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“Tiki? Wake up, you’re having a nightmare!” Kiburi gently shook Tequila until his eyes opened. Tequila gasped and sat up. He winced, he had put his weight on his broken arm.

“Tiki, are you okay? You were crying in your sleep again.” Kiburi spoke with concern and gently rubbed Tequila’s small shoulder.

“I don’t cry in my sleep.” Tequila responded, wiping the wetness from his cheeks. He shifted into a more comfortable position on his bed and sighed. Morning already.

“You do when you have nightmares.” Kiburi pointed out with a frown. He slid off Tequila’s bed and walked to his own to fix the sheets. Tequila lethargically did the same.

Later that day, after a mind numbing group session, Kiburi led Tequila down a different hall than usual. They would always go back to their room after group, but Kiburi could tell his friend was suffering from cabin fever.

“Where are we going?” Tequila asked as he limped beside his larger friend.

“The day room, there’s a door to a mini garden there. I was thinking maybe you’d like to fly or something.” Kiburi smiled.

“Last time I tried to fly a royal guard socked me in the gut.” Tequila cringed at the memory.

“Well you won’t be flying away exactly, you can just flutter around. I’ve seen pegasi use the garden to stretch their wings.” Kiburi trotted ahead to open the door for his friend.

“Ya know, I don’t think I’ve seen a single other pegasus in this place now that you mention it.” Tequila stepped through the doorway and looked around at the rather large day room. It was awfully bland, and the shelves in the corner were stacked with tattered board games. There were only a few other ponies in the room, all looking various shades of miserable.

“This is sad. Let’s go back to our room.” Tequila’s ears flopped in disappointment.

“Come on, at least see the garden. If you hate it we can go back to our room and talk about our feelings.” Kiburi taunted playfully.

“The garden you say? Which way?” Tequila suddenly perked up and sloppily trotted behind Kiburi as he led them towards the garden door. As said door swung open, a rush of fresh air blew into Tequila’s face. He took a deep breath and smiled. Kiburi noticed and grinned. The garden was in poor health it seemed, but there were some hardy holly bushes and a few tulips at the edges of the cobblestone path. It was also completely surrounded on all sides by the center. At the very least, he could see the golden sun. Tequila almost felt happy, then he saw Marge sitting some ways away from them. She looked directly at him and smiled. Tequila grimaced.

“Hold me back, I gotta beat up an old lady.” Kiburi snorted and held out his arm to block him.

“No fighting, besides, you’re at as much fault about the pruno as she is. Come on, lemme take that bandage off and you can hover or something. It’ll feel good to stretch your wings.” Kiburi said in a firm tone. Tequila glanced at Marge, then looked around him at the passable garden. To be quite honest, he did want to fly a bit. He nodded and turned to allow access to his bound wing. Kiburi gently unwrapped it, noticing the dried blood on the bandage. He winced in embarrassment.

“Does it still hurt?” Kiburi asked, feeling guilty.

“No actually, it feels okay.” Tequila smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. “Don’t beat yourself up, I should have explained which feathers were blood feathers.” Kiburi chuckled, embarrassed. Tequila took a few steps away from his friend and slowly spread his tense, shakey wings. He looked back to Kiburi who nodded supportively. Tequila took a deep breath and focused on the magic in his wings, then slowly began to flap them. Suddenly, he was hovering a few inches from the ground and in his surprise he fell back down.

“What happened?” Kiburi asked.

“It’s just been a while, no worries.” Tequila responded. He refocused on his magic and tried again. Soon he was hovering again, though seemingly a bit unstable. He let out a strange sound, one he didn’t immediately recognize. As he felt his smile grow, he realized he was laughing. He immediately felt self conscious and looked to Kiburi, worried he’d make fun of him. He did no such thing and cheered for his small friend, stomping his front hooves on the ground in applause.

They spent the rest of that day playing a childish game of tag in the garden. Tequila was laughing, his heart swelling from the enjoyment. Kiburi laughed with him, happy he was able to bring Tequila a bit of joy. Marge sat on a bench away from them, smoking a joint. As she blew out the smoke she smiled. She didn’t have to be their friend to be happy for them.

Upvotes at import: 11 | Stars at import: 4
Posted previously at: 2020-04-23T10:11:41 | Posted previously by: Mildgyth