Slumber Spore Fields
The Slumber Spore had been a well-known flower to Equestria for generations before it showed up on Anthea's flank. The adopted daughter of Fluttershy was known for being just like her mother. Albeit in her own special way. Annie had a calming presence, and rarely ever upset anypony, ensuring that was undone before she could move on.
And, to Turquise Blitz, her coltfriend, this was the reality.
Except for today.
For today was the day that Annie had noticed something about T. He never left her side. She couldn't think of many occasions where he did anything all that exciting without her.
Of course, she enjoyed it very much, especially with his company, but was very unsettled by the idea that, in a way, her coltfriend really had no life outside of her.
Of course, he had other friends and would do stuff with them, but he definatley spent most of his time with her.
And she intended for that to change.
She knew this wasn't a one-day fix. It's not like they could just not hang out for a day and all of their problems would be solved. After all, that had happened before. No, she needed a longer solution, one that would get him used to a balanced lifestyle.
A break.
She second-thought the solution many times. After all, she would, in essence, be breaking up with him temporarily. But she wanted to make sure that was clear, temporarily. This wasn't a permanent thing, it only lasted as long as T needed to, for lack of better words, get a life.
And so, she sat as she did every late morning, on a ledge in a field of Slumber Spores. A rather ironic location since she assumed that T would get no sleep for the next week or so.
And as she had nearly every day for the past year, she heard him walking over.
10:30 AM, same time every day.
T walked over and lay on the ledge next to Annie, turning and looking at her.
"Hey Annie! What've you been thinking about doing today?"
Annie turned and looked vaguely in his direction, trying to look as serious as she could without actually knowing what that looked like.
"Well, I have an idea for what I'll be doing today. The real question is, what will you be doing?" She said, trying to emphasize the seperation in the sentences.
"Well, I'll just come along with you," T replied, his voice noticeably less chipper than when they had started their conversation.
"Well, yeah..." Annie began. "But you've done that so many times now. Wouldn't it be interesting to spice it up and do something yourself?" While Annie had thought of what it was that she was going to tell T, she didn't exactly think up how to tell him, and she quickly realized that.
"Well, sure. I could, but I'd rather do something with you today."
Annie hadn't exactly come up with a roadmap, but she thought this was going worse than she expected even without one.
"Well, yeah. That's a wonderful idea... It's just that..." Annie realized and deiced quickly that she needed to just pull the bandage off, She needed to say exactly what she thought. "T, you don't really do anything that you're not forced to all that often without me, and I think you need to do that more often." Annie understood why T was the way he was, always being around her and all, but she also understood the need for personal free time. If T didn't have his own time outside of her, then it would be only detrimental to both of them.
And right as she said that, though she couldn't see it, ~~she couldn't see much of anything, really,~~ T's expression changed, becoming much more somber.
"Well, I mean I do hang out with my other friends and I do have my own jobs that I need to do all day and that isn't spent with you," He pointed out. And all that was true, he did hang out with his other friends, like Del and Prism, and he did have odd jobs that ponies like Applejack and the quilt and sofa shop would have him do. Of course, at the 'request' of his mother.
"Well, yeah and that's all great, but all of that either doesn't happen nearly as much, you only hang out with them without me about once a week, or you're forced to do them. I just think that you need to have more of a personal life outside of me, and of your own will," Annie explained. She wanted him to know that she wasn't angry at him, or that this made the time she spent with him any less enjoyable. Just that he needed to be more independent form her.
None of this was looking good from his perspective. Annie was talking about how he needed to do things away from her, and that he needed to 'have a life of his own.' none of which sounded very promising.
"So... What exactly are you proposing?" He wanted to make sure that he knew what Annie wanted since right now it wasn't seeming very clear to him.
"Well, I think that we need... A break." That was where she initially intended to leave the sentence off, but even before she finished it, she realized that leaving it at that would be vague and sound not ideal for either of them. "Not a break up, oh Celestia no, just, you know, a break, to help you get on with making your own time. We can still spend the entire day together, I just want your priorities to sit with you first and foremost. And right now, it seems like you value my time with you more than your time with yourself."
T was speechless for a second. Not because what she said was all that much to unpack, though that was also true, but more that he had to process all that she had just said.
"So... You want to break up... Temporarily..?" That was the best he could put it, a temporary breakup. and he did not like the sounds of it. But no matter how much he tried to kid himself, he knew she was right. He had to make time for himself, and the only way to really do that was to make him make time for himself.
"Emphasis on temporary. I love you, T. And I would never want to actually break up with you. I just want you to be a more independent pony. Ad when I fell that you've done that, then we can get back to it."
It was reasonable enough, she wanted the best for him. And he agreed, he had never really thought about how much time he had spent with her. And now that he did, he saw that he needed to get himself a life.
The question wasn't going to be when he would start, but rather what he would do with his time.
That was her point, after all.
Author's Note
Taken from this piece, I thought the description convo and aftermath could be given some treatment, as well as see the inner monologue and narration that could be given on these events. But after this chapter, it's not based on any particular picture or description, just what I think the logical continuation of the arc is.
See you all real soon with another chapter!
And Just What am I Supposed to do Now?
Cloudsdale
"Wait wait wait... She did what?" Prism Bolt had just heard about Annie's idea and did not like it.
T knew that Prism wouldn't like her idea. But didn't expect quite that reaction.
"Yeah. She said that I needed to be more independent of her and do things in my own time," As T recalled the day, the more torn he became.
On one hand, she was right that he was maybe spending too much time with her and her alone. Since he only did things without her on occasion and even then, he never wanted to do most of those things -with the notable exception of hanging out with his friends- and was often forced to by his mother.
On the other hand, why did she think that this was the best option? She hadn't talked to him beforehand about it, nor did she try and work something else out before just hitting pause.
"And she thought that this was the best way to do that? I'm no expert but I can say that wasn't the best option there," And T thought Prism had a point. Annie shouldn't have just dipped on him.
"Yeah, I guess that's the case... But there's not much to gain from worrying about it at the moment. I can't do anything about that until I've got my life back together. She was right about the fact that I spend far too much time her exclusively."
"Then you can go about fixing that. I'm just saying that once you get back to her then this needs to be worked out."
"Yeah, I'll see about getting this all worked out. And hopefully, we'll end this pause? better off than when we started."
"Do that. This would have an improvement other than just getting back with Annie. If you spend more time doing more things, then that's good all around."
Sugarcube Corner
T had made plans to meet with Cotton Candy to jumpstart his new, more independent life.
What is he doing with Candy exactly? Well, something that they had done once or twice before, and he enjoyed very much.
Baking.
If there was anything Candy liked more than baking, it was unknown to all but her. And T enjoyed doing it with her, making it a good candidate.
He walked into the bakery to see Candy waiting in the kitchen with all the supplies already laid out on the countertop.
"Well, you're prepared."
"If I've learned one thing from my mom, it's to always be prepared."
"In that case then, let's get to it."
And get to it they did.
And, to cut a long story short, they had a blast!
For the entire afternoon and early into the evening they baked, measured, mixed and overall just had fun.
And over those several hours, T realized what Annie was talking about.
Sure, he didn't how he had been brought to this point, that would have to wait for later. But he at least saw what she was talking about with the whole independant life thing.
Sure, married couples spend more time together than not -he was thinking- but T was just 17, and Annie was 16.
All that would have to wait until they're much older, at least the next ten years.
But at that time, spending time with his other friend, T didn't care all that much. He was doing what Annie had recommended, and was loving it.
The time to worry about Annie dumping him temporarily to get this to happen would come, that was certain, but that's for later.
Author's Note
Yeah, this one's a two-chapter 1500 word story. But it's the beginning of a larger arc that'll happen over the course of multiple stories. I'm guessing about 3.
I'll get working on the next story as soon as I can, time has been rare recently, and I'll see you for the next story.
Claire's story.
