All I Do Is Draw

MAIN PROMPTS:

Day 1: resentment / infection / sinister

Day 2: electricity / dislocation / drugs

Day 3: lonely / paradise / cold

Day 4: shackles / support / stoic

Day 5: gunpoint / gristle / terror

Day 6: high / choking / charred

Day 7: needles / tense / smile

Day 8: angel / bite / mercy

Day 9: fresh meat / tragedy / selfish

Day 10: payback / beast / beating

Day 11: cpr / corrosive / coughing blood

Day 12: storm / stumbling / squirm

Day 13: cave in / catatonic / plane crash

Day 14: itch / skin / hooks

Day 15: hidden enemy / crime / body

Day 16: broken promise / flood / still waters

Day 17: chemicals / count / chronic condition

Day 18: flayed / knew it / shattered

Day 19: head trauma / wires / fuzzy

Day 20: training / jealousy / woozy

Day 21: sorrow / sanguine / system

Day 22: watching / bonded / resistance

Day 23: blanket / bold / crowbar

Day 24: draining / deadly / doomed

Day 25: twisted / aversion / crunch

Day 26: listless / misstep / remember

Day 27: rest / behave / title

Day 28: party / mania / limit

Day 29: exile / leash / fault

Day 30: quiet / pinned / perfect

Day 31: free day

ALT PROMPTS:

Alien

Headline

Tradeoff

Disappear

Freak show

Worry

Power hungry

Shadows

Reconditioning

Blindfold

Reunion

GUIDELINES:

Prompts should ideally be responded to in the form of whump

Creators can make any type of media they want (Yes, this includes any kind of media, no matter how niche. As long as it’s creative, it’s allowed)

Tag & trigger warn your content accordingly. This includes marking NSFW and putting up proper barriers against minors seeing it

You can complete these prompts in tandem with any other event or other prompts (such as in combination with Bad Things Happen Bingo, AU-gust, etc.)

DO NOT use ai or plagiarize

Tag your works as #augustofwhump and/or #augustofwhump2026. In addition to that, you can also tag this account — @augustofwhump. I’ll try to reblog whatever I can!

Extra info and clarifications here

The August of Whump 2026 ao3 collection is here!

“FUCK!”    

“Yeah, you’re not supposed to do that! Remember what the nice medic lady said?” 

“Fuck you, Ochre!” 

“Bit busy, Mags.” Pistol in hand, Ochre carefully leaned around the corner of the dilapidated and abandoned manufacturing building and watched for any sign of pursuit. 

Currently somewhat useless and in significant pain, Magenta clutched his dislocated right arm and let the decaying brick wall hold him up. Ten-ish minutes ago they’d been on the roof of the nearby office building, checking out some odd additions to the radio mast, then there’d been gunfire, they’d both slipped on the wet, mossy tiles, and caught the edge of the guttering to save themselves, but he’d lost his grip with his left hand, twisted, and dropped the rest of the way (thankfully only one story) to the ground, dislocating his shoulder in the process. Ochre had followed (unharmed) and that was when the gunfire had started. They’d gone for cover, and because he could not for the life of him shoot straight with his off hand, he’d tried to put his shoulder back. 

Yes, they all knew how to do it, the nice medic lady back at Koala had taught them because between them they had enough previously dislocated shoulders that they needed to know how to put them back, but he’d never done his shoulder before, and the nice medic lady had specifically told them (with graphic examples) that relocating a first time dislocation was outside their pay grade. 

“Okay, I think we’ve lost them.” Ochre turned worried eyes on his shoulder. “Let me take a look at that and get a sling going, then we’ve gotta move.” 

Adam wasn't kept in the sickbay for long, and Fawn discharged him the following afternoon. After that, he mostly kept to himself and stayed in his quarters.

If the circumstances were different, Paul would assume Adam was doing as he was told and resting. But with the way he'd been acting, there was definitely more to it this time.

Paul still had to work his shifts as usual, but Adam's room was next to his, and he found him elsewhere a couple of times as well. He'd take any chance he could to check in. See how Adam was. Try to talk to him. But nothing much changed in the way Adam responded. There was clearly a lot going through his head, his ears constantly pressed back, his thoughts elsewhere.

Usually the joke would be that his head was in the clouds too much, even for a pegasus. That wasn't what was happening now, though.

Over the next couple of days, Paul spoke to the other Captains and to the Angels when he saw them, and he asked if they'd talked to Adam at all. If they knew how he was, or if they'd had more luck getting anything out of him.

Almost everyone's answer was the same. Yes, they'd seen him. They'd tried to talk to him. But he hadn't said much in return.

On the fourth day, Scarlet strolled down to the promenade deck after his shift. Much to his surprise, he found Adam sitting by the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the clear blue sky that stretched out endlessly around them.

"Hey, I've been wondering where you were," Paul said as he walked over. Adam's ear flicked back towards the sound, but he otherwise didn't move. "I've been worried about you. We all have," Paul added as he stepped up beside Adam. He waited for a reply, but didn't get one. Adam simply stared out at the sky.

The stallion in front of him now certainly wasn't the same confident, well put together Captain Blue that Paul saw most days. No. Not in the slightest.

He was wearing a faded blue hoodie, the fabric frayed at the elbows. It was old, but comfortable, and Adam only ever seemed to get it out when he wasn't feeling great. His thick fur and blonde mane and tail were slightly ruffled, as if he hadn't bothered to tidy himself up to his usual standards before leaving his room. And his usually bright blue eyes were dull and tired. Paul couldn't help but worry that he hadn't been getting the rest he needed.

The room fell silent as Paul tried to figure out what to do. Or rather, what to say. He and Adam were very alike in that talking about feelings wasn't something they were particularly good at. Trying to prompt the other to talk when something was bothering them was a battle they'd fought many times over the past few years. It had gotten a little easier as they'd gotten to know each other better, but it was still difficult sometimes.

But Paul wasn't the type of pony to give up before he'd even tried. And this was no exception to that.

After all, Adam was his best friend. And he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Adam would do the same for him if the roles were reversed.

Paul let the quiet linger for a little longer. He sat down, placing his cap by his hooves and curling his long tail across the floor towards Adam. A habit, at this point. But maybe a small comfort, too. Though for which of them he wasn't sure.

"Missing the sky already, huh?" Paul asked. Maybe keeping things light would help, instead of jumping straight to the crux of the problem.

Adam sighed deeply and didn't look away from the horizon, but he finally spoke. "Looking at it is all I'm going to be able to do for a while. So I might as well get used to it."

"You'll be back out there before you know it." Paul tapped at the glass with a hoof. "Well, not at this altitude, but you know what I mean."

"Not soon enough. And even then it's not guaranteed."

"Fawn is confident you'll heal just fine," Paul said, trying to be reassuring. If Fawn was happy that everything would be fine, then they had no reason to doubt that.

"I know. And I trust him. But it doesn't stop me worrying. And it doesn't change that-" Adam huffed out another sigh, his gaze dropping down to his hooves. "It doesn't matter. You wouldn't get it." And that was exactly what had been going through Paul's head over the past few days. He didn't get it, not completely, not the same way another pegasus would.

"Maybe not," he said simply. "But I can try." Would that work? He just wanted Adam to talk to him. He couldn't help him if he didn't talk.

Adam didn't reply, so Paul kept trying. "I know that I probably can't understand this sort of thing the way that Brad, or Karen, or any other pegasus can. I've been very aware of that fact. But I can still listen, and be there for you." Adam still didn't say anything, his gaze locked on the clouds drifting far below them. "I don't know what it's like to have wings. But I do know that innate fear of losing something that's such an integral part of who you are." That finally pulled Adam's attention away from the sky, and he looked at Paul, frowning in confusion. Paul lifted a hoof to his horn. "Maybe I don't have to worry about it anymore, since it would probably heal. But a broken horn still scares me."

Adam hummed. "I guess that's not so different." He paused. "Though, I think a broken horn might be... Bloodier. Not that I've seen it happen. But, from what I've heard."

Paul looked at his reflection in the glass, and ran the tip of his hoof up his horn until it reached roughly halfway. "About there, is when a break would get bloody." 

Adam blinked. "You just know that, huh?"

Paul put his hoof down and nodded. "The core reaches about halfway up the length of most unicorns horns. So it's not difficult to guess," he explained. Adam still looked confused, so Paul continued. “The core is the soft tissue inside the horn. That being damaged is why if the horn is broken it can bleed a lot. It’s also where our magic manifests, so that’s why an injury like that can permanently damage or destroy a unicorn's magic.” This had turned into an anatomy lesson of sorts, which Scarlet hadn't expected, but Adam nodded a little as he took that information in. 

“That makes sense,” Adam said. “Sounds awful too.” Awful was certainly one word for it. An injury like that could devastate a unicorn's life, just as a badly broken wing could do to a pegasus. So, on a basic level, it wasn't that different. Kind of... 

“I think that might be an understatement,” Paul said. "We get taught this stuff as foals, though. Well, not the gory parts so much. But how our magic works and that we should be careful of our horns. I doubt it's that different from pegasi being taught how their wings work."

"Yeah, we're taught all of that." Adam turned away from him again. "That's part of the problem."

Paul frowned. "I... don't understand."

"We're taught all of that as foals. How to fly, how our wings work, how our magic works. We're taught some of it before we're even old enough to fly, or at least I was. And that's-" Adam paused and huffed out a breath. "That's the thing. I know all this stuff. I learned it as a colt, and I've gone over it time and time again in training as an adult. I need to know it and remember it because flying is such an important part of who and what I am." He paused and looked at Paul. If he was waiting for a response, Paul didn't know what to say, and after a moment of silence, he kept talking. "I know how my wings work, I know how my magic works. But pegasus magic doesn't work like a unicorn’s, we don't control it directly, it just- happens."

"Yes, I know that. It's the same with earth ponies," Paul said, which was irrelevant even if it was related. Probably wasn't helpful either.

Adam scowled at the space in front of him and scraped his hoof across the floor in frustration, he was struggling to figure out how to word what was going through his head. "But it's still a skill. Any pegasus can stand on a cloud and push it around, but proper weather control is learned. Our magic aids our flight, we wouldn't be able to do half of what we do in the air without it. And the way I fly has trained my magic a certain way."

"Right," Paul nodded. "Where exactly are you going with this?"

Adam grit his teeth and stood up, his ears flicked back as he pawed at the ground again, twice this time. "I have worked so, so hard all my life to get my flight skills to where they are now. I know how my wings work, how my magic works. I know all of that, all the details. So I know everything that can go wrong when there's damage." Okay, now they were getting back to what this was actually about.

Paul stayed sitting down, he didn't want to agitate Adam any further. "And that's why you're scared," he said simply. Maybe if he was blunt about it, Adam would just admit it. That was obviously what had left him so shaken. He knew exactly what problems damage to a pegasus wing could cause, and it frightened him.

"No, I-" Adam started, then he stopped and sighed. "Yes..."

Paul hummed. "And Fawn's reassurance that you'll be fine hasn't helped. He may not be a pegasus himself, but there are pegasi on his team. He knows what he's talking about."

"I know that," Adam said, a little too quickly. "I do. And when he says that the bone should heal fine, I believe him. But that's not what I'm worried about." There was a small pause. "Well, it is. But not just that."

"Then what are you worried about?" Paul asked. He had a feeling that he already knew, but he didn't want to assume.

Adam turned to face Paul and stretched his uninjured wing out, having to shift his hooves as the uneven weight on one side threw him off balance a little. Adam's wings were usually so neat and well preened that right now, with feathers missing and damaged, they looked terribly scruffy. Paul quietly hoped that it was just because of what happened the other day, and not because Adam was so stressed he’d started pulling at his feathers.

"Pegasus magic flows through our wings," Adam said, lifting a hoof to point to his wing. Paul already knew this, but he wasn't about to interrupt. "Just like a unicorn's magic flows through their horn." He pointed to Paul's horn, then set his hoof back down. "If a unicorn breaks their horn, it can damage their magic. Sometimes permanently." Paul nodded at that. "Same applies to pegasi. If our wings are damaged, and that damage disrupts the way our magic flows, then it can be permanent." A small pause as he took a breath. "I've seen it happen, even from relatively minor injuries," he explained. "The wing can be otherwise healthy. But if the magic flow is disrupted, it can affect our flight. And even if it's not permanent, it takes a long time to heal and fix itself."

"How long?"

Adam folded his wing back at his side. "Months. Sometimes more," he said. "I can't- I don't want to deal with being grounded and stuck in physio for that long. It'll be bad enough with just the broken wing."

"Surely there's a way to determine ahead of time if this is going to be a problem. At least then you wouldn't be left guessing and worrying about it," Paul said. There must be something. A gadget or a spell. Anything.

Adam shook his head. "I asked Fawn about it, he said no. Apparently magic can't be mapped like that unless it's active. And pegasus magic isn't active in our wings if they're folded and not being used."

"Ah, yes. That makes sense." Paul probably should have figured that one out on his own.

Then again, in unicorns it was possible to force their magic to spark. It wasn't easy, but by pushing your own energy into another pony it could be done. Could you do the same to a pegasus? Maybe. But even if you could, mapping the way a ponies magic flows was difficult. Even more so if it wasn't active. Paul could track ponies magic, he could identify spell signatures, stuff like that was easy. But following internal networks would require very complex, very precise spell casting that wasn't really his area of expertise. Pat was better at precision, but he probably didn't have the power for a spell of that level.

"So now I'm left waiting, and wondering, and it's stressing me out and I hate it." Adam stomped a back hoof against the ground at that second to last word.

"Stressing isn't going to help though, is it? It isn't going to make any of this go away," Paul said simply as he finally stood up. "You're always telling me not to dwell on the what-ifs. Believe it or not the same does apply to you, as well."

"Yes yes, I know, but that doesn't change things, does it?"

"I don't know, doesn't it?"

"No! No it doesn't!" Adam snapped, his good wing flaring at his side in the way that pegasi always seemed to do when they were angry. His feathers slightly fluffed up like an agitated bird. It was instinctual, make yourself look bigger, just like a bird would. But, honestly, it wasn't so effective with only one wing. "This is my livelihood that could be on the line here, Paul!"

Paul stayed calm. He didn't like doing this, and he knew that Fawn would have his tail for it if he found out, but there was something Adam wasn't saying that Paul was certain he was thinking. And maybe, just maybe, trying to get those words out of him would be beneficial. Even if it meant riling him up a bit to do it.

"That's a worst case scenario and you know it. You have every right to be scared but it's not like you to stress so much over something that's ultimately very unlikely."

"You don't know that! Nopony knows that right now. That's the problem! We went over this."

"Fawn is confident that you'll heal, and all things considered the injury isn't that severe."

"That's easy for you to say."

Paul flicked his ears back at that comment, but let it slide for the moment. Adam wasn't thinking straight. "You're worried about the injury, and the potential aftermath, and that's okay. But from what information we have, you should heal just fine. So why has this whole situation shaken you up so much?"

"Because what good is a pegasus who can't fly, Paul!" And there it was. Plain and simple.

Paul didn't respond, he just let those words linger. 

And linger they did. The room fell quiet. Adam held Paul's gaze for maybe fifteen seconds, before he seemed to realize what he'd said, and the anger and frustration in his form fizzled away as quickly as it had come. He stepped back, his eyes dropping to the floor as he pulled his wing closer, but didn't fold it all the way.

Paul waited. Letting Adam process what was undoubtedly running through his head. He'd had a feeling that, despite everything Adam had been saying, the main reason he was so shaken up by all of this was that he doubted his own worth if he couldn't fly. The more he'd talked about how injury could affect how pegasi fly, how it could damage their magic, leave them grounded or struggling whilst they heal, the more it had become clear that there was just a little more to it than the fear of lasting side-effects.

Little more than a minute passed, but it could have been an hour by how long the time stretched out before one of them spoke.

"Are you okay?" Paul asked.

Adam sighed and shook his head. "Not really."

Paul hummed. "Even if the worst did happen, even if you couldn't fly any more, there is still so much good you can do here." He stepped around to Adam's side and tapped the blue jet plane that streaked across his flank. A permanent marker of his pilot skills. "After all, this didn't appear because you can fly fast under your own power."

Adam turned his head as Paul moved, but otherwise stayed still. "I guess."

"There's no guessing about it. The fact that your mark is a plane and not a- a winged lightning bolt, or whatever it is pegasi who fly fast often end up with, is quite literally physical proof of the fact."

Adam huffed a laugh. "Okay, good point."

"I understand why you're scared. But no pegasus is defined solely by their wings. Not even the ones who happen to be skilled fliers," Paul said simply. He stood behind Adam and touched a hoof to his back, prompting him to sit down. Blue light shimmered around his horn as he gently took a hold of Adam's good wing and stepped to the side as he spread it out. He carefully ran his magic through Adam's feathers, looking for any that were out of place or had come loose, and getting rid of bits of dirt that had gotten trapped between them. "You don't know exactly how your recovery will go, because there are things we can't determine ahead of time. But that applies to most injuries. As broken bones go, it's relatively minor, and Fawn is confident that you'll heal. That's what you need to focus on." Hopefully going over this again now that Adam had calmed down would make it sink in properly. "Your feathers are a mess, by the way. Well, by your standards, anyway."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Adam sighed. "Having one wing strapped up has thrown my balance off, which makes preening harder. That, and I'm still bruised and sore and haven't been feeling great, so that hasn't helped either."

Preening could be fiddly at the best of times, even Paul knew that. Adam had clearly tried to tidy his wing up, but there was only so much he could do given the circumstances. There were a couple of gaps between primary and secondary feathers where crashing through those tree branches had torn them out. Other feathers were still in place, but the barbs had been damaged. All of it left Adam's wing looking messy, and would continue to until the damaged feathers fell out and the missing ones grew back.

Paul found a loose feather amongst the coverts and gently pulled it free. "That makes sense," he said, tucking the small pale blue feather behind his ear. “Just as long as you haven’t been pulling at your feathers too.”

Adam grumbled at that, but shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I’d be lying if I said the temptation hadn’t been there. But I haven’t.”

Pegasi, like birds, would sometimes pluck at their own feathers when stressed. It was an odd behaviour that Paul didn’t really understand - though that seemed to be a running theme with him and anything to do with wings lately. But he’d seen Adam, and Brad, and various other pegasi give in to the urge during stressful situations. With how stressed Adam had been, it was a relief to know he hadn’t started doing it.

“That’s good. I don’t think adding that to the pile would help matters.”

“No, probably not,” Adam said. "Is there anything you can do with the other wing?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at Paul and pointing to his injured wing. "Not being able to move it means I can't preen it properly and it's so itchy."

Paul chuckled, very glad that things seemed to have settled back down. "I'll take a look."

"Thank you."

Paul freed another loose feather from Adam's wing before pulling his magic away from it. He tucked the second feather behind his ear with the first, then moved to Adam's other side so that he was closer to his injured wing. 

His horn lit up with blue light again, and he focused his attention and his magic into Adam's wing, just as he had with the other one. 

With the wing folded, it was harder to find anything that was causing a problem. Paul had helped Adam preen dozens of times at this point, but he had only ever done it with the wings stretched out. The feathers sat differently when folded, and a loose one may not come free as easily. But with his magic running between the feathers, finding bits of dirt and dust and getting rid of them didn't prove too tricky.

Paul was gentle as he worked, not letting his magic sit too long or pull at anything that he wasn't confident would come away easily. He didn't want to cause Adam any pain. And tugging at feathers that weren't ready to come out generally wasn't a good idea, anyway.

After a couple of minutes, another pair of loose feathers and various bits of dust, dirt, and fur removed, Paul let his magic fade away. He wished he could help more, but for now that would have to do.

"Any better?" he asked as he walked around to sit in front of Adam. He still had the little blue and yellow feathers tucked behind his ear, and when Adam saw them he smiled.

"A little, yeah," Adam said. He shifted his wing slightly and winced, regretting it immediately. He huffed a sigh, before bringing his smile back as he met Paul's gaze. "Thanks. Why are my feathers behind your ear, though?" he asked, pointing to them.

Paul shrugged and picked them up with his magic, each feather coated in a shimmer of blue light as he held them in front of himself. "I don't know. Somewhere to put them, I guess," he said, before tucking them back behind his ear. "Do they not suit me?"

Adam laughed. A genuine laugh that after days of not even seeing him smile felt like gold dust. "I don't think blue and yellow are really your colors, pal."

"No? Shame," Paul smiled. His horn glowed as he pulled the little feathers away from his ear and tucked them behind Adam's instead, the blue and blonde blending in with his hair and fur. Adam simply rolled his eyes at him. "Anyway," Paul said as he stood up, scooping up his cap with his magic and putting it back on as he did so. "Have you eaten this afternoon?"

Adam looked slightly surprised by that question, but after a moment he shook his head. "No. I uh, haven't eaten much today, actually."

Usually Paul would have something to say about that, but just this once he didn't comment on it. "Okay. I need to go and get changed. Then I'll meet you in the mess hall and we'll have dinner?"

Adam smiled. "Yeah, alright, sure."

Paul nodded. "Good." He stepped closer and rested a hoof on Adam's shoulder. "Everything's going to be okay, alright?" he said, wanting to make sure Adam knew that. Sure, it might take a little while, and it wasn't guaranteed to be smooth sailing, but he'd get through it.

Adam's smile faded and he glanced down at the floor before focusing on Paul again. "Yeah. I think I might just need to be reminded occasionally, that's all," he said. If nothing else, Paul was glad that he was being honest about it.

"Well that's something we can help you with if need be," Paul said. He moved his hoof away and stepped back. "And if you start to struggle again, please talk to someone. If anypony here knows what you're dealing with right now it's probably Brad. And whilst I don't understand it the same way, I can still listen."

"And knock some sense into me when I start catastrophizing."

"Yes, that too," Paul chuckled. "You do it enough for me, only seems fair to return the favour."

"Very true," Adam smiled.

"Now, I'm going to change out of my uniform, and I'll see you in a few minutes," Paul said as he turned to leave.

"See you in a minute," Adam replied. Paul turned away and started to walk towards the door, but stopped when Adam spoke again. "And... Thank you, Paul."

Paul looked over his shoulder and smiled at Adam. "Anytime, my friend." And with that, he left the promenade deck and made his way to his quarters.

Things were going to be tricky for a while, and Paul knew with utmost certainty that Adam would get restless and complain about being grounded whilst he was in recovery. But if Fawn was confident that everything would heal and he'd be okay, then they should trust him.

Adam's concerns were understandable, though, of course they were. And Paul didn't blame him for them in the slightest. But he knew from experience - and from Adam and pretty much everyone else he worked with telling him multiple times over the past few years - that controlling those concerns was the important part. Otherwise you'd start to spiral, just like Adam had been doing since he got hurt, and that never helped.

Everything would be okay. Yes, Adam would have to deal with everything that came with recovering from a broken bone, from physiotherapy to retraining muscles that had weakened from lack of use during the healing process. He may also have to adapt to changes in his magic, if that particular worry came to anything. 

Thankfully, getting Blue out of the forest and back to the others wasn't too difficult. Once his injured wing was secure, Scarlet and Grey helped him to his hooves and walked with him through the trees. 

Scarlet walked a few paces ahead, making sure they didn't get lost, whilst Grey stayed at Blue's side, one wing curled protectively over his back.

Blue barely said a word on the way back to Cloudbase. The flight being quiet was normal enough, they were often tired after a long day, after all. But the uneasy feeling that lingered in the air wasn't, and Scarlet didn't know what to do about it.

Magenta and Ochre were in the cockpit, leaving him and Grey in the cabin with Blue, who had sat down by the window and not taken his eyes from the sky outside ever since.

Grey clearly understood what he was going through. No doubt he'd been through something similar after his accident with WASP. That had damaged his wings, as well as the rest of him. But Scarlet had no idea how to approach this. 

He wanted to talk to Adam, to comfort him and reassure him that everything would be okay. But it wasn't that simple.

In theory a broken wing shouldn't be different from any other injury. But that wasn't really true. It was also one of few injuries that Scarlet hadn't experienced himself, and one of even fewer that he never would experience. For the simple reason that he was not a pegasus.

He hated not knowing what to do. Especially when his friends were involved.

About halfway through the flight back to Cloudbase, Brad found him in the galley, staring at the water in his cup rather than drinking it.

Paul's ear twitched as Brad's hoof-steps pulled him back to the world around him.

"Hey," Brad said, slightly hushed. "I think he's asleep," he added, glancing over his shoulder into the cabin.

"Is he?" Paul asked, and Brad nodded. "It'll be another hour or so before we get to Cloudbase. The rest will do him good."

Brad hummed in response and took a step closer to Paul. "Are you okay?"

"Me? I'm fine. I'm not the one who got hurt."

Brad didn't look convinced, and Paul didn't blame him. The other Captains all knew him too well to let him get away with the 'I'm fine' card anymore.

Paul sighed and set his cup down on the counter, the gentle hum of his magic fading as the glow around his horn dissipated. "I'm just worried, that's all."

Brad gave another nod, clearly glad to get a more accurate answer that time. "I'm worried too. A broken wing is awful for any pegasus, but for a pegasus like Adam... I'm sure the worst possible outcomes are swirling through his head right now, and to be honest, I don't blame him. It's scary."

"That fear I can understand, to a degree, anyway," Paul said, lifting a hoof to touch his horn. "A broken horn still scares me. It happening to Pat is even more terrifying, because that wouldn't heal, and it could kill him," he explained, before dropping his hoof back to the floor. "But a broken wing is different."

"I don't think it's that different," Brad said with a small shrug. "But I'm a pegasus with unicorn family, and I have damaged my wings pretty badly and come out the other side able to fly again. So maybe my perspective isn't the same."

"I don't know." Paul sighed again. "But what I do know, is that Adam won't be able to fly for a while, and regardless of what Fawn tells him, he's going to hate every minute of it. He gets restless just being stuck inside for too many days in a row. Being completely grounded and unable to stretch his wings, not even able to fly a few laps of the sports hall, will be really hard on him."

"It will. So we'll have to support him through it. Same as we always do when one of us gets hurt." And Brad was right, of course.

-----

Adam slept for the remainder of the flight, and didn't stir until Paul gently woke him as they approached Cloudbase.

There were medics waiting for them in the hangar, Doctor Fawn included, and they quickly made their way over to Adam as soon as he was out of the plane. Paul followed as the med-team took Adam to sickbay, leaving post-mission debriefs to Pat, Brad, and Rich to handle.

One of the medics spoke to Scarlet on the walk through Cloudbase's long corridors towards the sickbay. The young pegasus stallion's ears flicked back, his feathers twitching at his sides, as Scarlet gave him the details. A barely contained flinch just at the mention of somepony breaking their wing. It really was a universal fear amongst pegasi. Not that Paul had doubted that, but seeing it with his own eyes outside of Adam grimacing when Brad got a little too detailed about exactly how badly beaten up his wings had been after his accident, was certainly something.

He didn't really know what. But something.

Fawn restricted Paul to the waiting room and told him to stay put. He wouldn't deal with Paul's worrying whilst trying to treat a patient. But that wasn't new.

So, he waited. And after about ten minutes the waiting turned to pacing. Adam wasn't in any immediate danger, but Paul was still worried, and he didn't like sitting around at the best of times.

Half an hour passed before Fawn appeared. Well, Paul heard him before he saw him - the distinctive click click click of hooves on the hard floors approaching the room. Paul stopped his pacing and turned to the door, his ears pricked forward and alert as Fawn stepped into the waiting area.

“How is he?” Paul asked before he could stop himself.

“Shaken and bruised, but the worst of it is his wing,” Fawn said simply.

“Broken?”

“Yes,” Fawn nodded. “As broken wings go it’s not too severe. Though I would say it was quite close.”

Paul tilted his head to the side slightly, confused. “What do you mean?”

Fawn thought for a moment before sitting back on his haunches. He lifted his front hooves and pointed just above his bent elbow. “The fracture would be about here on a leg, close to the elbow.” He moved his hoof down and tapped the joint. “If it had been even an inch closer, it could have easily complicated things,” he explained before standing up straight again. “However, as it stands, he shouldn’t need surgery, and so long as he rests and lets himself heal, then he should be fine.”

Paul breathed a sigh of relief. That was very good news. “So he’ll be okay?”

“He’ll need to keep his hooves on the ground for a while, which I’m sure he won’t appreciate. But yes, I expect a full recovery.”

“He won’t like being grounded for so long, no,” Paul said. Adam would get restless if he was grounded for more than a few days between missions. A broken bone could take a couple of months to heal. Paul didn’t know if that applied to wings too, but it probably wasn’t that different, right? “I’m just glad that he’ll be okay.”

Fawn nodded again. “I’m going to keep him here overnight just to make sure everything is as it should be. Once the fracture is sufficiently healed he’ll need physio and to ease himself back into flying, but that can be sorted out closer to the time. For now, he needs rest.”

“Can I see him?” Paul asked. Wanting little else right now than to see Adam.

“Yes, but keep it brief,” Fawn answered. He turned toward the door and gestured for Paul to follow. “I think he might still be quite shaken by what happened. But I’ve treated enough pegasi with injured wings over the years to expect it, to some degree.”

“He didn’t say a word on the way back to Cloudbase. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like that before.”

“Everypony responds to things differently. But as a rule, pegasi are as protective of their wings as unicorns are of their horns. Neither are always aware of it, but it’s true all the same. Damage there is a fear they all seem to carry, just as I’m sure you do too.”

Paul can only nod to that. He understood. He’d seen it. With others, in the past. And now with his best friend, and he hated it.

Fawn walked Paul to Adam’s room before leaving him be. Paul knocked on the door before going in, and Adam lifted his head from his pillow at the sound. Even hurt and shaken, it was nigh impossible to sneak up on him. His wing was properly bandaged and strapped up now, held in place against his side. He looked tired, and despite Paul’s efforts, conversation was sparse.

What Brad had said earlier about the worst possible outcomes swirling through Adam's head seemed to be rather accurate. Sure, Adam didn't say it, but Paul knew him well. And he knew when he was worrying and thinking too much. He didn't blame him, of course not. But those spirals of 'what ifs' never did anyone any good.

That one he did know from experience.