Skating and Tripping

“Okay, come on Izzy. You’ve got this.”

The Unicorn was standing outside the community garden, wearing Misty’s helmet and skates. Izzy had asked if she could borrow them to practice because she didn’t have her own. She really should get her own skates, or make some for herself by unicycling. That would be fun, but would it be safe? She’d have to ask Sunny and Zipp about that, they both knew way more about skating than she did.

Izzy glanced down nervously at the skates on her hooves. She wasn’t very good at skating, which their visit to Starlight Ridge proved, but she wanted to improve. After all Sunny loved skating, and Izzy wanted to be able to skate alongside her marefriend. Gingerly, she started forward. Everything was fine for a few seconds until she gained speed and quickly found herself losing control of her movement.

“I don’t got this!” She screamed as she rocketed towards Maretime Bay against her will.

Sunny was leaning against the counter inside her smoothie cart, resting her head on her hoof as she began to nod off. Her head slipped, the motion jolting her awake. After one of the busiest mornings for her in recent memory she hadn’t seen a single customer in nearly two hours, and the boredom of waiting for someone to come along was killing her. She shook her head to try and keep herself awake. Just then she heard screaming. Confused, she poked her head out only to see Izzy skating down Mane Street at high speed with an alarming lack of control.

“Sunny, help!” Izzy yelled as she shot past.

“Oh no, no, no.” Sunny muttered as she bolted out of her cart, galloping after her marefriend.

“So what do you think?” Posey asked Windy as the Earth Pony gestured to a flowerbed she had grown with her magic.

“I think it looks wonderful.” The Pegasus complemented.

Posey beamed. “Thanks.”

Suddenly the two heard screaming and looked up to see Izzy approaching them.

“Watch out!”

They both braced for impact, but fortunately Izzy had just enough control to skate around them.

“Sorry.” She called over her shoulder, even though she was moving so fast she wasn’t sure if she was still within the two’s earshot. Then she realised she was about to collide with a wall. She closed her eyes and waited for the crash, but it never came. Instead she felt herself coming to a stop and being lifted into the air. Opening her eyes Izzy found herself being held by a familiar golden magic.

Sunny.

Sure enough a second later Izzy was turned around and found herself face to face with the Earth Pony turned Alicorn.

“Izzy, are you alright?” Sunny asked gently, looking Izzy up and down for injuries.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Izzy sounded rather put out.

Sunny slowly descended to the ground, lowering Izzy down with her. Once she was back on the ground Izzy found herself unable to gain traction because the skates were still on her hooves causing her to nearly fall face first into the tarmac, only for Sunny to reach out mid fall and catch her.

Tears began to appear in Izzy’s eyes. “I’m so sorry, Sunny.” She apologised.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay.” Sunny wiped the tears away. “Come on. I’ll cheer you up.”

Izzy managed a small smile. That was the wonderful thing about Sunny. She had this quality to her that made you feel happier just by being in her presence. Sunny turned and began walking back towards her smoothie cart. Izzy tried to follow, only to nearly fall over again. Fortunately Sunny caught her again.

“On second thought, maybe I should just carry you.” Sunny levitated Izzy onto her back before continuing walking. On the one hoof, Izzy felt the tiniest bit embarrassed that she needed to be carried because she didn’t know how to skate. But on the other hoof, Sunny was comfortable. She decided she was fine with it, burying her head in Sunny’s mane.

When they arrived back at the smoothie cart there was still no sign of any customers, but Sunny wasn’t bothered about that anymore. She levitated Izzy off her back before starting to chop up different fruits.

Izzy sat in the corner of the cart and watched as Sunny loaded the chopped up fruits into the blender. Seeing Sunny in her element, whether it was skating or smoothie making, was always a joy. Sunny’s culinary arts may be different from Izzy’s arts and crafts, but the Unicorn could still understand the passion of crafting, even if she and Sunny expressed it in different ways. Unlike skating, which Izzy couldn’t wrap her head around no matter how hard she tried.

Once the fruits were blended up Sunny poured the liquid into a smoothie container and added ice and a straw before levitating the smoothie over to Izzy. She took it in her own magic and examined it. It looked like a dreamy greeny. Izzy took a sip. Yep, definitely a dreamy greeny.

Sunny sat down in front of the marefriend. “Why were you skating so fast?” She asked.

Izzy took another few sips before answering. “I didn’t intend to go that fast,” she explained. “I was just practicing my skating, but once I started moving I quickly lost control and took off.” She took another sip and sighed. “What was I thinking? I’m no good at regular skating, I can only do trip skating.”

“And? What’s so wrong about that?”

“Nothing, it’s just…” Izzy looked Sunny in the eyes. “You skate so well, Sunny. You love skating. And I wanted to get better at it so we could skate together.”

“Oh, Izzy.” Sunny leaned over and pulled her into a hug, kissing her cheek. “I don’t mind if you do trip skating while I do regular skating, so long as we’re both having fun doing it.”

“Really?”

“Really. Tell you what, why don’t we go skating together after I’m finished here?”

Izzy’s eyes lit up. “Sure.”

Later after Sunny had closed up her smoothie cart for the day she donned her skates and joined Izzy, who was patiently waiting for her.

“We won’t go too fast, will we?” Izzy asked.

“Just go at a pace you feel comfortable with.” Sunny told her.

Slowly, Izzy started forward. Almost immediately she started to wobble, but she managed to keep her balance. Sunny skated alongside her. “There you go.”

Soon Izzy got used to the movement and her constant wobbling stopped bothering her. She gradually increased her speed. Sunny matched her pace.

“Hey, you were right. This is fun.” Izzy said.

“That’s the spirit.” Sunny replied.

The two started laughing as they headed towards the Brighthouse.