Was going to post this yesterday but didn't get around to it so it's going up today instead!

Blue is still having a rough time, but Scarlet will help him. Or at least he's determined to even if it takes a bit of effort. This chapter is the longest of the three, but I like how it wraps things up, even if I do worry that chapters with lots of dialogue will get boring 😅

But yeah! Thank you to everyone who's read this very self-indulgent fic. There may be more pony au stuff in the future, for both Scarlet and Thunderbirds, but what that ends up being and when it shows up is yet to be seen. And another big thank you to @/mariashades for their help beta-reading! :D

And that's enough rambling from me, here's the last chapter, enjoy! :D

Ch 1 - Ch 2 AO3 Link

Adam wasn't kept in the sickbay for long, and Fawn discharged him the following afternoon. After that, he mostly kept to himself and stayed in his quarters.

If the circumstances were different, Paul would assume Adam was doing as he was told and resting. But with the way he'd been acting, there was definitely more to it this time.

Paul still had to work his shifts as usual, but Adam's room was next to his, and he found him elsewhere a couple of times as well. He'd take any chance he could to check in. See how Adam was. Try to talk to him. But nothing much changed in the way Adam responded. There was clearly a lot going through his head, his ears constantly pressed back, his thoughts elsewhere.

Usually the joke would be that his head was in the clouds too much, even for a pegasus. That wasn't what was happening now, though.

Over the next couple of days, Paul spoke to the other Captains and to the Angels when he saw them, and he asked if they'd talked to Adam at all. If they knew how he was, or if they'd had more luck getting anything out of him.

Almost everyone's answer was the same. Yes, they'd seen him. They'd tried to talk to him. But he hadn't said much in return.

On the fourth day, Scarlet strolled down to the promenade deck after his shift. Much to his surprise, he found Adam sitting by the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the clear blue sky that stretched out endlessly around them.

"Hey, I've been wondering where you were," Paul said as he walked over. Adam's ear flicked back towards the sound, but he otherwise didn't move. "I've been worried about you. We all have," Paul added as he stepped up beside Adam. He waited for a reply, but didn't get one. Adam simply stared out at the sky.

The stallion in front of him now certainly wasn't the same confident, well put together Captain Blue that Paul saw most days. No. Not in the slightest.

He was wearing a faded blue hoodie, the fabric frayed at the elbows. It was old, but comfortable, and Adam only ever seemed to get it out when he wasn't feeling great. His thick fur and blonde mane and tail were slightly ruffled, as if he hadn't bothered to tidy himself up to his usual standards before leaving his room. And his usually bright blue eyes were dull and tired. Paul couldn't help but worry that he hadn't been getting the rest he needed.

The room fell silent as Paul tried to figure out what to do. Or rather, what to say. He and Adam were very alike in that talking about feelings wasn't something they were particularly good at. Trying to prompt the other to talk when something was bothering them was a battle they'd fought many times over the past few years. It had gotten a little easier as they'd gotten to know each other better, but it was still difficult sometimes.

But Paul wasn't the type of pony to give up before he'd even tried. And this was no exception to that.

After all, Adam was his best friend. And he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Adam would do the same for him if the roles were reversed.

Paul let the quiet linger for a little longer. He sat down, placing his cap by his hooves and curling his long tail across the floor towards Adam. A habit, at this point. But maybe a small comfort, too. Though for which of them he wasn't sure.

"Missing the sky already, huh?" Paul asked. Maybe keeping things light would help, instead of jumping straight to the crux of the problem.

Adam sighed deeply and didn't look away from the horizon, but he finally spoke. "Looking at it is all I'm going to be able to do for a while. So I might as well get used to it."

"You'll be back out there before you know it." Paul tapped at the glass with a hoof. "Well, not at this altitude, but you know what I mean."

"Not soon enough. And even then it's not guaranteed."

"Fawn is confident you'll heal just fine," Paul said, trying to be reassuring. If Fawn was happy that everything would be fine, then they had no reason to doubt that.

"I know. And I trust him. But it doesn't stop me worrying. And it doesn't change that-" Adam huffed out another sigh, his gaze dropping down to his hooves. "It doesn't matter. You wouldn't get it." And that was exactly what had been going through Paul's head over the past few days. He didn't get it, not completely, not the same way another pegasus would.

"Maybe not," he said simply. "But I can try." Would that work? He just wanted Adam to talk to him. He couldn't help him if he didn't talk.

Adam didn't reply, so Paul kept trying. "I know that I probably can't understand this sort of thing the way that Brad, or Karen, or any other pegasus can. I've been very aware of that fact. But I can still listen, and be there for you." Adam still didn't say anything, his gaze locked on the clouds drifting far below them. "I don't know what it's like to have wings. But I do know that innate fear of losing something that's such an integral part of who you are." That finally pulled Adam's attention away from the sky, and he looked at Paul, frowning in confusion. Paul lifted a hoof to his horn. "Maybe I don't have to worry about it anymore, since it would probably heal. But a broken horn still scares me."

Adam hummed. "I guess that's not so different." He paused. "Though, I think a broken horn might be... Bloodier. Not that I've seen it happen. But, from what I've heard."

Paul looked at his reflection in the glass, and ran the tip of his hoof up his horn until it reached roughly halfway. "About there, is when a break would get bloody." 

Adam blinked. "You just know that, huh?"

Paul put his hoof down and nodded. "The core reaches about halfway up the length of most unicorns horns. So it's not difficult to guess," he explained. Adam still looked confused, so Paul continued. “The core is the soft tissue inside the horn. That being damaged is why if the horn is broken it can bleed a lot. It’s also where our magic manifests, so that’s why an injury like that can permanently damage or destroy a unicorn's magic.” This had turned into an anatomy lesson of sorts, which Scarlet hadn't expected, but Adam nodded a little as he took that information in. 

“That makes sense,” Adam said. “Sounds awful too.” Awful was certainly one word for it. An injury like that could devastate a unicorn's life, just as a badly broken wing could do to a pegasus. So, on a basic level, it wasn't that different. Kind of... 

“I think that might be an understatement,” Paul said. "We get taught this stuff as foals, though. Well, not the gory parts so much. But how our magic works and that we should be careful of our horns. I doubt it's that different from pegasi being taught how their wings work."

"Yeah, we're taught all of that." Adam turned away from him again. "That's part of the problem."

Paul frowned. "I... don't understand."

"We're taught all of that as foals. How to fly, how our wings work, how our magic works. We're taught some of it before we're even old enough to fly, or at least I was. And that's-" Adam paused and huffed out a breath. "That's the thing. I know all this stuff. I learned it as a colt, and I've gone over it time and time again in training as an adult. I need to know it and remember it because flying is such an important part of who and what I am." He paused and looked at Paul. If he was waiting for a response, Paul didn't know what to say, and after a moment of silence, he kept talking. "I know how my wings work, I know how my magic works. But pegasus magic doesn't work like a unicorn’s, we don't control it directly, it just- happens."

"Yes, I know that. It's the same with earth ponies," Paul said, which was irrelevant even if it was related. Probably wasn't helpful either.

Adam scowled at the space in front of him and scraped his hoof across the floor in frustration, he was struggling to figure out how to word what was going through his head. "But it's still a skill. Any pegasus can stand on a cloud and push it around, but proper weather control is learned. Our magic aids our flight, we wouldn't be able to do half of what we do in the air without it. And the way I fly has trained my magic a certain way."

"Right," Paul nodded. "Where exactly are you going with this?"

Adam grit his teeth and stood up, his ears flicked back as he pawed at the ground again, twice this time. "I have worked so, so hard all my life to get my flight skills to where they are now. I know how my wings work, how my magic works. I know all of that, all the details. So I know everything that can go wrong when there's damage." Okay, now they were getting back to what this was actually about.

Paul stayed sitting down, he didn't want to agitate Adam any further. "And that's why you're scared," he said simply. Maybe if he was blunt about it, Adam would just admit it. That was obviously what had left him so shaken. He knew exactly what problems damage to a pegasus wing could cause, and it frightened him.

"No, I-" Adam started, then he stopped and sighed. "Yes..."

Paul hummed. "And Fawn's reassurance that you'll be fine hasn't helped. He may not be a pegasus himself, but there are pegasi on his team. He knows what he's talking about."

"I know that," Adam said, a little too quickly. "I do. And when he says that the bone should heal fine, I believe him. But that's not what I'm worried about." There was a small pause. "Well, it is. But not just that."

"Then what are you worried about?" Paul asked. He had a feeling that he already knew, but he didn't want to assume.

Adam turned to face Paul and stretched his uninjured wing out, having to shift his hooves as the uneven weight on one side threw him off balance a little. Adam's wings were usually so neat and well preened that right now, with feathers missing and damaged, they looked terribly scruffy. Paul quietly hoped that it was just because of what happened the other day, and not because Adam was so stressed he’d started pulling at his feathers.

"Pegasus magic flows through our wings," Adam said, lifting a hoof to point to his wing. Paul already knew this, but he wasn't about to interrupt. "Just like a unicorn's magic flows through their horn." He pointed to Paul's horn, then set his hoof back down. "If a unicorn breaks their horn, it can damage their magic. Sometimes permanently." Paul nodded at that. "Same applies to pegasi. If our wings are damaged, and that damage disrupts the way our magic flows, then it can be permanent." A small pause as he took a breath. "I've seen it happen, even from relatively minor injuries," he explained. "The wing can be otherwise healthy. But if the magic flow is disrupted, it can affect our flight. And even if it's not permanent, it takes a long time to heal and fix itself."

"How long?"

Adam folded his wing back at his side. "Months. Sometimes more," he said. "I can't- I don't want to deal with being grounded and stuck in physio for that long. It'll be bad enough with just the broken wing."

"Surely there's a way to determine ahead of time if this is going to be a problem. At least then you wouldn't be left guessing and worrying about it," Paul said. There must be something. A gadget or a spell. Anything.

Adam shook his head. "I asked Fawn about it, he said no. Apparently magic can't be mapped like that unless it's active. And pegasus magic isn't active in our wings if they're folded and not being used."

"Ah, yes. That makes sense." Paul probably should have figured that one out on his own.

Then again, in unicorns it was possible to force their magic to spark. It wasn't easy, but by pushing your own energy into another pony it could be done. Could you do the same to a pegasus? Maybe. But even if you could, mapping the way a ponies magic flows was difficult. Even more so if it wasn't active. Paul could track ponies magic, he could identify spell signatures, stuff like that was easy. But following internal networks would require very complex, very precise spell casting that wasn't really his area of expertise. Pat was better at precision, but he probably didn't have the power for a spell of that level.

"So now I'm left waiting, and wondering, and it's stressing me out and I hate it." Adam stomped a back hoof against the ground at that second to last word.

"Stressing isn't going to help though, is it? It isn't going to make any of this go away," Paul said simply as he finally stood up. "You're always telling me not to dwell on the what-ifs. Believe it or not the same does apply to you, as well."

"Yes yes, I know, but that doesn't change things, does it?"

"I don't know, doesn't it?"

"No! No it doesn't!" Adam snapped, his good wing flaring at his side in the way that pegasi always seemed to do when they were angry. His feathers slightly fluffed up like an agitated bird. It was instinctual, make yourself look bigger, just like a bird would. But, honestly, it wasn't so effective with only one wing. "This is my livelihood that could be on the line here, Paul!"

Paul stayed calm. He didn't like doing this, and he knew that Fawn would have his tail for it if he found out, but there was something Adam wasn't saying that Paul was certain he was thinking. And maybe, just maybe, trying to get those words out of him would be beneficial. Even if it meant riling him up a bit to do it.

"That's a worst case scenario and you know it. You have every right to be scared but it's not like you to stress so much over something that's ultimately very unlikely."

"You don't know that! Nopony knows that right now. That's the problem! We went over this."

"Fawn is confident that you'll heal, and all things considered the injury isn't that severe."

"That's easy for you to say."

Paul flicked his ears back at that comment, but let it slide for the moment. Adam wasn't thinking straight. "You're worried about the injury, and the potential aftermath, and that's okay. But from what information we have, you should heal just fine. So why has this whole situation shaken you up so much?"

"Because what good is a pegasus who can't fly, Paul!" And there it was. Plain and simple.

Paul didn't respond, he just let those words linger. 

And linger they did. The room fell quiet. Adam held Paul's gaze for maybe fifteen seconds, before he seemed to realize what he'd said, and the anger and frustration in his form fizzled away as quickly as it had come. He stepped back, his eyes dropping to the floor as he pulled his wing closer, but didn't fold it all the way.

Paul waited. Letting Adam process what was undoubtedly running through his head. He'd had a feeling that, despite everything Adam had been saying, the main reason he was so shaken up by all of this was that he doubted his own worth if he couldn't fly. The more he'd talked about how injury could affect how pegasi fly, how it could damage their magic, leave them grounded or struggling whilst they heal, the more it had become clear that there was just a little more to it than the fear of lasting side-effects.

Little more than a minute passed, but it could have been an hour by how long the time stretched out before one of them spoke.

"Are you okay?" Paul asked.

Adam sighed and shook his head. "Not really."

Paul hummed. "Even if the worst did happen, even if you couldn't fly any more, there is still so much good you can do here." He stepped around to Adam's side and tapped the blue jet plane that streaked across his flank. A permanent marker of his pilot skills. "After all, this didn't appear because you can fly fast under your own power."

Adam turned his head as Paul moved, but otherwise stayed still. "I guess."

"There's no guessing about it. The fact that your mark is a plane and not a- a winged lightning bolt, or whatever it is pegasi who fly fast often end up with, is quite literally physical proof of the fact."

Adam huffed a laugh. "Okay, good point."

"I understand why you're scared. But no pegasus is defined solely by their wings. Not even the ones who happen to be skilled fliers," Paul said simply. He stood behind Adam and touched a hoof to his back, prompting him to sit down. Blue light shimmered around his horn as he gently took a hold of Adam's good wing and stepped to the side as he spread it out. He carefully ran his magic through Adam's feathers, looking for any that were out of place or had come loose, and getting rid of bits of dirt that had gotten trapped between them. "You don't know exactly how your recovery will go, because there are things we can't determine ahead of time. But that applies to most injuries. As broken bones go, it's relatively minor, and Fawn is confident that you'll heal. That's what you need to focus on." Hopefully going over this again now that Adam had calmed down would make it sink in properly. "Your feathers are a mess, by the way. Well, by your standards, anyway."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Adam sighed. "Having one wing strapped up has thrown my balance off, which makes preening harder. That, and I'm still bruised and sore and haven't been feeling great, so that hasn't helped either."

Preening could be fiddly at the best of times, even Paul knew that. Adam had clearly tried to tidy his wing up, but there was only so much he could do given the circumstances. There were a couple of gaps between primary and secondary feathers where crashing through those tree branches had torn them out. Other feathers were still in place, but the barbs had been damaged. All of it left Adam's wing looking messy, and would continue to until the damaged feathers fell out and the missing ones grew back.

Paul found a loose feather amongst the coverts and gently pulled it free. "That makes sense," he said, tucking the small pale blue feather behind his ear. “Just as long as you haven’t been pulling at your feathers too.”

Adam grumbled at that, but shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I’d be lying if I said the temptation hadn’t been there. But I haven’t.”

Pegasi, like birds, would sometimes pluck at their own feathers when stressed. It was an odd behaviour that Paul didn’t really understand - though that seemed to be a running theme with him and anything to do with wings lately. But he’d seen Adam, and Brad, and various other pegasi give in to the urge during stressful situations. With how stressed Adam had been, it was a relief to know he hadn’t started doing it.

“That’s good. I don’t think adding that to the pile would help matters.”

“No, probably not,” Adam said. "Is there anything you can do with the other wing?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at Paul and pointing to his injured wing. "Not being able to move it means I can't preen it properly and it's so itchy."

Paul chuckled, very glad that things seemed to have settled back down. "I'll take a look."

"Thank you."

Paul freed another loose feather from Adam's wing before pulling his magic away from it. He tucked the second feather behind his ear with the first, then moved to Adam's other side so that he was closer to his injured wing. 

His horn lit up with blue light again, and he focused his attention and his magic into Adam's wing, just as he had with the other one. 

With the wing folded, it was harder to find anything that was causing a problem. Paul had helped Adam preen dozens of times at this point, but he had only ever done it with the wings stretched out. The feathers sat differently when folded, and a loose one may not come free as easily. But with his magic running between the feathers, finding bits of dirt and dust and getting rid of them didn't prove too tricky.

Paul was gentle as he worked, not letting his magic sit too long or pull at anything that he wasn't confident would come away easily. He didn't want to cause Adam any pain. And tugging at feathers that weren't ready to come out generally wasn't a good idea, anyway.

After a couple of minutes, another pair of loose feathers and various bits of dust, dirt, and fur removed, Paul let his magic fade away. He wished he could help more, but for now that would have to do.

"Any better?" he asked as he walked around to sit in front of Adam. He still had the little blue and yellow feathers tucked behind his ear, and when Adam saw them he smiled.

"A little, yeah," Adam said. He shifted his wing slightly and winced, regretting it immediately. He huffed a sigh, before bringing his smile back as he met Paul's gaze. "Thanks. Why are my feathers behind your ear, though?" he asked, pointing to them.

Paul shrugged and picked them up with his magic, each feather coated in a shimmer of blue light as he held them in front of himself. "I don't know. Somewhere to put them, I guess," he said, before tucking them back behind his ear. "Do they not suit me?"

Adam laughed. A genuine laugh that after days of not even seeing him smile felt like gold dust. "I don't think blue and yellow are really your colors, pal."

"No? Shame," Paul smiled. His horn glowed as he pulled the little feathers away from his ear and tucked them behind Adam's instead, the blue and blonde blending in with his hair and fur. Adam simply rolled his eyes at him. "Anyway," Paul said as he stood up, scooping up his cap with his magic and putting it back on as he did so. "Have you eaten this afternoon?"

Adam looked slightly surprised by that question, but after a moment he shook his head. "No. I uh, haven't eaten much today, actually."

Usually Paul would have something to say about that, but just this once he didn't comment on it. "Okay. I need to go and get changed. Then I'll meet you in the mess hall and we'll have dinner?"

Adam smiled. "Yeah, alright, sure."

Paul nodded. "Good." He stepped closer and rested a hoof on Adam's shoulder. "Everything's going to be okay, alright?" he said, wanting to make sure Adam knew that. Sure, it might take a little while, and it wasn't guaranteed to be smooth sailing, but he'd get through it.

Adam's smile faded and he glanced down at the floor before focusing on Paul again. "Yeah. I think I might just need to be reminded occasionally, that's all," he said. If nothing else, Paul was glad that he was being honest about it.

"Well that's something we can help you with if need be," Paul said. He moved his hoof away and stepped back. "And if you start to struggle again, please talk to someone. If anypony here knows what you're dealing with right now it's probably Brad. And whilst I don't understand it the same way, I can still listen."

"And knock some sense into me when I start catastrophizing."

"Yes, that too," Paul chuckled. "You do it enough for me, only seems fair to return the favour."

"Very true," Adam smiled.

"Now, I'm going to change out of my uniform, and I'll see you in a few minutes," Paul said as he turned to leave.

"See you in a minute," Adam replied. Paul turned away and started to walk towards the door, but stopped when Adam spoke again. "And... Thank you, Paul."

Paul looked over his shoulder and smiled at Adam. "Anytime, my friend." And with that, he left the promenade deck and made his way to his quarters.

Things were going to be tricky for a while, and Paul knew with utmost certainty that Adam would get restless and complain about being grounded whilst he was in recovery. But if Fawn was confident that everything would heal and he'd be okay, then they should trust him.

Adam's concerns were understandable, though, of course they were. And Paul didn't blame him for them in the slightest. But he knew from experience - and from Adam and pretty much everyone else he worked with telling him multiple times over the past few years - that controlling those concerns was the important part. Otherwise you'd start to spiral, just like Adam had been doing since he got hurt, and that never helped.

Everything would be okay. Yes, Adam would have to deal with everything that came with recovering from a broken bone, from physiotherapy to retraining muscles that had weakened from lack of use during the healing process. He may also have to adapt to changes in his magic, if that particular worry came to anything. 

But Paul knew all too well that stallion was far too stubborn to let himself be kept down for long. And, as always, the five Colour Captains were a team, brothers in arms. So until Adam got the all-clear from Fawn, however long that took, the one thing he wouldn't be short on was support and care from his friends.

[call-me-casual]

Damn three posts in one day who am I

Just messing around with this one, I wanted to draw some of the other brothers for once and this screenshot was a good excuse

John is actually so much fun to draw wtf

I might try doing a bit more of this messier stuff with a thicker brush? This took me one hour and although I already have some pages for the rewrite done this route with it might make it go by faster/more fun than the thinner brushes

[violet-fire-cat]

Fear and Feathers - Chapter 3

Final chapter time, yay! Was going to post this yesterday but didn't get around to it so it's going up today instead!

Blue is still having a rough time, but Scarlet will help him. Or at least he's determined to even if it takes a bit of effort. This chapter is the longest of the three, but I like how it wraps things up, even if I do worry that chapters with lots of dialogue will get boring 😅

But yeah! Thank you to everyone who's read this very self-indulgent fic. There may be more pony au stuff in the future, for both Scarlet and Thunderbirds, but what that ends up being and when it shows up is yet to be seen. And another big thank you to @/mariashades for their help beta-reading! :D

And that's enough rambling from me, here's the last chapter, enjoy! :D

Ch 1 - Ch 2 AO3 Link

Adam wasn't kept in the sickbay for long, and Fawn discharged him the following afternoon. After that, he mostly kept to himself and stayed in his quarters.

If the circumstances were different, Paul would assume Adam was doing as he was told and resting. But with the way he'd been acting, there was definitely more to it this time.

Paul still had to work his shifts as usual, but Adam's room was next to his, and he found him elsewhere a couple of times as well. He'd take any chance he could to check in. See how Adam was. Try to talk to him. But nothing much changed in the way Adam responded. There was clearly a lot going through his head, his ears constantly pressed back, his thoughts elsewhere.

Usually the joke would be that his head was in the clouds too much, even for a pegasus. That wasn't what was happening now, though.

Over the next couple of days, Paul spoke to the other Captains and to the Angels when he saw them, and he asked if they'd talked to Adam at all. If they knew how he was, or if they'd had more luck getting anything out of him.

Almost everyone's answer was the same. Yes, they'd seen him. They'd tried to talk to him. But he hadn't said much in return.

On the fourth day, Scarlet strolled down to the promenade deck after his shift. Much to his surprise, he found Adam sitting by the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the clear blue sky that stretched out endlessly around them.

"Hey, I've been wondering where you were," Paul said as he walked over. Adam's ear flicked back towards the sound, but he otherwise didn't move. "I've been worried about you. We all have," Paul added as he stepped up beside Adam. He waited for a reply, but didn't get one. Adam simply stared out at the sky.

The stallion in front of him now certainly wasn't the same confident, well put together Captain Blue that Paul saw most days. No. Not in the slightest.

He was wearing a faded blue hoodie, the fabric frayed at the elbows. It was old, but comfortable, and Adam only ever seemed to get it out when he wasn't feeling great. His thick fur and blonde mane and tail were slightly ruffled, as if he hadn't bothered to tidy himself up to his usual standards before leaving his room. And his usually bright blue eyes were dull and tired. Paul couldn't help but worry that he hadn't been getting the rest he needed.

The room fell silent as Paul tried to figure out what to do. Or rather, what to say. He and Adam were very alike in that talking about feelings wasn't something they were particularly good at. Trying to prompt the other to talk when something was bothering them was a battle they'd fought many times over the past few years. It had gotten a little easier as they'd gotten to know each other better, but it was still difficult sometimes.

But Paul wasn't the type of pony to give up before he'd even tried. And this was no exception to that.

After all, Adam was his best friend. And he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Adam would do the same for him if the roles were reversed.

Paul let the quiet linger for a little longer. He sat down, placing his cap by his hooves and curling his long tail across the floor towards Adam. A habit, at this point. But maybe a small comfort, too. Though for which of them he wasn't sure.

"Missing the sky already, huh?" Paul asked. Maybe keeping things light would help, instead of jumping straight to the crux of the problem.

Adam sighed deeply and didn't look away from the horizon, but he finally spoke. "Looking at it is all I'm going to be able to do for a while. So I might as well get used to it."

"You'll be back out there before you know it." Paul tapped at the glass with a hoof. "Well, not at this altitude, but you know what I mean."

"Not soon enough. And even then it's not guaranteed."

"Fawn is confident you'll heal just fine," Paul said, trying to be reassuring. If Fawn was happy that everything would be fine, then they had no reason to doubt that.

"I know. And I trust him. But it doesn't stop me worrying. And it doesn't change that-" Adam huffed out another sigh, his gaze dropping down to his hooves. "It doesn't matter. You wouldn't get it." And that was exactly what had been going through Paul's head over the past few days. He didn't get it, not completely, not the same way another pegasus would.

"Maybe not," he said simply. "But I can try." Would that work? He just wanted Adam to talk to him. He couldn't help him if he didn't talk.

Adam didn't reply, so Paul kept trying. "I know that I probably can't understand this sort of thing the way that Brad, or Karen, or any other pegasus can. I've been very aware of that fact. But I can still listen, and be there for you." Adam still didn't say anything, his gaze locked on the clouds drifting far below them. "I don't know what it's like to have wings. But I do know that innate fear of losing something that's such an integral part of who you are." That finally pulled Adam's attention away from the sky, and he looked at Paul, frowning in confusion. Paul lifted a hoof to his horn. "Maybe I don't have to worry about it anymore, since it would probably heal. But a broken horn still scares me."

Adam hummed. "I guess that's not so different." He paused. "Though, I think a broken horn might be... Bloodier. Not that I've seen it happen. But, from what I've heard."

Paul looked at his reflection in the glass, and ran the tip of his hoof up his horn until it reached roughly halfway. "About there, is when a break would get bloody." 

Adam blinked. "You just know that, huh?"

Paul put his hoof down and nodded. "The core reaches about halfway up the length of most unicorns horns. So it's not difficult to guess," he explained. Adam still looked confused, so Paul continued. “The core is the soft tissue inside the horn. That being damaged is why if the horn is broken it can bleed a lot. It’s also where our magic manifests, so that’s why an injury like that can permanently damage or destroy a unicorn's magic.” This had turned into an anatomy lesson of sorts, which Scarlet hadn't expected, but Adam nodded a little as he took that information in. 

“That makes sense,” Adam said. “Sounds awful too.” Awful was certainly one word for it. An injury like that could devastate a unicorn's life, just as a badly broken wing could do to a pegasus. So, on a basic level, it wasn't that different. Kind of... 

“I think that might be an understatement,” Paul said. "We get taught this stuff as foals, though. Well, not the gory parts so much. But how our magic works and that we should be careful of our horns. I doubt it's that different from pegasi being taught how their wings work."

"Yeah, we're taught all of that." Adam turned away from him again. "That's part of the problem."

Paul frowned. "I... don't understand."

"We're taught all of that as foals. How to fly, how our wings work, how our magic works. We're taught some of it before we're even old enough to fly, or at least I was. And that's-" Adam paused and huffed out a breath. "That's the thing. I know all this stuff. I learned it as a colt, and I've gone over it time and time again in training as an adult. I need to know it and remember it because flying is such an important part of who and what I am." He paused and looked at Paul. If he was waiting for a response, Paul didn't know what to say, and after a moment of silence, he kept talking. "I know how my wings work, I know how my magic works. But pegasus magic doesn't work like a unicorn’s, we don't control it directly, it just- happens."

"Yes, I know that. It's the same with earth ponies," Paul said, which was irrelevant even if it was related. Probably wasn't helpful either.

Adam scowled at the space in front of him and scraped his hoof across the floor in frustration, he was struggling to figure out how to word what was going through his head. "But it's still a skill. Any pegasus can stand on a cloud and push it around, but proper weather control is learned. Our magic aids our flight, we wouldn't be able to do half of what we do in the air without it. And the way I fly has trained my magic a certain way."

"Right," Paul nodded. "Where exactly are you going with this?"

Adam grit his teeth and stood up, his ears flicked back as he pawed at the ground again, twice this time. "I have worked so, so hard all my life to get my flight skills to where they are now. I know how my wings work, how my magic works. I know all of that, all the details. So I know everything that can go wrong when there's damage." Okay, now they were getting back to what this was actually about.

Paul stayed sitting down, he didn't want to agitate Adam any further. "And that's why you're scared," he said simply. Maybe if he was blunt about it, Adam would just admit it. That was obviously what had left him so shaken. He knew exactly what problems damage to a pegasus wing could cause, and it frightened him.

"No, I-" Adam started, then he stopped and sighed. "Yes..."

Paul hummed. "And Fawn's reassurance that you'll be fine hasn't helped. He may not be a pegasus himself, but there are pegasi on his team. He knows what he's talking about."

"I know that," Adam said, a little too quickly. "I do. And when he says that the bone should heal fine, I believe him. But that's not what I'm worried about." There was a small pause. "Well, it is. But not just that."

"Then what are you worried about?" Paul asked. He had a feeling that he already knew, but he didn't want to assume.

Adam turned to face Paul and stretched his uninjured wing out, having to shift his hooves as the uneven weight on one side threw him off balance a little. Adam's wings were usually so neat and well preened that right now, with feathers missing and damaged, they looked terribly scruffy. Paul quietly hoped that it was just because of what happened the other day, and not because Adam was so stressed he’d started pulling at his feathers.

"Pegasus magic flows through our wings," Adam said, lifting a hoof to point to his wing. Paul already knew this, but he wasn't about to interrupt. "Just like a unicorn's magic flows through their horn." He pointed to Paul's horn, then set his hoof back down. "If a unicorn breaks their horn, it can damage their magic. Sometimes permanently." Paul nodded at that. "Same applies to pegasi. If our wings are damaged, and that damage disrupts the way our magic flows, then it can be permanent." A small pause as he took a breath. "I've seen it happen, even from relatively minor injuries," he explained. "The wing can be otherwise healthy. But if the magic flow is disrupted, it can affect our flight. And even if it's not permanent, it takes a long time to heal and fix itself."

"How long?"

Adam folded his wing back at his side. "Months. Sometimes more," he said. "I can't- I don't want to deal with being grounded and stuck in physio for that long. It'll be bad enough with just the broken wing."

"Surely there's a way to determine ahead of time if this is going to be a problem. At least then you wouldn't be left guessing and worrying about it," Paul said. There must be something. A gadget or a spell. Anything.

Adam shook his head. "I asked Fawn about it, he said no. Apparently magic can't be mapped like that unless it's active. And pegasus magic isn't active in our wings if they're folded and not being used."

"Ah, yes. That makes sense." Paul probably should have figured that one out on his own.

Then again, in unicorns it was possible to force their magic to spark. It wasn't easy, but by pushing your own energy into another pony it could be done. Could you do the same to a pegasus? Maybe. But even if you could, mapping the way a ponies magic flows was difficult. Even more so if it wasn't active. Paul could track ponies magic, he could identify spell signatures, stuff like that was easy. But following internal networks would require very complex, very precise spell casting that wasn't really his area of expertise. Pat was better at precision, but he probably didn't have the power for a spell of that level.

"So now I'm left waiting, and wondering, and it's stressing me out and I hate it." Adam stomped a back hoof against the ground at that second to last word.

"Stressing isn't going to help though, is it? It isn't going to make any of this go away," Paul said simply as he finally stood up. "You're always telling me not to dwell on the what-ifs. Believe it or not the same does apply to you, as well."

"Yes yes, I know, but that doesn't change things, does it?"

"I don't know, doesn't it?"

"No! No it doesn't!" Adam snapped, his good wing flaring at his side in the way that pegasi always seemed to do when they were angry. His feathers slightly fluffed up like an agitated bird. It was instinctual, make yourself look bigger, just like a bird would. But, honestly, it wasn't so effective with only one wing. "This is my livelihood that could be on the line here, Paul!"

Paul stayed calm. He didn't like doing this, and he knew that Fawn would have his tail for it if he found out, but there was something Adam wasn't saying that Paul was certain he was thinking. And maybe, just maybe, trying to get those words out of him would be beneficial. Even if it meant riling him up a bit to do it.

"That's a worst case scenario and you know it. You have every right to be scared but it's not like you to stress so much over something that's ultimately very unlikely."

"You don't know that! Nopony knows that right now. That's the problem! We went over this."

"Fawn is confident that you'll heal, and all things considered the injury isn't that severe."

"That's easy for you to say."

Paul flicked his ears back at that comment, but let it slide for the moment. Adam wasn't thinking straight. "You're worried about the injury, and the potential aftermath, and that's okay. But from what information we have, you should heal just fine. So why has this whole situation shaken you up so much?"

"Because what good is a pegasus who can't fly, Paul!" And there it was. Plain and simple.

Paul didn't respond, he just let those words linger. 

And linger they did. The room fell quiet. Adam held Paul's gaze for maybe fifteen seconds, before he seemed to realize what he'd said, and the anger and frustration in his form fizzled away as quickly as it had come. He stepped back, his eyes dropping to the floor as he pulled his wing closer, but didn't fold it all the way.

Paul waited. Letting Adam process what was undoubtedly running through his head. He'd had a feeling that, despite everything Adam had been saying, the main reason he was so shaken up by all of this was that he doubted his own worth if he couldn't fly. The more he'd talked about how injury could affect how pegasi fly, how it could damage their magic, leave them grounded or struggling whilst they heal, the more it had become clear that there was just a little more to it than the fear of lasting side-effects.

Little more than a minute passed, but it could have been an hour by how long the time stretched out before one of them spoke.

"Are you okay?" Paul asked.

Adam sighed and shook his head. "Not really."

Paul hummed. "Even if the worst did happen, even if you couldn't fly any more, there is still so much good you can do here." He stepped around to Adam's side and tapped the blue jet plane that streaked across his flank. A permanent marker of his pilot skills. "After all, this didn't appear because you can fly fast under your own power."

Adam turned his head as Paul moved, but otherwise stayed still. "I guess."

"There's no guessing about it. The fact that your mark is a plane and not a- a winged lightning bolt, or whatever it is pegasi who fly fast often end up with, is quite literally physical proof of the fact."

Adam huffed a laugh. "Okay, good point."

"I understand why you're scared. But no pegasus is defined solely by their wings. Not even the ones who happen to be skilled fliers," Paul said simply. He stood behind Adam and touched a hoof to his back, prompting him to sit down. Blue light shimmered around his horn as he gently took a hold of Adam's good wing and stepped to the side as he spread it out. He carefully ran his magic through Adam's feathers, looking for any that were out of place or had come loose, and getting rid of bits of dirt that had gotten trapped between them. "You don't know exactly how your recovery will go, because there are things we can't determine ahead of time. But that applies to most injuries. As broken bones go, it's relatively minor, and Fawn is confident that you'll heal. That's what you need to focus on." Hopefully going over this again now that Adam had calmed down would make it sink in properly. "Your feathers are a mess, by the way. Well, by your standards, anyway."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Adam sighed. "Having one wing strapped up has thrown my balance off, which makes preening harder. That, and I'm still bruised and sore and haven't been feeling great, so that hasn't helped either."

Preening could be fiddly at the best of times, even Paul knew that. Adam had clearly tried to tidy his wing up, but there was only so much he could do given the circumstances. There were a couple of gaps between primary and secondary feathers where crashing through those tree branches had torn them out. Other feathers were still in place, but the barbs had been damaged. All of it left Adam's wing looking messy, and would continue to until the damaged feathers fell out and the missing ones grew back.

Paul found a loose feather amongst the coverts and gently pulled it free. "That makes sense," he said, tucking the small pale blue feather behind his ear. “Just as long as you haven’t been pulling at your feathers too.”

Adam grumbled at that, but shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I’d be lying if I said the temptation hadn’t been there. But I haven’t.”

Pegasi, like birds, would sometimes pluck at their own feathers when stressed. It was an odd behaviour that Paul didn’t really understand - though that seemed to be a running theme with him and anything to do with wings lately. But he’d seen Adam, and Brad, and various other pegasi give in to the urge during stressful situations. With how stressed Adam had been, it was a relief to know he hadn’t started doing it.

“That’s good. I don’t think adding that to the pile would help matters.”

“No, probably not,” Adam said. "Is there anything you can do with the other wing?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at Paul and pointing to his injured wing. "Not being able to move it means I can't preen it properly and it's so itchy."

Paul chuckled, very glad that things seemed to have settled back down. "I'll take a look."

"Thank you."

Paul freed another loose feather from Adam's wing before pulling his magic away from it. He tucked the second feather behind his ear with the first, then moved to Adam's other side so that he was closer to his injured wing. 

His horn lit up with blue light again, and he focused his attention and his magic into Adam's wing, just as he had with the other one. 

With the wing folded, it was harder to find anything that was causing a problem. Paul had helped Adam preen dozens of times at this point, but he had only ever done it with the wings stretched out. The feathers sat differently when folded, and a loose one may not come free as easily. But with his magic running between the feathers, finding bits of dirt and dust and getting rid of them didn't prove too tricky.

Paul was gentle as he worked, not letting his magic sit too long or pull at anything that he wasn't confident would come away easily. He didn't want to cause Adam any pain. And tugging at feathers that weren't ready to come out generally wasn't a good idea, anyway.

After a couple of minutes, another pair of loose feathers and various bits of dust, dirt, and fur removed, Paul let his magic fade away. He wished he could help more, but for now that would have to do.

"Any better?" he asked as he walked around to sit in front of Adam. He still had the little blue and yellow feathers tucked behind his ear, and when Adam saw them he smiled.

"A little, yeah," Adam said. He shifted his wing slightly and winced, regretting it immediately. He huffed a sigh, before bringing his smile back as he met Paul's gaze. "Thanks. Why are my feathers behind your ear, though?" he asked, pointing to them.

Paul shrugged and picked them up with his magic, each feather coated in a shimmer of blue light as he held them in front of himself. "I don't know. Somewhere to put them, I guess," he said, before tucking them back behind his ear. "Do they not suit me?"

Adam laughed. A genuine laugh that after days of not even seeing him smile felt like gold dust. "I don't think blue and yellow are really your colors, pal."

"No? Shame," Paul smiled. His horn glowed as he pulled the little feathers away from his ear and tucked them behind Adam's instead, the blue and blonde blending in with his hair and fur. Adam simply rolled his eyes at him. "Anyway," Paul said as he stood up, scooping up his cap with his magic and putting it back on as he did so. "Have you eaten this afternoon?"

Adam looked slightly surprised by that question, but after a moment he shook his head. "No. I uh, haven't eaten much today, actually."

Usually Paul would have something to say about that, but just this once he didn't comment on it. "Okay. I need to go and get changed. Then I'll meet you in the mess hall and we'll have dinner?"

Adam smiled. "Yeah, alright, sure."

Paul nodded. "Good." He stepped closer and rested a hoof on Adam's shoulder. "Everything's going to be okay, alright?" he said, wanting to make sure Adam knew that. Sure, it might take a little while, and it wasn't guaranteed to be smooth sailing, but he'd get through it.

Adam's smile faded and he glanced down at the floor before focusing on Paul again. "Yeah. I think I might just need to be reminded occasionally, that's all," he said. If nothing else, Paul was glad that he was being honest about it.

"Well that's something we can help you with if need be," Paul said. He moved his hoof away and stepped back. "And if you start to struggle again, please talk to someone. If anypony here knows what you're dealing with right now it's probably Brad. And whilst I don't understand it the same way, I can still listen."

"And knock some sense into me when I start catastrophizing."

"Yes, that too," Paul chuckled. "You do it enough for me, only seems fair to return the favour."

"Very true," Adam smiled.

"Now, I'm going to change out of my uniform, and I'll see you in a few minutes," Paul said as he turned to leave.

"See you in a minute," Adam replied. Paul turned away and started to walk towards the door, but stopped when Adam spoke again. "And... Thank you, Paul."

Paul looked over his shoulder and smiled at Adam. "Anytime, my friend." And with that, he left the promenade deck and made his way to his quarters.

Things were going to be tricky for a while, and Paul knew with utmost certainty that Adam would get restless and complain about being grounded whilst he was in recovery. But if Fawn was confident that everything would heal and he'd be okay, then they should trust him.

Adam's concerns were understandable, though, of course they were. And Paul didn't blame him for them in the slightest. But he knew from experience - and from Adam and pretty much everyone else he worked with telling him multiple times over the past few years - that controlling those concerns was the important part. Otherwise you'd start to spiral, just like Adam had been doing since he got hurt, and that never helped.

Everything would be okay. Yes, Adam would have to deal with everything that came with recovering from a broken bone, from physiotherapy to retraining muscles that had weakened from lack of use during the healing process. He may also have to adapt to changes in his magic, if that particular worry came to anything. 

But Paul knew all too well that stallion was far too stubborn to let himself be kept down for long. And, as always, the five Colour Captains were a team, brothers in arms. So until Adam got the all-clear from Fawn, however long that took, the one thing he wouldn't be short on was support and care from his friends.

[violet-fire-cat]

From self indulgent fluff to self indulgent pain and suffering. Yeahh... I have no idea, this is just what I ended up with when I opened CSP. I guess this is a good guide on how to incapacitate all three pony types though 😬

[violet-fire-cat]

From self indulgent fluff to self indulgent pain and suffering. Yeahh... I have no idea, this is just what I ended up with when I opened CSP. I guess this is a good guide on how to incapacitate all three pony types though 😬

[violet-fire-cat]

Fear and Feathers - Chapter 2

Told myself I'd post this chapter today, very nearly forgot, but remembered! Just about!

Anyway! Here's chapter two of this fic! Bit shorter than the last one. Things are still a bit rough for the boys, and Paul's trying to figure things out. I don't really have anything else to say, so I'll leave my rambles there. Enjoy!

Ch 1 AO3 Link

Thankfully, getting Blue out of the forest and back to the others wasn't too difficult. Once his injured wing was secure, Scarlet and Grey helped him to his hooves and walked with him through the trees. 

Scarlet walked a few paces ahead, making sure they didn't get lost, whilst Grey stayed at Blue's side, one wing curled protectively over his back.

Blue barely said a word on the way back to Cloudbase. The flight being quiet was normal enough, they were often tired after a long day, after all. But the uneasy feeling that lingered in the air wasn't, and Scarlet didn't know what to do about it.

Magenta and Ochre were in the cockpit, leaving him and Grey in the cabin with Blue, who had sat down by the window and not taken his eyes from the sky outside ever since.

Grey clearly understood what he was going through. No doubt he'd been through something similar after his accident with WASP. That had damaged his wings, as well as the rest of him. But Scarlet had no idea how to approach this. 

He wanted to talk to Adam, to comfort him and reassure him that everything would be okay. But it wasn't that simple.

In theory a broken wing shouldn't be different from any other injury. But that wasn't really true. It was also one of few injuries that Scarlet hadn't experienced himself, and one of even fewer that he never would experience. For the simple reason that he was not a pegasus.

He hated not knowing what to do. Especially when his friends were involved.

About halfway through the flight back to Cloudbase, Brad found him in the galley, staring at the water in his cup rather than drinking it.

Paul's ear twitched as Brad's hoof-steps pulled him back to the world around him.

"Hey," Brad said, slightly hushed. "I think he's asleep," he added, glancing over his shoulder into the cabin.

"Is he?" Paul asked, and Brad nodded. "It'll be another hour or so before we get to Cloudbase. The rest will do him good."

Brad hummed in response and took a step closer to Paul. "Are you okay?"

"Me? I'm fine. I'm not the one who got hurt."

Brad didn't look convinced, and Paul didn't blame him. The other Captains all knew him too well to let him get away with the 'I'm fine' card anymore.

Paul sighed and set his cup down on the counter, the gentle hum of his magic fading as the glow around his horn dissipated. "I'm just worried, that's all."

Brad gave another nod, clearly glad to get a more accurate answer that time. "I'm worried too. A broken wing is awful for any pegasus, but for a pegasus like Adam... I'm sure the worst possible outcomes are swirling through his head right now, and to be honest, I don't blame him. It's scary."

"That fear I can understand, to a degree, anyway," Paul said, lifting a hoof to touch his horn. "A broken horn still scares me. It happening to Pat is even more terrifying, because that wouldn't heal, and it could kill him," he explained, before dropping his hoof back to the floor. "But a broken wing is different."

"I don't think it's that different," Brad said with a small shrug. "But I'm a pegasus with unicorn family, and I have damaged my wings pretty badly and come out the other side able to fly again. So maybe my perspective isn't the same."

"I don't know." Paul sighed again. "But what I do know, is that Adam won't be able to fly for a while, and regardless of what Fawn tells him, he's going to hate every minute of it. He gets restless just being stuck inside for too many days in a row. Being completely grounded and unable to stretch his wings, not even able to fly a few laps of the sports hall, will be really hard on him."

"It will. So we'll have to support him through it. Same as we always do when one of us gets hurt." And Brad was right, of course.

-----

Adam slept for the remainder of the flight, and didn't stir until Paul gently woke him as they approached Cloudbase.

There were medics waiting for them in the hangar, Doctor Fawn included, and they quickly made their way over to Adam as soon as he was out of the plane. Paul followed as the med-team took Adam to sickbay, leaving post-mission debriefs to Pat, Brad, and Rich to handle.

One of the medics spoke to Scarlet on the walk through Cloudbase's long corridors towards the sickbay. The young pegasus stallion's ears flicked back, his feathers twitching at his sides, as Scarlet gave him the details. A barely contained flinch just at the mention of somepony breaking their wing. It really was a universal fear amongst pegasi. Not that Paul had doubted that, but seeing it with his own eyes outside of Adam grimacing when Brad got a little too detailed about exactly how badly beaten up his wings had been after his accident, was certainly something.

He didn't really know what. But something.

Fawn restricted Paul to the waiting room and told him to stay put. He wouldn't deal with Paul's worrying whilst trying to treat a patient. But that wasn't new.

So, he waited. And after about ten minutes the waiting turned to pacing. Adam wasn't in any immediate danger, but Paul was still worried, and he didn't like sitting around at the best of times.

Half an hour passed before Fawn appeared. Well, Paul heard him before he saw him - the distinctive click click click of hooves on the hard floors approaching the room. Paul stopped his pacing and turned to the door, his ears pricked forward and alert as Fawn stepped into the waiting area.

“How is he?” Paul asked before he could stop himself.

“Shaken and bruised, but the worst of it is his wing,” Fawn said simply.

“Broken?”

“Yes,” Fawn nodded. “As broken wings go it’s not too severe. Though I would say it was quite close.”

Paul tilted his head to the side slightly, confused. “What do you mean?”

Fawn thought for a moment before sitting back on his haunches. He lifted his front hooves and pointed just above his bent elbow. “The fracture would be about here on a leg, close to the elbow.” He moved his hoof down and tapped the joint. “If it had been even an inch closer, it could have easily complicated things,” he explained before standing up straight again. “However, as it stands, he shouldn’t need surgery, and so long as he rests and lets himself heal, then he should be fine.”

Paul breathed a sigh of relief. That was very good news. “So he’ll be okay?”

“He’ll need to keep his hooves on the ground for a while, which I’m sure he won’t appreciate. But yes, I expect a full recovery.”

“He won’t like being grounded for so long, no,” Paul said. Adam would get restless if he was grounded for more than a few days between missions. A broken bone could take a couple of months to heal. Paul didn’t know if that applied to wings too, but it probably wasn’t that different, right? “I’m just glad that he’ll be okay.”

Fawn nodded again. “I’m going to keep him here overnight just to make sure everything is as it should be. Once the fracture is sufficiently healed he’ll need physio and to ease himself back into flying, but that can be sorted out closer to the time. For now, he needs rest.”

“Can I see him?” Paul asked. Wanting little else right now than to see Adam.

“Yes, but keep it brief,” Fawn answered. He turned toward the door and gestured for Paul to follow. “I think he might still be quite shaken by what happened. But I’ve treated enough pegasi with injured wings over the years to expect it, to some degree.”

“He didn’t say a word on the way back to Cloudbase. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like that before.”

“Everypony responds to things differently. But as a rule, pegasi are as protective of their wings as unicorns are of their horns. Neither are always aware of it, but it’s true all the same. Damage there is a fear they all seem to carry, just as I’m sure you do too.”

Paul can only nod to that. He understood. He’d seen it. With others, in the past. And now with his best friend, and he hated it.

Fawn walked Paul to Adam’s room before leaving him be. Paul knocked on the door before going in, and Adam lifted his head from his pillow at the sound. Even hurt and shaken, it was nigh impossible to sneak up on him. His wing was properly bandaged and strapped up now, held in place against his side. He looked tired, and despite Paul’s efforts, conversation was sparse.

What Brad had said earlier about the worst possible outcomes swirling through Adam's head seemed to be rather accurate. Sure, Adam didn't say it, but Paul knew him well. And he knew when he was worrying and thinking too much. He didn't blame him, of course not. But those spirals of 'what ifs' never did anyone any good.

That one he did know from experience.

Paul's attempts at comforting and reassuring him hadn't really worked, and he knew better than to try to force it. So after a few minutes he left Adam to rest, and quietly hoped that Fawn's prognosis was accurate. Because if it wasn't... Well, that wasn't something he wanted to think about.

[violet-fire-cat]

Fear and Feathers - Chapter 2

Told myself I'd post this chapter today, very nearly forgot, but remembered! Just about!

Anyway! Here's chapter two of this fic! Bit shorter than the last one. Things are still a bit rough for the boys, and Paul's trying to figure things out. I don't really have anything else to say, so I'll leave my rambles there. Enjoy!

Ch 1 <- - -> Ch 3 AO3 Link

Thankfully, getting Blue out of the forest and back to the others wasn't too difficult. Once his injured wing was secure, Scarlet and Grey helped him to his hooves and walked with him through the trees. 

Scarlet walked a few paces ahead, making sure they didn't get lost, whilst Grey stayed at Blue's side, one wing curled protectively over his back.

Blue barely said a word on the way back to Cloudbase. The flight being quiet was normal enough, they were often tired after a long day, after all. But the uneasy feeling that lingered in the air wasn't, and Scarlet didn't know what to do about it.

Magenta and Ochre were in the cockpit, leaving him and Grey in the cabin with Blue, who had sat down by the window and not taken his eyes from the sky outside ever since.

Grey clearly understood what he was going through. No doubt he'd been through something similar after his accident with WASP. That had damaged his wings, as well as the rest of him. But Scarlet had no idea how to approach this. 

He wanted to talk to Adam, to comfort him and reassure him that everything would be okay. But it wasn't that simple.

In theory a broken wing shouldn't be different from any other injury. But that wasn't really true. It was also one of few injuries that Scarlet hadn't experienced himself, and one of even fewer that he never would experience. For the simple reason that he was not a pegasus.

He hated not knowing what to do. Especially when his friends were involved.

About halfway through the flight back to Cloudbase, Brad found him in the galley, staring at the water in his cup rather than drinking it.

Paul's ear twitched as Brad's hoof-steps pulled him back to the world around him.

"Hey," Brad said, slightly hushed. "I think he's asleep," he added, glancing over his shoulder into the cabin.

"Is he?" Paul asked, and Brad nodded. "It'll be another hour or so before we get to Cloudbase. The rest will do him good."

Brad hummed in response and took a step closer to Paul. "Are you okay?"

"Me? I'm fine. I'm not the one who got hurt."

Brad didn't look convinced, and Paul didn't blame him. The other Captains all knew him too well to let him get away with the 'I'm fine' card anymore.

Paul sighed and set his cup down on the counter, the gentle hum of his magic fading as the glow around his horn dissipated. "I'm just worried, that's all."

Brad gave another nod, clearly glad to get a more accurate answer that time. "I'm worried too. A broken wing is awful for any pegasus, but for a pegasus like Adam... I'm sure the worst possible outcomes are swirling through his head right now, and to be honest, I don't blame him. It's scary."

"That fear I can understand, to a degree, anyway," Paul said, lifting a hoof to touch his horn. "A broken horn still scares me. It happening to Pat is even more terrifying, because that wouldn't heal, and it could kill him," he explained, before dropping his hoof back to the floor. "But a broken wing is different."

"I don't think it's that different," Brad said with a small shrug. "But I'm a pegasus with unicorn family, and I have damaged my wings pretty badly and come out the other side able to fly again. So maybe my perspective isn't the same."

"I don't know." Paul sighed again. "But what I do know, is that Adam won't be able to fly for a while, and regardless of what Fawn tells him, he's going to hate every minute of it. He gets restless just being stuck inside for too many days in a row. Being completely grounded and unable to stretch his wings, not even able to fly a few laps of the sports hall, will be really hard on him."

"It will. So we'll have to support him through it. Same as we always do when one of us gets hurt." And Brad was right, of course.

-----

Adam slept for the remainder of the flight, and didn't stir until Paul gently woke him as they approached Cloudbase.

There were medics waiting for them in the hangar, Doctor Fawn included, and they quickly made their way over to Adam as soon as he was out of the plane. Paul followed as the med-team took Adam to sickbay, leaving post-mission debriefs to Pat, Brad, and Rich to handle.

One of the medics spoke to Scarlet on the walk through Cloudbase's long corridors towards the sickbay. The young pegasus stallion's ears flicked back, his feathers twitching at his sides, as Scarlet gave him the details. A barely contained flinch just at the mention of somepony breaking their wing. It really was a universal fear amongst pegasi. Not that Paul had doubted that, but seeing it with his own eyes outside of Adam grimacing when Brad got a little too detailed about exactly how badly beaten up his wings had been after his accident, was certainly something.

He didn't really know what. But something.

Fawn restricted Paul to the waiting room and told him to stay put. He wouldn't deal with Paul's worrying whilst trying to treat a patient. But that wasn't new.

So, he waited. And after about ten minutes the waiting turned to pacing. Adam wasn't in any immediate danger, but Paul was still worried, and he didn't like sitting around at the best of times.

Half an hour passed before Fawn appeared. Well, Paul heard him before he saw him - the distinctive click click click of hooves on the hard floors approaching the room. Paul stopped his pacing and turned to the door, his ears pricked forward and alert as Fawn stepped into the waiting area.

“How is he?” Paul asked before he could stop himself.

“Shaken and bruised, but the worst of it is his wing,” Fawn said simply.

“Broken?”

“Yes,” Fawn nodded. “As broken wings go it’s not too severe. Though I would say it was quite close.”

Paul tilted his head to the side slightly, confused. “What do you mean?”

Fawn thought for a moment before sitting back on his haunches. He lifted his front hooves and pointed just above his bent elbow. “The fracture would be about here on a leg, close to the elbow.” He moved his hoof down and tapped the joint. “If it had been even an inch closer, it could have easily complicated things,” he explained before standing up straight again. “However, as it stands, he shouldn’t need surgery, and so long as he rests and lets himself heal, then he should be fine.”

Paul breathed a sigh of relief. That was very good news. “So he’ll be okay?”

“He’ll need to keep his hooves on the ground for a while, which I’m sure he won’t appreciate. But yes, I expect a full recovery.”

“He won’t like being grounded for so long, no,” Paul said. Adam would get restless if he was grounded for more than a few days between missions. A broken bone could take a couple of months to heal. Paul didn’t know if that applied to wings too, but it probably wasn’t that different, right? “I’m just glad that he’ll be okay.”

Fawn nodded again. “I’m going to keep him here overnight just to make sure everything is as it should be. Once the fracture is sufficiently healed he’ll need physio and to ease himself back into flying, but that can be sorted out closer to the time. For now, he needs rest.”

“Can I see him?” Paul asked. Wanting little else right now than to see Adam.

“Yes, but keep it brief,” Fawn answered. He turned toward the door and gestured for Paul to follow. “I think he might still be quite shaken by what happened. But I’ve treated enough pegasi with injured wings over the years to expect it, to some degree.”

“He didn’t say a word on the way back to Cloudbase. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like that before.”

“Everypony responds to things differently. But as a rule, pegasi are as protective of their wings as unicorns are of their horns. Neither are always aware of it, but it’s true all the same. Damage there is a fear they all seem to carry, just as I’m sure you do too.”

Paul can only nod to that. He understood. He’d seen it. With others, in the past. And now with his best friend, and he hated it.

Fawn walked Paul to Adam’s room before leaving him be. Paul knocked on the door before going in, and Adam lifted his head from his pillow at the sound. Even hurt and shaken, it was nigh impossible to sneak up on him. His wing was properly bandaged and strapped up now, held in place against his side. He looked tired, and despite Paul’s efforts, conversation was sparse.

What Brad had said earlier about the worst possible outcomes swirling through Adam's head seemed to be rather accurate. Sure, Adam didn't say it, but Paul knew him well. And he knew when he was worrying and thinking too much. He didn't blame him, of course not. But those spirals of 'what ifs' never did anyone any good.

That one he did know from experience.

Paul's attempts at comforting and reassuring him hadn't really worked, and he knew better than to try to force it. So after a few minutes he left Adam to rest, and quietly hoped that Fawn's prognosis was accurate. Because if it wasn't... Well, that wasn't something he wanted to think about.

[violet-fire-cat]

Pure self indulgent Magenta and Ochre fluff from me today haha🩷💛 It's pride month I can do what I want!

And this is the song Pat is singing here, if you're curious :3 For some reason I like to imagine him singing old folk songs he was taught as a kid and that is where this whole comic came from lol

[violet-fire-cat]

Pure self indulgent Magenta and Ochre fluff from me today haha🩷💛 It's pride month I can do what I want!

And this is the song Pat is singing here, if you're curious :3 For some reason I like to imagine him singing old folk songs he was taught as a kid and that is where this whole comic came from lol

[violet-fire-cat]

Fear and Feathers - Chapter 1

Hello hello! I come baring fic! Haven't finished anything for a little while, but have had a lot of fun with this!

This is very self indulgent Captain Scarlet Pony AU fic, so yes they are all ponies here. But I want to explore situations that would only happen in that AU, and this is very much one of them!

You really don't need to know anything about My Little Pony for this, just be prepared for them to say 'everypony' and understand that my pony stuff is pretty headcanon heavy anyway lol

This fic ended up a lot longer than I expected, so I've split it up into three parts and I'll post them over the next few days (hopefully.) Also would like to say a very big thank you to the wonderful @mariashades for helping out with beta reading!

And with that, I've rambled enough, so here you go!

AO3 Link

Watching a pegasus fall out of the sky would always be chilling. There was a difference, of course, a big one, between a controlled dive that they could pull out of in a heartbeat, and the simple effect of gravity forcing them back to the ground when they could no longer keep themselves in the air.

Scarlet had spent enough time working with pegasi to be able to spot the difference, even at a distance. And what he'd just seen was, undoubtedly, the latter. 

One moment Blue had been flying swiftly through the air after their target. The next, said target had swooped back and Blue had been hit, hit hard, and he'd dropped like a rock towards the trees below.

The woodland that bordered the industrial compound the Mysteron's had targeted was dense and wild. Pushed back away from the buildings but otherwise left to its own devices. Finding somepony in that forest would be difficult.

Scarlet followed Blue’s rapid descent, and practically leapt into a gallop the second it became obvious that he wasn't going to, or couldn't catch himself.

Blue disappeared from sight. The crunch of distant branches and a scattering of birds fleeing into the air told Scarlet exactly what had happened. He needed to get to Blue as quickly as possible, his hooves kicking up the dirt as he ran, weaving around trees and jumping gnarled roots that jutted up out of the ground.

A spark of magic locked onto the tracker in Blue's uniform - a trick that Magenta had taught him some time ago that often came in useful - and told him roughly where he was. 

Scarlet followed the signal, not stopping even when a narrow stream came into view ahead of him. He easily cleared the water in one swift jump, losing no momentum as he landed on the other side.

A pink light flashed in the corners of his vision as his comms beeped in his ears, and his cap mic swung down into place.

"Scarlet, have you found him?" asked Magenta.

"No, but he's close," Scarlet replied. The signal was getting stronger, Blue had to be around here somewhere.

Scarlet slowed to a brisk trot, his eyes darting back and forth in search of a glimpse of blue amongst the greens and browns. "Damn it, Blue, where did you land?" he muttered between heavy breaths. Another slightly stronger spark gave him a clearer signal, and he turned and headed in that direction.

The first physical sign that he was going in the right direction was a single blue feather laying in the dirt.

"Blue?" Scarlet called out as he quickened his pace to a canter. He didn't get a response, but he didn't need one.

He pushed his way through the undergrowth, spotting another feather caught in the bushes. And on the other side, sprawled across the grass and worryingly still, was Blue.

"Magenta, I found him," Scarlet said quickly, before flicking his cap mic up and out of the way and dashing over to Blue. Magic shimmered around his horn as he tried to assess the condition Blue was in, though he could figure at least some of it out with his eyes.

"Blue, it's Scarlet, can you hear me?" Scarlet asked, cautious of touching him, not wanting to hurt him further. For the moment, he would rely solely on his magic giving him information on what was wrong.

Blue was breathing, and his pulse was a little fast, but he was alive and that was the most important thing. He hadn't responded to Scarlet's arrival, but the pained look on his face suggested that he was at least partially conscious. 

A quick glance at the broken branches above them confirmed Scarlet's theory of what had happened. The cuts and scrapes marking Blue's fur and feathers with red only added to that.

Scarlet’s magic gave no indication of injuries to Blue’s neck or back, which was a relief on its own. His legs seemed okay too, and there were no signs of any large bleeds anywhere. He’d definitely be bruised and sore for a while, but the fewer larger injuries, the better. 

One of Blue's wings was draped loosely over him, but the other was partly trapped underneath him, folded at an odd angle. The metallic tang of blood lingered in the air, mixed with dirt and sap from the broken branches that had ripped and torn at Blue’s feathers. Blood was dotted amongst the blue and yellow, and loose feathers were scattered around him. Some looked like they'd been dipped in red ink.

"Blue? I need to know if you're with me, buddy," Scarlet urged. Seeing Blue like this left a cold weight in the pit of his stomach. He needed to figure out the condition the fall had left him, and he needed to do it fast.

It took a moment, but eventually Blue opened his eyes and looked up at Scarlet. "Paul...?" he said, rough and quiet.

"Yeah, I'm here. Just stay still, okay? I've got you," Scarlet replied, meeting Blue's gaze with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. 

Blue gave a small nod and closed his eyes again. His breath shuddered as he exhaled. Something was definitely not right.

"My- my wing. It hurts-" Blue said shakily, his voice tight. Scarlet couldn't tell if it was from pain or fear. Or both. It was probably both.

Pegasus wings were powerful but delicate things. Many ponies, unicorns and earth ponies especially, didn’t realise how easy it could be to damage them. Broken feathers weren't uncommon, and whilst serious cases could affect flight, more often than not it just left the wings looking scruffy for a while whilst the feathering grew back. 

Anything that cut deeper than scapes or damaged plumage, however, could quickly range from concerning to devastating. And for a pony like Blue, a pegasus who loved to fly, who would probably spend all his time in the air if he could? Any kind of injury to his wings was frightening.

Scarlet had known at least one pegasus who had been almost completely grounded after suffering a badly broken wing. Even long after it had healed, they'd struggled to stay in the air for long. He didn't even want to imagine what something like that would do to Blue.

"Okay, I'll have a look," Scarlet said calmly. He didn't want to add to Blue's panic. It was already rare for him to be visibly afraid like this, Scarlet didn't want to make it any worse.

Scarlet pushed a little more magic into his spell, lowering his head to hold his horn closer to Blue's left wing - the one draped over him. Pale blue light, glittering with white and specks of green, shone against Blue's feathers as the spell did its work. Scarlet wasn't a medic, he couldn't heal wounds quickly like some unicorns could, but his magic did work as assessment and first aid, and right now that was what he needed.

Scratches and nicks of damage pinged across the length of Blue's wing where feathers had been torn out and the skin beneath had snagged on the tree branches. These were things that would heal easily. Feathers took time to grow back in, but relatively minor damage like this shouldn't keep a pegasus on the ground.

Scarlet carefully stepped over Blue and moved his focus to his right wing. If there was a more serious injury, he suspected it would be here. Trapped under Blue's weight and held at an awkward angle, it had likely taken more of the impact when he hit the ground. Scarlet really, truly hoped it wasn't anything too serious.

He took a breath, then shifted his magic over, the blue glow fading from one wing and settling on the other. Similar small pings of damage popped up at first, but were quickly overridden by a much sharper signal.

Scarlet focused his magic on that area, and swallowed hard as he processed the information he was receiving. Close to the elbow joint, just above it, was a much bigger flare. Internal damage, very possibly a fracture.

The blue glow around Scarlet's horn faded away and he stood up straight.

"Adam," he said, keeping his voice level despite the worry that had started to gnaw at him. Staying calm and professional was never easy when it was Adam who was injured. Especially not like this. "Do you think you can sit up? Or at least lay on your belly, rather than your side?" he asked. Whilst he didn't know a lot about treating a broken wing, he did know the basics - it had been covered in first aid training many times over the years. But he couldn't do any of that with Blue's wing still underneath him.

Blue nodded and lifted his head. "Yeah, yeah I think so," he said, a little steadier now, but Scarlet knew him too well, and the pain and fear was still very much there.

Scarlet crouched at Blue's side to help ease him upright, matching his slow movements to avoid hurting him. Soon, he was laying comfortably on his belly, his hind legs close to his sides and his front legs tucked against his chest. He stretched out his left wing, wincing as the movement tugged at the scrapes and pulled feathers, but other than that the movement was fluid, confirming that the damage was minimal.

The right wing, however...

Trying to move it was a bad idea, and that became obvious immediately. Blue's feathers twitched and he gritted his teeth, and the wing stayed half-folded at his side.

"Shit..."

"Easy does it," Scarlet said gently. His horn lit up again and magic flowed across Blue's injured wing, focusing on the point of pain and pushing energy into a spell that should help to ease it. He couldn't get rid of all of it, not for an injury like this. It wouldn't last as long as proper painkillers either, but it was better than nothing. "Adam, you're going to hate this, but I need you to stay calm."

Blue looked up at him, an uncommon dread in his eyes. He knew what Scarlet was going to say but didn't want to accept it. "Why?"

"Because it will be easier. For both of us, but mostly you. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

Blue took a deep breath and looked away. "Just tell me..."

Scarlet watched him for a moment. He hated seeing Adam like this, he really, really did. But he couldn't keep the truth from him. "I think your wing is broken."

Blue let out a shuddering breath and rested his head on his front hooves, his ears pressed flat against his skull. "Okay..."

Scarlet laid a gentle hoof on Blue's shoulder. "You'll be alright."

Blue didn't look at him, just stared forward at the grass and leaves, dotted with blue and yellow feathers.

Before Scarlet could say more his epaulettes flashed pink, and the mic in his cap swung down and into place.

"Scarlet," said Magenta. "Everything okay? How's Blue?"

Scarlet took a breath before he replied, willing himself to keep calm. Splitting his focus between his magic and his injured friend was difficult enough already. Adding another thing didn't make it any easier. 

"Injured, but awake and aware," he replied. "How are things out there?"

"We've dealt with our flying troublemaker. Another of the pegasi managed to take them out after Blue went down. They won't cause anymore problems," Magenta explained. Scarlet was simply glad that the pony responsible for hurting Adam had been stopped. "Grey just headed out to find you two. He's got first-aid gear with him. He's flying over the forest, could you send up a flare or something so he can locate you easier?"

Scarlet looked up at the canopy overhead. It was thick and full of leaves. Grey likely wouldn't be able to spot them from above unless he found the damaged branches. And flying through them would be tricky without catching his wings on anything. But a bit of magic could pull them clear for long enough to allow Grey to fly through.

"Yes, I can do that," Scarlet said, his gaze dropping back to Blue, laying quietly and still staring at nothing. "Can you and Ochre handle everything on your end?"

"We'll be fine, there shouldn't be too much cleanup needed. You focus on Blue, okay? Just keep us updated."

"S.I.G." Scarlet nodded.

His cap mic flipped back up into place, and he allowed himself a soft sigh as he closed his eyes, just for a moment. 

This was not the kind of situation he'd ever wanted to be in. Okay, a lot of what he dealt with whilst on duty were situations that he didn't want to be in. But his friends getting hurt was a major recurring one. And very near the top of that list, second only to the absolute worst of possibilities, were two specific things.

One was Magenta suffering an injury that could permanently damage or even destroy his magic.

The other was Blue or Grey damaging their wings to the point that it left them unable to fly. 

Grey had already relearned how to fly once in his life. But as far as Scarlet knew, Blue had never suffered any major injuries to his wings. So a fracture there, even a minor one, was almost definitely a worst fear come true for Blue.

Scarlet may not be a pegasus, but it was a fear he could understand, at least to some degree.

A broken horn, after all, could easily kill a unicorn if severe enough. Knowing that he'd likely heal from it didn't take that fear away.

He needed to focus. Look after Blue, and make sure Grey could find them easily.

"Okay. Adam?" Scarlet said, trying to get Blue's attention again.

The twitch of an ear and a quiet 'hmm?' was the only response he got.

"This might hurt for a moment, but the spell should stick for a while, alright?"

"Yeah, sure," Blue replied, still quiet, but at least he'd used words that time. It was so strange seeing him like this.

Scarlet watched him for a few seconds, but he knew he wasn't going to get anything else from him.

Carefully, very carefully, Scarlet pushed his magic into Blue's injured wing. A little basic telekinesis allowed him to gently move it so that it sat folded against his body. Blue flinched and grit his teeth, but was otherwise silent.

Scarlet didn't have anything to make a sling out of, not until Grey got here, so for now this was the best he could do. He pulled his magic away slowly, not wanting to jostle Blue's injury too much. 

The glow around his horn faded, as did much of the light clinging to Blue's feathers. But there was still a slight shimmer around the point of injury where the painkiller was still active. That should ease the pain Blue was in for a while. At least until they could get proper medicine into him.

A small spark of magic told Scarlet roughly where Grey was. Flying over the forest not too far away. He stood beneath the broken branches, his eyes flicking across the damaged area as he determined how he was going to do this. The gap didn't need to be large. Grey's wingspan was smaller than Blue's, so he didn't need as much space to manoeuvre. But for something like this, even Blue wouldn't need a lot of room. Both were capable of tucking their wings close to fit through tight spaces.

Scarlet's horn lit up, and smaller branches above sparkled with blue light as he moved them carefully, just enough to create an opening in the canopy for a pegasus to fly through. A second bit of magic temporarily locked the moved branches into place. 

Once that was done, the magic around his horn glowed brighter as he pushed more energy into it. The light shifted from his usual pale blue to a bright red, and with one more push, a burst of magic zoomed up past the trees like a shot from a flare gun. Sparkling scarlet against the overcast sky.

Scarlet watched from the ground, and soon saw the familiar silhouette of Grey flying overhead.

Blue was still laying quietly. Scarlet really didn't know what to think of that, but he was worried. Definitely worried.

He wasn't given a chance to dwell on it for long, though, as the flapping of wings above was quickly followed by Grey swooping through the canopy, spreading his wings wide to catch and steady himself, before hovering a few feet off the ground.

"Scarlet," Grey said in a way of greeting, before his eyes drifted to Blue, and he looked as concerned as Scarlet felt. "Is he okay?" he asked as he settled his hooves on the ground and tucked his wings at his sides.

"I think this might be one you'll understand better than me," Scarlet said, not looking away from Blue.

"What do you mean?"

Scarlet finally turned to face Grey. "I think his wing is broken."

Grey's ears flicked back, his gaze drifting back to Blue for a moment, before he sighed and nodded. "Okay. Let's patch him up and get him out of here. The sooner we can get him back to Cloudbase, the better." The worry and shared pain in his eyes betrayed the calm in his voice, but it wasn't something Scarlet could blame him for. Definitely not.

Scarlet glanced up at the trees as he cancelled the spell holding the branches still. The leaves rustled as they snapped back into place. Then he turned his focus to tending to Blue. 

Grey lifted his wing to let Scarlet reach his saddle bag full of first-aid equipment, and Scarlet took everything he'd need before getting to work.

The last time he'd done this had been in a first-aid training session. He'd been working with Blue then, too. Now he was, once again, carefully putting Blue's wing into a sling. But this time, he was dealing with an actual injury. And as with anything, that made it so much worse.

Grey laid down in front of Blue and tried to talk to him. He asked how he was feeling, if anything other than his wing hurt, even simply tried to distract him from what was happening for a moment. Scarlet listened, but Blue didn't really say much. Scarlet wasn't sure if it was fear, or shock, or pain, or all three. But whatever it was, he didn't like it, not one bit.

Things were going to be tricky for a while, it seemed...