Line #35 Fanfic/AnchorFoalII


1	Full title: ''Anchor Foal II: Return of the Cringe''.
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3	It's been over a year and when it comes to the little routines of labor and love, Fleur still hasn't managed to fully adjust. She needs to find some means of making it all last. And one thing she can definitely try to do is screen out anything which threatens to make her mate unhappy. Such as, just by way of very unwelcome example, the brother. Because Zephyr wants to be part of Fluttershy's life. He claims to have changed. But Fleur doesn't know whether change is truly possible.
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5	Or if she's really changed at all.
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8	Written by Creator/{{Estee}} as a sequel to ''Fanfic/AnchorFoal'' and ''Fanfic/DailyEquestriaLifeWithMonsterGirl''. Read it [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/520330/anchor-foal-ii-return-of-the-cringe here]]. It was started in July 2022 and is still ongoing.
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12	!!Tropes found in this story include:
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14	* AnimeHair: Zephyr's mane is held up partially through massive amounts of gel, and mostly through continuous pressure from his ears.
15	** Caramel, after his last hairstyle was vetoed by Fleur, seems to be going through a rotating series of these.
16	* BigLittleBrother: {{Deconstructed}}. Because Zephyr is naturally taller than Fluttershy, ponies that met them when they were kids tended to assume he was the older sibling, looking after his timid younger sister. This, combined with her lack of aptitude for most things pegasus-related, led to him internalizing the idea that he ''has'' to look after her, or else who knows what kind of trouble she'll get into.
17	* BornWinner: Zephyr was born with high field strength and hit his growth spurt early. This was enough for most ponies to decide that he was the one in charge of the Phyllia siblings, despite his utter incompetence at seemingly every aspect of life.
18	* BoxedCrook: Fleur is a registered asset of Equestria and has been called to attempt to locate pedophiles twice in the past, and once during the story.
19	* CurtainCamouflage: Fleur is summoned to the pegasus town of Windicity to help the local police catch a pedophile who's been targeting foals at a playground. She eventually finds [[spoiler:one of the culprits (who works with a partner, as Fleur realizes to her horror)]] hiding under a layer of cloud near the merry-go-round.
20	* CuteButCacophonic: Joyous has acquired a husky as a pet, with all that entails. It's a really bad idea to try to trim her nails in any confined space where the sound might echo. Notably, said husky is [[MeaningfulName named Shaddap.]]
21	* DontThinkFeel: Rainbow's philosophy in life also extends to her sex life, much to the horror of anypony unfortunate enough to experience it.
22	-->''Rainbow's goal in sex was to be memorable. She wanted to ruin her stallions (or mares, because reciprosexual) for all other partners and in both cases, she frequently succeeded. Her partners would recite every terrifying detail from the center of the hospital's emergency room, followed by not risking anypony else for a year. She improvised. She treated sex as a stunt, and made up new maneuvers on the fly ... She was spontaneously experimental, liked to add pegasus techniques into her actions, and felt that explaining whatever she'd just come up with would take too long: it was time to come along for the ride! Pinkie, as the group's trysexual, talked everything over with her partners first and refused to proceed unless everypony had both agreed on what would take place and was fully happy about the prospects. Rainbow thought 'consent' worked out 'You entered my bedroom: you knew what you were getting into.'''
23	* FearlessFool: Zephyr seems completely oblivious to Fleur's increasingly threatening comments as if he weren't sure exactly what she said, and doesn't seem to notice the gathering of many ''very'' unhappy animals around her.
24	* GetOut: Fluttershy is not happy in the least to see her brother again.
25	* GuestStarPartyMember: Fleur's gone along on two Bearer missions. So far, we know the first one had her serving as a social expertise consultant, and resulted in somepony having to post extra bail.
26	* HatedByAll: At least when it comes to the cottage denizens. Anyone who's been around long enough to remember Zephyr seems to loathe him: the older birds react to his presence with an 'intruder' call, and at least one tries to take a dump in his mane.
27	* HomosexualReproduction: Fleur and Fluttershy, both mares, are trying to have a biological child together. This is made possible through a regulated spell generally nicknamed "The Most Special Spell", which allows two mares to have a biological daughter. Unfortunately for them, the spell isn't a guaranteed success, so the emphasis is on the "trying" part.
28	** It's mentioned in passing that Bonbon and Lyra have already had a daughter thanks to the same spell.
29	** The implications are also ''heavily'' [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]]: The government has a legal monopoly on the spell because of [[FakeFaithHealer con artists]], {{Back Alley Doctor}}s, and [[HormoneAddledTeenager impulsive pregnancies]], and it is distributed only as [[LimitedUseMagicalDevice special one-use items]] issued once per moon by licensed physicians. They are meticulously tracked, and a couple receiving a supply must return all of them (whether used or not) at the next moon's appointment in order to get a refill, under suspicion of diversion to the BlackMarket.
30	* HopeIsScary: Fleur... isn't used to feeling happy.
31	* IgnoredExpert: A real problem in griffon society. If an expert can't claim the link above the one they're trying to advise, things can go very wrong.
32	* LazyBum: Zephyr feels that the world owes him a living -- but why should he have to make any effort to collect it?
33	** As Fleur notes, this even applies to sex. Why should he be active when he can just lie there and let his partner do all the work?
34	* MistakenForName: The loud miniature husky known as "Shaddap", AKA "Shut Up" because she gets told that so often.
35	* OriginalCharacter: Dr. Tria Lorem, Fleur's psychologist. A griffon (harpy eagle and black panther) with experience in treating patients with the minds (but not the bodies) of griffons.
36	* PregnancyTestPlot: Fleur and Fluttershy are ''trying'', but they haven't succeeded yet.
37	* SleptThroughTheApocalypse: {{Exaggerated}}. Zephyr ''literally'' [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E1MareInTheMoon slept through Nightmare Moon's return,]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E1TheReturnOfHarmonyPart1 vaguely remembers Discord from history textbooks,]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E25ACanterlotWeddingPart1 assumes Changelings have something to do with currency exchange,]] [[Fanfic/DailyEquestriaLifeWithMonsterGirl and his reaction to being told what a centaur is]] [[SkewedPriorities is to ask if the female one is single.]]
38	* StatuteOfLimitations: About a year after Fluttershy moved into her cottage, Zephyr came for a visit and robbed the place while she was out. Miranda Rights can't arrest him for it because the statute has expired, but she promises Fleur that she'll check with other settled zones to see if he has any outstanding warrants.
39	* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted. Fleur is required to see Dr. Tria Lorem regularly, and she's always scheduled after a mission.
40	* TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: Zephyr's reaction to being attacked by a swarm of biting flies? Create a powerful expanding sphere of wind that blows the flies away... as well as the merchandise on the market tables around him.
41	** This seems to be a running theme with Zephyr. He also tried (and failed) to place roofing shingles using wind and implied some form of offscreen disaster involving hail.
42	* TripleShifter: Examined. Rainbow is currently trying to serve as a Bearer (which means going on every possible mission), along with remaining Ponyville's weather coordinator and being on the Wonderbolts reservist list. Neither of the latter two can do anything about the missions -- but the Weather Bureau is getting tired of having other team members take over while Rainbow tries to work with the troupe, and the Wonderbolts can't build a routine around somepony who has to keep going back. Loyalty is being pulled in too many directions, and the Bureau just sent Rainbow a request: commit, or step down. At the start of the story, she has just a few weeks to give them her decision.
43	* UnskilledButStrong: Zephyr has high field strength, but is almost uniquely incompetent at actually using that strength. His flight is lurching and irregular due to his lack of fine control, he can summon massive gusts of wind but either can't or simply doesn't try to direct that wind, tries to bust clouds without dispersing the underlying humidity (which would cause the clouds to reform in a few hours), and so forth.

Context Fanfic / AnchorFoalII