//------------------------------// // Sunset Snuggles *Bonus Holiday Chapter* // Story: Out of the Shower. Into the Storm // by Funkyfresh //------------------------------// Maybe... Freaking 'Maybe', is he insane?! Oh give him a break would you, it's not like he's in the best of states right now. I wonder who's fault that is! If he had listened to me- Oh please, we both know you would have told him to do the same even if he had listened to you. No see you made him act all selfless and goody goody when he helped Celestia and the crew. Now I would have told him to... Hmm? What exactly would you have done differently? Not stopped the Storm Sirens, lie to the millenia old demigod, or not snuggle up to said demigod? Oh shut it you... At least I would have made him look cooler doing it! Plus if he'd listened to me he wouldn't be cuddling her. W-wait really? Yeah! He'd have his lips near her ear and his hand right on her. Royal.. Celestial.. B- punch! Oh great, now 'Punchy' is coming back. Why does any part of us even think punching storm elementals is a good thing? Dont forget gods, animated hard material constructs, and not to mention. Ourselves. Though it does help clear the mind every n- Punch everything! Oi, haven't you noticed we have the big white one snuggled up right now? No punching. Punch big, fluffy pony! Most definitely not. In the face! We said no! With our face... softly. Oh my.. Atta boy! Meanwhile, outside of the mind of Anon... "... mmm softly, with muh..." I mumbled out, half awake as Celestia lightly prodded me with a wingtip. "Anonymous, are you awake? Do you need to head back into the cabin to retire?" She lightly shook me until I returned to usable levels of mental activity and sat up with a start when I quickly scooched away a few inches. "Sorry Princess, was a bit lost in my head there for a second." I rub the back of my neck with a light blush and try to think of a way to apologize for scrambling away from her like she had the plague when she simply chuckled and draped her wing around me again. "So this is a normal thing for you? Helping people like this I mean, I would hope that Storm Sirens might be a less than common phenomenon for your airships sake." At first she gazes out into her sunset her face unreadable to me until she looks back at me with a sad smile. "No my little human it isn't, but..." She pauses and studies my face for a moment as I wonder how well she can read my own emotions. "This scenario is a bit of an unusual circumstance, for both the Sirens and this. I know you have been troubled by your relocation to our world and that you've been struggling to find your place within it. If you feel that my actions are a tad too personal then I will respect your wishes, however I felt that maybe you could use the shoulder and ear of one who understands your loss..." I stare at her features as she returns to gazing into the distance and see that while she still has that calm smile that most creatures see, she also has a few cracks in that mask that one would have to be very close to see. "You've ruled Equestria for over a thousand years and for almost a millennium you didn't even have the one pony that could truly understand you and stay with you instead of... fading away. You've made so many friends over the centuries and had to watch them disappear into the sea of time. Did you ever regret making new friends, knowing that they'd simply disappear sooner or later?" Instead of answering me at first she closes her eyes and thinks back on all of the friends she has watched fade away over the course of her reign, then she opens her eyes and looks at me with a spark of true joy dancing amongst the tears of uncountable loss in her beautiful eyes yet unshed. Her mask gives way to show me a smile that while weighed down by the past still shows such unrestrained love for those who have had the pleasure of knowing her as a friend. She presses one of her alabaster wings tips to my own eyes that I didn't even realize were wet with my own tears before looking me resolutely in the eye. "Never... I have never regretted the friends that I have made Anonymous, only not being able to have spent more time with them while I was able. Just as I was not afraid of making new friends neither should you, only ever be afraid of not making friends when you have the chance. Even if not every seed of love that you plant grows as tall as you'd wish, it is far better to look back on ones life and see a forest of friends big and small than to see naught but barren ground." "I don't think I can stop being afraid so easily Princess... there's still so much in this world that I still don't understand. I can't even imagine what I will find at the end of a day let alone a month or a year." I shake a bit as my voice starts to crack, hating that I'm showing this much weakness to one who has probably seen more loss in half her life than I would if I lived my own three times over. She pulls me closer and rests her head atop my own as my mind is calmed by the steady rhythm of her kind heart and the texture of her fur against my skin. She fills me with the warmth of the sun gently pushing the chill of winter away on a cool autumn day before speaking again. "Maybe you don't need to know what will come in a month, a year, or even a day. Maybe you just need to see what you have in the now and go from there. A simple fact that many of my subjects seem to forget about me is that I don't know everything either, but having those I can rely on and care for by my side always helps when I don't know what to do. You have plenty of people around you who wish to be your friend and many more who will accept the love you offer, but you must learn to be the one to plant the seed for it to truly bloom." I begin to become lost in her embrace as I feel the hum of her magic pulse and echo through our bodies, the sun starting to dip below the horizon. I find her eyes meeting mine as she leans down to me, the last rays of her sun dancing around her hair as I move forward. Finally I gently press my forehead to hers and as the sun disappears from view I start to whisper. "Could you be my friend Celestia?" She simply smiles and slowly breaks our contact before looking me in the eyes once more. "I think I would like that my dear little human." Then she pulls me close and whispers softly in my ear, "And I won't ever regret it my friend."