Tommy's left wing burned with agony as she climbed. Her home floated high above her. It usually seemed like a short trip, but she was beginning to doubt she could make it before her wing gave out. Her body trembled with effort. She wasn't weak! She could do this!
Then she could lie down, rest her wing, and nopony would know she'd strained it screwing around doing laps around the Whitetail Woods.
The weather was turning bad. Rain spattered her coat, quickly building to a heavy, soaking downpour. Nothing she couldn't deal with, right? But as the water soaked her fur and feathers, she got heavier and heavier. Soon her wing gave way, and she was falling.
But before she even had time to fully appreciate how ironic-slash-stupid it was for one of the greatest living fliers in Equestria to die from flying in the rain, something strong but soft caught her from behind. She squawked as whatever it was pulled on her, lifting her skyward, pulling her in jerking, unsteady flaps towards her home. She looked up to see wide yellow wings spread over her.
?
They landed in a sodden, feathery heap on Tommy's front porch. Annika rolled off of her, gasping, too exhausted to speak. Tommy pushed herself to her hooves and tried to fold her wing, only for stabbing pain to stop her.
"Oh, mother of buck!" yelped Tommy.
"Tommy S," hissed Annika, pushing herself to her hooves, mane drooping wetly. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"You saved me. I got it," said Tommy. "I'm grateful, but, hey, it's over now, right? Wanna come in and have a cider?"
"Flying in a rainstorm with a hurt wing! What were you thinking?" hissed Annika, closing on her with rage in her eyes. Tommy sensed a Stare coming, and tried to avoid eye contact.
"Hey, hey, how was I to know it was gonna rain? I mean, freak weather, am I right?" she said, backing past the Equestrian Weather Service planning whiteboard hung in her front foyer. It had a little raincloud drawn on the box for today, and a note in Tommy's illegible mouth-writing.
"You could have been killed!" said Annika. "What were you thinking!"
"I can handle a little sprained wing. It's fine," said Tommy, looking at the ceiling to evade Annika's glare. "I mean, everypony has accidents right? It's just lucky you were nearby… um… hanging around flying at high altitudes in bad weather?" That didn't sound much like Annika.
"A little bird told me where to find you," said Annika.
"I knew small town rumors spread fast, but I didn't think they were that efficient," said Tommy.
"No, a little bird literally told me," said Annika, ducking her head. She seemed to have given up on the Stare. Instead, she circled around behind Tommy, nudging her on the flanks to shepherd her to the bathroom.
Tommy glared over her shoulder at Annika. "You have your animals spy on me?"
Annika looked up, making eye contact. Her eyebrows snapped down. "Because you're always doing things like this!" said Annika, eyes glowing with protective rage. "You take risks, you don't take proper care of yourself, and then you're too proud to ask for help when something goes wrong! You need to be protected from yourself! Now get to the bathroom. I need to look at your wing, but first, we need to get you dry so you don't catch a chill!"
Tommy ducked her head and whimpered. "Yes, ma'am."
?
Annika draped the towel over Tommy's right side and lower back, avoiding the wing that hung down pathetically at her left side. Tommy shivered as her hooves rubbed the fluffy fabric into her coat, soaking up water. She shivered as Annika rand the towel down her right wing. She shuddered when she wrapped it around her tail and pulled it down the length, sloughing off water.
Tommy winced preemptively as Annika came around to her other side.
"Don't worry, you big baby," said Annika, "I'm not going to hurt you. Does it hurt when I touch it?"
"No," whimpered Tommy. "Only when I try to move it."
"So it's probably not broken," said Annika, running the towel lightly over Tommy's feathers. "I'll split it, and we'll put some ice on it."
"How would I have broken my wing just flying? I don't even understand how I pulled a muscle just flying. I wasn't even going that fast!"
Annika left the room. She could be heard outside, digging through the first aid kit she made sure to keep at Tommy's place. "You're getting older, Tommy. You have to be more careful with your body."
"I'm twenty-three!" protested Tommy.
"You're not a teenager any more. Did you warm up before you went flying?"
"Sure I did. A little," said Tommy.
"Mmm-hmmm." Annika came back into the bathroom carrying splints and bandages. "Sure you did."
?
Soon afterward, Tommy was lying on her bed, left wing splinted and spread out across the mattress. Annika was fussing around in the kitchen feeding Tank. Tommy breathed slowly, listening to the rain outside, focusing on the pain in her wing and trying not to panic. She'd been hurt worse. She sure had. Yep. If she just kept reminding herself that, she might not freak out.
Annika came into the bedroom, balancing a plate of cookies and a cup of milk on her back. Tank hovered in after her, landed at the foot of the bed, and promptly fell asleep. Annika passed Tommy the milk, then set the cookies on the bed and climbed in after them.
"Milk and cookies in bed! Sweet!" said Tommy, taking a big sip of milk through the straw.
"Be careful," said Annika, taking a cookie for herself and sliding the rest over to Tommy. "If you finish your milk before you finish your cookies, you're going to be sad."
"You've got to ration it," agreed Tommy, taking another sip.
"Eat some cookies. You'll feel better."
Tommy scarfed six cookies, finished her milk, then lay back carefully on the bed. "My wing's gonna be better again soon, right?" said Tommy.
"Yes, silly," said Annika, setting aside the cup and plate and wriggling up against Tommy's side. "But we need to take you down to Dr. Horse when the weather clears." She slid her hoof across the fluff of Tommy's chest. Tommy arched her back with pleasure.
"Oh no. You're good enough at patching ponies up. I'll be fine," said Tommy, wrapping a foreleg around Annika's back and pulling her against her good side. She liked the way the taller, leggier yellow mare's body enfolded hers, making her feel safe and protected. "We don't have to tell anypony else about this."
"No. I've had emergency medical training, but I'm not a doctor. I'm not even a veterinarian. We've got to get you to a real doctor. When the rain clears, I'll go find some of your Weather Service friends and they can carry you down.
"Oh. Okay," said Tommy, her voice cracking.
"Tommy! What's the matter?" said Annika.
"It's just… if you get help… everypony will know I hurt myself, and… They'll know I'm not awesome," said Tommy, her voice cracking.
Annika nosed at the tears running down Tommy's cheek. "Tommy, Tommy, no! You are so awesome! You're just not perfect. Nopony's perfect."
"Nuh-huh. Being perfect is part of being awesome. It's in the dictionary." Tears squirted out of Tommy's eyes.
Annika rolled her eyes. "'Awesome. Extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear. Or, informal: extremely good; excellent.' Both describe you. Neither involves being perfect. Also, the dictionary is just something somepony wrote. It's not like its approved by Celestia herself as the exact meaning of words, so stop bringing it up as an argument for things, okay?"
"But… but I want to be perfect. I want everypony to look up to me!" wailed Tommy, squirting tears.
Annika licked Tommy's cheek. "Mmmm, salty pegasus tears."
Tommy giggled. "Stop that! That tickles!"
Annika gripped Tommy's chest with her forelegs and kept licking. "Only when you run out of delicious, delicious tears."
Tommy pushed her face away. "How can you even do that! It's gross! Gross!"
Annika tittered. "If you were perfect everypony would hate you, Tommy. It's only because you occasionally do boneheaded things that other ponies can even stand to be around your incredible awesomeness."
"Awww," whined Tommy. "Why do ponies gotta be like that?"
"I don't know. I'd still love you if you were perfect. I'm awed by your glory." She smirked. "But. Can I tell you something terrible?"
Tommy rolled her eyes. "Please. Tell me your darkest secret."
"I don't like it when you get hurt. But I like having to be your mom, sometimes. Is that bad?" Annika tossed her head so her bangs fell over one eye, and smiled over at her nervously.
"Ugh. You're not acting like my mom because you don't worship the ground I walk on," said Tommy.
"I don't know," said Annika. "We could try that later. When you're feeling better." She stretched, pressing her barrel languorously against Tommy's side. "But for now, I think it would be a good time for one of Tommy's favorite activities."
"Yeah?" said Tommy, looking sidelong at Annika. "What's that?"
"A nap," purred Annika, drawing out the vowel. Outside, the thunder rumbled, shaking the cloudy walls of Tommy's house. Annika squeaked and squeezed up against Tommy's side. "Also protect me from the thunder please!"
Tommy laughed. "Don't worry. I won't let it get in the house."
"Okay. Good. Thunder is so rude," said Annika.
Annika kicked up the blankets bunched near the foot of Tommy's messy bed with her hind hooves and pulled them up over both of them. She lay her head on Tommy's neck and closed her eyes. She flicked off the bedside lamp with one wingtip and squirmed in under the covers.
"Mmmm. Warm." rumbled Tommy.
"I love you, Tom," said Annika.
"I love you too, Ann," mumbled Tommy. She was snoring in seconds.