Dadonequus Discord (Book 2)

by CrazedLaughter

Chapter 193 - Meditation, or Lack Thereof

“...Is this the place, Aunt Fluttershy?” You asked.

After lunch, you just had to excuse yourself. Most everyone wanted to talk to you, but you really just wanted time to yourself, to mentally prepare for the big day tomorrow. However, Fluttershy was a pony you couldn’t deny. While she too was worried, she understood straight away that you really didn’t want to talk about what was going to transpire, if only because you felt worrying about it too much may stress you out and make you screw up. You told her you just wanted to be alone and meditate.

But those words, when you said them to her, you could see there was some hurt in her eyes. She was worried about how you felt, your well being, and just wanted to be there for you. Considering how you always felt that Fluttershy was a calming presence, you immediately rescinded your words and asked her if there was any way she could help you meditate, and if she wanted to meditate with you. Right then and there she had cheered up, and even moreso, she immediately knew what kind of meditation you needed. Well, of course she did, one thing you sometimes forget is that she is good friends with Treehugger, who no doubt taught her a few techniques.

It all led up to the river that went into town, both you and Fluttershy had followed it up until you both reached a large flat stone that sat in the middle of the river, standing above the water. “Mhmm, we’re going to stand right on that rock and meditate. This form of meditation is to allow the mind to flow like the river. Erm, I hope it isn’t too boring for you though, Anon.”

“Huh? Oh, no no. Like I said, I want to meditate. I know I don’t do it… Ever, but I want to now. I’d love to just meditate with you, Aunt Fluttershy. I’m sure it can help both of us!” Letting the mind wander like the river, huh? How exactly were you supposed to do that? You could do that on your bed, with a dirty magazine...and such, and stuff.

Fluttershy nodded, a big smile on her face, she really did want to help. “I know it can, it helps me whenever I’m feeling very very stressed back at the sanctuary. Now, are you ready?”

You nodded. “Mmhmm”

“Okay, here we go.” Fluttershy hovers upwards and gently picks you, flying over the rock to gently place you down before landing behind you. “Are you alright? I hope the rock isn’t too hard.”

You gently tap your hoof on the rock. It was hard, but not as hard as you thought it'd be. Even then, you didn’t know how this was going to help. In fact, standing or sitting on a rock like this seemed troublesome. “N-no, but how does this ‘river meditation’ thing work? Do we just stare at the river and that’s it?”

Fluttershy giggled, gave a gentle pat to your head, and then sat down behind you as she closed her eyes, her ears flicking. “No, Anon. This form of meditation is very special. You close your eyes, like this, and you focus on nothing else but the river’s flow. If you pay attention just hard enough, you can both hear and feel the river move forward and along this rock. Once you hear it, feel it, and you focus on it, nothing else will matter, and your mind will wander in tandem with the river’s flow.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense.“ You sit down in front of Fluttershy and close your eyes, trying to focus on the sounds of the river. “Aunt Fluttershy, you’re not worried about me, are you?” You had to admit, you were curious, given how calm things mostly were when you told everyone the news.

Fluttershy flinched. “Y-you don’t want an honest answer, do you? Y-you’re supposed to be relaxing.”

“I do, a-and I don’t mean to offend you or anything, but I thought the news would have made you faint or something.” You really did, considering the gravity of the situation.

“Oh… Well, erm, it doesn’t offend me, Anon. But, to tell you the truth, I-I am very worried. I know Chrysalis can’t hurt anypony but Twilight, but I also know she can still hurt your feelings… And your heart. I don’t want to think bad things about her, but p-part of me thinks she is inviting you tomorrow just to make you feel miserable. Or worse, to try to trick you in a way to make you hurt Twilight… Or yourself.”

Hmmm. Well, you didn’t have to worry about that, you had pretty thick skin, and there was no way Chrysalis was hypnotizing you in her weakened state. “Aunt Fluttershy, it really is no big deal. Chrysalis is too weak to manipulate my mind. I also know her enough to know that she would want to deal with Twilight personally. I promise you, nothing bad is going to happen.”

Fluttershy sighed, unable to shake her thoughts, as she tried to focus on the river. “I know, and despite everything else, I do want to see her reformed, have her over, and have things like they were when she was Nymous. I know it sounds silly, but I have thought that maybe I could have her work at the shelter to give her something to do and make friends with the animals.”

Huh, that’s interesting. “You wouldn’t mind her around the animals at the shelter?”

“If she was willing to be friendly towards them, and make sure they were cared for, then I wouldn’t mind. I think it’d be a good stepping stone to getting her used to being nice and good.” Fluttershy said “I know she says she doesn’t like being nice, but maybe if she was around the sweet cuddly animals, she’d warm up to it.”

“You’re not worried she’ll get angry and hurt them?” You asked.

“...” Fluttershy went silent, then finally said. “...Now I am.”

Oof, okay then, maybe you shouldn’t have said that. “Sorry. Look, I think we should just start with baby steps until she becomes more comfortable with friendship.” You look back at Fluttershy, and smile towards her. The fact she was willing to give that much of a chance made you feel things would be alright. “Thanks, though, Aunt Fluttershy. The fact you were even willing to let her work at the shelter means a lot to me.”

“Awww, Anon.” Fluttershy looked down at you with a warming smile of her own, and then pulled you in for a gentle hug. “I just… I… I really do feel awful for her. Everything you’ve told me, how could I not at least try?”

Fluttershy…

You snuggled into her for her warmth, her love, to feel like everything really would be alright. Meditation was leaving your mind as you found yourself more comfortable just being in her embrace. Maybe this is all you really wanted, just being comforted, with all the weight you’ve been feeling since Chrysalis came back into your life being lifted off your shoulders. “Aunt Fluttershy?”

“Yes, Anon?” Fluttershy called back to you, gently patting your head.

“Do you think I can really do it? That we can? I always want to believe Chrysalis can be reformed, because I’m her friend, and I can actually count on her when things get serious. But then I also know her hurt, and her ways, it makes her embrace evil. Sometimes it just seems impossible because she holds onto her anger or just enjoys being bad. I’ve seen her be good too, and she actually likes being around my marefriend. But it’s like, she enjoys it but still wants to be evil. That’s why I’m asking if we can do it, if everypony is willing to give up whatever prejudices they have and help me show her there is a better way.” You didn’t even know why you were asking this, you knew Fluttershy was going to look at it optimistically no matter what. And yet, that’s what you wanted to hear, it’s what you wanted to believe. This whole thing was for exactly that.

And as expected… “Of course I do, Anon. And of course I believe that every one of us will make sure to treat Chrysalis as if she was one of us.” Fluttershy then began to look left, then right, and whispered. “Though, convincing Rainbow Dash is going to be a little hard, I promise to talk to her about it before anything bad happens.”

Just Rainbow Dash? “What about Applejack though?”

“I know you may have not noticed, but she’s been really trying too. She’s seen you in school, trying your best and being as honest as you can be, it’s really made her think about the entire situation. Not to mention Scrappy and Applebloom’s friendship, that has really made her think that maybe your friendship with Chrysalis isn’t as bad as she thought. Erm, I also have talked to her about it myself, which, erm, was a little difficult because she was still being a little tiny bit stubborn. B-but yes! She’s willing to give it a try… Erm… As long as nothing bad happens.” Fluttershy explained, not being as fully confident in her words as you had hoped. Still, either way, that was certainly something. It explained why Applejack wasn’t more hesitant back at the castle.

“...Huh, I actually feel pretty great about that. Thank you, Aunt Fluttershy. I mean it, I was scared Applejack was gonna be fussy about it.” Seriously, that’s awesome!

“Well, you have to remember, Anon, you’re not in this alone. You have your friends and family helping you, even if you don’t realize it” Fluttershy said, snuggling you close. “Now, are you ready for the next step in the meditation?”

You nod. “Yeah, I think I am.”

“Ok.” Fluttershy said with a nod as she backed away from you a bit, and slowly began to rise as she stretched her legs out, closed her eyes, spread her wings, and began to balance herself on one hind leg. “So, the next step is to become like the river below you. You close your eyes, and stretch yourself like this so you can let your ‘chi’ flow, I think it's called chi? Erm, anyway, you let your chi flow synchronize with the flow of the river. Synchronize means to basically let your chi flow the same way as the river. After that, you will be very relaxed and find balance within yourself. Treehugger said that to me and I think it's true.”

That was some fortune cookie bullshit, but whatever. Still, how were you supposed to stay balanced on one leg as a quadruped? You were able to nearly stand on both your hind legs for a good while due to your human element, but one?

Nah, you could do it. “Like this?” You said as you did your best to enter the same position Fluttershy was in. However, it only took mere seconds for you to fall forward onto your tummy, startling Fluttershy. “...Or not.”

“Anon!” Fluttershy yelled as she quickly hopped up from her one hoof, into the air, to lift you up and snuggle you. “Are you alright?! Did you hurt yourself?!”

“Er, n-no. I just…” Bah, you didn’t ready yourself. You were sure with a little more focus, you could manage it. “I just fell, that’s all. C’mon, Aunt Fluttershy, you know I’m tougher than that.”

“I know, I just got a little worried when I saw you fall. I know you’re my tough little gentlecolt, but you’re not invincible. You need to be careful.” Fluttershy explained to you as she gently put you back down. She then stood behind you, ready to catch you if you fell again.

“I know. But really, look, I got this. All I have to do is balance on this leg here and-AGH!” You fell backwards, only to be caught by Fluttershy’s face as she gently pushed up to get you back on your hooves.

“Anon… maybe this form of meditation isn’t for you. We could try something else, like, erm… How about just sitting up on a hill, enjoying the nature around us?” Fluttershy suggested, obviously being overly worried over nothing.

“Aunt Fluttershy, trust me, I got this. If you can do it, then I can-CRFSDFS” You wasted no time in making another attempt, only this time tripping far forward, falling into the river as Fluttershy lets out a shriek.

God fucking dammit! You just let yourself sink into the river, aggravated with yourself that you somehow couldn’t balance yourself on one freaking leg. The current was slow, so it wasn't anything to worry about. Whatever, who the fuck cares? You didn’t need to balance on one leg to be cool, or meditate, or whatever. Hell, you didn’t even need to meditate! Why did you need that? There was such a thing as just pigging out until you get tired and fall fast asleep! Balancing on one hoof is stupid anyway. And…

There was a fish staring back at you.

You swat it away, not wanting to deal with it as you occupied your mind with better ideas. But then, the damned thing just swam back to stare at you again. You grumbled, and smacked it away this time. Fucking fish, why was it even staring at you? It’s like it somehow saw you as a DSGDGSFDG

“GYAAAAAAH!” You screamed as you jumped out of the river and back onto the rock. “Ow! Ow! My tail!” You looked back and the damn thing was still biting onto it like it was a damned fishing rod! You quickly got up and began to swish your tail left and right as you tried to shake it off. “Get off! Ow! Stop! Biting!”

“Anon, Anon! It’s ok! Relax.” Fluttershy tried to calm you down, but she was also in utter dismay that a fishy friend would just bite you like that. “Mister Fishy! We do not bite down on the tail of others! What do you have to say for yourself?”

The fish, of course, says nothing. But it seemed to have understood as it let go of your tail, using the momentum of your little butt dance to let itself fly back into the river. With the fish detached, you looked back to get a better look at your tail, which had many of its hairs missing, revealing your tiny nubby rear appendage. “...If it isn’t my head, it's my freaking tail. Ugh…” You let yourself fall on your belly and let out a small whine. “I hate meditation…”

“Anon, oh my little Anon.” Fluttershy said as she gently picked you up, patting at your back as she turned her body left and right to comfort you. “Are you alright? I can’t believe a fishy friend would do that to you, or anypony really. I’m so so so so sorry meditation hasn’t worked out like you wanted it to.”

She couldn't believe it? Oy, one of these days Angel himself is going to raise an army of animals to thrash you and somehow, SOMEHOW, she still won't notice. That fish obviously just hated you for... Some reason you couldn't think of at the moment. “I-It’s fine… I’m alright. I just, I just think today isn’t a good day for it. Can we just, erm, go to the cottage so I can take a big nap? And er, get my tail bandaged up? I don’t have any charges right now to fix it.”

“Of course. Come on, I’ll take care of you until you’re all better, ok?” Fluttershy nuzzled onto you, and then gently placed you on her back as she slowly and gently took off into the air, to fly you to the cottage.

Ugh… Note to self, turn that fish into a stick when you get the chance.

Bah, whatever, it'd be ok. You'd take a nap, eat dinner, then go back to sleep to get up super early. Because tomorrow, oh yes, tomorrow was going to be a big day.

Comments

[Resu]

We only now need to wait for another 5 chapters or so before chrysalis attacks

[CrazedLaughter]

10725090
No, its going to be the next chapter. Anon really has nothing else going on in the day since he's trying to avoid it.

[Noobblue]

10725090
just, the comment along with the pp is great.

[Resu]

10725125
I still remember that the wedding day was about 18 chapters long, including the O&O game and the luna dream chapter

[shirotora]

Just to let you know, you have two chapters numbered 192.

[Walrusesarecute]

this time an animal actually had a reason to be upset

[Walrusesarecute]

“...” Fluttershy went silent, then finally said. “...Now I am.”

Also this... Is funny as heck, but also shows a lack of foresight, which is bad when taking care of things.