Calm
Anon finds himself sprinting between numerous large trees, his eyes frantically looking to what little sky is visible through the canopy above. He stumbles as he fails to notice a large shrub obstructing his path, but he quickly recovers and continues moving. He is quickly running out of breath, and his facial expression makes it clear that something has him very worried.
He spots a shadow between branches above him. The figure casting the shadow makes a sudden turn, and Anon does the same. In this new direction, he continues to run as fast as he can to keep up.
"Slow... slow down!"
His shout is obstructed by his own heavy breathing, and he receives no response. After a few more moments, he squeezes between a couple of trees to find himself bathed in sunlight. He has emerged in a clearing, and his visibility is suddenly much better. Immediately he casts his eyes to the sky, finding exactly what he's looking for.
For a moment, he simply stares in disbelief. However, after a couple of seconds, he slowly begins to chuckle.
Above him, a young alicorn filly flies through the air. Her coat is white, and her mane is pink. Her flank lacks a cutie mark of any kind. She laughs as she does numerous twirls and flips, seemingly loving being in the air. Anon looks on, a big, goofy grin visible on his face. After a little while, the filly finally notices him.
"Look at me, Papa! I'm doing it! I'm flying!"
"You sure are, Joy! Look at you go!"
"Hehe! Hey, watch this!"
Suddenly, the filly flies up even higher. She continues ascending, enough for Anon's eyes to begin widening.
"Uhh, Joy? That's high enough."
"But I need to- WOAH!"
A sudden gust of wind blows the filly off course. She loses her sense of equilibrium and begins tumbling through the sky, falling downwards extremely quickly. Without any sort of hesitation, Anon begins sprinting forward, doing his best to aim for where he believes the filly is about to land. Unfortunately, he miscalculates, and rather than catch her as he intended, the filly ends up slamming into his chest and knocking him clean onto his back. The last thing he sees before losing consciousness is the filly on his chest looking at him with worry.
Anon opens his eyes to see the familiar visage of Sunny on top of his chest, a look of worry on her face. His eyes shoot open the rest of the way as he realizes that he's lying on his back on the grassy hill outside of the Crystal Brighthouse. His chest hurts, and as he starts to come to, he realizes that Sunny's magical wings and horn are visible.
"Are you okay, Anon?! I'm so, so sorry! I shouldn't have tried to go that high up!"
Anon groans as Sunny climbs off of him, allowing him to finally sit up. He rubs at his chest as he slowly brings himself to his feet.
"That wasn't even due to your magic, Sunny. You just failed to account for the wind."
Sunny sheepishly looks at Anon as her ears droop to the sides of her head.
"I-I'm sorry. I never even imagined flying like that until recently. I just wasn't thinking."
With one last deep inhale to finish recovering from the sudden impact on his chest, Anon finally regains his composure.
"It's all right. Now you know. Every mistake is just another chance to learn."
Sunny breathes a sigh of relief.
"I appreciate your patience with me, Anon."
It was about a week ago that Anon arrived in Maretime Bay. It took a couple of days for Sunny and her friends to get back into contact with Anon. When they did, they had a proposal. They suggested that Anon teach Sunny how to use her alicorn magic like he said he could while the rest watch from afar. If something 'friendship related' came up, Anon would give them his input.
For his part, Anon appreciated the suggestion. Both because it allowed him to spend some time with Sunny, and because he didn't want to admit that he didn't actually have a plan for teaching them how to utilize the Elements of Harmony.
After all, he has never done so before, either.
"Well, if you're alright, let's get you back into the sky again."
"Okay!"
Sunny spreads her wings and takes a standing leap. She flaps those wings a bit harder than she probably needs to, but she still manages to get airborne regardless. She slowly ascends higher and higher, doing her best to keep her breathing steady and her mind clear. This isn't the first time she's flown. Far from it, in fact. And yet, she never put much thought into it. Whenever she felt like she needed to fly, she just... flew. Hopefully, Anon's training will allow her to do it on command.
"Remember, your magic is tied to your mental state. Keep calm. Try to stay focused on the task at hoof and the reason why you want to be able to use alicorn magic in the first place."
Sunny takes a deep breath.
"Right."
Sunny begins gently flying around the vicinity, doing her best to follow Anon's advice. As she does so, Anon begins making strange motions with his hand. After a moment, a bright light begins to appear from said hand and float in midair. Anon makes a pushing motion, forcing the light into the sky not too far from Sunny. With a twirl of his finger, the light forms a ring shape. He repeats this several times until there are about ten or so rings floating in the air.
"Try navigating these rings, Sunny. You'll pass right through them, but if you clip a wing on the light, they'll change color, so try to be precise with your movements."
"Alright, sure!"
Sunny slowly lines herself up with the nearest ring. She takes a deep breath and shoots towards it, feeling her mane billow in the wind as she does. Once she reaches it, she closes her eyes and folds her wings in for just a moment. When she opens her eyes again, she's passed through the ring without issue. She unfolds her wings to glide as she starts to laugh, only to notice the magical form of those wings begin to fade. Redoubling her efforts, she calms herself, and her wings start to regain their form. For now, she's still flying.
Sunny focuses on the next ring and finds a similar amount of success. However, when she turns around after passing through the third ring, she notices that the light has turned a dull red color.
"It's alright, you just tucked your wing in a moment too late. Keep going, Sunny."
Sunny nods and continues flying. In the meantime, Anon waves his hand once more, and the red ring returns to its original color. Over the next half-hour or so, he shifts the rings around in the air and lets Sunny figure out the patterns required to fly through them. He nods to himself. He's impressed at how quickly she is improving. However, this was not the real test.
Through the sound of the wind flowing past her face, Sunny hears Anon begin to shout.
"Good lord, Izzy! What happened to you?!"
Sunny, suddenly aware of the fact that her friend may be in danger, feels her eyes go wide. She gasps as she turns in Anon's direction to see what happened, only to feel her wings and horn fade. Before she knows it, she's plummeting to the ground. She attempts to summon her wings again, but only grunts as she fails to do so.
Luckily for her, Anon anticipated this, and unlike last time, he was prepared to catch her. Just before Sunny reaches the ground, her fall is cushioned by the sudden appearance of a very large bed of flowers.
"H-huh?"
Sunny looks around confused as the flowers wilt just as quickly as they grew, placing her safely on the ground once more. Not bothering to think too much about it, she sprints towards Anon, only to find that he is alone. Izzy is nowhere to be found.
"W-what happened? Where's Izzy?"
"Pretty sure she's still helping Posey with the unicycling project she commissioned."
"Wait, then why did you yell like she was hurt?"
"To catch you off guard." Anon glances up at the rings, causing Sunny to follow his gaze. Right when Anon grabbed her attention she started hitting the rings in front of her, and there are three red rings in a row. Sunny acts confused before turning back to look at Anon. "I had to say something that I knew would get your attention."
"I-I guess I get the idea, but... could you please refrain from doing that again, maybe? You just about gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry Sunny, but no. As we already discussed, your magic is reliant upon your ability to keep a level head. I have to push back against that. Don't forget, you're going to be trying to do this in high-stress situations where your friends very well could be in danger. You have to remain calm."
Sunny sighs.
"Okay, I guess."
"Good. Now let's get you back up there."
Sunny takes to the sky once more and resumes her flight. Anon continues to shift the rings as she does so. While Sunny does occasionally bump into a ring, it's clear to both of them that she is continuing to steadily improve. Every now and then, Anon will shout something to try to catch Sunny off guard again.
"Pipp can't find her phone!"
"Little Sparky fell into the well!"
"What happened to Hitch's badge?!"
As he keeps doing this, Sunny gets better and better at ignoring him. Once she finally starts acting completely unaffected, Anon begins to shuffle over to a nearby bush.
"Zipp is hurt!"
Paying no attention to Anon's yelling, Sunny finally makes it through one last ring before she realizes that they've all disappeared. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she turns to look at Anon with pride, only to find him kneeling over a figure. She looks a bit closer, realizing that there is a pony she recognizes collapsed on the ground next to him. With a gasp, she feels her wings give out yet again, but to her surprise, Anon catches her with a bed of flowers once more, despite never turning around to look at her. She runs as fast as she can over to the pair, shuffling up next to Anon to see what happened.
On the ground, Zipp lies on her side, a look of boredom on her face. At first glance she appears injured, but closer inspection reveals that she's just a bit dirty.
"Zipp? What happened to you?"
Zipp brings herself to her hooves with little effort.
"Nothing. Anon just asked me to help with your training."
"Wait, huh?" Sunny turns to look at Anon, who looks back at her with a nonplussed expression. "H-how does this help my training?! I thought there was something seriously wrong!"
Anon responds nonchalantly.
"Good. You were supposed to."
"But you KNEW I wouldn't be looking! You told me to ignore what you were doing!"
"No, I told you to remain calm. Those are two very different things."
"I... I don't get it."
"Like I said, your friends could very well be in danger when the moment comes. If they are, do you really think the best course of action is to ignore them?"
"Well, no, but-"
"Hearing that Zipp is hurt should worry you. It should get your attention, and you should make helping her your top priority. But if hearing that makes your wings give out like they just did, you'll be in no position to do that."
"How do I 'be worried' and 'remain calm' at the same time?"
"Those two things aren't mutually exclusive, Sunny. Worry is an emotion. Remaining calm is a state of being. It'll help you a lot when the going gets tough." Anon turns to look at Zipp. "And the same goes for the rest of you, too. Sunny may be an alicorn, but it's the friends at her side that allow her to use this magic at all."
Zipp glances at Sunny before looking back at Anon.
"Er, really? I thought Sunny was the big deal here."
"Alicorn magic is strong, yes. But it will never, EVER top the magic of friendship. THAT'S your real strength. Stick together, and there's nothing that will be able to stop you." Sunny and Zipp glance at each other and smile. Anon can't help but smile along with them, and he turns his attention towards Zipp specifically. "That's what loyalty is."
Sunny chuckles.
"You know Anon, you really do sound like Princess Twilight."
Anon smirks.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"So, what next? Do you have more rings for me?"
"Nope, you're done for the day."
"Wait, really? That's it?"
"Just think about what we've done today. Maybe practice on your own if you're feeling up to it, but keep in mind that I won't always be there to catch you."
Sunny bows her head slightly.
"Thank you for teaching me. And for catching me when I fall, haha!"
For a brief moment, the mare in front of Anon looks different. Shorter. Younger, and with a white coat. Her actions mirror Sunny's perfectly. The environment around him isn't Maretime Bay, but instead a clearing in the Everfree Forest. He shuts his eyes tight for just a moment before opening them again, allowing him to see Sunny raising her head back up.
"Um, would you like to stay for dinner? Izzy's cooking tonight!"
Anon sticks a hand up and smiles sheepishly.
"Thank you, Sunny, but I think I'm going to head back to the hotel. This old man needs to lie down for a while."
"O-oh. Okay, then. Have a nice evening, Anon! Thanks again!"
"You're welcome, Sunny. I'll see you again tomorrow."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world!"
With that, Anon descends the hill and heads towards the rest of Maretime Bay. Meanwhile, Sunny and Zipp begin making their way back to the Brighthouse, happily chatting along the way.
"Wait, were you hiding in that bush all afternoon?"
"Pretty much."
"I can't believe Anon made you do that."
"It's not like it's hard to sit in a bush, Sunny. He said it had something to do with the 'Element of Loyalty.' Guess I remind him of Rainbow Dash."
"...Huh. I never thought about that. I wonder which element I am?"
"Magic."
"Hm?"
"Sunny. You're the easiest one to figure out. You're the Element Magic. Like Princess Twilight."
"Y-You really think so?!"
"Did you seriously not realize that already?"
The two share a laugh as they enter the Brighthouse, exchanging lighthearted theories on which elements each of their friends might represent all the while.
Anon sits alone in his dark hotel room. He closes his eyes and lets out a deep sigh before smiling to himself.
"You did good, Joy. I hope you're proud of her."
Anon keeps his eyes closed as he takes a sip from a cup of tea sitting not far from him, letting out a satisfied hum as he finishes off the drink.
"Hmhm. I sure am, at least."
Stats
Page generated in 0.015 seconds
Total duration
922 users online
1,739,586 hits today, 2,139,894 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
G5 always makes me feel sad
I love seeing Anon teaching Sunny, someone who can really guide on her being an alicorn. Loving this sequel so much!
to give
11644996
Yknow what's worse than a Grammar Nazi?
A Grammar Nazi Who's W r o n g
11644996
11650057
As a wise man once said, "The grammar ss would have you shot for speaking back to your superiors."