//------------------------------// // Chapter 27: "If I do, If I don't..." // Story: The Bug In The Basement // by Skijarama //------------------------------//     Earlier that day…     Fluttershy didn’t waste any time in making her way for the animal shelter, moving at a quick pace all the way. She had missed a lot more time volunteering there then she would have liked since Beebee hatched, and was hoping to make up for it with more frequent visits moving forward. She just had to make sure she wasn’t late or distracted. Luckily, the clear sky and warming air were enough to refresh her mind and kick her brain into gear.     As she went, she began to go over the tasks she imagined she would have to do upon her arrival in her mind. “I’m probably going to have to clean out a lot of animal pens, fill a lot of water and food bowls. I might get to spend some time playing with the cats and dogs to keep them in shape and in high spirits, maybe give them some love and affection…” she thought over each item carefully, crossing a street and taking a left for the shelter that was several blocks down.     She was abruptly torn from her thoughts as her phone began ringing in her pocket. With her face screwing up in mild confusion and impatience, she pulled the device from her pocket and checked the caller I.D. Any malcontent Fluttershy felt melted away and was replaced by a whole new feeling as she saw that it was Sunset Shimmer. She came to a stiff stop in the middle of the sidewalk to stare at the name on her screen for several seconds. She took a deep before swallowing the lump in her throat and answering the call. “Uh, hello?”     “Hi, Fluttershy! How are you doing?” Came the voice of the Pony-turned-human from the other end of the line, happy sounding. There was the very faint thumping of a bassy music speaker spewing rock music in the background.     Fluttershy gave a small smile. “I’m okay. Just on my way to the animal shelter for some scheduled volunteer time,” she explained casually while resuming her walk, albeit at a slower pace. “I’ve been missing a lot of work there, lately, and I want to get back into it.”     Sunset sighed on the other end of the line at that, clearly disappointed. “Oh, I see.”     Fluttershy frowned, slowing her pace as a feeling of guilt bubbled up in her chest. “Is something the matter?” she asked worriedly, again coming to a halt. “I can come over right now if it’s an emergency.”     “No, no, it’s fine. I’m with Rainbow right now, and she just wanted me to call you and the others to see if we could get in some music practice. She would have called herself, but her phone’s out of charge, and she lost her charger,” Sunset explained plainly before saying something away from the phone. Fluttershy could just hear Rainbow’s own groan of frustration and disappointment.     “Oh, uh… I’m so sorry. I can come by after I’m done at the shelter, though.”     “Nah, I have some work I have to do in a couple hours anyway. By the time you get out, we won’t have enough time left in the day. Besides, you’ve been kinda tired lately. Why don’t you go ahead and just rest up when you’re done at the shelter?”     Fluttershy frowned at that but nodded. “Oh, okay, if you’re sure.”     “I’m sure, Fluttershy. We can always practice tomorrow or something.”     “Okay. Talk to you later?”     “Sure. See ya!”     “Bye.”     With that, Fluttershy ended the call. She let out a breath and stared into her phone’s screen with a hard expression on her face. It stared back at her, cold and unfeeling. The bright light of her home screen remained active for a good ten seconds before the screen went dark, allowing Fluttershy to see her reflection in the smooth surface of her touchscreen. Sunset had been right; she was tired, and it was starting to show. Practicing with the band, dealing with the Sirens, and then the aftermath of the Battle of The Bands… all of that was recent. Helping Eventide with Beebee, though… it was all starting to take a toll on her.     There were bags just barely visible under her eyes, and if one were to really look, they would find that they were starting to become a little bloodshot. Her hair had also suffered, though not nearly as much. It had become just slightly more unkempt, with a few extra stray strands and locks that had fallen out of line.     With a sigh, Fluttershy shoved the phone back into her pocket to be rid of her exhausted reflection and kept moving. As she went, her mind began to wander off again. Her conversation with Sunset had sparked a certain chain of thought, and now she was thinking about Beebee and Equestria... She was so absorbed in her own ruminations that she almost didn’t notice that she had finally reached the animal shelter. With a wordless exclamation of realization, she came to a stop and looked it over. It was a cheerful and inviting building with bright blue walls and an orange roof. The support beams had the motif of puppy paw prints, adding to the identity of an animal shelter. In the front windows, there were fliers and pamphlets to advertise their need for volunteers, the services they did their best to provide, and the general work they did here at the shelter.     Taking a deep breath and shoving her own worries down, Fluttershy stepped into the entrance lobby. Things seemed to be pretty quiet that day, with only a young man and woman standing at the counter and talking to Squirrel Squeak, one of the other regular volunteers. Squirrel gave Fluttershy a look from the corner of her eye and a small smile before returning her attention to the couple.     Deciding it was best not to interrupt, Fluttershy walked deeper into the building to find the director so she could get her tasks for the day.     Maybe an hour later, Fluttershy found herself in the dog kennels, cleaning them out, refilling bowls, and just generally showing the animals some affection as she went. They were thankfully and mercifully quiet today, allowing her to continue thinking as she worked. As she finished up in one pen and moved on to the next, she couldn’t help but giggle a little bit at the puppy inside. He was a young one with a reddish brown coat and low-hanging ears. He was rather small, able to be held quite easily in one’s hands.     The same size as Beebee...     Fluttershy shook her head to dismiss the thought. “Not right now, Fluttershy. You have work to do!” Curious, she checked the sheet of paper that was clipped to the gate. The dog was a male named Kite, on the grounds that he had been found out in an open field with a lot of people flying kites, and had been trying to chase them whenever they came back down. He was only a year old right now, and according to the paper, he had been six months old when the shelter brought him in. Just a stray, lost puppy… no parents...     Fluttershy sighed heavily and shook her head again before smiling down at Kite, who was standing up on his hind legs to swat at the door, his little tail wagging energetically behind him. “Hey there, little guy,” she greeted while pulling open the kennel door to step in and do her work. She knelt down to pet Kite behind the ears as she entered, and smiled happily at the pleased snorts and snuffs that were now routinely slipping out of the pup. “You doing okay in here?”     He answered by shoving his nose into her hand and looking up at her with beady eyes, making her heart melt a little. She just laughed some more, gave him a few pats and set to work on his pen. It was fairly clean, all things considered, so it wouldn’t take long. As she worked, she began talking. “You know Kite, you remind me a lot of someone else I know. You’re about the same size, you’re cute, you’re energetic…” she paused briefly while pouring food into the bowl. She glanced over her shoulder at the dog, who was now watching her with curiosity.     “And… neither of you knows who your parents were…”     Kite’s tail stopped wagging at once, and he tilted his head to one side while sitting down on his haunches. He must have noticed the change in her tone. If Fluttershy didn’t know any better, she might have thought that the dog was actively listening to and understanding her. But, of course, the only dog who could do that was in another world.     The same world Beebee came from…     It was pointless. She just couldn’t take her mind off of that strange little bug. Fluttershy sighed and set about filling the water bowl. The thought of Equestria and Beebee’s ties to that foreign world had now consumed her thoughts, leaving her almost unable to focus on her task. She just had the presence of mind to stop pouring water and put down the bottle before she overflowed the dish. She glanced over at Kite, then lifted her head a little bit, listening for anybody else in the area that might be listening. When she heard nothing but the occasional whines or barks of other dogs, she looked down at Kite again before taking a deep breath. “Um… Kite? While I’m working, do you mind if I talk about something personal?”     The dog didn’t respond beyond tilting his head to the other side.     Fluttershy took that as the all clear and began speaking again. “See, that other little guy I know is… something unique. He’s not a dog, he’s not an animal, but he’s not like me either. He’s from a different world. A friend of mine is raising him, and I’m helping however I can...” Fluttershy stopped whatever it was she was doing. Her body had been on autopilot, really. She thought she was trying to scrub down the wall, maybe.   She just stood there for a little while, her head slowly lowering as thoughts and feelings long buried decided they were done being silent. She was alone with only the ears of dogs to listen, and they wouldn’t repeat anything she said today. She turned and sluggishly sat down on the floor and leaned back against the wall. “They’re both so happy,” she continued, closing her eyes and trying to suppress the tremble that was overtaking her voice. “Eventide hasn’t been so happy in a long time. He’s finally doing something with himself, and he’s doing a wonderful job raising Beebee… he loves Beebee, and I love Beebee, too…”     Kite shifted uneasily on his haunches, tilting his head again as Fluttershy went on.     “I…” Fluttershy curled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly, her hair falling in front of her face like a curtain to hide her from the world. “But… we’re not his real parents. What if they’re a mom and a dad who lost their child before he even hatched…? Maybe they abandoned him here, but what if they didn’t? What if he was stolen? What if he was lost and they tried to find him?”     Her lip began to tremble along with her voice, and tears were forming in her eyes. “If they lost him, then…”     And then, a quiet sob tore itself out of Fluttershy. “Then if Beebee stays with Eventide… then that means that his real parents might be grieving on the other side of the portal, missing their child, not knowing if he’s okay… thinking they lost him forever…” she buried her face in her knees and began to openly cry.     “But if Beebee e-ever goes back, then Eventide w-will lose h-his s-son… Beebee will lose his daddy, and…” she couldn’t keep going and, in a very rare act of frustration, slammed the back of her fist down into the floor, her cries growing louder.     After almost a minute, she calmed down enough to speak through her tears, even if only barely. “W-what am I supposed t-to d-do…? No matter what I do, someone loses their family… s-someone loses their child… and it’s going to be m-my f-fault...” another sob coursed through her, and she didn’t even notice that the entire dog enclosure had gone silent, all of the animals hearing her distress and going quiet.     She’d been holding this in ever since she figured out where Beebee came from several months ago. It had been manageable back then, due in large part to the portal being closed for long stretches of time. Even if Sunset had discovered Beebee, they wouldn’t have been able to send him back until the portal opened again, and that was at least two years out.     But that was before the Sirens.     When Sunset had called upon Princess Twilight to fend off the Sirens, she had found a way to open the portal whenever she needed to, using a set of identical journals. One on earth in Sunset’s possession, one in Equestria in Twilight’s. Now they had a direct line of communication with one another, and the portal could open at any time. Now, if Sunset learned about Beebee…     He didn’t belong on Earth. He didn’t become a human like Twilight or Sunset did when they came through, and as such, he would probably never fit in here. Sunset would know this, and she would start pushing to send Beebee back to Equestria.     Fluttershy just couldn’t hold it in anymore. Six months of pent-up stress and pressure was released all at once, in the quiet and isolation of the animal shelter’s dog enclosure, surrounded by animals that did not understand her, but were all willing to try to comfort her all the same. A fact that was brought to light when, with a small whine, Kite walked up to Fluttershy and gently prodded his nose into her shin to get her attention.     With her crying tapering off for a minute, she lifted her head to look at him, tears still in her eyes. He looked back up at her, walked closer and stood up on his hind legs to paw at her arm, whining again. She got the message. Without a word, Fluttershy scooped Kite up into her arms and held him tight against her chest, feeling his warmth seep into her and ease her discomfort. She felt him nuzzling into her and trying to offer a few reassuring licks, a gesture for which she was grateful.     They stayed like that for a little while, with Fluttershy crying out her stress and holding the puppy, while all of the other animals listened, wishing to offer some help to their favorite volunteer, but being unable to do so from within the confines of their pens. After an indeterminate amount of time passed, though, the moment had to end. Somewhere, a door opened, and the voice of the Director, Bounding Fox, echoed out. “Fluttershy, are you still working in here?!”     With an alarmed squeak, Fluttershy quickly set Kite down and got back to her feet, dusting herself off as she went. “I’m h-here!” she called back, trying and failing to subdue the emotional tremor that was still in her voice. She stepped out of the kennel just in time to see Fox approaching her at a brisk walk, eyes going wide in surprise.     “Woah… Fluttershy, are you okay?” she asked in a ginger voice, reaching out and putting a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder.     “I’m fine,” Fluttershy lied with a nod and a forced smile. “Just, uh… just had to let some stress out. I’m sorry, I’ll get back to-”     Fox held up a finger to cut her off and shook her head. “Fluttershy… I was being rhetorical. I thought I heard crying, and, well…” she gestured vaguely at Fluttershy’s face. “I see the tear lines… Do you need to go home?” her voice was so gentle and caring, Fluttershy couldn’t help but relax under it just a little.     Still, she had to protest. “No,” she said quickly while shaking her head. “No, I’m okay now. I can keep working.”     Fox eyed her carefully. “Are you sure about that?” she asked slowly, her eyes analyzing every bit of Fluttershy’s response. “Because if you need to head home, or even just take a little break to calm down and pull yourself together, maybe get some water or a snack, you are more than welcome to.”     Fluttershy tried to take a deep breath to calm herself, but a small half-sob slipped out of her nonetheless, causing Fox to frown. Fluttershy had to concede the point and hung her head. “Okay… a break sounds fine…” she mumbled guiltily. “I’m sorry…”     “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” Fox assured her gently while draping an arm over Fluttershy’s shoulders. With a light tug, she quietly ushering the quivering teenager out of the dog enclosure. “We all have off days…”     As they left, Fluttershy glanced over her shoulder at Kite’s pen, and she saw the puppy standing with his front paws against the chain-link door, watching her go with a disappointed look on his face.     They rounded a corner, and Kite disappeared from view.