Author's Note
This was originally made as an ASMR script on Deviantart, but I so badly wanted to upload it to FIMfiction, however you can't do scripts so I decided to adapt it into a full fledged story, I so hope to do more of these, yeah its just fluff but we all need a bit of fluff now and again, especially in this difficult world we live in
Just You and Her
Bridlewood especially in the late afternoon has fast become your favourite place in this new land, not just from the relaxing nature, and its far proximity from all your woes, but also the company that resides there, one inhabitant in particular. A bubbly, energetic but also intelligent and funny unicorn by the name of Izzy Moonbow, the blue maned and purple pony in front of you with a friendship bracelet around her front right hoof resembling her in every conceivable way, maybe because it was her. Her joyful expressions and mannerisms radiating her cuteness and ability to brighten your mood as she fumbles with beady, ruby looking objects, which she picks up from a small, cream bag lying on the grass. Such simple pleasures, so little time for them. You have been through a lot lately. For reasons you can't explain you feel the weight of a thousand anvils balanced upon your fatigued shoulders. Your mind distracted and unwilling to switch off. That's why when Izzy offered a quiet moment between the two of you... you answered with a polite no at first, but something about Izzy made you eventually accept her offer. And now you are here, mind not fully at ease, but sitting in front of your dearest friend gives you the feeling that was soon about to change, as you found your gaze looking else where. The sound of gentle knocking against a bead could be heard, the sound of Izzy chiselling a hole through the middle of the violet bead with her horn. She lets out a sigh as she leans her head back and removes her horn out of the bead and admires her handiwork.
"Perfect. Righto… now to just align it perpendicularly and... a bit fidgety" Izzy grunts, her hooves struggling to get a grip of the bead, she sighs as she places the bead and the piece of string she is trying to sow through it
"Oh well if at first you don’t succeed..." she says amidst picking the bead up again for another attempt before realisation strikes her with an audible gasp
"Oh I forgot, I’ve got my magic back now" she giggles, this makes you smile almost giddily "silly me, that’ll make getting this on a lot easier"
A surge of magical aura fills you ears as Izzy finally sows the bead through the string
"So much easier… now it goes through" she lines the bead up at the top of the string, before letting gravity do the rest as the bead spirals down like a zipwire before it connects with the other beads with a soft audible tap
"Wheee" Izzy giggles playfully, before mimicking the sound of a large crowd cheering and applauding “Why thank you, thank you, this is only the beginning, I’m here all wee…”.
Izzy suddenly stops, seeing you and remembering your presence. She blushes slightly as she turns away to give herself a supposed pep talk
"Oh, Izzy you’re talking to yourself again" she tells herself off in a muffled tone "You have a new friend to talk to, a special new friend that you may or not have a secret, secret, secret crush on" she was careful to reduce her voice to almost a whisper for the last bit of that sentence "You don’t want to create an environment of tension that could lead to an unhealthy dynamic between you and him"
She turns back at you, seeing you stare off into space "Hey, are you okay?"
You don't respond, your mind trying to process that a close friend of yours was by your side, Izzy then suddenly claps her hooves in excitement
"Ooh are we having a staring contest? I so love doing those with you" she leans in, forcing her eye lids open and humming as she stares into you, before backing off and grunting out a sigh
"Oh, you win, I blinked. I honestly got to control my eyes, though it’s been a lot of work since that whole debacle with the three tribes unifying and all, I haven’t had many chances to rest. If I’m honest, saving the world is quite tiring."
You nod empathetically, you were fully aware of the lengths she, Sunny, Hitch, Pipp and Zipp had gone to bringing magic back to Equestria, such dedication you can imagine is not only tiring but also anti-climactic for when you discover what you were looking for you don't know what to do afterwards. Thus you don't know what to dedicate your energy to next and you spend every day feeling tired, if there wasn't an end goal, then what was the point of it all? It was almost like Izzy could sense the increased amount of activity going on in your brain and decides to turn her attention back to you
"But then you came, and I’ve taken it upon myself to dedicate time for me and you to share some relaxing, romantic memories together." She blushes profusely on that statement "Oh, did I just say that out loud, sorry, what I meant to say is, I enjoy spending time with you, and..." She pauses, trying to find the right words "I feel compelled to keep spending time with you."
You look at her with a smile, it is a meagre one, but you hope that it still communicates how much her saying that means to you. You then let your guard down and turn your head away, your face falling slightly as you do so as Izzy sighs
"As of late though, I can’t help feeling it’s not helping" You turn your gaze back quickly to meet her, with an insistent look
"Oh no its fine, its just... you’ve been doubting yourself constantly" She changes her voice to a more joking tone "Honestly, "I’m not good enough for this", or "I’m not good enough to be Izzy Moonbow’s friend”, it’s ridiculous!" she places a hoof against your head and looks at you directly in the eyes "Now stop it!... Ok?" she gives a firm yet playful grunt to emphasise her point
"I want to… no I will make you feel as positive as you make me feel, even if I don’t accomplish it until the day I die. That’s why I’m making you a friendship bracelet, see the heart in the middle. Now I’m almost done with it, so why don’t you just lay your head against the grass. Don’t worry about getting your hair wet, its dry and very soft, it’s like a big green pillow. You’ve got a peaceful forest surrounding you. No-pony else is out either, its just you and me, nothing to harm you as you relax into the soothing ambience, my I should become a poet"
She giggles as you relax into your surroundings. Enchanting. That would be the best word to describe your surroundings. Though serene and soothing are two words that also come to your mind. The tension in your muscles, felt by the days stresses, relax more and more as you settle into the surrounding ambience. Wood pigeons engaged in a crescendo which repeated in relaxing monotony. Their calls echoed by a soft breeze, the pure, green leaves acting like a windchime serenading you with a soothing lullaby. You do not feel like you could close your eyes for your mind is still busy with anxious thoughts of all that is going on in your life, but you do feel two other things... relaxed and safe.
Your guardian Izzy is still with you as you hear the gentle sound of beads scraping against the string and connecting with other beads with a firm but soft tap. The grass beneath you has a softness you could only imagine feeling when you die and go to heaven, yet the firm ground kept your head in a comfortable position. You relax into these sensations and sounds until the bead clicking stops, alarming you internally slightly, only to relax again when you hear Izzy's soft, chirpy voice.
"I’m gonna be honest, you aren’t alone when it comes to doubting yourself." Izzy says honestly, you lift your head up, Izzy giggling at your appearance as you realise that its has been messed up by the grass
"But anyway, there are times when I’m just on my own and I can’t see a point to being positive." your face turns to one of alarm and sadness, Izzy sees this before tilting her head downwards
"I know it sounds horrible “an Izzy Moonbow without positivity? What ever will Equestria come to?” But I feel like someponies are too cynical, they don’t appreciate my positivity, certainly not as much as you do." You blush hearing this
"Sometimes I feel like they even think I’m cringy, when all I’m doing is just being myself." This was a side of Izzy you've never seen before, and as distressing as it is, you also feel touched that she is able to open up to you on something so personal. You feel closer to her in that moment, especially as she lifts her head up to your eye level
"With you though" she continues with a wholehearted tone, pacing her hoof to where her heart was "I feel like my positivity matters! I can be myself and you will appreciate me for being positive! I like being the Izzy that’s around you, the Izzy that isn’t around you just isn’t an Izzy at all."
You swear you could see tears starting to form in her eyes, you had to admit, her touching sentiment made you feel a bit teary eyed, your face turns into a frown as she turns her head down once more
"But somehow, I feel like that doesn’t matter." She then turns sideways and lifts her posture to a strut holding her left hoof to her chest and pointing her muzzle upwards, eyes closed before continuing in a posh melodramatic tone "You consider yourself not worthy of the Izzmeister’s time and care, well I the Izzmeister herself do consider you worthy." You are the noblest of nobles, the most protective of protectors, the friendliest of friends, fantasticalist of… uhm" on this she returns to her normal voice and posture "fantasticalists, that last one might not be a word, eh so sue me. But you get my point."
You nod in agreement, you feel compelled to speak, to return her words as she starts to move towards you, you feel your mouth about to part when... she places a hoof over your mouth in a "ssh" gesture
"You don't need to say anything, I know how much I mean to you, so you deserve to know how much you mean to me. Well here goes; you are my world! And I want to show you that with… oh I’d better get to finishing this bracelet, sorry I’ve rambled, you probably want some quiet."
She moves away and then lowers her voice to a slightly exaggerated whisper "I may be average at sneakiness, but I can be quiet when I want to, and if it means you will feel relaxed then this is definitely a time I want to."
You chuckle slightly as you lie your head back down along the ground, contented. Your mind gets more and more at ease as you continue to lay there. Occasionally, your thoughts would wander back to that place of stress and self-doubt, but you now have the self-awareness to stop those thoughts and just enjoy the moment. The atmosphere around you starting to blur in vision and hearing, you even feel yourself start to blink. A rush of exhaustion starts to build inside of you, rushing up towards the entrance of your mouth to where what comes out, is a loud, sleepy yawn.
"Aw, someone sounds sleepy." Izzy says giggling, only to yawn as if on cue "Oh you’ve got me going now. Though you seem like you haven’t slept for a while. I mean I knew you spent a lot of time doubting yourself but hearing that its coming into your sleeping regime, unacceptable!"
You can't help chuckling at her exaggeratively shocked tone, she was always one for the amateur dramatics
"If you fall asleep then I honestly don’t mind, you deserve a true chance to relax. You do work too hard after all." She then comes to a slight realisation "You don’t even tell me what it is you do; all I know is it requires long hours of stress."
You lift her head up for a brief moment to see her propping herself up and crossing her hind legs, and angling her forehooves upwards, and closing her eyes. You audibly chuckle at this, as Izzy opens one confused eye
"What? you aren’t working now." she softens her tone and exclaims "now is the time to destress!" she takes a breath in "and now breath out, aaahhhh."
She then proceeds to do this three times, each time explicitly saying "Breathe in" before breathing in "and breathe out" before breathing out with a loud sigh. You decide to humour this exercise and breathe in and out as instructed and to say afterwards you felt amazing would be an understatement
"There, so much better is it not?" she then moves towards you and towers over you, widening her eyes and saying in an exaggerated hypnotic tone "You are getting sleepy, very sleepy" she giggles "I’m joking, though your lids do look rather heavy."
You then hear the shuffling of Izzy lowering herself next to you. She leans to her side, a forehoof propping her head up from the ground. And in that position, she grins her special Izzy grin at you
"Sorry, that was so awkward" she chuckles "I’ve been watching too many of Pipp’s “asmer” videos that she makes" you chuckle at her overly literal pronunciation
"She’s much better at getting ponies to relax than me. My voice is a little too energetic to be relaxing. I mean my voice is all squeaky and uninteresting… oh sorry, looks like I’m doubting myself as well."
She moves a hoof to your shoulder "I guess we are compatible in that way. But this isn’t about me, I already have you and Sunny and the rest of the group to tell me to stop doubting myself, its time somepony told you how truly amazing you are."
You feel your eyes edging nearer and nearer to closing as she continues "I mean I may have friends, but the type of relationship I have with them is nothing compared to the bond I share with you. Its when I think about those moments that I have shared with you that I wonder about the possibility of something more, to be alike in heart and mind."
She blushes
"I went a bit deep there I know. But I just can’t hide anymore just how much I care. That’s why I have made you this. Wrap this your wrist, as a sign of my love towards you." as Izzy rings the friendship bracelet around your wrist, you feel the beads and string gently caress your skin. Maybe it was the placebo of the bracelet, but you couldn't help feeling like you now had a piece of Izzy Moonbow on your wrist. Something that will always remind you of her, for you to treasure, forever.
"You see that heart in the middle." you note the ruby heart that rests on the top of your wrist as Izzy places her hoof to her heart "Consider it as a gift from within."
Her voice had become a whisper by now and she began to lean closer and closer to your ear "I care about you so, so, so, so much, it would take years for me to finish saying all those "so's", and that makes quite a few "so’s" soooo..." her soft giggle at her own muse stirs a feeling deep within you
"But seriously, you make me feel amazing inside. And the thing is, you don’t even have to do anything. You just being yourself is all I need to be happy, no offense to my friends of course."
"And all this tension in the world, despite not being as great as it was before, still does things that deteriorate the mental and physical wellbeing. All these unhealthy power dynamics and difficult scenarios ponies put each other in, it’s not always an easy world to live in."
"But you will get through it… no we will get through it, together. We will take it one step at a time, live in the moment as they come and go. And right this moment, I would like you to forget everything, forget this land even exists."
You do your best attempt to shut your mind off from all things stressful and anxious as Izzy watches over you, her rhythmic breathing from her muzzle adding to the comfort and relaxation of your positions
"Have you forgotten everything? You shouldn’t even know my name. Go one who am I?" the only response she gets is a contented hum from you. She giggles once more as you start to close your eyes
"Nuzzle your head deeper into this soft bed of grass, I shall lay beside you, and you can fall asleep when you want to, there’s no rush, I mean remember, we have all the time in the world."
Your sight is now completely obscured by the pitch blackness of the inside of your eye lids. As you lie still, you feel sleep start come over you and your body getting more and more numb as Izzy starts to instruct you.
Nothing else matters now, its just your sub-conscious and the soft, feminine voice of your closest friend, gently easing you towards the realm of slumber.
"Now then. Think of a gorgeous, beautiful world, full of magic and laughter around every corner. A butterflies’ wings gently brushing against the cool breeze, in the aftermath of a rain shower. A glistening rainbow arches the sky, reflecting off the inviting green and red colours of an orchard. You take a bite from one of the apples, it is a joyous combination of all your favourite sweet flavours all combined into this juicy treat that is literally a slice of heaven. Your paradise, your ideal world, for you to escape to then and now."
"Ooh look, bubbles, and they can be entered, so you can rise high into the sky in one. Do not fear falling, it will not pop, it will carry you towards your destination, wherever you want it to be."
"You arrive at your ideal place, it is not something you even need to have a physical image of, just whatever it is, you are in total, blissful harmony there. Feel the love, happiness and peace flow through you as you start to embrace this place, again no rush, and if the mind starts to stray from that place, you can always come back to it no matter how far you go. It is your mind. Your wonderful, amazing stupendous mind that is held by someone I deeply care about, a love deeper than any ocean and higher than any star can possibly reach. Start telling yourself that, when you eventually wake up, a long, long while later. Rest now. Feel the soft string fabric around your wrist, feel the love radiating from the beads as you rest into these pleasant sensations."
You don't think, you just feel. No anxiety, just love, peace and bliss. Everything bad about the world, filtered out and leaving this beautiful world for you to cherish for a good long while.
"Treat yourself. Love yourself how I love you. Forgive every mistake, cherish every fond memory, wipe away every tear that has dropped from your eye. For none of it matters. It never did matter, and it never will. Because at the end of each and every taxing day you have worked through, you are still you, and if you want my opinion, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Sweet dreams my dearest."
...
