Moonshine, Night Breeze, and I returned to the apartment after we finished the school for today. Overall, nothing but Arcane Arts was different from what I had at the previous school. Though, History is more deep now, so to say — we learn a lot of details now. Currently, we are at the rise of pony society. First tribes, clans, that sort of thing.

I wouldn't call that History lesson too interesting, though. I never liked that earliest history section in the first place. But what is interesting is our homework. All of us were divided into pairs, absolutely willingly (there was that shy colt that said he can work alone. Even persuasion didn't work well with him. Though, eventually he agreed to be paired with some other colt.), and each pair was to decide on a theme for an essay that we will present on the next week. Moonshine and I decided to be together for this one, and chose music as the topic of our essay. The thing is, we need to find how music was, um, invented, what first forms of it were known, and how they developed to this day. That's a pretty interesting topic the two of us like. I already know a bit about that, and, after some research, we'll come up with something interesting.

As for now, Moonshine is already doing her research while I'm writing down what I already know. So far, I'm not bored in any way.

Night Breeze, seeing that we've already chosen a pair, seemed a bit sad. However, she did find herself a partner. It's a teenage colt of her age, and the two of them picked the history of lunar pegasi. As I found out, Night is the first lunar pegasus to be born as a unicorn. Technically, she's not a lunar pegasus, and yet her nation's name stays the same. The thing is, those ponies were secluded and didn't accept any other pony from the outside their race. Up until recently, that is.

That's actually very interesting in many ways. If they were a small community of, I don't know, a few thousands of them at max, there could be incest involved. I don't know if inbreeding here works just like in our world nor do I care much. For all I know, Night Breeze can very well be fucking her brother every now and then. That's their business, not mine. Never had a sexy sister to deal with.

Anyway, back on topic of the research Moonshine and I do. She did find some things on how modern music came to be. Their 'electronic' music is actually synthesized by magic, thus rendering it 'magical' or, in a specific term, 'mawave', and it stands for 'magic wave'. Rather simple, I suppose. That mawave music is generated by doing some weird magic that has a lot to do with the sound waves, and interesting stuff comes out of it. Making magic into music seems not too difficult. That's why mawave is very popular.

So, that basically says that the whole music is divided into two categories: magical and non-magical. The latter is played via various musical instruments that produce sound by themselves, no magic involved. There were some attempts at bringing the two categories of music together, but it didn't work out well. Those genres are not popular at all, mainly to the weird sound that comes out as a result of combining mawave with classical.

And yet, classical instruments can be replicated by magic, but something as complex as a guitar or pipe organ can't be replicated well.

Yeah, this topic is definitely very interesting to read about. But I think it's enough for today.

Now, that I think of it, I suppose I should relax for a bit. Taking off my clothes and releasing my wings from magic, I flopped onto the bed to take a short nap, not forgetting to bolt the door. I don't want anyone to see my wings. Well, besides those who already know about them, that is.

Moonshine told me that she's going to dig up some more information, to which I nodded. If she wants to work, that's fine. I, on the other hand, feel like I need a bit of sleep.

***

Some time later, I woke up to Moonshine shaking me slightly. Ufff, I was sleeping so... Ugh.

As I opened my eyes, grunting groggily, she said: "Um, there's Blueblood at the door."

Uh, what? Oh, him? I've not seen him in quite some time. Might as well see what he's up to today.

"Yeah, I'll get him." I nodded to the filly, getting up from the bed.

Stirring from the sleep, stretching all my six limbs (counting that wings are limbs. They're technically arms, right?), I yawned. Hiding my wings under the magic, I went to the door and opened it.

"Hey, Flame, what's up?" Blueblood greeted me.

"Birds in the air." I chuckled. "Hey, Blueblood. Come in."

"Don't joke like that, it's kinda stupid." he rolled his eyes, and entered the room. "Anyways, I was really surprised to find out you've moved away from that hostel. You're in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns now? Wow, congrats!"

"Yep, thanks." I nodded. "So... what were you doing?"

"Resting from the school, of course." he replied. "It's weird to know that you're studying now. I guess they teach a lot of stuff, right?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, so I was thinking... Are you busy now?" he asked.

"Not too much, why?"

"How about we go sliding? There's that ice park opened in the Gardens. It's really amazing!" Blueblood told me. "There's an entrance fee, I'll cover that. As friends, we should have some fun together!"

"Like... bowling?" I almost snickered.

"Hey, I absolutely love bowling!" his eyes widened. "Know any great places?"

"Um, I don't think so..." I replied, taken aback slightly. Who pulled my tongue? I always lose at bowling!

"Ah, we'll find something someday." he waved his hoof dismissively. "So, are you ready for fun?" he turned to Moonshine. "You're invited, too!"

"Um, thanks..." Moonshine replied in her shy manner. I guess she grew a lot more comfortable with me than others.

"I'm ready." I said, and Moonshine followed me with a nod.

"Let's not wait any longer, then!" Blueblood beamed. "Grab your stuff and let's go!"

***

This park is fucking amazing! It has statues made of ice, houses made of ice, even flowers are made of it! I'm afraid to touch those, they look so fragile. But wow do they kook beautiful!

It looks like a land of crystal. Some things are painted in different colors! Wow, I've not seen anything like that back in my world! And, to my surprise, the ice isn't too cold to touch! It's chilly, sure, but not too much. I can actually sit on it for some time and not get my ass frozen.

As for the slides, they are absolutely fantastical! All sort of them are present here, even extreme ones with trampolines!

This place is a bit better than the one in Ponyville, actually. It's no surprise since unicorns built it with their nifty magic. I suppose everything in Ponyville is hoof-made, at least the most part.

So far, the three of us have great fun in this place. We went through a frozen maze, climbed up some ice statues, and slid on a lot of slides. This time, we're going on the highest one. Without the trampoline, of course. First of all, we would hurt ourselves there, and second, we're not allowed there at all. Adults-only, apparently. Though, I agree on this.

Now, I go first. Taking a seat on my vatrushka, I gestured for Blueblood to push me. He did, and—

Hooooolyyyyy craaaaaap! Amazing!

Fuck, the speed is so high!

...

I can't even think right now!

...

Coming to a stop far away from the slide, I sighed heavily, letting out the breath I didn't know I was holding. Wow, what a ride!

I got off my vatrushka and went away from the slide. I don't want anyone to hit me. It'd be quite painful.

Next, Moonshine comes. I see as Blueblood pushed her, and she started sliding. Even from here, I can hear her yelling. Yeah, this ride is awesome!

And then, something unexpected happened. She touched the sidewall of the slide, and everything went wrong: her vatrushka went one way, and she continued to slide. I cringed, hearing her cry of pain. Fuck, something bad happened to her!

As she slid to the bottom, I rushed to her and carefully moved her away so that no one would hit her.

"Hey! Moon, everything alright?" I asked her.

"Uh... Uh..." I could see tears in her eyes. "No..."

"Where does it hurt?" I asked, fearing the answer. Please, let that not be a broken leg!

"H-here..." she slightly shook her left foreleg, and groaned in pain. "Ow!"

"Oh, buck me in my butt!" I heard a voice behind me. I turned my head and saw Blueblood. "Moonshine, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have pushed you that hard!"

"Um... don't blame y-yourself." she said. "You p-pushed Flame as h-hard, and h-he's fine."

"Everything alright here?" I heard another voice. It was one of the watchers of the park rushing to us.

"No, it's not." I shook my head. "She might've broken her foreleg."

"We need to get her to the hospital, then." the watcher replied. "We've got similar problems, we don't have any stretchers available. There's unusually high injury count... Can you get her to the hospital by yourself?"

"I think I can." I nodded. Using my magic, I moved Moonshine onto my back with utmost care. She didn't even wince, and that's a good sign. "Moon, don't worry, I'll get you there in a jiffy. Blueblood, take our stuff, alright?"

"I got it!" he replied. "I'll get it back to your apartment, alright?"

"Okay." I nodded. "Thank you, Blueblood. Shame our fun turned into this..."

"Yeah..." his ears folded. "I guess... see you next time?"

"Hey, don't blame yourself, friend." I told him, seeing his rather sad expression. "And... leave your address somewhere. I might write a letter to you now and then."

"I'll do it." he nodded.

Alright, I need to get Moonshine to the hospital and see if that's a broken leg or something else. I really hope there's nothing that would put her in the hospital for any time.

***

It turned out that it's nothing more than a hard contusion. As a doctor applied some kind of gel onto Moonshine's leg, I waited, relieved that she hasn't broken anything. As the doctor finished, he told us to wait a couple of minutes for the gel to soak in. That's when I'll need to carry her back to the apartment since the gel will heal everything in about an hour. Good news, I suppose.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Moonshine after the doctor exited the room.

"More or less okay." she replied while lying on a hospital bed. "Thank you."

Without voicing anything, I leaned in and nuzzled her. That made her feel better, judging by a relaxed expression and a slight blush on her face.

And that made me feel better about this situation. I don't want her to suffer.

I really shouldn't have restricted myself from loving her. This is the best feeling I've ever felt. Caring for someone... It seems like a burden to some people, and yet I think it's something... different. It's hard to put this in words, I suppose.

***

After we returned home, I carefully laid Moonshine on her bed in a comfortable position. Her injury started to heal already, judging by her leg being less swollen than before.

"Um..." she said. "Uh, may you... lie with me?" she blushed. "That'll certainly, um, make the pain go away."

I nodded with a smile, and then climbed onto the bed and relaxed next to her. No matter how silly her words sounded, I see that she needs to divert her attention from the pain. Gladly, I can and will help her with that.

Oh, I forgot to take off my hoodie and pants. Here they go, I don't need them. I really like that being nude like this is fine in this country. It's not even something perverted or anything, it's just a normal thing, nothing special about it. I wouldn't like to see nude grannies, though. Well, I've seen some old ponies walking around without clothes, but that doesn't... strike me. I mean, everything that would be uncomfortable for me to see is hidden well, and all old ponies seem to be in a rather good shape.

So, I think I'll just lie here with Moonshine. I can actually do something for her while I'm at it... I moved closer and engulfed her in my embrase, to which she slightly gasped. Wrapping my front legs around her, I let my wings out and wrapped them around her as well, making a sort of a cocoon.

I can see her cheeks becoming even more red than before. Yeah, I know that doing what I just did is a rather intimate thing. I think I came across it in a book... Anyway, letting someone touch your wings is a rather intimate thing to do, not to mention embracing someone with them.

I planted a kiss on Moonshine's cheek, and then nuzzled her. While I'm not ready to call her 'my love' or 'my dear' or any other more or less special name, I do love her. I mean, I feel like saying something like those words would be silly, cringy, and awkward. I don't really know if I can be romantic or not, either. I want to be romantic, for her and for myself, but I don't think I know how to do it right.

Well, I'll find out in time.

Author's Notes:

Since Flame let his feelings flow, he discovers more and more about his sensitive side, about love and how to make it work right. He's doing careful steps to avoid making mistakes.