Cherry Drying

by -Purple-

Chapter 3: Off To See The Wizard

Just on the outskirts of the town market, three green fillies and a weary looking mare sauntered past the bustling crowds on Main Street, as they made their way towards the Golden Oaks Library.

At the front of the group was Madame Care, followed closely by three pint-sized stooges. Tender Care pointed out the different stalls and stores as they walked, happy to pass the time with a little conversation.

"You know, the mare that runs that café was one of the first ponies I met when I arrived here? She's a real sweetheart."

"Who, Berry Punch?" John asked. "I'd have thought she made wine, or something."

Not particularly interested in their discussion, Anon scanned the street, taking notice of a group of ponies congregating around a small stand that seemed to be a popular attraction. Behind the counter, a magenta mare selling flowers delicately hoofed an assortment to a young couple. The corners of Anon’s mouth twisted into a small grin as she watched the young mare use her magic to pick a carnelian out of the bouquet and stick it in the mane of her coltfriend, who promptly snatched and ate it.

'Is that Rose's sister? Were they even officially related or was that just a headcanon thing?'

The marketplace started to slowly brighten and Anon tilted her head skyward as a sliver of Celestia's sun peaked out from behind the clouds. The shelter provided by the cloud lazily drifted away, leaving behind a blank spot of sky for the sun to shine through. While the heat of the Equestrian spring was far from unbearable, it was still starting to affect the younger portion of their little educational expedition.

Anon bounced from one hoof to the next, taking care to stretch her aching legs as she stutter-stepped alongside the rest of her group. They had been walking for only around an hour or so, having taken an impromptu detour through the market at Incognito's request. Despite that, the relatively short trip was starting to feel more and more like a hike to her tiny, muscularly underdeveloped body.

'This fucking sucks, I hope Incog is happy.'

Looking over to her friends, Anon watched as the other two trudged alongside Tender with equal amounts of discomfort apparent in their gait. From the looks of their dragging hooves and sweat-foamed faces, they were starting to feel the effects of the journey as well.

Since no one wanted to be the first to complain about the pace, the group soldiered on.

Just a short while later they found themselves outside the giant, hollowed oak tree that served as both the home and place of work for the studious Unicorn that they were seeking. The pleasant conversation faded as Tender Care turned to the side and gestured for Incognito to step up to the door.

"Well, go on and give it a knock! Miss Sparkle should be expecting us, and we wouldn't want to keep the nice young mare waiting!"

Incog gave a determined nod and bravely approached the entrance before raising a small hoof.

Knock Knock Knock!

"Coming!" called a familiar male voice, which was followed by the muffled scratchings of tiny clawed feet skittering towards them. The handle rattled for a moment before the door swung open.

"Hi! Welcome to—" Spike paused as his vision fell on Incognito. His brief look of surprise was almost immediately replaced by one of mild apprehension as he peered up at the young Unicorn's horn before meeting her eyes. With so many similar looking ponies appearing in such a short period of time, it could be difficult for a young dragon to keep track of them all. Seeing Tender Care standing behind her managed to put him at ease, at least. A split-second later and he was able to recompose himself enough to finish his introduction with the same chipper voice as always.

"Welcome to the Ponyville Library! What can I do for you?"

"Oh! Uh, we're here to see Twilight." Incognito responded, glancing back to her crew. "Well, I guess just me, actually. I wrote her a few letters asking about her magic studies?"

"TWILIGHT! YOU HAVE VISITORS!" Spike shouted over his shoulder before turning to face his guests. "She'll be down in a second."

"Um, yeah. I kinda pieced that together."

Spike shrugged and gestured past the entrance. "Well, feel free to come inside. It is a public library, after all."

"Thank you, we would be delighted." Madame Care spoke up from behind Incog as the four of them shuffled through the door and into Golden Oak Library.

The interior of the treehouse was familiar but different. Like everywhere else Anon had seen in Equestria, the cartoonish nature of the library was much more muted in reality. Floors that had once been represented as solid, rigid colors in the show were instead replaced with more interesting shades of stained wood. Noticing the rich, deep rings of the tree embedded in the ground, Anon couldn't help but be impressed by the quaintness of the space.

"Coming!"

Up at the top of the staircase, the mare of the hour finally appeared.

Twilight hastily plowed down the steps, a hair brush firmly grasped in her magic as she straightened a few loose strands of her mane. Arriving at the bottom, she quickly rubbed one of her eyes with a hoof before offering the group a polite smile.

"Good morning! What can I help you with?"

It was John that immediately spoke up. “Did you just wake up?"

Twilight's smile drooped a bit. "Well, I can be a bit of a night owl at times. I may have gotten a bit too absorbed in my readings last night..."

"Hey, woah, I'm not criticizing or anything!" John responded. "I used to stay up until like 3 AM in college to play Counter-Strike, so I, like, totally get it."

"Oh! Well, thanks? I think?"

"No problem."

Twilight's smile reappeared as she recovered some of her energy. "So, what can I do for you four?"

This time it was Madame Care that responded. "Actually, Miss Incognito here has told me that you agreed to let her shadow you for the day? Maybe show her some of the techniques that you use during your magic studies?"

"Oh, of course! How silly of me! You must be Incognito." Twilight said as she bent down slightly to address the small green and black unicorn. "It's nice to finally meet you. I must say, I was thoroughly impressed with the letters you sent. You have quite the vocabulary for a filly your age."

Incognito had never looked happier, her small face beaming with pride as she looked up at her idol.

"Is there anything in particular that you wanted to see?" Twilight continued, "I don't think I've ever had somepony ask for anything like this before, so I don't really know where to start! Oh! Why don't we get Spike to help write down a list of ideas. SPIKE! We n–"

"Actually," Incog interrupted, "I was hoping I could just watch you do what you normally do while you work? Then maybe at the end of the day you could help me with some exercises?"

Twilight nodded, a look of understanding appearing on her face. "I think that's a great idea. Why don't we start with some food? I usually help Spike make breakfast."

"Yeah," the small drake said, rolling his eyes, "sure you do, Miss Sleeps-til-Noon."

"Spike!"

---

"Thanks again for taking the time out of your weekend, Mister Ironsoles. John was just so excited when he found out that Ponyville has its own smithy!"

The absolute beast of a stallion grinned at Tender Care from the doorway of his house. "Aye, it's no problem at all, Ma'am. I'm always happy to give the foals a look around, doubly so if it's for such an impressive filly as this one. She sure must be a tough one if what I’ve heard is true!" He gave the comparatively tiny filly standing next to him a few unintentionally firm pats on her withers.

John must not have been prepared for such a friendly gesture, as her small frame nearly collapsed under the weight of Ironsole's monstrous hooves. Anon watched happily as each one of her four legs buckled further with each successive pat on the back, until the burly stallion finally relented his assault.

With the abrupt onslaught halted, John stood back up. “Are you on steroids or something? Holy shit.” She untensed her muscles and let out a huff as she stared up at her attacker.

“Sorry, missy, I’m not sure I follow ‘yer questionin.”

Anon chuckled at the display. It probably wasn't helping that Ironsoles was throwing her patronizing complements and constant verbal reminder of her nonconsensual sex-change. Hopefully he would chill out a little as their day went on.

"Well, we better get going! I'll be back around 5 o'clock to pick John up. If you need me, I'll be down where the old hospital used to be after I drop off Anon." Tender Care wrapped a foreleg around the Pegasus at her side. "Now, John, make sure you're taking notes as you go. You still have a project to do, after all."

"Oh yeah." John said with a dismissive wave. "Sure thing, Tendy."

"Splendid! See you two in a bit!"

With the second filly successfully dropped off at her destination, Anon and Tender Care turned to leave. Anon wasn't sure where to.

The pair walked down the path away from the house, aimlessly out onto the street. Anon stopped in the middle and paused to look both ways down the road.

"Looking for something, sweetheart?" Tender asked, "You seem lost."

"No I'm n–..." Anon started, "Well, kinda..." She stared down the street, away from the mare.

Tender Care sat down next to Anon and waited for her to continue.

"It's just, what am I supposed to do! It's like every Pegasus in Ponyville uses their wings to make a living! Look around!" Anon pointed upwards to a small group of Pegasi from the weather team flying above the town. "Or over there!"

Sure enough, another two Pegasi hovered down the street, their wings gently flapping to keep them a short distance above the ground as they chit-chatted back and forth. Tender Care casually inspected the two. One sported a rain cloud on her flank, and the other possessed a tornado — two more weather cutiemarks.

"Anon, those are just members of the weather team." Seeing that anon was about to interject, Tender held a single hoof up. "And while the majority of Pegasi in town may enjoy the employment of the weather services, there's still tons of Pegasus ponies that fill other vital roles in Equestrian society."

"Yeah, but it still seems like they all at least use their wings while they work..."

Tender slowly got back up gestured for anon to follow. "Why don't we see if we can introduce you to a few?"

---

An hour and a half later and the two were in the same exact position as before.

Talking with Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps had done little to alleviate Anon's concerns. Fluttershy seemed like a pretty good lead, but the poor mare was absolutely terrified of her. Apparently, some of Anon's 'sisters' had been rather mean to her a few months ago, or so Tender Care says, and she hadn't gotten over it.

Then they stumbled into Bulk absolutely tearing up a section of the park with his workout. Maybe she was just being picky, but Bulk Biceps wasn't exactly a conversationalist. After about five minutes of talking with him, even Madame Care had started to look less enthusiastic.

"Miss Care, can we take a break for a second? My legs are getting kinda tired."

"Of course." She smiled sweetly. "Why don't we go take a seat over there by the stream and catch our breath?"

Anon nodded in response, "Okay, that sounds good."

Thanking Biceps for his time, the two departed. After a brief walk, they made their way to the main source of water for the town’s inhabitants.

Anon took a seat right at the edge of the bank and stared down into the stream below. She was happily greeted by a crystal clear pool of softly flowing water, only a few hooves deep at its center. Looking past the aquatic grasses and water lilies, she stared down into the pool that was bubbling with life. Various freshwater fishes silently drifted along with the current, periodically darting from one spot to the next. Over in the weeds on the other side, Anon watched a large fuzzy rodent peer out from between the grasses at her. Giving a hesitant wave, she was fairly shocked when the cute looking animal gave a small one back before hopping into the water and swimming down the stream.

Tender Care took up a spot next to her and gently bent her neck down towards the stream. Her lips dipped beneath the surface and the mare took a few gentle sips of a water. Her eyes closed as she relished the cool sensation.

Standing to join her, Anon shuffled herself as close to the water as she could before dipping her head down alongside her teacher. The fresh water from the stream tasted more crisp than it had any right to. Despite being miles from the spring source, there was no funkyness at all. If anything, there was a slightly pleasant, natural flavor that she couldn't quite place — Like a LaCroix but with pineneedles or something.

It was just about as perfect as a mouthful of water could be. Anon picked her head back up and stared down at the freshwater life. She felt angry.

"I'm an idiot."

Tender Care's eyes opened and a look of concern crossed her face as she withdrew her mouth from the water. "Anon? Why would you ever think something like that? You're an incredibly clever filly, I don't think anypony that's met you would ever think you were dull. It isn't healthy to think about yourself that way."

"I know that. Just, look at all of this stuff." Anon turned towards the stream.

"I'm sorry, honey, I don't understand."

"This whole place! It's beautiful! It's almost perfect." Anon explained. "We're at what's essentially just a drainage canal running through the suburbs and it's an oasis. It's almost unnerving how nice it is, like someplace this good shouldn't be possible! It's wrong!"

"Well," Tender hesitantly answered, "I could see how that may be something new to get used to for you and your friends, but I don't really see what that has to do with you being stupid."

Anon shook her head before resuming her angry glare at the scenic body of water in front of her.

"That's just it! The whole town is like this! I bet all of Equestria is just as nice too!" Anon's voice was starting to sound frantic. "But my dumb ass can't just shut up and enjoy it! No! I can't be happy going to hangout with Fluttershy. That's just not good enough, apparently!"

Tender Care wrapped a foreleg around Anon and pulled the small filly into her side.

"And instead of just putting up with not getting my way for a fucking, little filly's school project, I have to get all upset about it! It's like it’s the end of the world, right?"

"I'm sorry that I didn't notice how upset it was making you." Tender Care responded as she gently held her filly, who was now breathing noticeably heavier.

"Is it hormones? It has to be, right?" She asked the ground as her eyes started to glisten, "This useless fucking body just can't stop finding ways to screw with me! So what? Now I just bitch and cry about meaningless shit in front of people?"

Seemingly done ranting for the time being, Tender care positioned herself behind Anon and pulled her into a full-body hug. Her soft, warm fur embracing the faux-child as Anon let out a few more pants to catch her breath.

"Listen to me. It's okay, Anon. it's completely normal for somepony in your situation to feel confused or upset with what happened."

Anon didn't respond, instead she just leaned into Tender Care's embrace. A few minutes passed without either of them speaking, until Anon once again broke the silence.

"I didn't even really care about flying before I got here." She let out quietly, her voice painfully squeaking into Tender's chest. "I mean, I thought being a pilot was cool when I was a teenager, but reality brought down that dream pretty quickly, so I got over it"

"But after seeing these wings? Honestly, it made me feel like I had something to look forward to again. Like I could go anywhere, or do anything that I wanted."

Anon exhaled some of the tightness in her chest, "I guess that sounds pretty dumb when you say it out loud."

"It's not dumb at all."

As the two sat by the creek, Tender Care held on gently, lightly stroking her back. It would take a moment for the wet tears on her chest to dry, and they had a whole day until they had to be anywhere.

With how small Anon was, and how tightly she was being held, it was easy for her to be obscured by her teacher's body.

Cherry Berry marched with purpose towards the parchment-colored mare sitting alone by the stream.

Author's Note:

"I'm sorry, Mr. Incognito. No crippled retards allowed."

Comments

[Violet Hearn]

Thanks for the update, even if this story sometimes feels like a shot of depresso. Being a cripple in magic horseland would kind of suck, to put it lightly. On the other hoof, as the filly points out, they aren't racing to poison the air, water and soil in the name of a quick buck.

Does Twilight not know that the anonfillies used to be adults (or, at the least, surly teenagers)? They aren't exactly quiet about that.

[Squishtopher]

Talking with Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps had done little to alleviate Anon's concerns. Fluttershy seemed like a pretty good lead, but the poor mare was absolutely terrified of her. Apparently, some of Anon's 'sisters' had been rather mean to her a few months ago, or so Tender Care says, and she hadn't gotten over it.

They were "mean" to Fluttershy? It seems more likely that a large group of Anons would have gone up to her to hang out with one of their pony idols and made her deeply uncomfortable with their in-depth personal knowledge of her and casualness despite her fear of new ponies.

But reincarnated ex-bronies would never intentionally be mean to Fluttershy.

[PectusAmantis]

11545030
But reincarnated ex-bronies would never intentionally be mean to Fluttershy.

This is the single most wrong thing I have every read on this website.

[-Purple-]

11544968
It definitely isn't a secret, so it's pretty safe to assume that Twilight has heard at least something about their knowledge of Equestria and its citizens .

[Prettypony]

This story is sweet. I'm looking forward to future updates

[Scootaboom1]

11545116
To my knowledge it is never mentioned that all of them were bronies.

[Munro]

well stat was an awesome chapter, i look forward to see where this going ^^

good story so far

[mustangdrew4]

I wonder what anon found out about being a pilot that changed his opinion on being able to become one?

I also wonder how the conversation between Tender and Berry(? It's been a bit) is gonna go with anon tucked away from sight.

[hmaf43]

i hope they cherry can reach the moon in this fanfic.

[-Purple-]

Next chapter has just been waiting to get edited. I recently moved and am waiting for my PC to get delivered, hence the lack of updates. Should hopefully get it pushed out this month.

[Scootaboom1]

11630092
Thanks for the update.

[BlueGenome]

This is such a great concept! I really empathise with Anon. Really excited to see where this leads.

Also Scoots when??

[ponycolton]

11630092
I absolutely love the story so far, thank you for writing it :) I made this account today just to say that I hope you continue and I can't wait for the next chapter

[Gotyx96]

Really good story so far!
I hope there will be more chapters! ^^