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Extracurricular Studies

Velocity was his name; and flying was his game. The best in his class, one of the best fliers in Equestria. He was a Pegasus without peer; an aerodynamic artist who could tell a story with his wings.

Or at least, he had been.

Blue Streak was his actual name. Velocity was his stage name, for when he was with the Wonderbolts. He had been fast-tracked to their ranks when his amazing flying talents had been discovered. It had been a dizzy time of excitement for him. His first show was looming, and he needed to impress his fellow Wonderbolts with a trick they'd never seen before. Something that was rare and cool.

And it was around about that time when he saw Rainbow Dash perform her Sonic Rainboom in the Best Fliers Competition.

His goal was set.

Then-Velocity had set himself up perfectly for it all, the morning before the big show. He was confident. It was only breaking the sound barrier. He would be faster than sound itself.

Or that was the plan.

He had done just as he had seen Rainbow Dash do; flown up high, and then shot down with all the speed he could muster. His wings strained, and he flattened himself out to be perfectly aerodynamic, slicing through the air. He hit the sound barrier...and then something went wrong.

Instead of breaking, it bounced him. It was like hitting a brick wall.

Hitting a brick wall at the speed of sound.

The sheer G-force exerted on his frame had knocked him unconscious, and he assumed he landed on something soft. Assumed, that is. Because by the time he woke up again, he was surrounded by the main six of the Wonderbolt team, all anxiously waiting for him to awaken, with Spitfire and Soarin in the front.

An unfamiliar room greeted him, with a beeping machine attached to him, and his wings, his beautiful wings, splinted in no less than three dozen places, with straight braces attached to stop them from bending any way that wasn't 'advised'. Which was any way at all. He had managed to break his wings. Not just break them; but shatter them. Thankfully, he hadn't been killed. But he didn't feel very thankful at that moment. He felt more...depressed.

His wings were broken, and the doctors were telling him that it would an entire year before he was even allowed to attempt to fly again, and that was only if his wings healed right. If they didn't heal properly, he'd never fly again. The news was a crippling blow. Velocity had immediately discharged himself from the Wonderbolts in disgrace, and even though Spitfire and Soarin both offered him a place in the Wonderbolts when he got back into the air, he turned them down. He would try out again if his wings healed. He would earn his place back again.

And that was that.

His team...his former team, left. He had never even flown with them in a real show before.

And so, Velocity went back to being Blue Streak, the rather blue pony, and laid up in hospital for a total of three months before he was allowed back out on his feet.

Naturally, during the healing process, he read books. A lot of books. He exhausted the hospitals supply and had spent the last few days of his internment bugging the nurses for the exact date of his release.

And then, finally, he was free. He was escorted back to Cloudsdale, with his very own weather Pegasus to summon him up a cloud to take him all the way back to his home.

But, very quickly, he grew bored. The other Pegasus weren't very inclined to wait for him to catch up with them, and their idea of fun was always physical. He simply had nothing to do in Cloudsdale until his wings healed. If they healed. So, eventually, Blue Streak found his way to Ponyville.

---

His legs were straining, burning, weak and shaky by the time he managed to get himself into Ponyville. He never walked anywhere. Like any pegasus, his area of comfort was the sky. He was more used to zipping through the clouds than walking around on the ground. His hooves hurt.

Weary and shaky, he splayed himself across the first patch of grass that looked comfortable enough for an extended rest, crawling weakly under the shade of a tree and resting his head on crossed forehooves, his wings twitching just slightly, trying to comfortable in their eternally-uncomfortable braced position. The motion made him arch slightly with the shock of pain it gave him. He would never get used to that. He hoped he wouldn't have to.

He had walked all the way from Cloudsdale. And it was odd. He had made the trip before; visiting Thread Bare, the mare who made the uniforms for the Wonderbolts, an Earth Pony whose only job was to tend to the outfit needs of the Wonderbolts. And it had taken him not even a fifth of the time that walking had. It had been strange to see the sights of the way; things he had never noticed, and never would notice from the air.

But at that moment, he needed a drink. His throat was sore and dry, and he felt hot all over. He made his way over to a drinks stand, paying for a mug of lemonade and eagerly sipping at the sweet liquid to slake his thirst, panting in between swallows of the lovely drink. It also tasted strange. Pegasus food and drink wasn't as...earthy.

He looked about as he drank, keeping an eye out for anyone who looked interesting. The main street was busy, but in a rather languid way. Ponies going about their daily duties, doing this and that, paying no attention to anything that didn't directly effect their duties. It was just like in Cloudsdale, really. But on the ground. The earth under his hooves felt strange, considering that most of his adult life had been spent walking across spongy clouds.

He attracted one or twice glances with his wrapped wings, mild interest. But no one approached him directly. He was just another pony.

Finishing his drink, Blue Streak handed his mug back, before heading down the street towards the inn. He needed somewhere to sleep for the next few weeks. He didn't want to sleep on the grass. He had money saved up, thankfully. And finding a room wasn't too hard. It wasn't 'tourist time' as the innkeeper said, showing him to a room.

He settled himself down on the bed for a rest, splaying out contentedly, lifting his head to peer out the window for a moment. He could see Canterlot perched on the mountainside not too far away; maybe he would visit there once he was done in Ponyville.

But for now; it was time to rest. He needed it after that giant walk, especially given that he was so unaccustomed to that mode of transport.

Yawning slightly, he crossed his hooves and laid his head on his forehooves, closing his eyes to rest.

---

Blue Streak awoke in the early morning, a shaft of sunlight shining on his face, bright and unyielding, green eyes blinking rapidly as they opened, and he shifted his head back further into the relative darkness of the room so he wasn't blinded. Birds were chirping happily outside his window, and ponies were already beginning to set up their stalls in the street.

Shifting, he crawled to his feet, brushing a hoof up to straighten out his hair. Like all the Wonderbolts, his hair was swept up and backwards; it was quite deliberate. It kept their manes out of their eyes. Oh, and it looked cool as hell, too.

Yawning faintly, he minced out of his room and out the front of the inn, looking left, and then right, trying to decide on what to do for the day. It wasn't like he had a whole lot planned. 'Don't hurt your wings' was firmly at the top of his list, but other than that, nothing.

He decided to head down the street to the right, and see what the different stores had. His legs were stiff and sore, not wanting to respond to his motions, and wouldn't bend properly. They were surprisingly weak. It wasn't very far down the street that he was looking for somewhere to rest, groaning faintly.

Blue Streak's gaze fell upon the library, and his eyes lit up. He could go find a book; and rest while he was there!

Wobbly-kneed, he stumbled over to the door of the library, and pushed it open with his nose, pressing it wide open so that his wings wouldn't brush the door or the doorway, before neatly closing the door behind him and looking around at the room contained within. It was circular, as one would expect from a building made from a standing tree, with books neatly arranged along the shelves carved from the wood walls themselves.

Somehow, he knew that it was a magical dwelling. No tree could survive having its heartwood destroyed like this, remain standing, and alive of all things, without magic.

He was not disappointed to see a Unicorn walk gracefully down the steps, absorbed in a book, face hidden behind it. She was a rather light purple in colour, with deep blue hair broken up by purple and pink highlights. The book in front of her was glowing faintly with the tinge of pink magic she was using to keep it open in front of her.

Blue Streak blinked once, canting his head to the side slightly, and then clearing his throat, thinking it rude not to announce his presence. "Uh, hi!" he said.

The book lowered a little, and a pair of stunning purple eyes looked him up and down, the Unicorn's brows furrowing at the sight of his wrapped wings. "Well hello there." she said brightly. "I'm Twilight Sparkle; you are...?"

"Blue Streak." he replied after a moment, looking her up and down a little bit. "I'm here to have a look at your collection." he added with a single nod.

Twilight Sparkle smiled a little bit, lifting a hoof to wave around at the books arrayed across the shelves. "Help yourself." she said warmly. "But, please put the books back where you found them. Just between you and me, I hate asking Spike to reorder the bookshelves every few days." she said with a chagrined grin.

The pegasus nodded. "I'll be careful." he promised.

"Good!" she chirped happily, before carefully magicking the book onto a shelf. "I'll be back later on. Help yourself to any books you can find." she said with a smile, opening the door and slipping out it

Blue Streak blinked a little bit after her, and watched as a baby dragon scuttled past waving a quill and carrying a long list of some kind, calling for the librarian to wait up. He watched the baby dragon hurry out of the door after the Librarian, a brow raised slightly, before he minced over to a bookshelf to start searching, humming faintly to himself and roving the shelves until he found something that caught his eye; the first Daring Do book, the only one he had never managed to get to read, as the hospitals version had gone missing somewhere. He pulled it out with his teeth, and carried it over to an out-of-the-way corner of the library, opening it up and settling down to read.

---

A faint sound left the blue pegasus as he lifted his head up, blinking several times down at the page his nose had been smushed against. It was page thirty, and a quick look at the window indicated that it was late afternoon.

He didn't remember falling asleep. but it had been so comfortable and stress-relieving to just lay there, reading, that he must have drifted off.

Rubbing his nose with a hoof for a moment, he noted what page he was at, and then closed the book, rising to his hooves shakily, giving the faintest of groans at the pain and burn it caused in his limbs.

"Oh, you're awake!" a voice said, and Blue Streak winced slightly, turning to look sideways at the Librarian.

Carefully replacing the book, he turned back to face her, rubbing his mane with a hoof in a rather chagrined way. "Uhm...yeah. Sorry about that. I kinda had a long walk. Not so used to it. Tired me out." he tried to explain, jerking his head towards his bandaged wings.

The Librarian gave an understanding nod at that. "It's perfectly alright. You looked rather peaceful sleeping there, so I decided to let you be for now." she said with a smile.

"I believe the term you used was 'cute', Twilight." the baby dragon said, before a hoof shot out to press against his maw and keep it closed, a blush spreading across the purple unicorns cheeks.

Blue Streak looked between them, unsure what to say about this. "Well...thanks!" he said brightly, smiling a little bit and then picking up the book in his maw, peeking up at the bookshelf and then placing it carefully back where he had gotten it from. "Sorry about falling asleep in your library, ma'am." he said, inclining his head towards her respectfully. "I just had a very long day...and walk." he admitted, chagrined. "Not so used to walking." he added with a faint smile, indicating his wrapped wings.

"Oooh, it's perfectly fine." Twilight replied with a smile and a nod. "You weren't disturbing any one."

"Unless you count snoring." the dragon said sarcastically, and the librarian rounded on him.

"He was not snoring." she hissed vehemently.

"Come on Twilight, either he was snoring or he was very craftily sawing an iron bar while pretending to sleep." the dragon said, evading a hoof-swipe from the librarian to waddle up the stairs to the second floor.

Blue Streak just stared for a long moment, his head canted a little to the right, blinking once.

"Sorry about Spike. Baby dragons, you know?" she said helplessly.

"I...really don't." he said with a shake of his head. "Never seen 'em before." he admitted.

"Well, he can be kind of moody and takes a while to warm up to people." she explained with a slight smile. "You should have seen him when I decided to keep Owloysius. He was sooo jealous." she whispered conspiratorially.

"I was not jealous!" called a huffy voice from the second story, and Twilight giggled.

"Well, I really should find my way back to the inn before it gets dark." Blue Streak said, as his stomach gave a faint, though very audible rumble.

"Oh geeze, I didn't realise that you must have slept through lunch already." she said, sounding concerned. "And especially after all of that walking you did to get here. Stay here for dinner!" she said with an earnest nod.

Blue Streak blinked a little bit at the sudden offer, giving a slight strained expression. "I couldn't do that Miss Sparkle." he said with a respectful nod.

"Oh no, it's really no problem!" she said with an firm nod, smiling at him. "I'll just whip something up really quickly, and then you can on your way."

The pegasus winced just slightly, but saw no way to refuse while still being polite, giving a little bit of a nod in response. "Okay then, sure, I'll stay for dinner." he conceded.

Twilight smiled, clapping her hoofs together a moment. "Spiiiike!" she called.

A grumble answered.

"Spike~ Can you set the table for three?" she called up to him.

A muffled response was heard, as the dragon began to set the places for dinner, the clatter of cups and plates echoing down from upstairs.

"You live in the Library?" he asked, raising a brow at her.

Twilight nodded with a smile. "Can you think of a better place for a Librarian to live?" she asked, tilting her head innocently to the side.

"Touché." Blue Streak replied with a nod of his head. "I guess it must make it easier to research everything you need to." he said with a faint smile.

"But of course!" Twilight said with a smile, turning about and beginning to climb the stairs to the second floor, motioning for the pegasus to follow.

Blue Streak trailed after her, stepping up the stairs, huffing faintly when he reached the top. As a general rule, pegasi hated staircases. Who needed staircases when you had wings?

Spike was just setting the finishing touches on the table, putting a candle-in-a-cup at each side of it and lighting it by blowing a kiss at each wick.

Already, the places had been set, and Spike had pulled himself up a chair, seating himself down with his arms crossed over his chest, watching the two of them.

Twlight moved over to the counter next to the table, and began to whip up something quickly to keep their interest while the main course was prepared.

She started with flowers, laying them out on a tray and then delicately splaying a mixture of crushed honeycomb and actual honey over them, before laying them up into a kind of cake of sorts, rather tall and thin. A quick flash of magic seared the mixture together in to a kind of stiff, hard resin. She happily turned around, depositing part of this odd-looking dish on a plate in front of him, while placing a bright red ruby down in front of Spike.

Spike wasted no time in popping the ruby into his maw, chewing it up with the sound of rocks being crushed, before swallowing.

Blue Streak peeked at the sticky-looking tube of daffodil and honey, tentatively leaning forwards to lap at one edge of it. He blinked at the sweet taste, before giving an appraising nod, and then tilting it up with a hoof so he could bite down on it, crunching up a portion of the treat and then swallowing it down happily. It had a very odd texture, and a taste he couldn't really place; but it was far from unpleasant.

Twilight hummed happily to herself as she dug an apple pie out of her cold-cupboard, and then placed it on a tray, pushing it into the oven and closing the door, placing a hoof against the oven door and closing her eyes, her horn glowing brightly for a moment as the over got hotter, and hotter. A minute or so later, the oven dinged, and she opened the door, pulling out the apple pie and leaving it on a rack to cool for a few moments, turning around to make sure that he was enjoying the entrée.

The pegasus smiled at her faintly, nodding slightly. "This is good." he said, crunching up the last of the treat as Twilight magicked a knife to begin cutting the apple pie into sections, lifting them neatly on to plates, and then floating them over to the table.

Spike's slice was obvious, as it was encrusted with precious gems, and he immediately set to nomming down his slice of pie quite happily. Before Blue Streak or twilight even managed to take their first bite, the dragon had finished his entire slice and then slipped off the chair to crawl over to his bed, mumbling something about 'goodnight!' before throwing the blankets over himself.

Blue Streak stared for a long moment, and Twilight just giggled. "Well, that leaves us alone, at least." she said with a happy little nod, taking a bite of her apple pie and raising her brows at him. "So tell me, Blue Streak, what brings you to Ponyville, if you don't mind me asking?"

The pegasus paused a moment, taking a bite of his own slice and then pondering on the question. "Well, you probably already guessed that I had a horrible accident. So I kind of can't fly." he said, jerking his head over his shoulder at his injured wings.

"I noticed." Twilight said, sounding slightly concerned.

"Yeah. I haven't been able to fly for...I think it's been four months." he said with a shake of his head.

"I...wish I could sympathise. I can't imagine living without magic for four months." she said with a slight shudder.

"Yeah, I guess it is a little bit like that." he admitted, blinking once at the neat analogy. "So, I kinda ditched Cloudsdale for Ponyville for a while."

"I see. I've only ever been to Cloudsdale once or twice. I went to watch Rainbow Dash compete in the Best Flyer Competition," she said with a nod.

Blue Streak winced slightly at that.

"But I never really got to look around all of Cloudsdale. It seems everything up there needs wings to get around and do anything. I didn't see a single library." she said with a look of utter distaste.

"Yeah, Cloudsdale is kind of...boring without wings. All of my friends kind of didn't know how to treat me since I couldn't fly. The other Pegasi are always very physical. Kind of hard to do much with broken wings." he said with a wry smile.

"I can imagine." Twilight said sympathically. "So you came to Ponyville for something to do?" she queried.

"That, and books." Blue Streak admitted with a grin.

"It seems the only Pegasus who actually read are those deprived of their wings." Twilight observed, nodding once as she took another bite of apple pie, before raising her brows at him. "Just how did you manage to do that to yourself, anyhow?"

The pegasus winced slightly at that. It was a rather...embarrassing tale. He just felt more, and more stupid every time he reiterated it to someone new.

"Well...I was at the Best Flyer competition, too." he said with a slight nod. "I saw Rainbow Dash perform the Sonic Rainboom. Most amazing thing I ever saw." he admitted with a strained smile. "I wanted to impress the rest of the squad...and I kinda tried to the Sonic Rainboom." he admitted, looking down at his plate.

Twilight canted her head to the side, ears pricking upwards at him. "Isn't that dangerous?"

Blue Streak raised a brow, and then looked left, and then right, obviously motioning towards his wings. "I'd say so." he admitted.

"So it broke your wings?" she asked, wincing sympathetically.

The pegasus nodded helplessly. "In several different places. I don't remember any of it. After the barrier bounced me, I was knocked unconscious. All I remember is waking up in hospital with my wings all splinted."

The purple unicorn winced slightly at that. "Well I'm very sorry for your injury." she said with a single nod.

"I'm not." Blue Streak stated.

Twilight blinked at him. "But...your wings...?" she asked uncertainly.

"Sure. I broke my wings. But it kind of...evened me out." he admitted with a single nod. "Ever looked back at something you did and wish you could just brush all the memories from your mind?" he queried.

She paused a moment, before nodding once. "A few things, yes." she stated.

"I want to do that to nearly all of my memories before joining the Wonderbolts." he stated flatly.

"You were part of the Wonderbolts?" Twilight asked with a faint gasp.

Blue Streak splayed his ears backwards as he realised his slip of the tongue. "Sort of. I was their newest member." he admitted. "I was scheduled to perform at the show after the Best Flyer Competition; but that's when I attempted the Sonic Rainboom. Stupid, childish thing to attempt." he said with slight contempt.

"We were all young once." Twilight said soothingly, leaning forwards to pat his hoof with her own.

"Young; yes. But I was exceedingly stupid." he pointed out with a shake of his head.

"You got me there. But you learned from your mistakes, yes?" she asked, ears perking.

Blue Streak gave a firm nod. "I doubt I could fail to learn the lesson, what with being confined to the ground for the next six months."

"Another six months?" Twilight murmured with a deep wince. "That is...truly unfortunate." she said. "What about the Wonderbolts?"

"I quit." he said, waving a hoof dismissively. "I didn't even get to my first show with them, and I managed to break my wings. And even if I can fly again, I certainly won't be doing anything fancy for a very, very long time." he added with a slight sigh. "I even managed to lose my Cutie Mark. I mean, how often does that even happen?" he asked, shaking his head once. "But enough about me. What about you?"

"Ohhh, I'm just a Librarian." she said with a faint smile, and then blurted; "But I totally control the Element of Magic and defeated Discord and Nightmare Moon."

Blue Streak raised a brow at her, impressed. "Everypony's heard about that...but I didn't know it was you." he said with a slow nod, looking at her in a new light. "Not just a librarian, huh?" he grinned slightly.

"I guess you could say that." she admitted with a smile, her cheeks flushing faintly. "I'm kind of just a Librarian while I'm here learning about Friendship under the orders of Celestia." she said with a happy nod.

"Well that's nice. Have you learned a lot?" he asked.

"Oh, I've learned heaps!" she gushed, nodding enthusiastically. "And the others girls help me sooo much. I thought I'd hate it here when I first got here...but now, I'm kind of hoping I never have to leave." she said with a smile.

Blue Streak nodded in understanding, finishing off his slice of apple pie and then sitting back in his chair, while Twilight finished her own.

"Thank you for dinner, Miss Sparkle." he said with a respectful nod.

"Please, call me 'Twilight'." she said warmly.

"Well, thank you very much for dinner, Twilight." he corrected, smiling at her across the table. "You're open tomorrow, aren't you? I'd like to come back and finish reading that book." he said.

"Oh, you're welcome to come back whenever you want!" she said a little bit too quickly, nodding at him vigorously.

Blue Streak paused a moment, narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously. He was starting to get the feeling that her interest in him wasn't just friendship. "Free books to read while in the presence of such an attractive librarian. How could I resist?" he asked with his most innocent expression.

The blush spreading across the unicorn's face just confirmed his suspicions, and she stared down at her empty plate, nervously moving her hoofs back and forth in an embarrassed fashion. "I don't know about 'attractive'." she murmured.

"Oh, but you certainly are." he confirmed with an earnest nod, flattering her shamelessly.

"Well, if you're certain..." she murmured.

"Oh, but I am." he said, slipping off his chair and then carefully carrying his plate over to the sink, grabbing her own plate on the way past and beginning to wash them up, humming to himself.

Twilight's head shot up, and she tried to say something to stop him, but he held up a hoof. "I insist on at least doing something to help after you gave me such a nice dinner." he said with a nod.

The purple unicorn frowned slightly, before relaxing and then sitting back at the table. "I suppose I can let you." she said begrudgingly.

Blue Streak grinned over his shoulder at her for a moment, before humming faintly and washing up the plates and utensils they had used, placing them all neatly in the drainer.

When he was done, he turned back around, and then respectfully bowed his head to her. "Thank you again for dinner, Twilight. Can we do it again sometime?" he asked.

Twilight smiled and nodded faintly. "Sure! I don't mind cooking for others." she said with a happy little nod afterwards.

The pegasus paused for a moment at the lack of reaction to his words. Did she realise he had just basically asked her on a date? But no, she seemed to think it was purely for food, and not for company.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow!" he said with a happy nod, moving to walk down the stairs.

"Blue Streak?" she asked.

He paused, peeking over his shoulder at her.

The unicorn bit her lower lip a moment, as though trying to think of the right thing to say, and then deflated a little bit. "It's nothing." she said after a moment.

He canted his head a little bit in confusion, before shrugging inwardly and waving a hoof. "See you tomorrow!" he said, bouncing down the stairs and then letting himself out, closing the door behind him.

Twilight watched him go, frowning slightly to herself. She moved over to her bed, before pausing, and then turning about to retrieve a book from one of her many bookshelves, carrying it with her to bed, curling up to read avidly.

---

The next day would find Blue Streak waking up to a violently twisted knot in his stomach, a throbbing pain that splayed him out in the bed helplessly, writhing in pain. Of course, this also caused him to grind his wings in to the bed, which didn't help at all in his mitigation of the pain, stuck between the pain of his wings being touched, and the vicious sharp pains of his stomach apparently trying to mutiny against the rest of his body.

There was a faint knock at the door. "Are you okay?" came the faintest of questions.

Blue Streak groaned, the only real sound that wanted to actually escape him at that moment, somehow shaping the groans in to words; "Sure...if blinding pain is normal..."

The door creaked faintly as it was pushed open, and Twilight, wearing a worried expression, minced over to the bed. "I'm sorry Blue Streak, but I didn't realise that some of the food I gave you was poisonous to Pegasi..." she murmured.

The pegasi's head shot up, and he yelped as the movement strained his wings. "P-poison?!" he spluttered.

Twilight snorted derisively a moment, laying a hoof on his chest to steady him, making him bare his teeth at the extra weight on his broken wings. "I bought the antidote with me...but it'll take a while for it to take effect." she said, digging in a bag and coming up with a phial of blue liquid.

She pulled the stopper out of the top, and then tipped some of the foul-tasting liquid into his mouth. He almost gagged at the revolting taste, but managed to keep his stomach down, returning to his groaning and curling into a helpless foetal position.

"I'm sorry Blue Streak." she reiterated, ears pinned back, her expression chagrined. "I really should have known it would make you sick.

"I-it's alright." he panted after a moment, before clenching his mouth closed, concerned that he would throw up if he left it open for too long.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked, her ears still lowered apologetically.

"Don't think so." the pegasus replied with brutal honesty. "Just need to wait for it to stop hurting."

Twilight shrunk back a little bit at that, giving the faintest of unhappy sounds in the back of her throat. After a few moments of indecision, she crawled up on to the bed with him, and laid herself out along his side gently, beginning to soothingly rub a hoof against his stomach. "Well I'm here if you need me." she stated, resting her head on his foreleg.

The pegasus made a faint sound, and lifted a hoof to lay on her neck gently, before he drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

---

Blue Streak struggled against gripping winds as he free-fell downwards. His wings were trapped against his sides. There were bandages around them! He had to get them out of the bandages!

He clawed at the bandages with his hooves, stretching back to try and bite frenziedly at the constricting bandages keeping him from spreading his wings and arresting his deadly fall.

The ground was rushing up at him, he had to hurry!

---

The poor Pegasus was strapped down to the bed. The doctors had deemed it too dangerous to his safety to move him to a more secure facility, and so had trussed him up for his own safety.

He had become delirious after the first day, while the flower's potent fluid, poisonous to Pegasi, but having no effect on unicorns or earth ponies, coursed through his system, being slowly counteracted by the antidote. But it had been delivered a little too late to save the Pegasi from some pretty bad hallucinations.

The biting and clawing at his wings had drawn blood and ruined some of the bandages, and every time he got close to his wings, he screamed in pain; but continued doggedly biting and trying to get at his wings as though his very survival depended on it.

---

The light hurt. Far too much to be normal. The pegasus squinted heavily, and then tried to throw a hoof over his face to block out the light, finding that it was rather securely tied to the bed.

"Uhhhh...hello? Anyone?" he called, his voice hoarse from lack of moisture. He swallowed hard, and then tried again. "Heeeellllllllloooo?!"

"Uhwha?" a groggy voice said, feminine and very tired-sounding.

Risking opening an eye, he squinted into the harsh twilight streaming in the window to catch sight of the pony of the same name, whom was lifting her head from a pillow, from a position that could not possibly have been comfortable to any creature with bone structure.

"You're awake!" she squeaked, instantly bouncing down from the chair and rushing to his side. "What's your name?"

Blue Streak gave her the most condescending stare he could, what with being tied up like that. "Blue Streak." he stated flatly.

"Oh good." she said, giving a faint sigh of relief. "You've been calling yourself 'Velocity' for a few days now, and you've been trying your damndest to rip the bandages off your wings."

"They...do feel kind of sore." he said, blinking and frowning once, before tugging at his bonds gently. "...Can you like, untie me?" he asked hopefully, raising a brow.

"Oh...yeah!" she said with an earnest nod, shifting to being tugging open the nylon bonds holding him down, having kept him from causing injury to himself.

"I'm guessing I was delirious or something?" he asked, frowning a little bit. "How long has it been?"

"Three days." Twilight responded with a single nod. "The doctor left you in my care so long as I promised to force-feed you medicines once you were coherent enough not to choke on them. And yes...you were pretty out of it. Who's Velocity?" she inquired.

Blue Streak splayed his ears backwards a little bit, stretching a hoof out as it was released from the straps. "Velocity was my stage name, back when I was with the Wonderbolts. I was faster than the other 'Bolts so the name kinda just stuck." he said with a nod. "I haven't heard that name since my accident..." he frowned deeply, and then shook his head. "Thank you Twilight. It means a lot to me that you stayed here to look after me." he said with a firm nod.

Twilight moved around to his other side, starting to undo the other straps holding him down. "Oh it was nothing." she stated. "It was my fault for feeding you those flowers anyhow...I was wondering why Fluttershy gave them all to me and didn't keep any for herself..." she said with a shake of her head. "And you're not out of the woods yet." she stated firmly. "You need another few days of recovery. Monitored!" she explained with an earnest nod.

"Monitored?" he asked, lifting an ear and then stretching out for a moment, trying to rise to stand, only to find that all four of his legs were seemingly made out of jello. "Ugh..."

The unicorn nodded once. "See?" she asked, and a powerful force seemed to lift him from the bed and place him gently on to all fours. "You're staying at my place for a few days, and I will accept no arguments." she stated with a stomp of her hoof. "The doctors said you need to be monitored in case you have a reaction to the medicine and-"

"Okay then." Blue Streak said with a nod.

"I doubt you know any other ponies around here who would be willing to look after you for a few days, and not to mention that as a Unicorn I can...wait, what?" she asked, blinking slowly, only just realising that he hadn't brooked an argument, but rather, an agreement to her terms.

"I said 'Okay then'. Pretty universal for 'yes'." he responded in an off-hand way, picking up his bag and starting to stuff various things in to it. "But you're going to find some way for me to repay you. No arguments." he stated.

Twilight gave a nod and a smile at that. "Oh, definitely!" she said, her expression becoming something a little more mischeivous.

Blue Streak raised a brow at her expression, and then shook his head slightly, finishing packing his meagre belongings. "Shall we go, then?"

Grinning, Twilight nodded, bouncing towards the door and opening it for him, fairly ushering him out of the room and down the hall.

The pegasus paused long enough to thank the innkeeper, tipping him extra since he had been such a problem, before being ushered outside and towards the library.

"I even have tons of books around for you to amuse yourself with!" she beamed.

Blue Streak smile faintly at that, nodding in response. "Indeed. And eye candy if I get bored of that." he added with a sly grin at her.

"Eye candy?" Twilight asked after a moment, looking at him sideways. "How...does that even work? Do you put sugar in your eyes?" she asked, sounding alarmed. "That sounds unpleasant."

Blue Streak would have face-hoofed if he wasn't walking. "It's not so literal." he explained. "It means candy for the eyes. Something that is pleasing to look at."

"Oh, I get it!" she said with a grin, bouncing slightly, opening the front door of the library for him.

Once he was inside, she closed the door after herself, and then pointed up the stairs with a hoof. "Just put your things up there for now." she said with a smile and a nod.

Blue Streak made his wobbly-legged way up the stairs, to deposit his bag, while Twilight moved around downstairs, humming to herself, digging up an old painting from the previous tennant of the Library,and beginning to adjust it on the wall very, very carefully. It was a brightly-coloured picture of the fabled Sonic Rainboom.

Blue Streak caught sight of a book half-stuck underneath the Unicorns pillow, with the word 'L'art' and part of a word 'sédu' visible. It seemed foreign.

It would be a minute later that the Pegasus was sitting behind her, head canted to the side. "..Whatcha doin'?" he asked.

"Giving you eye candy!" she stated naively, still facing the wall as she adjusted the painting just so.

Blue Streak raised a brow slowly, peeking at her for a moment, eyes lingering on her rump for a second, before he grinned at her. "Indeed you are." he stated, before peering at the painting. "I take it you don't realise that eye-candy refers, almost specifically to members of the opposite sex, right?" he accused playfully.

"Oh." Twilight said, pondering on that for a long moment, slowly turning to look at him over her shoulder, replaying their conversation over in her head, her eyes slowly widening. "OH!" she squeaked, her cheeks flaring with heat, her magic failing her and sending the painting crashing to the ground, the glass shattering as she spluttered a moment.

The pegasus winced slightly at the breaking glass, but was amused at her complete lack of tact. "You're very cute, Twilight." he said with a slow nod.

Her cheeks flushed further, and she quivered slightly.

"But I get the feeling that if I flatter you any further, then you might end up crashing through the window to escape." he added dryly, shaking his head at her happily and the moving to begin sweeping up the broken glass.

"W-well I don't know what to say." she squeaked.

"That much is obvious." he pointed out with a grin, dumping the broken glass in to a wastebin.

"S-so I'm eye-candy to you?" she asked, her ears flattening slightly in nervousness.

Blue Streak seemed to pause for a moment, thinking, before giving a single, firm nod. "Yup!" he confirmed.

The unicorn made a faint sound, somewhere between a squeak and a squeal, his affirmation not helping her blush at all. "W-well I'm glad!" she added.

The pegasus smiled faintly, and then watched her for a long moment, an uncomfortable silence stretching between them.

"Welp, I'm gonna finish reading that book." he said with a nod.

"O-okay!" Twilight responded with a bright stab at her usual attitude.

The pegasus made his way over to the corner, finding the book he was reading, and then pressing it open , flicking the pages until he found where he was up to, and starting to read happily.

Twilight shuddered faintly as his attention finally wavered from her, and she let out a long sigh of releif. She looked around to make sure he was completely distracted, before bounding up the stairs and digging the book from under her pillow, and beginning to read fervently.

After an hour or so, Twilight came down the stairs, a feather duster magically levitated in front of her, wearing what could only be described as a maid outfit. Celestia knew where she had gotten hold of it. She began to hum faintly to herself as she dusted, keeping herself facing away from him.

It took Blue Streak a few moments to realise what was happening, lowering the book slightly to stare. Eye candy was one thing; but this was another thing entirely. "Twilight?" he asked, raising a brow.

The unicorn studiously ignored him, continuing to dust.

Blue Streak paused a moment, blinking slowly, before returning to his book. The constant sight of young Unicorn rump was distracting though, and after re-reading the same paragraph five times over and not absorbing a single word of it, he put the book down.

"I know you're doing that deliberately." he stated.

The unicorn continued to ignore him.

Frowning slightly, he rose to his hooves, and then stepped over to her, standing right beside her as she dusted.

"Twilight?" he asked.

There was no response again.

Lifting a hoof, he waved it in front of her face. Again, no response. No reaction.

"You know you're cute, right?" he asked, staring at her for a long moment, his head canting to the side. "And the way you keep facing away from me." he smacked his lips lewdly. "My-my, now that gives new definition to 'eye-candy'..."

Again, there was no response; but the blush spreading across her features, burning furiously, was indication enough that she was doing all of this deliberately.

The pegasus frowned slightly, and then moved back over to the book, picking it up and deciding to just ignore the Unicorn and her exceptionally odd behavior.

A shadow covered the pages, and he looked up to see Twilight standing in front of him, her ears lowered and a forlorn expression on her face. "What am I doing wrong?" she asked dishearteningly.

"...Wrong?" he asked, an ear pricking upwards at her.

"Yes, wrong!" she exclaimed, stamping a hoof against the ground. "I did everything the book said to do, and none of it has worked." she stated. "And I feel really stupid now..."

"The book?" he asked, staring at her for a long moment, confused. "Which book?"

Twilight sighed, turning about and plodding up the steps, coming back a minute later and dropping a book in front of him with a thud.

It was the same book he had seen half-under her pillow, entitled; 'L'art De La Séduction'.

Blue Streak began to laugh heartily.

"You're not helping!" The unicorn growled.

Blue Streak wiped tears of mirth from his eyes, looking from her, to the book, and then at her silly outfit, raising a brow slowly. "So, let me get this right. You've been reading that book, and trying to seduce me?" he asked.

"Yes!" she hissed vehemently. "And all you do is laugh at me!"

The pegasus shook his head slowly, and then pulled himself to his hooves, pulling her in to a kiss before she could pull back.

Twilight stiffened slightly, her eyes widening, a faint little squeak leaving her, before she began to relax slowly into the kiss, her cheeks flushing with blood once more, her limbs getting a little wobbly.

Blue Streak broke the kiss, smiling at her faintly, waiting for her to catch her breath.

The unicorn panted faintly, shuddering and staring at him, her ears splaying fully and her cheeks flushing a little bit further, mumbling incoherently for a moment. "Y-y-you like m-me?" she squeaked.

The pegasus nodded once in confirmation.

"B-but you didn't react when I was doing all those things!" she protested, as though offering evidence to counteract his argument.

"...And?" he asked, raising a brow.

"The book says you would react to those things if you liked me!" she protested vehemently.

The pegasus shook his head, sliding the book aside with a hoof, nudging his nose against her own reassuringly for a moment. "Books can't teach you everything. Especially not where other ponies are concerned." he said with a single nod, smiling at her warmly.

Twilight gave a faint whine, shaking her head slightly. "That does't make sense! Books teach you everything!" she affirmed.

"And yet, I just did everything contrary to the book, yes?" he asked.

She opened her mouth to reply, and then closed it, speechless for the moment.

He lifted a hoof to press against her lips for a moment. "You think that books can teach you everything, but this is one thing you have to learn for yourself." he said with a slight nod, removing his hoof.

Twilight gave him a look like he had just explained to her that her favorite pet had died. "...Okay." she murmured, staring at her hooves.

"Don't worry, I'll help." he said, nudging her once and grinning.

"S-so...does this...make us a couple?" she asked uncertainly.

"I dunno. You might have to ask me to make sure." he said with a sly grin.

"But you already know the answer; you're just making me ask for your own enjoyment!" she accused.

Blue Streak gave a firm nod. "Yup."

Twilight gave a growl of frustration, prodding him with a hoof. "Will you be my boyfriend, you horrible Pegasus?" she asked.

The pegasus sat down, lifting a hoof to his chin, tapping it a few times. "On one condition." he said after a moment.

Her ears pinned back, having expected a straight up 'yes' in response. She was not prepared for conditions. The book said nothing about conditions.

He picked up the book in a hoof and waved it at her. "No more trying to figure me out with books." he stated firmly.

Twilight's bottom lip quivered, and the silence stretched out for several long, long seconds, before she deflated a little bit. "Okay." she whimpered.

"Good." the pegasus said, placing the book on a bookshelf. "So, where exactly am I to be sleeping?" he asked.

"You're not supposed to ask me that yet!" she squeaked, picking up the book and putting it in its correct position.

"...Why?" he asked after a long moment.

The unicorns cheeks flushed even further, and she whimpered once more, looking up at him helplessly. "W-well...I-I was going to make excuses until it was too late to make up a bed for you." she admitted in a mortified whisper.

"...So I'd be sleeping on the floor?" he asked, wrinkling his nose.

"No!" she protested. "I-I...was going to sneakily suggest that y-you sleep in the bed with me..." she said in a very, very small voice.

Blue Streak gave a faint laugh at that, shaking his head and leaning forwards to rub his nose against her own affectionately. "You're a very devious pony, Twilight. It's adorable." he stated, starting up the stairs.

The pegasus paused halfway up the stairs, peeking back at her over his shoulder. "Well?" he asked.

Twilight stared back at him, confused. "...Well?" she asked in response, blinking once.

"Are you coming up to bed or not?"

Twilight flushed deeply, but she was quite certain that it was the fastest she'd ever ascended the stairs to her room.

The two ponies lay under the blankets, with the soundly-sleeping dragon in his basket and the owl sitting in its usual spot, their voices low so that they wouldn't disturb them. It was a week since Blue Streak had started staying at the library with her, and in all that time, both of them had neglected to get him his own bed.

It looked like the pegasus was there to stay.

"I have a confession to make." Twilight murmured, rolling over to face the Pegasus, wrapping her hooves around him tentatively. "B-but you have to promise that you won't be mad." she added.

"I promise nothing I can't provide." he said, nudging against her once. "But I'll try."

"I poisoned you on purpose." she blurted, burying her face in his neck, hiding from him.

The pegasus blinked at her a moment, raising a brow and nudging against her soothingly for a moment. "But...why?"

"Because you're so self-dependent!" she hissed in response, nudging against him firmly with her nose. "You don't hate me?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.

"I know you must have had a good reason to put me through all that...or at least I'm sure hoping you did." he said, his tone flat. "So I'm withholding judgement. Why was my independance such a problem?"

"W-well...the book said that if I wanted to get closer to you, I should do something to help you out of a tough situation. L-like...helping in ways that no one else can without being asked to. B-but you had a much stronger reaction to the flowers than Fluttershy did...It only put her in a little bit of pain for a night, and she was fine afterwards." she said, nodding earnestly against him, burying her face in against his chest and whimpering slightly. "Please-don't-hate-me."

Blue Streak set his jaw, shaking his head slowly. "Twilight. Look at me." he stated, his tone flat and stern.

The Unicorn drew back tentatively, looking up at him, her bottom lip quivering, tears beginning to build in her wide eyes. "Y-you hate me, don't you...?" she asked tremulously.

"Twilight," he started, his expression softening from angry to soothing. "Did I mention how hopelessly adorable you are?" he asked, grinning at her and rubbing his nose against her own slowly.

She squeaked slightly in response to that, giving a fainy shudder and wrapping her hooves around his tightly. "You don't hate me?" she asked hopefully.

"How could I hate you?" he asked, snuffing a laugh, nuzzling in against her slowly and wrapping his hooves around her in response. "Just promise me you won't poison me again." he murmured, smiling.

"I promise I won't do it deliberately." she purred with an earnest nod. "But the only way to be sure is if you don't ever let me cook again." she said with a single nod.

"Your cooking isn't that bad." he purred, nuzzling against her.

"It really is. And if you two don't shut up, I'm sleeping downstairs." growled the dragon from the foot of the bed.

Twilight giggled, wrapping her hooves around him and gently nuzzling in against his neck slowly, settling in to sleep.

It was several minutes later, when his breathing was steady and deep, and she was certain that everyone was asleep, that she leaned in, summoning up all of her courage, and then breathed in to his ear; "I think I love you, Blue Streak." before giving a shaky exhale and snuggling up to him, happy to have gotten that off her chest.

Whether he was conscious or not, the pegasus smiled, and squeezed her happily with his hooves.