“How did this happen?” a large brown pegasus stallion asked.
“I blame you exclusively,” a tall and slender white unicorn responded.
“Oh, and how is this my fault again,” the stallion asked shaking some of his messy brown mane from his face.
“Because, if it wasn’t for you being a klutz we wouldn’t have fallen off the cliff and gotten lost,” the unicorn replied as she moved some purple and blue hair out of her own face, her orange freckles accenting her amethyst eyes well as she glared into her companions bright blue eyes.
“Oh yeah…” the stallion replied glumly as he hung his head.

The two sighed into their cloaks as they trotted through the unknown wilderness. For those that new the recent tale, these two were Bright Leaf and Flurryshine of Braying Cliffs. For those that did not know, they looked like a wandering couple having a spat. The two continued on in begrudging silence. The stallion soon smiled meekly as he closed the distance to nuzzle his mare friend’s shoulder tenderly. She smiled at him and the two stopped to intertwine their necks lovingly.

Flurryshine couldn’t deny it. As much as she had loathed Bright Leaf over the years, she had begrudgingly grown to love the messy mane but tender hearted stallion. Bright Leaf’s tail twitched contently before they separated. The moment passed, Flurryshine’s warm smile was replaced by her trademark glare and a devious smile. The mare, that had developed a cynical view of the world from her rough life, continued on without even looking to see if her companion was following. They were lost, and probably going to be late to a party that they needed to attend. They had been lost for days now. It was almost inevitable that they wouldn’t make it to Ponyville in time. They instead focused on trying to find their way out of the accursed forest.

They walked for what seemed like hours now. They had grown used to it. Flurryshine was used to the traveling from her last great adventure, but Bright Leaf was a rookie. It took all he could to blindly stumble behind her. He had accidently bumped muzzle to plot with her a few times. All these times were met with swift and painful retribution from Flurryshine. Bright Leaf soon learned he should stagger as close to her side as he could to avoid bumping into her in inappropriate places. He was relieved when she finally stopped and laid down to rest. He graciously flopped down beside her and panted heavily.
“Tired?” Flurryshine asked half laughing at him.
“What do…you think,” he panted glumly.
“Don’t worry. We will be resting here tonight. Can you…can you loosen these bandages? I’m getting stiff,” Flurryshine said a little embarrassed.

Bright Leaf got to his hooves slowly and removed Flurryshine’s cloak. She didn’t even glance at him. Ever since a year ago, when she received her injury, she had grown accustomed to Bight Leaf tending her wounds. The stallion gently loosened the binding bandages over her damaged wings. You see, fate so cruel had made Flurryshine an alicorn. Due to her own folly, she was now an alicorn that could no longer use her wings. Thus, they were bound to her body with bandages ever since they had been irreversibly damaged. She tried to move them as the binding bandages were removed. Stiffly and painfully, they slowly unfolded and she managed to move her wings a bit.
“That…Ugh, that feels so much better,” Flurryshine said with a grunt. She then looked upon her bandaged wings remorsefully. It had been her own fault that they would never take her into flight again.
“No problem,” Bright Leaf replied gruffly as he turned to settle down nearby. The pegasus dared not look at his alicorn companion. He knew better than to interrupt her while she reflected on the past.

Bright Leaf found himself doing the same. His thoughts returned to that week of sleepless nights after the princess had brought Flurryshine and the heroes of harmony down from the peak. How he had done everything in his power as a healer to mend every broken bone and wound on her body. How he had repeated over and over that he would never allow her to be harmed again. He had spent those sleepless nights praying she would recover. For the most part, she had recovered. Her body held no more scars than the tiny ones she had before the great storm. All that never fully healed was her wings. He knew the moment he had seen the dislocated and shattered wings that first night that Flurryshine would never fly again. But, he hoped her resilient nature would hold true even for her wings. It had not, sadly.

Flurryshine looked up from examining her stiff wings to see the sullen look on Bight Leaf’s face. The familiar lump plopped in her stomach as she knew what he was thinking of. He was wallowing in his own self-pity over her broken wings. Poor stallion never stopped thinking about it when she asked to have her wings unbound. She smiled weakly as she got to her hooves and went to lie next to him. Bright Leaf flinched at first, but soon relaxed as he always did. The nervous pegasus still wasn’t completely used to the fact that Flurryshine actually gave a buck about his feelings! The cynical alicorn was usually cold to everyone but her closest friends. But, her friends were not here. They were probably at the party wondering why Flurryshine had never shown up, and writing it off as her being her usual moody self. No, Flurryshine’s friends were not here. She was lost in this Luna forsaken forest with the Braying Cliffs healer that everyone joked as her lover, the latter being completely not true. Well…mostly not true.

Flurryshine laid her head on Bright Leaf’s forelegs, which gave the young stallion quite a start. She chuckled as she lay there, not moving a muscle. Her stiff and pain filled wings intertwining feathers with his unkempt wings. Bright Leaf flushed at the attention she was giving him. This had to be one of her sick jokes at his expense! She wants him to react so she can laugh at him. He grunted as he tried to look away as least flustered as possible. Flurryshine looked up at him with an intrigued look on her face. It surprised her he was able to resist reacting to her. He would usual freak out at less than this. She only sighed as she settled down to rest for the night. Bright Leaf flushed slightly harder when he heard her soft snoring.
“C-crap…”he thought as he realized she was sound asleep practically laying all over him.

Bright Leaf gulped hard as he slowly laid his head over her neck. He tensed and flushed all at the same time as she made a small noise in her sleep. He was absolutely sweating bullets. She had to be messing with him! Why else would she blatantly lay on him when she usually glared at him if he came to close to her? He slowly fell into a shallow sleep that one would expect a panicked rabbit would have. He twitched as he felt Flurryshine snuggle closer to him.

The next morning, Flurryshine yawned as she woke from a restful sleep. She felt something twitch beneath her. Flurryshine was at first confused, but some realized it was Bright Leaf. Poor stallion probably stayed up most of the night scared stiff she was gonna jump him in his sleep. As she turned her head to look where his head was, she saw he was awake and had bloodshot eyes.
“What happened to you?” she tried to say without laughing.
“Y-you slept…on me…” he said through twitching.
“Yes…did it bother you that much?” she said, saying the last part like it had truly hurt her feelings at his reaction.
Bright Leaf raised his head upright and stared at her with concerned eyes as he scrambled to say,” N-no! Well, I was bothered. B-but, I…I just thought you were trying to trick me”
Flurryshine shuffled her front hooves as she moved her head back on them. She tried to look as pitiful as those stupid mares back home as she said sadly, “You think I am always tricking you? You don’t think I can show true affection at all. I’m just the mean alicorn to you, aren’t I?”
“No! Never, I…I l-…well, you know,” he said completely flustered as he blushed hardly.
“You are by far the most pathetic stallion in all of Equestria. You can’t even fess up to how you feel,” Flurryshine’s normal cynical voice said amused.
“You were messing with me!” Bright Leaf shouted.
“I am now, but I wasn’t last night, hay for brains,” she said bluntly and got up to retrieve her cloak. Bright Leaf blushed hardly as he glared at the ground. Sometimes he cursed the fact, out of all the mares in Equestria, he loved Flurryshine.

Flurryshine finished putting on her cloak over her damaged wings. She saw the sour look on Bright Leaf’s face and smiled. She quietly walked over to her brooding friend and nipped his ear. Bright Leaf jumped up and into muzzle to muzzle nuzzles from Flurryshine. He felt himself get flustered and his wings misbehave as they stood straight up. He glared morosely at the smiling alicorn. Flurryshine only giggled as she began to walk onwards, taking time to make the very tip of her tail flick against Bright Leaf’s muzzle. Bright Leaf groaned as he knew at this rate his wings won’t be lying flat against his body anytime soon. He soon put on his cloak and cantered to follow his companion deeper through this mind numbing forest that were still very much lost in.

Hours later the growls of their stomachs filled the air of the otherwise silent forest. Flurryshine ignored her own grumbling stomach as she marched onwards, only stopping to try and get her bearings. Bright Leaf took these moments to lie against her tiredly. He was a stallion of healing, not adventuring! Flurryshine rolled her ears as he panted heavily as he leaned against her. She shrugged him off as she continued towards what she thought was the sound of water. Bright Leaf stumbled as he followed after her. He stumbled down the hillside she had cleared easily.

He regretted what happened when he stopped falling. Once again, he was muzzle to plot with Flurryshine. He cringed as he heard the equine version of a frustrated growl. A few sharp hooves to the head had him sprawled at the riverside with a throbbing headache. He dizzily lay there while Flurryshine snorted and looked around.
“Geez, I swear you’re doing that on purpose now. …pervert,” Flurryshine grumbled shooting a sidelong glare at him.
“W-what? Hey, I am not a pervert! If you weren’t always in the lead, maybe I wouldn’t bump into you,” he exclaimed in his defense.
“Oh? Is that so? Fine then, oh wild stallion, you can lead us out of this forest!” Flurryshine shot back at him.
“M-me?!” Bight Leaf said completely baffled.
“If it atleast keeps you from bumping into my backside, I don’t care how lost we get,” Flurryshine replied.
“You can’t be serious! I don’t know the first thing about guiding ponies out of a forest!” Bright Leaf continued.
“Then you better be as quick a study as you are with medicinal herbs,” she replied as she grabbed his cloak in her muzzle and yanked him to his feet.

With a shove on his haunches, Bright Leaf stumbled along the riverside. He kept his head down as he walked along. He bumped into branches and was smacked in the face by other branches. He swore he heard Flurryshine laughing at him after a while. But, she always had a glare and a devious smile when he shot a glare back at her. Bright Leaf and his big mouth had done it now.
“This river has to lead to some sort of civilization, “he grumbled.
“By Celestia, he’s got it!” Flurryshine exclaimed sarcastically. He felt his eye twitch at this statement.
“You wanna lead? I will be more than happy enough to let you,” he shot back at her darkly continuing slightly quieter, “But, prepare to be stumbled into a lot.”
“…Bright Leaf, I sometimes think I am a bad influence on you,” Flurryshine said as she stopped to look at him weirdly.
“You think?” Bright Leaf replied as she took the lead again.
“Keep it up, and you’re sleeping alone tonight,” Flurryshine teased.
“Says who?!” Bright Leaf shouted.
“Says me! Problem?” Flurryshine replied with a smirk.
“Ah! No…” Bright Leaf grumbled and stared quietly next to her.
“That’s a good stallion,” she said in a happily patronizing voice.

Bright Leaf groaned in defeat as he walked alongside her. Once again, Flurryshine had won the argument. She had been so irritating on and off since they left home. His nerves were wearing thin from being the object of her constant torment. His dour mood was interrupted as a chill ran down his spine. His wings spread out completely under the cloak and he stretched his hind legs. His tail arched and twitched contently as Flurryshine nibbled from his shoulder to the small gap between his wings. He couldn’t help but whinny at the attention. Flurryshine chuckled as she stopped and nuzzled his muzzle with her own.
“I’m sorry,” she said sweetly. Bright Leaf only had time to smile wider than he already was before she cantered off with her tail flicking his muzzle lightly.

Bright Leaf puffed out his huge chest and snorted. Just when he was becoming some dark a dreary creature, Flurryshine had got him to remember what he really was. He was a pegasus stallion for Equestria’s sake! Not only that, but he was the only stallion that had the gall to approach the cynical alicorn regardless if it meant being maimed! He reared up before he galloped after her, his focus clearly on catching up and beating her to wherever this river ended.

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